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Brand Manager, Non-Alcoholic Beverages at Banks DIH Clayton McKenzie (left) presents the sponsorship cheque to GCF Public Relations Director, Shiv Nandalall

The final rounds are slated for this weekend, June 29-30. Monetary prizes for the top three players totalling G$35,000 will be awarded after the competition.

The standings are: CM Ronuel Greenidge and Ethan Lee with 3.5 points each, followed by Sachin Pitamber and Loris Nathoo with three points each.

Holding the fifth position, and leading the girls with 2.5 points is Aditi Joshi, the reigning National Under-14 female champion. 12-year-old Nicholas Zang is also on 2.5 points.

Kishan Puran, Alexander Zang, Maliha Rajkumar, Alek Ubaldo Singh and newcomer Prince Dunn each hold two points.

A lengthy and thrilling Round Four battle between young Ethan Lee and CM Ronuel Greenidge ended after almost 70 moves.

As both opponents entered the endgame, Greenidge maneuvered an active Knight and King to escort his only passed pawn, already deep into enemy territory. But Lee’s well-positioned Rook and King also threatened the single pawn with capture to avoid its promotion.

With winning chances dwindling for both sides, a draw was agreed on move 67 and the two players split the point.

With the remaining four rounds set for this weekend, players have the opportunity to strategise their best moves to better their outcome. Malta Supreme is back on board with the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) and is proud to be associated once again in the pool of generous sponsors of GCF tournaments.

The GCF wishes to thank Banks DIH and the Malta Supreme brand for sponsoring the Grand Prix Four tournament.

The GCF would also like to thank the Ministry of Education and David Rose Special School for facilitating the venue for the competition.

The Guyana Chess Federation 2024 Grand Prix series is part of the qualification system for the 45^th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in September 2024.

The four Grand Prix allows players to test their skills and work on improving their strategy for the opening, middle and end games in a competitive setting.

Persons wishing to join the Guyana Chess Federation can visit the website on guyanachess.gy.

Games can be viewed online on boards one to eight at www.view.livechesscloud.com. The competition is being supervised by FIDE Arbiter John Lee.

separate licences for the Stabroek Block co-ventures engaged in oil production offshore Guyana.

Gaskin challenged the legality of a Petroleum Production Licence granted to ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (Exxon) and its co-ventures CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited (CNOOC), and Hess Guyana Exploration Limited (Hess) for the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. After the appeal was dismissed each party was ordered to bear their own costs.

Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam, Melinda Janki, C.V. Satram and R. Motilall appeared for the Appellant. Senior Counsel Edward A. Luckhoo and Eleanor Luckhoo appeared for the Respondents while Senior Counsel Andrew M F Pollard appeared for the Added Respondents.

A press release from the CCJ noted that in delivering the judgment, Justice Winston Anderson highlighted the constitutional emphasis on environmental protection in Guyana.

“He noted that environmental authorisation under the Environmental Protection Act is a condition precedent for granting a licence. Justice Anderson concluded that the environmental permit granted to Exxon as the sole operator satisfied the statutory requirements and extended the environmental obligations to Hess and CNOOC through joint and several liability,” the release noted.

Justice Anderson also found that the issuance of the licence was consistent with the environmental permit requirements and international industry practices.

Furthermore, “he was satisfied that the shared environmental liability was among the three companies, included the two co-venturers (Hess and CNOOC) in the licence, and did not increase the risk to the environment.”

Justice Anderson considered that no cost order should be made against Gaskin who had acted as public-spirited citizen concerned about protecting the environment.

On June 27, 2016, the Minister of Natural Resources entered into a Petroleum Agreement with the joint venture, making Exxon the operator.

Exxon then received an environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Guyana, but CNOOC and Hess were not named in this permit.

Gaskin argued in Guyana’s High Court that the licence should not have been granted to Hess and CNOOC without separate environmental permits.

The High Court dismissed his application, and the judgment took 366 days to be delivered.

Gaskin then appealed the judgement in the Court of Appeal which upheld the High Court’s decision, stating that the environmental permit was tied to the Liza 1 Project and not to the individual companies, thus validating the licence.

Gaskin then appealed to the CCJ, raising two key issues of whether the Minister had acted unlawfully and whether the High Court and the Court of Appeal had breached the law by taking too long to deliver judgment.

The CCJ’S judgment on Thursday also addressed the delay in the High Court’s decision, stating it must be viewed in context and did not breach the law.

Meanwhile, CCJ President, Justice Adrian Saunders concurred, reasoning that only Exxon, as the developer, needed the environmental permit as it was the one that undertook the activities impacting the environment.

Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee also concurred highlighting the Environmental Protection Act’s objectives were met with the licence grant to the joint venture, emphasizing public participation in environmental decisions.

The full CCJ judgment is available on its website at www.ccj.org

 

 

The top performers of the various categories

The tournament will be immediately followed by a Badminton Camp organised by the Badminton Pan American Confederation (BPAC), also be in Mexico. The players will be accompanied by coach Nkosi Beaton.

Vice-president of the GBA Ayanna Watson, in her closing remarks at the presentation ceremony, expressed gratitude to the parents, sponsors, tournament coordinators and athletes for making the tournament an exciting, competitive and successful one.

The Guyana Badminton Association said: “This tournament also forms part of the Badminton Academy and the three phases in the Hon. Minister’s (Charles Ramson) vision and plan. The Guyana Badminton Association wishes to thank the Director of Sport and the National Sports Commission for sponsoring this tournament and for making the facility available.”

The three-day competition attracted all the top age group players in Guyana

See below the summarised results of the final set of matches

Boys U-13 Final: Ethan Bulkan vs. Joel Rambirche 21-11, 21-8

Boys U-17 Semi-Final: Ruel Rambiriche vs. Nikolas Pollard 21-9, 21-18

Girls U-11 Final: Anjaneysa Godette vs. Riyo Alexander 21-11, 21-7

Girls U-17 Final: Mishka Beharry vs. Malia Haley 21-4, 21-13

Boys U-15 Final: Ruel Rambirche vs. Egan Bulkan 21-8, 21-6

Girls U-15 Final: Gabrielle Felix vs. Harshini Muralidharan 17-21, 21-11, 21-9

Boys U-11 Final: Joel Rambirche vs. Liam Brumell 21-14, 21-10

Boys U-17 Final: Xavio Alexander vs. Ruel Rambirche 21-15, 18-21, 21-11

Girls U-19 Final: Mishka Beharry vs. Leshaunte Berkley 21-6, 21-7

Boys U-19 Final: Frank Wadell vs. Xavio Alexander 21-18, 21-15

WINNERS

UNDER-11 GIRLS SINGLES

3^rd Arianna Bassier

3^rd Emma Ramsaran

2^nd Riyo Alexander

1^st Anjaneysa Godette

UNDER-11 BOYS SINGLES

3^RD Christopher Harrison

2^nd Liam Brumell

1^st Joel Rambiriche

UNDER-13 BOYS SINGLES

3^rd  Liam Brumell

3^RD Ethan Ramsaran

2^nd Joel Rambiriche

1^st Ethan Bulkan

UNDER-15 GIRLS SINGLES

3^rd  Anjaneysa Godette

3^RD Anya Manickchand

2^nd Harshini Muralidharan

1^st Gabrielle Felix

UNDER-15 BOYS SINGLES

3^rd  Mohamed Farouk

3^RD Phillip Stephanas

2^nd Egan Bulkan

1^st Ruel Rambiriche

UNDER-17 GIRLS SINGLES

3^rd  Nevaeh Eastman

3^RD Menikshi Jaikissoon

2^nd Malia Haley

1^st Mishka Beharry

UNDER-17 BOYS SINGLES

3^rd  Nikolas Pollard

3^RD Avinash Ramnarine

2^nd Ruel Rambiriche

1^st Xavio Alexander

UNDER-19 GIRLS SINGLES

3^rd  Nevaeh Eastman

3^RD Malia Haley

2^nd Leshaunte Berkley

1^st Mishka Beharry

UNDER-19 BOYS SINGLES

3^rd  Joanathan Debidin

3^RD Jonathan Robinson

2^nd Xavio Alexander

1^st Frank Wadell

On the horizon for GBA is the commencement of training for the CAREBACO Junior Tournament in Aruba from August 22-25, 2024.

Also on the agenda is the National Sports Commission’s Doubles tournament, which will start in schools and culminate in a tournament at the National Gymnasium in October 2024.

a $70 million lawsuit against Slowe for slander in March 2022.

The judgement was handed down by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall, who also awarded a permanent injunction preventing Slowe from publishing any further defamatory words concerning Karimbaksh.

Justice Morris-Ramlall took into consideration that there were repeated utterance against Karimbaksh and there was no remorse or apology by Slowe.

Karimbaksh through his attorneys, C.V. Satram and Ron Motilall, complained that Slowe made several false and defamatory statements about him on his Facebook and YouTube pages ‘Speaking Out: Exposing Corruption and Incompetence’ between November 2, 2021, to January 12, 2022.

Among other things, Slowe said that Karimbaksh was unqualified, a political puppet, guilty of sexual offences and that he was complicit in the shooting of a young boy in Berbice.

“The honourable Judge examined the evidence before her, including the written statements and oral testimony over several days, and concluded that Slowe intentionally and repeatedly presented the information in his videos as truth as opposed to an opinion or a comment.

“The Honourable Judge found Slowe to be acting maliciously and noted that Mr. Slowe dared Karimbaksh and other policemen to sue him and even that he (Slowe) had the evidence. But no evidence was ever produced,” a press statement on Friday noted.

Slowe was represented by attorney, Nigel Hughes.

strengthen the public procurement system. At this week’s press conference, he explained the prequalification system is another venture meant to guarantee sound public spending.

“When a paper goes to Cabinet, often, the Cabinet doesn’t see all of the work that people [contractors] have in different agencies.

“We’re now going to introduce a prequalification system, maybe starting from a threshold of say $50 million and above,” the Vice President said.

How would this work?

Well, Jagdeo explained that contractors will be prequalified to work up to a certain threshold, say $500 million, for example. If a contractor at that threshold already has a $400 million contract, it is not likely that the same contractor would get a $300 million contract because it would take that contractor beyond the threshold.

“That is what we are starting to introduce now, a countrywide prequalification system that will match capacity,” Jagdeo said.

The new system is likely to be monitored through a centre or website which, according to Jagdeo, will allow the cabinet to have a rounded understanding of the competency of contractors.

And he posited this venture is another mechanism that helps upgrade the local procurement system.

 

General Secretary of the PPP/C, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo during a party press conference at Freedom House (Photo: News Room/August 23, 2023)

So what really is happening?

CGX only holds a small portion of the Corentyne Block because it relinquished much of the block in keeping with its exploration agreement with the government.

Last year, however, CGX found oil at its Wei-1 well. That well is located 14 kilometres west of the Kawa-1 discovery in the block. In January 2022, CGX and Frontera found oil at the Kawa-1 well but decided to focus on Wei-1.

It was previously noted that further drilling in the Corentyne block is contingent to positive results at Wei-1. The joint venture reportedly has no further obligations beyond Wei-1.

In a recent notice of potential commercial interest submitted to the Guyana Government, the joint venture hopes to get extra time to appraise the discovery and evaluate its viability.

Jagdeo was clear that the government is being strict with the joint venture.

“We’ve given them time as per the law to do all they had to do but this is crunch time now.

“If they are saying they are moving to a project, they have to show us what the project is and show us how they are going to finance the project,” he said.