Guyana Inc Magazine Issue 12

YOUR FREE COPY TO KEEP! - ISSUE 12

A Review:

Guyana’s Real Gross Domestic Product & Sectoral Performance in 2014

Caribbean Identity Theft Investing in Festivals Loved by International Cricketers, Leaders...

Has cemented Guyana’s place on the worldwide map with his Iconic Jewellery

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Table of Contents A Review: Guyana’s Real Gross Domestic Product and Sectoral Performance in 2014 Cheap can be Expensive & Dangerous

P6

P10

Looknauth “King” Persaud

P12

Investing in Festivals

P18

Mashramani 2015 National Calendar of Events

P19

Some notable changes in the Law

P20

A barber for all seasons - John Abrahams Junior The Issue of Suicide - A permanent solution to a temporary problem Biodiversity Performance for the Development of the Mining Sector

Founder and Publisher Teshawna Lall, BA, MBA

P28

Managing Director Frank Sanichara Marketing Innovative Marketing & Publishing Inc.

P30

P32

“Mash” Expected to be “EPIC” this year

P35

Health sector boasts of laudable decline in Malaria cases

P36

Valentine, a festival for lovers

P38

Design Innovative Marketing & Publishing Inc. Editorial Contributions Ministry of Natural Resources Adam Harris Justice Claudette Singh Rabindra Rooplall Marissa Lowden Leonard Gildarie Franklin Wilson Sharmain Grainger Brian Ramsey Sabatini Daniels Dr. Noshella Singh Abena Rockliffe Ruel Johnson Saarah Gajraj Tammy Quail 70 Industrial Site, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, Guyana, South America.

Tel: (592) 629-2206 or (592) 604-6108 For Subscription in Guyana and the Caribbean Contact: (592) 233-2473 North America: 347-599-6426 Email: teshawna@guyanainc.biz frank@guyanainc.biz Website: www.guyanainc.biz

What you Need to Know about Strategic Management

P22

The Amazon Tree Boa

P39

Effects of Alcoholism

P25

Kanuku Mountains - A birdwatcher’s paradise like no other

P40

Caribbean Idenity Theft

P26

Football in Guyana headed for good times again

P42

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A Review:

Guyana’s Real Gross Domestic Product and Sectoral Performance in 2014

T

he 2014 Budget under the theme “A Better Guyana For All Guyanese” highlighted the positive growth achieved in the year 2013, which signified the eighth consecutive year of such growth. The Budget also projected a continuation of this positive trend throughout 2014.

The growing resilience of the domestic economy and diversification of the productive sector was responsible for this sustained growth performance and positive projection. The Government of Guyana (GoG) has committed to maintain fiscal, debt and external positions to ensure the sustainability that is so critical to the medium and long term national development agenda.

The GoG’s policy stance remains geared to ensure sustained growth in the economy despite the risks associated with the movements in relevant global commodity prices on both the import and export sides, the challenging external conditions, and the inevitable uncertainties arising from the testing domestic political situation.

It is anticipated that Government’s constant emphasis on promoting competitiveness and securing resilience will offset any adverse impacts of uncertainty in the global economy and in the domestic political environment. It will also ensure the achievement of a ninth consecutive year of positive economic growth in 2014.

Notably, growth continued and inflation was maintained at a low rate during the first half of 2014. The economy recorded an overall growth of 3.2 percent in real gross domestic product (GDP), within which nonsugar GDP grew by two percent.

Given the performance of key sectors

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.6

within the economy over the first six months of the year, overall growth for 2014 was projected at 4.5 percent, of which non-sugar GDP was projected to grow by 3.6 percent.

Sugar production in the first crop of 79,995 tonnes was 66.5 percent above the first crop of 2013. The industry achieved its end of year target of 215,910 tonnes. Accordingly, the expected end of year output is maintained at the budget projection of a 15.6 percent increase over the 2013 output level.

The rice industry continued to achieve a record production boom. Despite issues associated with lower paddy prices and some delays in payment by millers to farmers, production in the first crop of 312,283 tonnes was 18.3 percent over last year’s record high first crop of 263,868 tonnes. Therefore, the end of year output and growth projections were revised upwards to 591,892 tonnes equivalent to 10.5 percent over the 2013 record production levels.

Since 2007, production in other crops continued to record positive growth. The half year estimate was already up by 5 percent over the half year output for 2013. The subsector was expected to achieve its budget target of five percent providing that there was no adverse weather or unforeseen circumstance.

The livestock industry’s first half performance displayed a one percent growth over the first half of 2013, which will help the sector achieve the end of year growth target of 3.3 percent, strengthened by the fact that higher demand was experienced in the second half of the year.

Despite the introduction of improved management and monitoring techniques in the fishing industry, first half production was 25.5 percent below 2013 levels. Even with an improved performance in the second half, an overall decline in growth was expected.

Therefore, the budget target of 2.2 percent growth was revised to a whole year contraction of 8 percent relative to 2013 output levels.

Alternatively, the forestry sector recorded robust growth of 38.1 percent, supported by the introduction of new incentives to harvesters and sustained demand from the construction sector and furniture manufacturing subsector. As a consequence, the growth target was revised upwards significantly from the budgeted 3.3 percent to 15 percent growth for 2014.

In recent years, the gold industry, and to some extent the bauxite industry, have managed to drive the mining and quarrying sector.

During the first half of 2014, the sector recorded a decline of 17.2 percent in gold declaration and a 3 percent decline in bauxite’s contribution. Accordingly, projected end of year gold declaration was revised downwards to 450,000 ounces or a 6.5 percent decline, while bauxite value added was projected to contract by 6.1 percent.

With anticipated increased demand for quarry products in the second half of the year, the production of ‘other mining products’ was expected to rebound and return a marginally lower 5.5 percent growth. The overall sector performance for 2014 was revised downwards from the budget target of 2.8 percent growth to a contraction of 5.1 percent.

In the first half of 2014, manufacturing output grew by 11.2 percent driven by increased levels of production for sugar and rice which has compensated for slower performances in other manufacturing, and as a result of which sector growth was revised upwards to 8.1 percent, a modest improvement on the original target of 7.1 percent.

Overall growth in the services sector continued to be strong in the first half of 2014. Underlying this, construction recorded an extremely robust 16.8 percent growth reflecting both public and private sector activity. Wholesale and retail, information and communication, and financial and insurance activities recorded growth of 6 percent, 3.5 percent and 2 percent respectively.

However, some sectors experienced contraction, for example, in transportation and storage, by 9.5 percent, and in the electricity and water sector by 4.2 percent, largely associated with supply bottlenecks.

As a result of developments in the first half of the year, along with the updated outlook for the remainder of the year, construction was expected to record growth of 12 percent. On the other hand, the downward spiral for the transportation and storage sector was expected to change for the positive due to increased production and activity in the second half in the sugar, rice, forestry and trading sectors, as well as, a higher activity level in the gold mining sector, which was expected to accelerate air transport activities.

The management of supply bottlenecks during the second half by the electricity and water sectors was expected to result in improved performance by the end of the year. However, these improvements did not guarantee a full reversal of the effects of the lower than expected growth performance in the first half.

Balance of Payments

The overall balance of payments deficit improved to US$93 million, compared to US$145.6 million at half year 2013, mainly attributed to a lower current account deficit of US$205.6 million compared to US$269.4 million at the end of June 2013. This was mainly due to lower merchandise trade deficit coupled with higher current transfers.

Excluding gold, total exports grew by 4.3 percent to US$307.5 million in the first half of 2014. Sugar exports returned US$34.4 million in earnings, a 26.4 percent increase compared to June 2013 level, attributed to an 80.3 percent increase in export volume to 69,687 tonnes.

Rice export earnings increased to US$95.6 million, 14.9 percent higher than at June 2013 due to a 30.7 percent increase in export volume to 186,000 tonnes, outweighing the 12.1 percent contraction in export prices to US$514 per tonne.

Timber export earnings rose to US$21.3 million, a 31.3 percent increase due to an increase in export volume, reflecting an expansion in plywood exports. Bauxite export receipts declined marginally by 2.9 percent to US$66.9 million due mainly to a 6.4 percent contraction in export volume to 855,877 tonnes.

In addition, other exports contracted by 10 percent to US$89.3 million, primarily on account of a decline in fish and shrimp exports. However, the first half of 2014 also experienced a 24.6 percent contraction in gold exports earnings to US$226.7 million, associated with a 10.1 percent decline in export volume to 182,411 ounces, coupled with a 16.1 percent contraction in average export prices to US$1,243 per ounce.

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As a result, overall receipts from exports fell by 10.3 percent to US$534.2 million in the first half of 2014, compared to the corresponding period in 2013.

Lower imports of consumption, intermediate and capital goods led to a contraction in merchandise imports of 7.5 percent to US$839 million. Imports of consumption goods declined by 7.2 percent to US$186.9 million.

Under the intermediate category, imports contracted by 3.3 percent to US$476.1 million, mainly due to a decline in chemicals and consumables for capital equipment, outweighing the increase in imports of fuel and lubricants, other intermediate goods and food for intermediate use. Imports of capital goods declined by 17.7 percent to US$171.9 million, with some moderation in the importation of agriculture, industrial and building machinery.

Net current transfers increased by 27.3 percent to US$214.4 million, notwithstanding a marginal decline of 2.5 percent

in workers remittances. Net payment of services amounted to US$115.3 million compared to US$126.3 million in the corresponding period in 2013, attributed to a 16.8 percent decline in net payment for nonfactor services to US$110.9 million, associated with lower net payments for commercial services.

Factor services registered a net outflow of US$4.3 million compared to a net inflow of $6.9 million, due to larger outflow of direct investment income, portfolio income and other investment income.

The surplus on the capital account amounted to US$106.9 million compared to US$149 million a year ago. This outturn was due to increased holdings of net foreign assets by commercial banks. Foreign direct investment increased by 10.7 percent to US$121 million, driven by the mining and quarrying sector, even in the face of the world market price moderation referred to earlier.

Mid-Year GDP Growth rates by Sector ITEM Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry

2013 ACTUAL

2014 BUDGET

2013 H1

2014 H2

2014 REVISED

2.3

5.2

4.0

10.9

7.0

Sugar

(14.4)

15.6

(32.5)

66.5

15.6

Rice

26.9

1.1

25.1

18.6

10.5

Other Crops

4.2

5.0

2.0

5.0

5.0

Livestock

4.3

3.3

1.9

1.0

3.3

Fishing

(6.5)

2.2

(8.8)

(25.5)

(8.0)

Forestry

5.0

3.3

53.2

38.1

15.0

Mining and Quarring

8.0

2.8

17.9

(13.2)

(5.1)

Bauxite

(11.0)

11.5

(11.2)

(3.0)

(6.1)

Gold

9.7

0.7

26.8

(17.2)

(6.5)

Other

30.2

5.7

16.1

(3.5)

5.5

8.0

7.1

5.9

11.2

8.1

Sugar

(14.4)

15.6

(32.5)

66.5

15.6

Rice

26.9

1.0

25.1

18.3

10.0

5.4

8.5

2.5

2.0

5.5

Manufacturing

Other Manufacturing Electricity and Water

5.6

7.2

5.3

(4.2)

(0.5)

Construction

22.6

7.5

6.6

16.8

12.0

Wholesale and Retail Trade

(0.9)

4.5

9.0

6.0

3.5

Transporation and Storage

4.0

8.4

(8.8)

(9.5)

6.5

Information and Communication

5.9

4.2

3.1

3.5

4.2

Financial and Insurance Activities

11.2

11.8

9.1

2.0

5.6

Public Administration

2.5

2.0

0.0

0.5

0.5

Education

3.5

4.0

1.4

2.4

4.0

Health and Social Services

4.0

3.8

1.9

2.8

3.8

Real Estate Activities

5.6

9.0

1.2

2.3

3.9

Other Services Activities

(3.0)

7.6

3.4

3.7

4.0

TOTAL

5.2

5.6

3.9

3.2

4.5

Non-Sugar GDP Growth Rate

6.3

5.2

6.0

2.0

3.6

*Source: Bureau of Statistics

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.8

Cheap can be Expensive & Dangerous We need to follow the rules Buy wisely, don’t overload electrical points

The Christmas season is over and people are back to their daily lives. The fairy lights have come down. However, in some cases, people who have added fixtures to their electricity points in their homes to accommodate the various gadgets that they wanted to make their homes look pretty, decide to leave them on, and with it, comes a hefty electricity bill.

The Guyana Power and Light company reports that a large number of people actually installed things to allow them to steal electricity. For example, in some parts of the city, about forty per cent of the households actually steal electricity.

There were a few fires, some of which were not reported. These fires stemmed from the faulty electrical connections and from the overloaded electricity points. The electrical points are designed to take certain loads. Once the load points are exceeded they overheat and often cause fires.

The fallout from the fires is that there will be the construction. People have to replace their homes and it is here that the most callous of people would say that in a sense the fires represent a contribution to economic development. Indeed constructions represent a boost in the economy.

Businesses that deal in construction material would record sales.

However, the downside is that the fires actually cause a setback because the money that would have to be directed to the reconstruction could have gone to other areas.

It is here that one needs to heed the advices of the people in the areas that must deal with fires and electricity. The people in the power company always advise that when one is about to make electrical connections they must seek out the services of an expert. Electrical points are designed to take a certain load and any additional load that is placed raises the risk of danger.

Most people see an electrical point to which they add power strips that can take up to six pieces of equipment. These all add pressure to the point and the danger heightens.

There is also the need to look at the gadgets that one buys. There are a lot of counterfeit gadgets that look like the real McCoy. There are companies that specialize in fashioning counterfeit goods which they then sell cheap.

The average Guyanese with his limited income would always seek out the best bargains. This year at Christmas, there were many things that should have been taken off the shelves by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards. However, given the limitations on staff, the Bureau cannot test all the imports, and the Guyana Revenue Authority is not expected to investigate and test the imports.

We have heard of malfunctioning fairy lights and other things. Now, as the year progresses, there will be other gadgets that will be bought by people.

There would be the electric irons and the kettles. These often have faulty wiring that can spark fires.

It would be nice to make an appeal to importers to bring in those things that meet international standards, but in the world of business, the drive is profit. In a highly competitive market, every importer seeks to maximize on his investment.

Fortunate or unfortunate buyers, depending on which side one looks at the issue, find that the counterfeit article fails after two or three uses. They then return to the store for a refund, but that in itself is another problem. Some vendors simply say that there would be no refund. Some, under pressure, would ask the buyer to take something of the same value but that replacement item is often another counterfeit.

In light of the threat of fires, people need to rethink their building practices.

In Guyana, we do not channel electric wires; we rely on the insulation wrapped around the wire. We then attach the wire to our walls and roofs. After a certain period, the insulation fails and this too is a threat for fires.

In the developed world, electric wires are installed into ducts which are then run throughout the house. We may need to adopt this practice. We may also wish to construct with fire resistant materials. Indeed, many homes are constructed from bricks, but there are always the floors and ceilings. But that is for another column.

Meanwhile, the advice is for people to pay attention to their purchases and to their electrical connections.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.10

Loved by International Cricketers, Leaders...

Has cemented Guyana’s place on the worldwide map with his Iconic Jewellery

F

or most people, the word “Kings” is synonymous with royalty. And indeed, that is the kind of service offered by King’s Jewellery World…one befitting a royal household.

Leaders and celebrities from all over the world have been demanding a piece of their artwork, trekking to Guyana or calling on the phones for unique, must-have pieces.

Today, if there is one company that truly marketed Guyana, cementing this country’s place on the map of the world, it would be King’s.

It is by far the most recognized name in the country when it comes to exquisite jewellery, brand name luxury items and its elegant showrooms.

The company, with its sleek ads and sponsorship of the hugely popular, now annual duck curry competitions, has been standing head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd when it comes to taking its brand to the next level.

King’s also aggressively pushes for tassa drumming to remain alive.

Standing quietly at the head of this phenomenal success is none other than Looknauth ‘King’ Persaud.

A self-made man, who pulled out all the stops to ensure excellence in his original pieces. Persaud has managed to revolutionize the popularity of cricket bands, with the designs even selling on Amazon, one of the internet’s biggest shopping sites.

Big names like Sarwan, Sunil Narine and even Chris Gayle have been insisting on some of the pieces.

An appointment with Persaud is difficult. There is a quiet air of assurance and humbleness that surrounds him.

The nickname ‘King’, he laughs, stuck after he acted as King Dasrat in a school play and a royal in one featuring Anansi.

Struggle However, life for the jeweler, 58, has been anything but a laugh. His is a success story in every sense. He has slugged his way from the bottom.

Alexander Village, as far back at the 50’s, was a city ward more known for the jewelers than anything else.

Persaud’s family was poor. At just 12, his father, a jack-of-all-trades, died, leaving him with his two smaller sisters and brother. His mother was a parttime seamstress who worked at Lysons, at that time one of Guyana’s largest employers.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.12

When his father died, the family had to move from the grandparents’ home. A reluctant Looknauth was forced, at 12, to start thinking like a man. “They told me that I am the eldest and I have to go defend my family.”

The four siblings and their mother had to make do at the home of another relative who planted peas for a living. The living conditions were tough.

Looknauth recalled rats even nibbling their toes while they slept under a shed that, during the day, was used as a working area for the peas business.

Because of the lack of space, and the fact that there was only one kitchen, his mother was forced to share the kitchen with the relatives there and after leaving for work, the children had to fend for themselves to get to school. These were challenging times.

“At that age, I too realized my responsibility and had to become a man.

I started to learn a trade as an apprentice at a goldsmith shop in the area. This was done after I came out from school in the afternoons. Back in those days, in the 1970s, that profession was very competitive.”

Maybe it was the love of art, maybe creativity, or maybe simply the need to survive, but Looknauth’s personal drive started to manifest itself from those early years. “I had to be smart and innovative but I had a love for it. I enjoyed art…it was my strong point in school and I excelled at that.

I loved to be creative. I loved to paint and sketch.”

It seems also that working with gold was in the blood. Looknauth’s great grandmother was a jeweler from India.

In her time, she was the only female

jeweler in Guyana. She even had a stall in Stabroek Market, in the 6O’s.

It was called Khushroo.

Learning the goldsmith work came quite by accident for the young boy. “I went to visit a friend at a goldsmith’s shop and while there looking at my friend work, I laughed because he couldn’t get it right. So the boss turned to me and asked me why am I laughing… Can you do it? And sure enough I did it in just one try.”

“I was amongst a few who worked at such a tender age, but I had no choice…I was fatherless and my mom could only do so much. My mom was also very young. She was just 15 years older than me.”

But while there was potential, at just 15, the teenager was wavering. He started hanging out with his friends and drinking.

“My boss called me and asked me what I was doing. He said that my friends had a home, car, bike and other stuff. He asked what I had. I said I don’t have anything, boss.”

Turning Point It was a rude awakening for the teen.

“That was the turning point of my life and the start of my career. I worked with this gentleman for about one year before I got a better opportunity to broaden my knowledge. He agreed with me that it was best for me because I had talent.”

The apprentice paid attention and experimented with his flair for designs. “My boss liked the fact that I took the initiative to do things. I didn’t wait because I told myself

the more work I did and the more things I got done, the more I would learn.”

Things started to look up. Looknauth bought clothes and even a bicycle, a big thing back in those days.

“Eventually we moved to a decent place where we had our own bedrooms and even an inside bathroom. Life was taking a turn for the better.”

The teen was even working for more than his mother. “My mom wasn’t too keen on me working, but I had to. I had a responsibility towards my family and I guess I had to make the sacrifice to ensure a better life for us.”

Looknauth insisted that his younger siblings attend school.

At just 16, the young apprentice decided to venture off on his own. Right in Alexander Village, he converted a room into a workshop with his bed in a little corner.

“It had a bench and a table in corner, and I used to do all my polishing on the bench and eventually, I started to sell my jewellery wholesale to others.”

It was clear that his designs were turning heads. “I think I stood out because I loved a good challenge and I would do stuff differently. I like to be innovative and go beyond. It was this attitude that got me a lot of customers because I would go beyond the simple things and try to do it much more beautifully. I would take a simple thing like a cricket band and make it beautiful.”

“For me, this trade made me proud of myself. It gave me self confidence and it made me understand my worth. I would tell the other jewellers to not send away a customer… to send them to me.”

Still 16, Looknauth managed to start selling his pieces to places like Auto Supplies, which back in the early 70’s, had one of the biggest jewelry stores in the country. “I was also selling silver and gold jewellery to other suppliers and pawnbrokers.”

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.13

The pieces were far superior in their bold designs compared to others, and the customers were loving them.

“Sometimes I would look at things and their beauty and say to myself, I could do this with this and make a pattern like this; my mind was always working. I never rested until I could do it and do it well.”

Eventually, Looknauth’s brother started to work for him, and then a few cousins. At the age of 17, he had a staff of five, but was still operating from the one room he had started in. He kept meticulous records and was careful not to overspend.

“I didn’t inherit anything so I had to work hard for what I wanted, and really hard too. I realized that when you work hard for the things you got, you learn how to appreciate and love them.”

Of course, Looknauth regretted not getting to finish school. But he read. He joined the Lions Club, becoming one of the youngest members, and later, President.

He is also the Regional Chairman for the Lions Club in Guyana.

“You could say I am a self-taught person.”

In the 70’s and 80’s, there was a huge demand for jewellery overseas. Traders had found a quick fire way to make money. Looknauth was cashing in.

Throughout it all, the teenager never let go of his mother and siblings.

At 19, he got engaged to Ena, who later became his wife and staunch supporter. “We were friends for a long time and when I stopped following the wrong crowd, she and I got closer and we got married in 1975.”

The marriage has borne three children…Ralph, 38; Ryan, 35, and Ravi, 32.

To expand his knowledge, he started to work with another jeweller from Triumph who operated at Humphrey’s, a store in the city. “I took it because it meant I would learn more, but I continued to do my own private work.”

He stayed at Humphrey’s for two years, working independently and honing his skills to a fine art. His Alexander Village operations remained closed during this time. “But I had to leave Humphrey’s because I had responsibilities and I didn’t want to continue living at the renting house.”

Sweet Success Looknauth then reopened his workshop, and gave it his all, pushing in long hours. It paid off. The customers were coming. King’s had started to become a wellknown name.

“Eventually I got enough money and I bought a home in Alexander Village and together with my wife, mother and other siblings we moved in. I think I was basically the father to my siblings. We loved each other, and the respect and love that they showed me was just great.”

Looknauth set up shop at that home, hiring more workers.

He was just 20 and was training several staffers.

His biggest customers were Auto Supplies and Demerara Pawnbrokers.

But in 1979, the world stopped for a while. Robbers on a motorcycle attacked him at the business spot. Almost $5000 ($3M at today’s equivalent) worth in jewelry and cash were taken.

It was a huge hit.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.14

“It w a s v e r y traumatizing for me and my family. I had to end up taking a loan to pay back people. Immediately after that, my whole outlook changed. I became very conscious of my environment and thought it was time to get proper security.”

Looknauth bought a safe and invested in better security. In 1976, when his first son, Ralph was born, Looknauth bought his first motorcycle. Things were getting better.

An opportunity came up for him to acquire a property on Back Road (now Mandela Avenue).

Using his savings, he started to build what later became the base of his operations. “The business grew and everyday people started to inquire about me, and every day I got more and more popular. I offered a good service to people and I got goodness in return. I was always honest, reliable and I continue to do my best for my clients.”

It was in the earlier 80’s that Looknauth started to make it in the big time. In 1981, well-known Guyana cricketer and West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, and his teammate, Roger Harper were among those that ordered cricket bands. The word of mouth about the eye-catching pieces quickly spread.

“The cricket band was a huge hit and the cricketers loved it, so King’s became really famous for its cricket bands. It has become so famous, that the President of Sri Lanka has even called me recently to ask me to make a band similar to the one that cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya has. Now I have to figure out a way to get it there.”

The cricket band craze and the quality

saw other teams making King’s place of business on the Back Road a must for visitors.

Eager customers had to wait on their pieces as demands grew.

Looknauth, who had been looking at what the overseas jewellers were doing, decided it was time that Guyana had a jewellery store of international standards.

Kings’s Jewellery World came into play in 1994, with its first outlet at Cara Suite, Middle Street.

There were even times when the area was closed down to traffic to cater for visiting heads of Government. It spoke of the high confidence for King’s.

Looknauth took the opportunity to travel and spent almost all of his time paying close attention to what companies like Tiffany’s were doing.

“It opened my eyes to different designs and it helped me with my creativity. I always thought of myself as a leader and not a follower. I think when I started to do the jewellery for the cricketers and would see it in magazines and on TV when they wear it, I felt proud.”

Cricketers Cricketers even dropped in to dine at the businessman’s home. He estimates that thousands of his special bands have been made for the cricket fraternity.

In 2000, King’s launched its millennium bracelet. The design was a huge success.

Looknauth even started lending advice to local jewellers to design their stores and acquire equipment.

“Being a goldsmith is not easy. There are lots of challenges and it can be very stressful at times especially when you have to worry about security.”

Some of the staffers that he trained have even ended up in well known overseas jewellers like Tiffany’s.

In 1992, King’s decided to participate in the now annual GuyExpo at Sophia. It was a decision that he did not regret. The exposure led to even more customers.

Almost 50 percent of the business is generated from overseas visitors and returning Guyanese, Looknauth disclosed.

Of course, the recognition has been a good feeling.

“I was once in Australia and a young couple came up and say that they bought their engagement ring from us in Guyana.

I felt proud.”

Looknauth is also proud that his designs have remained strictly original.

The business has seen the family become experts in their field. Ena, Looknauth’s wife, has a certificate in Jewellery Management and Jewellery Sales.

Ralph, Renata, Ryan and Anya are qualified Gemologists.

The jeweller himself has been involved in training with the Guyana Gold Board. He opened branches in New Amsterdam, City Mall, in Trinidad and even ventured into the Bahamas.

Today, although Looknauth’s younger brother has passed away, his beloved mother and two sisters have migrated to the US, with the family stronger than ever.

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Duck Curry, Tassa The businessman is equally proud of the duck curry competition which has become a phenomenal success in Guyana.

“We had an opportunity to view it in Trinidad and I thought it was a good idea for Guyana.”

In 2000, he organized the first one at Diamond Ground, East Bank Demerara. It was a runaway success.

“We introduced it in New York and it became a hit. The main road was shut down because of the backup of traffic. We catered for about 5,000 persons… we got 20,000 in the ground and about 30,000 outside waiting to get in.”

For a short while, the businessman was involved in gold mining but found it tough and pulled out.

“Gold mining is like being a fisherman… you never know what your catch will be.”

Looknauth loves tradition, and so it was not a surprise that he fell in love with the tassa. He started experimenting. With two of his uncles in bands, Looknauth received training on bass and the drum and even started teaching neighbours, despite complaints about the noise.

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In 2000, he brought in the Sylvan Bharat tassa group from Trinidad and participated with a few others in a two-week training program. He launched the Kings Tassa group, which eventually became the leading one in Guyana. That group even went on to win a competition organized by the West Demerara Indian Arrival body. He has taken the group for performances in Suriname, Brazil, Canada, USA and Barbados and even did training for a young group in Jamaica.

Today, even Government, through the Ministry of Culture, has recognised the role played by Looknauth in keeping the tradition of tassa drumming alive in Guyana.

But Looknauth admitted that he never planned on being so successful.

“If asked if I planned or I dreamed of becoming so well recognized in this field, I would not know what to say but what I do know, as a young boy it was my dream to be the best goldsmith and to do beautiful work. And because I loved what I did, I excelled at it and became a perfectionist and I always tried to do my best.”

The biggest satisfaction has been giving the customers what they want.

“I worked sometimes for three days without sleep. I never gave up and I gave it my all. My success wasn’t because I was privileged but because I chose to work hard and be dedicated. It is even tougher now because we have to work hard to maintain the status.”

King has started to turn the businesses over to his sons. But it is hard to stay away. “I am glad I get to spend some quality time with my wife and I know (the business) is in capable hands. I don’t worry because I can see the dedication in my kids to make the business flourish. They work hard and they are doing great. They managed to help me to take it to the other level.”

According to the businessman, he reads everyday of people complaining about child labour.

“I am a product of child labour and I am doing well. I believe that you have to work. Not everybody is born privileged but it doesn’t mean that they can’t have it all. I am here to vouch for that. To be successful you have to work hard.”

He has a message to young Guyanese. “Find something that you like to do and apply yourself to that.

You have to be disciplined, honest and hardworking. I am 100 percent proud to be a Guyanese.”

King’s has also been recognized by Government. It has received an award for sterling contributions to tourism in Guyana. The reasons were simple. The first stop for many visitors in Guyana is King’s. With the international attraction, and customers that include international cricketers and world leaders, King’s branding of Guyana has been more than welcomed.

King’s has also become the authorized dealers for fine luxury brands such as Gucci, Movado, Citizen, Bering, Kenneth Cole, Casio, Versus, Serengetti, Oakley, Prada, Maui Jim, BCBG, Jessica Simpson, Lucky Brand, Steve Madden, Cross, Lauren G Adams and many more.

King’s and Looknauth have both been featured in overseas magazines, including the Washington Diplomat, testimony of the worldwide recognition they have received.

King’s has over 100 staffers, and showrooms at Middle Street, Quamina Street, at the City Mall and Rose Hall Town, and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, King’s emphasis on quality and service has taken the lead in branding Guyana.

Investing

F

in

Festivals

estivals around the world serve different, and often, specific purposes. The annual Frankfurt Book Fair is, for example, the largest gathering of persons from the publication industry on an annual basis, while the Cannes Film Festival is focused on film. In other places, festivals are largely cultural, like the Dia De Los Muertos in Mexico, for example, existing just for the sake of tradition.

Increasingly however, in addition to being simply industry specific or celebratory in nature, they serve as part of the cultural/creative industry thrust of evolving economies. The king of global street festivals is of course Brazil’s Carnival. According to a Bloomberg report, over 850,000 tourists visited Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2012 for carnival, contributing some US$626 million to the state’s economy. With general tourism revenues for that year being $3.2 billion, that single festival, centered in one city for a few days, accounted for roughly onefifth of revenue.

Guyana has been receiving growing numbers of tourists every year, particularly from new markets. For example, the Guyana Tourism Authority reported in 2013 that the number of tourists coming from neighbouring Suriname had reached an average of 2,000 per month, and by the end of the year the overall rate of increase for the year was in the double digits, leading the rest of the Caribbean in growth.

Still, we have yet to see the sort of pull that drags tens of thousands of visitors every year to Trinidad and Tobago for their annual Carnival.

Writing in a Local Economic Network Africa (LEDNA) knowledge brief in June, 2013, development specialist Fiona Mati states: “Recent urban development approaches have focused less on capital projects, and more on the capacity of arts and culture to support community-led renewal. Municipal leaders have understood the impact that cultural events can have on shaping citizens’ perceptions of their city, as well as improving the confidence of stakeholders in the city’s future.

They also rely on cultural events to increase the attractiveness of the city for tourism and potential investors. One form of urban cultural activity is street carnivals that typically fulfill these goals in a public celebration that combines elements of circus and public street parties with participants parading often dressing up or masquerading.”

The focus on Mashramani so far has been primarily commemorative, of culture, of our history, even of the event in itself as cultural phenomenon. While participation, particularly from the private sector, has waxed and waned in recent years, the core concept has been sound and among Guyanese both at home and abroad, Mash remains at the core of Guyanese identity.

What has not been done over the evolution of the festival however, is focused marketing of the festival as a tourism attraction in the same way Carnival or Crop Over in fellow Caribbean nations, Trinidad and Barbados, respectively. It isn’t enough that we enjoy Mashin’ in Guyana till people going crazy – we need to broaden the appeal of the festival so that others can enjoy it with us as well.

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Investments in the services corollary to a festival industry are already in development. Over the past five years alone, available rooms have grown across Guyana and across the price spectrum, and the Marriott’s scheduled opening due shortly is going to add a significant increase to the high-end rooms.

That said, investing in festivals also means investing in the human capital to ensure that they are run properly, not on an ad hoc basis but in a systematic, sustainable way.

This means pulling together all the necessary resources and stakeholders and charting a path forward to ensure that our festival industry sees strong and sustainable growth. Festival industries open up opportunities for a variety of supporting industries, from advertising to fashion design to manufacturing to audiovisual production, and add significantly to existing incidental industries like hospitality and dining.

There has been a heavy focus on developing our ecotourism, one that has not been misplaced considering the natural beauty and exotic experience that the country’s largely under-explored interior promises for coastal residents and the foreign tourist alike.

Still, while eco-tourism is indeed a viable tourism venture, our eco-tourism product is still very much in its infancy, stymied so far by inadequate public infrastructure and the resulting high costs, particularly in an industry that elsewhere primarily attracts low income travellers, backpacking students.

Festivals offer a lower risk path for tourism product development, one that builds upon pre-existing infrastructure and benefits from the relative proximity of the urban spaces in which they are held.

Even if the eco-tourism product were more successful, festivals would provide a complementary aspect to the sort of diverse tourism regime that makes for truly successful destinations, from China to the Netherlands to Jamaica. It seems like the government of Guyana has already started moving in this direction.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce held the first Guyana Festival, an exhibition showcasing the countries culture and talent over three days at one central place, the Guyana National Stadium.

Well-attended and well received, one could argue that it could still have benefited from more direct input from other agencies, for example the Ministry of Culture.

It is perhaps time that we establish a truly multi-sectoral approach to planning Mashramani and other cultural festivals in Guyana, one that involves synchronicity between the Ministries responsible for Tourism and Culture, as well as the involvement of private sector stakeholders.

Guyana has great potential ahead, and while some traditional industries reach maturity, new avenues for economic growth and diversification are opening. Investing in festivals would be one of them.

Mashramani 2015 One People, One Culture, One Celebration

National Calendar of Events

EVENT DATE/TIME Calypso Rehearsals

Mon., January 12

VENUE: Carifesta Sports Complex

Chutney Rehearsals

Mon., January 12

VENUE: Shakti Strings Band Room

Steelband Concert

Sun., January 25

VENUE: Berbice

Junior Calypso Competition

Fri., January 30

VENUE: National Cultural Centre

Road March Competition

Chutney Competition–(Final)

Fri., January 30

Closing date for Registration

Sat., January 31

VENUE: Anna Regina

Carib Soca Monarch Competition (Semi Final) Sat., January 31

VENUE: Berbice

School Steelband Competition

Adult Calypso Competition - (Semi Final)

Sat., February 14

VENUE: From Parade Ground to National Park

Miss Mash Queen Pageant

Sat., February 14

VENUE: National Park

Children’s Parade

12 – 14 February

VENUE: NCC / CASH

Carib Soca Monarch Competition (Final)

February 9 – March 6

VENUE: National Museum

Childrens’ Competition

Sun., February 8

VENUE: Promenade Gardens

Mash Exhibition

Sun., February 8

VENUE: Cliff Anderson Sports Hall

Concert for the Elderly

Sat., February 7

VENUE: Bartica

Steel Band Competition

Sat ., February 7

VENUE: Cliff Anderson Sports Hall

Sat., February 14

VENUE: National Cultural Centre

Steelband Concert

Sat.., February 14

VENUE: Linden

Steelband Concert

Sun., February 15

VENUE: Parika

Masquerade Competition

Sun., February 15

VENUE: Anna Regina, Essequibo

Republic Lecture

Adult Calypso Competition-(Final)

Fri., February 20

VENUE: Thirst Park

Literary Street Fair

Tue ., February 17

VENUE: National Library

Fri., February 20

VENUE: Main Street

Flag Raising Ceremony

Mon., February 23

07.00 hrs

VENUE: Parliament Buildings

Costume & Float Parade

Mon., February 23

VENUE: Georgetown, Camp & Church Streets

10.00 hrs -

National Exhibition

Thur., February 26

VENUE: Castellani House

Berbice & Linden Mash Presentation Ceremony

Sun., March 01 Thur., March 05

17.30hrs

VENUE: National Cultural Centre

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Some Notable Changes In The Law

T

here was a time – though not long ago--when any discussion on the status of women was an occasion for facetious and snide comments by over confident males. These days, men have learnt to be wiser and more careful. It is not that we women have changed, but that we are asserting our rights.

New perspectives have grown out of the changes wrought by modern life in the social and working environment. New openings have been created to provide women with opportunities to release their natural energies, to demonstrate their true capabilities and, in due course, to equal and sometimes surpass men in many an area previously closed to them by male prejudice and presumption.

The basic factors working for change are no doubt social change, educational, economic, psychological and political. As in so many other cases, the influence thereby exerted needs however, to be supported and concretised by the interposition of the legal process and it may be that there are indeed times when it is the legal process which needs to take the leading role.

Before we examine these changes we need to look at the historical background.

•

Before 1904, a woman’s property was effectively under the control of her husband. In that year the law was changed to give her separate rights.

• Women obtained the franchise in 1928.

• Women obtained the right to sit in the legislature in 1945.

• Prior to 1952, women were treated as being under the tutelage of men. But the man’s superior status carried a price: he was subject to civil liability for certain acts on his wife. So, in this case, the boot was on the other foot. Yet, whichever foot the boot was on, it rested on the invidious assumption of the wife’s inferiority. The law on this point was, however,changed in 1952.

• Women became eligible to sit on juries in 1961.

It would not be true therefore, to assume that the law had been completely static in respect of the status of women. It is only fair to recognise that fundamental changes have been made.

To mention a few:Equality and Citizenship Prior to the enactment of the 1980 Constitution only the wives of Guyanese males could have applied to become citizens. Article 45 enacts:“Any person who, after the commencement of the Constitution, marries a person who is or becomes a citizen Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.20

Justice Claudette Singh CCH Former High Court Judge & Justice of Appeal of Guyana shall be entitled, upon making application in such manner and taking such oath of allegiance as may be prescribed, to be registered as a citizen of Guyana”.

A child could only have acquired citizenship through his father. Now a child may acquire citizenship through his mother. (Article 44) Pensions In the case of pensions, a reputed wife and children born out of wedlock were placed in the same position as lawful wives and legitimate children in the legislation dealing with Guyana Defence Force personnel. (Defence Pensions and Gratuities Regulations) Married Persons (Property) Act Chapter 45:04 The Married Persons (Property) (Amendment) Act 1990 inserted a number of provisions that are beneficial to married persons, as well as to a single woman and a single man living together in a common law union.

The Act makes provision for money saved, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, from housekeeping allowance, or property acquired out of such money, to be treated as belonging to both parties in equal shares.

Section 15 of this Act is noteworthy because of its unprecedented provisions:(i) Where parties living together for less than five years, the Judge is required to quantify contribution made by a spouse. (ii) In the case of parties living together for five or more years and the claimant party was not working, then she is entitled to one third. (iii)For five or more years and working – claimant party is entitled to a half.

Family and Dependants Provision Act 1990 The Family and Dependants Provision Act 1990 aimed to prevent family dependants of deceased persons being left with inadequate provision, when the person on whom they were dependent dies possessed of sufficient assets to provide for, or contribute towards their maintenance.

Provision is made for the Court to take into account earning capacities, financial obligations and responsibilities.

In the case of a surviving spouse, the Court is to have regard to the duration of the marriage and the contribution made by

the applicant to the welfare of the family.

In the case of a child, any educational commitments and prospects, and in the case of a dependant outside the immediate family, the basis upon which the deceased assumed responsibility for that person’s maintenance will also be taken into account.

The Court is also empowered to review certain transactions effected by the deceased (otherwise than for full valuable consideration) with the intention of defeating claims for financial provision and to make the property comprised in those transactions available for such provision. Property disposed of or settled by the deceased less than five years prior to his death ,as well as contracts made by the deceased in his lifetime to leave property by his will can be enquired into.

Rape Cases and Protection of Victims.

In 1991 the law was amended to provide for trials in rape cases involving women and girls to be held in camera and for restricted reporting of anything which would tend to

disclose the identity of the complainant.

Prior to this legislation, there were cases where victims were rather reluctant to testify because of fear of publicity.

Domestic Violence Act 1996 This Act afforded protection in cases involving domestic violence by the granting of a protection order, to provide the police with powers of arrest in such cases.

Status of Children Act 2009 This Act repealed and re-enacted the provisions of the Children Born Out of Wedlock (Removal of Discrimination) Act to provide for presumptions of parentage and parentage testing procedures. The status and rights, privileges and obligations of a child born out of wedlock are identical in all respects to those born in wedlock.

Conclusion While there is room for improvement, the main point is that we have broken down the myths and taboos which inhibited action in the past and have, in fact, embarked on a programme of action.

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What You Need to Know about Strategic Management

S

trategic management process is a method by which managers conceive of, and implement a strategy that can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage.

It is a process by which an organization establishes its objectives, formulates actions (strategies) designed to meet these objectives in the desired timescale, implements the actions, and assesses progress and results.

The general purpose of strategic planning is to combine the energy of organization’s functional areas into one focused effort to achieve superior performance. It is usually done through the many steps of the process.

•

Initial Assessment Situation Analysis Strategy Formulation Strategy Implementation Strategy Monitoring Figure 1: The Strategic Planning Process

Strategic management is not about predicting the future, but about preparing for it, and knowing what exact steps the company will have to take to implement its strategic plan and achieve a competitive advantage.

Both strategic management and strategic planning terms mean the same! The difference is that the latter one is more used in the business world, while the former is used in the academic environment.

Strategic planning is sometimes confused with strategy formulation, because strategic plan is constructed in this stage.

Importance of Strategic Planning • Requirement for sustained competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage is what keeps great organizations ahead of their competitors. It should be noted that the company, which has a competitive advantage, performs financially much better than other companies in the industry or better than the industry average. Some companies may achieve it without thorough strategic plan but for the most players out there it is vital to plan strategically, i.e. analyze, create, implement and monitor, and do this continuously.

It is not guaranteed that companies will ever achieve competitive advantage conducting strategic planning but it is an essential process if the company wants sustain it.

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•

Views things from broader perspective. The other reason why the organizations do not simply rely on their finances, marketing or operations functional areas to create competitive advantage is that managers of each area often view things only from their own specific angle, which is a too narrow view for the whole organization to rely upon. Only the managers (e.g. CEOs or strategic planners) who see the whole picture of the company and its surrounding environments can make the decisions that bring the competitive advantage.

Facilitates collaboration. Nowadays, most companies involve middle managers of functional areas into the process of formulating strategic plan. Middle managers are the people who implement the strategies set out in a plan and if they are not involved in making the plan, then they are not so committed to support it.

Thus, strategic planning is used to achieve the competitive advantage and to integrate all the functional areas of the company by facilitating the communication between the managers of all levels.

Benefits of Strategic Planning 1. Defines a company’s vision, mission and future goals.

2. Identifies the suitable strategies to achieve the goals.

3. Improves awareness of the external and internal environments, and clearly identifies the competitive advantage.

4. Increases managers’ commitment to achieving the company’s objectives.

5. Improves coordination of the activities and more efficient allocation of company’s resources.

6. Better communication between managers of the different levels and functional areas.

7. Reduces resistance to change by informing the employees of the changes and the consequences of them.

8. Strengthens the firm’s performance.

9. On average, companies using strategic management are more successful than the companies that don’t.

10. Strategic planning allows the organization to become more proactive than reactive.

Limitations of Strategic Planning Although strategic management brings many benefits to the company it also has its limitations: 1. The costs of engaging in it are huge.

2. The process is complex.

3. Success is not guaranteed.

Components of Strategic Planning Process There are many components of the process which are spread throughout strategic planning stages. Most often, the strategic planning process has 4 common phases: strategic analysis, strategy formulation, implementation and monitoring. For clearer understanding, this article represents 5 stages of strategic planning process: 1. Initial Assessment 2. Situation Analysis 3. Strategy Formulation 4. Strategy Implementation 5. Strategy Monitoring

During external environment analysis managers look into the key external forces: macro & micro environments and competition.

Competition is another uncontrollable external force that influences the company. Firms assess their competitors using competitors profile matrix and benchmarking to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses and level of performance.

Internal analysis includes the assessment of the company’s resources, core competencies and activities. An organization holds both tangible resources: capital, land, equipment, and intangible resources: culture, brand equity, knowledge, patents, copyrights and trademarks. A firm’s core competencies may be superior skills in customer relationship or efficient supply chain management. When analyzing the company’s activities managers look into the value chain and the whole production process.

As a result, situation analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the organization and reveals a clear picture of company’s situation in the market.

Initial Assessment Strategy Formulation The starting point of the process is initial assessment of the Successful situation analysis is followed by creation of longfirm. At this phase managers must clearly identify the company’s term objectives. Long-term objectives indicate goals that could vision and mission.

Vision answers the question: What does an Internal Forces organization want to become? Without visualizing the company’s future, managers would not know where they want to go and what they have to Value Chain Activites Organizational Culture achieve. Vision is the ultimate goal for the firm and the direction for its employees.

Human Resources In addition, mission describes company’s Core Competencies business. It informs organization’s stakeholders about the products, customers, markets, values, Management Capabilities Firm concern for public image and employees of the organization. Thorough mission statement acts as Marketing Operations guidance for managers in making appropriate daily decisions.

Situation Analysis When the company identifies its vision and mission it must assess its current situation in the market. This includes evaluating an organization’s external and internal environments and analyzing its competitors.

External Forces Macro environment Political Legal

Economic Industry

Ethical

Firm Demographic Technological

Socio-Cultural Environmental

Assets

Finances R&D

improve the company’s competitive position in the long run. They act as directions for specific strategy selection. In an organization, strategies are chosen at 3 different levels: • Business level strategy. This type of strategy is used when strategic business units (SBU), divisions or small and medium enterprises select strategies for only one product that is sold in only one market. Firms may select between Porter’s 3 generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. Alternatively strategies from Bowman’s strategy clock may be chosen.

• Corporate level strategy. At this level, executives at top parent companies choose which products to sell, which market to enter and whether to acquire a competitor or merge with it. They select between integration, intensive, diversification and defensive strategies.

• Global/International strategy. The main questions to answer: Which new markets to develop and how to enter them? How far to diversify?

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Managers may choose between many strategic alternatives. That depends on a company’s objectives, results of situation analysis and the level for which the strategy is selected.

Strategy Implementation Even the best strategic plans must be implemented and only well executed strategies create competitive advantage for a company.

At this stage managerial skills are more important than using analysis. Communication in strategy implementation is essential, as new strategies must get support all over organization for effective implementation.

The first point in strategy implementation is setting annual objectives for the company’s functional areas.

These smaller objectives are specifically designed to achieve financial, marketing, operations, human resources and other functional goals. To meet these goals managers revise existing policies and introduce new ones which act as the directions for successful objectives implementation.

The other very important part of strategy implementation is changing an organizational chart. For example, a product diversification strategy may require new SBU to be incorporated into the existing organizational chart. Or market development strategy may require an additional division to be added to the company. Every new strategy changes the organizational structure and requires reallocation of resources. It also redistributes responsibilities and powers between managers.

Managers may be moved from one functional area to another or asked to manage a new team.

This creates resistance to change, which has to be managed in an appropriate way or it could ruin excellent strategy implementation.

Strategy Monitoring Implementation must be monitored to be successful. Due to constantly changing external and internal conditions managers must continuously review both environments as new strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats may arise.

If new circumstances affect the company, managers must take corrective actions as soon as possible.

Usually, tactics rather than strategies are changed to meet the new conditions, unless firms are faced with such severe external changes.

Measuring performance is another important activity in strategy monitoring. Performance has to be measurable and comparable. Managers have to compare their actual results with estimated results and see if they are successful in achieving their objectives. If objectives are not met managers should: • Change the reward system.

• Introduce new or revise existing policies.

The key element in strategy monitoring is to get the relevant and timely information on changing environment and the company’s performance and if necessary take corrective actions.

It is rare that the company will be able to follow the process from the first to the last step. Producing a quality strategic plan requires time, during which many external and even internal conditions may change. This results in the flawed strategic plan which has to be revised, hence requiring even more time to finish.

On the other hand, when implementing the strategic plan, the actual results do not meet the requirements of the strategic plan so the plan has to be altered or better methods for the implementation have to be discovered. This means that some parts of strategic management process have to be done simultaneously, which makes the whole process more complex.

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Effects of Alcoholism

by Dr. Noshella Singh

Alchemists of the sixteenth century saw alcohol as the essence from distillation. The use of alcohol dates back to the days when the gods walked the earth. Now it’s the number one drug of choice.

According to the concise encyclopedia, alcoholism is defined as an excessive habitual consumption of alcoholic beverages despite physical, mental, social or economic harm. It is a chronic disease characterized by craving, loss of control, physical dependence and tolerance. There are five types of alcoholics: the young adult, the young antisocial, functional subtype, the intermediate familial subtype and the chronic severe subtype.

The majority of our professionals engage in binge drinking, which is a pattern of drinking where males consume five or more drinks in a row, or where a female has at least four drinks in a row. This type of drinking can lead to the same health risks and social problems associated with alcoholism and may lead to faster development of alcoholism.

The effects of alcohol depend on the quantity consumed, the rate of consumption, presence of food in stomach, body weight and size, age, sex and use in combination with other drugs.

The brain is the most sensitive organ to the effects of alcohol, some of which can be seen with impaired judgement, behavior, coordination and vision. Excessive and prolonged use can lead to Wernicke encephalopathy, which is a condition where there is brain damage caused by the lack of vitamin B 1.It accelerates the loss of brain cells contributing to cognitive deficits.

Abrupt cessation of daily habitual consumption can lead to symptoms of alcohol withdrawal . Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can begin as early as two hours after the last drink, persist for weeks, and range from mild

anxiety a n d shakiness to severe complications, such as seizures and delirium tremens also known as DTs. The death rate from DTs -- which are characterized by confusion, rapid heartbeat, and fever -- is estimated to range from one per cent to five per cent.

The digestive tract is susceptible to irritation of its lining which leads to ulcers, bleeding, perforation and cancer. The damage to the lining leads to loss of the epithelium which is vital for the absorption of nutrients hence malabsorption is a very common presentation. The liver removes alcohol from the blood by a process called oxidation.

This process is carried out by specialized proteins called enzymes.

With the excessive alcohol intake, these proteins are damaged causing a build up of metabolites of alcohol and hardening of the liver, this can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer.

Alcohol increases the work load of the heart, increasing blood pressure and increases the risk of heart attacks. Holiday heart syndrome is an irregular heart beat in healthy individuals and has been linked with excessive alcohol consumption.

Alcohol affects the reproductive systems of both sexes. In women there is hormone imbalance, irregular periods and infertility. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome characterized by growth retardation, facial malformation and learning dysfunction.

In men there is hypospermia, which is a low sperm count, and erectile dysfunction.

Drinking alcohol slows the reflexes, reaction time and coordination of the skeletal muscles. These effects are very much evident when a person is driving under the influence of alcohol. The results are detrimental.

Physical disabilities are the hallmark of these motor vehicular accidents.

Alcohol is very high in calories, hence weight gain is evident. Alcohol impairs the ability of the kidneys to regulate volume and composition of body fluid and electrolytes. The major electrolytes of the body are sodium, potassium and chloride .Imbalance of these can lead to altered mental status ranging from mild disorientation to coma and cardiac abnormalities.

World health rankings place Guyana at number forty-eight with 1.6 rate of alcohol related deaths.

The first step in rehabilitation is accepting that there is a problem, changing our attitudes and approach to it, engaging in activities which do not involve the social binges. Change is never an easy step. Remember it starts with baby steps and keep in mind our loved ones are the victims of our ill habit.

In our country you can seek help at Dr. Noshella Singh your health centers and youth groups.

“TIS NOT THE DRINKING THAT IS TO BE BLAMED, BUT THE EXCESS�, JOHN SELDEN Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.25

By Brian Ramsey

– Amalgamated Security Services

C

aribbean people are generally very up to date with world affairs. Newspapers in the region have always carried articles about events in different parts of the world. In the past, many people almost religiously listened to the BBC World Service on a daily basis.

With the spread of the Internet, the ability to learn about events in various parts of the world has widened and many individuals avail themselves of this tool to broaden their knowledge. One of the crimes frequently encountered on the Internet is Identity Theft, but many persons think of this as a non-Caribbean problem, something that happens in the “developed” countries, not in our islands.

When Caribbean people do think about identity theft they only associate it with using their credit card on the Internet and someone getting their credit card information and then using it to make purchases. Identity Theft however, does happen, and often in more basic ways that have nothing to do with the Internet.

The situation of persons, particularly those from economically disadvantaged countries, traveling on false passports is known and yet, the average individual does not associate this with identity theft although it is a clear case. A case in Trinidad illustrates how identity theft sometimes occurs and Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.26

how the false identity is sometimes used.

Six years ago a house was burglarized; the thieves stole money, jewels, a driver’s permit, national identity card and passport.

The thieves sold the driver’s permit, national identity card and passport to another individual who wanted to change his identity.

That second individual then used the new identity to travel abroad on two occasions; when the driver’s permit expired he renewed it as he had two other valid forms of identification; he opened an account in a bank, he obtained telephone services, he got a job in the petrochemical sector; in short he built a new life. In this particular case, the individual simply wanted a new life. Many times those persons from economically disadvantaged countries who travel on false passports also simply want a new life in a new place, however, many others who engage in identity theft do so for more nefarious reasons.

They often use these false identities to take out loans or run up large credit card bills, which the victim is then held accountable for; or to trick others and defraud them of their money.

The question therefore facing the average law-abiding citizen is, how do you protect yourself against identity theft?

One of the first steps that everyone should

practice is to lock one’s passport away in a safe. A bedside drawer or clothes drawer is not a safe place and often one of the first places that thieves check when committing a burglary. The location of the safe is also an important part of the protection.

Most people place their safes in the master bedroom, clothes closet or home office, and because of that, burglars look in those places first. Instead, you should place the safe in some other part of the house where it will not be easily seen, and is secure.

Combination or biometric safes are now popular, but many individuals have older model safes that use keys. Unfortunately, some persons keep the key in the lock, which completely defeats the purpose of having a safe. Instead, one should have the key somewhere else where one can remember, but not on a key rack with your car keys and other keys.

In addition to your passport, all other sensitive documents such as birth certificates should be placed in the safe.

The majority of persons are very careful with their passport when they travel, making sure to have it close at hand when at the airline check in counter, at the departure concourse and at immigration.

Unfortunately, when they get to the hotel they tend to place it on the bedside table or leave it in their suitcase, only looking for it

when it is time to return home.

Although most hotels make some attempt at screening their staff, one never knows which hotel employee will succumb to the temptation of seeing a passport left unattended. Upon checking into a hotel, your passport should be immediately locked in the room safe and the safe kept locked when you are not using it.

Another aspect of protection for persons with multiple credit cards is to ask the question, do you really need to have all your credit cards with you in your wallet or purse?

Most persons have a main credit card that they use for the majority of their purchases and the other credit cards are either emergency cards or for special purposes.

If you get robbed and all your credit cards are in your purse or wallet, then all your credit cards are gone and now begins the tiresome process of notifying each credit card issuer and hoping that you have notified them faster than the thief can spend your money.

Once the thief takes your wallet he has your driver’s permit and identification card along with your credit card. If you have multiple credit cards that are not used frequently, then the extra cards should also be placed in the safe.

People who are shopping or at dinner often get a small psychological moment of pleasure when they hand over their credit

card to pay. There is a feeling of “I have done well, I can afford this” as they hand over the card. Repeated advertisements in the media have conditioned our minds to reflexively hand the card to a waiter or store clerk who will go away and return with the credit card authorization slip for us to sign. It is that reflexive action that is being used by fraudsters to obtain credit card information.

Waiters or store clerks armed with small skimmers, often smaller than a packet of cigarettes, when out of sight quickly swipe the card capturing all the information on the card and then return with the customer’s slip for signing. At the end of the day, the dishonest employee sells the information in the skimmer to a fraudster, who then makes a duplicate card armed with all the correct info.

When paying for an item you should never let the credit card out of your sight, either have the waiter bring the credit card machine to your table or accompany the clerk to the machine.

Everyone should always shred their expired credit cards. Many identity thieves are experts at dumpster diving in order to obtain sensitive information about you.

Sometimes the thieves do not have to go looking in your garbage; the individuals who make a living from recycling items from the city trash know the value to a fraudster of an

intact credit card and if they find one they will certainly sell it.

All individuals should therefore make a habit of cutting their expired credit cards into small pieces.

One of the techniques that has been used in Europe and now is being seen in the Caribbean is fraudsters placing minicameras near ATMs and skimmers either on the ATM door or the actual ATM. Unsuspecting individuals use the ATM and the camera records their PIN number, while the skimmer collects their card information.

To protect against this type of crime all persons should adopt the habit of using one hand to cover the other while entering their PIN. The covering hand should be so positioned to block the view of any cameras that may be trying to capture their PIN. This article has looked at identifying theft in the Caribbean, and physical measures that can be used for protection. In another article we will examine identity theft protection when using the internet.

Brian Ramsey has a B.A. in Accounting & Management, along with an M.B.A. in Finance and over 29 years in the Caribbean security field. He is the Regional Development Director for Amalgamated Security Services Limited which operates in Grenada, Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

He can be contacted at bramsey@assl.com

1 & 2 MUDLOT WATER STREET, KINGSTON, GEORGETOWN, GUYANA, SOUTH AMERICA.

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Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.27

A barber for all seasons John Abrahams Junior

-a hobby that became a lasting profession

The Story of John Abrahams Junior

I

t might have started out as merely a hobby, but John Abrahams Junior has been able to make a successful business out of his barbering skills – a vocation he has embraced for more than 15 years. From being his friends’ ‘go to man’ for a free haircut, to becoming a reliable barber at a popular Barber Shop in the city, today, the 37-year-old is the proud owner of his very own Barber Shop – Bold Xpressions. He proudly opened the doors to his business place in December 2012.

Situated at 177 Charlotte and Alexander Streets, Georgetown, Abrahams’ Shop offers patrons, who amount to in excess of hundreds on a weekly basis, the services of 12 barbers, himself included, a hairdresser, a masseur and a tattoo artist.

Those who know him well can easily conclude that what he has been able to achieve over time is the result of true perseverance, tireless dedication and total dependence on his Creator.

The interesting thing about Abrahams’ achievement is that he had no intention of making barbering a profession.

Nevertheless, he remembered that from even at a very young age he would be inclined to spend hours in a neighbourhood barbershop, but at the time had no passion for the trade. “I simply wasn’t interested in being a barber,” recounted Abrahams who perhaps unconsciously was taking in every hair cut technique he saw.

It started off with him casually exercising his hair cutting skills on his friends’ heads as merely a hobby. Although he was not the Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.28

best, he certainly had an enviable barbering talent, so much so, that a friend eventually encouraged him to take up an available position as a barber at a popular Barber Shop. But even at this point he couldn’t see himself embracing barbering as a career path.

He would eventually take the advice to try his hands at professional barbering.

He already had a machine of his own and started around late 1998 to pursue a trade he was convinced would only be temporary.

“If I tell you that somebody taught me to cut hair or that I went to a school or something to learn it, I would be lying, because nobody taught me this,” related Abrahams, as he looked at his hands and said “I certainly believe this was a divine gift.”

His barbering techniques were improving, and so were his clients, as his popularity at the Barber Shop grew. “In like a year I was the main barber,” recounted a smiling Abrahams, who would eventually branch out on his own, close to a decade later.

In fact, his decision to embrace barbering as a profession saw him also seeking to redefine how persons viewed it. According to him, many people in society today would not envision barbering as a noble career path simply because of the way that some barbers carry themselves. “The average barber is not very educated, so some persons might look down on this...but I had to realise that this was a job too,” said Abrahams. He even took into consideration the economy and the fact that some persons, though educated, can hardly find a proper and

paying job.

For this reason, he started appreciating the idea that he had a skill that he not only liked, but one that ensured him a more than satisfying income. Though it was with some nudging from family members, including his mother, he was soon investing in setting up his own shop. Now its clearly one of the popular Barber Shops in the City today.

He could have easily given up at first, because there were many challenges, primarily of a financial nature. But he recognised the importance of “patient endurance,” a notion he believes young people today should embrace in order to realise eventual success.

John attends to one of his clients

“I started developing a real love for barbering, because a barber is like a doctor, a preacher, a psychiatrist, everything...

Sometimes it’s not just the hair cut people are here for; and it’s people from all walks of life who come and sit in my chairs on a daily basis. Sometimes people open up to me about things that they wouldn’t normally share. I don’t know if it’s the ambience in my shop or what, but people feel comfortable to talk their minds...and it feels good when you can impact somebody’s life in a positive way,” Abrahams mused.

He therefore takes pride in not only helping to give the patrons of his shop a facelift, but more importantly, helping to change their attitude for the better about a situation they might be facing.

Being successful might not have been possible without the support of his long time sweetheart – Trudy – with whom he has since tied the blissful wedding knot.

“...time and opportunity are things that you can never get back in life and so you must always use them wisely.”

Surrounded by some of the other skilled professionals at his Shop

With a pleasant grin forming on his face, he confided that “my wife played a very important part in who I am today.”

According to Abrahams too, his religious guidance was also very instrumental in helping him to find his way. Based on his religious teachings, he has been able to learn that “your life is not determined by your beginning. We can have beginnings that are not the best, but what’s important

is how you end up.”

“Many times we decide in our minds what we want to do; we have our dreams and goals but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the ideal path for you, God might have something else for you,” added Abrahams.

He warned that, “time and opportunity are things that you can never get back in life, and so you must always use them wisely.”

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.29

The issue of

SUICIDE

– A Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem

S

uicide is defined as “Death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior”, by the Center for Disease Control (US) in its report “Self Directed Violence Surveillance – Uniform Definitions & Recommended Data Elements”.

It means purposely ending one’s own life in a bid to escape situations that may be occurring that have become untenable to that person. It is sometimes a way for persons to try to escape pain or suffering. A suicide attempt means that someone tried to end his life, but did not die.

How society views suicide varies by cultures, religion, ethnic norms and the circumstances under which it occurs. According to the World Health Organization, nearly one million people worldwide commit suicide each year, a figure that translates into one death every forty seconds.

The issue of Suicide hits particularly close to home here, as Guyana is ranked fourth in Suicides per Capita worldwide and has the highest rate amongst South American & Caribbean Nations.

In 2012, the World Health Organization in its First Global Report on Suicide Prevention named Guyana, as having the highest estimated suicide rate with an estimated 25 deaths out of every 100,000 persons.

80% of these deaths were male and 60% were committed with the use of Pesticide Poisoning. Suicide is the leading cause of death in the 15-24 year age range and the third leading cause in the 25-44 year age range.

Unemployment, infidelity, sexual abuse, sexual orientation, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, terminal illness, loss of a loved one, loss of finances/status, rejection and exposure to suicidal tendencies are among the leading causes. Recognizing this disturbing trend in our youth, the Ministry of Health launched in 2001 a National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Guyana, and highlighted the areas of identification, diagnosis and treatment of substance abuse, gatekeeping training in Suicide Risk Assessment and the establishment of a national hotline.

Suicide is a desperate attempt to escape suffering that has become unbearable to an individual, usually blinded by feelings of self-loathing, hopelessness and isolation. A suicidal person can’t see any way of finding relief except through death. However, despite this desire for the pain to stop, suicidal persons are often conflicted about ending their lives.

Many wish silently for an alternative but just cannot see a way out. In terms of suicide prevention, it is important to examine the methods most commonly used. When lethal objects such as firearms and poisonous substances (both commonly available) are easy to obtain, they are correlated to a higher Suicide risk (De Leo et al 2013). Suicide is one of the leading preventable causes of death for both sexes.

Suicide has another dimension that is often forgotten but has lasting effects and can even start a chain reaction amongst friends and family of the person that has committed suicide. Relatives of persons who attempt or complete suicide often blame themselves or become very angry. They may see the suicide (attempt) as selfish.

However, persons who attempt suicide often mistakenly believe that they are doing their friends and relatives a favor by taking themselves out of the picture. Suicide does NOT get rid of the pain, it magnifies the pain and transfers it to loved ones. The loved ones are left in turmoil, and in some instances, they also consider or try to attempt to deal with this pain in a suicidal manner. This cycle can be devastating to any family structure.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.30

Techniques for coping with the death of someone who committed suicide include getting adequate rest and nutrition, writing more and expressing the emotions you feel, and talking to others about how you feel and interactions with peers.

We wish to constantly remind anyone having suicidal thoughts that a circumstance can always be changed once there is life. Don’t apply a permanent solution to a problem that is only temporary.

Suicide may be caused by a number of factors; it is closely linked to mental illnesses such as Bipolar disorders, depression and borderline personality disorders. 90% of all suicides are linked to mental illnesses and depression (Bertolote and Flishmann 2002).

Depression is caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors. Genetic research chronicled by the National Institute of Mental Health – US, indicates that risk for depression results from the influence of several genes acting together with environmental or other factors.

Any of the factors listed here can trigger a depressive episode and, if left undetected and untreated, can lead to suicide.

In the coming editions we will be focusing in depth on a few of the most common causes of suicide and how they lead to depression severe enough to cause persons to attempt suicide. These causes of suicide may be detected early enough for the individual to be able to actually seek help and try to reverse the situation.

Infidelity Infidelity is the action of being unfaithful to a spouse or a sexual partner.

The wounds inflicted by infidelity are invisible to the eye, but when infidelity occurs, a threat is perceived to one’s status, and the concept of self-value is threatened. It is viewed as a failure and that may cause a lot of shame and embarrassment to the betrayed person.

The humiliation of being perceived as having failed to keep a spouse faithful can translate into self-blame. Humiliation is a profoundly violent psychological act that leaves the victim with a deep wound to the psyche. These things can results in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the betrayed spouse which often leads to depression.

Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse is any sort of non-consensual sexual contact. Sexual abuse can happen to men or women of any age, inclusive of children. Sexual abuse by a partner can include derogatory name calling, refusal to use contraception, deliberately causing unwanted physical pain during sex, deliberately passing on sexual diseases or infections and using objects, toys, or other items without consent and to cause pain or humiliation.

Sexual abuse may also occur when an unwilling participant becomes the victim of a predator.

Sexual predators can be a family member, close family friend, a neighbour or anyone who comes into close contact with the victim. Full sexual intercourse in the case of an unwilling participant is called Rape.

Sexual abuse is a significant precursor for suicidal behavior and the absence of Sexual Abuse would mean the rate of suicide attempts during a lifetime would drop by 28% for women and 7% for men. (research done

by Paul E. Bebbington PhD, FRCPsych, investigators at University College London)

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation refers to a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted, or the fact of being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.

Sexual orientation has emerged as a risk factor for adolescent suicides in recent years.

This is owing to the fact that more persons are coming forth and more openly declaring their different sexualities.

Studies show that there is a strong link between adolescent sexual orientation and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. (Adolescent Sexual Orientation & Suicide Risk : Evidence from a national study – Steven T. Russel) The strong effects of sexual orientation on suicidal thoughts is mediated by critical youth suicide risk factors, including but not limited to, depression, hopelessness, alcohol abuse, recent suicide attempts by peers and experiences of victimization, this is linked to heterocentric cultures (cultures that encourage discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals or heterosexual persons) and institutionalized homophobia. (National Action alliance for suicide prevention) Domestic Violence Domestic Violence includes any incident of threatening behavior, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality One out of three women is victimized by domestic violence at some point in her life. One out of every four women who are the victims of domestic violence attempts suicide and this is chronicled in a report by Conner et al 2010.

Many children who are in households where domestic violence occurs, attempt suicide.

The effects of violence on a victim’s health are severe. In addition to the immediate injuries from the actual assault, a battered person can suffer from chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, psychosomatic disorders (disorders of the mind and body) and eating problems.

These render the victim unable to lead a normal life and often result in the victim isolating themselves from society and their loved ones.

Drug & Alcohol Dependency and Abuse Referred to as substance abuse, this is the long-term, pathological use of alcohol or drugs. This is characterized by daily intoxication, inability to reduce consumption, and impairment in social or occupational functioning; broadly, alcohol or drug addiction.

Substance abuse can cause social isolation, low self-esteem, loss of schooling and work and general estrangement from family and friends.

These are all factors that build a core of stress that may lead to suicidal tendencies.

Drug and alcohol abuse has always been

linked to suicides. But studies carried out show that 50% of all suicides are linked to alcohol and drug dependency. At least 25% of alcoholics and drug addicts commit suicide. (Miller NS, Mahler SC & Gold MS) Alcoholism and drug addiction are leading risk factors for suicide and persons engaging in such behavior should be monitored and assessed regularly.

Bullying Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves real or perceived power imbalances. This behavior is replicated or has the potential to

be repeated over time.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally and excluding someone from groups or activities on purpose. Bullying can occur in person or through technology.

The CDC has reported that students that experience bullying are twice as likely to have negative effects. Bully related suicides could be connected to physical bullying, emotional bullying, cyber-bullying and sexting. Cyberbullying and sexting involve the circulation of suggestive or nude photos or messages via mobile phones, computers and social media.

Terminal Illness & Chronic Physical Pain Terminal illness and chronic diseases result in a major loss of control for persons suffering from one of either. It increases the risk of mental problems and sadly, some persons who experience debilitating pain and suffering admit the desire to end their lives. (JM Harkavy – Friedman PhD).

It should be noted, however, that some chronic illnesses can be successfully managed, but the stigma of having such an illness such as HIV/AIDS could prevent persons from seeking effective treatment or revealing it to their family and friends.

Loss of a Loved One Some persons have difficulty dealing with the death of a family member or close friend.

Also, there are instances where persons lose the custody of a child or their children or where children lose the full time presence of a parent due to divorce or separation. These factors can all contribute to excess grief and left unchecked and unresolved leads to the onset of depression

and ultimately suicide. (Paykel et al 1975) Loss of a Job, Home & Money The loss of a home due to foreclosure or other reason, loss of a job and finances due to retrenchment or bad economic decisions, can also trigger depression. Many persons link these things to status and prestige.

Men suffer most in this instance as they are generally seen as the primary provider in a family and they can start to experience feelings of inadequacy. Losing prestige and social standing has been shown to make a person feel like a failure or has disappointed peers and colleagues.

In the article “The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills,” it is shown how persons looking for jobs over a long period of time are about twice as likely to end their lives as opposed to those who have stable jobs.

Rejection by Society, Family & Friends Social acceptance plays a very important part in our everyday life. Social acceptance comes from our family, peers, colleagues and whatever religious belief system a person may subscribe to and be involved with.

As researchers dig deeper into understanding rejection, they are discovering evidence that the pain of being excluded or rejected is not so different from the pain of physical injury. The American Psychological Association has revealed that human beings rely on social groups for actual survival and like simple hunger or thirst, the need for acceptance has emerged as a mechanism for survival.

Rejection from such groups, family, friends and society at large has serious implications for an individual’s psychological state and for society in general. Social rejection can influence emotion, cognition and even physical health. It increases anger, anxiety, depression, jealousy and sadness.

Exposure to Suicidal Behavior When someone commits suicide, loved ones are dealt a severe and serious blow. This has the potential to start a trend in their family or their close circle of friends as it may spark the same feeling of hopelessness, sadness or depression that the first person was feeling.

This is called “copycat” suicide by definition and is a situation where an emulation of another suicide occurs. Suicides documented in the media or in the person’s community may spark the thought process. Here, the person may be spurred on by the method of suicide used that may not have occurred to them before. Responsible Journalism and nonsensationalizing by the various media play a great role in avoiding these suicides.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.31

Biodiversity Performance for the Development of the Mining Sector

T

he state of biodiversity over most of the globe is declining, despite increased activity by policy makers, civil society and the private sector. This poses risks for society and business.

In 2003, some international companies adopted an industry-leading stance on biodiversity, committing to “contribute to conservation of biodiversity and integrated approaches to land use planning” and to “not explore or mine in World Heritage properties“.

Since that time, biodiversity has become a more material business issue for the mining and metals industry. Stakeholders expect companies, as responsible businesses, to manage biodiversity alongside other sustainability issues.

Accounting firm KPMG recently highlighted a number of business risks (regulatory, market, financing and operational) and opportunities (increased access tocapital, stronger license to operate and reduced operational costs) associated with declining biodiversity, for the mining and metals sector (KPMG et al 2012). In addition, the nature of biodiversity management has matured and continues to evolve.

Particular progress has been made on policy and strategy commitments, stakeholder engagement and including biodiversity in impact assessments.

biodiversity value sites varies.

A substantial (42 per cent) increase in use of biodiversity action plans (BAPs), especially for high-risk sites, but definitions of risk and ability to demonstrate effective implementation vary.

• Already widespread in 2003, supporting conservation actions have increased further still.

• Biodiversity is routinely considered within stakeholder engagement more frequently compared to 2003.

• Working more collaboratively across industries to advance biodiversity management practices.

Few companies have internal guidance on offset development and in some cases, regulatory guidance is absent or limited. Given the growing emphasis placed on offsets as a mechanism to compensate for residual impacts, increasingly with a specific goal such as no net loss, this lack of guidance presents operational and reputational risks.

Only a few companies have some form of commitment or aspiration to achieve no net loss or a net gain of biodiversity.

•

Issues and areas for further development beyond 2014 • Scope and quality of biodiversity risk assessment and management varies among companies (for example, direct 2003–2013 progress highlights impacts are addressed, but cumulative and indirect impacts may be overlooked); this may lead to unidentified risks and • A greater, risk-based, focus on managing corporate impacts overlooked opportunities. on biodiversity, in addition to supporting the conservation of • Greater consistency is needed in defining high-risk/high biodiversity not impacted by mining activities. biodiversity value areas beyond the limits of formal protected • More specific biodiversity commitments are in place for all area networks: although members identify proximity to areas members, which are driving progress. of high biodiversity value, interpretation of what constitutes • Remain committed to the mining and protected areas position such an area (and which NGO or government defined priority statement, corporate biodiversity management systems have areas to include) varies, potentially leading to unidentified been strengthened to support member commitments. risks.

• Assessed biodiversity risks at a corporate level to some • Internal guidance to ensure early and adequate consideration extent, although the scope and definition of risks and of high of the option not to develop areas of high biodiversity value beyond World Heritage Sites (‘no-go’) is lacking: this may lead to issues with securing Commitments a license to operate.

5 Public reporting on biodiversity Corporate levelrisk assessment • Audit processes have yet to evolve to fully 4 consider the extent and quality of biodiversity management, for example, the scope of 3 issues addressed in impact assessments and 2 degree of BAP implementation.

Biodiversity monitoring Site level impact assessment 1 • Guidance on closure planning is often lacking, potentially resulting in the failure of closure activities or compromised stakeholder relations.

• Financial or legal provisions to ensure Stakeholder engagement Biodiversity management the sustainability of mitigation actions postclosure, such as restoration or offsetting, are often considered too late in the planning process, according to NGO reviewers of the Supporting conservation actions Resourcing report.

Closure planning, restoration and sale • More rapid progress on implementation of biodiversity management systems is now Average (mean) maturity of biodiversity management systems in 2003 and 2012/13

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.32

•

•

•

needed, but may be constrained by resource limitations (lack of personnel, expertise and budget constraints) amongst companies members and their advisors e.g. certifiers, impact assessors and verifiers, particularly on emerging issues.

No company or industry sector can yet measure biodiversity management system implementation outcomes on-theground across their operations. This issue may expose members to risk given the increasing materiality of biodiversity for the industry and the potential for local stakeholders to perceive or identify poor performance.

Existing (management system based) measures of biodiversity performance process are interpreted differently across the membership; this constrains members’ communication with stakeholders.

Regulatory capacity sometimes lags behind companies’ leadership on biodiversity management, in particular for biodiversity offset design and environmental impact assessment.

Recommendations The advances in biodiversity management by companies are generally commendable; however, they need to be increased further to meet emerging regulatory and financing requirements. The recommendations below outline priority actions.

1. Improve the ability of to measure biodiversity management outcomes • To satisfy stakeholders, in the future members will need a small number of clear, simple measures that can be applied to different geographic locations, habitat types and scales of operation to demonstrate biodiversity outcomes at the site level.

• •

Guidance and a framework for selecting these metrics should be developed with leadership and broader conservation community.

Review of current approaches to site-level monitoring and use of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators, in conjunction with stakeholders, to identify appropriate and practical outcome measures and to increase consistency in interpretation of existing measures is a key step in this. A further review of progress is recommended in five years, using a streamlined set of measures derived from the above.

2. Develop and communicate position one merging issues • Industry leaders on biodiversity; to maintain this position, the business case for addressing emerging issues (biodiversity offsets, ecosystem services) and, develop and communicate leadership positions on them.

3. Update parts of Mining and Biodiversity Good Practice Guidance • The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Mining and Biodiversity Good Practice Guidance was the world-leading when first developed in 2006. It now needs review to determine what additional guidance is needed for members, their advisors and professional associations to address the emerging issues outlined above, as well as to support continued improvement on the challenging areas of performance (i.e. impact assessment, closure planning, BAP monitoring).

• To ensure a robust and consistent approach to risk identification and management, agreement is needed

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amongst ICMM members and the conservation community on the following: a common definition of high biodiversity value areas; minimum requirements for biodiversity risk and impact assessments; how members with differing exposure to biodiversity risks can implement ICMM’s Principle 7 (contribute to conservation of biodiversity and integrated approaches to land use planning). This would best be done in consultation with stakeholders, in particular governments and the conservation community.

4. Contribute to enhancing the capacity of regulators to support industry to conserve biodiversity • Companies have an opportunity to raise the industry bar in biodiversity management, and reinforce their leadership position. This can be achieved by collaborating with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other conservation groups to build capacityof regulators in key countries to align with global best practice, for example, through sharing approaches on impact assessments and biodiversity offsets.

5. Continue to work with partners to build member capacity on challenges and emerging issues • Partnerships with biodiversity conservation organizations, such as IUCN and its members, and engagement with existing collaborations such as the Cross Sector Biodiversity Initiative, have been instrumental in developing member management approaches and capacity on biodiversity issues.

• Ensuring that these partnerships now focus on addressing the challenges and emerging issues identified (through producing, for example, better articulation of the business case for managing biodiversity, guidance documents, webinars or pilot joint field projects) will help to maintain a leadership position and ensure the dialogue remains relevant and credible.

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“Mash”

J

expected to be “EPIC” this year

ust as Crop Over is to Barbados and Carnival is to Trinidad and Tobago, Mashramani is to Guyana.

But Guyanese ‘handle our business’ a little differently.

Unlike other Caribbean jurisdictions, where the adult parades and J’ouverts are ongoing days before the main event, Guyana has one main big parade and street jam held on one day— February 23. The other Mash related activities are held in the lead up to the ‘big day”.

Mashramani, often abbreviated to “Mash”, is an annual festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic in 1970.

The festival includes a street parade, music, games and cooking.

The word “Mashramani” is derived from an Amerindian language and in translation means “the celebration of a job well done”. Mash is probably the most colourful of all Guyana’s festivals, with its only major competition being Phagwah. Mash 2015 was launched early October of last year by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport under the theme “One People, One Culture, One Celebration”.

The Launch had provided a sneak peak of the highly anticipated festivities which will mark the nation’s 45th Republic Anniversary.

On Mash Day, there are spectacular costume competitions, float parades, masquerade bands, and dancing in the streets to the accompaniment of steel drum music, Soca and calypsos.

Masquerade bands frequent the streets performing acrobatic dance routines.

On Mash Day, Guyanese come together as one and have a good time. Some families make full use of the holiday and set up picnics along the route of the parade.

Those who live in close proximity to the Mash Day parade route sometimes invite family and friends over for a fete or a hang at home. Patriotic Guyanese find themselves on balconies and at their gates to get a glimpse of the colorful parade.

Little ones make seats of their parents’ shoulders to ensure that they get the best view. After all, who can blame them? The Parade is usually a delightful treat to the eyes.

Mash revelers don costumes of every colour one can think of.

Most are created by some of Guyana’s leading designers. Major local companies like Digicel and Banks DIH usually compete to see who will win the road-march competition.

In recent years, much to the pleasure of Guyanese youths, local promoters have endeavored to host numerous parties in the lead up to February 23. These are mostly Soca Jams, often times featuring popular Soca artistes from across the Caribbean. Machel Montano is almost a sure act to come to Guyana around Mash.

Over the past five years, J’ouvert started to become popular in Guyana and has turned out to be an event that is looked forward to by many. It is held in the wee hours of Mash morning and some people leave the festivity in time to go home, change and “get ready fuh de road.”

Also, in the lead up to Mashramani, Guyanese turn out in their numbers to witness several competitions including the Soca Monarch, the Calypso and Children’s Costume competitions.

The Soca competition promises to be quite a treat. Thirty-

two persons entered to contest the 11th annual Carib Soca Monarch competition, but only 18 were chosen as semifinalists.

These 18 vibrant artistes are promising that the competition would be feisty, as they plan to raise the bar for Soca music in Guyana by way of thrilling performances and lyrical sensations.

The competition has seen the return of Adrian Dutchin and George Abrams also called “Chiney” with their entries titled, “592 Posse” and “Mirror” respectively. Two-time Carib-Soca Monarch Jumo Primo, more popularly known as “Rubber Waist”, who brought second last year, told Guyana Inc. that he is ready to take over from the reigning champion, Kwasi “Ace” Edmondson with his entry, “Unruly”.

Ace won the competition last year with his hit song “Still in the Game”.

You may have already missed the semi-finals of this competition but you can surely get a piece of the action at the finals slated to be held on Valentine’s Day (February 14) at the National Park, Georgetown.

Calypso competitions, usually characterized by witty social and political commentaries, are another integral part of “Mash”, and this culminates in the coronation of a King or Queen for the particular year.

This competition has junior and senior categories. The juniors usually thrill the crowd with their dazzling costumes, great theatrics and positive lyrics while judges usually have an uphill task to decide upon the top finalists for the senior calypso competition.

Some of the Calypsos to be performed in the senior competition, showed that many artistes focused on issues that have affected Guyana over the past year.

The National Cultural Centre (NCC) and the National Sports Hall usually come alive when the children competition gets underway. This competition is usually hosted with much pomp and fanfare.

Organizers expressed optimism that this year’s competitions will be somewhat better than previous years. The Children’s Mashramani Competition started since January in Region Two at the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground.

The Dramatic Poetry and Calypso competition will be part of other activities organized specifically for children, and so will the Dance and Masquerade competition, the Costume and Physical Display and the much anticipated Costume Parade.

Organizers said that the children’s competitions will be divided into nursery, primary and secondary categories, so as to accommodate a range of school children. The finals for all the children’s competition events will be held from February 12-14.

Other events held in the lead up to Mash includes the highly anticipated Chutney Competition, the Masquerade Competition, the Steel band Competition and the Miss Mash Queen Pageant.

While the Mashramani celebration officially ends on February 23, a number of other events such as the National Art Exhibition at Castellani House and the Linden and Berbice float parades, will continue on February 26 and March 1 respectively.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.35

Health sector boasts of laudable decline in Malaria cases - accomplishment linked to decreased mining activities

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surge in the gold industry a few years ago saw many people scampering to the gold mines to get involved in some prospecting action. As one of the main drivers of the economy, the all-­time high price of gold meant that not only investors/miners were doing well, but the country as a whole.

In actuality, the world market price for gold stood at US$114 in 2005, but skyrocketed to some US$1,800 by 2013. At that time, economists were anticipating an even higher price for the precious metal, an expectation that was being linked to demands that were coming from China and India. The price nevertheless fell, though minimally, and therefore was expected to soon climb again.

Though an increase in the price of gold essentially meant development for Guyana in one aspect, it warranted intensified efforts in the area of health care, if that development was to be sustained.

While the mining areas are home to some of the most difficultto-access terrains of the country, they are also known as the most malarious regions, meaning that vector control there is an undeniable challenge.

With the rush to get in on the gold mining action, there came an unprecedented, even vexatious challenge for the health sector.

This was in light of the fact that not only were there more people to be reached in the malarious Regions of One, Seven, Eight and Nine, but there was a potential of the disease spreading at an all time rapid rate.

Health Workers must find their way all the way down here sometimes to reach miners at work.

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Officials out of the Health Ministry have not kept this state of affairs a secret, and have reported on numerous occasions that Vector Control Workers are challenged to combat malaria as they are required to access some hard to reach mining camps. Some miners are found operating at depths of about 200 feet and Vector Control workers haven’t a choice but to access these in order to do mass blood surveys in order to detect and treat persons with malaria.

The role of these health workers therefore entails educating those at risk about the use of mosquito repellent and other measures to safeguard themselves from vector borne diseases.

Some measures used to safeguard are taking blood samples (commonly called smears), testing those on site, administering quality medications to those infected, and distributing Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets.

The distribution of the nets is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Vector Control as, according to the Health Ministry’s Director of Vector Control Services, Dr. Reyaud Rahman, these nets are laced with insecticide that can keep away the female Anopheles Mosquito, which is known to spread malaria.

The nets can also keep away other mosquito carrying diseases as well, he stated. He reiterated that malaria nevertheless remains one of the hardest to control vector borne diseases.

But from having to reach about 20,000 individuals vulnerable to malaria back in 2005, the “gold rush” saw health workers having to reach an increased population of more than 100,000 by 2013.

The challenge of malaria too is often compounded by the constant movement of miners from camp to camp, as Vector Control Workers are also required to keep track of them in order to provide follow up care.

The need for onsite visits and follow-­up is a necessity, as some miners are convinced that they are way too busy to be bothered by a mild fever, and often, they would work through symptoms of malaria until they become debilitated.

Like most vector borne diseases, the symptoms of malaria include: fever, headache, aching muscles, tummy ache, diarrhea and vomiting, lack of energy, loss of appetite and even coughing spells. Without timely treatment with the right drugs, the outcome could be fatal.

In light of the vexing impact that malaria could have on a nation, and by extension the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1998 launched a high profile campaign to ‘Roll Back Malaria’, with the stated goal to halve malaria deaths worldwide by 2010.

Achieving that goal, WHO said, “required preventive interventions (such as: insecticide-treated bednets, household insecticide spraying), but the main difference between life and death for malaria patients hinges on appropriate treatments.

Simply, each malaria case must be promptly and accurately

Vector Control Officers making their way through an impassable thoroughfare to test miners for malaria

diagnosed, and treated with an effective malaria drug.”

With its onsite tactic to combat the disease, Guyana was well on its way to achieving this goal, though challenged by the prevailing ‘gold rush’.

But instead of halving the prevalence of the disease, Guyana in 2013 recorded a daunting increase in the number of cases – an alarming 30,000.

The dawn of 2014 however, brought with it both positive and negative developments. A very evident negative development was an upsetting drop in the world market price for gold that left many investors/miners questioning the feasibility of continuing their prospecting endeavours. Some opted to scale back their operations.

Since the disenchantment of some investors/miners meant a scaling back and even pulling out of mining activities, Vector Control Workers claimed that they were tasked with offering their crucial service to a noticeably contracted population as they continued their mission to reduce the prevalence of malaria.

According to Dr Rahman, because of that noticeable decline in the number of individuals working at mining sites in the interior locations, efforts to tackle malaria has become more manageable.

“Because persons are not getting as much money for their gold, they are disenchanted, and so they stay out of the interior and may return later, because this of course is their way of life; this is their profession...We know that as soon as the price heads back up, we are going to have a huge amount of people going back, so we are using this as an opportunity to get the cases down, as low as possible.”

“The main thing is that we can get the cases down by ensuring that the persons who are infected are treated as soon as possible.

The faster we treat them, means that we can prevent it from affecting more persons...,” asserted Dr Rahman. He noted that while there is no known cure for the disease, early detection and prevention is the primary focus of the Ministry.

Over the past year, approximately 150,000 individuals from the

mining communities were tested for malaria. According to the Vector Control Director, because of intensified efforts to tackle the disease, the cases of malaria have been slashed by at least half in 2014.

In order to help bring the numbers down, Dr Rahman, who boasted that 2014 was a good year for Vector Control, noted that his Unit adopted an approach that saw Vector Control officers, himself included at times, going into the fields to physically find the cases and ensure that measures were in place to reduce the numbers.

This meant that the Vector Control Officers attached to Central Ministry, together with regional officers, tracked each individual case in the endemic areas, and not only highlighted the importance of protective measures such as the consistent use of treated nets, but also made sure that they only had access to high quality medications.

Dr Rahman is optimistic that the ongoing efforts will see the 2.

1.

3.

1. Focused on getting the work done 2. Testing a blood sample for malaria 3. A resting place secured from the female Anopheles mosquito

cases being lowered to as little as 10,000 this year, and according to him, “that is going to be a significant help to us as we work towards bringing malaria down to less than 1,000 cases in the next five years.”Even as efforts are being made to control the prevalence of malaria, Dr Rahman said that the Ministry is looking to put in place new measures this year to sustain its gains.

As part of its strategic effort to sustain the fight against the ever prevailing threat of malaria, Government was able to invest some $400 million into the Vector Control Services Unit of the Health Ministry last year to combat the mosquito borne disease.

This sizeable investment was one that catered to, among other things, the procurement of high quality malaria medications and treated bednets that are made available to those in vulnerable areas at absolutely no cost.

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Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.37

Valentine, a festival for lovers I

- What will you be doing on February 14?

t is well accepted that there is a time and place for everything. Further to that, we can safely conclude that Valentine’s Day is a time for lovers, and the place to be is with your loved one.

Some say that Valentine’s Day is just a commercial one – a day designed for businesses to make money. However, oftentimes, people who think along this line are those who are not in love and therefore, are not likely to benefit from Valentine celebrations.

But they can be excused; they will come around to thinking the way everyone else does when they find that special someone or when that special someone finds them.

Valentine is celebrated in many countries around the world, even though it is not a holiday in most of them.

It is a festival of romantic love. Many give cards, letters, flowers or presents to their spouse or partner. They may also arrange a romantic meal in a restaurant or a night in a hotel—rose-petals and everything.

The most common Valentine’s Day symbols are the heart, roses—mostly red—and pictures

or models of Cupid. Cupid is usually portrayed as a small winged figure with a bow and arrow.

In mythology, he uses his arrow to strike the hearts of people. Those who have fallen in love are sometimes said to be ‘struck’ by Cupid’s arrow.

Valentine’s Day is well celebrated in Guyana.

Men can actually get into major trouble for forgetting to get their loved one a present for Valentine’s Day. On this day, many are seen going to work all decked out in red and white. While some may not go all out, at least something red or white is included in the ensemble.

Office women in Guyana love it when their Valentine gifts are delivered at work.

While in previous years, the traditional chocolate and roses were the way to go, last year many went for the red and white ice cream cake and fresh roses. However, what seems to be most consistently popular on February 14, is the dinner.

It is almost impossible to walk into a restaurant on that evening and be able to dine without reservations.

Some restaurants even set up more chairs and tables than usual just to accommodate the rush on this evening. But all in all, it is advised to make reservations.

Quite a few restaurants get special promotions for that Special day. Silhouette will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that those who decide to head on down to Kitty for this lovely occasion, leave happy.

The atmosphere which is generally awesome will be transformed to an even more romantic ambiance creating the perfect atmosphere for lovers.

However, even though many restaurants will be putting out their best on that day, the place to be is with your lover. So whether it is a home cooked dinner and a movie, a stroll on the seawalls or fine dining, make sure you spend quality time with the one you love.

Guyana Inc. wishes that this year will bring you your best Valentine’s Day experience ever and please remember what Audrey Hepburn said, “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”

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Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.38

The Amazon Tree Boa

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he Corallus Hortulanus, commonly known as the Amazon tree boa, is a nonvenomous snake found in South America. The snake is a beautiful, unusual looking snake. The species are highly recognized for their diverse colours and patterns which make them stand out from other snakes.

It’s colors range from black, brown, or gray, to any shade of red, orange, yellow, or many colors in between. Some are totally pattern-less, while others may be speckled, banded, or saddled with rhomboid or chevron shapes. Some reds will have yellow patterns; some yellows red or orange patterns. The unicolor red, orange, and yellow animals with little or no darker patterns are those that are highly pursued by breeders and collectors and often carry a hefty price. Two snakes that mate and have the same pattern and colour may produce a litter containing young of different patterns and colours.

The Amazon Tree Boa predominantly inhabits South America in southern Colombia, east of the Andes, southern Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Amazonian Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Bolivia and Guyana’s hinterland (in places such as Iwokrama). This snake eats, drinks, sleeps, mates and gives birth in trees.

It usually attains 4½ feet; occasionally reaching 6½ to slightly more than 7 feet and weigh about 1 to 3 pounds. The eyes can be yellowish, greyish or reddish. It has a reflective membrane which results in eye shine at night and the tongue is black. Male and female are similar both in size with varying patterns.

The snakes have very long needle-like teeth which make their bite quite painful. It usually preys on birds, small rodents and lizards. The snakes are infamous for being very aggressive. When approached, it gives an s-coil and bites and when handled it may form into a ball, constrict and rotate the body. It tends to give some warning of being inclined to bite, and will usually give fairly gentle bites (which can still draw blood), unless they are given reason to give a full strike. This is a species that commands respect and dedication, lacking in either of these will undoubtedly yield unfavorable results. They are often best handled with a snake hook.

The lifespan for snakes in captivity is 12-20 years; however there is no literature available on the lifespan of such snakes in the wild. The snakes have large infrared pits which allow them to sense heat. They have good eyesight which they use to hunt during the day and are sensitive to vibrations.

Amazon tree boas are popular pets for snake hobbyists and are fairly common in the pet export trade. According to statistics, about 1245 of the snakes were exported out of Guyana in 2011, 1607 in 2012, 1212 in 2013 and 1239 in 2014. The reptiles are also exported from Guyana to supply the global demand for exotic pets. Fortunately, much of this trade is regulated and monitored through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which Guyana is a member, and permits are required for all animals which are being sold out of the country. However, some persons still export them illegally and if caught they may face charges.

Taking care of Amazon tree boas is fairly easy and straight forward and it is said to be probably the easiest species in the genus Corallus to keep. However, persons must be extremely conscious when dealing with the snake, especially during feeding time.

A good tip to protect oneself from bites is to wear gloves of some description over the hands, this can shield the heat of the hands and therefore, the snake is less likely to strike since it doesn’t have a hot target to aim for.

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.39

Kanuku Mountains A birdwatcher’s paradise like no other

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he Kanuku Mountains, located in southern Guyana, in the centre of the Rupununi Savannahs, is an ecologically diverse area. It is home to 350 species of birds, including the endangered Harpy Eagle -Harpia harpyja- which is under complete protection, and the Goldenheaded Manakin- Pipra erythrocephala.

The Mountains are located in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region. The name means ‘forest’ in the Wapishana language, a reference to the rich diversity of wildlife found there. The Eastern Kanuku Mountains and the We s t e r n Kanuku Mountains are separated by the Rupununi River.

Recognized by Conservation International as being one of the few remaining pristine Amazon habitats, The Kanuku Mountains is almost 3000ft high.

A vast area of pristine beauty, it stretches for one hundred kilometers from east to west, and fifty kilometers north to south.

Larger than many Caribbean islands, the “blue mountains” of the savannah are

Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.40

seen as a “mother” to the people of the region, who depend on the “Kanukus” for their existence.

This picturesque mountain range forms a spectacular backdrop to the Rupununi Savannahs, with its sculptured crowns peaking just below the clouds.

The Kanuku Mountains is a birdwatcher’s paradise. Over 60 percent of the birds in Guyana can be found in the Kanukus alone.

A few to note are the white bell bird, oil bird, pompadour cotinga, golden crowned manakins, several species of macaws, as well as many parrot and toucan species.

Guianan red cotinga, zigzag and fascinated tiger heron are also regularly spotted.

Mammals rank high in the Kanukus, with over 75 percent of Guyana’s species found in the area. Black spider, howler, squirrel, brown capuchin and bearded saki monkeys are common, as are the giant river and neotropical otters. Nocturnal species such as paca, opossum, ocelots, and many species of rats and bats can be seen on night drifts.

With little or no human settlement on the eastern range, the area is still unspoilt, a haven for adventure travelers seeking to experience nature’s diversity. The region is also home to the Wapishana and the

Macushi Amerindians who have inhabited the mountains for many generations.

For over 150 years, naturalists have been visiting the Kanuku Mountains. The area has been recognized as one of the most biologically diverse regions in Guyana with habitats such as gallery forests, lowland forests and evergreen forests.

Meanwhile, the Kanuku Mountain Protected Area (KMPA) consists of community leaders from 11 Amerindian villages and seven satellite communities in the proposed KMPA. These communities support a number of common goals such as those that contribute to decisionmaking and strategic planning for KMPA. The group has been registered as a Friendly Society since December 2, 2009. Members of the group work closely with a number of national and international, government and non-governmental organisations, all of which share the group’s commitment to conservation of natural resources and social development of indigenous communities.

Football in Guyana headed for good times again -unprecedented four year-end tournaments held

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n unprecedented number of teams participated in four yearend football tournaments all sanctioned by the Normalisation Committee (NC) of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) which must be seen as a positive given the almost two years of turmoil that hit the game in the Land of Many Waters.

Traditionally, the December/January 1 period was used by the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation for their tournament but that dynamic would have changed in the past three years or so. Nonetheless, teams in six of the GFF’s affiliates, West Demerara, Georgetown and Upper Demerara held individual tournaments sponsored by Banks DIH under its Banks Beer, GT Beer and Aqua Mist / Vita Malt brands.

The three other associations, Berbice, East Demerara and East Bank teamed up to do their tournament featuring the sixteen best teams from among the three with sponsorship from AnsaMcAl under their Stag Beer brand.

Well over 50 teams were involved with millions of dollars in cash and other prizes going to the top performers when the dust would have finally settled on New Year’s Night, January 1, 2015 and in the case of West Demerara, Boxing Night, December 26, 2014.

Slingerz Football Club, the youngest club on the West Demerara emerged as the winner of the West Demerara, Aqua Mist/Vita Malt tournament staving off a stiff challenge from Den Amstel.

Winners Connection emerged as the champions of the Upper Demerara, GT Beer tournament downing Hi Stars in the finals.

In the capital city, Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United continued their fairy tale run in Guyana when they again took the championship trophy and cash in the GFA, Banks Beer final. Alpha, Guyana’s most recognized club in the Caribbean and further afield arrested the Guyana Defense Force to underline their supremacy as the best.

The three-association tournament between, Berbice, East Demerara and East Bank saw Grove Hi Tech of the East Bank Football Association hammering East Demerara Football Association’s Ann’s Grove 5-0 in the final played at the #5 ground, West Coast Berbice.

Over 10 million dollars in prizes were handed out among the winners and other top teams in those participating associations, a first for Guyana.

Chairman of the GFF NC, Clinton Urlingapplauded the associations, teams and more importantly the sponsors for their investment in the respective tournaments.

Urling also commended the fans for showing support as the all-important 12th man in the sport.

The amount of football played will serve Guyana’s football in good stead as preparations are in place for a Friendly International against Barbados on Guyana Inc. - Issue 12 P.42

February 1st, 2015 in the Land of the Flying Fish, Barbados.

Players who were part of those tournaments would be called up to the squad by the newly appointed Technical Director Claude Bolton and Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz.

Brighter days are ahead for football in Guyana.