Page 04
Kaieteur News
Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
EDITORIAL
We must find answers The suggestion that the viewpoints, values, and dispositions of a population might have some bearing on local economic performance would hardly seem to be controversial. Decades ago, development economist Peter Bauer wrote that “economic achievement depends upon a people’s attributes, attitudes, mores and political arrangements.” But in Guyana, discussion of “culture”much less its relationship to such things as work, thrift, savings, entrepreneurship, innovation, educational attainment, and other qualities that influence prospects for material advance-has always been off-limits. To be sure, the record of historical efforts to predict and explain economic performance on the basis of cultural attributes is admittedly chequered. Up through the 1950s and even into the early 1960s, for example, researchers and self-styled experts were offering confident and detailed explanations of why “Confucian values” constituted a serious obstacle to economic development in East Asia. A decade or so later-after the huge boom all around the East Asian rim was well underway-the profession was still united in the consensus that the Confucian ethos mattered greatly in economic performance, but they had quietly shifted their estimate of that impact from negative to positive. With China’s success, the issue of Confucian values has continued to muddle the earlier smug assumptions. But we cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater: while the exact contents of the cultural apparatus may be arguable, it would be foolish to assert that our reactions to the imperatives of economic development, conditioned by our cultural repertoire, are irrelevant. It is possible that some values and habits necessary for development may be common to several civilizational cultures, and it would be necessary to identify and reinforce these if a country wants to join in the virtuous cycle of growth and development. Slavery and indentureship have left legacies that still linger powerfully in our culture and indeed in our psyches. Take for instance our attitudes towards savings. The rate of national savings is a crucial variable in the early stages of efforts to pull a nation on the path of sustainable development. The higher the rate of savings the greater the amount of funds available for the banking system to intermediate into investments in the economy. Among Confucian values, thrift looms rather large, and we saw this playing out in the astronomical savings rates in the Far East and China during their development surge. In Guyana, we can appreciate the effects of culture on this variable by considering the differential imperatives promulgated by the regimes of slavery and indentureship. During slavery, there was little incentive for slaves to save since, in the absence of legal family relationships, the inheritance of property was not secured. During indentureship, on the other hand, the labourers could own and pass down property which encouraged them to save and invest in the future. But our own history also shows that there are other factors at work in inculcating and transmitting values. Even after the ravages of slavery, some ‘apprenticed’ freed slaves were able to save huge sums of monies, which they used to purchase land that formed the basis of the ‘village movement’. It was the policies of the government of the day that stymied that fledgling spirit of thrift and entrepreneurship. This gets us to the crucial issue of governance-which is shaped by, and in turn independently shapes, local attitudes, expectations, and motivations. There are, then, two aspects of culture to consider from this perspective: the effects of governmental policies to encourage values likely to further developmental goals and secondly the specific initiatives of the government to foster the same. Political instability and predatory, arbitrary, or plainly destructive state practices have shaken, or sometimes altogether destroyed, the institutions and legal rules upon which purposeful individual and collective efforts for economic betterment depend. We must find answers.
Friday April 24, 2015
Letters... Where your views make the news
There is a God who will protect people like Shirlina Nageer and crush those who want to strip her DEAR EDITOR, My head hangs in shame, my heart bleeds calling myself a Guyanese. The incident on Monday (April 20 , 2015), wherein a Minister of the PPP Government attacked a woman in broad daylight in Whim, Corentyne (the heartland of the AFC) has shaken my conscience and I am sure hundreds, if not thousands of Guyanese like me? What was her fault? For questioning the untruth being peddled by a Minister with a deceptive agenda? The victim only raised her voice against the poor state of the health-care system, his primary responsibility. Rather than address the merit or demerit of the issues she raised, the th
Minister launched into a personal attack on this good woman with an armory of high-tech and low-tech verbal assaults that created the conditions for the physical stripping of this woman; a real possibility if the media was not there. He has learnt well from Bharat. Hinduism has taught me one critical lesson that forms the basis of the scriptures of the Bhagavad Gita; unrighteous and demonic behavior will always be conquered by righteousness; good will always overcome evil. In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a particular chapter of the scriptures dealing with Draupadi’s honor. For those who do not know about Draupadi, she was Queen of the Pandavas family. In that
f a m i l y, t h e m e n t a l l y corrupted King Yudhisthir gambled his wife at a game of dice causing the demonic King Duryodhana to leverage his victory to seize Draupadi and instruct for her to be stripped naked. Similar to the wishes of Minister Bheri; isn’t it? Duryodhana called on his brother Dushana to “Strip Draupadi and don’t stop until she kneels naked before us men in this hall of dice”. As Dushana stepped forward to do this evil deed, Draupadi dropped on her knees and in despair prayed “OH LORD KRISHNA … spare me this shame …. give justice to my prayers”. After hearing Draupadi’s fervent prayers, the good Lord went into action. As
soon as Dushana removed a yard of her sari, the good Lord replaced it with new material thus securing the honor of Draupadi. As Draupadi continued her prayers, her face streaked by grateful tears, Lord Krishna whispered in her ears “Never think that I am far from your distress. If the wicked oppress you ... or try to expose your innocence, know this truth, they will only expose themselves. Know this ancient truth – those moved by greed and envy come to the gates of hell, where they shall testify against themselves.” I have seen with my own eyes, when a man or a woman has reached the end of the road and they dropped (Continued on page 31)
Sherlina Nageer was exercising her democratic right to hold a government minister accountable DEAR EDITOR, A quick apology from an abusive spouse is almost a cliché. The abusive behavior displayed by sitting government Minister Bheri Ramsaran is yet another stain on the wall of shame that represents the bloody history of violence against women in Guyana. Sherlina Nageer was exercising her democratic right to hold a government minister accountable for the abysmal performance of the ministry for which he is
responsible. Her questioning and tone were quite appropriate, and Editor, I would make the case that she was in fact doing the work of a responsible citizen, a responsible journalist, a responsible member of civic society when she questioned him intensely, and did not allow him to get away with the “we’ll do better next time” excuse. The Minister’s vicious response and then subsequent half-hearted apology to Ms. Nageer reminds of a perpetrator,
who after engaging in abusive behavior, takes the time to convince the victim that the attack he experienced was his fault. Minister Ramsaran’s apology is of no consequence to the women of Guyana. The ease with which he attempted to demean, dismiss, and devalue Ms Nageer reflects the repressive and abusive master-servant disposition which so many citizens, and too often women, struggle to survive each day. It is simply not enough to apologize and
move on. For their obviously corrosive views of fifty percent of our population, this minister, like his other ministerial colleague Anil Nandlall, is not fit to hold office and to represent the people of Guyana. Moreover, Guyanese citizens should not be saddled with the responsibility of paying the salary of an abuser. Bheri Ramsaran should resign. Karen Abrams Director, Human Equity Ratings Organization, Inc.
Instead of healing, unity and togetherness, the PPP is preaching race hate, fear, and bitterness DEAR EDITOR, The Kaieteur News on April 21, 2015 has a photograph of APNU+AFC leaders David Granger and Moses Nagamootoo and Guyanese living in Canada and who attended the coalition’s activity in Toronto recently. Perhaps most prominent in the picture is a person who I believe to be Claude V. Chang (right foreground). The accompanying article quoted the coalition’s Presidential Candidate David Granger as having said to the audience at the function: “For the past 50 years we (Guyanese) have fought each other to a standstill … It is time for us to come together as brothers and sisters … the war is over. It is time for a new Guyana” and for which he received a
standing ovation. I venture to say that no one would have been more pleased than Claude Chang to hear that emphatic statement, for a decade earlier he had echoed identical sentiments when he wrote that “For Guyana to enjoy prosperity, respect and pride … it must seek social cohesion through inclusion, through consensus government.” (SN, May 29, 2005). I will add that such a message was valid the decade before that, and the one before, in fact, 50 years ago as Mr. Granger alluded. A few years after Claude Chang’s plaintive cry, Ishwar Prashed, in a letter published in the Stabroek News of August 17, 2008 commented on this very issue, one that has been the bugbear and that is largely
responsible for the degeneration of our country since Independence. Editor, given the critical juncture that Guyana now faces, might I suggest that both the aforementioned letters be reprinted? In any event Ishwar Prashad’s point of departure was a then recent statement of President Jagdeo who had said: “we have to change the political c u l t u re o f t h e l a n d . ” Ishwar’s equally plaintive plea was a hope that it would cause a debate to begin on healing the racial cleavage which has hamstrung the country and its development “and that it will be done in a non-partisan way, where statesmanship and not parochial pontificating will prevail.” He said further: “It is time! ( exclamation mine) for healing and not name-
calling and blamemongering.” Having uttered his platitude, Bharrat Jagdeo showed no interest in using the highest office in the land in either fostering or participating in such a debate. Jagdeo, however, has showed up with a hysterical vengeance and at a PPP rally on April 19, 2015 at Albion, Corentyne uttered the unutterable. In a naked appeal to fear and hate he said: “When they (APNU+AFC) link up with the Military and come into your homes and start kicking the doors down and when they come after you, who is going to be there …?” Instead of a message of healing, unity and togetherness Jagdeo and the (Continued on page 31)
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 05
Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news
Is Jagdeo saying former national security officers must deal only with the PPP regime? DEAR EDITOR, With seventeen days to go before the May 11 elections, the fight for the seat of government no longer appears to be between the PPP and APNU/AFC alliance, but between Bharrat Jagdeo, on the one hand, and the Opposition alliance and the majority of Guyanese, on the other hand. Mr. Jagdeo, who has become the embodiment of the PPP, has literally pushed presidential contender, Mr.
Donald Ramotar, out of the political arena and assumed the role of lead agitator and antagonist for the PPP as he engages in a series of highly disturbing rhetoric that can be easily described as downright inflammatory if not borderline seditious. The acidity and intensity of his rhetoric may be manifestations of a deepseated fear since he apparently has more to lose than the PPP on May 11. But while Mr. Jagdeo
may not only be afraid of what he may lose May 11, it seems he is prepared to take on the military to do protect his gains. Many, who deemed his racially divisive rhetoric at Babu Jaan on March 8, 2015 as a highly disquieting vote-getting strategy, now view his rhetoric of the military as potential criminals and supporters of criminals as encroaching into the realm of insanity. This is insanitybased suicide akin to what is
popularly known as suicide by homicide, in which guy with a fake gun daringly challenges armed police officers to shoot at him. In Stabroek News’ article, “Defiant Jagdeo says critics could have reported him to police – says trust in military broken,” (April 23), Mr. Jagdeo has crossed a visibly pronounced red line by erroneously painting Guyana’s military to the nation as an organization that cannot be trusted,
despite the fact that for the last 22 years, the same military never attempted to overthrow the PPP regime. In fact, in certain other countries, the atrocities – from pervasive corruption to death squads to blatant lawlessness to even undemocratic acts – that happened during Jagdeo’s 12-year presidency would have seen military interventions to save the government from being hijacked for personal gains,
but not in Guyana. And this is why this unbridled display of ingratitude by Mr. Jagdeo may not only ignite the ire of the military, but ignite the ire of the entire country, because by saying the trust in the military is broken, he is openly pitting the people of Guyana against the military. This is an extremely dangerous precedent. The truth is, a number of former military officers, from Chief of Staff to lower (Continued on page 31)
Jagdeo’s shrill and irrational ‘warnings’ don’t seem to come from a man confident of his party retaining government DEAR EDITOR, For the sake of basic decency and good sense, someone in the People’s Progress Party needs to rein former President Bharrat Jagdeo in. As I expected, all the immediate post-Sri Lanka pretense at statesmanship evaporated as soon as he hit the campaign platform but even I didn’t expect him to have taken it this far. He’s gone from attacking sections of the exmilitary for exercising their constitutional right to be involved in the decisionmaking process in this country, to insinuating that the current military will somehow be compromised, to specifically attacking a former Chief-of-Staff that he appointed, Gary Best,
questioning Best’s ability to build a home next to his mansion compound. Here’s the thing – I know Gary Best, and we’ve had s o m e e x c e l l e n t conversations on politics and the state of the country. Another well-decorated army officer, currently serving and closer to my age, with whom I’ve also had s o m e e x c e l l e n t conversations on politics and the state of the country is Bhagheswar Murli, husband of my friend, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand. I could easily see Murli, despite his Queen’s College education, eventually in charge of the armed forces of this country or in a leadership position in
politics. I’ve never been to Best’s house in Pradoville 2, but I was there at the house warming for Murli’s, right behind Jagdeo’s, and it was possibly the largest, most beautifully appointed house I’ve ever been to in Guyana. If young Mr. Murli were to be honourably discharged and chose to endorse the PPP, would Jagdeo send reporters after the fact to question his real estate dealings relative to his income? Mr. Jagdeo’s increasingly desperate and
rambling outbursts, while he seems immune to embarrassment himself, cannot be healthy for even the PPP, and are definitely not helpful to his party’s relationship with the military. One gets a sense that all the fear being injected into the PPP campaign has one direct source, Bharrat Jagdeo, and is more a manifestation of his personal individual angst than anything else. The increasingly shrill and irrational ‘warnings’ by
Mr. Jagdeo doesn’t sound like a man confident of his party retaining government, nor even in the electorate’s capacity to judge his administration on the basis of its record. The PPP as a private political party is free to succumb to the paranoid neurosis of its leader. It is indecent, however, to have
that neurosis target one of o u r c o u n t r y ’s c o r e institutions, one that it has effectively had control over for almost quarter century. The men and women of our armed forces, most of whom would have come up under this administration, deserve far more than this irrational idiocy. Ruel Johnson
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Williams halts recruiting because of Criminal Cops Trinidad Guardian - Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has directed that the recruitment of Special Reserve Police officers (SRPs) be put on hold immediately. This, he says, is now critical because the Police Service needs to intensify background checks of prospective candidates to ensure undesirables do not infiltrate the service. The move comes in wake of information unearthed by the Police Service Social and Welfare Association that there has been an “influx” of criminals and drug users joining the service as SRPs to conduct nefarious activities. Contacted Wednesday, Williams said he gave the directive to ensure that those seeking to be SRPs in future not only meet the necessary requirements but also embodied characteristics of a police officer who would serve and protect with honour and fairness at all times. “I need to ensure that I am selecting the right people for not only entering the SRP but also the Police Service. I must ensure the Police Service has people of good character and meet all the necessary requirements, not just some. We need people of integrity. “And these characteristics must meet the necessary endorsement of the citizens of this land,” Williams added. Asked if the directive also stemmed from recent cases of SRP and police officers being involved in untoward activities, Williams reiterated his call was to ensure proper screening of applicants. “I am not saying that. I am saying I wanted to be sure there be proper and thorough background checks on all applicants,” he said. He said some of the checks entailed going into the communities where the applicants lived and gathering in-
Stephen Williams formation. “The checks are ongoing and are expected to be completed within a month or so,” Williams added. However, the Police Service Social and Welfare Association is insisting that the move only came about because it was discovered there were “bandits posing as police.” Association secretary, Insp Michael Seales, said yesterday the situation may have developed under then national security minister Jack Warner, when there was a move to ramp up the recruitment process of SRPs to supplement the strength of the service. “It had reached to the point where the SRPs were outnumbering the regular police officers. The association would have raised concerns to the commissioner after we became aware of unsavory characters within the fold,” Seales said. “This only came to light when due to the influx of SRPs, many of whom were trying to enter the Police Service, they therefore had to undergo medical, polygraph and psychometric
tests. “We unearthed characters who admitted to having criminal backgrounds and persons admitted to drug use. One particular person admitted to smoking marijuana more than 3,000 times. So there was a growing influx of SRPs who were in fact criminals,” Seales said. He said the association immediately went to the acting top cop with that information. “The commissioner also spoke of some instances which came to his attention and we would have taken a position to stop further recruitment of the SRPs so as to clean up the system,” Seales said. He added that steps were also being taken to weed out criminals posing as SRPs, as Williams had the authority to revoke such appointments under Section 12 of the SRP Act. “We have criminals and drug users under the guise of SRPs. Not all SRPs fit this bill but this is the reality of the situation which is indeed a sad and pathetic state of affairs,” Seales said. To become an SRP, the applicant simply has to be able bodied and between 18 to 60 and possesses “no real education.” Seales said SRP recruits were also not subjected to rigorous tests like polygraph and psychometric tests. He said the association was in full support of Williams halting the recruitment process. “More often than not SRPs are outnumbering regular police officers because they work by themselves instead of working along with the regular officers and that is another problem. “When you look at the whole question of delivery of service, the SRPs need to work with the regular police officers and they are not doing so. This is diminishing the service provided to the public,” Seales added.
Page 7
Page 8
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 9
MINISTERS HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS The monies that are used to pay public officials, excepting those that work in public corporations, come from the Consolidated Fund. The bulk of the monies in the Consolidated Fund are raised via taxes. These taxes in turn are paid by both public and private corporations, private businesses and workers both employees and the selfemployed. Taxes are also earned on imported goods. I do not know which of these taxes pays government ministers, but it has become commonplace and quite misplaced for persons to feel that because they pay taxes that they are effectively paying the salaries of ministers. This is a false assumption that needs to be debunked, because it leads to all manner of expectations that have no moral or legal basis. Individuals are not
taxed to pay ministers. Individuals are taxed and they pay taxes as part of their contribution to society. If you live in a house, you are normally expected to contribute to the well-being of the house. The fact that you do this does not mean that you are paying the salaries of those who may work in the house. You are merely contributing to the house and it is the management of the household, whoever that may be, who is responsible for paying the staff. When someone pays taxes, they are not paying the salaries of any minister. They are paying their dues to society. That minister is employed by the State and it is the State or government of that State that is the minister’s employer. The average citizen, by paying his or her taxes, does not derive a right
to claim that the minister is being paid by that particular taxpayer. That is a myth that needs to be debunked. We therefore must be careful about this nonsense that we often hear about your taxes and my taxes paying the officials of the State. The salaries of those persons are paid by the State from the many forms of collections that citizens are lawfully obligated to make. The very basis of their membership of a society demands that citizens make a contribution to the State. That contribution is for services provided. Citizens receive something in return for the taxes they pay. If they receive something in return, then the monies that they pay can be seen as consideration for what they receive. It therefore cannot at the same time be deemed that these same monies are to pay the salaries of ministers, can it?
Everyone has their role to play in society. The citizens have their roles and the ministers have their roles. Ministers cannot be answerable to very Tom, Dick and Harry. That would create chaos in any society. Every Tom, Dick and Harry cannot go up to a minister and demand to know why that minister is not at work. The minister is not directly accountable to every Tom, Dick and Harry, and is therefore not obligated to provide an answer, more so when the question is asked in a manner that the minister may construe as being not respectful or as interrupting him during a discussion the minister is having with
another person. The minister is free to ignore someone who is interrupting him or to point out that the person is being a nuisance. The minister does not have to give an answer. But if that minister does, then the minister has to live with the consequences of the answer given. You are free to protest if you live in a society that respects the freedoms of citizens. But just as you are free to protest, so too do others have a right to
protest. Your right to protest is however not absolute. It does not give you the right to interfere with the right of another to protest. Both you and the other have a right to protest. But not because you pay taxes means that you have to ask a minister why the minister is protesting. You can ask, but there is no legal right to ask and definitely no legal obligation to reply.
Page 10
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===
Irrational people do not win elections. Do they? If there is a Guyanese out there who was surprised at Roger Luncheon’s statement of support for Jagdeo’s Babu Jaan racist allegations, then that person is mentally challenged. If there is a Guyanese who was surprised that Rohee said he didn’t see the hanging effigies of Granger and Nagamootoo in Anna Regina so he cannot comment, then that person is foolish. If there is a Guyanese out there that was surprised at what Bheri Ramsaran said to Sherlina Nageer, then that person doesn’t live in the real world. These absurdities are not deliberately planned as
what most people would believe. They are the natural outcome of irrational minds of an organization’s leadership so saturated with naked power that normal thinking has been lost long ago. I need to explain what is meant by the words, “not deliberately planned.” To the average person, Rohee, Luncheon and others know full well what they are saying, planned to say it, and see it as part of their strategies. This may be so in politicians who are new to the competitive arena, but not authoritarian oligarchs who have been in power for so long that they have lost all
sense of reality. Words that have no meaning and thoughts that are uncontrollable just fly out the minds of oligarchs who have been in power for so long and burdened by long incumbency. One look at Roger Luncheon and you see how the years of unbridled power have taken their years on his thinking. One look at Rohee and you see a person completely divorced from reality. One look at Ramotar and you see the manifestations of a person who is not connected to the realities of his country. Then there is Jagdeo. If the irrational mind cannot
Bandits escape with $8M in cash, jewellery from N/A pawnshop Police in Berbice are on the hunt for two bandits who yesterday robbed the People’s Pawn Shop at New Street, New Amsterdam, and the two female attendants, of over $8M in cash, jewelry and cell phones. According to information, the two attendants Valencia Saunders and Marsha D’Andrade were in the pawn shop around 13:45 hrs when the two men entered the premises and initially gave the impression that they were interested in doing business. One of the men then lifted up his shirt and whipped out a gun. The two women were then dragged to the back of the building where they were ordered to open two safes from which the bandits emptied all their contents.
While one of the bandits was unmasked, the other wore a stocking over his face. The pawn shop which has been in existence for about two years is owned by Winston and Samantha Saunders. The two attendants’ hands, feet and mouths were bound with duct tape. The bandits then calmly walked out of the establishment. The ordeal lasted about five minutes. After they left, the women waited about five minutes before attempting to free themselves, since they were not sure if the bandits had left the premises. The women eventually managed to do so before coming out in front and raising an alarm. The men reportedly left
on bicycles. Information revealed that the unmasked bandits had earlier gone to the pawn shop to make enquiries. The police were informed and responded promptly, but by the time they arrived the bandits were already gone. The bandits escaped with $5.3M in gold and diamond jewelry along with $2.2M cash. D’Andrade was relieved of one gold chain valued at $200,000; two gold and diamond earrings, valued at $250,000 along with one Samsung cellular phone, valued $200,000. Saunders was relieved of eight gold bangles valued at $200,000 and a BlackBerry cellular phone valued at $80,000. The cops also removed CCTV surveillance cameras from which they hoped to get more details of the robbery. No one has been arrested so far.
comprehend the logical and the normal, then Jagdeo is the largest example of such a political tragedy. The sum total of all of these macabre directions is that general elections are never won when such insanities dominate the halls of power. Even the most commonsensical reaction to the most bizarre occurrence is met with an irrational output by an aging PPP leadership that exists on another planet. This is the year 2015, where poor people who don’t have a computer or a smartphone know that you can see what is going on in the world without having to read about it in the newspapers. Right now as this column is being typed, hundreds of millions of people around the globe, on the train, at their workplace, in the homes, on the roads, are reading on their computers or on their phones about the world and what is happening inside of it and in their own countries. The exception to this is Clement Rohee. Mr. Rohee told reporters that he didn’t see the hanging effigies of Messrs Granger and Nagamootoo, and the only way he can comment on it is if “you put in the newspapers.” You may laugh at Mr. Rohee for saying that, but it is a sad, sad situation in Guyana in the year 2015. This man’s colleague, Robert Persaud owns an internet news service. This man’s own party issued a statement, years ago, accusing an internet news service, Demerara Waves, of public mischief. Yet this man will not comment on anything unless he sees it in the
newspapers. This man is a Cabinet member with the portfolio for internal security, yet for him the world only exists in the print media. But do you think he was being deliberately silly? He was not. These are the expected reactions of the irrational mind burdened with unrestrained power for over two decades. Rohee’s colleague Ramsaran has apologized to Ms. Nageer, but do you think such behaviour will stop? It cannot, because the PPP has lost a victim of reality. Yesterday it was Manickchand with her Sityra
Frederick Kissoon Gyaal histrionics. Then it was Harper and her billion-dollar accusation against the opposition. It was Nandlall and his Kaieteur News mayhem. Now it is Rohee, Luncheon and Bheri Ramsaran.
Dem boys seh...
Jagdeo matchstick never light a squib Old people seh that it is better to keep yuh mouth shut and let people think you stupid or yuh soft than to open yuh mouth and remove all doubt. Fuh years people always suspect nuff thing bout Jagdeo. One is that he corrupt; de other is that he funny. Some people use to call him Rose Ann and some use to call ee Roxanne. When he get married he wife publicly accuse ee of kicking she out de bedroom de fuss week after marriage. Which proppa man wid working equipment gun kick out a pretty woman from he bedroom de fuss week he married when he shoulda been enjoying he honeymoon. Dem boys hear she did expect fireworks but Jagdeo match did cold. It couldn’t even light a squib. De woman seh that he was abusive and cruel to her. He use to starve she till she go to she family to eat. Dem had to give she clothes and money. He never address de woman accusations and thought it woulda go away like everything else. The situation come back to haunt him to this day. In fact, it haunt him suh much that he tell part of de truth, Wednesday at a press conference in Freedom House. He announce big and bold that he never touch a woman in he life. It tek him six years fuh come out de closet and tell de nation de truth. That wasn’t news because de whole world did already know that he never touch a woman in he life jus like how de whole world know that he corrupt and is de devil fuss cousin. Dem boys can’t wait fuh see when de charges guh fall pun him and others like Brassington. He Brassington seh that de Waterfalls boss man obsessed with him. If only he know… De boss man admit that he obsessed wid not only him but wid a lot of dem. All Guyana should be obsessed and very upset with dem... De boss man begging de nation to join with him in prayers to see dem rogues spend de few years dem got lef behind bars. He seh that dem deserve to punish fuh de terrible things and corrupt deals dem entered into fuh personal gains, kickbacks and drawbacks on de backs of de poor people. Talk half and send Jagdeo to Gafoor’s Hardware Department.
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 11
More Banking licences is utter foolishness The recent promise by President Donald Ramotar to the business community to grant more Commercial Bank Licenses once he is re-elected has been deemed as “absolute madness”. Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram, renowned economist Clive Thomas and A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge, all said that Ramotar’s announcement is utter foolishness. Greenidge is challenging the President to reveal to the business community, “What really is his hidden agenda in bringing more banks into the country.” At a luncheon hosted at the Marriott Hotel on Wednesday by the
- Ram, Dr. Thomas, Greenidge Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Ramotar said that once he is re-elected, the People’s Progressive Party / Civic would grant more Commercial Bank Licenses. The President said that since 1990, the government has not given out any other commercial banking licences, because the size of the economy at the time was very small. Ramotar said that by granting more, it will stimulate competition which would hopefully lead to reduced interest rates that would benefit the business community. While the banking system is doing well,
Ramotar said that he still detects some amount of conservativeness, but assured his audience that government would definitely seek out reputable banks to improve this situation. Yesterday, Ram recalled that Government had argued that there were enough commercial banks in the country to satisfy certain demands. However, the President’s statements leave him with no choice but to conclude that “Ramotar was talking off the top of his head.” “It is absolute nonsense,” the accountant contended. He said, “Saying that
Fisherman shot in early morning robbery at wharf Fisherfolk operating at the Meadow Bank Wharf have issued a strong appeal for security to be beefed up to stem the wanton robberies that take place there on a daily basis. The appeal comes in the wake of the shooting of 37year-old fisherman Ganesh Vishwanauth early yesterday morning during an armed robbery at the popular fish trading facility. The vendors are of the view that since millions of dollars are traded there every day, especially in the wee hours of the morning, there should be adequate police presence to thwart the activities of armed robbers who prey on hardworking fisher folk without fear of being apprehended. Police in their usual kneejerk reaction stated in a press release that they are investigating the robbery in which Vishwanauth of Grove, East Bank Demerara was at the Meadow Bank Wharf around 03:30 hours, when he was confronted by two men, one of whom was armed with a firearm. The men demanded cash
and Vishwanauth resisted and was shot to his buttocks. The perpetrators took away $240,000 and escaped. Vishwanauth was taken to the Georgetown Hospital where he was treated and sent away. Speaking from his home via telephone last evening, Vishwanauth said that he has been in the fishing business all his life and yesterday was the first time he had such an encounter, although he is aware that criminal elements have made the Meadow Bank Wharf area their domain. He told this newspaper that he left his home at around 01:00 hours to go to the wharf to do his normal business, which is buying and selling fish. Viswanauth, who also owns a fishing boat, said that he purchased a load of fish, which he put on his stand to sell when the two men pounced on him. “I had de money in me hand and dese two bannas come up to me and tell me ‘pass all de money wha you gat.’” The fisherman said that the bandits had concealed their faces with their jerseys
and hats, so he could not recognize them. One of the bandits who was carrying a gun, discharged a round into the air, while his accomplice grappled with Viswanauth for his money. “De one wha fighting with me tell he partner, ‘shoot dis f@*%ing man leh he pass de money’,” Vishwanauth told this newspaper. Despite the sound of the gunshot and the ensuing commotion, no one came to the fisherman’s assistance, obviously scared of the consequences. “People been around but dey frighten,” the fisherman said. Another gunshot was fired and this time the bullet hit Vishwanauth in his buttocks. Vishwanauth eventually handed over the cash to the men who made good their escape. “Dese bannas deh pon de wharf every day . Nuff time dey does vice people and tek away dey money, but nobody don’t say nothing,” Vishwanauth complained. So far no one has been arrested.
Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram
Economist, Dr. Clive Thomas bringing in new banks will bring down interest rates, is like saying that the Marriott Hotel will bring new tourists. It is such a foolish thing to say.” The Chartered Accountant argued that what the government needs to do is encourage competition among the banks that are already in Guyana. He said that it is more desirable that existing banks operate more competitively and government uses its current leverage to encourage a system where banks operate less conservatively than they currently do. Further, Dr. Clive Thomas unequivocally agreed with Ram’s statements. The economist articulated that bringing more banks would not guarantee lower interest rates. He said that what is needed is a reform of the banking laws which would
provide more protection of customers and banks. “Ramotar said a lot of madness. It is preposterous for him to suggest that bringing more banks will lower interest rates,” Dr. Thomas stated. Greenidge said that the President’s comments will be viewed by all sensible Guyanese as another desperate effort to fool them into electing him and his “disreputable colleagues.” As far as the banking sector is concerned, the APNU financial point man asserted that it has been obvious for a long time that the PPP erred in closing down the Guyana Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank. “There is an urgent need for a merchant bank and a development bank that can meet the chronic needs of the
agricultural and industrial sectors in particular. The commercial banks have been unable to meet that need and adding another commercial bank will not help. “As far as I am concerned his reference to the conservative nature of the banking sector reflects his lack of understanding of the fundamental problem facing the agricultural and industrial sectors,” Greenidge said. He explained that the commercial banks are not conservative so much as to not properly be regulated by the Central Bank and by way of financial policy. Greenidge said that the need is for trade credit and investment in a new plan and not so much short term interest rates. He opined that the Government has learnt nothing from its experience.
Page 12
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
City schoolgirls encouraged Govt. violates to consider careers in ICT court order, AG admits
The National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) yesterday held an International Girls in ICT Day symposium under the theme “Expanding Horizons, Changing Attitudes” that was aimed at empowering and encouraging girls and young women to consider careers in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This event held at the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, targeted students from city schools, including David Rose, Freeburg, Caramel, Houston, North Georgetown, Dolphin and Brickdam Secondary Schools, Bishops’ High, Queen’s College and Central High. Ninth and 10th grade female students were provided an opportunity to become inspired about the ICT sector, by getting a firsthand look into the ICT institutions and listening to women role models speak on the issue. Traditionally, employment in the ICT sector, worldwide, is dominated by males. In this regard, each year, the NFMU has been planning and executing several activities in
an effort to ensure that Guyanese women are well educated and sensitised on ICT and its advantages. Lance Hinds of the Brain Street Group, who delivered the feature address, acknowledged the fact that the ICT sector has been vastly improved over the past years, and if the country is to develop further, girls must participate. “This is the reason we want to encourage ICT, girls and boys as well, to participate further in this activity. We sometimes are so stuck in terms of the things we want to do as careers. In 2015, when you ask a child what he/she wants to become, you still hear doctor, lawyer and engineer. Nothing is wrong with those fields, but let me tell you, I don’t know of any career that is as varied as the ICT ones,” Hinds told the students. Hinds reiterated that there are not many jobs that can compete with ICT; in fact the sector continues to provide the most jobs for young people, even as young as 15 years old. He referred to the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft,
Bill Gates, both of whom did not even complete university education. ICT is a cross-cutting component, he said, whether it is finance, accounts or construction, hence there is a need for everyone to become technologically inclined. Hinds urged the students to pursue a field in ICT. He emphasised that hard work, dedication and the ability to think critically are just a few qualities that are needed for them to excel in this field. ‘International Girls in ICT Day’ is an initiative backed by ITU Member States to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICT is one of the primary sectors to catalyse economic growth and sustainable development. Recognising this fact, the Government of Guyana, through initiatives such as E-Government, One Laptop Per Family and computer labs for schools, as well as the private sector, has been making significant investments in ICT, thereby availing technology to every Guyanese, and building the foundation upon which female citizens can expand their boundaries. (GINA)
The action brought by former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge against Dr. Ashni Singh, the current Finance Minister, could not continue yesterday owing to the absence of the plaintiff (Greenidge) who is currently out of the jurisdiction. Roysdale Forde, Greenidge’s Attorney, told the Court that while the reply was prepared it could not be filed, since a personal signature of Greenidge was required. Greenidge’s lawyer was scheduled to respond to submissions presented by the Attorney General, (AG) Anil Nandlall. The action, which began on March 20, last, is to prevent the government from spending US$32.16M in loans it received from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB). The defendants in the case are Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and Attorney General, (AG) Anil Nandlall. The writ specifically asks that the proceeds under the Loan Agreements signed between Dr. Singh and the IDB be paid into the Consolidated Fund and that there be no withdrawal of the proceeds of the said Loan Agreements, except by an Appropriation Act as directed by Article 217 of the Constitution. Greenidge noted concerns over government’s misuse of the loan. An order was subsequently handed down by Chief Justice, (Ag) Ian Chang in the High Court blocking the government from making any disbursements. The order is to remain in force until determination by the court. Last week, Nandlall
Former Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall released a statement detailing his response to the court action. The AG argued that it is routine practice that the proceeds of the loan having been paid into the Consolidated Fund is no longer IDB money; it forms “part of the pool of resources indistinguishable from other receipts, including tax and non-tax revenue.” Nandlall held that given the circumstance “Any one month funds are withdrawn and spent from the Consolidated Fund to meet the operations of Government, without any identification being made of the original source of those Funds.” But the former Finance Minister begs to differ. In a statement issued yesterday, Greenidge noted that having given the Court the assurance that the Government will not spend the funds, Nandlall in his last two court appearances, has
been peddling a line that in his view borders on reckless contempt. Greenidge explained “that line is that the Court Order cannot be obeyed because it is already being violated. I believe this to be a most dangerous situation”. The former Finance Minister said that in commenting on the case, the respondents made two points, that they do not understand how the Consolidated Fund works or they will ignore it. Greenidge underlined the fact that the CJ has already ruled that the Government broke the law in spending monies that were not approved under the 2014 Budget and by incorrectly seeking approval under a Statement of Excess which was never considered or approved by the National Assembly. On this occasion, he noted the Courts have an undertaking by the AG and the Minister of Finance and yet Nandlall now boldly states that the Government is continuing to spend the money. “While we wait to see how condignly the Courts will deal with this outrage, we hope the IDB is taking note.” Greenidge said.
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 13
Second MMU report says trends continue in media houses
As the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) continues to observe media houses in Guyana in the lead-up to general and regional elections, trends previously witnessed, including positive coverage for the PPP/C from the state media, persist. The second report, which was released on Wednesday, covered the period of April 1 until Nomination Day on April 7. The report, which currently covers the Government, the PPP/C and APNU+AFC, explained that its next report will cover all of the parties which are slated to compete at the upcoming elections. In regards to Guyana’s newspapers, the continuing trends were most notable. The newspapers which came under review from the MMU were Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, Guyana Times, and the Guyana Chronicle. For the one-week period, the MMU report showed that the incumbent PPP/C and the Government received high levels of positive coverage from the Guyana Chronicle and Guyana Times while the
opposition coalition APNU+AFC received more favour from the Kaieteur News. The Stabroek was the most “middle of the fence” newspaper under surveillance. According to the MMU, its second report focused on editorials, letters, columns, general news and cartoons. The report also looked at the positive, negative and neutral coverage the three entities received. In the Guyana Chronicle, the APNU+AFC received less positive coverage in all of the
sections under review. Of note under the editorial section, the PPP/C’s positive coverage outdistanced APNU+AFC’s coverage by almost 5:1. The report added that the PPP/C came in for “a small serving of negative publicity”. This was in stark contrast to the APNU+AFC’s publicity; the opposition’s negative coverage overwhelmed the PPP/C’s negative coverage by a margin of 15:1. Also, in the general news section, the positive coverage that the PPP/C received was
India donates $10M to GECOM for voter education
Indian High Commissioner, V. Mahalingam, presenting the cheque to Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield with Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally looking on. At left is the Indian High Commission’s Second Secretary, S.M Joshi. The Indian Government has donated $10M to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to help with its voter education programme. GECOM yesterday said that it has received a contribution from the High Commission of India in recognition of the “indefatigable work” being done for the professional, free, fair and transparent
conduct of the May 11 General and Regional Elections. The High Commissioner of India to Guyana, V. Mahalingam, recently presented a cheque for $10.25M to Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield. “This contribution will be utilized by GECOM in aspects of its Civic and Voter Education programme. Moreover, it will be used to
ensure that adequate provisions are in place during the elections to facilitate persons living with disabilities, and for activities associated with Polling Day itself.” The High Commissioner of India was accompanied by his Second Secretary (Political, Culture, Information, Consular and Head of Chancery), S.M. Joshi.
five times more than what APNU+AFC received. Further, the Government’s positive coverage was four times that of APNU+AFC’s. “Altogether, the Government and the PPP/C gained considerable net positive coverage, while the APNU+AFC ended up with net negative coverage,” the report said. Similarly, with the Guyana Times, the MMU reported that the Government and the PPP/C gained net positive coverage while the APNU+AFC accumulated net negative coverage. Particularly in the general news section of the newspaper, great disparity was shown in the coverage of the Government, the PPP/ C, and the APNU+AFC coalition. The report said that all three entities received copious amounts of positive publicity, with the Government attracting the most, followed by APNU+AFC then the PPP/C. However, APNU+AFC’s allotment of negative coverage was nearly 43 times the combined negative coverage calculated for the Government and the PPP/C. With the Stabroek News, while some sections favoured the coalition, others favoured the Government and the PPP/ C.
In the editorial category, the views expressed measured modest amounts of negative publicity which were accredited to the Government and the PPP/C, and a small amount of same directed to the APNU+AFC. Comparatively, the Government received approximately the same amount of negative publicity calculated for the PPP/C and APNU+AFC, combined. Separately, the Government’s negative coverage was roughly four times APNU+AFC’s negative coverage, while the PPP/C’s negative coverage was nearly three times the negative coverage absorbed by APNU+AFC. In the letters category, the Government and the PPP/C came away with modest amounts of positive publicity and the APNU+AFC gained a relatively large amount of positive coverage while the views expressed in the newspaper’s columns provided the Government with a large amount of positive coverage, the PPP/C with a relatively tiny amount of same, and the APNU+AFC with a modest amount. Furthermore, from the general news section of the newspaper, the Government actually gained the highest amount of positive coverage,
closely followed by the APNU+AFC, then the PPP/C. On the negative side, the Government and the PPP/C were the recipients of considerable amounts of negative coverage, while the APNU+AFC only came in for a relatively minuscule amount of same. “Comparatively, the Government received a positive to negative ratio of coverage of nearly 3:1; the PPP/C’s positive to negative ratio was approximately 2:1; and APNU+AFC’s ratio along the same contrasting lines of coverage was 43:1,” the report said. The cartoons published in the newspaper over the duration of this reporting period were also moderately negative of the Government, and largely negative of the Coalition, APNU+AFC. With the final newspaper under review, the Kaieteur News, the MMU report showed that the Government and the PPP/C were the recipients of the most negative coverage. Particularly in the columns and general news sections, the APNU+AFC received more positive coverage. In the columns section, the MMU report said, “Comparatively, the (Continued on page 29)
Page 14
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
Businessman’s stolen Titanic battle continues over BMW found, friend safe prime Regent St. property Hours after businessman Abdul Quadir Nazir was shot and his car taken away by armed men Wednesday night, police yesterday found the vehicle, a BMW, at Nismes, West Bank Demerara. In a statement, police said that the 26-year-old Canal Number One Polder resident was in his car in front of his residence along with mechanic Mark Crandon, 40, when a car drove up and a man exited. This occurred around 20:20 hrs on Wednesday. According to the police, the man, who was armed with a firearm, discharged rounds at Nazir, hitting him to his left
shoulder. The businessman was thrown out of his vehicle and the armed man along with an accomplice drove away with Nazir’s car. As the men sped away from the scene, the mechanic who was still in the vehicle managed to jump out and run for shelter. The police were notified and the businessman was rushed to the hospital where he remains a patient. It is still unclear what the motive of the shooting was, but police are reportedly treating it as an attempt to kidnap Nazir. When this newspaper visited the businessman’s
home yesterday, no one was at there. One neighbour said that he was in his house when he heard gunshots. “When I run out, people bin done gone with he (Nazir) to the hospital… I hear a car with four men pull up and started to shoot. Two men then come out and jump in Nazir car, while the other two remained in their car and then they drive away,” the neighbour stated. Up to press time, the businessman was in the hospital’s recovery room after undergoing surgery. Investigations are ongoing.
Increased hospital beds not an indicator of quality health care - APNU+AFC Candidate “You can’t be satisfied,” said Dr Surendra Persaud, a medical practitioner of several years, as he shared his conviction of the public health sector. The doctor ’s remarks were solicited by Attorneyat-law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, as he hosted his Talk Show ‘Plain Talk’ Wednesday evening on the Hoyte Blackman Television (HBTV) station (Channel Nine). Ram kicked off his programme with a segment which focused on the state of the health sector and asked of Dr Persaud “how satisfied are you with the state of the health services in Guyana?” “I don’t think that there is any person who could say that they are satisfied. We see tremendous disparities when you compare private sector care to public health care; there are disparities,” asserted the medical practitioner in response to Ram. In fact Dr Persaud pointed out that even when the regional health services is considered in isolation there are glaring disparities. “When you look from one region to the other there are disparities; as physicians that will always bother us. We go into medicine (and) one of the driving forces is to help people.” “We don’t see your income statements we see patients, our guiding principle is that we treat everybody and so for many
We are life savers, you should be one too! Donate blood today!!
of us, and I think I can say for almost all medical practitioners, we are not happy when we see this disparity,” intimated Dr Persaud in a sombre tone. However, Ram observed that a number of indicators to measure quality of health services are evident in the local health system such as an increase in the number of hospital beds and the ratio of doctors to patients. But according to Dr Persaud, there are a number of factors to be taken into consideration. He underscored that there are international bodies, including the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organisation, which have in place markers that are used to follow how a country or a particular hospital is operating. In Guyana for instance, the medical practitioner explained that health care is examined to ascertain why patients die. In doing this, he said, attention is directed to various groups such as children between the ages of birth and five to determine “why our children die. And there are various other groups (that are taken into consideration during this process). So we know why we (patients) die; it is called the health situation in a country and that is what drives policies.” This task, according to Dr Persaud, is then followed by efforts to ascertain the cancers and chronic diseases faced by a country and the best way that they can be effectively managed. “That is what determines what the health situation is in a country,” Dr Persaud intimated.
Dr. Surendra Persaud Moreover, he stressed that it is always quality and not quantity that determines the standard of health care that is offered. “Health care is about the patient. We can put fancy buildings up, but if you don’t have the equipment and you don’t have the properly trained persons, whether it is health care, or whether it is any other environment, it’s not going to work,” the medical practitioner added. As such he went on to explain that health care is managed by looking at quality assurance and quality measures, and not merely quantity of measures put in place. Dr Persaud is currently a candidate on the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) list who has a keen interest in improving the level of health care in the public health sector should his party win the national elections. Ram’s programme, moreover, was focused on the 2015 Elections, which is slated for May 11. He is convinced that the elections is likely to be the most important the country has had to face for several decades.
As a heated battle between two of the biggest names in hardware business in Guyana continues over ownership a prime business location, the High Court yesterday saw Claude Deygoo also known as Eddie Boyer, defending his legal entitlement to the said property. Boyer, who is the proprietor of National Hardware, claims that he, along with his wife Donna Boyer, hold a transport title, and have been the legal owners of the property located at 117 “B” Regent and Alexander Streets, Georgetown. since September 2008. This claim is being refuted by Sattaur Gafoor, the chairman of Guyana Realty Investment Limited (GRIL), which is linked to Gafoor & Sons Group of Companies. Gafoor alleges that GRIL has prescriptive title, having purchased the property from a third party (Stanley Collymore) in 1993, to use the premises to operate a paint shop. The matter is being heard by Justice Roxanne GeorgeWiltshire. The Boyers are being represented by Attorneys-at-Law Devindra Kissoon and Rajendra Poonai, while GRIL is being defended by Rex McKay S.C, Edward Luckhoo S.C, and Neil Boston. As Boyer took the stand yesterday, it was revealed that he had been acquainted with Mr. Gafoor for approximately 40 years. Senior Counsel McKay wasted no time in questioning Boyer on his knowledge of the fact that there was a building in which a business was being operated on the disputed property, prior to him assuming ownership in 2008. As Boyer confirmed this to be true, he went on to explain that he had never seen Gafoor on the disputed property before he allegedly bought it and got the transport title in 2008. He then admitted that he was aware that a business was being operated at the property in 2009.
National Hardware proprietor Eddie Boyer
GRIL chairman Sattaur Gafoor
Further queries from the senior counsel saw Boyer explaining that three persons operating businesses on the disputed property became his tenants after he received the transport for the property. When questioned if those three persons became his tenants after he forcefully evicted previous tenants, Boyer promptly said that that was not the case. This question stemmed from Gafoor’s claim at the last hearing, that Boyer had forcefully evicted his (Gafoor’s) tenants, after he allegedly acquired a transport title in 2008. Boyer said that he “isn’t quite sure” how long the property had been occupied for business before he became the owner, and is not aware that anyone else was occupying the said property before his three tenants. Boyer was then asked about the October 2009 injunction granted by Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, restricting Gafoor and another from trespassing on the property. Senior Counsel McKay went on to ask him whether or not he would agree that the Petitioner [Anthony Collymore], in that action, would have been admitting that Gafoor was in possession of the said property, at a time that he is claiming to be the owner. In getting this point across, McKay went on to bring up previous actions, in which his client (Gafoor), was involved. “Do you believe
persons ever conducted trade on the property in 2007?” Boyer answered in the affirmative. The witness was reminded that he said that the three persons became his tenants in 2009, he was then asked if he was aware of the fact that the roof of the building on the disputed property was ripped off. This question was asked in connection with previous assertions from Gafoor to the effect that persons acting on Boyer ’s instruction demolished the roof, while his [Gafoor’s] tenants were in possession. Boyer was quick to dismiss any suggestion that he was involved in the demolition of the roof. He confessed that the roof was indeed “ripped off”, but not by him, stating that it was removed by the Mayor and City Council and added that the building had in fact been condemned. Mr. McKay’s line of questioning was met with heavy objection from Mr. Kissoon who objected on the basis that the use and occupancy of the Property after 2005 was not relevant to issues at hand. Yesterday’s proceedings also saw Boyer denying being acquainted with the number of persons, whose names came up in matters relating to the disputed property, before he alleged becoming the owner. Boyer is expected to face additional questioning as the matter continues on May 22.
MMU says first report was “taken out of context” - Accuses media, public of using it for attacks
As the second report of the media monitoring unit (MMU) is released, the body has accused persons of taking its first report “out of context” and using it as a means of attacking competitors. In the general
observations at the end of the second report, Manager of the MMU Laverne Pinto opined that comments and general observations made in the initial report “rubbed some media houses the wrong way”. She said that in the estimation of others, the
violations cited by the MMU were being viewed as trivial. However, she maintained that the infractions were far from trivial. “The publishing of information that is deliberately inaccurate, (Continued on page 28)
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 27
Housing Ministry seeks votes for new homes Correspondence requesting votes, “support and commitment” to the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) are being sent out to new homeowners who would have signed up with government to purchase properties. But this campaign tactic is not sitting well with many persons who have expressed disgust at the government using homeownership as a means of soliciting votes in the upcoming May11 elections. The letter signed and sent by Housing Minister, Irfaan Ali, is being circulated by those who received it and according to them, the government has no right to seek their votes in this manner. They say that the use of state resources would have allowed for them to purchase their homes. “It was not a favour or a gift that was granted.” The current housing
Housing Minister Irfaan Ali programmes being offered by the Ministry include home purchases in the professional housing scheme, and those in the ‘Turn Key’ housing programme for high and low income earners, among others. While land purchases was at $58,000 in the early 90s and more than$90,000 by mid2000, the lowest of income earners today must pay up front, half a million dollars for
the land on which the house will be built. They must then go to the New Building Society (NBS) with which the Ministry has an agreement, and seek a loan to either build or pay for the finished house. The Minister told the new homeowners that “since the November 2011 General Elections, the government has distributed more than 15,000 new houses so that Guyanese can have their own homes. Without a doubt, the works of the PPP/C Government have had a significant impact in your life. For the first time in your life, you are the legal owner of a plot of land. Now you could achieve the dream of you and your family that is, owning your own home and not having to rent or beg lodging.” “Today, you have been able to achieve what maybe your parents could have only dreamed about — home ownership. This PPP/C
Govt. plans to build more co-generation plants at sugar estates As the May 11, 2015 election draws near, President Donald Ramotar has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the sugar industry’s advancement. He said that more co-generation plants will be built at the sugar factories, with at least two more being established in the Region Six, East Berbice area. “This will help the industry to earn more money and the bagasse will not go to waste any longer.” His message was conveyed to a gathering Tuesday evening at Canefield Settlement, East Canje, Berbice, where a community meeting was held, a Government statement said. Speaking of the sugar industry’s contribution, the Head of State said: “We have to modernise the traditional sectors of our economy and most important in that regard is the sugar industry.” According to Ramotar, it is important for the sugar industry to be modernised as it has played a tremendous role in Guyana’s history. “It has been responsible for all of us being here; we came here as either indentured labourers or as slaves to work in sugar, and sugar has been the grandfather of all the industries in Guyana, making contributions to the development of many other industries in Guyana.” Pointing to some of the contributions made by the sugar industry, the President pointed out that as a result of training received under Guyana Sugar Corporation
(Guysuco) many large companies have more skilled managers and engineers. Acknowledging the fact that the industry is experiencing a bad patch by no fault of its own, the Head of State said it is only fair that the government steps in to render the needed assistance. It was also pointed out that the industry is now suffering since there is much competition for labour in the mining and extractive sector as opposed to the past when competition was limited, “And therefore for the industry to survive, we have to restructure, and we have to use more mechanisms, machinery; we have to make it more machine-friendly in the fields, and we have to also modernise the factories.” Speaking of plans for the industry in the future, the President said during his visit to India earlier this year the Prime Minister of that country, Narendra Modi committed to giving assistance to the industry’s advancement. “He has promised to help us to modernise the factory and help us to work on some finances for the sugar industry itself, and that is how we are going to go to really change and restructure the industry, to try to make it, not just a producer of raw sugar, but try to make the industry a complex one with new revenue streams attached to the industry itself.” Plans are also in the pipeline to make the industry more flexible to upkeep with the changing price of sugar
on the world market. “...we are beginning now to look at new products; we are packaging more and more sugar to be exported to try to compensate for the low prices on the world market.” Further the expansion of ethanol production is being considered while discussions are also in train for the production of liquid sugar. He asked the gathering to weigh in their mind what is best for the country, as he pointed to the fact that there were several calls by members of the combined opposition to close the industry. President Ramotar added that the opposition’s nonsupport to the sugar industry was more evident over the past three years as they continued to vote against funding for it in the National Assembly. He added that not only did the opposition try to harm the sugar industry, but the country as a whole as they have over the last three years stood in the way of several other developmental projects which stood to benefit all Guyanese. The sugar industry has been facing severe problems in recent years, falling to two decades low with the last couple years. Its new US$200M Skeldon factory in Berbice has failed to perform, requiring the cane needed at other factories. Recently to raise cash, the Guyana Sugar Corporation sold off the co-generation plant at Skeldon to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. It is now thinking of building more.
Government has made your dream come through and your family can now live happily together.” He implored citizens to “give the PPP/C your full support as we seek to build a united and viable Guyana. We owe it to ourselves and the future generations. We owe this to our conscience. The PPP/C remains committed to you and your family. In return, I humbly request your support and commitment to the PPP/C.” Ali said, too, that despite the numerous challenges that the government faced during the last few years, the country keeps moving in the right direction. “Our economy has experienced nine consecutive years of positive growth averaging five percent per annum. The PPP/C government has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in key social sectors such as education, health, housing and water, roads, drainage and irrigation, and agriculture.
“Today, education continues to be more accessible to all students. We have been able to achieve universal primary education and we are very close to achieving universal secondary education. Over the last ten years, Guyanese students have won the highest awards given by the Caribbean Examinations Council. “For the last three years, Guyanese students have topped the CXC examinations. Today, an ever increasing number of students are accessing tertiary and university education. “The government continues to expand health services, making complicated tertiary health care available to more people. With more than 365 health care facilities across the country, almost every community in Guyana has access to health care services, and the government is working assiduously to expand the capacity of the
system to deliver specialist services and facilities.” He said that Guyana has made tremendous progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and was honoured to be amongst only 17 countries worldwide to receive special recognition by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation for the progress “we have made in reducing hunger and improving nutrition.” “But we must guard against any effort aimed at stymieing and delaying the development of our country. We must work together to ensure that the PPP/C returns to office with a majority in the National Assembly so that our dream for a prosperous and economically viable Guyana can be realised. In so doing, our children’s future can be secured so that our family’s welfare and the welfare of our beautiful country, Guyana, can be secured on this path of progress.”
Page 28
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
Corrective works start on Brazil fibre optic cable ...after deal reached with local contractor, consortium More than four months after Kaieteur News broke a story that the fibre optic cable from Brazil - intended to link Government entities and provide internet connections - is in trouble, a deal has been made for corrective work to be carried out. Government in a statement Tuesday said that rehabilitation of its fibre optic cable, from Lethem to Georgetown, has begun. “The Office of the President (OP) has stated that Dax Contracting Services started rehabilitation work on the cable on April 19, and has estimated about six months for its completion.” The E-Governance project is headed by Alexei Ramotar, son of President Donald Ramotar, and includes not only the fibre optic element but is part of a US$32M, three-component initiative to connect Government facilities along the Linden-Lethem road and the coastland, with internet access. The other two components included a cable from Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, through Georgetown to Moleson Creek, East Berbice, and a data centre with 54 towers that will create a wireless network. The data centre is completed and located in the compound of
Castellani House, Vlissengen Road. Contractors, because of the difficult terrain along the Linden-Lethem trail and technical issues with the integrity of the cable, ran into all sorts of problems with the cable from Brazil. More than $1B has been spent on the cable component already. Office of the President said that in September 2014 it received correspondence proposing the rehabilitation of the fibre optic cable component. “The proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlined ‘at no cost’ to offer the Government of Guyana to have the fibre optic cable rehabilitated. The cable was reportedly 20% damaged, and the cost of rehabilitation was acquired from technical sources and estimated at US $28M by one source.” OP said that in 2015, it approached Dax Contracting Services on its submission for its consideration of the MoU. It said that the entity represented a consortium and urged expedition with the negotiations of the MoU, and that OP discussed the content of the MoU with Dax Contracting Services as well as the fact that both parties agreed to further meetings,
The fibre optic cable being laid in 2013 along the Soesdyke/Linden highway.
Head of the E-Governance project, Alexei Ramotar including those to provide technical and legal advice. “Dax Contracting Services later met with the EGovernance project team to share information on the details of the original fibre optic cable construction, and also with the Attorney General’s Chambers to examine issues surrounding the consideration of the MoU,” it said. By March 2015, OP, Dax Contracting Services and EGovernance Project Head, Alexei Ramotar, met and finalised aspects of the MoU, with the contracting services and OP agreed on the details. OP said that it was agreed that there would be a 100% rehabilitation of the cable, according to international standards; maintenance would be provided for the life
of the contracted period; maintenance works would be shared; and that Dax Contracting Services would be provided with an agreed upon number of pairs of fibres in the cable, which has twelve pairs. The MoU was signed on March 18, 2015. Government had announced that the connection would eventually allow for - in addition to connectivity - a range of services such as “E-Health” allowing for video consultation, and movement of information to and from health centres. It was said that security will also benefit, as the project would allow quick transmission of information, including video and data among police stations. The project is also aimed at enabling the setting up of an “E-library” which would allow for access to textbooks and other teaching aids, via the
internet. The project had come in for scathing criticisms not only because it was being managed by the President’s son, but for the delays. The cable was identified as being crucial for the provision of internet services for the 90,000 laptops to poor families that Government intends to distribute in a special project. In January, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, said that Government initially had two options to correct the cable – do it themselves or partner with others. Government stopped short of saying that the fibre optic cable had collapsed. Rather, it described the project as being in a remedial stage. Luncheon said several persons have been hauled before the courts for lending to the poor state of the project. He had admitted that around 2011 and 2012, it was
recognized that significant failures had occurred in the cable-laying. Guyana is committed to paying a Brazil internet company around US$76,000 a year for connectivity. A Government source close to the project had informed Kaieteur News that there was continuous breakage to the cable along the way. There were criticisms that bad planning and poor implementation caused the problems. Physical works for the laying of cable began in April 2011, but poor weather conditions and the absence of appropriate equipment were cited for the slothfulness of contractors. By way of the EGovernance network, it was the plan that all major Government facilities in the coverage areas would be connected via fibre optic and/ or 4G wireless Cellular services.
MMU says first report was... (From page 14) unsubstantiated, racially inciting/divisive, and/or inflammatory, could never be passed off as a trivial aberrations,” Pinto said. She went on to emphasise that the unit monitors media content in keeping with its mandate and not personalities. “There isn’t a scintilla of interest on our part in relation to what politicians say or do on the hustings,” Pinto wrote. She continued, “Our concern and responsibility kicks-in when what is said or done on the campaign trail is disseminated through the media. Here is where we look to see whether media houses stay within the reporting and editorial guidelines, that they themselves pledged to uphold during this elections period.” According to Pinto, the unit observed that its first report was used as ammunition by sections of the print and broadcast media, “to launch salvos against their competitors”. Furthermore, she said, members of the public used
the report to launch attacks against politicians. “We wish to let it be known that it was never in the collective thoughts of members of staff of the Unit, that the Report would have been used the way it was to score political points, or to embarrass those seeking political office,” Pinto added. She continued, “We sincerely hope that from henceforth our reports are seen and taken as they are meant to, and that is, as periodic assessments of the performance of the media for conformity to the professional and ethical standards set forth in the MCC (Media Code of Conduct), in their coverage of elections-related issues.” The MMU was set up in late February to keep the media under surveillance in the lead up to the May 11 General and Regional Elections. The report is meant to highlight areas in the media’s dissemination of information that needed to be rectified during this elections period.
In its first report, the MMU urged reporters not to allow politics to trump their professionalism. The unit also roasted the Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Times for a number of inflammatory articles and editorials published in the newspapers. Furthermore, Former President Bharrat Jagdeo was called out for public comments he made which the MMU deemed racially divisive. Coming out of the MMU’s report was a criminal charge against Jagdeo for the statements he reportedly made. Since the MMU’s initial report, the unit has come under fire, particularly from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Following the first report, the PPP accused the MMU of bias and said that the position adopted by the MMU was unfair and a gross misinterpretation of what was actually said. Up to Wednesday, Jagdeo had indicated during a press conference that he “had no confidence in the MMU”.
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Coalition promises “Diaspora Department” to reach Guyanese abroad Foreign remittances play a major role in the Guyanese economy and for many households, that extra dollar keeps the family afloat. This fact was not missed by the political coalition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), when its senior executives addressed thousands of Guyanese in Canada over the weekend. During campaign activities in the North American country, the party disclosed the various contributions of Guyanese living abroad, which the economy is heavily dependent on. The Coalition has opted to create a “Department of Diaspora” to keep them tightly locked to the country. Presidential Candidate, Brigadier (Rtd.) David Granger said that the Canadian Diaspora is part of Guyana, and is much needed. “You all are the backbone,” he explained. “Every year Guyana depends on remittances of about $200M mainly from North America. We depend on your treasure and talents to help develop Guyana. We depend on your technology.” “Help us to build roads and bridges, help us to develop more digital technology and move us into the 21st century,” he urged the gathering that attended the campaign events held in Greater Toronto. “We will establish a department of Diaspora to bring the two sides together. Between April 2015 and the 50th anniversary celebrations, we will convene a conference of the Diaspora to tell us how the two sides can work together.” “We don’t have all of the answers,” Granger told the gathering, while requesting their assistance in “getting it right” once the Coalition gets into government. Granger’s running mate, Prime Ministerial candidate Moses Nagamootoo pumped up the attendees with the trending slogan, “Change is coming.” He told them, “back home we are fighting an uneven battle with a government that is totally corrupt and using state resources.” He said that Guyana has however taken on a new energy in support of a change of government. “That is what has kept us going; the fact that a new movement has started, cutting across race, religion and the cultural divide.” “I stand here as the PM candidate for elections on May 11 that would be won by this Coalition; that we shall make Guyana safe for your
Prime Ministerial Candidate Moses Nagamootoo
Presidential Candidate David Granger
return and that we would take care of problems back home with a team that has been wellput together, a broad based team with knowledgeable people.” He told the Diaspora that the party needs their finances to energize their campaign and help fight the negatives to the very last. He urged those gathered that the next time the PPP sends a delegation to Canada; they should ask them about crime. “Ask them why Guyana has become the suicide capital of the Western hemisphere; about banditry, gun running and coke smuggling. They care about self-enrichment and creating an oligarchy that is running Guyana into the ground. Guns are coming across the border from Brazil.” It was emphasised that the coalition wants to make Guyana a safe place for persons in the Diaspora to come back to. “We should not be running away from Guyana, but should be inviting people to come to Guyana. We are committed to bringing national unity back to Guyana. If you can do again in 2015 what you did in 2011, we will win. We believe in a government of national unity.” “Do not be afraid of the
coalition and effigies. Italy, Belgium, Germany, Israel have coalition governments. There is nothing to fear about coalition governments. This is not an idle boast. We are the people to make it happen. We have seen 23 years of PPP governance and they did not make it happen.” “We are behind Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, because we have been fighting each other for the past 50 years. The lights have changed from red to green and gold. The parliament has not met for nine months. Do you think this could happen in Canada?” “We are going to ensure that you are proud of Guyana. Through this department of the Diaspora we will make it easier for you to come back and participate. I want us to have a big birthday party next year when we are 50. I want you to be proud of your country. The PPP is exhausted. Contact your relatives back home and tell them what happened today if you want change. The PPP can no longer bring about change.” The APNU+AFC Coalition, according to persons who followed the party to Canada, was able to raise some US$50,000 in four hours.
Second MMU report... (From page 13) Government’s negative coverage was nearly double the same coverage calculated for APNU+AFC, while the PPP/C’s negative coverage was 8 times the Government’s share and 15 times the APNU+AFC’s.” In the General News section, all three entities gained large amounts of positive publicity, with the APNU+AFC gaining the most, followed by the PPP/C, then the Government. The APNU+AFC’s positive coverage was double that of the PPP/C, and triple that of the Government. On the negative side, the Government, the PPP/C, and APNU+AFC, all gained large dosages of negative publicity, with the PPP/ C taking in the most, followed by the Government, then APNU+AFC, in that order. Comparatively, the PPP/C’s negative coverage was three times the APNU+AFC’s. Altogether, the Government and the PPP/C were the recipients of varying levels of net negative publicity, while the APNU+AFC gained net positive coverage.
Page 29
Gas prices almost back to early January levels
Prices at the Rubis Service Station, Providence, yesterday. Three months after Government slashed gas prices by 30 percent, they are back up again. As a matter of fact, prices at Rubis indicated a $20 difference from the early January high levels before the reductions implemented by Government had kicked in. But there is no evident reason for the big jump as oil prices remained below US$60 per barrel yesterday on the world market. Nasdaq was trading crude oil at US$57.74 per barrel. At Rubis, Providence on East Bank Demerara, prices for gas was $207 per litre while diesel was $176. At the state-controlled Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil), their service stations were selling for $179.30 for gas while diesel was $174.70. Since January, prices have been hovering between US$55 and US$47 per barrel on the world market. In January as pressure mounted on Government to reduce prices at GuyOil, the Ministry of Finance announced that gasoline and diesel would be reduced at the pump by 30 percent.
GuyOil’s price moved from $995 per gallon to $695 per gallon, a $300 reduction. Diesel prices declined from $985 per gallon to $694 per gallon another 30 percent, while kerosene was reduced from $850 per gallon to $496 per gallon which represented a 42 percent drop. This meant that GuyOil was selling for less than $160 per litre of gas. In early March, prices had started to rise at the independently controlled Sol and Rubis. Sol Service Station had its prices for gasoline set at $185 per litre, $176 per litre for Diesel and $172 per litre for kerosene, an increase from January, when the prices for gasoline had dropped from $219.90 to $154.90 for gasoline, $217 to $156.90 for diesel and kerosene had plummeted from $212 to $172 per litre. Oil on the world market fell by almost 50% last year and further slumped to a new six-year low in late January. Government said that it has in place a well-functioning mechanism for adjusting excise taxes charged on fuel products. This, he claimed, is
to protect the consumer in the event of hiking fuel prices. He said that under this mechanism, the tax rate is adjusted to an inverse relation to the movement in the world market price of crude oil. This means that the excise tax rate is adjusted downwards by the government when world market prices are moving upwards, and excise tax rates are adjusted upwards when world market prices are moving downwards. Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh had said that the mechanism has been very effective over the years to cushion the price impact of imported fuel on domestic users. He said that “between December 2008 and March 2012, the world market price for crude oil increased by 184 percent, while price for a gallon of gasoline in Guyana only increased by 77 percent”. Local prices, Government has said, have been determined by factors such as the cost, insurance and freight (CIF); by the world market price for refined fuel products, which in turn is termed by world market price for crude oil.
Page 30
VACANCY The #1 Plant Shop expanding: Need hardworking, literate, punctual workers, between age 18-28- Tel: 648-1821 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl, office assistant & handyman- Call: 695-9880; 669-4755 1 Manager for a Hotel/Club @ Essequibo Coast, experienced in hotel industry, attractive salary & Accommodation – Contact: 226-9768; 642-7963 Cashier & office assistant @ Shell Service Station Providenc e E . B . D s h i f t work – (6am-3pm & 3pm-12pm) - email: shellramsburg@gmail.com. International Cruiselines, receptionists, cooks, waitresses, carpenters, cleaners, storekeepers, electricians, welders Contact Professional Recruitment Agency - 2316296, 650-9880 One responsible couple to live/work as caretakers at private resort in Present Hope Parika. Tel:231-0363. Mon-Fri 9-4pm Experienced handyman and female shop/bar workers for Ekereku. Tel:231-0363. MonFri 9-4pm
Kaieteur News
WANTED Senior Accounts Clerk, 5yrs experienced, CAT or equivalent. Email: snow198390@hotmail.com Business/Economics Writer, email application to snow198390@hotmail.com
One Graphic Designer, To Work Full-time- Call 269 1273/269 -0044
2 Male, 3 female general workers @ Land Of Canaan E.B.D & G/Town - Tel: 225-6337 Two Cleaner - Age 16-18yrs. Referable from Eccles to Diamond - Tel # 600-5253 Office clerk: CXC English, mathematics. Live in, live out babysitter/domestic- Call: 219-5354 Urgently needed attractive waitress -Tel: 693-4154 1 male cook for interior $100,000 monthly - Tel: 6942310 1 Day time security guard, 60yrs & older, who don’t drink & smoke, preferably from G/Town - Call: 623-3231; 225-3198
Room attendants, security guards, handyman- Tel:2250198 or visit 233 South road, Lacytown Salesgirls apply at D.Singh & Sons 95 King streetCall:226-1316
GIRL WITH EXPERIENCE IN COMPUTER. BE ABLE TO KEEPACCOUNT, DEAL WITH CLIENTS & BE FAST- CALL: 231-8529
Security officers, excavator/ skid steer operator, kitchen assistant, waiter & waitresses- Call: 603-4094 Live in house keeper 3550yrs, long term employment, to take care of infant-Tel: 697-8797 SECURITY GUARDS FOR LAND OF CANAAN BUSINESS, POLICE CLEARANCE REQUIRED. PART TIME WELDER/ FABRICATOR. 266 4427 Driver for water truck –Tel: 680-3863
SALON
LEARN TO DRIVE
FOR SALE
DOLLY’S CAR RENTALCALL: 225-7126/226-3693 DOLLYSAUTORENTAL@ YA H O O . C O M / W W W. DOLLYSAUTORENTAL.COM
Make Up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, Black Opal and Sacha cosmetics. Call: 647-1773/660-5257
Shalom Enterprise @ Lot 2 Croal Street, enquire about an international drivers permit “join us on facebook” Tel: 622-8162; 227-3869
LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
PROGRESSIVE AUTO RENTAL:CARS&SUV FOR RENTAL- $4,000 & UP PER DAY- CALL: 643-5122, 2193900, EMAIL: PRO_AUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM Aidan’s Car & Pickup rental, cheap rate, low security – Tel: 698-7807
LEARN TO DRIVE Soman Son & Outar Driving School at Maraj BuildingTel: 644-5166; 622-2872; 6150964; 689-5997
Live in waitress to work in bar –Tel: 604-6606
Plumbers needed for a construction site, Class A, Class B and Plumbing apprentices-Call:592- 6172960
Male supervisor for housekeeping dept.Tel:225-0198 or visit 233 South road, Lacytown
CAR RENTAL
Live in waitress age 20 & older with Secondary Education @ Diamond Gate Liquior Restaurant, Lot 18-19 Belmont Mahaica - Tel: 228-5013 1 OFFICE ASSISTANT: Must have motorcycle, car/ van license, able to work flexible hours, from E.B.D. Email: snow198390@hotmail.com
SALESMAN FOR FOOD COMPANY, MUST GO TO DIFFERENT PARTS OF GUYANA IN CANTERS TO HELP LOAD & UNLOADCALL: 231-8529 SALESMAN FOR A HARDWARE STORE MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE IN SALES & WITH CLIENTS. AGES 30-40YRS - CALL: 231-8529 Urgently needed land to buy in Parfaite Harmonie, SchoonOrd, Eccles & Herstelling -Tel: 675-7292; 611-7223 Top soil from Mahaica Area, please Call: 219-0468 Porters to work in Grocery Stall, experienced is an asset @ Stabroek Market. Tel: 683-9500
Friday April 24, 2015
DRESSMAKING Learn to cut & sew at Enid Dressmaking, certificate classes @ Lot 66, 6th Street Alberttown –Contact: 2239106 or 643-7966 TOURS Suriname tour return May 1st -5th, sightseeing of dolphins; shopping - Tel: 639-2663; 644-0185; 665-5171
WANTED 1 Inventory clerk, apply @ Technical Services Inc, 18-23 Eccles Industrial Site, EBD. 1 Shop assistant to work in the interior and 1 live I maid Tel: 691-6260 1 maid to cook & clean @ East Bank area –Tel:614-4358 Live- in waitress $60,000 monthly. Live- in domestic $70,000 monthly (must know to cook)- Call:610-3974 Male & female shop assistant to work in the interior salary $80,000 monthly, age 25-35 Call: 664-5199 1 Live in domestic salary $60,000 monthly –Call: 6885409 or 674-1767 One Accounts supervisor: must have solid experienced and relevant qualifications. Send applications & CV to rtilak@adamantiumholdings.com
Great Deals on video games and all gaming consoles – Call: 672-2566; 265-3232
VEHICLE FOR SALE
Cummings complete genset generator 4CYL 30KVA, 2011 Ducati 1198’s superbike, pearl white, CH series original –Tel: 684-2838
Toyota Prado, Price$4.7M Neg. Call: 643-2403
Male Enhancement - Tel: 638-1627
We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses; Extra Cab pickups; 2006 Tacoma- Call: 680-3154
1 Mini marine tanker capacity 11,500 Gallons – Tel:227-1744 or 657-9237 Hymac, 200KVA CAT generators, portable, hours 07115, G3 John boat 14Ft, 25HP 4 Stroke Yamaha, 399 Massey Ferguson tractor Tel: 601-1138
FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Vacant land space at Supply East Bank Demerara –Tel: 227-1744 or 657-9237 GT TOOL RENTALS: COMPACTOR; CHIPPING HAMMER RANSOM & FLOOR SANDER, , JACK HAMMER, CONCRETE SAW & MORE - CALL: 675-0767, 627-5098 Apartments to rent @ 70 Bent Street Wortmanville $3,500 & $4,000 per day – Contact: 226-3309; 674-5760; 648-7154 & (218-1033 Saturday & Sunday only) Eccles 2 bedroom apartment for rent -$60,000 –Call: 6979031 between 1pm -3pm Large space for supermarket and living quarters @ Lot 22 Public Road Covent Garden E.B.D-Tel:682-7490; 685-9284
Toyota Voxy to be registered in “B” series - $2.1M & ‘G’ series - $1.7M - Tel: 617-2891 AT192, 212, Allion, unregistered Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN, RZ & Pit-bull, 7 seater super custom, Cash / terms- Call: 680-3154 Mercedes –Benz C200 Kompressor, left hand driver, automatic, 2005 model, low mileage, excellent condition, negotiable - Call: 624-5130 1 L-Touring Wagon, flair kit, remote start- $1.450,000, 1 Honda CRV, $1.850, 000, 1 AT192 - $850, 000. All in good condition, price negotiable –Tel: 626-2884 One Honda Civic 1500cc ESI, excellent condition, lady driven –Tel: 223-0849
Grove housing Scheme: Three bedrooms top flat with garage, price $50,000. Phone: 680-6399; 692-2072
One Toyota Cami PLL Series$1.3M negotiable. Call: 679-3410
One (three) bedrooms flat concrete building, located @ 19 Street Diamond, preferably couples only. Tel: 233-2805
One Toyota Premio & Toyota Spacio, excellent condition, owner migrating Tel# 6182576 or 678-0109
One bedroom apartment 25ftX22Ft preferably working couple or single person - Call: 638-8858
One Toyota VIOS (Black) model – PMM series, price negotiable – Tel: 688-0868
1- 95X50 business place for rent located at Mon Repos Public Road E.C.D -Tel: 6276789; 656-0602 Two Storey house to rent at First Bridge Grove E.B.D. Tel: 698-1134 One 2 bedrooms apartment @ 35 Howes Street- Contact Pet Boy Shop, between the hours 11am-6pm - $45,000 monthly. One small house for rent @ Ruimzeight W.C.D - Tel: 6393099 2 Bedroom top flat; fully grilled, central area C/Ville, fully furnished, short or long term-Tel: 227-8451; 6247794; 622-8109 Furnished two bedrooms apartment with AC available for long/short term rentalCall:665-2548
3 Storey building 12 offices upper flat, established business @ 220 South Road. Contact: 601-3369; 218-2029 10 Acres Roadside land at Kuru Kuru for resort/ business- Contact: 6013369; 218-2029; 227-1042 1- 318 BMW and register, cash 3.2 M, down payment 1.2 M- Contact # 616-0429 Pure bred German shepherd pups –Tel: 220-2277; 2208904; 629-1471 Madza Axela bumper for sale - Tel: 691-5485 HIGH QUALITY ROUGH OR DRESSED LUMBER AVAILABLE AT REDUCED PRICES. FREE DELIVERYCALL: 600-1212 FOR DETAILS Just arrived!! 18" Brush cutter blades wholesale & retail quantities - Call: 6148564/ 639-3675
1 RZ super custom 14 Seater mini bus, BSS series, fully A/ C, excellent condition, price -$2M neg. Contact: 2236059; 654-4219; 645-3619
Quantum magnetic analyzer, body scanning machine and foot spa detox machine for sales Tel: 692-7886; 649-7884 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, motors, etc Call: 225-9032, 647-2943
Toyota Raum new model, excellent condition -$1.2M negotiable - Contact Liz: 6857728
AMERICAN BULLY PUPS GOTTILINE REMYLINE CALL: 220-7933; 6674845; 610-0068
Toyota Fun Cargo, PMM series, 1300cc, HID lights, AC -$1.1M –Tel: 677-9544
House and land @ Diamond Housing Scheme E.B.D – Call: 687-9107
Toyota Rush, PSS Series, fairly new- $2.7M negotiableContact Max: 680-7568
XBOX 360 250GB with games, Nintendo 64 with: trilogy, golden eye, Mario karts and 3 original controllers, cheap- Call: 6838386
One fielder 2006 model $2.2M negotiable - Tel: 689-5103
Madza Axela, PNN Series, price $1.650M negotiable – Contact:610-4663 Toyota AT212, AT192, Runx, Fielder wagon, 4 Runner, Tundra, Premio, RZ, Nissan Bluebird & Cargo small bus. Tel:644-5096; 697-1453
Pure bred Rottweiler pups, 6 weeks old, vaccinated & de-wormed, male & femaleTel:627-1360 Continued on page 31
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 31
Letters... Where your views make the news
We need a constitution that removes absolute power from the President DEAR EDITOR, The election campaign is on nation - wide: Berbice, North West, Rupununi, and for the PPP/C it seems that fear is the key. The PNC (Burnham/ Granger) is the spectre of fear, violence, impending famine and disasters of dimensions unimaginable should the coalition win in
May. ISIS is doing similar work for its cause but on a g r a n d e r, g r o t e s q u e a n d global scale: using fear and the awesome power of visual violence to garner support. Controlled media: thanks to the former President and his cohorts, is doing wonders for the ruling party. Plutarch said: “no beast is
more savage than man when he is possessed of power equal to his passion.” Burnham’s constitution was such a wonderful instrument, it released a beast on us, who after two terms now wants an encore. We need a constitution that removes absolute power from the President, and has due regard for the opposition
(minority). There needs to be an overhaul. The Opposition should have been in Government, not the minority, lording it over us. Again, thanks to Burnham. Away with that constitution, away with three Vice-Presidents. APNU+AFC, the ball is in your court come May,12th. Michael James
There is a God who will protect people like Shirlina... From page 4 to their knees and prayed with sincerity, solutions always come out of the thin air. I have seen my grandmother do it, I have seen my mother do it and on every occasion they waded on to firmer and more secured grounds. This is not a mystery, there is a God who will protect people like Shirlina Nageer and who will crush the demons like who will want to strip her naked. I want every Guyanese woman to think carefully on this issue. The PPP thinks it
has a transport over you and your daughters. If we make that dastardly mistake of voting for these political charlatans in the PPP again and they win, we shall be condemned to even worst acts of oppression than what Ms. Nageer faced at the hand of Bheri Ramsarran. The PPP is an old boy’s club of a few bigoted men, widow dressed with a sprinkling of women and AfroGuyanese here and there. I would also take this opportunity to take to task the custodians of the Hindu cul-
ture on the PPP list of candidates. I particularly single out my Hindu sister Ms. Vindhya Vasini Persaud, daughter of the iconic Hindu leader Reepu Demand Persaud, Indra Chanderpaul, wife of a gentleman politician – Navin Chanderpaul and the first lady of Guyana for a few more days, Ms. Deolatchmie Ramotar. Even when there is a whisker of religious blasphemy, they hit roads agitating, however, when a woman is threatened with very un-Hindu actions by their communist colleagues on the PPP list; they
remain mute spectators. What a Guyana? This must end. It is now over 72 hours after the act and to date the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha which Ms. Persaud heads has lost its voice on this most evil and un-Hindu of acts. Where are the voices of the Pandits of Guyana? The Jagmohans; the Sharmas; the Persauds and the Tiwaris. Why this indifference towards this demonic act from a serving Minister of Health in a country that produced a woman President? Sase Singh
Is Jagdeo saying former national... From page 5 levels, as well as a former Police Commissioner, have either gotten involved in or come out in support of the Opposition alliance in the fight for power on May 11. In addition, the Chief Elections Officer is also a former soldier, unlike his controversial predecessor, Mr. Gocool Boodhoo, who is now a hired consultant in the Local Government Ministry. But if Mr. Jagdeo is targeting these former soldiers for becoming involved in politics, what does he say of former army and police top brasses who worked or still work for the PPP regime? Retired army Major General Joe Singh, is an adviser to the President with an office in the Presidential Complex; retired Major General, Michael Atherley is chair of the Civil Defence Commission in the Ministry of Home Affairs; cashiered Lieutenant, Ronald
Gajraj, former Home Affairs Minister and now High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh; retired Brigadier General Bruce Lovell is Military Attache to Guyana’s Consulate to Brazil, and retired police commissioner, Floyd McDonald, is a consultant with the Home Affairs Ministry. Besides those, former police commissioners, Laurie Lewis and Henry Greene also worked with, the PPP regime, while one current army lieutenant involved in intelligence gathering and a retired assistant police commissioner are suspected as being ‘actively associated’ with the PPP regime. Is Mr. Jagdeo saying former national security officers and officials must deal only with the PPP and its regime? Now, as far as I am aware, apart from the current Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Mark Phillips, who said former and current soldiers have a right to become involved in politics
while urging his underlings not to use army bases to engage in partisan politics and not to be influenced on how to vote, no other army officer on the active payroll has uttered a word for or against any political party, so what is the basis of Mr. Jagdeo’s sudden claim of mistrust of the current army? He did say, mere days ago, that if the Opposition won May 11, the military would be used to kick down doors and attack people, which was a strange way to describe soldiers as criminals-in-waiting. He followed that up by implying the army deliberately refused to do more to avoid the Lusignan and Bartica massacres and trying to pit two retired army chiefs-of-staff, Rear Admiral Gary Best against Brigadier-General Edward Collins, against each other by claiming Mr. Collins told Mr. Jagdeo bad things about Mr. Best so Mr. Best would not
succeed Mr. Collins. While this truly is typical of Mr. Jagdeo’s juvenile way of thinking of talking, it is no excuse for trying to drag the military into the political arena where the seat of government is the prize. I wish to close by appealing to all Guyanese, from politicians to ex and current army and police officers to ordinary citizens, not to allow Mr. Jagdeo’s poisoned rhetoric, which is a manifestation of desperation born out of fear of what may happen to him after May 11, to influence them to do anything that would aid and abet the protection of his political and personal gains. This man is deserving of both a Commission of Inquiry and a thorough national and international forensic audit for what happened while in office after he left office. Emile Mervin
Instead of healing, unity and... From page 4 PPP are preaching race hate, fear, bitterness and division. There are other signs that the PPP’s campaign which is based on fear and race hate, has allies. Mayor Hamilton Green has exposed the actions of a handful of “persons of African descent (who are) threatening our brothers and sisters of Indian ancestry.” The Mayor says his investigations reveal that these persons are working for the PPP/C (KN. April 21,
2015). Popular columnist Freddie Kissoon too has recently exposed this phenomenon and provided specific examples. Social activist Mark Jacobs has done the same on his blog <markjacobs.co>. Editor, it is clear to me that an increasingly desperate PPP led by former President BharratJagdeo (a man who does not have a chick or a child) have mounted a tiger and seem very comfortable and prepared to rule over a
wasteland. APNU+AFC, however, have grasped the mettle of racial division and are desirous of turning away from this road to perdition. We invite Guyanese both at home and abroad to reject the poison the PPP are now offering and to focus on our collective future which lies in racial harmony and unity. As IshwarPrashad’s letter implored: “Diversity is strength if properly handled.” Ronald Bulkan APNU+AFC coalition
EDUCATIONAL Earn a Diploma in Computers: 9 Courses, Windows 7/8, and office 2013 @ MicroGraphics Vreed-En-Hoop - Tel: 2643057 Computer Classes For 2015, Common-Entrance students, 9 courses, $30,000 @ MicroGraphics - Vreed-EnHoop Tel : 264-3057
(From page 30)
TO LET Spacious upper flat three bedrooms with one master, at Fist Bridge Grove, New Housing Scheme – Call: 6420550 3-Bedroom unfurnished bottom flat in Sa Silva Street, parking for 2 cars, overhead tank, fully grilled, price $80,000- Call:616-0537 One upstairs 3 bedroom house; semi furnished, situated at Diamond Housing Scheme –Contact: 697-2456 Rooms in Alberttown - Tel: 698-7807
SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY,ETC.–CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 2161043; 677-6620 Advertisements; Guyana Passport & Visa Forms Application, USA, Canada and England. Tel: 626-7040; 265-4535. Repairs & spare, fridge, freezer, A/C, washers, stoves. Contact Nick: 6831312, 627-3206 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building visadocumentsgy@yahoo.com Call : 225-6496, 662-6045
PROPERTY FOR SALE Transported Property @ Grove/Diamond, 3 bedrooms, 1 self-contained, concrete fence, grilled store room & Shed, (45X26) – Call: 660-1353,216-4338 Two properties located at Lot 10 Camp Street- Contact Andrew:611-9297 Transported 3 bedrooms property at Good Hope E.C.D-Tel: 621-1722 Newly built transported 2 storey (6 bedrooms) fully concrete building in Tuschen New Scheme -$20M negotiable - Tel: 680-7119; 627-6305
Accounting & Taxation Services: tax returns, compliances, financial statements. Avinash Persaud Tax Consultancy, 163 Parika, EBE - Call: 260-4762. Your Dream Yard Today! Stunning designs, Assortment, colourful plant choices, Professional Landscapers Tel: 219-0468/ 648-1821 Balloon decorating for birthdays, weddings, anniversary etc, make your event extra special! Tel Maya: 642-6664 Eagle’s fridge re-gas $8,000 & washing machine repairs. Phone: 697-2969, 646-0966 REPAIRS AT LOW COST: FRIDGES, AIRCONDITIONERS, WASHING MACHINES, TVS, MICROWAVES, FREEZERS - CALL: 6294946 OR 225-4822
LAND FOR SALE Parfait Harmonie -$1.3M (80ftX50ft), Fort Ordinance $1.2M Berbice, Tuschen $1.6M –Tel: 675-7292; 6893339 50 Acres titled farm land @ The Belle, Upper Dem, River Front -reasonable offer accepted, serious enquiries only! Tel: 669-8152 5 Star gated community with pool, mall, well, solar powered, get your land/ house - Tel: 609-0783 EDUCATIONAL Special after school classes for nursery students: phonics, reading, special etc for all ages, limited spaces – Tel: 675-4379
Mahadeo Construction for all construction, carpentry, masonry, pluming, painting etc. Free estimates and plan Contact # 669-7376 Fazil Ali Constructionbuilding, repairs & construction needs: plumbing, carpentry, painting, trowel tex, electrical, mason etc.Call: 677-0465/ 275-0844
MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Massage done by Tiffany & Kandi – Call:657-5979 Relaxing massage servicesCall: 674-8147
Page 32
Kaieteur News
Minnesota declares state of emergency over bird flu in poultry CHICAGO (Reuters) Minnesota declared a state of emergency on Thursday over a fast-spreading strain of avian flu that has led to the extermination of more than 7.3 million birds in the country. It followed Wisconsin’s action on Monday. The highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of bird flu has been identified on 46 Minnesota farms in 16 counties and affected more than 2.6 million birds in the state. State health officials said they were expediting prescriptions for the antiviral drug Tamiflu for farm workers and others who have been in direct contact with infected flocks. No human infections have been reported in this outbreak. “There’s no reason for anybody in the state of Minnesota to be concerned about their own health,” Governor Mark Dayton said at a press conference on Thursday after declaring the state of emergency. Federal and local public health authorities have said the risk of human infection is low. The state’s action to provide antiviral drugs follows recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Minnesota’s health department approached 140 farm workers and others who had been in direct contact
with infected birds and advised 87 of them to take the Roche antiviral medication as a preventative measure, the department’s spokesman Michael Schommer said. Seventy of them took the drug, he said. Of the 62 people that state health officials have followed up with so far, none have been infected by the virus, Schommer said. VIRUS SPREADS QUICKLY The virus can kill nearly an entire infected flock within 48 hours. Millions of turkeys and chickens are in quarantine waiting to be culled and large flocks have already been destroyed. Officials have said they believe wild birds are spreading the virus but they do not know how it is entering barns. Two bird flu strains have been discovered in the United States this year. The H5N2 strain is in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. It has also been identified on farms in Ontario, Canada. The H5N8 strain has been identified in California and also in Idaho, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed. Iowa, the top U.S. eggproducing state, said on Monday that a lethal strain of bird flu had been found in hens at an egg-laying facility near the city of Harris run by Sunrise Farms, an affiliate of Sonstegard Foods Company. The company said the facility houses 3.8 million hens.
“ We w e n t t o g r e a t lengths to prevent our birds from contracting AI (avian influenza), but despite best efforts we now confirm many of our birds are testing positive,” Sonstegard said. Hormel Foods Corp, based in Minnesota, said this week that the virulent strain of avian influenza may drag its fiscal 2015 earnings toward the lower end of forecasts. The virus has been identified at a facility west of Minneapolis that is owned by a subsidiary of Hormel. Minnesota is the largest turkey-producing state in the country. ACTIONS BEING TAKEN Minnesota’s Dayton said he had authorized the National Guard to be called up for duty if needed. In Wisconsin on Monday, Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency after three poultry flocks became infected in the past week, his office said. A state spokeswoman said guardsmen would disinfect trucks exiting infected facilities. In Minnesota, researchers are investigating the virus’ spread, testing animal feed and conducting experiments to see if the virus is being carried onto farms by windborne dirt, dust or feathers, state officials said on Thursday. The CDC said on Wednesday that H5N2 is genetically different from the H5N1 bird flu virus that has spread from birds to humans in the past. On Tuesday, Mexico, the biggest buyer of U.S. chicken, halted imports of live birds and eggs from Iowa.
Friday April 24, 2015
U.S. strike inadvertently killed U.S., Italian hostages; Obama apologizes (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike in January targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border inadvertently killed an American and an Italian who had been held hostage for years by the group, U.S. officials said on Thursday. President Barack Obama apologized and took “full responsibility” for all counterterrorism operations, including this one. The deaths were a setback for the long-running U.S. drone strike program that has targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and has often drawn criticism in those countries and from civil liberties groups in the United States. Killed in the January drone strike were aid workers Warren Weinstein, an American held by al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian who went missing in Pakistan in 2012, as well as Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, U.S. officials said. Adam Gadahn, an American al Qaeda member who was charged with treason in the United States, was also killed in a separate strike on another al Qaeda camp five days later, the officials said. Obama said he had ordered a full review of the matter to ensure such mistakes are not repeated. “I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families,” Obama told reporters at the White House. Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and other lawmakers
American hostage Warren Weinstein called such a review appropriate but steered clear of criticizing the drone program. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican who is often a fierce critic of the Democratic president, said Gadahn and Farouq “got what they deserved.” U.S. officials said the drone strikes occurred inside Pakistan in the conflict-torn border region near Afghanistan. One official said the CIA had observed the compounds over some time but had no idea hostages were present. Use of unmanned drones, which enable the United States to carry out counterterrorism operations without putting U.S. personnel directly in harm’s way, has prompted criticism because of the deaths of civilians and because on occasion they have involved killing Americans abroad without judicial process. The American Civil Liberties Union said the government should better follow its
own standards before launching drone strikes. “In each of the operations acknowledged today, the U.S. quite literally didn’t know who it was killing,” said Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director. Lo Porto’s mother told reporters in Palermo, Sicily: “I don’t want to talk, leave me alone in my grief.” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, speaking in Brussels, said, “I have much appreciated the transparency of the United States in taking their responsibilities for what happened and the way Obama communicated what happened.” U.S. TREATMENT OF HOSTAGES Weinstein’s wife, Elaine, said her family was devastated by his death. She criticized the U.S. government for “inconsistent and disappointing” assistance during her husband’s years in captivity. Obama said he spoke with her on Wednesday. Like some other American families whose relatives have been killed over the past year after being held hostage by militants in the Middle East, Elaine Weinstein called for a better U.S. government policy for relaying information to hostages’ families. “We hope that my husband’s death and the others who have faced similar tragedies in recent months will finally prompt the U.S. Government to take its responsibilities seriously and establish a coordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families,” she said in a statement.
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Panama supreme court judge, under fire for corruption, threatens to expose other justices PANAMA CITY, Panama — Magistrate Judge Victor Benavides, under criminal investigation after his former security chief stated, in a video and sworn statement, that his ex-boss took bribe money to fix Supreme Court cases, and also engaged in pedophilia, has responded by threatening exposure of Panama’s widespread corruption. Benavides telephoned all the other members of the Supreme Court of Justice, as well as several prominent members of the National Assembly, Panama’s parliament. He threatened to expose: (1) Rampant corruption among the Supreme Court justices. (2) The identities of judges and Assembly members who kept mistresses, and
their names. (3) The names of government officials who engaged in acts of sexual depravity and deviance. (4) Those who received bribes and kickbacks in Panamanian government agencies, and the courts. Whether Benavides’ threats will have an effect upon his possible criminal prosecution is not known, but Panamanians are said to be sick of the corrupt system that operates government and the courts in Panama, and they may demand that this information be aired. Kenneth Rijock is a banking lawyer turned-career money launderer (10 years), turned-compliance officer specialising in enhanced due diligence, and a financial crime consultant who pub-
Victor Benavides lishes a Financial Crime Blog. The Laundry Man, his autobiography, was published in the UK on 5 July 2012. (Caribbean News)
Petrobras corruption costs hit $2bn Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petrobras has taken a $2bn (£1.3bn) charge for costs related to corruption. The company has published accounts for last year showing an overall loss of $7.2bn. The company’s results also included an impairment charge of $14.8bn reflecting the decreased value of its assets. Petrobras has been embroiled in a massive corruption scandal in which it is alleged that bribes were paid for lucrative contracts with the firm. The scandal has hurt Petrobras and damaged President Dilma Rousseff’s government. In March hundreds of thousands of Brazilians protested against President Rousseff, who chaired the board of Petrobras for much of the period when the alleged bribes happened. However, the president denies involvement and has been exonerated by an investigation by the attorney general. More than 40 top politicians - including the presidents of both houses of Congress - are still under investigation, and the treasurer of the country’s ruling party has been arrested. Earlier on Thursday a judge convicted a former Petrobras executive of money laundering and racketeering for his role in the case, that involved bribes and illegal donations to political parties. Paulo Roberto Costa, who was head of refining and supply, will serve part of his sen-
Former Petrobras supply director Paulo Roberto Costa (left) has been convicted tence under house arrest. He can still appeal. Daniel Gallas, South America business correspondent Petrobras was supposed to be Brazil’s “lottery ticket” as it is sitting on top of one of the world’s most valuable oil reserves. But today it announced losses of $7bn for 2014 - its first loss in decades. That number is based on witness statements to the police that 3% of each major contract between 2004 and 2012 was paid in kickbacks to politicians and executives. Wednesday’s announcement was highly anticipated in Brazil and in the markets, because previous figures were discredited. Petrobras executives - all recently appointed to replace people involved in the scandal - hope this will draw a line, and that the company may finally start to move on. Back in November Petrobras’s auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) declined to certify the company’s accounts saying that the corruption scandal made it hard to value the firm’s assets. Since then PwC has been able to calculate the impact of corruption and also identified other costs including those related to missed production targets and the lower price of crude oil. Publishing the results “is a fundamental step toward fully salvaging the company’s credibility,” said Aldemir Bendine, the firm’s new chief executive. But analysts say that the company will have to work hard to regain the trust of the financial markets. “Petrobras’s problem isn’t about oil or finance, it’s about trust. The first thing the company needs to do is recover its credibility, because today the market doesn’t believe it,” said Daniel Marques, chief analyst at consulting firm Gradual Investimentos. (BBC News)
Page 33
Page 34
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
Pacquiao’s Olympic dream dashed Wu Ching-Kuo, president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said the Filipino, who takes on Floyd Mayweather on May 2 in a record-breaking welterweight title fight, has been in too many professional fights. ”He (Pacquiao) always dreamed of going to the Olympics, but now he can’t because he did more than 20 professional fights,” Wu told AFP on the sidelines of the SportAccord convention in
Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao (right) battle. (AFP Photo/David Becker)
Sochi, Russia. The AIBA has raised the age limit for Olympic fighters from 34 to 40, which would let in Pacquiao who is now 36. It is also letting professional boxers who join the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) contest try to win qualification for the Olympics. Rio will be the first time professional boxers will take part at the Olympics. But only fighters who have been in fewer than than 20 professional bouts can join
the APB. Pacquiao was in the Philippine national amateur team for two years in the 1990s but turned professional at the age of 16. Mayweather, 38, took part in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he was beaten in a controversial decision ruling to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov in the semi-final. That was the last time Mayweather was beaten in the ring.
Mayweather, Pacquiao bout Sochi, Russia (AFP) - Superstar Manny Pacquiao’s wanted to fight at the Rio
Games next year but does not qualify to be among the first professionals to compete at
an Olympics, the head of boxing’s governing body said.
Friday April 24th 2015 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Being married to someone for many years takes work, Aries. No one said it was going to be easy. Hollywood promotes a fantasyland that can make your life look drab and boring by comparison.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Don't keep playing along with the games if you no longer want to repeat the same drama. By placing yourself in a victim role, you're opening yourself up to manipulation and control by others.
TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Today is a great day to make your big move, Taurus. If there's something in the love and romance department that you feel you need to act on, this is the day to do it. It's now or never.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Today is excellent for you, Scorpio. You should be encouraged to take action in any artistic realm. Cook a scrumptious dinner and share it with a loved one.
GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Take your focus off you and concentrate on someone else for a day, Gemini. This doesn't mean focusing so the person will stop and pay attention to you.
SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Go weed the garden, Sagittarius. If you don't have a garden, start one. It's important for you to get into the Earth today, so roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
CANCER (June 21–July 22) It might take an extra few minutes to get out of bed today, Cancer, but it will be worth it when you do. You will find that the more honest you've been with people, the more payoffs you will receive.
CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) There's great opportunity for romance today, Capricorn. Love the people you're with, but don't smother them. The more you loosen your grip on a situation, the more you will gain control of it.
LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Don't try to fit into a mold you simply don't belong in, Leo. You may have gone through a major transformation lately in which you went from being a square peg to a round peg.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) The active and receptive natures of your being are coming together, Aquarius. There's a balance between these two aspects.
VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) There may be subtle messages in people's words today that you need to attend to. Other people could be trying to send you hints in order to push your buttons. Confront them on this behavior.
PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Today is a fantastic day for you. Your sensual, caring nature will be appreciated, Pisces. Whether you actively pursue it or sit back and relax, you will receive the love and good fortune you desire.
(From page 37) sites which posted knockout prices of $100,000 and more for ringside seats, putting them beyond the reach of everyone but the world’s most rich and famous. Another secondary site, Ticketliguidator.com, was offering floor seats for $55,000. “This is an extremely unique event for us, we haven’t ever seen this,” StubHub spokesman Cameron Papp told Reuters. ”The fact they are going on sale with the fight only nine days away is really unique and the fact there is lower inventory to the public is unique. That is being reflected in the prices right now.” Stubhub, owned by eBay and the largest online ticket resale site in the United States, expects to see plenty of activity around the bout, leading right up to May 2. Normally the market around a sporting event will see a drop in prices during the lead-up but Papp does not believe this will be the case for the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. “Being that this one is very unique and with the low inventory, right now I would expect prices to stay where they are or go up more,” said Papp, adding that sellers must
Inet Communications/Fruta Conquerors... (From page 40) resumes on May 1, at the same venue with six more matches scheduled to be played. The fixtures are as follows: Fruta FC versus Camptown FC at 13:00hrs; Black Pearl vs. Pele FC at 1 3 : 0 0 h r s . Beacon FC vs. Order & Discipline FC 14:00hrs; Fruta Conquerors A vs. Riddim Squad FC 14:00hrs. Western Tigers FC vs. Santos FC 15:00hrs; GFC vs. Renaissance FC 15:00hrs.
show proof of ticket purchases before they are listed on StubHub. ”They are going fast and when the inventory gets lower, the prices are going to rise. Clearly people were waiting for this one to go on sale and watching the site. We’ve never seen prices sell that high.” The welterweight showdown between the undefeated Mayweather and the aggres-
sive Pacquiao, the two best fighters of their generation, is expected to become the topgrossing prize fight of all time, pulling in close to $500 million in pay-per-view. For those wanting to get in on the Las Vegas buzz around the fight, many casinos will hold closed-circuit viewing parties and part of that experience will also include high-end tickets that will run in the $150 range.
Friday April 24, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 35
Farfan &Mendes Men’s Hockey 1st Div. League
Peralta lifts Club America GCC edge National to draw with Montreal U-21 to formalize title
The curtains came down on a successful Farfan & Mendes Men’s first Division League for 2014 with champions GCC strolling away with the title after playing unbeaten throughout the competition. On Wednesday evening on a smooth Bourda ground, the GCC took on the national Under-21 selection in the final match of competition and prevailed by a 1-0 margin courtesy of a Philip Fernandes goal. The Bourda boys had already secured the trophy on points having beaten all comers in every match of the two-round competition except for their first round draw with the national Under21. The match proved to be a worthwhile battle for the
experienced GCC side which boasted several former national players as the national Under-21 executed good midfield build-up plays in the opening minutes of the match. GCC had the edge on possession, but relinquished it too easily in their attacking third to deft defending by Andrew Stewart and Daniel Hooper in the full back positions for the Under-21. After a scoreless first half, GCC seemed to shift gears in the second half and created a few scoring chances and penalty corners in the second half. Under-21 striker Aroydy Branford, however, kept his side in eh hunt with some effective counterattacking moves, but failed to connect with his teammates on the
final pass. With the match seemingly heading for a nilall stalemate, former national captain Alan Fernandes fought through a densely packed defence on the right side, before slipping an accurate pass to brother Philip on the far side of the goal. The Hockey Board President delivered the ball into the roof of the net to break the deadlock with just 6 minutes remaining on the clock. Time expired with little more opportunity for the national U-21, leaving GCC the victors of the day and for the Competition as 2014 National Men’s Hockey Champions. The match was followed by a brief presentation of the trophy by Mr. Delyon Josiah, Marketing Officer of Farfan & Mendes Ltd.
Nadal felled by Fognini in Barcelona third round Reuters - Rafa Nadal’s bid to get back to top form before the French Open suffered a setback when he crashed to a 6-4, 7-6(6) defeat to 13thseeded Italian Fabio Fognini in the third round of the Barcelona Open yesterday. Nadal, the world number four and second seed, produced an erratic performance on the clay in the Catalan capital and the big-hitting Fognini punished the Spaniard’s errors to scupper Nadal’s bid for a ninth Barcelona title. Fognini, who beat Nadal on clay in the semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro in February, his only win in five previous meetings, said he had needed to draw on his mental strength to see out the match. Backed by a fiercely partisan crowd, Nadal saved three match points in the tiebreak before sending a forehand long to hand Fognini victory on the fourth. ”Unless you play at your
highest level against Rafa for the whole match you are not going to get the better of him,” Fognini told Spanish television. “Beating a player who is the greatest in history on this surface is worth double,” he added. ”I knew I had my chances today and I just tried to keep to my game plan and give it my all.” Nadal, whose 2014 season was wrecked by illness and injury, is looking to rediscover his dominance on the red dust before he makes a bid for a record-extending 10th French Open crown starting at the end of next month. The Majorca native lost to world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of last week’s Monte Carlo Masters and many are tipping the Serb to end his great rival’s stranglehold at Roland Garros. Fognini will play unseeded Spaniard Pablo
will entertain Transport SC with Edward Bowen and Javed Persaud in charge. The Noble House Sea Foods second-division two-day tournament continues tomorrow with several matches. DCC will stay at home to GYO (Leyland Liverpool and Heuvel Cunha), Everest will journey to GNIC (Brijcoomar
Moises Muñoz. It was the first SCCL goal Club America allowed at home in 316 minutes. The score also injected urgency into the Aguilas as they pushed for an immediate equalizer. Sambueza’s hard effort from the top of the box in the 21st minute forced goalkeeper Evan Bush to make a two-handed save. Only a minute later, a Cristian Pellerano header from the middle of the penalty area was well handled by the Montreal custodian. Club America thought it had knotted the match up at 1-1 in the 26th minute, but Michael Arroyo’s goal was disallowed for offside. Piatti had a golden opportunity to double the 2014 Canadian champion’s lead in the 28th minute, only for his 15-yard chip to float wide left. During a quick counter off a Club America corner kick just prior to halftime, Oduro was pulled down on his way to goal by Osvaldo Martinez, who received a yellow from referee Hector Rodriguez. After the break, the five-time CONCACAF champion generated a trio initial opportunities to level. In the 60th
Oribe Peralta minute, Bush was well positioned to catch Dario Benedetto’s close-range header. Peralta then flashed a diving header just wide of the left post in the 62nd minute, before Sambueza drilled a swerving shot off the crossbar with the outside of his left foot from 26-yards out. (CONCACAF)
Japan to host FIFA Club World Cup in 2015 and 2016 Fabio Fognini Andujar in Friday’s Barcelona quarter-finals. Andujar upset compatriot and fifth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 earlier yesterday. On the other side of the draw, champion and top seed Kei Nishikori of Japan eased past Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-2,6-1 and will play Spaniard Roberto Bautista for a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
GCA/Carib Beer T20 commences today The Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)/Carib Beer first-division T20 tournament commences today with two matches from 13:30hrs. Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) will host Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) with Cyril Garnath and Ashook Brijcoomar as the umpires while Malteenoes SC
Mexico City - Second-half substitute Oribe Peralta scored in the 89th minute to give Club America a 1-1 draw with the visiting Impact de Montreal in the first leg of the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (SCCL) final on Wednesday. Rubens Sambueza, who was taken down by Andres Romero just outside the left edge of the penalty area, floated a free kick into the box for Peralta. The 2013 CONCACAF Player of the Year beat Callum Mallace to the ball, heading it into the net from five-yards out for the dramatic equalizer at the Estadio Azteca. The second leg will be played in Montreal next Wednesday. Though the current Mexican champion held a substantial possession advantage in the opening half, the Impact drew first blood in the 16th minute. From the right, Dominic Oduro slipped a pass to Ignacio Piatti in the left side of the box. While defender Paul Aguilar fell to the ground in an attempt to intervene, the Argentinean slotted a shot from 14 yards into the lower left corner past goalkeeper
and Layne), Malteenoes SC will host Diplomats (Randolph Rose and Joseph Jeffery), Sophia will travel to University of Guyana (Javed Persaud and Daniel Richmond) and Muslim Youth Organisation will entertain Georgetown Cricket Club (Garnath and Reginald Grant).
Reuters - Japan have been reappointed as hosts of the FIFA Club World Cup for the next two years, the sport’s world governing body announced yesterday. FIFA said the annual tournament would be held in Japan in 2015 and 2016 with this year’s edition scheduled for December 10-20. ”This is a country with a proven track record when it comes to staging FIFA events, including six editions
of the FIFA Club World Cup, which were all successful,” FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in a statement. The FIFA Club World Cup features the champions of all six FIFA confederations — Asia, Africa, CONCACAF, Europe, Oceania and South America. As hosts, Japan will also have a team in the tournament, which was first held in Brazil in 2000 then annually since 2005.
Japan was the host in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012 while the 2009 and 2010 editions were staged in United Arab Emirates and the last two in Morocco, with Real Madrid winning in 2014. ”It will be an important experience for us as we look forward to hosting other major sporting events including the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Japan Football Association President Kuniya Daini said.
RHT Gizmos & Gadgets... (From page 36) Trophy with the loser collecting half that amount and a trophy. The player-of-the-final will earn $10,000 and a trophy. Lucky patrons would also win attractive gate prizes including a tablet, electric household utensils and food hampers. There would be ball by ball commentary on VOG. Albion: Kandasammy Surujnarine, Veerasammy Permaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Jonathan Foo, David
Latchya, Anthony Bramble. Sharaz Ramcharran, Gudakesh Motie, Adrian Sukhwa, Asif Ally, Joshua Haricharran, Joshua Dhanai, Kelvin Omroe, Muthusammi Permaul (Manager), Andre Percival (Coach). Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets: Renwick Batson, Vidal Crandon, Akshay Homraj, Delbert Hicks, Assad Fudadin, Christopher Barnwell, Shawn Perriera, Collis Butts, Troy Mathieson,
Sherain Murray, Keon Sinclair, Denzil Sinclair, Simeon Lawson, Junior Sinclair. Keith Hicks and Ravin Kissoonlall – Managers, Delbert Hicks (Coach). The Umpires are Zaheer and Imran Moakhan with O. Samaroo as the standby. Meanwhile, 25% of the gate revenue would be donated to ailing Guyana Chronicle Sports Reporter Calvin Roberts towards his medical expenses.
Page 36
Kaieteur News
Friday April 24, 2015
Root hundred holds up Windies charge St George’s, Grenada, CMC – Joe Root hit his sixth Test century and first overseas as England survived a spirited West Indies display, to grab the advantage on the third day of the second Test here yesterday. The plucky right-hander, playing in his 24th Test, delighted himself on a flat track at the Grenada National Stadium and in the best batting conditions of the game to finish the day 118 not out, steering England to 373 for five at the close. He was joined by fellow rookie Gary Ballance who struck 77, captain Alistair Cook who stroked 76 and Jonathan Trott who made 59. England were cruising at one point on 329 for three in the final session but West Indies stuck to their task and clawed their way back, grabbing three wickets for 35 runs to end the day strongly. The vistors lead by 74 runs heading into today’s fourth day. With little help from a lifeless track, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel managed to pick up two for 60 while legspinner Devendra Bishoo, in his first Test in three years, sent down a marathon 41 overs and finished with two
for 124. Resuming the day on 74 without loss in pursuit of West Indies’ 299, England were given a great start by openers Cook and Trott, who stretched their overnight stand to 125 before being separated. The left-handed Cook struck eight fours in an innings lasting 211 balls and just over 4-1/4 hours while Trott’s knock spanned 147 deliveries and 3-1/2 hours, and included seven boundaries. Both were ultracautious at the start, with just 28 runs coming from the 16 overs sent down in the first hour. In fact, Trott got the only boundary during that time – an outside edge past gully off Gabriel – as England climbed to 102 without further loss. Cook was first to his century and Trott followed in the fourth over after drinks but fell soon after when he was drawn into a drive by Bishoo and nicked a leg-break to Jermaine Blackwood at a close-in gully, with the score on 125. Cook had his share of luck when he reached 65 in the fifth over before lunch. He missed one from Bishoo as he pushed forward, and had an appeal for lbw turned down.
West Indies reviewed and Cook escaped narrowly after replays showed the ball pitching in line but clipping the top of the stumps. He was 67 at lunch partnered by Ballance on ten, with England on 143 for one, but Gabriel struck two key blows after the break to haul West Indies back into the contest. Cook had added a further nine runs before he perished in the fifth over after the break, dragging on attempting to cut an innocuous delivery from Gabriel. The barrel chested pacer then struck again with the first ball of his next over, claiming Ian Bell for one, the righthander also dragging on as he looked to play a short ball square of the wicket. Whatever hopes West Indies had of making further inroads were quickly quelled as Root and Ballance combined in a superb 165-run, fourth wicket partnership to win the session for England. Root gathered his runs busily and has so far counted 13 fours and two sixes in a knock that has consumed just 165 balls while Ballance struck eight fours and a six in an innings spanning 188 balls and four hours.
The Windies bowlers were guilty of losing the plot somewhat and Root and Ballance cashed in. Root cruised to his half-century – his third of the series – in the second last over before tea and the left-handed Ballance followed in the second over afterward, when he drove a Gabriel full toss to the cover boundary. Between them, they plundered 16 runs from a Bishoo over and seemed in complete command when the tide turned slightly. Part-time off-spinner M a r l o n S a m u e l s was recalled for another spell and
he struck with his fifth delivery when Ballance inside-edged a booming drive onto his leg stump, in the fourth over after the drinks break. Thirteen deliveries later, Moeen Ali was run out without scoring. He attempted a nonexistent sharp single but was sent back by Root and failed to beat Jermaine Blackwood’s throw to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. And West Indies completed a rewarding session when Ben Stokes gifted his wicket, failing to clear the ropes at mid-wicket and being taken in the deep
Iyer, Duminy help Daredevils end Kotla drought
11th Busta Champion of Champions Final
RHT Gizmos & Gadgets to face Albion tomorrow The Albion Cricket Ground, venue of the first ever one day international cricket match in the Caribbean would come alive tomorrow when the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club hosts the final of the 11th edition of the Busta Champion of Champions tournament. Old rivals Albion Community Centre and Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets would face off in the 40-overs mach which bowls off at 15:00hrs. It would be the first time that the finals of this tournament would be played under lights. According to Secretary/ CEO of the host club, Hilbert Foster has disclosed special arrangements are being made to have the pitch and bowlers run up properly covered to make sure that rain does not affect the start of the game. The match is expected to be a keen contest with both teams strong on paper. However, Albion would start as slight favorites at home where it is very difficult to defeat them. Never being
able to put their hand on the champion’s trophy in its history, Albion will be looking to go all the way this time around and will would be led by West Indies left arm spinner, Verasammy Permaul with support from discarded West Indies middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine. Their powerful batting line up would also include national players Jonathan Foo, Anthony Bramble and the promising Kandasammy Surujnarine, Sharaz Ramcharran, David Latchya and Adrian Sukhwa. Their bowling which is spin based centers around Permaul, off spinners Narsingh Deonarine, Ramcharran, Latchya and Foo with support from West
Indies Under-19 left arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. RHT Gizmos & Gadgets challenge will be led by former national Under-19 Captain, Shawn Perriera and his deputy, West Indies Test player Assad Fudadin. West Indies T20 player Christopher Barnwell who has been a registered member of the club since 2014 would also be a key player for the defending champions. Fudadin, Barnwell, Akshay Homraj, Vidal Crandon, Delbert Hicks, Shawn Perriera and Renwick Batson would be the key batsmen if the visitors are to post a challenging total on a pitch that is expected to be full of moisture due to excessive rainfall over the past week. Barnwell along with medium pacers Keon Sinclair, Fudadin and Sherain Murray are all expected to enjoy the conditions as will off spinners Collis Butts, Troy Mathieson and leg spinner Perriera. Tomorrow’s winner will receive $100,000 and the Busta (Continued on page 35)
by Blackwood for eight. Summary Scores: West Indies 1st Innings: 299 All Out (104.4 Overs). Marlon Samuels 103, Darren Bravo 35, Denesh Ramdin*+ 31, Davendra Bishoo 30; Stuart Broad 24-9-61-4, James Anderson 24-10-47-2, Chris Jordan 25-4-65-2, Moeen Ali 13.4-1-47-1. England 1st Innings: 373/6 (124 Overs). Joe Root 118*, Gary Ballance 77, Alastair Cook* 76, Jonathan Trott 59; Davendra Bishoo 41-10-124-2, Shannon Gabriel 19-3-60-2, Marlon Samuels 21-4-38-1, Jason Holder 186-49-0.
Shreyas Iyer and JP Duminy added 154 for the 2nd wicket ©BCCI Fifties from Shreyas Iyer and JP Duminy, and their 154run partnership - the highest in the IPL this season - propelled Delhi Daredevils to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians, breaking their streak of nine successive losses at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma had opted to bowl after winning the toss, to have the comfort of knowing what to chase. His bowlers, however, were systematically taken apart by Duminy and Iyer and the pressure of a 191 chase, combined with electric fielding by Daredevils, left them well short of the target. Rohit’s decision to bowl first found immediate vindication when Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed opener Mayank Agarwal for 1. Their joy was short-lived, however, as Iyer opened up to take a four and a six either side of the wicket, off successive balls in McClenaghan’s next over. Jasprit Bumrah was
greeted at the crease with successive sixes by JP Duminy over backward square leg and it was only the introduction of Harbhajan Singh within the Powerplay that managed to stem the glut of boundaries. Harbhajan and Malinga managed to keep the pair quiet for a couple of overs but once they were pulled out of the attack, the proceedings turned fairly one-sided. At the halfway mark, Daredevils were 65 for 1. By the time the 15th over ended, they had sped to 137 for 1. Bumrah, Pollard, McClenaghan were all taken for runs and even Harbhajan’s tidy figures were wiped out by an 18-run over in which Iyer hit the offspinner for two sixes. Iyer fed off poor lines from the Mumbai bowlers but his edges also carried to the boundary. By the time Bumrah came back into the attack, Iyer was so well set, he he squeezed a
yorker for a boundary to bring up his fifty. It had taken him only 37 deliveries to reach his second T20 fifty, with six fours and two sixes and he would hit another three sixes before walking across his stumps to a Malinga yorker. Duminy’s fifty took one ball less but the batsman had two different gears. After the initial burst, he turned the strike over to Iyer before getting stuck into Kieron Pollard in the 12th over. Their partnership had stretched to 154 - the second highest for Daredevils for any wicket in the IPL - before Iyer fell but Duminy carried on, ensuring Daredevils promising attack had enough to bowl at. Duminy led by example in the field, too - a sliding save left him wincing in pain but he came on to bowl in the fourth over and a few overs later, held on to a skier to end an opening partnership between Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel that appeared to settling at the crease. Mumbai had opted for an unchanged XI, the batting order was the same that had racked up 209 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Against Daredevils’ consistent bowling, and their sharp fielding - Shahbaz Nadeem and Imran Tahir held on to difficult chances - the chase stalled. When Tahir took three wickets in his third over - the 17th of the match Mumbai looked on track to being bowled out for the first time in this IPL, but Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga managed to thwart that particular outcome. Delhi Daredevils 190 for 4 (Iyer 83, Duminy 78*) beat Mumbai Indians 153 for 9 (Rohit 30, Rayudu 30, Tahir 322) by 37 runs. (ESPNcricinfo)
38