Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 3
GuySuCo anxious as rains dampen production hopes The country’s ailing sugar industry is getting ready to welcome a new chief executive in early October, but his work will be more than cut out for him. Not only are the rains badly affecting production, threatening a repeat of last year’s dismal performance, but with only four months remaining in the year, workers would be more than worried about the traditional production incentives. The performance of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) in recent years has been a major cause for concern and a source of embarrassment for the administration. Despite prices offered by Europe – Guyana’s biggest customer - being almost double on the world market, poor production has continued to threaten the viability of the industry. Workers have also been leaving in droves for the construction industry and the gold bush. While two trial starts have been made on the Skeldon factory, production for the second crop there is still to start, says Komal Chand, President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union
Bad weather has left these cane harvesters parked.
(GAWU). Fields remain wet, with use of the mechanical harvesters ruled out because of the existing conditions. At Skeldon, several defects identified as hampering full production, have been fixed during the period between the first and second crop by South Africa’s Bosch Engineering, an independent company tasked with fixing a number of issues facing the factory. One of the major problems with the cane dumper, a piece of equipment which takes the cane from the punts to the factory, will remain unresolved this year, the newspaper was told. According to Chand, the union and GuySuCo’s biggest fears now remain with the weather. The longer the canes remain in the fields and the longer it rains, the less sugar will be produced as the sucrose content lessens over time. During the first crop this year, production plunged to 48,000 tonnes, or about 23,000 tonnes below the target. For this crop, GuySuCo has set an industry target of 155,000 tonnes. “The mechanical harvesters have not been able
to operate as we are facing an unusually bad weather pattern.” The industry barely managed half of its projected target of the 38,000 tonnes planned for the week ending August 9. Also badly affected by the rains and not operating as yet is the Uitvlugt Estate, West Coast Demerara. Regarding concerns over the capacity of Skeldon to handle the hefty demand that will be needed in coming weeks, Chand stressed that it was too early to say whether the repairs to a number of identified defects will be making a positive impact. “Let’s us just wait and see. I think it is too early, but we are hopeful and positive that this crop will make the target.” Government has been facing significant flak over the Skeldon project which has failed to live up to expectations. Meanwhile, the union is also hopeful that the Enmore Sugar Packaging Plant will be bagging a significant amount in the coming weeks. With GuySuCo racing to make the 190,000 tonnes quota as demanded by its European customer, there is little sugar left for the packaging plant.
GAWU’s President, Komal Chand Demerara Gold has been gaining traction in the regional market with Trinidad and Tobago, and even St. Maarten, snapping up the sweetener like hot cakes. The industry has been battling poor yields, strikes and the weather in recent years. Workers, over 16,000 of them according to GuySuCo’s estimates, also would be paying attention to the crop, as its final outcome would dictate whether the Corporation would be able to pay bonuses. Kaieteur News also understands that unconfirmed reports that GuySuCo’s current Chairman, Dr. Raj Singh, is more than likely to take up the position as Chief Executive Officer from October, is more than rumour. The current Chief Executive Officer, Paul Bhim, will reportedly be Singh’s deputy, one senior GuySuCo official said Friday. Government had signaled a management and board shake-up after a “turnaround” plan failed to change GuySuCo’s fortunes for the better. Last year, Government plugged $5B in the form of a cash boost to the state entity. The total industry production for the year 2012 was 218,069 tonnes, the lowest in over two decades.
Page 4
Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox
KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210
Editorial
TACKLING PUBLIC CORRUPTION The issue of public corruption has been raised for so long and with such vehemence in Guyana that it is not surprising that at the just concluded PPP Congress, it was discussed in one of their workshops. Nigel Dharamlall, rapporteur for the workshop on the party’s organization, reported that his group acknowledged that corruption in government and the party does exist and must be addressed. This is a very positive sign and follows up on a previous statement by President Ramotar, who however, felt that the extent of the problem was being exaggerated. Basically, public corruption can be described as the misuse of public office for private gain. In practical terms, we elect or appoint individuals to public office where they are paid to perform tasks in the public interests. The individuals, through one scheme or another, collect both their salaries and fees (also called “rents”) for performing their functions. It tends to thrive when discretionary power is vested in officials – a feature that is inevitable in all offices, but can always be tightened – within an overarching weak system of deterrence. Meaning that for one reason or another – higher official negligence or connivance – the officials have no fear of being caught and punished. While public corruption is endemic in all societies – human venality being a universal condition - today it is particularly virulent in the developing world where they have not had the long experience in confronting the phenomenon as the developed world. Officials that top the list in the corruption sweepstakes are politicians, bureaucrats, and other officials taking bribes to influence outcomes in business licencing, awarding contracts, registering property, citing traffic violations, disbursing education funds, and so on. The international non-governmental organisation Transparency International issues annual reports on the perception of corruption in countries: last year Guyana ranked 133 out of 174 countries surveyed. One of the points that have been stressed in recent studies on corruption across the globe, is that the scope for corruption rose dramatically in the wake of the neo-liberal reforms pushed by the World Bank/IMF since the 1980s. The state was forced to transfer vast swathes of public assets to private firms-such as land agricultural and developmental, factories, banks etc - usually under weak regulatory, supervisory, and legal frameworks. For instance, the privatisation of the telephone company was said to be very suspect. But even where the public entity like GuySuCo was not privatised, the climate encouraged the privatisation of most of its functions such as tillage which provided the opportunity for continuous corruption. Then also, as developing countries try to become developed nations they are learning the tricks of the (corruption) game: bribery turns into another means of influence – lobbying, which is accepted as legal. Corruption has a very insidious effect on any society, because it quickly metastasises and acts to corrode it from within. Public funds, which ultimately come from the pocket of the citizens of the country, end up in the pockets of private individuals. Typically in the third world these are not entrepreneurs that reinvest the funds that might spur development but transfer them to secret bank accounts in the developed world. Additionally, in the case of contractors that skim off the top of projects and split the excess proceeds with bureaucrats and/or politicians, the projects are invariably substandard or deficient and value for money is never received. Higher corruption rates also reduce entrepreneurial activity since some contractors are squeezed out in favour of those that pay bribes. The lack of competition has a further negative effect since there is no incentive for the favoured contractor to be efficient. Then there is the insidious role that corruption performs in the allocation of talent, since this is not the criteria for winning contracts. Efficiency inevitably suffers. Corruption clearly worsens social services, integral to human development, for the providers always cut corners. Finally, public corruption also eats away at social institutions, undermines the rule of law, erodes social trust, and can jeopardize public safety and hurt the environment. We are now expecting some action to fight this scourge in Guyana.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com
Who owns the debt in Amaila? DEAR EDITOR, President Ramotar has stated that the Amaila Falls project would not incur any national debt to Guyana’s Treasury /tax payers. This cannot be the case because the Government has requested Parliamentary approval to pay from the Treasury up to GUY $150.0 billion or US$750.0 million for default payments to Amaila by Guyana Power and Light (GPL), signaling that the Treasury would have to record this liability on the national books. Further, with Sithe Global/ Blackstone (SB) seeking to
get 100 percent ‘buy-in’ from all Parliamentary parties, this is implicitly a non-revocable guarantee from the Treasury that is better than political risk insurance bought in financial markets. As a result, it would be useful to examine the paper work or certificate issued for the incorporation of Amaila as this would bring clarity to many outstanding issues; and this information should be placed in the public domain. The rationale for political and financial guarantees in this project is based on the fact that Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is currently not a
financially viable company that can generate large cashflows sufficient enough to pay in full and on-time its debts to Amaila. Evidence suggests that GPL has not been a profitable undertaking for many years and recent audited reports show that it made losses instead of profits, despite its almost monopoly status in the economy. Evidence will also show that GPL financing for capital works are covered by the Treasury, once Parliament approves those requests made by the Ministry of Finance. These are Treasury
transfers with no repayment terms; hence, the need for Treasury guarantees for Amaila as any financial dependency on GPL will be misguided and a high risk for investors. Usually, investments are paid for with what we own (equity) and what we owe (debt). Specifically: Investment = Debt + Equity. In the Amaila project, the total investment cost according to the government is US$858.0 million of which the government equity contribution is US$100.00 million (US $80.0 million from (Continued on page 6)
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Page 5
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Capt. Gouveia did not invite Government to explain its conflicting claims about the virtues of this project DEAR EDITOR, Captain Gouveia’s widely publicised open letter on Amaila in the dailies juxtaposes extracts from statements by Drs. Clive Thomas and Anand Goolsarran and the two signatories to this letter on the one hand, and statements made by the Government on the same or similar issue on the other. The Captain then requests the four of us to answer four critical questions. Ignoring the contribution to the debate by such committed Guyanese as Janette Bulkan, Alfred Bhulai, Tarron Khemraj and Sase Narine Singh, Carl Greenidge, Lincoln Lewis, Charles Sohan and M. Ali, GHK Lall and others, Mr. Gouveia sees the four as “the ones who killed the project”. Capt. Gouveia did not invite the Government of Guyana to explain its conflicting claims about the virtues of the project or challenge it for underplaying the hydrological, geotechnical and exchange risks associated with the project. One must remember that
the Government has so far not tabled in the National Assembly any of the critical documents for the project or sought the Assembly’s approval. Presented by the Government were two peripheral pieces to meet the requirement of a foreign agency. Were it not for that demand, the Government would not have come to the National Assembly and the project could have gone the way of the Marriot and slid away quietly and successfully like the camoudie. For the benefit of readers, we address the issues under five headings: debt, tariffs, subsidies, fuel and savings,
and cost. We now address those issues, make a brief conclusion and raise some questions to Capt. Gouveia. 1. DEBT Captain Gouveia is relying on a statement by the Government that “no Government borrowing is taking place.” The fact is that the Government, not Sithe, is guaranteeing the Power Purchase Agreement which requires the Guyana Power and Light Inc., a fully-owned state company, to pay a monthly Capacity Tolling Fee that includes the payment the debts and their related costs, the annual repayment of Sithe’s “capital” and its returns, and the operations
and maintenance cost of Sithe’s operating company. By the Government’s own reckoning, the debt elements alone exceed US$2 billion over 20 years. Since the Government agrees to pay that debt if the company defaults, this is what accountants call a contingent liability. By going to the National Assembly to increase the debt ceiling in connection with Amaila, the Government
acknowledged the debt implications of the project. The analysts merely reflected the Government’s position. 2. TARIFFS Gouveia wants to know what would be the tariff after Amaila. Based on our analysis and using GPL’s audited 2012 statements and allowing for a reduction in system losses and growth in demand, the inflated all-in tariff GPL will have to pay Amaila, and a projected
increase in the exchange rate, our conclusion was that the total revenue of GPL would have to increase by 23.6%. Our projections were further based on no more subsidies from the Consolidated Fund and GPL’s Licence rate of return which Sithe imposes as a condition in the Power Purchase Agreement. This increase in tariff after Amaila is unavoidable (Continued on page 57)
Page 6
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur M@ilbox Kaieteur M@ilbox Mr. Shaw should know his party never gave me a hearing DEAR EDITOR, I refer to two letters in the Friday, August 16 edition of the Stabroek News; Anand Boodram’s “Politics has become a zero sum game in Guyana.” And Mohammed Shaw’s “Boodoo was not given due process.” Boodram wrote, “One cannot help but conclude that politics has become a zero sum game in Guyana.” Shaw, one of GECOM’s Commissioners observed; “Boodoo was never given due process – not even a hearing.” When I read those letters I thought of my own contract termination at UG after serving UG for twenty six years. In Boodoo’s situation his contract had ended. In my case, it had five more months. It is clear from Shaw’s letter, you have apartheid in Guyana. Boodoo should have been given a hearing over his contract renewal but Frederick Kissoon was a lesser human being not entitled to the rights that Mr. Boodoo has In my case I didn’t even know my contract termination was up for discussion. There were absolutely no
complaints from any section of the University. Not even one person that I worked with, not even one student. Most obnoxiously, I was a legal member of the University Council that made that decision and was not invited to the meeting Friday afternoon, I had a personal conversation with Minister of Education the contents which cannot be repeated. But I am at liberty to say that I did ask her to watch me in my eyes and tell me as someone who taught her at UG if Even Persaud is more eligible to teach at UG than me. Even Persaud was charged with the most offensive violation a teacher can allegedly be accused of. He was given a hearing and allowed to have legal representation. I woke up a morning and got a call from my dean saying that my contract was terminated. How can any country accept this kind of illegal, reckless and depraved behaviour from its government? I did offer Minister Manickchand an apology for anything that may have caused her distress in any of
my columns because I did say to her that as a mother of two young children I would not be comfortable with children reading what people have to say of their parents. I did promise her that I would be careful in the future. But the Minister must know that I have a duty to the newspaper I write for and my country to offer constructive comments. When you write as long as I have and as often, you do slip up from time to time, here is an opportunity to apologize to anyone who thinks some angles have been personal. If those people can point out to me areas that appear personal, then I would say forthright that I am sorry Minister Manickchand did ay that she thought I should not have mentioned the name of the little girl who played Simba in the recent Lion King presentation because I may have discouraged her. I honestly thought this is the stuff you find from reviewers whether it is film or literature or Broadway plays or sports. Look how many commentators thought that Darren Sammy should not
command a place in the West Indies team muchless be the captain. I admit the girl is at a tender age but all I suggested was a course in voice modulation. I never wrote her acting was bad. In fact, it was good. If I cold met her I would tell her that nothing ill-conceived was meant. I hope she goes on to act and I will glad to participate in her encouragement. If her parents were browned off, I regret that. I didn’t mean any harm A few persons told me I was too harsh on David Casavis’ book on the Thomas Carroll including my buddy pal, Leonard Craig. I think, all, I repeat all the persons who read and praised the book are not familiar with the Thomas Carroll affair as those of us in the media. So for them the book was a revelation. They
found something exciting. But we in the media, especially my editor, Adam Harris know much more than what Casavis brought out For the love of me I cannot understand up to this day why Casavis did not research Carroll’s cooperation statement to the district attorney so the Guyanese people can know what Laurie Lewis did and those rich business places who helped Carroll could be exposed. Casavis did not name them. What readers didn’t know was that I had no idea that Mark Benschop was a friend of Casavis. So when Benschop wrote bitterly about me after my review, I thought out of respect for my friendship with Benschop I would call him. I did and he told me he
was on the air and couldn’t talk. If he had spoken to me maybe another set of events could have been released Looking back, I understand that Casavis did provide Guyanese with information on the US Embassy style of doing things that they would not have known about if it wasn’t for Casavis’ book. But Mr. Casavis should understand a reviewer has to do his/her work. He should not take my review personally. I acknowledge to him that the evaluation was too harsh. But I do think from what I know of the Carroll adventure in Guyana, his contents could have been more informative. We all make mistakes, Mr. Casavis. Frederick Kissoon
Who owns the debt in... From page 4 Redd funds; and US$20.0 million from the Treasury), with remainder of US$ 758.0 million as debt from Sithe Global/ Blackstone (SB) at US$150.0 million; China Development Bank (CDB) at US$500.0 million; the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) at US$100.0 million and an unknown lender, yet to be declared, at US$8.0 million; this should be clarified by government. The rule in investment projects is that the higher the risk, the higher the return. This however does not seem to be the case in the Amaila project. Specifically, the
government initial guarantee of GUY$150.0 billion is equivalent to US$750.0 million (US$1= GUY $2.00), implying that all foreign lenders are covered by Guyanese tax payers through the guarantee issued by the Guyana Treasury. The main implication of this guarantee is that all the debt and risk (US$758.0 million) are solely owned by the government and there is no risk to the lenders: SB, IADB, and CDB. More intriguing is the fact that SB is guaranteed a rate of return of 19 percent for no risk, while the government has all the risk,
but we do not know the rate of return on its investment as it has not been publicized. This need to be corrected and the calculations made public. Finally, the fact that the approved amount by Parliament for the guarantee was less than US$758.0 million and there was no consensus by Parliament endorsing the project unreservedly indicates that the risk exposure was too great for at least one investor who walked away. Given these concerns, President Ramotar cannot be right about who owns the debt in Amaila. C. Kenrick Hunte
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 7
Page 8
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Former House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran says…
Authoritarian political culture responsible for Amaila failure Days after the developer and key partner, Sithe Global, pulled out from the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran has accused the administration of failing to hold healthy debate, and it was because of this that the Project became a victim of the country’s political culture. “The new Cheddi Jagan Airport and the Specialty Hospital are now in jeopardy. It is not known how the PPP came about the idea that it can move these projects forward in the National Assembly without a far higher degree of collaboration and trust,” Ramkarran wrote in his weekly column posted on his website, conversationtree.gy, last evening. Blaming the
“authoritarian political culture” for Amaila’s failure, Ramkarran who resigned last year after decades in the hierarchy of the PPP (People’s Progressive Party), said it is this culture that gave Guyana the Skeldon Factory, the new Cheddi Jagan Airport and the Specialty Hospital with no ‘healthy political debate’ or consultation, and “Amaila with initially little more than nominal disclosures.” Government only made disclosures when the matter hit the National Assembly. “These flowed more freely only when Opposition votes in the National Assembly became necessary. Amaila was conceived, planned, negotiated and announced without any consultation or ‘healthy political debate,’ first
as a fait accompli, then followed by a scramble for ex post facto support from the Opposition,” Ramkarran noted. He pointed out that over the past few weeks, in relation to Amaila, three significant issues were on the table. “The Opposition said that all their questions had not been answered, Sithe Global said that they will not proceed with the project unless there was national consensus, and legislation was pending in the National Assembly.” Ramkarran also believed that the party erred at its Congress held in Berbice by criticizing the Opposition, accusing the parties of “dictatorial tendencies,” “vindictiveness,” “campaign of lies and slander,” “lies and deceit,” “arrogance,” “criminal connections,” trying to create “violence” and “mayhem.” “Opposition’s support for the pending legislation, even if assurances were to have been given about the
outstanding issues, could hardly be expected after this egregious political assault. This, of course, will not be acknowledged by the Opposition but does not gainsay the fact that they expressed concerns about several issues serious enough, they allege, to withhold their votes, despite extensive consultations with the Government, during which the latter claimed that all questions asked had been answered and the current issues were never raised.” Ramkarran opined that the administration could be planning elections soon. “This is speculation but there is no other rational explanation for its impolitic assault on the Opposition one week before one of the most important parliamentary votes in the history of Guyana when Opposition support is crucial. If this speculation is contradicted by efforts to persuade the Opposition to reverse its position, then the only other
conclusion is that the PPP has been astonishingly reckless.” The former Speaker urged that different political conditions since 2011 required thinking outside the political box. “Proposals for a new relationship with the Opposition based on greater and more structured collaboration could have ensured a more productive future. The Central Committee did not rise to the occasion. And the abuse was superfluous because the public had heard about the alleged perfidy of the Opposition ad nauseam for years and up to the very recent past.” “Apart from the damage the attack will do to Government/Opposition relations, the intensification of gridlock and the creation of a lame duck Parliament and Government, no serious investors will engage Guyana in this political climate of intense friction which is now likely to get worse. With the failure of Amaila,
Former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran going to elections is the only feasible option for the PPP. This major defeat for the Government together with the poisonous political climate suggests that the increased political bloodletting will make the PPP and Government appear even weaker and will induce more apathy among its supporters. New elections will settle the issue of whether the loss of the absolute majority by the PPP in 2011 was a one-off event or whether it will, at least for a time, be a feature of our political architecture. If the former, we can expect a return to a past of short shrift being given to the Opposition and all other independent voices. If the latter, the PPP will find it difficult to continue to defy the popular will.”
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 9
Timehri residents unconvinced GDF Chief-of-Staff is about proposed relocation plans now Rear Admiral By Zena Henry Timehri North residents say that although they are the ones who will be directly affected as a result of the proposed airport expansion project, they are the last to know anything about their fate. The residents say that plans are being put in place for their relocation, but no one has been selected from the community to represent them, while the majority of those seated on the discussion panel have a specific interest in the expansion project. Apart from this, the residents say that they are skeptical about the proposed
relocation plan forwarded by Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn since, according to them, there is no evidence of ongoing work in the designated area. Daniel Fraser, Chairman of the Timehri North Development Council told the media that Timehri residents have received no word on their relocation from Minister Benn. He said that the authorities are failing to make contact with them, while it appears that the only information about their removal is received through the media. “We have not heard anything from Mr. Benn,” Fraser told reporters. “He
does all the communication through the media.” He said that so far the relocation plan that is supposed to see residents moving to Yarrowkabra on Soesdyke/Linden Highway is inadequate. Fraser pointed out that when residents went through the relocation plan, they noticed that it did not speak to the social aspect of their lives. The chairman had spoken on the issue in a previous interview when he pointed to the economic and social life of the community not being addressed as part of the relocation plan. He had pointed out that blessings were given for residents to develop their
area, resulting in the construction of proper homes and the establishment of businesses. He said residents have already constructed their lives and set-up their environment. They are about to lose all this as a result of the inadequate relocation plan, he indicated. Additionally, Fraser said a team visited the proposed relocation area and found that residents in Yarrowkabra had no knowledge about plans for the area. He said he was further told that there had been no work in the area, while there was “no evidence of ongoing work or work to come”. Fraser continued that the Continued on page 51
A street in the Timehri North community.
Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Donald Ramotar has approved the promotion of Chief-ofStaff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Commodore Gary Best to the rank of Rear Admiral. The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported yesterday. The swearing in ceremony will take place tomorrow at the Office of the President. A Rear Admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a Commodore.
Page 12
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 13
Page 14
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sparendaam plane crash…
Sithe Global obligated to settle legal commitments before packing up – Opposition By Keeran Danny and Leonard Gildarie Now that the US developer of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project, Sithe Global, has announced its withdrawal, there are calls for the company to settle its legal obligations with victims of the April plane crash at Sparendaam which left a 69year-old woman homeless. Speaking at a forum on the Amaila Falls Hydropower project Friday at St. Stanislaus College, Economist Professor Clive Thomas, also called for all licences issued and agreements signed between Government and the developer to be suspended and made public.
FLASHBACK: Fire engulfs Tyndall’s house.
The forum on the way forward on the project was organized by the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and is part of a series on major issues, the moderator, Dr. David Hinds disclosed. Also part of the panel was Carl Greenidge, a former Finance Minister and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament. Professor Thomas stated that he has been receiving calls that the matter of the plane crash still remains unsettled. These and other legal obligations have to be settled at the soonest, he urged. On April 13, two men were on board the ill-fated twinengine Piper Aztec, with registration N27-F, on a
technical survey mission related to the Amaila Falls Hydropower project. Apparently, Sithe Global, responsible for managing the construction of the project, sub-contracted Digital World Mapping to conduct surveys. The aircraft just after taking off from the Ogle Airport, crashed into Florence Tyndall’s residence and burnt a section of her neighbour Michelle Belle’s house. Tyndall escaped unharmed, but the aircraft’s owner and pilot Pierre Angiel and his passenger Canadian Scientist, Nick Dmitriev perished. Early last month, a senior Government official informed this publication that Cabinet approved compensation for
- victims still to receive compensation the victims. The official also said Tyndall wants Sithe Global to rebuild her house. However, Kaieteur News understands that no money has been disbursed. Yesterday, both Tyndall and Belle expressed different sentiments. Belle said she is confident that Government will stand by its word and help her to renovate her house. However, her uncomfortable living condition was noticeable as it was raining when this publication visited her abode. There were about three buckets and two tubs strategically placed to collect rain water seeping through
Economist Clive Thomas
Florence Tyndall
the destroyed roof. Meanwhile, Tyndall said the matter is becoming very confusing for her. She said there are so many parties involved, yet there is no definite word as to when her house would be rebuilt. Unclear if she had spoken to a representative of Sithe Global or Digital World Mapping, Tyndall related, “My children accompanied me to meet a man and he telling me about some prefab home and I told him I don’t want that. But, he gone on vacation and he said when he come back we gone talk.” Tyndall is not worried about Sithe Global leaving Guyana since Government “is also responsible”. “Government still knows something about everything that happened and needs to come clean.”
Sithe Global, part of the Blackstone Group, announced its pullout from the hydro project last week saying that failure by the National Assembly to gain consensus on legislation key to the project has jeopardized financing by the InterAmerican Development Bank. The Opposition Alliance For Change voted with government to pass the legislation but APNU which controls 26 seats, voted against it. The future of the 165megawatts, US$858M-project slated to be constructed in Region Eight has been thrown in doubt. The project has been mired in controversy over its cost, vagueness of its financing structure and wrangling in the National Assembly.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 17
Page 22
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Mob-style hit or murder for greed? Undertakers removing the bodies
Totaram and Bhajmattie Mootoo By Michael Jordan What else could go wrong on a night like this? That’s what we all thought on Thursday, May 9, 2013. Police had found the bodies of two young lovers in a car at Pearl, East Bank of Demerara - victims of a murder/suicide. The reporter who had covered the story had left for the day. After all, what else could go so tragically wrong? But just before midnight, something did. A loud explosion shook houses in Area Q, Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, a quiet, upscale community also known as GuySuCo Scheme. Those who rushed to the scene of the explosion were greeted by the eerie sight of flames emanating from a concrete, two-storey house in the community. The blast had left a huge hole in one of the walls. Residents could see the flickering flames through the gaping hole. The Lot 22 property belonged to 54-year-old businessman Totaram Mootoo, also known as ‘Beer’, and his 48-year-old wife, Bhajmattie Mootoo. Sheik Yaseen, a close friend of the couple, would later state that had heard two gunshots prior to the blast. One of the first at the scene, Yaseen reportedly observed a white car with tinted windows driving away from the area. Yaseen also noticed that both of Mr. Mootoo’s vehicles were parked outside the premises. But where were Totaram and Bhajmattie? Close relatives tried to reach the couple on their cell phones. They got no answer.
Snapping off the padlock from one of the gates, Yaseen entered the house via an unlocked door in the bottom flat. But the intense heat drove him back. Firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after. They eventually gained control of the blaze and began to scour the house. Shortly after midnight, Totaram Mootoo’s badly burned body, with hands bound behind the back with duct-tape, was found in the couple’s master bedroom. Nearby, investigators found his wife’s charred remains. They found no trace of Mr. Mootoo’s licenced handgun. It was all too clear that police were dealing with a brutal double-murder. Investigators concluded that the killers arrived shortly before 11.00 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, at the Mootoos home. It is believed that the businessman did not feel threatened by his visitors, so he let them in. It is believed that the visitors and their intended target conversed at a table and even had refreshments. Then things quickly turned ugly. Some sources believe that after that ‘decent conversation’, the visitors forced the Mootoos to accompany them to the couple’s bedroom, where they duct-taped the businessman’s hands behind his back. It is believed that the visitors tortured the couple and forced Mr. Mootoo to open a money safe in his room. The killers then placed a 20-pound gas cylinder on the bed and ignited it. The cylinder ‘bomb’ blew a hole in the bedroom wall and tore off parts of the zinc-sheet
roof. Fragments of a gas cylinder were found on the bed and other fragments in the yard. Post mortem examinations confirmed that the Mootoos were alive when the killers detonated their ‘bomb’. They had succumbed from extensive burns and smoke inhalation. Both victims also sustained blunt trauma. An investigator at the scene would later remark that he had seen explosives such as grenades used in other local killings, but never a gas cylinder. He said that the use of the gas cylinder was reminiscent to crude incendiary devices used in bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan. But who could have planned such a cruel death for the Mootoos? Detectives were unable to glean any information from surveillance cameras in the community. The fire had also destroyed the lone surveillance camera on the slain couple’s home. Some of the detectives knew Totaram Mootoo. He was once incarcerated and later freed for manslaughter. He had operated a rum shop and subsequently became involved in several businesses, including money-changing, gold mining and the sale of fuel. Some close relatives of the slain man have said that he had repeatedly complained of being owed large sums of money. Police also received reports that Mootoo was expected to collect some $57M on the Thursday that he was killed. This pointed to a theory of someone killing the couple to avoid paying off their debts. But everything else suggested that someone with a proficiency in execution-style killings had
murdered the couple. Some sources pointed to the fact that two of Totaram Mootoo’s close associates, Intaz Roopnarine and Jason Wills, were gunned down a few months earlier. These sources, including some police ranks, suggested that the victims were slain by persons linked to a foreign gang that accused some Guyanese of fleecing them of a substantial amount of money. There were reports that Mootoo had recently sold a plot of land for some $40M, allegedly with the intention of paying his debt. However, the individual to whom he sold the property failed to pay him immediately. The businessman was still waiting for payment when he was executed. Police officials sharply dismissed this theory. Meanwhile, investigators detained then released three of Mootoo’s close associates, including a bodyguard and a handyman. The case appeared to be going in the The couple’s house
direction of other executionstyle killings… that is, nowhere. But some three weeks later, one of Totaram Mootoo’s brothers contacted me. He had flown in from overseas. He is convinced that two avaricious men with very, very close ties to the couple plotted their death. He believes that the men hired a close associate of his brother to carry out the execution. According to the brother, the two suspects stood to reap huge financial gains from his brother’s demise. According to the brother, he learned about the couple’s death sometime after 03:45 hrs on May 10, 2013, after receiving a call from one of his brothers. He said that two suspects immediately came to mind, and he subsequently received information that seemed to confirm his suspicions. The man said that he contacted the couple’s two sons, who later travelled to Guyana.
Mootoo’s brother suggested that the murder plot was hatched about a month prior to the Mootoos’ execution. He also believes that someone tampered with the surveillance equipment in the couple’s GuySuCo Scheme, Turkeyen residence. According to the brother, Totaram Mootoo was in the habit of keeping large sums of currency in his home and was upset after several million in local currency disappeared from his residence. He claimed that the money-changer kept two safes in his residence and alleged that one of the safes had disappeared. He suggested that the individuals who plotted his brother’s death paid off the killers with some of the cash from his sibling’s stolen safe. Police sources later confirmed that the brother and an in-law of Totaram Mootoo had relayed their suspicions to them. A source told Kaieteur News that detectives had been examining other motives but were now pursuing this new lead. Mootoo’s brother has said that he is determined to assist the police in every possible way to bring the killers to justice. If you have any information about any unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 2258465, 22-58473 and 2258458. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address mjdragon@ hotmail.com
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 23
== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==
The Nigel Hughes apology and Guyana’s moral culture Here are the words of Nigel Hughes as quoted in the Stabroek News (Monday, August 13); “I acknowledge there was a conflict of interest and I assume full responsibility for it.” Hughes went on to apologize to the constituents of the AFC as carried in the same news item. Without debating the merits and demerits of Nigel Hughes’s involvement in the Sithe Global company, Mr. Hughes departed substantially from the prevailing culture of Guyana in his immediate public statement of regret. It is exemplary behaviour within the context of public irredeemableness. This is a country where people are not keen on offering public apologies. The record in this sphere of Guyanese life is extremely poor. This is why the Hughes apology needs contextualizing. What about me? I consider myself a public figure. And I can anticipate the reaction of people to the contents of this column - look who’s talking. This is not true
of me. I know in this life you are never ever going to please people who have fixed ideas, inflexible opinions, and for a myriad of reasons prefer diplomatic commentary to frank, no-nonsense analysis. This is the way of the world. My advice to young people who are the future of this country, if they are going to stay in Guyana, is to be respectful, but call it the way you see it and never be too hesitant to apologize when you are wrong and please internalize an important lesson of life – some people are going to hate you, some love you, some appreciate you, some think you do not meet their standards. You run the risk of depression if you try to please all. You run the risk of depression if you are burdened with the criticism that comes your way. My life as a public figure is filled with countless examples of the inexplicabilities of human nature, but I will offer just one example. Here are my words from a column that reviewed The Lion King staged at the
Theatre Guild; “… the production was a journey into an ocean of talent in this country waiting to float into the skies for all Guyana to see. It is simply amazing how a poor country like this, without continuous development, absence of a substantial human resource base, a putrid city, rundown infrastructure and widespread poverty can produce such talent. If you saw The Lion King last Tuesday, you have to admit it was as if you were looking at a stage presentation anywhere else in the world,” (end of quote). Here now is another section of that same article; “I don’t want to be harsh on Nakisha Narine who played young Simba, but my advice would be to work on voice modulation if she is going to continue in drama.” I thought these words were natural for a reviewer. No harm was meant. This is typical review stuff. But here are the words of someone who responded to me in this newspaper. Titled, “Freddie Kissoon’s article should be thrown in the garbage bin,” the letter writer was annoyed at what I wrote
about little Narine. She observed; “This article could have been written differently and should have congratulated all of the young people on a job well done, in the future, articles of this nature should be treated in the manner they deserve thrown into the garbage bin,”(end of quote) But didn’t I do that above? Didn’t I write glowingly about the performance? Should I repeat in this column my wonderful acknowledgement of the talent that was on display? Someone didn’t like a small part of my review and felt the article should have been dispatched to the bin. This is life; people are going to be harsh on you for their own selfish reason. In the end you have to live your life as you want it. But never descend to the level of arrogance where an apology is beyond your capacity. This is where Nigel Hughes’s apology comes in. It was offered without reservation and hesitation, and it should be a catalyst for the changing and maturity of Guyana’s moral culture. You look at this country
over a long period of time and in all spheres of life, people refuse to apologize. GECOM made mistakes, but we never saw a public apology. The opposition parties have done egregious things to other people, but we see no apology. In the business world, among the professional classes, in the judiciary etc., apologies are never forthcoming. The ruling party will never tread on the
Frederick Kissoon territory of an apology. Speaking for myself, I sincerely hope I have not unjustly offended anyone and have refused to apologize. I honestly hope I haven’t done that.
Page 24
Book Review: Book: Born to Defend by Howard Randolph Hamilton Critic: Dr Glenville Ashby Lawyers are oftentimes the butt of derision, maligned in revolting and unforgiving terms. Deservedly so, some might argue. But there are a few who have risen above public chastisement, assuming the rarefied status of “People’s Advocates.” One such personage is Howard Randolph Hamilton. Born to Defend is an autobiography, and more. Hamilton barrels through the early years of his life, offering up the indelible, epiphanical moments that veered his life toward law and jurisprudence raising key questions on Preordainment and Providence along the way. In a prophetically provocative scene, the young Hamilton has his future whimsically divined by his aunt who decodes the pattern of tea leaves. And it is a script that he follows, ever poised to defend his young mates who are unjustly assailed. He becomes consumed by a sense of righteous indignation, of seeking justice when he too is
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
The Soul of Jurisprudence wrongly accused and punished for a purported indiscretion. Really, not much is needed for the reader to grasp the authenticity of the man. Hamilton speaks from the heart. His recollection of his youth is unadulterated and unfettered by designations and letters. And quite frankly, from its opening salvo, Born to Defend scores on multiple levels. “Defend” is written with perspicacity, offering unique insights into the legal profession. Lay persons and lawyers alike will better grasp the constitution of the consummate professional mind. Judicial and legal nuances are outlined and some legal jargon is introduced to the uninitiated. Snap shots of key watershed cases are presented and acquittals abound with only a single nolle prosequi (nolle prossed), despite the preponderance of evidence favouring the State. The reader peers into Jamaica’s judicial system with greater clarity. The politically powerful and the disenfranchised are defended equally. Some of the presentations rivet. Here, ”The Hippie Murder
Case (Hanover) comes to mind, while others are painfully graphic, such as Belmont Six (Westmorland), and The Potter ’s Row Murder (Kingston). Hamilton’s winning streak must be attributed to his wit, determination and sagacity. More importantly, though, is his humanity. He is an advocate for justice and human rights. Early in his career, Hamilton balked at defending an accused in an emotionally charged case involving the execution of a public official. In ”Innocent until proven Guilty,” he revisits the moment when approached by the defendant’s girlfriend. He is disquieted and trepidation grips him: ”I panicked...I did not wish to have anything to do with that case. Horrified as I was like the rest of the nation, my mind raced to find a legitimate reason I could not accept...but could not find one.” His initial interview with the defendant may well be the crux of Born to Defend, and the window to his soul. Revealing that he was unable to accept his case, Hamilton vividly relates the following: “I will never forget how he just
looked beyond my head toward Blue Mountains in the east and said, ‘It’s alright Mr Hamilton, I know nobody goin’ wan defend me because a big man dead,’ and as I looked at him a tear rolled down his face. I felt about an inch tall. I then said to myself, ‘but gunman don’t cry.’...” There and then he made an oath to reexamine the case. As to the $64,000 question: Why and how could a lawyer in good conscience defend a murderer or vile defendant? Hamilton is poignant and argumentatively sound. ”...you’re sworn to defend all persons who seek your guidance and help. Defending does not mean defending a person who has confessed his guilt, for such a person is deserving of the best efforts being advanced on his behalf from the point of view of sentencing and your obligation is to advise accordingly. However, the fact that he admits to committing the offence does not necessarily mean he’s guilty as there may be defences available to such an accused, for example selfdefence or accidents.....” He then cautions, “Until that admission is made Counsel should never, never, make his own conclusion on the question of guilt.” And his counsel to legal dilettantes and even the most seasoned professional is invaluable. It is all inscribed in lucid terms: Understand the jury, immediately address spurious and tainted information that seep into the media, secure the least prejudicial venue to have a case adjudicated, and so on. There are also unlikely wiles to derail the prosecution’s poise and strategy. Hamilton’s lessons will etch into the mind of the legal aspirant: ”Never be overwhelmed by the preponderance of evidence
The book cover of Born to Defend against your client, who may be speaking the truth, and always visit the locus in quo (place in question), as this gives you an advantage over the Prosecution if they fail to go and it gives you one up on the Crown witness, who will be astounded by your knowledge and being unsure of how much you know, cannot run the risk of lying.” Fortuitously, Hamilton’s work is not encumbered by Latin etymologies. He speaks to the reader - to all of us - without pedantry. And it is this pedestrian catechism - without airs - that hoists Born to Defend into the genre of epistemology. Hamilton, for all his Solomonic acumen remains markedly humble and gratuitous, acknowledging his mentors, notably, Ian Ramsey and Basil Rowe. Even
an unlikely stranger who touched his life in a small but meaningful way, long before his celebrity, is not forgotten. Unfortunately, the existential value of this work can be easily overlooked by the intriguing narration of Hamilton’s legal battles. What an egregious blunder that would be. Feed back : glenville ashby @gmail . com Follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby Born to Defend by Howard Randolph Hamilton, QC, CD, JP Publisher: Selecto Publications Limited, 2012 ISBN 978-976-8050-342 Available: Amazon.com Rating: Essential
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 25
My column
Let us not ignore the fundamentals For some time now I have been noticing that increasingly young people are unable to read or write. This was a phenomenon that was common to old people way back when I was a little boy. And people expected it from the older people, many of whom had come from a foreign land and for whom English was certainly not their main language. And if they were indeed born in Guyana they did so at a time when girls were not supposed to get an education and when young boys were expected to help their parents in the world of work to earn a few more cents to keep the pot boiling. Even when secondary education was a paid for commodity, the primary education was of a standard that some of the young people left the school and became teachers on the recommendation of the head teacher. Such was the situation that Guyana was said to have the highest literacy level in the Caribbean, to the extent that those who went on to secondary school and then left to further their education found that they were expected
to do well. I still hear the words of Professor Rex Nettleford. “Guyanese always do well”. At the time I was at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies and indeed, Guyanese always did well. There were Professor Harry Anamunthadoo, God rest his soul; Professor Charles Denbow; Dr Clarence Kirton; all of them lecturing at the University. And they all remembered Frank Campbell getting the first distinction in Communication. This trend was the same everywhere. Once you came from Guyana you were bright and even the people with whom you studied expected you to top them. I still recall my utter shock several years ago when a friend complained to me that during house-to-house registration exercises many young people resorted to thumbprints. I had refused to believe at first and I said that this might have been the case in those depressed areas where the children were left to fend for themselves from an early age. But this friend informed me that this was not the case, that almost in
every corner there were people who could not read or write. I then wrote something about this and held numerous discussions with various Education Ministers, and there was acknowledgement that there is a problem in the education system. I later learnt that there were numerous factors that combined to create this situation. One of them had to do with the fact that many schools placed their best teachers in the higher forms and the worst in the lower forms. I suppose it made sense to the head teachers who felt that the best teachers were the ones who would get results at the external examinations. However, it perhaps never crossed the minds of these head teachers that unless the child had a sound foundation then when he or she reached the higher forms the performance would be just as bad and the success anticipated would not be achieved. Another factor had to do with parents who sincerely believed that the teachers would have to do everything;
that they, the parents, only had to provide food, clothing and shelter. In my younger days, every parent knew that it was important to ensure that the child pick up a book. Those who were reluctant to pick up that book felt the pain of being disobedient to the parent. Then there was the magic box called television. Those who had those boxes in their homes simply allowed the child to sit in front of them at every opportunity. This was supposed to keep the child out of trouble. The result is that we have an entire generation incapable of even reasoning. These are the gunmen and the prostitutes who believe that their chosen path is the only way to make money. This malady is not confined to the streets. There are also young people seeking jobs as reporters and nurses and policemen and soldiers and office workers. They can read a little, but they simply cannot translate what they read. These are the people who now have people calling the various newspapers and television stations to complain about
the bad language, the mistakes in basic advertisements, and the other ills that are presented to the public. I am sure, however, that this trend can be reversed. The government has injected millions over the years to effect literacy programmes countrywide. The next step is for the schools to ensure that the better teachers are placed in the lower forms so that the children could be properly taught. It is not going to make
Adam Harris sense to ask parents to focus a bit on the children because as the saying goes, “Boat gone a falls can’t tun back.”
Page 26
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
A national discourse on education is needed
By Breeanka West and Cynthia Rutherford, AFC Youth Members The Alliance for Change (AFC) wishes to congratulate the top performers at the 2013 sittings of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). The AFC acknowledges and commends their hard work and that of their parents, teachers and other tutors; it has paid off. It is important to note that while you have completed one journey, it is also only the beginning of another, as some of you may embark upon the world of work and others, the advancement of your education. The AFC also extends congratulations to those students who sat the respective examinations and weren’t in the top bracket. As
former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said, “Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want. Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having”. With that being said, we encourage you to continue to pursue your education, as education is important for the development of one’s self, family, nation and also the alleviation of poverty. While we congratulate our students, the AFC is concerned and would like to know how many students did not gain at least six passes. We are very concerned about the Math and English grades which are the core subjects. Passes for English A were recorded at 45.69 percent marking an increase compared to last year’s 37.02 percent, while passes for Mathematics were recorded at 28.92 percent representing a decrease from
last year’s 29.69 percent pass rate. These show need for improvement. Much emphasis needs to be placed on Mathematics, with attention being focused on what might be the issues causing the decline in pass rate; whether it is teaching techniques, available resources or environment, since without knowing the cause of the problem, no remedy can be sought. We at the AFC see this as just another hurdle, that when we work together, can be overcome, paving the way for a brighter future and a better Guyana. Another famous U.S. President John F Kennedy once said “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.” We, the AFC, strongly believe that the young people are the nation’s most valuable
resource and as such more can be and must be done to address the aforementioned steady decline of passes in Mathematics. The youths of Guyana deserve the best education the country has to offer and that means educators need to get together around the table to determine what needs to be done and how to get it done. The AFC’s Action Plan had outlined some of the party’s ideas and proposals, but at the end of the day, the educators, student councilors, and schools’ management professionals need to be the ones fine tuning these ideas and adding to them. We think there is need for a national discourse of educators. The AFC’s Action Plan had suggested: • A comprehensive review of the education system from Nursery to University to ensure that educational and
management methods are effective and relevant for students in all regions. • Introduce special courses on conflict resolution and cultural and religious understanding and tolerance. • An approach to education that fosters active, interdisciplinary life-long learning and offers traditional and non-traditional subjects in schools. • Give students the ability to access new skills and knowledge on their own initiative through information technology. • Re-introduce a scholarship scheme to reward the brightest and the best with the opportunity to realize their dreams. • Train teachers to use teaching methods that recognise that there are many ways of defining intelligence and that each child has a special intelligence and motivation which teachers,
parents and others working with children have an obligation to discover and build upon. • Shift the focus of education from memorization of subject matter to developing a range of problem-solving skills including written and verbal communication, mathematical, artistic, foreign language and ICT skills and emphasizing the ability to solve problems through critical thinking. • Implement civics and life-skills programmes beginning in primary school to equip students with a strong sense of self-worth, improved social skills, and a sense of civic responsibility and empowerment. • Introduce quality out of school sporting, recreational, cultural, entrepreneurial and other programmes from primary to secondary school
Sunday August 18, 2013
SUNDAY SPECIAL AMAILA LEFT HANGINGAFTER SITHE PULLOUT …APNU’S OBJECTIONS WERE NEVER ADDRESSED BY GOVT. – GREENIDGE The future of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project remains uncertain and while President Donald Ramotar has assured that Government will try its best to keep the project alive, there are still a number of critical questions that remain unanswered, even as the project developers have decided to withdraw. Sithe Global, the developers who acquired the licence for the project from Makeswhar ‘Fip’ Motilall’s Synergy Holdings Inc, last week Saturday officially announced that they are pulling out from the project. The company said that this was being done because there was not unanimous support from all three of the political parties in Parliament. “We today, reluctantly announce our withdrawal from the project,” a statement from Sithe Global indicated. According to the statement, the project was supported by the Alliance for Change (AFC), the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/ C) and all non-partisan organizations that reviewed the project. “However it was not supported unanimously by all three political parties, a necessary prerequisite to the project receiving international funds required to complete it.” GPHC MATERNAL DEATH…EXPERT COMMITTEE FINDS NEGLIGENCE, POOR MANAGEMENT IN CARE DELIVERED An Expert Committee that was tasked with investigating the June 4 maternal death of 28-year-old Luan Rodney at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has determined that there was negligence and poor management on the part of both doctors and nurses who attended to the woman. This disclosure was made by Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, under whose purview the investigation was conducted. Rodney, who was reportedly overdue, was admitted to the hospital one day earlier to deliver her second child but died as a result of a ruptured uterus, resulting in hypovolemic shock. MONDAY EDITION PRESIDENT
Kaieteur News
CONSULTING WITH OPPOSITION LEADER TO SAVE AMAILA - GRANGER WON’T BUDGE UNLESS FULLY INFORMED President Donald Ramotar is still optimistic
Ram in his analysis, has since said that “since the executive arm of the state is not in recess, there is no reason why it should not be working feverishly to address not only the problems identified by the CFATF but to identify any other
Page 27
President Donald Ramotar has reacted to the negative vote by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which forced the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project developers, Sithe Global, to pull out, by emphasizing that the nation
hours, during a routine search of the cargo which was destined for the United States of America via the charter service, Amerijet. Reports are that police ranks at the airport, observed the shipper acting in a suspicious manner and decided to check the cargo. According to a source, the ranks painstakingly cut open several ochroes and stumbled upon some of the drugs which were neatly packed in one of the vegetables. This encouraged them to continue cutting open the hundreds of ochroes and sure enough more cocaine was discovered. WEDNESDAY EDITION JURY FOREMAN IN LUSIGNAN MASSACRE TRIAL BARRED FOR LIFE - DID NOT INFORM COURT NIGEL HUGHES WAS ONCE HIS LAWYER
about the chances of saving the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. In a statement released last Sunday, Ramotar disclosed that he still thinks the project can be saved and that he is engaged in talks with Opposition Leader David Granger to do so. Granger subsequently confirmed with Kaieteur News that the President did contact him last Sunday morning around 07:00hrs. Granger said that during the telephone conversation, he made it clear that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s position has not changed. GUYANAFACES REAL RISK OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS – CHRIS RAM Eminent Chartered Accountant and Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, believes that Guyana now faces a very real possibility of attracting sanctions from the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF), given that the nation is poised to miss the extended deadline it was afforded to comply with its recommendations. Ram’s latest analysis of the money laundering debacle, comes after the National Assembly has officially begun its annual recess, but not before a Special Select Committee voted to defer considering amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation. That Committee voted to defer the consideration of the amendments until October even as CFAFT had warned of an August 26 deadline, prior to its next plenary consideration in November.
deficiencies in the law and its consistency with the Constitution.” Ram said that it would not be in Guyana’s best interest to attract the sanctions by the Regulator. He suggested that not only the Bank of Nova Scotia, but indeed every other bank operating in Guyana with c o r r e s p o n d e n t banking relationships in North America, could be particularly hard hit. The US Regulator has the power to impose conditions and even prohibit US financial institutions from transacting with correspondents in a designated jurisdiction. TUESDAY EDITION FALLOUT FROM SITHE PULL OUT…US$80M FROM NORWAY IN JEOPARDY
is still in danger of losing more money. According to Ramotar, the US$80M that Guyana earned from Norway is in real danger of being lost, since this was to be injected into the Hydro Electric project as part of Guyana’s equity. Ramotar, in an address to the nation Monday, lamented also that the US$15M already spent to build the access road, along with the amounts still to be paid contractually to complete the road, would have been effectively wasted. COCAINE FOUND IN OCHRO SHIPMENTAT CJIA A Campbellville man was arrested Monday when an undisclosed amount of cocaine was found in a shipment of ochroes at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. The drug was unearthed around 15:00
Justice Navindra Singh Tuesday sent a strong warning to future jurors, after he barred for life the jury foreman who sat on the Lusignan massacre trial a few weeks ago. The judge took the position after juror Vernon Griffith failed to inform the court that he was once the client of Nigel Hughes. Hughes during the trial had represented one of the defendants James Hyles called “Sally”. Hyles along with Mark Royden Williams were both found not guilty of eleven counts of murder, in relation to the 2008 incident in Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. In a packed courtroom Tuesday morning with other jurors who were waiting to be empanelled, Justice Singh asked Griffith whether he had worked at the National Bank
for Industry and Commerce (now Republic Bank), and if he had filed a civil motion in the High Court. According to Griffith, he did work there. Griffith took some time to actually come out and say that it was Nigel Hughes who had represented him. After this revelation, the judge inquired from Griffith why he did not come forward with the information when the court was going through the process of eliminating jurors. Griffith in response said that he did not see it as a problem, since he did not know the lawyer personally. Justice Singh told the juror that he was lucky that the time had elapsed for him being charged for being in contempt of Court. “What you did was highly improper and if you are to ever be called as a juror in any matter you will be jailed,” Justice Singh warned. The judge also made it clear to Griffith that if he is to change his address he should inform the court. Anna Regina Multilateral tops CSEC; President’s College leads CAPE Two girls from the Cinderella County of Essequibo have continued their friendly academic rivalry and emerged to become the country’s top performers at this year ’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. The two Anna Regina Mu l t i l a t e r a l students secured an astonishing 18 grade ones. Zimeena Rasheed, the former C.V. Nunes Primary School Student who secured fifth position at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) six years ago, is now (Continued on page 37)
Page 28
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
The great leap backwards at Port Mourant General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Donald Ramotar took a great leap backwards at the 30th Congress of the People’s Progressive Party on 2nd August at Port Mourant. Ramotar ’s rambling, vituperative tirade is a threat to the prospect of inclusionary and participatory democracy. It is a grave disappointment to citizens who had any interest in fostering national unity. Ramotar had the opportunity at the PPP’s first congress in five years to mend his broken party, repair his own damaged presidential record and recapture public support. He lost it. He went instead on an unapologetic and uncompromising offensive against the Opposition in the National Assembly, the free media and former members who dared to criticise the Party. Ramotar, addressing congress delegates, seemed never to have understood the difference between the quality of statesmanship required of a national leader and the
variety of showmanship displayed by rookie officeseekers. Ramotar’s attacks on the National Assembly, however, will hurt, rather than help to nurture him through the remainder of his neuralgic presidency. He did not understand that the congress could have been an occasion to encourage party members to see the need to pursue a more cooperative and collaborative approach with the parliamentary majority. He did not understand that, unless he has a guarantee of the perpetual support of the Alliance For Change, some accommodation will be have to be made in order to secure the agreement of A Partnership for National Unity for the passage of legislation of interest to all sides and the entire nation. He did not understand what the British call Healey’s first law of politics, that is, “When you are in a hole, stop digging.” So, he kept on. Ramotar characterised the National Assembly as “a
wound on the body politic of our nation…that is festering and reopening every time a sensible, moral and costed development project is stalled because the Opposition wants to hold back progress or the cheap publicity or promoting agendas inimical to our people.” This absurdity set the tone for what might well be seen as the single most damaging address of his career. The PPP’s big disappointment has been its deserved loss of the parliamentary majority in the November 2011 general and regional elections. The Party, since then, has complained of having been “tried and tested by the one-seat majority of the opposition APNU and AFC in the National Assembly.” No amount of invective will change that reality. Ramotar’s description of the opposition as “those who seek to reduce our parliament to a farce and impede our efforts to invest in our future” and his belief that the opposition was “crippling Guyana” and that it had taken
a “nonsensical” stance on development, are irresponsible and imprudent. They have the potential to pollute the political atmosphere and damage the prospect of dialogue between APNU and the PPPC. Ramotar’s allegations that the Opposition in the National Assembly “tried to use Parliament to block social and economic progress” are simply false. His claim that the Opposition “voted down the solar panel project for people in the interior stopping Amerindian communities from enjoying basic services to which all people are entitled [and that it] voted down Amerindian Land Titling stopping people in those communities from developing their own projects and creating their own wealth” is a dangerous fallacy. Vishwa Mahadeo, Chairman of the PPP’s East Berbice-Corentyne Region and himself a Member of the National Assembly, gave his full support to Ramotar’s onslaught on the Opposition.
Mahadeo denounced the present parliamentary dispensation as being characterised by constant deadlock and was essentially “non-functioning.” He referred to APNU and the AFC as “vicious predators” who aimed to destroy development. Ramotar then directed his wrath to former PPP Central Committee members Hari Narayen “Ralph” Ramkarran and Moses Nagamootoo. Both were Ramotar’s rivals who nurtured hopes of winning the PPP’s nomination as presidential candidate for the 2011 general and regional elections. Both, however, subsequently resigned from the Party. Ramotar contended that both of them benefitted materially from the party for several years. He accused them of “jealousy and rejection at previous congresses” which led them to abandon the party in a “flurry of lies.” Ramotar, still in attack mode, then snarled at the independent press. He
accused both Stabroek News and Kaieteur News of being exploiters of “racial and class hate.” The Stabroek News, he said, had been founded at the hands of a “colonial sympathiser.” That newspaper, as a result, had as its main objective the targeting of the PPP and the promotion of what he called a “colonial ideal.” There is no doubt that Donald Ramotar’s historic address to the 30th Congress of the People’s Progressive Party has been a great leap backwards for governance and a measurable movement away from the goal of national unity. Guyana at this time needs to find a path forward to civil discourse and to collaboration among all parties, civil society and nongovernmental organizations, in order to contribute to national development. Guyana needs an open door to “inclusionary democracy” as prescribed by the Constitution. The PPP congress at Port Mourant shut the door and turned off the lights.
Sunday August 18, 2013
From page 27 the country’s top CSEC performer with 18 grade ones and 2 grade twos. She is believed to be the first ever student to write 20 subjects at one sitting. Rasheed was followed by former classmate of the C.V. Nunes Primary School, and Guyana’s top NGSA student of 2008, Yogeeta Persaud, who secured a perfect 18 grade ones. The results were announced Tuesday morning by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand who travelled to Essequibo for that specific purpose. She also unveiled then too that Shalita Appadu is this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) top student making President’s College proud. Appadu, who is not new to academic success, obtained six Grade Ones in Chemistry Unit 2; Biology Unit 2; Communication Studies; Caribbean Studies; Management of Business; Economics Unit 2; and one Grade Two in Economics Unit 1. During a brief interview with this publication an elated Appadu wittily joked that she does not know how someone would obtain Grade One in Economics Unit 2 and a Grade Two in Economics Unit 1. Two years ago, the Auchlyne Estate, Corentyne girl secured the top spot in the country alongside a student of Queen’s College at Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC). THURSDAY EDITION WOMAN FLEESAFTER BEATINGREPUTED HUSBAND TO DEATH A 23-year old Plaisance, East Coast Demerara woman is on the run after she allegedly battered her reputed husband to death early Wednesday morning, leaving her 10-month-old baby behind. Thirty-five year-old Clifford Singh called ‘Yaka’ was found dead in front of his yard on Prince William Street, Plaisance, around 01:50 hours, minutes after he and his reputed wife Dacia Alida Bourne were seen fighting. The murder brought a tragic but not unexpected end to an abusive three-year relationship between the couple, and is yet another deadly case of domestic violence. On this occasion it was a male victim, however, within recent weeks there were several incidents of domestic violence in which females and children were the victims. WORLD RENOWNED SCIENTIST CALLS FOR
Kaieteur News
FULL DISCLOSURE ON AMAILA …wants President to set up task force to create national energy policy Renowned scientist, Professor Suresh Narine, has called on Head of State Donald Ramotar to urgently convene a non-partisan Presidential Task Force to come up with an energy policy for Guyana. He said that there should also be a public two-day forum set up where the populace can be adequately briefed, and discuss the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project. Dr Narine was at the time presenting the findings of a working group on energy development in Guyana to the National Economic Forum held at the Guyana International Conference Centre Wednesday. He said that the energy policy is critical, given that 94 per cent of Guyana’s energy is imported, coupled with the national fallout over the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, and along with the fact that oil prices are projected to increase to prohibitive heights in the future. He stated that expensive energy is the single largest hindrance to Guyana’s development. FRIDAY EDITION GUNMAN GRABS $17M, GUNS, AMMO FROM TOOLSIE PERSAUD EMPLOYEES - ACCOUNTS CLERKS, GUARDS DETAINED Police on Thursday grilled four employees of local hardware giant, Toolsie Persaud Limited, who claimed that a lone gunman relieved them of $17M in broad daylight. The staffers also claimed that the bandit relieved two company guards
of their firearms during the heist, which occurred at around 13:00 hours Thursday at Sussex and Charles Streets, Charlestown. But investigators appear to believe that the incident has all the hallmarks of an inside job and detained the employees with a view to picking up clues on the robbery. According to reports, accounts clerks Jonathan Dookie, 21, and 57year-old Dewan Chand of Toolsie, who were accompanied by two armed security guards, were on their way to a Water Street bank in a pickup when they were forced to stop at Sussex and Charles Streets, Charlestown, to avoid hitting a pedestrian. According to sources, the staffers claimed that the same ‘pedestrian’ then drew a firearm and pointed it at one of the armed guards, who is also employed as a driver. It is alleged that the gunman then relieved the employees of some $16.9 million, a loaded .32 Taurus p i s t o l a n d . 3 2 Ta u r u s revolver. He reportedly then escaped in a silvergrey car. But Kaieteur News understands that persons who were in the area at the time claimed that they did not see when the men were robbed. Some only observed the employees running and saying that they had been robbed. PUBLIC WORKS TAKES SWIFT ACTIONS AGAINST DELINQUENT CONTRACTORS The Public Works Ministry has terminated a multi-million-dollar sea defence contract that was undertaken by Toolsie Persaud Quarries Inc., in Leguan; and suspended the contract for M&B Construction carrying out
Page 37
works in Wakenaam. This is according to the Government Information Agency (GINA) in a press release issued on behalf of the Ministry Thursday. SATURDAY EDITION PRESIDENT SEEKS COMMON GROUND WITH APNU ON AMAILA… ‘LET US MEET TO ONCE AND FOR ALL SETTLE THESE ISSUES’ In a statement issued by President Donald Ramotar on Friday evening concerning the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, the Head of State indicated that his government is willing to meet with officials from A Partnership for National Unity
(APNU) to find consensus on the important national venture. The following is the full text of the statement: “Earlier this week, I spoke of how I was urging a national consensus in support of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project, and of how it was time to put partisan politics aside in the interests of Guyanese for generations to come. To w a r d s t h a t e n d , I spoke with the Leader of t h e O p p o s i t i o n , M r. G r a n g e r, w h o s a i d t h a t APNU would only be able to change their position on Amaila if their outstanding issues were resolved. M r. G r a n g e r s a i d – privately and publicly that APNU would be stating those issues publicly through a definitive Press Statement on Monday. APNU have now issued their definitive statement. APNU’s statement identifies the two main issues which are currently preventing them from supporting the Amaila Falls project: - APNU’s belief that the Amaila Falls project is likely to “condemn Guyanese to excessive indebtedness” - APNU’s belief that the Amaila Falls project will not “provide assurance that the final cost of power to the consumer will be appreciably lower than the current tariff” I agree with APNU that these two issues are the most important ones. They are easy to resolve. Therefore, to help build consensus on these two
outstanding points, I suggest that Mr. Granger’s team and a team from the Government meet to once and for all settle these issues, and to publicly communicate the meeting’s outcomes. Amaila project conceived from beginning - Greenidge
illthe
At a symposium held by the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) with input from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Friday evening, former Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge with the support of Professor Clive Thomas opined that the Amaila Falls Hydro project had been illconceived from the beginning. “Amaila has to be part of a bigger system,” Greenidge stated. According to the former Finance Minister, the project should never have been a stand-alone project and instead should have been one in a cluster of hydro projects that would utilize the extremely costly transmission line that would feed the electricity from the interior to the national grid. Professor Thomas reminded of the fact that by 2019 the demand for electricity would outstrip the supply from Amaila. This, he said, would inherently drive up the cost charged to the consumer on top of the excessively high cost to build the project. The 165MW Amaila Falls Hydro Electric project - as currently proposed - stands at US$858M or US$5.1M per megawatt.
Page 38
Kaieteur News
Exercise may cut endometrial cancer risk for heavy women Overweight and obese women who get plenty of exercise may have a lower risk of endometrial cancer than if they were sedentary, according to new research. Strenuous and moderate physical activity were linked to lowered risk for heavy women, but there was no association between activity level and endometrial cancer risk for thinner women, Christina M. Dieli-Conwright of the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in Duarte, California, and her colleagues found. “Physical activity is a good thing, however its involvement in reducing the risk specifically with endometrial cancer does need to be further investigated,” Dieli-Conwright told Reuters Health. While the evidence is strong that both vigorous and moderate physical activity can reduce breast cancer risk, she added, “with endometrial cancer it’s not so straightforward.” Some past studies have already linked increased physical activity to reduced endometrial cancer risk, she and her colleagues note in their report, published in the British Journal of Cancer. To investigate whether a woman’s body size might influence that relationship, the researchers looked at 93,888 participants in the California Teachers Study, 976 of whom were diagnosed with endometrial cancer between study enrollment in 1995-1996 and the end of 2007. Heavier women who reported at least three hours a week of strenuous recreational physical activity at the beginning of the study had a 24 percent lower risk of developing endometrial cancer over the next dozen years compared to women who got less than half an hour of vigorous exercise each week, the researchers found. But the same relationship was not seen for normal-weight women. “Physical activity seems to be more strongly associated with lower risk of endometrial cancer in overweight or obese women,” Dr. Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, told Reuters Health.
“We know that one of the strongest risk factors for endometrial cancer is obesity, so when we think of the ability to mitigate any of the excess risk through physical activity, I think that’s a very positive message,” said Patel, who studies exercise and cancer prevention but did not take part in the new study. There are two mechanisms through which exercise might reduce endometrial cancer risk, Patel added - by helping women lose weight and by directly reducing circulating estrogen levels. “Even in the absence of weight loss, here we’re seeing that there’s a positive value of being physically active to your risk of endometrial cancer,” she said. Although the connection was not seen among normal-weight women, Patel said, other studies - including her own research - have suggested exercise benefits them too. The new study “definitely provides a bit more in terms of that collective evidence base to be able to understand that relation between physical activity and endometrial cancer risk,” she said. (Reuters)
Caffeine in diet supplements all over the map The amount of caffeine in diet supplements varies widely and product labels are often inaccurate or have no caffeine information at all, according to a new study of supplements sold on military bases. Although the caffeine doses probably wouldn’t be a problem on their own, they may cause issues when the pills or powders are combined with energy drinks, coffee and other high-caffeine food and beverages, researchers said. “Consumers really have no idea when they’re purchasing supplements what’s in them, even if they carefully read the label,” said Dr. Pieter Cohen from Harvard Medical School in Boston, who worked on the new study. He and his colleagues analyzed the caffeine content of 31 dietary supplements sold on military bases that are known to have added caffeine or herbal ingredients that naturally contain caffeine. Eleven of the supplements listed herbal ingredients, and all of those had no caffeine or only minimal traces, the research team reported this week in JAMA Internal Medicine. Among the other 20 products, nine had labels with accurate caffeine information. Another five had varying caffeine contents that were either much lower or higher than the
amount listed on the label. The remaining six products did not have caffeine levels on their labels, but had very high amounts according to the chemical analysis - between 210 and 310 milligrams per serving. In comparison, an eight-ounce cup of coffee has about 100 mg of caffeine. Those levels are especially worrisome for military service members abroad, he said, because side effects of caffeine such as tremors and anxiety may hit them extra hard due to the stressful environment. Too much caffeine, according to Cohen, “could push one over from just being a little on edge to having a full-blown panic attack.” One limitation of the study was that the researchers only tested one of each supplement. Because of that, Cohen, who is also an internist at Cambridge Health Alliance, said it wouldn’t be right to call out any single company on its products. What stood out to him was how common inaccurate labeling or lack of information was, across the board. “When we look at the totality of products that have caffeine in them that are consumed on military bases, half the bushel is rotten,” he told Reuters Health. A spokesperson for GNC, which produces and sells diet and nutritional supplements, told Reuters Health in an email, “We believe that all GNC brand labeling is appropriate as to ingredients and dosage. (Reuters)
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 39
Page 40
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Timehri residents unconvinced... From page 9 said team visited Lands and Survey Commission and they too were unaware of anything being done at Yarrowkabra. He said they seemed to have no idea what he was talking about. The community chairman reiterated that Timehri residents are not opposed to moving if the government says that they are in the way of progress; that is the airport expansion, they however oppose the plan to dump them in an area where they will have to start their lives over from ground up. He charged that if the needs of the Timehri residents
are not met they will not be moving. He added that Timehri residents are eyeing the situation with residents of Khali Road – a community also in close proximity to the airport. Khali is located in line with the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. Like the Timehri residents, those in Khali road were also squatting until their area was regularized some years ago. Fraser said that the lands that the people own in Timehri are worth millions of dollars, while they are well aware of the positive economic possibilities the property
promises. He charged that residents remain resolute in the stance against their moving if there is no just and fair compensation. Minister Benn had told media workers in July that more than 400 house lots were being considered at Yarrowkabra, to relocate families squatting in Timehri North. He said the government would not be building any houses, but the land is being made available for persons to relocate and build their own homes. He said that an airport committee, comprising airport officials, the Works
Ministry, Civil Aviation, Lands and Surveys, Local Government, Housing Ministry and the area’s Regional Democratic Council, is dealing with the relocation programme. At least 75 homes are in critical areas needed for the airport expansion. The government says that as part of its development works for the country, the airport will be extended to accommodate larger planes, with better facilities being put in place. They said too that the airport would be able to accommodate the influx of travelers.
Page 51
Deadline for UG applications is midnight Persons who wish to apply to the University of Guyana have until midnight tonight, Sunday August 18, 2013, to do so. Kashka St. Hillaire, the institute’s Assistant Registrar said that after an opening ceremony to usher in a hopefully productive 2013-2014 academic year, on Friday August 23, the first semester will commence on Monday August 26, 2013. The ceremony will be held at 17:00hrs at the George Walcott Lecture Theatre. Both the new and continuing students are invited. Hillaire, via press release, reminded that those who had applied to university pending the outcome of their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination need to take in their results in order to complete their application. Persons can visit the UG website- www.uog.edu.gy to view the available programmes. “The University of Guyana congratulates all the successful students who wrote the 2013 CSEC examinations, on completing this first stage of their future career,” the statement added.
Page 52
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Anna Regina Multilateral making massive impact in academic arena By Sharmain Grainger Close observation by teachers, coupled with a strategic move to place them where they are best suited, has played a major role in taking Anna Regina Multilateral School to where it currently is – at the pinnacle and continuing to achieve amazing results at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. The institution’s understandably proud headmaster, Lalljeet Ruplall, said the school has been consistently doing well, which he attributes not only to the fact that there is an unrivalled level of camaraderie among teachers, but that efforts are continually made to ensure that “teachers teach.” This is a task that he undertakes with his Deputy, Boadnarine Harinarine. Ruplall explained that what has proven to be most
effective in ensuring quality teaching is offered at the school is a move towards ‘clinical diagnoses’ of teachers, a practice that has been ongoing for quite a few years. This entails Heads of Departments sitting-in during lessons and observing their teachers’ tutoring styles while at the same time identifying their strengths and weaknesses. “This has been working for us, because in doing this we are able to place our teachers where they are most competent to operate.” Over the years the school has been producing outstanding students, which is already evident this year, although an analysis of the school’s performance has not yet been completed. However, over the past decade the school has consistently averaged a 90 per cent pass rate. The country’s top two CSEC performers - Zimeena Anna Regina Multilateral’s Headmaster Lalljeet Ruplall is surrounded in this collage by 25 members of the teaching staff. Rasheed and Yogeeta Persaud – attend the school. So impressive were the girls’ performances that the Ministry, in a novel move, ventured to Region Two to unveil the results. The two 16year-olds each secured 18 great one passes, with Rasheed securing grade twos in two additional subjects. This is easily the most subjects a single candidate has undertaken over the years and I am sure CXC is again taking careful note of Guyana. Last year, too, it was Anna Regina reigning supreme, in the person of Sarah Hakh, who topped the country with 16 grade one passes. She also went on to be named the most outstanding performer by CXC, effectively ending the envied streak of Queen’s
College, and proving that with a similar focus other schools can excel. But although it was not always Anna Regina making the headlines in the past, Ruplall assures that the school has for many years been churning out exceptional performers. He recounted that in 2001, 2007 and 2008, the school had some of the country’s top achievers - David Gooray (2001), Safraz Sharief (2007) and Rahul Lall (2008) - all of whom were presented with prizes for securing the best CSEC results for junior secondary schools. Since the Anna Regina Multilateral School is not a sixth form institution it is not categorised as a senior secondary. But Ruplall emphasises that this has not
stopped the school from reaching ‘higher heights’, even as he disclosed that students hailing from the school are known to excel even at the tertiary level. With a batch of 47 competent teachers, Ruplall said that earnest efforts are made to cater to the specific learning needs of the 1000-odd student population. “If children come in with outstanding ability, we work with them as we do with those who need the additional help.” He disclosed that remedial classes in Mathematics and English are conducted at least once per week. Added to this, he said that students are constantly encouraged to practice doing past exam papers in (continued on page 53)
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 53
High Court trial for man accused of taxi driver’s murder After more than two years on the run a man accused of murdering a taxi driver before dumping his body has been committed to stand trial in the High Court. Stephen Campbell, of 5 Number Seven Village, East Coast Berbice, who is accused of murdering taxi driver Trevor Kissoon, between June 9th and 10th, 2010, will have to face a judge and jury at the next sitting of the criminal assizes in Berbice. The decision was arrived at following the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry conducted at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, who found that
a prima facie case had been made out. The decision was read at a special sitting called at the Reliance Magistrate’s court. The badly battered body of taxi driver, Trevor Kissoon, 27, was found in a trench at Bramfield, No7 East Coast Berbice, around noon on June 10, 2010. Kissoon of 24 Alexander Street New Amsterdam was employed with the J&N Taxi Service in New Amsterdam. He was the driver of a Silver Grey Toyota AT motor car with licence plate number HB 7489. According to information, Kissoon, who had started to work with the Taxi service in February of the same year, was
working the 19:00 hrs to -07:00 hrs shift. On the night in question the taxi service received a call from a cell phone asking for a car to make a pick-up at the Sheet Anchor Turn in East Canje. The caller had asked for “the 212 driver”. The man had reported that he had located the customer and was heading to Rose Hall Town, where he was to make another pick-up and then drop-off at a popular hotel in New Amsterdam, before returning with the other person to Skeldon. He was to return to base to collect a spare wheel. At around 01:30 hrs, contact was made with the
driver, who had informed them that he had stopped at No19 Village because one of the guys had to load two suitcases. Subsequently the base lost contact with the driver and eventually a report was made at the Central Police Station, around 08:30 hrs on the following day. They were told that they had to wait until 24 hrs had elapsed before the missing person report could be acted upon. They then mounted a search in the Corentyne area. Kissoon’s fiancée had stated that she had spoken to him around 23:00 hrs and he told her he was at No19 and had planned to collect her and
take her to Skeldon later in the evening. But she never heard from him again. She called the base and enquired of his whereabouts, but was told that they could not locate him. He had called her from someone else’s phone. After that she did not hear from him again. She had dialed the number and someone answered and told her that he was in a house conducting some business. The person promised to take the phone to him, but never did. She subsequently boarded a car and headed up the Corentyne in search of her fiancée. She kept calling the number, the person answered a few times and after that there
Anna Regina Multilateral making ... From page 52 preparation for CSEC. Such strategies, among others, according to him, are stressed as imperatives when the school meets with its Board at least once per term. But what has proven to be most effective is the forging of partnerships between parents and the school. Ruplall explained that it has been confirmed time and again that “children whose parents show an interest in their schoolwork are the ones who perform the best.” DEFYING THE ODDS Dedication on the part of the teaching staff has also worked to address shortcomings in subject areas that have over the years yielded troubling results. English Language, Mathematics and Science (all of which the Ministry of Education has been consistently seeking to improve), are some of the key areas that the teachers of the Anna Regina Multilateral School have been paying keen attention to. However, the other subject areas are certainly not forsaken, according to Ruplall, who insisted that “achieving outstanding results requires putting in the extra work and getting the support from the relevant
stakeholders.” Speaking to the state of English Language at the school, Deoranie Ramdeen, who has been teaching the subject for close to a decade at the school, disclosed that a special effort is made to ensure that students are not left in the ‘shadows’. This, however, can be an especially tedious task when students enter the secondary level school with a less than satisfactory background in the area. She said that all teachers in the English Department are required “to put in the extra work where necessary” and opined that the ideal state of affairs is where all children leave the primary level with the ability to read and comprehend well. “If they can’t read how can they analyse? They can’t...so if this is lacking we have to get them there,” Ramdeen asserted. Getting students to an acceptable level in English is not achieved with ‘brute force’ but in a discipline and focused way, which Ramdeen said could see students viewing their teachers as role models whose style they can emulate as they develop. And the mode of operation is no different in the delivery of Mathematics lessons, although, according
to Ravinauth Boodram who has been teaching the subject since 1994, “some students come to school with a dislike for the subject.” He said that from the ‘get-go’ intervening measures must be engaged to address this challenge. And so from as early as Form One students are administered a diagnostic test which enlightens those within the Mathematics Department of the level of work that is required. “We have to get some of them to understand concepts, the syllabus, and to develop an appreciation for what they might have missed at the primary level.” This, according to him, constitutes additional work that he is only too eager to do in order for the school to yield the desired results. However, he noted that the task becomes relatively easy once students recognise their
shortcomings and are willing to accept needful and available assistance. “This sees us going beyond what even the Ministry requires us to do, as we are just satisfied once we see students grasping the ideas we teach.” And since Science is “all around us,” says Christine Beharry, who like the other Science teachers of the school, has been encouraging students to become more involved in that stream. The ardent advocacy comes even as the Ministry of Education tirelessly seeks to highlight Science as a crucial subject area. But although Science, according to her, can be applied in many areas of life, she underscored that “it takes an effective teacher to put over lessons to students in a way that they can truly appreciate the subject.”
“You have to make it simple,” she said, adding that teaching Science requires a great deal of practical work which can translate into everyday living. Beharry also intimated that her teaching styles usually incorporate humour which allows her students to not only better understand what is taught, but propel them to a trajectory of achieving outstanding grades which are consistently realised at the school.
was no response. She said that she dialed the number over 100 times. She returned to the taxi service base sometime after 02:00 hrs and stayed there until 05:10 hrs before heading home. She was at the station making a missing person report and giving a statement when someone reported that they found someone dead in a trench at the corner of the road. His relatives had also mounted a search and some time after, along with the police, they found Kissoon’s battered body next to a bridge at the side of a trench at Bramsfield, East Coast Berbice. The man’s head had been bashed in and his eyes were gouged. The police conducted diligent investigations that led to the arrest of Campbell, some two years after. Kissoon’s car was never found. The suspect lived not too far from where the body was found. Some 10 witnesses testified during the preliminary inquiry, including four police officers and Campbell’s former girlfriend. Attorney at law Mursaline Bacchus is appearing for the accused.Police Prosecutor Corporal Orin Joseph conducted the state’s case.
Page 54
Kaieteur News
SERVICES Dianne’s Bridal and Party Accessories Rentals, Decorating, Catering and Event Planning. 103 Regent Road Call: 225-8111 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115 Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool. Call: 225-9032, 647-2943
FOR SALE 500 Ton Cargo Ship with Contract- call: 687-6174 Fully vaccinated Pitbull Pups- Contact Johnny @ 628-9884 2 Heavy Duty industrial generators, 1 diesel & 1 gasoline. Costume jewellery, perfume, ladies hair etc. Call: 680-9040/ 644-8381 Mining claims- 1 River, 24 lands- Potaro River- Call:1613-797-3314 Ducklings and PigletsCall:688-7291/618-2708
E&N Beck: Welding, machining & marine parts repairs. Specialist in regrinding of crankshafts etc. Call:225-6272
1 Freight Liner Hauler, 1- 48ft trailer, 1 Low Bed (hauler & trailer)- Call:613-6979
TransponderTV: No Monthly Fees, No Hidden Fees, No Additional Charges: 250 Channels + 50 HD Channels- Call: 675-3201
300 Amps bush bar, other items and hand truckCall:627-7835
ONLINE SHOPPING ZERO COMMISSION, WEEKLY SHIPMENTS,AFFORDABLE RATES, FREE PRIVATE MAILBOX. CALL: 2315789, 225-9030 WEFILLOUTVISAFORMS: USA, UK & CANADA & CREDIT CARD SERVICES CALL: 231-5789 HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766 We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar Gentle Hands is now offering home nurses from as low as $20,000 per month- Call: 6623717 Brian Moe @642-3543: Computer Technician: Home and Office visits at your comfort!! FB:brianmoe.165 CITITECH: Computer/ printer repairs (Mac & PC) IT consultation & Network installation: 125 Light St. Alberttown, G/Town- Call: 226-0085/693-1259 FOR SALE/RENT American Pool Table - Call: 277-0578 FOR SALE
Rottweiler pups- Call:6196086
FOR SALE
VEHICLE FOR SALE
LARGE QUANTITIES O F H IGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICKSILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $15,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
2- 2007 Toyota Avensis. Call 698-0674
Empty plastic fuel drums (55gal) Contact Nicky @ 2267948/646-6000 42 inch Panasonic plasma TV- Call:622-0108
New ATVs: Introductory price $1,450,000 (Duty Free)Call:691-0234
Lovely pet/ guard Terrier pups for sale- Call:696-7467 Wedding gowns $30,000, bride’s maid & flower girl dresses from $5000, wedding cakes from $30,000- Call:6848088 Games for PS 2, $900,PSP $900, Xbox360 $2600, PS 3 $2600, call:672-2566 Fluffy Dashund pups- Call: 226-9548/ 670-2653 One double lot in AgricolaCall:629-7460/668-7917
(1) H3 CRUSHER WITH MALGUM SHEET AND INDEPENDENT WATER PUMP- CALL:695-5427
Game console for saleCall:672-2566
WE HAVE ANY SIZE AND AMOUNT OF PALMS: #1 PLANT SHOP, 70 SHERIFF ST. CALL:227-8094
Honda welder 270 amp with 15,000 watts generator, 1 Mig Welder & 02 Tundra- Call: 220-4495/ 611-5114
One used electric paint sprayer & one 25HP Evin Rude Outboard motorCall:680-9040/644-8381
1 - 210 Hondai excavator with 6 inch drudge. Located in Interior- Call:650-2391/6994059
Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 1 – Front end loader, 1 - D6D CAT bulldozer, 1-22RB dragline - Contact: 695-5427 Pure Bred Rottweiler pupsCall:650-8496 Mixed Breed pups @ reduced price- Call:2220410/653-8226 2-320 excavator , 1 - Fiat Tractor, 4 wheel drive, 3-engine, (2) 6- Cylinder complete workshop - Call: 695-5427 753 Bobcat, cement mixer, air compressor & 31KVA generator- Call:677-9155 1- 2.5 Ton Mitsubishi freezer canter newly registered. Owner leaving countryCall:629-5376 Pure bred Labrador pups, parents imported- Call:6271360
Garden Earth and Builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating clearing and leveling done- Call: 616-0617 or 663-3285 Massey, Yanmar Ford 5000 Logging/ Agriculture Tractors, parts, Loader & Ford Truck- Call: 615-1578/ 694-3595: Tools & Chainsaw668-2831
1 C AT 3 t o n p r o p p i n g forklift with 8ft extended forks, best offer- Call:6108283 or 622-2031
5 Cylinders Duets, 4 cylinders Cummins & 4 cylinders Forde Turbo- Call: 226-9076 (Between 8:00am to 5:00pm)
PLAYSTATION2 with modded memory card & 8 games. Also PS2, PS3, XBox360 games- Call:609-8132/ 672-8569 (Max)
1- 10HP Compressor, 1 smoothie machine & 2 Ice machine- call:231-0655/6838734
1 new 4 inch never used drudge $950,000, price negotiablePlease Contact:650-2391/699-4059 Sale on school clothes @ Roxie’s Fashion 301 Church & Thomas St. opposite Merriman’s mall 1 Male & 1 Female horse $160,000 (both): 1 two month old female Tebetian Terrier pup de-wormed & vaccinated- Call: 231-5160/ 678-4421 Perkins diesel engine 4.203, Kubota V1902 engine, Lincoln 300 Amp welder, Volvo Hauler for hire- Call: 660-1514 Brand name ladies and gents clothes @ ½ -3 Stabroek Market, next door to Ramesh Jewellery- Call:670-4157 Pitbull Pups- Call:683-6674 Pure bred Cane Corso Mastiff Puppies: Tail crop, have shots & ready for new homeContact Tony 623-9099 Amplifiers, Equalizers, dbxcrossover, dbx- crossover, speakers, horns, bullettwitter etc. Call: 223-6490/ 622-4700 Electric Snow Cone machines- Call: 266-2711/ 609-4594 Asphalt Roofing Shingles, pig feed, duck feed & shrimp meal- Call: 266-2711/609-4594
Sunday August 18, 2013
R1 new condition, colour red: 2005 Ford F150 fully loaded $1.8M Neg- Call:623-4045/ 689-3846
Sale! Axio: TV, DVD $3.1M Neg: Pre-order Premio $2.5M Neg- Call: 655-3400 Sale! Sale! Toyota Premio (unregistered), fully loaded $2.5M- Call: 617-2891/2202345 One Toyota Corolla PRR 2700 55km (4 months old) owner leaving country- Call: 684-4627/ 668-7917 Unregistered Mitsubishi short canter $3,250,000Call:615-7526/653-4560 Smart Choice Auto: Unregistered Premio, Allion, IST, Fielder- Call:652-3820/ 665-4529 New 2013 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabs- Call: 691-0234 One Mitsubishi Canter; late GPP series - Call: 662-8743 1- AA60 Carina- Call:6430332/689-5254 1 Mercedes Benz 1,600ccCall:227-3042/676-7291 One NZE Toyota CorollaCall:614-9060 First Class Auto: Allion, Premio, Spacio, IST, Axio, 212, Fielder, Verossa & AllexCall: 609-8188/ 602-6307 New Yamaha R1 motorcycle. 1000cc (candy red & black) recently registered 2013. Latest. double exhaust, bug light- Call:647-2491 Hilux Surf, Spacio, 212Call:666-2635 1 Leyland DAF 60 single axle & dump- Call:216-1315/6136615 Toyota Altezza, PNN, tiptronic- Call:622-0108 New Arrivals Sale!!Unregistered Toyota Sienta, Toyota IST & Mazda Axela. Lowest prices!!! Call: 6436565/226-9931 AT212 Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, A/ C, CD player, price $1.375Mcontact Rocky: 225-1400 or 621-5902 Mitsubishi Pajero (Immaculate condition); automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $2.8M- Contact Rocky: 225-1400 or 621-5902 AT170 Toyota Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, mags, CD player, price $675,000- contact Rocky: 225-1400 or 621-5902
VEHICLE FOR SALE Massey Tractor just arrived from Canada: 285MF $2.4M, 165MF $1.8M, Square Leg 135MF $1.3M- Call: 682-5230/ 628-9596 Cheapest- Premio, Spacio, Hilux, Stick Gear Buses- Call: 616-7635 1 Toyota- AT192, AT212, Ceres, Vitz, Raum, EP71 Starlet, Hilux Pickup Solid DEF, Tacoma- Call: 644-5096/ 697-1453 1 Toyota Premio (old model): A/C, fully powered. Excellent condition $1.2M- Call:613-5308 1AE91 (EFI)- Call:265-4346 1 AT170 Carina: Rims, CD, AC, top condition $700,000Call: 675-0724 One 2006 Toyota Tacoma GPP fully accessorized: Excellent condition- Call:6472783/ 644-6066/ 269-1231 Used Nissan Sunny 2002 model with 15" alloy wheels, DVD player, alarm leather interior $1.3M- Call:269-0210/ 625-6833 Brand new Mitsubishi Lancer 2005 model, white with alloy wheels, CD. Bargain price, never registeredCall:269-0210/625-6833 1 Model M with winch GPP series, 1 3RZ Hilux, 1 RZ minibus- Call:627-8551 2005 Nissan Bluebird Sylphy: CD player, alarm & rims, PPP series- Call: 681-3728 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky : 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota Tundra (new model) Bubble back, automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $3.1MContact Rocky : 621-5902 or 225-1400 1 Toyota single cab 4×4 Solid DEF with winch: Price $2.2MContact Rocky 621-5902 or 225-1400 1 Toyota Hilux extra cab (5LDiesel). Manual, fully loaded $3.1M- Contact Rocky 6215902 or 225-1400 1 Toyota Ceres (4 door car). Automatic, fully powered, mags, alarm $800,000Contact Rocky 621-5902 or 225-1400 Quantum Auto: Spacio, Premio & new model Raum with Alloy wheel & dark interior: Excellent conditionCall: 624-7684/617-2378
TO LET Harmony Inn: Apartments fully furnished, airconditioned apartments: $5000 per night- Call:6680306/602-8769/694-7817 Fully furnished Vacation home with all amenities- Call during working hours- 227-1218 Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call:6797139 Secret Villa Apartments, fully furnished self contained apartmentsCall:266-5243/228-6337/ 223-0994 Two bedrooms furnished apartment US$50 per dayCall:665-2548 Rooms- Call:225-3234/2259223 Diamond $35,000, Bel-Air $75,000- US$1200, Lamaha Gardens US$2000- Call Diana @ 227-2256/626-9382 TOURS SURINAME CARIFESTA (August 16-25) Packages: Accommodations & transportation. French Guiana Manaus, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago- Tel:2316663/ Cell:619-0705
LAND FOR SALE Parfaite Harmonie $1M & $1.2M- Call:675-7292 Transported land 58’×30’ at Garnett and Republic streets- Call:601-6000 Kuru Kururu 20 acres farm house & creek, 18 acres with creek & 26 acres with creekCall:261-5500/643-1861 At Bachelor’s Adventure on E.C.D- Call:680-5944 House lots 50’×118’ New Hope, E.B.D: Serious enquires only. No prices on phone- Call: 266-2711/6094594 2369.664 Sq/ft of land @ Victoria village, E.C.D- Call: 225-2626/225-3068 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content Mahaicony, E.C.D: US$175,000: Call: 813-3194219: rpooran@ tampabay.rr.com (Continued on page 56)
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 55
Ravi Dev Column
“Who gets what, when and how” Politics is said to be about “who gets what, when and how”. Every couple of years, for over two decades, we have been reminding our politicians that they ignore the consequences of this process at their peril. Now that the PPP’s Political Declaration of its 30th Congress declared: “We recognise that ethnic insecurities are real and that any political solution must address these insecurities and build trust and confidence among our people,” we hope that our proposal on the distributive question fuelling the insecurities would be given some consideration. In every country, governments are accused of favouring their “constituencies”: witness the brouhaha over the Obama Administration supposedly favouring its “47% who see themselves as victims”. It has become common,
The nation has not seen the last of the murders. One will stem from a robbery and the other will result from a domestic dispute. One will be rather brutal because the anger that will flow will defy logic. And as is always the case the perpetrator will attempt to flee. People are going to say that the pressures of life are driving people to silly heights **** Road accidents are becoming regular features. Early in the new week there will be two of them, both caused by carelessness as all road accidents seem to be. A bus laden with passengers is going to slam
therefore for governments in the developed democratic countries – where public opinion is valued - to announce ahead of time what impact their policies will have on specific constituencies – be they, as in the US, labour, business, AfricanAmericans, HispanicAmericans, and so on. The more divided and polarized the society is, the more critical will be the evaluation of the government’s policies, since the premise of the government being the handmaiden of “one side” is even more credible. In Guyana, while the PPP Government attempts to discuss the impact of their policies on constituencies, they insisted up to now on demonstrating that their policies help the “working class”. This doesn’t cut any ice with the ground constituencies, however, which generally categorize
themselves ethnically and evaluate every policy from that perspective. The PPP has had to defend every single initiative – be it appointments and dismissals to and from the Public Service, downsizing of the bauxite sector, house lot allocation, contract awards, against claims by the African Guyanese community, for instance, of discrimination against them and favouring Indians in the sugar industry, rice industry, gun-permits etc. In each instance the PPP’s explanation has been too little, too late for the African Guyanese. The PNC since 1992 has consistently accused the PPP of practicing racial/ethnic discrimination against primarily its African supporters – even as it feels necessary to insist that it is not an “African party”. It is caught in the same semantic contradiction as the PPP. The charges of
into a fixture. The injuries would be horrendous. The main hospital would be placed under pressure. Personnel to attend to the injured would be overwhelmed. Then there is going to be the blood shortage that would compound the situation. **** Tension is heightening because people have refused to accept that everyone has
the right to disagree. In this case the disagreement is over who should be respected and who should be allowed to make determinations at the national level. Indeed, there was always this problem but it was not an issue until now. The reason is that things were allowed to fester This refusal to accept will spill over into other areas of life and the consequences would not be pleasant. If one believes that migration is bad now, whatever happens would worsen the migration. But this need not happen as the signs seem to show. There is the pressure by the reasonable ones.
“marginalisation” from the African community have been a primary fuel in the ethnic conflagrations since 1998. The agreement signed by President Jagdeo and Mr. Hoyte in 2001 and the Communiqué of 2003 between President Jagdeo and Mr. Robert Corbin, were attempts to answer such charges. But we have seen that they simply led to additional charges and counter-charges over implementation or nonimplementation. The PPP and PNC will have to overcome their ideological reservations and deal with a spade as a spade: the division of the cook-up must not only be ethnically fair, it must be seen as ethnically fair. For two decades, we have been arguing for the introduction of an “Ethnic Impact Statement” by the Government before it implements any of its policies and programs. We did so consistently during the five years we were in Parliament. We have now all accepted (hopefully) the need for “Environmental Impact Statements” before we embark on programs that will affect our physical environment. The policy is an acknowledgement of the
fragility of our environment and the importance we place on its health and survival, for our own health and survival. We would hope that we would acknowledge that our social environment is as important as our physical environment - and certainly more fragile. After all, it has been vividly demonstrated over the past decade that the destruction of our social environment is the direct destruction of “us”. One cannot get closer to home than that: with the environment at least the effect is a bit indirect and delayed. While we concede that the cause (and solution) of our ethnic problem goes beyond governmental actions, the fact of the matter is that we have to begin there. It is a simple matter of justice. No matter which party forms the Government, we accept that Governmental actions have to be conducted on behalf of all the people: the State is our joint venture. Since, based on our history, we know that all governmental actions will be scrutinised by the populace for its ethnic impact, what is the harm of scrutinising the policies ahead of the implementation? The activities of the Government are part and parcel of our
Ravi Dev
“national patrimony”. In fact, in Guyana - as in most of the third world Governmental activities unfortunately comprise most of the national patrimony – and this is part of the reason why it is scrutinised so closely and emotionally. If such “Ethnic Impact Statements” could be crafted and issued before the announcement and implementation of policies and programs, they would precipitate discussion and debate, which could be utilized to modify the policies or programs before they become political mobilisational tools. To wait for the inevitable ethnic post mortem is to ensure there will be trouble. Big trouble. The old cliché still holds: justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. An “Ethnic Impact Statement” on Governmental activities would go a long way to introducing the latter happy condition.
Page 56
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
(From page 54) PROPERTY FOR SALE
FOR RENT
Property for sale in Enterprise E. C. Demerara Call: 627-5416/611-7437
Furnished 2 bedrooms bottom flat @ Uitvlught Housing scheme, W.C.DCall:663-2882
1 Charlestown, Corner property with business potential; $40M - Tele: 6735882 House and Land @ D’Edward, W.C.B.- Call: 6892973/698-3703 ‘BB’ Eccles- Concrete house 3 bedrooms upstairs, downstairs 2 self contained apartments, 2 bedrooms each toilet & bath $28MCall:227-8409/660-4764 VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592-6248704/ 592-684-9203 Section ‘K’ $40M, Diamond $30M-$40M, ‘AA’ Eccles $60M & many more- Call Diana @ 227-2256/626-9382
VACANCY 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant- Call:6889611/684-2838 Refrigeration, A/C Technician. Call 231-0655/ 683-8734 Vacancy exists for 1 Parts Sales Clerk: Sound Secondary education with knowledge in Japanese vehicles spare partsCall:231-7839 Vacancy exists for able bodied male cleaners: Apply at Alabama Trading G/Town Stabroek. Graphic Artist and Office Clerk at Plus Printing- Call: 233-2725
Two storey concrete & wooden building, vacant & spacious yard @ North Ruimveldt- Call:628-1342 Paradise, E.C.D: Concrete modern 2 bedrooms, front and rear verandah. Concrete fenced large lot- call: 2252626/ 225-3068 Paradise, E.C.D: Concrete modern 2 storeys, 4 bedrooms- 2 masters. Concrete fenced large lot- call: 225-2626/ 225-3068 Haslington, E.C.D: Building ‘A’, concrete/ timber modern 2 storeys, 7 bedrooms, grilled & fenced. Building ‘B’, 3 apartments, fenced- call: 2252626/ 225-3068 2 Storey transported property at 311 Herstelling, E.C.D- Call Sonalall @ 718843-1691 or Datsy @2312284 Two storey house, six bedrooms & two kitchen @ block ‘8’ Tushen, E.B.E- Call: 650-2982 2 Storey business premises: 94 Campbell Avenue, C/VilleCall: 680-8857/647-300-4294
Machine Operator to work in Garment Factory- Call: 2222541 1 General domestic between ages 35-45 years & 1 housekeeper/ nanny to work evening hours, age 45 & over- Please call:663-4866 Canter driver/salesmanCall:225-3768 Sailors/ Welders- Call:6893846/227-2027 Receptionist, room attendant, bar attendants, washer & presser , cook & helper– Contact: Hick’s Ville Hotel @ 231-0951/231-0953 One live in attractive waitress must have secondary education must be honest & trustworthyCall:610-5043
House to rent in ‘CC’ EcclesCall:696-0573/642-2583/6847807 PUBLIC ROAD BUSINESS PROPERTY, W.C.D, suitable for food/ liquor restaurant, supermarket etc. Call:609-8132/672-8569 (Max) Business property- upstairs 3 bedrooms, for Pharmacy, Hair Salon, Boutique, Baber Shop, Internet, Haberdashery- Call:223-9727/ 673-0373/665-0077 Cement mixer (Ransome)Call:681-5988/672-6000 1 furnished short term 2 bedrooms apartmentCall:222-7891/609-9202 Business Spot at 14 Peter’s Hall E.B.D- Tel: 233-5110/ 668-0309
Attractive live in waitressCall:327-0252/674-4665 EDUCATIONAL I.A.E (Camp street): Register for full- time, lessons & adults CXC classes: Maths, English, Business & ScienceCall: 223-0604/ 683-5742 Electronic Course- Practical, 12 persons per class. Register early. Beginning 4th September @ Abdul Electronics- Call:226-6551 or 225-0391 Is your child struggling with reading, writing & math or has a disability? For best results- Call:683-3887
WANTED Laboures to work on wood concession: accommodation provided $4000-$5000 per day- Call:612-1082 (8am to 4pm) Carpenters and Labourers to work in the Georgetown areas: Carpenters $6000, Labourers $3,500- Contact 646-9087 Wanted contract cars @ PEN PAL Atlas Taxi Service: South Male looking for female for Ruimveldt gardens, VHF serious relationship, age 35 radio network- Call: 661-3043 & over- Call:601-9280 (no Experienced sewing machine texting) operators- Call: 220-4337
SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773
WANTED One three bedrooms apartment anywhere around town- Call:617-7865
Furnished house for rent, long and short term on Essequibo Coast- Call:6219380
Driver, salesperson, male merchandiser & porter needed, bring resume ( include reference) & passport photo at Vegetarian Gardens - Tele: 227-7714
MASSAGE American Style massage services- Call:678-7499
Staff to work shift system at Parfaite Harmonie, W.B.DCall:650-0104/668-0306 One experienced general domestic, must know to cook tasty Creole dishes. Must be honest & trustworthy- Call:656-6388
CAR RENTAL
Experienced male counter servers, waiters, cashiers, roti/ puri cooks & pastry makers: Apply @ Hacks Halaal 5 Commerce St.
Progressive Auto Rental - cars from $4000 per day. Call 643-5122, 225-8711; email www. progressive autorental. com
Cooks, assistant cooks, waitresses and bartenders to work in Kitty areaCall:226-7084/ Cell:610-8269/ 623-9645
Aidan’s Car Rental & PickupCall: 645-7981/ 698-7807
One (1) domestic preferred from E.B.D, must be honest and hardworking. Serious enquires- Call:618-8039 Men to burn charcoals in large quantity, very attractive salary & package being offered- Call:612-1082 (8am4pm) 1 Gas Asselstine welder: No Equipment needed: Living accommodation free - call: 628-1756/228-5655 Handy-boys to work, living accommodation and meals free: $40,000 per month- Call: 228-5655/ 628-1756
First Choice Car Rental: $5000 & $6000 per dayCall: 668-0306/ 694-7817 Premio, vitz call:679-7139
For the BEST RATES, call us on telephones numbers: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Page 57
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Capt. Gouveia did not invite Government to explain... From page 5 because of the exorbitant US$858 million cost of the project and the unconscionable rates of return to Sithe (19% tax free), China Development Bank (8.5% tax free) and the IDB (9.35% tax free). President Ramotar and other members of the Government have publicly stated that when Amaila comes into operation, tariffs will decrease by percentages, sometimes claiming it is 20% and at other times by 40%. It is abundantly clear that a 40% reduction will not cover Amaila’s charge of US$122 million at an exchange rate in 2017 that even the Government projects will be more unfavourable than it is now.Let alone pay for fuel and run the GPL. We are prepared to provide our projections for public scrutiny if the Government is willing to provide its projections and related documents showing tariff reductions of 40% and 20%. 3. SUBSIDIES Any serious discussion of subsidies must start with the reality that GPL is an extremely inefficient organisation with system losses exceeding 30% for decades. In 2012, GPL made a loss of $5,666 million on revenue of $29,028 million. Even if GPL could cut its system losses to 15% (which is still high), the company would move out of losses to profit and there would be no need for any subsidies. And at a 12% system losses GPL will be able to reduce tariffs and still make a profit. But it has failed to reduce system losses to 12% as the GPL Licence required it to do. Because of this fundamental problem in GPL, we say that it is unable to
handle Amaila. Unless and until GPL attains some moderate level of efficiency, a lot of the power bought from Amaila will not be sold and billed to anyone. The savings that are being touted by the Government and the Private sector Commission are false and spurious. 4. FUEL AND SAVINGS Mr. Gouveia asks what the savings from the reduced need for fossil fuel will be. It is true that there will be savings on fuel but what Mr. Gouveia ignores is that for twelve years following Amaila’s coming into operation, that is, some time around the year 2030, the entire savings on fuel will be spent on the prohibitively high debt service to Sithe (19%), China Development Bank (8.5%) and the IDB (9.35%). Sithe alone will get back US$720 million for its $150 million which is an effective rate of 24% tax free, given that it insists in repayment of its capital annually, if not monthly. Perhaps Mr. Gouveia will enlighten the discussion by offering the public his insight on the exchange rate of the Guyana Dollar and the price for fossil fuel in 2037, twenty years after Amaila was projected to go into operation and the period over which he computes the fuel savings. Additionally Mr. Gouveia refers to a Government statement that “even if GPL was not modernised, Amaila would see a reduction in consumer tariffs of 20% by 2017.” The proposition that anyone would spend US$858 million to deliver power to a utility that is totally inefficient is astounding. A GPL that is not modernised and which maintains the same level of system losses and other
inefficiencies will never be able to pay an annual all-in tariff of US$122 million. Under Captain Gouveia’s proposition the Guyanese public pays twice – first by way of unjustified tariff and then by way of a subsidy out of the public treasury. 5. COST According to Mr. Gouveia, the price tag has settled. This is not correct. The draft Power Purchase Agreement states that GPL will have to bear 50% of any increase in the ground condition costs up to US$40 million and 100% of any costs in excess. Because first Motilall and then Sithe failed to carry out the development works required under their successive Interim Licences, the real cost of the geotechnical works is yet to be ascertained. But even if we assume Mr. Gouveia’s statement to be correct, our concern is that the project is too costly. The cost of the project is inflated by a series of add-on charges, some of which are specified, such as Lenders’ Fees and Advisory Costs (US$33.3 million) and Political Risk Insurance (US$57.7 million), and others which are not, such as Development (US$27.2 million) and Other ($16.7 million). Part of the reason for this high cost is lack of proper tender procedures, lack of transparency and the incompetence of those who are negotiating on behalf of Guyana. We suspect that significant amounts of the add-on costs are to be paid to Sithe. Mr. Gouveia must be aware too that with every passing statement from Sithe, the cost of the project kept increasing. According to documents released to the
parliamentary opposition in June 2013, it was US$830 million. By July it went up to $840 million and then in August Sithe announced it would be $858 million, an announcement that surprised even the Government. CONCLUSION We think it unfortunate that the entire debate has been shaped by the false premise of Amaila or no Amaila and the falsehood that Amaila is without serious risks. Again we state that we are not opposed to hydroelectric power but for the reasons set out above, we are opposed to this particular project as conceptualised and structured. We are for all forms of alternative energy, whether it be hydroelectric power, solar, wind or gas and are prepared to engage the Government and its supporters on the merits and demerits of the project and on a way forward. In the meantime we ask Captain Gouveia to be kind enough to answer the following questions: 1. Is he aware that the deal provides that in the absence of adequate water flow Amaila can contractually shut down the system, thus placing 90% of the country at risk of total blackout for an indefinite period? And that some time within eighteen months, Amaila will shut down for ten days, and for a similar period over every five years? 2. Is he aware that Sithe had not met its obligations under its Interim Licence and that the Licence was extended over a period of eleven years? 3. Is he aware that under
the deal, Sithe would collect a US$17 million equity participation fee upon closure in a deal in which it provides 18% as a redeemable preferred shareholder but is granted complete control of the operations, management and finances of the company? 4. Is he aware that in addition to the US$17 million, Sithe would be reimbursed for its pre-development expenses and, annually, the repayment of its capital? 5. Is he aware that the other party contributing US $708 million (82%) in equity and guarantees, plus a lien on GPL’s revenues, gets 40% position in the company while Sithe gets 60% for its 18% which carry less risk? 6. Would he as a CEO take in a partner with a minority position, guarantee him a 19% annual return and allow him to have a first charge on the revenues of the partnership?
7. Can he confirm that Blackstone, Sithe’s parent, has no interest in any of the other entities which would be providing financing, construction, insurance and operations services to the project company? 8. Does he agree that the stand-alone nature of the project is preferred to the modular approach given that upon completion Amaila would not satisfy the country’s demand for electricity? 9. Does he agree that a project of this nature should have been handled from its inception by a broad-based team of experts and policy makers so that it would command the support of the country? 10. And finally, would he be opposed to a re-tendering of the project and to requesting Sithe to return the Licence? Ramon Gaskin and Christopher Ram
Page 58
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Gunbattle fought in Cairo mosque as Egypt mulls Brotherhood ban
Hazem el-Beblawi CAIRO (Reuters) Supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi fought a gunbattle with security forces in a Cairo mosque yesterday, while Egypt’s army-backed government, facing deepening chaos, considered banning his Muslim Brotherhood group. Three Reuters witnesses saw gunmen shoot from a window of the al-Fath mosque, where Brotherhood followers sheltered during ferocious confrontations in the heart of Cairo on Friday. Another gunman was shown on television shooting from the mosque’s minaret and soldiers outside returning fire. It was not clear if anyone died in the latest clash - the fourth day of violence in Egypt, which has killed almost 800 people. With anger rising on all sides, Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi proposed disbanding the Brotherhood, raising the stakes in a bloody struggle between the state and Islamists for control of the Arab world’s most populous nation. “We are not facing political divisions, we are facing a war being waged by extremists developing daily into terrorism,” presidential political adviser Mostafa Hegazy told reporters. If Beblawi’s proposal to disband the Brotherhood is acted on, it would force the group underground and could herald large-scale arrests against its members placed outside the law. Many Western allies have denounced the killings, including the United States, alarmed by the chaos in a country which has a strategic peace treaty with Israel and operates the Suez Canal, a major artery of world trade.
However, Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the army-backed government on Friday, accusing its old foes in the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to destabilize Egypt. The health ministry said 173 people died in clashes across Egypt on Friday, including 95 in central Cairo, after the Brotherhood called a “Day of Rage” to denounce a crackdown on its followers on Wednesday that killed at least 578 people. Fifty-seven policemen died over the past three days, the interior ministry said. Among those killed on Friday was a son of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, shot dead close to al-Fath mosque, which was rapidly transformed into a makeshift morgue and a refuge for hundreds of Mursi’s supporters, looking to escape the bloodshed. The building was surrounded overnight and police fired volleys of tear gas into the carpeted prayer hall in the early afternoon, filling the hall with billowing white smoke and leaving those inside gasping for breath. Soon afterwards gunshots rang out from both sides. Egyptian authorities said they had rounded up more than 1,000 Islamists after Friday’s protests, showing one handcuffed man on television with an automatic gun on his lap. Security sources said Mohamed Al-Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, had also been detained. “Friday was a very bad, ugly day. There were attacks on police stations, ministries. The situation is very bad,” the prime minister told reporters. “There will be no reconciliation with those
Mohamed Mursi whose hands have been stained with blood and who turned weapons against the state and its institutions.” The Brotherhood was officially dissolved by Egypt’s military rulers in 1954, but registered itself as a nongovernmental organization in March in a response to a court case brought by opponents of the group who were contesting its legality. Founded in 1928, the movement has deep roots in the provinces and has a legally registered political arm - the Freedom and Justice Party - which was set up in 2011 after unrest that led to the downfall of the autocratic Hosni Mubarak. The Brotherhood won all five elections that followed the toppling of Mubarak, and Mursi governed the country for a year until he was undermined by mammoth rallies called by critics who denounced his rule as incompetent and partisan. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says he removed Mursi from office on July 3 to protect the country from possible civil war. Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the police had started to arrest the sons and daughters of the organization’s leadership in an effort to gain leverage. Despite the bloodshed, the Islamist group has urged its supporters to take to the streets every day this coming week, but there was no sign of large rallies yesterday afternoon. “Our rejection of the coup regime has become an Islamic, national and ethical obligation that we can never abandon,” said the Brotherhood, which has accused the military of plotting the downfall of Mursi to regain the levers of power.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 59
Page 60
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Iran president: Nation wants foreign policy change TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s new president said yesterday that his countrymen elected him to change the country’s foreign policy and shift away from the bombastic style adopted under his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hasan Rouhani said his government will adjust its tactics to reach out to world powers. But he said the Islamic Republic will retain its principles. “We don’t have the right to use foreign policy to chant slogans or clap,” Rouhani said. “Foreign policy is not where one can speak or take a position without paying attention,” he said during the inauguration of Iran’s new foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. “People in the June 14 elections declared that they want a new foreign policy,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Rouhani has pledged to follow a policy of moderation and ease tensions with the outside world. He has also vowed to improve an economy ravaged by international sanctions and mismanagement by empowering technocrats. He won a landslide victory in June 14 presidential elections, defeating his conservative rivals. Rouhani took the oath of office on Aug. 4 and Iran’s parliament approved all but three of his proposed ministers Thursday. The core of Rouhani’s team includes figures whose academic pedigrees run through places such as California, Washington, Paris and London. Rouhani himself studied in Scotland, while Zarif is a U.S.-educated veteran diplomat with a doctorate in international law and policy from the University of Denver. Rouhani said he hopes Zarif’s expertise and years of experience in dealing with Americans as Iran’s top U.N. envoy will help
his government understand the American way of thinking. Zarif worked with Rouhani back when the president was Iran’s top nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005. “Reconsidering foreign policy doesn’t mean a change in principles because principles remain unchanged,” Rouhani said. “But change in the methods, performance and tactics, which are the demands of the people, must be carried out.” It remains unclear how much Rouhani’s team can influence Iranian policies and foster potential outreach diplomacy, such as direct talks with the U.S. or possible breakthroughs in wider negotiations over Tehran’s suspect nuclear program. Nuclear policy remains under the control of the country’s top clerics. The West accuses the nuclear program of pursuing weapons technology, while Iran says it is for peaceful purposes. Rouhani said Iran suffered from rhetoric used under Ahmadinejad and his government will distance from his predecessor’s slogans. Ahmadinejad used to call U.N. Security Council resolutions “worthless papers” and “annoying flies, like a used tissue.” He also used to call for U.S. leaders to be “buried” in response to American threats of military attack against Tehran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, Rouhani appointed caretaker ministers to replace two of the three of his nominees who were rejected by parliament. Jafar Towfighi will be caretaker minister for science, research and technology and Reza Salehi Amiri will be caretaker minister of sports and youth. Rouhani doesn’t need parliamentary approval for the temporary appointments, but after three months will need to submit new nominees for the permanent post for a vote of confidence.
Murdoch’s UK unit could face corporate hacking charges - source (Reuters) - London police are actively investigating Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper business for possible criminal violations over allegations of phone-hacking and illegal payments to public officials by its journalists, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Murdoch’s News Corp said it was aware of the police inquiry but gave no further details. Until now, the investigation appeared to be focused on News Corp employees rather than the corporation. British police launched an investigation in January 2011 into claims journalists at Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid had been illegally accessing mobile phone voice-mail messages to find stories. The investigation led to Murdoch closing the paper and spawned further inquiries into claims reporters had also made illegal payments to police officers and other public officials for information. The Independent newspaper of London reported on its website on Friday that the Metropolitan Police Service, also known as Scotland Yard, was investigating News International, as Murdoch’s London publishing operation was previously known, as a “corporate suspect” over possible “hacking and bribery offences.” Any corporate action against News Corp could lead to more expense for the company, which has already spent millions of dollars on legal cases, and further damage its alreadytarnished reputation. Police inquiries into the
hacking and bribery allegations had been based mainly on information provided to detectives under a “memorandum of understanding” between authorities and News Corp’s Management and Standards Committee (MSC), set up to conduct an internal investigation and liaise with officials. More than 125 people have been arrested and more than 40 charged with offences under English law, including senior figures and journalists from Murdoch’s British papers. However, the source familiar with the matter told Reuters detectives and prosecutors also were actively considering taking action against News Corp as a corporation. More than a year ago, Sue Akers, the officer who was then leading the police inquiry, sent a letter to MSC Chairman Lord Grabiner to advise him of this, the source said. John Turnbull, a senior News Corp lawyer who worked on the MSC, has since been interviewed formally by police, the source added. The revelation led News Corp to withdraw cooperation with detectives. Later, Murdoch belittled the police and said during a meeting with staff from his Sun tabloid which was secretly recorded and broadcast in July that he had been wrong to help them. “The relationship has always been a challenging one and since May of this year voluntary cooperation has been significantly reduced and all requests for new material are now supervised by the courts,” London Police Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick told lawmakers shortly afterwards.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 61
Page 62
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Sunni leader says Hezbollah leading Lebanon into ‘Syrian fire’ BEIRUT (Reuters) Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad alHariri accused Hezbollah yesterday of dragging the country deeper into Syria’s civil war after the Shi’ite militant group’s leader said he was ready to go to Syria himself to fight. Hariri, a former prime minister, was responding to a speech by Hezbollah SecretaryGeneral Hassan Nasrallah who said that a car bomb in Shi’ite southern Beirut would only redouble the group’s military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “(Nasrallah’s) speech takes Lebanon into deeper involvement in the Syrian fire,” Hariri tweeted. “It’s a pity to squander the blood of the Lebanese in such a way”. The death toll from Thursday’s car bomb, already the deadliest attack in Beirut since the 1975-1990 civil war, rose to 27 on Saturday when the body of a six-year-old boy was found in the damaged ground floor of a nearby building. Hariri’s father Rafik alHariri, who also served as prime minister several times, was killed along with 21 others in a 2005 bombing. A U.N.-backed tribunal has indicted four Hezbollah members over the killing. “What happened (on Thursday) was an ugly crime, but Hezbollah’s war in Syria is crime as well,” Hariri said, criticizing Nasrallah for calling for restraint at home while reinforcing his commitment to the battle in Syria which has polarized Lebanon and sharply raised sectarian
tensions. Most Sunni Muslim Lebanese support the rebels battling to overthrow Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Many Shi’ite Lebanese support Assad and Hezbollah’s support in the neighboring country has grown from a political to a full military role. Hezbollah guerrillas led Assad’s fight to recapture the Syrian border town of Qusair in June from mainly Sunni rebels, and have also fought in the city of Homs and near the Shi’ite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab south-east of Damascus.
Page 63
Page 64
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 65
“All of us are from the West Indies!” Colin E. H. Croft You may remember that very poignant scene in the 1993 film “Cool Runnings”, which highlighted exploits of Jamaica’s first bobsled team, at 1988’s Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. Just, finally, after tremendous effort, hard work and some luck, qualifying for the final runs, the crowd asked, highly incredulously: “Where are these guys from?” The loud, proud answer, from the crowd, and producers of the film too, was a fanatical “Jamaica!” With the 2013 Winter Olympics only weeks away now, in Sochi, Russia, we should all remember Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White and Nelson Stokes, aka Derice Bannock, Sanka Coffee, Yul Brenner and Junior Bevil, respectively, in the film. If ever there were absolute pioneers in Caribbean sports, like inaugural 2013 Limacol Caribbean Premier League, these guys certainly were the originals! Along with then outlawed and castigated coach, Howard Siler, “Irving Blitzer” in the film, they changed the history of Winter Games forever. Hot blooded people from a hot country were on the winter map! Some may know that I, loosely, collect sporting memorabilia, so one of my most prized possessions is a Wi n t e r O l y m p i c s p i n given to me by Dudley Stokes and Devon Harris, whom I met in Jamaica years ago. But back to the present. With much hooballoo and agro about p e r f ormance enhancing drugs in sports; special mention to cycling and athletics; we must be eternally grateful to Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-
Colin E. H. Croft
Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce reacts after victory Price, and Trinidad & Tobago’s Jehue Gordon, for lifting dark clouds that still threaten to engulf Caribbean athletics. After all, Trinidad & Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Semoy Hackett, with Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell Brown and Asafa Powell, are, among others, still under quite severe and extensive drug investigations. Hopefully, they would all be found not guilty, not even liable, and could continue their mostly stellar careers. Time will indeed tell that full story. But when our athletes win, clean and fair, they represent all of us. Yes, we are all from the West Indies! Bolt, such a phenomenon, and absolutely unique, will probably end up with so many records that none of us now alive will see them broken in our lifetimes. He is truly in a class of his own; a legend of any time! But it is Fraser-Price, who has operated and almost lived in the shadow of VCB, who must be applauded most. She just, as Ato Bolden suggested,
focused on the job at hand, forgetting all happening around her. Gordon won only the 2nd Gold Medal at Worlds for T&T, after the said Bolden, back in 1997, won gold in Athens in 200 meters, and who, it must be applauded too, suggested, long ahead of time, without any prejudice or insularity w h a t s o e v e r, t h a t h e expected Gordon to win that 400 meters hurdles race. Gordon Greenidge, head coach of Trinidad & To b a g o ’s R e d St e e l , i n Limacol Caribbean Premier League, is generally correct in suggesting that LCPL will never fully eliminate insularity in the Caribbean,
Usain Bolt claimed his second individual gold medal of the Championships (Getty Images) but at least, we can all celebrate these athletic wins as if each athlete was from our own country or island, regardless! Personally, and I have said this many times in my own sporting life, even with a Guyanese passport, still, that I stopped being “Guyanese” when I first played for West Indies Youths, against England in 1972. I know that this is very hard to understand or appreciate, but then, and afterwards, in the senior team, I became West Indian, absolutely forgetting the “smallness” of just one country, but representing a region! Having been ostracized, criticized, even recently being outright eliminated from being involved in West
Indies cricket, including LCPL, I still will always support our sportsmen and athletes, and would dare anyo n e t o s h o w m e a n y w h e r e , o t h e r w ise, where I have been anything but honest and objective. U n f o r t u n a t e l y, p e r Gordon Greenidge and others too, objectivity does not always work in the Caribbean. As one supporter once said to me; “Crofty, we agree with all of what you say, but remember, that is also we team too!” In other words, if you do not agree with what they think or say, then you are against them! Anyway, this question has been asked before, but can you imagine, without any possibilities, of
course, what a force an allWest Indian athletics team would be, and could have been in the past, with athletes like Merlene Ottey or Bolden included, or later, with Bolt, Gordon and Frazer-Price under one flag? Even the all-conquering West Indies cricket teams of the 1970’s and 1980’s would have had to take a back seat to the athletes, so many and such high standards we have set, as a region, in that sporting practice. Bolt and Fraser-Price, especially with the world trying desperately to find some form of its own reality as to why Jamaicans are so successful in athletics, must have been drug tested more times than lab rats are tested, for new medicines, before being given to humans. Neither has even had a murmur. That, in itself is s o g r e a t ! Ye s , t h e s e special, wonderful athletic victories must be celebrated fully, by all Caribbean people! Enjoy!
Page 66
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Over 100 entries in with East Coast Cricket Board 13th over 20 for feature event in Academy starts tomorrow Jumbo Jet horserace Meet By Samuel Whyte This year ’s Seventh Annual Guyana Cup 2013 horse race meet organised by the Jumbo Jet Auto Sales and Stables in collaboration with the Port Mourant Turf Club is definitely the biggest horserace meet locally. With some $30M in cash and prizes on offer for the August 25 event, the entries are filling up nicely. With just over a week away for the mega sporting event, more horses and sponsors are still coming on board. So far over 100 horses have entered for the one day horseracing spectacle, while a number of foreign and overseas based jockeys will be in action with some already in the country. A colossal $7M at stake in cash and prizes for the feature B and lower 1700 meters race, which is the largest ever for a single even in Guyana, with a sumptuous $3.5M and the Guyana Cup trophy over 1700M as the winners’ money. The enticing event has attracted a large field with over 20 horses entered for the race. Among them are - Score’s Even, Donut Prince, Settle In Seattle, California, C.P Got Even, Grande De Roja, Elle’s Vision, Got To Go, The Message, Funny Factor, Country Armagh, Miss
Karina, Prince Charming, Zelick, Swing Easy, Rena Del Café, and Who is on the Case, with new imports, Africanize, Force Entry and City True among others. The other key events are - the Co-feature 1600M event for 3 yrs. old horses, bred and born in Guyana and the West Indies, the organizers have put up $2.5M and trophy, the Two year old 1000M event for West Indies Bred horses has a $1.5M top prize and trophy on offer, the E class and lower 1400M event for a winning take of $1M top prize and trophy. There is a race for F class Horses with the winner getting $900,000 and trophy over 1000M, the G 3 and lower1200M event with the winner getting $800,000 and trophy. The second three year old event is for Guyana bred horses and has a $600,000 price tag along with trophy for the top runner over 1200M. The H and Lower 1000M race for a winning purse of $400,000 and trophy, the ‘I’ and lower 1200M event for a top prize of $300,000 and trophy and the final race has $200,000 plus trophy at stake for the winner of the JKL event over 1200M. The top Jockey and runner up, the top stable and champion trainer will all be presented with accolades
compliments of the Trophy Stall, Bourda Market and Woodpecker Products. Among the sponsors on board are -Banks DIH Limited, Digicel, Empire Mining, Randy Persaud and No55 racing stable of New York, Dalip Enterprise, S. Sahadeo Trucking, Shariff Business Enterprise and Racing Stables, Romell Jagroop Construction, Ashmin’s Trading Agri Parts, Hand in Hand, Inshan Bacchus Trucking Service, Alki Investment, Braveheart Construction, Guytrac, Onkar Persaud, Shano Seunarine, Satish Liquor Restaurant, Eldorado Trading and Vijay and Sons Auto Sales among others. The starting gates have being enhanced, while a number of new stables have been constructed with over 120 being available. Slingers International Sound Systems will be part of the day’s action. The event will be held under the rules of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority. Contact can be made with Chandu Ramkissoon (6249063 or 232-0633), Kris Jagdeo (624-6123; 322-0369), Rajendra (Jim –Jo) 618-7278, Ramnauth 337-5311, Romel Jagroop (624-1798) and Campton Sancho 690-0569 for further details. Race time is 12:30 hrs. The coordinator is Nasrudeen (Jumbo Jet) Mohamed.
Construction of Table Tennis facility will be a major boost - GTTA head Munroe By Zaheer Mohamed Following the commendable performances at the just concluded Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) pre-Cadet championship at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) Wednesday evening last, Director of Youth Sport, Neil Kumar, said that Government has committed to the construction of a $50M table tennis facility in the near future. Mr. Kumar made this commitment moments after the curtains were drawn on the championships. The announcement was well greeted by President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Munroe, who told Kaieteur Sport that the facility would benefit Guyana and other
Godfrey Munroe Caribbean territories tremendously. “This would enhance preparation for our national team as well as players at different levels,” said Mr. Munroe.
A former national player, Munroe feels that such a facility can also serve as the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) High Yield Centre thus exposing local players to high level coaching, players and equipment which would raise the profile and level of the sport locally. Munroe said that the just concluded championships have uncovered the need for a home for table tennis to provide adequate training time for the players on a structured basis. The GTTA boss stated that the level of skills exhibited over the period of the championships underlined the quality of play available at the Caribbean level. He admitted to the challenges involved (Continued on page 59)
Youth cricketers, male and female, along the East Coast corridor will convene at the Lusignan Community Centre tomorrow, Monday August 19, at 8:30hours when the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) launches the 13th edition of their Annual Cricket Academy. According to the President of the ECCB, Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, educator and historian Professor Tota Mangar of the University of Guyana, will deliver the feature address and consequently declare the proceedings open. Activities will be held under the theme ‘Cricket – Professionalism and Healthy Life style,’ and are for children 12-16 years old. Over fifty aspiring cricketers, drawn from Ogle to Abary, are expected to participate in the programme. Organizers have also intimated that participants will enjoy interaction with senior and former national cricketers who will grace the forum with their presence. While there, the seniors will introduce the youngsters to the technicalities of the sport while sharing their experiences on the national field. Several resource persons will entertain thought
provoking discussions on cricket related and other topics during the proceedings. They include statistician, Edwin Seeraj, who will speak on the history of West Indies cricket. National Umpire Davteerth Anandjit will discuss the laws of cricket and umpiring, while international book scorer Sidartha Anandjit will deal with the intricacies of the scoring system. Officers from the Cove and John Police Station will tutor the aspiring cricketers on road safety practices, while former executive of the Guyana Cricket Board, Ronald Williams, will discuss careers in cricket and discipline. Participants will also receive tutoring in drugs and sports (Darshanand Rampersaud), Importance of Education (former school senior master Judister Rampersaud), Leadership and Sportsmanship (Colin Stuart), HIV and Teenage Sex (Social worker Ms. Runuka Anandjit), Food and Nutrition (Ministry of Health personnel), Social Etiquette/ Grooming and Discipline (Dr. Richard Persaud from Suriname). Daniel Richmond and Latchman Yadram are the coaches. It must be noted the more
than nineteen (19) participants who have attended the ECCB Annual Academy over the years went on to represent Guyana with distinction. The organizers are indeed grateful for the support received from the corporate community and wish to express heartfelt gratitude to those individuals and organizations that have made this event possible. These include Ansa McAl, B.M. Soat Auto Sales, Rockaway Auto Sales, Trophy Stall, Global Manufacturing Company (Marvex Bleach), NIDECA Investments, Elizabeth Styles, Bissan’s Trading, Mirza Khan, Bibi Samaroo Trading (Lethem), Yadram Distributions, D. Singh and Sons General Stores, Deodat Sooklall Investments, Mr. Samaroo Jailall and the executives and members of the many clubs along the East Coast. Activities will be coordinated by Secretary of the ECCB Mr., Judister Rampersaud with assistance from national cricket coach, Latchman Yadram. The Academy concludes on Friday August 23, 2013. Participants are asked to assemble at 8:30hours sharp at the Lusignan Community Centre.
Captain Says Team is Taking ... From page 71 his side will remain firmly grounded as they recognised their mission was not yet fulfilled. “What we’re doing is taking it step by step. We’re just focusing on our goal and the process,” said the experienced middle order batsman. “We would love to be in the final. We’re in the semi-finals so I think it is just a matter of taking the next game that we’ve got in stride and trying to continue with this momentum. We don’t want to be looking too far ahead of ourselves. I think for us it has been a process and we just want to continue that process.” Guyana secured their semi-final spot when they beat Jamaica Tallawahs by five runs on Thursday at Sabina Park. The victory was their second in a row and their fourth in six games in the competition, carrying them level with leaders Barbados Tridents on eight points. The manner of their victory was impressive. Defending 139 for six, their spinners especially strangled the Tallawahs’ feared batting lineup, leaving the hosts to score
ten from the last over in order to win. Then, in a brilliant move, Sarwan called on seamer Chris Barnwell to deliver the final rites and the right-armer duly obliged, taking two wickets and limiting the Tallawahs to just four runs in his only over of the match. Sarwan, however, refused to take all the credit for the decision. “It was a collective effort. We got together – me, Sunil Narine, who is the vice-captain, Mohammed Hafeez and Simmo (Lendl Simmons) – and suggested that we go with Barnwell,” the former West Indies captain related. “Obviously the game we played in Guyana [when we lost to St Lucia Zouks in the last over] we went with Hafeez but he told us he didn’t want us to make the same mistake again so he said let’s give it to one of the seamers,” Sarwan added with a laugh. “So it was Barnwell or James Franklin that we would have gone with.” He continued: “I thought it was a total team effort. Obviously I thought we could
have gotten ten more runs but it just didn’t happen, so we just had to work with what we had. Everyone really bowled well including Sunil and of course we had a superb last over from young Barnwell.” Narine, voted Man-ofthe-Match for his brilliant spell of one for ten from four overs, said Amazon Warriors had achieved their first target of reaching the semis but would remain focussed for their remaining game in the preliminary round. “It has been a little tough for me. The goals I have set for myself I haven’t really reached those as yet but from the team perspective we’re doing quite good,” said the world’s number one Twenty20 bowler. “We’ve booked our place in the semi-final. We have one more game before it so we just have to continue playing hard cricket and keep working hard. I think we’ve done all the hard work but it’s just to continue.” The Amazon Warriors played their final preliminary game against Antigua Hawksbills at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium last night.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 67
Sarwan to lead Guyana against T&T as Lightning strikes twice as brilliant Bolt Robin Bacchus set for senior team debut WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013
claims sprint double with 200m gold
BBC Sport in Moscow Olympic champion Usain Bolt defended his 200m title with ease and took his tally of World Championship gold medals to seven. The Jamaican set a world leading time of 19.66 seconds to secure his third successive world title in the event. Bolt’s compatriot Warren Weir clinched silver with a personal best 19.79 while America’s Curtis Mitchell (20.04) took bronze by a hundredth of a second. Britain’s Adam Gemili, 19, dipped home in fifth, clocking 20.08. “What an experience this whole championships has been for me,” said Gemili, who has made e x c e p t i o n a l progress since taking up the sport a year and a half ago. “There are no words to describe how I’m feeling. I knew I would be in the mix if I executed my race. I didn’t execute it as well as I could have, but I still have a lot of people to thank. I’m very lucky and I’m really happy.” The teenager qualified second-fastest for the final after lowering his personal best in the semi-finals to 19.98, becoming only the second Briton to dip under 20 seconds. Appearing in his first major championship final as a senior, Gemili was smiling broadly at the start line and seemed at ease in such elite company. The Blackheath and Bromley teenager, with Bolt on his inside, came out of the bend strongly and finished four hundredths of a second outside the top three.
Neither Gemili nor the other finalists could end Bolt’s reign. The defending champion, who has now completed an Olympic and world sprint double, led coming into the bend and from then on overpowered them. As the finishing line neared, the six-time Olympic champion eased off and had time to look over his shoulder to check his team-mate Weir had grabbed second. Bolt’s winning time was fourth hundredths of a second off his personal best and the slowest of his goldmedal wins over the distance. But with Tyson Gay absent through suspension and his compatriot Johan Blake injured, Bolt did not have to produce a vintage display to secure the result the vociferous sell-out crowd in the Luzhniki Stadium expected. By the time the world record holder celebrates his 27th birthday on Wednesday, he could see his name alongside Americans Carl Lewis and Allyson Felix as the most decorated athletes in the championships’ history. T h e s p e e d o f B o l t ’s progress to the top of that list of high achievers d e p e n d s o n S u n d a y ’s 4x100m sprint relay final. Should the Jamaicans repeat their gold medalwinning exploits of London 2012, the man from Kingston will on Sunday evening be the owner of eight gold and two silver World Championship medals, equalling Lewis and Felix’s record of 10.
Elsewhere, there were two bronze medals for Britain on the eighth day of competition thanks to Tiffany Porter in the women’s 110m hurdles and the women’s 4x400m relay team. Porter could not hide her joy, skipping down the track and waving to the crowd, at becoming Britain’s first World Championship medallist in the event. “With the hurdles anything can happen, but I believed in myself,” said the 25-year-old, who lowered her personal best by a hundredth of a second to 12.55. “I was racing against some very talented ladies so I’m just really proud to have won a medal.” Reigning Olympic champion Sally Pearson, wh o h a s b e e n h i n d e r e d by injuries this season, ran a season’s best 12.50 but had to settle for silver a s A m e r i c a ’s B r i a n n a Rollins beat her to the line to clinch gold. In the women’s 4x400m relay, Britain’s bronze gave Christine Ohuruogu her fifth major championship medal. The quartet finished behind champions Russia, who set a world leading time of three minutes 20.21 seconds to force the Americans to relinquish the crown they have held since 2005. “We’ve been running together, contending for medals, since the indoor season. It’s a nice end to our 4x400m campaign,” said Ohuruogu, whose final lap 49.60 split was her best split time in the event.
Construction of Table Tennis facility will be a major boost - GTTA head Munroe From page 68 in hosting the tournament while stressing that there is much room for improvement. “It was challenging but we have learned a lot which would stand us in good stead for future competitions,” Munroe confessed. He said that his executives will review those areas where they felt they had faltered while endeavoring to improve for future engagements. He feels that the Pre Cadet championships are the launching pad for the development of local players while enhancing their chances for growth in the sport. “The benefits to the sport locally could be
phenomenal,” he lamented. Meanwhile, commenting on Guyana’s performance at the tournament, Munroe believes that Guyana did well, but said the players need more exposure. ”I think we did fairly well, we have to understand the competitiveness of world table tennis wherein as you cannot rest on your success, you have to always try to improve given the nature and demand of sports. One has to take into consideration that half of the team were debutants and each player on the team won a medal of some sort”, he added. The President opined that the players must be
tutored at a young age. “The championship reemphasized the need for u s t o aggressively and strategically focus the activities of the GTTA in the direction of youth development (not to neglect our senior players), but to concentrate on our primary Schools and community based programmes so as to capture the players at a much younger age which will ensure that we have a good nucleus of players for the future. Guyana placed second in the championships capturing six gold, seven silver and thirteen bronze. The Tournament was won by Trinidad and Tobago.
By Sean Devers Ramnaresh Sarwan has been appointed Guyana Captain against Champions League qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago at the National Stadium on August 30 & 31 in two warm-up T20 fixtures before the visitors depart for India next month. The 33-year-old right hander from the Essequibo Island of Wakenaam led Guyana to their only two regional T20 championships in 2006 & 2010 and is presently captaining the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the ongoi n g LPCL T20 tournament. Test left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul skippered the Guyanese in this year’s Caribbean T20 tournament which T&T won for the third consecutive year to qualify for the Champions League. Sarwan has featured in just 18 T20 Internationals since making his debut in 2007 against South Africa and has managed only two fifties
Robin Bacchus at an average of 22.92 and a strike rate of 104.19. The Chaplinesque stroke player registered his highest T20 score of 70 in South Africa when he led Guyana to their lone participation at the Champions League three years ago and will have as his deputy Chris Barnwell. The 26 year-old Barnwell has represented the West Indies in six T20
Ethiopia’s Defar win’s 5,000 as she likes
Meseret Defar of Ethiopia celebrates her victory in the women’s 5000 metres final of the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow August 17, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson MOSCOW (Reuters) Meseret Defar added yet another global 5,000 meters gold to her bulging collection when she won the world title with a textbook performance y e s t e r day, aided by her Ethiopian team mates. Defar, twice Olympic champion and now double world champion, also has a world silver and three global bronzes in the event after an extraordinarily consistent run over the past nine years and she was never threatened in her latest assault. A pedestrian first half of the race briefly suggested some of the fast-finishers
might be able to make a fight of it but with four laps to go Defar’s team mate Almaz Ayana put her foot down and immediately spread the field. By the bell it was just the two Ethiopians and Kenya’s Mercy Cherono and Ayana played her role of domestique to perfection, towing Defar to the 200m mark when the favorite blasted clear to win with ease in 14 minutes 50.19 seconds Cherono came on to take silver in 14.51.22 ahead of Ayana (14.51.33). Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba won the 10,000 meters earlier in the week.
Internationals and has also played in the IPL as an allrounder. The only new comer to the Guyana senior team is 2007 national under-19 opener Robin Bacchus. The 24-year old left hander plays for GCC in local cricket and could make his senior team debut in this month end’s encounter against the team from the twin Island Republic. Berbician off-spinner 26year-old Rajiv Ivan made his senior team debut this year against the Windward Islands in St Vincent, while his only other Regional Super50 game was at Providence against Jamaica. The Rosehall Town player will hope to make his T20 debut against T&T. The rest of the squad have all had senior team experience with Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine, Devendra Bishoo, Permaul, Barnwell and Leon Johnson all representing the West Indies senior team in Tests, ODIs or the T20 level. Guyana team: Ramnaresh Sarwan (Capt), Chris Barnwell (V/ Capt), Narsingh Deonarine, , Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Leon Johnson, Steven Jacobs, Trevon Griffith, Paul Wintz, Keon Joseph, Anthony Bramble, Zaheer Mohamed, Rajiv Ivan and Robin Bacchus
Page 68
Kaieteur News
Sunday August 18, 2013
Olympic marathon champion Kiprotich adds world title MOSCOW (Reuters) Uganda’s Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich showed he was no one-hit wonder by breaking Kenya’s stranglehold on the men’s marathon at the world championships with victory in two hours nine minutes 51
seconds yesterday. Kiprotich was the surprise winner at last year’s London Games but started as one of the favorites in Moscow and became the first non-Kenyan to win the title since 2005. Ethiopia’s Boston marathon winner Lelisa
Desisa was second in 2:10:12 and compatriot Tadese Tola took third a further 11 seconds back on a warm sunny day in the Russian capital. Part of a large leading pack for most of the race on a course which included three 10km loops along the Moskva
Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda celebrates winning the men’s marathon during the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow August 17, 2013. REUTERS/Phil Noble river turning at the iconic Red Square, Kiprotich began pushing the pace just after the 30-km mark and the group slowly started to break up. With just over two kilometers to go, the battle for gold was between Kiprotich and Desisa and the Ugandan finally broke his rival as they ran through the Olympic Park and entered the stadium alone, waving to the crowd. Kiprotich had a quick look back across the bright blue track when a cheer went up
as Desisa entered the stadium but there was half a lap between them and the Ugandan ran through the finishing tape with his arms in the air and a smile on his face before bowing to the crowd. “I realized I could win after 40km. Then I just kept pushing. I decided to break off but my competitors were strong and I had to apply some tactics,” the 24-year-old told reporters. “I prepared for the race really well. It is fantastic that
I actually train together with six of my competitors, said Kiprotich who is coached by Kenya’s 1992 Olympic steeplechase silver medalist Patrick Sang in Eldoret. It was Uganda’s second ever world championship gold after Dorcus Inzikuru won the women’s 3,000 steeplechase in 2005. Peter Some in ninth was the first Kenyan finisher for a team that was missing twice world champion Abel Kirui through injury.
Red Steel Advance While... From page 68 Best got the much needed breakthrough for the Zouks, bowling O’Brien in the ninth over. The wicket triggered a mini collapse for the Red Steel. Without a run being added, it was 56/2 in the next over as Barath was given out Leg Before Wicket to Shane Shillingford. He had made 17, though was a tad unlucky as the ball struck his thigh pad. All eyes were on the Red Steel’s new signing, Mahela Jayawardene, and the Sri Lankan got to 11 before he was well caught behind by Darren Sammy, filling in as wicket-keeper for Andre Fletcher, who was off the field. At that stage, the Red Steel were 75/3, with the Zouks trying to create a late scare in their opponents’ camp. It would get a little tense two overs later when Mathurin also sent back Ross Taylor, who made a patient 13 from 21 balls but the Bravo brothers combined to ensure the victory. It was virtually assured when Taylor was out at 84/4. It didn’t take the Red Steel long thereafter. As the 18th over ended, Darren Bravo struck Liam Sebastien for a four and a six to seal the match. Mathurin had bowled well, picking up 2-24, so too
did Best (1-18) and Shillingford (1-20), but 100 runs were never going to be enough. The Zouks’ score was quite surprising as well. Only a couple of days ago they had registered the tournament’s highest total but it was a different ball game. The Red Steel bowlers seemed to come out with a plan, and they executed it quite well. Midway through the Powerplay, Tamim Iqbal was sent back for five. Fidel Edwards was fired up, and disrupted his stumps. Edwards’ first spell was quick and he generated good bounce. Dwayne Bravo mixed himself up with Samuel Badree at the other end. The result was a slow start for the Zouks. Early wickets didn’t help either. Fletcher stood firm at his end, but wickets fell around him. One run later, Smith misread the pace of the wicket and offered up a catch to Jayawardene at cover to give Badree his first wicket. Misbah struggled to three runs from eight balls, but he never got going. Badree would return to bowl him. Herschelle Gibbs and Fletcher put on 20 runs together to try to stabilize the innings, but it came from 33 balls. As Kevon
Cooper entered the attack, he fooled Gibbs with a slower ball, taking an easy caught and bowled opportunity. Sammy offered some late strokes, hitting three fours in a knock of 16 runs but that’s as much fireworks as there was at the end. The Red Steel bowlers didn’t fall away. They kept a tight line and length and offered few gifts. All eyes turned to Fletcher to see when he would change gears in his innings, but it never came. In the last ten overs, Fletcher faced 25 balls, and did not hit a boundary. The Zouks in a must win game had handed the Red Steel not only the perfect opportunity to win and keep their hopes alive, but also to enhance their Net Run Rate. As a result, they lost quite comfortably by six wickets, and it was all over. The Red Steel copped all the prizes. O’Brien earned both the Limacol Super Six and Digicel 4G Fastest Scorer awards, while Badree for his figures of 4-0-18-2 got Man of the Match. Three on the trot now for the Red Steel; are they peaking at the right time? Scores: St Lucia Zouks 99/ 5 (20/20 ov); Red Steel 105/4 (17.5/20 ov).
Sunday August 18, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 69
Ricky Ponting backs Limacol Caribbean Premier League concept ST JOHN’S, Antigua – ExAustralia captain Ricky Ponting has given the concept of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) his thumbs-up. The batting legend, who made his first senior international tour with his country to the Caribbean in 1995, has been playing for the Antigua Hawksbills, and he said the inaugural tournament involving six franchises was exactly what the region had been crying out for. “The style of cricket the West Indies play is really suited to this format of the game,” he said. “If you look at (Chris) Gayle, (Kieron) Pollard, Marlon Samuels - they have got some really terrific Twenty20 players. The West Indies fans and players have really embraced Twenty20 cricket and it has gone really well. The crowds have enjoyed it and they have come out in big numbers wherever we have been. Ponting said the concept is great, and it’s right but the biggest challenge now for these types of events is finding the right time in the calendar. Quality of pitches and attracting the world’s best players to the Caribbean would also be hurdles for the organisers in future but he
believes those hurdles are ones that can be overcome. “We have seen that some players who committed to play two or three months ago have not been able to make it and that is going to be a challenge moving forward – how they attract the bigger name players – but the way this event has gone, I am sure they will be able to do that,” he said. “From a cricketing point of view the pitches are so important. In this tournament we have had low-scoring games but otherwise they have been reasonably close as well so the competition has gone really well so far.” For Ponting, a triple ICC Cricket World Cup winner, with 27,483 international runs, 71 hundreds for his country at Test and One-Day International (ODI) level and a total of 560 appearances for Australia in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, this tournament has been part of his swansong to playing the game he loves so much. At 38 years old and with a young family, he dismissed the idea that he might change his mind about retiring this year. “No, I’ve definitely no thoughts of that,” he said. “It has been a pretty hard period for me, I have been away for six months straight.
“I went to the IPL, I went straight from there to Surrey and then straight from there to here for the Limacol CPL. For someone of my age, that is a little bit too long with a couple of little girls at home – I am missing them a lot. “I have been travelling for 20 or 21 years so it is time for me to settle back into a normal life after this tournament. So, depending on how we go in our next game, if we do not qualify for the semi-finals then Saturday (against the Guyana Amazon Warriors) could be my last game of cricket.” And what is his take on the ongoing Ashes series? “I have kept in touch with it and putting my biased goggles on for a minute I think the boys have probably played a little bit better than the scoreline suggests as they have been in with a chance of winning three Tests,” he said. “But the scoreline reads 30 and that is the difference sometimes between the really good and experienced teams and the ones on their way up – the know-how – to actually get across the line and to win games. “That is what England have done. They have got a really good team, an experienced team and their bowling group has
Red Steel Advance While the Zouks Go Home CPL - The Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel put in a clinical performance to see off the St Lucia Zouks, keeping their Limacol Caribbean Premier League campaign alive, and ending their opponents’. It started off as a crucial Saturday morning for both teams, and at the end of it, one would have been eliminated and the other merely surviving to fight another day. The Red Steel did their bit in the field to ensure that they had the upper hand at the halfway stage. A tight bowling performance along with some good fielding saw them chase 100 runs for victory at Sabina Park. Andre Fletcher was again the highlight of the Zouks’ innings, but this time his strike was less impressive than two days ago. He hit an unbeaten 46 runs from 59 runs, but only managed two fours and a six. The Zouks merely limped to 99/5 from their 20 overs. In response the T&T Red Steel made fairly light work of their chase, only getting
Andre Fletcher top scored for the Zouks albeit in vain. (CPL themselves in a tangle at the end. Opener Adrian Barath and Kevin O’Brien gave the chase a solid reply with an opening stand of 56 runs. Both batsmen played their shots and often found the
boundary. O’Brien though had more of the strike, and he made good use of it, striking three fours and two sixes. By the end of the Powerplay, the Red Steel were 41/0. Tino (Continued on page 67)
been together for pretty much the last six or seven years now. “There are some challenges there for Australia cricket but with Darren Lehmann’s appointment as coach and some of the younger guys they have got around there I think there is enough talent but they are just going to have to learn and at the moment they are learning the hard way.” The coming Australian summer will see Ponting in the television commentary box covering the Big Bash League but he also sees himself staying within the game in a more hands-on sense. “There is no doubt I will stay in the game somewhere,” he said. “There will be some coaching offers that will come my way and I am really
interested in coaching. I’m really interested in helping out younger players. “The state Australian cricket is at, at the moment my services could be used in some way. We will just wait and see but the one thing I do not want to do is to travel around the world for six or eight months a year.”
Ricky Ponting (CPL)
Page 70
Kaieteur News
Digicel senior C’bean Squash C\ships
Sunday August 18, 2013
Boyce / Jefford Track & Field Classic
Guyana crowned overall champs; Police Sports Club leads point take Womens’ title for the first time standings heading into final day
Guyana dominated the Digicel Senior Caribbean Squa s h c h a m p i o n s h i p s which concluded last evening at the Georgetown Club by winning both the Women’s and Men’s titles. The hosts proved too good for Barbados winning 4-1 in the female category, w h i l e t h e m e n ’s t e a m overcame the Jamaicans by a similar margin in the final round matches of the tournament which was powered by Powerade and Smalta. Nicolette Fernandes led the Guyana victory charge by defeating Karen Meakins in three straight sets 11-5, 11-2, 11-7 while her team mate Ashley Khalil powered to a 11-8,11-3,11-6 win over Alex Jordan. Mary Fund-A-Fat extended the locals advantage by hammering Gylla Mackenzie 11-7,11-6,11-7. Nadia McCarthy gave the Bajans hope by beating Ashley De Groot 11-4,9-11,8-11,11-3,11-7,
but Keisha Jeffery ensured Guyana won the Women’s title for the first time by hammering Amanda Haywood 11-5,11-6,11-8. Richard Chin got the home team off to a bright start against the Jamaicans in the Men’s division by trouncing Bruce Burrowes 11-3,11-9,9-11,11-2. Jason Ray Khalail (GUY) routed Bruce Levy 11-5,11-5,11-9 before Jamal Calendar (GUY) took care of Julian Morrison 11-8,11-9,11-7. Alex Arjoon then put the locals on course by coming from one set down to beat Dane Schwier 3-11,11-7,11-511-6. Chris Binnie (JAM) gave the Jamaicans some consolation by winning his game against Sunil Seth 911,11-6,11-1,11-6. In other final round games in the Men’s category; Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) drew with Trinidad and Tobago 2-2, while Cayman
Islands beat Barbados 3-2. Kevin Bailey (OECS) beat Nku Patrick (T and T) 11-3,511,7-11 11-7,11-6, while Chase Mc Quan (T&T) overcame Dion Ansen (OECS) 11-8,114,11-9. Kevin Hannaway (OECS) defeated Don Lee (T&T) 11-5,11-9,11-8 and Kale Wilson (T and T) got the better of Jules Suagg (OECS) 11-5,11-8,11-5. Mark Chaloner (Cayman Islds) beat Gavin Cumberbatch (BAR) 11-3,114,11-4, Shawn Simpson (BAR) defeated Cameron Stafford (Cayman Islds) 11-6,11-6,115. Stewart St. John (BAR) triumphed over Daniel Murphy (Cayman Islds) 811,11-6,11-7,8-11,12-10. Julina Jerris (Cayman Islds) routed Zaki Williams (BAR) 11-1,11-4,1-7; Gabby Rabess (Cayman Islds) beat Rheth Cumberbatch (BAR) 611,11-9,11-8,9-11,12-10. Barbados grabbed the veterans’ title while Guyana took the runner up spot and OECS ended in third position.
- Forde, Morgan impresses As expected Police Sports Club with 105 combined points tally of head into today’s finals of this year’s Boyce / Jefford Track & Field Athletics Classic with a slim lead over Running Brave that finished the opening day on 87 points followed by Christianburg / Wismar on 47 and Guyana Defence Force on 35. The event which for the first time is being staged over two days opened at the Police Sports Club. Eve Leary, yesterday saw some inspiring performances from leading distance runners Cleveland Forde and Alika Morgan, who both dominated the field in the 5,000 and 3,000 metres respectively, while Stephan James was equally impressive, winning his heats in the 100, 200 and 400 metres
to make his a firm favourite to capture the Most Outstanding Male Athlete award. Other outstanding performances in the Men’s category came from Julio Sinclair, who led the field in the Shot and Discus events. On the distaff side, Alita Moore is a strong candidate for the top individual prize, having placed first and second respectively in the 200 and 400 metres preliminaries. In the men’s 5000 metres race, Forde, the Caribbean premier distance runner placed himself almost at the back of the field in the opening laps and seemed content on letting Nathaniel Giddings of Police Sports Club and the others do the early running. He maintained that position until the final lap when he assumed the lead
with about 150 metres to go, outsprinting Giddings, who had no answer to the devastating kick of Forde and conceded defeat quite meekly. Morgan on the other hand led from start to finish in an encouraging display of front running, leaving the likes of Grenada’s Kenisha Pascal, who had trailed her from the start in her wake, while Jevina Straker never threatened and had to settle for third place. Most of the finals are set for today at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground and fans are expected to come out in their thousands to witness what is being considered the biggest Track & Field event on the local calendar. Meanwhile, the other clubs in contention are Mercury Fast Laners AC on 25, Rising Stars Track Club on 10, Upper Demerara Schools with 10 and Grenada AAA on 8.