–business to appeal order

ALL activities at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) at Thomas Lands, Georgetown, have been suspended until April 30, 2021 after the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) Secretariat found that the establishment breached the gazetted COVID-19 measures by hosting a “super spreader” funeral last Monday.
On Monday, dozens of people came out to pay their final respects to local biker and gold dealer, Ricardo Fagundes. The man was shot several times after he exited the Palm Court nightclub, on Main Street, on March 21. A well-attended funeral service was held at the GMR&SC.

The task force, in a letter dated March 30, 2021, highlighted that the club breached the gazetted COVID-19 measures by hosting the “super spreader” event, where hundreds of persons were reportedly present within the confines of the establishment’s premises.
The letter, which was seen by this publication, stated: “This was evident in the numerous photographs and videos which flooded the social media platforms. This blatant disregard for the COVID-19 measures reflects your contempt for the Laws of Guyana which has resulted in the application of sanctions.” Resultantly, it was noted that the Minister of Health, Frank Anthony, has ordered that all activities at the club be suspended from March 30, 2021 until April 30, 2021. The Guyana Chronicle understands that all queries or responses are to be directed to the Minister of Health or the NCTF Secretariat.

In an invited comment, Secretary of the GMR&SC, Azim Jaffar, explained that the sports club encompasses several business entities including: the ‘Track’ restaurant and bar, a gym and GT motorsports.
Though the letter was addressed to Jaffar, when he was initially contacted by this publication, he was unaware that the NCTF Secretariat issued any such letter to the establishment. Furthermore, he said that he was unclear if this suspension of operations applied to all of the businesses at the venue.

On Thursday, when this newspaper contacted the President of the GMR&SC, Rameez Mohamed, he explained that the well-attended funeral was not hosted by the establishment. Instead, he said that the parking lots of the establishment were rented to the family of Fagundes. Since the event was not hosted by the GMR&SC, Mohamed told this newspaper that the club would be appealing the decision taken by the task force to suspend the operations of the sports club.
He indicated that he would follow-up with this newspaper, later on Thursday, to state exactly how the club would respond but, up to press time, he did not.