The Week-in-Review - November 20 to November 26

Salaries pumped up for parts of Joint Services, 8,000 persons will benefit: President Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that effective from January 1st, 2023, sections of the Joint Services will benefit from adjustments to their minimum salaries to the tune of $1billion. In an address to the nation, Ali said that the adjustments to the minimum salaries are additional to the eight per cent across-the-board increase for public servants which was announced last week. “…..These revisions to the salaries of the members of the Disciplined Services will benefit an estimated 8000 persons and will increase the disposable income of our men and women in uniform by over $1 billion annually,” Ali announced. He said among the factors taken into consideration in determining the adjustments was the need to resolve anomalies and disparities across the various services. “We were also mindful of the need to ensure that we improve our competitiveness, particularly at the entry level so that our Disciplined Services continue to be an attractive employment prospect for our young men and women,” Ali said. Ali urged members of the Disciplined Services to honour the adjustments and to deliver “better service” to citizens.

Border controversy

Venezuela’s evidentiary cupboard bare – Sands tells ICJ: Guyana last week pilloried Venezuela’s preliminary objections to a case seeking validation of the 1899 arbitral tribunal award fixing the boundaries between the two countries and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is to notify the agents of both sides when it is ready to rule. Professor Philippe Sands KC, one of the battery of international lawyers representing Guyana at the seat of the Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, said that while Venezuela recognised the need to establish wrongful conduct on the part of the arbitral tribunal, it has been unable to do so. Confronted by this failure, Sands said Venezuela instead shifted its argument to say that the wrongful conduct which it ascribes to the United Kingdom (UK) in those negotiations, invalidates the 1899 award to Guyana. But Sands vehemently argued on behalf of Guyana that it was not enough for Venezuela to prove wrongful conduct by the United Kingdom stating, “It will be insufficient to argue that a British lawyer expressed a desire to communicate with an arbitrator, or actually sought such communication.” Venezuela’s burden, he said, is to “prove that one or more arbitrators engaged in inappropriate contact with counsel or agent, and that this influenced the Award,” while asserting, “It (Venezuela) has offered no evidence to support such an argument.” Venezuela’s problem, Sands said, lies in its attempt at assessing the validity of the award by looking at the conduct of the United Kingdom when in fact what has to be examined is the conduct of the arbitrators. “On that question, Venezuela was silent, its evidentiary cupboard totally bare,” Sands said, adding that Venezuela offers no authority for the proposition that the conduct of a party in arbitral proceedings can, of itself, taint an arbitral award.

Oil & Gas

World Bank debars Spaniard for corrupt practices in Guyana petroleum management project:

The World Bank Group on November 16th announced a three-year debarment with conditional release of an individual consultant in connection with a corrupt practice as part of the Petroleum Governance and Management Project in Guyana. A release from the World Bank said that the debarment makes Carlos Barberán Diez, a Spanish national, and his controlled affiliates, AC Oil & Gas SL and AC Oil & Gas Emirates LLC, ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by institutions of the World Bank Group. The release said it is part of a settlement agreement under which Barberán Diez acknowledges culpability for the underlying sanctionable practice and agrees to meet specified integrity compliance conditions as a condition for release from debarment. The release noted that the project provides financing to support the enhancement of Guyana’s legal and institutional frameworks and the strengthening of the capacity of key institutions to manage the oil and gas sector in Guyana. According to the facts of the case, in 2020, Mr. Barberán Diez approached four consulting companies involved in the oil and gas business and used his position in the project to directly offer his services and solicit future payments from each of these companies. In exchange, he offered to influence procurement processes under the project in their favor. Although INT (Integrity Vice Presidency) found no evidence of payments made to Mr. Barberán Diez by any of these companies, such a solicitation constitutes a corrupt practice under the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations and Anti-Corruption Guidelines. “The settlement agreement provides for a reduced period of debarment in light of Mr. Barberán Diez’s cooperation and voluntary remedial actions.”

US Ambassador sees corruption risk, inclusion as key challenges in Guyana’s oil economy:

United States Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch has said that the potential for corruption and need for inclusion are key challenges for Guyana as it navigates its oil wealth. She made the point in a recent interview with Plaza Central host Benjamin Gedan of the Wilson Center in Washington DC. Speaking on the topic ‘Guyana’s Oil Rush’, the US Ambassador highlighted that the country’s expected oil wealth has the potential to provide a historic transformation for its people but it will need strong systems to ensure this. The US government, she says, continues to work with Guyana to help it take advantage of its rich oil endowment, while controlling corruption, strengthening democratic institutions and maintaining political and social stability, among measures to avoid a resource curse here. “We work primarily in the areas of governance, economic development and security. Governance, as you mentioned, is key to its success. And as such, we work with Guyana to improve transparency and accountability. We’ve provided assistance from the US Treasury to the Guyana Revenue Authority to help them audit large contracts and improve their human resourcing efforts. We’ve also worked through USAID to help Guyana become a member of EITI – Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. We’re encouraging them to join the Egmont group, which is an internationally recognized group that focuses on money laundering,” Lynch stated. From oil resources and its spinoffs, she “expects this transformation in Guyana to be absolutely historic” as it is currently “just an incredible time here.”

BP to market Guyana’s oil from two platforms for a year: The Government of Guyana on Thursday announced that BP (British Petroleum) International Limited of the United Kingdom has been selected, following a competitive procurement process, to market Guyana’s share of petroleum from the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. A release from the Ministry of Natural Resources noted that the contract will be for twelve months at a marketing price of US$0.00 per barrel. This procurement process was initiated after the contract with Aramco Trading Limited ended.

Public health

Woman, 45, dies after gall bladder surgery at GPHC: What seemed like a routine cholecystectomy (gallstone removal surgery) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for a 45-year-old East Coast Demerara (ECD) teacher ended tragically and her family is calling for a comprehensive investigation into the post-operative care given to patients at the facility. While the family of Shonnata Rowena Sawh was making preparations for her graduating with a degree in Education Studies from the University of Guyana on December 9, they are now planning her cremation and are still trying to come to grips with how a reportedly successful surgery could so suddenly end tragically for their loved one. Sawh is the niece of former President Donald Ramotar. “The surgery was successful and everything went ok the Wednesday…however it is the aftercare that killed her. Her pressure plunged to 80/70, and no one did nothing. No doctor checked on her until Thursday when she was at her weakest and by the afternoon she was dead. Only then they realized also that she did not even pass urine,” her mother Annie Shaw told Stabroek News from their Mon Repos, ECD home. “They did not give her the care she should have gotten. We know if we make a report or what’s not it can’t bring my daughter back. They would just blame some small body and that would be the end of it. So we will cremate her, but we hope the President could get them to investigate what really happens at GPHC because it is not the first, second, third… time. Only the other day is the girl with the twin baby, now is my daughter. Who is next? ” her father, Ganesh Sawh added.

In the courts Seventeen years jail for man who raped girl, 9:

Forty-three-year-old Mario Heywood has been sentenced to serve 17 years behind bars for raping a nine-year-old girl on three separate occasions in 2018. At his sentencing hearing last Wednesday, Justice Sandil Kissoon told an expressionless Heywood who maintained his innocence, that his vile abuse of the child in the worst way possible had destroyed her innocence. Underscoring the gravity of the acts committed against the child, Justice Kissoon said that sexual offences against children in particular, had reached “crisis” levels in Guyana; noting that Heywood’s, was one in a litany of such cases confronting the courts at alarming frequency. The Judge said while he noted defence attorney Damien Da Silva’s pleas for clemency on behalf of his client as well as his potential for rehabilitation and previous good character, regard had to also be given to the gravity of the offences committed against the child.

Accused in Kitty gold heist to spend 30 months in prison: Twenty-seven-year-old Dequan King, who admitted in court to being a part of the 2021 Kitty gold heist and receiving $3 million from the proceeds was last Monday sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. King of Lot 23 Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD), made his second appearance in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Principal Magistrate, Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus, where King’s probation report was read by a Probation Officer. After evaluating the report, the magistrate sentenced King to 30 months each on four counts of robbery under arms. The sentences will run concurrently. When asked if he had anything to say, King told the magistrate that he was very sorry and begged for her leniency. King, who fled Guyana after the robbery was nabbed by Surinamese authorities on October 9 and handed over to the Guyana Police Force. He was charged on October 17.

Crime

Victoria man’s head almost severed: The family of Orin Bishop is now in mourning after his body was found at Greenfield Village on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) with his head almost severed and chops about his body. They are calling for a thorough probe into the man’s death. According to the Police, the body of 56year-old Bishop, also known as “Gassa” or “Gas”, of Victoria Village, ECD was found on Sunday afternoon at about 4.15 pm at Greenfield South Access Road by a passerby. Stabroek News spoke to the man’s wife, Jilyan Bishop who stated that although they had made a missing person’s report, they only became aware that he might have been found when they saw a Facebook post that described the clothing that he was last seen wearing.