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CPCE/GGA Showcase Golf to 2025 Class of Teachers Sep 17, 2024 Sports A large number of teachers were introduced to golf as part of the GGA Nexgen Academy School’s programme. Kaieteur Sports – Over 70 trainee teachers from the class of 2025 were introduced to golf at the main campus in Turkeyen on Thursday. According to Vice Principal/Registrar Ms. Kevaun Sears, “This is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that every teacher, regardless of whether they’re majoring in PE or not, are exposed to a sport which we hope they will in turn pass on their knowledge and excitement to their learners at schools all over the country.” The teachers were given an engaging overview of the sport by GGA President Aleem Hussain and LPGA/USGA Site manager Philip Haynes about its potential for scholarships and networking which could benefit all participants, especially female players who stand to gain from access to the LPGA/USGA Girls Foundation programme. Teachers were then given the opportunity to Putt for prizes and despite trying for the first time, most of the participants were able to effectively grasp the fundamentals of the sport, leading to increased interest in learning and teaching. Hussain said, “We were extremely pleased to see the response from the teachers and their commitment to take the sport back to their classrooms is very encouraging. Our goal is to get 1,000 teachers interested in golf and ask each of them to share their passion and knowledge with 100 students over the next three years, thereby transforming Guyana into a Golf Nation!” Plans are being made to create a CPCE Golf Club which will be affiliated with the Guyana Golf Association and open tournament and training opportunities for teachers and their families. Related Similar Articles

Fitzgerald crowned champion at Foreign Links ‘Best of Seven’ Darts C/ship Sep 17, 2024 Sports Top four share photo-op at the conclusion of the Best of Seven Legs Darts Championship. In photo (L-R) Lallchand Rambharose, Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald and Christopher Lochan. Kaieteur Sports – The Foreign Links Darts Club League concluded its ‘Best of Seven’ Darts Championship on Sunday night at 21 Bar and Lounge, with local darts star Sudesh Fitzgerald taking home the championship title. Fitzgerald delivered a dominant performance, winning an impressive 12 legs, and ultimate to secure victory. The competition, which featured some of the top names in local darts, allowed players to accumulate points with each leg, with four points needed to win a contest. Norman Madhoo claimed the runner-up spot, finishing with 9 wins and 8 losses, while Christopher Lochan took third place after securing 7 wins out of 18 legs. Lallchand Rambharose rounded out the top four with four victories. Foreign Links Darts Club members praised the owners of 21 Bar and Lounge for their continued support, providing a platform for thrilling darts competitions in Guyana. Related Similar Articles

The Helena Ground will Host a Golf, Archery and Cricket Fun Day on Sunday Sep 17, 2024 Sports The Helena Ground is the host for the Golf, Archery and Cricket Fun Day. Kaieteur Sports – The Executive of Mahaica’s Helena 1&2 Sports Ground in collaboration with Nexgen Golf Academy will host a Free Admission Family Fun Day on Sunday September 22 from 1-10pm. This awesome activity will see Sports such as Golf, Cricket, Archery and Dominoes being played at the recently renovated Ground, along with a Barbecue and Music to add to the excitement. Families are encouraged to come out and picnic while taking part in various activities that will allow them to win prizes for participating. In fact, the first 200 players to take part in Golf and Archery will receive Igloo Ice-cream, compliments of Sterling Products. Prizes such as beverage hampers from Guyana Beverages and trips to Kaieteur Falls and Arrowpoint Resort courtesy of Roraima Airways and Captain Gerry Gouveia will also be up for grabs along with a variety of trophies. The 10-over cricket competitions will start at 1 pm and the fun atmosphere is expected to continue well into the night as the music and show begins. Helena Cricket Ground Executive will host the activities with the support of Premier Insurance Company, Nexgen Golf Academy, ProArchers, Guyana Beverages Inc, Roraima Airways, Sterling Products, H. Nauth & Sons, KK Gas Station and DDL. Related Similar Articles

Peace, love, and brotherhood Sep 17, 2024 Editorial Kaieteur News – On Monday as a country we celebrated the birth of the Prophet Muhammad a day designated by our Muslim brothers and sisters as Youman Nabi. Prophet Muhammad stands as a stirring example of the difference one man can make.  The changes that one can bring about leave us awed and inspired.  It makes us want to do whatever little that we can do at the individual level to change the world in which we live, to make our times better.  In a time of major developments in Guyana, of monumental changes, we cannot go on as we always have, through reliving the failures of the past.  We must prepare to do our little that contributes to meaningful change, impacting nation and contemporaries for the better. Peace, love, and brotherhood are some of the ingredients of Youman Nabi.  As Guyanese, we would do ourselves justice in our reflections to cut through the noise of warring voices and get to a place of inner peace, and when we achieve that inner peace, then we are better positioned to spread its serene grace wherever we go, before whomever we come across.  The voices at war in Guyana are many and they are loud, so it is an uphill battle to go against that tide, but try we must in this ruptured land. We have been blessed with so much and in so many ways that they leave in wonderment.  There are more natural resources than our neighbours, and still there is only limited awareness of the magnitude of our gifts.  Other than for floodings, this country is less exposed to the forces of nature, which batter this region annually almost unfailingly.  For such circumstances, only gratitude can flow, and there must be the determination that our thanksgiving extends to all (and for all) who share our space and our new dawning Age. For a truth must be looked at, regardless of how much recoiling it brings.  We are supremely rich in nature’s gifts, of that there can be no question.  Yet we are so dirt poor on those matters that mean the most, which include how to exist in a peaceful state, that state of love and brotherhood that has escaped us.  It is because we have never really tried to confront our nightmares, and work through them to see where they lead, and what possible light could be waiting ahead.  Our national journey has been rocky to twisted to downward for most of our existence, but there is the faith that there is some higher ground somewhere ahead, no matter how slight. It is why we keep struggling against the odds, against the resistances, against slippery territory underfoot to find that space where there is understanding.  For understanding is a moment for appreciating, and from there are the first solid planks for tolerating, rising to higher ground.  Unless we come to grips with the wisdom that tolerating and including are what will empower us to extract the most from the riches that have come our way, then there may as well be no oil or gold or timber, for all that they would come to mean. Instead of seeing each other as competitors for a piece of the pie, our position is that it is much more rewarding and nationally enhancing to look upon one another as partners.  Our energies must be devoted towards the fulsome, so that we can replace the quarrelsome and wearisome. We are bleeding, and all that we seem to be capable of is slashing each other some more.  We have not really given any other way a chance.  It is definite that we must make the sturdiest efforts to do so now: peace, love, brotherhood. Related Similar Articles

The President’s pipe dream Sep 17, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom Kaieteur News – The effusive optimism of President Irfaan Ali in proclaiming Guyana as poised to become a major manufacturing hub demands a sober confrontation with reality. At least two newspapers have reported Ali boasting that “historically, Guyana has been competitive in every area,” as if such grandiose declarations could conjure up a competitive edge for an economy hamstrung by structural inefficiencies. The President, with characteristic buoyancy, predicted that once the country’s much-touted gas-to-energy project comes on stream, energy costs will be halved. Supposedly, this will become the basis for positioning Guyana as one of the most attractive destinations for manufacturing investment. But, to put it mildly, the President needs to moderate his enthusiasm. Even with the promised 50% reduction in energy costs, Guyana will still be far from competitive on the regional or global manufacturing stage. Currently, Guyanese manufacturers face energy costs that hover around US$0.30 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), one of the highest in the Caribbean. In contrast, energy costs in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname—two of our closest economic competitors—stand at a mere US$0.05 per kWh. A 50% reduction would still leave us at US$0.15 per kWh, three times the rate of our neighbours. How then does the President reconcile his optimism with this hard fact? Even if the gas-to-energy project materializes, manufacturers will continue to pay energy rates that will make it impossible to compete with Trinidad or Suriname, let alone giants like Brazil, Mexico or China. But energy costs, as significant as they are, are only part of the larger issue that plagues Guyana’s manufacturing aspirations. Guyana’s manufacturing sector, historically and presently, is not competitive. Indeed, our most prominent exports—sugar, rice, bauxite—have relied heavily on preferential trade agreements or subsidies, and later on tariff protections, rather than any intrinsic competitive advantage. The preferential access Guyana once enjoyed in European markets for sugar, for example, was the product of post-colonial trade arrangements, not the result of market efficiencies. These arrangements, which gave Guyanese sugar higher prices, were dismantled and the industry has since struggled to survive without that artificial protection. Take our so-called competitive rice industry, which benefits from CARICOM’s Common External Tariff (CET) to access regional markets. Guyanese rice is shielded from competition within the Caribbean, but that same protectionism limits our competitiveness on a broader scale. Outside of CARICOM, Guyanese rice cannot compete with lower-cost producers like Vietnam, India, or Thailand, whose economies of scale and lower input costs allow them to undercut us easily. Let us turn our attention to the more systemic obstacles that lie beyond energy costs. Manufacturing in Guyana faces a litany of structural issues that no gas-to-energy project will fix. First, the cost of moving raw materials into the country remains prohibitively high. Guyana’s ports are underdeveloped, transport infrastructure is still weak, and the cost of shipping materials in and products out adds significant overhead to manufacturing costs. Second the country’s storage capacity is also limited, making it difficult for businesses to store either inputs or outputs on a large scale for an extended period, and to do so at a low unit cost.  No manufacturer is likely to view Guyana as an attractive option when they can set up shop in countries where supply chains are more efficient, logistical costs are lower, and proximity to major markets is far better. Thirdly, Guyana faces a shortage of skilled labor. While the President speaks glowingly of Guyana’s “skilled workforce,” in practice, the lack of highly specialized technical workers has been a persistent drag on productivity in manufacturing. Even with attempts at upskilling, Guyana’s education system has not produced the depth of technical expertise required to drive high-end manufacturing. This deficit is not only a constraint on productivity but also a barrier to attracting high-tech manufacturing investment, which relies heavily on access to a well-trained labour pool. The “skilled workforce” to which Ali refers is, at best, a potential that remains far from being realized. Ask any employer in Guyana about the difficulties in acquiring skilled labour. Then there’s the cost of capital, which remains stubbornly high due to the widespread between deposit and lending rates in the banking sector. High interest rates act as a disincentive for manufacturers who may want to expand operations or invest in new technologies. Additionally, Guyana’s small domestic market further limits the potential for manufacturing growth. Without the ability to scale production for export markets, manufacturers are constrained by the relatively low purchasing power of local consumers. This problem is compounded by the high corporation tax and other fiscal burdens placed on businesses, which erode profit margins and stymie growth. Even if manufacturers can navigate the quagmire of energy costs, transport inefficiencies, and high capital costs, they still face the prohibitive expense of international marketing. Competing on the global stage requires aggressive marketing efforts, which are often out of reach for small and medium-sized manufacturers in Guyana. Worse still, our quality control infrastructure is woefully underdeveloped. Without reliable and rigorous quality assurance systems in place, Guyanese manufacturers will find it difficult to meet international standards and attract buyers in competitive global markets. The President’s declaration that Guyana is “poised” to become a manufacturing destination conveniently overlooks these deeper, more structural impediments. His administration, like others before it, seems more interested in painting a rosy picture of future growth rather than confronting the immediate and severe challenges that continue to hold back industrial development. The notion that a single gas-to-energy project will magically transform Guyana into a competitive manufacturing hub is, at best, wishful thinking. Guyana has struggled to establish itself as a competitive player on the global stage. Our exports have often relied on trade preferences and protectionist measures, not genuine competitiveness. And now, with global trade becoming more liberalized and competitive, the weaknesses of our manufacturing sector are becoming increasingly apparent. If Guyana is to become an attractive destination for manufacturing investment, it will require far more than a gas-to-energy project; it will demand deep, structural reforms that tackle the root causes of our lack of economic competitiveness. Until then, the President’s vision of a manufacturing renaissance in Guyana remains little more than a pipe dream. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) Related Similar Articles

Guyana Oil Share: 1.29 Barrels of oil out of every 100 Barrels Sep 17, 2024 Letters Dear Editor, It has been reported that Guyana received $336 billion in 2023 from oil, and had to pay $306 billion in taxes for ExxonMobil and partners (KN:  Sept. 13, 2024). The implication which can be drawn from this distribution of total revenue is that Guyana only received G$30 billion ($336B – $306B) from the total sales of oil in 2023.  Is this amount of $30 billion equal to 14.5 percent of total revenue (12.5 percent of total revenue as profit plus 2 percent as Royalty) as stated in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA)? The answer to the question is no; and here is the calculation. Since Guyana received $336 billion, and given that Guyana must receive 14.5 percent of total revenue, this implies that total revenue is $2,317.2 billion, of which EMGL, Hess and CNOOC, the consortium, received $2,287.2 billion, which is equivalent to 85.5 percent of total revenue (Table 1). However, the real share of oil between Guyana and the consortium is much worse. In particular, with Guyana paying from its share of oil revenue, the taxes of the consortium, the net share of total revenue that Guyana receives of $30 billion is a measly amount of only 1.29 percent of total revenue; while the consortium receives 98.71 percent of total revenue (Table 1). In other words, out of every 100 hundred barrels of oil, Guyana only received 1.29 barrels of oil, as compared with 98.71 barrels for the consortium.  Additionally, since Guyana owns the resource, this lopsided PSA arrangement cannot be considered to be fair, given that the tax collected at a rate of 13.2 percent of total revenue is even larger than the profit share of 12.5 percent of total revenue. More troubling is the fact that since no government pays the taxes for any company, this PSA arrangement clearly indicates that Guyana has forfeited its legal authority and sovereignty to a foreign owned company for a 1.29 percent-pittance!  Therefore, the outcome of this arrangement, signals that the Parliament of Guyana, which is the sole authority to introduce taxes, has now been placed in a comatose posture by foreigners who have nullified the Guyanese Constitution. If the Parliament is serious about its work, it will nullify the payment by the government of the taxes on behalf of the company; and authorize the collection of taxes from the oil company in addition of the 12.5 percent share of profit and the two percent royalty. The outcome of this arrangement will be that Guyana will receive $642B, equivalent to 27.7 percent of total Revenue, as compared with the 1.29 percent under the current PSA (Table 2). The Guyanese people need to let their politicians know that receiving only 1.29 barrels of oil out of every 100 barrels of oil is unacceptable. Furthermore, the Government of Guyana must have the consortium pay taxes as is customary with every other business; for to have this tax give-away for 40 years on a non-renewable resource is deplorable and the reintroduction of colonialism. Editor, future generations will be displeased with our incompetence, for they would only inherit token amounts in the bank, an empty hole in the ground, together with a compromised environment.  Finally, given that Guyana owns the oil, but is constrained by a lopsided PSA, while receiving only 1.29 barrels out of every 100 barrels of oil, this cannot be a fair deal. Please find a better solution! Sincerely, Dr. C. Kenrick Hunte Professor and Former Ambassador Related Similar Articles

The Seven Ponds Sep 17, 2024 Letters Plaque at Seven Ponds, September 14, 2024 Dear Editor, On behalf of our entire family, we were pleased to see the Place of the Seven Ponds look resplendent during the solemn funeral for Sir Shridath Ramphal. Additionally, it was a pleasure to hear Mark Ramphal, Sir Shridath’s son, use the poem by Martin Carter, our Father, entitled ‘Death Of A Comrade’ in tribute to “Sonny”, a friend and Comrade of Martin’s. In spite of the efforts to place a picket fence and plaque next to our Father’s place of rest, allow us to point out that the photograph on the plaque is not of Martin Wylde Carter, but instead that of A.J. Seymour, another of Guyana’s foremost literary figures. We sincerely hope the mistake will be corrected, as it is also a disservice to Mr. A.J. Seymour’s family. For easy reference, we attach the photograph of the plaque, with inscription Martin Wylde Carter but with A.J. Seymour’s photograph, on display at the Place of the Seven Ponds yesterday. Sincerely, Keith H. Carter, MD Related Similar Articles