Guyana chronicle 03 02 14

GUYANA No. 103728

MONDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2014

The Chronicle is at http://www.guyanachronicle.com

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Anglican Church makes four new installations to its Diocese

President, PM, Opposition Leader join in celebration as...

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In second pew from right are: His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar; Mrs Yvonne Hinds and her spouse, Prime Minister, Mr Samuel Hinds; and Leader of the Opposition, Mr David Granger, and his spouse, Mrs. Sandra Granger (Photo by Sonell Nelson)

House approves $6.6M for new restrooms at Public Buildings --APNU questions already approved funding

Plans afoot to relocate old, still serviceable Demerara Harbour Bridge --Preferably to a freshwater environment Page 14

Stricter enforcement, better management

--is thrust this year of natural Page 12 resources sector Murder at Agricola...

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Police seeking ‘info’ on main suspect 3 Page

--Injured British citizen goes into hiding

Trevor Rose to be buried today Page 19

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Anglican Church makes four new installations to its Diocese

President, PM, Opposition Leader join in celebration as...

By Ravin Singh THREE Reverends and one Venerable were yesterday installed to higher positions within the Diocese of Guyana.

Held at the world-renowned St. George’s Cathedral, the installation ceremony saw hundreds in attendance, including President Donald Ramotar and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.

Those installed were: The very Reverend Paul Andrew Carto, as Dean of Georgetown and Rector of the St. George’s Cathedral; The Venerable Terry Nathaniel Davis, as Senior Archdeacon; The Reverend Clifton Ashton Elias, as Canon to the Stall of St. David; and The Reverend Jerrick Fitzgerald Rayside, as Honorary Canon.

Each member was sworn in by oath to execute their given responsibilities with diligence, and preserve not only the titles

NEWLY INSTALLED: Standing from left are: The Very Reverend Paul Andrew Carto; The Venerable Terry Nathaniel Davis; The Reverend Clifton Ashton Elias; and The Reverend Jerrick Fitzgerald Rayside (Photo by Sonell Nelson) of their positions, but moreso their religion.

Given food for thought, the congregation was entertained by the St. George’s Cathedral Choir, whose lusty singing was followed by the Word, ministered by The Venerable I. Ranfurly Brown, L.Th., M.Ed., Rector of St. Agnes’ Parish in New Providence,The Bahamas, & Archdeacon of the West Central Bahamas Archdeaconry.

After the ceremony, a reception was held at the Roof Garden of the Bank of Guyana, where all were invited to partake in this memorable occasion and celebrate the achievements of their fellow brethren in The Faith.

The Anglican Diocese of Guyana is one of eight within the Province of the West Indies. Its cathedral is St. George’s Cathedral in Georgetown. The diocese came into being on 24 August 1842 when William Piercy Austin was consecrated as the first bishop. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Cornell Jerome Moss.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

House approves $6.6M for new restrooms at Public Buildings --APNU questions already approved funding

THE Public Buildings will soon boast additional washrooms as a result of a $6.6M capital funding approved at the last sitting of the National Assembly, but not without the usual objection by APNU Shadow Finance Minister, Mr Carl Greenidge.

Prime Minister, Mr Samuel Hinds, whose office has oversight responsibility for the Public Buildings, explained to the House that the project was being undertaken as a result of complaints by Parliamentarians that the current facilities are insufficient.

“This was not planned, but it was known that it would

have been good for us to improve the washroom facilities for ourselves, also for members of the media and the public,” the Prime Minister explained.

The Prime Minister further explained that $4.47M of the fund for the washrooms was derived from a surplus that was originally allocated to fix the Public Building’s ceiling.

Despite this explanation, Mr. Greenidge continued to question the decision by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, to approve the funds, asking whether the Parliament Office had requested the reha-

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds

Carl Greenidge

Murder at Agricola...

Police seeking ‘info’ on main suspect

By Leroy Smith

INVESTIGATORS are continuing their probe into Friday night’s murder of 55-year-old Donna Taylor, and injury of her UK-based friend, Samantha Sabat, who jumped through a bedroom window and had to be hospitalised when persons invaded the home of the now dead woman.

A citizen of the United Kingdom, Sabat was yesterday discharged from a city hospital; and the Guyana Chronicle was informed that her relative accompanied her to Taylor’s home, from where she collected a few belongings and

--Injured British citizen goes into hiding

they might have in relation to what had happened on Friday night, since his wife’s family wants to have early closure and justice in the matter.

The Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed that the police still have the Guyana Defence Force rank in custody for the murder of Donna Taylor, and have now included, as part of their investigation, collecting all the information necessary about the woman.

The woman, whose only name was given as Abby, is said to be the main suspect in the murder, after she was seen at the police station with a

The dead woman’s husband points to the spot in the yard where his wife lay dead on Friday night disappeared.

Bertram Taylor, husband of the dead woman, yesterday confirmed that Sabat has been discharged from hospital. He said her relatives seemed very shaken, and were in a hurry to have her move as far away as possible from the house where the incident occurred, and from those associated with the affected family, in an attempt to protect the woman.

Taylor is pleading with members of the public to come forward with any information

different pants to the one she was spotted by investigators wearing earlier at the scene.

When questioned, the woman said she had not been wearing any other pants, and did not have a change of clothing; but after intense questioning, she eventually told investigators that she did in fact have a change of pants, and that was because the one she had been wearing earlier was smeared with paint.

She was then asked to accompany the ranks to the

home, where she showed them the pants she had been wearing earlier, which appeared to have been stained with blood, and not paint, as the woman would have investigators believe.

The female GDF rank was the girlfriend of the dead woman’s son, but the young man had recently broken off the relationship with her because of what relatives said was her aggressive attitude towards him, something his relatives did not approve.

The Chronicle was also told that the young man had shared a very close relationship with his mother, and because of that relationship, the suspect was of the view that the woman had influenced her son’s decision to sever the relationship.

Several efforts by this newspaper to make contact with the relatives of the UK citizen yesterday were unsuccessful. It is not clear if the British High Commission would have contacted the woman, and if efforts were being made to have her leave the country at the earliest possible time.

Ms Sabat had travelled to Guyana to attend the funeral of her father, who was buried two weeks ago.

Yesterday, Mr. Taylor said that the woman would not speak much of the incident since, according to her, she knows very little of what occurred. This publication was told that the woman had decided to jump through the window after the persons who came into the house were

bilitation of this facility prior to November 2013.

In response, the Prime Minister explained that it was a last-minute decision, based on the funds in hand for repairing the building’s ceiling, and from persons who had indicated that the current facilities were not sufficient.

Deputy Speaker, Ms Bibi Shadick also reminded Mr. Greenidge that the National Assembly had previously indicated its intent to provide similar facilities for the media and public.

The Prime Minister explained that the decision to add more washrooms to the attempting to break down the door to the bedroom in which she had secured herself.

However, when the woman jumped through the window, she apparently hurt herself, was temporarily handicapped, and had to be rushed to the hospital by persons who responded to the scene.

Persons had indicated to family members of the now dead Donna Taylor that they had heard a noise in the upper flat of the home. No one had dared to venture outside, and it is not clear if anyone had contacted the police.

Public Buildings was based on the availability of funding, and the need for the additional facilities.

“Every year when we do budget, and even in our own homes, we have long lists of things we would like to do,” he said, adding: “We have so much money and so much things we would like to do and we have to do what fits best.”

In response to Mr. G reenidge ’ s question , the P rime M inister noted that the request for funding was not done prior to

2013.

November

Dead: 55-year-old Donna Taylor

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

U.S. immigration bill ‘in doubt’ this year, Republican Ryan says

By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON - (Reuters) - Republicans will be unlikely to compromise on immigration reform unless U.S. borders are first secured, and the possibility of a broad immigration bill reaching President Barack Obama’s desk this year is “clearly in doubt,” Representative Paul Ryan said yesterday.

“Security first, no amnesty, then we might be able to get somewhere,” Ryan said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Immigration reform legislation, which the Senate has already passed, has stalled in the Republican-controlled House.

Ryan’s comments follow a House document released last week that presents a path toward legal status for 11 million undocumented workers now in the United States.

The plan, rolled out by House Republican leaders, outlines “principles” for immigration reform and embraces an agenda that gives their candidates a campaign message that goes beyond political attacks on Obama.

Asked if Obama would get a bill to sign this year, Ryan replied: “I really don’t know the answer to that question. That’s

clearly in doubt.”

It remains unclear if the House principles will advance any further amid deep Republican divisions. The principles are seen as gauging the party’s willingness to tackle such a controversial issue during an election year, when all 435 House seats are at stake.

Last June, the Senate passed a comprehensive bill that would provide a path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally and tighten border security.

The bill stalled in the House, and some conservative Republicans in both chambers remain staunchly opposed to offering legal status for millions of adults who live in the United States unlawfully.

Obama last week hinted in an interview that he might be open to a plan that would first give undocumented workers legal status, as long as they were not permanently barred from becoming citizens.

O n N B C ’s “ M e e t t h e Press,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said the principles offered by the House Republican leadership appeared to represent “pretty good progress.” He added: “We

feel pretty good that we will get a bill this year.”

PATH TO CITIZENSHIP? Obama and his supporters may soon face a hard decision over whether to shelve the creation of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and instead embrace border enforcement efforts that they have previously criticized.

“The bottom line here is that he (Obama) doesn’t want to see an America where we have two permanent classes - citizens and non-citizens,” McDonough said.

Ryan said Republicans have made it clear that they will not be forced to compromise with the Senate on a deal and refuse to go to conference committee with the Senate immigration reform bill.

“This is not one of those issues that has a deadline,” he said in the ABC interview.

Ryan emphasised that securing the U.S.-Mexico border was a crucial first step before changing rules around legal residency.

“We don’t know who’s coming and going in this country. We don’t have control of our borders,” he said. “Doing nothing on the security side of this isn’t the responsible thing to do.”

House leaders must contend with several conservatives who are suspicious of Obama’s agenda and are reluctant to give the president a long-sought legislative victory.

“We are still having a debate in our caucus,” Ryan said.

House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said his party wants to make progress on immigration, “step by step.”

“We want to help the situation,” Cantor said.

Incumbents facing a primary challenge or a close general election in this year’s campaign season may have an incentive to oppose the plan’s path to citizenship.

Still, many lawmakers agreed to revamp U.S. policy on immigration after exit polling showed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2012. The Republican National Committee made it a priority to reach out to minority

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voters after the election.

Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal said yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Republi-

cans should go ahead with immigration reform since it remains the right thing to do and not “because of what some pollster tells us.”

Thai vote goes peacefully, but political paralysis looms BANGKOK -(Reuters) - Elections in Thailand passed off peacefully on Sunday but the country was no nearer to ending its intractable political conflict, with the government facing the prospect of months of paralysis, protests and complex legal challenges.

Voting was disrupted in about a fifth of the country’s constituencies, but no major violence was reported, despite armed clashes between supporters and opponents of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that wounded seven people on the eve of the ballot.

Voting ended at 3 p.m.

(0800 GMT), but no results will be announced on Sunday, meaning little change to an uneasy status quo. Yingluck will remain caretaker premier for weeks, facing continued anti-government protests and the prospect of a slew of legal challenges aimed at invalidating the poll.

DATE: 01/02/2014

Flashback: Demonstrators march against amnesty for illegal aliens, during a rally against the immigration reform bill in Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington July 15, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Jose Luis Magana

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The usual campaign billboards, glossy posters and pre-election buzz were noticeably absent this time, as were many voters fearful of violence or bent on rejecting a ballot bound to re-elect the political juggernaut controlled by Yingluck’s billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Former premier Thaksin, 64, is loved and loathed, but his parties have won every poll since 2001. His opponents say he is a corrupt crony capitalist who tailored policy to enrich himself and ruling by proxy from exile in Dubai, where he lives to evade jail time for graft.

Further voting is already scheduled for February 23 after problems with advance balloting last Sunday, while polls in nine southern provinces where candidates were unable to register may not happen for weeks.

“To those of you who went out and prevented ballot boxes from being delivered, thank you,” protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said in a speech at one of seven rally sites in

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Bangkok, where anti-Thaksin sentiment is strong.

Voting was disrupted in 18 percent or 69 of 375 constituencies nationwide, the Election Commission said, affecting 18 of 77 provinces, where demonstrators calling for an appointed government succeeded in sabotaging the vote.

With the main opposition Democrat Party boycotting the poll, Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party is expected to win comfortably.

Its leader said the election showed the public believed in democracy.

“The people are not afraid and they came out to vote today,” said Jarupong Ruangsuawan, who is also Interior Minister. “We’ve fought hard for democracy in Thailand and we proved that most Thais believe in the democratic process.”

Even if the result were known, victory celebrations for Yingluck would probably be muted. With many parliamentary seats unfilled, she could be exposed to legal attacks, intensified protests and unable to pass bills and budgets crucial to reviving the economy, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

New opposition leader appointed in St. Lucia CASTRIES, St.Lucia, (CMC)-The appointment of Dr. Gale Rigobert as the country’s new Leader of the Opposition United Workers Party (UWP) has now been confirmed .

Dr. Rigobert was selected a week after Parliamentary Representative for Castries North, Stephenson King was voted out of the post by his UWP colleagues.

On Saturday, an official letter sent to the Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy to formalise the process, has been accepted.

“Pursuant to Section 67 of the Constitution of St Lucia and subject to the provisions of the said Constitution I do hereby appoint you the said New Opposition Leader Gale Tracy Christiane Rigob- Dr. Gale Rigobert ert, to be the Leader of the Opposition with effect from February 1, 2014, with all the powers, rights, privileges and advantages to the said Office belonging or appertaining,” the Governor General’s appointment letter read.

Rigobert who lectured at the University of the West Indies, previously served as a member of the Senate, and advisor to the National Development in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and National Development.

She won her Micoud North seat in the 2011 general election and was elected deputy political leader of the UWP in July 2013.

In November 2013 she was made the Ambassador for peace for the Universal Peace Federation.

She was due to take her oath of office on Tuesday, however this has now been rescheduled for February 11.

On the weekend, Regobert began a series of pre-budget “community meetings” essentially to “listen to the needs of the people and assess priorities for the constituency.”

She told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), that she would also respond to questions on recent developments in the opposition United Workers Party which has recently been plagued by disagreement over the expulsion of King as opposition leader.

Antigua Attorney General in stable condition ST JOHN’S, Antigua, (CMC) - Antigua and Barbuda’s Attorney General, Justin Simon QC, remained in hospital late Saturday in stable condition after collapsing at a restaurant here, an official source has said.

Simon, said to be in his fifties, reportedly collapsed around 4.30 pm local time (2030 GMT), while out with friends at Big Banana, a popular eatery in downtown St Johns.

He was rushed to the Mount St John’s Medical Centre, the main state hospital about a kilometre away.

A senior government official who said he was receiving regular updates on the attorney general’s health but asked not to be identified, told the Caribbean Media Corporation that Simon was conscious, alert and in stable condition. key figures in government could not be reached for details of Simon’s illness and condition.

The Dominica-born Simon was appointed as Minister of A n t i g u a a n d B a r b u d a Legal Affairs and Attorney Attorney General Justin General in the original cabinet S i m o n , Q C , c o l l a p s e d of Prime Minister Baldwin while out with friends at Spencer when his United Progressive Party (UPP) swept to a popular eatery power in March 2004, ending the 28-year rule of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP).

Simon, who had originally told Spencer he intended to serve one-term as the government’s principal legal adviser, has stayed on past the UPP’s election to a second term in office in 2009.

In February 2012, amid persistent media reports of an imminent departure from the Spencer administration, Simon remained in office.

Refusing to comment on the reports, he told CMC he would be in office the next day “and the day after that and the day after that”.

“When I leave I have no idea. Within that whole system it can create certain dislocation and confusion … just getting up and jumping up is not that answer and I am a committed public servant,” Simon told the Dominica News Online website.

“The political directorate wants to be happy with who they work with so if I am asked to stay on I will,” he added.

Elections are constitutionally due here by March.

Daniel Ortega allowed to run for third successive term THE Nicaraguan National Assembly has approved changes to the constitution that would allow President Daniel Ortega to run for a third successive term in 2016.

The bill scraps limits to the number of terms Nicaraguan presidents can serve.

The opposition says the changes are a threat to democracy in the impoverished Central American nation.

Mr Ortega’s Sandinista Party argues that Nicaragua needs long-term stability to deal with its problems.

Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the region.

Its main export is being threatened by coffee rust, a fungus affecting plantations across Central America.

“This constitution is not the solution for our problems - poverty or coffee rust - but it allows us to move forward,” said the Sandinista leader at the assembly, Edwin Castro.

The constitutional changes were approved by 64 votes to 25. One independent lawmaker and 63 Sandinistas voted in favour; only three members of the assembly missed the vote.

The National Assembly had approved the bill on a first vote on 10 December.

The reform also scraps the current rule, which says that the winning candidate needs to receive at least 35% of the vote to be appointed president.

‘ORTEGA FOREVER’ Opposition legislator Maria Eugenia Sequeira, from the right-wing Independent Liberal Party, said the reforms “were designed to serve the interests of the current president.”

“It is more of the same in the history of Nicaragua,” she added.

Mr Ortega, 68, is a former left-wing guerrilla who led a successful revolution against the dictatorship of the Somoza family, who ruled Nicaragua for four decades.

The Cuban-inspired Sandinistas seized power in 1979 aniel Ortega headed the revolutionary committee that ruled the country until 1984.

He was then elected president and served a term from 1985 to 1990.

In power, the Sandinistas redistributed property and made huge progress in the spheres of health and education.

However, their pro-Cuban orientation alarmed the United States, which launched a sustained campaign of embargo and armed subversion.

The party lost elections in the 1990s, but Mr Ortega returned to power in January 2007, after a successful election campaign.

Controversially, he gained in the Supreme Court the right to run again in 2011.

He has now been given the National Assembly’s clearance to take part in the next

Daniel Ortega (left) was welcomed by Cuban President Raul Castro, who is hosting a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Havana vote and potentially serve his fourth term as president.

“We do not need a Somo-

za, sorry, an Ortega forever,” opposition legislator Alberto Lacayo commented ironical-

ly during Tuesday’s debate.

(BBC )

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

GUYANA

Is the Opposition fighting for the right to destroy Guyana?

EDITORIAL

WHO gives the Opposition parliamentarians the right to destroy Guyana? Certainly not those who voted for them, as they would normally claim.

I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of those who voted for the Opposition did so because they believed, or at least thought, that the AFC or APNU would outdo the PPP/C and make Guyana an even better place.

The Opposition never campaigned on a platform of the right to destroy Guyana; they promised to make it better. But, alas, the deception of Opposition leaders turned out to be unmatched in Guyana’s history.

The Chief Justice has ruled that the National Assembly does not have the right to reduce estimates of the National Budget. Why can’t they accept that they were wrong in reducing the National Budgets of 2012 and 2013? Is it that their egos, pride and narrow political objectives take precedence over the welfare of the entire nation?

I WANT to bring to the notice of the Minister of Education that teachers are ill-treating children at schools, because at the Skeldon Primary (Scotts School) the nursery school teacher, who started to teach there in September, beats the children with a bamboo stick and brand their bodies.

On Wednesday last, I was right by the door when she walked around with a bamboo stick and hit children. She is scaring away the children from school.Parents cannot talk to her because she is “wrong and strong”.

When she opens her mouth to quarrel, you would think she is the headmistress. The ministry dismissed very good teachers from this school and brought her, but she is bringing down the name of Skeldon Primary School.

Over the past two years, the opposition has, through their illegal, unwarranted and malicious acts of cutting the National Budgets, deprived Guyana’s economy of over $50B. Guyana has been denied over 50 billion dollars of investments in infrastructural and development projects of huge national significance, investment projects that have the potential to catapult Guyana to levels of development never seen in its entire history.

It is therefore a disgrace and total lack of self-respect for people parading as economists/developmentalists and national leaders not only to deny, but also seek to justify their denial of their country’s critical development projects in excess of 50 billion dollars, using deliberately flawed and deceitful arguments.

The sad thing is that many seem to believe these fundamentally flawed and deceitful arguments. I am sure that the institutions where these individuals got their education must be wondering what a dishonour these people bring to them.

Every student of economics, and moreso economists, knows that to earn you must invest; they know that the infrastructure of a country is the artery of development; if they are not here no development can take place; they know that before you can even talk about distribution/redistribution of wealth, you first have to first create it; they know that with globalisation, it is a desperate fight for survival and to survive you must be and remain competitive; they know that when you miss one year in today’s world, it may take you in excess of five years to catch-up, if you are lucky. As Guyanese would say: “Cat eat you dinner”.

How then can any rational human being make sense of APNU’s point man on economics and finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge, a “qualified Economist” leading the opposition in butchering Guyana’s national budget for two consecutive years? Government is not in the business of hoarding.

It is in the business of spending money to provide goods and services to the people to make their lives better. Has cutting the budget and saving 50 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money made taxpayers’ lives better?

To Mr. Ramjattan, Mr. Granger, Mr. Greenidge and the 30 other AFC and APNU parliamentarians, I say there is no dignity in fighting to destroy your nation, but there is dignity in cooperation, even with your sworn enemy, in the interest of others. There is no dignity in exploiting people’s lack of knowledge, but there is dignity and respect in educating and serving them. It is time you serve your nation with dignity and respect. Stop fighting for the non-existent right to destroy the future of Guyana and its entire narrow population.

Accept the Chief Justice’s ruling; that will be a dignified act.

There is dignity and respect in putting your nation’s and not your own selfish political interests first. The nation is waiting and watching.

M. A. ALLY

FARUK MOHAMED

The combined Opposition and Excessive their quality of corporal punishment leadership

THE current imbroglio with the joint opposition’s incomprehensible and indefensible position of not supporting the legislation to combat money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and the threatened sanctions, primarily the blacklisting of Guyana on the global landscape, is indeed food for thought.

Add to this all the destructive and anti-developmental actions and the divisive rhetoric of Guyana’s combined opposition in and out of Parliament, and what we have is a lack of leadership skills and a wanton dereliction of the responsibilities reposed in them by their supporters, whom they have been consistently failing in a multiplicity of ways, especially in the November 2011 post-elections period.

The combined opposition would be entirely to blame for the consequential degradation in the socio-economic constructs in Guyana, and the lives and lifestyles of the average Guyanese man, woman and child that would be the direct result of a FATF blacklisting, which is a looming spectre over this nation that would blanket every citizen and endeavour emanating out of Guyana with catastrophic consequences.

Yet, the joint Opposition is adamant and intractable in its determination not to support legislation that would save this nation from dire socio-economic consequences of a FATF blacklisting.

This unrelenting stance by the combined opposition is reprehensible, unjustifiable and unforgivable, because it is the ordinary citizen, among them their own supporters, who would suffer the most from the repercussions of consequential international sanctions.

Real leadership is about putting the general good above personal considerations, egos, ambition, and self-empowerment and enrichment, all traits that the leadership of the combined Opposition have been displaying ad nauseum, even to the extent of consistently breaking the laws of the land in pursuit of their own nefarious agendas.

The equations and definitions constraining human and humane conduct have largely become statistics by a society saturated with the sensual and the sensational.

Value systems today relate to the dynamics of materialistic configurations instead of the applicability of good conduct, consideration for others, respect for authority and even parents.

But leaders are supposed to exemplify, by their own conduct, the best qualities that should be inherent in a good human being and citizen of the state in which they govern, or aspire to govern.

The resilience of the human spirit may endure, as it has for centuries of natural and man-made catastrophies, and evolved over time to predominate over individual and societal anomalies. But to what extent has the human collective transmigrated into the quintessential replica of that divine life force most of us pray to for charting the course of our lives? How many of us see ourselves as our brother’s – and sister’s keepers? And how many of us can see a suffering child and feel constrained to intercede on its behalf, even if that intercession creates problems for us in our personal lives? The quality of mercy is largely constrained within the parameters of our individual comfort zones, and this also applies to leaders of nations.

But what is the quality of leadership provided by the joint opposition? Former President of Guyana, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo,

in schools

was the lone David without even the support of the people for whom he was battling against the monolithic European Union, and won concessionary terms in the EPA for the retention of the sovereignty of CARICOM states.

During the height of the Linden fracas, and other such opposition-led and orchestrated mayhem in Guyana during his tenure as President, His Excellency President Donald Ramotar maintained his composure at all times, and in the face of great hostility of opposition media and the entire opposition cabal, and intense provocation by those who wanted to precipitate a state of anarchy in the land.

It is now a matter of history that both former President Jagdeo and incumbent President Ramotar faced and prevailed over challenges that could have cost this nation its sovereignty and its progress, yet both stood tall as leaders who always put the good of the Guyanese people above any other consideration during some of this nation’s most trying times, as have every PPP leader throughout the course of our history.

To be a real leader and a good human being, one has to adopt and maintain principled positions, even when the world turns against you for refusing to compromise integrity for the convenience of popularity.

It is a rare human being and leader, and one whose self-respect and moral code are unshakeable, who can withstand the buffeting of a societal, national, regional, and global tsunami and emerge with moral pristinity.

Too many persons are like chaff blowing hither and thither in the wind of public opinion, without consideration for truth and the greater good. But the Lord adjured us to build our houses upon the rock of truth, so that it can withstand the elements and endure – and all our religions teach us that good triumphs over evil, light over darkness.

It is extremely difficult to refuse our peers in the pursuit of wrongdoing, especially when ostracism from their society would ensue as a consequence, unless one has a strong and in-built moral code that transposes one above the norm to rise unsullied by the

machinations of those who take joy in marginalising the existence of others,or policy makers who gain satisfaction in strategising the dislocation of the socio-economic contours of vulnerable societies.

The sad reality that has hallmarked the evolutionary processes of societies is that moral integrity has majorly been relegated to a dimension of alienation within the mainstream norm, and the acquisition of power and wealth has taken precedence over the adjurations of all our holy text; but most of our parliamentary members proclaim themselves to be godly persons, even sometimes quoting religious texts.

The hypocrisy of many elders who attend mosques, mandirs, temples, churches, and other places of worship, whose lifestyles cannot bear scrutiny, have created agnostics and cynics out of the younger generation, so authority figures,and consequentially the Supreme Being they purport to worship, have become suspect and unworthy of respect.

This phenomenon has fractured societies, because the various religions of the world have historically and traditionally been the grounding force melding families and societies into a cohesive unit, mainly harmonising within the philosophies of their doctrines to create communities and countries with soul.

The churches may today be full, but the mechanical, materialistic applications have, except for exceptional instances, created poverty of the soul of humankind.

So, what category of leadership is the opposition collective providing to the Guyanese people? They are providing this nation with the quality of leadership that leads to social decay, moral strangulation – especially in the young; and socio-economic devastation of the nation. This is the legacy they left this nation pre-1992; and, re-configured several times over in various avatars, they continue to subvert and corrode every hope of this nation for the sustained attainment of peace, progress and prosperity.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Chronicle Weekend Roundup with Telesha Ramnarine

January 27 - February 1, 2014

MONDAY 27 POPULAR DESIGNER GUNNED DOWN, EXECUTION STYLE POPULAR fashion designer, Trevor Rose, was shot dead early Sunday morning in the vicinity of Eccles, EBD whilst travelling in a taxi. Taxi driver, Trevor Nieuenkirk and the designer’s female partner, Latoya Towler, with whom he has a child, were also injured in the incident. The 32 year old’s fatal shooting has been regarded as an execution. This publication understands that when PMM 8113, the white Toyota 212 in which Rose and Towler were travelling stopped at the traffic light at the entrance to Eccles, a heavily tinted vehicle pulled up alongside it from which the shooter emerged. Some time ago, Rose made the headlines when he was robbed of a large sum of money which was supposed to be used to design costumes and a float for Mashramani that year. Rose had been married to fashion icon, Michelle Cole, another top Guyanese designer with whom he had three to four children. The couple had gone on to form the company, Facts and Roses, now defunct.

TEEN ON OUTING WITH FRIENDS DROWNS IN POPULAR HOTEL POOL THE swimming activities of a group of approximately 20 teenagers, comprising final year and former students of St. Stanislaus College, ended tragically at the Princess Hotel Swimming Pool on Saturday with the death of 17-year-old Shamar Edwards, who plunged into the pool but was brought out dead. Edwards, of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, had been preparing to write the CAPE examinations next June.

EMPLOYEE SHOT WHILE THWARTING ARMED ROBBERY AT CITY BUSINESS PLACE POLICE said 29-year-old Jason Fraser was shot and injured in his abdomen when he thwarted an attempt to rob the Mexican Grille and Bar on Water Street, Georgetown, by a man brandishing a handgun. The perpetrator managed to escape, and Jason Fraser has been admitted to hospital.

GANGA PERSAUD: ‘I WILL CONTINUE AS MP’ FORMER Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, has indicated that he will continue to serve his country and his party as a Member of Parliament. Persaud recently announced his resignation as minister, citing personal reasons.

TUESDAY 28 HEALTH MINISTRY PRESENTS SEVEN NEW AMBULANCES TO HOSPITALS COLLABORATING with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the Ministry of Health presented seven new ambulances to hospitals in various regions across the country. This ambulance initiative seeks to boost health care delivery across Guyana. Acquired from Associated Industries Limited (AINLIM) at a cost of Gy$59.5M (fifty-nine million, five hundred thousand Guyana dollars) Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran said of the ambulances: “Additional monies will be spent on further equipping them, as we do more training to be able to utilise those bits and pieces of equipment.”

Two of the new ambulances have been given to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), whilst one each went to the following hospitals: Charity Hospital in Region 2; Leonora Cottage Hospital in Region 3; Fort Wellington Hospital in Region 5; Port Mourant Hospital in Region 6; and the Linden Hospital Complex in Region 10. CEO Mr Michael Khan received the ambulances for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, while Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Norman Whittaker, represented the other regional health facilities in receiving the ambulances on their behalf.

SIXTH MEMORIAL HELD FOR 11 LUSIGNAN MASSACRE VICTIMS THE Sixth Annual Evening of Remembrance was held at Track ‘A’, Lusignan, East Coast of Demerara, in memory of the eleven persons slain in the horrendous massacre of January 26, 2008, and 12 others who lost their lives in a separate shooting rampage at Bartica, three weeks later, on February 17.The programme was organised by the Indian Arrival Committee and attracted a large gathering of bereaved family members and friends, from the affected community, who tried to garner strength and courage as they huddled, in sober reflection, under canopies specially set up for the occasion.

GWI EMBARKING ON DISCONNECTION CAMPAIGN FOR CUSTOMERS IN ARREARS GUYANA WATER INC. (GWI) has said that they would be embarking on a countrywide campaign to remove the water service of customers who are in arrears. Customer Services Manager, Jeanette Thomas, told this publication that GWI is focusing on collection for water services and urged customers to make such payments or face disconnection which she noted is the last resort. It was pointed out that customers whose services have been repeatedly disconnected will have their service removed by GWI once they are in arrears and

urged such persons to make contact with the water company at the earliest opportunity on 227-8701 from 08:00hrs to 16:30 hrs on week days or leave a message on weekends and a call will be returned.

WEDNESDAY 29 GOV’T STANDS FIRM AGAINST MARIJUANA LEGALISATION MINISTER of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has reaffirmed the Government of Guyana’s zero-tolerance policy on all drugs that are deemed illicit, including marijuana, whose legalisation has recently sparked significant debate at the international level. The minister was at the time speaking at the launch of the National Drug Report for 2012, compiled by the Task Force on Narcotic Drugs and Illicit Weapons, at his Brickdam Office.

MURDER SUSPECT BACCHUS WANTED FOR QUESTIONING THE police are still on the hunt for the man who fatally shot Special Constable Quincy Wright of the Mounted Branch. Police said about 22:30 hrs on January 24, Wright of Zeskendren, Mahaicony, East Coast of Demerara, was involved in an argument with a man at Guyhoc Park in Georgetown, during which he was shot to his chest and pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). His assailant, who escaped since, is also a fugitive from questioning about an incident that occurred on January 23, 2014, at North Sophia, in the city, as well, where a firearm was stolen from a guard attached to a private security service. That happened about 21:00 hrs on the same January 23 when the robbery victims were security guards Mortimer Maynard, 45 and Trevor Fraser, 42.

‘BUCKTA MAN’ FREED OF 2009 MURDER ALLEGATION JUSTICE William Ramlal has accepted the defence’s no-case submission made on behalf of murder accused Latchman Ramlall, called ‘Buckta Man’, who had been accused of having allegedly murdered Renaissance Singh on October 22, 2009, and discharged Ramlall on the ground that the prosecution had failed to make out a case against him. When the Prosecutrix, Miss Natasha Backer, closed her case, defence counsel Mr. Keavon Bess did not seek to lead a defence, but elected to make a no-case submission in the absence of the jury. Justice Ramlal conducted the voir dire. Going through the prosecution’s evidence, defence counsel was able to highlight missing links in the case; and Justice Ramlal agreed with the defence submission -the prosecution also conceded- and directed the mixed jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty in favour of the accused.

Latchman Ramlall was later discharged by Justice William Ramlal.

34 GDF OFFICERS AND OTHER RANKS TRAINED EXTERNALLY LAST YEAR THE knowledge base and professional capabilities of 34 Guyana Defence Force officers and other ranks were enhanced through professional training which they gained at external institutions during 2013. According to a GDF press release, 24 GDF officers and ranks benefited from training overseas, while the remainder took advantage of education offered at local post-secondary institutions.

The officers and ranks who received enhanced training overseas attended military institutions, including the US Army Command and General Staff College and completed studies on courses embracing, but not limited to, Hydraulic Systems and Equipment, Patrol Craft Hull Maintenance, Comprehensive Security Responses to Terrorism, CID Special Agent, Physical Training and Education for Instructors, and Inspection of Ammunition. Locally, officers and ranks completed professional studies in areas including Mechanical Engineering, Public Management, Carpentry and Joinery, Auto Mechanics, Catering and Hospitality Management, Accounting, Agriculture, Nursing, and Industrial Relations and Social Studies.

THURSDAY 30 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HAS NO RIGHT TO CUT NATIONAL BUDGET – CHIEF JUSTICE RULES CHIEF Justice (ag) Ian Chang has ruled that the Opposition has no right to cut the country’s budget estimates and can only approve or disapprove the entire budget or sections of it. The Chief Justice handed down his decision in the High Court with the Opposition planning to appeal the decision, citing errors in the ruling. The Government of Guyana had taken the Opposition to court following the slashing of the 2012 National Budget by $20.8B claiming it was unconstitutional. In the preliminary ruling given in June 2012, the CJ had ruled that the National Assembly had a role to either approve or disapprove of the National Estimates, not to cut them.

TEENAGED BANDIT KILLED IN BUSINESSMAN’S HOME A 15-year-old bandit was shot dead when he and two accomplices invaded the premises of businessman Eon Evans of Fourth Street, Dazzell Housing Scheme, East Coast of Demerara. The teenager, whose name was given as Leon McCurdy, and whose last address was somewhere in La Penitence, was shot dead in the upper flat of the house owned by the businessman. The police in a press release stated that about 13:30 hrs, three men, two armed with handguns and the other with a pair of scissors, entered the grocery and liquor store

of the businessman. The men held up Eon Evans’s son and took away an undisclosed amount of cash. While one of the men remained with the son,the two others went upstairs where they held up Eon Evans and his wife. The woman was subsequently tied up and placed in a bedroom, while the perpetrators took away Evans’s jewellery. The police said that as the men were leaving Eon Evans, who is a licensed firearm holder, engaged them during which one of them was shot and killed while the other two managed to escape.

ANOTHER SODOMY ALLEGATION HITS GPF THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been hit with another sodomy allegation although the Colwyn Harding “condomised baton rape” is still being probed.

The GPF said that investigations are being conducted into a report, received on January 28, 2014, that around 21:00 hrs on January 26, three policemen took a 16-year-old youth into the Police Mobile Outpost at the Stabroek Market area and sodomised him. The police reported that the accused three ranks have been placed under close arrest as the investigations continue. This time, the male teen alleged that he was sodomised by the trio while he was in detention at the Stabroek Market Police Outpost on Sunday night.

NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK TO BECOME MUCH MORE FUN, EDUCATIONAL AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY IN five months time, the National Zoological Park will become much more fun, educational, and family-friendly, when the first petting zoo has been completed. The petting zoo will be part of the Park, and will cater primarily for children. The project for creation of the petting zoo was officially launched, Tuesday, in the boardroom of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, with handing over of the contract for its completion, worth $32M. Contractor Alvin Chowramootoo was expected to begin mobilisation last week, and to complete the project within four or five months. The official launching of the project was done by Commissioner of the Protected Areas Commission (PAC), Mr. Damian Fernandes.

FRIDAY 31 ALLEGEDLY VIOLATED TEEN MOUNTS ROOFTOP PROTEST TO PLEAD HIS CASE THERE was high drama for close to one hour on Robb Street as 16-year-old Nicholas Kissoon, who claims he was sexually molested by three policemen on Tuesday, staged a roof-top protest against the alleged ignominy he was forced to suffer. Kissoon mounted the roof of the Police Consumers’ Coop Society complex on Robb Street, near Stabroek News, and despite the broiling sun, remained there, pacing up and down from time to time and threatening to jump off any time it took his fancy. The move was his way of speaking out against the alleged violation visited upon him, and letting the public know, straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, of a concerted effort by the police to silence him, as he claimed from the relative safety of the roof-top.

DISPUTE OVER RICE FIELD LEAVES TWO DEAD, THREE INJURED Two persons were pronounced dead, two were undergoing surgery and one was being monitored by doctors of the New Amsterdam Hospital, following a bitter dispute over a rice field at Port Mourant on the Corentyne Coast in Region 6. The Chronicle was unable to confirm the names of those injured and killed in the exchange.

Reports suggest that a family feud was going on for some time over the ownership of the property and it turned deadly last night. We understand that a shotgun was used in the attack and the injured bore multiple wounds.

ARMED GUARD AT RUSSIAN EMBASSY COMMITS SUICIDE AN armed security guard attached to the GEB Security Service reportedly took his own life by shooting himself in the head while on duty at the Russian Embassy, Pere Street, Kitty, Georgetown. He has been identified as Calvin Booker, 49, of Lot 705 Penny Lane, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown. According to reports, Booker, who lived alone in an apartment at his mother’s property left home on Wednesday afternoon for work as usual and seemed to be his normal, quiet self. Booker is said to have shot himself in the left temple at about 05:30 hrs while on active duty and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) around 06:05 hrs, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

HUSBAND TELLS MAGISTRATE HE WANTS TO RECOVER HIS WIFE FROM HER LOVER GUYSUCO employee Sham Dyal, facing charges of assault and threatening language allegedly committed on his wife, Indranie Dyal, pleaded with Albion Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh to have the police tell his wife’s lover to let her go. The virtual complainant told the court that she and her husband were arguing at home on December 19, 2013, when her husband threw her to the ground, took a file and threatened to inflict injuries to her abdomen. They subsequently went to Rose Hall Town, where he (PLEASE SEE PAGE 8)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Honest citizens are paying Anyone who enters for electricity thefts the ‘House’ through The Bible says...

the back door is a thief

IN RELATION to the Chief Justice’s ruling on the country’s Budgetary cuts by the parliamentary Opposition, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 was indeed an historic day for Guyana and the Guyanese people when Chief Justice Ian Chang made the ruling that the National Assembly has no right to cut the National Budget estimates of our country.

The Guyanese people certainly welcomed the Chief Justice’s ruling. In fact, all the indigenous Toshaos I contacted rejoiced when they heard the news.

1. The people of Guyana and their democratically elected Government under the leadership of President Donald Ramotar therefore scored a major victory against the power-hungry parliamentary Opposition (PNC/APNU & AFC) who, in their unpatriotic agenda, had cut the 2012 & 2013 National Budgets presented to the Guyanese people by Dr. Ashni Singh, the Hon. Minister of Finance.

Totally ashamed of their splendid defeat in the High Court, the parliamentary Opposition still claim that they intend to cut the upcoming 2014 National Budget, despite the High Court ruling by the Chief Justice. This would certainly be contempt for the High Court and a demonstration of lawlessness, which are definitely not qualities for national leadership, which the people of Guyana must seriously take note of in terms of their removal from Parliament.

2. The parliamentary ball is now in the court of the Speaker of the House, who must ensure that the National Assembly upholds the Constitution of our country so that we will not have far-reaching effects and a constitutional crisis. So Mr. Speaker, please let the National Assembly uphold the Constitution of Guyana at all times.

3. But it seems as though the parliamentary Opposition (APNU/ APNU & AFC) intends to be on another time and money-wasting spree as a result of their ignorance of the Separation of Powers regarding the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. In this regard they intend to legally challenge the Chief Justice’s ruling. They shall fail again!

4. The problem with the parliamentary Opposition is their foolish thinking that they are the Government. No, they are not.

They are the Opposition who want to run the Government and the country through the back door, which is not strange to their electoral malpractices prior to 1992. But the good book states that anyone who enters, or tries to enter the house through the back door is a thief. Now is the time to start watching them.

PETER PERSAUD

PRIME Minister Sam Hinds reports that Latin American countries average 16%, North America, about 6%, and so too, Europe and Japan. At the other end, India, Bangladesh and a number of African countries are at 50%, and more. Closer to home, Jamaica has reported losses ranging between 14% and 23% over the last years, whilst Barbados is at about 7 to 8% in electricity losses.

“Our electricity losses, both technical and non-technical, which fell from about 45% to 31% over the last 10 years, have been a source of embarrassment to me in my interaction with other CARICOM ministers responsible for electricity.

“The technical losses reflect our nation’s historical lack of money from the 1970s onward, and at the same time, the desire to meet our people’s call for electricity, in the adding of connections and, more recently, meeting an increasing demand as existing customers added refrigerators, air-conditioners and other appliances.”

But we are not talking about India, Jamaica, America, Barbados etc; we are talking about Guyana. So, just because America has the most mass murderers, Guyana should have the same, or even more?

The ordinary man cannot afford air-conditioners; the bill would be more than he can afford.

It is not only the big business people and GPL workers who are thieves. There is a bunch of opposition supporters who squat on Government lands and don’t pay for electricity and water, but yet

run lots of appliances in their fully lit squatting houses, with loads of water even to bathe their dogs.

I am willing to bet my last dollar that there are also supporters of the Government and those in opposition - PNC and AFC - who steal electricity, water, gas and don’t pay taxes.Honest citizens will perish in Guyana while the crooked ones will thrive, because the honest, hard working citizens will always have to pay for the crooked ones.

GPL and the Government do not have the guts to take on the crooks, while the hard working, honest citizens pay through their noses for a bit of comfort in order to survive.

South Georgetown has been named as one of the most critical in terms of electricity theft, officials of the local power company testified on Wednesday. Appearing before Parliament’s Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, executives of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) said that from records, losses in the South Ruimveldt, Guyhoc Gardens, Festival City, West Ruimveldt and Sophia areas remain the most worrying, with for every 100 kilowatts of electricity produced, 60% is lost through theft and technical faults.

According to Prime Minister Hinds, who holds the portfolio for energy, the losses represent a “great embarrassment”, but what it does is force the honest citizens to pay more than they can afford to cover those losses.

TED KING

What happens to children without parental care and guidance?

MY HEART goes out to Nicholas Kissoon, the young man who is allegedly a “sex commercial worker”, and who accused the cops of sodomy.

Kissoon went to the rooftop of the Police Co-op building to gain attention for his cause, and was clearly suffering from mental, emotional and societal agony.

According to press reports, he expressed that he was fed up with his lifestyle, and kept blurting out, “I want dead, I want dead”.

The 16-year-old’s mother is apparently ill, while his father is serving a life sentence for murder. With apparently no one to take care of him, how was the young man supposed to survive? What if his mother were not sick? Would his fate be different? If his father had gainful employment instead of serving time in jail for murder, would it have mattered? And if Nicolas had encountered good role models to look up to, who would respect him and guide him, would he have been a different lad today?

Where are all those who preach on radio, T.V., on the roadside and in the noisy churches, proclaiming how much they love God? Have they done anything for the likes of Nicolas Kissoon? They could “tell” of God’s love by giving him some of the basics, such as food and clothing, and most of all, respect.

Jesus came for all, especially for the outcasts of society. The boy obviously needs respect, food, clothing, good role models, and friends. He needs a good education and discipline, and needs to experience the love of people and God in his life.

Instead of laughing and mocking the young man because of his sexual orientation, we ought to help, love, care and pray for him; God can do a miracle in his life through our acts of love.Our response to the eccentric, the unfortunate and the “despicable” speaks volumes of our maturity as a society in the 21st century.

DEVANAND BHAGWAN

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

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Chronicle Weekend Roundup (FROM PAGE 7)

uplifted his wages before returning home and invited a neighbour to consume alcohol with him.

The visitor left the home after the defendant threatened to chop off his wife’s neck with a cutlass and then hang himself.

SATURDAY FEB 1 GOVERNMENT SIGNS € 14.8M SEA AND RIVER DEFENCE AGREEMENT WITH EUROPEAN UNION THE Government of Guyana(GoG) has signed a financing agreement with the European Union (EU) that would see Guyana getting € 14.8M under the 10th European Development Fund(EDF) as budget support for sea and river defence works. The 10th EDF Financing Agreement builds on previous sea and river defence programmes undertaken by the GoG and the EU. The previous financial commitments made under the 7th, 8th and 9th EDFs have been implemented. A detailed implementation plan for sea and river defences was developed in 2012 by the Government of Guyana to facilitate progressive adoption and enforcement of the policy by all stakeholders. Implementation of the plans will focus on a developmental period of three years, with the Works Ministry meeting specified benchmarks. During this time, a number of activities will be pursued with the objective of improving the efficiency and sustainability of the sea and river defence sector.

GUYANA, CANADA SIGN MOU TO STREAM PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS THE Guyana Parliament has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Canadian Government to facilitate transmission via the Internet of live streaming of all parliamentary business.

The deal includes sittings, committee meetings and other parliamentary-related activities,and is worth $5,244,064.Speaker Raphael Trotman explained that, when the 10th Parliament commenced, the vision was to bring it closer to the people of Guyana. “And one way to provide this is by live streaming of our deliberations, our debates, in the House as well as the committee rooms,” he said.

SEVERE WET WEATHER THREATENS COASTAL REGIONS UNTIL FEBRUARY 5 THE Hydromet Department of the Ministry of Agriculture is currently monitoring a weather pattern over the Atlantic. The ministry’s advisory states: Should it persist, this pattern could result in overnight rainfall of up to 50mm being recorded in Regions 2, 3, 4 and the northern portion of Region 6.

The country’s drainage system is certainly not designed to accommodate such a high amount of water, and should that weather pattern continue, some communities could inevitably experience flooding.

This situation is presently being monitored by all relevant stakeholders, and an emergency D&I team is on standby to ensure that the situation remains under control.

IF OPPOSITION DOES NOT HAVE POWER TO CUT BUDGET 2012, THEY CANNOT CUT BUDGET 2014 – AG THE final ruling of Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang in the now infamous budget-cut case has laid a number of legal issues to rest, many of which were novel, given the parliamentary configuration in which the Opposition holds a one-seat majority. Speaking on the television programme Political Scope, recently, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall said that the ruling has vindicated the position that the Government has firmly held over the past two years, which is that the parliamentary Opposition cannot, by a mere majority vote, alter the country’s national estimates of expenditure as presented by the Finance Minister.

NISI ORDER GRANTED AGAINST POLICE COMMISSIONER CHIEF Justice (Ag.) Mr. Ian Chang, SC, has issued a Nisi Order for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

calling on the Police Commissioner to show why he should not immediately release Keron Herbert, who is being detained at the Bartica Police Station. The Order granted to Attorney-at-Law Mr. Glenn Hanoman on behalf of Kenneth Herbert, father of Keron, seeks to have the police commissioner appear before the judge in Chambers at 11:30 hrs on Monday. The Notice of Motion seeks to have the detained person presented before the honourable court immediately after the receipt of such writ to undergo and receive all and singular such matters. The motion has reportedly followed the arrest of Keron Herbert after he had been released by Bartica Magistrate Dylon Bess from a charge of murder.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Old Kai: Chronicles of Guyana...

The hypocrites at Kaieteur trying to distract us --but busy trying to cover up their tracks

DEM boys over at the “Once-Upon-a-Time” newspaper pretending that they are the moral voice of society; that they are the judge, jury and “mouth-e-preke”.

These charlatans have imbued themselves with the authority to determine who is corrupt or deh in bad business or “scampish”. They are now trying to daab their nasty traits on de Chronicle, but they can’t succeed.

Old Kai already peep deh card! We know about that girl they does get to cover up all the funny transactions.

De people talking; is nah we seh suh. We hearing about the underreporting of incomes to cheat the taxman: two separate receipt books; how only half of some people fat salaries does be reported so they can pay less tax and NIS, while they getting the other half under the table, the mode in which de bossman does collect he rum money, and how he does mek he payments to he boys dem.

Is funny business all around, and when he ain’t want to give de other boys dem a raise, dem talking out all he business. Old people always like seh bush got ears, and we hope to be around for when all de skinnin up gun happen.

Imagine, de former “Burnham boy” who masquerading as de editor suddenly concerned about the “ghoulish images” of homicide scenes which are published in the media.

He has the gall to seh that “something must be wrong in Guyana”, while he pretending to scratch his head in stupefaction.

This is the same man who used to never miss a day during the crime wave to publish all those sick images on

the front page of the “Once-Upon- a-Time” newspaper. This same man also concerned about police ranks involved in illegal business these days, but he was never concerned when they used to encourage these same ranks to be involved in corruption.

Old Kai will never forget the late commissioner chastising his ranks and warning them against accepting money from the people over at the “Once-Upon-a-Time” newspaper for information and those gory images, which they would publish the next day and increase their sales.

So, you see, the same people who “fronting” that they fighting against corruption actually engaged in corrupt practices to enhance their business to give it an edge over their competitors. These same people today want to play saints and pointing out the sinners. Old Kai was never a saint, and will never pretend to be one, but one thing is for sure, and that is: I will never sink to the levels of the “Once-Upona-Time” people, and much more, pretend afterwards that I am the conscience of society.

Let all those who have been paid bribes by the “Once-Upon-a-Time” newspaper come forward and let the nation know the extent of their corruption racket.

This thing deep, and nuff of dem over there, including the few who already jump ship, gun get some jail time. I can just imagine “fancy-suit” man and “Burnham boy” locked up in one cell, trying to keep each other warm while reading Old Kai Chronicling deh incestuous activities.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds examines one of the life jackets to be distributed

Works Ministry provides all 10 Administrative Regions with life jackets WORKS Minister Robeson Benn, assisted by Communications Officer of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Ms Akousa McPherson, presented 600 life jackets to Regional Executive Officers (REOs) of the 10 administrative regions as part of the Works Ministry’s mandate to ensure continued safety, especially for the nation’s children on the country’s waterways.

The equipment was presented to Local Government and Regional Development (LGRD) Minister Mr Norman Whittaker in the Boardroom of the LGRD Ministry on Saturday, February 1, in the presence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.

Benn used the occasion to express his concern over the 37 deaths reported last year.

The life jacket distribution will continue countrywide as MARAD, an agency under the purview of the Ministry of Public Works, seeks to reduce the number of accidents on the waterways.

A series of safety campaigns will also be launched soon.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

ANSA McAL launches Skyy Vodka with pomp, ceremony

By Michel Outridge

WITH great pomp and ceremony, ANSA McAL Trading Limited (AMTL) officially launched Skyy Vodka in Guyana on Friday night at the Georgetown Club here in the city.

AMTL is the sole distributor of this product.

According to Brand Manager, Angelica Rodney, Skyy Vodka was first conceived in 1992 by a San Francisco inventor looking to create the world’s smoothest vodka.

“We think he succeeded,” she said, since Skyy revolutionised the spirits industry with its proprietary

quadruple-distillation and triple-filtration process that consistently ensures exceptional quality.

Rodney told the launching that Skyy Vodka, with its captivating name and distinctive cobalt blue bottle, is recognised as the brand of quality, style and innovation.

She noted that Skyy Vodka is produced and bottled by J. Wray and Nephew Ltd in Jamaica under licence from Campari America, a division of Campari Milan, and is solely distributed in Guyana by AMTL. Rodney said Skyy vodka is being sold at all leading supermarkets and stores coun-

trywide. “Skyy is the limit,” she said. “Know yours!”

Managing Director of AMTL, Ms Beverley Harper, encouraged attendees at the function to try a sample of the Skyy vodka, presented in four drink cocktails of Skyy Slide, Skyy Tini, Skyy High Club and Skyy Candy.

were strategically placed at the location for display purposes in a fitting decor of lights and glitzy designs.

AMTL Public Relations Manager, Darshnie Yusuf, was on hand to welcome the invitees, who showed up in their numbers at the launching.

Kaieteur News security shot in attempted robbery THIRTY-four-year-old Omar Bynoe was shot in an attempted robbery early yesterday morning as he sat in his vehicle in the company of a female on Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown.

Reports are that the man was in conversation with the female when he observed two men walking past the vehicle. Out of courtesy, he opted to turn off the vehicle’s headlamps, so as not to impair the vision of other oncoming persons.

However, as the two men passed the front door of the car, they immediately confronted the man, and attempted to rob him amidst a slew of expletives.

Bynoe instinctively reached for his gun, which is licensed, upon realising that the men were about to rob him, but was shot in the process. A bullet entered and exited his left shoulder, but he managed to immediately return fire. He later told investigators he believes he hit one of the bandits.

Bynoe was able to drive himself to the hospital, where he sought medical attention.

Up to late last evening, the police were still continuing their investigations into the matter. Also, up to late last evening, there were still no signs of anyone visiting any of the hospitals in the city seeking medical attention for a gunshot wound. (Leroy Smith)

Skyy Vodka models were present at the launching of the product on Friday night The launching was graced with the presence of the Skyy Vodka models, who properly showcased the product on Friday night when bottles of Skyy

Brand Manager Angelica Rodney poses with the Skyy Vodka models (Photos by Adrian Narine)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Stricter enforcement, better management

MINISTER of Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr. Robert Persaud, met Friday with the managers and heads of the various agencies that fall under his purview and read them the riot act, so to speak.

He decreed, among other things, that 2014 is the year of execution in terms of delivery and the firm implementation of the regulations that have been put in place to guide the sector.

The meeting, which was held at the Grand Coastal Inn at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara, was aimed at bringing various agencies together to openly discuss their challenges and experiences; develop a greater sense of appreciation for each other’s roles and responsibilities; and make recommendations to foster better cooperation and synergy.

Over the past few years, Minister Persaud said, the main focus has been legislative and institutional strengthening; putting in place the necessary regulatory framework by which the sector must be guided.

In the mining sector, for instance, Guyana has signed on to the Minamata Convention to phase out the use of mercury, while in the forestry sector, significant strides have been made with the implementation of the European Union Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Initiative (EU/FLEGT).

A national land-use plan has also been established for the first time, and a new unit has been established within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to specifically address the issue of stricter enforcement of regulations.

And late last year, the ministry completed the Wildlife Conservation and Management Regulations, as well as similar restrictions for littering.

“These are just some of the examples of what we focused on,” the minister said, adding: “We have done a substantial amount of work in terms of setting up the organisational, institutional and regulatory environment; the challenge this year is to implement, execute and get things done.”

He told the gathering, most of whom are at the managerial level, that their success in executing their respective roles and responsibilities will depend largely on their level of commitment.

Effective governance of the sector is another key factor that needs attention, since this has always been, and will continue to be, a topical issue. The minister said governance should not be restricted to policy alone, but rather incorporate the day-today running of all the agencies within the sector.

“I want to call you to a higher level of service this year; we need enhanced and improved governance of the sector… If there are breaches in any area, then immediately this speaks of poor governance… As managers and leaders of the various agencies, we need to have a firmer commitment to responsible and effective governance, not only in our particular area, but also collectively,” Minister Persaud said.

He added that there may be calls for more manpower and

--is thrust this year of natural resources sector

Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr Robert Persaud, (fourth left) in meeting Friday with the leadership of the various agencies under his purview resources to achieve this goal and said that while these are valid and reasonable requests, they should not be used as excuses to perpetuate ineffective governance of the sector.

He spoke of the concerns that have been advanced by key stakeholders within the

sector, such as: transparency, corruption, and fairness and equitable treatment as well as the importance of visioning and planning ahead.

“We are entrusted with the responsibility of oversight; regulating and developing the patrimony of this country…

we are the custodians, in a great way, of this country’s prosperity. We owe it as patriotic Guyanese to understand the higher responsibility that we have especially for the natural resources and environment sector,” Minister Persaud said.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

CDC set to launch comprehensive disaster awareness drive Friday

THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is set to launch on Friday a comprehensive public education campaign targeting school-aged children and youths.

The launch is billed for the Umana Yana on Upper High Street, Kingston, while the objective of the campaign is to inform its target audience of the various types of disasters there are; what actions to take, if and when such disasters occur; and the various methods used in preparing for such an eventuality.

“Everyone has a role to play in disaster preparedness,” said CDC Director-General, Col Ret’d Chabilall Ramsarup Friday during the course of the final evaluation of the agency’s Strengthening National and Local Capacity for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction Project, at which forum the announcement was made regarding the campaign.

He also made the important observation that youths also have a key role to play in the sharing and dispersal of critical information which may be needed to prepare for, survive and recover from any potential disaster.

The campaign will include the distribution of posters, and holding of debates, poetry and essay competitions, and exhibitions, and is being launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and various stakeholder organisations.

The Strengthening National and Local Capacity for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction Project, which was funded by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDF), resulted in interviews, document reviews, research and a fact-finding visit to Region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne, which was recently affected by flooding) conducted by Consultant, Dr. Hans M Ewoldsen.

Issues or potential disasters which came under probe included riverain floods, storms, drought, forest fires, tsunami, industrial/ chemical spills, massive explosions, and illegal waste disposal.

Among the project’s objectives, Dr Ewoldsen said, are to build capacity; develop strategies to achieve required capacity; development of staff and facilities; and educating and training of stakeholders.

Thus far, he said, all of the foregoing objectives have been met, which makes the CDC fully prepared to provide overall management of any local disaster .

In addition to its education drive, the CDC will also be launching shortly, its strategic plan for the next two years.

Kittitian murder accused wanted on drug charges in Guyana

FORTY-one-year-old Kittitian, Dexter “Pilikin” Somersall was on Wednesday (Jan 22) charged with the shooting death of 28-year-old Leon “G-man” “Gravo” Westerman in Nevis in January 2008.

Originally from Lime Kiln, Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis, Somersall has, from all accounts, been living in Prickley Pear Alley for some years, and is the third man to be charged in connection with that murder.

He is also wanted by the Guyana Police on drug and gun trafficking charges, but authorities here cannot extradite him. On May 30, 2010, Somersall, who answered to the surname, Lewis, at the time, was arrested with Adrian Beckles when airport authorities discovered drugs, a gun and ammunition in their checked luggage at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport as they were about to board a LIAT flight bound for St. Kitts.

They were jointly charged with being in possession of 1kg 109 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, unlawful possession of a Magnum revolver, and unlawful possession of 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Dexter “Pilikin” The illicit items were found in Beckles’ luggage, but he reportedly Somersall told police that Somersall had given them to him. A police prosecutor was quoted as saying in Somersall’s cautionary statement at the time that he admitted giving the items to his travel companion.

They both plead not guilty and were remanded to prison.

Reports are that Somersall was later granted bail, but absconded from Guyana. He was tried in absentia and found guilty of the trafficking and possession charges. Presently, Somersall, under the name Dexter Sylvester Lewis, is on INTERPOL’s wanted persons’ list.

The Observer spoke to St. Kitts-Nevis Commissioner of Police, CG Walwyn, about the possibility of turning Somersall over to the Guyanese authorities, but was told that, unfortunately, the system does not allow for St. Kitts to extradite him.

“We don’t have a Caricom extradition warrant in place, so we can’t send him to Guyana. Also, because of the fact that he was tried in absentia and therefore had no opportunity to defend himself, even though he was the one who jumped bail, the justice system here would not be able to turn him over,” Mr Walwyn said.

Somersall will therefore stay remanded in Her Majesty’s Prison until his murder trial.

Police arrest six as probe into Linden armed robbery continues

POLICE in Linden have detained six persons between Saturday and yesterday as they continue to probe an armed robbery committed on Devanand Ramdial at his South Amelia’s Ward home on Friday, January 31.

Sleuths have also recovered an unlicensed 12-gauge shotgun with three cartridges, a bulletproof vest, and some of the jewellery and a cell phone that were stolen during the robbery.

The detainees are assisting police with the investigations.

(Michel Outridge)

13

During the final evaluation caucus Friday of the Civil Defence Commission’s Strengthening National and Local Capacity for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction Project

14

Plans afoot to relocate old, still serviceable Demerara Harbour Bridge

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014 Demerara Harbour Bridge

--Preferably to a freshwater environment

A FRESHWATER environment is the perfect habitat in which to relocate the current Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) when its replacement comes into operation, and according to Minister of Public Works, Mr Robeson Benn, the Kurupukari Crossing on the Upper Essequibo River is a likely candidate.

“The elements of the bridge at the time when the new bridge comes into place, since it is a floating bridge, will be moved, preferably to a freshwater crossing location,” he told reporters Friday.

As DHB General Manager, Mr Rawlston Adams hastened to explain, it is more economical to move the bridge to a location where it is useful, rather than leaving it standing at its present location. “If we are going for a high-level bridge, and then you want to keep a low-level bridge in terms of marine transit, that would be a bottleneck, and it defeats the purpose of having a high-level bridge,” he said.

The feasibility study for the new bridge has already been completed, with Versailles on the West Bank, to Houston on the East Bank being determined as having the best advantage in terms of location, as are Good Hope on the East Bank and Patentia on the West Bank..

With the government having indicated that it will invite Expressions of Interest for a public-private partnership for the construction of the new bridge, Minister Benn has reported that any such arrangements will be handled by NICIL (National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited) and not his ministry, since that is the agency which attends to such matters.

He further explained that the reason such an arrangement is being sought is because the government does not have the kind of money it will take to finance the venture.

The new bridge will be made of reinforced concrete, have four lanes (some 20 metres wide) for vehicular traffic; a walkway for pedestrians; a cycle lane; navigational clearance (100m wide); navigational aids; and an estimated length of 2250 m.

(GINA)

Slain teen bandit was member of G/T gang operating out of town

FIFTEEN-year-old Leon McCurdy of La Penitence, Georgetown, shot in the Paradise home of a businessman last week after an invasion, was part of a Kitty-based gang that would normally maraud in out-of-town communities, a source familiar with the now dead bandit confirmed to this newspaper yesterday.

The Guyana Chronicle was told that the gang of which McCurdy had been a member would normally meet at a hotspot in Kitty to deliberate and plan their week’s activities amidst wanton smoking of marijuana, sometimes behind closed doors and sometimes openly.

Following his shooting death last week, the police were almost readily able to determine his identity, although they did not divulge same as quickly to the media. GPF ranks had raced to the Kitty hotspot that is the teen bandits’ favourite hangout, had cornered several young men present, and had taken them down for questioning in an apparent move to determine the identities of McCurdy’s accomplices.

The accomplices had departed the crime scene last week, leaving Leon McCurdy behind, and he was shot by the businessman as he attempted to flee from the crime scene.

The Guyana Chronicle has been informed that police, in the past, had been summoned on many occasions and were forced to conduct searches and detain several characters who would frequent the spot, which is popular in the Kitty area for harbouring mostly out-of-school young men.

Speaking with this newspaper on condition of anonymity, the source explained that the gang, because it is based in Kitty, would not normally prey on persons who live in that or contiguous communities within Georgetown.

They have adopted the approach of heading out of town to commit their robberies, which are mostly carried out with the use of firearms and sharp instruments.

The source explained that it is, as it were, standard operating procedure for the members to carry out their crimes in the fashion stated above, since they are unlikely to bump into their victims on a day-to-day basis if they are from out-of-town communities, as against those living in town.

The police, meanwhile, are continuing their hunt for the other two bandits, who were able to escape after robbing Eon Evans who operates a grocery shop in the Dazzell Housing Scheme on the East Coast of Demerara.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Second edition of ‘Heritage Guyana’ now on bookshelves

--following magazine’s launch Friday at Cara Lodge

George’s Cathedral, the Stabroek Market, mounds found in Berbice, and masquerade bands on its cover.

Produced in limited supply (only 2000 copies), the magazine is intended for free distribution in schools, libraries and places of public access.

The origins of the National Trust of Guyana can be traced back to 1963, when patrons began to take interest in the importance of heritage, and called for a body to be established to promote and aid the study of history in Guyana, with a view to quickening national consciousness and fostering national pride and unity.

The National Trust was established following the passage of the National Trust Act, No. 7 of 1972. This Act “makes provision for the preservation of monuments, sites, (and) places and objects of

‘Heritage Guyana’ is a publication of the National Trust of Guyana

By Michelle Gonsalves FOLLOWING the success of the first edition, produced in 2011, The National Trust has collaborated with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to launch the second edition of “Heritage Guyana’ magazine, last Friday evening at Cara Lodge on Quamina Street, Georgetown.

Touted as a publication that seeks to highlight Guyana’s tangible and intangible heritage, the magazine highlights articles on Guyanese language; adaptive re-use of heritage buildings; national monuments; African, East Indian, Chinese, Portuguese and Amerindian culture and history; art; archaeology, and more.

At the event, CEO of the National Trust, Ms Nirvana Persaud, said the publication was originally intended to be a one-off publication, but is now being planned to become a biennial feature; thus, he urged persons to have respect for their heritage.

Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, noted at the event that the magazines and other publications produced by the National Trust have helped to bring new perspectives on things normally taken for granted. The minister also noted in his printed message in the magazine that the identity of a nation depends on its cultural heritage. As such, he said, we must take time to appreciate the very thing that has shaped our identity.

He said that, in the circumstance, historic sites and their surroundings should be regarded as forming an irreplaceable heritage, as they are reminders of our nation’s rich and diverse legacy. In this vein, Dr Anthony warned that persons should not deface this legacy, even as he cited case wherein persons have vandalised hieroglyphs and other legacies.

Dr Anthony further expressed hope that the magazine could help to bring awareness of Guyanese culture to the Guyanese people.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds lauded the National Trust for printing the magazine. He said there was a need for such magazines to show what we have achieved as a people, and noted that heritage sites constitute a base on which we can continue to build our country. He also urged his listeners to celebrate the results of our hard work.

The 80-page glossy publication features a montage of the St.

historic interest or national importance.”

Its main responsibility is the preservation of all monuments in Guyana. Under the National Trust Act, the term “monument” includes any building, structure, object or other work of man or nature within the territorial waters of Guyana, whether above or below the surface of the land or the floor of the sea; and any site, cave or excavation.

Preservation of national monuments is the vested responsibility of the Trust, and those monuments are gazetted after approval by Parliament. At present, there are nine gazetted national monuments. And, the stated mission of the Trust is to “Conserve, preserve and promote the nation’s patrimony so that the present and future generations will access and enjoy the richness of Guyana’s heritage”.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Authentic Amerindian cuisine now readily available in Georgetown

Ladies dining at Tuma Sala

Family dining at Tuma Sala TUMA Sàlà (pronounced Tuma Zahaca), an authentic Amerindian restaurant located at 37 Middleton Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, opened its doors to the public Friday, offering a menu that includes wild meat, ground provision, fruit juices, indigenous wines, sweet sage tea and more.

Tuma Sàlà is the brainchild of Mr. Michael Patterson, who hails from Santa Mission and who has vast experience in the tourism and hospitality industry. The name is Patamona for “Come let us eat”.

(Michelle Gonsalves)

Hymara in Cakadura sauce served with Cassava Bread and Fly Wine

Owner of Tuma Sala, Mr. Michael

Balata figurines form some of the unique table decorations at Tuma Sala

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Trevor Rose to be buried today POPULAR costume designer and events promoter Trevor Rose, who was gunned down execution style two Sundays ago at the entrance of Eccles Housing Scheme, EBD, will be laid to rest today.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is still continuing its investigations into the slaying, even as it seeks to apprehend Rose’s killer or killers, who would also have been responsible for inflicting injuries on

Rose’s female companion and the driver of the vehicle in which they were travelling when the shooting occurred.

Rose’s body will today be open for viewing at the Merriam Funeral Home at Lime and Bent Streets from 11:30hrs to 12:30hrs. Thereafter, the cortege will proceed to the Olivet Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Durban Backlands, where tributes would last from 14:00hrs

to 14:45hrs, followed by the Funeral Service from 15:00hrs to 16:30hrs.

Rose met his demise whilst accompanying his female companion home. Another vehicle blocked the path of the taxi in which they were travelling, and the driver of that vehicle exited and opened fire on Rose’s taxi, injuring that taxi driver and Rose’s female companion in the process.

Initial reports had suggested

Aries March 21 - April 19

Seeing your family members in this type of mood is a rare occurrence. They’re fiery, assertive and willing to say anything that crosses their minds -- except when it comes to exactly what they’re up to. You can tell something is going on, but no one will give you even the tiniest of clues. They’re keeping quiet, and they’re proud of it. Well, think about it. They might be trying to keep a surprise from coming out? Leave it alone, just in case.

Taurus April 20 - May 20

It’s time to stand up for yourself, which has never been something you’ve shied away from. Right about now, however, you’ll be more determined than ever to ensure no one takes advantage of you. Your mission is to resist letting your feelings show in the meantime. It might not be easy, because your feelings go very deep. But if you want to emerge victorious, remember, a little bit of sugar goes a long, long way.

Gemini May 21 - June 21

You’ve always been drawn to strong, fiery people -- the kind who make exciting company simply because you’re never quite sure what they might say or do next. Just that type -- your type -- could be along shortly. But if you don’t give yourself some time off from that caretaking job you’ve taken on, you’ll never know. At least give yourself a couple of evenings off. Start with tonight and deck yourself out in your very best.

Cancer June 22 - July 22

Throughout your life, pleasing the one you love has always been at the very top of your priority list. You need to find some time for yourself right now, however. After all, you really need to tend to a personal matter. And while it may end up being a balancing act -- not an easy one either -- if anyone can manage, it’s you. Now how about sharing your secret with the rest of the world?

Leo July 23 - August 22

Subtlety has never been your strong suit -- but then, you’ve never wanted it on your list of favourite qualities, so that’s not a problem. You much prefer being known for your ability to cut to the chase and your very strong intuition when it comes to reading other people’s faces. So when whatever you’re thinking emerges immediately from your mouth, you won’t be all that upset about it. If you’re not careful, however, your audience may need some consolation. But you’ll be careful -- right?

For Monday February 3, 2014 -05:00hrs

TREVOR ROSE that Rose’s killing might have been a case of road rage, but that was soon dispelled when it became clear that Rose had suffered the worst of the gunman’s attack.

A police source indicated that Rose had seemed to be the gunman’s intended target, because he ensured that Rose had received most of his bullets fired.

The taxi driver told investigators that the shooter had accosted him about his driving when they pulled up at the traffic light; an argument ensued, and the man exited his vehicle and began opening fire on them. (Leroy Smith)

Virgo August 23 - September 22

Every now and then, you need to spend some time alone, thinking about what’s really important to you. Take that time now -- you really shouldn’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Cancel your appointments and sit down quietly in a place you know you won’t be disturbed. Take your time. When you’re done, you’ll want to share your thoughts with the ones you love. Call them -- they’ll be glad to hear from you.

Libra September 23 - October 22

You’re ordinarily far more concerned with home and family matters than with anything that involves your outer life. But right about now, you really will be thinking about only one thing: how to let the powers that be know you’re entirely capable of getting the job done. Fortunately, you’ve been working so hard lately that even without knowing what you’re doing at the moment, the higher-ups can’t help but see your efforts. Give yourself a break -- and soon.

Scorpio October 23 - November 21

If you’re single, it’s going to be a bumpy night. The last person on earth you’d ever expect to reveal secret feelings to you will be the first one who’ll do it. Of course, you’ve been trying to tell yourself those suspicions you’ve had were wrong; at this point, you need to buckle down and admit they were right on. And if you think about it, how could you possibly blame them?

Sagittarius November 22 - December 21

If anyone can mingle, it’s you. You can chat with anyone about anything, mostly because you know just enough about almost everything to carry on a convincing conversation.

You’ll be especially believable now. So if you’re out with friends and you know that the person you’ve been introduced to thinks you’re a doctor, a scientist or an author because of the vocabulary you’re flinging around, have some fun with it -- temporarily. Ever heard of six degrees of separation?

Capricorn December 22 - January 19

Better keep a box of tissues handy, because you’re about to become unusually sentimental.

Nostalgic, even. And maybe in the mood to reminisce. Whatever you’re feeling at the moment will emerge, regardless of whether you’re comfortable with letting others see it.

So if you’ve been trying to hide your feelings for a certain someone, you should probably just forget about that. Why disappoint yourself?

Aquarius January 20 - February 18

Enough is enough. It’s time to break your routine in a very big way. You’re thinking that even if you have to look elsewhere, it might be worth it -- and ‘elsewhere’ might mean another city, state, coast or even country. If a long-distance move has been in the back of your mind for a while, then start doing more than just thinking about it. Make sure your passport is current -- then figure out what to do with your plants.

Pisces February 19 - March 20

Life is working out just fine at the moment, and you’re ready to celebrate. Now, when things go along this well, it’s usually because two particular areas are as close to perfect as possible, and those areas are love and money. If that’s the case, how about letting everyone else in on your secret? The rest of the planet would just love to know how to get both those departments working smoothly at the same time.

26

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Lebron’s 30 points Edwards leads Heat to victory withdrawn from (REUTERS)-Lebron James scored 30 points, narrowly missing a triple-double, to lead the Miami Heat to 10691 win over the New York Knick Heat 106, Knicks 91 Lebron James scored 30 points, narrowly missing a triple-double, to lead the Miami Heat to 106-91 win over the New York Knicks. James also had eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals.

The Heat won for the sixth time in their last eight games.Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks (19-28) with 26 points.

-Wizards 96, Thunder 81 Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant’s return to his hometown ended rudely as All-Star guard John Wall and the Washington Wizards snapped the Thunder’s 10game winning streak with a 96-81 victory.

Wall had 17 points, 15 assists and six steals for the Wizards, who pulled away from the Western Conference leading Thunder with a 27-11 second-half run.

Forward Trevor Ariza scored 18 points.

Durant, who was born in Washington and raised in the nearby Maryland suburbs, scored 26 points, but lacked

consistency with his usually potent shot.

The NBA’s leading scorer missed all six of his three-point attempts and finished 8-of-21 from the field.

-Pacers 97, Nets 96 The All-Star duo of forward Paul George and center Roy Hibbert scored 20 points each to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 97-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

The back-and-forth battle had nine lead changes and seven ties with the Pacers’ largest lead of 11 points early in the second half, while the Nets’ largest of seven was in the first.

-Pistons 113, 76ers 96 Center Andre Drummond led five players in double figures, four of whom scored at least 20 points, to help the Detroit Pistons earn a lopsided 113-96 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Drummond scored 22 points and added 14 rebounds, forward Greg Monroe had 21 points and 12 rebounds, point guard Brandon Jennings and forward Kyle Singler each scored 20 points and guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 points for the Pistons.

Tony Wroten, filling in for injured guard Michael CarterWilliams who sat out the game with shoulder soreness, led five Philadelphia players in doublefigures by scoring 18 points.

-Hawks 120, Timberwolves 113 Forward Kevin Love scored 43 points but it was not enough to finally get the Minnesota Timberwolves a victory in Atlanta.

Guard Kyle Korver had 17 points in the second half and the Hawks won for the 11th successive time over Minnesota at home with a 120-113 victory.

Korver, who was 3-for-5 from behind the arc, scored 24 points, and forward Paul Millsap had 20 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with four minutes to play.

-Pelicans 88, Bulls 79 Forward Anthony Davis scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 88-79 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Playing with a dislocated left index finger on his nonshooting hand, Davis did not seem bothered as he made 10 of 14 shots, including three mid-range jumpers in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls were led by guard D.J. Augustin’s 23 points.

-Grizzlies 99, Bucks 90 Memphis gave rookie Nick

Calathes the first NBA start of his career and he rewarded the Grizzlies with career highs in points (22), made three-pointers (four) and rebounds (five) in a 99-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

It was a sixth successive win and 11th in their last 12 games for Memphis, who got another double-double from power forward Zach Randolph

and sparked a 13-3 run that enabled Houston to suppress the Cavaliers for good.

-Spurs 95, Kings 93 Forward Tim Duncan had 23 points and 17 rebounds to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 95-93 win over the Sacramento Kings.

Guard Tony Parker scored 18 points and made 10 assists

LEBRON JAMES

Barbados team

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – The West Indies Cricket Board ( WICB) yesterday advised that batsman Kirk Edwards has been withdrawn from the Barbados team for the NAGICO Super50 tournament.

The decision was made by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) on Saturday. There will be no replacement for Edwards.

Barbados played their opening Zone B match against Trinidad & Tobago at Queen’s Park Oval last night.

The NAGICO Super50 started on January 30 and runs until February 15. Matches are being played at the historic Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain and the picturesque Shaw Park in Tobago.

The champions will take home the Clive Lloyd Trophy – named in honour of the legendary captain of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winning team.

Hinds rides away with ...

From back page

(23 points, 10 rebounds).

Milwaukee (8-39) lost their sixth in a row and are now 1-15 in 2014.

-Rockets 106, Cavaliers 92 Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin recorded his first career triple-double and provided the burst needed for a critical thirdquarter run that pushed Houston to a 106-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lin finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and served as the catalyst after the Rockets (32-17) surrendered the opening 11 points of the second half.

Lin emerged from the bench

and Duncan added five assists and two blocks as San Antonio snapped a three-game losing streak.

Sacramento (15-32), at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, were led by guIsaiah Thomas with 26 points.

-Suns 105, Bobcats 95 Phoenix guard Goran Dragic Dragic scored 15 of the Suns’ first 23 points in their 105-95 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

He finished with 25 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the field.

James, Stafford copped Grenada’s sports awards

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, (CMC) – Olympic 400 metres champion Kirani James copped his fifth straight National Sports Award at a ceremony here on Saturday.

James defeated a field of 10 other male nominees for the 2013 Male Sports Personality of Grenada after winning titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The selection panel also chose teenage swimmer Oreoluwa Cherebin as the Female Sports Personality.

James won 400m titles at IAAF Diamond Leagues in Shanghai, Paris and London, and finished behind American LaShawn Merritt in Eugene, Oregon. However, he was seventh at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Moscow last August.

Cherebin, 15, is Grenada’s most successful swimmer especially among her age group. She has dominated local swimming events and was the most outstanding female swimmer at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) championships in St Lucia.

Cherebin completed 2013 with four OECS and nine national swimming records.

The awards ceremony, organised by the Grenada Olympic Committee, also awarded West Indies cricketer Preston Mcsween (Junior Sportsman) and Rennisha Stafford (Junior Sportswoman) and Special Service awards to former 400m national record holder Donald Pierre and multi-sports competitor Joseph Cummings.

Chris Persaud followed suit.

Approaching Crane Village, Geron Williams, Jeffrey and DeNobrega broke from the pack but was wheeled in by a host of riders and approximately 800 metres from the finish line, Jeffrey lead DeNobrega by approximately 10 metres and Hinds was a further 10 metres adrift, but with 400 metres to the finish line, Robin Persaud surged past Jeffrey but Hinds was hot on his pedals and eventually past Jefferey and Persaud to win the event in a truly exciting finish.

Raul Leaul won the juniors category ahead of Akeem Arthur, while Robin Persaud, who was the first veteran to cross the finish line in the open event, was rewarded for placing first in the veterans’ category. Jude Bentley was second in the category.

In the mountain category, Richard Charles won ahead of Oziaq McAullay. National cycle coach Hassan Mohamed thanked the members of the Guyana Police Force’s Traffic Department stationed in the West Coast Demerara area for their support, not only yesterday, but over the years that he has been organising cycle races in the area.

Meanwhile, national cycle coach Hassan Mohamed will run off the 23rd annual R&R sponsored 40-mile Cycle Road Race over the same course and distance on Sunday and with the same prizes and incentives.

The defending overall champion was Alonzo Greaves, while the defending junior champion was Raul Leaul.

The defending veterans champion was Stephan Fernandes,

Racing Tips Southwell 08:45 hrs Royaume Bleu 09:15 hrs Royal Riviera 09:45 hrs Brave Vic 10:15 hrs Vivaccio 10:50 hrs Hopatina 11:20 hrs Cl;oudy Dawn 11:50 hrs Marleno

South Africa Racing Tips

Kempton 09:30 hrs Capone 10:00 hrs Barbs Princess 10:30 hrs Dance 11:00 hrs Go Amwell 11:30 hrs Speechday 12:00 hrs Dixie’s Dream 12:30 hrs Night’s Watch 13:00 hrs Graylyn Ruby

French Racing Tips

Flamingo Park 08:20 hrs Wind At Your Back 08:55 hrs Quick Glance 09:25 hrs Sarge Tattoo 09:55 hrs Gaelic Girl 10:25 hrs Extreme Dream

Marseille 11:40 hrs Lieu Marchand 12:10 hrs Freedom Tales 12:40 hrs Quick Prinz Foldi 13:10 hrs Wine Market 13:40 hrs Coco In Love 14:10 hrs Rhythm Of Love 14:40 hrs Money Humor

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Oxlade-Chamberlain fires Arsenal back to the top

By Mike Collett LONDON - (Reuters) - Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, out for five months with a knee injury, scored twice to lead his team to a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace yesterday and back to the top of the Premier League.

They might only stay there until today when Manchester City, who they knocked off the summit, play third-placed Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, but the 20-year-old Oxlade-Chamerlain’s return to fitness should be a huge boost for the Gunners in the title run-in.

Arsenal have 55 points from 24 games, followed by City on 53 from 23 and Chelsea on 50 from 23.

Liverpool, who were held to a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, are fourth with 47 points.

“I’ve been off the pitch for a while and its great to come back with two goals and help the team to a win,” the 20-yearold midfielder told Sky Sports.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was injured in the opening

Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrates after scoring a goal against Crystal Palace during their English Premier League soccer match at the Emirates stadium in London, yesterday.

(Credit: Reuters/Eddie Keogh)

Flower goes over need for unity E N G L A N D ’s 5 - 0 A s h e s whitewash was not the key reason for Andy Flower stepping down as team director.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke revealed Flower opted to leave his post after deciding the team director should be directly involved in all three formats.

Flower handed over the coaching duties of the limited-overs teams to Ashley Giles 14 months ago, but after speaking with new ECB managing director Paul Downton in the past week it was agreed that situation was no longer tenable as England plot a new era.

Flower, who won the Ashes three times during his five-year tenure, therefore opted to stand down.

“This was Andy’s decision,” Clarke said at a press conference in Melbourne.

“He felt going forward - in the new (Alastair) Cook era that the three formats should be unified under one coach.

“That was his fundamental decision.

“Once that decision had been reached then he didn’t want to be coach of all three it was clear what his next decision would be.”

Flower indicated a unified leadership team was needed for England to make “significant progress” in a statement released by the ECB to confirm his departure.

“In order for England cricket to make significant progress, I believe the team director - together with the respective captains - needs to be responsible across all formats...to positively influence the rebuilding process,” Flower said.

“This will ensure complete clarity and continuity... and having stepped aside from the limited-overs squads 14 months ago, that is not something I am able to do.

“I do not therefore feel that starting the process would be in the best interests of all involved at what is a pivotal time for England cricket.”

Last month, the day after whitewash was confirmed with a 281-run defeat in Sydney, Flower stressed his appetite for the battles ahead.

Three and a half weeks on, however, he felt unable to complete that task. Flower is instead set to take on an yet-to-

Andy Flower stepped down as England team director last Friday.

be-determined role at the ECB, most likely working in player development.

Clarke did not put a timeframe on when a successor would be appointed, although Giles appears well placed after being ushered in as his understudy.

The former Warwickshire boss was praised, without commitment, by Clarke who said Downton would begin a process to find Flower’s replacement.

It is a task he has time to mull over, with England not due to play a Test match until they host Sri Lanka at Lord’s on June 12.

“He (Giles) is a very strong candidate,” Clarke said.

“Ashley is a very valued employee of the ECB, We all have the highest regard for him both as a man and as a coach.

“There may well be other outstanding candidates that emerge it will be a matter for Paul and those he chooses to advise him on that to decide who the right person is.”

Clarke backed Cook to remain as skipper of the Test and ODI teams.

Cook had revealed some self doubt about his captaincy during the 4-1 ODI series defeat in Australia, but will now meet Downton in the coming weeks to discuss the direction of the England team.

“I expect Alastair Cook to be captain of the team for the first Test next summer and for the ODIs at home,” Clarke said.(PA Sport)

match of the season against Aston Villa, has made three substitute appearances in the league as well as starting in the FA Cup against Coventry City before yesterday’s return to full Premier League action.

Manager Arsene Wenger decided to play him in the centre of midfield rather than his usual wide position and was rewarded for his decision.

“Crystal Palace were well organised and united in their desire to do the job,” Wenger said.

“They are a physically strong side and we knew we had to take advantage of our chances, and we did.”

Arsenal needed to be patient to break down a well-organised Palace side who have improved since Tony Pulis became manager at the end of November.

Although they rarely threatened, they defended well until the second minute of the second half when Oxlade-Chamberlain found space at the far post to score with a delicate lob from a Santi Cazorla cross

Palace went close to an equaliser when Cameron Jerome headed straight at Wojciech Szczesny, but the game was all but over when Oxlade-Chamberlain scored to make it 2-0 after a neat one-two with Olivier Giroud in the 73rd minute.

That was his first goal for Arsenal since December 2012 and his first in any match since scoring for England against Brazil in the Maracana Stadium in June.

Palace remained just one place and one point above the relegation zone.

SCHOOLBOY HOWLER Earlier, a schoolboy howler by defender Kolo Toure cost Liverpool victory when he gifted West Brom the equaliser in the 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns.

His mistake came after 67 minutes when, under no pressure, he played a loose ball straight across his own 18-metre line to substitute Victor Anichebe standing unmarked on the edge of the box and the former Everton man fired past Simon

Mignolet.

Toure could only hold his head in his hands after his dreadful defending which enabled Albion to grab a point from the match Liverpool largely dominated.

“He is an experienced guy so he knows it was a mistake,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told the BBC. “He is devastated because he is a real conscientious guy.

There is no blame for any of them.

“Unfortunately, it has cost us two points but, hopefully, we will see it as a point gained at the end of the season.”

Liverpool took the lead in the 24th minute after Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez linked up on the right of the penalty area with the Uruguayan crossing to the far post where Daniel Sturridge tapped home.

Sturridge has now scored seven goals in his last six successive Liverpool appearances either side of a nine-match injury absence and Sunday’s strike was his 50th in the Premier League.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

England fall to another humiliating T20 defeat in Australia

George Bailey cuts loose, thrashing 26 off the final over from Jade Dernbach to finish on 49 not out and push Australia to 196

ENGLAND fell to another embarrassing defeat in Australia as they lost the final Twenty20 international by 84 runs.

The defeat sees England lose the Twenty20 series 3-0.

Australia hit 13 sixes, profiting on short straight boundaries, with skipper George Bailey taking 26 from the final over bowled by Jade Dernbach.

Bailey finished unbeaten on 49, from 20 balls, with opener Cameron White adding 41 in a total of 195 for six.

Stuart Broad had slowed Australia in the middle overs, returning three for 30, but Dernbach’s forgettable series continued as his last over went: four, six, six, four, four, two.

That meant the right-armer returned figures of no wicket for 49 while in the series he has taken one wicket, with his 11 overs costing 142 runs.

Again, England top order let them down with only Eoin Morgan (34) and Joe Root (11)

reaching double figures as they set about the chase.

In fairness, England’s abject performance was not

helped by the unfortunate dismissal of Ravi Bopara for four, which hastened England’s loss.

Bopara, who produced a wonderful 65-run cameo in the first Twenty20 international in Hobart, saw an inside edge roll slowly toward the stumps

to knock the bails off before he could get into any form of stride.

However, Dernbach’s dismissal was indicative of England’s disastrous tour as he was run out for one, with England skittled for 111. (PA Sport)

Aussie opening partners trade tips for facing Proteas pace CHRIS Rogers admits he has turned to opening partner David Warner for advice ahead of facing the revered South African pace attack later this month.

This is the 36-year-old’s first trip to South Africa and he has no experience of facing Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander in the Test arena.

Meanwhile, Warner also has limited encounters to call on after playing just the one Test series against the Proteas, scoring a century in Adelaide in the 2012/13 home series.

“He’s not as dumb as he seems to be honest,” joked Rogers on his younger team-mate.

“He is actually quite good to talk to about cricket.

“He has a lot of good ideas and comes from a different perspective, so we’ve gelled quite well and that has been excellent.”

The Australian opening duo have contrasting styles but insist they compliment each other.

“When Davey is playing well it makes it easy for me and I can slip into the slipstream.

“We have our differences but we also get on very well and it’s great to see him do well.

“It helps the Australian side no end so hopefully he can continue his good form through the next month.”

The left-hander admits the South African pace attack is another step up from the likes of Broad and Anderson and that personal results in South Africa will be a very proud achievement.

“I’ve seen these guys for years bowling on TV and faced a couple of them,” he said.

“I’ve seen plenty of the vision and at least think I know what they are going to do.

“I think it’s all about adapting once you get out there and playing the conditions and the bowler.

“I’m looking forward to this challenge and this is as big as it gets and if I do well I can be very proud.”

Rogers, who was called up to the Australian squad ahead of the UK-based Ashes series last year, is relishing the opportunity to carry the momentum from the 5-0 Ashes whitewash of England into the three Tests against the Proteas.

“This is another massive challenge for us and we can use the momentum we got from the Ashes to take it into this series.

“I think there’s a really good feel amongst the group and that stemmed from what we did over the summer but we know we’ve got a few challenges ahead of us.

“If there was ever a time to take on these guys it is now.

“Hopefully there’s a little bit of success personally and also for the team over the next month or so.”

The first Test is at the Centurion Ground on February 12.(CA)

Australia openers David Warner and Chris Rogers.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Stalwarts Chanderpaul and Sarwan remind Windies selectors ...spark Guyana to impressive victory in NAGICO Super50

SPORTS ANALYSIS & RECORDS with BRIJ PARASNATH EXPERIENCED stalwarts Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan found their touch and helped Malta Supreme Guyana fashion an impressive start of their campaign to become the first winners of the NAGICO Super50 crown, emblem of regional limited-overs supremacy.

Chanderpaul and Sarwan as well as youthful Trevon Griffith chalked up contrasting half-centuries as Guyana set a new List A match record at the Queen’s Park Oval in their opening round match against ICC InterContinental champions, Ireland, last Friday night.

Batting first, Malta Supreme Guyana posted 301 for the loss of three wickets in their allotted 50 overs and restricted the ICC InterContinental 4-time champions to 187 all out in 38.3 overs.

The Christopher Barnwell-led Guyanese outfit produced an almost clinical performance, except for a couple drop catches and the uncertainty exhibited by wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble who allowed regulation opportunities to skirt away for unwanted extras which could prove crucial in the bigger matches.

However, the Guyanese team looked energetic and they outplayed the Irishmen who were hoping to make an instant impact as they seek to build their confidence for the 2015 ICC World Cup which will be staged jointly by Australia and New Zealand.

The tone for dominance was set by Chanderpaul who opened the batting and schooled his younger compatriot during their important 129-run first wicket partnership, which was the cornerstone for the team’s push for a massive total on a pitch that was two-paced.

Guyana’s 301 (for 3 wickets) bettered the ground’s previous best of 282 for 5 (50 overs) set by Jamaica against Windward Islands in the first match of the NAGICO Super50. Prior to that, T&T held the record with 269 for 7 versus Leeward Islands in 1995.

There are seven One-Day Internationals totals of 300 or more runs at the QP Oval with India’s 2007 World Cup score of 413 for 7 versus Bermuda as the overall List A ground record.

The 301 is Guyana’s second highest overall 50-overs total preceded by Roy Fredericks-led team 327 for 7 against Leewards in the 1980 Geddes Grant-Harrison Line Final at the Antigua Recreation ground being the best ever. Fredericks made an unbeaten 119, the first triple-figure mark by a Guyanese in the Regional 50-overs competitions which started in 1976.

Guyana won the 1980 Final by 103 runs and it was its first of nine 50-overs Regional crown that puts Guyana alongside Trinidad and Tobago, also on nine titles, as the leading powers of Limited-overs cricket in the Caribbean.

The 39-year-old Chanderpaul showed that he has the class, temperament and form and is ready to play an important role for the West Indies team during the 2015 World Cup based on the massive failures of the current West Indies team against India and New Zealand in the recent international outings.

In those two ODIs series against India and New Zealand, none of the WI openers and even the other middle-order batsmen, except Darren Bravo, looked comfortable and were able to display any kind of authority on opposing bowlers.

Having ignored Chanderpaul’s credentials as a limited-overs player since the 2011 World Cup, Chanderpaul still kept hinting that he still wants to help West Indies do well internationally in the 50-overs format.

Last year was the most dismal for West Indies teams as they were knocked out of the Champions Trophy in England; whipped in the Celkon Mobile Tri-Nations in the Caribbean as India and Sri Lanka contested the final at the Queen’s Park Oval. Imagine that the West Indies team crushed on its own turf and then went to India and New Zealand and catapult like novices.

Clearly, the WI senior selectors must re-think their strategy and build a team comprising experience players with some of the outstanding performers from the current NAGICO Super50. The bouncy pitches in Australia and New Zealand would call for players who are temperamentally suited to adapt to the conditions and demands of the game against fiercely-determined teams who would also be aiming and battling for all they are worth for the ultimate global cricket title.

Both Chanderpaul and Sarwan are proven world class campaigners and should they continue to produce top quality performances as was witnessed against the Irishmen, they would definitely be strong contenders for places on the West Indies 2015 World Cup team. While fitness, form and other issues

have kept Sarwan out of reckoning, Chanderpaul has been the true professional with sterling contributions on a regular basis at the Test level.

Chanderpaul was untroubled throughout his 113-ball innings, except for a catch offered off Kevin O’Brien in the same over he held out in attempting to accelerate the scoring rate. He struck one six and seven fours and together with Griffith, who registered his career best of 62 (96 balls, 5x4, 1x6), missed the overall Guyana first wicket partnership of 131 set by Sewnarine Chattergoon (78) and Krishna Arjune (55) against Trinidad & Tobago at Windward Club, Lucas Street, Barbados on October 5, 2005 during the first KFC Cup series.

And while Chanderpaul and Griffith batted cautiously and without undue risk rotated the strike brilliantly, it was fireworks of Sarwan 89 not out (62balls, 10x4s, 4x6s), skipper Barnwell 31 (15b, 2x4s, 3x6s) and Leon Johnson 27 not out (14b, 4x4, 1x6) whose aggressive batting changed the tempo, provided the entertainment as well as the massive total for its convincing victory by 114 runs and 11.3 overs to spare.

In true T20 style, Sarwan and Johnson went on a rampage and hammered 76 off 5.3 overs and the comprehensive victory gave Guyana an extra bonus point which puts them ahead of Jamaica who had beaten reigning champs Windward Islands in their opening fixture which was also a high scoring affair.

Medium pacer Paul Wintz emerged as Guyana’s bowling hero with three early wickets that left the Irishmen in a state of shock.

He scalped Niall O’Brien (LBW 4), Andrew Cusack (b 12) and Gary Wilson (caught Barnwell 5) while promising Essequibian quickie Ronsford Beaton, who finished with figures of 7.3-1-42-2, removed Ireland’s captain William Porterfield (0) via the LBW route and left the visitors in anguish at 27 for 4 (7.3 overs).

Despite a brief recovery staged by Andrew Poynter 54 (65b, 5x4s, 2x6s) and 2011 World Cup hero Kevin O’Brien 39 (35b, 5x4, 1x6), who were associated in an enterprising 59-run fifth wicket partnership, Ireland lower order offered partial resistance and folded up meekly.

Devendra Bishoo (6-0-41-1) dismissed O’Brien while his Albion Sports Complex clubmates Veerasammy Permaul (10-1-31-1) and Narsingh Deonarine (2-0-6-2) shared the other wickets.

RAMNARESH SARWAN

SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL Ireland had suffered a major setback when opener Paul Stirling was omitted from the starting line-up due to a suspected hamstring muscle injury.

They would need him to recover quickly to strengthen their chances of success against Jamaica and Windwards in the other Group A match carded for tomorrow and Friday, respectively, at the same venue.

Jamaica’s Tamar Lambert (88) and Andre McCarthy (93), both with the career List A best, featured in a new QP Oval ground fourth wicket partnership record of 179 against Windward Islands last Thursday. They bettered T&T’s Jason Mohammed (63) and Denesh Ramdin (134) record of 170 set against Barbados last year.

In that match, Windwards’ Keddy Leporis also set a Regional List A record when he became the first centurion of the first NAGICO Super50 series and the fifth Windwards player, after Lockhart Sebastien, Dawnley Joseph, Junior Murray and Devon Smith, to achieve the distinction being a centurion in the region’s premier Limited-Overs tournament.

The quality of the pitch at the QP Oval has improved and already some of the players are capitalising on the gifts offered as they seek to re-establish their credentials as contenders for a West Indies senior team selection.

Malta Supreme Guyana will be back in action against Windwards tomorrow and then do battle with Jamaica for Group A top billing on Saturday. Both encounters should be exciting affairs.

DCC’s legend Fredericks led Guyana to its first Regional 50-overs crown, much attention will be on Barnwell, another DCC player, to see whether he will be successful in leading the team to its 10th title.

They have made an auspicious start and the onus will be for the players to improve in all departments and maintain the winning momentum. Champion teams know how to keep up the high octane energy levels and pressure on their opponents.

All Malta Supreme Guyana supporters will be following the fortunes with much optimism while the other team supporters would be praying and hoping that their team can emerge victorious.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

Leewards demolished by CCC PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) - The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) silenced doubters with a comprehensive 160-

Man-of-the-Match Kyle Mayers bowled a destructive spell of 4-15 from 8.4 overs

run victory over the Leeward Islands in their NAGICO Super50 Regional cricket match at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday.

The CCC bowled out the Leewards for a paltry 80 runs halfway through their batting innings to secure a victory with a bonus point.

A late fightback from tailenders Lionel Baker and Anthony Martin was all in vain as the Steven Jacobs-led CCC wrapped up an emphatic win.

Earlier, the CCC, which won the toss and decided to bat, benefited from a solid opening partnership between Chadwick Walton (30) and Anthony Alleyne (54).

Shacaya Thomas also added a useful total of 35 which included three sixes before the CCC were restricted to 240 with one ball to spare in the innings.

Anthony Martin 3-33 and Gavin Tonge 3-43 were the main wicket takers for the Leewards.

Requiring just under five runs per over, the Leewards were stunned from the first ball when their captain and West Indies opener Kieran Powell was caught by wicketkeeper Walton from an outside edge to Kesrick Williams without scoring,.

The Leewards appeared to give up in despair as batsmen failed to threaten the CCC and at one stage were 27-6 after losing three wickets without scoring a run.

At 36-9 and the writing on the wall, Baker and Martin gave the Leewards a little hope with some consecutive boundaries.

Baker made an unbeaten 31 off 30 balls which included four fours and a six and Martin reached 16 off 17 balls before he was removed by Kavem Hodge.

Kyle Mayers, with his destructive spell of 4-15, was named the Man-of-the-match. He left the field after 8.4 overs for an unknown reason. Raymon Reifer was equally impressive with figures of 3-15 from six overs.

The CCC win is inspirational for the players who almost lost the opportunity to compete in regional tournaments. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was considering removing the CCC from

its regional tournaments including the Super50 and the Four-day tournaments.

But following appeals from players and other interests in the region the Board at a meeting last December decided to include the CCC, along with Ireland in this year’s tournament.

They next play Barbados in Tobago on Thursday while the Leewards take on the host team also in Tobago on Wednesday.

CCC Innings 240 all out (49.5 overs) Chadwick Walton run out (Powell/Thomas) 30 Anthony Alleyne c Cornwall b Richards 54 Kyle Corbin lbw b Athanaze 29 Raymon Reifer c Athanaze b Tonge 29 Steven Jacobs* c Tonge b Baker 10 Floyd Reifer c Tonge b Martin 26 Shacaya Thomas c Tonge b Martin 35 Kyle Mayers c Athanaze b Martin 1 Akeem Dewar b Tonge 5 Kavem Hodge not out 3 Kesrick Williams c+Thomas b Tonge 1 Extras: (lb 7, w 10) 17 Total (10 wkts; 49.5 overs) 240 Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-102, 3-152, 4-157, 5-166, 6-220, 7-231, 8-231, 9-238, 10-240 Bowling: Lionel Baker 10-0-601 (6w), Gavin Tonge 6.5-0-433, Justin Athanaze 10-1-36-1, Anthony Martin 10-2-33-3, Mali

Richards 8-0-39-1 (3w), Rahkeem Cornwall 5-0-22-0 (1w) Leewards Innings 80 all out (24.5 overs) Kieran Powell* c Walton b Williams 0 Montcin Hodge c Thomas b R Reifer 10 Mali Richards run out Thomas 0 Sylvester Joseph lbw Mayers 0 Devon Thomas c Dewar b Mayers 4 Jahmar Hamilton c +Walton b R Reifer 0 Rahkeem Cornwall b Mayers 5 Justin Athanaze c +Walton b Mayers 0 Gavin Tonge c +Walton b R Reifer 2 Lionel Baker not out 31 Anthony Martin c R Reifer b Hodge 16 Extras: (lb 2, w 10) 12 Total (10 wkts; 24.5 overs) 80 Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-9, 3-10, 4-20, 5-26, 6-26, 7-26, 8-28, 9-36, 10-80 Bowling: Kesrick Williams 7-229-1 (4w), Kyle Mayers 8.4-1-15-4 (2w), Raymon Reifer 6-0-15-3 (3w), Kavem Hodge 1.1-0-6-1, Akeem Dewar 2-0-13-0 (1w).

Britain ends 28-year absence from Davis Cup quarters

By Toby Davis (REUTERS) - Britain beat the United States to reach the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1986 yesterday as Japan finished off an injury-hit Canada to set up a maiden appearance in the last eight.

They joined holders Czech Republic, Italy and Kazakhstan as Sunday’s other qualifiers and Switzerland, Germany and France, who booked their places in the World Group last eight with a day to spare.

Britain, making their return to the World Group after a five-year absence, came into Sunday needing a solitary victory in the singles, but knowing their best chance of success rested with Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who was facing the big-serving Sam Querrey.

After claiming the first set on a tiebreak, world number six Murray was forced to dig in against his 49th-ranked opponent and lost the second, but went through the gears to stamp his authority in the third before comfortably closing out a 7-6(5) 6-7(3) 6-1 6-3 win.

The result opened an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie and completed Britain’s first win over the U.S. since 1935.

Britain will now face Italy, who advanced when Fabio Fognini overcame Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq 7-6(5) 4-6 6-1 6-4 to give them a winning 3-1 lead.

“He came out playing extremely aggressively, especially on my serve. I changed tactics at the beginning of the third set and I was able to dictate many of the points after that. So that change of tactics helped,” Murray told the BBC.

“You have a responsibility to your team mates to play well, but I also have a lot of experience in the Davis Cup and the slams, so you know how to deal with it relatively well.”

While Murray will accept the plaudits for getting the job done, the victory was built on the 175th-ranked James Ward’s surprise win over Querrey on Friday.

That put them 2-0 ahead and meant their destiny was in the hands of two-time grand slam winner Murray.

Japan began yesterday’s action 2-1 ahead and also needing one win the reverse singles to progress.

They were handed vic-

tory when Canada’s Frank Dancevic retired with injury when trailing 6-2 1-0 to Japanese number one Kei Nishikori, surrendering the tie in the first meeting of the countries since 1938.

At Tokyo’s Ariake Coliseum, Japan’s Nishikori pocketed the first set in 29 minutes and broke Dancevic in the first game of the second when the world number 119 took an injury timeout but could not continue because of a stomach muscle injury.

“The pressure is always on me to win both singles matches,” said Nishikori, who won his opening match against Peter Polansky on Friday be-

fore teaming up with Yasutaka Uchiyama to claim Saturday’s doubles.

“This time I was able to help win three matches.

“The quarter-finals was our goal after getting back in the World Group. To do it in the first year is very rewarding.”

PERFECT RECORD Back in World Group after a one-year absence, Japan now have a perfect 6-0 Davis Cup record against last year’s semi-finalists, who were laid low by a spate of injuries.

Canada’s top-ranked player Milos Raonic withdrew on Thursday with a foot injury he sustained at last month’s

CRICKETQUIZ CORNER

Compliments of THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market &The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL CO. LTD-83 Garnette Street, Campbellville (Tel: 225-6158; 223-6055) Answers to Saturday’s quiz: Seymour Nurse (WI vs NZ, 1968-69) 47 ODIs; 51 dismissals (39 catches; 12 stumpings) Today’s Quiz: When Jack Noriega once took nine wickets in a Test innings which bowler got the other scalp?

Test cricket was first played in 1877. When was the first ODI contested?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

San Diego, CA, USA: Colin Fleming, Dominic Inglot, James Ward, Andy Murray and Captain Leon Smith (GBR) pose with the British flag after defeating the USA in their Davis Cup tie at Petco Park. Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports.

Australian Open and world number 25 Vasek Pospisil also missed Saturday’s doubles with an injury he picked up at Melbourne Park.

Japan will host cup holders Czech Republic in the quarter-finals in April after they eased into the next round with a 3-2 win over the Netherlands.

Two months after clinching the title, the Czechs were taken to a final day by the Dutch, but comfortably booked their place in the next round when Tomas Berdych proved too classy an opponent for Thiemo De Bakker.

The world number seven secured a 6-1 6-4 6-3 victory to move the Czech into a 3-1 lead before Igor Sijsling beat Lukas Rosol in the dead rubber.

“We really wanted to win this one,” Berdych, who completed a hat-trick of wins, said.

“Always the first round is the cutting edge of success; (losing) means playing off to stay in the World Group, which could be extremely difficult.

But we passed that, we won the first one.”

Kazakhstan secured a tie against Switzerland in the next round with a 3-2 victory over Belgium in Astana.

Belgium’s David Goffin twice came back from a set down to level the tie at 2-2 with a five-set win over Mikhail Kukushkin, before Andrey Golubev claimed the decider 6-2 6-3 6-1 over Ruben Bemelmans.

The other quarter-final will pit France against Germany.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 3, 2014

‘It was important to keep wickets in hand’-says Barnwell

By Calvin Roberts in Trinidad and Tobago

Compliments of Ansa McAl, Berbice River Bridge, Regal Stationery, Wartsilla, Romaine Car Wash, F&H Printing and GT&T FOLLOWING his team’s emphatic 114 runs victory over Ireland in their opening match in NAGICO Super50 cricket tournament at the

Queen’s Park Oval last Friday night, captain of the victorious Malta Supreme Guyana team, Christopher Barnwell, said the importance of having wickets in hand at the depth was a priority for his team.

“It is important to keep wickets in hand coming down to the bottom of your innings.

Obviously it helps, especially, when you have batsmen who can hit the ball clean and hard in your lineup,” said Barnwell.

Shot Buggsy! Malta Supreme Guyana’s opening batsman Trevon ‘Buggsy’ Griffith flicks this delivery to the leg side, during his enterprising 129 first wicket partnership with Shivnarine Chanderpaul. . (Photo courtesy flickr.com/ windiescricket)

The 26 year old Demerara Cricket Club all-rounder referred to the third wicket partnership he shared with Ramnaresh Sarwan, followed

by Sarwan and Leon Johnson’s swashbuckling unbeaten partnership to see off things.

“Unfortunately, when I was batting with Ronnie, I went and left him but I think Johnson came in and played a superb role with him (Ronnie) and together they finished off the innings well, adding 70 odd runs from the final five overs or so for us which set up the huge total,” stated Barnwell.

Having outlined his expectations from the team’s three senior players in Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine prior to the game, Barnwell was delighted to see both his DCC teammates in Paul Wintz (ball) and Trevon Griffith (bat) coming to the fore along with the trio.

“It is always pleasing to see the younger guys, in this case Griffith and Paul, coming good for the team. It is not good to place too much pressure on the experienced guys in the trio I mentioned prior to the game, so this duo coming to the party along with Ronsford Beaton is a pleasing sight for us.

Griffith always has within him, the potential to score big and on Friday night he displayed such, by curbing his aggressive attitude in exchange for patience, especially, during his 129 first wicket partnership with Shiv; it is unfortunate that he did not carry on and get a big total, but on the other hand it is good to see him bat the way he did.”

He added, “Knowing Wintz for the past couple of years, he always come to the fore and give us that breakthrough any team would look for at the top of the order.

I have seen him do it for DCC and expected no

National Senior Championships washed out THE Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) National Senior Championships, which was set to run off yesterday at the Enmore Community Centre Ground, has now been tentatively set for next week Saturday February 8, after a water soaked outfiled made staging the event impossible.

“The ground is under water and we cannot get to complete the marking of the ground, we had even tried on Saturday but we couldn’t. And other than damage to the ground we have to look at the safety of the athletes, so we called it off.

“We’ve already notified the coaches and their athletes,” Aubrey Hutson, President of the AAG, explained when contacted yesterday.

According to Hutson, he is eyeing the weather forecast with a cautious eye and next Saturday seems most favourable, as the following Sunday promises more showers. Hutson called yesterday’s cancellation a “set back” to the AAG’s well packed calendar of events.

“I’m looking at the forecast and more likely than not it will be next Saturday, because I’m looking at Sunday and there may be some rain on Sunday. This is a real set back today, but that is what happens when you don’t have an all weather facility,” Hutson relayed.

different for Malta Supreme Guyana, in this tournament, as he just keep doing it day in and day out.”

Being happy with the win, since many felt the Irish would have been a tough encounter first up for Guyana, taking into consideration their qualification for the 2015 ICC World Cup, Barnwell said he felt they could have restricted them for a lesser total than the 180 they eventually made.

“I felt it was a good win, even though I had it in mind to dismiss them for a 140 odd total, following the start we got from Wintz and Beaton.

However, a win is a win and I am happy we started on a positive note and hopefully we can continue in this same vain,” stated Barnwell.

Following a rest day on Saturday last, Barnwell and his troops took to the National Cricket Centre in Couva for a

three hour net session yesterday morning, while this morning they will be heading to the outdoor facility of the Queen’s Park Oval.

Guyana go into action tomorrow, when they oppose defending champions Windward Islands in their second game, knowing very well that a win will guarantee them a place in the semi-finals, with one round to spare, which is the upcoming clash against Jamaica on Saturday.

JFF urging certification for coaches KINGSTON, Jamaica, (CMC) – Jamaican football coaches who want to perform duties on the sidelines will have to be certified effective September this year, according to Captain Horace Burrell, the President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

Burrell said the JFF has mandated that effective September 1, 2014 all coaches must possess a JFF certified coach’s licence for all levels of coaching in Jamaica.

“All head coaches and assistant coaches must possess a JFF Level one certification or its equivalent,” Burrell told a recent coaches’ graduation forum.

He said that all head and assistant coaches at the Premier League and high school levels must possess a JFF Advance Level two certification in order to continue their duties.

The licensing period runs from September 2014 to August 31 2016, and will be renewable every two years.

“Before the licence can be renewed all coaches will be required to do eight hours of refresher courses per year beginning 2014. At least four hours must be JFF conductor course,” he said.

Sport CHRONICLE

‘It was important to keep wickets in hand’

See story on page 31

-says Barnwell

The Chronicle is at http://www.guyanachronicle.com

Hinds rides away with NSC Annual 40-mile cycle road race title

By Michael DaSilva

Orville Hinds raises his hands in triumph after crossing the finish line ahead of second place finisher Robin Persaud during yesterday’s NSC Annual 40-mile Mashramani cycle road race. (Sonell Nelson photo)

ORVILLE Hinds rode a well calculated race to win the annual National Sports Commission’s Mashramani 40-mile Cycle Road Race, yesterday, in the West Coast Demerara area.

From a field of 51 starters, Hinds made his move on the downward journey traveling through Schoondord, approximately 800 metres from the finish line and piped Raynauth `Obeah Man ‘Jeffrey across the finish line.

Veteran Robin Persaud placed second and Raul

Leaul placed third, respectively, while Marlon `Fishy’ Williams, Geron Williams and Chris Persaud occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth spots, respectively.

Albert Philander, Leaul, Geron Williams, Marlon Williams, Jeffrey and DeNobrega all secured one prime prize, respectively.

From the start of the event at Schoonord on the West Bank of Demerara by the Demera Harbour Bridge, the competitors were tightly bunched until Crane Village when Geron Williams, Marlon Williams and Jeffrey broke from the pack and opened a small lead which they maintained even after turning back for the downward journey.

It was only at Den Amstel that the chasing pack, which included Hinds, DeNobrega joined the leaders. He was subsequently joined by Robin Persaud at Ruimzeight and Jude Bentley and

See page 26

Carter, Smith power Barbados to 269/8 PORT- of- Spain, Trinidad - Jonathan Carter struck 109 and Dwayne Smith hit 83 as Barbados powered to 269/8 from their 45 overs against Trinidad and Tobago at the Queen’s Park Oval last night. Both teams were playing their first match in the 2014 NAGICO Super 50 tournamnet Carter’s knock came off just 111 balls, as he shared in a 103-run stand with Dwayne Smith. Carter struck nine fours and five sixes during his two-hour stay at the crease. Smith on the other hand hit ten fours and three sixes.

The T&T bowlers fought back near the end of the innings to restrict the Bajans. Rayad Emrit was T&T’s best bowler, taking 4-51 in his nine overs.

Barbados won the toss and elected to bat first against Trinidad & Tobago. After rain delayed the start of play, the match was rescheduled to start 3:45pm Local Time (2:25m Jamaica Time).

It was turned into a 45-over per side game with a bowler allowed to bowl a maximum of nine overs.

Trinidad & Tobago are without the services of Sunil Narine and they opted to leave out Shannon Gabriel and Yannick Ottley.

Up to press time Trinidad and Tobago were struggling at 190 for 8 from 37.1 overs..

Left-hander Jonathan Carter hits down the ground during his century which came off 111 balls.

Edwards withdrawn from Barbados team

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014