A Nabaclis man who was trapped in a fire, succumbed to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Tuesday night.

The deceased was identified as 27-year-old Phineas Headley of Lot 63 Section ‘C’, Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara.

A police report stated that Headley, who relatives said suffered from a mental disorder, resided in a one-storey wooden house that did not have electricity.

April 11 ,2021

Source

[Baytoram Ramharack, Jung Bahadur Singh of Guyana (1886-1956): Politician, ship doctor, labor leader and protector of Indians, San Juan, Chakra Press, 2019. 378 pages]

Dr. Baytoram Ramharack’s earlier biography of Balram Singh Rai treats the political life of an outstanding Guyanese villager who, in 1961, became Guyana’s first Minister of Home Affairs, with responsibility for Police.  Rai’s formal parliamentary life began in 1957 and ended in 1962, when he lost favor with the ruling Peoples Progressive Party.  The 1957 elections were the first to be held in the country after the suspension of the Constitution in 1953, during which period Guyana was governed directly by the Governor, who passed laws through a hand-picked Interim legislature.  The present biography of Jung Bahadur Singh will take readers back to a parliamentary life that ended dramatically with the 1953 General Elections. Fortunately, it is not one based in narrow political activity, but one that was engaged on various fronts in a wider and deeper striving for human dignity and, in particular, the dignity of indentured immigrant workers and their families and other Guyanese.

Jung Bahadur Singh was born in 1886 at Goed Fortuin in West Demerara into a large household that had sprung from a union of Christians and Hindus.  Although he belonged to a kind of underclass as a child of indentured labourers, the peculiar circumstances of Indian indenture allowed his marriage to be a prestigious event, taking place, as it did, in Paramaribo at the premises of the high-ranking Indian Immigration representative.

This review will differ from the typical writing of Indian history, or African, or indigenous history in Guyana, as it will introduce into the text glimpses of the complexities that have developed within the bosom of plantation society, well-known for its segregated spaces and for the despotic control exercised over it by a tiny white minority, able to rely on state power.

Jung Bahadur’s father was one of those individuals who could exploit gaps in the social setting and carve out a way of life which was not typical for the body of indentured workers.  He became a tailor with his own sewing machines and, in time, he had established a line of product which he distributed over wide stretches of the country.  The young child, Jung, attended an Anglican primary school and later a famous village school.  Already influences, other than those of his Hindu tradition were at play, contributing even in minor ways to the person Jung Bahadur was to become.  Taking his family history into account, it is not surprising that the youth was among the highly select minority to be engaged by compounders on ships plying between India and a number of colonial plantation countries in some three oceans to supply indentured labor to countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Surinam and British Guiana.  This was a highly valuable experience for one who carried in his line names like Deenanath (defender of the poor), and was finally named after a significant historical figure.

The author notes that, as an employee in the compounding or sick-nursing services of these ships, Jung Bahadur came face-to-face with substandard arrangements for women on these vessels and with the physical indignities to which many of them were exposed.  A sensitive mind could not fail to be impressed by such experiences and we can be excused for assuming that they played a part in his development as a social and political man of action.

Although Indian indenture ended in 1917, this reviewer, not yet born in that year, knew in his boyhood at least two sick-nurse dispensers that had served as compounders on immigrant ships.  The route by which Jung Bahadur Singh moved from compounder assistant to compounder in his own right, and from compounder to doctor of medicine is noteworthy.  He stayed on the ships for 12 years until the age of 28, when he ended his career as compounder.  During his long breaks between trips on shore in Calcutta, the young nurse and apprentice dispenser wisely chose to enroll for pre-medical studies in Calcutta schools, courses which allowed him, it is assumed, to meet the requirements for enrollment in medical school in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.  The author notes that university education was for foreigners more affordable in Edinburgh than in London.  This fact of affordability explains part of the biography of Guyanese like Dr. Frank Williams (MD) and H.H. Nicholson, multi-disciplined scientist, who both studied in Edinburgh.  Both Jung Bahadur Singh and (decades later) Frank Williams had moved with their small families to Scotland for the duration of their student days there. Having qualified as a medical doctor, Singh returned to the land of his birth and, from all the records, began a life of purposeful activity that contributed to many changes for the better in the lives of Indians and other members of the various communities in which he chose to be active.  He worked as a GMO and, as part of this function, he had much to do with the upgrading of services in the hospitals on sugar estates, which he covered.  GMOs in those years were each assigned to a large district, which often contained their own clinics with Notice Boards and included plantation-owned hospitals, which the GMO supervised.  Residents along the routes covered by the GMO knew how to secure a visit from the doctor by raising a small flag of a given color on the parapet to attract the doctor’s attention.  Much can be said about the rich interchange of trained sick-nurses, dispensers and midwives that took place between villages, sugar estates and other settled communities.  Outside of Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Suddie and other towns, the GMO would have a settled residence in a big house in a village where the GMO would be at the disposal of patients.

Dr. Singh, who is described as always having an interest in Hindu culture and religion following his preferred expressions of these, soon became involved in the newly formed British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA).  The BGEIA was devoted to all-round improvement in the lives of Indians and had its parallel among Africans in the British Guiana Negro Progress Convention.

Dr. J.B. Singh served six terms as president of the BGEIA and was elected for a 7th term, which he did not serve.  Of the numerous issues agitated and pursued by the BGEIA, this review will treat only three; namely, the Indian Colonization Scheme, the Swettenham Circular and voting rights, as documented in the Franchise Commission Report (1944).

In 1931, Dr. J.B. Singh became the first Hindu to be elected to the colony’s legislative council.  The first Indian so elected was Mr. E.A. Luckhoo, representing New Amsterdam, where, significantly, Indians were a minority on the voters’ list.  Dr. Singh was one of those change makers who, as Dr. Kimani Nehusi observed, were active both in race-based organizations and in organizations of a multi-ethnic membership.

Before leaving for medical studies abroad, Singh had been a student for two years (1898 – 1900) at A.A. Thorne’s Middle School, which Ramharack describes as the first co-educational school in British Guiana.  This was another example of his nurturing towards being effective in a complex society.

As a member of the country’s law-making body, Singh brought discipline and seriousness to his work, making representations for his constituents and being able to list his successes in his election manifesto in 1953 as improvements in the people’s living conditions.

Although he had been a student in a co-educational school, Singh, under the influence of the traditional family, supported for many years the notorious Swettenham Circular, which modified the 1876 law, making primary education compulsory.  It waived prosecution of Indian parents who prevented their daughters of a certain age from attending school.  The Circular led to the opening of one of the sharpest controversies in education in British Guiana.  The book under review names two leading Indians who kept this debate alive and public.

One was Mr. J.I. Ramphal, who strongly denounced the Circular as harmful to Indian development.  The other was Dr. J.B. Singh, who defended the Circular and saw it as being in harmony with Indian traditions.  After some years, Dr. Singh conceded that holding on to Indian traditions about education of the female would be unhelpful to the Indian section of the population.

Ramharack cites a letter to the editor, written by Singh in 1935, in which Singh, reflecting on the Ruimveldt riots of 1924, expressed the opinion that the British Guiana Labor Union (BGLU), with its predominantly African membership, could not adequately represent Indian sugar workers, a growing majority on the sugar plantations.  Yet, history recalls in many places that the BGLU, in its early days, was the only organization giving effective labor representation to sugar workers.  Such was their satisfaction at that period that they nick-named H.N. Critchlow “Black Crosby”, after an Immigration Agent General, whose service to their cause met the approval of the workers.  Critchlow and Singh were to have another disagreement during the debate in the Legislative Council on the report of a Commission appointed by the Governor to report on changes in the right to vote in general elections.  Critchlow had been a pioneer in the call for adult suffrage, the right of all Guyanese, without exception, to vote at age 21.  However, by the time the Franchise Commission Report came to be debated in 1944, developments had brought about changes in social relationships and perceptions.  These changes affected the race class attitudes of political sectors and some of their representatives.  It appears to this reviewer that one of these developments was the introduction into the political process of what has been called the Indian Colonization Scheme.  The other was the Franchise Commission Report and the debate on it in the Legislative Council.  The two issues were inter-related, although they occupied public attention at different periods of time.

Just about the time Ramharack’s new biography was about to appear on bookshelves, there was a publication in the Guyana newspapers of the reprint of a document with a brief introduction by Dr. Eric Phillips, the chairperson of Guyana’s Reparations Organization.  The document itself included excerpts from British Guiana’s governing organs, recording developments during the time when the Colonization Scheme was being actively pursued.  The excerpts bore the signature of Jonathan Adams of the Reparations group.

Responding to the publication described above, Jung Bahadur Singh’s biographer, in a letter to the editor, directly asked Phillips to explain his “motive” in issuing the publication about issues which Phillips himself had said had not attracted much attention when they were current in the first quarter of the 20th century.  The book under review itself contains evidence that the Colonization Scheme attracted the well-deserved attention in the private and public concerns of the Indian and the African ethnic organizations. The governments of the United Kingdom, India and colonial British Guiana were also actively and openly occupied with the issues.  So also were organizations of the Planter class.  To assume, as has been assumed, that writers of history have ignored the issue and context of the Indian Colonization Scheme is an unfortunate error.  In actual fact, its place in public affairs was so weighty that it led to official delegations being exchanged among Britain, India and British Guiana.  Evidence of this claim is not hard to find.

In this reviewer’s papers to the 1988 International Commemoration Conferences in Georgetown, he explored the effect of the Indian Colonization Scheme on the domestic political situation in British Guiana.  In doing so, he relied partly on a small book by Mrs. Edith Brown, widow of the lawyer, Den Amstel’s A.B. Brown, who was the first African to be elected to British Guiana’s law-making body.  From her book and other sources, it appears that the African organizations did not oppose the Indian Colonization Scheme, but thought to introduce an African Scheme, relying on migrants from Liberia.  The colonial office allowed the Guyanese Indian delegation to visit India, but disallowed the visit of the Guyanese African delegation to Liberia.

Thus, it is clear that inter-ethnic relations in Guyana have never been the results of mature relations among the groups.  They have always been influenced by manipulation by the colonial command, which placed its own interest first.  The author, in his letter referred to above, shows awareness of this Command and must know that it had always been decisive in our affairs.  Even as this is being written, Guyanese political sectors are showing their readiness to invoke, or warn against, geo-political pressures.

In celebration of his remarkable efforts and his dedication to both the race that gave him birth and the country that was his birthplace, let it be said that J.B. Singh found ways of allowing his talents and expertise to serve diverse communities.  This reviewer selects the following examples:

There is the record of the seven times he was elected president of the BGEIA.  He had become a member of the British Guiana Workers’ League.  He became a trustee of the Man Power Citizens’ Association.  He became the first chairman of the multi-ethnic British Guiana Labour Party.  Most significantly, he founded the British Guiana Nurses’ Association.

J.B. Singh’s interest in culture included not only practice of the traditions laid down by Hindu sages and the observers of seasonal and functional rituals.  His conspicuous residence in Lamaha Street, Georgetown became a nursery for the fine arts in Indian idiom and flavor.  His wife was a recognized producer of theatrical works.  His daughter, Rajkumari Singh, despite her disability, has been applauded as an archive and producer of what she proudly called “Coolie Culture”.  The author named three gifted artists, Gora Singh, a dancer, Mahadai Das, a gifted poet, and a novelist, Rooplal Monar.

The author concludes his very timely and instructive biography with a chapter captioned, “The Rise and Fall of Jung Bahadur Singh”.  This title, in the reviewer’s opinion, is misguided.  Since he did not present himself as a man of destiny, but as a qualified human being serving necessary causes, the cliché, “Rise and Fall”, does not fit the case.  Rather, Dr. Singh’s defeat was influenced by the new political process and organization of 1953, which worked in such a way that Singh was defeated at the polls by an unknown, but intelligent, shovel man, Fred Bowman, of the PPP.  While Dr. J.B. Singh practiced a political culture of service in mass organizations, together with working in secret committees as a member of the Governor’s Executive Counsel, the role of the PPP was public exposure.  In the 1953 elections campaign, Dr. Singh’s chief tormentor was Pandit Misir, who regularly exposed Dr. Singh to ridicule by claiming that the member sat on the chairs of the Legislative Counsel uselessly like a “Christmas Father”.  Pandit Misir’s claim to fame was that he organized the Yag at Vreed-N-Hoop to be addressed by Mrs. Janet Jagan, causing her to be charged with a breach of the emergency regulations and jail.  This trial was the occasion of her famous statement about her origins and faith, which has brought criticism to those who have dared to quote it.  During the Yag conducted by Pandit Misir, voices accused the Pandit of reading wrong.

In terms of cultural history and experience, Dr. J.B. Singh, far from rising and falling, was absorbed into the infinite heroically.  His body was the first to be officially granted the rite of cremation, for which Dr. Singh had struggled for decades.

Chief Justice (acting) Roxane George delivering her decision today.

April 26, 2021

Source

This story is developing and will be updated.

Chief Justice (acting) Roxane George today threw out a petition brought by APNU+AFC challenging the results of the March 2nd 2020 general elections.

She found that the recount order and section 22 of the election laws act did not contravene the constitution.

The petition came up on April 7th  for arguments, during which Senior Counsel John Jeremie on behalf of the petitioners advanced that Section 22 of the Election Laws Amendment Act (ELAA) by which the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) created Order 60 for the recount of votes from the March 2nd, polls was unlawful.

His advancements were, however, met with objections from attorneys for the respondents who, in rebutting his submissions, said that the Commission was in fact empowered by the very Act, to resolve the difficulties with which it had been confronted.

Jeremie’s argument on behalf of petitioners Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick, was that Order 60 was “bad” in law because it was brought into force by an unlawful piece of legislation—Section 22 of the ELAA.

The Opposition had filed two petitions challenging the election results. Back in January, however, Justice George-Wiltshire dismissed the other petition after finding that the Party’s presidential candidate David Granger was not served on time.

Trinidadian attorney Douglas Mendes who represents now President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo; and Anthony Astaphan of Dominica, who represents the Commission had both argued that Parliament, by virtue of Section 22 delegated to GECOM, the power to make provisions as it sees fit, to resolve those difficulties for expediency.

Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall SC who is also a respondent, agreed with Mendes and Astaphan’s submissions that in accordance with Section 22, GECOM is empowered to resolve the difficulties with which it was confronted.

The three attorneys had advanced that Section 22 grants GECOM the authority to amend by Order several pieces of legislation so as to resolve any difficulty related to the implementation of the Elections Act.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo (sixth from left) and his team.

April 27 ,2021

Source

The PPP/C government yesterday said that it used five pre-existing studies done under the APNU+AFC administration to determine that the gas-to-shore project was financially viable and would cut energy costs by at least half.

At a press engagement he facilitated yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was bullish on the investment for the project and assured that the approximate US$810-900M project will produce power at around US 7 cents per KWH compared to US 14 cents that the Guyana Power and Light is producing at.

The government has come under increasing pressure to justify the decision in favour of the project and to locate it at  Wales, West Bank Demerara.

Projected capital expenditure (CAPEX) estimates that the offshore pipes and riser will cost between US$570M to US$630M. The onshore pipeline is currently pegged to come in at between US$80M to $100M, while the Natural Gas Plant is expected to cost about US$120M. Infrastructure for the project would be US$40-50M; bringing the total to between US$810M—$900M

“The numbers on this project, a stand-alone project are so good it is a dream set situation,” he said.

The Wales location, Jagdeo said too, was chosen because the very studies determined its suitability against flooding and the high population density of other sites identified, in addition to its expansion potential.

“We examined the numbers of Crab Island versus Wales and Wales came out much more feasible, in terms of all the costs. The Crab Island area too is very low so the development costs would have been very high. One of the good things about Wales is that it is less prone to flooding…etcetera,” Jagdeo told the media forum.

“When that was settled, we had this issue about the price of gas. We expect the gas to come in not as a market price, not as the price that is part of the agreement (the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil and partners). The agreement sets out a pricing structure that it would have. The price reflected here, the three and a half [US cents], reflects both the price for the pipeline and the gas. In there is a lower than market price for the gas but the negotiations (with ExxonMobil) have not been completed and we are hoping to push that and close …to zero at least for the first big power plant,” he added.

At yesterday’s meeting, editors, publishers and reporters from the country’s major media houses were present and Jagdeo pointed out that he arranged it so that an “a lot of misconceptions” could be cleared up.

He was attended by a number of persons involved in the project including Head of the Gas to Shore Task Force Winston Brassington, Senior Petro-leum Coordinator Bobby Gossai, British Consultant and gas-to- shore veteran Simon Shaw, Head of the Petroleum Division of the GGMC Chris Lynch, Ministry of Natural Resources Geologist Martin Pertab, Chief Planning Officer of the CH&PA Jermaine Stuart and persons from government’s oil and gas legal team.

Brassington made a PowerPoint presentation which he said included data from the five pre-existing studies. His presentation is now on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website.

Since 2016

Giving a summary, he related that the project had been underway since 2016 and that in August 2020 when the PPP/C came to power, no major decisions had yet been made. The PPP/C, he said, “immediately engaged Exxon and started negotiations in October 2020.”

By the end of last year, a number of key decisions were arrived at and publicly communicated, according to government. These included, “Location of the termination of the gas to shore at Wales (determined to be the most economical solution). The selection of the location was critical to start the detailed studies such as the ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment) and the Geophysical and Geotechnical Studies (G&G) at a specific location versus 20 locations. Increase in the minimum commitment of gas from 30 MCFD (Million Cubic Feet per Day) to 50 MCFD. (This moved the net potential power from 150 MW to 250MW).  Agreement on a timetable to achieve the project by 2024, with approximately the first 18 months to complete studies, complete engineering, and conducting a competitive tender for the construction of the pipeline.”

There was also broad agreement on the key financial considerations including:  Estimated outer limit on the capital cost of the project, that funding of the pipeline by Exxon be out of Cost Oil (as defined in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement with Exxon and partners), estimated cost per KWH delivered at the gate of the power plant at approximately 3.5 cents per KWH.

Also, “Definition of the project to cover: i. Construction of the pipeline by Exxon based on a competitive tender ii. Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) that will allow (the Government of Guyana’s) share of the NGL to be sold whereby such revenue (is) expected to exceed the cost paid for the gas; iii. Construction of a gas power plant (in phases) iv. Layout of Wales Development Authority to cater for a large expansion covering all of the above plus residential development, mixed use, and industrial demand.”

The power points were expounded on by Jagdeo who stressed that government was using studies done by the former APNU+AFC Government as it presses ahead with other financial, environmental and technical studies for the project.

Stabroek News expressed concern at government’s decision to use pre-existing studies alone to come to major decisions that would utilise billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

“I have never heard of a government anywhere, embarking on a project that might cost US$900M based on pre-existing studies. Particularly studies done under the previous government,  (when the two governments)  don’t see eye to eye on anything. I don’t know how one can argue that we can embark on a major project like this. This is not purpose built to what the PPP/C might have envisaged in its manifesto or even before it came to office. When you rely on those (studies), it would seem to be opportunistic and solely intended to provide a certain result without you having designed a purpose built study that would (address) the PPP/C’s issues,” Stabroek News’ Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud stated.

“One of the major concerns is that you are embarking on a project but yet you have come to major decisions on a lot of things. Embarking in that way, raises serious questions on the due diligence that has been done, or if at all and will be one of the lasting concerns that people have” about the project,  he emphasised.

Jagdeo in reply stated that exhaustive work was done as a pre-requisite for the project but that his government understands that detailed studies are imperative to a final decision on the project and that is why it would soon begin those.

He promised that as those studies are ongoing, the public would be updated on findings and that government would be transparent in the execution of the project.

From work done, he informed, a decision on the route of the pipeline has already been made so that it is away from any encumbrances that could occur if it were to be run in the busy under shore of the Demerara River.

Instead, it will be routed to land at Crane on the West Coast of Demerara.

“The pipeline would not follow the route of the Demerara River. We are studying two routes and the engineers are working to determine which of the two routes, but both run in that area. Just parallel but a little bit further left,” he explained.

“The power plant is going to be located almost to the southern end of the layout. The residential, commercial, business and other areas of the estate…those would be north.  The river was found not suitable,” he added.

While it would only see 50 MCFD of gas brought in daily, the pipelines designed to bring in the gas would be 12 inches in diameter and have the potential to hold at least 120 MFCD of gas.

But he  disclosed that although both sides have settled on 50 MCFD per day, it was not without exhaustive negotiations as ExxonMobil was adamant that it could only afford to give the promised 30 MFCD.

“Had a contention with Exxon too because they did not want to give us more than 30 (MCFD). But 30 would not allow us to generate 250MW … that we hope to get. The 50 (MCFD)  would allow us to generate that and still have some additional gas that would remain for other purposes. We are looking at urea, polymers, proteins for the agriculture sector…Remember this is not a gas field, it is associated gas,” he said.

“The pipeline, that too was an issue. From the government’s side we insisted that there be a bigger pipeline to bring in additional gas. The 12 inches maximum would be 120 (MFCD)…So if anything happens you have a pipeline with storage. We are pushing for greater capacity to bring in gas there,” he added.

No FLNG

With financial analysis and data from countries that would have looked at Floating Liquid Natural Gas (FLNG)  plants overwhelmingly showing the project too costly, Jagdeo said that having an offshore plant was ruled out.

A Japanese study – one of the five used to arrive at decisions – had favoured FLNG and that country had said that it would help to develop that facility and take off the gas derived from it.

Such a facility too, Jagdeo agrees, would not help  develop this country’s local content potential as only a few jobs would be created with profits only going to a few.

“We are not creating the conditions for economic rent for individuals. We are creating the conditions so that Guyanese will have benefits,” he said and underscored that for all projects, current jobs such as cleaning, transportation, brokerage, “all have to be Guyanese; not a single one but everyone. We are not creating for one.

Jagdeo said that Guyanese should hold government to the commitment that when the project, estimated to be completed by 2024, is commissioned, they will have far cheaper energy.

https://www.emergentclimate.com/

April 29 ,2021 .

Source

President Irfaan Ali yesterday announced that the government has signed a letter of intent with a United States- based non-profit organisation to market Guyana’s carbon credits which will be sold to private companies around the world.

“To advance our participation in the carbon market, we have signed a letter of intent with Emergent, a US- based non-profit organisation, to sell our carbon credits through credit contract. This Agreement has the potential of earning us hundreds of millions of US dollars annually,” Ali disclosed at a press conference held at State House yesterday.

There had been no prior announcement of this letter of intent and it raises questions about the process that the government embarked upon to select the company. The country’s carbon credits would have to be considered a national resource, deployment of which would have to be discussed with stakeholders and then tendered. For decades the carbon credit market has seen major volatility and previous attempts by Guyana to enter trading have not materialized. The credits would be essentially purchased to help companies offset their carbon emissions.

While the organisation has on its website a presentation made by Guyana’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo at a virtual meeting held recently, there has been no discussion of the matter here.

Attempts to contact Jagdeo yesterday for clarification were futile as several calls and messages to his mobile number went unanswered.

Based on information available on Emergent’s website,  it is “a non-profit intermediary engaging between tropical forest countries and the private sector to mobilize finance to support emissions reductions in deforestation.”

Emergent said that it carries out its mandate by “developing and bringing-to-market practical, credible and large scale forest protection solutions.”

Its mission, it stated, is to accelerate the speed and scale of tropical forest protection so as to combat the climate crisis and plans to end deforestation. This will be done given the growing private sector demand for carbon credits, thus providing long-term funding for forest nations to protect their irreplaceable natural assets.

The organisation is a participant in the recently launched Lowering Emis-sions by Accelerating Forest (LEAF) finance coalition or project, which is a voluntary global initiative aimed at bringing together companies and governments to provide finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation commensurate with the scale of the climate change challenge.

The coalition was launched at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate by a group of government and private companies on April 22 of this year.

A press release issued by Emergent revealed that it will serve as the administrator of LEAF and will offer support including intermediary services for transactions, as applicable, and provide post-transaction infrastructure for partners that choose to transact through it.

Following its launching, LEAF issued a Call for Proposals (CFP) to provide substantial financial support to tropical and subtropical countries that successfully reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The initial CFP is expected to help catalyse significant reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through a combination of forward purchase agreements and floor price commitments at US$10 per tonne for at least 100 million metric tonnes of CO2. It is expected that this will contribute to the rapidly expanding market for high quality carbon credits from jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) programmes.

Private sector buyers

“We then sell these credits to private sector buyers who seek to meet their climate mitigation and emissions reductions goals. This speeds-up, simplifies & standardizes the credit-buying process for both forest nation sellers and private sector buyers – which, in turn, stimulates supply as demand emerges. By bringing together donor funds to provide floor price guarantees to jurisdictional sellers, we enable them to make the necessary investments in reducing deforestation. We also ensure proceeds from transactions are reinvested according to robust financial, social, and environmental safeguards. Our business model catalyses the carbon market so that we can protect forests at pace,” the Company stated.

During the launching, Jagdeo, who had orchestrated the last Norway forest protection pact that also earned funds, was this country’s representative.

According to the organisation’s website, the vice-president said that he welcomed the launch of the LEAF, noting that tropical forest countries have long called for the ecosystem services provided by the world’s standing tropical forests to be properly valued, through both public and private finance. “This will enable people who live in forests and forest countries to create jobs and economic opportunity from an economy that works with nature, instead of today’s reality where forests are often worth more dead than alive. If this new economy is to be more attractive than the old economy, LEAF must also catalyse funds that flow quickly and efficiently. The systems to enable this can only be successful if forest countries are involved in their design – and we stand ready to work with the LEAF Coalition to achieve the innovation required,” an excerpt from his presentation quoted by EMERGENT states.

While Emergent has been designed to facilitate transactions like those under the LEAF initiative by acting as a cost-efficient intermediary; whereby it is able to act as counterparty to suppliers, sovereign contributors, and private sector buyers, they will also offer a platform to suppliers of carbon credits recognising that suppliers may consider selling subsequent and/or additional credits to buyers beyond the coalition.

While Ali said that Guyana has an agreement signed with Emergent, is unclear if Guyana has taken advantage of selling beyond LEAF.

Proposals for the LEAF initiative can only be submitted after May 3.

However, according to Emergent, it anticipates that its first credits will be available in 2022, initially offering several millions tonnes with volumes building from there and that suppliers will be selected based on the same criteria outlined by LEAF Coalition.

The Sharon’s Mall building on fire

Source

April 29, 2021

The Sharon’s Mall located at 154 King and Charlotte streets was last evening destroyed by a fire which started on the third floor of the four-storey building.

Losses will run into the tens of millions and several small businesses would have lost all of their goods.

The fire, based on reports received, started sometime between 4.30 and 5.00 pm with thick smoke emanating from the Charlotte Street entrance until the building burst into raging flames at about 7.18pm.

The Sharon’s Mall building on fire

An early stage of the fire that eventually consumed Sharon’s Mall

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn who was present at the scene, told reporters that there were reports of smoke earlier yesterday but no one reacted to it.He informed that is was sometime around 4.30 yesterday afternoon that the fire broke out.

The minister opined that it appeared as though firefighters had the fire under control but given the fact that the building is made of concrete and steel with drop ceilings, it is believed that the fire was slowly moving along the wiring conduits of the building,

Benn noted that the fire service needed to become more familiar with the different types of building construction, their challenges and in getting actively engaged on a scene.

He urged that buildings more than two storeys high should be equipped with fire alarms and sprinkler systems.

Meanwhile, scores of persons present at the scene of the fire contended that the firefighters were laid back in their approach.

The building security officer who first saw smoke coming through the vents disclosed that he immediately switched off the breakers and instructed everyone present in the building to leave.

Attorney Paula Nicholson in an invited comment said she was present in the building with a colleague of hers at about 5.15 pm when the security for the building instructed them to evacuate.

The woman recounted that when she left the room she was in, she saw smoke but it was not billowing. She stated that it appeared as though the fire was burning between the roof of the second floor and the flooring of the third floor.

At that point in time she realised that the elevator could not be used and so they made their way out by using the stairwell.

She explained that the fire tenders arrived shortly after persons evacuated the building, and observed that the fire tenders thought that it was an electrical fire and therefore were focussing their efforts on managing electricity issues rather than putting out the actual fire with the use of water.

Nicholson stated that most of the occupants from the ground floor of the building had already left for home and would have suffered tremendous losses of goods. Many were not insured.

The attorney believes that if the fire service was more equipped to deal with a fire of such nature, the building could have been saved.

She noted that the fire tenders spent over an hour acting according to their assessment of an electrical fire and virtually accomplished nothing until the smoke started to billow through the sides of the building and other openings. At this point firefighters decided to use water.

The woman further related that she had asked an officer in charge to gather some supplies from a store belonging to her sister, but was told that the fire-fighters had the fire under control, and would not be using water so there was no need to worry about water damage.

The woman stated that her sister who operated a stationery business was on the East Bank Demerara at the time of the fire. After her sister arrived at the mall they were able to save two printers but everything else was destroyed.

Another store owner, who gave her name as Samantha told this newspaper that she was informed of the fire by her staff.

The woman said that she had no knowledge of the fire after having closed her business just a short time prior to the fire. On receiving the news, she immediately returned to Sharon’s Mall and saw just a small amount of smoke coming from the building.

The woman said she attempted to access the building in the hope of saving some items but was prevented from doing so. The woman who said she felt hurt over the entire ordeal stated that while she knows the drill in relation to a fire, persons on the outside where trying to rescue their property and she had hoped to do so as well.

She also thought that the fire-fighters failed in their duties and recalled seeing fire trucks parked and firemen just walking around.

She said that one of the fire-fighters was aggressive towards her and remarked to this newspaper, “You don’t treat people like that.”

She operates a beauty shop as a means of an income and explained that if she was allowed to enter her store with the assistance of a firefighter she could have saved some items and cash.

The woman shared that there were no clouds of smoke at time she wanted to enter her store. She believes that the fire-fighters were slack in controlling the fire.

Stabroek News observed at least four fire trucks present at the scene along with scores of onlookers.

At some point during the raging fire, wires attached to two separate utility poles began sparking causing persons behind a police barricade to disperse.

Sometime after 8pm last evening firefighters were better able to control the fire.