Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana.

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial

Stymieing Sales Whatever one may say about the present administration, it cannot be denied that businesses and shopping have exploded across the land in the last two decades, but more so, as always, in Georgetown. The burgeoning crowds and sales have tested the systems put in place by our merchants to rake in those sales. We believe it is to their interest - and the interest of the long-suffering shopper who is forced to deal with milling crowds reminiscent of the Chicago stockyards - that this be done most efficiently.

Sadly this is far from being the case today - and we are not even considering the pandemonium that routinely reigns on the pavements in front of the stores. The secret of merchandising is to “turn over the merchandise”: that is, to generate as much sales in a given timeframe as possible so that the fixed overhead expenses are spread over the greatest sales figure. Advertisements and commercials serve to generate the “bodies” that want to part with their money. It is up to the merchants to come up with systems to ensure that the “parting” is accomplished in the shortest possible time with the least “pain”. The “fleeciers” and the “fleeced” would both be happiest. Sadly, the realities of Guyana have not delivered this happy state of affairs and the result is that we have ever-larger milling crowds that become frustrated (because they can’t spend their money fast enough!) and merchants with stagnant stocks tying up scarce cash.

One of the major hurdles that prevent the smooth transfer of funds from shoppers’ pockets to merchants’ cash registers is the elaborate systems put into place to prevent “pilferage”. Guyana is not the only place in the world where there is pilferage from businesses. In fact the practice is so universal that staid accountants have an expression for it – “shrinkage” and make yearly provisions for this factor. We all eventually pay for “shrinkage” but that is another story.

However, it appears that in Guyana, the magnitude of the “shrinkage” is so great (or the ingenuity of our merchant class is so lacking) that the systems instituted actually prevent the smooth transfer exchange of money for goods.

And our economy suffers – not to mention the national frustration level and the bruising of the shopping spirit.

“Shrinkage” can occur at several points and be generated from different sets of actors. Firstly there is your everyday, garden-variety “shoplifter”. Our merchants employ an ever-increasing number of guards and have them strategically (hopefully) placed to nip these pilferers. While these guards do stop random (we don’t have “profiling” in Guyana, do we?) shoppers and check their bags, this practice does not seem to cause major delays. The major disruptions are generated by the stratagems to stop employee theft or employees connivance with thefts – both from the points of sales and the points of receiving and shipping.

Elaborate multiple-employee cross-checks are employed to prevent collusion between shoppers and employees. In some stores a simple purchase may involve the hapless shopper being bounced off a serial stream of four or even five transactions. And these are very frustrating and prevent rapid (and money-making) “turnover”.

In even the most up-to-date upscale stores with fancy computerised registers, the internal crosschecks put a brake on smooth traffic flow. At the other ends (literally) of the merchandising cycle – receiving and shipping – there are also huge blockages. And these blockages are colossal.

The point being made is that as our merchants attempt to enter the twenty-first century of “merchandising”, they have to become more aware of the need to improve the efficiency in moving the customers and goods through his stores. They have to come up with new methodologies for securing their interests – which includes selling their merchandise, in addition to avoiding pilferage. Why haven’t more of them, for instance, installed the less obtrusive closed circuit cameras to monitor transactions all across their stores?

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur M@ilbox Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

Time for a redistribution of wealth and power, but who is up to the task?

DEAR EDITOR, This week, The Kaieteur News (December 8th), carried an article headlined with a quote from APNU’s Joseph Harmon which read: ‘Guyana’s national wealth cannot be lived off by a few persons’. The article went on to state that APNU is calling for ‘equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth in the future’, presumably under an APNU led government.

Such a bold call caught my eye, and forever hopeful, I read the article only to find the same empty rhetoric we

are so familiar with. No discussion of political ideology or policies, just more of that dialectical absurdity, which has both the government and opposition constantly reminding us of how incapable the other is of leading Guyana out of the abyss in which it is mired, while failing to present any viable resolution themselves. The truth is neither the government nor the opposition can get us out of the mess we are in.

I certainly have no argument with Mr Harmon

regarding the urgent need for a redistribution of the nation’s wealth. However, neither APNU nor the AFC are capable of delivering on this promise, because they both adhere to neoliberalism, an ideology and economic model that does not allow for an equitable distribution of wealth. I challenge any of Guyana’s politicians, from any party, to point to one country in the Global South which has followed the neo-liberal capitalist agenda, and managed to reduce the gap

between rich and poor. There are no successful examples they can point to.

And yet this is the same model followed by both the PPP government and the Opposition parties.

Everywhere this economic model has been implemented, the gap between have and have-nots has widened.

This is old news. Many years ago, Forbes Burnham referred to the IMF program, which is rooted in the neoliberal model, as a ‘prescription for riots’. Burnham had the (Continued on page 6)

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

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Kaieteur M@ilbox

The ruling cabal My principled withdrawal from contention for has run Guyana the post of Commonwealth Secretary-General into the ground DEAR EDITOR, An insight into the PPP campaign platform for the 2015 General Election reveals that the party appears to be building its campaign around the theme of reducing corruption and improving morality, forgetting they are the ones who are immoral and who embraced corruption, refined it to a science and thus ensured it is part of their legacy in governance.

Under the Jagdeo/ Ramotar regime, corruption and the lack of integrity has become an integral part of Guyana’s heritage.

Almost everyone in the regime from the highest political officials to the lowest level civil/public servants and the police force are involved in corrupt and immoral practices.

After all, the PPP has governed the country for the past 22 years during which time corruption spread rapidly and the PPP cabal did absolutely nothing to stop it.

So if corruption is engrained in the country’s social, political, economic and corporate culture; it is logical to conclude that it is primarily the PPP’s fault.

They could have and should have changed it.

Corruption occurs at all levels of government and it is now embedded in the DNA of most Guyanese, thanks to the PPP regime-the most corrupt and immoral government in all of the Caribbean.

It is not only about multimillion dollar bribery and embezzlement by political officials; it is about the average person lying, cheating, accepting a bribe,

paying a little something to obtain that driver’s license, illegal connections for water and electricity and having a friend push one’s appointment to the top.

If that is not corruption, then what is? But even more disturbing is the PPP leadership’s constant attempts to cover up for their close friends and relatives whenever that are caught in illegal and immoral acts.

Some prime examples are the Attorney General profane laced language in a taped conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter; the recycling scandal involving a minister and her daughter and the ‘busing out’ of the US. Ambassador at his residence by the minister whose responsibility is to educate and discipline our children.

Corruption has been occurring from day one under the PPP regime. It was a PPP minister who entered a police station a few years ago to free his son who was arrested for beating his girlfriend and pointing a gun in her face.

It was the president’s son who drove his vehicle and injured the nephew of a popular Kaieteur News columnist. It was the Chair of the Board of NCN who reported to president Ramotar that the CEO and the Production Manager of NCN had embezzled $3 million.

These are clear cases of PPP corruption, but no one was charged, which suggests that the PPP cabal and their relatives and friends are above the law and are considered the “untouchables.” Yet at his (Continued on page 6)

DEAR EDITOR, Please see attached letter from the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda to all Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government regarding my principled withdrawal from contention for the post of Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral despite majority support.

Kind regards Sir Ronald Sanders To: Heads of Government of: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada,Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines,Trinidad and Tobago; Cc HE Irwin La Rocque, SG, CARICOM Secretariat;10 December 2014 DEAR FELLOW HEADS

OF GOVERNMENT. I write to advise that Sir Ronald Sanders, my government’s nominee for post of Commonwealth Secretary-General has today written to me as follows: “There is nothing I hold more strongly than the desire to advance the interests of the CARICOM region and those of the Commonwealth. My working life in several Caribbean and Commonwealth capacities and my published writing bear testimony to that.

I have followed closely your actions, and those of other Heads of Government, to advance my candidature as the Caribbean’s nominee for the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s position.

I am truly grateful for the most excellent efforts; but I am

been deeply anguished that, despite majority support for me, the region has not been able to settle on one candidate. To be successful, the region must have a single candidate and should not delay any longer its entry into a campaign that has already started by others. I have no wish to be part of a fragmented process in the Commonwealth Caribbean at a time when our need for unity is so urgent in our own interest. Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my name from contention within the Caribbean for the post of Commonwealth Secretary-General.

I need hardly add that, in all other respects, my commitments to you, to Antigua and Barbuda, to CARICOM and to the Commonwealth remain firm

and unshakeable”.

I agree with the principled position that Sir Ronald has taken. As I told colleagues at the caucus of Heads of Commonwealth Caribbean governments in the margins of the Cuba-CARICOM conference on 8th December, I believe that the region has delayed too long on this matter, and further delay is inimical to a regional candidate’s chances.

T h e r e f o r e , notwithstanding the majority support for Sir Ronald and in full support of the principled regional position he has taken, my government hereby withdraws from the process.

Gaston Browne Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda

We all bear responsibility for the way things are DEAR EDITOR, It must now be absolutely clear to all our fellow Guyanese that our political culture is being developed along lines that will see us forever mired in controversy and a spirit of con-cooperation and non-compromise.

This is further exacerbated by other players on the national spectrum who should have been the instruments of inculcating some measure of sanity into our debates and decisions.

These include the bar, human rights and other associations in society, the media, and other functionaries who should be at least objective and allinclusive in their utterances.

Instead we find that most of these are always consistent with their posture of antagonism and condemnation. Further,

we should not delude ourselves into believing that this culture would end with any change in the political structure. The way forward towards the advancement of the affairs of our country must surely lie in much selfexamination of our individual stances and actions in each of the events being played out nationally.

This necessitates that we should all understand and appreciate that we are all human beings, with all of us having some amount of goodness, with none of us perfect, and with all of us subject of the strains of daily life, especially in such a divided state in which we find ourselves, expressly because of this vast divide which we have created in our beloved country. I appeal to all our people, however they are

involved and in whatever they are now occupied, to realise that our salvation as a people lies in the fact that we all bear responsibility for the way things are, and we all need to conduct this selfexamination and deal with one another empathically, more compassionately and with a large dose of brotherliness in our actions.

This would prove not so problematic if we regard our nation as one large family, as it virtually is, and deal with one another as we would with members of our own household - with a spirit of empathy, compassion and earnest desire to create real peace, justice, equality and national unity in our nation.

Roy Paul

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Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox The ruling cabal...

From page 4 weekly press conferences, the General Secretary has reiterated that the opposition has only assumed that corruption exists but they have not proved it. And he and his cohorts will say it a thousand times hoping that it becomes a fact and that the people would believe them and not the opposition.

It will take much more for the people to believe them but the truth is the PPP cabal would like the people to believe they are saints and everyone else are sinners when it comes to corruption.

But as the whole country knows, corruption, immorality and lack of integrity have become the hall marks of the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal.

While we may be pleased that the public is finally speaking up and speaking out against corruption and these unwanted abuse of the state resources, we are also worried and disgusted that the PPP cabal is supporting the raping of the country’s natural resources and the destruction of the environment by foreigners.

The fact that the PPP regime is not bothered by the

current revelations is because they themselves are participants in the corrupt practices. Guyana cannot develop as a nation if the people continue to recycle this incompetent and failed PPP government that has now become a dictatorship.

And while some, especially the business elite, will say that they want to change the PPP and its racebait politics, yet they are actually working and spending considerable sums of money to ensure the regime remains in office.

Only the opposition could restore morality and integrity and lead Guyana out of this dreadful cycle of corruption, crime, nepotism and gross incompetence.

It should be clear to everyone that the country is dangerously close to the point of no return under the current PPP regime.

From the brazen and corrupt politicians in the regime sucking the country dry, to heads of state agencies squandering the tax payers’ money, to contractors doing sub-standard work, to businesses feeding off the corruption, and to criminal gangs killing and robbing innocent citizens, Guyana has reached the point where the PPP does not want to effect change or want to see change because it benefits them when the poor get poorer and their friends become richer. The ruling cabal has run Guyana into the ground.

Asquith Rose and Harish Singh.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur M@ilbox

What made our forebears succeed even in the absence of enabling laws?

DEAR EDITOR, Reference is made to Freddie Kissoon’s column, “The Nigel Hughes formula: Can it change Guyana?” 12th December, 2014. While I have not read Nigel Hughes’ presentation on the Constitution and shall seek to acquire a copy, from the quoted extracts read in Kissoon’s article, my understating of governance should the Guyana Constitution be applied are hereby stated.

Ours is a society grounded in representative government. This means that government cannot operate independent of the people, their needs and desires.

Correspondingly, it means the people shoulder the responsibility to demand a government and elected officials that respect them and respond to their needs and desires.

These needs and desires are expressed through the constitution, its attendant laws and institutions. There is no article in the constitution that stands alone. Articles complement each other. Further, any act of applying interpretation to any article without regard for the underling spirit and intent of this instrument that respects the sovereignty of the people as enshrined in Article 9, undermines this spirit and intent of the designated role of the people in governance.

The legislature, executive and judicature, the three branches of government, though separate, they depend on each other and cannot function without one another. Together they ensure the checks and balances built into governance. For instance, the prorogation of the National Assembly regardless of what explanation President Ramotar gives is a violation because it is a direct act of denying the people their right to speak and their involvement in governance through their elected representatives at the legislative arm of government.

The proroguing was not with the intent to call elections and give the people an opportunity to elect new representatives, but to silence the people and deny their representatives holding the Executive to account.

Further, it is a deliberate act to undermine the checks and balances built into governance. This violation to the people’s sovereignty must be fought tooth and nail.

Article 50 which says, “The Supreme organs of democratic power in Guyana shall be (i) The Parliament (ii);

the President and; (iii) the Cabinet” has to be examined consistent with the sovereignty of the people. It ought to be noted countries that adopted the Westminster system call their legislature the Parliament, the USA calls theirs the Congress.

And where Article 51 says, “There shall be a Parliament of Guyana, which shall consist of the President and the National Assembly” this is so because of the role the president plays in assenting/non-assenting to bills passed in the Assembly and having his cabinet represents the Executive’s interests in this body of which he has executive authority.

For emphasis let me repeat, the President is the supreme authority of the Executive branch of government, which means the President is head of the Executive. The presidency is not a monarchy, nor does this office exercise supremacy over the people or the constitution. The constitution vests no such power in this office holder. Where Article 99 (1) states, “The executive authority of Guyana shall be vested in the President and, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, may be exercised by him or through officers subordinated to him” such cannot be divorced from the aforementioned.

The power to appoint and terminate ministers as located in Article 183 (3) (b) is consistent with the role of the Head of Government (Head of the Executive) and a universal practice observed in the Caribbean, Canada and UK. Guyana has had heads of government who terminate or reassign ministers whose conduct was not in keeping with our society or the policy of the government. This nation has seen instances during the stewardship of

Presidents Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte and Cheddie Jagan. The presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar has been exceptional with their lawlessness and disrespect for the constitution, the views of the people and management of the State’s affairs.

The Cabinet is the president’s team in the fulfilment of his executive duties, and members appointed to the cabinet sit in the National Assembly in furtherance/representation of the Executive’s interest. Be it the President or the Cabinet, their acts and actions have to be consistent with the constitution and respect for the people, regardless.

Article 106 (2) expressly states, “The Cabinet shall aid and advise the President in the general direction and control of the Government of Guyana and shall be collectively responsible therefor to Parliament.” In reference to the Government of Guyana what this article means is the Executive, that is, the President and his ministers are collectively accountable to parliament.

Our constitution does not subscribe to discrimination and while it allows the President to develop policies and programmes such must be consistent with respect for equality and proper management of the State’s resources and its established institutions as outlined. For instance, the President through the Minister of Finance spending money not approved by the National Assembly and refusing to account is contempt for the people and violation of the Constitution he has sworn to uphold and its attendant law which set out the procedure for authorisation and spending. Article 13 which prescribes the principal

objective of the political system of the State to establish an inclusionary democracy where people must be involved in the management and decisionmaking processes of the State in areas that affect their wellbeing, cannot be read separate and distinct from the establishment of constitutional commissions, the National Assembly, regional system and the local democratic organs, and civil society whose right to existence and participation are all protected.

Constitutional conversations are important in that they allow us to share ideas as we seek understanding of government and governance, how these ought to work and the role of the people in the process. No government functions effectively and efficiently without an educated and vigilant society.

We must ask ourselves the question, why our forebears during slavery and indentureship were able to topple systems that oppressed and discriminated against them when there was no law that enshrined sovereignty to them?

Today there is a constitution that expressly vests sovereignty (i.e. dominion, power, authority) in the people (Article 9), yet there is a notion that the President is supreme to the people, has immunity to abuse the people, violate the laws and plunder the nation’s resources. What made our forebears succeed even in the absence of enabling laws and what is responsible for their descendants’ resignation/ acceptance of the atrocities committed today when there are laws that protect their right to hold government and elected officials accountable?

Lincoln Lewis.

Time for a redistribution...

From page 4 courage to resist and defend Guyana’s right to political and economic self-determination.

Our present day politicians are cowards. Every minute we find them in meetings with representatives of the so-called ABC countries, frightened to make a move without the nod of their masters. All of them remain in line with the Washington consensus, a tired and failed set of economic policies that the rest of South America has rejected. None of them are prepared to carry out the kind of radical transformation necessary to redistribute the national wealth.

Both government and opposition are making all kinds of promises in the lead up to elections – promises they know they can’t and won’t keep. Misleading the people is a terrible thing. Mr. Harmon is correct when he states that Guyana’s national wealth benefits only a few. The majority of people live in pov-

erty. It is not an exaggeration to say that thousands of our youth are at risk. They are malnourished and either mis-educated or uneducated. The public healthcare system is a disgrace and many lives are lost unnecessarily.

Guyana has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the region.

A Catholic priest, Father Dennis LeBlanc, who runs a counseling service in the US, was in Guyana last year to do some voluntary work and had this to say: ‘the filth, squalor, poverty and disregard for human life made me embarrassed to be a human being.’ He has traveled all over the world but said that Guyana is the ‘worst, miasmic-stained country’ he has ever seen and described his trip to Guyana as a ‘sad and depressing experience’.

It is certainly time for a redistribution of wealth and power, the question is who amongst us is up to the task?

Gerald A. Perreira

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Dozens killed in Afghanistan fighting as foreign troops head home

Afghan security forces inspect at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban killed a Supreme Court official, a dozen mine clearers and several national and foreign soldiers but also suffered heavy losses from intensifying violence ahead of the withdrawal of most international troops in the next two weeks.

In Kabul on Saturday, a bomb ripped through a bus carrying soldiers in Kabul, killing at least seven of them, mangling the vehicle and sending a column of black smoke over the capital.

“A suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives at the door of a bus carrying army soldiers,” said Hashmat Stanekzai, a spokesman for Kabul police chief.

Earlier gunmen shot dead senior Supreme Court official Atiqullah Raoufi as he left his home in the city.

The Taliban, ousted from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, claimed responsibility, but did not say why it had killed him.

The hardline Islamist insurgents run their own courts in parts of the country

and consider the official judiciary to be corrupt.

Heavily fortified Kabul has seen multiple attacks in recent weeks, including several on army buses and a suicide bomb that killed a German citizen in a French cultural center during a performance of a play that denounced suicide attacks.

Fatalities and injuries among Afghan security forces and civilians peaked this year to the highest point since the U.S.-led war began in 2001, as foreign forces rapidly withdrew most of their troops from the interior of mountainous nation.

About 5,000 Afghan police and soldiers have been killed, and more than 1,500 civilians were killed in the first half of the year. A rump of about 13,000 foreign soldiers will remain in Afghanistan next year, down from a peak of more than 130,000.

Fighting has extended long beyond the traditional summer season, with the Afghan government also inflicting heavy casualties on the Taliban. The army and

police say they killed more than 50 militants nationwide in the past 48 hours.

The Taliban have been fighting a guerrilla war ever since their 5-year regime was toppled. They now have a strong presence in most of the provinces surrounding Kabul.

BAGRAM BLAST Just outside the city and close to the U.S.-run Bagram airfield, the Taliban detonated a roadside bomb on Friday night, hitting a convoy of foreign troops and killing two American soldiers.

The blast left a 3-meter (10-foot)-long blackened fissure in the road, a Reuters witness said. Helicopters buzzed overhead on Saturday morning.

“Two International Security Assistance Force service members died as a result of an enemy forces attack in eastern Afghanistan on Dec. 12, 2014,” a coalition press release said on Saturday.

The coalition, as per its policy, declined to give the soldiers’ nationality but a U.S. defense official in Washington confirmed the two soldiers killed were American.

The Bagram attack came two days after the United States closed a prison that held foreign detainees on the airfield, which is in Parwan province, the only province adjacent to the capital that is usually relatively peaceful.

It also followed a NATO air strike on Thursday that killed five people in the same province. Afghan officials said the casualties were civilians. The coalition said it was investigating the allegations, but that they were identified from the air as militants before the “precision” strike.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Minimal challenges encountered during Cash Grant distribution – Manickchand Two books containing 25 vouchers each worth $5 million were mysteriously misplaced during the Ministry of Education’s $10,000 Cash Grant distribution process. This disclosure was made by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, during her Ministry’s end of year press conference at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development on Friday.

According to Manickchand, the situation of the displaced vouchers was among the few challenges that were encountered during the planned $2 Billion exercise.

But despite this state of affairs the Minister said that no one was able to encash the vouchers.

Upon the disappearance of the vouchers she said, “We were immediately able to put a stop on payment so they were not encashed; they were lost but the money wasn’t lost...We were able to say don’t cash these vouchers and that is the kind of relationship we need with someone.” She also spoke of plans to sustain the Cash Grant programme in the New

— $1.6B already distributed

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand during her end of year press conference on Friday.

Year.

Even as she vocalised her satisfaction with the programme which was introduced for the first time this year, the Minister said that its success was in fact a direct result of strategic planning and preparation.

Manickchand said that the programme will not ever degenerate to a ‘loose’ programme.

“For me, accountability is huge on the programme...We want to

account for every cent we spend and it’s a fine balance of getting the money efficiently to parents and students but (at the same time) making sure that we in the process don’t do ourselves in and have you ask us questions about accountability later on,” noted the Education Minister.

Last March, Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in presenting the National Continued on page 64

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Dem boys seh...

Jagdeo and Brassington evil plot exposed There is a simple old people saying and everybody know it but some people does forget it. Jagdeo know it, Brassington know it more than anybody else because he was in de church every day.

When dem boys use to see he going there all de time dem didn’t realise that he was begging fuh forgiveness fuh all de scampish things that he do.

De saying is that whatever people do in de dark does come to light one day. Wha you do behind closed doors does be exposed. Ask Brassington and dem other pregnant woman.

When Jagdeo and Brassington plan fuh tek over de whole Guyana communication network and put GT&T out of business dem believe that nobody woulda ever see, hear or know.

Dem plan that takeover in a room specially built in Ohh Pee. It’s called de Evil

Room wheh de evil people of society meet. The president of de people who meet in that room is de man who resemble de devil.

De room get de name Evil Room just like how dem got de Blue Room and de Credentials Room.

A lot of things plan in de Evil Room. Every shady, wicked and underhand deal, to rob de people of this country, is planned in that room. Dem boys hear that Donald Duck start ducking in de room.

Dem ain’t certain if he is a participant or an observer of what taking place.

When Brassington and Jagdeo was planning dem never believe that dem plan woulda come to light and get expose so clear for all to see.

Today, one of de evil plot get exposed. It show how Jagdeo spend more than $20 billion from our Treasury fuh enrich he self, he friends and family and de same Brassington.

More things gun get expose from de Evil Room by de evildoers. That is wha dem boys seh. De heist of de nation got this story but de plot wasn’t as clear as it is now.

Dem boys seh that dem gun frame de front page wid de story and send it to all de world leaders. Dem gun skip de few who do scampish things like Jagdeo.

Dem also plan to put it in de museum in de rogue’s gallery section, just to remind de country and dem school children of de rogues and vagabonds that ran this country.

Dem boys hope that Donald Duck tek note and duck out de Evil Room before he end up in that same rogue’s gallery.

Merry Christmas to Jagdeo, Babbie and Brassington, de three little drummer boys.

Talk half and wait fuh more scampish things come to light.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Bai Shan Lin ships 1,200 containers of logs annually …refuses to maintain 100km of road it destroys daily

Sections of the deteriorating Linden to Kwakwani Road

One of the many Bai Shan Lin trucks traversing the roadway

By Gary Eleazar A significant escalation in logging activities over the last three years in Region Ten has led directly to the destruction of the more than 200 kilometres of roadway between Kwakwani, Linden and Georgetown.

According to official figures, an average of 40 heavily laden trucks traverse the worsening stretch of road each day between Kwawkani to Linden.

They are also met by others heading to Georgetown, thus destroying that stretch of road also.

The majority of the trucks on the Kwakwani to Linden road belongs to, or contracted by Chinese logging company, Bai Shan

Lin, which has also significantly escalated its activities in the Region.

Bai Shan Lin alone exports an average of 1,200 containers of logs annually.

Logs are brought to Georgetown by way of trucks and barges.

The situation has led to the Ministry of Public Works having to assume maintenance of the roadway, pumping an average of $100M annually, along the Kwakwani to Linden road over the past five years.

The road has deteriorated to the point where it is almost impassable.

Huge craters punctuate that stretch of road and travel is routinely made worse by heavy rains.

To make matters worse,

the logging companies that depend on the road have refused to assist in its maintenance and have argued this case since they claim to have already assumed responsibility for the Unamco Road.

The Unamco Road is primarily a logging road that runs along the eastern bank of the Berbice River.

The Public Works Ministry currently has a small fleet stationed in Region Ten, responsible for the maintenance of the road.

The fleet includes one frontend loader, one excavator, one roller, one Bobcat, two trucks and a grader.

The fleet is often times removed to undertake emergency works in other locations limiting the capacity to effectively maintain the Linden to Kwakwani road.

The situation has reached such dire proportions that the Public Works Minister has indicated to this publication

that come early next year, Government is looking to install a toll booth.

While this would be a new source of revenue meant to assist in the maintenance of the road, Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, has admitted that the revenue would be nowhere close to adequate and as such Government would still have to utilize money from the nation’s coffers.

The predicament has now led to stakeholders calling for the timber companies to do more since it earns billions of dollars from the logs shipped out of the Guyana forest while paying Government a paltry royalty.

Forestry exports for the first eight months of this year have more than doubled compared to the same period of 2013.

A staggering 86,250 cubic meters of logs were exported between January and August.

This earned US$14.5M. Last year, for the same period,

41,518 cubic meters were exported, earning over US$7M. For this year, until August, log exports represented about 46 percent of the total forest exports as against the 30 percent for last year.

Regional Chairman of the affected area, Sharma Solomon, has told this newspaper that Bai Shan Lin and the other loggers using the road are destroying it, and that when they are approached to assist in repairing it, the companies insist that they already pay royalties and taxes to Government.

To make matters worse the company has failed to embark on value added exports which was supposed to see Guyana earning more than 40 per cent above what it currently receives from Bai Shan Lin in royalties.

The company has also been accused of cheating Guyana in an attempt to

avoid paying more through what is known as transfer pricing.

Transfer pricing allows Bai Shan Lin’s parent company in China to set the price on logs.

The issue was raised recently by Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, who is on record saying “In effect, they can set whatever prices they want because nobody does any serious review.

At the end of the day, the Government gets lower revenues from its royalties and of course, more importantly, the seller…the poor local loggers…get whatever price is being offered to them.”

The use of imported Chinese labour and the transfer pricing practice also opens a real possibility for Bai Shan Lin to use its proceeds in China to pay workers without local taxes and other commitments like NIS being remitted.

A stretch of road under construction along the East Bank of Demerara

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 11

Georgetown faces possible Nandlall’s threats against K/News… “shut down” as GLGOU File stuck in DPP Chambers members go on strike The City Hall

By Zena Henry Christmas shoppers might get a rude awakening this week when they find that city functionaries will not be unavailable to aid in the smooth running of city facilities. The functionaries will be outside the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) with placards come Monday if the City Council fails to pay them their five percent wage and salary increase.

Some 300 staffers are expected to go on strike and basically, “shut down” Georgetown, President of the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU), Dale Beresford, told this newspaper yesterday. He told the newspaper that city markets, the abattoir and other municipal centres will be closed as the union will commence strike action on the first working day.

Beresford had given the M&CC a 48-hour ultimatum on Thursday since the council had been failing to ensure the approval of the workers’ increase. Beresford had also promised “appropriate industrial” action which he had opined could lead to the interruption of many Council operations including the constabulary, the abattoir, and the markets.

Beresford had stated that the Council is yet to approve the increases, despite it being agreed upon by most of the councilors who sit on the Personnel and Training, and the Finance Committees. The GLGOU President said that approval of wages increases were submitted for consideration and were accepted.

However, Beresford claimed that the Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green

stated that the increases will come with conditions that the retroactive sums will be paid in line with the increases for the Mayor and Councilors.

Beresford said however, that the increases for Council staffer and Councilors are two completely different matters.

Increases for the Mayor and Councillors, he said, are not matters for the union, since their increases are made at a governmental level and have nothing to do with that of the Local Government Union members. No increases have been slated for the Councillors.

“While we empathise with councillors as they should and ought to have an increase, these are separate matters in which a collective labour agreement exists between the Mayor and City Council and the GLGOU.” No agreement exists where the workers’ increases must be tied in with the Mayor and Councillors’ increases, he said.

Bereford said that the 48hour ultimatum will attract the appropriate industrial action should demands not be met.

He said another attempt was made to have the Council work towards approving the increases at a round robin. It was mentioned however that the Council is seeking to convene an extra-ordinary meeting on Tuesday, but Beresford said he is not confident that the matter will be addressed and demonstrations will therefore start on Monday.

The Union leader said that it is no fault of the workers that the Council is facing difficulties. He was at the time referring to their inability to approve the increases because the Statutory meetings are being

prematurely adjourned.

The GLGOU represents the professional, technical and clerical staff of the Council.

In a letter sent to the Council last week Beresford highlighted the Council’s failure to address the matter.

He said that he met with the Mayor, on December 9, and was informed that he was willing to revisit the issue and have the matter of approval for wages and salaries for members of GLGOU. “However, having submitted our request in writing, the GLGOU was informed that this matter will now be placed on the December 22, 2014 statutory agenda. The GLGOU is not confident that this item will be discussed-- as was the issue with two previous meetings where the same promises were made by the councillors but to no avail.”

The 48-hour ultimatum ended on Friday.

The union had also highlighted the arbitrary cutting of the salary of Royston King, the Council’s Public Relations Officer.

Beresford has since written to the Chief Labour Officer at the Ministry of Labour highlighting that King’s salary has been cut by 50 percent for the last four months.

The union said that the decision to unilaterally cut King’s salary was “unjust, unfair and an infringement of his fundamental rights”. It was reported that the decision to cut King’s salary was based on the court matter which he is involved in. However, the procedure that allows for the cutting of King’s salary was not followed, Beresford said.

The union is thus awaiting a response from the labour officer.

Almost one month after the police completed the file on allegations made by the Publisher of the Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, against Attorney General Anil Nandlall, the matter remains stalled in the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar AliHack.

It’s been more than six weeks since the Kaieteur News Publisher filed a complaint with the police alleging that the Attorney General had knowledge of a plan to attack the newspaper offices on Saffon Street.

After taking statements from several persons, the police forwarded the file to the DPP for her to advise on whether or not to institute charges against the Attorney General.

And while it took the DPP a mere two days to advise on a threatening language complaint made by Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority Khurshid Sattaur against Lall, the Nandlall file has been engaging her chambers’ attention for close to a month.

A source who has links to the DPP’s office told this newspaper that it is unusual for the DDP to take so long with matters of this nature.

“She will look at it and if she needs further information from the police, she will send back the file to them. But I do not think that this is the case with this matter,” the source told this newspaper.

Attorney General Nandlall, in a recorded conversation with Senior Reporter, Leonard Gildarie had hinted at a plot to attack the Kaieteur News in retaliation to the newspaper’s exposure of corrupt activities by persons close to the ruling administration.

In the conversation with the Kaieteur News’ senior reporter, Nandlall told Gildarie that Kaieteur News had become a very dangerous place and that he should leave to avoid being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall

DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack

Initially the police appeared to have been stalling the investigations into the matter and this approach was criticized by certain sections of society, which accused them of abandoning all pretence of impartiality and neutrality.

A few weeks ago, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordered the Guyana government to provide within 15 days, information on the steps the government intends to take to protect Kaieteur News and its staff.

“After analyzing the factual and legal arguments put forth by (Christopher Ram) the commission considers that the information presented demonstrates prima facie that the members of Kaieteur News journal are in a serious and urgent situation since their lives and personal integrity faced an imminent risk of irreparable harm.”

It ordered that the government provide updated information periodically.

“Given that the present precautionary measures have been granted without having previously requested information from the State,

the Commission will review this decision once it receives reports from both parties.”

The Commission informed Guyana that it must adopt the necessary measures to protect the lives and personal integrity of (Glenn Lall, Adam Harris and Leonard Gildarie); agree on the measures to be adopted with the beneficiaries and their representatives; and report on the actions taken to investigate the alleged facts that gave rise to the adoption of this precautionary measure in order to prevent their repetition.

A few days prior, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) had condemned the Government and called for the state to pull out all stops to ensure the safety of media workers.

According to the ACM, the Government of Guyana must do all in its power to protect media workers from violent attacks and acts of intimidation.

The government must also ensure that it does not send mixed signals about its stated commitment to a safe environment for all journalists and media practitioners in the country.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Marriott Concessions: A death knell for Pegasus, Princess

By Gary Eleazar The bounty of concessions handed to Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI) for the construction and ownership of the Georgetown Marriott Hotel, spells the death knell for the Pegasus Hotel and possibly the Princess Hotel— concessions the likes of which are reminiscent of those handed to Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII).

This is the position held

by Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, who, following extensive research and analysis, has surmised that there is absolutely no way any investor can compete with the AHI project unless he receives similar concessions.

In his writings, Ram documents that under the agreement negotiated by Winston Brassington with the Guyana Office for Investment (GOINVEST), the new facility is being granted for 10 years, exemption from corporation, property and withholding tax (including the payment of interest and dividends to debt providers and equity holders.)

Withholding Tax is income tax withheld from employees’ wages and paid directly to the government, by the employer.

Ram added that the developer has received an undertaking that it will be granted a licence to operate a

… possible involvement of Dr. ‘Bobby’ Ramroop as an investor - Chris Ram casino.

Among the sleuth of concessions handed to the project is guaranteed relief from duty and excise tax on capital repairs or replacements, including machinery, equipment and buildings costing more than US$10,000.

“And on top of that, the developer is entitled to a oneoff retrofitting of the project if so required for a period of ten years (sic) from the commencement of commercial operations…There is absolutely no way any investor can compete with AHI’s project unless it receives similar concessions.”

According to Ram, it is either that the hotel will make super-profits or competitors will simply be run out of business.

“These concessions spell the death-knell of the Guyana Pegasus and possibly the Princess Hotel as well…The only other entity in Guyana that came close to such generous concessions is the (Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’) Ramroop-owned Queens Atlantic Inc, lending credence to the rumours that the investor will be the same group.”

Ram in his analysis also points out that the Agreement, as signed, has no conditions regarding

Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram

Winston Brassington

Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop

ownership. It means that AHI can sell the hotel one day after completion with all the massive concessions which amount to a windfall to whoever the buyer turns out to be.

“The Guyana Government has now taken on the role of venturecapitalist and procurer of concessions, licences and permits for an unknown entity(ies) which is not willing to invest any money upfront…It is hard to think of any similar arrangement across the Caribbean!”

Further, compounding the situation, according to Ram,

is the re-negotiated terms and conditions under which the Chinese Contractor— Shanghai Construction Group—caused to be finalized and agreed to by Winston Brassington, who heads AHI. According to Ram, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), dated June 14, 2011 and signed by Brassington and Michael Zhang, notes that SCG had submitted a tender of US$65M based on an original design but that the amount was considerably above the US$41M budgeted cost for

the construction.

“The MOU goes on to state that SCG “ and apparently no one else “ was allowed to submit an alternate design meeting Marriott international design standards…The MOU reflects a situation in which SCG went for the kill, realising that it had all the cards and that its opponent was either weak, compromised by circumstances or grossly incompetent.”

According to Ram, the Chinese demanded, in exchange for a reduction of US$14M in the contract price,

An open arrest warrant has been issued for the man who was on trial in the Berbice High Court on two counts of Carnal Knowledge after he failed to show up in court for the second time on Thursday.

Muntaz Yassim, called ‘Joe’, 54, of New Street, Cumberland, East Canje, Berbice, was on trial before

Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a mixed Jury for two counts of Carnal Knowledge.

The man had failed to show up in court on December 4, last, for the commencement of his trial and an arrest warrant was issued for him. The matter was put down to Thursday.

However, when the matter was called again, Yassim was

a no show. Justice Drakes then issued the second arrest warrant and discharged the jury.

Prosecutrix, Attorney at Law Dionne McCammon appeared on behalf of the state.

Attorney at Law Perry Gossai was appearing for the accused. Yassim who was a money lender is charged with between January 1, and December 22, 2006 having carnal knowledge of a girl 11 years old.

The man is also charged with between December

a number of questionable clauses.

The Chinese Contractor demanded, firstly, the removal of any obligation on SCG to pay all taxes, duties and fees, and obtain all permits, licences and approvals … placing these on AHI. Moreover, SCG demanded that it receive full exemptions from all taxes and according to Ram, Mr Brassington agreed.

He said that the Chinese Contractor also demanded that it be allowed to import any personnel necessary for the execution of the project.

Brassington agreed to this and turned out that the Chinese imported 100 per cent of its labour force thus sidelining Guyanese.

The Chinese also demanded that its obligation to repay an Advance Payment be removed from the agreement to which Brassington also agreed.

Brassington also agreed to have the principal provisions regarding Claims, Disputes and Arbitrations be deleted in their entirety.

“The result is a complete sell-out of every principle that served Guyana’s interest, an agreement that was re-written

by SCG for SCG. And Mr Brassington agreed.”

Arrest warrant issued for carnal knowledge accused

Corruption benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. Say no to it.

22, 2006 and November 20, 2007 at New Street Cumberland in Berbice, of having carnal knowledge of a girl 12 years old.

The accused was out on $100,000 bail. He showed up in court on two occasions, but without a lawyer. He subsequently secured the services of Attorney at Law, Gossai.

Justice Bovell-Drakes had told the jury that there is a problem on hand since the accused was absent.

Attorney at Law Gossai had told the court that he had no idea where the accused was, but that he had spoken to him a few days before and was given all assurances that the man would be in court.

He was seen around the day before his court date.

There are reports that Yassim has left the jurisdiction.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 21

UG honours longstanding staffers at awards ceremony ...as Emeritus Professor calls for improved financial benefits “We are not a country that likes to speak truth, we’re a country marked by more lies and half-truths than other countries I know,” was the conviction of Emeritus Professor Winston McGowan, as he delivered the feature address at the University of Guyana’s ‘2014 Long Service Award’ Ceremony.

And according to him, one of the truths about Guyana is that the University has been a very, very difficult place.

“Anybody who has worked 20, 25, 30, 35 years, you’re really worthy of the highest awards,” an outspoken McGowan told his audience in the Education Lecture Theatre on Thursday evening.

At the event, held under the theme “Serving UG with our hearts,” McGowan informed that the awardees were being recognised for their endurance, fortitude, personal sacrifice, and above all, commitment. Moreover, he noted that “I speak sincerely when I commend you for your many years of prolonged service to this institution”.

He pointed out that of the 27 awardees, a total of 24 had in fact joined the institution after 1983, with the remaining three having assumed their appointments in the 1970s. He made this distinction to amplify that the history of the University is nestled in two notable phases.

“All of us know that it began at Queen’s College in 1963, came to Turkeyen in 1969, and I believe from 1969 to the end of the seventies was the first of two major phases that this University went through, and all except three of you, you are part of the second phase,” McGowan reflected.

He is however of the view that the first phase was the best phase of the University.

“I say without any fear of contradiction that the best years of this University would have been 1970 and the late 1970s...as an institution, academically, and every other way, that was the outstanding

As the year draws to a close, more and more crazy things are happening.

Killings are going to be recorded in increasing numbers because people seem to be less tolerant. The police are going to be busy.

A young man is going to kill his friend because the friend would say something that would rub the killer the wrong way.

There is also going to be a robbery killing.

Emeritus Professor Winston McGowan addresses the gathering period.”

But the best years, as remembered by McGowan, were nevertheless the most politically turbulent period ever faced by the University.

“I remember vividly the reaction to the compulsory introduction of National Service for students. I remember many other things, all of them clouded by the relentless but ultimately unsuccessful struggle that many of us were involved in for the appointment of Walter Rodney... the most internationally acclaimed Guyanese scholar...denied a place at this University,” McGowan recounted.

According to Professor McGowan, all this took place in the 1970s, after which the University entered a period of slow decline. “I wouldn’t say continuous decline, because the period of decline was punctuated by times of stagnation,” he said, as he underscored that “this was by far the more challenging phase of the University.”

“For you to have worked 25 years, 30 years, most of you except for the three, in this second challenging phase, is worthy of the highest commendation...I really mean that.”

But without much else to

tell the longstanding workers, some of whom, were his colleagues prior to his exit from the University a few years ago, the Emeritus Professor shared the words of a very popular Christian hymn, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done...”

Moreover, he told the awardees that having served for all those years they should now seek to count their blessings in the midst of many negative occurrences.

Among the worthy blessings, he outlined, was the opportunity to give long service to the principal tertiary education institution in the country, pointing out that “Guyana has only one university despite what I hear people say and I see advertised...there is only one University, and you have had the opportunity to serve at this University.”

He went on to point out that Guyana is one of the few countries that has benefited widely from the service of a single institution “despite the bad press that we often get”.

Notwithstanding, he insisted that Guyana has been able to benefit “because you have made a substantial contribution and that should

** The fires are far from over.

Another is going to break out in a rural area, largely because of a faulty electrical system. There would be no

loss of life because of an early warning. * Look out for another boating accident. Some people returning home from a neighbouring country would encounter difficulties in the river which has become somewhat congested because of the mining activities.

There would be a collision and a life would be lost. This would dampen the spirit of a household.

Awardees in the company of family members during the ceremony Thursday evening give you a sense of real satisfaction.”

Blessings that can be embraced also could be that of patriotism and loyalty, McGowan noted, as he pointed out that Guyana is a country that has experienced massive outward migration.

As such, he noted that although patriotism and loyalty can easily be deemed a lost value, this has evidently not been the case at UG. “You didn’t have to stay; you have chosen to stay,” asserted McGowan, as he pointed out that in the 21st Century, efforts must be made to ensure that staffers become eligible for an improved financial entitlement after serving for many years. Continuing a trend that does not show an improvement in the financial benefit will in fact be an indictment on the University, McGowan told his audience, including Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi and Deputy vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Dr

Barbara Reynolds.

Among those being honoured for 35 years of service were Ms Michela Cumberbatch and Ms Cheryl Edinboro. Latchman Sukdeo was posthumously awarded.

Sukdeo at the time of his death held the position of Senior Bookbinder attached to the University’s library. He was killed earlier this year when the driver of a forklift collided with the motorcycle he was riding.

Staffers honoured for 30 years were Mr Oswald Aaron, Ms Syndrene Harris, Mr Rayman Khan and Ms Jacqueline Morris. Those honoured for 25 years of service were Ms Bernadette Ageday, Ms Jasrodra Babooram, Mr Phillip Da Silva, Ms Marcellin D’Aguiar, Ms Barbara Holder, Ms Niebert Paul, Ms Gracelyn Simmons, Ms Hamawatie Singh and Ms Tagebrittie Singh-Jaichand. There were also 11 staffers honoured for 20 years of service including Ms Vera April, Dr Paulette

Bynoe, Ms Leila Carrington, Ms Sandra France, Ms Nicole Grant, Ms Dawn Lashley, Ms Shawn Long, Professor Keith Massiah, Ms Lorraine Mc Leod, Dr Rishee Thakur and Ms Florentia Wilson.

Regarding the awards ceremony as a “ritual” Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dr Reynolds, sought to emphasise its significance which she noted should be “recognised by all of us.” She pointed out that in the context in which UG operates financially and logistically it takes commitment, dedication, tenacity, obstinacy and a great deal of optimism for the longstanding awardees to have served for the number of years they have.

“The significance of your doing that is not just in the longevity, it’s in the quality of the service you’ve provided to the university and by extension to our country, and for this reason we are here to salute you,” Dr Reynolds told the awardees.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

The strange disappearance of Levoy Taljit

By Michael Jordan There just might be one thing worse than having someone murder a loved one of yours. It’s having that loved one seemingly vanish from the face of the earth, leaving behind just little, sinister clues about their fate; leaving you with both hope and dread every time the phone rings.

There’s one family that’s been living this nightmare for almost two years. They are the relatives of young LeVoy Taljit.

Taljit had previously worked at the Guyana Revenue Authority before becoming employed with the Guyana Energy Agency.

On Sunday December 23, 2012, the 25-year-old dressed in a burgundy tee shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. He then drove off from his home in a Toyota Raum, PNN 8315.

Taljit’s close relatives became concerned when he failed to return home. He did not show up the following day, neither did he contact anyone to inform them of his whereabouts.

It was not like Taljit to disappear and not contact his family. Concerned for his safety, family members contacted the police, and released a photograph of the missing man to the media. A sister revealed that Taljit had recently started

Levoy Taljit working with the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA). She said that she was unaware of any problem that he might have had with anyone.

She also said that her brother was not known to be involved in any “wrongdoing”.

Meanwhile, relatives and close friends organized a search party but failed to find Taljit.

On Friday, December 28, some residents of Yarrowkabra were walking along a trail about a mile off the Soesdyke/Linden Highway when they spotted an abandoned Toyota Raum. They contacted the police, who checked the licence plates and confirmed that the vehicle was Taljit’s. Detectives observed that the vehicle’s battery, keys and some of the electronic equipment were missing. But Crime Scene ranks found no evidence suggesting that Taljit had come

Taljit’s abandoned Toyota Raum was found on a trail about a mile off the Soesdyke/Linden Highway to harm.

The absence of fresh footprints at the scene seemed to suggest that the vehicle was taken to the location about three days prior to its discovery.

Police scoured the Yarrowkabra backlands for several hours without finding a trace of the missing man.

As with previous disappearances, the absence of tracker dogs severely hampered their efforts. Police finally received a crucial break. Someone was using the missing man’s cell phone. Phone records revealed that a call had been made in the vicinity of Marudi, on the Soesdyke/Linden highway, the

day before Taljit’s vehicle was found.

Shortly after, police traced the calls to a Soesdyke residence. They then detained a 32-year-old man, who they found in possession of Taljit’s phone.

The man had reportedly inserted a new SIM card in the device, apparently not realizing that the phone could still be traced when activated. According to the police, the man also handed over a bank card to the investigators, after taking them to a house where he had stashed it. The bank card belonged to Taljit.

Detectives found out that the individual had withdrawn

some $50,000 from Taljit’s bank account. On being questioned, he reportedly admitted to stashing Taljit’s vehicle on the Soesdyke/Linden highway, but claimed that this was done on the missing man’s behest.

He also claimed that the missing GEA staffer owed him money and had given him the bank card.

Police say that the man alleged that he and Taljit were friends. It was said that the two men communicated extensively via an internet site.

According to police sources, he also alleged that Taljit visited his home shortly before his disappearance. It was alleged that the GEA employee had a bag of money and asked the suspect to hide the Toyota Raum. The man is said to have initially told detectives that the missing GEA staffer was alive and well and had spoken to him from Paramaribo, Suriname.

However, he reportedly eventually admitted that this was a fabrication. The story left detectives even more concerned about the missing man’s fate.

Again, they scoured the Soesdyke/Linden backlands for any trace of Levoy Taljit. They found nothing.

The investigators also checked computer records in the hope of unearthing any evidence about Taljit’s whereabouts. This effort was also fruitless.

Although the man had reportedly admitted to using Taljit’s phone, had claimed to have stashed the GEA employee’s vehicle, was in possession of his bank card, and had even withdrawn money, police apparently still could not definitively tie him to Taljit’s disappearance.

After all, they had no idea whether Taljit was alive or dead. They eventually released the individual and the matter is apparently at a standstill.

The man’s mother declined to comment on her son’s possible connection to Taljit’s disappearance when I spoke to her. Taljit’s mother told me that she had spoken to her, and she had denied that her son was involved in Taljit’s disappearance.

Does Mrs. Taljit think her son is still alive?

“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I have no clue. The only thing I can do is pray…whatever is His will, I will have to accept.”

If you have any information about this or any other case, please contact us by phone or mail at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our telephone numbers are 2258458, 22-58465, 2258463, 22-58473 and 2258491. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan via email at mjdragon@hotmail.com

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 23

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Teardrops cascade on dead dreams: Mrs. Patricia Rodney stumbles I told Adam Harris a few weeks ago that when I function in the media, the historian is always inside of me. I told Adam that I am not a trained journalist but a trained historian. I explained the possible differences between the two professions – a historian’s drive is to present the facts to posterity and do so in specific, identifiable ways. A historian has no qualms about citing names and places. They are driven by that creed. It would have been unthinkable for the historian to hide his discovery that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual.

Do you know who brought the attention of the world to Bill Cosby’s rape allegations? It wasn’t any of the 24 women who have now come forward. In 2006 Cosby settled with a woman out of court and that was the end of that. The hurricane Cosby is

in could have happened earlier, but an editor from one of America’s most popular tabloid magazines, The Enquirer, dropped publication of an interview with a rape complainant in exchange for an exclusive with Cosby.

Cosby was exposed by a stand-up comedian who was just doing his thing and made a mockery of Cosby’s “rape habits” One of the complainants saw the show on television and said if the comedian could name Cosby then he was helping her as a rape victim and she should help herself by going public.

The rest is history.

Months before I raised this difference with Adam between the journalist and historian, I had a discussion with Tacuma Ogunseye of the Working People’s Alliance on the identical subject. I had in mind a column on Mrs. Patricia Rodney, wife of

Walter Rodney, and her not so elegant role in the birth of the Walter Rodney Commission, and indicated that intention to Tacuma.

I told Tacuma that I am fully aware of the international respect and sympathy for Mrs. Rodney, but as a historian, I need to write. I am not at liberty to divulge Tacuma’s words but he did say he understood my obligation as a historian. Now that the Rodney Commission has morphed into an extremely dangerous game by the PPP, with all indications so far from the shape of the hearings that the main plotter or organizers will not be named, some focus should be placed on Mrs. Rodney’s initial intervention. First, Mrs. Rodney should have been suspicious that there may be an ulterior motive by the PPP to hold an inquest after twenty-two years of the PPP

being in office. Surely, Mrs. Rodney must have known that the gaps after 22 years will not help the Commission, and they have not helped at all. Secondly, why would Mrs. Rodney trust the PPP to be fair in its approach when the PPP has shaped state power in more bestial ways than when Burnham ruled?

Did Mrs. Rodney trust a government that runs a system in today’s Guyana the identical fashion the way Burnham did? And in today’s Guyana there is an ambience of violence and murder similar to when her husband met his death? Mrs. Rodney cannot be that naïve to think that Walter Rodney was the only victim of the assassin’s hand and that moving hand of death went out of existence after June 1980 when Walter was killed. How can someone like Walter Rodney’s wife be blind to the nature of a

tyrannical regime in 2014, when it was a similar regime that caused her husband’s demise? Mrs. Rodney must be familiar with the feelings of people that her husband loved, who think that the PPP Government is more tyrannical, diseased, and immoral than the Burnham administration. She must know that because they would have told her so. Dr. David Hinds wrote in the newspapers that he fought the Burnham cabal and was jailed, but he believes the PPP cabal is far more depraved and racist. Thirdly, the historian has to call into question Mrs. Rodney’s judgement in excluding the WPA from the discussion on and subsequent decision to have the Commission. The WPA is on record as saying the Commission was the work of Mrs. Rodney and the PPP Government and the WPA

Frederick Kissoon was excluded. How could Mrs. Rodney justify that policy of hers?

Even though she is Walter’s wife, that status does not confer on her exclusive right to make a decision in the format of an inquiry into his death. Throughout history, both the family and the hero’s comrades would have been the people to make the decision. Finally, Mrs. Rodney needs to understand that the dreams of Walter Rodney that he passed on to subsequent Guyanese generations have died. Her friends in the PPP killed them.

All is left are living tears soaking the canopy of dead dreams.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Bail and the possible fate of the uninformed

By Sunita Samaroo “It was a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time your worship,” said an unrepresented Andrew Gonsalves as he explained why he pleaded guilty. There Gonsalves was, throwing himself at the mercy of the court, for the theft of a cellular phone.

Next to my colleagues I sat, pen in hand as I listened to his story. It is one I remember as if it was yesterday, though it was almost a year ago.

Gonsalves was picked up last Old Year’s Day for a “quick-grab” on Wellington Street. The young man, barely 22, stood anxiously before a city Magistrate, and for those who follow the happenings of the court, it was clear what would come next.

But Gonsalves like scores before and even after him, asked the Magistrate considering the plea he had entered, what amount of bail would be granted to him.

There he was, expectant eyes,

clad in a Polo jersey and “three-quarter pants” awaiting an answer.

Much to his dismay, he was informed that a guilty plea in this case did not merit bail, but rather a sentence.

The Magistrate then said “Sir you have pleaded guilty, there is no bail.”

WHAT IS BAIL? Oftentimes, a person’s first thought upon landing in jail is how to get out - and fast.

The usual way to do this is to post bail.

Bail is cash, a bond, or property that an arrested person gives to a court or police station to ensure that he or she will appear in court/ report to the station when ordered to do so.

If you as the defendant don’t show up, the court can and may keep the bail and issue a warrant for the defendant’s arrest – it’s sort of a broken promise, but one with repercussions, you can’t blame a court for not trusting you after you went against the principles.

HOW BAIL IS GRANTED An application for bail can be made by the attorneyat-law or even the accused when he/she makes his/her first appearance in court. The problem is that many persons do not know this and on most occasions it is at the discretion of the Magistrate that bail is given.

It’s no strange thing to see an accused stand before a Magistrate and say nothing, even when the offence is bailable. Maybe its fear that does this, but you are allowed to ask to address the Magistrate. In fact, I’ve seen some accused do excellent bail applications with the “Your Worship” and everything in the right, persuasive place.

Bail can be granted to the accused upon his/her own recognisance or bond. This means that no money or property has to be lodged, but the accused must sign a recognisance or bond by which he/she promises to come back to court for trial.

If there is any doubt about whether the accused will come back to court he/she will be asked to provide one or two sureties. A surety is a person who signs a recognisance or bond stating that he/she will ensure that the accused attends court on the date set for trial.

The surety lodges some security to the value of the amount fixed by the magistrate or judge. The security can be money or title

to land. A surety is also called a bailor.

If bail is refused by the magistrate, a further application for it can be made to a judge of the High Court.

Judges can also reduce the amount of bail fixed by a magistrate.

Magistrates are usually inclined to deny bail to alleged drug traffickers and armed robbers, but I have seen the same persons return to court appearing as ‘free

men’ because they had secured High Court bail.

Section 20 of ‘The Law and You,’ a leaflet published by the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers in 2003, says that the amount of bail should not be so high that the accused will not be able to make it. “This amounts to a refusal of bail,” the Women Lawyers have said.

BAILABLE/ NONBAILABLE OFFENCES In Gonsalves’ case, he had no lawyer, and as such had no idea that he had stepped into uncharted territory – bail was simply a ‘no no’ for him.

It always helps in a bail application to know if the charge before you is bailable or not. For serious charges like Murder and Treason – bail is not something a Magistrate would ever grant.

But unbeknownst to many, rape and carnal knowledge charges, as well as causing death by dangerous driving, are among the bailable.

Larceny charges such as ‘Larceny from the Person’, ‘Simple Larceny’, ‘Break and Enter and Larceny’ are bailable. Assault charges, and (Continued on page 30)

Stronger US dollar and lower...

From page 20 greater burden on local currency liabilities and also raise the cost of all imports. This is something that Central Bank Governors and Ministries of Finance will undoubtedly continue to consider carefully.

The second issue is the creation of a single currency for the CARICOM countries.

This would not be an easy

objective to achieve, though seven of them (in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union) already have it. It has been on the agenda of CARICOM since 1990, although a few years ago work toward its realisation was “paused”. However, if anything, the financial crisis of the last few years and the present situation suggests that constructive work on a single currency, or some alterna-

tive that would allow for greater currency co-operation, would better inform how the CARICOM countries could work together – as they must – to address the financial challenges of now and the future.

(The writer is a Senior Fellow at London University) Responses and previous commentaries: www.ronaldsanders.com

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 25

My column

The time when tempers flare and shoppers get fleeced The year is fast coming to a close, but for all the days that passed, precious little has changed. In fact, I get the impression that things are worse. People are more tense and less caring. At the same time there are those who insist on ensuring that some of the things that made for a less comfortable life remain in place.

I was in Mexico City recently and I was amazed that in a place where there are reported kidnappings and killings, people were going about their business as though nothing was happening. Perhaps it was the police presence. There were the police just about everywhere, directing traffic, patrolling and ensuring that the calm was kept.

I did not see heavilyarmed patrols as I would in Guyana with a population of a little less than 1/28th of Mexico City (21.2 million) but I did see pairs of police ranks walking the beat. I also saw numerous police vehicles driving around. It was as if at the first sign of trouble there would be hundreds of police.

Of course there were

people fleecing the unwary visitor, but not enough to cause worry. For example, there was a group of young people selling colognes.

The cologne was nothing but water and some fragrance that disappeared almost as soon as it was applied.

The Mexico peso was the currency of choice as could be expected, but the people were offering an exchange rate that was less than the commercial banks.

However, people were not selling currency; they were selling a service, and if one wanted to pay in dollars then the lower exchange would apply.

My mind flashed back to Guyana, where people would be standing with large sums of cash in their hands and offering to change dollars for the local currency, giving more than the commercial banks . The difference here was that amidst the local currency is counterfeit money.

The presence of counterfeit money has spawned a new industry. Just about every business house of some sort now has a gadget that scans money. I went to purchase a meal from

a relatively small eating house. When I paid, the cashier slipped my money under a gadget that emitted a green light.

I got to wondering at the source of the counterfeit money.

The simple photocopier was not enough to fashion the kind of money that would escape detection, so I concluded that somewhere there was a factory f o r counterfeit money.

At the commercial bank I visit, one of the cashiers said that they regularly get c o u n t e r f e i t m o n e y, b u t because of technology they are able to detect the fake. For all this, though, I do not hear of the prosecutions for possession of counterfeit money. It must be that the cashier simply gives the fake money back to the person and with a smile, informs the person that it is ‘fake.’ It is the same with certain products. Guyana is a poor country with people who get some help from relatives overseas.

The extra money motivates the shopper to seek out bargains and there is no place that offers bargains like the Chinese

stores.

A few years ago the Guyana Power and Light issued warnings about certain decorations that have the tendency to burst into flames and jeopardise the house. One would have thought that people would take notice, but the drive to get more for less is so overwhelming that warnings are heeded.

To compound the issue are those stores that offer the shopper a lower price if the shopper would forego a receipt. The excuse is that without a receipt there is no need to pay the value added tax.

The truth is that people jump at the offer.

One woman did just that and she is in tears. She visited a city store and bought a television, as she said, a flat screen. She forked out $90,000 and was told that she was saving $6,000. Had she done the Maths she would have realized that the VAT would have been $14,400.

Anyhow, in her book, every cent counted, so she went for the offer.

Two weeks later the television conked out, so she took it back to the

store. All that happened about seven months ago.

Today she is still without her repaired TV and she seems to have no way of getting it back or her money. She went to the police only to be told that without a receipt she had no case; that the police could do nothing.

I am sure that there have been many like her and before the season is over there will be many others. There will also be places of entertainment where the waiters would seek to make hay while the proverbial sun shines. Bills would be inflated and because we are a trusting people we would blink, then pay.

It is not that this trend is unique to Guyana. I was in New York with Glenn Lall when we went to a bar. We had a few drinks and bought some for friends, one of whom actually paid t h e b i l l . H o w e v e r, t h e enterprising waiter also took a bill to Glenn, who was about to pay when his friend asked him why he thought that he should pay since the bill was already paid.

Imagine the look on the

Adam Harris waiter’s face. Worse, you should have heard the apology. If you know Glenn you would know that such things will not pass, so he went to the proprietor. The waiter and the barman were in cahoots; there were two bills, one for the business and the other for the customer.

I suppose the same thing is happening in Guyana.

However, such things come with the season when businesses record about fifty per cent of their profits.

As I always say, one can never be too careful. And while we are at it, we should avoid confrontation at this time. Tempers seem to be getting shorter and violence is becoming the order of the day.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Our pledge to the people of Guyana With an unwavering commitment to good governance, transparency and accountability we, “the Alliance For Change” commit to the people of Guyana that an AFC lead government will prioritize and address within its first 18 months the following; 1] The establishment of a Public Procurement Commission, Human Rights

Commission and other constitutional and statutory commissions; 2) The holding of Local Government Elections under the new legislation to ensure that Guyanese are able to elect leaders of their choice and there is less political interference in the management of communities; 3] The passage of the Anti-Money

Laundering legislation and regulations to promote legitimate financial transactions and growth within the economy; 4] Immediate constitutional reform to ensure broader and more representative participation in the highest executive decision-making forum of the country, a Head of State who is directly elected by a majority of the citizens of Guyana, completion of the implementation of the 2001 constitutional reforms and reduced presidential powers; 5] Increased negotiated public sector wages to improve the standard of living of these hardworking Guyanese; 6] Creation of more jobs and employment opportunities especially for young people and the promotion of increased wealth across all sectors; 7] Comprehensive security sector reform and the immediate implementation of a sustainable crime prevention programme to reduce robberies and murders; 8] Transformation of the energy sector to provide more reliable and cheaper forms of electricity; 9] The introduction of a Development Bank to provide low interest loans and micro financing to increase entrepreneurial activity, especially amongst women and young people; 10] The harmonization of the mining sector with carefully planned hinterland development while safeguarding indigenous land rights; 11] The development of short and medium term infrastructural development including sea ports, airports, road networks,

affordable housing and increased telecommunication platforms; 12] The reorganisation of our Education, Health, Sports and Recreation sectors to provide better public facilities and services for all, especially women and youth; 13] The introduction of programmes to address the concerns of our youth and women to create an even playing field that will facilitate their development and cater for the well-being of our elderly; 14] The introduction of skills training programmes in communities that have been traditionally neglected and the establishment of trade and vocational educational institutions in Regions 7, 8 and 9.

15] The introduction of entrepreneurship and mandatory second language training into the School Curriculum: 16] Implementation of an updated, agreed national development strategy.

18] Establishment of a multi-party stakeholder “Think Tank” for education, health and national security tasked with the responsibility of devising short medium and long term strategies or Guyana to be implemented by the AFC and successive governments.

19] Establishment of a Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Commission This is our solemn commitment given in the spirit of healing and reconciliation and for a better Guyana!

December 2014.

(Details contained in the AFC’s Election Manifesto)

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Junior Thornton

on the premises.

SUNDAY SPECIAL GENDER EQUALITY COMMISSION ENDORSES CALL FOR NANDLALL’S REMOVAL The Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC) has finally commented on the disrespectful utterances made

by Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, about a female Kaieteur News reporter.

On Friday December 5, the Commission released a statement to the effect that it is “shocked and dismayed by the utterances made recently by the person who currently holds the position of Attorney General of Guyana.

His utterances clearly demonstrated a marked lack of respect for women.”

This statement came hours after Head of the Gender Equality Commission, Indra Chandarpal, had said that her Commission had taken no position on the issue.

The Attorney General, in a recorded conversation with a senior Kaieteur News reporter, was heard saying all manner of inappropriate things.

MULTI-BILLION$$$ AMAILA FALLS ACCESS ROAD…$1.7B CHINESE – BUILT SECTION WASHING AWAY Just a few weeks after Government said that a critical section of the multi-billiondollar access road to the Amaila Falls hydroelectric dam has been completed, there is indisputable evidence that parts of it are washing away. It would raise tough questions now about the level and quality of supervision carried out by engineers.

Section Seven, which ends the almost 200-kilometre road from Mabura to the Kuribrong River, Region Eight, was awarded to China Railway First Group (Guyana) Inc. last year for $1.7B after

problems surfaced with other contractors over deadlines.

Kaieteur News visited the road and discovered significant signs of erosion.

What has made the situation more worrying is that parts of that roadway have not even been open to traffic, unlike other sections.

As a matter of fact, warning signs have been erected restricting traffic.

It was in stark contrast to other sections constructed by local contractors. These are holding up well under the use of heavy traffic from loggers and miners alike.

MONDAY EDITION CORENTYNE CHAMBER SAYS…THREE YEARS LATER RAMOTAR STILL TO FULFILLTAX REFORM PROMISE The performance of the government came under serious scrutiny on Friday December 5m when the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) held its 10th Anniversary Dinner and

fourth Bi-Annual Awards ceremony at the Chamber’s new $35M office at Williamsburg, Rose Hall Town, Corentyne.

President of CCCC, Mr. Tajpaul Adjodhea, blasted the government on its stewardship and ineptitude when it comes to serious matters that affect a number of Guyanese. He said that the country is being overtaxed.

President Donald Ramotar came to Berbice three years ago and promised a reform of the tax system. He even went as far as appointing a threeman tribunal, but three years have gone and there is no tax reform.

“We have been so complacent that the matter has just slid off the table.”

TUESDAY EDITION GUNMEN STORM STERLING PRODUCTS LTD, KILL GUARD Gunmen stormed Sterling Products Limited around 18.45 hrs Monday, killing a security guard and

wounding a 41-year-old Indian national before fleeing empty-handed from the Providence, East Bank Demerara Company.

Wilfred Stewart, 45, a Beharry Group of Companies security guard, of Graham’s Hall, East Coast Demerara, was shot in the groin and hip as he sat in a security hut, after the gunmen, who reportedly arrived in a silvergrey car, forced their way through the main gate.

A 41-year-old Quality Assurance Chemist, an Indian national, was shot in the left foot by one of the gunmen who had entered the firm’s laboratory. He was treated at the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital.

Relatives of the slain guard said that he fathered two daughters and that his wife is expecting a third child.

His mother, Gloria Stewart, said that her son had worked as a guard with the Beharry Group of Companies for over ten years. He confirmed that security cameras are installed

STATE SETTLES WITH SPARENDAAM TORTURE VICTIM FOR $1.5M The Government has conceded that the state was liable in the torture of 19-yearold Sparendaam resident, Junior Thornton, and has settled with the young man to the tune of $1.5M. Kaieteur News understands that the State, through Attorney General Anil Nandlall, threw in the towel in the constitution motion which was filed in late June by Attorney at Law Dexter Todd on behalf of Thornton, opting not to offer a defence.

The decision not to challenge the motion is a clear admission by the state that Thornton did suffer torture at the hands of the police, while he was in custody at the Sparendaam Police Station late in May. However, according to Attorney at Law Todd, this will in no way bring an end to the criminal matter for which police Constable Earwin Forrester is before a Magistrate; nor is it related to the civil action brought against Forrester and Commissioner of Police (ag)

Seelall Persaud for damages for personal injuries.

Another related criminal matter regarding the Attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice brought against a Police Inspector, who happens to be a relative of the victim, was dismissed on October 10 last.

Junior Thornton was picked up for loitering and was held in the Sparendaam Police Station lock-ups for a few days. It is alleged that he began behaving in a disorderly manner and refused to desist when asked to do so by the ranks on duty.

WEDNESDAY EDITION BRAZIL/GUYANAFIBRE OPTIC CABLE PROJECT COLLAPSES More than four years after an agreement was signed between Guyana and Brazil for a fibre optic cable to link Government facilities, the project appears to have collapsed because of technical issues.

It would appear certain now that billions of dollars have gone down the drain, unless Government finds a way to rescue the venture.

According to a Government source close to the project, continuous breakage to the cable has left the project in limbo. Time and again the deadlines have been pushed back.

The cable passes through difficult terrain along the Linden/Lethem trail. Logistics have reportedly caused major headaches for contractors.

It was indicated that initially little thought went into the project as Government itself reported that cables not of the correct lengths were ordered.

Independent supervisors hired to monitor the project were reportedly fired.

Physical works for the laying of 560 kilometres of cable began in April 2011.

Poor weather conditions and the absence of appropriate equipment were cited for the slothfulness of contractors.

Several of them were fired.

Government had even reportedly resorted to foreign help in moving the cable (Continued on page 45)

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Sinking ship leaves rats (APNU republishes this article first published on 23rd June 2013, owing to its relevance to the present plight of the People’s Progressive Party in December 2014. Minor changes have been made) Khemraj Ramjattan– a former chairman of the Progressive Youth Organisation and Member of the Central Committee–was among the first to desert the People’s Progressive Party’s sinking ship. Then came the veteran Boyo Ramsaroop. Next was Moses Nagamootoo. Then came Hari Narayen ‘Ralph’ Ramkarran. Other veterans – Harry Ramdass, Cecil Ramsingh, Fazal Khan and Joseph O’Lall – disembarked quietly.

Thousands of ordinary supporters, sensing that the ship was sinking, also began deserting the People’s Progressive Party in droves.

More than 27,000 persons who voted for the PPP in the 2001 general and regional elections did not do so in 2006. More than

17,000 who voted for the PPP in 2006 jumped ship to vote for A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change in 2011. The PPP lost over 45,000 votes during Bharrat Jagdeo’s wild 1999-2011 presidency. The sinking trend is clear to the party’s membership if not to its leadership. The People’s Progressive Party over the last sixty-four years indoctrinated its members with the mythology of Jaganite cultism, MarxismLeninism, democratic centralism and the saga of its imagined solitary struggle against colonialism and capitalism. These articles of faith rallied generations of believers and created a mystique which helped it to remain a formidable force in local politics. But change has come. Ancient myths, unknown to the present generation, can no longer distort the actuality of two decades of decadence. The PPP’s 27th Congress in July 2002 at the J. C. Chandisingh Secondary School

at Port Mourant in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region, was an early indication of an impending mutiny on board.

Khemraj Ramjattan launched a rebellious resolution that threatened to shake the party’s four sacred tenets all at once. The ‘Ramjattan Resolution’ called for the removal of references to Marxism-Leninism from the Constitution and ‘direct elections’ for the top executives.

He proposed also that the party congress closest to a general election should provide a forum at which persons willing to become candidates for the presidency would be selected ‘democratically’ by all the delegates. The ‘Ramjattan Resolution’ was anathema to the party’s ruling cabal and was rejected. For other reasons, he too was eventually expelled from the party. The PPP’s 28th Congress was held in August 2005 at the Cotton Field Secondary School, in the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region under the theme, “Strengthen National Unity, Expand

Democracy and Social Progress.” The congress allowed the cabal to consolidate its grip on the Central Committee, restrict democracy and retard progress. The result was that, in general elections the next year, 2006, the PPP lost a greater number of votes.

The PPP’s 29th Congress was held in August 2008 at the Diamond Secondary School in the Demerara-Mahaica Region.

The knives were out by this time.

All eyes were set on the prize of the party’s presidential candidacy in the general elections constitutionally due to be held in 2011. The congress became an arena for a shadow war between two factions – led

by Ramotar, and Jagdeo, respectively. Reepu Daman Persaud struck the first blow by raising the bogus issue of a ‘third term’ for Jagdeo, who was then still president. Ramotar had to sidestep the challenge.

The Jagdeo faction then surreptitiously started its campaign for him to be allowed

to run for another presidential term, even though it was prohibited by the Constitution.

The Jagdeo group calling itself the ‘Guyanese Coalition for Jagdeo Third Term’ launched a glitzy publicity campaign involving the erection of a billboard, the distribution of posters, flyers and buttons and the publication of dubious opinion polls suggesting that Jagdeo would be re-elected.

The Ramotar faction responded. A shadowy group of supporters giving their names as “Ganga Kawal, Basdeo Singh and 11 other PPP Diehards” suddenly emerged. The group published a full-page “Open Appeal to Leaders and Members of the PPP” in a daily newspaper in January 2010. The ‘Appeal’ alleged, among other things, “…that the PPP hard core is being marginalized in the government and a new band, termed by one commentator as ”the new private sector,” is becoming dominant and all-powerful.” Ramotar was eventually able to win the

nomination as the PPP’s presidential candidate.

The PPP’s 30th Congress is now scheduled to be held on 2nd-4th August at the J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School at Port Mourant. The problem is that factionalism is tearing the Party apart. Rifts have reopened; rivalries have been rekindled.

The central and executive committees control the party organisation between congresses. Whoever controls those committees will control the state apparatus and the country.

The state and its resources have come to be seen as a plaything in the hands of the PPP Central Committee and this is what makes the forthcoming congress so vital to the survival of the cabal.

The public should not expect change from the PPP’s 30th Congress. As the ship continues to sink, it will leave on board many of the same central Committee members who have dominated the Party and the State for the last two decades.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Torture, deny, repeat: ‘Enhanced interrogation’ never works, the CIA never learns

By Tim Weiner (Reuters – Opinion) When the United States was attacked on 9/11, every member of the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine services had a rule book on the conduct of interrogations. It was clear and concise. It outlawed the following methods: “Torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, or prolonged detention without charges or trial.” It was based on five decades of experience.

President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the leaders of the CIA threw out the rule book as they set out on their global crusade against terrorism.

This was unwise.

Anyone who was in New York or Washington after 9/ 11 remembers the fear — every day, every night, every time the phone rang — that there would be another attack.

I sat down with George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence, not long after 9/ 11. The exhaustion, the fear — and the terror — that I saw in his eyes is an image I will never forget.

Fear trumped wisdom for the next seven years.

CIA Director John Brennan said on Thursday that some intelligence officers used “abhorrent” methods on the people they detained after the attacks. He said it was “unknowable” whether the so-called enhanced

interrogation techniques — EITs, in CIA jargon, torture in plain English — yielded useful intelligence.

“We have not concluded that it was the use of EITs,” Brennan said, “… that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees.”

This much we know: The CIA threw out the rule book instructing its officers that torture does not work as a method of gathering intelligence. And out with the rule book went the agency’s institutional knowledge and hard-won wisdom.

During the Korean War, the CIA created clandestine prisons — the biggest was in the Panama Canal Zone — where suspected Russian double agents were injected with drugs and brutally interrogated. The agency gave four suspected North Korean double agents the same treatment in occupied Japan.

“Like Guantanamo,” a charter member of the CIA, Tom Polgar, told me in a 2005 interview. “It was anything goes.”

The CIA searched for many years for a magic potion — a truth serum that would draw confessions from incarcerated subjects, especially suspected enemy spies — using LSD, heroin, amphetamines and other “special techniques in CIA interrogations,” to quote from a 1952 CIA report.

The legendary CIA Director Allen Dulles approved an expanded program code-named ULTRA, in which, to cite one among many examples, seven prisoners at a federal penitentiary in Kentucky were dosed with LSD daily for 11 weeks. When the agency slipped the drug to an unsuspecting army civilian employee named Frank Olson, he jumped out of the window of a New York hotel.

All the subjects of these tests were human guinea pigs in the Cold War. They were expendable. The CIA destroyed most of the records of these tests. But a 1956 progress report described the continuing “planning of overseas interrogations” and new “special interrogation” techniques under research and development.

In 1964, the CIA secretly incarcerated Yuri Nosenko, a KGB defector, suspecting he knew something about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. With the approval of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the CIA threw Nosenko into a secret prison at the CIA’s training grounds in Virginia. As if in a Soviet gulag, under a single bare light burning 24 hours a day, Nosenko suffered psychological assault, physical hardship and solitary confinement for nearly four years.

CIA Director Richard

Helms finally determined that the agency had kept an innocent man “in durance vile … against the laws of the United States.”

During the Vietnam War, thousands of enemy combatants were interrogated, often fatally, in search of intelligence under the CIA’s Phoenix program.

But that search proved largely futile. Helms said the CIA “could not determine what was going on” inside the enemy’s camp. At the root of this failure was “our national ignorance of Vietnamese history, society and language,” Helms lamented.

That was, in part, why the enemy won the war.

When Nosenko died in 2008, Clair George, a former chief of the CIA’s clandestine service, told the Washington Post that his incarceration had been “a terrible mistake.”

But after all, George said: “You can’t be in the spy business without making mistakes.”

A Guantanamo detainee’s feet are shackled to the floor as he attends a “Life Skills” class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, April 27, 2010.

REUTERS/Michelle Shephard/Pool What, then, did we learn from our mistakes with “enhanced interrogation techniques” — or, if you prefer, torture?

The CIA had firmly rejected cruel and unusual punishment, Richard Stolz,

chief of the clandestine service under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, said in 1988 — “not only because it is wrong, but because it has historically proven to be ineffective.” The (Continued on page 31)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Bail and the possible...

From page 24 threatening and abusive language, are also offences where bail is possible.

What is important to a Magistrate though is if a defendant will ‘go on the run’ and miss the court hearing or try to intimidate certain witnesses.

Prosecutors who may try to have an accused remanded will object to bail highlighting these things, but those things can and have time and time again, been substantially rebutted.

PAYING BAIL The bail is lodged by the bailor at the Magistrates’ office or the Supreme Court Registry, as the case may be, and a receipt is issued. The receipt must be kept until the trial has ended and then presented to the office or Registry so that the bail can be recovered.

You get back your ‘bail money.’ Always remember that bail is different from a fine. Fines are penalties, bail is more of an assurance.

RENEWAL OF BAIL Normally it is only at the end of a trial that bail can be recovered. But if a bailor wishes to withdraw his/her bail before the case is finished and there is someone else willing to become a bailor in his/her place, he/she can appear at court on any day and ask to withdraw.

If a bailor wishes to exchange bail lodged for alternative security he/she can also do this. Bail is security only for as long as a trial lasts. So, if there is a preliminary inquiry in the Magistrates’ Court and then a trial in the High Court, bail has to be renewed when the case goes to the High Court.

When bail is renewed, the bailor will have to sign the recognizance again.

When committing the accused to trial in the High Court, the Magistrate will state whether the same or a different amount of bail will apply.

FORFEITURE OF BAIL It was only weeks ago that a city Magistrate forfeited bail to an accused. The problem is that many claim their innocence through ‘not guilty’ pleas, but run away from trial. But that has consequences for you and the bailor.

Failing to attend court for trial, from time to time results in bail being forfeited and the bailor l o sing his/her money or property – every cent of it.

That pretty much explains why my colleagues and I were “concerned” when $300,000 went away for that causing death by dangerous driving accused.

Of course, if no reasonable explanation for the absence of the accused is given to the court, a warrant will be issued for his/her arrest and an order for forfeiture of bail made.

If and when arrested, the a c c used will be kept in custody until the trial is over and that’s when you know you’ve messed up.

ACTING AS A BAILOR As a bailor, technically the accused is placed in y o u r c u s t o d y, a n d i t becomes your responsibility to give an explanation to the court or risk the loss of your money or property.

Don’t be afraid of being thought of as a ‘snitch.’ If you think the person you have bailed will not turn up at court you can protect yourself by arresting him/ her or asking the police to do so. Once the accused has been arrested, you c a n a s k t o be released from your obligation.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 31

Torture, deny, repeat: ‘Enhanced interrogation...

From page 29 CIA’s 1990s codes of conduct stated: “Inhumane physical or psychological techniques are counterproductive because they do not produce intelligence and will probably result in false answers.”

I added the emphases for reasons that may be obvious.

Former leaders of the CIA – and Cheney — insist that torture works.

That is false. The Senate report released Wednesday makes this painfully clear. It uses the CIA’s own records to make an irrefutable case.

The report contains no great revelations about violations of the Geneva Convention in the CIA’s secret prisons, the “black sites.”

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan looks down before he answers a reporter’s question during a rare news conference at CIA Headquarters in Virginia But it shows that the claim that torture worked is a delusion, and the insistence that it produced unique intelligence is a lie.

“The use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of obtaining accurate information or gaining detainee cooperation,” the Senate report says. “Multiple CIA detainees fabricated information, resulting in faulty intelligence … on critical intelligence issues,

including the terrorist threats which the CIA identified as its highest priorities.”

This information comes from the CIA’s own records.

And false intelligence is worse than no intelligence.

The report looks at 20 of the most prominent examples of “purported counterterrorism successes that the CIA has attributed to the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques.” In some of those cases, “there was no relationship between the cited counterterrorism success and any information provided by detainees.” In the rest of the 20 cases, “the CIA inaccurately claimed that specific, otherwise unavailable information was acquired from a CIA detainee ‘as a result’ of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques.”

These are lies that CIA officers told to themselves, to one another, and then repeated to their colleagues in the government of the United States.

We must leave the questions of deception for another day, but they begin with self-deception — a grave danger in the business of secret intelligence.

Better to conclude with two pieces of wisdom. One is something Helms told me a long time ago. He started out in the CIA in the very beginning, back in 1947, and served as director for seven years — until President

CIA Director John Brennan looks down before he answers a reporter’s question during a rare news conference at CIA Headquarters.REUTERS/Larry Downing

Richard M. Nixon cut his throat, figuratively speaking, in 1972. Helms was talking about political assassination. Let’s forget about the laws of man and God and war, he said. It’s a practical question: If you try

to kill their leaders, why shouldn’t they try to kill yours?

A professionally distinguished and highly intelligent former FBI counterterrorism agent, Ali H. Soufan, said much the same

today (Friday) on page one of The New York Times. His words broke my heart, hardened by six postings in Afghanistan. Soufan knows whereof he speaks: He witnessed, and warned against, the use of torture by

the CIA in the darkest days of the black sites.

“We played into the enemy’s hands,” he said.

“Now we have American hostages in orange jumpsuits because we put people in orange jumpsuits.”

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Caribbean needs final push to achieve world food summit goal ROME, Italy — Latin America and the Caribbean have achieved 92 percent progress toward the World Food Summit goal of halving the total number of people suffering hunger and final push is needed to fully achieve it, according to FAO’s regional flagship report, the Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security 2014, released on Thursday.

To achieve this goal, 2.75 million people must overcome hunger in the region during 2015, which requires that governments redouble their efforts, considering that the average reduction over the last twenty years has been 1.4 million people per year.

“Eleven countries in the region have already achieved the World Food Summit goal.

Considering the region’s renewed commitment to food security, there is reason to believe that during 2015 Latin America and the Caribbean could make this giant leap towards the eradication of hunger,” said Raul Benitez, FAO’s regional representative.

Benitez said that initiatives such as the plan for food security, nutrition and hunger eradication of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, in Spanish) the region’s main integration body, can provide the necessary impetus for the region to meet the WFS goal.

The plan is expected to be adopted by the upcoming presidential summit of CELAC in January 2015.

According to Panorama 2014, in absolute numbers hunger in the region fell from 68.5 million to 37 million people in just over twenty years. The greatest reduction has occurred in LatinAmerica: from 60.3 million in 1990-92 to 29.5 million at present, while in the Caribbean the decrease was lower: from 8.1 million people to 7.5 million.

THEREGIONHAS ALREADYMETTHEMDG HUNGERTARGET As a region, Latin America and the Caribbean has reduced hunger from 15.3 percent of its total population in 1990-91 to 6.1 percent in 2012-14, having met the hunger target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) before the 2015 deadline. Fourteen countries (Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay and Venezuela) have managed to achieve this goal, while four others (Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras and Suriname) show more than 90 percent progress towards it.

Despite the fact that there has been greater hunger

reduction in Latin America than in the Caribbean, it is important to note that 80 percent of those who suffer hunger in the entire Latin America and the Caribbean region live in countries of Latin America, and hunger eradication continuous to be a fundamental problem that requires decisive action by all sectors of society.

“Both at regional and at country level the achievements are undeniable.

Latin America and the Caribbean has become a true global example in the fight against hunger, and is being closely followed by the international community”, Benitez explained, noting that if the downward trend is maintained, the current generation could become the last to suffer hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean.

HUNGER ERADICATION AS A POLITICAL PRIORITY Panorama examines the factors behind the success of the region and its governments in the fight against hunger and points out that, while the role of regional economic growth and political stability is undeniable, the single factor which distinguishes Latin America and the Caribbean is the high level of sustained political commitment with food security, which has been translated into a variety of strategies and public policies focused on the most vulnerable populations.

The region pioneered a proposal to eradicate hunger by the year 2025, creating the Hunger Free Latin America and Caribbean Initiative in 2005, a political pledge made by all countries in the region, which has been replicated in all major regional integration organizations.

CELAC, for example, requested FAO, ECLAC and ALADI to prepare the draft plan for food security, nutrition and hunger eradication, which should be adopted by the presidents and heads of state of the region in January 2015 in Costa Rica, during the next CELAC Summit.

The countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of OurAmerica (ALBA) and PetroCaribe are implementing the Hugo Chavez Action Plan to eradicate hunger and poverty, while subregional bodies such as the Union of South American Nations, the Central American Integration System, the Community of Caribbean States, the Community of Andean Nations and the Southern Common Market are also addressing food and nutritional security from supranational perspectives through action plans and strategies specifically tailored to the diverse realities and challenges of each subregion.

ANEWAPPROACH TO HUNGERERADICATION According to Panorama, the eradication of hunger in the region has been strengthened by the adoption of a new approach that is characterized by a broader vision of food and nutritional security. “Countries have developed various policy instruments to address social problems in the short term and produce structural changes that deliver permanent solutions in the long term”, Benitez explained. This “twin track” approach can be seen in four key areas that explain the favourable development of the region’s food security indices: the adoption of comprehensive policies and strategies to ensure food and nutritional security; the strengthening of family farming; the fight against poverty, with emphasis on rural areas; and the establishment of better channels of intra-regional and domestic trade.

According to Panorama, to consolidate the advances made in recent years, countries in the region should strengthen regional integration and South-South cooperation, improve systems for monitoring and evaluating public policies and continue the integration of food security and nutrition within their broader development efforts, to provide sustainability to progress already made.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 41

The Story within the Story…

Gold: Too Big To Fail (cont’d)

By Leonard Gildarie Last week’s introductory article on the vital gold sector, with its phenomenal rise within the last few years and subsequent swift descent starting last year, has expectedly sparked lots of interest.

I received quite a few photographs and calls, especially from miners.

The industry is so huge, and affects so many lives, that it is hard for someone who is not even familiar with its workings to be unconcerned.

I am no economist. But based on the many complaints and from the exchanges between the regulatory bodies and miners, it is safe to conclude that there is cause for great concern.

And the more I find out, the more I worry. I have long discovered that every single action has a multiplying ripple effect. I recently heard an analogy of how just carelessly throwing a little piece of paper in the city eventually affects life elsewhere. Imagine a scenario where garbage is thrown in the waterways and after a few hours of rainfall, there is flooding. Household items may be lost. Government will have to find resources to fix the problem. The equipment, of course, comes from overseas. The affected families may have to ask families abroad for financial help to replace items. That is a simple setting.

The gold industry, I believe, was thought of by many as a passing phase.

There is money to be made, and many families benefitted from their loved ones in the bush. How about the operators?

Leonard Gildarie I recently visited a camp where I spoke to a cook. A young Amerindian man, about 20, he was recruited right from his home in the reservation, located up the Demerara River. It was the first time in the bush for him. He has been there for three months now. But that is one operation which, because of its very scale, has managed to survive. As promised last week, we will be examining various angles of the industry.

The fallout is being felt from the low gold prices.

Rocky is sitting in his little porch on the floor cutting up catahar. He is a trucker who bought a second hand bush truck for $2M. He depends on mainly small scale miners for orders to take in supplies.

He had to spend another $2M to buy and install a winch. Being without a winch in the treacherous trails to the mining camps is unthinkable.

It helps when the truck is stuck in the holes and has to be taken out. The winch is hooked up to nearby trees and it is powered to pull the trucks forward. Most pickups using the trails are also equipped with the winches.

Rocky’s yard is scattered with fuel tanks. For over seven years now, he has been hustling, transporting fuel, parts, ration and other items

The roads in the trails leading to the gold camps can become treacherous.

In some place like Ekereku, Region Seven, the best way in and out is by plane. to mining camps in Cuyuni, Region Seven; Konawaruk in Region Eight and to Amatuk, near Kaieteur Falls.

He picks up fuel from the gas station at Providence and food supplies from Najab Trading, Balram’s and Jairam in the La Penitence area. His job is to pick up and deliver.

Before buying his truck, as a young teen, he had been working with other operators.

He has learnt to conduct repairs on his truck. Things like adjusting his brakes, changing oil and servicing his gears and power box have all become routine. When he is out from the trails, it is what he does. On many days, with his truck jacked up, he is seated under it, fixing and servicing.

This year has been the hardest for him. The gold miner he works for owes him money. Another friend he did one job for recently is demanding that he pays for hundreds of thousands of dollars in diesel that he spilt after his truck overturned. It is a risky business now.

“I am thinking of selling the truck now and working with someone. I told my wife it would be easier. This has been the hardest year yet.”

Rocky has not worked for over two weeks now. With Christmas fast approaching, quite a number of operations have closed, with workers being sent off. The gold is not coming like before.

Operations are shifting to other areas like Cuyuni. He definitely will not be getting any bonus.

To compound the woes of truckers like Rocky, the sale of bush trucks has increased dramatically. Like minibuses, many locals believe that quick money is to be made. Trucks can fetch prices up to $12M, depending on the number of axles. Many entrepreneurs find that the drop in operations from a reduction in the gold bush means little work for them. Trucks are being repossessed within months because of nonpayments.

It is believed that hundreds of bush trucks owned by individuals are working the trails, taking supplies.

A few gold miners who have done well have been

buying their own trucks. It means less work also for struggling operators like Rocky.

The drive through the trails is grueling. From the city to Linden, considered the gateway to the interior, it is about 60 miles. It takes up to two days, sometimes, to reach the camps.

Breakdowns happen all the time. Rocky is forced to, for safety’s sake, employ a helper. Leaving a truck filled with fuel is like leaving a bag of money in full view of passersby.

Rocky has to make-do with the crossings. For his truck, the crossing at Sherima Landing, operated by Mekdeci, is $32,000 return.

The last time he had to pay out of his own pocket, as his customer had not cash. He is still to be reimbursed. For the double-axle trucks, the crossing can reach up to $45,000. Pickups are $9,000. In the nights, the crossings are closed, as the pontoons cease operations at 6pm.

Rocky is burning up to

$100,000 in fuel, depending on where he is going. After repairs, on a good trip, Rocky is left with a mere $25,000. But even that relatively small amount has become elusive now.

In addition to the trails, Rocky complains about police and the even harassment from the Guyana Energy Agency officials.

“We would come out from a gas station and they checking us. I know it is their job. But the harassing is not my problem. It is the people ordering. It is their responsibility.”

Coming out from the trails back to the city is also a problem. The trails are, as I hinted earlier, not that easy.

In many cases trucks are covered with water. A tail-light may get blown.

“The police along the highway and Linden would stop us for hours, even a day, for a simple ticket. It is frustrating.”

With one food over $2,000, Rocky takes a little (Continued on page 44)

In many parts of the interior, it is impossible for vehicles to run. The ATVs are the best bet, even to transport fuel.

Page 42

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Sixteen persons earn noteworthy birding certificates A two-month preliminary birding programme which was supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für I n t e r n a t i o n a l e Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) , also referred to as the German Agency for International Cooperation, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency ( CARPHA), was recently concluded with the certification of 16 residents from the coastal communities of Victoria, Belfield, Hope Beach and Greenfield.

The programme which was endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, was also supported by the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Tourism Hospitality Association of Guyana. The initial activity was a one-day field tour to familiarize and network the trainees with the various Ministries and Agencies, including the Protected Areas Commission, which plays a vital role in tourism. Staff at each location gave presentations on their agency’s mandate and also answered questions.

The training was also

provided by Iwokrama, which utilized its wide range of skilled trainers, such as professional birding guides, tour operators and leadership trainers, to ensure delivery of a well-rounded package of skills to the trainees.

As the focus was on coastal birding in mangrove ecosystems, the field training was conducted at Hope Beach, which is identified as a national birding site, and at Felicity, one of the sites that benefited from mangrove restoration efforts.

Classroom sessions for the trainees consisted of various elements of tourism such as tour guiding techniques and communication and leadership skills.

A round-table session by representatives from Wilderness Explorers, Shell Beach Adventures and Tarantula Tours exposed the trainees to a wide range of industry issues such as itinerary development, dealing with challenging clients and ensuring client satisfaction.

Wilderness Explorers provided sterling support,

The trainees couldn’t be happier displaying their certificates from the birding programme (Photo compliments of Leon Moore)

and not only did they provide the group with additional equipment and books at the beginning of the course, but they also afforded one of the trainees with a trip to Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls during the training. Additionally, three trainees benefitted by receiving internships upon completion.

One of the interns and another trainee will also be accompanying a group of art students from the Rhode Island College of Design, USA, to Karanambu to complete a six-credit course that will see them exploring the role of biodiversity in society, using Guyana as an example.

At the end of the birding course, five other participants were also selected to visit the Iwokrama Field Station and Canopy Walkway, as well as Surama Eco Lodge, where they gave presentations on the mangrove restoration project and their fledgling mangrove reserve horse-cart tour.

At Surama Eco Lodge, not only did the trainees witness

first-hand the ingredients contributing to what is considered ‘Guyana’s premiere community-owned and managed eco tourism product,’ but they were also exposed to the cultural aspects of Surama’s tourism package.

They were treated to presentations by the vibrant indigenous Makushi dance and music groups who provided the visitors with a genuine example of how they could enhance their birding tours by expanding on elements of the rich natural heritage existing in their coastal communities.

The local programme coordinator, Mrs. Annette Arjoon-Martins, expressed deep gratitude to GIZ, whose invaluable support, she explained, enabled the achievement such as the creation of a cadre of local tour-guides, equipped with preliminary birding skills, to support the development of birding tours at Hope Beach.

“The next steps are for the participants to put this training to use by offering complimentary birding tours which will commence at 06: 00hours at Hope Beach

during the last two Saturdays in December of this year.”

On another note, Mrs. Arjoon-Martins in her advocacy of forest and wildlife conservation pointed to a new and effective form of promoting conservation. She noted, “This is so effective,” in the fight to preserve the natural environment.

For the past few weeks, the conservationist has sought to promote wildlife preservation, especially with the upcoming Christmas season when homes will be providing the customary pepperpot for plentiful consumption. It is during this period, especially, that the demand for the meat of wild animals such as deer, tapir and the white-lipped peccary increase significantly.

She said too that the ‘bushmeat’ trade is threatening the survival of several species in Guyana, and strategies such as the National Wildlife Regulations enable programmes to address these and other relevant wildlife issues, and in some protected areas such as the Iwokrama Reserve and the Shell Beach Protected Area, ongoing anti-poaching

checks have already yielded results.

Arjoon-Martins had pointed out also that these ongoing conservation action and awareness programmes were to help in the protection of at-risk wildlife populations in particular.

She explained however that there is a new method of getting the message across, which she believes would give a clear a picture of the damage that is being caused in the destruction of the forest and its inhabitants.

She pointed to Demilked an online design, art, and photography magazine which uses shocking print advertisements to show the horrible effects of deforestation.

Demilked says that “social ads that concern animal issues are meant to shock us, and perhaps even convince us to change our destructive ways of life. This is what creative and art director Ganesh Prasad Acharya and copywriter Kaushik Katty Roy did with their arresting ads for Sanctuary Asia, India’s first and one of its foremost environmental news magazines”.

It was stated that the ads are meant to encourage people to see the destruction of wildlife habitats as nothing less than the murder of its entire native fauna.

In one of the ads created, a slogan read ‘When the wood go, wildlife goes’. The message complements already disturbing images of trees, cut down together with the heads of any animals that happened to be residing on them.

Though the graphic message does take aim at mainly companies whose destructive activities threaten the lives of the various animal species, its most important target is the common population, the site said. “If regular people change their minds and their habits, they can also make a difference.”

(Zena Henry)

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 43

Dr. Zulfikar Bux shares common myths about antibiotics WHAT’S THE RIGHT WAY TO USE ANTIBIOTICS? I am often confronted by patients who have become ill and tried an antibiotic of their choice, only to the detriment of their situation. Some patients generally have the wrong impression of antibiotics and tend to use them for reasons which they were never made to be used for.

The main role for antibiotics is to eliminate infections, even those that can be life-threatening at times. Antibiotics can therefore be life-saving if used appropriately. But antibiotics aren’t foolproof; they can cause serious health problems when used incorrectly. The most common complication of antibiotic misuse is antibiotic resistance. Because we misuse antibiotics, the bacteria (bugs) in our body start to develop resistance to antibiotics and over time, we develop multi-drug resistant bacteria in our body, often called “superbugs”. These “superbugs” were once relatively harmless, but have now developed resistance to multiple antibiotics and cause life-threatening infections.

C o m b a t i n g misconceptions about antibiotics and their use is important to prevent complications of antibiotics misuse and ultimately ensure a safer environment for us all.

Today we will discuss seven myths about antibiotic misuse.

(1) MYTH: ANTIBIOTICS CAN TREAT MY FLU/ COLD

Dr. Zulfikar Bux While antibiotics are effective against infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and some parasites, they don’t work against viruses. Viruses cause colds, flu, and most coughs and sore throat. If you think that your flu needs to be treated with antibiotics, see a doctor first, because most likely you will be doing more harm than good.

(2) MYTH: IT’S OK TO TAKE ANTIBIOTICS PRESCRIBED FOR A FRIEND ORARELATIVE The best antibiotic for you depends upon the specific illness you have. An antibiotic prescribed for someone else might not work for what ails you. You may actually make your illness worse by using someone else’s antibiotic.

(3) MYTH: I AM FEELING BETTER, SO IT’S TIME TO STOP MY PRESCRIBED COURSE OF ANTIBIOTICS If your doctor prescribes antibiotics, it’s best to take all the prescribed doses, even if you feel better. Stopping early could mean the infection

hasn’t yet been fully eliminated and can return once you prematurely cease your prescribed dose of antibiotics.

(4) MYTH: IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO SAVE LEFTOVER ANTIBIOTICS Some patients think it’s effective to save leftover antibiotics for the next time they get sick. Leftover antibiotics, especially in the liquid form, can lose their potency over time. The leftover medication may not work against your latest illness and could actually make it worse. Of course, if antibiotics are taken properly, generally there shouldn’t be any leftover medication.

(5) MYTH: IF I USE A N T I B I O T I C S REGULARLY, I CAN PREVENT MYSELF FROM CATCHINGAN INFECTION There are numerous infections and taking one specific antibiotic cannot prevent you from catching all of those infections. By taking antibiotics regularly, you will make the bacteria in your body become resistant to that antibiotic and others similar to it. This makes it more difficult to treat you if you do develop an infection.

(6) MYTH: ANTIBIOTICS CAN HELP TREAT MY SYMPTOMS Antibiotics treat the infective cause of symptoms and not the symptoms themselves. So thinking that an antibiotic may directly help your headache, vaginal bleeding or itching skin, is inaccurate.

(7) MYTH: ANTIBIOTICS ARE ALWAYS EFFECTIVE

CREOLESE...

From page 38 deputy head prefect called his name. He stepped forward and walked woodenly to the microphone. He coughed.

“To a Skylark, by Percy Bysshe Shelley,” He paused.

And no further sound came from his mouth. He began to panic, and was about to stumble from the stage when the thought sprung into his maverick mind. 'Ole Higue!' He knew every word, every vernacular and onomatopoeic syllable, and he loved it. But would he dare?

The English master was looking at him intently.

The image of the old, female, blood-sucking terror, goaded him to launch into the piece. He spoke firmly and confidently onto the mike.

“Old Higue, by Wordsworth McAndrew.” An audible and collective intake of breath swept the gathering. Philip swept into the poem with almost aggressive abandon.

“Ol' woman wid de wrinkle

skin; leh de ol' Higue wuk begin…” The words came out like a catharsis. “…Fin' de baby, lif' de sheet; mek de puncture wid yuh teet'; Suck de baby dry …” The audience, at first aghast, were now getting into the spirit and rhythm of the piece.

The climax and the release stung like the whiplash it conjured. “…Whaxen! Whaxen!

Pladai! Plai! – Die, you witch you. Die! Whaxen! Whaxen!

Plai!” The boy stood there, heaving and spent, almost angry, as a thunderclap of applause erupted from the auditorium. Only the English master didn't cheer. His hands were exed across his chest.

His face was a mask of disbelief. But there was another face, almost directly behind the English master, a black, bearded, smiling face, that the boy didn't immediately recognize. He was staring straight at Philip, and his arms were outstretched, like a mother's.

As the applause subsided,

recognition came to him, and he almost jumped at the incredible coincidence. It was Wordsworth McAndrew, the author of Ol' Higue. The arms remained outstretched. The smile never wavered. (The end) *** Our country has an incredibly rich tradition of expression, from the works of Edgar Mittelholzer, through the revolutionary verse of Martin Carter and the creole folklore of Wordsworth McAndrew, to Ruel Johnson's contemporary commentaries.

Young and/or potential writers should not feel daunted or discouraged from expressing themselves in whatever genre they choose, particularly as they come to realize that they are part of this great continuum of literary voices. As for Creolese, 'dem seh dis time na laang time, but me she wen it come to awee expreshan, dis time an laang time ah de waan time!'

Antibiotics are not effective all the time, especially if there is resistance to the antibiotics or if an incorrect dose was prescribed. If you are not seeing improvements in your illness with the prescribed antibiotics, then you should re-visit your doctor for review.

Using antibiotics in the right way and preventing its misuse, will prevent ‘superbugs” from evolving.

Once we curb this trend, infections would be treated effectively and lives would be saved. The right way to use antibiotics is the way your doctor prescribed them to be

used.

(Dr Zulficar Bux is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Vanderbilt University and

Medical Center and holds the position of Head of the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department.)

Page 44

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Interventions for mosquito control in coastland communities (From the Desk of the Vector Control Director, Reyaud Rahman) Since the rain has descended upon us we have noted an increase in the mosquito population. There have been numerous calls from the public with their cries for help concerning this problem. Containers in our yards and surroundings catch rain water and accumulate which then becomes prime breeding sites and acts as a great catalyst for an increased mosquito population.

Once we have located the containers or any receptacles that catch or hold water in our yards, we could empty them or create holes to drain the water or we could cover these containers of water which we may need to utilise. Ridding our environments of mosquito breeding sites is therefore an effective method to prevent the multiplication of mosquitoes.

One of the biggest problems in Guyana is breeding sites which are located in our direct surroundings.

Some homeowners are vigilant and adhere to rules of having clean and tidy environs, however in some cases our neighbors do not adhere to the same level of standards,

Dr. Reyaud Rahman Some residents at a recent community meeting

and this still allows mosquitoes to breed and multiply even though we may be doing everything right.

This is why it is necessary to bring everyone on board to ensure that an entire community is doing the correct things to eliminate mosquito breeding and further decrease the diseases that are spread like Dengue fever and Chikungunya virus.

Tall grass or poorly maintained grassy areas are also places where mosquitoes would rest during the day until they are ready for a blood meal by biting someone. By

eliminating breeding sites and making mosquitoes uncomfortable we will gradually see their population decrease and we will be affected less and less. It is very important to work together as a community to realize this goal as one individual cannot accomplish the set goal of mosquito elimination from Guyana.

The Vector Control Services of the Ministry of Health has embarked upon an ambitious plan to eliminate nuisance mosquitoes and those that transmit diseases.

We are working with communities countrywide

that are interested in eliminating mosquitoes or insects that plague their community. We are setting up community groups and teaching members of those groups to practice effective and safe vector control that put the environment first.

We are giving technical help and advice to the group members, teaching how to eliminate breeding sites, how to sensitize the other members in the community by advocating healthy practices in the community, how to safely do indoor residual spraying and safe fogging practices.

We are teaching the community groups these safe and approved methods and supervising them to ensure everything is done according to our protocols and standard operating procedures. We are further contributing insecticide, fogging equipment, spray cans and safety equipment to ensure that members are supported in the task undertaken.

Members of the community groups have committed vehicles, manpower (human resource) and the commitment to get their community cleaned up and mosquito-free. All

exercises undertaken by communities are supervised by a senior vector control officer to ensure procedures are followed and safely adhered to. When we restart another cycle in a community we will again bring the support items (fogging machines, insecticide, safety equipment etc.) to the community.

We understand that without the support of all communities, we cannot realize our goals - a mosquitofree Guyana. Join with us to strengthen your community groups. Let’s work together to eliminate vector-borne diseases in Guyana. Contact us on telephone number 2258973 or 227-4752 or email vectorcontrolservice@gmail.com.

GOLD: TOO BIG TO FAIL...

(From page 41) Chinese-made stove in with him and cooks. In the night, he rubs diesel on his body to keep the mosquitoes away.

Malaria has attacked him several times.

Three weeks ago, his truck overturned after he hired a driver to take some diesel in to a camp along Issano. An excavator operator charged him

$200,000 to put the truck back on its wheels. He has to repay his customer for the fuel also.

That single incident has halted operations for the miner he was taking in the fuel for, for days.

Another major problem for Rocky is the poor roads.

The trail is maintained by Mekdeci and others.

However, the rainy season has been hard. “They need to

do more. It is terrible what is happening. We paying millions to fix the roads, but nobody seems to be checking. We are the ones paying, because it means more monies have to be spent to repair our vehicles.”

One tyre for the truck costs almost $140,000. If Rocky gets lucky, it can last for six months.

Rocky worked with the

Chinese who are doing mining in Amatuk, near Kaieteur Falls, and in Unamco, Upper Berbice.

However, the Chinese have now brought in their trucks, leaving Rocky with one less customer.

Recently, he received a demand from the Guyana Revenue Authority for outstanding taxes.

“I don’t know what to do

It is usual for vehicles to break down along the tricky trails. Rain, mud and deep holes are normal.

now. I own the truck. But there is no money. We barely make enough to eat.”

Rocky’s wife has started a little home business, and it is helping to pay some bills.

The story of Rocky is like so many others. With a significant number of operations closed for the holidays and workers sent home, the times have become tougher. Rocky is one who is

seeing the writing on the wall.

But still, the lure of the bush and the gold has become an addiction for some. Never mind the risks. But it is all becoming too rough for truckers like Rocky to survive.

Last week readers sent in some really good photos.

Please continue to do so to gildarie@yahoo.com. Your comments are welcomed too weekdays at 225-8491.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

From page 27 project forward.

On the Brazil side, Globonet, a sidsidiary of Oi, the largest telephone company of that neighbouring country, had landed the fibre optic cable.

Under the agreement, Guyana was reportedly paying US$150,000 annually for internet connectivity. It is unclear what is happening to these fees now that the project remains incomplete.

THURSDAY EDITION DYING E-GOVERNANCE PROJECT TO BE RESUSCITATED – DR. LUNCHEON Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, denies that the approximately US$32M Brazil/Guyana fibre optic cable venture has collapsed.

Dr. Luncheon preferred to say that the cable, which is part of the E-Governance project headed by the President’s son, Alexei Ramotar, suffered some failures, but is in a remedial stage. Several persons, he said, have been hauled before the courts for lending to the state of the project.

Dr. Luncheon was adamant that the project was not scrapped or abandoned.

He said that he is currently involved in negotiations with a local firm and another of a neighbouring country on concluding the project.

He said that the project has attracted “a pretty penny”. This is the construction itself which he estimated to have cost over a billion dollars.

The construction, he said, involved moving and excavating to the required standard and purchasing the lengths of cable to bring the project from its entry point in Lethem all the way to Georgetown.

The Cabinet Secretary said that some time, probably around 2011 and 2012 it was recognized that significant failures had occurred. He said that this is regarding contractors and meeting their obligations with supervisory firms and commitments in the development and unfolding of the project.

DNA TEST CONFIRMS TURKEYEN BODY IS MISSING TEACHER They waited five months to confirm the fate of their beloved one and when confirmation finally came Wednesday, the relatives of school teacher Nyozi Goodman could hardly accept that she was dead.

Police on Wednesday announced that the results of DNA tests conducted on the remains of a female

lawmen.

Nyozi Goodman found at Turkeyen on July 24 last, have confirmed that it belonged to the missing St. Stanislaus teacher, who disappeared on July 6 after leaving the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, where she had accompanied students on a sports assignment.

“The results of the DNA testing conducted by the Forensic Science Centre of Trinidad on the samples taken from the body that was recovered at Turkeyen, ECD, on July 24, 2014, have confirmed the body to be that of teacher Nyozi Goodman, of William Street, Kitty,” the police said in a statement.

But the results might mean nothing now, since according to the police, the prime suspect in her death, Royston Waldron was killed a few weeks ago in a confrontation with the

FRIDAY EDITION GUYANESE PILOT CAUGHT WITH STASHED US$$$ …JET PLANE AND MONEY “FORFEITED” IN PLEA BARGAIN Almost three weeks after being held by Puerto Rican authorities with over US$600,000 cash hidden in his jet, a Guyanese businessman/ pilot has apparently reached an agreement to have his property forfeited.

According to courts documents filed Thursday, an “Agreement to Forfeit Property” has been presented to the court in Puerto Rico. However, under court orders based on an application by Khamraj ‘Kem’ Lall, the agreement cannot be made public.

On November 22, Lall was arrested after a jet he owns stopped for fuel at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Puerto Rico.

Lall was the co-pilot, while the other two individuals were his father and the pilot of the aircraft. They were en route to Guyana.

FIBRE-OPTIC CABLE PROJECT REEKS OF CORRUPTION – AFC LEADER Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan is of the opinion that projects conducted in stealth and secrecy invariably reek of suspicion and corruption, and the dying Brazil/Guyana fibre-optic cable project is a prime example of this.

Head of the Presidential

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Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon had said that the project did not collapse nor was it scrapped or abandoned. He told members of the media fraternity that the venture which was started in 2011 suffered some failures due to defaulting contractors and consultancy firms, but those responsible had been hauled before the courts.

While a ruling is yet to be made, Dr. Luncheon did note that Guyana in terms of construction expended, almost $1B, and while Guyana is not receiving bandwidth from Brazil, its contractual agreement with the neighbouring country requires Guyana to pay some $76,000 a year. He said that Guyana has not paid this and is indebted to the Brazilians.

The Cabinet Secretary did note that the Brazilians “are quite understanding”, considering that the mechanism for receiving the bandwidth has not kicked in.

Nonetheless, Ramjattan, in an invited comment, said that because of the public scrutiny of deals such as this, the players behind the scenes are getting nervous, and a whole lot of other factors that were not taken into consideration are causing the project to falter and collapse.

SATURDAY EDITION APNU MOVES TO COURT TO CHALLENGE GOVT.’S SPENDING A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), has taken Government to court in a bid to stop what they said is the unauthorized spending of billions of dollars- monies

that were disapproved in the National Budget earlier this year.

The court application, which was filed on behalf of Opposition Leader, Brigadier David Granger, has also named Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the Attorney General and Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman as the defendants. The matter comes up before Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang, on Monday.

Among other things, the Opposition Leader is asking for a Conservatory Order to stay all spending and/or any further spending by the Finance Minister or other Ministers designated by the President on programs disapproved or not

authorized by the National Assembly until the court matter has been heard and determined.

In his claims, Granger wants the court to declare that the National Assembly, in keeping with Article 218 (2) of the Constitution, lawfully disapproved in the annual estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of 2014. This was reflected in the Appropriation Bill Number 6 of 2014 and confirmed by the Appropriation Act Number 10 of 2014.

Some $36.75B was disapproved by the Opposition-controlled National Assembly, according to the court documents released by APNU.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Coping and support for a patient with Memory slips tied to stroke risk among (Cerebrovascular accident) stroke highly educated

By Dr. Kumar Sukhraj

Many patients with stroke usually find it difficult to accept the changes as a result of their illness.

A stroke is a life-changing event that can affect your emotional well-being as much as your physical function.

Patients usually experience feelings of helplessness, frustration, depression and apathy, mood changes and less of a sex drive.

Regardless of the changes that one may experience as a result of stroke, remember acceptance and rehabilitation is the key to success.

Stroke patients need to maintain their self- esteem, connections to others, and interest in the world as essential parts of their recovery.

There are lots of strategies that can help patients and their caregivers.

These strategies are

discussed below: · Please don’t be hard on yourself. Accept that physical and emotional recovery will involve tough work and that it will take time.

Aim for a “new normal,” and celebrate your progress.

Allow time for adequate rest. · You need to get out of the house even if it’s hard. Try not to be discouraged or selfconscious if you move slowly and need a cane, walker or wheelchair to get around. If you do not have one of these, then you can purchase one or seek help from rehabilitation institutions. Getting out is good for you. · Join a support group.

Meeting with others who are coping with a stroke lets you get out and share experiences, exchange information, and forge new friendships. This will make a stroke patient feel worthwhile. · Let friends and family know what you need. People

may want to help, but they may not know what to do. Let them know how they can help, such as by bringing over a meal and staying to eat with you and talk, or attending social events or religious activities. · Know that you are not alone. There are so many people around the world who are suffering from stroke and there are many who are worse then you.

One of the most frustrating effects of stroke is that it can affect a patient speech and language. Here are some tips to help you and your caregivers cope with communication challenges: · Practice will help. Try to have a conversation at least once a day. It will help you learn what works best for you, feel connected and rebuild your confidence. · Relax and take your time. Talking may be easiest and most enjoyable in a relaxing situation when you

have plenty of time. Some stroke survivors find that after dinner is a good time. · Say it your way. When you’re recovering from a stroke, you may need to use fewer words, rely on gestures or use your tone of voice to communicate. · Use props and communication aids. You may find it helpful to use cue cards showing frequently used words, pictures of close friends and family members, or daily activities, such as a favourite television show or the bathroom.

Please feel free to send an email to kumarsukhraj @yahoo.com or call 6228032 for further enquiry and discussion on the topic.

Patient education plays an important in the diagnosis and management of any illness. Please look forward for a continuation of the discussion on health issues in the next publication.

Cost of not supporting breastfeeding MAY BE MILLIONS If more women breastfed their babies for at least four months after birth, the healthcare cost savings could be significant, not to mention the health benefits for mothers and babies, UK researchers say.

“Studies show that there is often an unsympathetic public attitude to breastfeeding outside of the home, an acceptance of formula feeding as a normal and safe way to feed babies, a lack of expertise and experience of breastfeeding among health service staff,” said Subhash Pokhrel, a health economist at Brunel University in London who led the study.

“Women’s choice to start or to continue to breastfeed is therefore constrained by the culture and community in which they live,” Pokhrel said in an email to Reuters Health.

His group calculates, for example, that if 75 percent of the babies in British neonatal units were breastfed, rather than the current 25 percent, the country would save £6.12 million ($9.6 million) on a serious intestinal problem called necrotizing enterocolitis, which affects premature infants.

Previous studies have shown that stomach, respiratory and eye problems are more common in babies

who are bottle-fed. The new study’s authors argue that the costs of these childhood ailments add up for the UK National Health Service.

They also point to research suggesting that women who breastfeed may have a lower risk of breast cancer later in life – and say that breastfeeding would provide additional cost savings in that regard.

Another health economist consulted by Reuters Health, however, said some of the benefits the authors attribute to breastfeeding may not be backed by enough solid evidence.

Pokhrel and his coauthors estimated the annual costs of treating four infant diseases gastrointestinal, respiratory and eye infections and necrotizing enterocolitis - to be £89 million (US$140 million). In addition, they estimated the lifetime costs of treating maternal breast cancer at £959 million ($1.5 billion).

The costs of breast milk substitutes also add up to roughly £13 ($20) per week in the UK, they write in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The researchers developed different scenarios in which fourmonth-old babies were breastfed at varying rates.

If all preemies were

exclusively breastfed when they left the neonatal care unit, instead of the 35 percent who currently are, that would save £7.4 million ($11.6 million) yearly in treating necrotizing enterocolitis, according to the analysis.

If the number of mothers who breastfed exclusively for four months increased from 7 to 21 percent, hospital costs for gastrointestinal illnesses would go down by £1.2 million ($1.9 million) yearly, they say.

Increasing the breastfeeding rates from 7 to 21 percent at four months could save £2 million ($3.14 million) per year in hospitalizations and £300,000 ($471,250) in general practitioner costs for ear infections, the study found.

By doubling the number of mothers who breastfed for

7 to 18 months, the UK would save £31 million ($49 million) in maternal breast cancer costs, the authors calculate.

The number of women who breastfeed in the UK has increased from 62 percent to 81 percent in the past 20 years, but only half the women who breastfeed keep with it at six weeks, Pokhrel noted.

“We also know that there is good quality evidence showing the negative impact of using substitutes for breastfeeding on at least five diseases in children and mothers,” Pokhrel said of his reasons for wanting to do the study.

“All those diseases must cost the National Health Services dearly each year and it seemed like low breastfeeding rates were one of the drivers of that big cost,” he said. (Reuters Health)

Highly educated people who report lapses in memory may be at increased risk of having a stroke, suggests a new study from the Netherlands.

Highly educated people who reported noticeable lapses in memory were 39 percent more likely than those without lapses to have a stroke within the next 12 years, researchers report in the journal Stroke.

“Persons who complain of cognitive/memory complaints should be monitored not only because of the possibility of incipient dementia, but also for an increased risk of stroke,” Dr. Arfan Ikram from Erasmus University Rotterdam, who led the study, said in an email to Reuters Health.

“Important are memory complaints that are more than usual and interfere in one’s daily functioning,” he added.

“This is especially true for highly (educated) people.”

For the new study, Ikram and his colleagues used data from 9,152 people who were at least 55 years old. Between 1990 and 1993, or 2000 and 2001, the participants answered questions about memory lapses and completed tests that measure cognitive function.

By 2012, there were about 1,200 strokes among the participants.

The researchers found that people who reported memory lapses were about 20 percent more likely overall to have strokes during the follow-up period.

But that link was isolated among those who reported the most education, meaning university or advanced vocational training. With memory lapses, their stroke risk was 39 percent higher than people without the lapses.

Strokes also tended to occur earlier in people with

higher levels of education, the researchers found.

Broader scores on cognitive functioning were not tied to stroke risk, however.

The study can’t explain why the association between memory lapses and stroke only appeared in highly educated people.

The researchers write that it could be that highly educated people have more so-called cognitive reserve, which prevents them from noticing memory problems until their risk of stroke is more advanced.

Instead of strokes or memory lapses causing each other, one expert not involved with the new study said it’s likely that memory complaints are the result of a condition that also increases the risk of stroke, such as high blood pressure.

“As pointed out by the authors, it’s likely the case that in selected people that they have some memory challenges and that is not perhaps directly related to future risk of stroke, but related to other risk factors like high blood pressure,” said Dr. Robert Brown, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Brown cautioned that the new report doesn’t mean people should worry if they notice lapses in memory, such as briefly forgetting keys or names.

“Every one of us that have a subjective memory complaint will not have a future stroke,” he told Reuters Health. “By no means is it a 100 percent connection between subjective memory complaints and future stroke.”

Instead, he said people who are having memory problems that start to affect their lives should see their doctors – especially those with high levels of education.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

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Afghanistan’s BRUCE LEE Chris Rock dons three hats ‘reincarnation’ becomes Web hit for latest film, 'TOP FIVE'

From the ruins of a bombed-out palace above Kabul, a young Afghan man bearing a striking resemblance to kung fu legend Bruce Lee is high-kicking his way to Internet fame, aiming to show another side to his war-weary nation. Videos and photos of Abbas Alizada, 20, posted on the Facebook page “Bruce Hazara” show him performing back flips and striking Lee’s famous poses. They blazed through Afghanistan’s small Internet community this week, part of a publicity burst he hopes will catapult him to broader fame.

“I want to be a champion in my country and a Hollywood star,” Alizada said at Kabul’s desolate Darulaman palace, where he trains twice a week, swirling nunchakus and sporting a Lee-like bowl haircut.

At a workout at the palace, adorned with photos of thousands of civilian war victims as part of a protest exhibition, Alizada showed off his wiry physique, doing push-ups on his fingertips and sparring with a partner. Two assistants dabbed his brow and fixed his hair for the cameras.

Alizada is from a poor family of 10 children.

His parents could not afford the fees at an academy of Wushu, a Chinese mixed martial art, but the trainer took him under his wing.

Darulaman palace, built in the 1920s by King Amanullah Khan, was damaged by decades of fighting for control of the capital.

It is now a ruin pocked by artillery craters and bullet holes, overlooking an as-yet-unfinished national parliament building. “The destruction here makes me sad, but it also inspires me,” said Alizada, who refused to be filmed in one room where the walls were daubed with graffiti reading “death to Americans”.

Actors Chris Rock (R) and Rosario Dawson pose for a portrait while promoting their new film ‘’Top Five’’ in New York.

Snowden film ‘CitizenFour’ wins top documentary award “CitizenFour,” filmmaker Laura Poitras’s documentary about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, was given the top award for best feature by the International Documentary Association on Friday.

The IDA award for “CitizenFour” follows the film’s best documentary win at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards this week. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award last month and is among 15 films advancing in the Oscars best documentary race.

“CitizenFour” gives a flyon-the-wall account of Snowden’s tense days in a Hong Kong hotel and encounters with journalists as newspapers published details of NSA programs that gathered data from the Internet activities and phone records of millions of Americans and dozens of world leaders.

U.S. filmmaker Poitras shared a Pulitzer Prize this year for her role in publicizing the Snowden documents.

She was awarded IDA’s Courage Under Fire award last year for her “conspicuous

Director Laura Poitras of the best feature award nominee ‘Citizenfour’ poses at the International Documentary Association’s 2014 IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles December 5, 2014. bravery in the pursuit of truth.”

The IDA, a 30-year-old non-profit organization that aims to support documentary films and culture, also bestowed honors on veteran actor-filmmaker and Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford, who was given the career achievement award.

Cable network Show

time’s “Time of Death” was named best limited series, while best short documentary went to HBO Films’ “Tashi and the Monk,” about a Buddhist monk and his 5year-old charge Tashi.

Last year ’s IDA best feature winner, Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square,” was nominated for an Oscar this year, losing out to “20 Feet From Stardom.”

In his latest film, “Top Five,” comedian Chris Rock takes the reins as a triplethreat director, writer and star, but once he assembled a cast of comic talent Rock said he was happy to just let them do what they do best.

“The way I look at it is, it’s my movie, but it’s your part,” said Rock, referring to comic heavyweights Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan and JB Smoove.

They provide the edgy, satirical film, which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, with much of its controlled comic chaos. Other comedians turn up in small bits playing themselves.

“I wanted everybody to shine. That’s what they’re there for, that’s why they’re stars,” said Rock. “I’ve done movies where I was too much in love with my own words.”

In “Top Five,” Rock plays troubled comic Andre Allen, who yearns to be taken seriously. Several years into recovery, he has forged a

career with a series of “Hammy the Bear” movies — in which he wears a bear suit.

While promoting his foray into “serious cinema,” an absurdly earnest tale of a Haitian slave uprising entitled “Uprize!”, Allen is trailed by a journalist played by Rosario Dawson for a profile piece.

Unlike his cast of comic heavyweights, Rock recalled having “to beg her to be in the movie. I couldn’t even get a meeting — with my friend.”

“Oh come on, that’s not true,” Dawson laughed, explaining that she had just come off of seven or eight films back-to-back, and was feeling burnt out.

But she said it was a remarkable experience. Shot in New York City, “Top Five” takes place in the course of a

single day.

While some might say he is playing a variation on himself, Rock, 49, said the character is drawn from legendary black comics ranging from Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker to Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx.

And, as with his standup, he drew from real life.

“It is just a movie,” Rock said, repeating a line from the film.

“But — people that think are always going to make things that make you think,” he added. “When you go into something saying ‘I got something to say!’, it always sucks. I learned that in standup, just tell the joke.

You’re smart, and at the end of this people will take something smart out of it.”

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

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Colin Mack likely to face High Cop convicted for Globe Yard Court trial for rape next year shooting granted bail pending appeal - Accused asks for time to retain lawyer Almost six years after he was charged with rape, Party Promoter, Colin Mack, stood in the prisoner’s dock before Justice Navindra Singh at the Georgetown Supreme Court on Wednesday and indicated that he needed additional time to better prepare for trial.

Mack is facing a trial for an indictment of rape, assault and forcible abduction of a female. He is accused of having sex with a 19-year-old without her consent on April 12, 2009.

According to police investigators, the victim, in a statement, said that she was held against her will for several hours at a Festival City house. The teen said that she shouted for help, but no one came to her rescue even though the houses were within hearing distance. She managed to escape after she hung her naked body through a window until a taxi driver came to her rescue. The popular promoter was charged for the crime in 2009 and his trial has been pending ever since.

On Wednesday, however, despite all indications that the court was ready to proceed with the matter, the embattled party promoter stood before Justice Singh and a mixed 12member jury and indicated that he needed time to

adequately prepare for trial.

Mack who was unrepresented, requested ten days since he wanted to retain a lawyer of his choice for the trial.

He told the court that he invested his money to promote an upcoming show and needs to recoup his finances to be able to afford an attorney of his choice to represent him.

Justice Singh told the accused that lawyers are not usually assigned by the State to represent persons accused in matters related to sexual offences but that he would make an exception in this case.

Mack insisted that he wanted his own lawyer.

He explained that money is not the problem but that “it is just tied up right now.”

After careful consideration, Justice Singh granted the accused his request but noted that the trial is likely to come up at the next session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes which commences on January 13, 2015.

Meanwhile, three other murder trials were also suspended last week after the accused in the matters indicated that they wanted time to ensure that they are represented by lawyers of their choice.

Rape accused: Colin Mack Murder accused, Balram Singh, Rondell Bacchus and Edward Skeete all had their matters postponed to the next session. State Prosecutor Judith Gildarie-Mursalin had indicated that she was ready to proceed with the matters but the men expressed that they wanted to ensure that it was possible for their lawyers would be able to represent them at trial.

Singh requested time to properly retain Attorney- atlaw Kim Kyte while time was granted to Attorney -at -Law Nigel Hughes, who is representing the latter two accused, since he is currently engaged in a manslaughter trial before another Supreme Court Judge and a proceeding before the Court of Appeal.

De Hoop rice bond blaze…

Fire Service treating fire as “suspicious act”

By Rabindra Rooplall After a rice bond was set ablaze at De Hoop, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, on Thursday, Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle disclosed that the investigation continues into what he describes as a “suspicious act” since it was discovered that the fire began from the centre of the bond.

Thursday last, a farmer storing his paddy and bulk rice for the Venezuelan market watched as fire razed a section of his storage. Rice farmer Deonarine Sukhlall estimated his losses at approximately $50M. According to the Guyana Fire Services (GFS) Chief, there was no electrical equipment or anything electrical in nature that could have started the fire.

However, the fire service is investigating a theory that surrounds the possibility that the fire was set maliciously.

“Investigations are still ongoing since all statements have not been given; we are still to get the last person that locked up the bond,” Gentle said. He alluded to the fact that there are other angles being pursued to determine the motive behind the fire.

Rice farmer Deonarine Sukhlall points to a container which had bags of paddy and rice.

Everything was destroyed by the fire.

Fire service officials had disclosed that the zinc bond housed cargo rice, paddy, pesticides and other items which were destroyed. This resulted in the total collapse of the bond after fire fighters concentrated on saving the two other buildings in the compound. Fire engines from the GuySuCo unit and Onverwagt Fire Station assisted with containing the blaze.

It was also noted that poor storage contributed even more to the fire since the bond was overstocked.

Nevertheless, officials noted

that they were able to contain the blaze despite mechanical problems encountered with their water pumps after it took in silt and rice/paddy dust from the nearby canal where they got water.

Sukhlall who has been a rice farmer for almost 30 years noted that the bond contained 8,000 bags of paddy and over 2,000 bags of rice which were destroyed with the structure. A 40-foot container with tones of rice was also destroyed. Sukhlall said he plants over 750 acres of rice.

Ocquema Dawson, the policeman who was found guilty last September for the February 18, 2013 Globe Yard shooting of Phillip Small is out on bail pending the outcome of appeals he filed in the Guyana Court of Appeal and in the Full Court.

Dawson, who was attached to the Tactical Service Unit, was found guilty by Magistrate Judy Latchman of discharging a loaded firearm with intent to maim, disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm to Phillip Small, and possession of ammunition while not being the holder of a Firearm and Ammunition Licence.

Through his Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam, Dawson, who had started serving his sentence of 48 months for discharging a loaded Firearm and 36 months and a fine of $50,000 for the other Offence, was granted bail by a Judge of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice after Appeals were filed in the Court of Appeal for one conviction and Full Court for the other.

The Attorney was able to persuade both Judges that his Client had grounds of appeal which had every prospect of success and that if not granted bail, there was likelihood that his Client would have served his whole sentence or a substantial part of it before the Appeals were heard by the various Appellate Courts.

In the Court of Appeal, Justice of Appeal B.S. Roy examined the Petition for Bail and read the Memorandum of Reasons submitted by Magistrate Judy Latchman. He expressed disquiet with the application of the law in light of the findings of fact made by the learned Magistrate.

Dawson was then admitted to Bail in the sum of $50,000 and ordered to lodge his passport within five days of his release from Prison. He is also required to attend Court on every day that the Appeal is being heard.

He was also admitted to bail in the sum of $75,000 by Chief Justice Ian Chang after

another Petition for bail was heard on Friday last.

It is alleged that on February 18, 2013, whilst performing duties, Dawson, then a serving rank of the force, entered the Globe Yard on Waterloo Street and approached a group of men.

The rank walked up and held on to one of them. Phillip Small noticed what had happened and intervened by speaking to the rank about the way he handled the man.

Dawson reportedly became annoyed and cuffed Small who returned the favour. Dawson then discharged three shots from his gun – two hit Small on his right leg.

The bulletproof vest which Dawson was wearing that day was later observed to have had several cuts about it and he was subsequently charged with damaging the force’s property.

The force had revealed that Dawson was issued with a pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition but when he returned after the incident, the gun had 14 rounds.

They contended that the rank should have returned 12 rounds, since three were discharged in Globe Yard.

Two matching spent shells were recovered from the scene and the two extra rounds were suspected to have been illegally acquired. Following a fourmonth probe, three charges were instituted against the cop who resides at Murphy Street, Good Intent, West Bank Demerara.

Dawson was accused of discharging a loaded firearm at Philip Small, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm on February 18, at Georgetown. He was also charged with having two live rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence.

Dawson was also accused of unlawfully and maliciously damaging the $245,000 bullet proof vest. For shooting Small, the Magistrate recalled that Dawson, in an unsworn testimony, had claimed that Small attacked him and attempted to stab him with a scissors.

Nonetheless, Magistrate Latchman said that a firearm

Ocquema Dawson should be the last resort of any police rank and noted a court ruling where it was explained that the fact that an act was considered necessary does not mean that the resulting action was reasonable.

The Magistrate said, however, that one shot was enough to restrain Small and that a member of the TSU should not have acted in that manner. She noted that Dawson shot at Small twice and ruled that the rank did not act out of self-defence but rather with intent.

During mitigation, Defence Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam urged the court to consider that Dawson opened fire during the execution of duties and in the heat of the moment rather than in a coldblooded, contemplated moment. He added that as it related to discharging the firearm, his client was in the situation where he was required to execute his duties. Amsterdam said that Dawson had been present at all sessions of his trial.

The lawyer requested a suspended sentence.

Amsterdam asked that the cop be spared incarceration and not be sent where he could be harmed and exposed to “criminal elements.”

Recently, a number of policemen have been Charged and placed before the Courts for various acts committed during the execution of their duties and most of them have been found guilty by various magistrates.

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Sunday December 14, 2014

Fibre optic fiasco, will heads roll after a $billion waste?

By Ralph Seeram Many people may not know that the rapid global expansion of communications and computer networks is due to fibre optic cables. A single strand of fibre optic cable can carry more data than a hundred pairs of copper cable. You my readers may not realize that the speed of your computers depends largely on fibre optics network.

Internet in Guyana is notoriously slow as Guyanese can attest to. If I am not mistaken Guyana probably ranks at the low end for internet speeds in the Caribbean area.

During my working years in New York City I worked as a network technician for a very large company that supplied Stock Market Information to all brokerage houses on Wall Street.

My job was not only to install computers but I was also involved in running (stringing) cables in buildings, not ordinary buildings; I am talking about

Skyscrapers.

One of the problems we encountered was that these buildings were constructed before the computer era, so the conduits to run cables from the basement to say the 30th floor only catered then for telephone lines. With the explosion of computer networks and desk top computers the need to run more cables became critical and the conduits or pipes did not have the capacity to hold more cables.

Enter fibre optics to the rescue. A single line of fibre optic cable could carry all the data than hundreds of pairs of copper wires that filled up the conduits.

It was a blessing; it not only required less space but was way faster than copper lines. When we decided to run fibre optic lines in our building we got a rude awaking; we were not qualified to run the cable; it was a special job so we had to get training to handle and join those cables.

They are delicate and can be easily destroyed if you are not trained or experienced in

handling it.

So it is when I read years ago that Guyana will be “stringing” a fibre optic cable from Brazil to Georgetown, it got my attention. This was no ordinary job like cabling a building.

This is laying cable hundreds of miles in a jungle terrain, subject to the elements, rain, damp humid conditions, water and animals.

That is a challenging task that should be undertaken by an experienced international company as well as experienced Guyanese personnel.

Such terrain requires a cable with special coating to help it withstand the elements, plus you need experience with the connectivity. I was so surprised when I heard that local companies were involved in laying these cables. I can bet the employees of some of these companies never knew what a fibre optic cable looked like much less lay them.

Local companies might have been employed to dig the trenches to lay the cable that should have the extent of their involvement. This was a job for an experienced international company

period.

Now after a billion Guyana dollars the government found out its mistake, a costly mistake for the Guyanese taxpayers.

My question is who will take responsibility for this waste of Guyanese hard earned money. First, if the private sector was the head of the project Alexi Ramotar would have been fired. This project was way over his head. Question is would the President’s son be fired for his gross incompetence?

Trouble is the PPP has a way of rewarding people for incompetence and mediocrity; they get promoted, not demoted, they get rewarded for failure, and yes failure is a ladder for promotion in this government. So I ask the question, will heads roll? By the way, do Guyanese know

who made famous that term “heads will roll”? No less a person than the father of the present Works Minister Robeson Benn, Brindley Benn.

Roger Luncheon, who is great at ambiguity, said that the project needs “remedial” work. Remedial my foot. They practically have to start over that project. It costs more to correct a job than to start afresh. So we have a billion dollar mistake due to nepotism.

Looking back, the government had no need to get into the fibre optic business.

Had they deregulated the telecommunication industry and released the grip of GT&T, private companies like Digicel would have filled the void. That was a wasted one billion dollars that could have gone into University of

Guyana, the Health Care systems or other projects that directly benefit the ordinary Guyanese.

Meanwhile, until the industry is open to competition I will continue to get ‘drop calls’ to Guyana.

My Skype calls will continue to drop several times before I can complete a decent conversation by using Facebook messenger phone service. I avoid being ripped of by GT&T. And please don’t tell me the telephone company is losing money from these calls.

It charges for the internet service.

So once again will Alexi Ramotar’s “head roll” for the billion dollar fiasco? We await his promotion.

Ralph Seeram can be reach at email: ralph365@hotmail.com and Facebook

Aurora project targets 3M oz of gold over 17 years - Assures of safety measures for cyanide control SAG mill making its way to Aurora, Region Seven

Canada-owned, Guyana Goldfields Inc., which is being described as the biggest investment in the local gold mining industry, projects 3.97 million oz. of gold production with the Aurora goldmines project over a 17-year period.

The statement was made at the company’s Annual General Meeting, early last week, where stakeholders were updated on operations.

Currently, the Aurora site, Region Seven, is under massive construction for gold operations to begin mid-next year.

In addition to future projections, the company revealed that the US$6 million SAG mill has arrived and is currently being installed.

The purchase of the 7.9 x

6.0 metres (5.5 MW) SAG mill for the company represents its primary grinding solution for the initial milling facility is a significant milestone in the development of the project, Guyana Goldfields said.

According to President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Caldwell, as the Aurora project comes closer to starting gold production, Guyana Goldfields has been given clearance by the Government of Guyana to employ up to 900 persons, as construction continues.

Stakeholders were also assured that the company has adopted safety systems in case of a dangerous cyanide spill.

“All of the facilities where the cyanide is handled are

designed with protective measures,” said Caldwell. He went on to explain that if cyanide units were to burst then the plant would shut down in order to address the spill. Further measures would include neutralising the poisonous substance to that it can be effectively treated.

The assurance would be relevant as the last large scale miner, Omai Gold, came under scrutiny after a reported 3.4 million cubic meters, or 900 million gallons, of cyanidelaced water was released into the Essequibo waterways after a dam failure.

The company also highlighted that it is taking measures in adhering to environmental regulations. In (Continued on page 64)

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

SALON Make Up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, Black Opal and Sacha cosmetics. Call: 647-1773/660-5257

ACCOMODATION SIGNATURE INN: Luxury Suites & Apartments. Free Wi-Fi & Breakfast; AC & Self Contained Rooms @ 83 Laluni Street Queenstown.

Tel: 592-226-2145

SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call Sabita: 225-6496, 662-6045

Guyana Passport & Visa Forms Application, USA, VACANCY Canada and England. Tel: 626-7040; 265-4535.

Work from home & earn Repairs & spare, fridge, freezer, $5,000-$20,000 daily; www.jobfairworldwide.com A/C, washers, stoves. Contact Tel:233-6517; 622-1957; 9am- Nick: 683-1312, 627-3206 5pm Mon-Fri & Saturday Repairs, sales & spares air 10am-4pm conditioning, microwaves, Male & female workers: washer, fridges & stoves. managers, accountants, Ultra Cool, call: 225-9032, checkers, salesperson & 647-2943 housekeepers @ RA Soda REPAIRS AT LOW COST: Factory – Call: 330-2399- FRIDGES, AIR2772; 623-5920 CONDITIONERS, One female clerk – Call: 231- WASHING MACHINES, TVS, MICROWAVES, 5171 FREEZERS- CALL: 629Live in housekeeper, to care 4946 OR 225-4822 for infant; 35-45yrs – Call: Real Deal Realty & Advisory 697-8797 Services: for all your real Immediate: Ice machine estate needs – Contact:223operators (training provided) 1440; 626-4489; 660-7672 & night security to work @ We repair fridge, freezer, AC, Ice Factory in Meadow Bank washer, dryer Call Omar: 231– Call: 231-1408; 642-9191 0655,683-8734 Porters; rip saw and moulder Are you looking for a operator – Call Richard: 609- personal driver: safe, reliable 7675; 233-2614 & courteous – Contact: 6977488 CANTER DRIVER/ SALESMAN and Factory Assistant living on E.B.D, free accommodation also available. 266 4427 One qualified hairdresser; one housekeeper – Call:225-6492 Pastry maker & counter clerks/servers @ Kiskar Natural Way with police clearance , food handlers LEARN TO DRIVE certificate & NIS; 5 Camp & Durban – Tel:231-4971 Soman Son & Outar Driving Cooks – must able to prepare School at Maraj Buildingvegetarian dishes @ Kiskar Tel: 644-5166; 622-2872; 615Natural Way, 5 Camp & 0964; 689-5997 Durban St – Tel: 231-4971 CATERING Pump attendant at Shell Providence E.B.D (shift work) From the USA Catering American & Guyanese 5AM-3PM & 3PM-12PM Cuisine Specialty deserts for EDUCATIONAL the holidaysPre- Christmas Give away - valstastytreats.com / 219$25,000 OFF 9 Course 3166 Computer Diploma. Promotion HEALTH ends this week!

Micrographics, Vreed- En- Need a certified/Qualified caregiver to care for your Hoop. Call: 264-3057 elderly love one – Call:680Free Course on getting to 1894 know your bible. Write to FOR SALE/RENT “Rev” J. Devonish, PO.BOX102526; Georgetown American Pool Table – Call: Guyana.

277- 0578

FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 GT TOOL RENTALS: COMPACTOR; CHIPPING HAMMER RANSOM & FLOOR SANDER, (SALE) AND MORE, SAWS & DRILLS -$10,000 - CALL: 675-0767, 667-2535 Executive Residence – centrally and beautifully located in Bel-Air Springs, Georgetown for immediate occupancy. Ph 226-6229, 2265903 Metal Scaffold for rent- Call: 623-6586 or 225-7607

VEHICLE FOR SALE One Toyota Raum : TV; Alarm, remote start ; PRR 8782 – Call:670-7243 Toyota Mark 2 - $2.2M neg.

BMW 318i - $2.2M neg.

Toyota Tacoma (RHD) (Auto/ 4WD) - $1.2M neg. – Call:6532005 1-Honda-600RR, Toyota Raum, AT170, AT212, AT192, AE100 Sprinter Fun cargo, Bubble Tray Tundra Call: 6445096, 697-1453 R1 2007; Candy Red motor cycle, never fall; 40 original paint 1100 miles -$7,000US or best offer – Call: 623-4045 Pitbull bus ($3.2M) Verossa - $3.7M, Noah- $2M (All new) – Call: 603-9700 Unregistered Spacio 2004, camera, rims, body kit, Fielder 2003, black interior, fully loaded. Call: 617-5536 Unregistered fielder wagon $2.650M, Allion - $2.275M, Premio - $2.350M, $2.45M (Mags, Rear Camera) City Motors- Call: 616-3413, 6926159.

Christmas Sale! 2003 Toyota Premio - $2.2M; never registered – Tel: 617-2891

Five bedrooms house, 107 Lamaha Gardens & Large Parking; AC Rooms Hot & Cold, Purified Water System – Call: 661-8908, 335-3590

Toyota Prado, Price$5.5M Neg. Call: 643-2403

One business place for rent @ Stewartville W.C.D, opposite School – Call: 6135261 1 Bedroom apartment @ 1 Church Street Friendship E.B.D – Call: 661-8700 Space to rent 60X40; ideal for supermarket, wholesale distribution etc at Enmore E.C.D – Call:256-4249, 6277771, 674-6427

One ford IVECO sand truck with Cummings Engine, GNN Series, excellent condition, owner leaving country – Call: 604-6860, 643-2911

One bedroom for couple (upper flat) - $30,000 @ 2387 Diamond H/Scheme – Call: 602-9302 1 Upper flat 3 bedrooms apartment @ Ixora Ave. Eccles - $80,000, available February 2015, serious enquiries – Contact: 905-2168822, email: questions4eccles@yahoo.com Restaurant for rent, great location, Soesdyke Linden Highway - $50,000 per month; must have business expense – Call:600-0036

One GX110 Toyota Mark 2, in excellent condition, A/C, TV, DVD - 85000KM, price $1.9M neg – Call:629-5300

AT192, 212, Allion, unregistered Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN, RZ & Pit-bull, 7 seater super custom. Cash / terms- Call: 680-3154 We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses; Extra Cab pickups; 2006 TacomaCall:680-3154 Blow Out Sale!– Unregistered 2007 Madza Axela - $2,350,000 – Crystal Lights, Alarm, Steering Wheel Audio Control . Call: 643-6565, 226-9931 Blow Out Sale!!! Unregistered Toyota IST - $2,250,000Bodykit, TV, Spoiler, Fogs, Alloy Wheels, Crystal Lights & Alarm – Call: 643-6565, 2269931 2- 40FT Trailers for sale.

Anyone interested please contact: 683-3805 CAR RENTAL

CAR RENTAL PROGRESSIVE AUTO RENTAL:CARS&SUV FOR RENTAL- $4,000 & UP PER DAY- CALL: 643-5122, 2193900, EMAIL: PRO_AUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM

DOLLY’S CAR RENTAL CALL: 225-7126/ 2263693 DOLLYSAUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM/ WWW.DOLLYSAUTO RENTAL.COM Aidan’s Car & Pickup rental, cheap rate, low security – Tel:698-7807;690-6494

Page 63

FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.

Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 1 Double door fridge $165,000; 1 New Rigid 3600 W generator - $170,000, 1 Washer and Dryer Maytag $120,000 each – Tel: 672-7194 One PS2 with games & control, one Nintendo DSi with games & control $20,000 each –Call: 655-2318 Complete Snapper Boats for sale – Excellent Condition – Contact: 648-6815; 641-4506 Stalls at Robb Street & Bourda –Contact: 695-1359 between 9am -11am PICK YOUR PIG! CHOOSE YOUR SIZEAND WE WILL HAVE IT READY! CALL:266-2711 OR 6094594 Two forklifts Clarke & Toyota 5000lbs, wood mizer XT40 sawmill, fire proof explosion proof safe – Call: Paul: 612-7206; 619-7393

PROPERTY FOR SALE Six acres prime roadside land and metal workshop in Corriverton, can be sold with or without workshop. Call: 626-6245 Property @ Meadowbrook Drive: four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms – Tel:664-5199; 675-7043 One unfinished house in West Minister - $4.5M- Call: 661-0618, 601-3469 (size: 20X47) Property at Block 8 Tuschen; lot 334 – Call: 660-0439 House & Land @ Cemetery Rd. Helena No.1 Mahaica E.C.D. Land (65FTX150FT) $13M- Tel:689-0820, 674-3902 One house & land in hope low land, E.C.D, one house & land in Bloomfield Berbice – Call:689-5254; 256-0504 W.B.D – CANAL NO 1: TOW STORIED CONCRETE, LAND 36FTX900FT - $11M NEG. CALL:618-3635/ MARBOLLERS@HOTMAIL.COM

W.C.D – VREED-EN-HOOP (PUBLIC ROAD) TWO BUILDINGS, LAND 6 0 F T X 4 3 2 F T ; TRANSPORTED - $75M NEG. CALL: 618-3635 OR MARBOLLERS@HOTMAIL.COM 1 Toyota Rav4; year 2000 - EAST COAST DEMERARA: $2.5M neg. PKK Series; great L.B.I – EARL’S COURT; condition – Tel:612-8803 TWO STORIED CONCRETE, LAND Used Dell E4300, E6500 M4400, HP Elite Book 6930 60FTX110FT – CALL: 6186 3 5 Laptops – Contact Sean: 3 MARBOLLERS@HOTMAIL.COM 226-9377 Panel indicating light, Lot 251 Thomas Street South Genset exhaust box, C/Burg, size 102’X40’, price contractors & relay. Tel: 627- -$85M neg. – Contact Mervin on: 647-2509; 231-6111; 2277835 3136 Perkins Engines: One 6 Cylinder - $400,000, One 4 Cylinder - $300,000, 3" Water Pumps - $60,000, GPS $60,000 – Call:693-2237 Outboard Engine - $300,000, Bedford Model M 4X4 $3.5M Negotiable – Trailer $80,000 – Call:693-2237 Lumber: Crab wood boards and planks, greenheart etc, (rough & dressed) excellent prices – Call Richard: 6097675/ 233-2614; 674-1705 Exercise equipment: Treadmill, cardio, bicycle, infant bed, swing & high chair – Call:6001329 Xbox ONE, Xbox 360 - $40,000, PS3 - $35,000, Nintendo 3DS $25,000, PSP - $16,000. Call:621-7497/603-8643 1 Numark mixer, 1 pyle pro amplifier, technical pro amplifier, 1 - pair 15 inch speakers, 32" TV – Tel:6224700; 223-6490

FOR SALE XBOX 360Slim: Systems, games, controllers, hard drivers and kinect sensorCall: 683-8386 Pools table cloth, balls, pocket cuestick, rubber, coinshute tips, chalk sp r i n g , c h a l k h o l d e r, coins– Call: 669-9927 One farm for sale – Call: 2653586 Complete music systems with RCS speakers & QSE Amps- Call:699-5790

Playstation laptop, desktop, Xbox360, notebook tablet – Call: 223-1273; 223-1719 TO LET 1 – Nissan canter; needs repairing, going cheap- Couple for two bedroom lower $500,000.00 – Call: 228-5655; flat @ Turkeyen/Sopia – Call: 628-1756 219-3551 Fluffy Puppies, Tibetan (Continued on page 64) Terriers – Call:662-4694

Page 64

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Jagdeo invested $20 billion from the...

(From page 63)

WANTED One experienced driver for one 32 Zone minibus – Tel:629-2302, 610-3081 One night shift supervisor at shell Providence E.B.D, Submit application to shellramsburg@gmail.com Female worker needed, 3 CXC subject or sound secondary school education- Call: 6121607 Receptionist, maid to work shift at Hilton Crest Hotel – 25yrs and over, must be experienced – Call:223-6284 1 Female cleaner to work in snackette & bar , must know to cook, age 20-35yrs – Tel:647-7432, 223-5798 Bartender, kitchen assistant, waitress, ASAP @ Streem Café & Bar : Oronoque & Robb St. Must have ID – Phone: 658-6873 (apply In person) Shop assistant to work in the interior salary $80,000 – Tel:688-5409; 664-5199; 6757043 One live in domestic to work in Diamond; age 25-45 – Salary $60,000 – Tel:6885409; 664-5199 Hire car driver @ Gem’s Taxi Service – Call: 667-9013, 2255075 Contract cars & hire car drivers at Atlas Taxi Service – Tel:218-5593; 218-5594 Girls to work as waitresses in bar – Tel:256-4096 Experienced taxi drivers with valid hire license – Call: 2310250 or 231-0260 One puri maker – Call: 2269561 One assistant salesgirl @ E.C.D – Call: 644-9802 One Nail Technician specialized in Nail Art design, Air Brush and also Hair Extension. Tel: 231-6000 Mason & Carpenters wanted – Call: 668-9863, 615-7526 One able bodied male to work in a Hardware store Call: 231-2029; 219-4533 One porter to work on beverage canter – Call:2223927; 649-9876 Land to buy in Providence, Herstelling, Eccles, Parfaite Harmonie, Uitvlugt, Zeelugt.

Call: 675-7292 1 Labourer for 2 or 3 half day – Call: 226-3736 Need ladies to sort goods; apply at Alabama Trading Georgetown Stabroek.

Female janitors, between ages 25-40 years – Call:2258066

LAND FOR SALE Parika (Butcher Shop Street) – One (1) Lot 38' X 150' $ 7m - Contact 650-0402 - for serious inquiries Blankenburg @ The Back Of Gas Station (3) Lots @ 75' X 76' Each. $20M for all 3 Lots.

(1) Lot for $10m - Contact 650-0402 One residential land at Herstelling -$4.5M – Tel:6610618; 601-3469 Prime business spot @ Parfaite Harmonie - $3.5M, $1.5M, $2.2M with house, Grove - $2.5M (with foundation) Call: 675-7292 Parfaite Harmonie - $1.4M, house with land - $2.2M – Call: 677-7095 Prime water front land located at Port Kaituma/ North West, approximately (110ftX100ft) business spot – Contact: 601-5500; 6939348 Three Acres transported house lots and 1 Acre rice land @ Golden Grove W.C.Berbice – Call: 603-2095

From page 15 bandwidth, cable television and mobile/cellular.

So just who are the companies named in this proposed law to be handed Telecommunications Licences?

Two of those companies are E-Networks and Quark Communications Inc. E-Networks has as its shareholders, Vishok Persaud and his sister Member of Parliament, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, both the children of former PPP Minister, the late Reepu Daman Persaud; Keith Evelyn (Brassington's partner in Hand in Hand Trust) and Rakesh Puri.

Quark Communications has as its shareholders Jagdeo's niece, Subrina Singh, Brassington and Brian Yong, a close friend of the former President.

Interestingly, Quark has its base of operations in a compound at Versailles, West

Bank Demerara, which belongs to none other than Jagdeo's best friend, Dr. Ranjisinghi 'Bobby' Ramroop.

Another private company slated to be handed a Telecommunications Licence is iNet Communications Inc. This company has as its principals, Dr. Bobby Ramroop, his secretary Valerie Khan and one of his Directors, Roopnarine Ramcharitar, among others.

Foundation Laid But what does all of this mean when one takes a step back and takes a look at the bigger picture?

Upon completion of the multiplicity of projects spearheaded by Jagdeo, there will be a massive network in place with the capacity to not only rival GT&T but also put it out of business.

When the administration was asked what it intends to do with the excess bandwidth

it would have available to it via the Brazil cable, Government shockingly admitted that it would be sold to private operators. A clear picture was emerging of the plan.

With little private investment, but with the use of taxpayers' dollars to install a fibre optic network, the restriction of Cable TV operators, and the sale of GT&T shares, Jagdeo literally laid the foundation for the takeover of the industry.

These few companies, all closely linked to Jagdeo, are now positioned to compete directly in one of the most lucrative industries in the world…telecommunication-and it was all done using taxpayers' dollars.

These select companies will now be in a position to firstly close down every private cable television operator, sell cheaper bandwidth than any other Internet Service

Provider and embark on rolling out cellular services.

Guaranteed Market Not only did the former President utilize the nation's coffers to put in the infrastructure required for these private companies to take over the industry, he also secured a guaranteed market for them.

Shortly before he was scheduled to demit office, Jagdeo rolled out another multi-billion-dollar (US$27M) project and said Government will supply 90,000 laptops to families across the country.

This was a critical component of the grand scheme orchestrated by Jagdeo to create huge demand for internet connectivity.

Industry experts have also opined that by refusing to use GT&T's submarine cable in the first place, Jagdeo in essence has left Guyana four years behind the technology curb.

Minimal challenges encountered during...

From page 9 Budget announced that each public school child, from nursery to secondary school, will be eligible for a $10,000 Cash Grant, compliments of the Government of Guyana.

Subsequent to that announcement, there were several consultations across the country to ascertain how parents (and/or guardians) of the eligible children would prefer to receive the Grants on their children’s behalf.

Large Land (37’X724’) Bagotville West Bank; great for residential and farming $5.7M – Call: 600-0036; 2231273 Cheap Gold land for sale @ Berbice River – Call:6000036 TO LET One 3 bedrooms upstairs with inside toilet & bath at Mon Repos (Martyrsville) E.C.D – Price $45,000 monthly – Tel: 629-5300 1-2 Storey 3 bedroom back house with toilet & bath, grill, fence, water @ Vreed-EnHoop – rent: $55,0000 – Call:685-7566

WANTED One receptionist/secretary, experienced required. Send application & CV to 48 High Street, Werk-En-Rust, G/ Town.

Experienced Roti/Puri cooks, Pastry makers, kitchen assistant; apply at Hack’s Halaal – Lot 5 Commerce Street

The Education Minister attended more than 50 such consultations herself and, according to her, the almost unanimous request was that the Grant be paid in voucher form that could be en-cashed at Western Union Money Transfer offices across the country. Cash was however distributed to areas that did not have Western Union services.

The Cash Grant payment commenced in early October

with few and far challenges.

“We tried very hard to be as open and a transparent as we could possibly be,” said the Minister as she pointed out that the public was made well aware of the entire process and even foreseen challenges through advertisements and media reports.

“We ran what we believe was an extremely successful programme...There is very little that we can say that we are unhappy about. I am very,

very pleased that the staff worked so hard to pull it off,” said the Minister as she considered that the programme was a rather large one of national magnitude.

As at December 8, last, the number of vouchers issued across the country was 135,969, of which 135,689 were en-cashed.

As at December 8 too, the number of children receiving the grant in cash form, amounted to 30,674. This amounted to the sum of $1.7 billion.

“I say December 8 because of certain weather and other conditions. Even as we speak some areas are receiving this grant,” said the Minister.

She revealed that only about four areas were left to be served. All things being equal all of these areas were slated to be served by yesterday (December 13), according to the Minister.

Aurora project...

(From page 62) fact, according to Chief Operations Officer (COO) Lello Gallass, it was estimated that the original plan would affect 3900 hectares of land, 2010.

However, over eight years of research has resulted in a reduced plan of 800 hectares.

This along with environmentally conscious training programmes with employees, the COO said, is in keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental policy.

The company was hailed by stakeholders for their transparency in how operations are proceeding.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

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Sunday December 14, 2014

Families of slain black men share stage in protest WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of protesters marched down iconic Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday, arriving at the Capitol to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and call for legislative action.

“What a sea of people,” said Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old killed in Ferguson, Missouri, in August. “If they don’t see this and make a change, then I don’t know what we got to do. Thank you for having my back.”

Also speaking were civil rights leader The Rev. Al Sharpton and family members of Eric Garner, killed by an officer in New York in July, and Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old killed in Ohio as he played with a pellet gun in a park.

“Members of Congress, beware we’re serious ...,” Sharpton said. “When you get a ring-ding on Christmas, it might not be Santa. It may be Rev. Al coming to your house.”

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, called it a “historymaking moment.”

“It’s just so overwhelming to see all who have come to stand with us today,” she said. “I mean, look at the masses. Black, white, all races, all religions. ... We need to stand like this at all times.”

Several speakers asked the crowd to chant, “I can’t breathe.” Garner, 43, had gasped those words before his death while being arrested for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Some protesters also wore those words on shirts.

Other speakers called for a chant of “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Just before the crowd marched to the Capitol, the rallying was interrupted briefly by more than a dozen protesters who took the stage with a bullhorn. They announced that they were from the St. Louis area and demanded to speak.

“This movement was started by the young people,” said Johnetta Elzie, who ultimately was allowed by rally organizers to speak.

Organizers called the interruption unnecessarily divisive. But some in the Missouri group, mostly in

their 20s, said they were disappointed and found the rally staid and ineffective.

“I thought there was going to be actions, not a show. This is a show,” Elzie said. Protests - some violent have occurred around the nation since grand juries last month declined to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Brown and Garner. Before the crowd started marching, Sharpton directed, “Don’t let no provocateurs get you out of line. ... We are not here to play big shot. We are here to win.”

Then, blocks of tightly packed people moved through the city. Organizers had predicted 5,000 people, but the crowd appeared to far outnumber that.

Politicians and others have talked about the need for better police training, body cameras and changes in the grand jury process to restore faith in the legal system.

Terry Baisden, 52, of Baltimore said she is “hopeful change is coming” and that the movement is not part of a fleeting flash of anger.

She said she hasn’t protested before but felt

compelled to because “changes in action, changes in belief, happen in numbers.”

Murry Edwards said he made the trip to Washington from St. Louis because he wants to make sure the momentum from the movement in Ferguson reaches a national stage.

“This is the national march,” Edwards said. “We have to get behind the national movement.”

Sheryce Holloway, a recent graduate from Virginia

Commonwealth University in Richmond, attended a smaller gathering outside Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington ahead of the main rally. She said she also has been participating in protests at her alma mater.

Holloway said the goal of the protests is “ending blueon-black crime. Black lives do matter.”

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the march was peaceful. She mingled with the crowd and said she

wanted to show solidarity with the marchers.

“This is one of the most well organized events I’ve seen,” Lanier said.

The march was sponsored in part by Sharpton’s National Action Network, the Urban League and the NAACP. While protesters rallied in Washington, other groups including Ferguson Action conducted similar “Day of Resistance” movements all around the country.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Russia says will react if U.S. imposes new sanctions (Reuters) - Russia will take counter measures if Washington imposes new sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

The U.S. Congress has readied new sanctions on Russian weapons companies and investors in the country’s high-tech oil projects, but U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to sign a corresponding bill into law.

“We will not be able to leave that without an answer,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. He did not say what form of counter-measure Moscow might take. Relations between Russia and the United States are at their lowest since the Cold War

because of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March and its support for proRussian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The West says it has firm evidence that Russia has armed the rebels - an accusation that Moscow rejects - and has, together with the European Union, imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Russian individuals and large companies. Russia retaliated to the earlier sanctions by restricting food imports from a range of Western countries.

Russia on Friday criticized the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which foresees further sanctions, saying Washington was doing its utmost to “destroy the carcass of cooperation” between the two countries.

International court prosecutor shelves Darfur case for lack of UN support UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said on Friday that she had shelved an investigation into war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region for lack of action by the United Nations Security Council to push for arrests.

The Hague-based court indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2009 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It has also charged Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, former Interior Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb.

None have been arrested.

The court referred Sudan to the Security Council in 2010 for non-cooperation. Kenya, Djibouti, Malawi and Democratic Republic of Congo have been referred to the council for failing to arrest Bashir when he visited, along with Chad, which was cited three times. The council has not responded to any of the referrals.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that due to limited resources and “given this council’s lack of foresight on what should happen in Darfur, I am left with no choice but to hibernate investigative activities in Darfur as I shift

resources to other urgent cases, especially those in which trial is approaching.”

In the 20th briefing by the ICC prosecutor to the 15-member Security Council on the Darfur case, Bensouda said the situation in Sudan’s conflict-torn western region continued to deteriorate and more brutal crimes were being committed.

“Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of sustained attacks on innocent civilians,” Bensouda said. “Victims of rapes are asking themselves how many more women should be brutally attacked for this council to appreciate the magnitude of their plight.”

Council action is seen as unlikely because veto-wielding member China traditionally acts as Khartoum’s protector. China abstained on the council vote in 2005 that authorized the ICC to investigate Darfur but has said it has “serious reservations” about the charges against Bashir.

“We find ourselves in a stalemate that can only embolden perpetrators to continue their brutality,” Bensouda said. “What is needed is a dramatic shift in this council’s approach to arresting Darfur suspects.”

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Sunday December 14, 2014

Jamaica authorities conduct various raids to uncover trafficking in persons KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC – Police say they have so far conducted over 32 raids and launched 37 investigations this year as Jamaica deals with the issue of human trafficking.

“Last year, we had over 21 raids, this year we did over 32 raids and we have launched 37 investigations which resulted in the interviewing of 185 persons.

These investigations have led to other operations for which we really need resources to effectively carry out those tasks,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Commanding Officer for the Organized Crime Investigation Division (OCID), Clifford Chambers.

Chambers, said equipment from the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) would assist in the public education, intelligence gathering and

general operations of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons/ Intellectual Property Vice Squad. “I can see how the equipment will immediately be brought into operational policing to deal with trafficking in persons and other offences akin to trafficking in persons,” he noted.

The NATFATIP handed over a range of computers and electronic equipment, including tablets, laptops, camcorders, digital cameras, laptop and tablet cases, as well as a projector and a screen.

Chambers said he remains hopeful that Jamaica’s next rating for human trafficking will improve, given the initiatives and activities that have been implemented and are still in effect.

He noted that his team has launched several initiatives resulting in a slight reduction in the operations involving brothels, sex houses, and

advertisement for massage parlours.

The Commanding Officer highlighted the importance of the prosecutorial aspect of human trafficking efforts, an area outlined in the United States (US) Department of State report to be improved

by Jamaica.

“Given the nature of these offences and the international implications they have, there probably needs to be consideration for having a court that specifically hears these matters,” he said.

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Task Force is the policing unit that targets persons who are trafficked. It also targets prostitution, persons who have been exposed to ‘modern day slavery’ which involves sex and forced labour.

The unit also goes after persons at the helm of these activities as well as networks and associates involved.

PM Browne says signs indicate an increase in employment in A&B ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Gaston Browne said after six months in office, there are signs that employment is on the increase.

He told OBSERVER media that he’s basing his conclusion on an in increase in contributions to Social Security.

Browne said he is also encouraged as the economy is projected to grow in the second half of the year.

“So far I am satisfied that my government has done a good job keeping this country together, if anything, the country from total collapse. Actually, we have

seen an increase in employment as well,” Browne said.

“I am told by Social Security that they have had about 300 new contributors during the last six months and we expect to see growth in the second half of this year; perhaps it would have been the first time in about, maybe, five years that you would have seen any significant growth within the second quarter of any given year.”

Browne’s Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) administration won the June 12, 2014 general election with a commanding majority, securing 14 of the 17

seats. Browne, who is also the minister of finance, said solving the country’s unemployment problem remains among his priorities.

“The prospects look good but the problems will take some time to resolve. The issue of unemployment is one of the most vexing issues within the country,” Browne said.

“Incremental gains have been made; we believe thought, that in 2015 we should see an improvement in employment as some of these projects come on stream.

Hopefully, within the medium term, we will be back to full employment in this country.”

Tourism minister says 1.2 million airlift seats secured for 2015 summer MONTEGO BAY, St James (JIS) — Tourism and Entertainment Minister, Dr Wykeham McNeill, says that 1.2 million airlift seats have so far been secured for stopover arrivals for the 2015 summer season.

He said all the main source markets are showing increases in airlift.

“The United States is up 58,000 seats and there is an

overall increase of approximately 163,000 seats to Jamaica,” said McNeill who was speaking at a Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry luncheon at the Montego Bay Convention Centre last Thursday.

He informed that foreign exchange earnings from the tourism industry are projected to rise by 4.6 per cent, while cruise passenger arrivals are estimated to increase by five per cent to 611,500 passengers for the 2015 winter season.

“This follows an expected 10 per cent increase in cruise arrivals this year …we have had growth in arrivals in all

three main ports this year,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the Tourism and Entertainment Minister said the 2014 winter season, which begins on December 15, is expected to receive a significant boost from the home porting of three cruise ships in Jamaica.

These will be the Thompson Dream, the Ida Bella and the Louis Cristal.

“The advantage of the Thompson Dream home porting in Montego Bay will be that we will also get four additional flights coming out of the United Kingdom into the Sangster International Airport,” he pointed out.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 69

US indictment: Jet pilot’s property Trader shot three times after gunman in Guyana also in jeopardy In a major development in the case involving Guyanese pilot, Khamraj Lall, US Prosecutors are likely to target assets that belong to the businessman in and out of the United States, even those in Guyana.

According to court documents filed last week, a Grand Jury has returned indictments against Lall, who operates a private commercial jet service between the US and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. He is to appear in court on Wednesday to answer the indictments.

Originally charged with bulk cash smuggling after Puerto Rican security officials found over US$620,000 in his jet last month, Lall was placed on US$100,000 bail. The Grand Jury decided that he will additionally see forfeiture of the cash and his properties related to offence.

According to the indictments filed in the United States District Court of Puerto Rico, Lall knowingly attempted to transfer more than the allowed US$10,000 from Puerto Rico, one of its territories, in violation of its laws. Lall agreed to have the properties forfeited. It will involve the cash and in all likelihood the jet.

But the US Prosecutors are also leaving the door open for all of Lall’s assets to be seized if it is proven that they are linked to the bulk cash smuggling. “…the defendant shall, upon conviction of each such offense alleged in Count One, forfeit to the United States all property, real and personal, involved in the offence, and all property traceable to such property, wherever located and in whatever name held, which property includes, but is not limited to, US currency in the total amount of US$620,588.”

Prosecutors went further.

Even if the property cannot be located; has been transferred or sold to or deposited with a third person; has been placed

invades house

Lall’s plane in which the cash was found. Inset: In deep trouble: Captain Khamraj Lall beyond the jurisdiction of the court; substantially diminished in value or mixed with other property, it will not stop the US from seeking “forfeiture of any other property of said defendant’s up to the value of the above property.”

On November 22, Lall was arrested after a jet he owns stopped for fuel at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Puerto Rico.

According to Special Agent DaRika Davis, who is attached to Homeland Security Investigations of the United States Homeland Security, Lall and two other individuals arrived at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport on a private aircraft bearing tail number N822QL. Lall was the co-pilot, while the other two individuals were his father and the pilot of the aircraft. They were en route to Guyana.

The officers informed them that an outbound inspection of the aircraft was necessary. Lall and his father declared US$5000, while the pilot US$60.

During the search, the agents unearthed some maintenance discrepancies and grounded the aircraft until the issues could be resolved. The following morning, the issues were resolved, and Lall informed

the US Customs Agents so that they could resume their outbound inspection of the aircraft. Employing the use of a sniffer dog, the US agents were alerted to a bundle of currency wrapped in plastic bags and a blanket was found under the exit row seat.

When approached, the Guyanese businessman, who reportedly owns Kaylee’s Service Station at Coverden, East Bank Demerara, voluntarily stated that the money found belonged to him, and that it was approximately US$150,000.

His explanation was that the money represented proceeds from his business, and which he had forgotten was there.

The agents did not buy his explanation.

When they continued their search, they stumbled upon a black suitcase inside a compartment next to the engines. The suitcase was found to contain several black garbage bags containing bundles of currency totaling approximately US$470,000.

Lall also accepted responsibility and ownership of the other monies found. He informed the agents that his father and the aircraft’s pilot had nothing to do with the cash, and that all the money belonged to him.

The Guyanese businessman and aircraft pilot

migrated to the United States of America 30 years ago.

Through his lawyer, Lall was successfully granted a request to restrict access by the public to several documents to be used in his court matter.

In his petition filed in the Puerto Rico, US District Court, Lall claimed that he was “filing the motion with the requested level of restriction because it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of the information detailed in the document and exhibits.”

Two weeks ago, the Puerto Rican court ordered the jet owner to surrender all his pilot licences. He was restricted to travel between New Jersey in the United States and Puerto Rico only for purposes pertaining to his court hearing.

The pilot was also allowed to continue working as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of his aviation company, but only in an administrative capacity, and the duties must be performed from his residence.

Local aviation authorities have confirmed that Lall’s local operation is currently on pause given his court matter.

They continue to say that all the pilot’s local operations were above board and all his international papers were in order.

Thirty-six-year-old trader, Randy Grant, is nursing three gunshot wounds about his body. He sustained the wounds when a gunman barged into his West Ruimveldt home and opened fire. Grant sustained bullet wounds to his back and foot.

Another bullet grazed his head. The incident occurred around 17:30 hours, a few hours after Grant had returned from neighbouring Suriname.

Police believe that the attack was a robbery attempt but there are reports that it might have been a hit that failed. The wounded Grant had on his jewellery and there was no attempt by the gunman to relieve him of anything. This newspaper understands that Grant was alone at home when the gunman, who according to reports is known to him, kicked open his door and confronted him.

Upon seeing the gunman, who was brandishing his weapon, Grant tried to take evasive action as the shooter pumped several bullets in his direction.

The gunman must have thought that he had killed Grant for after discharging several rounds he tucked away his gun and made good

his escape.

The injured Grant meanwhile, waited until the coast was clear and jumped on a bicycle and made his way to the West Ruimveldt Police Outpost where he reported the matter.

A source at the outpost told this newspaper that Grant collapsed after calling out the name of his attacker.

“He say is some ‘Timo’ from East shoot he,” the source said.

A police mobile patrol was summoned and grant was placed into their vehicle and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he began receiving treatment immediately. His condition is listed as stable.

Kaieteur News understands that the police recovered two bullets and eight spent shells at the scene.

Relatives, including Grant’s wife, turned up at the hospital, after hearing of the shooting.

They could not say what had transpired or what could have been the real cause of the shooting.

Armed with the name given by Grant, police have launched a manhunt for the shooter.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

GECOM may still take several days to declare final election results - official By: Kiana Wilburg Even in the era of technological advancements, an official from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) asserts that Guyana will still have to wait a few days for the declaration of the results of the upcoming polls.

Opposition Leader David Granger and some of his members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) recently met with a team from the Commission to gain a clear understanding of its preparedness for elections among other matters.

At the cordial meeting with the GECOM team, Granger said he told the officials that his coalition is concerned with the length of time it takes for the results to be revealed.

It is the APNU’s view he said, that with the modern means of communication, Statements of Poll can be photographed for example and sent to the required

…72 -96 hours wait for the declaration of results is completely unsatisfactory and could lead to bad arithmetic - Granger offices. Hence, “We feel we can have elections results by 6:00 am of the following day… certainly we don’t expect to have results after three or four days and still getting the arithmetic wrong as we have seen in 2011…we definitely must move away from the 72 and 96 hour wait for the declaration of results. That is completely unsatisfactory and leads to bad arithmetic.”

APNU’s Chief scrutinizer, Amna Ally agreed with the Opposition leader. “What we want to ensure is that we have accurate results and it is the results from the polling stations that will be declared because we were shafted on the last occasion. We were shafted big time. And so we are going to employ every bit of scrutiny to ensure that accuracy prevails.”

Meanwhile, a GECOM

official in an interview with Kaieteur News said that the concerns of the Opposition with regard to the time for the announcement of results were duly noted. However, the Commission has no choice but to operate within the legal framework by which it is guided.

The representative made the point that the Commission faces certain difficulties and is allowed by the law to disclose the election results within a certain period.

Regarding Granger ’s recommendation of taking digital photographs, the official that such is not provided for in the laws and cannot be adopted. The official said that the law is clear that the Commission must have the documents in its possession. “So indeed, we are faced with constraints and the law says the amount of time we have to declare the results and we have never gone over that,” the representative added.

The GECOM officer also noted that the 2011 elections

saw much tension but prior to the holding of the polls it was recommended that the Commission practice disclosing preliminary results via the television media for example.

“We know people would be anxious for the results and it was recommended that we practice the declaration of the preliminary results. I don’t think we gave enough attention to that. It was also recommended that there be the declaration of results for the ten administrative districts on the television as well and it was agreed to. But it was not done and it’s like if it is almost done in secrecy. No explanation for this has since been given. It was suggested so that it would help to reduce some of the tension and have the public more aware of the results of the ten districts,” the official said.

This process the officer added would have enabled viewers to do their own tabulations and it even provides for transparency and helps to remove the impression of manipulation by the Commission.

Considering the statements by the official, one opposition politician said that

it clearly gives the sense that the main reason why the proposal was not implemented is because “some officials have certain interests they want to protect.

When you have certain persons working at the Commission you will see certain acts that show loyalty to the government and not to GECOM.” In spite of the fact that it was not adhered to at the last elections, the official said that the recommendation will be made again for the upcoming polls.

Prior to the Head of State, Donald Ramotar announcing that he has decided to go to the polls, the joint opposition had been consistently accusing the government of misusing state assets, for example, government vehicles during its campaign activities.

But when Ramotar was asked to address these associations he told the media, “So what you want us to do… walk? You want the ministers to go and walk?”

Granger has since made a formal complaint about the PPP’s “provocative propaganda and unrepentant misuse of state resources during its current general

Man stabbed to death...

From page 3 occasionally. He had returned on this occasion after the death of his mother who is due to be buried today.

Ramnarine also lost his nephew during October last year. Vickram Ramnarine, called 'Boy', 29, was found floating in a canal at Abary,

West Coast Berbice. His body had marks of violence. Relatives described the dead man as a quiet, simple and friendly individual who would not get into trouble with anybody.

The man who stabbed Ramnarine is a father of five, including a 10-day-old infant.

Investigations are ongoing.

Opposition Leader, David Granger elections campaign.”

Asked by Kaieteur News about the impression garnered from GECOM that it had any power to effectively solve such a problem, he said, “I did not get the impression that they had the power to do so but we felt they could use moral suasion.”

The GECOM official on the said matter remarked, “In India for example, the law speaks to how ministers can operate leading up to an elections but our laws are not that clear. Hence we are limited.

You heard the President’s response…There is not much we can do.”

For the first time, political parties were asked at the 2011 elections to sign a code of conduct but the official did note that while this does not eliminate any feeling of fear during election mode, it certainly reduces it. The representative said that the recommendation for this to be enforced at the imminent elections will be made again.

According to the Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group on the 2011 the code voluntarily obligated the parties to reject the use of threats or violence during the election, avoid all illegal and corrupt practices, avoid personal attacks and slander, and avoid inciting unrest or hatred among other things.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 71

“Fitness the main key for any West Indies success in South Africa!”

West Indies starts its long, important tour of South Africa proper We d n e s d a y w h e n Te s t No. 1 bowls off at Supersports Park, Centurion, one of the more airy and refreshing cricket grounds anywhere. For WI to s u c c e e d o n t h i s t o u r, a tough assignment, total team fitness throughout is the key!

This tour is of tremendous significance, as it follows immediately on what happened in India.

More to the point, the next assignment for WI will be ICC Cricket World Cup in February/March next year.

The three vastly important Tests should tell us how WI, collectively, have survived after

India, having not played Te s t s since beating Bangladesh last September.

But, it would be the latter part of this SA tour, five O D I ’s , w h i c h w o u l d probably have more significance for CWC 2015.

Lanky orthodox legspinner Suleiman Benn must hold his form and fitness, for, as the lone front-line spinner in the p a r t y, h e c o u l d e x p e c t extended bowling spells.

W I ’s a t t a c k i s f a s t bower based, with lefthander Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor vying for positions.

Roach and Taylor are sureties, if fully fit, so it may come done to the

immediate form of the others to form the 1st Test attack.

Cottrell has already shown that he has form, with a five-wicket haul in the lone warm-up game, so Gabriel and Holder could be competing for that lone remaining bowling place, if five bowlers are used.

Many have already written off WI’s chances of d o i n g p o s i t i v e l y, e v e n winning a Test, or, indeed, the series. Their build-up has been minimal, forfeiting chances of proper preparation for this tour by historically curtailing their last to India.

We are told that all is now well!

While the proof is in the eating, we should not be so

Sunday December 14, 2014 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 1 9 ) Yo u r h e a r t a n d emotions are on the same page, but they may not be on the page you want them to be. It could be that you're reminiscing about an event from the past.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Let your sensual, nurturing instincts shine through. Rely on your sixth sense. If things start to get rough, remember that you have the ability to keep your cool.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) A solid grounding is apt to be extremely important to you today. Hearts may be broken or won, depending on how well you play your cards.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Regardless of how much the storm seems to be raging out of control, you will be able to handle it. Have confidence in your grounded nature.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) There's a great deal of grounding energy in your world today, which might work to smother your fire.

Whatever happens, don't let the embers burn out.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23– Nov. 21) Take pressing matters to the hilt today, especially when it comes to romantic issues and emotional needs. You have all the data you need to make a valid point.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) As you try to express your opinions today, you may have the feeling that someone is kicking sand in your face.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Your boat is likely to be rocked today, to the point where you and all of your belongings could go overboard. Be prepared to swim ashore.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Hold on to your hat, and be ready for some action.

You're coming to a critical point in your emotional cycle when your heart feels heavy.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Gossip you hear today might make you angry. You're likely to sense it isn't true. Take nothing at face value today.

C a l m d own and get centered. This is an extremely sensual day that's likely to pique your emotions.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Today is your day to shine in every way.

There's a concentration of energy in your favor, so act bol d l y and without hesitation.

quick to think that it would be all so very simple for SA, and that WI will, i r o n i c a l l y, be “whitewashed” by the rainbow nation’s always exciting cricketers.

WI could surprise, for they have many objectives to meet, not least that they are still a cohesive unit, that they are now focused solely on cricket, and that t h e y, a s q u i c k l y a s possible, want to remove that stain and embarrassment of India’s tour that ended in such a debacle.

Some WI supporters are still catching their breaths and scratching their heads from the India crash!

One of the charms of Super-sports Park is that patrons in western areas of the ground are allowed to do their own cooking “tail-gate style”– standard South African “brie” or barbeque – where all meats are marinated, cooked; aromas universal; and immediately consumed, normally with several types of liquid!

But food should be the last thing on WI’s minds.

If they do not concentrate, organize especially their batting, then they will be devoured by a SA team which, so differently to WI, have had a recent series of games in Australia to bring them up to levels of fitness and production they would hope for.

O K , S A’s t o u r o f Australia only contained T- 2 0 ’s a n d O D I ’s , S A losing 2-1 and 4-1 respectively, but at least, SA’s cricketers had stern opposition very recently in their last series before meeting WI. C o n t r a r i l y, W I ’s players have only had WICB’s Regional 4-day competition as preparation, and scores in those games have been so ordinary that the t e a m ’s b a t t i n g o v e r a l l must be of grave concern.

Especially with Chris Gayle now out, due to i n j u r y, massive responsibilities are on other veterans Shiv Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, surprisingly recalled Devon Smith and captain Denesh Ramdin, to not only produce, but to remain the rocks to build on for any success.

F o r t u n a t e l y, e v e n i f

the opposition, SA Invitation XI, was not half as good as SA’s Test team will be, Smith celebrated his recall with an immediate century – 174 retired out – which would boost his confidence no end.

Replacing Gayle will not be easy for him, but at least, his should be flying sky high!

Chanderpaul did not dominate games played f o r G u y a n a t h i s y e a r.

Indeed, it was Narsingh Deonarine who was going guns, yet, somewhat surprisingly, it was Sewnarine Chattergoon who was called up.

Leon Johnson, yet another G u y a n e s e l e f t - h a n d e r, could find himself under real pressure for his place.

Chattergoon, who replaced unavailable Darren Bravo, has played o n l y t h r e e Te s t s : 1 2 2 runs, five innings, average 30.

He impressed recently on WI’s “A” team tour to Sri Lanka.

Marlon Samuels has started SA’s tour where he left off from that tour

Colin E. H. Croft says: to India, with a double century – 203 retired out, to renew his appetite for r u n s , a s , f a r c i c a l l y, h e was not allowed to play for Jamaica this year in WICB’s Regional 4-day competition. Much will depend on Samuels’ efforts in SA! Ramdin’s leadership, wicket-keeping skills and absolutely crucial runs must be spot on, if WI is to challenge for supremacy, while opener Kraigg Braithwaite and still improving Jermaine Blackwood would have to settle q u i c k l y, r e a l i z i n g t h a t S A’s bowling attack is varied and highly competent.

This tour, after India’s situation, will be hard for WI, but fortune favours the brave and determined. WI will need these two factors, and full fitness, to succeed in SA. Enjoy!

Page 72

Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Facilities, Facilities, Facilities!

Guyana needs to implement the FIFA Goal Project In 2013, former National Head Coach and Technical Director of Guyana’s National Team, Jamaal Shabazz, made an astute analysis of the state of the game in Guyana when he said: “Football in Guyana has no facilities, when you look in Jamaica, all the clubs have grounds that they can pick up revenue, they don’t have to go and beg people to use the ground…in Trinidad they have five stadia, but where are the facilities in Guyana? Who has the ability to engage Government and engage the private sector?”

Fast-forward to the present day, and it is safe to say the issues which Shabazz brought up have not been addressed, as a matter of fact, the state of the game, including development of facilities, is in the same state as it was in 2013. Despite plans from previous administrations to build a football-specific National Stadium in Guyana, currently the National Football team only has Providence Stadium with which to play in, despite it being built primarily for cricket use.

The poor footballing conditions of the pitch at Providence were placed under scrutiny in August when American side Portland Timbers visited Guyana to play Alpha Utd in the CONCACAF Champions League, and images the American players took of the

pitch quickly made the news internationally. FOX News in America questioned the credibility of the pitch by simply asking “can we call it a pitch?”, whilst further adding “no joke…a professional soccer team actually plays here”. Guyana thus became the laughing stock of football in the region due to a lack of sufficient facilities.

What Guyana needs is a National stadium designed specifically for football, and one that can become a focal point of football in the region.

Jamaica has Montego Bay; Trinidad and Tobago has the Hasely Crawford Stadium, so why is Guyana still playing in a cricket stadium? If Guyana wants to be one of the best teams in the Caribbean, the quality of stadiums available needs to be on par with the current best in the region. As well as a National Stadium, the standard of general stadiums across the country needs to be raised; club teams need professional surfaces to play on, and a place they can call their own, which will also increase chances of generating revenue for the club. Guyana is in a fortunate position when it comes to development: compared to most Caribbean nations it has vast space and land on which to build facilities for football.

Players in Guyana need improved pitches (both grass and artificial), floodlighting,

as well as basic things such as changing facilities, and toilets when it comes to playing and training at their club. Artificial pitches need to be setup so that players can practice throughout the year, regardless of weather.

Countries such as Germany and Spain invest a lot of time and money into developing football at a grassroots level, whilst England has recently placed greater emphasis on developing facilities across the nation. It is time Guyana begun to think about how to improve the game at a grassroots level.

Younger players need academies to guide their footballing development, but this cannot be done without substantially qualified coaches. At the moment, Guyana is severely lacking in this area, and as such, there needs to be a long-term investment in the development of elite coaches in the country, who can guide

the next generation of players. A long-term strategy plan that outlines the future of Guyana’s development programmes and remains consistent in its aims is something that must happen.

The launching of the inaugural U-17 Secondary School Invitational Tournament in Georgetown is a step in the right direction, but young players cannot rely on tournaments alone to develop; there must be structured learning programmes in place for them to develop, and then they can test themselves in tournaments.

New facilities require huge investment in order to be implemented, but there are avenues to explore when looking to generate funds for facilities: Government assistance, business sponsorship, and most importantly, utilising the resources that FIFA provides to Guyana. FIFA provides

$250,000usd per year to Guyana, as well as a bonus $750,000 payment this year due to the earnings they made from the World Cup in Brazil.

FIFA has tried to help Guyana in the past, first earmarking them for the Goal project way back in 1999, a programme that provides substantial funds for smaller nations to develop their facilities. In Guyana’s case; from 1 January 2007, work was due to begin on a national technical centre with a playing field, stands, dressing rooms and accommodation, which would enable the federation to offer adequate training conditions to its national teams at all levels. However, Guyana is currently stuck on the first phase of development whilst neighbouring Caribbean countries have completed three phases as outlined by the project. mThe financial audit for the Guyana Football Federation has never been publically released by previous GFF Presidents, and as such, it is hard to accurately predict the amount of debt the federation is in.

However, it is up to FIFA’s Normalisation Committee to ensure financial transparency within the federation, and ensure that allocated sums are being used to develop muchneeded facilities within Guyana. As the committee has members who have been successful in the world of business, they have the

Santokie Nagulendran ability to generate revenues and funds from the private sector to invest back into football and development.

Clinton Urling, Chairman of the committee, has already spoken of ensuring financial transparency within the GFF and providing modern facilities for associations in Guyana, so the future does look positive. Once Guyana starts to plan and invest in facilities for the young men and women hoping to make a career out of the sport, the rewards will be evident in a better standard of football being played across the nation. Planning is key to long-term success and begins with an efficient grassroots development programme, fuelled with facilities that allow players to fulfil their potential. Maybe once this is achieved, in the long-term we will one day see Guyanese players plying their trade at top clubs across Europe and the National Team becoming one of the best sides in the region.

GNRA host 2014 Awards Presentation

Lennox Braithwaite, Peter Persaud, Ryan McKinnon and Dale Hing dominate

By Franklin Wilson When the Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) held its 2014 awards presentation ceremony for the outstanding performers in the Fullbore and Smallbore sections, striding away with the lion’s share of awards were Lennox Braithwaite, Peter Persaud, Ryan McKinnon and Dale Hing.

National Captain Mahendra Persaud in brief remarks at Olympic House, High Street, Kingston where the activity was held, stated that the event returned this year after unforeseen circumstances prevented them from hosting in 2013. He also noted that recognition of the hard work of the shooters in both sections of the association is very important.

Persaud extended

congratulations to all the recipients of awards whilst encouraging those not in the frontline to up their game in 2015 in order to be in the top flight.

Reigning Caribbean and National Individual Champion Lennox Braithwaite dominated the Fullbore section walking away with the X-Class Overall Grand Aggregate trophy donated by USA based shooter Sigmund Douglas; the Neville Denny Club Champions trophy; 10 Round Aggregate Wood Davis trophy, which has been in existence since 1895 sponsored by the Governor General and the 7 Round Aggregate Lushington trophy which was first introduced in 1887.

Braithwaite also reigned

in 7-gold and 2-silver medals during this year ’s senior championships.

Other shooters in this category to be rewarded were Ransford Goodluck (3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), Mahendra Persaud (1 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze), Leo Ramalho (2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze), Dylan Fields (1 gold, 2 bronze).

These medals would have been awarded for first to third places at the various ranges and the overall points accumulated at the end of each day at the national championships.

Ramalho who returned to active shooting after a few years’ absence was named the most improved shooter for 2014.

In the O-Class division, Peter Persaud captured the Overall Best Shooter trophy

by virtue of his 6-gold and 1silver in the three-day championships.

Terrence Stuart racked in 4-gold 2-silver and 1-bronze, Sherwin Felicien (2 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze) and Dane Blair (3 gold, 2 silver).

In the Small Bore section Ryan McKinnon took the lions shares of awards. He won the .22 Pistol Championships Seniors with 453 points ahead of Dale Hing (443) and Ray Beharry (441).

In the Practical Pistol Championships McKinnon also won Stage 1 and 3 of the Standard Division as well as the Overall.

Following are the full list of awardees: .22 Pistol Championships Overall Seniors Overall Juniors 1st Ryan McKinnon

Joshua Ramlakhan 2nd Dale Hing Surujbali Persaud 3rd Ray Beharry Ray Amjad Practical Pistol Championships Stage 1 - Production Division Standard Division 1st Dale Hing Ryan McKinnon 2nd Randy Singh Gordon Richards 3rd Ray Beharry Murtland Smith Stage 2 1st Ray Beharry Joshua Ramlakhan 2nd Dale Hing Ryan McKinnon 3rd Randy Sarjoo David Dharry Stage 3 1st Dale Hing Ryan McKinnon

2nd Ray Beharry David Dharry 3rd Rajiv Latchanna Dr. Johan Da Silva Overall 1st Dale Hing Ryan McKinnon 2nd Ray Beharry David Dharry Randy Sarjoo Gordon Richards Hand Qualification Certificates Expert Rating – Colin Merriman, Shawn Smith, Compton Serabo.

Sharp Shooter Rating – Annbelle Sharma, Ray Beharry Marksman First Class – Totaram Bisundat, Azaad Hassan, Surujbali Persaud, Randy Sarjoo, Joshua Ramlakhan, Rajiv Latchana, Sekani Fredericks.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal Competition

Warriors battle N/Ruimveldt for G/town crown - Sparta Boss, Leopold Street square off for third place

This is the anticipated scene at tonight’s final in the Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal Competition.

There is a lot at stake in tonight’s final of the Georgetown Zone of the Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal Competition when Festival City Warriors take on North Ruimveldt,atthe National Park.

At stake will first and foremost be the lucrative $500,000 for the winning team, while a place in the national playoff and the right to brag for another year are also guaranteed.

Festival City Warriors, a team that was required to participate in a pre-qualifying tournament to make it to the main draw will be looking to continue their rich vein of form, while North Ruimveldt, a team laden with proven talent will be aiming to be a sure pick representative for the national playoffs and also improve the treasure chest of the players, heading into the Christmas season.

Bothteamsreachedthefinalcourtesy of penalty shootouts against opponents who in instances were favoured to win.

Festival City Warriors led by

Eon Alleyne, Solomon Austin and Daniel Favourite scrapped and scraped to a 1-0 penalty shootout win against former champions Leopold Street, while North Ruimveldt produced a similar performance to escape with a 2-1 penalty triumph against pretournament favourites Sparta Boss after a dogged defensive display that left the teams tied nil-all in periods of regulation and extra time.

The dreadlocked Daniel Favoriteknowswhatitisliketobein the spotlight, as he was a member of theBackCircleunitthatcompetedin the first ever Caribbean Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ tournament in2012righthereattheNationalPark.

Therefore, the players will look to him for guidance and calmness, with amicable support coming from Solomon Austin, Dwayne Lawrence, Andrew Gad and top marksman EonAlleyne for support and victory.

Tonight, one would look to see the likes of Gerald Gritten, who played defense for all 38 minutes

against Sparta Boss to shut out the likesofDevon‘DonDon’Millington and Sheldon Shepherd, returning to his role at the top to get goals.

With players such as Colin Daniels, Nichosie Barker, Joshua Browne and the ever-green and hardworkingTravis‘Zorro’Grantin the support staff, the crowd can very well be chanting North Ruimveldt on numerous occasions, when the curtains come down on this year’s edition tonight.

The runners-up will pocket $300,000, a trophy and medallions and a place in the national playoffs while the winner of the third/fourth place playoff, will receive $200,000 and a spot in the National playoffs, leaving the fourth-placed team with $100,000.

The Skills Challenge category of the tournament will be contested tonightaswell,withplayersandnonplayers being given the privilege to competeforthetopprizeof$20,000, while the sponsor has introduced a FairPlayAwardof$50,000aswellfor this year’s edition.

Hugh Ross speaks to students of Berbice...

Hugh Ross addresses students: Hugh Ross during one of his motivational speeches to students and teachers in Berbice.

Eversham Village on the Corentyne,alsoattendedtheBerbice High School. The students were excited to see Ross and some engaged the bodybuilding icon in a

pose off at the schools.

Ross was accompanied by Malta Supreme Brand Manager Clayton McKenzie who said the sessions at the schools were well

received.

Malta Supreme produced

by Banks DIH Limited is a non-alcoholic drink ideal for children and athletes.

Page 73

Page 74

Kaieteur News

MoH/Health 2000Inc/MoE/Ansa McAl Girls Schools Football Competition

Enterprise continue rampage into semis

- semi-finals on today Even the soft conditions underfoot caused by overnight and early morning rain, could not stop the rampaging Enterprise from inflicting a 3-0 drubbing of Tucville as quarter-final action in the Ministry of Health/Health 2000Inc/ Ministry of Education/Ansa McAl Girls Schools Football Competition concluded yesterday, at the Ministry of Education ground.

Once again, it was the dynamic duo of Allianna George and Aliyah Elaine who led them to victory and ensured that they remain unbeaten so far in the tournament.

They now join Stella Maris, St. Stephen’s and West Ruimveldt, the other teams into the semi-finals which will be played today at the same venue.

Earlier in the day, St. Margaret’s gained a walk over from Smith’s Memorial, a noshow for their Plate contest, while St. Pius defeated East La Penitence 2-0 in another Plate encounter with Britney Sampson netting a brace in the 2nd and 19th minutes.

In the first quarterfinal, Stella Maris and North Georgetown played to a nil all

draw sending their encounter into a penalty shootout which the former won 5-4.

Previously unbeaten F. E Pollard then went down 3-4 in sudden death penalty kicks to West Ruimveldt after regulation time ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

Nikita Prince opened the scoring for West Ruimveldt in the 19th minute only to see F.E. Pollard respond two minutes later through Omifia Langellier.

St. Stephen’s through some superb goalkeeping from Naomi Kezia escaped with a 2-1 win in sudden death penalties over South Ruimveldt after regulation time failed to produce a goal.

Kezia then displayed her heroics between the uprights, saving three of the five penalty kicks to secure the win.

Enterprise then eased to a comfortable 3-0 triumph over Tucville with an own goal (3rd) setting them off after a defender inadvertently hit the ball back into her own goal.

Two minutes later, Alliana George (5th) fired in from close range, before the prolific Aliyah Alleyne (19th) entered the scoresheet to crown another good day for

the team.

Today’s activities will also see schools battle for the minor positions along with the two semi-final matches.

9-12 Section Game-1 St. Pius-2 vs East La Penitence-0 Britney Sampson-2nd and 19th Game-2 Smith Memorial vs St. Margaret’s St. Margaret’s won via walkover Quarterfinal Section Game-3 North Georgetown-0 vs Stella Maris-0 Stella Maris won 5-4 on sudden death kicks Game-4 F.E. Pollard-1 vs West Ruimveldt-1 West Ruimveldt on 4-3 on sudden death kicks West Ruimveldt scorer Nikita Prince-19th F.E. Pollard scorer Omefia Langellier-24th Game-5 South Ruimveldt-0 vs St. Stephen’s-0 St. Stephen’s won 2-1 on sudden death kicks Game-6 Enterprise Primary-3 vs Tucville Primary-0 Own Goal-3rd Allianna George-5th Aliyah Elaine-20th

Alpha ‘Hammers’ Northern Rangers; Police...

From page 71 game.Daniel Wilson led the humiliation for Alpha in the 10th, 14th, 61st, 74th and 77th minutes with able assistances from Paredes Aldair in the 3rd, 49th and 56th minutes; the last from the penalty spot.

Dwayne Jacobs (5, 63), Manasseh Primo (76, 84), Chris Camacho (7), Travis Grant (8), Jacob Stevenson (23) and Jahaal Greaves (27) also contributed to the humiliation.

The Police victory was fashioned from strikes off the boots of Andy Gillis (40), Anthio Wallace (68) and Rawle Haynes (80).

The Alpha/Northern Rangers match turned out to be a supporter’s nightmare but a reporter’s dream; the match was literally played in the latter team’s half and all the reporter was required to do was note the timings of the goals.

It was truly a one sided affair with the lads from Northern Rangers totally bewildered after several at-

Daniel Wilson tacks and counterattacks of the Alpha strike force. The latter team experimented with several combinations while in some instances utilizing wide passes thus pressuring the frail defence of the opposition.

Indeed, clever ball distribution, speed and fitness were the main attributes

that kept the Northern R a n g e r s a t b a y. T h e i r shoulders were drooping long before the end of the first session which yielded 8 goals and as one fan jocularly suggested, “some football matches should be declared knockouts, just like boxing match, to save some teams from further punishment.”

The match between the Police and Blackwater turned out to be one where the fittest survived and the lawmen fitted the bill. Coach of that unit, former national striker, Earl O’Neil was on touchline urging his team on and admitted that though they won, the lawmen will be required to up their game as the tougher battles lie before them.

The two fixtures, initially billed for this evening at then Tucville Ground was pulled forward to last evening after organizers decided to pave the way for the finals of the Guinness in the Street tournament.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Lusignan and Golden Grove clash in ECCB/ H. Nauth & Sons t20 final at Lusignan Battle for $150,000 East Coast Demerara will come alive when the Lusignan Sports Club (LSC) and Golden Grove Cricket Club (GGCC) clash in the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB)/H. Nauth & Sons Contracting Engineers and Petrol Station Trophy today at the Lusignan Community Centre. The winner will be taking home the trophy and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). It has been twenty-one (21) years since Golden Grove Cricket Club has reached an ECCB final.

Twenty-eight (28) teams participated in this tournament with both LSC and GGCC playing undefeated.

Both teams will be fielding talented players with LSC having a powerful squad.

Lusignan with an established batting line-up consisting of Brian Sattaur, Krishna Deosarran, Vishnu Ramjeet, Somnauth Bharrat and Kumar Bishundyal will definitely pose a threat to Golden Grove bowlers. However, Golden Grove also enjoys excellent batting skills with national youth player Sherfene Rutherford, Captain Richard Woolford and Terrence King.

This match is expected to be an exciting encounter since underdogs GGCC had emerged with the highest runrate in the competition.

The Golden Grove Cricket Club squad is: Owin Blair, John McDonald (Wicketkeeper), Richard Woolford (Captain), Delon Skeete, Kishawnt DaSilva, Shawn Thomas, Terrence King, Cordell Mars, Sherfene Rutherford (Vice Captain), Inshan Gardener, Dexter George, Karamo Holder, Shavis Rutherford, Terry Gardener, Orin Gardene, Alatyne Haywood is the coach, Akeem Bowen is the manager.

The Lusignan Sports Club

Vishnu Ramjit

Brian Sattaur

Somnauth Bharrat

Sherfene Rutherford

team will be chosen from: Vishnu Ramjeet, Brian Sattaur, Somnauth Bharrat, Krishna Deosarran, Narvan Singh, Ferron Kadir, Kumar Bishundyal, Rajendra Naikbarran, Leon Morgan, Stephen Ramdass, Steve Alick, Imran Khan, Shazam Ali Chetram Gangadin, the manager is Chatterpaul Balkishan and the coach is Gewan Persaud.

Play is expected to start a 13:00 hours promptly. The umpires are Ava Baker and Charles Gibbons with the Match Referee being Judister Rampersaud.

Terrence King

Hugh Ross speaks to students of Berbice, Marian Academy Hugh Ross, the world renowned Bodybuilder and Malta Supreme Brand Ambassador has continued his campaign to promote healthy living among children following visits to three schools in Berbice and Georgetown.

Ross, a former Mr. Universe and NABBA

Masters Champion, visited Berbice High and New Amsterdam Multilateral schools in New Amsterdam and Marian Academy in Georgetown where he interacted with students and teachers and encouraged them to adopt healthy lifestyles.

The United States-based

Ross, Guyana’s most accomplished bodybuilder and fitness expert said he was extremely excited to be home and will take this opportunity to engage his compatriots as he continues his crusade to promote fitness and good health.

Ross, who was born at (Continued on page 67)

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 75

Athlete Moore making rapid progress in the USA

Alita Moore

By Zaheer Mohamed Police Progressive Youth Club athlete Alita Tannis Moore said she is satisfied with the progress she has made since being granted a two-year scholarship at ASA College in Brooklyn, New York which started February last.

She told Kaieteur Sport via email, that she has to balance her education with her athletics. “The training is going well, I can’t say it’s easy but I just have to stay focused and do what I came here to do, which is to better my 400m times. I have made some improvements, I used to run at 57 and 58 seconds and now I am down to 55 from last semester (February) and I’m training really hard to reduce it to a 52,” she added.

Bannas Foundation Five-A-Side football on today Bannas Foundation will be hosting a 5-A-Side small goal and penalty shoot out champion of champions’ football competition today at Vryheid’s Lust play field starting from 09:00 hrs.

Among the teams slated to take part are Vryheid’s Lust, Plaisance, Sophia, Lodge and Ogle.

At stake are trophies sponsored by Bannas Foundation and medals by the Barnwell family. The competition is being organized by Johnny Barnwell, Trevon McArthur, and Kevin Walcott.

Moore stated that she has been doing a lot of distance running as part of her preparation.

“I have been doing a lot of over distance work which is to get me prepared for my 400m races.

I’m really happy with my improvements and after completing ASA college I am hoping to earn another s c h o l a r s h i p s o I c an continue with my studies and athletics career at a division one school or a university, so my aim is to run faster and also keep my grades up,” said Moore.

She explained that it is always an honour to represent Guyana.

“I want to bring glory to my country and also share my knowledge with others back home,” Moore informed.

Moore knows that education always plays an important part in an athlete’s career. “In terms of my education, my grades are where I wanted them to be so I am pleased with that aspect,” she said.

Moore gained recognition when she copped gold at triple jump in 2011 and in the

100 and 200m in 2013 at Inter Guiana Games.

“I started running at aged seven at Wakenaam where I’m from and after finishing school at

Essequibo Islands’ Secondary, I decided to join a club in Georgetown.

I first started jumping that’s one of the reasons I went to CARIFTA and

Inter Guiana games, but then my coach saw me running a 400m and he encouraged me to stick with it, but I always like the 100m,” she lamented.

Moore also won 400m at the Boyce and Jefford classic and 100m at the U23 level back home. Her stint concludes in 2016.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday December 14, 2014

Vitamalt/Aqua Mist West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) KO Cup

Abrams treble fires Slingerz FC to impressive 5-0 win over Beavers - another double header on today

By Rawle Welch Former national striker Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is still as lethal as any striker locally after striking three magnificent goals to set up Slingerz FC 5-0 win over a clearly outclassed Beavers FC when play in the Vi t a m a l t / A q u a M i s t sponsored West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) Knockout Cup continued on Friday evening, at the Den Amstel Community Centre ground.Abrams, who now plies his trade on the West Side, was in captivating form as he literally cut to shreds the Beavers defence in a performance that had his supporters daydreaming about the player of old, while his speed and skills found no equal. He was ably supported by Tichard Joseph (23rd) and Colin Nelson, who fired in a free kick in the 83rd minute.

The West Demerara champions were quickly into their stride, but Beavers, upset winners over Young Achievers in their opening game, showed some early tenacity and managed to repel some initial incursions. However, Abrams was able to untangle the knot when he was left unmarked following a cross from the left flank and he nonchalantly punched the ball past the goalkeeper in the 20th minute.

Three minutes later, Joseph collected a pass down the centre just outside the penalty area and he too slipped it past the advancing keeper.

Bouyed by their quick

Two players from Slingerz FC battle for possession against a Beavers (centre) player during their clash on Friday evening at Den Amstel Community Centre ground.

Anthony Abrams success, Slingerz added another through Abrams, who showed his class as he ran on to a bouncing offer from mid-field dinked it over the on rushing defender, before swivelling and firing into the roof of the net to evoke conversation of its brilliance. That goal came 26 minutes into the contest and the scoreline stayed that way until the break. The resumption saw an early attempt by Beavers to make it a game, but Slingerz well drilled by Head Coach ‘Bill’ Wilson proved too disciplined to be breached as they controlled the mojority of the possession in a seemingly one-sided affair. Slingerz won a free kick in the 83rd minute of play and Nelson strode up to take the kick and he made no mistake

slamming a thunderous strike which the goalkeeper failed to grasp cleanly and the ball eluded him and landed into the back of the net. Two minutes elapsed before Abrams was at it again this time embarrasing his marker with a sequence of dexterous moves to shake him off, before letting fly a fierce right-footer that screamed into the net with the goalkeeper well beaten in the 85th minute.

The scoreline remained that way until the final whistle sounded. Earlier, Pouderoyen cruised to a comfortable 2-0 triumoh over Stewartville with Tenie Lopes (74th) and Adrian Giddings (85th), being the players on target. The competition resumes today with a double header at the same venue. In the opening clash,

Eagles with Kerron Schmidt, Anton Nicholson, Jalen Williams and Stephon Griffith take on Uitvlugt who will have in their lineup the likes of Seon Bobb, Jermaine

Accra and Robert Christiani.

Then in the feature game, Den Amstel host Wales in what is anticipated to be a keen matchup. Den Amstel will be led by Delon

Lanferman, Morris Charles, Marvin Henry and Ryan Hunte, while Wales’s side will contain Kenton Boyce, Mark Mohamed and Kelvin Roberts.

Sunday December 14, 2014

Kaieteur News

Stag Super XV1 Football Tournament

Cougars face Soesdyke Falcons, Monedderlust oppose Golden Stars @#5 Gr. Rivalry in the Stag Super XV1 knock-out Football Tournament featuring teams from Berbice, East Coast and East Bank will kick off this evening at the #5 ground West Coast Berbice where the official march past and opening will also take place.

Following feature remarks by Ansa McAl’s Public Relations Officer Ms. Darshanie Yussuf, attention will switch to the pitch for the real talk to begin. First up will be a Berbice/East Bank match-up featuring Soesdyke Falcons of the latter association against home team Cougars, from 18:00hrs.

With the fact that the teams are not familiar with each other, it is anticipated that they will use the opening minutes to size out each other before making any moves in the attacking third.

Cougars, no doubt will have the home advantage on their side but the Soesdyke boys, fresh off a third place finish in the East Bank FA Senior League will be seeking to hold their own in virtually foreign territory. Soesdyke will look to Kelcey Benson, Walter Benson, Dwayne Barker, Devon Winter, Javier Greene, Ulatto Smith and Roger Dey to spearhead

their quest for victory knowing that there is no room for losers.

Cougars though would have reached the semi finals of a knock-out tournament that was played between Berbice and East Coast teams and would fancy their chances of turning back the challenge of their opponents.

Leading their charge will be Reon Emanuel, Carlton Brutus, Travis Thomas, Herman Denny, Roger Crandon, Ron Wilson, Sherwin Halley, Albert Anderson, Kevin Dey and Jarrel Rajgopaul.

The feature game will see a renewing of rivalry between Berbice and East Coast, Victoria Kings of the latter association won the recent knock-out tournament by toppling Monedderlust and the Berbice teams would be seeking to change that scenario which makes this

clash a mouth watering affair.

Monedderlust at one time were a feared unit in the knock-out format of the game, they faded away somewhat but will be hoping to regain that billing and will use this tournament as a stepping stone.

While Golden Stars placed sixth in the just concluded East Demerara Stag Beer League, they, like the other teams will fancy their chances of staking a claim for the top prize of 1.5 million dollars.

Ta s k e d w i t h t h e responsibility of guiding their efforts in a positive direction would be Phillip Liverpool, Randy King, Randy Stoby, Justin Bristol, Alex Mahaica, Owen Adonis Jr., Malcolm Walcott, Shawn Douglas, Akemo Smith, Kellon Semple, Asafo Prince and Cordel Mars among others.

The home team’s charge will centre around Travis Henry, Kevin Layne Jr., Delbert Wilson, Leroy Halley, Clifford Campbell, Royston Khalil, Lester Cummings, Seon Watts, Kenson Lindley, Elvis Rutherford, Zebulon Watts, Marlon Harley and Atlyn Brown.

GFA/Banks Cup Round Robin Knockout tournament

Alpha ‘Hammers’ Northern Rangers; Police arrest Blackwater in enthralling duels On a night when light drizzles and the chilly winds wafting from the Atlantic Ocean cast a gloom over the arena, Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United warmed the hearts of their fans with a crushing 16-0 drubbing over Northern Rangers FC in the feature game of the GFA/Banks Cup Round Robin Knockout

tournament at the GDF Ground, Thomas Lands, on Friday evening.

The Guyana Police Force were also in a destructive mood one match earlier and utilized maximum ‘Force’ to demolish Blackwater FC 3-0 in the supporting (Continued on page 68)

Page 77

Motorsports: Guyanese to hold their own in Race of Champions in Barbados The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international mix of champions from around the world whom are competing against each other at Bushy Park, Barbados yesterday and today.

The Race of Champions (ROC) is the world renowned knockout motor sport event featuring some of the world’s greatest drivers battling for the titles of ‘World’s Fastest Nation’ and ‘Champion of Champions’.

Guyana is being represented by the young phenom and the current ‘2014 reigning Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Champion, Kristian Jeffrey along with invitee, Mark Vieira.

Let us be clear, the other nations are being represented by some of the world’s best drivers from the different motorsports series such as Formula 1, World Rally Championship, Nascar, Indycar, Le Mans, Touring Cars and X-Games. This is where International competitors all come together for a chance to compete head-to-head in identical cars to decide who really is the most skillful by being the fastest of them all.

But, we believe Guyana is being represented by two great drivers.

The Race of Champions competitors will be racing on a specially constructed asphalt circuit with two parallel tracks and a crossover bridge. That means two drivers can start side-by-side, race around the track and by the time they’ve both

Mark Veira

Kristian Jeffrey

completed the two laps, they would’ve driven exactly the same piece of tarmac – at insane speeds.

At the end of this great two day event, two separate Champions will be crowned: World’s Fastest Nation and Champion of Champions.

We no doubt will see a great competition from start to finish. In fact, this is a great spectator event since the entire competition can be seen from start to finish due to the unique track layout.

Guyana is being represented by two great drivers: win or lose, it’s a great feat to have them present at such an event loaded with champions. With that in mind, Guyana has a great shot at winning both competitions because both drivers are very

skilful and will be at their best. For the individual Race Of Champions today the drivers are split into groups of four for a round-robin first stage. The top two in each group earn the right to participate in the knockout stages. Following the draw at Bushy Park, many exciting head-to-heads lie ahead – including Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen racing 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Six-time V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup has been drawn together with F1 star and reigning ROC Champion of Champions Romain Grosjean plus fivetime 500cc MotoGP World Champion Mick Doohan and 13-time F1 grand prix winner David Coulthard.

t r o p S GNRA host 2014 Awards Presentation

Lennox Braithwaite, Peter Persaud, Ryan McKinnon and Dale Hing dominate P.72

GNRA 2014 Awardees display their trophies and medals following yesterday’s activity at Olympic House. Seated from right are Ryan McKinnon, Lennox Braithwaite, Dale Hing and Joshua Ramlakhan.

MoH/Health 2000Inc/MoE/Ansa McAl Girls Schools Football Competition

Enterprise continue rampage into semis - semi-finals on today P.74

Enterprise star player Aliyah Elaine attempts to fire a penalty into the goal during their encounter against Tucville yesterday.

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