Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 22 09 2016

No. 104682

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

Price: $80

(VAT Inclusive)

Carpenters, masons could soon work freely in Caribbean -with Guyana now authorised to grant Caribbean Vocational Qualifications

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Some of the students present at Wednesday’s launch examine brochures which provide useful information on TVET and its relevance to the Caribbean

Fixing Labour … PM talks up gov’t spending on community projects Page 8

Better aircraft tracking systems 15 by next year Page

Sister of boys killed in Drop-In Centre fire Page 16 reportedly ingests bleach

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Carpenters, masons could soon work freely in Caribbean -with Guyana now authorised to grant Caribbean Vocational Qualifications

By Ravin Singh

CARPENTERS, masons and others with certification from the country’s technical institutes could soon be able to travel and work hassle-free in the Caribbean.

This comes with an announcement Wednesday that Guyana has been authorised to grant Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs) certificates for the so-called tech-

“The movement of skills will be easily facilitated and accomplished, since all of the countries will be operating within one human resource development education system.

“It will also provide one trajectory for the engagement of the rest of the world with regard to the movement of skills beyond the region,” Dr Roopnaraine state.

In early March this year, the Council for Human

CVQ - to persons who have satisfied the stringent technical and other competency requirements associated with specific occupations.

As such, the qualifications, once successfully achieved, will equip Guyanese and other nationals whose country subscribe to CVQs, to have access to jobs in the related fields within the region.

Emphasising the significance and importance of

Some of the students present at Wednesday’s launch examine brochures which provide useful information on TVET and its relevance to the Caribbean nical and vocational subjects.

To qualify, a person would have to complete a competency-based programme in a technical area, according to a set of regionally agreed standards for levels of learning and skills.

“The implication of this development has far-reaching effects for CARICOM,” said Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Minister of Education, at an event at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown where the announcement was made.

and Social Development (COHSOD) of the Caribbean Community gave authorisation to Guyana and St Vincent and the Grenadines to award the CQV, based on the recommendation of the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA).

The decision by COHSOD allowed the two countries to join five others, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada in awarding a regional qualification - the

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to the Caribbean, Minister Roopnaraine said that TVET is a key element in preparing a country’s manpower for development.

He noted that the establishment of technical and vocational skills training standards across the Caribbean region will go a far way towards integration and development of the region’s workforce.

The Education Minister went on to highlight the work of the regional education institutions in the effort to standardise training and certification across the region.

He explained that in this process, the CXC has played

a lead role with the complete harmonisation of secondary education.

Additionally, he noted that it also presents a challenge for the governments of the Caribbean to give effect to the establishment of the council for tertiary education, thus completing the tripod on which a harmonised and integrated education system is being built.

“This is indeed what CARICOM is all about, as I understand it, and underlines the onerous responsibility which is placed on our human development system, the education system. It is ironic that all of this is occurring when CARICOM is actively addressing the question of a regional human resource policy; what is happening today can only be defined as timely,” the minister said.

Minister Roopnaraine also seized the opportunity to encourage technical and vocational educators to not become complacent in their achievement of regional accreditation, but to work steadfastly at encouraging citizens to pursue this much needed line of education.

“CTVET [Guyana] is therefore challenged to embrace its additional function of promoting and propagating technical and vocational education, and pushing back the stigma that has negatively impacted entry into the technical and vocational fields, thus depriving those jobs of the quantum and quality of manpower required,” he said.

Speaking at the launch too was Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Glenroy Cumberbatch, who underscored the need for education and training to be aligned with the needs of the Caribbean. “…we have several people across the region at the secondary level who cannot find employment and worst,

Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine explains the importance of TVET to the development of the Caribbean on Wednesday at the Pegasus Hotel who [have] finished their education at the university level and have degrees in medicine, [and] in law and still can’t find employment.

There is a mismatch between what we are doing and what is needed,” he said.

As such, Cumberbatch explained that it becomes imperative for persons to follow the CVQ programme, so that the skills they leave school with are more work-related as opposed to solely academic. “…intelligence must not be seen as people with firstclass honours only, but the ordinary people who contribute to the economy must be seen as intelligent also,” the Registrar said, adding that too many people leave school unable to communicate – one of the four Cs necessary for human development.

The second C, he said, is creativity. According to Cumberbatch, learning something and regurgitating it is not an example of an intelligent person. As such, he believes that intelligence must now be redefined.

“Sometimes we believe if I learn something by heart and give it back is intelligence, but how can I take

something and transform it into something else, something that is better for me, my family and my country?

How can I do that kind of engineering?” he rhetorically questioned.

The Registrar also mentioned critical thinking, which he said can be achieved in many ways. He said that one of the easiest is making good decisions from the information that one has.

“If we can think critically we can do a wonderful job in managing ourselves, becoming self-regulatory and also providing for our families and so on…”

The final component, he alluded to, is collaboration.

According to Cumberbatch, there are scenarios where persons hide their work from others, and this he said, could limit the true collective potential of a group.

He pointed to the fact that labs across the world share information on their findings in their pursuit to find a cure for cancer. As such, he noted that collaboration facilitates the sharing of information which helps to bring about a conclusion much quicker.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Guyana congratulated for ratifying climate pact

By Ariana Gordon in New York

PRESIDENT David Granger (Guyana) was on Wednesday the first of the world leaders gathered at the annual United Nations General Assembly to be congratulated by the UN for signing on to the Paris agreement on climate change.

More countries signed on to the pact on Wednesday, taking the total to 60, UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said.

The deal, agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris last

December, needs ratification by at least 55 countries, representing 55 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions to take effect. The 60 countries represented more than 47.5 percent.

The United Nations said 14 countries, representing 12.58 percent of emissions, have committed to joining the agreement in 2016, which would allow the threshold of 55 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions to be reached.

“What once seemed impossible is now inevitable.

I’m confident that by the

- as deal comes one step closer to effect at UN

time I leave office the Paris agreement will have entered into force,” Ban, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31, told an event on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly.

Mr Ban congratulated Guyana at a special “High-Level Event on Entry into Force of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.”

Guyana ratified the Paris agreement on April 22 last.

During his address at the UN earlier this year, President

President David Granger is greeted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon at UN Headquarters Wednesday

President David Granger and President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana following a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York Granger described the Paris Deforestation and Forest Deg- tures; and, work towards a Agreement as the “most am- radation (REDD) Plus pro- ‘green path’ of development bitious international environ- gramme. that is in accord with the mental agreement in modern Meanwhile, on Tuesday at Agreement’s nationally-deterhistory.” the opening of the UNGA in mined commitments.”

He said the signing of the New York, President Granger Guyana, he said, is purAgreement by Guyana was during his address before suing a “green path” so as out of the need for strong world leaders, described Guy- to better understand how to action to fight climate change. ana as a “green state” and protect its biodiversity and “Guyana, through the pursuit noted the country’s efforts in manage its complex eco-sysof a Green Economy, will combating climate change. He tems sustainably. Guyana, he spare no effort to contribute to said too that Guyana’s “green said , is an important partner both a sustainable future and state” is consistent with build- in the global environmental to an effective global response ing climate change resilience movement and has partnered to climate change,” the Presi- while mitigating the effects of with several countries in this dent said in April. climate change. regard.

Guyana has committed “Guyana promises to Giving his address at the to implementing initiatives in continue to work towards the UNGA on Tuesday, Presithe forest and renewable ener- agenda’s goals, particularly dent Granger believes that gy sectors, including through by contributing to limiting See page 9 the Reducing Emissions from increases in global tempera-

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

Charlotte braces for more riots after police shooting

(Reuters) - AUTHORITIES in Charlotte, North Carolina, braced on Wednesday for a possible second night of rioting triggered by the police killing of a black man who refused commands to drop a handgun that officers said he was brandishing.

Sixteen police were injured overnight on Tuesday and one person was arrested as officers in riot gear clashed with demonstrators who hurled stones, set fires and briefly blocked an interstate highway.

Police and protesters offered widely differing accounts of the shooting. Officers said Keith Scott, 43, was armed and ignoring orders, while the victim’s family and a witness said he was holding a book. Authorities have not released any video of the incident, but say they plan to.

The trouble in Charlotte unfolded as demonstrators in Tulsa, Oklahoma, demanded the arrest of a police officer seen on video fatally shooting an unarmed black man who had his hands in clear view at the time.

The deaths were the latest to raise questions of racial bias in U.S. law enforcement, and they stoked a national debate on policing ahead of the presidential election in November.

Police shootings in cities including New York, Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri, have sparked more than two years of largely peaceful protests punctuated by days of rioting and arson and given rise to the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement.

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said such killings were unbearable. Her Republican

Tiffany Crutcher (C), sister of Terence Crutcher, the Tulsa motorist who was shot and killed by police, stands with attorney Benjamin Crump (L) during a news conference at the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in New York, U.S., September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Wednesday. She said she rival, Donald Trump, quesnot find a book,” Putney told heard Scott ask police what tioned what the Tulsa officer a news conference. “We did he had done wrong, could not was thinking in shooting a find a weapon.” Local resihear their reply, but then heard man he said seemed to pose no dent Taheshia Williams said four shots. imminent threat. Criminal inshe saw the incident from “It’s a cover-up. They vestigations have been opened her balcony about 100 feet made a mistake and they’re in both cities, and the U.S. (30 meters) away, and that doing their best to make sure Justice Department has startshe watched Scott get out of they cover up that mistake,” ed a separate probe into the his car with his hands raised. she said.

Oklahoma incident to see if “Hands up. No gun. officers’ use of force amounted When he got out of the car, ‘OPEN TO SHOWING to a civil rights violation. a book fell off his lap,” VIDEO’ Charlotte’s police chief, Williams told reporters on Black activists and pastors Kerr Putney, said Scott was seen on Tuesday afternoon getting into a vehicle holding a handgun. Police surrounded the car, Putney said, and Scott was shot by a black police officer after he exited the car and did not obey orders to drop his weapon.

called for an economic boycott of the city, and a several dozen students held a “lay-in” protest at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina urged the body and dash camera footage be released.

Police said Officer Brentley Vinson was in plainclothes when he shot Scott and was not wearing a body camera.

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts told CNN she had not seen any video from the scene, but that Putney told her footage was recorded by cameras worn by other police officers and mounted on patrol cars.

“The chief is very open to showing that video ... not just to elected officials, but also to community leaders,” she said.

“We have done that in the past.

We plan to do that this time.”

In 2013 a white police officer killed Jonathan Ferrell, an unarmed black man, in Charlotte. Ferrell’s family received $2.25 million from the city in compensation. North Carolina allows for the open carry of handguns, including having a pistol in a vehicle. A friend of Vinson, Michael Scurlock, told CNN on Wednesday that the officer on Tuesday night.

“I know he’s torn,” Scurlock said. “No matter if it’s justified or unjustified, it’s tough when you have to know

that you had to take someone else’s life.”

Protesters in Oklahoma, meanwhile, want Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby, who is white, to be arrested for the killing on Friday of Terence Crutcher, 40, whose sport utility vehicle had broken down and was blocking a road.

Shelby’s lawyer has said she feared for her life, believing Crutcher was reaching into his vehicle for a weapon.

Lawyers for the Crutcher family released still images from police videos showing the car window was shut and said the use of force was not justified.

Two police videos, one taken from a helicopter and one from a patrol car dashcam, show Shelby following Crutcher as he walked slowly to his vehicle with his hands up. Shelby shoots him as he puts his hands on the car, and he falls to the ground.

Speaking in New York City alongside relatives of Crutcher, civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton urged both presidential candidates to broach the topic of police shootings on Monday at their first head-to-head debate.

“Any debate that does not discuss this issue is a bogus debate,” Sharpton told a news conference. “This is a national crisis and it must be addressed.”

“I can also tell you we did

Police officers wearing riot gear block a road during protests after police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Adam Rhew/Charlotte Magazine

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

Brazil’s ex-president Lula to be tried for corruption (BBC) - Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial on corruption and money laundering charges over an alleged scheme at the state oil company, Petrobras, a judge has said.

Prosecutors say he accepted 3.7m reais ($1.11m; £867,000) in bribes connected to the multi-billion dollar scheme. Lula, 70, had already been charged in August with allegedly obstructing investigations.

He denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations are politically motivated. “I am sad,” Lula said. “It is a big farce, a big lie, a big pyrotechnic show.

“What’s happening isn’t getting me down, but just motivates me to go out and talk more.” Judge Sergio Moro, who is overseeing Operation Car Wash, the investigation into corruption allegations at Petrobras, said there was

Lula is accused of failing to declare a luxury penthouse “sufficient evidence of [Lula’s] responsibility”.

The money that the ex-president allegedly re-

ceived was laundered through the purchase and renovation of a beach apartment, prosecutors say. The

flat was built by a construction company implicated in the scandal.

His wife, Marisa Leticia,

PM says Grenada prepared to offer LIAT subsidy

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell said Wednesday that Grenada is prepared to provide the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, with a financial subsidy for it to service the island, but was not prepared to provide funds for the airline’s operations.

“Grenada will have no difficulty providing some subsidy to LIAT but I am not taking money and give it and say spend it as you want… That is an offer I made since Jean Holder was the chairman,” he told a news conference.

“If the issue is the monopoly, we have to do something about it. If the issue is about imposing taxes on the ticket then we have to do something about it. Right now we are charging ourselves outside of the market,” he said.

Earlier in the week, LIAT announced that it would be

Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell reducing the number of flights to Grenada as of Friday but Mitchell told reporters that following talks between St George’s and the airline management, the cut has been

reduced to just one flight.

Mitchell said that Grenada has an open sky policy and that like St Lucia, his government is holding talks with the Trinidad-based State-owned

airline, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and other airlines to service the island.

“We cannot sit down and wait,” he said while calling for the management of LIAT to adopt measures that will improve its operations.

Grenada offers marketing subsidy to a number of international airlines to guarantee they service the island. Earlier this week, St Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet told a news conference having CAL as the national carrier may be the best option for the island given the many issues facing air transport in the region.

The former tourism minister, a harsh critic of LIAT, reiterated earlier statements that the airline whose major shareholders are the governments of Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, and St Vincent and the Grenadines cannot solve all of the transportation needs of the region.

and six others have also been indicted. Lula was accused by prosecutors of being the “boss” of the scheme, es-

timated to have cost the company more than $2bn (£1.5bn).

Several politicians and Petrobras executives have been arrested and sentenced as a result of the two-year inquiry. Investigators believe overpriced contracts with Petrobras were given in return for bribes.

Some of the illicitly-obtained money was used to finance the electoral campaign of top Brazilian politicians, they allege. Lula, who served as president between 2003 and 2011, was one of Brazil’s most popular leaders and is seen as a possible candidate for the 2018 presidential elections.

However, the popularity of his Workers’ Party plummeted this year and his chosen successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached last month. A criminal conviction would bar him from running in 2018.

Spanish football chief’s niece killed after kidnapping (BBC) - A Spanish woman kidnapped in Mexico last week has been found dead.

Maria Villar Galaz, who was the niece of Spanish Football Association president, Angel Maria Villar, had been missing since 13 September. She was forced to withdraw money from cash machines before being held for ransom.

Spain’s foreign minister said the kidnappers had been paid, but less than they asked for. The remains of Ms Galaz were identified on Tuesday. Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo told Spanish radio he had been convinced it would be “a matter of time before she appeared safe and sound”.

“Unfortunately things did not turn out that way,” he said.

The body of an unknown woman was found in the city of Toluca on Thursday, 15 September, two days after Ms Galaz’ kidnapping, but she was not identified until the following Tuesday.

Spanish FA chief Angel Maria Villar is Maria Villar Galaz’s uncle

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Editor-In-Chief

Nigel Williams Editor

Godfrey Wray

Editorial: 227-5216; 227-5204 guyanachronicle.com wnigel10@hotmail.com gnnleditorial@gmail.com

Editorial

Time to revamp GECOM

NOW that the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, Dr Steve Surujbally, has indicated to government his intention to step down after being in charge of that electoral body for over 16 years, it might be the appropriate time for the administration together with the opposition and other stakeholders to start thinking about radically reforming GECOM. The management of GECOM has always been fraught with deep political concerns and anxieties, given the history of elections here and their aftermath. The main sticking point, though there are several others that have plagued GECOM, is the manner in which commissioners are chosen. This methodology must as a matter of necessity change if GECOM is to be managed efficiently.

For decades now the Elections Observer Groups from the Commonwealth, the Carter Center, the Organisation of American States, the Electoral Assistance Bureau, the Caricom Secretariat, and the Union of South American Nations have been insisting that while GECOM’s purpose for existence is to administer free and fair electoral processes, and while it is recognised that the commission has to be sensitive to and relate to political realities, its independence and impartiality must be protected.

The current members of GECOM save for the chairman, are all tainted with the political brush, some of whom are also diehard party loyalists. Ms Bibi Shadick is a Central Committee member of the People’s Progressive Party, who openly boasts of her loyalty to the PPP and that she is representing, first and foremost, the interests of her party. Then there is Mr Robeson Benn, a former minister who was on the PPP’s platform in Essequibo 16 days after he took the oath of office as GECOM commissioner. Sase Gunraj was clad in PPP colours accompanying former President Donald Ramotar on polling day May 11, 2015, hours before he had to sit around a table to tabulate and pronounce on election results. Additionally, there is Charles Corbin, who is the brother of former leader of the People’s National Congress Reform; Ms Sandra Jones, who was the Returning Officer when President David Granger was voted in as Leader of the PNCR in 2011 and lastly, Mr Vincent Alexander, who was director of elections for the PNC during the 2006 general and regional elections as well as a former senior executive of that party.

There is no doubt that some of these commissioners are well-intentioned, well-meaning individuals who take their roles seriously. One cannot escape the temptation of reminding our citizens of Mr Alexander’s astuteness, vigilance and knowledge of the system that prevented the PPP from stealing a narrow majority at the 2011 elections, when someone at GECOM had allegedly fiddled with the numbers. The PPP lost the majority in that election and three years later it was swept from government. The above is mentioned here, if only to emphasise that these circumstances must inexorably and eventually lead towards continuous conflict and challenges

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

You, me and suicide prevention

Dear Editor

CHOOSING to kill one’s self can happen to anyone: young or old, poor or rich, educated or illiterate, doctors and dock workers, Indian,Black,Amerindian, male or female. It can happen in a flash or over a long time. Guyana’s statistics show that death from suicide shows no favourites; it gives some clues as to who is more likely. This is done by looking back, not looking forward.

It seems to me that there is really no good way to predict who will actually kill themselves. If one listens to survivors, friends and family of the deceased, a major theme is one of surprise, “I never thought they would kill themselves.” So what is the average person supposed to do? Talk to everyone? Care about everyone? My easy answer would be, “Yes.” They are many persons

who are depressed; live in abusive relationships; have the love of their lives dump them; live a lonely existence; have had a long season in their lives where nothing is going right; experience an unwanted pregnancy; lose all one’s savings by gambling… and they do not go on to kill themselves or even attempt to kill themselves.

If we knew they were going to kill themselves, we would connect, communicate and care. The difficulty is that we don’t know who will go on and kill themselves… as not everyone who says they may kill themselves goes on to do it. We need to start the story of suicide prevention when it really hasn’t even begun.

So do we care about “everyone”? No, there are not too many Mother Theresas around and even she stayed in one city. I might suggest everyone we see, everyone we come into contact with daily or weekly.

It is no good waiting for those who are sad or depressed to reach out to us; it is one more burden that is just too much for them. It is a continuation of blaming the victim: “They are responsible for not reaching out and connecting and communicating and caring.” No, it is up to us who feel pretty good most days to reach out to the others we see having more difficult days, weeks or months than we.

Even this would not necessarily work, because we are not that good at observing others. Those contemplating suicide hide well behind “fake smiles” or just plain hiding. So we might want to act “as if” everyone we encounter might be suicidal.

But where is the glamour or prestige in saving someone’s life? We would all love to be heroes, but those star situations don’t come by often.

Our world needs a lot more than just “nice” people who may have a friendly word or a thoughtful deed for someone

else. Everyone needs these connecting gestures whether we are suicidal or not…And maybe if more of us did those communicating actions more often, then those who might have let sadness, loneliness and disappointment lead to suicidal thoughts would never get that far down the path to self-destruction.

I once knew a pretty wise woman who did pretty good raising her children. She would constantly say, “Be kind, be kind. And you will be a saint.” As I remember it was probably while there was a fight of some description going on. Life is way too complicated to have any one slogan cover everything, but kindness is a good place to start. I agree with M. Jane Cahill.

JOHN O’CONNOR Visiting Faculty, School of Nursing St Joseph Mercy Hospital

Guyana still reeling from boycott of 1976 Montreal Olympic Games Dear Editor, DID Guyana ever fully recover from boycotting the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games by former President L.F.S Burnham?

As a reminder, Guyana was slated to win gold by ‘Gilkes’ and to many, that boycott killed sports in Guyana (mainly track.)I have spoken to many over the years, the majority being Afro-Guyanese and they all agreed. Some even asked me not to take them down that avenue because that situation killed the souls of many and

they don’t want to revisit that era. ‘Burnham failed Guyana with that decision of boycotting. Yes, we stepped on the road to recovery, but nothing much to talk about. Can we get a total transformation? Yes, but we have to collectively be sheltered under one roof and firstly establish the objective of the mission and if we can afford $5 billion for sports during the 2017 budget.

A section of the media has started this new drama of blaming the current President, K.A.J Yassin (Guyana Olympic Association) for Guyana’s

in managing the commission and necessitate a comprehensive review of the way commissioners are selected and placed on GECOM. The Carter Center following the 2001 elections had stated: “In advance of future elections, Guyana should consider reforms that would reduce the politicised composition of GECOM and move toward an Electoral Management Body (EMB) with a structure, composition and operations that are more consistent with international good practices and obligations, thus ensuring the independence and impartiality of the EMB.” The Center had made similar observations in the 2006 and 2015 elections.

Additionally, the Commonwealth Secretariat on the same issue had recommended that “strong consideration should be given to ending the practice of having political appointees as members of GECOM.” The Commonwealth had said that the present formula compromises the effectiveness and integrity of the commission, which needs to be independent and above partisan politics at all levels.

At the time of writing this editorial, we were told that top officials from GECOM had sought legal advice on how best the current formula could be changed and it was determined that key questions such as: would a simple majority in Parliament suffice; would a two-thirds majority solve the problem

failure at the just concluded 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which to my mind in utter rubbish in it’s highest form.

Guyana is a democratic country and it’s everyone’s right to challenge Mr Yassin for his chair of the GOA and I welcome such a challenge, but don’t even try that cheap shot, because it will not and will never work in gaining points.

Mr Rawle Welch, what do you lack from challenging Mr Yassin for the presidency?

Mr R Welch,can you identify athletes whom you believe have the credentials for

scholarships? Have you ever met with any past president and discussed sports development? How successful was it?

Since former President Donald Ramotar commissioned/ opened the Leonora Synthetic Track, how many meets/visits have you supported and name them?

Attorneys Roysdale Forde, Nigel Hughes, David Fernandes,Vidushi Persaud are your choices for the GOA presidency which I totally respect. Can you say with certainty if they ever visited and

See page 7

or can the change only take place with a referendum?.

There is also a suggestion that a referendum is the only option which would satisfy the legalities associated with the problem. They are many who believe that since the enactment of the said Act 2 of 2000, which provided for the establishment of the permanent elections commission, was carried out without a referendum; similarly, any statutory change could be effected without a referendum. In fact, the current laws attending to the electoral commission composition were at best a transitional device in 1992 and have since exhausted their usefulness.

Even the Carter Center’s report pertaining to the 2001 elections stated: “The Carter Center Formula which was critical to the success of the breakthrough transitional elections in 1992 has allowed in subsequent elections, party interests to interfere with effective electoral administration.” In the said report, the center also advised that “as part of electoral reform efforts, Guyana should give careful consideration to alternative models, possibly reducing or eliminating political party representation on the commission and increasing the role of the independent members of civil society and professional experts. Here’s hoping that discussions will begin in earnest to deal with this very important issue.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

‘I didn’t snub Duncan’

Dear Editor

PLEASE refer to an article which appeared in your Guyana Chronicle issue of September 17, 2016: “King snubs Duncan in Mayor’s absence.”

I found the headline really interesting. However, it is seriously misleading.

The town clerk cannot snub any member of the elective council because they are the people’s representatives; I respect and honour every one of them.

When the matter of acting mayor was raised at council’s last statutory meeting held September 13, 2016, I said that the situation arose out of an unfortunate misunderstanding of the role of the deputy mayor, the by-laws, and Standing Orders, which guide every action of the city’s administration.

It is clear that Her Lordship leaving the jurisdiction does not necessarily activate the law, which stipulates that

the deputy mayor perform the duties of the office of mayor. The Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01, section 17 (1) states: “During any period when the Mayor is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his office, those functions shall be assumed and performed by the Deputy Mayor.” Precisely what triggers this particular law, is the inability of the mayor to perform the functions of the office, nothing else.

Two points here: First, if the mayor is out of the jurisdiction but can still perform the functions of the office, then there is no need for the deputy mayor or any councillor to perform those functions.

Again, if the mayor is out of the jurisdiction and there are no functions to perform, say for example, presiding over statutory or other council meetings or attending a State, official or other such functions, then there is no

need for anyone to perform those functions because there are none.

I was not advised by the mayor’s office or the council that the mayor would have been unable to perform any function of the office.

Second, beyond the law, there is a deeper and more fundamental philosophical and democratic reason, which must be taken into account. The mayor has to be elected by councillors of the municipality. It cannot be just assumed by anyone because the elected holder of that office is out of the jurisdiction. Perhaps, this is why successive councils chose to approve the period the deputy mayor or any other councillor (if the deputy mayor is unable to perform those functions) could perform the duties of the mayor; it is not automatic.

Even so, if the deputy mayor or a councillor were to perform the functions of

the office of mayor, sub-section (5) of the Municipal and District Councils Act stipulates the substance and the process, which allow the person performing such duties to be given support by administration. Section 17 (5) states: “In the event of the Deputy Mayor or a Councillor performing the functions of the office of Mayor for seven consecutive days or more, the Deputy Mayor or Councillor, as the case may be, shall, during such period, have at his disposal, in lieu of the Mayor, the funds placed at the disposal of the said office in the manner specified for the payment of such funds.”

My statement to the Council is consistent with the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01.

ROYSTON KING Town Clerk City of Georgetown

Target these areas during Operation Safeway Dear Sir

THE Guyana Police Force has recently embarked on “ Operation Safeway,” however, this exercise MUST include the clearing of the listed intersections.

1) Middle and East Streets 2) Camp and Middle Streets 3) Camp and Robb Streets (including clearing of all the areas that are defined with the sign “no parking between signs.”

4) Camp and Regent Streets.

5) Camp and Charlotte Streets ( this intersection is the worst, because a right turn cannot be made on Regent Street While at this, the Guyana Police Force can also stop all the private taxis that are blocking these important areas, because it is still illegal to operate private /hire cars Regards ROGER MOORE

Guyana still reeling...

From page 6 supported any ‘Track Meet?’

Which ones?

Have you made any effort to date to have a meeting with President David Granger or Vice-President Rupert Roopnaraine to discuss your proposals for sports development?

I expect every media house

to have the same interest with every sports fraternity elections in Guyana and not “side-out” GOA’s elections. All media houses should make it their duty to be present during the 2016 GOA elections...Perhaps they should eat before attending...

Yours Faithfully T.PEMBERTON

Fixing Labour

8

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

… PM talks up gov’t spending on community projects

By Shauna Jemmott

ACTING President and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said that with strengthened collaborations with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guyana now has an opportunity to re-enter history, restoring and advancing a decent work agenda.

This, he said will propel Guyana’s development through poverty reduction, gender equality, economic growth, and building strong institutions.

The acting President made the disclosure while delivering an address at the Guyana Decent Work Country Programme Consultation hosted by the Ministry of Social Protection in collaboration with the ILO. Prime Minister Nagamootoo said he has come to realise that the organisations, through consultations, mean “serious business”, incorporating and combining ideas and good practices from several countries to strengthen Guyana’s labour force.

“It seeks to advance the decent work agenda in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and compare and share good practices in the Caribbean.

It is a profound consultation on poverty reduction, gender equality, economic growth, strong institutions through social dialogue, all of which combined formed the bedrock of sustainable development,” Nagamootoo pointed out.

He welcomed the efforts since Government, in its 15 months in office, has found it a battle to revive the workforce, even launching a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the

Acting President and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo addressing the ILO and Ministry of Social Protection consultation forum operations of the public service sector as one way of moving on.

Government had inherited from the past regime a situation which could be considered a social nightmare with a somewhat distorted labour force and non-existent statistical facts concerning the unemployment rate, among other issues.

FRACTURED INDUSTRY While trying to restore the fractured

industry, Government has also approved billions of dollars for national and community projects, each of which supports job creation and sustenance.

“Since we came into office here 15 months ago, billions of dollars have been approved for these projects over the national and community levels. But state financed job creation projects alone would not suffice to bring the good life for our people,” PM Nagamootoo told the conference.

He said further that simultaneously the APNU/AFC Government has a burdened responsibility to “fix old problems and broken infrastructures”.

Recognising such even in its pre-election campaign, he quoted then Opposition Leader President David Granger, who had said in the coalition’s 2015 manifesto, “Our young people demand jobs, not jails and drop in centers! Our women and children demand safe homes, not safe houses!”

He said Granger had highlighted that Guyana had been “dragged to the pit of the human development index. We had become an unhappy country described then as the suicide capital of the world, which forced last year the then would be President to remark, ‘Happy people do not commit suicide’,” Nagamootoo said.

On that note, he told the ILO that it must indeed look at the Guyana reality of “what was” and against such “we must fight and correct”.

NIGHTMARISH LEGACY He admitted that the Government had not entered a new beginning but has since

been dealing with inherited issues, a nightmarish legacy.

“Simultaneously, we have to fix old problems and broken infrastructures. When we took office the social reality was like a nightmare. Unemployment figures were non-existent. (The country) hadn’t done any census. It (the unemployment rate) was like a state secret and it had been so 25 years before that, in the previous Government.”

On average, he said, however, about 40 per cent of Guyana’s youth population capable of being employed, was unemployed, and an additional average of 20 per cent of “able-bodied” people were without jobs, in the not so distant past.

Nagamootoo said such situation made it difficult for Government to plan and craft an agenda for the labour force, since such could not be done on mere speculations and with the absence of facts. “… when you have a situation like that it is difficult to plan; it is difficult to craft an agenda, because you are not responding factually, empirically to any particular need.”

The Prime Minister also noted that in order to talk about decent work, which is the focus of the consultations, the organisations must address the working poor.

“You cannot talk about decent work if you do not address the working poor.”

He congratulated the Director of Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Claudia Coenjaerts and her organisation for stepping in a second time to help create, “a great opportunity for us to re-enter history”.

The conference continues today.

Directors of Broadcasting Authority being investigated for corruption - Essequibo broadcaster claims they tried to force him to sell operations CHAIRMAN of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) Leonard Craig said allegations of corruption levelled against board members Anthony Vieira and Victor Insanally will be fully investigated.

Kaieteur News on Wednesday reported Kenwin Charles, a broadcaster in Essequibo as saying that two GNBA board members tried to force him to sell his operations to a prominent businessman.

In a statement to the media, Craig said if the allegations can be substantiated, it will constitute a major blow to the integrity of the members concerned.

“I will carry out a complete investigation of the facts relating to matters raised by Mr Charles, I will review the reports of the meetings, elicit a response from the members concerned and will release

Anthony Vieira an official statement in the coming days,” he said.

According to the article, Craig and Vieira do not get along, and this has been hampering the work of the board.

Craig, while not denying the claim, pointed out that he is not unwilling to work with Vieria, though Vieira has

been “abusive” and “obstructionist” towards him.

“I have displayed extreme restraint and immeasurable patience and have continually pledged to work with him and all other members of the board to achieve the best objectives and ensure [the] public interest is served,” he said, even as he tried to explain the slothfulness of the work of the board.

“I wish to admit that our work is not as advanced as I had envisaged it should have been at this juncture. This is attributable to the fact that when we assumed office, the Authority was a far cry from what a regulator of this nature should be. As much as there was a regulator in place, the broadcasting landscape remained largely unregulated, weak administrative and compliance structures existed. As such, through its various committees, we

Leonard Craig set out to build an Authority literally from scratch,” the GNBA Chair said.

Since assuming office, the board has developed rules of procedures for the operation and functioning of the board; commissioned a website (located at www.gnba. gov.gy) and established a social media presence; drafted guidelines which include

a code of practice for the monitoring of broadcasting; conducted a limited broadcasting survey to help inform of the realities of the sector, which will help to shape policies; drafted new regulations for the management of the broadcasting landscape, including the establishment of zones and new and more manageable fee structures; reviewed and established new financial structures and procurement policies; engendered a marked improvement in the relationship between the authority and broadcasters; implement human resource policies which lifted the morale of the entire organisation; held several meetings and consultations with broadcasters to solicit their views on developing a well regulated environment; and adopted a programme-rating regime to ensure that broadcasting in Guyana falls

in line with internationally accepted moral practice draft guidelines for the evaluation of new applications.

“All of these are necessary and unavoidable forerunners to the development of a well-managed, transparent and level broadcasting landscape.

“I understand the impatience of those who have made applications to become broadcasters and those wishing to see a reversal of the barefaced giveaway of the national airwaves by the then President Bharat Jagdeo and wish to assure those applicants and the general public that I share this burden and is [sic] working hard to guide the board in the direction of reviewing all existing licences and grant new ones in time for January 2017,” the GNBA Chair concluded.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

NCN had no hard feelings towards Smith, Archibald-Hawke

9

–– says communication specialist

THE management of the National Communication Network (NCN) is now doing damage control after attracting widespread criticism over its initial decision to suspend its Sports Editor, Jocelle Archibald-Hawke for a period of one month without pay, over a Facebook comment.

The state-run agency was also bashed over its decision to remove Natasha Smith from the anchor’s chair due to her pregnancy.

Last week, NCN’s Board of Directors asked Communications Practitioner, Abraham B Poole to examine the facts, and deter-

Natasha Smith mine whether the charges of gender bias and accusations of discrimination are justified.

After meeting with the Chairman of the Board Bish Panday and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lennox Cornette, Poole was reportedly given access to the relevant management meeting minutes having a bearing on the issues.

According to a statement issued by NCN on Wednesday, the Communications Practitioner subsequently met with members of NCN’s Management Team and later with the same team and Smith to acquire additional information.

CAMARADERIE “The camaraderie observed and the commitments expressed by all of the members of the Management Committee contradict the serious accusations and vehement condemnation that NCN Management has been subjected to in recent weeks.

I am surprised that there was absolutely no split in the opinion of all the managers that the management intervention, which unfortunately led to the major misunderstanding, was designed to improve the work of NCN and that there was neither overt nor covert gender bias,” Poole is quoted as saying.

According to the statement, Smith’s immediate supervisor, who conveyed the decision by management, affirmed that the producer was not removed from the television set due to her pregnancy nor was her pregnancy an issue discussed at the management meeting.

However, the minutes of the August 8 meeting, during which Smith was brought up, tells a different story. According to the minutes seen by Guyana Chronicle, the CEO asked that Smith be replaced following his request for a tighter shot (image) due to her present condition.

“With regard to this, the CEO stated that the anchor and wardrobe should coincide with the montage. However, given the present condition of Ms Natasha Smith, the CEO asked that a tight shot be done to remedy the view,” the minutes read. Following that discussion, the CEO recommended that Smith be replaced.

Despite this fact, NCN is maintaining that Smith’s initial removal from the anchor’s chair had nothing to do with her pregnancy.

“This was of deep concern to me to determine whether a potentially good management decision was unintentionally discriminatory or was being employed intentionally to the detriment of the career of the employee,” Poole said.

DIFFICULTIES IN COMMUNICATION CHANNEL Though his report is still to be completed and submitted, NCN said Poole has already identified a number of difficulties in the communications chain and these are

correctable and preventable.

“The diligence of the Human Resource Manager impressed me favourably and the empathy conveyed to Ms Smith with the assurance that neither herself nor her pregnancy was the reason for the improvement measure in the presentation of the NCN news,” he claimed.

On the circumstances relative to Archibald-Hawke, Poole is reported as saying that NCN is constrained by trust and expected confidentiality from disclosing an employee’s details, even if such disclosures would patently justify its managerial actions.

“It is to the credit of NCN, notwithstanding serious and disturbing infractions, that as a good employer it has opted to be hopeful that discipline would result in change. Further, the compassion that has persuaded the management of NCN to review and modify by attenuating the disciplinary measure must be seen as an investment in the future of the employee and must not be viewed as organi-

Jocelle Archibald-Hawke sational weakness.

“I am respectful of management’s decision, for, should NCN degenerate into an organisation without rules and discipline and is unregulated then it could not fulfil its mission.

“I also wanted to discover whether the NCN work environment was inherently un-

NCN CEO Lennox Cornette friendly to pregnant employees. I did not find any such indications. In fact, colleagues who have been pregnant while in the employ of NCN speak of NCN as a supportive environment,” Poole is reported as saying.

Reacting to the preliminary disclosures, the NCN Board Chairman made it clear that he was not interested in leading an organisation that was guilty in any form of any inhumane practices.

He contended that NCN is an ideal platform from which to foster the rights of women and display gender equity in the workplace.

“Our policy is visible daily in our programmes and presenters,” the Chairman said, adding: “I could go on to speak of a proposal in the next budget for a facility specifically intended to benefit staff with very young children. And this was all written before the unfounded accusations.”

Earlier this month, NCN buckled under pressure, and during a meeting with the Guyana Press Association (GPA) agreed to have Smith return on air. She had returned but subsequently proceeded on maternity leave.

It was only this week, however, that the state-run agency took a decision to pay Archibald-Hawke her salary in full although she will remain on suspension until September 29.

Guyana congratulated for ratifying ...

From page 3

while he can’t measure the response of fellow leaders, his message of a ‘green state’ was well received. He said the ‘green state’ is consistent with the UN COP1 Agreement, the Paris Agreement and the Agreement for sustainable development goals (SDGs).

“I do feel that although, even in the absence of feedback it has been very positive. I didn’t strictly come to discuss world affairs; I came to discuss Guyana’s ability to fulfil its obligations under the accord and agreement.

The SDGs are central to our development and we have extracted from the SDGs the green elements which in my view can satisfy Guyana’s needs for economic development, energy, for environmental protection and also for the employment of young people.”

President Granger believes it is the right time that the UN has thrown its “weight behind that programme” and noted that Guyana’s adoption of the green agenda coincides with the objectives of the UN. He said Guyana’s mes-

sage over the past year has been consistent and will continue to be consistent as he continues bilateral meetings.

“We feel that the visit so far to the UNGA has served Guyana’s national interest and has given Guyana an image in the international community as a reliable partner on the entire green agenda and climate change agenda.”

Asked whether Guyana has received support given its climate change agenda, the President said since 1989 when it conceptualised the Iwokrama project. “We have

attracted support from a variety of countries, most notably Norway and also quite recently Germany… there have been different initiatives from Japan, Netherlands and other countries in various areas, forestry, environment, protected areas…I would say we are likely to receive more assistance, particularly from those countries which generate a lot of greenhouse gases.”

President Granger explained that the position Guyana has taken is that the country’s forests “actually helps

the earth to breathe” and as such, Guyana should be seen as “an asset to mother earth.”

Guyana’s advocacy he said is timely, as the international community is more attentive now than in previous years.

Guyana has committed to improve timber monitoring and maintain a high level of timber legality; increase value-added activities in the forestry sector so as to augment carbon storage in long-use wood products; intensify the sustainable management of our indigenous

communities which own and manage 14% of our national territory; introduce a national Emissions Reduction Programme (ERP) to add two million hectares under conservation, encourage more efficient mining and logging activities and implement Reduced Impact Logging(RIL) and invest in solar power, wind power and hydropower to transition more rapidly to renewable sources of energy and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels up to 2020.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Granger lays out Guyana’s path towards a ‘green state’

THE United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday heard of this country’s push to becoming a ‘green’ state, when President David Granger gave his second address to that august body since being elected as the Guyanese Leader.

He said the country’s efforts along with those of other small states can be derailed unless there is a collective commitment by the international community to collaborate with states that are determined to pursue a low-carbon, low-emission path to sustainable development and to constraining the rise in global temperature.

Granger reminded world leaders of the difficult road from Stockholm 1972 to Paris 2015 and noted that words of the Declaration of the UN Conference on the Human Environment remain relevant today.

President Granger said the General Assembly of world leaders has the opportunity and obligation to defend and improve the

human environment for present and future generations thereby ensuring the road ahead is much easier for posterity. “Venezuela’s aggression should not be allowed to threaten our children’s future,” he declared.

Meanwhile, the President said Guyana has recognised the interlocking objectives of the Climate Change Agenda and the Agreement and realises that the establishment of a ‘green state’ is consistent with building climate change resilience while mitigating the effects of climate change. “Guyana promises to continue to work towards the Agenda’s goals, particularly, by contributing to limiting increases in global temperatures; and, work towards a ‘green path’ of development that is in accord with the Agreement’s nationally-determined commitments.”

He told world leaders of Guyana’s position within the Guiana Shield, which spans 2.7M km and is larger than Greenland, and shared

by six South American countries– Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, La Guyane, Suriname and Venezuela.

With a green canopy of rainforest which envelopes more than 85 per cent of its land mass, Guyana has the

President David Granger second highest forest cover on earth.

“Guyana is pursuing a ‘green path’ so as to under-

stand better how to protect its precious biodiversity and manage its complex ecosystems, sustainably,” he stated.

President Granger highlighted the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (IICRCD) which is located in the centre of the country and at the heart of the Guiana Shield and called it a testament of Guyana’s commitment to sustainable development and environmental conservation.

Guyana, he said is an important partner in the global environmental movement and entered into an agreement with the Kingdom of Norway to provide the world with a relevant, replicable model of how REDD+ [the mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation] can align the development objectives of forest countries.

Additionally, the country has also entered agreements with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Germany, the State of Japan and other

states and international organisations and reaffirms its commitment to Goal 15 of the Agenda under which UN Member States pledged to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and also halt biodiversity loss.

Guyana is continually improving the management of its ecosystems and natural resources so as to conserve its forests and their rich biodiversity and will fulfill its obligation contained in the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Commitments’ under the Paris Agreement.

Additionally, President Granger said his country will “deepen its research” by establishing an International Institute of Biodiversity at the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development. That Institute, he noted, will allow scientists and students from the Caribbean and around

the world to come to visit Guyana to increase their knowledge of vital ecosystems and to share in the study of the Guiana Shield’s amazing biodiversity.

Guyana, he disclosed, is developing a comprehensive Emissions Reduction Programme (ERP) as part of its responsibility to contribute to global solutions to the threat of climate change. “We will set aside an additional two million hectares of our territory for conservation purposes,” said President Granger, who noted that his country will pursue a low carbon growth trajectory to enhance its contribution to the campaign against climate change through the preservation of its forests within the REDD+ mechanism. As such, the country will contribute, up to 48.7 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, to the global mitigation effort through a programme of avoided emissions.

Nurse alleges wrongful dismissal –– Prison Director says procedures were not followed

By Shauna Jemmott RUEL Alleyne-John, a nurse attached to the Guyana Prison Service is alleging wrongful dismissal, but Prisons Director Carl Graham said she did not follow the correct procedure in submitting a medical certificate or any request for sick leave, resulting in stern action being taken against her.

Alleyne-John, the lone nurse attached to the New Amsterdam jail contacted the Guyana Chronicle and expressed dissatisfaction with her dismissal, even after she had submitted a copy of her medical.

She reportedly fell sick on a vacation trip to the United States of America (USA) on her annual leave.

The nurse said her medical certificate is genuine, but she was unaware that she was required to report to the Guyana Consulate in the USA and have her medical stamped by that organisation before being forwarded to prison officials.

Alleyne-John said she spent her vacation leave in the months of April and May in New York.

“I reported sick after I get sick. I call through Deputy Director of Prisons. I send him a picture of my medical. He say it [is]

ok. It [medical] says I was able to work from August 1, 2016. I come back and send it to Berbice prison,” the woman explained.

Apart from that, she said she had reported sick to the officer-in-charge at the prison, who was then responsible for communicating such to the Office of the Director of Prisons.

Alleyne-John said on her return, she telephoned the New Amsterdam Prison to find out what shift she was working, but the secretary to the Officer-in-Charge told her she could not work.

The secretary informed her that the Officer-in-Charge said she was on recommended dismissal.

While she stayed at home all August, she collected a letter of dismissal later that month, and she also observed other things which seemed unusual.

“I collect a dismissal letter the last week in August that was mail [sic] to my mom[sic] address,” the distraught woman said.

She also observed that she stopped receiving salary in July, and $41,000 was deducted the previous month.

“If I was on recommend dismissal [sic] why my salary stop in July? If I report sick in May and June month $41,000 was deducted from [my] salary and up to

now I [cannot]get it,” she told the Guyana Chronicle.

“My [dismissal letter] say my dismissal has been approved. That’s all! Under no grounds! I bring my medical, I asked before I come [and] they say it’s ok. What must I do now?”

In the dismissal letter shown to the Guyana Chronicle addressed to Ruel Alleyne-John, Woman Prison Officer #3228, the entire body of the letter signed by Graham read, “Be informed that approval has been granted for you to be dismissed from the Guyana Prison Service with effect from 2016-07-01. You are to hand in immediately to the storekeeper of [the] Georgetown Prison all Government property issued to you.”

The woman said when she reported sick while still in the USA, the prison officials never informed her that she needed to take her medical to be stamped by the Guyana Consulate in the USA. “That is not fair! But he didn’t tell me that. It is a medical. I see no reason for dismissing me and I brought a medical.”

Meanwhile, when the Guyana Chronicle contacted Graham, he said Alleyne-John failed to follow the correct procedure, and the procedure and reason for her dismissal were “quite transparent.”

Graham said he never received a call

from Alleyne-John informing him that she was sick.

“She said nothing! She hadn’t the courtesy to call, nothing!” Graham told the Guyana Chronicle.

He said other employees who fell ill during their vacation sent their requests for sick leave, with medical stamped by the office of the Guyana Consulate, through the Ministry of Public Security.

Concerning pay deductions, Graham said, “We cannot pay officers while they are off the job – or having any public official drawing Government’s money. This is an area that we are short-handing in. I cannot have her drawing money under false pretence!”

He said he sent a letter to the ministry and her dismissal was recommended.

Graham also recommended that Alleyne-John write a formal complaint to the Minister Khemraj Ramjattan explaining what went wrong.

“That was my first time in [the] USA on leave. I don’t even know the place.

Is not like well it’s the second time or a normal thing. But I am not one of the lucky ones, so I was sent home for no reason after five years of service and all my benefits going down the drain,” the mother of two told the Guyana Chronicle.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Mother turns in teen suspect in bus park shooting

11

- woman shot during police chase discharged from hospital

By Rabindra Rooplall RELATIVES of a Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara (WCD) woman are calling on the Commissioner of Police to ensure that a thorough investigation is done into her shooting at the Timehri bus park Tuesday.

Jean Rodrigues, 54, of Crane Housing Scheme, WCD was shot in her lower back after being caught in the firing line between police and suspected thieves. The mother of 10 was discharged Wednesday from the Georgetown Public Hospital in a stable condition.

Police revealed that the woman was shot by a bandit who was being chased by ranks in the area.

The mother of the 18-year-old suspect turned him over to police yesterday and he has since denied that he was in possession of a firearm. However, the police officer who fired his weapon during the chase is under investigation.

MY SON IS NOT A CRIMINAL The mother of the teen, Linda Kim Forde told the media that her son was heading into a bus when a police officer pulled out his gun and shot in the air.

“My son started to run, when (the police) see my son running down Parliament Building, back there, he don’t know what the boy running for… and he open fire behind my son and end up hitting a woman sitting on a bench,” she explained.

The visibly upset woman further noted, “And they say meh son is a criminal and a thief, and how he snatch some chain and he had some bag, but they never expect that the child they shoot behind mother would have turned him in to police.”

In expressing her disappointment with the actions of the police, Forde proudly displayed her son’s trophies and certificates from school stating “the police force got to stop this thing, I want the President to look into this and the Commissioner of Police, [my son] is not no bandit, they should stop covering up for their matti police.”

She explained that her son attends Chase Academy and is a football player who has earned several awards.

Meanwhile, the injured woman’s

daughter revealed that her mother was discharged at 06:00hrs Wednesday without any proper medication or dressing on the wound she received as a result of the gunshot.

“When my father said she get discharged, I said ok maybe everything is ok and she was looked after, but when we realise the situation we come at Brickdam Police Station and they said an investiga-

Injured: Jean Rodrigues tion is being done,” she explained.

Anthony Persaud, a relative and eyewitness who was at the scene at the time of the shooting said he was showing his grandson two rats that were scurrying around the bus park when he heard two loud explosions that sounded like gunshots. This he said was heard before an unarmed man ran past the injured woman.

“Then I heard her [Jean Rodrigues] daughter said she get shoot and we see her bleeding at her lower back, we hold her up and carry her to a taxi, we went to the hospital and is until midnight they admitted her to the hospital,” he explained.

Persaud said he was told by the police that the bullet grazed a bench before hitting Rodrigues. Relatives agreed that such actions in public cannot be condoned and whoever is guilty should be brought to justice.

Drama at St Margaret’s school - woman assaults student

A WOMAN was arrested by the police Wednesday after slapping a Grade Three student of St. Margaret’s Primary School, Georgetown.

She was subsequently placed on station bail.

Reports revealed that the woman visited the school and asked the security guard to speak with a specific teacher.

She then proceeded to the classroom where the student was and slapped the pupil because of an issue the child had with her son.

Police said someone then made con-

tact with the assaulted child’s parents and a confrontation and commotion ensued at the school once they arrived. The woman rushed to the head-teacher’s office to be rescued; the head-teacher then summoned the police. The woman was then carried away to the station by three female ranks.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday police from the Criminal Investigation Department had also visited the school when a report was made that spent shells were seen in a garbage receptacle.

The police uplifted the shells and investigations are continuing.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Plantation Peter’s Hall without electricity –– residents call on authorities to remedy situation

RESIDENTS of Plantation Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara, are calling on the relevant authorities to do something urgently to address their electricity and security woes.

Otherwise known as Peter’s Hall New Scheme, the area at reference has

reportedly been without electricity since 2013 when houselots were given out there.

One frustrated resident, who gave her name as Rhonda, told the Guyana Chronicle that she has been living in the area for the past two years, and it has been a struggle ever

since without electricity.

“We talked to the secretary of Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan,” she said, “and they told us that the scheme was earmarked for electricity since 2015. Now the ministry is claiming until 2017.”

The woman said resi-

dents have time and again attempted to raise the matter with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), but to no avail.

Another woman named Kunti Baskh said since she moved into the area, several persons in authority, including officials of the past administration, have paid them visits and promised faithfully to look into the matter, but never did.

“They just come to get our votes and never look back,” Baskh said, add-

With thick vegetation, this area is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and snakes

One of the many streets in Plantation Peter’s Hall which has no utility poles or electricity connection ing that because the area is heavily populated and does not have electricity, it has been subject to numerous break-ins.

Many of the houses, she said, are either new or under construction, which again poses another problem, in that

they are fair game for thieves on the lookout for building materials and whatever else of value they can find.

Another problem to which the area is subject, she said, is the indiscriminate dumping of garbage, thereby causing it to be-

come a veritable breeding ground for mosquitoes and other vermin.

The situation is exacerbated by frequent flooding, due to the overgrowth of vegetation which in turn causes many a drain to become clogged.

This plot of land was turned into a swamp due to poor drainage in the area

13

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

MMC security guard charged with murder of colleague

THE MMC Security guard who allegedly shot and killed his colleague during an argument on September 17, was charged on Tuesday with murder.

Dead: Hubert Verwayne Kevin Stephens of La Penitence, Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Alisha George at the

Cove and John Magistrate’s Court and was not required to plead to the charge. He was unrepresented and was remanded to prison until October 26, 2016.

The court heard that on the day in question, Stephens shot Hubert Verwayne, a driver of the same security firm at Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara. Verwayne was a father of four and resided at 710 Block 8, Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.

The accused reportedly told detectives that “they keep f*^#* around my daughter,” and he seemed to be in a daze.

Initial enquiries revealed that the driver was in the company of several other employees when the suspect, armed with a shotgun, approached in a rage, accusing the deceased and others of making ill remarks about his daughter and he then

opened fire, killing Verwayne.

One other employee received shotgun wounds to his left hand and was receiving medical attention.

Sleuths said the man is not saying anything much but made it known that he was being tantalised by his colleagues at the worksite, causing him to lose control.

According to the wife of the deceased, Shelly Verwayne, a postmortem examination on Monday morning revealed that her loved one died from a gunshot injury to the chest. The woman, who is a beverage vendor, said the death of her husband of 10 years is a shock because he left home for work as normal and next she heard he was dead.

They had been together for 18 years. She said her husband celebrated his 36th birthday two Saturdays ago.

He had been working with the MMC Security

Service for the past two and a half months and

was a part-time route 32 mini-bus driver.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Lusignan prison escapees still on the run THE Guyana Prison Service (GPS) is urging citizens to report any sighting of two inmates who escaped from the Lusignan Prison while working outdoors on September 19.

The two men have been identified as 22-yearold Rajendra Deonarine, of Richmond Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast and 26-year-old Fauouse Shakir, of La Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara.

Any information on their whereabouts can be reported to the nearest police station or the George-

town Prison on telephone number 226-5855/6. This newspaper understands that Deonarine was serving a two-year sentence for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, while Shakir was sentenced to three years for several robbery offences.

Police sources disclosed that the men were clearing

WANTED: Fauouse Shakir

WANTED: Rajendra Deonarine

overgrown vegetation from the penitentiary’s fence when they made good their escape.

Meanwhile, police officials said that ranks are assisting in any means necessary with the recapture of the escapees and their relatives have been questioned.

Cocaine in suitcase

3 years jail, $25.6M fine for Berbice businesswoman A 44-YEAR-OLD woman of New Amsterdam, Berbice was on Wednesday sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined $25.6M by City Magistrate Ann McLennan after she pleaded guilty to the possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Tricia Elizabeth Loo, a mother of four, admitted that on September 20, 2016 she had in her possession 9.510kilograms of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

According to Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor, Konyo Sandiford-Thompson, on the day in question Loo was Tricia Elizabeth Loo an outgoing passenger on a Caribbean Airlines flight BW484 destined for New York and during a routine procedure, the suitcases were placed on the scanner and a suspicious image was seen.

She was then questioned by the officer, where she admitted that the suitcases belong to her. Loo cooperated with the officers and handed over her travel documents when she was asked to do so.

A search was conducted and it revealed that both suitcases had a false bottom and top, bearing transparent plastic parcels with a whitish substance.

Loo was informed by the officer of their suspicion and she was arrested and taken to the CANU headquarters, where the drug was weighed in her presence.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Better aircraft tracking systems by next year

THE need to secure Guyana’s airspace is even more evident in the wake of a recent aircraft find that has left investigators baffled as to the facts and players attached to the vessel.

Without the knowledge of aviation personnel, a twin-engine Cessna aircraft entered Guyana’s airspace and quietly landed at the Yupukari Airstrip, Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) because of the country’s limited ability to track movement in its airspace.

Director–General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) retired Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Fields told the Guyana Chronicle that improved security of the country’s airspace was expected by the first quarter of next year.

Fields, a former army pilot and seasoned aviator noted that currently, Guyana’s eyes and ears in the sky are highly

dependent on radio communication. To manage air traffic and monitor movement in the country’s airspace, the standard procedure was that pilots and aircraft operators

However, the GCAA is working feverishly to extend the operations of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system (ADS-B) which was intro-

way down to Port Kaituma and Annai,” Fields said. He pointed out that the Authority was presently working with a short-range scope and the extension of the system de-

The twin-engine Cessna, which has been secured by the Joint Services after it was discovered on Tuesday last were required to radio in at particular checkpoints or boundaries and before they attempt to land at locations, particularly in the hinterland regions.

duced in 2014 and incorporated within the local air traffic control system.

“By the first quarter we should have good coverage to see (track) aircraft all the

pended on the antennas that were being put up in various locations. Agencies such as Digicel and E-Networks are helping to facilitate the process.

Fields explained that ADS-B allows for tracking of aircraft travelling at high or low altitudes and can also be picked up depending on the system’s reach. “This (ADS-B) system is very important,” Fields explained.

He confirmed that it could help track downed aircraft and save lives once the corresponding equipment was onboard. “But it also helps to improve the management of air traffic and locate where they (aircraft) are for better management of the airspace.”

With the country’s rising oil sector, investment prospects and extended runway at our largest airport, Fields agreed that air traffic was expected to have a massive increase and Guyana had to prepare itself.

Under the last GCAA head, Zulphicar Mohamed, ADS-B was described as a US$500,000 surveillance system reaching tracking heights

of some 24,000 feet. The system facilitates sharing of information between ground stations and aircraft since it reports the activities taking place in the pilot’s environment and records for ATCs the location of an aircraft, its speed and altitude.

Guyana has been known as a connecting hub for drug traffickers and for the movement of other cross-border contraband leaving South America for northern states.

Investigators are therefore examining whether the abandoned Cessna which entered Guyana untracked was involved in illegal activities.

Prior to this aircraft being found, in 2014 a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible (SPSS) vessel (submarine) was found in the North West District in the country’s interior, believed to be used for ferrying drugs across the Atlantic Ocean.

TIP Task Force targets schools in awareness programme THE Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) will soon roll out a public awareness programme targeting secondary schools.

“We had an idea coming out of Task Force members of having flash mobs done … to basically attract students’ attention and have them focusing on the issue and actually gaining knowledge while being entertained as well,” Coordinator (acting) of the Ministerial Task Force,

Oliver Profitt, told the Government Information Agency (GINA).

The awareness programme will be targeting Forms Four and Five students with eventual plans to expand the programme to other school levels.

The Task Force has been conducting interactive awareness sessions in schools across the country. Other awareness programmes that were undertaken by the Task Force include walkthroughs in markets in

Coordinator (ag) Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, Oliver Profitt

Georgetown and Berbice and the dissemination of informational paraphernalia on TIP. “We want persons to understand that Trafficking in Persons does not affect the Task Force only, it affects everyone, and it can affect anyone. Therefore, by us doing this awareness programme, it gives us the ability to actually be able to play a part,” said Profitt.

The general public “has an idea” of what TIP is, but one of the aims of the Task Force

is to ensure that persons “have a full understanding of the actual issue; how it could affect them and others,” Profitt explained.

However, the Task Force has been challenged in covering Guyana’s vast terrain and dissemination of information. “Obviously we’re well supported by the government, but funding will always be an issue in terms of getting the information out so we appreciate any kind of help we can receive,”

Profitt said.

Public awareness programmes are a major thrust of the TIP Action Plan which was completed this year. The twoyear strategy is scheduled for public release later this year. Many of the activities outlined in the plan are expected to be undertaken in the following year pending approval of the Task Force’s budget.

Profitt said the Task Force is proposing a budget of around $20M. (GINA)

Funeral homes trained in business standards THE Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) concluded a three-day training session on Wednesday for approximately 25 representatives of more than a dozen funeral homes across Guyana.

The training was held at the Grand Coastal Hotel, East Coast Demerara and dealt with the GYS 231 Standard Requirements for good management practices for small and medium enterprises.

According to GNBS Public Relations Officer, Lloyd David, the CARICOM standard specifies requirements for a management system where micro, small and medium sized enterprises, including funeral homes, need to demonstrate their ability to consistently meet applicable requirements for quality, environ-

mental and occupational safety and health.

“It is anticipated that through this training more funeral homes will recognise the need to implement standards even as the GNBS is prepared to provide its consultancy services to any business desirous of doing so.”

The standard, he said, also aims to enhance the performance of businesses through the process of continual improvement and assurance of conformity to applicable quality.

Prior to the training, David noted that a small number of funeral homes had approached the GNBS expressing interest in the implementation of a management system in their operations to ensure quality, consistency and efficiency in the services they provide.

Chearissa Wilson, Technical Officer of the GNBS conducted the training for funeral homes reps

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

Education COI goes to Region One

THE Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the education system recently concluded in Region One, Barima-Waini.

The public consultations were held in Moruca, Port Kaituma and M a b a r u m a w h e re a number of issues were highlighted and recommendations made.

Teachers, parents, and regional education officials were among those who turned out to make their contributions. COI Chairman Ed Caesar said he was very pleased with the attendance in the Region One leg of the consultations. “Persons were even standing outside the venue with umbrellas … So I was pleased, very pleased with the attendance,” Caesar stated.

One of the issues raised by teachers in the Region is that they have to conduct classes in an unclean and unfavourable learning environment. “Teachers and parents have been tasked according to the report of the consultations with having the place

cleaned and our teachers are not very happy with that,” the Chairman explained.

A request was made by both teachers and parents for the COI to make the necessary representations for the appointment of cleaners to the schools.

Teachers and parents also spoke of indiscipline exhibited by students and called for the placement of welfare officers in schools.

The problem of indiscipline, the chairman said, is not a one-sided matter as “The welfare officers must not deal only with students, but also teachers.”

Additionally, upon conclusion of the consultation, the chairman noted that it was realised that teachers are very much interested in their students’ development. However, Caesar pointed out that teachers are not given the opportunity for higher education; hence the development of the students is stagnated.

“There should be facilities to allow teachers

A section of the gathering in Moruca, Region One during the consultations of the Commission of Inquiry into the state of the education system

Chairman of the Education Commission of Inquiry, Ed Caesar in discussion with a resident from Port Kaituma, Region One

either online, if the system is put in place internet-wise or to be permitted to go to the University of Guyana (UG) to get further training so they can impact on the development of the young people,” the chairman stated.

Another concern coming out of the consultations was feedback from teachers and parents which stated that they are concerned that nothing will be done to address their problems. “I am going to ensure that the necessary recommendations are made and the minister has indeed promised he will do whatever he has to do to cause some better things to happen, based on the recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry,” Caesar stated.

The Education COI will be taken to Bartica, Linden and Lethem next. The COI commenced in April and is expected to conclude in December 2016.

(GINA)

Sister of boys killed in Drop-In Centre fire reportedly ingests bleach

- mother claims - Child Care Protection Agency investigating TWO months after losing her two sons in a fire at the government-run Drop-In Centre, Sonia George is making claims that her youngest child ingested bleach carelessly left within her reach at the headquarters of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA).

The shocking claim is being investigated by the CCPA, director Anne Green said Wednesday evening.

The mother claims that the girl, who is 20 months old, ingested the substance on Thursday, September 15 and was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital the same afternoon and was hospitalised for five days.

George told the Guyana

Chronicle that a visit was scheduled for her and her husband at the Child Care and Protection Agency on Broad Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, where the children were brought out from the state-run facility in Sophia to see them.

She recalled that the youngest child was sitting on her father’s lap and after a while was allowed to walk around.

According to the mother, moments after getting out of their view, the child came back to her father, holding a sanitary cup with a substance looking like water and she was coughing. The father took the cup from her and put it to his nose, spontaneously

blurting out: “My God, this is bleach this child drink!”

The mother related that this incident was brought to the attention of the CCPA Director, Ms. Anne Greene, who cautioned them that they should not have the child walking around picking up things.

George said the following day, around 09:30hrs, she received a call from the CCPA, inviting her to come down to the office. “When I heard that I became concerned and asked what for; then they told me it was in connection with my child who had drunk the substance.”

On arriving at the office, she said she was told that they had taken the child to

hospital, but not because of drinking anything, but to determine her state of health and the doctor had advised that she was anaemic and had admitted her to the Paediatric Ward. “I was surprised to hear that admission, and reminded the staff that it is two and half months since my children are in custody of the Child Care facility, so I couldn’t understand that.”

However, she (the mother) went down to the hospital where she saw her child and also saw a care-giver from the CCPA overseeing her. The mother made subtle enquiries while there, and found out that the child was being treated for her stomach.

She remained warded for five days and was discharged on Tuesday, September 19, after which she was taken back to the child care facility.

Little did the beleaguered mother know that there was more trouble lurking. She said the same Tuesday she was waiting at the Broad Street facility for a scheduled visit with her eldest daughter, when she saw a case worker and made enquiries about the child.

She was told that the nineyear-old was not well and so was not brought over.

“I immediately asked what was wrong and why was I not informed before.”

She said it was then that she learnt that the child had taken sick in school. She vomited, was complaining of headaches and abdominal pains and was getting fever,” her mother said.

“I was so shocked and upset, I didn’t take it lightly and told the staff that if anything happens to any one of

my children, I would not take it lightly,” Sonia George said.

She recalled that she had asked to see the case worker, but was told that the woman had gone to Linden to attend a rally. “So it looks clearly that my daughter’s sickness doesn’t matter,” George said.

She said that with her two sons dead and now her only two daughters having taken ill within a few days of each other, she is asking God to give her faith.

The CCPA Director admitted that the young child was hospitalized, but said no evidence was found to suggest that the child had ingested bleach.

And about the claims that the nine-year- old had taken sick suddenly, Green replied. “I think that this whole thing has to be investigated thoroughly.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

Art, sports being introduced to St. Cuthbert’s Secondary STUDENTS of St. Cuthbert’s Mission Secondary School will soon benefit from the introduction of arts and sports which are expected to aid in promoting well rounded students.

Renowned Guyanese artist George Simon is working with the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs to introduce art at the school.

St Cuthbert’s is the only indigenous community in Region Four.

Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe

This was disclosed by Minister within the Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe in an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA).

Minister Garrido-Lowe said that many times the students complain of school being boring. They are of the view that school activities on the coast are more exciting.

“We want to encourage painting and art in the school to have an exhibition during

that time too so we really want them to think that their school is special, that we are paying an interest in them,” the Minister explained.

The Minister said that to give art a boost, there will be the establishment of a centre where artists in St. Cuthbert can go and practice.

“I am looking at building like a benab… where everybody who wants to paint or carve can go to this benab,” Minister Lowe stated.

While the benab will afford youths the chance to practice and develop their skills, it can also serve as a tourist attraction for those who want to witness an artist practicing his or her craft.

Additionally, there will be the introduction of a schools’ football tournament. The competition is scheduled to commence in November, 2016 with the aim of having the game held annually. The school has already received

from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs sports gear to help with the preparati0n of the tournament.

“I think it’s a grand idea,” Minister Lowe stated, adding that, “I am into sports and now the patron for women’s football in Guyana, I am happy to promote football on a whole.”

The introduction of art and sports in schools is part of the government’s educational reform plan to have well rounded individuals.

Donors gift GPHC endoscopic equipment THROUGH a multi-collaborative effort from donors, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) received endoscopic equipment Wednesday that will help to screen and diagnose a number of digestive tract abnormalities.

Doctors will recommend an endoscopy procedure to identify ulcers in the stomach, gastritis, digestive tract bleeding, chronic constipation, and colon cancer among other digestive tract infections.

Senior Surgical Registrar and Surgeon of the GPHC, Dr. Ravi Motilall who handed over the equipment to the hospital on behalf of the donors, said the apparatus would actually allow the hospital’s staff to make diagnoses and be able to

is passed through the mouth into the throat then through the esophagus, allowing the doctor to examine the stomach and intestines.

Dr. Motilall also pointed out that over the past few months he has seen a growing number of reported colon cancer cases. The surgeon said they (doctors) might be missing the early signs due to not having the necessary equipment to make early diagnoses.

“Making the diagnosis early is where the impact is Surgeon and Senior Surgical Registrar, Dr. Ravi Motilall hands made as a surgeon, making over endoscopic equipment to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the the diagnosis late, you end up Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Michael Khan losing the patient,” Dr. Motitreat them properly. “This is that failure to actually diag- amine a person’s digestive lall explained.

There to receive the something that the hospital nose these cases, especially tract. Using an endoscope, equipment were representahas been struggling with, those with digestive tract a flexible tube with a light tives of the GPHC, including (not) making those diagno- bleeding, would result in pa- and camera attached to it, a Chief Executive Officer, Mises because we have lacked tients dying, if not properly doctor can view images of a chael Khan who said, “We the equipment,” Dr. Motilall screened and diagnosed. person’s digestive tract on a stated.

Endoscopy is a nonsur- colour TV monitor. During appreciate the efforts of Dr. Dr. Motilall further stated gical procedure used to ex- this procedure, an endoscope Motilall. His effort at the

hospital is only the receiving end, it didn’t cost us any money. I express my thanks to the donors he was able to contact on behalf of the board and management of the corporation.”

Chairman of the Board of Directors, GPHC, Dr. Carl Max Hanoman also expressed his gratitude saying that, “It’s always good to be on the receiving end of such expensive equipment; it’s about time the Georgetown Hospital is on par with the private hospitals.

Georgetown Hospital is the people’s hospital, and is a hospital for poor people so these facilities will be available to the poor people of this country.”

The endoscopic equipment was transferred to the surgical unit of the GPHC for immediate use.

More expeditors recommended for Barima-Waini sub regions OFFICIALS of Region One have recommended that the work load of the current expeditor assigned to that region, be reduced to facilitate the prompt and efficient delivery of government provided goods to the region’s three sub areas.

It had been noted that only one expeditor is assigned to Region One and is responsible for the delivery of goods and services relating to the health and education sectors. That person also performs duties for the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), which includes administrative work.

During a recent visit to Region One, Minister of Public Health Dr. George Norton heard complaints

From left to right, Dr. Horace Cox, Director of Vector Control, Dr. Kay Shako – Director, Regional Health Services, and Dr. George Norton, Minister of Public Health. The Minister was meeting with staff of the Kumaka District Hospital, where the issue of water transportation to the region was raised

from Regional Vice Chairman, Sarah Browne, Director of Vector Control Services, Dr. Horace Cox, as well as nurses from the Kumaka District Hospital of the untimely delivery of drugs requested from the Materials Management Unit. They said that this late delivery would eventually result in a drug shortage in the various sub-regions.

The pharmacist of the Kumaka District Hospital told the minister that, “Our drugs would usually come from Materials Management Unit (MMU), but the time that it takes to get here, sometimes we run short.”

Suggestions were made for expeditors to be assigned to each sub-region so as to have a more time efficient

system for the delivery of goods, materials and services provided by the respective ministries coming from central Georgetown.

Minister Norton assured the regional officials that this issue will be brought to the attention of the respective subject ministers and looked into at the shortest possible time.

Currently, the ‘Lady Northcote’ is the only vessel servicing the region. That ferry travels from Georgetown to Region One fortnightly, stopping once at Mabaruma, then Port Kaituma. However, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is working towards having another vessel to complement the Lady Northcote service. (GINA)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

AG hosts delegates of Commonwealth judiciary conference Photos by Samuel Maughn

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo having a light conversation with President of TT, Anthony Carmona

Attorney General Basil Williams and John Lowendes, President of the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association

Attorney General Basil Williams greets Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo as he enters the reception hall

The President of Trinidad and Tobago, Anthony Carmona makes his way into the Georgetown Club for a reception hosted by Attorney General Basil Williams on Tuesday evening

A section of the delegates of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association conference

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday september 22, 2016

Little Renie needs help for corrective surgery

By Clestine Juan FOR most kids, being a toddler is about running around carefree and discovering the new world as they grow. However, for three-year-old Renie Rogers, life is much different.

L i t t l e R e n i e ’s l i f e changed on May 23, 2014, at a mere 16 months when a kerosene stove fell on her.

The toddler sustained serious burns to her scalp

and the right side of her face.

And despite the fact that she was treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and discharged, her burns have still not healed.

After the incident, the toddler was placed in the care of her father Rol Rogers, who resides at Lot 50 Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara.

However, over the past two years, Renie has received two separate skin-

graft surgeries, but they were both unsuccessful.

The grafted skin did not adhere, and so she suffered for two long years, baring her wounds as fresh as day one.

The toddler’s father is pleading with the public for financial assistance to send his daughter overseas for medical treatment.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle via telephone, Rogers explained that his family has been working closely with the Govern-

ment through the Ministry of Social Protection to get little Renie the assistance she needs.

According to the father, The SHEA Charity organisation is also working along with the family for assistance to secure treatment in the U.S. “It would mean the world for me if my daughter gets the surgery,” the father explained, as he said that it has been a daily hustle to care for Renie.

The father pointed out

Renie Rogers

Little Renie. These photographs show that she still needs corrective surgery.

that due to his daughter’s condition, she has been unable to attend school.

The cost of her corrective surgery is $6.3M and the Government of Guyana is pledging $4M. Persons interested in making donations to Renie’s overseas treatment, can do so through Republic Bank account 103-098-0 in the name of Rol Rogers. The girl’s fa-

ther can also be contacted on (592) 675- 0076.

Also, persons can donate money online at https:// www.gofundme.com/saveranie.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Six rewarded by Eccles/Ramsburg NDC

By Shirley Thomas

SIX top-performing students at the last National Grade Six Assessment Examinations (NGSA) drawn from three primary schools within the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) recently received bursary awards from the council.

The award ceremony took place on Saturday, August 20 at the Eccles/ Ramsburg NDC Office.

Topping the list of awardees were students of Peter’s Hall Primary School – Zakariya Bacchus with 552 marks and Joshua Kaladeen with 550 marks. They were both awarded places at Queen’s College.

Providence Primary placed second with Marissa Mal scoring 540 marks and Akash Sooklal 525.

They were awarded Bishop’s High School and St Stanislaus College, respectively.

Eccles Primary School ranked third, with Kevin Deonarain securing 520 marks and being awarded St Roses High School and

The bursary awardees with members of the Eccles/Ramsburg NDC

Recipients of the bursary awards. From left: Akash Sooklall, Zakariya Bacchus, Marissa Mal, Raheed Young, Kevin Deonarain and absent is Joshua Kaladeen

Raheed Young with 515 marks gaining a place at St Joseph High School.

Apart from monetary incentives and congratulatory cards, each child was given one year of free insurance (School Plus Plan), compliments of the Eccles/Ramsburg NDC Deputy Chairman Ramesh Persaud.

The actual presentation of the monetary awards to each child was done by Chairman Mahamad Ha-

feez and attending councillors.

Persaud said the initiative was the first for the NDC and was the brainchild of Hafeez, who plans to make it an annual feature.

While the charge was delivered by the chairman, there were other oral presentations delivered by other councillors.

Students and parents expressed appreciation to the NDC.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Sonia Noel appointed Good Ambassador

By Shauna Jemmott

G U YA N A’ S re n o w n e d fashion ambassador, Dr Sonia Noel, has been appointed Global Ambassador for unite4: good, an internationally dedicated movement for sustainable social good.

Dr Noel’s appointment came after completing an intense training programme in Chicago which was hosted by the unite4: good founders

Technology is only for support. The real change comes when we as individuals stand up and decide to take positive action to support a specific social good goal,” unite4: good said.

The organisations utilise “networks of social influencers, Governments, world leaders, and businesses,” in a bid to change “the signal of our entire culture and economy from negative to positive.”

Global Ambassador, Dr Sonia Noel Anthony and Natalie Melikhov.

The organisation said its goal is to involve individuals in spreading good universally, through social networking and specially developed services.

“We develop services that support our goal. It’s our feeling that by building these destinations we can utilise the power of social networking to showcase the best of the best in social good. But that’s not the full remedy.

Dr Noel said she is “elated to be introducing unite4: good to Guyana and the Caribbean because this can have a major paradigm shift in society”.

Her responsibilities as Global Ambassador include recruiting ambassadors and encouraging businesses to be socially conscious.

A recent recipient of the Caribbean Philanthropic Award, she told the Guyana Chronicle, “I am passionate about things that will better

society, so aligning with U4: G is in-keeping [with] what I believe in.”

She is encouraging all to “join in this movement to unit4good.”

Noel in a post on social media said the organisation makes it easy for its members to connect with partners -- organisations, influencers and like-minded people – in a positive environment, and engage in virtual and real-world opportunities.

They are rewarded for their good work and have opportunities to truly enjoy the experience of giving.

“U4: G’s ultimate goal is to motivate people to integrate doing good into their lives on a sustainable basis, creating a lifelong habit of kindness that is both life-changing and world-changing. We are a social platform for a new generation, whose mission is to encourage people to live meaningful lives.”

Its co-founders Anthony and Natalie Melikhov are entrepreneurs and global philanthropists, and have devoted their lives to improving communities individually.

They now have expanded their borders, “focusing their efforts on building a global culture that embodies the values of kindness and compassion.”

The two are also the driving forces behind many other philanthropic ventures, including Bright Future International (BFI), DoMore4: Good (DM4G), BFI Curriculum for the Children of Quebrada Negra, BFI and Brighton Ballet Theater Company (BBT) Junior Ambassador Programme, and the Children Affected By HIV/AIDS (CHABHA) After School Programme.

They also host numerous charitable events highlighting the heroes of the social good movement, such as unite4: humanity, Day of Unity Miami, Variety’s Power of Women and unite4: good.

Mother of 5 jailed for stealing money A MOTHER of five was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after she admitted to stealing $280,000 from Kurt Steel.

Thirty-one-year old Malinda Beaton of ‘A’ Field Sophia appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan Wednesday charged with simple larceny; the court heard that on September 5, 2016 at Independence Boulevard, she stole the money.

The woman was unrepresented but told the court that she only stole the money since she

needed it to provide for her children who are still in school.

It was noted that on the day in question, Beaton asked Steel if he would like to purchase her cellphone for $6,000, to which he refused.

However, Beaton reported that the complainant made a sexual proposal and promised to give her the money then.

She accepted and after he fell asleep, Beaton said she stole the money and left.

21

ARIES Although you might feel as if you’re at the end of your rope, there is actually plenty of time to manifest the grand changes you seek. But don’t look the other way if you’re offered a glimpse of what’s wrong with your current plans. The Sun’s entry into your 7th House of Partnerships draws creative, confident and charming partners your way.

Unfortunately, you may not enjoy the depth of emotions you’re currently experiencing, but relationship magic can only happen if you’re willing to go the distance.

TAURUS Unfinished conversations about your work and your creative ideas are back on the table as you pick up where you left off several weeks ago. But just because you’re anxious to move forward today, settling for less than what you want will likely increase your resentment over time. Face the fear of rejection now and speak up for yourself. The Sun moves into harmonising Libra and your 6th House of Employment, reminding you to balance work with play. Progress, rather than protection, should be your measure of success; even baby steps will advance your interests in a positive direction.

GEMINI Weeks of intense re-evaluation and reflection come to a close today as Mercury turns direct in your 4th House of Security. Tie up as many loose ends as possible, for the Winged Messenger pushes forward over the days ahead, requiring you to bond without the luxury of revisiting familiar places. Fortunately, you’re ready for change now; your heart starts to sing, heralding a new season for personal pleasure and creative expression.

Aiming for the sky is exhilarating when you’re fuelled for the journey and blessed with the necessary support system to ensure a successful experience.

CANCER A near-perfect opportunity for relationship review and analysis recently allowed you to be more discerning when clever Mercury backpedaled in organised Virgo. Mercury’s direct turn encourages you to take immediate initiative, but don’t jump the gun just yet. Accepting the power of your deepest desires prompts you to act on them with discretion. You are being granted a chance to benefit from your actions without exposing your vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, altering your attitude enables you to see things in an entirely different light.

LEO Ideas that you’ve been cultivating over the past month are now ripe for sharing, in the hopes of inspiring others to want to change restrictive work conditions. Thankfully, the Sun’s move into socially astute Libra and your 3rd House of Communication enables you to present your suggestions in a charmingly persuasive manner. Messenger Mercury’s direct turn prompts you to discuss whatever is on your mind, but its current square to the emotional Moon pulls in feelings of insecurity. Joseph Campbell wrote, “Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”

VIRGO You’re likely to communicate with an uncharacteristic intensity that empowers everything you say today as analytical Mercury turns direct in your sign, motivating you to reveal your thoughts. Meanwhile, the Sun moves into diplomatic Libra and your 2nd House of Values, encouraging you to be fair and objective when you judge yourself or others. Be gentle in your approach, rather than pushing too hard or too fast to achieve your desired goal. A simple act of kindness can create ripples of positivity.

LIBRA Although you’re naturally more comfortable when operating in the rational realms, it may be time to leave logic behind and learn to trust your feelings today. You find intellectual solutions more workable in theory than in actual practice when Mercury turns direct in your 12th House of Spirituality, requiring you to take a leap of faith. Meanwhile, the Sun’s entry into your friendly sign raises your profile and boosts your self-confidence.

Focus on your needs and act as the initiator in relationships for the best results.

SCORPIO Your plans are right on target today as Mercury turns direct in your 11th House of Groups.

However, the Trickster’s trine to incisive Pluto could still be slightly overwhelming because you must exhibit punch, passion and persistence to overcome internal or external resistance. Find a healthy activity you can sink your teeth into now; otherwise, you might waste this powerful force in fruitless battles. Don’t let anyone stop you from pursuing a metaphysical path if you so choose. Balancing the mundane circumstances of life with your ongoing search for spiritual purpose is key to your self-actualisation.

SAGITTARIUS Luckily, you’re able to express yourself assertively today without being overly aggressive. Mercury’s direct turn helps you to consider how to put your best ideas into motion to accomplish your ambitious goals. Nevertheless, it’s a delicate dance between going for what you want and coming on too strong. Navigating your way through this minefield of emotions requires ongoing vigilance; applying the right amount of passion to your message could be a challenge now. Speak softly and carry a big stick.

CAPRICORN The cork that holds your emotions in place may pop today, especially if you continue to bottle up your feelings of frustration about the direction of your life. Cerebral Mercury turns direct in your 9th House of Higher Truth, allowing you to move past petty distractions and fix your mind on your highest aspirations. A potential shakeup of long-term plans can cast your job in a different light. You won’t reach your goals overnight; however, you’re making more progress than you realise. Slow down long enough to appreciate your accomplishments. Gratitude unlocks the abundance of the universe.

AQUARIUS Although you may be caught in a gigantic undercurrent right now, there still seems to be forward movement in your life. Big changes are already underway, even if you can’t see the whole picture yet as rational Mercury goes direct in your 8th House of Transformation. Meanwhile, you possess a new passion for adventure now that the Sun is shining in your 9th House of Travel and Education. Expanding your mind expands your horizons.

PISCES It is critical now that everyone knows the rules of the game because misunderstandings can lead to regrettable actions or misplaced anger. Curious Mercury’s direct turn in your 7th House of Relationships initiates conversations that help you find the answers you need. Your clarity when stating what you want from someone doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get it, but it certainly improves your chances. Honestly discussing your expectations, concerns and objectives with an open mind and heart makes working and living with others more enjoyable for everyone.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

Thursday September 22th, 2016 - 09:30 hrs Friday September 23th, 2016 - 10:30 hrs Saturday September 24th, 2016 - 12:00 hrs

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 22, 2016

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

GASA to finalise IGG team by next week ALTHOUGH a few swimmers have already been shortlisted, the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) is still deciding on the 12-member team who will represent Guyana in this year’s Inter-Guiana ‘Goodwill’ Games to be held in Guyana from October 20 to 24.

According to a representative for the team, Leon Seaton, the association is unable at this point in time to do a swimming trial activity, so instead will determine who make the final cut by assessing the performance

of the swimmers, thus far for the year.

GASA is expected to select a team of six boys and six girls to participate in the event.

“What I can say is that there is a proposed team but I would choose not to comment on that until the team is finalised. I can’t say at this point in time but early next week.

“There are a number of factors that will be taken into consideration. What we’re using to come up with the team will be previous meets. We don’t have

enough time to do a swimoff.” Seaton told Chronicle Sport yesterday.

According to Director of Sport Christopher Jones, no deadline has yet been given to the various associations for the submission of their team members. However, Jones is set to meet with representatives from the different sporting disciplines tomorrow.

Swimming is one of seven sport disciplines listed in the annual Games, the others being athletics, table tennis, basketball, volleyball and futsal.

The Athletics Associa-

tion of Guyana (AAG) has already named its 28-member team to represent Guyana, following their IGG trials held last Sunday at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora.

Volleyball also held trials a few weeks ago.

The various teams will be competing against respective teams from Suriname.

As previously reported, the tri-nation competition is going on without participation from French Guiana in this year’s event, hence it is being labelled a ‘Goodwill’ event.

PAKISTAN Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq received the Test mace, given to the world’s best side in the format, from the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday in Lahore.

Speaking at the ceremony at Gaddafi stadium, the 42-year-old said, “This is an exciting occasion for us, for me and for the team as well, to receive such an honour for our country.”

He added: “We are really happy about it that finally we are number one.”

This is the first time a Pakistani captain has received this award.

Pakistan rose to number one in the longest format of the game after drawing 2-2 against England in England. They currently have 111 points, just one more than arch-rivals India who are second in the rankings.

The third position is shared

by Australia and England who have 108 points each.

Ta l k i n g a b o u t t h e achievement, Misbah said that what makes this reward all the more satisfying is that Pakistan have gained a top rank while playing all their matches on foreign soils.

“We have played all our matches on grounds which are foreign to us,” he said.

“Even Dubai and Abu Dhabi are foreign grounds.

“Nevertheless, we are the number one Test side in mod-

ern cricket where teams usually rely on home advantage to increase the rankings,” he added.

Pakistan last played a Test in the country in 2009 before the Sri Lankan cricket team attack which claimed the lives of seven police officials and injured seven players. Since then, almost all home games have been played at neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates.

“There can’t be a better location to receive the mace than the ground where we last

played a home Test seven years ago,” said Misbah in the post-eremony press conference.

“It is ironic for both the players as well as the fans that the journey to the number one position has been outside Pakistan.

“The players have missed on the crowd support, while the spectators have been unable to watch live some magnificent team and individual performances. But I am confident that things will change and international cricket will soon return to Pakistan.”

The Test captain added that he was delighted to hold the mace in the twilight of his career.

ICC Chief David Richardson, who presented Misbah with the mace, congratulated the national side as well.

“The ICC Test Championship mace is a symbol of excellence and a recognition of a side’s outstanding performance in the purest format of the game,” he said.

Pakistan are deserving recipients of the mace and it is all the more impressive that they have reached the number one Test ranking despite not being able to play a series in front of their home crowd since 2009.

“On behalf of the ICC, I want to congratulate the Pakistan cricket team and Misbah in particular for the way he has led his side. I hope that the team will continue to go from strength to strength.”

The mace was valued at £30 000 in 2001 and automatically passes from one team to another as results confirm a change of leadership in the ICC Test Team Rankings table. (Express Tribune)

Misbah becomes first Pakistani to receive Test mace from ICC

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

Kiwis aim to turn tables on spin kings India

By Amlan Chakraborty

KANPUR, India (Reuters) - New Zealand captain Kane Williamson believes his slow-bowling trio can prove a handful for India in their own spin-friendly backyard in the three-Test series starting today.

Rolling out raging turners and unleashing the spinners have been the tried-andtested formula behind India’s formidable home form, and the cracks on the track in Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium suggest the trend will continue against the Kiwis.

India have won each of their last three home series, against Australia, West Indies and South Africa, without losing a Test.

Mark Craig But New Zealand seem to have done their homework and have included a trio of specialist spinners -- Ish

Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Mark Craig -- in their squad with a reasonable chance of all three playing in the series

opener in Kanpur.

“They’ve got very good spinners, naturally very experienced in these conditions. But we have got some exciting young talent.

We have shown that in the (World) Twenty20,” Williamson said, referring to the impressive display by leg-spinner Sodhi and left-armer Santner in the tournament in India earlier this year.

“Yes, the formats are different but we are hoping they can build on those experiences,” Williamson said.

“There were a lot of learning experiences to be had, certainly this being one of them, being exposed in these conditions which will certainly suit spin

bowling.

“We are certainly hoping they can play a big part in the series.”

Williamson had a good look at the wicket in Kanpur and the 26-year-old spotted a silver lining in the dry track, in the form of reverse-swing potential.

“Coming into it, and certainly watching the previous series here, without much grass on the block, obviously the ball deteriorates quite quickly and reverse swing and spin naturally become big factors,” he said.

“How our spin bowlers bowl will be important, but at the same time we are hoping for better reverse swing. We will have to see how things unfold.”

Williamson conceded spin might make or break fortunes in the series but did not agree fully with teammate Ross Taylor’s suggestion of employing the sweep shot frequently to negate the Indian spinner.

“I think it’s certainly up to individuals. Some guys sweep more than others,” Williamson said.

“I suppose sweeping is a big part of an Indian player’s game. They’ve got great footwork, they get forward, they get back and come down the wicket.

“You can learn a lot from the way they play but at the end of the day, it’s up to individual players who are the most comfortable with it.”

India can become the best team in Test cricket - Kohli

By Amlan Chakraborty |

KANPUR, India (Reuters) - India have the resources to become the best team in Test cricket and the bumper home season would be a perfect opportunity to sow the seed of their ascendancy, captain Virat Kohli said yesterday.

Kohli’s men embark on an important 13-Test season today when they take on New Zealand in the first match of the three-Test series at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium.

“We believe we certainly have what it takes to be the best team in the world,” the 27-year-old told reporters on the eve of what would be India’s 500th Test.

“One area we have tapped into is belief. It’s

Virat Kohli something that a lot of young players can lack coming into international cricket.

“It’s all about getting rid of that feeling ... That’s the only way you can go out there, be confident and express yourself. Express how good you are, and that’s what this team have done.

“More often than not if you’re fearless, the results will fall your way because you’re willing to take that extra risk in the course of the game. I certainly feel that this team have what it takes to be the best.”

India’s poor record as tourists has been a home truth but under Kohli, the team have won series in Sri Lanka and West Indies to briefly occupy the top Test rankings before arch-rivals Pakistan snatched it.

Kohli saw a gilt-edged opportunity to reclaim the tag in the big ‘career-defining’ home season which will also include Tests against England, Australia and Bangladesh.

“This season is a phase where we can lay the foundation where the Test team will go,” Kohli said.

“The challenge in the last one year or so has been to show composure and get the victories which we require and we have been able to get that. The important thing is to continue the same.

“This season will be career-defining for all the people in the squad, because hardly have we played 17 Test matches regularly.

“That’s something we are happy about, that we can plan our Test cricket, and back ourselves and get those victories whenever the chance comes. Very exciting times ahead.”

Dwelling on the Test against New Zealand, Kohli praised the touring side’s fearless brand of cricket, which he attributed to former Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum.

Rose Hall Estate Cricket Club wins 5/5 title THE Rose Hall Estate Cricket Club of Canje claimed the RHTY&SC/ Hand-in-Hand Insurance 5/5 cricket tournament title when they easily defeated crowd favourites Tamarind Root last Sunday at the Area ‘H’ ground.

Led by man-of-the-tournament Balram Samaroo, the Canje team played unbeaten throughout the day to emerge as champions.

Batting first, Tamarind Root were restricted to 36-7 off their allotted overs, as the Rose Hall Estate fielded and bowled superbly.

Dilip Regasami topscored with 15. Balram Sa-

The victorious Rose Hall Estate Cricket Club of Canje maroo took 3-3 in his one over.

In response, Samaroo returned with the bat to

blast an unbeaten 20, as Rose Hall Estate reached 40 without loss in 3.4. The champions had earlier

defeated Young and Restless by nine wickets in the semi-final, after restricting their opponents to 38-6.

Eleven teams – RHT ‘A’, RHT ‘B’, Bush Lot United, Young Achievers, Young and Restless, Goed Bananen, Police, Tamarind Root, Belvedere United, Rose Hall Estate and Courtland participated in the oneday tournament.

The RHTY&SC also hosted basketball and football tournaments. Three exciting bouts of boxing were also held as part of the 46th anniversary celebrations of Rose Hall Town.

“Their mentality was cricket was not the end of the world for them, they just enjoyed the game,” Kohli said.

“I think they have been able to detach themselves from those pressures and that’s

why they have got successful in the last couple of years.”

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the Test with mosquito-borne viral disease Chikungunya.

Back-to-back horse race meets

TWO of Guyana’s top turf clubs, Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sports Facilities and Port Mourant Turf Club will stage back-to-back horse race meets at their respective grounds.

The Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sports Facilities race meet is planned for this Sunday, while the Port Mourant Turf Club race meet is billed for October 2.

Information reaching Chronicle Sport indicated that eight races are planned for both race meets, which are expected to feature all the top race horses in Guyana.

It is understood that close to 50 horses have confirmed participation for this Sunday’s event, where over $3M in cash, trophies and other incentives are up for grabs.

The feature race is the classified Alness Classic over 1600 metres for a first prize of $600 000.

Other races planned for the day are the: G and Lower, Twoyear-olds race for Guyana-bred horses, H and Lower, K and Lower, J’1’, L ‘1’, and there is an event for unclassified horses.

Interested persons can make contact with Marcel Crawford Jr on 678-5342, Dennis DeRoop on 640-6396 or Compton Sancho on 602-1567.

Meanwhile, dubbed the best-of-the-best President’s Cup, over $8M is at stake in the Port Mourant Turf Club race meet.

The feature event for animals classified A and Lower will see the winner receive a lucrative $1.5M along with the best-of-the-best President’s Cup. On the other hand, there is an event for D3 maiden animals, which includes E and Lower. There is also an event for Three-year-olds Guyana-bred horses, G1 and Lower, H3 Maiden, and I and Lower, Two-year-olds Guyana and West Indies-bred horses, I3, J and Lower and L and Lower.

Entries close on September 23 and those interested can make contact with Kris Jagdeo on 624-6123 or 3220369, Rajendra (Jim-Jo) Jagdeo on 618-7278 or Chandu Ramkissoon on 232-0633 or 624-9063. Race time is 12:30hrs.

Both races will run under the rules of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

SCA women end season with grand All Stars game

By Frederick Halley TORONTO, Canada – Women cricketers participating in the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) ended the 2016 season on a resounding note at the Ashtonbee cricket ground here last Sunday, showcasing their talent in a 35-over All Stars clash.

The match, featuring SCA Whites and SCA Blues saw the former easing to a commanding 74-run victory before appreciative SCA officials and spectators.

Led by an unbeaten 46 from skipper Mahwish Khan and supporting knocks from Nicole Samuel (34), Natasha Springett (28) and Celina Fraser (28 retired), SCA Whites reached 210 for three in their allotted 35 overs.

Khan struck five fours while Sringett and Samuel counted four and three fours respectively. Blues best bowler was

Officials of the SCA and players are in celebratory mood after Sunday’s game Lorraine Kenton with two for 33.

Blues, in reply, found the going tough and were restricted to 136 all out in 22 overs with hard-hitting captain Chuntell Martin spanking a six and four fours in a top-score of 44.

Springett crowned a fine all-round performance by grabbing three for 39 while Ishmeet Sagoo supported with two for 31.

At the impressive pre-

sentation ceremony which followed, trophies were presented to Springett for being the Most Valuable Player and best bowler in the winning team and Khan for recording the highest individual score.

Recipients on the losing side were MVP Martin and Kenton for being the best bowler. The champion trophy was sponsored by Action Honda.

SCA president Shiv Persaud was delighted with the turnout of the players, showering praise on them for an excellent season and assuring them that the SCA is one hundred per cent behind them in the development of women’s cricket.

Persaud was also hopeful that more women will get involved in the 2017 season. He also reserved special accolades for the

SCA White skipper Mahwish Khan collects the champion trophy from SCA president Shiv Persaud.

SCA executives, including managers for the respective teams - Vish Jadunauth for the Whites and Deo Samaroo for the Blues. Coaches Yonus Motara (Whites) and Danny Singh (Blues) were also lauded for their efforts.

Several of the women cricketers were already selected to represent the SCA against the touring MCC women cricketers on the very day the All Stars game took place but their hopes were dashed when Cricket Canada ruled against sanctioning the fixture.

Japan’s Fukuhara announces marriage to fellow Olympian Chiang

(REUTERS) - Japan’s Olympic medallist Ai Fukuhara and fellow table tennis player Chiang Hung-chieh of Taiwan announced their marriage yesterday.

Fukuhara, 27, began playing table tennis at the age of three and gained fame as a child prodigy in Japan, but her popularity extends far beyond her own country.

Her fluency in Mandarin and participation in China’s Super League have won her numerous supporters there and in other parts of East Asia,

where she is often referred to as the “Japanese Doll”.

“I proposed to her after the Rio Olympics when I got a chance,” the 27-yearold Chiang, who also competed in Rio, told reporters in Tokyo.

“With regard to the way I proposed, I actually gave her a key and hoped that she would be an owner of our home.”

Fukuhara, now 27, competed in her first Olympics in 2004 when she was 15 years old.

At the Beijing Games in 2008, she carried the

Victor Macedo Memorial Cycle Road Race set for Sunday

TOP local cyclists will face the starter on Sunday morning when the 14th annual Victor Macedo Memorial road race wheels off from Homestretch Avenue at 07:30hrs.

Organised by the Flying Stars Cycle Club, the race will commence with the traditional ‘roll start’ from Peter Rose Street in Queenstown to Homestretch Avenue, where it would officially start.

Senior and junior riders will proceed to Dora on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, while the veterans, juveniles, and mountain bikers will proceed to the hill after the Splashmin’s Fun Park.

The cyclists will turn at their respective points on the highway and return to Homestretch Avenue for the finish.

TEAM Coco’s Jamaul John narrowly edged his fellow Junior cyclist, Raphael Leung, to win the 13th edition of the event last year.

Japan’s table tennis Olympian Ai Fukuhara (R) has her wedding ring placed on her finger by her husband Taiwan’s table tennis Olympian Chiang Hung-chieh at a news conference to announce their marriage in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday. (REUTERS/Toru Hanai)

flag for the Japanese delegation and in London four years later was a member of the team who won their first silver in table tennis.

The pair showed off their custom-made wedding rings, engraved with table tennis balls, which were designed by Chiang.

“I was overwhelmed when he proposed, so I don’t remember what I told him in response,” said Fukuhara, who won a bronze medal in Rio

English County Cricket

Dominant Somerset turn the screws on title rivals

(REUTERS) - Somerset boosted their hopes of a first-ever English County Championship as they closed in on title rivals Middlesex and Yorkshire on another day of fluctuating fortunes in the final round of matches.

After ekeing out a fourth batting point, thanks to a last-wicket partnership of 43, they dismissed relegated Nottinghamshire for 138 to gain ground on the two sides who had been above them when the games started.

Dominic Bess, whose first-innings 41 had helped Somerset pass the key 350mark, took five wickets as his team claimed seven of the eight bonus points available, and after declining to enforce

the follow-on, ended the second day on 105 for two -- a lead of 332.

With a Somerset win looking likely, only victory would be good enough for leaders Middlesex or their opponents at Lord’s, Yorkshire.

Middlesex, who are seeking their first championship in 23 years, earned a second batting point before being bowled out for 270.

Then they tore through Yorkshire’s top order before Tim Bresnan and Andy Hodd staged a fightback with a century stand for the fifth wicket.

England all-rounder Bresnan and wicketkeeper Hodd both scored half-centuries as Yorkshire ended the day on

235 for six, needing not only to beat Middlesex, but to score at least 350 in their first innings, to be sure of a third successive title.

With two days to go, Middlesex have 217 points, Somerset 210 and Yorkshire 208, with 16 more available for a win and five for a draw.

The battle to avoid relegation from Division One is equally dramatic.

With Nottinghamshire already down, Hampshire, currently in the second relegation slot, need to win to have any chance of staying up.

They earned maximum batting points after scoring 411 all out against Durham at Southampton and then took three

early wickets.

But half-centuries from Graham Clark, Ben Stokes and Michael Richardson stalled Hampshire’s progress, Durham finishing on 242 for seven, in sight of forcing the home side to bat again.

The other two teams in danger, Warwickshire and Lancashire, are playing each other at Edgbaston.

But after bowling Warwickshire out for 219, the visitors could muster only 152 to trail on first innings by 67 runs, leaving them looking favourites for the drop.

When rain forced an early close to day two, Warwickshire had scored 12 without loss in their second innings.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

New mayor kills Rome’s bid for 2024 Olympics

By Gavin Jones and Isla Binnie ROME, Italy (Reuters) Rome’s new mayor Virginia Raggi, pulled the plug on the city’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics, saying staging the summer games would bury the Italian capital under mountains of debt and tonnes of cement.

The decision represents a blow to the International Olympic Committee, which has already seen Boston and Hamburg abandon their 2024 bids and is struggling to convince potential host cities that it is worth putting on the sporting extravaganza.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had championed Rome’s challenge, but he needed the backing of the city council to press ahead.

Raggi’s decision means only Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest are left in the running to stage the 2024 games.

“It would be irresponsible for us to support this candida-

cy,” said Raggi, whose anti-establishment 5-Star Movement took power for the first time in Rome after a landslide victory in local elections in June.

“We have nothing against the Olympics and sport ... but we don’t want sport to be an excuse for more rivers of cement in the city. We won’t allow that.”

Rome’s bid team reacted furiously, saying the decision had been taken for “ideological, political and demagogic” reasons which would deprive the city of investments worth up to $1.7 billion and the creation of nearly 200 000 jobs.

“We are disappointed that a new political force is unwilling to accept the challenge of modernisation,” it said in a statement, adding that the decision represented “a severe blow to Italy’s credibility worldwide”.

Boston pulled out of the race over financial concerns and the residents of Hamburg voted against a bid in a refer-

Mayor Virginia Raggi endum. The 5-Star Movement had always voiced doubts about staging the sporting spectacular, but Italy’s Olympic committee had held out hopes of changing the mayor’s mind.

Italian Olympic committee chief Giovanni Malago had been scheduled to meet Raggi yesterday, but he left city hall after waiting for half an hour, saying she had not

turned up.

Raggi, whose first months in charge of Rome have been chaotic, with key staffers leaving and several important posts still unfilled, said she had been delayed and regretted Malago’s decision not to wait for her.

NO ‘CATHEDRALS IN THE DESERT’ She told reporters that the

Olympics often ran over budget and said Rome could not afford such a huge undertaking, adding it would have left Rome with sports arenas it did not need.

“We won’t be forced to pay for more cathedrals in the desert for years to come.

Romans don’t want that,” said Raggi, whose party has positioned itself as a bastion of honesty.

Revelations of systematic corruption involving Roman politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen in late 2014 prompted doubts about whether the city could handle work associated with the Olympics in a transparent way.

Rome had also bid to host the 2020 Games, but thenprime minister Mario Monti withdrew due to concerns over Italy’s finances.

The Olympics movement is concerned the Games is losing its lustre, with a pattern of cities pulling out of bidding for both summer and winter Games af-

ter baulking at huge costs required.

Brazil spent about $12 billion on the Rio Games last month, which proved a sporting success but was marred by complaints over budget overruns and infrastructure delays.

The International Olympic Committee’s ‘Agenda 2020’ aimed to cut the cost of the Games and make bidding more attractive, but has failed to stop cities withdrawing their candidacies, scared off by the size, cost and complexity of the event.

The International Olympic Committee is due to select the 2024 host city in September 2017.

Budapest said yesterday it would fight to the end to clinch the Games.

“Budapest will be at the finish line for sure and will remain a candidate throughout. We entered this race to win it,” Budapest organising committee chairman Balazs Furjes said.

win.

United had taken the lead through Michael Carrick’s powerful shot from the edge of the box after 17 minutes, but Northampton’s Alex Revell levelled from the penalty spot after Daley Blind had fouled Sam Hoskins in the box.

The home side then frustrated the visitors, who had lost their last three games in all competitions, with a resilient defensive display until Herrera lifted the tension for United’s travelling fans.

To t t e n h a m H o t s p u r made light work of third tier Gillingham, as Christian Eriksen scored twice in a 5-0 thrashing, while West Ham United needed a 96th-minute free kick from Dimitri Payet to beat Accrington Stanley 1-0.

Charlie Austin and Jake Hesketh were on target for Southampton as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in an all-Premier League tie while Sunderland’s Paddy McNair scored twice in a 2-1 win over Championship side

Man City march on with League Cup win over Swansea .. United wrap up testing 3-1 win (REUTERS))Manchester City reached the fourth round of the League Cup with a 2-1 win over Swansea City yesterdayy as they continued their imperious start to the season under Pep Guardiola with a ninth straight win in all competitions.

Holders City, who have won two of the last three League Cups, took the lead through Gael Clichy four minutes after halftime and made

the tie safe when 19-year-old Aleix Garcia found the net midway through the second half.

Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson grabbed a consolation deep into stoppage time.

It was a less straightforward evening for City’s rivals Manchester United, who were given a testing workout by third tier Northampton Town before goals from Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford wrapped up a 3-1

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER

(Thursday September 22, 2016) Compliments of THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market & The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & AUDREY’S TASTY SNACKETTE-176 Charlotte Street, Georgetown (Tel: 226-4512) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) Gerry Alexander & Abdul Kardar (Kensington Oval, Barbados, 1958) (2) Clive Lloyd & Majid Khan (Birmingham, England, 1975) Today’s Quiz: (1) Who were the captains involved in the very first T20 International between the WI & Pakistan?

(2) Who faced the first ball in a WI/PAK T20 International game? Who delivered it?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

Manchester City’s Aleix Garcia Serrano scores their second goal Action Images via Reuters / Andrew Boyers

Messi out for three weeks with groin strain

BARCELONA have confirmed that Lionel Messi will be sidelined for three weeks with a groin strain.The 29-year-old was replaced by Arda Turan just before the hour-mark of his side’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou yesterday.

The Argentina star had pulled up in discomfort after tangling with Atletico captain Diego Godin, and was taken off

by Luis Enrique as a precaution having initially attempted to play on.

B a rc a h a v e n o w a n nounced that Messi is expected to be sidelined until the middle of next month, most likely until after the international break.

“Leo Messi has a groin

Lionel Messi strain in his right leg and he will be out for around 3 weeks,” the club posted via their official Twitter account.

Messi sustained a groin problem during international duty with Argentina and only played 30 minutes as a

second-half substitute during the shock 2-1 loss to Alaves on September 10, as Luis Enrique attempted to give him some extra rest.

He is set to miss LaLiga matches against Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo, as well as a Champions League trip to Borussia Monchengladbach, although Barca will hope to have him fit for the home match against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on October 19.

Barca took the lead against Atletico through Ivan Rakitic’s first-half header, but Angel Correa equalised in the second period, just two minutes after Messi’s withdrawal.(Sportsmax.com)

31

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, September 22, 2016

LUCOZADE indoor league has done wonders for hockey - Fernandes

By Stephan Sookram HOCKEY has capitalised on the recent unpredictable weather patterns to complete its first indoor league, something that held great positives for the sport.

This is according to president of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) Philip Fernandes, who spoke to the media recently, saying, “The addition of the LUCOZADE indoor league has been a tremendous asset to hockey.”

“The indoor league is

Flashback! Hikers striker Aroydy Branford goes on the attack during one of the preliminary matches of the LUCOZADE indoor league. different from other tournaments we’ve had be-

cause so far, all the tournaments we have had for

indoor have taken place in one stretch, either one week or weekend. The indoor league went on for a couple of months on different days,” he continued.

In thanking LUCOZADE’s parent company, Ansa McAl, the GHB boss contended that the tournament featured a number of pluses for the sport, adding, “We think it has helped to build the game.

“There were gaps within matches, gaps within competition nights and that

made for a much better quality of games because teams were able to review what they might have done right or wrong during competition then on the next engagement they might improve on what they have done,” Fernandes noted.

The tournament ended with the Pizza Hut GCC beating the GCC Spartans by 2-0 after the former dominated the entire match, not just with goalscoring but with impeccable defence and teamwork.

The male Pepsi Hikers unleashed the beast to bat out the GCC Vintage 7-1 and ensured they were the only undefeated team in the tournament.

Pepsi Hikers’ Aroydy Branford received most goals award while on the distaff end; Pizza Hut GCC’s Gabriella Xavier received the accolade. Hikers’ Marisha Rodrigues was adjudged the tournament MVP (Women) while Pepsi Hikers’ Robert France took the male equivalent.

Taylor hails increase in Windies Women salaries ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Effective October 1, 2016, women’s cricketers on retainer from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will see an increase in their pay package. The number of women on retainer will also move from 11 to 15.

An agreement between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) will see increases in annual retainer fees, sponsorship payments, match fees and captains’ allowances.

...New compensation package announce The estimated increase will cost the WICB just under US$600 000 for the upcoming year. The new compensation package will benefit an unlimited number of non-retained players.

Captain Stafanie Taylor appreciates the increase.

She notes: “I believe we are stepping in the right direction. England and Australia are the two top teams

where Women’s cricket is concerned and I think we can mirror what they are doing and get on their level.

It’s good that the retainers and match fees have been increased and the girls love it. We hope that as time goes by more things will be improved.”

Former captain Merissa Aguilleira is also happy.

“I am really pleased and

thankful about the increase.

We have been working hard as a team with huge success. I strongly believe that an increase like this will only encourage us to work harder and continue representing the people of the Caribbean to the best of our abilities.”

WICB CEO says, “We are hoping this new package (not only) will serve

London the perfect choice for Euro 2020 climax – UEFA boss

By Steve Tongue LONDON,(Reuters)-New UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin believes London is the perfect choice to stage the climax to Euro 2020 after 12 other cities across the continent host earlier matches, he said yesterday.

Under the controversial format being used for the tournament’s 60th anniversary, those cities will stage four games each with the semi-finals and final at Wembley in the English capital.

Before being elected last week, Ceferin had said the plan was a risk and would be difficult for travelling fans.

In his first official engagement since the election, at the launch of the London logo in a ceremony that will be replicated in the other host cities, the Slovenian lawyer suggested the format would be for one tournament only.

“I’m delighted to be in England, the home of foot-

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin during the launchAction Images via Reuters / Tony O’BrienLivepic cradle,” Ceferin said. ball, the country that gave “London is a wonderfootball to the world,” Cefer- ful, vibrant multicultural in told an audience including city and an intense hotbed delegates from all 13 hosting of football.” football associations and Ceferin said UEFA had England manager Sam Al- a vision of commemorating lardyce. the 60th anniversary of the “The tournament will European Championship be unique and memorable in a true celebration of the in a variety of ways. game “we all love and cherEngland hosted the 1996 ish”.

European Championship.

“What better way could “Twenty four years after there be than to take the Euro 96, football will once final tournament for one again return to its mythical single occasion to all four

corners of our continent?,” he added.

The 12 group venues are Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, Munich, Rome and St Petersburg.

“Eight of the 13 host cities will be celebrating something they have never done before and might never have dreamed of doing,” Ceferin added.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said his city, which also staged the 2012 Olympic Games, was “renowned as one of the world’s best hosts for major sporting events”, adding that it had a fan base from almost every nation on earth.

In a reference to England’s failure at the 2016 tournament, when they suffered an ignominious defeat by outsiders Iceland in the last 16, he added: “We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Iceland’s players are not as inspired this time.”

as an additional incentive for the current set of women, but (also) will serve as a drawing card to more women to be attracted to cricket.”

W I PA p r e s i d e n t a n d CEO, Wavell Hinds, also thinks “our women senior team have been a solid elite performing group over the last decade, as such, the improvement and security in their compensation package is well deserved.

We wish the team well for their upcoming home assignment”.

West Indies women are now in camp for a home-series against England. The series will consist of five ODIs, the last

three of which will count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, to be contested between October 8 and 19 at the Trelawny Multiplex and Sabina Park in Jamaica.

A win in this series for the Windies women could seal a spot in the World Cup in the UK in June next year.

West Indies are in second place with 20 points behind Australia. England are currently in third place.

T h e I C C Wo m e n ’s Championship, a multiyear bilateral competition, is between the top eight international women’s sides that will lead to automatic qualification for the top four teams.

Lower Corentyne, ECD in top-of-the-table clash

LEADERS Lower Corentyne and second-placed East Coast Demerara (ECD) will square off tomorrow in a top-of-the-table clash for the next three days when the Jaguars Franchise League three-day competition enters the fifth round.

Currently, the leaders are ahead of East Coast Demerara by 16.8 points, and will definitely start as favourites since they will be playing in their own backyard, the Albion Community Centre.

With four outright victories, Lower Corentyne accumulated 70.8 points, while ECD have so far earned 54 points from their three outright victories.

Those points are inclusive of batting, bowling and fast bowling wickets bonus points.

According to the playing conditions, a team can earn a maximum of five batting bonus points, and a maximum of three bowling bonus points, as well .1 for each fast bowling wicket.

Meanwhile, West Demerara are on third in the points standing with 45.2, followed by Essequibo (27.2), Georgetown (20.8), Upper Corentyne (18.7), West Berbice (17.5) and East Bank (16).

Other matches in the fifth round are: Upper Corentyne play Essequibo at the Port Mourant Community Centre ground, East Bank take on West Berbice at the Enterprise Busta Sports Club and Georgetown battle with West Demerara at Lusignan Community Centre.

GASA to finalise IGG team by next week (See Story on page 27 )

Phillips Bright, Caesar head 28-man IGG athletics team AS predicted, Guyana Defence Force’s Kenisha Phillips and Linden’s Chantoba Bright and Compton Caesar head the list on the athletics team that will represent Guyana at this year’s Inter-Guiana ‘Goodwill’ Games set for October 20-24 in Guyana.

The 28-member team of 14 boys and 14 girls was named by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) yesterday, and follows the IGG selection trials held by the association last Sunday at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.

The full boys team reads: Compton Caesar (100m, 200m), Tyrell Peters (100m, 200m), Laurindo Prince (400m, 800m), Stayon Wilson (400m) , Anfernee Headecker (800m, 1500m), Odwin Tudor (1500m, 5000m), Delroy Leitch (5000m), Alvin George (shot put, discus), Lloyd McCurdy (javelin, long jump, triple jump), Tramaine Beckles (javelin),

Chantoba Bright Treamaine Brown (long jump, triple jump), Daniels Williams (high jump), Osafa Profitt (high jump).

Meanwhile, on the distaff side, in addition to Phillips (100m, 200m) and Bright (long jump, triple jump) there are Onasha Rogers (100m) Deshanna Skeete (200m, 400m), Av o n S a m u e l s ( 4 0 0 m ) , Joanna Archer (800m, 1500m), Kezra Murray ( 8 0 0 m ) , S h a k a Ty r e l l

Compton Caesar (1500m, 3000m), Tabitha Bowman (3000m), Jamacia Scott (shot put, javelin), Andriska Mickle (shot put, discus, javelin), Irie Cadogan (high jump), Tatyanna Blair (high jump).

The team will be competing against a team from Suriname, with each team allowed to enter two athletes per event, of the 24 events at this year’s IGG. As previously reported, the tri-nation competition

St George’s captain Dominic James dies after collapsing during Manning Cup match … Guyana’s Director of Sport sends letter of condolence JAMAICA’S Schoolboys football fraternity was plunged into mourning on Tuesday afternoon following the death of St George’s schoolboy footballer Dominic James who died after collapsing during a match against Excelsior.

The match was just four minutes old when James collapsed on the field at Stadium East, suffering from what appeared to be convulsions. The stricken player was taken to the Medical Associates hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

As news filtered back to the match, close to halftime, which was later postponed, players could be seen crying for the loss of

Dominic James their teammate and team captain. The midfielder who was handed the armband this season was also a part of Waterhouse and national Under-20 teams.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s Director of Sport Christopher Jones has dispatched a

letter of condolence on the untimely passing of James.

“On behalf of the sporting fraternity in Guyana I extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences on the passing of Mr Dominic James, captain of the St George’s College football team. We, in Guyana, share in his family’s, St George’s College’s, the Jamaican football and sporting fraternities’ and all of Jamaica’s grief at this time. His unexpected and tragic passing no doubt must cause emotional distress.

We in Guyana hold Dominic’s parents and relatives, the St George’s College family and the people of Jamaica in our thoughts and prayers in this time of mourning.”

Kenisha Phillips is going without the participation of a delegation from French Guiana, which resulted in this year’s event being labelled a ‘Goodwill’ event.

Athletics is one of seven sport disciplines listed in the annual Games, the others being swimming, table tennis, basketball, volleyball and futsal.

Speaking on the selection of the team, AAG president Aubrey Hutson reminded that the athletes

essentially earned their place on the team, through their performance last Sunday, and, for the most part, it was not a case where a selection committee had to sit down and deliberate over past performances.

“The team, across the board, we think it’s the best team we could have selected. The athletes would have selected themselves.

We had trials and it was based on the results of the trials and not based on past performance that the team was selected. Every athlete, who, based on the results and merited selection, is on that team,” Hutson commented, in a telephone interview with Chronicle Sport yesterday.

Nonetheless, while the team comprises almost all of the first-place winners at last Sunday’s event, due to size restrictions only some of the athletes who would have placed second were

able to make the team.

“We need to bear in mind that we have 12 male and 12 female events, but we have to come up with a 14 male, 14 female squad, yet having two persons in each event. If we look at it that’s 24 (in each category) from the 24 that we need for each (category).

“We can only have 14 athletes, so it’s not necessarily because you may have gotten second in a particular event that would have made you qualify for the team, because we have to control the team size,“ Hutson explained.

As they compete the athletes will be fighting to defend Guyana’s title at the Championships. The Guyana athletics team won the title when the competition was last held in 2014. No competition was held last year as all three countries were dealing with national elections.

Misbah becomes first Pakistani to receive Test mace from ICC

ICC CEO David Richardson presents the Test mace to Misbah-ul-Haq in Lahore, Pakistan yesterday. (See story on page 27)

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016