Guyana Times Thursday January 23, 2020

New Grove/Diamond Magistrate's Court opens

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US Congressional team meets with Opposition, Govt in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 4174

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

CANU, FIU sign MoU to tackle drug trafficking, money laundering

P12

See story on page 3

…discuss free and fair elections

The US Congressional delegation meeting the PPP/C team led by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and including PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate, (ret’d) Brigadier Mark Phillips, former Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, and former Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill. The Congressional delegation comprised Congressmen Albio Sires and Gregory Meeks, and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. They were accompanied by US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch

No provision in law for GECOM changes to RLE – Nandlall

P7 Berbice businessman living in fear after 3rd robbery in 2 months

WCD man charged for killing reputed wife P11

Page 7

…91,000 changes "dangerous"; could lead to "mayhem"

GLDA, GuySuCo invested $629M revoke ECD cattle in local agriculture farmers’ leases …sector should never be abandoned – Chairman without notice Bandits gun-butt, rob elderly shop owner Citizens Bank Page 10

Parent, teacher charged over P8 Winfer Gardens school attack Pompeo rejects claims of US P16 attempts to split Caricom

Page 13

Page 11

$219M for P14 Republic Day celebrations

2 NEWS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

New Grove/Diamond Magistrate’s Court opens P

resident David Granger has committed to support an increase in the complement of Magistrates within the judicial system to adequately serve the expanding sector.

This commitment was made on Wednesday at the commissioning ceremony of the new Diamond-Grove Magistrate’s Court on the East Bank of Demerara.

“Guyana’s 55 functional Magistrate’s Courts include the Bail Court, the

that,” he posited.

According to the Head of State, the Executive is willing to support expanding the complement of Magistrates so that the increasing courts can be manned adequately in the administration of justice.

He noted that the access to justice will be enhanced with the establishment of this new Magistrate’s Court, which is located next to the Grove-Diamond Police Station, EBD.

ier access of justice and the provision of legal services to citizens,” he stated.

President Granger also spoke about the changing complexities within the legal system in which human rights issues and rehabilitation have become imperatives instead of just meting out punishment.

He went on to outline that the establishment of this new court will ease the caseload which had to be borne by the Providence Magistrate’s Court covering the East Bank of Demerara corridor and will improve access to justice for the estimated 70,000 residents of the entire East Bank of Demerara.

Access to justice

A section of attendees at Wednesday’s opening of the new Diamond-Grove Magistrate’s Court

Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Court, Juvenile Court and Sexual Offences Court. These courts are presided over by a small core, I believe, of only 23 Magistrates. This is a lot of work for so few people. We have to do something about

The Head of State went on to highlight the importance of the lower courts, noting that it is guardian of citizens’ rights.

“The establishment of additional Magistrates’ Courts is welcome especially as it guarantees swifter and eas-

Enhancing ‘access to justice’ was a common theme among the speakers at Wednesday’s commissioning ceremony. Head of the Guyana Bar Association, Teni Housty, said that the new court represents the realisation of the right to access to justice.

“But while we might all be able to access justice, poverty, disabilities and other factors the manner in which persons are able to meaningfully access justice…

Creating a building is not sufficient, it’s the utilisation of the facilities that would

President David Granger and Chancellor (acting) Justice Yonette Cummings- Edwards look on as Grove-Diamond Primary School pupil Julia Lallgee cuts the ribbon to formally commission the Diamond-Grove Magistrate’s Court

promote meaningful access to justice,” he stated.

On this note, Housty committed on behalf of the GBA to support continued and sustained efforts to improve the administration of justice.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General, Basil Williams, who pointed out that Magistrates’ Courts remove one of the critical barriers that prevent persons from accessing justice.

“This court at Diamond contributes to Guyana ensuring that there is sufficient and equal geographical distribution of justice institutions. Often times,

ordinary Guyanese – man, woman and even children – have to travel long and arduous distances outside of their community to get to a Magistrates’ Court; and the justice system instead of bringing relief, brings hardship and more challenges,” he contended.

According to Williams, this is particularly more prevalent with residents in the hinterland regions.

However, the Minister noted that with an increase number of Magistrates’ Courts throughout the hinterland region, there is now improved access to justice.

Meanwhile, acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-

Edwards, spoke about the burden on the Providence Magistrate’s Court, which will now be reduced with this new facility.

She noted that the East Bank corridor will now have three Magistrates presiding at the Providence and the Diamond-Grove Courts.

There are two courtrooms at the newly-commissioned facility which will deal with summary cases within the district, while the Providence Court will become specialised in traffic matters.

“All traffic matters will be dealt with at the Providence Court and I have seen the statistics, which informed our decision [because] the traffic matters are numerous and the Providence Magistrate’s Court will become a specialised court,” the acting Chancellor posited.

In addition to two courtrooms, the new DiamondGrove Magistrate’s Court also contains a Domestic Violence Unit, holding facility for prisoners, among other features and is equipped with recording and video conference systems. The building also contains facilities to cater for differently-abled persons.

Operations at the new court begun Wednesday afternoon with Magistrate Rhondell Weaver presiding.

NEWS

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Thursday, January 23 – 04:30h – 06:00h and 14:30h – 16:00h and Friday, January 24 – 05:00h – 06:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Thursday, January 23 – 15:35h – 17:05h and Friday, January 24 – 16:15h – 17:45h.

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

WEATHER TODAY Sunshine is expected throughout the day.

There will be clear skies at night. Temperatures should range between 19 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North-Easterly to East North-Easterly between 0.89 metre and 4.02 metres.

High Tide: 03:28h and 15:39h reaching maximum heights of 2.37 metres and 2.52 metres.

Low Tide: 09:13h and 21:43h reaching minimum heights of 0.85 metre and 0.68 metre.

US Congressional team meets with Opposition, Govt in Guyana …discuss free and fair elections

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United States Congressional Delegation is in Guyana and has met with the main political parties as well as stakeholders to discuss matters pertaining to the upcoming March 2 General and Regional Elections in Guyana.

The Congressional Delegation comprised of Congressmen Albio Sires and Gregory Meeks, and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. They were accompanied by US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch during the high-level meetings on Wednesday.

The Congressional Delegation first met with a team from the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) on Wednesday morning at the Office of the Opposition Leader on Church

Hastings-Williams, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Karen Cummings and Social Protection Minister Amna Ally.

According to the Head of State, the US officials were seeking assurances of credible elections.

“I was able to assure the US Congressional team that all the preparations which need to be made are being made by the Elections Commission in accordance with the law and that the Executive branch of the Government has been compliant with the Constitution.

And that we’re working towards ensuring that the elections are indeed free and fair, and we will continue to cooperate with the Elections Commission to do so,” he posited following the meeting at the Ministry of the

The US Congress team met with the heads of various local Private Sector bodies at the Marriott Hotel on Wednesday afternoon

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Street, Georgetown.

Following that meeting, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo told sections of the media that he raised his party’s concerns with the US officials on some “new developments that could undermine the credibility of the elections if they’re not addressed immediately”.

Nevertheless, the Opposition Leader noted that the party is assured with the presence of the Congressional Delegation, who emphasised their country’s continued support for free and fair elections in Guyana.

“We took the opportunity to talk about democracy in Guyana and they reiterated the United States support for free, fair and credible elections, and peaceful elections. And that all the parties that are contesting the elections would accept the results peacefully and that is the key message that came from their side,” Jagdeo stated.

He added too that they discussed other issues relating to Guyana’s development.

During the high-level meeting, Jagdeo was accompanied by PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate, retired Brigadier Mark Phillips, former Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, and former Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill.

Govt meeting

Meanwhile, the Congressional Delegation on Wednesday afternoon met with a Government team led by President David Granger and included Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Dawn

Presidency.

The President further noted that the Congressional team was also assured that there would be no disorder or lawlessness at the upcoming polls. He added that commitment was also made for Guyana to play a key role in the Western Hemisphere.

Private sector

Additionally,

the

US

President Granger and his ministers with the US Congressional Delegation and Ambassador Lynch at the Ministry of the Presidency

Congress members also met with executives of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Guyana (AmCham Guyana) on Wednesday afternoon.

During the meeting, the private sector officials reinforced their commitment towards ensuring a free and fair election process.

“Representatives of the GCCI, AmCham Guyana and the PSC expressed their commitment towards encouraging an environment conducive to free, fair, inclusive and participatory elections on March 2, 2020.”

Among those at the meeting were President of AmCham Guyana, Zulfikar Ally; PSC Chairman Gerry Gouveia, and GCCI President Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer.

C o n g r e s s m a n Meeks serves as the US Representative for New York's 5th congressional district, which is home to a large population of the Guyanese Diaspora.

Up to press time, there were official statements from the US officials on the meetings they had throughout the day and the purpose behind

their visit.

Ambassador Lynch briefly commented while leaving the Opposition Leader’s office on Wednesday morning that “we’re pleased to have the Congressional Delegation here”.

Furthermore, a statement on the US Embassy’s Facebook page on Wednesday evening outlines that the North American country has demonstrated its commitment to supporting free, fair and credible elections in Guyana by providing funding to partners that are assisting the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) with technical assistance, and to support Guyanese civil society organisations to conduct voter education and electoral observation.

“During Guyana’s election period, the United States will: fund independent experts to support to GECOM in ensuring a transparent electoral process; work with a broad group of local, civil society organisations to conduct voter education outreach, and work with the organisations to conduct election observation throughout Guyana and assessments which will be made public,” the US Mission noted.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

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

Teaching life skills: A good way to start

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t’s a fact that youth today make up the larger part of the population of almost every country in the world. This presents certain challenges for policymakers to develop, implement and maintain programmes and activities which must be economically and socially oriented to satisfy their (youth’s) desires.

It is also well known that the absence of well-thoughtout programmes with respect to youth development impacts negatively on our young people, and sometimes even leads to them resigning themselves to lawlessness and other antisocial behaviours that are damaging to society.

Caricom Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque last year said that the majority of victims, as well as perpetrators of crimes reported by the Police, are young males 18 to 35 years old. He pointed to the fact that there are a number of socio-economic determinants of crime, the least of which is the high youth unemployment in the Region — 25 per cent. That is three times the average and is the highest.

This is surely a reason to be concerned, as right away, one would begin to worry about the kind of future these persons would have, and the contribution they would make to their societies if any at all. Certainly, this is enough reason to cause governments and policymakers to take a closer look at what is happening in their individual countries, and take steps to remedy the situation.

Certainly, there is a great need for intervention in order to combat the current challenges facing young people. In order to prepare young people for workplace success, job training programmes need to go beyond technical instruction and teach “life skills,” such as communication, reliability, and teamwork. This push for teaching youth life skills has been validated by employers who have consistently reported that, above all, they want to hire employees who possess workplace-ready skills such as communication, teamwork, motivation and responsibility. Technical skills, they say, can be learned on the job.

In addition to teaching youth the life skills employers look for, there is a need to introduce complementary life planning activities in this component. These activities help youth in assessing who they are, their aspirations for the future, and define realistic steps toward achieving these goals.

Guyana has a number of programmes geared towards equipping young people with various skills for the world of work etc. This is commendable but more focus needs to be placed on combining teaching life skills with the various academic or technical subjects. Meaning, these programmes should include assessment and identification of ways to build competency and skills supportive of healthy behaviours, to help young people as they mature into adulthood.

Additionally, institutions such as the family and religious bodies need to take up their roles more seriously, as happened before. Historically, the older generation had managed to transmit their beliefs, values, traditions, customs and institutions to the younger members of their societies.

This was achieved largely because of the impact of agencies of socialisation, such as the family, religion and the schools.

Today, the impact of these institutions has been challenged and undermined by new forces, particularly television and the internet, and the pop culture as a whole.

Further, the role of the private sector should never be underestimated. There is a need for funding for many crucial programmes aimed at creating better opportunities for young persons here. Such programmes, once effectively implemented, would see our young people become well equipped with the necessary skills to develop themselves and in turn contribute to the overall development of the country.

The private sector is one of the main beneficiaries of an educated and skilled workforce, and it should seek to invest in, and help to build, the pool of talent it wishes to draw from.

It is well accepted that progressive countries in the world have strong systems for engaging youth in policy formation and in creating or altering programmes designed to support youth. We believe that if our young people are to make more mature and responsible judgments and engage in activities that are the hallmark of socially-productive adulthood, certain support systems for development must be present in the environment. Teaching life skills is a good way to start.

Performers wearing traditional outfits from Rajasthan state dance during a press preview of tableaux participating in the forthcoming Republic Day parade in New Delhi (AFP photo)

Nagamootoo still singing his tuneless song Dear Editor, The GAWU has seen again Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, even in his last days in the post, still singing his tuneless song. It appears to us that the PM really has no bounds and will engage in untruths or half-truths to spin a tale that justifies punishment to sugar workers and their families.

On January 22, a section of the media reported that Mr Nagamootoo told an arranged audience at a public meeting held at Whim on January 21 that closed sugar estates were “absolutely useless…” This is the first time, we can recall, such an explanation or rationale has ever been advanced by the Government or its officials. The PM, an erstwhile friend of the sugar workers, according to a January 26, 2018 DPI article, reportedly said at a meeting with some of the displaced workers of Skeldon and Rose Hall Estates that “…the Government is currently engaging overseas investors through the Special Purpose Unit (SPU), which was established under National Industrial & Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), to ensure future job creation”.

It will be recalled that NICIL’s SPU, through several advertisements, in inviting interested investors to acquire the shuttered estates, pointed out many of the positive characteristics of the estates now deemed

by Mr Nagamootoo as useless. We remember, for instance, the East Demerara Estate being described as “…the advantage of operating a sugar factory, with packaging warehouse and fields in five-hectare plots each next to the water transport system.” Investors were also told that there were “a well-established research facility and nursery with several cane varieties and

a local pool of experienced factory management and well-educated workforce.” It was also touted that the estate will offer 85% mechanisation from mechanical tillage/planting to harvesting and excellent drainage and irrigation systems with new pumps. That hardly sounds like a useless entity to us.

Several entities, we recall, expressed interest in acquiring that estate.

Moreover, a local online news outfit in a June 9, 2019 report shared that “[a]n Indian-Ghanaian-Guyanese consortium is likely to buy out the Rose Hall sugar estate…” One would have imagined that the consortium would have done their due diligence before making a proposal. Unless we are to believe that the investors are senile, as it seems the PM is now experiencing. The failure to close the deal revolved around the caretaker status of the coalition administration. The Demerara Waves, in an August 14, 2019, report, shared that Finance Minister Winston Jordan disclosed, among other things, that “I don’t think, at this stage, quite frankly, with our status of interim that we would want to engage in any major privatisation at this time”.

Mr Nagamootoo also described the Skeldon factory as a “white elephant”.

We find the PM’s remarks strange, though his abandonment of what he said previously is not unknown.

We know too the PM is getting on in age and he may have forgotten that his sonin-law, at one time, was the salesman, intermediary or broker regarding the sale of the so-called white elephant.

The Demerara Waves on January 26, 2017, reported that PM said: “…his son-inlaw is helping to find potential investors in the financially crippled state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation

(GuySuCo)”. It was later learnt that the PM’s relative had arranged visits to all the estates, including Skeldon.

The PM later said “[a]ll of the redundant workers… got severance…” What he didn’t say though was that the workers had to approach the Courts to get those payments. Mr Nagamootoo also said that the ex-workers “… opened chicken farms, some buy minivan, some started pig farms, some alternative employment...” From the narrative Mr Nagamootoo presented, it appears, all is rosy and fine and the workers have all but moved on but this is known not to be true. Just last Wednesday, displaced sugar workers, at an engagement with the media, disclosed that their lives have been turned upside down since the closure of the estates. One worker shared that he is forced to give away produce from his kitchen garden as no one can afford to buy. The reality is that just a few workers have gotten jobs and most with conditions worse than they enjoyed as sugar workers. Mr Nagamootoo ought to be aware that he can spin his web all he wants, as is often the case, he himself will eventually be caught in it.

The PM said that due to the Government’s support of the sugar industry, public sector workers got the “raw end of the stick because we had no money to improve their wages.”

This is utter hogwash. Mr Nagamootoo said that the Government was providing $1B per month to the industry. It, in effect, means that the Administration ought to have $12B more to improve wages and salaries for the public servants.

Considering the State’s 2018 employment cost, as per the Budget Estimates, the $12B saved from assisting sugar in 2019 was sufficient to give all public servants an

across-the-board increase of 20.1 per cent. The obvious question, therefore, is why was it only 9 per cent and given just to those workers below a $100,000? See, Mr Nagamotoo’s web is slowly entrapping him.

Mr Nagamootoo told his arranged audience that: “We don’t want to produce a generation of your young people to fetch bundles of cane on their head, we want them to use their brains, not their heads.” This is a desire not alien to the workers too, who have similar hopes and aspirations for their children. In fact, we recalled not too long ago, that quite a few men and women in our society who have reached high posts and are making meaningful contributions to our society have had roots in the sugar industry. The point is that such dreams of those children and their parents are shattered. Right now, there are many displaced workers who cannot afford to send their children to school. How can those children, using the PM’s words, “use their brains”? The PM also said that our children should be prepared “…to compete in an oil and gas sector”. That sounds nice, but does the sector have space for all our children. Another section of the media reported on January 21, reported that the sector has, so far, created just over “…1700 direct jobs…” It appears, to us, there is hardly space for everyone. Moreover, it has been estimated that oil will be with us for just around 30 years, based on current discoveries. Indeed, even before first oil, we should have been planning for the days after oil, rather the Coalition, known for its pageantry, had glass invitations, champagne and a fireworks celebration rather than addressing how to really move the nation and its people forward. TURN TO PAGE 5

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

Poaching ideas without compunction NIS pension increase leaving pensioners behind Dear Editor, A few days ago, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) announced an increase in the rate of minimum pension from $32,100 to $35,000 per month. True to form, the FITUG has seen too the Government heralding the increase as a significant achievement. While the Federation is sure that those at the minimum level may be a little happy with the increase they have been given, at the same time, we wonder how much of a meaningful difference does this make to a pensioner’s well-being and standard of living. The increase, in fact, works out to less than a $100 per day, an insignificant sum when juxtaposed against the massive hike in the cost of living in recent times.

We had previously disclosed that the increase in the cost of food for 2019 up to the month of September was 6.3 per cent. Just taking into account that frightening reality, it clearly appears that the

increase has been already significantly, if not completely, subsumed by the increased cost of food. But while the Government may well say those at the bottom level should be thankful for the small mercies they are receiving, we cannot ignore another reality that the big ones are well taken care of. We note too that those pensioners who receive in excess of the minimum have nothing to get.

Previously, it was the practice that pension increase was across-theboard; however, for some years, this practice has been discontinued. Essentially, those who through their long years of contributions to the Scheme received higher pensions have had their standard-of-living reduced since their pensions in real terms have now declined. This is disheartening for this group of Guyanese, in the golden years of their lives, which have realistic expectations to enjoy their days comfortably after their many years

of hard work.

We are aware that the Scheme may argue that such practice is unaffordable especially at a time when it has lost thousands of contributors through the minimisation of the sugar industry and reduced formal sector jobs. This is a real problem which has to be addressed through the intervention of the policymakers who themselves have put the Scheme in the sad situation it finds itself in.

In the meantime, our nation’s pensioners continue to suffer while those in charge who have been described by Minister Noel Holder recently as the oldest Cabinet in Guyana’s history has been unsympathetic to their plight. It seems to us that those in charge have their bread well-buttered and have little care for the ordinary man and woman who continue to face difficult and trying times.

Sincerely, FITUG

This kind of madness must stop Dear Editor, When you read the 2018 Auditor General (AG) report on the procurement and supply of medicines for our citizens, it brings a feeling of sadness and frustration for the average Guyanese who depend on our healthcare system to give them a better life.

The report highlights the gross mismanagement of our tax dollars and how it is benefiting a few while the majority suffers from a poor healthcare system.

The first violation highlighted by the AG is the $52M paid to suppliers in 2015 and as of 2018, the items have not been delivered to the ministry. It has been over three years since these suppliers were paid and we need the ministry to tell us what happened to these items and

our money. The second is the exorbitant amount paid for drugs in Region 6.

For two items, they paid a mind-blowing 1600% more than what we would pay if they followed the correct process. How can we stay silent and watch our monies go down the drain? The third issue in the report is the 11 items where the same Region paid 300% more than what would normally be paid for the same items. And finally, the AG summarised that the ministry could have saved over $50M of our hard-earned money if they had followed the correct process. My friends, this smells of corruption at its highest level and we must not allow this to continue any longer. We must remember that the MoPH has a long track record of breaching

Disappointed in Leslie Sobers Dear Editor, I have read the letter carried in Guyana Times written by Robin Singh.

What I’ve read has convinced me that Robin Singh is a master unafraid to call the names of these disappointing people whom I once respected.

The intricate networks they control and use are myriad.

But I saw Mr Leslie Sobers’ missive on social media with my own eyes and at first presumed that his account had been hacked. Mr

Sobers is a Latter-day Saint, a member of a group known for their rigorous moral character. Mr Sobers has let this side down in a major way and should repent and seek forgiveness. I have loved ones who are Saints and I would be devastated to learn that this is now the order of the day in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Respectfully yours, Faye Elizabeth Alleyne

the procurement process in order to serve the interests of very few friends of APNU while we all suffer.

They paid $256M in rent for a bottom house to store our medicines, which put the quality of those medicines at risk that can cause serious illness to patients.

They broke the procurement policy to give a T&T company drug contracts while deliberately side-lining locally-established companies.

On March 2, this kind of madness must stop; we cannot afford to have this kind of malpractices with our hard-earned tax dollars.

Sincerely, Malcolm Watkins

Dear Editor, The PPP/C Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali, has said on at least two occasions that the PPP/C will double the Old Age Pension; at Linden and Anna Regina, this was greeted with effusive applause. Imagine my surprise when I saw an article in today’s Stabroek News saying that Robert Badal of Change Guyana was now proposing to do the same thing if elect-

ed. The name of the party may be ‘Change’ but this is the same old Badal, poaching ideas without compunction. I would ask that journalists inquire of Badal if he has done any research as to how much this would cost and how and where he expects to garner funding for the initiative. I am sure the answers or lack of will provide enlightenment.

The parroting of ideas, policies and plans without the

requisite research and interrogation dilutes the public confidence in political parties and the democratic process as a whole, it is irresponsible and should not be condoned by the mainstream media. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I just wish the hard work ethic was so readily imitated by the pretenders.

Dear Editor, The Caribbean Voice (TCV) is thrilled that natural pesticides are being encouraged in the agri sector.

While we are aware that the purpose of this initiative is to foster healthy lifestyles and healthy eating and to get farmers to stay away from the synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, TCV recognises that as agri-poisons become used less and less,

pesticide suicide will also be reduced since the means would not be available.

While over the years, TCV has been pushing for the Shri Lankan Hazard Reduction Model to be adapted and implemented in Guyana, and for all farmers to be provided with strong boxes to store agri-poisons, we believe that fostering natural pesticides will negate the need for these two mea-

sures. And so we appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture to please make the video of this lecture available in all farming areas, to all farmers and to work with farmers towards ensuring that natural pesticides are as widely available as possible so they can phase out the agri-poisons.

Dear Editor, Perhaps the Minister of Public Health can take a break from her busy extra curricula activities and update the nation on what measures are being put in place to deal with the Coronavirus should it hit this part of the globe?

What measures are

being put in place at our ports of entry and borders and are our health workers equipped and knowledgeable to deal with this deadly disease?

From research, it seems the disease is highly contagious especially human-to-human.

The virus has hit outside

of China, where it originated and is spreading rapidly.

This could have strands of resemblance to that other epidemic – Ebola – which struck just a few short years ago.

Respectfully, Robin Singh

Fostering natural pesticides can reduce pesticide suicide

Sincerely, The Caribbean Voice

Coronavirus measures

Sincerely, Shamshun Mohamed

Nagamootoo still singing...

FROM PAGE 4

Mr Nagamootoo, who claims that he is loved by the people, we saw in the media spoke: “…from a stage that was completely surrounded by security”. Certainly, this is unusual for someone who says he is admired. The reality is the PM and his colleagues have been ensconced in their ivory towers, are disconnected from the hardships and realities of our peoples.

Their extraordinary security measures are, no doubt, an indicator of the walls they have erected. Today, while the PM and company will

seek to woo voters with new promises and fancy dreams, our Guyanese people confront untold hardships and unimaginable misery.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine General Secretary GAWU

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The problem ou just got a call that your child is absent from school. You know that he left the house with his backpack this morning.

He must have skipped school.

That’s not such a big problem, is it? You remember skipping school yourself from time to time.

What you do now will affect the rest of your life Many experts believe that a pattern of skipping school is often the first sign that a teen is in trouble, and is giving up on his education. Skipping school is a good predictor of other problems, including (but not

Foundation

limited to) gang membership, drug and alcohol use, theft, high-risk sexual behaviour, and vandalism.

Statistics show that children who start skipping school are at high risk of dropping out of high school and ending up struggling through life.

Why do kids skip school?

An isolated incident may just

be an attempt to see if she can get away with it, or something she did on a dare. But students who develop a pattern of skipping school may do so for other reasons, such as the following: Lack of interest – or a pattern of falling behind – in school

Fear of violence in or on the way to school Lack of parental supervision or support for education Drug and alcohol abuse Too many hours spent working or caring for family members, resulting in exhaustion and difficulty getting up in the morning Current policy demand

that the school must provide parents with notification of school absence. This is one way to assure that parents will take steps to correct the problems that lead to skipping school.

Most States also impose fines or even jail terms on parents of children who are truant from school. Some States are

linking school attendance to incentives, such as an increase in public assistance for the family or the child’s ability to obtain a drivers’ licence.

What to do

Take it seriously

involved, you can get an early indication of any problems your teen may be having, and can be in a position to help him to work with the school or the teacher to solve the problem.

Let your child know the family rules and legal

consequences of being truant.

Help him to understand how important an education is to his future, and the correlation between truancy and poverty.

What he does now will affect the rest of his life. (crchealth. com)

Even if it is just one incident, resist the temptation to provide an excuse to the school for your child. One of the ways that he can learn from his mistakes is to pay the consequences for his behaviour. If he missed a big test when he skipped school and his grade goes down as a result, remember that it’s not your fault, it’s his.

Talk to your child If it’s just a one-time thing, following through with consequences such as losing a privilege may be enough. But if your child indicates that he’s frustrated with school, doing poorly in school, or if you suspect he is having problems with drugs and alcohol, it’s time to get some help.

He may need tutoring and encouragement to catch up and begin feeling better about school, or professional help to deal with substance abuse.

Stay involved Get to know teachers by attending school functions, and volunteer to help with field trips or school events.

The more involved you are, the less likely your teen will skip school. And by becoming

What is second-hand smoke?

Everyone knows that smoking is a bad idea. But being around someone who smokes is also bad for your health.

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that smokers breathe out and the smoke floating from the end of the cigarette, cigar, or pipe.

What are the dangers of second-hand smoke?

Second-hand smoke contains thousands of chemicals that are toxic to the body. Breathing in second-hand smoke makes you more likely to have: lung infections (like pneumonia) asthma coughing, sore throats, sniffling, and sneezing cancer heart disease What can I do about second-hand smoke?

Chances are, you know someone who smokes. Whether you smoke or you’re regularly around someone who does, it’s never healthy to breathe in tobacco smoke. Even occasional or short-term exposure can take a toll on the body.

Ask the smokers you know to take these two steps: Take all their smoke breaks outside, away from other people, especially kids and pregnant women. Smoke lingers in the air for hours after cigarettes are put out. If someone smokes anywhere inside, other people are breathing in that smoke too. Because smoke sticks to people and their clothing, when smokers come back inside, they should wash their hands and change their clothing, especially before holding or hugging children.

Never smoke in a car with other people. Even blowing smoke out the window does little, if anything, to reduce smoke exposure.

Just as a person who smokes chooses to light up, nonsmokers have a choice too. You can walk away from other people’s smoke at home, school, work, restaurants, even friends’ and family members’ houses.

If you smoke, try to quit. Quitting isn’t easy because smoking is very addictive. But plenty of programmes and people can help you kick the habit. And consider the benefits: You’ll look, feel, and smell better, and have more money saved to go out and show off the newer, healthier you! (kidshealth.org)

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

No provision in law for GECOM changes to RLE – Nandlall …91,000 changes "dangerous"; could lead to "mayhem"

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ews that the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) will be making over 91,000 changes to the Revised List of Electors (RLE) is not going down well with the Opposition – People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

On Wednesday, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall said that the move taken by GECOM is not catered for in law.

Nandlall described the news as “shocking”.

Questioning the basis for GECOM’s actions, he pointed out that there is no provision in the law for changing the RLE outside of the statutorily provided process.

“It is the data generated from the incredible Housesto-House Registration exercise, commenced by an illegally appointed Chairman of GECOM, which GECOM itself aborted. As have been repeatedly stated, this data was never the subject of a Claims and Objections exercise which would have showcased it for public scrutiny and, to date, it remains un-

verified.”

“I have made the point repeatedly that elections are a statutory process which requires strict compliance. This process provides adequate mechanisms of safeguards which protect the process.

In this respect, Guyana is no different from the rest of the Commonwealth.”

He pointed out that when the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) was first published and posted around the country, the law allowed for persons to use the Claims and Objections period to inspect the list and make any changes to their particulars.

“It is significant to note that the Claims and Objections exercise yielded a total of less than 7000 changes to the PLE. The law requires these changes to be effected after which the Revised Voters List is produced which ought to have captured these changes.”

“There is simply no provision in the law which allows for these 91,000 changes to take place. To do so would be ultra vires, unlaw-

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall

ful and illegal. Moreover, it is outright dangerous to facilitate this now, since, there is no opportunity for anyone to examine what these changes are before they are incorporated into the Official List of Electors.”

According to Nandlall, it can lead to confusion and switched addresses when persons do go to vote on March 2. But he noted that by then, it will be too late to make changes and persons may be unable to go to the right polling station.

“For example, on the PLE, I am registered to

vote at a Primary School in Campbellville, Georgetown.

I do not know whether I am one of those ninety-one (91) thousand changes. I will only know that when the OLE is published.”

“And if on the Official List of Electors my address is now changed to Timbuktu, I will have no opportunity of correcting that error and I will not be able to vote. Just imagine if this happens to, not 91,000 persons, but just 50 per cent of that— the mayhem that will result,” he questioned.

Missing names

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s statutory meeting, it was announced that over 91,000 changes garnered during the controversial House-to-House Registration exercises would be made to the addresses of persons on the RLE. While the Governmentnominated Commissioners in GECOM were in full agreement of this decision, the parliamentary opposition was unhappy about it and had de-

manded to be provided with a list of those changes.

GECOM had agreed to do this by Wednesday. But when this publication made contact with Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner Robeson Benn, he revealed that only approximately 58,000 of the names were handed over. He had also expressed reservations that this may be a backdoor attempt to confuse the process and had noted the importance of being able to check the list of changes.

“I did receive from the Election Commission a flash drive with that information.

We’ll have to sit down and try to verify the information… until we look at it in detail, we can’t say that as yet, but we know there is that risk (fraud). Also the risk of creating massive confusion on Election Day,” Benn said.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Tuesday, PPP/C’s Chief Scrutineer Zulfikar Mustapha said that the international community should take note of this occurrence at GECOM. He had called on

GECOM Commisisoner Robeson Benn

the Chair of GECOM, Retired Justice Claudette Singh to address this matter frontally.

“This is a deliberate ploy and will create a mass of confusion on Election Day. This confusion we had in 1990 when the entire list had to be scrapped and they had to do fresh House-to-House Registration. So it seems as if this is a deliberate ploy by the Secretariat to effect these changes,” Mustapha said. According to him, this can lead to the issue of persons not finding their names in the respective areas/divisions.

Berbice businessman living in fear after 3rd robbery in 2 months

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businessman of D’Edward Village, West Bank Berbice (WBB) is living in fear after experiencing the third robbery in less than two months.

Proprietor of Lalsa Enterprise, Harry Lalsa said at about 01:45h on Wednesday, he heard a loud noise which caused him to hurry out of bed. He said that upon inspection, he noticed two persons in the yard.

The businessman told Guyana Times that he then armed himself with a cutlass and ventured downstairs where he noticed that attempts were being made

Lalsa Enterprise Harry Lalsa

Proprietor

to open a grilled door.

“I see like someone try to pull out the hunch from the grill door. They could not get to the padlock because the lock is from inside,” he said.

However, in order to get

Lalsa Enterprise at D’Edward Village, West Bank Berbice

to that door, the intruders broke the padlock on the grill door leaning towards the upper-flat of the house.

The perpetrators also used a towel and placed it over the light at the side of the yard as they were trying

to gain entry into the building.

Lalsa further explained that when he ventured into the store, which is located in the lower flat, he discovered that it was ransacked.

Phone cards, cigarettes, alcohol and cash were missing.

According to the businessman, when he tried to call the Police from the landline, he realised that it was disconnected. As such, he shouted to a neighbour who reportedly called the Police.

However, shortly after the incident, a mobile patrol was passing and Lalsa stopped them and reported the matter.

On December 23, 2019, bandits broke into the store and removed close to $1M in cash and other valuables. At that time, the business had placed a quantity of money and other documents in a bag in preparation for a visit to the city the following morning to conduct business.

In November 2019, bandits had also broken into the building and removed the man’s firearm and almost $1M in valuables.

“Up to now the Police have not told me anything about these matters but they asked me to prove to them why I should have another firearm,” he vented.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Parent, teacher charged over Winfer Gardens school attack A

nother teacher and parent were on Wednesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged for assaulting each other at the Winfer Gardens Primary School.

The teacher, Yolanda Jackson, denied the charged which stated that on November 27, 2019, at the Winfer Gardens Primary School, Georgetown, she unlawfully assaulted Charmain Mendonca, causing her actual bodily harm.

On the other hand, the parent, Charmain Mendonca, also denied the assault charge which stated that on November 27, 2019, at the Winfer Gardens Primary School, Georgetown she unlawfully wounded Jackson.

Jackson was released on $20,000 bail, while Mendonca $30,000.

The matter was adjourned to January 29,

Teacher: Yolanda Jackson

2020.

According to reports, the incident occurred at about 08:30h inside a Grade One classroom. The teacher had explained that the angry mother approached her and claimed that she had beaten her child to the point of leaving marks on the child’s skin.

Jackson, however, denied the claims. Jackson

said the mother dragged her from one room to another and continued beating her. After the assault, the parent reportedly ran out of the compound and made a report at a Police Station.

The teacher received stitches to the forehead.

Only on Monday, the parents of a child attending St Agnes Primary School and a teacher were crosscharged for assault following a dispute at the school.

It is alleged that on January 15, 2020, Sherwin Dalrymple (a parent) provoked Tiffani Hinds (a teacher) with intent to insult, annoy and assault her.

It was further alleged that Candace Peters (a family friend) unlawfully and maliciously damaged Hinds’ dress valued at $6,500.

Moreover, Soyini Gardner (Dalrymple’s wife) was charged for unlawful-

Confusion…

L Parent: Charmain Mendonca

ly assaulting Hinds and for damaging the teacher’s acrylic denture valued at $12,000.

Hinds, on the other hand, was charged for assaulting Gardner.

As a result, Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus granted Gardner bail in the sum of $50,000, Hinds $20,000, Dalrymple $20,000 and Candace Peters $20,000.

…to rig ike Freddie Krueger, GECOM Chairwoman’s insistence to merge the data from the aborted, unverified (by the Opposition) H2H data into the old Revised List of Electors (RLE), just keeps popping up like some horrible nightmare for Guyanese citizens. If it were just for some cheap thrill at the movies, your Eyewitness wouldn’t mind – folks actually pay to have the bejesus scared out of them! – but does the Iron Lady – as she insists on being called – realise what she’s doing to the reputation of our country when it finally has the attention of the world.

What’s the point of the Secretariat now making 91,000 changes to the RLE at the eleventh hour? Create a new variant of the old joke about “How many Trinis does it take to change a lightbulb”?? With $5 billion spent – and counting – over the course of almost two years, we still cannot create a credible voting list for a nation of 750,000 souls; what does this say about us?? But we know it was never just a matter of creating a credible list, don’t we?

The list was always just another arrow in the quiver of the PNC’s rigging repertoire – and you can bet your bottom dollar THAT’S the method behind the seeming madness we’ve been witnessing. And it all comes back to that inexplicable decision on the H2H. If, as even the CEO of GECOM admitted, a Claims and Objections (C&O) on a Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) extracted from the National Register of Registrants (NRR) would’ve been as credible as any new list produced from the H2H – and in fact had produced the list for the LGE – why did Madame Chair want to muddy the waters?? At the time, some thought she wanted to give each “side” something: for the PPP, abort the H2H; for the PNC, retain the cooked-up data (empty lots?) on 270,000 names collected by their operatives (and GECOM cohorts!) up to the time of the abortion.

So, where does this leave us with forty days to elections? The onus – once again – lands on the PPP to check out the implications of the 91,000 changes – details of which GECOM grudgingly accepted they’ll provide to the Opposition, after the story – and a firestorm of protests – erupted when the story broke! The PNC Commissioners have no problem with these never-ending irruptions over the voters’ list. Why should they?? They know that out of the chaos, their appointees in the elections arena, from the Returning Officers down to the GECOM IT department – will be restoring an “order” that returns the PNC to power!!

For instance, many PNC supporters will claim they were “disenfranchised” with their names not on the list.

And Volda’s “vigilant night shift” will ensure they vote!! …at Whim Unlike Ramjattan who just plain refused to return to his home village of No 47, to address a PNC scheduled meeting – knowing that he’d be addressing the village donkeys, at best, Moses Nagamootoo took a different tack. He arranged for PNC- supporters – read Afro Guyanese – from the surrounding villages all the way to New Amsterdam, to be bused in in their green uniform and their waving PNC flags!!

Not only was there not a single villager in the “renta-crowd”, he couldn’t even find two persons to don a yellow T-shirt to signal the AFC was anything but Dead Meat, in Berbice!! You could tell Nagamootoo was livid.

To the 4000 sugar workers whom he’d promised in 2015 the estates would NEVER be closed, Nagamootoo now screamed that the said estates were “USELESS” and had to be closed!!

And to complaints that the NDC hadn’t picked up garbage, he burst out: “Nagamootoo Mumma Man (nasty slang language for “father”) na vote fuh dem, is you Whim people put dem deh!!”

His pension is secure!! …on Granger’s health In another sign of their rejection of the norms of democratic societies, PNCites insist that Granger’s health is a taboo subject?? Shouldn’t folks be concerned – especially when they notice he has to use helicopters for out-of-town meetings?

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

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Pomeroon duo Man nabbed with unrecognisable freed of 2016 serial number gun manslaughter A charge

Freed: Lennox Baharally

Freed: Rondell Edwards

hirty-six-year-old Lennox Baharally and 21-year-old Rondell Edwards, both boat builders, exited the Suddie High Court as free men on Wednesday after a nocase submission submitted by their attorney was upheld by trial Judge, Justice Sandra Kurtzious.

The two men went on trial before Justice Kurtzious after pleading not guilty to a manslaughter charge which detailed that on April 26, 2016, they unlawful killed Mohammed Shameer at Jacklow, Pomeroon.

At the summary of the

matter on Wednesday, Attorney Jerome Khan argued that the State failed to provide sufficient evidence that the duo committed the act intentionally.

As such, the trial Judge upheld the submission and ordered the 12-member jury to return a formal not guilty verdict.

Reports are that the duo, while aboard a boat, collided with Shameer’s boat in the Pomeroon River. It is alleged that after the accident, instead of going to a hospital, the duo took the man’s body to a swamp area and reportedly concealed it.

T

nother man has landed himself in the lock-ups for having an unlicensed gun after Police conducted a search on his vehicle and discovered the .38 special revolver without ammunition and an unrecognisable serial number.

Reports are that at about 13:18h on Wednesday, Police ranks that were acting on information turned up at Leopold and Breda Streets, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, where they noticed a sky-blue-coloured “Bluebird” motorcar, PTT 7817, parked near a shop.

The officers proceeded to the car while the male suspect left the shop where he had been “liming” and approached the Policemen.

According to Police, he told the ranks that he was the owner of the vehicle and they notified him that they were about to search the vehicle.

During the search, Police unearthed the illegal weapon.

The man told investigators that he hails from Agricola, Greater Georgetown.

He was taken to the

Brickdam Police Station and the gun was sent to the ballistics section for testing.

Just four days ago, a man was nabbed with an unlicensed firearm and matching rounds of ammunition between North Road and Robb Street, Bourda, Georgetown.

Police ranks, who were on patrol duty in that area, noticed the male acting in a “suspicious manner” near a fast-food restaurant in that area.

They decided to approach the man and question him, after which a search was conducted on his body and on a blue ‘side bag’ that was in his possession.

The bag was hung around the man’s shoulder, and upon searching the item, ranks discovered a .32 Taurus pistol firearm and a magazine containing two .32 rounds of ammunition.

The suspect, who is said to hail from the Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was questioned as to whether he is a licensed firearm holder.

The unlicensed firearm with an unrecognisable serial number that was found

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Citizens Bank invested $629M in local agriculture …sector should never be abandoned – Chairman

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hairman of Citizens Bank Limited, Clifford Reis, on Tuesday said that the commercial institution has invested over $600 million into the local agriculture sector and will continue to support small farmers.

His comment was made

lion into the agriculture sector to benefit mostly small farmers.

“The [banking] agro sector, I think is more involved with small people who need work to be done,” he noted.

According to the Chairman, the parent company – Banks DIH Limited –

noted.

Reis added that the company’s restaurants subsidiaries also use thousands of pounds of chicken from poultry farmers.

However, the Chairman posited that there needs to be more innovation by farmers.

A shareholder asking a question at the bank’s AGM on Tuesday

after a shareholder enquired at the Bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday whether provisions are made to finance innovators in the agro-process sector.

In response, Reis disclosed that Citizens Bank has invested some $629 mil-

is one of the largest consumers of agro-products within its subsidiaries.

“We’re one of the biggest users of agri-products in Guyana. In the parent company, we’re one of the biggest users of rice. All the wines we make in this company are made from rice,” he

“So we do support the farmers… [But] I think they have to go to the next step now. They just can’t plant something and hope nature gonna make it grow.

Otherwise, the yields will be too low and then per acre, they would not get the quantity so required to supply a

chain,” he stressed.

According to Regis, “… all of this matter requires putting ourselves together and talking about it. I think there is a possibility to go this route in the future.”

In fact, the Chairman revealed that the Bank and its parent company had a meeting with stakeholders to set up a platform to assist small farmers to find out what is in demand and then produce for those target markets.

“So they don’t go and plant products which the buyers don’t want. I think they finish phase one of this system… And that will become a competitive pricing business. So we have a supply chain rather than having ‘x’ some months and some others you don’t have it,” he posited.

Nevertheless, the Citizens Bank Chairman committed to continue supporting the local agriculture sector, noting that this critical industry should never be abandoned as was done in Guyana’s Caribbean neighbour, Trinidad when it started producing oil.

“I lived through the 70s and the 80s where there were no foreign exchanges, and what saved us was the agriculture. At least we had food to eat, compared to some countries in Africa and what happened to Trinidad.

So the agriculture base is a plus for this country, we should never abandon this land. It is the strength of any country. That oil will finish one day,” Reis contended.

Tuesday’s AGM coincides with the Bank’s 25th anniversary and was held at the Citizens Bank Head office

on Camp Street and South Road, Georgetown, where the Chairman informed shareholders that the institution had a successful financial year in 2019 (which ended September 30), recording a profit after taxation of $955.2 million. This represents an increase of $352.9 million or 58.6 per cent over the previous year.

“This result is noteworthy given the existing market factors including, but not limited to high liquidity, and intense competition amongst lending institutions with a resultant decline in interest rates. Our results were attained mainly through the growth and improvement of the overall quality of our loan portfolio, and the prudent management of our controllable expenses,” he stated.

Growth of 8.3 per cent, 8.7 per cent and 9.5 per cent were recorded for deposits, assets and revenue, respectively. Net Income for last year was $3.1 billion compared to $2.7 in 2018. The annualised return on average assets was 1.8 per cent, while the return on shareholders’ equity was 10.6 per cent compared to 1.2 and 7.1 per cent respectively in the previous year.

“The bank’s loan portfolio remained sound and performed relatively well during the financial year with the bank working closely with our customers as we sought to minimise any negative impact on our portfolio that may have arisen due to varying challenges some borrowers may have encountered,” the Chairman said.

Non-performing loans at the end of 2019 financial

Citizens Bank Clifford Reis

Chairman

year represented 8.9 per cent of the bank’s total loan portfolio compared to 11 per cent in 2018. The bank’s shares were last traded on the local stock exchange at $146 per share.

Going forward, Reis noted that Guyana’s economy is expected to improve this year with the commencement of oil production. However, he posited that while the growth in the oil and energy sector will bring with it opportunities for financial and other sectors, the local financial environment will continue to be characterised by intense competition amongst commercial banks and other financial institutions for the relatively limited lending and investing opportunities, and the resultant decline in interest rates.

Nevertheless, the Chairman noted that the Bank’s initiatives will focus on utilising those opportunities and on areas that it anticipates will ensure growth and stability as it offers potential and existing clients unmatched products and customer service.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

WCD man charged for killing reputed wife T

he man, who attempted to take his own life after allegedly killing his reputed wife, was on Wednesday slapped with a murder charge and appeared at the Vreed-enHoop Magistrate’s Court.

Natram Lall is accused of stabbing Bibi Zameena

Ally several times during a dispute at their Lot 15 Old Road, Crane, West Coast Demerara home.

Lall appeared before Magistrate Chistal Lambert and was remanded to prison.

It is alleged that Lall, on January 15, stabbed the

After the stabbing, Lall consumed a poisonous substance and was hospitalised.

Man jailed for slapping reputed wife

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Bandits gun-butt, rob elderly shop owner

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68-year-old businessman is now counting his losses after two armed bandits stormed into his shop and robbed him of an undisclosed amount of cash.

The traumatised man operates a shop in the lower flat of his two-storey home in Vigilance, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Reports are that about

23:15h on Tuesday, the elderly man closed his shop and was in the process of restocking his refrigerator when he fell asleep in a chair.

He was awakened by two bandits, one of whom pointed a gun to his face while demanding that he comply with their demands. Guyana Times was told that the suspects entered the shop by removing

the louvre panes from the windows.

According to the man, the two perpetrators demanded that he hand over the money obtained from the day’s sales, as well as other valuables.

He told Police that he did not respond promptly and the bandits hit him several times about his body with the gun and demanded that he hand over the cash.

This publication understands that the men managed to locate a box with cash that the man had inside of his shop. Guyana Times was told that after the duo opened the box, they appeared satisfied with the loot, and fled.

The shop owner managed to alert persons about the robbery and Police ranks were summoned to the scene. Police have since launched an investigation and are seeking to obtain Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage from nearby security cameras to identify the men.

However, he was discharged recently and the murder charge was instituted.

Remanded: Natram Lall

mother of three after accusing her of infidelity. Reports are that the couple’s three children and grandmother had retired to bed when they heard the woman screaming for help.

The dead woman’s mother, Rashpattie Persaud, related that she was awak-

Dead: Bibi Zameena Ally

ened by her daughter’s screams. The woman recounted that she rushed out of her bedroom and saw her son-in-law stabbing her daughter. The grieving mother said she too started screaming and pleaded with the man to stop but it was too late.

55-year-old was jailed for six months on Wednesday after he admitted to slapping his reputed wife during an argument.

Wayne Johnson, a labourer of Waterloo Street, Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to two charges.

He admitted that on January 17 at North Road, Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously assaulted Carlann Smith. The man, however, denied that on

the same day, he made use of threatening language towards Smith.

In court on Wednesday, the Virtual Complainant said that she is tired of being mistreated by Johnson.

She told the court that it is not the first time he hit her. Further, she told the court that following the incident, she went to a friend’s home and he went there and threatened her.

Johnson was jailed for six months on the assault charge and is expected to return to court on February 5 for the threatening language charge.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

CANU, FIU sign MoU to tackle drug trafficking, money laundering

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he Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to tackle issues of drug trafficking and money laundering in Guyana.

On Wednesday, the National Anti-Narcotics Agency outlined that the MoU would allow for the exchange of information/intelligence relating to subjects suspected to be involved in or convicted of committing drug-related offences, in a proactive, timely, safe, and secure manner.

Moreover, the agreement provides the necessary safeguards against the misuse of information shared or exchanged.

Additionally, it provides for strict confidentiality of the information exchanged between the agencies.

Further, the MoU will allow for parallel investigations to be conducted against subjects suspected to be involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

“Consequently, greater efficiency and effectiveness in our fight against these crimes will produce improved outcomes,” a press statement on the signing stated.

“Our agencies and the nation will, therefore, be further compliant with their international obligations and

CANU and FIU representatives signing the MoU

standards relating to fighting money laundering and drug trafficking. The challenges and implications that come with non-compliance, including but not limited to blacklisting and de-risking, will be further neutralised,” the statement added.

The FIU, established under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Act of 2009, is the primary agency responsible for the collection and analysis of financial information and the dissemination of intelligence reports to law enforcement agencies for further investigation of money laundering, terrorist financing and related offences.

Under Section 9(4) (n) of the Act, the FIU is vested with the authority to enter into any agreements or arrangements with domestic Government institutions or agencies for sharing and/or exchanging information.

Satisfying the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations requires that the FIU cooperate and collaborate with all relevant stakeholder agencies and demonstrate effectiveness in sharing its intelligence product with law enforcement agencies and other appropriate authorities.

Effectiveness will be tested based on the quality and usefulness of the FIU’s intelligence product in furthering investigations for effective prosecutions, convictions, confiscation and forfeiture (both criminal, civil, or administrative processes) of assets which are derived from illegal activities, including but not limited to drug trafficking.

According to the two agencies, drug trafficking is one of the most common predicate offences of money laundering committed in Guyana. With CANU being

one of the key agencies involved in the fight against the trafficking of illicit drugs and psychotropic substances in Guyana, the MoU is seen as a significant and important development in the country’s fight against drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorist financing.

Two years ago, the United States Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) Volume Two of March 2018 had listed Guyana, among many other countries, as “major money laundering jurisdictions in 2017”.

The Report had stated that there was a lack of strong interagency cooperation among anti-money laundering and drug-fighting agencies, adding that these departments did not have adequate human resources and the necessary training for complete effectiveness.

The report reiterated that Guyana was a transit country for South American cocaine destined for Europe, the Caribbean, and North America, noting that traffickers were attracted to Guyana’s remote airstrips, porous land borders, and weak security infrastructure.

The document had also recognised that the major agencies involved in anti-drug and money laundering efforts, such as the

Guyana Police Force (GPF); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU); CANU and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) were

observed as not being effective enough owing to “inadequate human resources, insufficient training, and a lack of strong interagency cooperation”.

Ex-soldier admits to drug possession charges

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cting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Wednesday remanded an ex-soldier after he admitted to having cannabis in his possession and trafficking cocaine.

Joseph George was slapped with two narcotics trafficking charges and appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The first charge stated that on January 21, 2020 at Seven Miles, School Street, Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), he had two grams of cannabis in his possession.

It was further stated that on the same day and location, he had 4.5 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

According to the prosecution’s case, about 18:15h on January 21, Police ranks, acting on information received, went to Seven Miles, School Street, Mahdia and met George.

The court heard that the ranks then requested to conduct a search on the 47-year-old man and during the search, two transparent bags with cannabis were found in his right pants pocket. A more extensive search was conducted, and the cocaine was found in the crotch of his pants. He was then arrested and charged for the offence.

George, during his emotional plea for mitigation, told the Magistrate that he spent a total of seven years behind bars and was recently released from prison.

The man admitted to the court that he became an addict while serving in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). He claimed that on several occasions he tried to quit, but was unsuccessful.

The Magistrate ordered that a probation report be conducted.

The father of five will return to court on January 29, 2020 for sentencing.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

GLDA, GuySuCo revoke ECD cattle farmers’ leases without notice

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he Guyana Livestock D e v e l o p m e n t Authority (GLDA) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) are coming in for harsh criticism after a group of farmers on the East Coast of Demerara accused the entities of abuse.

The cattle farmers are calling on the relevant authorities to intervene after GLDA and GuySuCo revoked their leases for lands at Mon Repos, ECD. Together, the farmers rear about 100 heads of cattle and recently met with former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in an effort to have their issues addressed.

Nandlall told Guyana

Some of the cattle farmers

Times that the farmers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which clearly outlined that the Authority needed to give them at least six months’

notice before they could be evicted. However, this is not the case since the farmers are yet to receive official correspondence from the entities.

Sophia man jailed for 15 years for killing wife

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he Court of Appeal last year overturned the conviction and sentence imposed on 28-yearold Michael Persaud for the 2011 murder of his wife and ordered that he face another trial.

Persaud made his appearance at the Demerara High Court on Wednesday for a retrial, but opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. He was accused of killing his wife, Maduri Padumdeo, also called “Sharda”.

Persaud, also called “Mikey”, admitted before Justice Sandil Kissoon that on December 23, 2011 at their Lot 8 North Sophia, Greater Georgetown home, he unlawfully killed Padumdeo.

Persaud was previously found guilty of the murder by a 12-member jury in 2014 and sentenced to 83 years in prison by Justice Navindra Singh. However, an appeal was filed through his lawyer, Glen Hanoman, and follow-

Murdered: Maduri Padumdeo

Jailed: Michael Persaud

ing arguments, the court ordered a retrial.

According to previous reports, the 19-year-old mother of one was discovered naked and dead with wires tightly wrapped around her neck at the Sophia home. A post-mortem examination conducted on the dead woman’s body revealed that she died as a result of ligature strangulation.

Before sentencing, Justice Kissoon considered

the aggravating and mitigating factors, which included that the fact that the convicted man was young at the time the offence was committed and is pursuing educational studies since his incarceration.

As such, a 15-year, sixmonth sentence was handed down and the prison authorities were ordered to deduct the number of years Persaud spent on remand before his trial.

“One morning they wake up and they saw contracts with heavy-duty equipment bulldozing the land, cutting down the grass and they are now being told that the land is being prepared for house lot allocations by the Central Housing and Planning,” Nandlall related.

The former Attorney General accused the Government of attempting to close down the farmers for a while now.

“Now their lives are under threats I supposed. They have nowhere to graze, no grass to eat and now the Government hasn’t seen it fit to consult with them or to give them advance notice so that alternative arrangements could have been made. It is that this government has unleashed a war with farmers,” he said.

One of the farmers, Jadoonauth Singh, who has been rearing cattle for over 20 years, is calling on the relevant authority to look into this issue since his livelihood depends on it.

“I am calling on them

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall

to come out and reach the farmers. If they can prepare back land and give we, and we can start back with the farming. We need… or let them start bulldozing the land right away there and prepare we gate; let start getting our land going for our animals,” he pleaded.

The revoking of the cattle farmers’ lands by the entities as well as the Mahaica-Mahaicony Abary/ Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) is nothing new.

Earlier this year, a group

of West Bank Berbice cattle farmers moved to court to challenge a decision made by the MMA-ADA) to evict them from land they have been occupying for over 20 years and to allocate various portions to other persons.

Initially, the farmers were issued with a letter dated January 18, 2019 from MMA-ADA ordering them to vacate the land by February 1, 2019, and according to the notice, from that date those animal farmers would have been deemed illegal.

That letter also ordered the farmers to dismantle all erected structures and to remove their cattle from the lands. The farmers objected to this move, claiming that they have been rearing cattle on the lands for more than a decade and while the MMA-ADA says it is redistributing the land legally for the purpose of cattle rearing, no offer was made to those existing farmers for occupancy. Efforts to contact GLDA and GuySuCo for a comment on the matter proved futile.

14 NEWS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Illegal gun, ammo Mistrial declared after land man on remand juror struck down by car D Robbery, attempted murder

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Corentyne, Berbice man, who is before the High Court on three counts of robbery under arms and one count of attempted murder, was on Wednesday given a mistrial in the Berbice Assizes.

Curt Baston, 24, of Rose Hall Town Corentyne, Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) was indicted for robbing Parsram Sookraj of $315,000 and two cellular phones valued $19,000. He is also accused of robbing Anil Sookraj of $500,000.

Both robberies are said to have been committed on May 9, 2016, at Rose Hall Town.

Baston pleaded not guilty to the indictment when the allegations were read to him on Tuesday at

the Berbice High Court and the matter was adjourned to Wednesday.

However, on Wednesday, Justice Simone MorrisRamlall informed the jury that one of the jurors had met with an accident and will not be able to attend court for a long period.

At the time, there were only ten jurors present.

The court asked State Prosecutor Seeta Bissoondial and Attorney Saria Sabsook whether they wanted to continue the trial with ten jurors.

Both said that it will be advantageous for them to have the full component of 12 jurors.

Justice MorrisRamlall informed the jury

extroy Skeete of Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was on Wednesday charged for possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.

Skeete, a 21-year-old construction worker, appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and denied the charges. It is alleged that January 19, 2020 at Bourda, Georgetown, he had in his possession one .32 pistol without being the holder of a firearm licence. It was further alleged that on the same day and at the same location, he had two live rounds of

Accused: Curt Batson

that while there are provisions in the law to proceed with only ten jurors, seeing that the principals in the trial had requested not to proceed she had no choice but to discharge the jury.

“Another jury will have to be empanelled for the accused,” she said and the trial was recorded as a mistrial.

Meanwhile, the general panel of jurors will have to return to court on January 28, when 12 of them will be selected for a trial.

.32 ammunition. The court heard that on January 19, Police ranks, acting on in-

was conducted on him, and the firearm and ammunition were found in his bag.

Illegal gun formation received, went to Bourda Market where they found Skeete. A search

He was remanded to prison and the case will continue on February 12, 2020.

$219M for Republic Day celebrations

Social Cohesion George Norton

T

Minister

he Social Cohesion Ministry has earmarked some $219 million to host various events for Guyana’s Republic Day celebrations.

The announcement was made by Permanent Secretary Melissa Tucker, who said that the money will be garnered from Government.

However, there has been no budget for 2020 since the Government fell to a NoConfidence Motion and is obligated to head into elections.

During a press conference on the celebrations, Tucker said, “In terms of the ministry’s contribution for the Republic celebrations, we’re looking at approximately a budget of $219 million from the Government of Guyana and of course monies from our main sponsors.”

This year, Guyana will be celebrating 50 years as a Republic.

While most of these events will take place in the coming weeks, one of the main events will take place this weekend at the Republic Day Youth Village, which will be held at D’Urban Park as well as the Chutney Explosion and

Curry Fest on January 25.

Meanwhile, the Chutney Explosion will include a car and bike show and duck curry competition which will be followed by a concert.

Social Cohesion Minister George Norton, who has responsibility for culture, youth and sport, alluded to the significance of these celebrations and he urged Guyanese to be fully involved.

This year’s activities are being celebrated under the theme “Guyana Together; Reflect, Celebrate and Transform”.

In his latest report, Auditor General Deodat Sharma has stated that the Guyana Lotteries Commission had more than $300 million taken from its coffers by the David Granger-led Government in 2018 and that money was used on a number of cultural activities, including millions of dollars on flags.

According to the report, the fund had an opening balance of $47.7 million and during the year, $715.3 million was received. Of this amount, $326 million was transferred to the Consolidated Fund, while $355.8 million was spent on activities approved by the Cabinet. The fund ended the year with a closing balance of $81.2 million.

Under the Ministry of the Presidency, this includes $2.4 million to purchase national flags for the D’Urban Park and Stabroek Market Square.

A further $34.7 million for Guyana’s independence anniversary celebrations.

In laying out the proper functions of the lottery funds, the AG noted that the Government of Guyana and Canadian Bank Note

Permanent Secretary Melissa Tucker

Ltd (CBN) entered an agreement establishing a Government Lottery under the Government Lotteries Act, Chapter 80:07.

“Under this agreement, CBN is to pay licence fees equivalent to 24% of gross revenue,” the report states.

“The Guyana Lotteries Commission manages the licence fees receivable and ensure that amounts expended are within the national sector and in accordance with the guidelines for access to the lottery funding. The Lotteries Commission continued to receive proceeds from the national lottery which were used to make payments approved by the Cabinet.

The Commission is subject to separate financial reporting and auditing. The last set of audited accounts was for the year 2013. According to the Receipts and Disbursements Statement of the Ministry of Finance, for 2018, the Ministry budgeted $300 million for Lottery Receipts under the category of Miscellaneous Revenue and an amount of $326 million was transferred from (the lotto fund) to the Consolidated Fund,” the AG report also stated.

NEWS

15

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Trump announces new visa restrictions, plan to extend travel ban

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s the impeachment trial gets into stride in Washington against Donald Trump, the president on Wednesday announced a plethora of new plans, policies and programs as he prepared to make his way back to the US from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Speaking with reporters in Davos, Trump announced that he intends to expand his controversial travel ban on certain overseas countries. “We’re adding a couple of countries to it. We have to be safe,” he said. “You see what’s going on in the world.

Our country has to be safe.”

According to the Associated Press, anonymous officials familiar with the matter said seven countries were added to a draft of the proposed restrictions: Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. “It’s going to be announced very shortly.

OK?” the president said.

And in an interview

with CNBC, Trump actively reached for what has long been the third rail of politics, indicating a willingness to revamp and make cuts in the mainstay US public pension and healthcare programs for senior citizens: social security and Medicare.

Trump said that entitlement systems, are “the easiest of all things” to tackle, in a move that would mark a tectonic shift in the 2020 election from his stance during his 2016 run for the White House.

The president also revealed plans to speak at an anti-abortion demonstration in Washington on Friday, organized by the group March for Life. He will be the first president to attend the event in person. He addressed the annual anti-abortion demonstration via telecast in 2018.

New visa restrictions Meanwhile, it emerged that the administration is coming out Thursday with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting what is derid-

ed by some as “birth tourism”, in which women travel to the US to give birth so their children can have a coveted American passport.

Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the US primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the US for medical treatment, according to state department guidance sent out Wednesday and viewed by the Associated Press. The applicants will have to prove they are coming for medical treatment and that they have the money to pay for it.

The state department planned to publicize the rules Thursday, according to two officials with knowledge of the plans who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The rules will take effect Friday.

The practice of coming to the US to give birth is fundamentally legal, although there are scattered cases of authorities arresting operators of birth tourism agen-

Oil falls for 3rd day amid growing concern over China virus

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il prices fell to their lowest in seven weeks on Thursday on concerns that the spread of a newly identified respiratory virus from China may lower fuel demand at the same time a report showed oil inventories in the United States rose last week.

The so-called novel coronavirus has killed 17 people because of respiratory illness since it emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The potential for a pandemic has stirred memories of the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002-2003, which also started in China, and dent-

contagion spreading.

“We estimate a price shock of up to $5 (a barrel) if the crisis develops into a SARS style epidemic based on historical oil price movements,” JPM Commodities Research said in a note.

The US bank maintained its forecasts for Brent to average $67 a barrel in the first quarter and $64.50 a barrel throughout 2020. (Reuters)

ed economic growth and led to a slump in travel.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $1.05, or 1.7%, to $62.16 a barrel by 0125 GMT, and earlier dropped to the lowest since Dec. 4, after falling 2.1% the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 fell 95 cents, or 1.7%, to $55.78 a barrel after earlier falling to the lowest since Dec. 3. The contract declined 2.7% on Wednesday.

More than 540 cases of the new virus have been confirmed and authorities in Wuhan have shut transportation networks and are urging residents not to leave to help prevent the

cies for visa fraud or tax evasion. And women are often honest about their intentions when applying for visas and even show signed contracts with doctors and hospitals.

The Trump administration has been restricting all forms of immigration, but the president has been particularly exercised by the issue of birthright citizenship – anyone born in the US is considered a citizen, under the constitution. He has railed against the practice and threatened to end it, but scholars and members of his administration have said it’s not so easy to do.

Regulating tourist vi-

US President Donald Trump

sas for pregnant women is one way to get at the issue, but it raises questions about how officers would determine whether a woman is pregnant to begin with, and

whether a woman could get turned away by border officers who suspect she may be pregnant just by looking at her. (The Guardian)

American woman vanishes while on vacation in Belize

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n American woman disappeared over the weekend while vacationing in Belize, authorities said.

Alison MacKenzie, 43, of Arizona, was among a group of tourists who on Friday embarked on an overnight excursion to Rendezvous Caye, a tiny island off the coast of Belize.

A member of the tour group reported that when they woke up the next morning around 6:00 a.m., MacKenzie was nowhere to be found, according to a spokesperson for the Belize Police Department. The police spokesperson told ABC News that the investigation is ongoing and nothing has been ruled out. As of Tuesday night, a person-of-interest had not been identified and no one had been detained for ques-

tioning.

An official with the U.S. Department of State told ABC News in a statement, “We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen missing in Rendezvous Caye, Belize.”

“Whenever a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, and we share information with their family however we can,” the official said. “Due to privacy considerations, we have

Alison MacKenzie

no further comment at this time.” (ABC News)

16

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

Regional

Pompeo rejects claims of US attempts to split Caricom

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nited States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness have both denied that the decision to invite select Caricom states to a meeting in Kingston on Wednesday was an attempt to split the regional grouping.

“There is no intent for the United States to divide Caricom. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow,” Pompeo told journalists at a joint media briefing with Holness at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston Wednesday morning.

“We want all the countries of this region to prosper and be successful. We know that countries in this region will agree with the United States on certain positions from time to time and disagree with us from time to time.

That's true of Jamaica, as well as it is true for many of the folks I will visit with this afternoon. We want to invite them [Caricom mem-

United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo (right) and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness speak during Wednesday morning's bilateral meeting at Jamaica House [Photo: Joseph Wellington]

bers] all to be part of the economic prosperity, security zone that is this region,” added Pompeo as he declared his appreciation for the leadership displayed by Jamaica in the region.

Critics of today's meeting have charged that Pompeo, as part of the agenda of the Donald Trump Administration, is trying to divide Caricom into states which line up behind the US on Venezuela, and on the next secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) on one side, and the states which are refusing to toe the

American line on the other side.

The Trump Administration does not recognise the Government of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and is also seeking votes for the re-election of Luis Almagro as General Secretary of the OAS in the election set for March 20.

But many Caricom states still recognise Maduro as the legitimate president of the Bolivarian Republic while supporting Ecuadorian diplomat, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, for the top job at the OAS. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Paraguay's President Abdo contracts dengue fever amid outbreak

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dengue fever outbreak that has affected thousands of Paraguayans in recent weeks has reached as far as the presidential palace, with the country’s leader Mario Abdo confirmed as having been struck by the disease.

The country’s Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni said on Wednesday that the 48-year-old president fell unwell during a trip to the east of the country and returned to the capital Asunción where the diagnosis was confirmed.

He has been ordered to rest.

“The result of the blood test effectively confirms that the President has dengue,”

Mazzoleni said at a press conference.

“He will fulfil his agenda in Mburuvicha Roga (the presidential residence) with some restrictions,” he said, adding the President was in a “good general condition”.

The diagnosis underscores the potential severity of the outbreak of the disease in Paraguay, which has the second-highest incidence of dengue in South American after Brazil. A severe outbreak in 2013 led to 250 deaths in the country.

Abdo, in a post on Twitter, thanked people for their messages of support. “I am fine, thank god. Getting some rest.

We must be conscious that dengue can attack us all.”

The World Health Organization says the incidence of dengue, which causes high fever and joint pain, has been growing rapidly in recent decades. There is no specific treatment, but early detection and care reduce risks associated with the disease.

The minister said Abdo must complete a rest period of at least 48 hours and will be evaluated day by day in order “to discharge him when appropriate”. He added that the rest time could last three to seven days. (Excerpt from Reuters)

New Guatemalan Govt won't cancel US asylum deal

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uatemala’s new government will continue receiving Central American migrants under an asylum agreement with the United States, Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said on Wednesday, in a boost to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb migration.

Before taking office this month Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei had pledged to review the contentious US immigration deal, which is designed to make migrants from Honduras and El Salvador seek asylum in Guatemala instead of the United States. Most migrants from those two countries pass through Guatemala and Mexico en route to the US border.

“We will continue receiving (migrants), which has re-

Migrants, part of a caravan travelling to the US, cross the river back to the Guatemalan side, in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico

ally been very limited,” Brolo told reporters in Guatemala’s congress.

Brolo said his government was in the process of determining if other nationalities will be included in the US asylum deal, which the government of former President Jimmy Morales struck in July.

Over the past week, Guatemala has been dealing with a caravan of mostly Honduran migrants who were crossing its territory on

way to the United States via Mexico.

Mexico, which is also under pressure from the United States to prevent migrants from reaching the US border, largely blocked that caravan and deported many migrants after clashes broke out on the border with Guatemala.

Brolo said a delegation from the US Department of Homeland Security was due to visit Guatemala for further discussions on migration.

(Reuters)

Venezuela crisis: Secret service raids offices of Opposition Leader Guaidó

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enezuelan secret service agents have raided the offices of opposition leader Juan Guaidó while he is on a visit to the UK. Footage showed hooded and armed officers from the Sebin service outside the building in Caracas.

"Cowardly dictatorship!" tweeted Guaidó, who held talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London.

Guaidó is recognised by more than 50 countries, including the UK and the US, as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

However, President Nicolás Maduro, who enjoys the support of the Venezuelan military, has managed to remain in power.

Opposition MPs said

Officers from the Sebin intelligence service surrounded the building in Caracas

they had been prevented from entering the offices by Sebin agents.

Lawmaker Angel Torres said the black-clad officers "abruptly entered" the building. He said there were fears that they would plant false evidence against Guaidó.

The opposition Popular Will party also accused police of detaining MP Ismael

Leon on a main road in Caracas.

"As we are travelling... they kidnap @leon_ismael and raid our office," Guaidó tweeted. "The world receives and supports us! We stand firm, we will achieve freedom," he added.

Venezuela's Government has not commented on the reports. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Colombia must allow rebel dissidents to demobilise—Human Rights Watch

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olombia must allow FARC rebel dissidents to demobilise and join reintegration efforts if it wants to tackle armed groups operating along its border with Venezuela, rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels largely demobilized under a 2016 peace deal, becoming a legal political party, but several top commanders last year rejected the peace deal and rearmed.

There are an estimated 2500 FARC dissident fighters, according to intelligence sources.

“We think that the state should find means of weakening these groups not based just on the use of force but also in implementing policies that permit dissidents to demobilize and draw them into the peace process,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of HRW’s Americas division.

Dissidents, the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and Venezuelan armed group the Patriotic Forces of

National Liberation (FPLN) are responsible for numerous abuses in the eastern Colombian province of Arauca and neighbouring Venezuelan state Apure, where they operate with almost total impunity, HRW said in an earlier statement.

Children recruited from both sides of the border can be as young as 12, the report said. While child recruitment by the FPLN appears to be uncommon, HRW said the ELN and FARC dissidents offered payment to encourage children to join up.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Brazil: Prosecutors accuse Glenn Greenwald in hacking case

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ederal prosecutors in Brazil have accused American journalist Glenn Greenwald of assisting a group of hackers who intercepted the phones of public officials involved in a major corruption inquiry - though the country's high court had blocked investigations of the journalist or his Brazil-based news outlet in relation to the case.

News of the criminal complaint on Tuesday was slammed by journalists and campaigners as a politically motivated effort to gag free speech. Greenwald, a critic of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and winner of Pulitzer Prize, said the allegations were baseless and "an attack to the freedom of the press".

A federal judge would have to approve a formal charge based on allegations by prosecutor Wellington Divino Marques de Oliveira that Greenwald, a resident of Brazil, helped a group of

The Car Wash investigators' conversations were leaked to The Intercept after they had been hacked, according to Greenwald [Oliver Dietze/EPA]

six people hack into phones of hundreds of local officials.

De Oliveira accuses the journalist of criminal association and illegal interception of communications.

He charges the six alleged hackers with criminal organisation, money laundering, cybercrimes and illegal interception of communications.

Brazil's federal police looked at the same evi-

dence and did not find any wrongdoing by Greenwald.

A ruling by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes last year barred investigations of Greenwald and his The Intercept Brasil in relation to the alleged hacking.

Still, prosecutors decided to recommend charges against the journalist, who has not been detained.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

17

Around the World

Wuhan: Virus-hit Chinese city to shut public transport

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uhan, a Chinese city of nearly nine million people, is to temporarily shut public transport as it tries to halt the outbreak of a new virus.

Those living in the city have been advised not to leave, in a week when millions of Chinese are travelling for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

The airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers.

Bus, subway, ferry, and long-distance transport networks will shut down from 10:00 local time on 23 January.

Those living in Wuhan had already been told to avoid crowds and minimise

Subways in Wuhan will be temporarily shut

public gatherings.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said it was a "very strong measure" that would "not only control the outbreak, but they will also minimise spread internationally".

Meanwhile, after a day of

discussion the WHO's emergency committee has not yet decided whether to declare a "global emergency" over the virus. Talks will continue on Thursday.

The outbreak has killed 17 people, and there are more than 500 confirmed cases.

However, calculations by scientists at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London suggest there are 4000 people sick with the virus in Wuhan.

The virus originated in a seafood market that "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals", authorities said.

There is also evidence of human-to-human transmission with the novel virus spreading to family members and healthcare workers.

But understanding how easily and how often the virus spread between people is one of the major outstanding questions in this outbreak.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Save Lebanon from failed state status, pleads ex-minister

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ormer Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil appealed to world leaders on Wednesday to help save his country from becoming a “failed state” amid a spiralling financial crisis.

Lebanon is hoping a new government formed on Tuesday can win the financial support of donors it needs to climb from a deep economic emergency as increasingly violent protests

threaten to tip the country into a more serious conflict at a time of wider regional turmoil.

Speaking to Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bassil, who leads the largest Christian political bloc in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, said the country was a model of co-existence that could “be the real antidote to terrorism” if only kept stable.

“It’s a country that we

need to preserve in order to play that role and expand it, not to make it fail and become in the rank of failed states. This will not help the Lebanese. This will not help any country in the region,” he said.

Analysts have said the influence of Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the newly formed cabinet, which is also supported by Bassil’s party, could hurt Lebanon’s ability to win foreign funds

needed to meet debt obligations and stabilize its financial system.

Bassil, the influential son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, has been a top target of protesters who see him as a symbol of a corrupt political order that has driven the country to the brink of collapse through mismanagement and waste of public funds. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Jeff Bezos hack: UN experts demand probe of Saudi crown prince

U

N human rights experts have demanded an immediate investigation into allegations Saudi Arabia's crown prince hacked Amazon boss Jeff Bezos' phone.

They said Mohammed bin Salman should also be investigated for "continuous, direct and personal efforts to target perceived opponents".

A message from a phone number used by the prince has been implicated in a breach of Bezos' data.

The kingdom's US embassy has denied the "absurd" story.

But the independent UN experts - Agnes Callamard,

special rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and David Kaye, special rapporteur on freedom of expression - said the crown prince's "possible involvement" had to be investigated.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Bezos - who also owns the Washington Post - worsened after Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government and one of the newspaper's staff, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The killing took place months after the alleged cyber-hack took place.

Ties between Jeff Bezos and Mohammed bin Salman soured after Jamal Khashoggi's murder

Bezos's phone was hacked after he received a WhatsApp message in May 2018 that was sent from the crown prince's personal account, according to the Guardian newspaper, which broke the story.

An investigation into the data breach reportedly found that the billionaire's phone began secretly sharing huge amounts of data after he received the encrypted video file. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Soleimani killing adds dangerous new dimension to Iraq unrest

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ranian-backed Shi’ite factions have exhorted Iraqis to turn out for a “million-strong” march on Friday aimed at whipping up anti-American sentiment as the United States’ struggle with Iran plays out on the streets of Baghdad.

Those behind the rally have two goals in mind to pressure Washington to pull its troops out of Iraq,

and to eclipse the mass anti-government protests that have challenged their grip on power.

It is likely to end up at the gates of the US Embassy, the seat of US power in Iraq and the scene of violent clashes last month when militia supporters tried to storm the compound. It could turn nasty again.

The US killing of Iranian military mastermind General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad this month has given renewed impetus to Iran’s allies in Iraq.

But it has also raised the spectre of more civil strife in a country torn by years of sectarian conflict, lawmakers, protesters and analysts say.

“The assassination

threw the political classes, and Iran-leaning actors in particular, a lifeline,” said Fanar Haddad, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute.

“It created a counter-cause and a counter-crisis that pushed the protests out of the news cycle - albeit briefly.” (Excerpt from Reuters)

Emmanuel Macron loses temper with Israeli security

French President Emmanuel Macron asks the Israeli Police to leave the 12th-century Church of Saint Anne in the old city of Jerusalem on January 22, 2020 [Ludovic Marin/AFP]

"G

o outside," French President E m m a n u e l Macron demanded in English in a melee with Israeli security men on Wednesday, demanding they leave a Jerusalem basilica that he visited before a Holocaust memorial conference.

The French tricolour has flown over the Church of St Anne in Jerusalem's walled Old City since it was gifted by the Ottomans to French Emperor Napoleon III in 1856.

France views it as a provocation when Israeli police enter the church's sandstone complex, in a part of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Wednesday's incident was a case of deja vu all over again.

In 1996, France's then-president Jacques Chirac lost patience with Israeli security agents at the same church, telling one of

them that his treatment was a "provocation" and threatening to get back on his plane.

Chirac refused to enter St Anne until Israeli security left the site.

Video showed Macron, jostled in the centre of a crowded circle between his own protective detail and Israeli security personnel, including several paramilitary policemen in uniform, under an archway leading into the church.

Macron then stopped the shoving and shouted at the Israeli security guards in English: "I don't like what you did in front of me."

Lowering his voice, he then said: "Go outside. I'm sorry, you know the rules.

Nobody has to provoke nobody."

Speaking later to reporters, Macron said the incident ended pleasantly and that he shook hands with the Israeli security officials. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Democrats launch 1st salvo at Trump trial, warn that world is watching

Lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) delivers an opening argument as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (lower R) prepares to speak during the second day of the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump

D

emocrats accused President Donald Trump at the start of his impeachment trial on Wednesday of a corrupt scheme to pressure Ukraine to help him get re-elected and warned that America’s global prestige will suffer if the US Senate acquits him.

The Republican Trump sounded a defiant note, telling reporters in Switzerland the Democrats did not have enough evidence to find him guilty and remove him from office.

In a two-hour opening argument for the prosecution after days of procedural wrangling, Representative Adam Schiff said Trump had pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to

investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son on unsubstantiated corruption charges last year.

Trump solicited interference from Ukraine to improve his chances in this November’s US presidential election, Schiff said, laying out the main Democratic argument for why Trump should be found guilty of abusing his power “To implement this corrupt scheme President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into two discredited allegations that would benefit President Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign,” Schiff said. (Excerpt from Reuters)

18

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

ARCHIE

ARIES (March 21April 19)

DILBERT

TAURUS (April 20May 20)

GEMINI (May 21June 20)

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU

Mistakes will happen if you overreact. Don’t question others or complain, go about your business and show how efficient you can be. When uncertainty prevails, take time out.

Stay in control and make things happen. You will accomplish a lot if you stay focused on what you want to achieve. Don’t expect help and you won’t be disappointed. Be proactive and positive.

Take action and don’t hold back when it comes to personal issues. There is plenty to gain from the situations you encounter and a lesson to be learned from the past.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Emotions will be difficult to control. You will have to decide between doing what you want and taking care of your responsibilities in some cases. Don’t shy away from change. An accepting attitude will lead to benefits.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Look at your options, assess your position and take action. Someone you least expect will shed some light on a situation you face.

Love and romance are in the stars.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

All work and no play won’t help your popularity. If you show your fun side, you will gain admiration for your well-rounded personality and ability to get things done while having a good time.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Be careful not to take on too much. Don’t rely on others or you will be disappointed. Put together a schedule that will help you reach your goal.

SCORPIO

Attending a seminar or event that could benefit you personally or that promotes something you want to pursue is favored. Be true to yourself and you won’t be disappointed.

(Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Keep a low profile. Don’t SAGITTARIUS engage in arguments or use (Nov. 23brawn over your brain to Dec. 21) solve a problem. Concentrate on personal improvement and educational pursuits.

Let go of the past.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19)

PISCES (Feb. 20March 20)

Invest in something that shows potential. Less will be more, so don’t go overboard.

You will be able to manipulate situations if you go about your business with finesse.

Make plans and stick to them. Don’t become preoccupied with what others are doing. Keep busy and do your best to avoid a situation that could lead to a dispute.

If you get involved in events that are geared toward reform, you will feel satisfied with your contribution. Someone you meet will help you achieve your goals.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

19

Australian Open 2020: Barty and Serena through as Osaka, Gauff set up showdown

A

sh Barty and Serena Williams moved through at the Australian Open as Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff set up a third-round showdown.

Home favourite and world number one Barty was untroubled on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, continuing her run in Melbourne.

Williams was below her best but still advanced during the night session as her bid for a record-equalling 24th grand slam title continued.

There is also the prospect of a mouth-watering showdown between two of the game's leading lights on Friday.

performance.

The Australian mixed 16 winners – nine of those from the forehand side – with 16 unforced errors, setting up a clash with Kazakh 29th seed Elena Rybakina.

Williams was left frustrated during the second set of her 6-2 6-3 victory over Tamara Zidansek.

The American star was pushed before advancing in one hour 18 minutes, having committed 28 unforced errors, including 17 in the second set.

Next up for Williams is Wang Qiang, the Chinese 27th seed having rushed past Fiona Ferro 6-1 6-2.

Barty, Serena untroubled

Osaka's title defence stayed alive with a 6-2 6-4 victory over China's Zheng Saisai.

The Japanese third seed

Barty brushed past Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1 6-4 in just 66 minutes on the back of a consistent

Osaka, Gauff set up blockbuster clash

Kvitova, Keys advance

Serena Williams

faces her biggest test yet in the third round, where Gauff awaits after the teenager's comeback win.

Gauff looked set for an exit, trailing Sorana Cirstea

3-0 in the final set.

But the 15-year-old fought back to claim a 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory and reach the third round at a grand slam for the third straight

time.

Osaka crushed Gauff 6-3 6-0 when the pair met at last year's US Open.

Wozniacki stays alive as

Caroline Wozniacki stretched her professional career for at least another match by beating Ukrainian 23rd seed Dayana Yastremska 7-5 7-5.

The 2018 Australian Open champion, who is retiring at the end of the tournament, came from 5-1 down in the first set and 3-0 behind in the second.

Last year's runner-up, Petra Kvitova, was tested in a 7-5 7-5 victory over Spain's Paula Badosa while Madison Keys also had moments of concern in her 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 win over Arantxa Rus. Petra Martic (13) and Aryna Sabalenka (11) were among the seeds to fall, with the latter beaten by Carla Suarez Navarro in their opening-round clash.

(SportsMax)

Leonard outduels Doncic, Chris Froome: Briton to return to competitive Clippers top Mavs

K

awhi Leonard scored 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the hosts Dallas Mavericks 110-107 on Tuesday night.

Leonard scored at least 30 points for the sixth straight contest. Landry Shamet added 18 points and Lou Williams had 16 off the bench for the Clippers. Montrezl Harrell scored all 12 of his points in the second half.

Luka Doncic had 36 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists for the Mavericks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Tim Hardaway Jr scored 13 points, while former Clipper Boban Marjanovic had 12 points and seven boards.

Kristaps Porzingis, who returned after missing 10 games with right knee soreness, finished with 10 points on 4-of-17 shooting and was 1 of 8 on three-pointers.

However, the Mavericks suffered a blow when forward Dwight Powell went down with an apparent right Achilles injury at 2:53 of the first quarter.

Powell, who did not return, collapsed to the court when he started a drive toward the basket near the

racing at UAE Tour

F

Simon Yates

Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic (77) drives to the basket against LA Clippers forward JaMychal Green (4) during the first quarter at American Airlines Center

three-point line.

Clippers forward Paul George missed his sixth consecutive game with a left hamstring strain.

Clippers guard Patrick Beverley did not play in the second half owing to a sore right groin. Beverley scored nine points by hitting all three of his threepoint attempts in 15 minutes.

Dallas pulled within 108-105, but Hardaway

missed a three-pointer with 16.1 seconds left.

Doncic misfired on the first of two free throws with 7.4 seconds left and intentionally missed the second one, but Leonard grabbed the rebound and converted a pair of foul shots with six seconds remaining.

The Clippers led by as much as 14 in the third quarter before the Mavericks cut the deficit to 67-64 after a three-pointer

by Hardaway with 7:08 left in the quarter. However, a 10-2 surge by Los Angeles pushed the margin to double digits again.

The Clippers led 82-78 heading into the fourth.

The Clippers, who staged a 16-0 burst in the second quarter, outscored the Mavericks 27-10 over the final six minutes of the half for a 60-49 advantage at the break. (Reuters)

our-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is set to return to competitive racing in February at the UAE Tour, eight months after a highspeed crash.

The Team Ineos rider is training again after being seriously injured during the Criterium du Dauphine last June.

The Briton, 34, will compete at the UAE Tour from February 23-29, after taking part in a training camp.

"I look forward to taking the next step in my recovery and getting back to full strength," Froome said.

"I've come back off a good block of training in Grand Canaria."

Froome suffered a broken

hip and fractured his right femur, elbow, and ribs while on a practice ride during last year's Criterium du Dauphine.

Meanwhile, Britain's Simon Yates has suffered a knee injury in a nasty crash on stage two of the Tour Down Under.

The Mitchelton-Scott rider was involved in an incident inside of the final mile of the race to Stirling, on the outskirts of Adelaide, and finished more than five minutes behind stage winner Caleb Ewan.

"His left knee is the real concern," said MitcheltonScott team director Matt White. "He could barely pedal to the finish line." (BBC Sport)

20

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

Nyeem Young: the diamond from Barbados’ Gold Coast

N

yeem Young spent most of his formative years at his grandparents’ house at St James, a parish in Barbados, while his parents worked. After taping up a rubber ball, he would bowl at the garbage can in his backyard to bide time. His grandfather was a bit of a cricket nerd, and Young grew up watching all kind of cricket games on television at his house.

From watching cricket on TV together, these days Young Senior wakes up at 4am to watch his grandson live at the Under-19 World Cup. So far, Young has made his grandfather’s effort worth it by winning the Player-of-the-Match award in both games he has played so far.

Remarkably, both the performances have come in different circumstances.

Against Australia, Young walked in to a tricky situation, with West Indies 73 for 4 in chase of 180. He fought through difficult periods against spin before finding his own in a composed innings of 61 in 69 balls to seal his West Indies’ first win against Australia in the tournament’s history.

Against England, Young had the liberty to display his full array of strokes. He smashed a 41-ball 66, his fourth fifty in five games, to lift West Indies to 267.

To cap off that batting performance, the medium-pacer ran through the England

West Indies Under-19s’ Nyeem Young

batting line-up to take his maiden five-for in the West Indies maroon.

Young appears a confident young man, not daunted by media attention or press conferences. He looks at you in the eye and answers, a rare trait among teenagers at the tournament. What is the secret to his confidence?

“When you see a tweet from Ian Bishop calling you a ‘future star’, it relaxes the nerves,” Young tells ESPNcricinfo. “For him to acknowledge my performance, speak to me, tweet about me, it means a lot.”

Young’s journey began as a nine-year-old when his school teacher asked him to play an Under-11 match. Before long, he made the Barbados U-13s and 15s, playing alongside

fellow all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall. Now, in 2020, he finds himself playing in his second Under-19 World Cup. The journey has been far from a smooth sail, though.

Despite making 299 in a school’s game as a 15-year old, he had failed to make a mark the next few years. It appeared, to him, that the transition into the Under19s would not be possible, but an arm around his shoulder changed everything.

“After that summer, I was a bit down,” Young continues, “because I couldn’t believe my form could drop so significantly within 12 months. I felt depressed at a very young age. Very hurtful. I thought it would be hard to go into the Under-19 team.

“That’s when Corey Collymore, my coach back then, came to my rescue. He had trust in me and calmed my anxiety by telling me that he believed in my potential. I haven’t watched him play, and yet he’s my favourite cricketer, just because of the person he is. He is very honest with me and still messages me here before games.”

Nyeem considers himself to be in the Ben Stokes mould. The higher the pressure, the more he thrives.

That’s why he’s grown as a bowler once he moved from taking the new ball.

“At the last World Cup, I was the new-ball bowler.

Now been a middle-overs and death bowler,” Young says. “I enjoy this more because when I bowl middle overs, it’s all about contain-

ing and I get to use my variations.

“Bowling at the death, I can show my slower balls and bouncers. I enjoy bowling at the death more than anything else. To have that confidence of bowling in the hardest part of the innings is a good asset. Chatting with Chris Jordan, who visits Barbados often, has also helped me.”

Despite his hard-hitting batting style, evidence of which is the cracked glass window at the media centre at Kimberley’s Diamond Oval, Nyeem has aspirations to play all three formats and not just white-ball cricket.

He admits he doesn’t watch much Test cricket, but believes he’s a very adjustable character. He also understands why specific senior players from the Caribbean prefer white-ball formats to Test cricket.

“Each player looks at things differently. Those who want to play specific formats, it’s because they know their strengths – like (Nicholas) Pooran and (Kieron) Pollard,” Young says. “I enjoy playing the faster game, and I’ll be honest, sometimes I don’t even watch Test cricket, but playing multi-day cricket is something different.

“Players within the Caribbean do tend to play limited-overs cricket, and that’s just their choice. And then there are people who

just want to play Test cricket like Kraigg B(rathwaite).

If we show teenagers and kids how enjoyable threeday cricket is, then that will help them develop a love for red-ball cricket.

“My next aim is to play in the Barbados first team and maybe get a CPL gig.

Barbados are a bit like Mumbai Indians in the IPL, so many good players that they can field three teams.

We have around eight-nine Test players from Barbados, so when the national team isn’t playing, it’s difficult making it to the first XI. “I learnt patience after watching a documentary on Mumbai Indians on Netflix.

Seeing how hard some of the players train despite not playing in the Mumbai Indians XI has inspired me.

I thought it may be easy playing franchise cricket, but seeing the documentary has shown that making it to the XI of an elite team is more difficult than it looks.”

St James in Barbados may be known as the ‘Gold Coast’ of the country, because of the rich and famous people living there, but from within that parish, it appears that a rough diamond has been discovered instead. Where Young goes after the World Cup only time will tell, but for now, he’s made himself one of the early contenders to become the World Cup’s Player of the Tournament.

(ESPNcricinfo)

Australian bushfires: Formula 1 to raise money for victims

F

ormula 1 is to hold an auction of valuable memorabilia and experiences to raise money to help those affected by the Australian bushfires.

Australia suffered its worst bushfire season this summer; at least 30 people and one billion animals have been killed, primarily in the south-east.

F1 said it “felt the need to help those affected in the worst-hit areas”.

An online auction started on Wednesday with proceeds going to four organisations helping support victims.

All are non-profit organisations or charities; the four are: Red Cross Australia, County Fire Authority Victoria, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and the WWF Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund. The auction takes place at f1authentics.com.

Although heavy rain and golf ball-sized hail hit parts of New South Wales and Victoria this week, the fires remain a major

threat.

Qualifying for the Australian Open tennis tournament had to be halted last week because of the poor air quality in Melbourne and F1 says it continues to monitor the situation before the 2020 season starts in the Victorian capital, with the season’s first Grand Prix on March 15.

Australian Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo’s racewear will be among the merchandise on offer in the F1 auction. So too will be the helmet to be worn by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen at the Australian Grand Prix.

Donors can buy the chance to meet a number of top drivers, including Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

They can also buy a meeting with any of three team bosses: Mercedes’

More than one billion animals have died during the bushfires

Toto Wolff, Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto, and Williams’ Claire Williams. Dinner with F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn is

available too.

Six-time

champion Hamilton has already given £380,000 to help those affected by the bushfires.

Despite the efforts to help, F1 may still face criticism in the weeks ahead in relation to the environment.

The climate crisis has had a direct effect on the severity of the bushfires – last year was the hottest since

records began and there has been a prolonged drought.

There could be criticism, then, for a sport flying its teams, drivers and officials halfway around the world to spend three days burning carbon.

F1, though, would point to the steps forward in thermal efficiency created by its turbo hybrid engines, the trickledown effect of such

technology in road cars, its plan to be carbon neutral by 2030 and its intention to use carbon-neutral synthetic fuel once it introduces a new engine formula in 2025.

The FIA and Formula 1 also on Wednesday announced they have become signatories of the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Framework. (BBC Sport)

21 Pink Diamond Promotions launches “Daddy & Me” Sports Competition GUYANATIMESGY.COM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

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…set for Father’s Day

O

By Timothy Jaikarran

n June 21,2020 (Father’s Day) the Pink Diamond Promotions, founded by Warren Wilson will be hosting its inaugural “Daddy & Me” sporting competition at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

In a simple ceremony held at the National Racquet Centre, Wilson said, “Every year there is some form of competition that involves mothers and daughters. I’ve realized that fathers need something too, that’s why I came up with this idea where the fathers and sons will be able to bond better through sport. The competition will take the form of skills challenges, races, obstacle courses and many more, the categories will be 7-11 years, 12-16 years and 17-open, as their will be the requisite challenges for the respective age ranges. We will make

Founder Warren Wilson, Manager Soffanna Lewis and Events Coordinator Kade Pearce

the cost to enter the tournament as reasonable as possible as we want everyone to come out that day and enjoy

themselves. But the basic idea of the tournament is to bring the families together through good, clean sports.”

Wilson also noted that paying attention to the rules of the games is very important as the fathers are re-

quired to pass a physical test to ensure their eligibility in the competition. The completion is open to all fathers. Completed registration forms with all relevant documents must be submitted by March 15, 2020 to the organizing committee. All eligible participants must attend cardio and aerobics sessions which will be provided by the committee. All participants must disclose any preceding health conditions; the organizing committee reserves the right to refuse entry to any potential participant if deemed unfit.

For further information, persons can contact Warren Wilson on 627-2719, Kade Pearce 620-0462 or Sophia on 685-6077. Registration forms can be uplifted from the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, National Gymnasium or Coach Scott at the Eve Leary ground.

Busta Champion of Champions 2019 Tournament...

Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt Flour and Albion to clash in another final on Sunday

T

he long rivalry between Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt Flour and Albion would have another chapter added to its rich history when they clash in the finals of the Berbice Cricket Board/ Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, MS Busta Champions of Champions 2019 cricket tournament.

The finals will be played at the historic Port Mourant Cricket Ground from 11:00 hrs. Albion will be seeking its first ever Busta title while Rose Hall Town will be seeking to add its thirteenth since the tournament started in 2004.

The two teams last Sunday played in the finals of the BCB/Ivan Madray 20/20 Memorial tournament and RHT Namilco Thunderbolt Flour emerged as Champions after edging Albion by five runs at the No69 Vikings Ground.

Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt has been dominating first division cricket in Berbice for a while now and Albion will be determined to win a title that they have failed to date to win after thirteen attempts.

Both teams will be without some of their main players due to senior national duties, under 19 World Cup in South Africa, injuries and they refusal of Cricket Guyana Inc to allow their contracted players to play in the BCB organised tournament.

BCB President Hilbert Foster expressed disappointment in the CGI decision but stated that the tournament was still an overwhelming success.

The Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt Flour team

Albion Community Centre Cricket Club

Albion would be led by Kandasammy Surujnarine and he will be supported

by Adrian Sukhwa, Sharaz Ramcharran, Jonathan Foo, David Latchaya, Rajiv Ivan, Sarwan Chaitnarine, Reyad Karim and Jetendra Outar. Their all spin bowling attack will consist of off spinners Ramcharran, Latchana, Foo, Left arm spinner Mahendra Chaitnarine and Sarwan Chaitnarine. Albion will be missing the services of Anthony Bramble, Veersammy Permaul, Devindra Bishoo, Gudakesh Motie and Kevin Umroa.

Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt Flour without the services of Kevin Sinclair, Kevlon Anderson, Clinton Pestano will be spearheaded in the batting department by veterans Delbert Hicks, Royston Crandon, Khemraj Mahadeo, Jason Sinclair along with Skipper Eon Hooper, Junior Sinclair, Jonathan Rampersaud, Keith Simpson and Chanderpaul Govindhan.

The new ball will be shared by the fiery duo of Keon Sinclair and Sylus Tyndall.

Support will be obtained from off spinners Hooper,

runner up will carry home $100,000 and $50,000 respectively along with trophies while the Man of the Finals will also receive a financial prize and tro-

Crandon, Rampersaud, Junior Sinclair, Troy Mathieson, left arm spinner Keith Simpson and Leg Spinner Shawn Pereira.

The winning team and

phy. BCB President and RHTYSC/CEO Hilbert Foster along with Busta Regional Manager Albert Budhoo will share out the prizes after the match.

Mavericks centre Powell suffers ''severe'' Achilles injury

D

allas Mavericks starting center Dwight Powell suffered a “severe” right Achilles injury during Tuesday night’s 110-107 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, coach Rick Carlisle confirmed.

The 28-year-old collapsed to the floor when his right leg appeared to give out while he was attempting to drive to the basket with about three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

“It’s a somber night with Dwight’s situation,” Carlisle said. “He’s going to have an MRI (Wednesday). Right Achilles injury feared to be severe, but we won’t know for sure until the diagnostic tests are done. It’s a real tough one.”

In his sixth NBA season, Powell is averaging 9.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 26.5 minutes per game. He is shooting 63.8 percent from the field through

Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell (7) reacts to an injury during the first quarter against the LA Clippers at American Airlines Center

40 games, with 37 starts.

Powell was drafted in the second round by Charlotte in 2014. He was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and then to the Boston Celtics before making his NBA debut with the Celtics on Nov. 14, 2014.

Boston traded Powell and Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks for Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright and two draft picks on Dec. 18, 2014.

Through 371 career games (89 starts), the 6-foot10 Powell has averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds.

He signed a three-year, $33 million contract extension with the Mavericks in July 2019.

A Toronto native, Powell was expected to help Team Canada attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

(Reuters)

22

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ICC Women’s World T20 2020

Guyanese trio selected for WI Women’s team

T

Guyana’s Cherry-Ann Fraser

hree Guyanese female cricketers have been featured in a 15-member team released by Cricket West Indies on Wednesday who will participate in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, from February 21-March 8.

The team will be led by Stafanie Taylor and sees the return of Deandra Dottin to international cricket after eight months out of the squad following corrective surgery and rehabilitation. These two experienced all-rounders will be at the forefront of a hungry West Indies team seeking a second T20 World Cup title. The Guyanese players are Shemaine Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond, and Cherry- Ann Fraser.

In front of sold-out crowds at home in the Caribbean in 2018, the West Indies Women reached the semi-final stage where they lost to eventual champions Australia and now, they will be looking to go

further by reaching the final and winning the title again.

In 2016, the West Indies Women won their first-ever ICC World Cup as part of a famous World Cup winning trifecta with the West Indies men’s team and West Indies U-19s.

Head of the CWI Women’s and Girls’ Selection Panel, A n n BrowneJohn, who c o m mented that the team was a complete bal-

players, “The World Cup squad continues to show a blend of experience and young emerging players. It is boosted by the return of Captain Stafanie Taylor, who was out of the T20 series against India through injury. We are also pleased to welcome back Deandra Dottin, who made such a big impact on international cricket in the past few years until she was sidelined by injury. The two experienced fast bowlers Connell and Selman who have also been on the injured list are now back in the squad.

Browne-John added, “Lee Ann Kirby returns to the team after an extended absence, but she has shown herself to be a prolific scorer. In addition, the introduction of the young fast bowler Cherry-Ann Fraser is ideal for the Australian pitches which are generally fast with some bounce.

The team has the experience and talent to excel at the World Cup.” The West Indies Women will play Pakistan in three warm-up matches in Brisbane ahead of the official start of the ICC Women’s T20 World

the tournament will be played against Thailand with WI aiming to win on February 22 in Perth, followed by Pakistan on February 26 in Canberra, England on March 1 in Sydney, and the final group stage match against South Africa on March 3, also in Sydney.

FULL SQUAD: 1. Stafanie Taylor (Captain) 2. Anisa Mohammed (Vice Captain) 3. Deandra Dottin 4. Hayley Matthews 5. Che dean Nation 6. Lee-Ann Kirby 7. Britney Cooper 8. S h e m a i n e Campbelle 9. Chinelle Henry 10. Afy Fletcher 11. Shamilia Connell 12. Shakera Selman 13. Sheneta Grimmond 14. Cherry-Ann Fraser 15. Aaliyah Alleyne – TEAM MANAGEMENT 1. Everil Lewis – Manager 2. Augustine Logie – Head Coach 3. Courtney Walsh –

Sheneta Grimmond

Assistant Coach 4. Rayon Griffith – Assistant Coach/ Fielding Coach 5. Matthew Parchment – Physiotherapist 6. Shayne Cooper – Strength and Conditioning Coach 7. Gary Belle – Analyst 8. Naasira Mohammed – Media Officer

West Indies Women’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

Schedule West Indies v Thailand February 22, WACA, Perth West Indies v Pakistan February 26, Manuka Oval, Canberra West Indies v England March 1, Sydney Showground, Sydney West Indies v South Africa March 3, Sydney Showground, Sydney.

Semi-Final 1 & 2 March 5, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

“King of Studies II” set for this Saturday

Shemaine Campbelle

ance of experienced and new

Cup. The first group match of

GSA adds Masters Tournament to calendar

T

he Guyana Squash Association (GSA) will be serving off 2020 with a new addition to its calendar – the first BCQS Guyana Masters Championship.

Sponsored by property and development company BCQS International, the tournament will host squash masters from islands around the Caribbean inclusive of Barbados, Tortola, Jamaica and, of course, Guyana.

Twenty-six players will contest in the categories: Women's over-35, Men's over35, over-45, over-55 and over65 to show mature athletes still have the ability to perform in this ultimate court game. From young Masters to VETs, the line-up of players promises some outstanding play and close battles in the various age groups.

Guyana's long-time players Denis Dias and Tony Farnum will be representing in the over 65s; Narendra

Successful coach David Fernandes is expected to feature in the Masters Tournament

Singh, Lloyd Fung-A-Fat, and Wayne Alphonso in over55s; David Fernandes and Joe Mekdeci for over-45s and Regan Pollard in the over35s. In the women's over35s, Lydia Fraser and Tian Edwards challenge the lone overseas women's competitor from Barbados.

Having sponsor BCQS International on board for this event is welcomed by the GSA as an opportunity to broaden the scope of Masters squash in Guyana and allow those with a lifelong dedication to the sport to showcase their experience and expertise.

Matches begin today, Thursday, January 23, at 17:00h (5pm) at the Georgetown Club, Camp Street. Play will continue on Friday from 17:00h with two sessions on Saturday – 11:00h and 16:00h. Spectators are welcome to join the championships and enjoy squash at its best.

Organiser and founder of the tournament, Jafar Gibbons

T

he highly-anticipated football tournament dubbed “King of Studies II” is set for staging this Saturday alongside the newly-constructed Behavioural Sciences Building on the University of Guyana Campus at Turkeyen.

Created with the specific intention of encouraging student interaction and bringing people together at the University, teams participating in this tournament comprise members drawn from various faculties, as opposed to what normally obtains at universities (inter-faculty sports).

Organiser and founder of the tournament, Jafar Gibbons, who is also the student body president, is an avid lover of sports and it is his main goal to uni-

fy everyone on campus through sports. Gibbons stated that as compared to the first edition which was a major success, the second edition will see more lucrative prizes up for grabs.

Gibbons noted that what he was looking to achieve is based on the founding principle of integration, wherefore teams are created from a mixture of persons, as opposed to persons playing at a faculty level. The underlying theme on which the tournament is based is giving back and impacting the university in a positive way.

The matches will be played in two five-minute halves and in a round-robin style; after which the knockout stage, comprising two semi-final games and the final game, would be

staged. Because this tournament is a one-day affair, all prizes won would be handed over on the day of its staging.

Team Hard Knocks, who won the first edition, will be aiming to keep its winning streak alive and be crowned two-time champions of this tournament, which facilitates 10 teams and accommodates as many as 100 students.

This year’s victorious team are set to walk away with a top prize of $100,000 while the runners-up would earn $50,000 and the thirdplace team $25,000.

The champion team would be obliged to contribute 10 per cent of their winnings towards a project members choose to impact the university.

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

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PCL: Jaguars eager to take on Red Force today champions.

“They’re playing well right now; they’ve had a good couple of games so far.

Hopefully, if things go well for us and things go well to what we’ve planned, we can hopefully do well in this game,” he stated.

Red Force: Not intimidated

On the other side of the coin, the Red Force outfit is in high spirits and did not seem to be intimidated by the Jaguars’ home advantage. Captain Darren Bravo told Guyana Times Sport that while his team were aware of Guyana’s

The four-day encounter, which will begin tomorrow and is expected to run until January 26, will begin at 10:00h daily.

The full Guyana Jaguars squad reads Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Vishaul Singh, Leon Johnson, Christopher Barnwell, Ronaldo Alimohamed, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Davendra Bishoo, Tevin Imlach, Veerasammy Permaul, Keon Joseph and Nial Smith. Alimohamed has come into the team as a replacement for an injured Raymon Reifer,

The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force get warm before beginning practice at Providence on Wednesday

T

he Guyana Jaguars will go into action once again, this time on their home turf, as they hunt a much-needed victory

and the Red Force’s first on the road, which will add some intrigue.

The Guyana National Stadium has been a fortress

Guyana’s Kevin Sinclair shows off his style in the nets

in the Professional Cricket League’s Regional FourDay Tournament.

The National Stadium Providence will host its first PCL Four-Day 2020 game today, in this, the third round of action. Playing on home soil, the Guyana Jaguars will look to put a stop to the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, who are currently leading the league on points.

The Jaguars on 24.8 points are not far behind their counterparts from the twin-island republic who sit on 29.6 points, but a solid win will augur well for the five-time champions.

Looking at the teams’ performances thus far, the Red Force continued their strong start to the season, when they crushed Hurricanes by an innings and 168 runs on home soil. But Jaguars stumbled when their batting failed to fire in Barbados.

For both teams in this contest, the scenery changes for the first time this season. It will be the Jags’ first match on home soil, where they are most comfortable,

for the Jaguars during their five successive championship runs. They have lost just three matches at this venue during that period and have beaten Red Force in their last four matches there.

In addition, the Jags have won eight of the 10 matches between the two sides in the Professional Cricket League era of the championship, but Red Force claimed an unexpected 93-run victory last season, albeit on home soil.

The main storyline for this contest will be, therefore, to see whether the Jaguars can get their groove back on home soil and if their loss last weekend was just a blip. Can Red Force penetrate the home team’s defence and continue their early success this season?

Bowling appears to be the strength in both teams, but the batting will decide the outcome and Red Force appear to have the edge so far this season, batting once and piling up a couple of big totals in their two previous matches.

Jaguars’ expectations Speaking on the Jaguars’ shaky batting performance in Barbados where they lost

to the home team, Barbados Pride last week, Assistant Coach and Guyanese legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul noted that getting the players to construct big innings was a point of concern that has been worked on.

“We talked about that and that’s one of our plans, to get somebody to carry on and get big scores… hundreds. We had a couple of starts, three 50s in Barbados and a few also in Antigua, but I think we’re playing a little bit loose. We need to dig in, get focused and start to back the innings a little and try to stay in as long as you can and hopefully get big scores,” Chanderpaul disclosed.

When probed about coming up against a steady Red Force team, who have a draw and a win from two games played, Chanderpaul was keen to admit the high quality of the opposing team, but shared that once the Jaguars’ game plan went well, there would be no worries for the five-time

Nial Smith perfects his craft in the nets

Tagenarine Chanderpaul will be a key component in the Jaguars’ batting line-up

“powerhouse” status, the Trinidadian team were ready to stand up to their test.

“We are quite confident to be honest; the guys have been playing some brilliant cricket in the tournament so far, so we’ll come up against one of the powerhouses in this format of the game and obviously, they have dominated this format. Winning five in a row, obviously coming to their home ground is going to be a challenge, but I think the guys are looking forward to the challenge,” Bravo revealed.

Bravo, who is currently the second highest run scorer thus far with 199 runs, behind Jamaica Scorpions’ Paul Palmer (262 runs), shared with this publication that he was not too focused on his individual performance, but rather the development of the younger players on his team.

“I just want to continue leading from the front as much as possible. I’m just trying to take that level of responsibility and I’m trying to help out the younger guys on the team as much as possible,” he noted.

while Gudakesh Motie and Sherfane Rutherford have also missed selection owing to injuries.

Rayon Griffith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Neil Barry will be acting in the capacity of Head Coach, Assistant Coach and physiotherapist respectively.

The Red Force team remain unchanged and read: Darren Bravo (Captain); Yannic Cariah; Bryan Charles; Joshua da Silva; Terrance Hinds; Akeal Hosein; Kissoondath Magram; Jason Mohammed; Uthman Muhammed; Yannick Ottley; Keagan Simmons; Odean Smith; and Jeremy Solozano.

Also, in the PCL, the Windward Islands Volcanoes will go head to head with the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, S. Lucia.

Meanwhile, the Jamaica Scorpions will enjoy a home advantage as they take on the Barbados Pride at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.

(Jemima Holmes)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

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

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PCL: Jaguars eager to take on Red Force today Page 23

ICC Women’s World T20 2020 Page 21 Page 22

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