Guyana Times Sunday March 1, 2020

Nationwide coverage coverage from from the the best best news news team team in in Guyana Guyana Nationwide Issue No. 4212 guyanatimesgy.com

THE BEACON BEACON OF OF TRUTH TRUTH THE

Sunday, March 1, 2020

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Irfaan Ali vows equal development for all Guyanese ...Linden, Essequibo to get universities

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

See story on page 12

General and Regional Elections P14

Over 10,000 Guyanese to vote in tents countrywide

…49 polling stations to be located in tents

...PPP/C only party with track record of true development ꟷ Mark Phillips

North Road man shot twice during row at city club P8 Govt’s acts P10 of voter suppression continue …closing entry from Suriname Feb 29-March 9

Govt restricts ferry services on Elections P10 Day

Corrupt giveaways

PPP will return lands to Ituni, Kwakwani loggers Page 7

Brian Tiwari’s aircraft being used as movable Polling Station Page 5

…PPP/C objects to …Ogle lands for house lots GECOM’s decision

Shipping P11 company to pay for repairs of damaged M&CC abattoir ꟷ Mayor

US prepared to work with next democratically-elected Govt – Ambassador See story on page 3

…as Carter Center deploys elections observers across Guyana

T&T soca, Jamaican reggae artistes headline APNU/AFC final rally Page 13

…as Granger continues ‘good life’ promise

ERC appeals for calm ahead of Monday’s P5 polls …says keep actions free of intimidation, hate, racial incitement

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NEWS

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BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Sunday, March 1 – 08:30h – 10:00h and Monday, March 2 – 09:30h – 11:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, March 1 – 07:40h – 09:10h and Monday, March 2 – 08:25h – 09:55h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Sunshine will prevail during the day. There will be clear skies at night. Temperatures should range between 19 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North North-Easterly to East NorthEasterly between 1.78 metres and 4.47 metres.

US prepared to work with next democratically-elected Govt – Ambassador …as Carter Center deploys elections observers across Guyana

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nited States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch has said that the United States Government stands ready to work with the next democratically elected administration in Guyana.

Ambassador Lynch, in an election message to Guyanese, said that in Washington, there is great interest in free, fair and peaceful Guyanese elections on Monday.

“I encourage all registered voters to exercise their franchise in a peaceful man-

ly distributing procedures for both tabulation and recounts – with key safeguards in place for transparency, allowing party scrutineers and observers at all stages – will be integral to ensuring that the will of the voters is accurately and comprehensively reflected in the final results,” Carter indicated.

Meanwhile, Touré added, “It is a great honour for us to be Guyana at this historic moment. We are hopeful that the electoral process will be peaceful, inclusive, and credible, and that Guyanese come

They joined the long-term observers who had been scrutinising electoral preparations and the campaign across the 10 regions since February 4.

The EU deployed its core Elections Observation Mission, which consists of nine election analysts since January 24 and will remain here until the completion of the electoral process. The EU EOM is being headed by Chief Observer Urmas Paet, a member of the European Parliament.

In total, the EU EOM will comprise on Election Day 55

US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch

High Tide: 08:28h and 20:59h reaching maximum heights of 2.42 metres and 2.31 metres.

Low Tide: 02:03h and 14:29h reaching minimum heights of 0.84 metre and 0.80 metre.

The Carter Center delegation, headed by Chairperson of the Carter Center Board of Trustees, Jason J Carter, (6th from left) and former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Toure (5th from left), who is co-leading the delegation, was deployed across Guyana ahead of the polls

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ner and to allow others to do the same. Good luck to all the parties. After the people of Guyana have spoken, the United States stands ready to work with the next democratically-elected administration, and I encourage all parties to respect the outcome,” the Ambassador said in her short message.

Carter Center

Meanwhile, as international observers mobilise to witness the General and Regional Elections, the Carter Center on Saturday deployed its team across the country to upkeep the mandate of ensuring fair elections.

The Center would have sent more than 40 observers from 15 countries to Guyana, and they were subsequently dispersed to all 10 administrative regions. Headed by Chairperson of the Carter Center Board of Trustees, Jason J Carter, former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Toure is co-leading the delegation – comprising of electoral experts and long-term observers.

Since January, they would have arrived in Guyana and facilitated meetings with the Guyana Elections Commission Secretariat, the Parliamentary Opposition, and Government officials.

However, the Center is also slated to meet with key stakeholders to obtain perspectives on the electoral process, contesting candidates, party leaders, GECOM, civil society leaders and the security sector.

Once again, they have called for transparency throughout the entire process, especially during the tabulation of votes.

“The Carter Center notes that publicising and wide-

together after these elections so they can share their bright future as one nation”.

On Friday, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) went ahead to deploy short-term observers across the country.

observers from 25 member states and Norway.

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation from the Commonwealth Secretariat, led by former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, is also complimenting the list

of entities to witness the electoral process.

Among the other foreign observer missions in Guyana are the Organization of American States (OAS), Caribbean Community (Caricom), National Congress of Brazil among others.

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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

Elections: Going by the record for PPP

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omorrow, Guyana goes to the polls. Elections are the lifeblood of democracy since it gives life to the democratic ideal of “rule by the people”. Because we will be deciding who will be governing our State over the next five years, the onset of oil revenues flowing into our coffers gives an added fillip to the need for careful and contemplative consideration when casting our ballot.

What are some of the issues we should consider?

Let us look at the economy, which is related to our living conditions. The PNC-led coalition has been stressing the growth of our “Gross Domestic Product” (GDP) – 4.7% they claim this year. But by now, we should know that this macro-metric can hide a multitude of sins such as the fact that huge chunks of “income” – such as, say, gold production – does not remain to be spent in Guyana where it can circulate and end up in the pockets of our citizens, but are remitted to the foreign corporations that are our largest gold miners. This is one of the reasons why we should be very leery about claims that our GDP will be exploding into high double figures this year, with oil production commencing.

For decades, there have been attempts to devise new measurements that focus on “human development” rather than “economic growth”. A truism has been the recognition that economic growth does not necessarily translate into human development. One of these new measures is the “Human Development Index” (HDI): “a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living.”

But for the average person, the most important indicia of how well he or she is doing is to have a job: even one that might not deliver the best life is better than facing the abyss of joblessness. Humans have an inner drive to self-respect and dignity, and this is what a job produces when one does not have to depend on handouts. When the PPP took over governance in 1992 from the PNC, unemployment had reached almost 50% of the workforce, while most of the others were “underemployed”. That is, their skills were not being utilised optimally. Poverty was tagged at 43%. But within their first decade, the PPP reduced poverty to 36% -- and even more so in the urban areas where it dropped to 33%. It achieved this feat not by handouts but by creating the conditions that opened up jobs in all sectors: agriculture, mining, forestry, fishing, commerce.

Take rice farming. It is not given enough recognition that this industry is the largest employer in the country and generates foreign currency to boot, which gives us the wherewithal to import foreign goods that we do not produce to live a better life. The PPP resuscitated the industry so that when they demitted office, production and exports had almost doubled to 600,000 tonnes. In mining, while there is much angst generated by rabblerousers on the downsizing of the bauxite industry, it was the PNC that destroyed it after nationalisation in 1970, by failing to meet delivery schedules. By the time the PPP took over, most customers had moved on to other suppliers, whose products were not as good as ours. The PPP performed yeoman labour to attract Bosai and Rusal, two of the largest aluminium producers in the business, to invest in our bauxite.

The fundamental flaw in the APNU coalition government is that their leader David Granger is still imbued with the dystopian vision of his mentor Forbes Burnham. In that vision, there is no place for the private sector – the creator of jobs and production – which Burnham destroyed after nationalising 80% of the economy. While Granger may talk about the private sector being “the engine of growth” in the economy, his treatment of that sector over the past five years demonstrates that these are empty words.

The PPP will create jobs when re-elected.

People’s Progressive Party/Civic Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali, his wife, Arya Ali along with their son, on Saturday at the conclusion of the Party’s campaign ahead of the March 2, 2020 polls

Polling must be early and swift Dear Editor, Guyana welcomes the local and international observers as the nation heads frontally and purposefully into the inexorable trial of the David Granger-led cabal by the people. The observers will certainly hold scrutiny over the process and provide measures of countercheck to confirm any form of undercurrents that the numerous shortfalls by GECOM have realised.

To most citizens, the time has run out for Mr Granger and his cohorts and certainly, no Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is required to pronounce on the validity of the charge.

His outright defiance of the Constitution and manipulative efforts to influence GECOM still has its overtones causing tensions to rise is sky-high. The reactions are that more than ever before, Guyanese voters are determined, prepared and will definitively cast their votes at these National and Regional Elections to erase a mushrooming dictatorship.

With just a few days to the elections, the readiness of GECOM, on the other hand, is highly questionable. To the wider populace, an air of uncertainty now permeates the administrative arm of the organisation, evidenced by the continuous bungling of long-established tried and proven policy positions. The gazetting of the Polling Stations in January of this is year followed by the radical reduction of these stations without the Commission expressed directions in this regard, or without matter brought before it for a hearing. It is the view of his columnist that this did not happen by chance, but with some ulterior intent of causing chaos.

It is evident and disappointing that the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield has seemingly moved to impose many of these blatant and violating actions while usurping the authority of the Commission without sanction. These continuous occurrences by the CEO are very suspect as in many instances since their clandestine design would obviously frustrate and disenfranchise many voters in areas not popular with Granger dictatorship.

With the billions of taxpayers’ dollars expended by GECOM, why are the operators making the system more complex for some voters rather than being simplified? It is therefore instructive and necessary that the Auditor General address the audits not conducted since 2014, following these elections to hold GECOM accountable to the National Assembly in view of its constitutional obligations.

This situation is certainly outright unacceptable and it plays on the electorate’s minds while putting their patience to the ultimate test as our nation sits on the edge of their seat. Never before in Guyana’s history did the electorate have to experience such nasty trauma and particularly, with such flawed systemic pressure pot system emanating from the clouded lens administrators in GECOM. However, it will soon end and the landslide victory will be most appropriate and convincing because of the voters’ will to overcome all obstacles.

It is significant to note that the United States and the Carter Center made a strong call for GECOM to clarify to stakeholders its vote tabulation procedures.

Notably, former Barbados

Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, who is heading the high-level Commonwealth Mission, recently stated, “On Election Day, we will observe the opening, voting, closing, counting, and the results management process.”

Certainly, these calls once operationalised, will lend a measure of assurance that keen monitoring will provide and ensure some credence to the internal results.

Further, the laws of Guyana on elections clearly stipulate that GECOM must provide the IT tabulation and the manual tabulation before announcing the elections results. So far, Keith Lowenfield and the GECOM Secretariat has not accepted the offer and support from the United Nations Development Programme to employ a special IT person.

This is a matter of serious concern as it indicates reasons for justified suspicion and fairness.

Additionally, GECOM has not hired staff at all levels over the past few years in accordance with the electoral laws, which provides the full functional authority on the Commission.

Instead, Lowenfield and his Secretariat are employing as they so please and largely to ensure an imbalance in favour of the PNC. Consequently, GECOM Commissioners who by law are responsible for the hiring of all staff, are now excluded from the recruiting of staff. This must change forthwith!

While the Chairwoman of GECOM has declared the organisation ready to host free and fair elections on March 2, 2020, one would have noted far too many undercurrents in the process building up to this stage. Because competing political parties

would have had to adjust to the changing environment characterised by surprising changes and untimely details or the lack thereof, this would have served to highlight an unbalanced approach that has largely favoured the Granger cabal.

There are many areas for improvement going forward which the Chairwoman must address.

Madam Claudette Singh should be, however, applauded for bringing on board the broad spectrum of observers whose mandate is to observe and evaluate the electoral process independently and impartially.

They will also have a close look at the pre-election environment, polling day activities and the post-election period. Guyanese have experienced serious constraints

by GECOM at every stage over the last few years, and the bungling is creating havoc. GECOM must be accountable, transparent and must be prepared to administer free and fair elections.

Notwithstanding the pitfalls, however, the challenges from all sides have served to ensure a more determined effort from the Opposition PPP/C and a reactive stronger ‘will’ by the people, to deliver an overwhelming victory on March 3, 2020. Polling must be early and swift as voters provide their guilty verdict on David Granger as charged. We look forward to GECOM and all party’s pronouncement of Mr Mohamed Irfan Ali as the Next President; Mr Mark Phillips as the Prime Minister and a triumphant PPP/C team that will progressively lead our dear country as one over the next term of office.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

NEWS

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Brian Tiwari’s aircraft being ERC appeals used as movable polling station for calm ahead …PPP/C objects to GECOM’s decision

of Monday’s polls

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he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is objecting to the use of an aircraft owned by businessman, Brian Tiwari, who is a known APNU/AFC supporter and financier, to transport ballot boxes and polling officials on Monday’s Elections Day. PPP/C General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday pointed out that if this is done then there will be no trust in the process since using a known coalition supporter’s aircraft is akin to using private residences of people who are politically aligned.

“So, if you can’t use private residences of people who are politically aligned then how can you use a private aircraft of a man who’s politically aligned to transport ballot boxes and polling day officials,” Jagdeo asserted.

Businessman Brian Tiwari (centre) Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma and Head of the EPA Vincent Adams at an APNU/AFC event recently

Tiwari operates a private executive air transport service.

There are at least three other established domestic commercial air services

– Trans Guyana Airways, Air Services Limited and Roraima Airways.

In fact, on February 21, 2020, D-Day, when the Joint Services cast their votes, a Roraima Airways aircraft was used transport the polling officials and ballot boxes to various hinterland locations in regions across Guyana.

Moreover, history was created when the domestic airline’s Britten Norman Trislander 8R-GRF (CSN 1023) became an official Polling Station for General Elections at Orinduik, Region Eight (PotaroSiparuni).

The Roraima Airways aircraft being used as a polling station on D-Day

Court dismisses Minister’s application to silence Guyana Times

J

ustice Gino Persaud on Tuesday denied an application

by Government Minister Annette Ferguson to muzzle Guyana Times and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

The Minister had sought an injunction from the High Court to prevent Jagdeo from making statements regarding her acquisition of lands and to restrain Guyana Times from reporting or further publishing anything on the matter.

The unsuccessful injunction was filed in January.

In handing down the ruling, Justice Persaud noted the importance of leaving freedom of speech unfettered, especially in an election period.

Additionally, he pointed out that only in the rarest of libel cases are interim injunctions granted.

“The claimant has failed to persuade the court that this is such a rare or exceptional case…In coming

H

ERC Chairman, Reverend Dr John Smith

The house owned by Minister within the Housing Ministry, Annette Ferguson

to this conclusion, I’m conscious to the need to ensure the free expression of opinion by those who put themselves in the democratic process for election to the population at large,” he ruled.

In her lawsuit against the Opposition Leader,

Minister Ferguson is seeking damages in excess of $50 million for libel she claimed he committed on separate occasions – December 5 and December 12, 2019 – during weekly press conferences.

On the other hand, in excess of $10 million is be-

ing sought for damages from Guyana Times.

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall in association with Manoj Narayan represented Jagdeo while Attorney Devindra Kissoon appeared on behalf of Guyana Times.

aving already had to upbraid key political leaders over recent divisive actions on the campaign trail, the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) in a last-minute appeal ahead of Monday’s General and Regional Election said the period does not present a reason for hostility through hate, and that “elections must not be a process that divide us”.

This is according to ERC Chairman Reverend Dr John Smith, who in a clarion call at the end of the past week reiterated to stakeholders the need to “keep public actions free of intimidation and utterances free of hate, racial and all other forms of incitement.”

Reverend Smith said that during this, and the subsequent period, “let’s demonstrate to ourselves and others that while we will disagree in the process, it is not a reason for hostility through hate, and elections must not be a process that divide us.”

The ERC Chairman was adamant that “voting is a democratic right which enshrines choice” and urged that “as we exercise the right to choose, we must respect the rights of oth-

ers to do so; in the process, we must also remain cognisant of the need to be tolerant and respectful of each other, now, during and after March 02.”

He said too that as the nation traverses what is historically a sensitive period, “all are urged to work in the best interest of Guyana and Guyanese and not be engaged in activities, in any shape or form, that are counterproductive to the fostering of harmony and good relations.”

To this end, Reverend Smith noted that the ERC is heartened by contesting political parties that have signed the ERC’s Code of Conduct “The Commission urges that despite whatever challenges may confront us, the spirit and intent of what was agreed to, is respected by all…This we believe is crucial not only to the process of peace, but a vital component in being able to mitigate incidents that occurred during the campaign and which have the potential to repeat themselves.”

Parties this week also signed onto an Elections Code of Conduct that was facilitated by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

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Foundation

Can a video game help kids with ADHD? To evaluate whether it helped, the researchers measured the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA). Specifically, they looked at the mean change in the Attention Performance Index (API), which is a composite score derived from the TOVA. The “mean change [SD] from baseline on the composite score from the TOVA API was 0.93 in the intervention group and 0.03 in the control group, adjusted p value 0.0060.”

That’s a small but significant effect in improving attention. And with minimal effort from parents or side effects. (A couple of kids got mild headaches.)

By Alison Escalante MD

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ouldn’t it be wonderful if playing video games could help kids with ADHD? New research suggests that playing a video game for 25 minutes a day may help with inattention. And that’s good news, because inattention, one of the core symptoms of ADHD, can be one of the most difficult to treat.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed paediatric neurodevelopment disorders. ADHD affects an estimated 6.1 million kids in the US, or 9.4% of US kids. The impairment kids experience due to the ongoing challenges with attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity places a burden on them and their families.

While many kids with ADHD benefit from the medications and behavioural therapy that are the current standard of care, many continue to struggle. It’s not just school performance that’s affected—family life can also be difficult. The kids know it, too, and they often experience anxiety or negative self-image.

In a field of therapies, why a video game?

The ability to pay attention is a critical skill both for school and for social interaction. As a core deficit in ADHD, it’s an important target for therapy. Medications help, but

they can be expensive and for some kids cause side effects.

Behavioural therapy has been shown to be helpful but can be difficult for families to access.

What about cognitive training? Many different methods are available, but meta-analyses reveal that the studies on them have used inadequate methodology. In other words, we don’t know if they work. Meanwhile, some families spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on them, hoping to help their children.

In this environment, an intervention that families can

use at home is a welcome one. Kids with ADHD are well known to love video games, so the idea of a video game-like treatment is exciting.

The video game intervention for ADHD

The new study in The Lancet has examined just that.

The “video game” is AKL-T01, an investigational digital therapeutic developed at Akili Interactive Labs in Boston.

This game is designed to specifically target “cognitive interference,” or the inability to tune out competing stimuli.

More and more we are thinking of kids with ADHD not as kids who can’t pay attention to one thing, but as kids who can’t stop paying attention to everything. It would be a real benefit if they could gain cognitive control to choose where to direct their attention when two things are competing for it.

According to the designers, AKL-T01 was “developed to engage paediatric users through video game graphics and reward loops and to use real-time adaptive mechanisms that continuously personalize intervention difficulty on the basis of the user’s ability and progression. Specifically, AKL-T01 targets attentional control to manage competing tasks and to efficiently (flexibly) shift attention between tasks. Further, divided and selective attention systems are required to process several tasks simultaneously.”

That may sound complex, but any parent of a child with ADHD knows what it means when they consider homework time.

The study

This study used what is considered the gold standard of study design: a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, controlled trial. Three hundred and forty-eight kids between the ages of 8 and 12 with ADHD were randomized to either the video game intervention on a tablet or a control intervention. They were taken off any ADHD medications they were using. Then, the kids played at home for 25 minutes a day, five days a week for four weeks.

Where does that leave us?

As is always the case with studies like this, questions remain. Will this go the way of other interventions, which turn out to teach the child how to do well on the intervention but do not translate to other environments? In other words, will your child just get good at the video game, or will they get better at their homework? Will the results last or will the child have to keep playing the game every day?

Still, it’s a promising study. Parents will be asking, “Where can I get this?” Right now, the designers are going through the approval process with the FDA, which means AKL-T01 is not available to the public yet. (Psychology Today)

Mindfulness can help kids with ADHD

By Marilyn Wedge PhD

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ecently a writer contacted me for input to a magazine article about the benefits of mindfulness for children diagnosed with ADHD. In two recent Psychology Today posts, I mention mindfulness as one no-risk non-drug tool to help children with hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.

In my practice, I have found that mindfulness, as a supplement to family therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy, can be helpful for children and teens with ADHD and anxiety. Mindfulness alone does not resolve all the problems, but incorporating mindfulness with other techniques can lead to positive results.

What I have found in my practice is validated by growing body of research. Studies have shown that teaching children mindfulness can relieve their stress, improve their ability to pay attention, help them calm down, and lead them to make better decisions.

Mindfulness helps children to regulate their emotions and improves their attention span and ability to focus.

Meditation, or its modern handle “mindfulness,” is a practice used from ancient times to soothe anxiety and calm the mind’s restless tendency to jump around from one thing to another—often called the Monkey Mind.

The Monkey Mind—a word coined by the Buddha— is a mind that seems to be filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering, and carrying on. Both adults and children experience the Monkey Mind, so it is helpful to find out what is going on in our brains and how mindfulness helps from a physiological perspective.

Brain research indicates that the tendency for the mind to jump around like a monkey comes from the part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is the seat of emotions, especially strong emotions such as fear or anxiety. When children are in a state of Monkey Mind, it is the amygdala part of their brains that is activated. This can make paying attention and focusing on learning difficult. For learning to take place, different parts of the brain must be activated. The hippocampus is critical to learning and memory and regulates the amygdala. The third part is the prefrontal cortex which is associated with maturity. It regulates emotions and behaviours and helps us make good decisions.

(Excerpt from Psychology Today)

NEWS

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Corrupt giveaways

PPP will return lands to Ituni, Kwakwani loggers …Ogle lands for house lots

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo

P

eople’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo has vowed that the massive tracts of land given away in the waning days of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration, will be reversed should his party gain power in elections on Monday.

Jagdeo made this declaration during the final PPP rally before Monday’s polls, at the Lusignan tarmac, East Coast Demerara on Saturday that saw a massive turnout of thousands of party supporters. According to him, the APNU/AFC’s five years in Government has been dogged by scandal after scandal.

The latest has seen party financier Lloyd Singh being given 164,000 acres of prime State forest land along the Berbice River. This has log-

gers up in arms since they contend favouritism was shown to Singh, when they would have unsuccessfully applied for logging concessions.

“One sign of desperation, showing that APNU/AFC know they aren’t going back there, is when two days before the election they gave one of their supporters, a financier of the AFC, 164,000 acres of forest land,” Jagdeo told thousands of supporters.

“They know they’re not going back there. Because they could have waited next week to give him. They had to give him this week, but we’re going to take it back!

Right, you want us to take it back?” Jagdeo questioned, to cheers from the crowd.

Jagdeo vowed that this land would be taken back and given to loggers who deserve it. He referred to a protest mounted last year by loggers in Ituni who had complained that their permits to cut logs had dried up and as a consequence, they could not provide for their families.

“Because it’s corrupt. And guess who is going to get it?

Because this is in the Berbice River, the same people from Linden, Ituni, Kwakwani, the loggers who needed that land to feed their families.”

“You saw a protest with one man from Ituni saying, “we’re starving”. Since this Government took office, all the jobs on that corridor have been lost. So, I want to say to the people in Region 10, you’re going to get the land.

Ogle giveaway

Jagdeo also referred to

A section of the gathering at Lusignan ECD Govt financier Lloyd Singh

another giveaway, this time 30 acres in Ogle, which was sold to develop an East Coast version of Windsor Estates, a sprawling gated community supposedly costing US$83 million and expected to feature, in addition to a man-made lake and multiple swimming pools, modern home designs along with a commercial zone to include banks, medical facilities, a shopping area and restaurants.

“Another sign of losing is when the last week before elections, you give away 800 acres of prime land that you took from the sugar workers, just here on the East Coast.

Well let me tell you, those lands will be used to build house lots for ordinary people,” Jagdeo also said.

On Friday, Guyana Times reported that some 164,000 acres of prime State forest has been allocated to Singh, just days before the March 2 General and Regional Elections. The areas under question were recently re-

possessed by the incumbent APNU/AFC Administration.

Several loggers in Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice) have since reached out to this publication to express their anger and disgust at the PNC-led caretaker Government allocation of the 164,000 acres of prime forested lands to AFC campaign financier.

The loggers explained that they had been trying for years to increase their allocations without success and

it was therefore astounding that the Government would act so capriciously to show favouritism to an individual who has no prior experience in the forestry sector.

To this end, the loggers indicated that they will be protesting the massive giveaway. Guyana Times was told that the last-minute allocation of Guyana’s State forest was done via a rushed and uncompetitive process that was engineered to favour Singh.

In fact, a source at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) told this newspaper that it is highly unusual that an area of this stocking and location had only a sole applicant.

Singh is a known financier of the AFC – the minor party in the coalition Administration. In fact, he had even funded the party’s head office located on the Kitty Railway and Embankment in Georgetown.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

North Road man shot twice during row at city club

A

night out at a city club did not end well for 51-year-old Neil Dutchin, as he is now hospitalised and nursing two-gun shots wounds following an argument over a seat with the person who shot him.

According to Police reports, Dutchin and a friend visited a bar on Lamaha and De Abreu Streets, Kitty, Georgetown, where they both secured seats for the night’s hang. However, sometime after they arrived, Dutchin, of North Road, Georgetown, left the seat he occupied and exited the

bar only for a short while.

However, upon his return, he was greeted with the suspect on the said stool. This caused an argument between the two. The suspect

then left the location and later returned with a friend.

The duo, who were both armed with guns, then confronted Dutchin and he was shot twice – to his abdomen

and upper left thigh. Police stated that the shooter and his accomplice escaped in a motorcar, which sped away east on Lamaha Street. An injured Dutchin was picked up and rushed to a private city hospital where he is presently a patient.

Investigators, who later combed the scene, discovered a broken number plate on Lamaha Street, suspected to be that of the getaway motorcar. Several persons were already questioned in relation to the matter.

A Police investigation has since been launched.

Too late…

E

…for GECOM’s code of conduct

lections were precipitated over a year ago when the NCM was passed on Dec 21, 2018. GECOM immediately said they could be ready in three months to hold the elections. Now your Eyewitness doesn’t want to rehash the PNC’s desperate and cynical rear-guard action to delay their moment of doom – but didn’t everyone in GECOM at that point know they had to line all their ducks in a row since then??

And among those ducks is a “code of conduct” for the political parties in the fray. Cause ever since the first elections it has been a FRAY!! While in most jurisdictions it is usual for the politicians to go after each other – they tend to do so with wit and humour. And even when they don’t, they’re not operating in a society in which the genie of violence has already been let out of the bottle. So, as part of the package when we had the return of free and fair elections in 1992, GECOM was supposed to release its “code of conduct” – which at least should have given pause to more extreme, inflammatory and divisive rhetoric.

What happened this time?? OK…so there was that tussle over the Chairman after Granger’s unilateral appointment.

But if the new Chair Claudette Singh could’ve found enough time to drag out the OLE and other housekeeping electoral details, wasn’t the code on her “to-do” list?? It really is a shame and disgrace that GECOM had the parties sign one just TWO DAYS before the elections. What were the parties going to do in those two days?

The “rain” of invectives and threats from the PNC coalition parties fighting for a return performance at their raping of the State had already filled the tanks of bitterness and hatred in the hearts of their supporters. Volda Lawrence’s declaration that all her friends are PNC people and she only has jobs for them, was just the tip of the iceberg. Annette’s Ferguson’s promise to the Disciplined Forces – after she told them to turn off their phones so she won’t be recorded – that she’ll give them “house and land” if they vote for the PNC was just the latest.

This signing was locking the stable door loooong after the wild political broncos had bolted!! What should’ve been done instead, is to have the CEO and the staff of the GECOM Secretariat sign a code of conduct, as to how they should conduct themselves until the results are announced!!

No shenanigans in the polling stations, and certainly no hanky panky in the IT room when those SOPs are coming in.

The guardians of the electoral process needed guarding!! …in sugar Even as most are all hyped up about the elections, the sugar workers struggle for a wage increase to at least make up for the reduction of their pay packet by inflation, should remind us that folks are still struggling to just exist!! The PNC has used AFC stooges Nagamootoo and Ramjattan to claim sugar “wasn’t closed”, but “right-sized” – even as these men closed their eyes to the humongous writing on the walls of the shuttered factories: ALL SUGAR WILL GO UNDER THE PNC!!

We see this playing out at Uitvlugt estate when over the last week, it was reported that 48 hours production were lost last week. But that’s not the real story. Those 48 hours were lost through 15 factory stoppages. Do you know what it cost to bring back a factory up after its shutdown? Do you the cost of unprocessed cane? Or spoilt boiling juice? Slavery and indentureship were introduced to prevent factory stoppages!!

The real tragedy is the Government borrowing $30B on sugar assets and paying $1.5B annually in interests – to fix the “grinding estates”.

But not spending a penny on them!! …shall be the cry The energy of Irfaan Ali on the campaign trail has highlighted the listlessness and lack of focus by David Granger.

But he’ll be resting soon!!

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

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

10 NEWS

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Govt’s acts of voter suppression continue …closing entry from Suriname Feb 29-March 9

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communication from Chairperson of the People’s National Congress (PNC) in her role as Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence to Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan reveals that she made a request which was granted that could lead to voter suppression.

Eleven days ago, February 18, she claimed

that “Given the increase in the number of [Coronavirus] cases in Germany and France, I am requesting that the Backtrack Entry to travellers from Suriname be closed during the period February 29 through March 7, 2020.”

The New York Times had reported, “With 42 confirmed cases across the [European] continent, the

coronavirus outbreak is far less serious in Europe than it is in China, where more than 2000 people have died and the fight to contain the virus has taken on the trappings of a wartime campaign.” The gist of the report was that there were more concerns about stigmatisation from the outbreak rather than an increase in numbers of infected persons.

But even if there were concerns, the question that has been asked by persons who had information on the response by Minister Ramjattan to accede to Lawrence’s request was why was the closure made effective eleven days later – just two days before the elections scheduled for March 2? Did Minister Lawrence expect a flood of German

Govt ferry services restricted on Elections Day

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tate-operated ferries plying routes along the Essequibo River have been restricted on Monday, a period when General and Regional Elections are scheduled to take place.

The Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) announced that a decision was taken to limit ferries travelling the Parika route to Supenaam, Leguan and Wakenaam. Vessels traversing from Parika to Supenaam, Supenaam to Parika, along with the Leguan and Wakenaam services will be restricted to only one trip at 16:00h in the afternoon.

Along with that, no ferry services will be available between Parika and Bartica on the said day. This announcement comes at a time when

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson

The MV Sabanto is one of the vessels under the Statecontrolled ferry service

many individuals will be using the boat services to return home or access their respective Polling Stations to vote. However, no rationale was given behind the sudden move.

As customary, the Parika to Supenaam routes are usually undertaken thrice daily, in the morning, midday and afternoon hours. These two regions are bridged solely by vessels, and hundreds of

persons would use the services on a daily basis.

Guyana Times sought to contact Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson for a comment on the matter but calls went unanswered.

and French citizens to cross over from Suriname bringing the Coronavirus with them specifically only from today?

However, many Guyanese residents in Suriname, most of them from Berbice, were returning to vote in the elections since it had been authori-

tatively declared that they still retained their inalienable right to vote, once they had been registered in the past and their names were on the Official List of Electors. For the same reason, there have been planeloads of citizens from New York and Toronto returning for the same purpose.

NEWS

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Shipping company to pay for repairs of damaged M&CC abattoir – Mayor

L On Bullshit and David Granger

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bout a decade or so ago, the philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s book, with the seemingly most nonphilosophically sounding title, “On Bullshit”, became a New York Times bestseller. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it seems he was presciently offering Americans a vocabulary to analyse the utterances of their new president, Donald Trump and a new type of political leader that includes Guyana’s own Caretaker President David Granger. We might just be living in the “Age of Bullshit”.

The blurb to Frankfurt’s slim book summarises the concept of “bullshit”: He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit Ravi Dev need not be untrue at all.

Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms (like in our rum-shop gyaafs), excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity, to tell the truth in a way that lying does not.

“Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true.

By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are”. This last feature of bullshit is what makes bullshit so dangerous: very soon truth becomes irrelevant.

Let us look at the utterances of David Granger ever since he was parachuted into the leadership of the PNC in 2011. Bullshitters just want to show they have the answer to whatever they’re asked, or whatever subject comes up.

It doesn’t matter they are later shown to be “wrong” – what matters as is that “his people” believed them when they spoke. Bullshitters are basically speaking to those with similar mindsets who then are predisposed to accept their claims.

Let us consider the Cummingsburg Accord which was signed and announced by APNU and the AFC rather floridly on Valentine’s Day 2015. Granger agreed that if they were to win the elections, he would have his Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, chair the Cabinet and handle “governance” matters. When they did, in fact, win – on the back on the AFC Indian Guyanese voted they snagged from the PPP in Berbice – Granger exclaimed, “Ooops!! I didn’t realise the Constitution doesn’t permit that.” Now we all know this was pure, unadulterated bullshit since there was no Damascene epiphany needed to have opened up Granger’s eyes to constitutional interpretation.

Then think of the APNU/AFC manifesto back in 2015. They had been in Opposition for three years and controlled Parliament with access to all the necessary information – financial and otherwise – in real-time through their membership in the Sectoral Committees and their parliamentary majority. What else but bullshit in the Frankfurtian sense when they yet promised government workers “substantial salary increases” and later claimed they had no money? And we can follow through with all the other promises such as “Constitutional Change” or a “Code of Conduct” for Ministers. These were not lies: they simply had to tell the people something on these issues that they could get away with because the latter were predisposed to believing them.

Finally, there is the No-Confidence Motion and its dénouement. The morning after the vote of Dec 21, 2018, this was the release by the DPI: “Gov’t will abide by constitutional requirements following No-Confidence Motion, President Granger: President David Granger, this morning, said the Government of Guyana, following the passing of the NoConfidence Motion last night in the National Assembly, will abide by the stipulations which have been imposed on it”.

So what else but bullshit was it when, as President, due to a 33-32 majority in the National Assembly, he suddenly announces that 33 was not a majority in the 33-32 vote.

What made his bullshit worse, was that Granger could not care less about the consequences of his denial of a critical rule of parliamentary democratic rule: the NCM. He made his supporters declare a vote of conscience as an “Act of Judas”.

Tomorrow Guyanese can stop the bullshit.

ocal shipping company, John Fernandes Limited, will stand the cost for repairs of the Mayor and City Council’s abattoir, which was partially destroyed after a crane belonging to the firm toppled and crashed into the facility.

On Thursday at about 14:50h, the crane crashed into the roof of the abattoir, destroying several parts of the building and resulting in its closure.

When contacted, Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine told Guyana Times that the firm has agreed to stand the expenses for repairing the damaged parts of the building.

“The damages, they have to repair the place. I met with them as well and we have a very smooth transaction going on…that’s a revenue base for us so they will have to compensate the city

A section of the abattoir’s damaged roof

and build it back,” he said.

The Mayor added that a report on the cost for the repairs on the building is expected to be presented soon by the City Engineering Department.

The M&CC has since stated that the roof, walls, and windows of the kitch-

en area in the abattoir were damaged along with the roof of the slaughtering chambers.

According to the City Council, the Meat and Food Inspectors would be engaged in onsite inspections on the usual slaughtering days, which are Mondays,

Wednesdays, and Fridays at another section of the abattoir.

Unsure when the facility will be back to normal operations, M&CC apologised for any inconveniences the business community might be faced with as a result of the situation.

12 NEWS

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Irfaan Ali vows equal development for all Guyanese ...Linden, Essequibo to get universities ...PPP/C only party with track record of true development – Mark Phillips

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ith the aim of creating more opportunities for Guyanese, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic is expanding its educational platform to include two new online campuses of the University of Guyana (UG) in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) and Essequibo, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

This was announced by the party’s Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali, on Saturday during its massive final rally at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.

In the party’s final rally ahead of Monday’s polling day, Ali rallied Guyanese to be true to their conscience by voting for the party that will ensure a better future for everyone.

“This is not about race, not about ethnicity [but] this is about our future, this is about our country, this is about a better Guyana. And all of us must have a dream of leaving a better Guyana for our children and those who will come after us. This is an opportunity for us to leave that better Guyana; this is an

rally that many party supporters were swayed by the “sweet talks” in 2015 but afterwards, they were met with disappointment.

Rubber stamp

A section of the thousands of supporters on Saturday

ing trust and national unity, restoring constitutional

sector work again by bringing back those jobs, by giving

PPP/C Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali and PM Candidate retired Brigadier Mark Phillips share a photo moment at the conclusion of the Party’s campaign

opportunity for us to seal our part in removing dictatorship and returning democracy. Let us not fail our conscience, let us not fail our national duty.

Let us turn out on March 2 and seal the deal by voting for the People’s Progressive Party,” he declared to loud cheers from the crowd.

Guyanese sent on the breadline

According to the PPP/C Presidential Candidate, these elections are too important for the party to take for granted after the assault that was meted out to the people of Guyana over the past five years.

To this end, he noted that the PPP/C has a plan to build a better Guyana for everyone and ask for support so that they can fix the country by returning jobs to the thousands who were placed on the breadline by the incumbent coalition and giving to those who were neglected, rebuild-

rule and democracy, putting back money in the pockets of Guyanese that was taken out by the coalition through the hundreds of burdensome taxes, expanding infrastructure and transforming the economy as well as improving social services and welfare, among other things.

“We’ve seen many of our brothers and sisters sent to the breadline. More than 60 per cent of the dredges that were operating in 2015 are no longer operating today. In the forestry sector, more than 1200 persons have lost their jobs directly or indirectly. In the sugar sector, more than 10,000 have been affected and lost their jobs. The same can be said for rice and the Government’s response has been nothing. We are going to fix this on March 2 when you vote for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic. We have to make our productive

New online campuses

In fact, the PPP/C Presidential Candidate went on to outline that another area the party will ensure widespread benefits for all Guyanese is education.

“Every Guyanese can look forward, without hesitation, to a future in which their educational aspirations will be and must be realised because we are pursuing a programme that will deliver free university education to every Guyanese. And in delivering online education, we’ve committed to the establishment of online campuses, and two of those campuses will be in Linden, Region 10 and Essequibo, Region Two. Every Guyanese will be touched by the education programme of this party,” he posited.

This, he noted, is added to the party’s plans of providing 20,000 online scholarships.

Further, the PPP/C will be investing in technical education programmes in order to build capacity among Guyanese so

that more engineers and doctors are grown locally, Ali stated.

Additionally, he said the party will also be working to place young people in enterprises and provide them with the tools and start-up capital they need.

These, according to the Presidential Candidate, are among the PPP/C’s host of measures to enhance the lives of all Guyanese.

“The journey has been long… you’ve weathered the storm and you’re now closer to shore… Relook at your conscience, make the right choice… We are moving forward on a platform of diversity, progress for prosperity, a commitment for dignity, opportunity for all, building a stronger Guyana together.

Hope, inspiration, vision with clarity – we leave here with a commitment to working together for a better Guyana…”

Ali stressed.

Meanwhile, PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, said at Saturday’s

them incentives, by recapitalising them, by removing the burdensome taxes and help them to get back to work and back to production,” Ali contended.

He further pointed out that these plans will not only be for PPP/C supporters but for all Guyanese.

According to Ali, everyone will benefit from the 50,000 jobs and house lots the party will be creating if it gets into office and even its social services benefits.

“After March 2, all Guyanese must be winners and will be winners… There will be no APNU/AFC line and PPP/C line… there will be one line – the Guyanese line…,” he asserted.

Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali shares a photo with a supporter

“Remember Moses [Nagamootoo] came and he talk about parting the Red Sea… but the Red Sea has risen now. We have our Red Sea that has risen again and with this raising Red Sea, Moses is caught in a riptide.

He’s drowning,” he noted.

To this end, Phillips pointed out that that unlike the incumbent PM, if elected will not be a rubber stamp. “[Incumbent President David Granger] went on a radio show [on Friday] and he said in the next five years if he is re-elected, the Prime Minister will get more powers. But little did he know, he was talking about giving more powers to Mark Phillips. You know why… because he made Moses a rubber stamp but I will not be a rubber stamp…,” the PPP/C PM Candidate asserted.

According to Phillips, he will be supporting the Presidential Candidate to carry out the party’s transformational development in Guyana.

“We will see a lot of innovations in Guyana and we will have visionary leadership from [Ali] in Guyana.

And I will be there working with all the Ministers and all the leaders in the PPP/C Government to come right into your towns and villages, and lead the development of you,” he stated.

The PM Candidate went on to note that the PPP/C is and has always been a people-centred party and this is reflected in its manifesto, which contains a host of measures aimed at enhancing the lives of Guyanese.

“Our manifesto is the document that you have to look at, that you have to study, that you have to judge us by because after March 2, there will be five years of development [under the PPP/C] and then we will come back and ask for another five years of development,” he stated.

Phillips continued that instead of giving Guyanese the “good life” as promised in 2015, the coalition gave a “bitter life” – something which the PPP/C will reverse should it get into office following Monday’s elections.

“The PPP/C is the only party with a track record of true development in Guyana, and that track record was even development throughout Guyana and for all of Guyanese... This Government is telling you that they’re the better Government, that they’re good for you but comrades, they had their time, it is our time now… to move forward with the PPP/C,” the PM Candidate said to the massive crowd at Lusignan on Saturday.

NEWS

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

T&T soca, Jamaican reggae artistes headline APNU/AFC final rally …as Granger continues ‘good life’ promise

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he coalition nation— as they were called— turned out at D’ Urban Park, Georgetown on Saturday evening as T&T soca artiste Farmer Nappy and Jamaican reggae artiste Christopher Martin took the stage for the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) final rally of the 2020 elections campaign.

Head of State, President David Granger—the coalition’s Presidential Candidate—in yet another promise of the ‘good life’ has this time around opted to fund the initiative using moneys from Guyana’s newly discovered offshore oil reserves.

Taking to the stage amidst fireworks and confetti, Granger, in making a case for a return to office following Monday’s poll, told supporters: “We have a plan, programmes to put money in people’s pockets so that they have more money to spend”.

The profits from the oil revenue, according to Granger, “will provide you with the good life,” he insisted.

While not presenting any specifics, the Granger told supporters that many of the coalition’s plans for development are not, in fact, new and that many are in fact roll over programmes to be continued, should the coalition be re-elected.

Delivering a largely lacklustre speech punctuated by catchphrases that were well received by the crowd, the President at one point had to plead with the massive audience for applause—many by this time appeared disinter-

ested in his presentation.

During his time at the podium, the President pointed to a Regional Development Plan which has already seen the establishment of a number of new towns, which he insists has begun transformation at those locales.

He spoke too of a Human Development Plan and a Regional Action Plan for Public Security in addition to the hinterland development plan.

The President—completely ignoring any of the nine smaller parties in the race on Monday—told supporters that the competition was between “David and Irfaan”.

Reference to the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Presidential Candidate Dr Irfaan Ali and himself.

Of note is the fact that while the President did acknowledge Ali as the Opposition’s Presidential Candidate, the brunt of his verbal jousts was targeting the party’s General Secretary.

Such was the nature of attacks against former President Bharrat Jagdeo, that Granger blamed him for the 2005 floods, which flood 70,000 homes.

Granger insists that the flood was not an act of God but was a direct result of the actions of Jagdeo.

Granger even accused the late Cheddi Jagan of being responsible for the cyanide spill in the Essequibo River

by Omai Gold Mines that disrupted the lives of thousands along the river banks.

The president told the gathering that the PPP/C did not release a manifesto.

Trinidadian soca artiste Farmer Nappy performing at D’Urban Park while President David and First Lady Sandra Granger along with other party officials look on

However, the PPP released a 56 page manifesto during its campaign.

Prime Ministerial Candidate for the coalition, whose presentation pre-empted Granger’s, was accompanied to the stage with a campaign rendition of “Bring the Johnny Walker” and he too used the occasion to repeat promises of a ‘good life’.

According to Ramjattan, however, experiencing the ‘good life’ will take some time.

The prime ministerial hopeful insists that Government is keen on transforming the infrastructure of the country in addition to ensuring that Guyana becomes an educated state.

Unlike previous rallies held in Guyana, the coalition instead opted to cut short the speeches and D’Urban Park

appeared to be more of a party atmosphere.

The evening activities got underway at 17:00h with Director of Culture Christopher Jones moderating that aspect of the event which saw just over an hour of cultural presentations, even as delegations from each of the 10 administrative regions.

The activities got underway with a calypso rendition by Clayton Hinds “De Journalist”.

Local performers were G-Money, entertainer “Alabama”, “Jah Cure”; Pastor Jean Corbin-Roberts and Cherlyn Maloney among others.

Trinidad soca artiste Farmer Nappy closed off the

formal part of the evening’s activity at the close of President Granger’s speech amidst fireworks and confetti.

The evening also featured an after-rally music bonanza featuring Farmer Nappy in addition to Jamaican artiste, Christopher Martin.

14 NEWS

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

General and Regional Elections

Over 10,000 Guyanese to vote in tents countrywide

…49 polling stations to be located in tents …31 in Region 4 alone

Threats and impacts of single-use plastics (SUP)

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he Guyana Elections C o m m i s s i o n (GECOM) has released its official list of polling places ahead of Monday’s poll, showing among other things that over 10,000 electors will vote in tents on Elections Day. This is according to the list, which shows that there is a total of 49 polling stations that are slated to be housed in tents in almost every region. They are mostly delineated according to their alpha range or the names of electors listed. In district four alone, particularly on the East Coast corridor that uses Coldingen as the office, there are over 40 such stations.

For instance, in district four, Coldingen, there are polling stations under tents in the MMC Parking Lot (Alpha range A-L), which will host 353 electors and another tent with an Alpha range of M-Z, where 384 electors will vote.

In the Good Hope Nursery School compound, there are four polling stations set up in tents. This includes one with an Alpha range of A-M where 479 will vote; another with an Alpha range N-Z, where 419 will vote; a third one with an Alpha range of A-N, where 322 will vote and a final one with an Alpha range of O-Y, where 308 will vote.

There will also be tents in the Melanie playfield, which will contain a polling station catering for Alpha range A-F, where 348 will vote; a station in Alpha range G-M, where 310 will vote and one with an Alpha range of N-Y, where 416 will vote.

In the Paradise Playfield, there will be a tent with a polling station for those

I

A field opposite Windsor Estate is scheduled to be one of over 40 locations where persons will vote under tents on Election Day

whose Alpha range is A-W, where 476 will vote; one with an Alpha range A-W, where 506 will vote; one with an Alpha range A-Y, where 356 will vote and one where 43 will vote.

There are two polling stations situated in tents in the Enterprise Gardens Playground, where there will be 391 and 405 electors voting. Meanwhile, in track A Coldingen Playground, 348 electors will vote under a tent, while a second polling station will service electors in the Alpha range M-Z, totalling 340 electors.

Other stations

Along the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) corridor, the tents opposite Windsor Estate, where 162 electors are scheduled to vote, and Perseverance, where 354 electors are scheduled to vote, are in place.

However, Eccles residents have already expressed concern over the tent opposite the Windsor Estate. When this publica-

tion had visited the location, the location was a large plot of unprepared land which residents informed is used for grazing cows. There is no direct passageway from the road to the intended site since it is separated by a trench devoid of any bridge.

To access the site, one must either jump the weed-choked trench or walk some distance around down a red loam pathway.

Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Chairman Hafeez Hack had been adamant in his belief during an interview that in choosing that location, the intent was to frustrate voters.

In district seven, Bartica has a number of polling stations in tents, including two in Skull Point servicing 10 electors. Meanwhile, District 8 (Paramakatoi) contains tents in Aquafria (Alpha range A-G), which services five electors, and Chenapau mouth (Alpha range A-X), which services 87 electors.

District seven (Kamarang) has a single tent that services 15 electors, while in the case of Mahdia, Region Eight, GECOM set up a tent at the Kuratoka Landing, for one single elector. In district nine (Lethem), there is a tent at Moco Moco settlement, (seven electors), Marakanata Ranch (15 electors), Dadanawa ranch (31 electors) and Marudi, (50 electors).

GECOM’s decision to use tents for the upcoming General and Regional elections on Monday has come with some criticism. The decision came about because of GECOM’s avoidance of the use of private buildings as polling places.

Since it was announced that GECOM would be cutting down on the number of polling places and specifi-

cally, private residences, the prevailing concern has been that instead of GECOM facilitating a smooth and easy process, the Secretariat’s decisions will make voting so difficult for voters that they will stay home.

With all the contention that has led up to this point, the elections are expected to be watched intently by a number of international observers and technical advisors in the country to oversee the process. It is the first time that the European Union will be deploying a fully-fledged team of observers on the ground for Guyana’s elections.

The Carter Center is also involved, with it being announced that former Prime Minister of Senegal, Aminata Touré and Chairperson of The Carter Center Board of Trustees, Jason J Carter (the grandson of former US President Jimmy Carter) will co-lead the Carter Center’s international election observation mission in Guyana.

Other overseas-based observers expected to participate in overseeing the election include teams from the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

GECOM is also getting assistance from a number of technical advisors who were provided by other countries and international organisations. Canada, for instance, is providing GECOM with Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a Canadian elections expert.

The Commonwealth is also providing the services of its senior technical advisor, Dr Afari Gyan, who arrived in Guyana last month.

In addition, Dr Syed Nasim Zaidi, an elections advisor from India, has also joined the team.

n a world of convenience, many persons use plastic straws, plastic cups, plastic spoons, forks, knives, plastic food containers, plastic bags or plastic bottles on a daily basis. More often than not, these items are disposed of after just a few minutes of being in use. Have you ever thought about what happens after they are disposed of? I guess you have an idea because you see them sometimes in the drains or on the road or in garbage heaps. Are you aware that the single-use plastics we discard don’t simply disappear when they are thrown out? Rather, they persist in the environment for a very long time; in most cases, hundreds of years.

These “single-use” plastic items account for more than 7000 tons of solid waste discarded annually at the Haggs Bosch Landfill according to the Mayor and City Council 2016 statistical data. Each year, about 8.8 million tons of the world’s discarded plastic flow into the ocean.

While it is an indisputable fact that plastics play an important role in our economy and daily lives, the way they are currently produced, used and discarded harms the environment; it has created one of the greatest environmental challenges of our generation. Now we see the consequences of our irresponsible use, improper waste management, limited recycling, and disregard for the environment and ecosystems.

Plastics are non-biodegradable Whether plastic is discarded in landfills or in the environment, it can take hundreds of years to decompose, and this is the key issue: synthetic materials such as plastics contain chemicals which are designed to make them take longer to decay. A plastic fork used for 15 minutes can take 450 years or more to decompose. What makes it even more challenging is the combination of plastic with other materials and the various types. The main differentiation is: 1. Macro-plastics such as bags, cigarette filters, bottles, caps, food containers, straws are the most visible form of plastic pollution.

2. Micro-plastics are the bits smaller than one-fifth of an inch.

SUPs and wildlife World Wildlife Day will be celebrated on March 3, 2020, under the theme “Sustaining all life on Earth”. It is a time to celebrate the immense value of wildlife and to take stock of our unsustainable practices which are accelerating biodiversity loss. Further, the United Nations has estimated nearly a quarter of all species are presently at risk of going extinct in the coming decades if we don’t take action. Guyana has a myriad of species which are crucial to sustaining life on Earth and in joining the fight against biodiversity loss, the country has made significant strides; however, much more still has to be done. The proposed ban on some single-use plastics items in 2021 is one further step to protect our wildlife and the environment.

Impacts on wildlife and the environment One of the most appalling single-use plastics facts is that 91% of the plastic is not recycled. Rather, it’s burnt, sent to landfill, or makes its way into our waterways and eventually the ocean. On land, plastic waste pollutes the water, clogs our drains, contributes to flooding, and make us vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases, endangers wildlife, consumed by animals like cows, goats and pigs, making its way into our food chain and puts human health at risk.

Birds usually confuse shreds of plastic bags for food and end up eating the toxic debris. Plastics that are discarded in the ocean are consumed by fish, ultimately transferring it up the food chain to marine mammals and eventually, to humans. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims that a person could be consuming 5 grams of plastic a week. Plastic kills an estimated 1 million sea birds every year and affects around 700 species which get infected by ingesting plastics.

So let’s remember plastic never goes away, plastic affects human health, plastic spoils our ecosystem, plastic attracts other pollutants, plastic threatens wildlife, and plastic poisons our food chain. Join us in our series of articles as we continue to examine SUP and some of the sustainable alternatives.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O Communications Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at eit.epaguyana@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O Communications Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@gmail. com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

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Business confidence and economic progress

Diabetic retinopathy dubbed new “thief of sight” – Ophthalmologist According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, when the blood glucose level remains high for a long period of time, it can damage tiny blood vessels at the back of the eyes.

“This damage can begin during prediabetes when blood glucose is higher than normal, but not

F

iscal policy is generally constrained by the need to build or restore confidence in the sustainability of public debt and, with short-term interest rates close to zero, the effectiveness of monetary policy to stimulate growth is reaching its limits. The question arises, henceforth: can policymakers do anything to improve the short-term economic outlook? Some have argued that deregulation will help stimulate business activity. Though this is likely to be correct in the long run, it may not have much effect in a severely demand-deficient environment. Researchers argue that a powerful instrument to restore growth is clear and credible policy to encourage investment in welfare-enhancing activities that need public support to be commercially viable.

The low-carbon and wider ‘green’ sector is taken as an exemplar field for this. Standard macroeconomics and the economics of market failure tell us that the best time to support investment in such activities is during a protracted economic slowdown.

Resource costs are low and the potential to crowd out alternative investment and employment is small. In addition, although public budgets are stretched, there is no shortage either of private capital available for investment or of investment opportunities with potential for profitable returns.

The most appropriate area for Government to target is investment that the private sector would otherwise underprovide or not provide at all. That is, sectors prone to so-called market failures, missing markets and externalities. It is argued in this policy brief that policies to encourage low-carbon investment offer broad and effective opportunities to restore confidence and to leverage additional, rather than displaced, investment.

The private sector is not heavily investing in green innovation and infrastructure because of a lack of confidence in future returns. The lack of confidence in this policy-driven sector is due to uncertainties surrounding current energy and environment policy. It is argued here that governments should incentivise such investment by themselves taking on elements of this policy risk.

Because the public sector ‘controls’ this risk, there is a lot it can do to encourage investment. This should be seen as an opportunity.

By backing their own low-carbon policies, governments can stimulate additional net private sector investment, and thereby make a significant contribution to economic growth and employment.

Contextualising business confidence – the case of Guyana: examples Extending on the arguments put forward in last week’s column, the Finance Minister boasted on the point that the new hotels that are being built, are all driven by private investments and not public investment – referring implicitly to the Marriott Hotel that was built by the previous Administration using public finance.

It is important to understand that stimulating confidence in an economy has little or nothing to do with the kind of economic policies being administered, because if confidence is lacking, then people would not spend, and firms would not invest if confidence is dim about the future survivability of the ventures.

For this reason, the actions of governments play a vital role in stimulating confidence which must go beyond policies and incentives. In the case of the Marriott project, for example, that was an important project particularly geared towards stimulating confidence in the economy on the simple notion that, if foreign investors do not want to invest in such a project, where there is a need for a top international branded hotel in Guyana, and the local investors also do not want to make such investments, owing lack of confidence and capital constraints, then it makes sense for the government to do the bold thing and undertake the investment.

Fast forward to today, that was a worthy investment which would now yield, conservatively, ten times return on investment should the Government put up its shares for sale – which it should do.

Proponents would argue, however, that governments should not get involved in business. This is even further reinforced with arguments where it is evidenced that business cases such as the old GNCB bank, GuySuCo, and almost every State-controlled enterprise in the history of Guyana failed. This columnist also subscribes to this view, but in the case of the Marriott project, because it involved an international brand, the project largely succeeded because though the Government virtually owned the entity, they did not get involved in the management of the entity.

The entity was, in fact, and still is, governed and managed by industry professionals of international calibre. Hence, this is one of the reasons why it is also a success today – apart from being part of a strategic national development plan that was developed since 1996.

This argument is also applicable in the Berbice bridge investment which was the first of its kind, public-private partnership. The reasons for the mess that the entity found itself in today was deliberated in previous articles in this column.

(The author is an experienced macro-finance and research analyst, Lecturer and Business & Finance 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).

GPHC Ophthalmology Department Head, Dr Shailendra Sugrim

D

iabetic Retinopathy has now been making waves as a condition which latently causes vision loss among the population, making it as much as a significant concern as glaucoma.

Head of the O p h t h a l m o l o g y Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr Shailendra Sugrim, on Friday shared that it is one of those growing conditions that seriously affect eyesight and regarded as the new “thief of sight”. When a patient is suffering from diabetes, there is a chance that this complication could develop.

“Diabetes is a major public health issue all over the world. The complications and issues of diabetes extend silently to our eyes. Glaucoma has always been called the silent thief of sight. Now we have a new thief of sight, that is, diabetic retinopathy,” Dr Sugrim indicated.

He shared that in recent years, the hospital has been active in tackling eye diseases which are known to cause visual impairment or blindness. Nevertheless, it is a topic which should be addressed.

“Over the past three years, the Department of Ophthalmology at GPHC has been championing the cause of diabetic-related eye diseases due to permanent cause of visual impairment and blindness…

It’s a very important topic that we need to address.

In 2016, the Georgetown Public Hospital initiated for the first time, Diabetic Eye Screening through the Guyana Diabetes Care Project which was funded by the World Diabetes Foundation,” the Ophthalmologist said.

He added, “The eye department of the Georgetown Public Hospital is the first main local player that helped developed the eye

component that led to hospital introducing for the first time in the private system, laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy. Prior to this project, diabetic patients had to resort to private institutions to access laser treatment.”

Diabetic Retinopathy is caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue of the retina, located at the back of the eye. Symptoms may include blurred vision or transparent spots and dark strings that float in the field of vision.

The condition can develop in anyone who has types one or two diabetes. But the longer a patient is suffering from diabetes coupled with less controlled blood sugar presents a greater chance of developing this complication.

high enough for you to be diagnosed with diabetes.

Damaged blood vessels may leak fluid and cause swelling. New, weak blood vessels may also begin to grow. These blood vessels can bleed into the middle part of the eye, lead to scarring, or cause dangerously high pressure inside your eye”.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

Around the World

US and Taliban sign troop withdrawal deal; now comes the hard part

T

he United States signed a deal with Taliban insurgents on Saturday that could pave the way toward a full withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan and represent a step toward ending the 18-year-war in the nation.

But while the agreement creates a path for the United States to gradually pull out of its longest war, many expect the talks to come between the Afghan sides may be much more complicated.

The deal was signed in the Qatari capital Doha by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on hand to witness the ceremony.

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper called the accord a good step but just the beginning.

The United States said it is committed to reducing the number of its troops in Afghanistan to 8600 — from the current 13,000 — within 135 days of signing the deal, and working with its allies to proportionally reduce the number of coalition forces in Afghanistan over that period, if the Taliban adhere to their commitments.

A full withdrawal of all US and coalition forces would occur within 14 months of the deal getting signed, if the Taliban hold up their end of the deal, the joint statement said.

The Afghan Government

COVID-19: Oil prices, jobs slashed as global coronavirus spread continues

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, signs an agreement with Zalmay Khalilzad, US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, at a signing agreement ceremony between members of Afghanistan’s Taliban and the US in Doha, Qatar February 29, 2020

said it stood ready to negotiate and conclude a ceasefire with the Taliban, and it affirmed its support for the phased with-

drawal of US and coalition forces subject to the Taliban’s fulfilment of its commitments.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Guinea-Bissau crisis deepens with two rival Presidents and Prime Ministers

G

uinea-Bissau had two Presidents and two Prime Ministers as of Saturday, after Umaro Cissoko Embalo, the inaugurated winner of December’s election, swore in a new premier, but Parliament appointed a rival interim President.

The flurry of clashing appointments adds to the confusion that has reigned since the Dec 29 presidential runoff in the small West African country.

It is unclear how the situation could develop. But the appointments suggest a continuation of the institutional chaos of the past five years, when then-President Jose Mario Vaz cycled through seven different Prime Ministers during a series of political disputes.

Further instability will weigh on the economy, which

despite annual growth of around 5 per cent is already hostage to the volatile price of cashew nuts that are the main income source for over two-thirds of households.

Embalo, whom the electoral commission has repeatedly confirmed as the winner, was sworn in on Thursday.

But the runner-up Domingos Simoes Pereira, whose PAIGC party holds the most seats in Parliament, said the inauguration was illegitimate as the Supreme Court was still considering his party’s request to annul the vote over alleged irregularities.

Late on Friday, lawmakers voted to appoint Parliament Leader Cipriano Cassama as interim President with those in favour arguing that Embalo’s presidency was unlawful.

Guinea-Bissau’s newly-elected President Umaro Cissoko Embalo raises his arm during his swearing-in ceremony in Bissau, Guinea Bissau February 27, 2020

The same evening Embalo issued a decree to sack Prime Minister and PAIGC veteran Aristides Gomes and his Government. On Saturday,

he swore in former presidential opponent Nuno Nabiam as his new Prime Minister.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Luxembourg becomes 1st country to make public transport free

L

uxembourg abolished fares for trains, trams and buses on Saturday in what the Government said was a bid to tackle road congestion and pollution, as well as supporting low earners.

All standard-class journeys on public transport in the tiny and wealthy European country are now free of charge, compared to an annual pass worth 440 euros (US$485) before. Travellers can still pay

for first-class, at a cost of 660 euros a year.

“For people with low incomes or the minimum wage, for them it’s really substantial,” Transport Minister Francois Bausch told Reuters.

“The main reason is to have a better quality of mobility, and then the side reason is clearly also environmental issues.”

Luxembourg has just over 600,000 inhabitants, but

214,000 more travel in for work every day from neighbouring Germany, Belgium and France, causing heavy traffic jams as the majority of workers commute by car. More than half of Luxembourg’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transport.

To cope with the many commuters, Luxembourg plans to invest 3.9 billion euros in railways from 2018-28, upgrade the bus network and

add more park-and-ride sites on the border.

Despite these investments, the Government expects 65 per cent of commuters to still get to work by car in 2025, down from 73 per cent in 2017. Luxembourg is the first country to roll out free transport, but some cities, including Estonian capital Tallinn, have also experimented with the idea. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Coronavirus: NASA images show China pollution clear amid slowdown

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atellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is “at least partly” due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency Nasa said.

Nasa maps show how levels of nitrogen dioxide have fallen this year, and compared to the same period in 2019.

It comes amid record declines in China’s factory activity as manufacturers stop work in a bid to contain the virus.

China has nearly 80,000 cases.

The virus has spread to more than 50 countries but the vast majority of infections and deaths are in China, where the virus originated late last year.

OILNEWS

Nasa scientists said the reduction in levels of nitrogen dioxide - a noxious gas emitted by motor vehicles and industrial facilities - was first apparent near the source of the outbreak in Wuhan city but then spread across the country.

The space agency noted that the decline in air pollution levels coincided with the restriction imposed on trans-

portation and business activities, and as millions of people went into quarantine.

Nasa noted that China’s Lunar New Year celebrations in late January and early February have been linked to decreases in pollution levels in the past. But it said they normally increase once the celebrations are over.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

W

ith the viral outbreak spreading to more countries, the price of oil has dropped precipitously as global demand weakens even further.

That has sent shares tumbling for oil giants like Exxon and Chevron while smaller producers with idling rigs continue to slash jobs.

Hundreds of new cases of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease have been announced in recent days outside of China. The list of countries touched by the illness has climbed to nearly 60 as Mexico, Belarus, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Iceland and the Netherlands reported their first cases. More than 85,000 people worldwide have contracted the illness, with deaths topping 2900.

Oil industry analysts fear that what they thought was a contained disruption may instead lead to more travel restrictions and even less oil consumed.

Oil prices fell dramatically in mid-February, but had been steadily climbing back as the number of new cases of the virus in China slowed. In the last week, however, reports of the spreading virus knocked prices down. The benchmark for US crude oil fell 16 per cent during the week, settling Friday at US$44.76 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 14 per cent for the week to its lowest levels since July 2017, closing Friday at US$50.52 a barrel.

Meanwhile, shares of Exxon Mobil tumbled to US$49.82 on Thursday, reaching a 15-year low, before rebounding more than 3 per cent on Friday. Chevron Corp shares hit their lowest level in nearly four years on Friday.

The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia is pushing for deep cuts in oil production to help stabilise prices in the face of falling demand. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the talks, said the Saudis propose to bear most of the brunt of a cutback of 1 million barrels per day but want Russia and other big producers to join them. Representatives of OPEC and allies like Russia plan to meet this week.

If demand for oil and the price of a barrel continues to fall, that may result in lower gasoline prices — a potential bright side for consumers, who account for about 70 per cent of US economic activity.

Gasoline prices have been fluctuating in recent weeks, but nothing significant that could be attributed to the coronavirus, said Jeanette Casselano, Director of Public Relations at AAA. Prices tend to rise for the summer driving season, but the effects of coronavirus on the price of oil could mitigate that.

Lower prices at the pump, however, aren’t necessarily good for the US economy overall. When energy prices fall, energy companies tend to cut back on investment and jobs.

A freefall in gasoline prices led to a sharp drop in US business investment in 2016, for instance — one reason the country’s economic growth slowed to 1.6 per cent that year from 2.9 per cent in 2015.

When the coronavirus first hit, the Energy Information Administration predicted global oil demand would fall to 100.3 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2020, down about 900,000 barrels, or 1 per cent, from what was estimated in January. The agency said it expects global oil demand to rise by 1 million barrels per day in 2020, which is lower than its growth prediction last month of 1.3 million barrels per day this year.

Those numbers were released in mid-February, before the number of reported cases outside of China began to rise significantly, so analysts expect estimates to get worse.

On Monday, ING head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson said he expects travel restrictions and factory shutdowns caused by coronavirus to shave 400,000 barrels a day from global consumption growth, which would take the industry to its lowest level of consumption in a decade.

The financial situation was deteriorating for the oil industry long before the coronavirus hit. Demand for oil was suppressed by ongoing trade tensions with China, concerns about climate change, growing adoption of renewable energy sources and steadily improving energy efficiency.

In the US, many oil and gas producers were already struggling under the financial pressure of low prices, caused in part by oversupply as companies figured out how to produce oil and gas more cheaply than ever before. In the past five years, 208 oil producers have filed for bankruptcy protection after racking up approximately US$121.7 billion in debt, according to law firm Haynes and Boone.

The strain has especially hurt smaller producers that relied on debt and an expectation of higher prices to repay their loans.

In Texas, the number of active rigs fell from 553 in October 2018 to 398 in January 2020. Around the same time, the oil industry in Texas shed about 14,000 jobs, said Karr Ingham, executive Vice President at the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, which has about 2600 members.

It’s hard to know how long the outbreak will continue, and just how deeply the industry will feel the impacts. Many of the countries reporting significant numbers of new coronavirus cases are also large energy consumers, said Kevin Book, Managing Director of Clearview Energy Partners. (Excerpt from Global News)

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

Fun Times

19

Archie

ARIES Look at the pros and cons (March 21- of any situation before you April 19) sign up for something that may not be good for you. Be realistic and make realistic plans.

Do your best to make TAURUS things happen. Live up to (April 20- your word and make the May 20) world a better place. Keep life simple, live a healthy lifestyle and abide by the rules.

You’ll come up against GEMINI someone who doesn’t play (MAY 28- fair. Don’t let your emotions June 20) get the better of you, or you will end up doing something that gets you in trouble.

Iron out any differences you have with someone before (June 21- matters escalate. Observe July 22) what’s going on around you.

Use information and experience to outmaneuver anyone who gets in your way.

CANCER

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Don’t make a fuss, or you will lose ground. The best way to get what you want is to offer incentives and to use your Leo charm.

A change may be in order, but that doesn’t mean you should take a risk.

Responsible action will get you much further than will trusting in something that isn’t a sure thing

Nurture meaningful relaLIBRA tionships, but don’t give in to (Sept. 23unrealistic demands. Agree Oct. 23) to changes that will help balance responsibilities equally, to avoid anyone from feeling used.

Peanuts

SCORPIO Travel, get together with (Oct. 24- old friends or make an adNov. 22) justment to your current lifestyle. The sky is the limit, and the changes made will lead to more significant opportunities.

Stick close to home, proSAGITTARIUS tect your possessions and (Nov. 23your meaningful relationDec. 21) ships, and stay away from people who cause emotional distress or meddle in your affairs.

Romance will improve your life.

Be careful how you handle CAPRICORN delicate situations involving rel(Dec. 22- atives. Be a good listener, keep Jan. 19) the information you receive to yourself and take better care of your body. Choose fitness over indulgent behavior.

Calvin and Hobbes

Make changes to the way AQUARIUS you handle your cash. Go (Jan. 20- over your bank statements, Feb. 19) look for a way to cut corners, and adopt a lifestyle that is less taxing and more minimal.

PISCES Fix whatever isn’t work(Feb. 20- ing for you. Set rules, boundMar. 20) aries and goals. If you mix individuality with discipline and precision, you will achieve positive results. Take action and make a difference.

20

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

PPP/C, KSM Investments Inc donate $500,000 in sports gear to St Cuthbert’s Sports Club

Mahadeo Panchu, owner of KSM Investments Inc

T

he St Cuthbert’s Sports Club, having taken the initiative to develop sporting activities under the leadership of village sports counsellor and club chairman Timothy Andrews, approached the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and KSM Investments Inc with information about their initiative.

They soon discovered that these entities share their vision and, in furtherance thereof, donated a quantity of sporting gear to the club to the total value of $500,000.

In conversation with Club Chairman Timothy Andrews, it was related to this publication that the project was birthed a few months ago, when the owner of KSM Investments Inc, Mahadeo Panchu, and a team from the PPP/C visited St Cuthbert’s Mission and were able to see the talent resident there. Discussion followed, and a promise was made to support the club with sports gear.

The promises made were kept, and the result is that there was handed over to the club sporting gear that included top-of-the-line equipment for cricket, volleyball, and football activities valued at $500,000.

Panchu has posited that the team would ensure that youths are included in their plans amidst the neglect currently being faced under the incumbent coalition administration. In the future, the team would ensure that the younger generation, especially those from the community, are afforded opportunities.

The team anticipates that, come March 2, 2020, the community would support the PPP/C with their vote, so that when that party gets

Chairman of the St Cuthbert’s Sports Club, Village Sports Counsellor Timothy Andrews

into power, it would better be able to correct the situation of community neglect.

In expressing his views on the timely donation, Andrews said, “Well, I feel overjoyed, for the youths couldn’t ask for a better time than this. It comes just at the perfect time, when we now are starting the under-15 and under-17 cricket programmes, and when our senior team is developing into a team to be reckoned with, but have no sort of gears.

“We are a community that has a lot of potential in

Some of the sports gear that were donated

sports such as cricket, football, volleyball and athletics, but (we) have no sort of proper gear. Youths want to be involved (in sporting activities), and now, with this donation, we have something to draw them in, so that all sports disciplines in the village can benefit.”

Track Cycling World Championships…

British rider Matt Walls claims bronze in the Omnium

G

reat Britain’s Matt Walls has won his first World Championship medal: a bronze in the Men’s Omnium.

The 21-year-old finished on 117 points, behind champion Benjamin Thomas of France and the Netherlands’ JanWillem van Schip. Walls’ medal represents GB’s third medal of the championships, being held in Berlin.

“There’s a lot to learn. I’ll go away, improve on it; and hopefully, if I’m selected for Tokyo, it’ll be a gold!” Walls told BBC Sport.

Walls finished second in the opening race of the Omnium the scratch race - gaining a lap alongside Thomas, who also won the Omnium World title in 2017.

After the tempo and elimination races, Walls was fifth going into the concluding points race, but the 20 points added to his total from gaining a lap propelled him on to the podium.

“It wasn’t easy! I came into the points race in fifth, after having a shocker in the elimination and tempo races; so I was a bit far down,” Walls explained.

“But I knew (that) if it went my way, I could get a

Andrews elaborated that, with the system and programme that are currently in place, the sports club is endeavouring to get involved in things that can only get better going forward.

He said that as the village sports counsellor and sports club chairman, he has personally

seen the positive changes that sports make in people’s lives, and the discipline sports bring.

Andrews had this parting remark: “If we have discipline, then we have cooperation; and once we have cooperation, we have love, which is unity; and that’s what sports is all about.”

Djokovic breezes past Tsitsipas to claim fifth Dubai title

Britain’s Matt Walls, right, was fifth going into the concluding points race in the Men’s Omnium

medal, and it did. This is a topclass field. There are at least 10 riders that could win on a good day.”

Earlier on Saturday, Elinor Barker and Neah Evans finished sixth in the Madison, after Evans was involved in a heavy crash.

The 29-year-old was caught in the midst of an American changeover, and was sent crashing onto the Berlin boards with 22 laps to go.

The Madison has been added to the Women’s Olympic Track Cycling programme for the first time for Tokyo 2020.

“It’s sad!” Evans told BBC Sport. “It’s mad! It’s carnage!

It’s the Madison! It wasn’t the best of days racing, (but) in the long run, it will be beneficial for us. There’s a lot to reflect on, and one thing we do well is analyse; and come the Olympics, hopefully, it will be a very different story for us.”

Barker, who won ‘team pursuit’ gold at the 2016 Olympics, added: “We weren’t

prepared for this kind of race.

The races from last two years have been almost exclusively won by sprints and having that top-end speed, and we were not expecting it to be so splintered; so that was interesting.”

More positives than negatives Jason Kenny missed out on the sprint quarter-finals, an event in which he has won gold at the last two Olympics, after being knocked out in the last 16

by Germany’s Stefan Botticher.

Team-mate Jack Carlin, who finished fourth in Thursday’s Keirin final, was eliminated in the previous round.

Struggling with an ankle injury sustained during his semifinal, the 22-year-old was beaten

by Malaysia’s Muhammad Sahrom.

Kenny, Britain’s joint most successful Olympian, said: “It was a good day really, in a way.

We had a good quality ride, it’s a big step forward for us. It doesn’t seem like such a ridiculous gap

in front of us now to the front, which is always nice. (Botticher] just rode better than I did today.

“It’s a shame not to get a bit further, get a bit more racing in.

That’s what we’re missing at the moment, but there are more positives than negatives.”

In the women’s individual pursuit, Josie Knight finished 12th on her World Championship debut, having shaved off five seconds from her personal best.

The United States’ Chloe Dygert won gold, twice breaking the world record to set a new best of 3:16.937 with victory over Germany’s Lisa Brennauer.

It marked the 23-year-old’s second world title of the week, after also being part of the USA’s team pursuit-winning quartet.

“I had a goal time I wanted to hit, and I didn’t,” she told BBC Sport. “At the beginning of the year, I wanted to get a 3:15 or 3:16; but then, being here, I wanted to get a 3:14.” (BBC. COM)

Tennis - ATP 500 - Dubai Tennis Championships - Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

W

orld number one Novak Djokovic eased past Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the Dubai Tennis Championships to lift his fifth title on Saturday and extend his unbeaten start to the 2020 season.

Both players looked solid on serve early in the opening set, before Djokovic turned the screw to break in the eighth game with a searing crosscourt backhand winner.

The Serb closed out the set and continued to press home his advantage with another break of serve early in the second.

Tsitsipas fought back to draw level at 3-3, but went on to commit a string of unforced errors and concede two break points in the ninth game.

Djokovic surprised his opponent with a wonderfully disguised drop shot to take the lead, before sealing victory on the first of his three championship points with a backhand winner down the line.

“It was very close, even though it was a straight-set win,” said Djokovic, who also won the Dubai titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. “I was fortunate to hold my serve at the start of the match.”

Djokovic has now won 21 straight matches, including 18 this season, having already lifted the inaugural ATP Cup with Serbia and a record-extending eighth Australian Open title last month. (Reuters)

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

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21

Golden Jaguars’ journey to Gold Cup qualification…

Maximo trims international players from national team …U-20 players to occupy spots

M

arcio Maximo, head coach of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars, the senior men’s national football team, has declared his intention to select less than 10 internationally-based players for this team ahead of their engagement against Barbados in the Gold Cup qualification matches.

This announcement came while President Wayne Forde and other executive members of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) were celebrating the quite impressive achievements of the Under-20 side in their recently concluded campaign in Nicaragua.

Maximo disclosed that the number of international players in the senior men’s team is expected to decrease, while the number of local players, specifically from the Under-20 level, would increase, as he seeks to further develop local football. Further, the 13 Under-20 players being cele-

brated would have opportunity to graduate into the senior team.

“We’ll field eight international players only; no more 18, like (had obtained) before. Because now we should develop our local players, especially our youth players, because we’ll do two jobs (at) the same time. You should compete, but you also should develop; you should keep the balance between the two things,” Maximo explained.

Clarifying why the decision was made to bring in the younger local players at such a crucial stage of their Gold Cup qualification journey, Maximo explained that the intention is to boost local football.

“Six of them were with us before, and with the new players for Under-20, seven more of them (have) come in, so those six helped the other seven. But I’m very happy, because we should improve their mentality to professional mentality; to grow their ambition to go some-

Head Coach of the Guyana Jaguars, Marcio Maximo, in discussion with the U20 national players

where; to improve the local leagues too,” Maximo declared.

He also explained that members of the local arm of the senior men’s national team have been in training since January, and they have been extremely committed.

The international players are expected to join the locals in Barbados on March 23, three days before their engagement, in order for the team to get some comprehensive team training.

“We’re training (regu-

larly), we never give up; it’s intense! And now, with the Under-20s as well coming from a nice competition in Nicaragua (and) joining the senior team, we’re training harder: tactical, technical, physical, psychological, and hope that (we can) change the mentality for a good game against Barbados.

We have full concentration for this game,” Maximo revealed.

This Head Coach has asserted his confidence in the national team. He noted that if they remain committed,

they can walk away with a victory against Barbados.

“We know that it’s difficult, Barbados is a good team; but we are sure (that) if we maintain this commitment (and) the concentration that the guys are showing now, they have a great chance to go up,” Maximo expressed.

The Golden Jaguars will oppose Barbados on the latter team’s home turf on March 26, before meeting them again at the Leonora Track and Field Facility in Guyana on March 31st.

Forbes Burnham Memorial Table Tennis Championships…

“Hit It For 50” schools’ windball cricket competition…

UG, East R/veldt, Mae’s, Developments make Charlestown record wins national coach proud

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Those who participated pose at the end of the tournament

T

The UG Trojans won their games convincingly

D

uring the course of the week, action in the “Hit It For 50” schools’ windball cricket competition produced notable wins for the University of Guyana; and East Ruimveldt, Mae’s and Charlestown Secondary schools, among others, in the male and female categories being contested at the National Gymnasium.

Mae’s Secondary battled East Ruimveldt Secondary in a one-sided female affair in which Mae’s were able to post 123 without loss. Christine Ramdial led with 82 (6x9), and Tillaya Madramootoo supported with 30.

East Ruimveldt, however, made light work of the total, ending on 126 without loss, with Yosonda Hoppie contributing 36.

The University of Guyana Trojans played in two matches, in the first of which they posted 138. Replying, L’Aventure Secondary could muster only 87-1, of which Sarah Hughes scored 24. In their second show-

down, the Trojans posted 148-1, of which Akaze Thompson contributed 97 runs that included 10 sixes. In reply, a struggling Charlestown could post only 57-3, with Shania Maglorie top-scoring with 30.

In the final match of the female category, Camille’s Academy posted 112-2, with Stacy Flores contributing 82(6x14). Charlestown responded with 113-0, Althea Barnwell with 56 and Donna Lowe with 43 making light work of the total.

In the male category, The Business School’s commanding total of 1063 was mainly due to Jeffrey Blair top-scoring with 64. In reply, Mae’s Secondary raced to 107-0 to win their encounter, Vikash Seeram with 56 and Rickesh Singh with 45 being the chief destroyers.

The final match in the male category saw East Ruimveldt posting 78-1, as Ranaldo Baldeo produced 30 runs.

Charlestown responded with 80-0, as Myhien Khan top- scored with 48.

he annual Forbes Burnham Memorial Table Tennis Championships, which have recently been concluded, have seen Elishaba Johnson, Orin Hickerson and Narren Persaud emerge champions in the respective categories in which they contested.

And National Coach Linden Johnson, declaring himself proud of the results, has deemed the tournament a major success.

In a conversation with Guyana Times Sport, Johnson said: “This annual competition, right from inception, has been a remarkable one, and will continue to be (so). it was a successful event, with over 100 participants taking part and trying their skills to win the ultimate prize of being crowned champion.

“I would say there are a lot of participants involved in the game now, which is better than when the competition first started. It has given all players an opportunity to come together to find leisure outside schools and work places, and (to find) ease of tension.

“I commend the sponsor for putting an idea as this into action, and they keep getting better at it every year. I would urge more female players to get involved, because I feel this competition is more open for participants, male and female.

“We had great matches between the

players, with no one giving the other an inch, and (everyone) always trying to gain an advantage.”

In the Open Singles category, Hickerson defeated Elishaba Johnson 4-1 in the finale, while Jonathan Van Lange and Nigel Bryan emerged joint third-place winners.

In the 21 years old Open Singles, the Johnson-Van Lange showdown continued; and although the young Van Lange never stood a chance, he gave it his all, even though Johnson was able to win 4-1.

A similar result was obtained in the ‘B Class’ singles, wherein Johnson again defeated Van Lange.

In the ‘C Class’ finale, Narren Persaud emerged overall winner, after defeating Umar Percival 3-2.

In remarks made at conclusion of this tournament, Coach Johnson said, “Everybody was very satisfied with the way the event was organized and the manner in which the matches took place: with every competitor getting an almost fair opportunity to win the event.

Ultimately, there had to be only one champion.

“I would (like to) take this opportunity to thank Mr. Vincent Alexander and the (Burnham) Foundation members for sponsoring this tournament.”

22

GUYANATIMESGY.COMOM

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

GCB/Bel Air Rubis U-17 Inter-County Tournament…

Demerara brush aside Essequibo to win consecutive U-17 titles Story and Photos By Brandon Corlette

T

he Demerara team completed a clean sweep in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Bel Air Rubis U-17 Inter-County Tournament to claim their second championship win at this level in as many years.

Demerara won by 34 runs against a spirited Essequibo team at GCC Bourda in the match which was witnessed by a colourful crowd.

Having won the toss, Demerara elected to bat first. Anthony Khan and Ajay Gainda added 30 runs together in 7.1 overs. Khan, who was trapped by Romal Hubbard made 15 from 20 balls.

Jaden Campbell, who played with urgency, had made a 10-ball 18 which

included four boundaries.

At 56-2, Mavindra Dindyal and Ginda joined forces and added 36 runs for the third wicket.

Ginda, who looked uncertain in his approach, was run out for a 51-ball 20 which included two fours.

The West Indies youth player and eventual player of the final, Dindyal, looked at his elegant best. He welcomed off-spinner Jarred Allicock with two classy fours, which were followed by an array of classical shots. Dindyal who was forward early, was caught and bowled by a Ryan Atkinson delivery that stopped in the pitch. The right-handed Dindyal made a shot-filled 40 from 45 balls, decorated with four boundaries and one six.

Demerara were 120-4 at that stage, and Essequibo

chipped away with wickets.

Despite some extras on offer by the Essequibo bowlers, they still picked up wickets.

Captain Zachary J o d a h was the n e x t man dismissed, at 1345, after scoring 12 from 29 balls.

Demerara then lost their final five wickets for 34 runs, closing the innings on 168 all out in 41.2 overs.

GFF to use new buses for ATC programme

T

he Guyana Football Federation (GFF) have one less thing to worry about, after acquiring two new minibuses through the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) assistance programme.

The pair of buses were commissioned on Friday afternoon at the GFF’s Campbelville office in the presence of President Wayne Forde; UEFA’s Head of International Relations, Eva Pasquier; CONCACAF’s Senior Project Manager Howard Mc Intosh, and other local football stakeholders.

In commissioning the vehicles, Forde spoke of the positive relationship existing between the GFF and UEFA, and explained how such ventures augur well for the Federation on an international front.

“The commissioning of these two buses today is a watershed moment for the GFF, and is symbolic of our International Relations Strategy, which continues to bode well for the reputation of the Guyana Football Federation and Guyana as a football nation.

“These strategic partnerships are essential to our quest to acquire badly-needed football development resources, along with technical and administration capacity,” Forde stated.

Forde went on to specify areas in which the buses will be utilized. These all align with the GFF’s projects and agenda.

“These buses will contribute to significant savings to the operation of the GFF Academy Training Centre (ATC) programme, which will allow us to fully implement the next phases of this groundbreaking National

at

Leon Cecil, Mahendra Gopilall and Mavindra Dindyal

Aryan Persaud finished with 3-27, while Atkinson grabbed 3-33 in 10 overs.

Hubbard ended with 2-28 in four overs.

In response, Essequibo reached 15-1 at lunch.

Essequibo were reduced to 53-4, but Ronaldo Scouten came and entertained Bourda with his big hitting.

The left-handed Scouten, who comes from a rich cricketing family, struck four

huge sixes in his colourful knock of 34 from 30 balls.

Nicko Vincent made 19, while captain Persaud made seven from 46 balls.

In the bowling department for Demerara, Rudranauth Kissoon claimed 4-25 in his 10 overs of off-spin, while Alvin Mohabir had 2-19 in 10 overs.

Meanwhile, in the match

Everest, Berbice Trophy Stall U-17 Team won by eight wickets.

After Guyana Select U-15 Team had won the toss, they were bowled out for 97 after Leon Cecil sprung surprises with his off-spin. He ended with impressive figures of 6-14 in in 9.3 overs, including a hat trick.

Jonathan Rampersaud ended with 3-23 in 10 overs in a dominant display by the Berbice lads.

Nicholas Sheopersaud top-scored with 27 for Select U-15s.

In reply, first round half-centurion Mahendra Gopilall led Berbice Trophy Stall U-17s reply by scoring a 53-ball 54. He slammed eight fours in his impressive innings.

Hemendra Gordyal made an unbeaten 30 from 54 balls, which included four boundaries as Berbice ended on 98-2 in 21.4 overs.

Milo Secondary Schools Football Tournament…

Annandale thrash East R/veldt 10-2 GFF President, Wayne Forde, takes a photo opportunity with the buses. Technical Director Ian Greenwood and Rayan Farias are with him

Youth Development Structure,” he revealed.

Forde also expressed his gratitude to UEFA for their timely and generous gesture.

“These buses were donated by UEFA, and I am so humbled and grateful for this kind gesture. I would therefore like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Aleksander Ceferin, President of UEFA, for his generous contribution to the Development of Guyana’s Football,” Forde said.

“I wish to also thank Ms. Eva Pasquier and Mr. Howard Mc Intosh for working closely with me over the past year to consolidate the bilateral partnership between the GFF and UEFA,” Forde went on to state.

UEFA’s Eva Pasquier shared that the football body is happy to play a part in the development of Guyana’s football.

“UEFA Assist Programme is proud to support Guyana Football Federation in their continuous effort to develop football in the country. When we learned that there are young players walking for hours to

play the game and then they walk back, the provision of the mini-buses is just a perfect thing to do (in) bringing people and football together,” Pasquier noted.

One CONCACAF and Caribbean Senior Project Manager, Howard Mc Intosh, spoke highly of the GFF in expressing his elation that they will have another resource at their disposal.

“CONCACAF is proud to facilitate any collaborative efforts in the region to assist in the development of the beautiful game. This gift will help the GFF to continue its many programs, which have yielded success for the GFF and Guyana,” Pasquier noted.

UEFA Assist, which was set up in 2017, provides support for the other confederations and their member associations in four specific areas: capacity building (football and operations); development of youth football; infrastructure projects; and helping UEFA’s member associations to create cooperation programmes with associations from outside of Europe.

…St Joseph bag win

S

t. Joseph High, Annandale Secondary and Lodge Secondary are the latest winners in the Milo Schools Under-18 Football tournament following action on Saturday afternoon.

St. Joseph High bagged the first three points of the day when they came up against South Ruimveldt Secondary at the Ministry of Education Ground on Carifesta Avenue.

Good potential was obvious as these teams played to a deadlocked first half, but St. Joseph’s Khalil Gittens took things to another level the moment the second segment began when he found the back of the net for the first goal of the game, scored in the 36th minute of play.

His teammate Jaheim Cox made it two for St Joseph’s in the 43rd minute; but Godfrey Weekes staged a comeback for South when he struck their lone goal in the 46th minute. He, however, could not pull off the feat, and the game ended with a 2-1 score.

With the return of lightning forward Omari Glasgow, Annandale Secondary bounced back to their high scoring ways with a commanding 10-2 victory over East Ruimveldt Secondary.

This win followed their narrow 2-0 victory last week.

Goal-scorers of the Annandale Secondary

Glasgow opened the scoring in the 16th minute, but two minutes later, East Ruimveldt’s Ezekiel Waldron equalized, showing the powerhouse Annandale that they were up for the fight. Annandale’s Jerome Harrigon and Tyrice Dennis then netted in the 24th and 29th minutes respectively, while East Ruimveldt’s Keion Marques had his moment of glory in the 35th for a 3-2 score by half time. The once exhilarating encounter became a one-sided affair in the second half, as Annandale silenced their opponents and took aim at the goal. Glasgow completed his hat trick with goals in the 41st and 55th minutes, while Harrigon and Dennis each finished off their brace with goals in the 62nd and 58th minutes respectively.

Rickey Deputron and Colin Henriques each scored a goal, in the 43rd and 56th minutes respectively, for Annandale’s 10. The final encounter of the day saw 2018 runners-up Lodge Secondary wrapped in a 2-2 draw with Carmel Secondary.

Osafo Jackson (52nd) and Curt Edwards (65th) were the scorers for Lodge, while Lonsdale Amsterdam was the star for Carmel with goals in the 42nd and 50th minutes.

Action in the Milo Tournament will continue today with three more games.

St. John’s College will take on Golden Grove Secondary; the Bishops’ High will battle Tucville Secondary; then Queenstown Secondary and Central High School will lock horns in the final encounter of the day.

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

23

CWI PCL Regional 4-Day Championships…

Permaul bags 8-fer as Jaguars SCOREBOARD celebrate early win

V

eerasamm y Permaul continued his brilliant season by claiming 8-16 in 11.4 overs, which included three maidens as Guyana Jaguars roared to a seven-wicket win on the third day of the sixth-round clash in Jamaica against the Scorpions.

Jaguars resumed the day on 287-6, with a lead of 71 runs. Vishaul Singh, who was on 93, was stumped on the same score.

Singh made his 93 from 173 balls, which included seven fours. After Singh’s significant score, Kevin Sinclair made 29 from 75 balls, as Jaguars were bowled out for 304 runs.

Scorpions trailed by 88 runs when the second innings commenced, but Permaul showed his class to demolish the Scorpions to 111 all out. Despite Permaul’s eight-wicket haul, Test batsman John Campbelle stood tall with a brilliant 66 from 77 balls, which included six fours.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul b Williams 8 Chanderpaul Hemraj c Blackwood b Harty 82 Leon Johnson st Smith b Bulli 35 Vishaul Singh st Smith b Merchant 93 Christopher Barnwell c Campbell b Harty 0 Raymon Reifer c Mindley b Bulli 16 Anthony Bramble c Bonner b Bulli 25 Kevin Sinclair c Smith b Mindley 29 Veerasammy Permaul lbw b Mindley 0 Nial Smith c Williams b Mindley 6 Keon Joseph not out 0 Total (10 wickets, 103.2) (10 extras) 304 Bowling Jamie Merchant (23-7-39-1) Patrick Harty (20-3-67-2) Marquino Mindley (23.2-268-3) Nicholson Gordon (0.5-0-6-0) Alwayne Williams (12.1-2-301) Dennis Bulli (20-1-84-3) Nkruma Bonner (3-0-4-0) Jermaine Blackwood (1-0-3-0)

Alwayne Williams made 18, as the opening Scorpions pair added 75 runs.

After that it was the Permaul Show, with Scorpions losing their final nine wickets for 36 runs.

Jaguars then required 24 runs for victory. In pursuit, they lost three wickets and ended on 24-3 in 8.4 overs, in a comprehensive seven-wicket win that was set up by the man they call ‘Gunnerz’, Permaul.

Scorpions Innings John Campbell c Johnson b Permaul 66 Alwayne Williams

b Permaul 18 Jermaine Blackwood c Sinclair b Permaul 6 Paul Palmer b Permaul 0 Nkruma Bonner b Permaul Denis Smith c Bramble b Permaul 2 Jamie Merchant c & b Permaul 1 Dennis Bulli b Sinclair 1 Marquino Mindley c Johnson b Permaul 6 Patrick Harty lbw b Sinclair 0 Nicholson Gordon not out 2 Total (10 wickets, 40.4) (0 extras) 111 Bowling Nial Smith (4-1-20-0) Keon Joseph (8-2-29-0) Kevin Sinclair (13-4-26-2) Raymon Reifer (4-0-18-0) Veerasammy Permaul (11.43-18-8) Jaguars 2nd Innings Tagenarine Chanderpaul lbw b Merchant Kevin Sinclair b Merchant Leon Johnson c Mindley b Merchant

2 9 2

Vishaul Singh not out 5 Christopher Barnwell not out 4 Total (3 wickets, 8.4) (2 extras) 24 Bowling Jamie Merchant (4.4-1-8-3) Patrick Harty (4-0-14-0)

Rattled Windies men seek consolation win…

Windies Women battle for semi-final spot

T

he West Indies men’s and women’s teams are currently doing battle against formidable opponents. The men’s squad, have already lost the three-match ODI Series 2-0, would look for a consolation win, while the women, having played two games and won one, will be looking for victory in their third game over England in order to book a semifinal spot in the Women’s T20 World Cup.

England women

England come into this game having comfortably beaten Pakistan by 42 runs on Friday to put them back on track for a semi-final spot, but they face a West Indian side that still have an out-

side chance of qualifying, so this is another must-win game for them.

Skipper Heather Knight led by example once again as she followed her century against Thailand with 62 against Pakistan, but the opening partnership remains a concern for the English team, so it would be no surprise if Tammy Beaumont is moved up the order here.

Amy Jones is likely to move down the order if Beaumont is moved up to open, but that is the only likely change, as they would surely retain the same eleven players for this next challenge against the Windies.

West Indies Women

West Indies were stunned

by Pakistan last time out, as they were restricted to a below par 124/7, and they failed to take wickets as Pakistan cantered to an unexpected victory. It was unquestionably their batting that cost them the game.

Hayley Matthews was out for a golden duck in that game, and that set the tone for the Windies uninspiring performance, while Deandra Dottin could manage only one run from ten balls. So the Windies need that duo to step up and perform much better against this strong England team.

Not enough of their players, outside of skipper Stafanie Taylor, are contributing right now, so there is every chance they could make one or two changes for this game to freshen the side, with Chinelle Henry and Chedean Nation possibly finding their places under threat.

The prediction

Both of these teams have suffered unexpected defeats already in this competition, so there is no margin for error for either side if they are to reach the semi-finals.

England come into this game with the greater confidence, after dominating Pakistan on Friday, while

the Windies looked fragile as they were beaten by the same opponent.

West Indies Men:

give an opportunity to some of the other players in the squad; and Lahiru Kamara is in pole position to come into the bowling attack.

Sri Lanka hammered the West Indies by a massive 161 runs in the second One-Day International on Wednesday.

After losing two wickets in the third over of their innings, they bounced back to post a stunning 345/8, which proved far more than the tourists could handle.

Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando put on an outstanding third-wicket stand of 239, with both scoring centuries at a run-a-ball or quicker, setting the platform for the total and, ultimately, the victory.

After sealing the series last time out, there is a chance that Sri Lanka will make a couple of changes, to

West Indies were comprehensively outplayed on Wednesday, despite winning the toss and taking two early wickets; but they contrived to concede 345 and they struggled to even come close to the lofty target set by the hosts.

Once again, Shai Hope was the only batsman to make a substantial innings, as he opened with another half century while those around him continued to struggle to build a significant innings, and the regular wickets prevented them from ever coming close in the run chase.

With nothing left to

Sri Lanka

West Indies

play for other than pride in this final One-Day International, they may decide to make a couple of rotations, so Brandon King, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd would all be hoping for a chance to impress.

The prediction

While the first match in this One-Day Series went down to the wire, the second was a complete blowout, as Sri Lanka dominated the tourists to seal the series.

That match was the third time in their last four meetings that Sri Lanka have scored 330 or more against the Windies, and they clearly enjoy playing against them.

They have now beaten them in eight of their last nine meetings, and have to be favoured to extend that superb record against a deflated Windies side.

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

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

CWI PCL Regional 4-Day Championships…

Pg 23

Pg 22

Milo Secondary Schools Football Tournament…

Annandale thrash East R/veldt 10-2

…St Joseph bag win

Permaul bags 8-fer as Jaguars celebrate early win

GCB/Bel Air Rubis U-17 Inter-County Tournament…

Pg 22

Demerara brush aside Essequibo to win consecutive U-17 titles 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.

March 1, 2020

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MARCH 1, 2020

Is this the end? Roger Caryll overlooking his plot last year

W

hile the plight of the 5700 sugar workers, who were unilaterally fired by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) just before Christmas of 2016 and Christmas of 2017 has finally percolated to the consciousness of the average Guyanese because of the added indignity of the Government refusing to pay their severance, an even more severe predicament has struck the more than 2000 workers along with private cane farmers at Wales, East Demerara Estates (Enmore/LBI), Rose Hall and Skeldon.

These workers had been employed for decades by the private cane farmers and are as dependent on the income from this source for their livelihood – meagre as it was – just as the cane workers employed by GuySuCo. Unfortunately, their working arrangements were much more informal since they were not covered by the union contracts negotiated by sugar unions. For instance, they are not eligible for any severance pay as that owing to the fired GuySuCo workers and therefore face a gloomier future.

The private farmers in and of themselves have made massive investments and at Wales contributed up to 40 per cent of the tonnage of cane when that estate was operating. The Government had promised since the closure at the end of 2016 to construct a road to transport farmers’ cane to Uitvlugt more than 20 miles away, but that never materialised. In the meantime, much of the cane has been abandoned by the farmers since it is not economical to ship the cane on the deplorable dams. The workers have obviously not been “required” and have not received any income in over a year.

Over at Skeldon, farmers were supposed to provide up to 30 per cent of the canes according to the original modernisation plan, but even though this was never realized, the acreage is still significant and the commensurate workforce, very large.

To keep Rose Hall active, private farmers as far away as East Bank Berbice, produced and shipped cane to the factories. The workers there are in the same boat as their colleagues at Wales.

On the East Coast of Demerara, the sugar lands behind many of the historic villages such as Buxton/ Friendship employed scores of workers on the plots cultivated by private cane farmers who shipped the cane to Enmore factory, now shuttered. While the Government has spent large sums of money to make some lands cultivable, they have refused to address the plight Forty-seven-year-old Leyland Bowman used to of these now redundant cane plant more than 7 acres of cane in the past farmers and workers. The workers say Government is digging a hole to fill another hole, but they have lost a bird in the hand.

Guyana Times spoke to these workers in each of the locales after a number of them approached it and their fears for their future was palpable. They are pleading that the politicians and trade unions also address their plight.

In May, Government announced plans to close the Enmore and Rose Hall Sugar Estates, sell the Skeldon Sugar Factory, reduce the annual production of sugar, and take on the responsibility of managing the drainage and irrigation services offered by GuySuCo. This move has seen some 4763 sugar workers being placed on the breadline.

There have been countrywide protest actions since the announcement, calling for the closures to be reversed as well as for the retrenched workers to be paid their full severance.

According to the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, redundant workers are to be paid severance upon termination of their employment. The law state, “On termination of his employment, an employee whose severance or redundancy has completed one year or more years of continuous employment with allowance, an employer shall be entitled to be paid by such employee a severance or redundancy allowance…”

However, the workers from Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon estates were dismissed on

guyanatimesgy.com

December 31, 2017, without being paid their severance.

After months of saying that there was no money to pay the displaced workers their entitled severance, President David Granger just over two weeks ago announced that some $2 billion has been earmarked to pay redundant sugar workers 50 per cent of their severance by the end of January, while the remaining monies will be paid in the second half of the year.

But this move came in for much criticism with stakeholders, including the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), saying it is a flaHesley Jacobs at his La Retraite farm. One of grant breach of the labour his sugarcane plots is in the distance laws. Government subsequently announced last week that those redundant workers entitled to $500,000 and less will receive their full severance.

On Friday last, various Government Ministers including Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo visited the now closed estates to address the fired workers and where met with protest at the three estates.

Financial, drainage, infrastructural challenges Guyana Times caught up with cane farmers who live at La Retraite, a village in the lower West Bank Demerara area. More than three year ago, these same farmers had expressed grave concern over the many uncertainties surrounding their venturing into production of alternative crops, as opposed to sugarcane cultivation.

Today, this level of uncertainty remains high, and the farmers have detailed a litany of financial, drainage and other infrastructural challenges associated with abandoning a crop which many had cultivated over the decades to begin producing crops which they have no experience cultivating.

Farmer Roger Caryll, whose family has been cultivating sugarcane for over 40 years, said he intends to leave sugar cultivation for rice cultivation, but hefty financial obligations have prevented him from progressing in this direction.

Caryll had suggested that Government perhaps shouldn’t bother to construct the route to Uitvlugt, but should instead allocate that money as subsidies to assist farmers to di-

versify to other crops.

Farmer Leyland Bowman, who formerly used to plant more than 7 acres of sugar cane, indicated that all his bananas and plantains have been affected by flying pests. Declaring that new crops such as bananas and plantains take much more time, money and effort to maintain, he described his situation as “rough”, adding that he has to shoulder the entire burden of maintaining and harvesting these crops as he can’t afford to hire any employees.

This 47-year old farmer who grew up in sugarcane cultivation highlighted that collapsed dams and water not draining off the land fast enough have led to episodes of flooding in his fields. This has also resulted in losses, and Bowman is appealing to the relevant authorities to look into rehabilitation of the canals.

The road linking West Bank Demerara communities to Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara is yet to be constructed. Wales estate ceased accepting cane from private farmers in midDecember 2016, earlier than the intended date, and this had caused much losses for cane farmers. GuySuCo, also, abandoned most of the sugar cane it had under its control.-

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 1, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine

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Feature

Sugar estates closure tragedy…

Melissa Sinclair and her children in front of their house

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magine how you would feel if your child or a random pieces of wood when he received his wages from the estate child comes to you and asks for something to eat and you and would construct piece by piece his Lot 65 Number 77 cannot provide that, just imagine. Your stomach would Housing Scheme, Corentyne home but now he cannot even begin churning and that overwhelming feeling of sadness do that since he would work a maximum of four days per would encompass you, right? Well, that is exactly what Eon week.

Collymore and his wife Melissa Sinclair go through almost The single door leading to the building at the end of a every day of the week. ladder is still to be constructed. Collymore cannot raise the Collymore, 35, and his 25-year-old wife are parents to money to build a door for his house. Food is the number one four very young children and were wounded by the fall of priority for his family. the sugar industry. Three of the seven days of the week “I bought some cheap wood from the sawmill just to start the couple’s children; ages one, three, five and eight-year- this house,” Collymore told Guyana Times. old, would go to bed with very little or nothing to eat. They He said it is not only recently that life has become hardwould wake during the night and er in the Corentyne, but rathask their mother for something to er stated that it started about eat but would eventually have to rea decade ago, slowly intensisort to drinking a cup of water and fying with the closing of the return to bed. estates, thus crippling the The duo was employed at the Berbice economy. The man, Skeldon Sugar Estate but were who says he feels defeated, handed the dreaded redundancy letsaid he would leave his family ters in December 2017.

– vulnerable to elements and They pondered their next move bandits – for days and go to in what they described as a dead various villages seeking emeconomy and are still pondering ployment but would often retheir next move some 10 months turn home with little or nothlater. Collymore was employed at ing at all. the estate as a cane harvester for 16 “I does work all over. years, while Sinclair worked in the Sometimes I does be at the fertiliser gang for a few years. sawmill and sometimes by the Now the family goes days withkoker with a man and help out food and live in a house which is Avanish Singh with his brother and four children him to bring out wallaba pickhalfway completed after the dreams ets. of building their own home were shattered mid-construcSometimes I gone and fetch up the coast but right now tion. Collymore took a small loan to start construction of the paddy work get stiff because they bring in grain carts. their home and shortly after, his service at the estate was Since the estate close down, sometimes you catch day work, severed. sometimes you ain’t catch nothing,” the dejected man said.

So far, he has received half of his severance package and Sinclair said she used to operate a small mobile confecthat would have gone directly to the bank to pay for the tionary business but since the estate’s closure, that business loan. Construction on the house is now stalled as the father became even tougher resulting in her shutting up shop. Now works odd daily jobs to provide food on the table – a task, he she sits at home wondering when her dreams of owning a says, he is failing at miserably. proper home would come through.

Two of the four window openings to the 10 by 22-foot Because of their dire situation, Sinclair would quite ofwooden structure have old zinc sheets nailed to seal them. ten beg her pensioner mother for food for the children.

The other two window spaces have curtains on them with “Sometimes we eat salt and rice. That is how we survive. no added protection. Inside the building is a mattress and a Sometimes my children wake up in the night hungry and all kerosene stove. Some of the boards on the floor have miss- I can do is cry. Right now, I need a lot of help. I am punishing parts and a sheet of plywood covers them. The situation ing a lot, because it isn’t easy to raise four children without is so dire that the man cannot afford to construct a door at a job,” she said was tears settled in the eyes. the back of the building.

The children remain in school after being away from He explained that initially he would purchase a few the first week and then went with slippers on their feet.

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ver since the Wales Sugar Estate closed – leaving thousands of workers without jobs, many of their children are now forced to find odd jobs around the community to offset expenses for their schooling.

During a visit to the village, parents who were sent home from the sugar industry indicated that it was very difficult to send their children to school, owing to transportation expenses and other supplementary spending for textbooks and studying materials.

One parent, who gave her name as Urmila, stated that since her husband was dismissed, her 14-year-old son has been working in the afternoon to earn some extra money.

“When he come home from school, he does do some extra work round here, and then Saturday and Sunday, he does find a lil’ work to do – mason or anything that he could manage. Right now, he father does only work sometimes ‘cause not every time people does get work. He used to go over at Uitvlugt a couple morning but then they tell him that they don’t have anything,” she indicated.

She further added, “When we get, we does give him, but not all times his father doe get work. When he don’t get, we got to use the money that we save up until he work again.”

Meanwhile, a few houses away, an elderly man named Chotoo (only name) told Guyana Times that his son was retrenched and he has been supporting his grandson’s schooling.

“He got to travel to go to school in Canal

Number Two. He got to pay about $300 a day travelling plus little money for a snack, so if it wasn’t for me, he would have got to drop out from school,” the elderly man relayed.

Meanwhile, other young teenagers have resorted to selling ‘bird seeds’ and produce from their families’ kitchen gardens to offset educational expenses. Thousands of dismissed sugar workers are finding great difficulty in securing alternative jobs following their retrenchment. In early November of 2018, the National Assembly gave approval for almost $2.5 billion to cater for the remaining severance to 4723 sugar workers, and Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln had also ruled in favour of the ex-employees, saying that they should be paid with interest in the range of four to six per cent.

It took the court over a year to initially hear the Wales severance matter after the workers, their families, union and other supporters were protesting for their legally-entitled benefits. Aside from Wales Estate closing in December 2017, the closures of Skeldon, Rose Hall and Enmore were all finalised as part of Government’s cost-cutting measures. The latter three were later reopened under small operations as part of the Administration’s move to attract private investors. In recent times, hundreds of acres at Wales were leased to a company for coconut cultivation and processing despite Government’s promises of opening up the land to the retrenched workers for

However, neighbours have assisted the children with school shoes.

Additionally, when the Government decided that they should downsize the sugar industry and ignore the advice of the multimillion-dollar Commission of Inquiry into the state of the sector, they did not put a plan in place to cater for those who were rendered jobless.

Those, particularly, feeling the brunt of the closure are the men and women in Berbice. Because of the limited economic opportunities in the country, the majority of the workers are yet to find jobs – 10 months later.

Avinash Singh, 31; and his 33-year-old brother are two such persons, who are still battling desperately to find employment so that they can send their children to school, take care of their families and provide assistance to their 66-year-old father, who has limited mobility. They both lost their jobs at the Skeldon Estate in December of 2017 when they were made redundant.

But like a story out of a gloomy book, the brothers are now dependent on their father to take care of himself as well as their families. The family survives on his $19,500 per month pension.

The brothers live with their father at Number 76 Village, Corentyne, in a small house. The family shares the living room and verandah to sleep. Two chairs decorate the living room, which also acts as the dining room at mealtime. The kitchen has one table on which the stove and all the other kitchen utensils rest. The house is kept clean, but it is the television which the children are forced to view in place of lunch and sometimes also for dinner that keeps them going.

Avinash’s day entails cooking, cleaning and taking care of the four children – ages four, six, seven and eight years old. He said his elder brother would have attempted joining the fishing industry but because of the high incidence of pirate attacks, he left.

Both he and his brother are separated from their wives.

“Without a job and without money and have a family to look after, certain times you does get frustrated and you could do anything to get money because you don’t want to wake up in the night and your kids tell you that they are hungry and you don’t have anything to give them,” he said.

“It is hard to send the kids at school because of no job and don’t have money and when the kids go to school, the teachers always get something that they want money… My father does get pension and he does buy the month grocery fo we from he pension money. My father supporting we right now with he pension because we don’t have a job right now,” Avinash said. (Reprinted from September 30, 2018 edition of the Guyana Times)

farming.

Only on Saturday, most of the sacked workers related that they were still struggling to find jobs, awaiting the promise that they would be granted the plantation lands as assured. Some said that they were disappointed and dismissed the possibility that they would ever get land after hearing that a large portion was already “given away”.

In 2017, the workers were promised by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government that lands from the Estate would be given to them to engage in farming and other agricultural activities to earn a living. Two years later, these lands have not been distributed to the former sugar workers and hundreds of acres have now been leased to private persons, including recently, 700 acres for coconut cultivation and processing.

The Wales Estate on the West Bank of Demerara was one of four – Enmore Estate in Demerara, and Rose Hall and Skeldon in Berbice— which were closed under the current Administration, leaving thousands jobless. (Reprinted from November 18, 2019 edition of the Guyana Times) APNU-AFC removes $10,000 cash grant to school children When the A Partnership for National Unity-Alliance For Change (APNU-AFC) one of this first cutbacks they implemented was the arbitral removal of the $10,000 cash

grant to school children as well as the budgetary allocation for the University of Guyana’s Student Loan Scheme.

The cash grant was implemented by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government and since its removal, the party has been advocating for it to be reinstated.

Back in 2015 the Party, in a statement, said “This grant along with other visionary initiatives implemented by the PPP/Civic government, including the School Uniform Voucher and the National School Feeding Programmes, has proven to be instrumental in improving attendance.”

It added that “The PPP/C believes if the Granger Administration wants to truly achieve this year’s theme of ‘Quality Education Leadership: Improving Schools from within’, then it must create the right environment.”

The programme started by the PPP Government in 2014 was intended to be increased annually so that by 2020 it would have been $50,000 per child.

In five years, more than $10B was taken away from ordinary working-class families, assuming that the amount had remained $10,000 per child throughout the five years.

The PPP has declared emphatically, if returned to office, it would resume the cash grant programme and lift the sum to $50,000 per child, not with oil money.

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MARCH 1, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

ROCKY ROAD TO ELECTIONS 2020…

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he road to General and Regional Elections has been a rocky and tortuous one that began on December 21, 2018, after the Opposition PPPC”s Noconfidence motion was successfully passed on a 33-majority vote in support and 32 against and elections were constitutionally triggered within three months by March 21, 2019.

Directly afterwards, in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and Chairperson of APNU vowed that the Government would comply with the constitution and hold elections within 3 months as stipulated by Art 106 (6). The following day, the President concurred.

However, in a volte face on December 30, 2018, the Attorney Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo in Parliament General of the Government that was appointed on a majority of 33 seats to the Opposition’s 32, suddenly announced the Speaker erred in validating the NCM vote: a 34 majority instead of 33.

Secondly, he also claimed that the dual citizenship of AFC MP Charrandas Persaud invalidated the vote. In a subsequent sitting of the National Assembly, the Gov’t unsuccessfully sought the Speaker’s approval to reconsider his decision.

They then mounted a challenge in the High Court, but by the end of January 2019, the Chief Justice ruled that the NCM was validly passed. The Government appealed that judgement, and on March 21, 2019, in a split decision, the Appeal Court overturned the ruling of the High Court, stating that the NCM was invalidly passed because it needed a 34 majority.

The Opposition then appealed the Appellate Court’s decision to the CCJ, which ruled on June 18, 2019, that the NCM was validly passed and elections ought to have been held three months thereafter. The Government was now in a Caretaker mode and constitutionally the President and his Cabinet should have resigned.

By then, three months had been frittered away from March 21, 2019 when elections should have been held.

GECOM Hurdles

This delaying strategy would now be extended by the Caretaker Government through the machinations of President David Granger, who created a second prong by turning the Constitution on its head when insisting that GECOM’s readiness would determine when he would schedule elections, rather than he setting the date.

He set the stage for this maneuver in October 2017, when he violated the constitution by unilaterally appointing Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson as GECOM Chair. The Opposition challenged the legality of this appointment GECOM's Cheif Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield all the way to the CCJ, which considered the issue in tandem with the related NCM challenge. After the NCM in December 2018, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, had assured elections could be held within three months.

This was supported legal counsel Ms Excellence that the voters’ list could be prepared within three months.

However, the Special Counsel informed the CCJ that GECOM wouldn’t be ready until December 24, 2019. The CCJ informed him this would violate the three month period for elections which, following their validation of the NCM, was now September 18, 2019.

The CCJ ruled that Patterson’s appointment was illegal, and he resigned but not before he unilaterally issued an order in June 11 2019 for new House to GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander House Registration to create a new NRR from which the PLE would be extracted.

Questions of the credibility of the extant voter’s list had been raised, by Granger on March 18, 2019 when he claimed it was bloated by some 200,000 persons. Before he resigned, Patterson claimed GECOM would be ready for elections by November 2019.

Without the support of the Opposition Commissioners and bereft of a Chair, the GECOM Secretariat unilaterally launched the H2H exercise on July 20, 2019 to end on October 20, 2019, without PPP scrutineers being present.

Justice Claudette Singh was then appointed in July 26, 2019 as the new GECOM Chair, but not before more delaying drama by Granger who insisted he could submit names, along with the Opposition Leader, for himself to consider.

At the time of the NCM, GECOM had successfully held Local Government elections and the voters’ list for that elections had no issues for the Political parties. The Chief

Elections Officer, publicly refuted Granger’s “bloating” claim, stating on July 23, 2019, he never so advised the President.

The new Chairperson, Justice Singh, following court rulings, then aborted the H2H exercises on August 31, 2019 with some 300,000 persons registered. But rather than simply reverting to the status quo ante with the Voters list from the LGE be subjected to a Claims and Objections process, she decided to also merge the data from the HTH exercise with the existing NRR. After a lengthy process to code, compare and verify the new data, it was found that there were only some 16,000 new registrants covered by the $3.5Billion exercise. By September 2019, GECOM announced its readiness for elections will by end of Speaker of the National Assembly Barton Scotland February 2020. The Claims and objections period started in October 2019 for 42 days. The OLE ended up with 663,365 names, which was greater than the original list that Granger claimed was “bloated”.

The President then issued the proclamation on September 18, 2019 announcing March 02, 2020 as the date for the holding of elections. He later dissolved the National Assembly on December 30, 2019.

– Attorney General Basil Williams

Fettering the exercise of the franchise

While the Opposition and the people of Guyana had resigned themselves with the consolation that at least elections would be finally held, they did not expect that new hurdles would be created. This time, once again, by the GECOM Secretariat abetted by Chairwoman of GECOM, Claudette Singh. This time, the obstacles would fetter the fundamental right of the sovereign Guyanese people to actually exercise their franchise freely.

According to the PPP Commissioners in GECOM, they consented to a list of polling places in January 2020. However a month later, on Feb 20 GECOM issued a new list of Polling Places (and of Polling Stations which are in those Polling Places) which was not approved by the Commission as a whole but unilaterally announced.

The Opposition discovered that the number of Polling Places has been severely decreased even though the number 2,339 polling stations in 2020, an increase of 40 from the 2015 elections. GECOM, only then revealed that they were not using private houses as Polling Places, but only governmental and other public places. When confronted as to the rationale for the change, the GECOM Chair claimed this had been a recommendation from the Carter Center. But it was pointed out that other recommendations had been made by the group without any response.

The PPP pointed out that in principle they had no problem with this concept but there should have been arrangements made to ensure that ensure than voters would not be burdened or even hindered in casting their votes. The present arrangement would create grave logistical challenges for affected voters, since in most cases the alternative Polling Places are very far from the original and they may be unwilling to traverse such distances.

Secondly, it would lead to large crowds in the “waiting space” leading to multiple Polling Stations in a single Polling Place, which could cause frayed tempers and chaotic scenes.

But most alarmingly, most of the decreases in Polling Places were found to be in Opposition strongholds and this, in our estimation cannot be mere happenstance. We do not believe that we have to have the Opposition be forced to protest this arbitrary and disparate arrangement to have it changed.

However, after much criticisms, and following a meeting on Tuesday with Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and a team from the People’s Progressive Party, GECOM backtracked on its unilateral decision to reduce the number of polling places.

Jagdeo said that they raised concerns about specific areas such as Mon Repos and Foulis on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) and Chesney village on the Corentyne. According to him, at least 12 additional polling places will be required.

PPP provided GECOM with examples such as Golden Grove on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), which has six private residences with 2000 voters. In the case of Mon Repos, however, over 7000 voters only have two polling places. GECOM was also apprised of a situation whereby 2600 voters from Foulis have to go to the old Regional Democratic Council (RDC) compound in Paradise and the Paradise Primary School to vote. According to Jagdeo, they need at least four more polling places in Foulis.

After Jagdeo and team left, the GECOM Secretariat continued with their meeting. At the end of that statutory meeting, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj informed the media that a decision was taken to find ways to increase the number of polling places in these locations. According to Gunraj, these new locations will be determined by the CEO and will take into consideration the logistics of the area and the distance from which voters will have to travel. He confirmed, however, that all 12 additional polling places will be established.

Guyana cannot regress from free and fair elections which was returned in 1992: and the unilateral, arbitrary and discriminatory reduction of polling places is not fair. The international community that have kindly sent election observers must speak out to ensure they do not observe a farce.

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MARCH 1, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine

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uyana’s Court of Appeal on Friday (June 15, 2018) upheld a decision handed down by Maichony Abary/Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ADA) have been vindicated by the High Court, that the decision by President David Granger and his Government to the High Court.

It was the familiar court battle between former Attorney General Anil Nandlall and his cancel the leases that were issued to farmers by the former Administration was unsuccessor, Basil Williams, who was named as a respondent on behalf of the State. In the lawful and unconstitutional.

The land leases were issued for farmers who wished to engage in the usage of the land court ruling handed down by Justice Priya Seenarine-Beharry, farmer Sonita Bristol of West for agricultural purposes, as outlined within the confines of the established agreement be- Coast Berbice (WCB) was awarded $1 million as damages and $300,000 in costs. tween the State and those who would be leased the land demarcated at Seafield, West Coast Berbice.

Back in December 2017, acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, had ruled that President Granger’s revocation of farmers’ leases for lands was unlawful, two years after the affected farmers initially filed action in the court.

The farmers – Phillip Johnson, Rupert Blackman and Rawle Miller – along with their Attorney Anil Nandlall had first moved to the High Court in 2015, challenging the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary/Agriculture Development Authority’s (MMA/ ADA) cancellation of State land leases in the rear of Seafield, West Coast Berbice.

Retired Chief Justice Ian Chang had quashed the cancellation of the Farmers back in 2017 protesting increases in land rental fees by the MMA/ADA leases in favour of the farmers in 2016 but they moved to The court ruled that the revocation of her lease was null and void and granted injunctions the court once again preventing the MMA/ADA from moving against her land. It also ordered the third named rein April 2016 afspondent to give up the land. ter President David Bristol, whose land was located south of the MMA main canal in Number 40 Village, Granger cancelled West Coast Berbice, claimed in her affidavit that she learnt of her lease being cancelled withthe leases in March Phillip Johnson, Rawle Miller and Rupert Blackman out notice on March 18, 2016, through a notice in the newspaper. She subsequently learned of that year. that her land was occupied by Nigel Gordon, the third named respondent in her claim.

The acting Chief Justice handed down decisions in three constitutional challenges.

Meanwhile, a similar ruling was made in the case of Chalyn Ann McKalman, who took Declaring the President’s revocation of these leases unconstitutional, the Judge awarded Attorney General Basil Williams, on behalf of the State, the MMA/ADA and Mark and $300,000 in costs against the Attorney General in each of the cases filed by the farmers.

According to Attorney for the plaintiffs, Anil Nandlall, acting Chief Justice George granted several reliefs which supported their Notice of Motion.

The court agreed that under Article 142 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the President’s cancellation of the lease was “contrary to and in violation” of the article, further determining the Head of State’s decision was “unlawful, null, void and of no effect”. Additionally, it was determined that the cancellation of their leases was “compulsorily acquisition” of the Applicant’s leasehold interest without prompt Anil Nandlall payment or compensation.

The plaintiffs also secured a conservatory order which prohibits the MMM-ADA, its officers or any other State official from entering upon, remaining, occupying or interfering with the Applicant’s quiet and peaceful possession, occupation and enjoyment of lease of State land for agriculture purpose as issued under the relevant laws.

Johnson, Blackman and Miller had claimed that previPresident David Granger ous President Donald Ramotar granted them their leases in Acting Chief Justice Roxane George 2014. After the retired acting Chief Justice had ruled in their favour, they saw a notice in a Joseph Ross to court over her land. newspaper which had stated: “Notice is hereby given that His Excellency, the President of In the cases of Sharon Solomon, Fariel Johnson and Doreen Monah, they were also awardthe Cooperative Republic of Guyana has cancelled all State land leases as described in the ed $1 million in damages and $300,000 in costs. Monah, in particular, argued in her affidavit Schedules.” that after being dispossessed of her land by the MMA/ADA, it was awarded to other people.

At that time, the three farmers observed that their leases were among those published in In Solomon’s affidavit, she detailed that before her lease was revoked, her land was occuthe two schedules. They were subsequently removed from their rice lands. The matter was pied by the Seafield Co-op, which rented her land to a farmer known as “Big bull”. This farmbefore the former acting Chief Justice, Yonette Cummings-Edwards who was earlier this er, the affidavit states, was forcefully removed from said land by the Co-op, which instead of year transferred to serve in the post of acting Chancellor of the Judiciary. As the matter was giving it to her, rented it to the fourth named respondent, Lincoln Samaroo. stalled, the farmers had complained about how much time had passed before a decision was Besides awarding them their damages and costs, the court also issued an injunction rehanded down. straining MMA/ADA from interfering with the farmers’ land.

It was in August that six other West Coast Berbice (WCB) rice farmers had mounted It was only in 2015 that another set of farmers – Phillip Johnson, Rupert Blackman and a successful legal challenge against the revocation of their leases for lands at Seafield and Rawle Miller – had filed legal action against the MMA/ADA, challenging the cancellation of Number 40 Village which are under MMA-ADA’s control.

State land leases in the rear of Seafield, West Coast Berbice.

Acting Chief Justice George, in her ruling on that matter, observed that those farmers’ The farmers had claimed that the leases were granted by former President Donald leases constituted property under Article 142 of the Constitution, and that the President’s Ramotar and only the Head of State has the right to make such a cancellation. revocation of those leases amounts to depriving the applicants of property without compenAfter months of hearing, former Chief Justice Ian Chang in February of 2016 quashed the sating them, as noted in Article 142 of the Constitution. (Reprinted from the June 17, 2018 cancellation of the leases in favour of the farmers. edition of the Guyana Times) However, the farmers said they were subsequently informed by General Manager of MMA/ADA Aubrey Charles that President Granger has cancelled their leases. Besides their leases being revoked, farmers also had to deal with land rental fee increases. (Reprinted from High Court finds Govt breached Region 5 farmers’ rights Five rice farmers who sued the State over the cancellation of their leases by the Mahaica the May 8, 2019 edition of the Guyana Times)

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MARCH 1, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

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hether it was serendipitous or planned, the presentation by the Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA) of the report titled “Ina Nono, Ina Uko’manto’ Eina Pata, Eina Komantok”, or “Our Land, Our Life”, which investigated the status of the land titling programme for Indigenous Peoples’land, was a salutary preface to Amerindian Heritage Month 2019.

The Report highlighted widespread dissatisfaction with the current land tenure situation. It concluded: “Almost all of the flaws in Guyanese laws and policies relating to Indigenous land tenure stem from the fundamental problem that the Government does not fully recognise the customary tenure systems of Indigenous peoples, and the rights that arise therefrom.”

In Guyana, this Government has questioned the very legitimacy of the Indigenous Peoples’ claim to their land by linking it to the claims of other groups when they launched a “Joint Land Commission” two years ago. However, President Granger had to acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples had occupied their lands from “time immemorial” and held it as “sacred”. Their claims rests on inviolable legal principles.

Back in 1965, Amerindian MP Stephen Campbell attended the Independence Conference in London along with Burnham and the PNC, and ensured the official Agreement for the Independence of Guyana, (Annex C) required the independent government provide legal ownership or rights of occupancy for Amerindians over “areas and reservations or parts thereof where any tribe or community of Amerindians is now ordinarily resident or settled, and other legal rights, such as the rights of passage in respect of any other lands they now by tradition or custom de facto enjoy freedoms and permissions corresponding to rights of that nature. In this context, it is intended that legal ownership shall comprise all rights normally attaching to such ownership.”

Most Guyanese would now baulk at the ridiculous claim of Columbus “discovering” the “New World”, and so entering the ranks of humanity upon contact with Europeans. But they do not follow through with the equally ridiculous corollary of Europeans going on to assume “sovereignty” over the lands occupied by the Indigenous Peoples living there. At the time of Columbus’s unfortunate voyage, the fledgling developing International Law postulated, on natural-law grounds, that its concepts such as “sovereignty” were based upon reason and applied to all peoples, be they European or not. This was explicitly stated, for instance, in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which launched the modern state system.

But during the period of empire-building, all sorts of “legal” reasons, doctrines and norms were conjured up to justify their violent land grab. We now had a distinction between “civilised” and “non-civilised” states in the shift to what was dubbed “positivist” International Law, where concepts such as “sovereignty” only applied to the “civilised family of nations”.

Fine distinctions were now made in the manner in which territories were acquired, such as ‘conquest’ and ‘cession by treaty’.

But even under positivist- based International Law, the “full and free ownership” of land by the Dutch and their British successors (“possessors de facto of the soil” and of “usufructuary rights”) acknowledged the right of the Indigenous Peoples to their land. It is encouraging that new, rights-based modern norms of justice – led by the judiciary in Australia and South Africa, for instance – are evolving to amend the inequities imposed by the positivistic stance of European jurisprudence.

As soon as the new government was ushered in, they dismantled the land titling team that had been working through UNDP funding to demarcate and give titles to all Amerindian lands. After four desultory years, now with elections in sight and with an eye on the critical vote of Indigenous Peoples, the Government has tied down an extension of the “Amerindian Land Titling and Demarcation” project into 2021.

In 2018, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo called for the President to answer for the delayed Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) project. He pointed out that apart from the titles they had already processed; no new titles have been given out.

“When does he plan to give out the new Amerindian land titles? We left a significant amount of money, US$10.7 million, in the Amerindian Land Titling project, to continue the work of giving out land titles.”

The Kingdom of Norway had provided US$10.7 million through the United Nations Development Project since 2013.

It was only after 1992, and under the PPP/C Administration, that the 60 odd communities which had received documents indicating some descriptions of the areas issued in 1976 were able to have their lands demarcated, and, thereby, finally be able to obtain their communal land titles.

The Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) was one of the most innovative initiatives by the PPP/C Administration which also received international recognition. Under the Low Carbon Development Strategy several programmes, including multi-year projects, were identified that focused specifically on the development of Amerindian communities – the Amerindian Land Titling Project, the Community Development Plans, the Project for Hinterland Electrification and the Hinterland ICT Project, all were fully funded.

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MARCH 1, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine

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n 1992, the Guyana economy was bankrupt. The country’s infrastructure was in a state of disrepair.

Schools and hospital buildings were dilapidated and unfunded. Basic food items and pharmaceuticals were in short supply. And foreign currency was unavailable for the importation of vehicles, equipment, spare parts or anything else.

153 per cent of the country’s revenue was used to service foreign debt. In May 2015, this was reduced to just 5 per cent.

The road to economic recovery came with a heavy price tag and lots of sacrifices.

Over its 23 years in government, the PPP/C paid off US$3 Billion in external debts that the PNC had accumulated during its 28 years in government.

It took prudent management of our resources by successive PPP/C administrations to rebuild Guyana to the robust econ-

omy the David Granger administration inherited in 2015.

From 2006 to 2014, the Guyana economy was the fastest growing in the region with a continuous positive growth rate of 4.5 per cent per annum. This was also the longest period of uninterrupted economic growth in the history of independent Guyana. By contrast, due mainly to poor management and excessive spending, this growth rate declined to 3.1 per cent in 2015; 3.4 per cent in 2016; 2.1 per cent in 2017 and 3.4 per cent in 2018.

In 2014, the last full year of the PPP/C in office, Guyana’s total international reserves were US$668 million. By March 2018, that amount fell to US$518.5 million.

At the end of 2014, gold reserves in the Bank of Guyana totaled $25 Billion. In June 2018 this amount was reduced to $3.1 Billion, and by September 2019 had further dwindled to a disturbingly low $589 million.

In 2014, the last year that the PPP produced a Budget, the total tax take by the GRA was $135 Billion. Since 2015, the PNC-led Administration had introduced over 200 new tax measures raking in $223 Billion in taxes - $88 Billion more in tax revenue on an annual basis.

At the end of 2014, the total assets held at commercial banks were $421.8 billion. Commercial banks were therefore in a position to provide substantial credit to the private sector. Interest rates in 1992 were 35 per cent. By the end of 2014, Interest rates had reduced to 10.8 per cent, much more favourable to those borrowing.

At the same time, our exchange rate was very stable. It

7

The APNU regime, therefore, had a lot of money to spend. More than US$500M of resources was already secured to finance developmental projects. These included US$30 million for China Exim Bank to construct a new airport; US$66.2 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund a road network upgrade and expansion project; US$64.6 million from the IDB and EU to fund a power utility upgrade programme; US$50 million from the India Exim Bank to fund the East Coast to East Bank bypass road; US$34.4 million from the Caribbean Development Bank to fund the West Coast Demerara highway upgrade project; US$31.7 million from the IDB and EU to fund a water and sanitation infrastructure improvement project; US$15 million from IDB for a new Citizens Security project; US$12 million from World Bank for a Flood Risk Management project; US$10 million from the World Bank for a new Secondary Education Improvement project; US$10 million from the World Bank for the University of Guyana’s Science and Technology Support project; US$7.5 million from the Caribbean was $206 to US$1 in 2014, compared to $216 to US$1 at present.

In addition, the APNU+AFC Coalition borrowed over US$900 million – US$600 million of which was funded by the local banking system – adding to the national debt and making it difficult for ordinary citizens and the private sector to borrow money from commercial banks.

The strides by the PPP/C were made in a very hostile environment by the then political opposition. One must recall the riots and destruction by fire after the 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections when businesses suffered millions of dollars in damage. These were clear attempts to destabilize our country.

During the last three years of the PPP/C government conditions were even more difficult. APNU and the AFC used their combined one-seat majority to block every developmental project including the Amaila Falls Hydro Electricity Project and the Specialty Hospital Project.

They voted against paying government workers, voted to cut the capital budget of the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. They voted against money to help the sugar industry to restructure and mechanize more of its operations in the field and factory, for instance.

The PPP achievements were made in very unfavourable international circumstances: notably the financial and economic crash that gripped the world at the beginning of 2008 and lasted until 2012. That crisis affected our entire region, including our major trading partners.

But impressive as the PPP/C government was in the economic sphere, it was not all they managed to achieve. The PPP/C had secured US$250 million under the Guyana/ Norway partnership on climate financing. Of this, US$190 million was already earned and only US$40 million disbursed to projects at the end of 2014.

Development Bank to fund a sugar industry mechanization project; and a firm commitment from the Indian government to help in the re-capitalization of the sugar industry.

The source of the above projects and figures were taken from several credible online financial institutions including the Bank of Guyana and The World Bank.

Apart from the dynamic investments above, the PPP/Civic government had secured not just growing local private investments, but some important foreign direct investments into our economy, many of which are now contributing in driving our economy.

The following are some of these investments that came into commercial operation at the end of the PPP/C administration, or shortly thereafter: Major oil and gas exploration activities, these included Exxon/Esso, Repsol and CGX; three major gold mines were ready to commence commercial operations, namely, Guyana Gold Fields Ltd/AGM, ETK/Sandsprings and Troy Resources. Mining of other minerals including Reunion Manganese and First Bauxite; a large scale agricultural project in the Rupununi – Santa Fe farms; two large information and communications technology investments – Qualfon and Teleperformance.

The performance of the PPP/C government, therefore, generated great confidence in both local and foreign investors.

The above is a snapshot of the robust economy that the PPP/ Civic left in 2015. Economy was clearly strong and growing fast despite the opposition and any challenges it encountered.

The APNU regime took over at a time when Guyana was leading the rest of the region and had a very sound foundation on with to build upon.

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SUGAR ESTATES CLOSURE TRAGEDY…

S

ince the A Partnership for National Unity – Alliance For Change (APNU-AFC) Coalition came into government in May of 2015, the sugar workers in Guyana felt the brunt of their poor leadership.

Under the leadership of President David Granger, the government commissioned a multimillion dollar Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to determine the future of the sugar industry. A number of recommendations was put forward but none indicated that the industry should be downsized.

However, the government took it upon itself to downsize the industry without a contingency plan. In essence, thousands were placed on the breadline and to this date they remain there battling for their survival.

The Granger administration closed the Wales Sugar Factory in 2016 while in the latter part of 2017 estates at Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon were shut down. This move left over 7000 sugar workers without a job. The closure of the estates produced a ripple effect in the communities that they are still battling. Petty crimes have gone up, poverty in those communities are going up, and businesses have been failing among other devastating happenings.

Since the closure of the four estates, leaving more than 7000 sugar workers jobless, Government has moved to divestment the facilities. United Kingdom (UK) company, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was subsequently contracted to carrying out valuations of GuySuCo’s assets up for sale and has since invited expressions of interest from potential buyers.

Here are just some of the stories emanating from the government’s callous decision to close the estates without a plan: Anticipating the effects of closure In December of 2017, the county of Berbice began bracing itself for additional economic hardships since there was, and remains, a lack of opportunities for employment within the county.

Although the Government had indicated that it was holding off on closure of the Rose Hall Estate, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) still went ahead and issued over 400 redundancy letters to workers, leaving them to ponder their next move.

In May 2017, the Government had announced plans to close the Enmore and Rose

A former sugar worker throws a cast net in hopes of making a good catch

A former sugar worker prepares to launch his net

This businesswoman said “things really hard” Seunarine Persaud Hall Sugar Estates, sell the Skeldon and “business slow” in Berbice

Sugar Factory, reduce the annual production of sugar, and take on the responsibility of managing the drainage and irrigation services offered by GuySuCo. Several protest actions followed this announcement.

Back in December 2017, the Sunday Times Magazine visited the Rose Hall area and spoke to many of the workers and the business community about the impact of the callous move by the Corporation. The common concern was the lack of jobs within Berbice and also the age factor of those who lost their jobs.

“I cannot go to any other estate and get work, so me got to look fuh a job. With me age it is hard to get a job,” 45-year-old Rakesh Megnauth had told this publication.

Megnauth was employed with GuySuCo for more than 13 years in the Pest Control Department and was in physical pain when he and his gang of over 200 persons received their redundancy letters.

One businesswoman said that it was really sad to see so many persons lose their jobs while noting that the community was already seeing a decline in spending. She explained that GuySuCo was the only entity that provided jobs for those in the Reliance/ Abandon area in East Canje, and the clo-

sure of the Rose Hall factory would shift the residents further into poverty.

This woman picks wild carilla in the savannahs behind Skeldon Sugar Estate

Rakesh Megnauth

TURN TO PAGE 9

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

The businesswoman said she would feel sorry and helpless when she thinks about the plight of housewives who are now left to worry about their families.

Meanwhile, Seunarine Persaud had related that he felt discriminated against because he was the oldest member of his team and was the first to get his redundancy letter. He had given 30 years of service to the Rose Hall factory.

Persaud, like many of the redundant workers, still remains adamant that the Estate had the capacity to continue operations at that time.

Businesses in New Amsterdam, the economic hub of the county, were already laying off workers as opposed to hiring for the Christmas season of 2017.

The plight of the sugar workers took centre stage during the Budget 2018 debate in the National Assembly when the Opposition, People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) accused the Government of having no clear and direct plan for the workers.

Fees for fishing

Redundant workers of the Skeldon Sugar Estate were being charged a fee of $500 to pass through a cultivation dam to catch fish back in February of 2019. The fee was being imposed by the Special Purpose Unit (SPU) which was set up to oversee the privatisation of the sugar estates.

The workers who were made redundant were facing major difficulties as sought new employment. As a source of income, they turned to fishing and would reap wild karela from the savannah which was accessible through the Skeldon Sugar Estate’s dams.

According to the former workers, the SPU was demanding that they could not have used the dam unless they had the pass which costed $500 per day or a one month pass which was valued at $1500.

Initially, the ex-workers were not required to pay a fee to pass through the cultivation area but then a fee of $100 was charged which subsequently raised to $500 for a one-time entry.

Apart from those who go to the savannah to fish, women are also forced to pay the same fee to pick wild karela; some for commercial purposes and others to make a meal for their families.

Collateral damage

Some of the women of Rose Hall, Berbice protesting the closure of the estate Fending for themselves

Fending for themselves

Ever since the Wales Sugar Estate closed – leaving thousands of workers without jobs, many of their children are now forced to find odd jobs around the community to offset expenses for their schooling. During a visit to the village in November last year, parents who were sent home from the sugar industry indicated that it was very difficult to

Several Enmore Estate workers who have had their services terminated at the end of 2017 have said they believe that Government took the easy way out in dealing with the challenges facing the sugar industry. The workers say they felt this was so because they were simply “collateral damage”, and are from a constituency which traditionally supports the Opposition.

Toll on businesses

Following the closure of four sugar factories last year, and the displacing of almost 5000 workers, several communities recognised a slowdown in commercial activity. The impact on Corriverton as a result of the Skeldon closure was referred to as great.

During a visit to the market area, in October of 2018, by Sunday Times Magazine, business persons complained about the low sales as they struggle to keep their heads above water.

Additionally, some persons had reported that they were forced to reduce their staff while others have given staff reduced working hours. The town, in which the estate once operated, is used to being a hive of activity but that was significantly reduced.

Because of the reduced economic activities many stalls in the Corriverton Market were forced to close. The market was in the past the busiest part of the town but now shows a dramatic change owing to the closure of the sugar estate.

send their children to school, owing to transportation expenses and other supplementary spending for textbooks and studying materials.

One parent, who gave her name as Urmila, stated that since her husband was dismissed, her 14-year-old son has been working in the afternoon to earn some extra money.

The massive gathering that participate in a march back in May 2017

Unity over common cause

In 2017, when the announcement was made that the Rose Hall Estate would be closing the residents of East Berbice united in a massive protest to try to dissuade the government from making a disastrous move.

Thousands had gathered to participate in a march to register their concerns about Government and the GuySuCo’s decision to proceed with closure of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate.

Employees from the Rose Hall, Albion and Enmore estates were joined by hire car operators, members of the business sector, civil society, politicians, social organisations, women and children when they marched from Rose Hall to Cumberland in East Canje and back to Rose Hall, covering a distance of four miles before they were addressed by union representatives and other speakers. The March occurred on May 16, 2017.

Plea for mercy

Days before the massive protest, the women of Rose Hall and surrounding villages in Berbice pleaded with the Government to rethink its decision to close the sugar estate.

The women joined the picket line on Thursday as workers attached to the Rose Hall Sugar Factory intensified their protest action against the closure of the estate.

The women warned that if the factory closes, so too will that market, and finding an alternative will prove difficult. So warned, so happened. The women had stated that many families are indebted to lending agencies and also have instalments to pay for household appliances at that time.

Meanwhile, other young teenagers have resorted to selling ‘bird seeds’ and produce from their families’ kitchen gardens to offset educational expenses. Thousands of dismissed sugar workers are finding great difficulty in securing alternative jobs following their retrenchment.

10 Sunday Times Magazine

Berbice Rice fields

O

ver the years, the rice industry in Guyana has passed through both lean and good times.

Prior to 1992, for example, many rice farmers simply abandoned their cultivations and withdrew from the only thing they had known all their lives. These were, indeed, very testing times for the country’s rice sector. But following the PPP’s return to power in 1992, rice farmers returned to their lands and progress in this sector was evident. The cultivation of rice in Guyana, therefore, grew by leap and bounds— so much that today, it has produced doctors, lawyers, educators, politicians, academics and so on from the off-springs of those who toiled the lands.

Rice is grown mainly on our coastal plain where the soil is quite fertile to facilitate agriculture and where conditions are best for cultivation. Like sugar, rice is one of our major contributors to the Gross domestic product (GDP). However, over the years, rice farmers began to face numerous challenges; these include: low prices for paddy, low yields owing to extreme weather patterns – droughts, floods, paddy bugs infestation, and a host of other issues.

In spite of the present administration spinning the statistics in terms of production etc, it is clear that Guyana’s rice yield has not been living up to the expectations of rice farmers, much so that many farmers are no longer motivated to plant their lands.

For some farmers, the low price they receive for their paddy does not enable them to make a reasonable profit as

production and labour costs are too high, hence they are not encouraged to increase the amount of rice they grow or even continue rice production. Some of the costs incurred in rice production are: land preparation, this includes drainage and ploughing of the soil; harvesting with a combine; transporting the paddy to a rice mill and labour costs etc. The situation for some rice farmers is so bad that they (usually small and medium-scale farmers) have chosen to rent their lands to large-scale farmers, while others have even resorted to selling theirs for the development of house lots.

If this pattern continues, with escalating prices of input and declining prices of output, production will decrease rapidly and more of the lands would go towards housing development. Not only is this a waste of fertile land, it would

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Rice fields under floodwaters in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam)

also certainly have a negative impact on Guyana’s economy as an export earner and more importantly, our ability to ensure we are food secure.

While there is no control over nature in terms of the changing weather patterns, there are certain interventions which could be made to ensure that the impact of the weather on rice production is minimised to a great extent.

For example, in addition to having proper drainage systems in place, there is need to ensure that sluices and kok-

ers are all functioning to their optimum so that excess water could be drained off the land in good time.

There is also need to ensure there is an adequate number of pumps in the event of flooding as a result of excess rainfall or high tides. And in terms of dealing with the drought, some persons have proposed digging of water reservoirs.

It should be noted that the then PPP Government had sought to introduce new varieties of rice to withstand the changes in the weather.

With the development and distribution of newer varieties of rice paddies, we are ensuring, in the long run, that one of our major exports becomes completely insusceptible to the weather conditions and pests and diseases.

Considering the present low prices being paid to farmers for their rice, the authorities must continue to aggressively search for more attractive markets for Guyana’s rice so that farmers Berbice Rice fields will get a better deal.

Destroyed

Just January, rice farmers lost over 6000 acres of rice on the Corentyne due to the poor drainage system. Heavy vegetation in the Manarbisi Main Canal significantly impeded the flow of water to rice fields on the Corentyne.

Rice farmers who operate between Numbers 52 and 74 Villages and along villages adjacent to the Black Bush Polder have been accusing the regional administration of not supplying adequate water for their crops. The farmers have claimed that the pump stations in Black Bush Polder and Manarbisi have not been operating to their full capacity and as such, irrigation water is not reaching far-flung villages.

However, both pumps at Manarbisi was placed into operation after the issue had been made public.

Over on the Essequibo Coast in December, 2019, rainfall

caused several to be flooded, residents and farmers especially, were distressed because the water was taking long to recede owing to the poor drainage systems. Rice farms were under water for over a week placing farmers on the edge.

Over the years farmers have been constantly complaining about access to farms, irrigation and paddy prices.

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The stories behind many of our national songs make for interesting reading. These stories and these songs ought to be the ties that bind us, we the people of Guyana.

From Pakaraima’s peaks of pow’r To Corentyne’s lush sands, Her children pledge each faithful hour To guard Guyana’s lands To foil the shock of rude invaders Who’d violate her earth To cherish and defend forever The state that gave them birth

W

hat sentiments, what a flow of patriotism, what a call to action, what a charge, what rhyme and rhythm, what rhyme and reason, what craft and technique and yet the ‘Song of the Republic’ almost never was.

About fifty years ago, a competition was set in train to select an appropriate anthem to celebrate Guyana’s attainment of Republic status.

The story goes that the writer of those words was at the time in the ‘black book’ of the government of the day. It is said the man’s outspokenness landed him many times in the ants’ nest and true to form, he wrote about this slight in his newspaper column. Afraid his entry may be treated with political discharge, he submitted the words to the competition using a nom de plume, Thomas Theophilus Halley, his father’s name. That entry won from 135 submissions. The judges were A. J. Seymour, Mrs. Stella Merriman and Milton Drepaul. It is said that ‘judg-

es made certain amendments to the entry so as to accord it greater suitability and make it eminently sing able’. It was long after the announcement that his entry had won that he went forward to accept the glory. That writer, Cleveland Hamilton, was also a sedate yet busy legal practitioner that ever so often escaped the straightjacket to don the mantle of a poet, letting his imagination go as he immortalised people, places and events.

Some of his popular pieces include ‘Requiem for Walter Rodney’, ‘Requiem for Father Bernard Darke’, ‘For Soweto’, ‘For Steve Biko’, ‘To Nazism’, and ‘Leningrad’.

It is useful to note that Hamilton came into contact and under the influence other writers whose poetry was also put to music. Some of those writers include J. W. Chinapen, R. C. G. Potter (who wrote the music for the National Anthem) and A. J. Seymour, all patriotic kindred spirits.

The writers of the time were imbrued with a patriotic spirit and it was manifested in their work; it was a new theme, new impulse in which to dabble, it was post-colonial writing but still influenced by ‘colonial’ form and structure.

Cleveland Hamilton died on February 22, on the eve of another republic celebration, to be marked by the Song of the Republic of Guyana which he wrote.

Of course those words are

still relevant today as we celebrate Guyana's 50th Republic Golden Jubilee.

We’ll forge a nation’s mighty soul Construct a nation’s frame Freedom our everlasting goal Courage and truth our aim Unyielding in our quest for peace Like ancient heroes brave With strength beyond the slave This second stanza building on the opening gambit – after paying homage to the land that gave us birth, now it’s time to build, to build on the sweat of our ancestors. We still have a far to go ‘in our quest for peace’ but systems are slowly evolving to make the situation more tolerable. We still have much to do in order ‘forge a nation’s mighty soul’ but there is no doubt this young nation is positive in its intent ‘like ancient heroes brave’.

Guyana climb that glorious perch To fame prosperity Join in the universal search For world wide comity Your people whatsoe’er their breed Their hue or quality With one firm never changing creed The nation’s unity National unity is the theme of the poem held together in measured metres and rhymes.

The celebration of Guyana’s Republic status on February 23 is associated with one of the first recorded struggles in our history for independence. That event was labelled ‘the Berbice Slave Rebellion’ and it said to have been started on February 23, 1763. That strike was the first strike for freedom that came many years later on August 1st 1838.

So when we perform the ‘Song of the Republic’ this year, we should be mindful of the sacrifices made by those who paved the way for us to have a better life and we should rededicate ourselves to the cause of nation building.

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

Poem

Its normal, keep going Bestowed with greatness Will be the inevitable for hard work While disfavouring will be the hard work for many It's normal, keep going.

Negativities will be like venemous insects around you Waiting for a secret chance to strike It's normal, keep going.

But let positivity be your safety net Always.

Just as the sun don't rise suddenly We also don't

It's normal, keep going.

With countless exhausting endeavours and infinite points of halting Be sure to take a break And be reminded that consistency is what makes you better.

Our thoughts and minds are like engines and fuel It's normal, keep going.

Operate it to release the power in you For whatever your callings may be Be confident to set, strive, achieve and repeat.

Breathe a sigh of relief and let faith be like oxygen Always Let it be Its normal, keep going.

By Nickalos Mobin

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Puzzles

ACROSS 98 Groovy 1 Meadow rodent 100 Constantly, to Poe 5 Eyed amorously 101 Tall flower 10 Let up 106 Give a ticket 16 Almond confection 108 Burned and looted 21 Ominous sign 110 Attacks on a castle 22 Corn-chip name 112 Sheriff Andy's son 23 Of yore 113 Dreaded assignment 24 Spanish hero 115 Like many a train

(2 words.)

116 Competed for 25 Monogram pt.

117 Regretful 26 Sell stolen goods 118 Fellow 27 Longs for 120 Bruce -- of film 28 Jangle 122 Boat's trail 29 Undressed 123 Growl at, perhaps 31 Winnebagos et al.

124 Fired up the hibachi 33 Ballet attire 128 -- -roaring 35 2001, to Livy 129 Annapolis grad 36 Ms. Verdugo 130 Kind of rack 37 "-- -- Her Standing There" 131 Ate for dinner 40 Capone foe 132 "-- kleine Nachtmusik" 41 Reach across 133 Kind of grin 42 Truck mfr.

135 Joule fractions 45 Eur. airline 137 Olympic site 46 Semi front 139 Soyuz destination 48 Sweet-talk 140 To date (2 wds.)

50 Raising a ruckus 142 Multipurpose truck 52 Pest in a nest 144 Buffalo-hunting people 54 Mislay 148 Danish toast 55 QB -- Kramer 150 It often splits 57 Dawn to dusk 153 Move a fern 58 Dolphin habitat 155 Agree with 59 Floats like a cork 156 Phone response 60 Slide downhill 157 Thicker, as fog 62 Cheerful 158 Cherry center 66 Phony 159 Blissful spot 67 Circus performers 160 Skilled 69 Go over again 161 Made catty remarks 71 Hold sway 162 Not long-winded 72 Bug off! (3 wds.)

163 For fear that 74 -- Maria

76 Hipbone part DOWN 78 Colossal 1 Yawning fissure 79 Game-show prize 2 Former science magazine 80 Manner 3 Aloha tokens 83 Usher's job 4 -- nous 85 Forum attire 5 Way-out 88 Madrid art gallery 6 Salad ingredients 89 Youngsters 7 Darnell or Ronstadt 90 Burma capital 8 Handy abbr.

93 Bat swingers 9 Active sort 95 Boarding school 10 Vast chasm 97 U.N. member 11 Ta-ta!

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY'S WORD -- RAGGEDLY (RAGGEDLY: RAG-ed-lee: In an irregular or uneven way.)

Average mark 40 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 61 or more words in RAGGEDLY? TODAY'S WORD -- RAGGEDLY rage ragged raggedy rale rayed read ready real regal relay rely aery aged ager alder argyle

gage gale gargle gayer gear geld glad glade glare glary gley grade gray grey gyre earl

early edgy dagger dale dare deal dear dearly delay drag draggle draggy dray dreg dyer lade

lady lager lagged lagger lard large layer lead leggy lyre yard yare year

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.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 32 34 38 39 41 42 43 44 46 47 49 51 53 54 56 59 61 63

Khan of note Grounds for a suit Boredom "-- Rides Again" Chest muscles Totality Garlicky shrimp dish "Oz" role (2 wds.)

Border Merlin -- of the NFL Intuition Pre-owned Floor More than bad Foxier Seance invitee Gourmet coffee Spooky noise Gauzy trap Part of PGA North Sea platform Drink like Rover Luggage attachment Scope it out Tip over Brief upturn Lectern's place Cube inventor

64 65 67 68 69 70 73 75 77 81 82 84 85 86 87 91 92 93 94 95 96 99 102 103 104 105 107 109

Kevin of "Dave" Safe experts?

T'ai -- ch'uan Buckled down Vikings, often Rightful Fiery felony Up in arms Salt's pal Prefix for gram Choice word Violent storm Temporary peace Camel's pit stop No-see-ums Not 'neath Picture holder Not as bland Harem possessors Implored "Kidnapped" monogram Warty critter Curved molding Ms. Winfrey About that time Entered data Flying predator Hair-raising

111 114 117 119 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 130 134 136 137 138 140 141 143 145 146 147 149 151 152 154

"Terrible" tsar Mongkut portrayer Arrangement Somber evergreens Radio's PBS Into the sunset Dugong cousin Obi wearer Exposed to danger Boot part Wood nymphs Leggy waders Gulf nation Museum employee Steam or mist Canvas support Oodles (2 wds.)

Braxton or Tennille While beginning Go to earth Ben Jonson works Thrilled Bavarian peak Sixth sense Pollen spreader Summer in Savoie SEE SOLUTION ON PAGE 13

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Feature

S

o now you have taken home your new acquisition and introduced the companion animal to your joyful family, it is time to consider the next immediate steps relative to your pet’s continued health and the associated disease prevention measures.

Actually, I had mentioned in one of the previous columns that you could involve a vet (or some genuinely knowledgeable person), even while you are making up your mind in choosing the animal from a Shelter or from a friend or from a breeder. Having a professional by your side early in the transaction might save you some heartache in the future.

Also, I had advised that the choice of pet should (must?) be a family decision.

But how does one choose a vet? Without going into great detail, here are some considerations associated with your final decision:

had cause to reprimand, however gently or sternly, a perpetually lapsing client, then you can be assured that such a caregiver will in all likelihood give a very biased opinion about the vet. That is so unfair to the hardworking, caring vet. A pediatrician friend of mine (now deceased) once told me that in his field of practice a doctor could save 99 babies/children and then lose one; yet the mother of the baby that died would malign and defame the good and goodly doctor for the whole world to hear. The advice on this point is to judiciously and sensibly weigh what you are hearing from some disgruntled pet owner before you make that important choice.

6) Does the vet have a pleasant personality compatible with your own (quite different from #3 above). This you will, of course, only know for sure after you have taken “Rover” or “Felix” into the Clinic, and after you have experienced the vet’s unflappability – even in times of stress and working in an overwhelming environment.

7) Specialisation – Throughout the history of human medicine, the average person would seek out any doctor for any sickness. After all, in their minds, a doctor is a doctor is a doctor. Now, however, things have greatly changed. There are specific areas of medicine which deal with specific ailments. One does not visit a cardiologist for a urinary problem. Even in veterinary medicine there has been specialisation. A practitioner in equine disease, especially as they may relate to thoroughbred racehorses, may not be as adept in treating a small bird, a rabbit or a pet snake – to say nothing of a Chihuahua, or a hissing Mexican hairless cat, or a jaguar.

You may be fortunate to find a vet who is quite willing to refer you to a colleague who has a proven track record of dealing competently and successfully with many species.

Generally, however, your vet will try to solve the problem – and often does. It will be your choice, after factoring into the pet health equation all appropriate considerations, as to whether you will stay with your current pet practitioner or transfer to the referred vet.

1) Availability of the vet at all reasonable times for genuine emergencies. Under this rubric would fall the factor of the proximity of the vet to your home. Also, does the vet’s clinic hours coincide with your own availability to take your dog/cat for routine check-ups and treatment?

2) Does the vet make house calls (visits)? This is something you should discuss with your prospective veterinarian very early in your relationship with him/her. Lots of vets do not make home visits (for very valid reasons). For example, how can a vet listen carefully to heart beats, or lung (breathing) sounds when other dogs in the household or in the neighbours’ yards are making huge barking commotions. How can tests be carried out when the required equipment and aids are not available. Even routine interactions can be compromised

when trying to undertake any necessary steps outside of the Clinic’s veterinary laboratory.

3) Have you previously had pleasant/unpleasant experiences (e.g. “bedside” manner; technical expertise, etc.) with a specific animal doctor, while he/she was caring for another of your pets earlier? Would you like to continue such a relationship? Perhaps you would want to “try out” another vet. You have every right to switch vets. But do not do this willy-nilly. You should have very valid reasons. After all, your vet is like your family doctor, with whom, over years, trust has been built. Do not allow one vexing episode to ruin that trust.

4) Is the vet registered to practice (registered by the Veterinary Board of Guyana) for the current year? That Registration Certificate should be prominently posted in the vet’s clinic.

5) Does the vet have a good reputation? Now, here we are stepping on thin ice. If, for example, a vet is known to castigate unscrupulous “breeders” for their inept breeding practices, that vet will be maligned by the exploitative “breeders”. Similarly, if a vet has

8. Finally, costs associated with companion animal care must be considered when choosing your vet. I reluctantly mention this factor. Each vet will charge what he/she thinks the treatment and his/her service are worth. Nobody else, surely not I, can pronounce on a colleague’s fees. So my advice on this topic is that the pet caregiver must make his/her own decision. You may even discuss your current financial situation with the vet. You would be surprised how many veterinarians will treat your animal gratis (no payment, at least not until you are in a position to remove your debt). Also, there is no harm in “shopping around” until you find a vet whose charges are more compatible with your pocket book. As I said, to write about payment for services rendered is somewhat uncomfortable. But today’s topic, “Choice of Vet”, would by necessity have to include this consideration.

Please exercise your franchise tomorrow. Please do not allow anyone to influence you towards agitation and violence. Go home after you have voted and await the elections results.