Kaieteur News

Page 04

Kaieteur News

KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial

National leaders are scarce

Many people aspire to be leaders but few can actually cope with the demands of leadership. Perhaps the best example of a leader is a parent and there is no manual for parenting. Indeed, people make suggestions but when one stops to think that every child is different, one can imagine the different suggestions that would be proffered. It has not been easy going for many because of existing economic conditions. The average parent tries to ensure that children are afforded three meals per day. Today for one, the average parent is a single woman and this number is increasing daily. Fathers seem to have abandoned their role as the prime parent in the home and the consequences are severe. There was a time when every boy saw his father as a role model who could beat anyone in the world. This perception caused many a young man to walk the proverbial straight and narrow. Fewer went the wrong way and society was so much better off. These young men went on to become leaders in their communities because they understood many things, not least among them the rule of law and discipline. These were the people to whom people looked and they did not disappoint. These days, in what people call a modern society, mothers are left to bring up their children alone. This is so widespread that children have been known to express shock when they visited a friend’s home and found both parents there. One even asked, “Does he sleep here?” The absence of the male from a home is what carries over into the wider society. It manifests itself in so many ways, the worst of which is domestic violence. Men abuse women because some were slapped by their mothers who had no one around to help her maintain discipline. But if she didn’t slap then there was still a negative fallout. Many young men simply became delinquents because they know that there is no one to muscle them along the way. We now see very young boys as criminals. These are our gunmen because they were easily indoctrinated and fashioned by people they thought they wanted to be. Boys just into their teens are made to feel as adults and masculine by having a pistol thrust into their pants waist. Now we take a look at what passes for leadership today. Many of the male leaders seem unable to cope with the demands and for good reason. There is no manual and the society offers little help. There is no leader who has not been approached for one favour. To deny the favour would be to risk alienation and to grant it is to open the floodgates because the beneficiary invariable tells a friend who in turn may seek a favour. Then we have those who are afraid to take decisions with the result that allegations of corruption are swirling with no end in sight. Even when evidence of corruption was presented the leaders seemed afraid to act. There may have been political considerations. But then again, there may simply have been the fear to act. As things are, small countries like Guyana where everyone knows everyone, leaders tend to be hesitant. Those who in the past have tried to be firm and to perform as any national leader were seen as dictators. Forbes Burnham was one. He saw how laid back the people were and he tried to motivate them but many did not take kindly to his approach. He spared not even those who professed to be his friends. For their act of corruption he jailed them. He fashioned programmes that were intended to develop and he was rigid in his determination that the people execute those programmes. Today, nearly three decades after his death people still talk about him in wishful tones. There are a few who could lead but then again, they may wish to avoid the fall out. In the small Caribbean islands unless the correct balance between leader and buddy is found the result could be a lost election.

Sunday February 09, 2014

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

There is still an opportunity to resolve this chaos DEAR EDITOR, After completing an extensive review of the process that allowed for comprehensive participation from all the political parties, civil society and the diplomatic community, it is clear as day that Bill No. 12 of 2013 (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism [Amendment] Bill 2013) will fail in its current form. This is a political war and Sun Tzu taught us that in a war “if weaker numerically, be capable of withdrawing and negotiating….” The PPP continues to operate as if it is numerically superior to the majority

political opposition and this is nothing else but delusional. On this issue the PPP must know clearly that they cannot divide the majority political opposition. The good news is, there is still an opportunity to resolve this chaos. I therefore humbly request of the PPP to withdraw and listen so that they can construct a Bill that reflects the will of the majority, give the people local government elections and the Procurement Commission. Only then will they witness how fast doors can open on Bill No. 12 of 2013. This war has NOTHING to do with the

fight against moneylaundering, since all are united in this fight against the criminals. Let me make this message absolutely clear by using a famous phrase that Burnham used against Jagan in another era. It is not ”the causa belli, but the casus belli, not the cause of, but the occasion for, the war”. Let us not delude ourselves, the PPP has a simple choice; it has to give something or else call the elections. All these statements on GINA and on the other PPP mouthpieces are all falling on deaf ears, since they are viewed as acts of hypocrites

and cowards as the entire world watches. The PPP can shout at the top of their voice, those with the authority to fix this situation are not listening because they have the majority of the people on their side, who support their principled position and that is all that matters. Many of us are of the firm belief it is a reasonable position to demand local elections and the procurement commission as a precondition to anything else. Those with direct vested interest in securing the passage of Bill No. 12 of 2013 have to act now and fast (Continued on page 6)

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 5

Kaieteur M@ilbox Kaieteur M@ilbox Look of all people who Henry Jeffrey quotes DEAR EDITOR, In my long years of disagreement with Dr, Henry Jeffrey, I have never uttered one word of disparagement about his intellectual capacity. In many letters and columns in which I wrote critically on many inelegant arguments, naïve positions and wrong policies (as Minister in the PPP Government for 18 years), of Henry Jeffrey, I never insulted his academic ability In one of his replies to me many years ago, in the Stabroek News, he resorted to a political position that was extremely distasteful and that particular view I still find odious and egregious. I honestly believe as an academic he should withdraw it. But even though I was disgusted at that concept (for want of a better word) and I made a vexed reply, I did not touch on his academic ability Before I move on let me inform readers about that episode. Jeffrey wrote that he does not believe that the PNC administration or the PPP Government ever implemented a policy that was deliberately done with personal malice or mischief.

Of course I am using my own description. Surely, Jeffrey must have been distracted by a predatory bee when his hand was on the keyboard for him to make that statement There is a popular Guyanese saying- “who feels it knows it.” President Ramotar’s daughter, Lisa once told me her father struggled long and hard for Guyana and deserves what he has. One of these days my daughter may tell Lisa Ramotar and many others like her that her father too struggled longer than Ramotar and suffered more than Ramotar and did not deserve to have two attacks on his life, jailed for three days for a minor traffic offence and dismissed from his job and had her mother too dismissed from her job. But let’s get back to Dr. Jeffrey In response to me in a KN letter of January 24, captioned, “Kissoon’s arguments rife with assumptions,” Dr. Jeffrey has done an amazing thing. He quoted from Thomas Sowell, American professor and commentator. But it is not Sowell

himself that is intriguing but the quote that was actually selected by Jeffrey. Here is what Sowell said as quoted by Dr. Jeffrey in his letter’ “The list of top-ranked intellectuals who made utterly irresponsible statements… could be extended indefinitely.” The fact is if there is any intellectual who has made nauseatingly irresponsible statements, it is Sowell himself. So irresponsible is Sowell in what comes out of his mouth and from his pen that one is inclined to see him as an attention-seeker. Readers could on the internet and research the following article, “Is US Now on a Slippery Road to Tyranny?” by Sowell in which he made a subtle reference to President Obama being like Adolf Hitler. Now, not only is that reference moronic, asinine, sick and irresponsible, but it betrays the Freudian ghost that has haunted Sowell all his life. He, like VS Naipaul, hates the race he was born into and has been running away his whole life from his origins. Quite a large percentage of AfricanAmericans, American

feminists and democratically thinking people find Sowell’s academic and political positions despicable It boggles the mind to know that Jeffrey actually saw that quote from Sowell useful to publish. But let us leave aside Sowell and the quote. The actual reflection by Sowell is meaningless and has no intellectual value. Do you know how many top ranked judges, doctors, lawyers, presidents, prime ministers, priests, novelists, artists, journalists etc have made utterly irresponsible statements? Why was Sowell specific in identifying intellectuals only? And what did Jeffrey find useful in that inane, arid, jejune, useless and silly reflection of Sowell to offer it to readers? In a follow up letter, I will further respond to Jeffrey, not on the concept of sovereignty itself, but in which quarter or section of society it resides, and who has the authority in a country to speak on the defence of sovereignty. I find that Dr. Jeffrey has astutely avoided those answers in his reply to me. I close with the

reassertion that given the results of the 20111 elections, Parliament embodies the sovereignty of Guyana. It was an atrocious mistake made by Speaker Trotman when he advised that the Guyana Government and the US Embassy should negotiate the democracy

project. As Speaker of the House he virtually reduced it to a subordinate of a minority government. It was an unforgivable mistake in the context of the PPP’s postelection tyranny and for that the AFC and APNU should ask him to resign. Frederick Kissoon

Page 6

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Who is really in charge, Granger or Greenidge? DEAR EDITOR, When the Winston Murray ‘break away faction’ headed by Carl Greenidge was forced to unite with his adversary to prevent the weakening of the People’s National Congress -PNC as they contest the 2011 General Election, the PNC newly elected leader, David Granger, faced the real danger of a coup d’état by the ambitious Greenidge. There have been rumors from sources close to the party that a more radical approach is needed to sustain the pressure on the government. The more rational, statesmanlike approach employed by Granger, they

say, is not producing the required results. These PNC/APNU hardliners are believed to have influenced Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon’s decision to organise the recent protest action aimed at shutting down the bauxite mining town of Linden on February 3, when His Excellency President Ramotar visited Linden to officially commission the PPPC office there. That building was burnt down by arsonists in July 2012 during the deadly protest led by Chairman Solomon that cost the lives of three “peaceful” protesters. Fortunately, this plan to create yet another showdown with the authorities was

soundly rejected by the people of Linden, who must be commended for allowing common-sense to prevail. The recent inconsistencies on the budget debate issue within the PNC/APNU camp, further demonstrates Greenidge’s determination to expose Granger as a weak leader. According to PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee, “Due to its antics, the APNU has been offering a plethora of excuses for the 2014 budget. First they were not invited, then when the APNU leader [David] Granger directed Member of Parliament [Carl] Greenidge to engage, he said he needed more information and then

Guyana’s cell phone rates exorbitant DEAR EDITOR, As someone who is familiar with cell phone rates, I believe the cell phone rates are too high in Guyana. There is no question that Guyanese pay some of the most outrageous fees for cell phone services. To this, one might respond “If you don’t like it, then don’t buy it. It is

your choice.” This is not an option in Guyana. There is no true competition in this market, because the cell phone companies have bullied their way to the top and our government has failed in their duty thus far to ensure that there is fair opportunity for competition. I’m currently paying $30000 a

The opposition parties are playing this one directly into the hands of the PPP/C DEAR EDITOR, It is regrettable that our Politicians continue to use the machinery of threat to execute their control tactics over the masses. I am afraid and so are the sober minded people that if the Anti-Money Laundering Bill is not successfully ratified and passed then the consequences for Guyana’s economic and social future

enhancement would be devastating. Additionally, the opposition parties are playing this one directly into the hands of the PPP/C and they run the risk of losing outright the upcoming General Elections with no campaign funding form the private sector. In anticipation that good will and sensible judgment will prevail. Mohamed Yusuf

month for one cell phone. I do not have a business; I’m just an ordinary citizen. This is more than three times the amount that I paid abroad. I’m calling on the cell phone companies to reduce their rate by 50 percent. And they will still make a profit. Anthony Pantlitz

finally, to save face, Granger said it was too late for consultations. It is evident that Granger had instructed Greenidge to engage in consultations but Greenidge chose to disobey him… a high act of indiscipline.” And most recent, Greenidge’s “no show” at the meeting of the Special Select Committee considering the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, cast further doubt on whether Granger has any control over Greenidge. The official statement by PNC/APNU clearly states that, “APNU is committed to amending the current AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of 2009 to ensure that it is effective.” Yet Greenidge, APNU’s Shadow Minister of Finance in clear defiant, boycotted these meetings. How can APNU be committed to amending this Act when they fail to turn up at the meetings to contribute to the discussions? The question must now be asked, who is really in charge, Granger or Greenidge? As a

highly trained professional soldier that understands the importance of having his instructions obeyed, how can Granger tolerate such behavior from a senior member of his team? It must be very frustrating for the retired Brigadier General to have Carl Greenidge disobey a direct command. Rohee is right... Greenidge should be disciplined for insubordination, if only to clip his wings. I am reminded of a statement by another former general, Alexander Haig who, in 1981, following the March 30 assassination attempt and hospitalization of US President Ronald Regan, asserted before reporters “I am in control here”. Indicating that while President Reagan had not “transferred the helm”, Haig was in fact directing White House Crisis Management until Vice President Bush arrived in Washington to assume that role. It is time for Granger to assert his leadership position in the PNC/APNU and work to ensure that 2014 is indeed

the “Year of the Workers” as he had earlier declared. If Greenidge is allowed to bully his way and undermine Granger’s authority, he will evoke painful memories of a sad era in our Nation’s history under the dreaded PNC rule. The very reason that caused that political party to change its name to A Partnership for National Unity -APNU before contesting the 2011 polls. No doubt, Greenidge’s stubborn refusal to even attempt budget consultations with Finance Minister Ashni Singh, cannot possibly be in the best interest of the workers the PNC/APNU claims to be so concerned about. And APNU’s determination to cut the budget again in defiance of Chief Justice Ian Chang’s ruling, will only take away the ability of parents to provide food, clothing and shelter for their dependents. The Government creates jobs for its citizens, and the Opposition takes them away. Every time this happens, desperate people are likely to do desperate things to survive. HARRY GILL

Exploiting the ‘visionary’ value of Gandhi, King and Mandela DEAR EDITOR, The great Mahatma Gandhi and his self-styled disciples, The Rev. Martin Luther King and our beloved ‘Madeba’, Nelson Mandela, all of whose ‘visions’ served to transform their respective societies and eventually the world were unique

‘visionaries’ and transformational leaders par excellence! There is no doubt about their self-less, almost ‘God-like’ image and contribution to humanity which live on forever in the minds of people all over the world. It is in that context that I was outraged when I became

aware of a local advertisement advertising “Optical” supplies & services by using inappropriate metaphorical comparisons of their mundane, money-making ‘eye-correcting’ and ‘lenscrafting’ services with the immortal, virtually divine ‘visions’ of our three

‘prophets’ whose lifetime works enabled the world to see life differently. This should be roundly condemned in the same way we condemn those who recently ‘traded’ the Mandela name and image for cheap publicity and material gains. Nowrang Persaud

There is still an opportunity to... From page 4 at getting the local government elections and the procurement commission back on the table since in this war, it is the responsibility of the majority opposition to demand nothing but the best for the

people. Right now, what is most important to the silent majority are bread and butter issues – more jobs, more assets to feed their families, more income, a greater share of the budget, more personal secu-

rity, better access to good healthcare and education etc. Empowering a Minister to be the new Tsar in the fight against money launderers clearly does not direct affect the lives of the silent majority regardless if the CFATF demands it. Therefore, the PPP, and, for that matter, the private sector or the diplomatic community, are in no position to dictate what the majority opposition should or should not do, since these same bodies continue to let the Guyanese people down on the critical developmental issues of the local government elections and the procurement commission. The private sector commission continues to serve as the PPP’s fifth wheel to that party’s coach, and the diplomatic community continues to not bring adequate pressure to bear, on these good

governance measures. The fact remains, Private Sector Commission cannot help the PPP; they have less than 500 votes; not even earn a “phira” in Parliament. The Diplomatic Community cannot help the PPP; they have no votes. This is a battle for the hearts and minds of the voiceless who continue to watch with disgust as one PPP man get a $3.4 billion contract every year to sell medical supplies to the State at 10 times the real market value of the product. This is where the battle lies and this is why the PPP will fail on this anti-money laundering bill. The time is now for all to pause, sit at the table and take sufficient steps to address these developmental deficiencies holistically. Naked bullism from the PPP will fail. Sasenarine Singh

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Granger maintains position that CJ’s Budget Cut ruling is flawed “A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) does not seek premature election; we are looking forward to a full term for tenth Parliament, the life of which will come to an end in 2016. In the mean time we are going to take every reasonable measure to ensure that the country is properly governed and if it means going to a national election we will go to a national election.” This is according to Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, who on Friday maintained that “we are not going to put up with the sort of lawlessness that has been threatening this country for the last 20 years.” Meanwhile, as it relates to the imminent budget debate and deliberation, Granger maintained that the recent ruling by Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang, has not changed the policy of APNU as it relates to how it will treat with the National Estimates. “We do not feel the ruling is applicable to internal workings of the National Assembly. We have Standing Orders which have the force of law and we feel that we will

“The Chief Justice is not divine, he is not omniscient and he could have very well made a mistake.”

Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang

Opposition Leader, David Granger

continue to behave as we have behaved in the past.” Granger told reporters that “if a matter is brought before the National Assembly and we are asked whether we disagree or we agree, whether we approve or disapprove, the members of the National Assembly will vote in accordance with the interest of the country, if we

disapprove we will say we disapprove.” According to Granger, “I would like to see which court would convert a disapproval by National Assembly into approval…I would like to see which court will convert 33 votes into 32 votes.” The Opposition Leader is adamant that the court has no jurisdiction to rule on certain internal matters affecting the National Assembly. Speaker, Raphael Trotman, will determine what those matters are. Granger posited that it is possible that the Chief Justice might be unfamiliar with some aspects of Parliamentary Management and Administration and it is possible that he might have erred. “The Chief Justice is not divine, he is not omniscient and he could have very well and made a mistake,” the Opposition Leader suggested. “What I know is that when a matter is brought before the National Assembly and the Speaker puts a question to us, we will vote, and if the Speaker asks us if we approve or if we disapprove we will record that approval or disapproval.” Asked about voting down the entire Budget, thus forcing fresh General Elections, Granger explained that that is not how the process works. He said that the estimates are presented item by item in the Committee of Supply and at the end of the process the Appropriation Bill is voted on. Granger said that, the Appropriation Bill is the sum total of approvals in the Committee and that the Finance Minister cannot bring a Bill and include those items that would have been voted down. “We will not approve an Appropriation Bill if we don’t approve of it,” warned Granger.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Dem boys seh

People getting fed up wid Donald Every day dem boys got to answer question fuh Donald. Well, dem ain’t able answer no more question bout “wha he doing and all this thing happen.” Dem fed up petting he like a baby. Is time he stand up and start tekking control of things in de country. He got to stop having Jagdeo pun he tail, allowing him to attend all dem meetings as though he gun dead without Jagdeo. Everybody asking who is in charge. He got to let loose of de man because de man allow everything to run down. De country on de verge of collapse. De US State Department criticize Jagdeo failure to implement de Anti-money laundering law from as far back as 2000. Throughout he president because de Americans trace this thing right p to 2013 he hide de law and didn’t implement it. Now Ramotar lef in de sauce. De big question is why Jagdeo never mek de law pass. He lef GPL fuh run down, de sewage system fuh collapse, de GWI fuh full dem pipelines wid kaka—everything you can think about. Sugar in shambles and Skeldon deh like a white elephant. De Bourda cricket ground in a mess because Jagdeo put he own people fuh run de club and dem run it in de ground. Now de National Cultural Centre. This place is fuh all Guyanese but guess who mek it meet to that stage? Certainly is not Ramotar. Jagdeo help run down Pegasus because he couldn’t put he hands pun it. He fight Badal to de las and when he realize is a losing battle he initiate de Marriott. To dis day Jagdeo nor de fat crook Brazzy can’t say who is de private owner. You name it and this man run it down. He try fuh run de Big market paper and de Waterfalls paper out of business and den bring in de Hard Times wah nobody still don’t see much less read. Is every major entity in Guyana he either push out of business or mess up. Dem boys want challenge Ramotar to name one thing that Jagdeo do that benefit Guyana. Everything he put hands on was fuh benefit he an he friends dem. GT&T deh in de slaughterhouse already and dem kicking and screaming but de knife done deh at dem throat. Since 2010 de people at GT&T ask Jagdeo fuh expand suh that dem can give faster speed pun de internet. De man refuse but he allow he friend Ramroop and Fishook fuh lay cables right across Guyana fuh de kill. That is de exact thing he, Jagdeo, do wid de TV business in Guyana. He block everybody from expanding, except he best friend, Bobby Ramroop. Who benefitting from de Berbice Bridge? De people of Guyana? And what about de Hope Canal? Dem boys hope that Donald got to hope that de Hope Canal finish and it ain’t cost de people another $100 billion. Is a shame. If Donald got bad memory, dem boys want to refresh it fuh he that from de time Jagdeo tun president he mek he best friend get GPC fuh nutten and den call um NEW GPC. If Donald don’t wake up, Jagdeo might end up giving he, Donald, to Bobby fuh next to nutten too. Talk half and see if Donald gun tek control of de other half of he term wha he got lef.

Kaieteur News

Page 9

Chairman appeals for the resuscitation of the Tumatumari Hydro Mahdia electricity woes…

The rationing of electricity in Mahdia is seriously affecting the community and needs to be urgently rectified. And, the solution to the electricity problem is the Tumatumari Hydro project. This is according to Mark Crawford, Region Eight Chairman, who said that, the Mahdia Power and Light (MPL) Company is claiming that the reason for the shortfall is limited revenue. Crawford stressed that the rationing of electricity is negatively impacting the business community, the increasing number of residents, health services and schools. According to him, for the last six months, only one of the two engines at the MPL has been operable. “About six months ago the lighting resisters on one of the engines were damaged by lightning and to date has not been repaired. Should anything happen to this one

that is working, the entire community would be without power,” he lamented. According to Crawford, in order for the power company to supply constant electricity it would need a subvention from government. “Of course that should not be a problem since Government is collecting a lot of revenue from this mining district and I expect that Government will include the amount required in this year’s budget,” Crawford noted. He said that while a subvention is needed urgently to alleviate the rationing of electricity; it is only the shortterm solution to the electricity woes. He believes that the solution to the electricity problem is the Tumatumari Hydro Plant. “If this hydro is resuscitated it has the capacity to generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity. Not only Mahdia will benefit from this electricity but also Tumatumari, Micobie, Konawaruk Junction, The

Mahdia Housing Scheme and residents along the line from Brian Sucre Junction to Mahdia,” he said. Crawford emphasized that this call was made previously and said he hopes government is ready to accept this solution because the people of Mahdia and neighbouring communities are suffering. The Chairman stressed that having the Tumatumari Hydro power would be very beneficial and Government should be aware since it has been stressing the need for cheap energy. He said that one of the most important benefits of the hydro is the reduction in electricity cost. “At present we are paying $100 per unit of electricity (the highest price in Guyana). I was told that should this hydro plant become operational we will only have to pay $60 per unit of electricity and after 10 years it will be further reduced,” he said. Crawford said it will be a

more reliable supply of electricity and he is hopeful the communities will receive 24 hour supply, with few power outages. He said that government would also be saving revenue on fuel that is used to operate the present power plant. And, it will also help to reduce greenhouse gases. “Persons living along the line from Brian Sucre Junction to Mahdia can set up small cottage industries, which will create jobs, which will be so much needed here in a short while from now since most of the mining lands will be soon worked out,” Crawford noted. Crawford said that he is appealing to Government to make funds available to resuscitate this hydro plant. He believes that funds to resuscitate this hydropower project could be had from the GRIF fund. “I would like the government to make the funds available to us in the region to fund this project,” he said.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Le Repentir rehabilitation unlikely - Mayor Green A section of Le Repentir Cemetery today Le Repentir Cemetery in the 1980s

While the condition of the Le Repentir Cemetery continues to be of major concern to citizens, the restoration of the city’s premier burial ground is seemingly a farfetched reality owing to the constant internal bickering on matters of the municipality by officers of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC). The rehabilitation of the cemetery was raised at a recent City Council press conference. Mayor Hamilton Green detailed that efforts to rehabilitate the cemetery have met with non- compliance

from the necessary stakeholders. “Some time ago the government had set out to restore Le Repentir but the burial ground has since returned to its deplorable state. Private citizens have made suggestions to council and efforts were made to repair the ground but the city lacks the capital to refurbish the cemetery.” Green told reporters that last year the rehabilitation of the cemetery was billed to cost $17million but the council was only able to raise $1 M for the project.

He said that at this stage the rehabilitation of Le Repentir is unlikely. “We can’t have a budget of $17 million to repair a cemetery unless the government allows us to broaden our revenue base.” Past efforts to rehabilitate Le Repentir Cemetery include an endeavour to secure funding for the exercise via an advisory committee within City Hall. The committee is aimed at attracting the financial support of business entities and private citizens for the project. Le Repentir was once owned by French duelist Pierre Louis de Saffon, who had escaped to exile in Guyana during the 1700s and later became a wealthy land owner. After he had fought his brother in a duel and killed him, de Saffon dedicated the two of his estates Le Repentir and

La Penitence as a lasting memorial of his sorrow for having killed his brother. However, today Le Repentir Cemetery lies in ruins, overcome with thick clumps of wild vegetation, often times described as a haven for the destitute and thieves. Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green commenting on the matter of rehabilitating the cemetery told reporter that plans to upgrade the cemetery have been squashed by the lack of consensus between officers of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). “In July, 2013, proposals were submitted to the Town Clerk for the clearing of the overgrowth, drains, canals and complete rehabilitation of the cemetery, we are yet to receive a response in this regard.” Chase-Green explained that an adequate burial site is

needed. Such a facility provides an historic focal point for family and friends to link the past and future generations. “The cemetery is supposed to provide an opportunity for persons to preserve their family heritage.” “My personal concept for the restoration of Le Repentir Cemetery will cost hundreds of millions of dollars because it will call for some major landscaping, clearing the overgrowth, rebuilding the fence and pavements, replanting of the palms and planting fresh flowers to give it an attractive quality. This quality will add to the altogether development of the city.” While addressing the issue of poor drainage at Le Repentir, which delayed several burials last month, the Deputy Mayor called for the involvement and cooperation

of stakeholders to restore the historic section of the city. “Long ago, we had a category of workers set aside for the maintenance of the city but the present Council does not have capacity to manage Le Repentir cemetery on its own. We need the involvement of all the stakeholders. The implementation of a maintenance fee for grave sites might assist with the problem,” she suggested. Meanwhile, Minister of Local and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker, has said that he is in support of the calls for restoration, but related that “no such proposal has reached the level of the Ministry.” He however, urges councillors to put their personal differences aside and continue to work towards the future development of the city.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 11

Police agencies cannot investigate police, army torture Opposition Leader, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, is calling for an independent judicial inquiry into all reports of torture over the past seven years, saying that the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Police Complaints Authority cannot conduct such an investigation. Granger on Friday last held a media briefing where he said that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) wanted to express its alarm at the recurring reports of the crime of torture involving members of the defence and security forces. He reminded that the Government of Guyana signed and ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment since 1988. According to Granger, the term “torture,” under Article 1 of the Convention, means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” He used the opportunity to recall that there have been several confirmed reports of torture into which no independent judicial inquiry has been conducted. He cited as example, Patrick Sumner and Victor Jones who were arrested by members of the Police and Defence forces in September 2007. “They were taken to Defence Force headquarters in Camp Ayanganna, Police Force headquarters in Eve Leary, then to another military camp where they said they

…Independent judicial inquiry critical - Granger

Victor Jones (left) and Patrick Sumner were tortured.” Granger also pointed to Michael Dunn, Sharth Robertson and Alvin Wilson – three Defence Force soldiers who complained that they had been tortured by being beaten, cuffed, kicked, shocked and struck with metal objects between November and December 2007 in a military camp. Granger pointed also to David Leander, also called David Zammet and ‘Biscuit,’ who was arrested in November 2007. “He was so badly injured that he was unable to walk and could hardly speak and had to be hoisted into the Magistrates’ Court to answer charges of attempted murder and possession of narcotics.” Granger also alluded to Twyon Thomas who was arrested in October 2007 on suspicion of involvement in the murder of People’s Progressive Party stalwart and former Vice-Chairman of the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region Ramenauth Bisram. The boy, he said, was taken to the La Grange Police station on the West Bank of Demerara and then to the Leonora Police Station on the West Coast of Demerara, where he was beaten and burnt on his genital area with the aid of mentholated spirits. The Opposition Leader also pointed to Colwyn Harding who was arrested in November 2013 and accused a policeman at the Timehri

Police Station of sodomising him with a baton. Harding suffered severe intestinal injuries. “APNU points out that Guyana, as a signatory to the Convention, is obliged to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.” Granger cautioned that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture and an order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.” Granger reminded that the Convention to which Guyana is a signatory,

instructs that, “States are to ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law, including complicity or participation in torture. International law places an obligation on states to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish torture and other ill-treatment. The obligation to prosecute torture includes those who are complicit as well as to those who directly participate in torture, as well as those responsible in the “chain of command.” He maintained that there is abundant evidence that the crime of torture has been committed repeatedly in Guyana. “APNU reminds all Defence and Police Force officers that torture is a crime of a universal jurisdiction….Those who order, or carry out such acts, can be prosecuted anywhere in the world, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or perpetrator.” According to Granger, “no one can claim exemption from this because of his or her official capacity.” He further reminded that “There is no statute of limitations for such crimes under international law” and as such, APNU iterates its demand that an independent judicial inquiry be conducted into all reports of torture by officials.

David Leander, also called David Zammet and ‘Biscuit

Page 12

Onika King escape…

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Cops to appeal two-year sentence

The reputed wife of jailed Police Constable, Ertest Ivan, has vowed that she will do whatever it takes to secure the finances to appeal his sentence even if she has to beg. The distraught woman, Phulmati Khan, is still reeling from the shock of the man she has been living with for the past 13 years being sent to jail for two years after he was found guilty of allowing a prisoner to escape. On Thursday last Constables Ivan and Sandra Corridus were jailed by Magistrate Clive Nurse, exactly six years to the day after they first appeared in court for allowing former murder accused, Onika King, to escape, while they were escorting her to Berbice. “I don’t know what it is about February 6, but that is a date I will never forget,” Khan lamented. She will be seeking the services of an attorney to appeal the sentence, not only because she is convinced that her husband is innocent, but especially since she is worried about his medical condition. She said that Ivan has been suffering from various ailments, for which he has

undergone six surgeries in the past six years. And given the limited scope for proper medical attention in the prison, Ivan could face a grim future behind bars. In fact, the same day that he was sentenced to prison, Ivan was scheduled for a doctor’s appointment. It was these same doctor’s appointments that were in a small part responsible for the delay in the trial. In an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News yesterday, Phulmati Khan recalled the minutes leading up to the Magistrate’s longawaited decision and shocking sentence. She said that throughout the trial she was confident that the charges against her husband would have been dismissed but things took an unexpected twist last week. “On Thursday I got the shock of my life. We went (to court) with high hopes and expectation…but when he (magistrate) said two years, I feel my heart jumping out of place,” Khan recalled. “I think they want to kill my husband. My pressure is up, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat,” she added.

“On Thursday I got the shock of my life. We went (to court) with high hopes and expectation…but when he (Magistrate) said two years, I feel my heart jumping out of place,” - Policeman’s wife Her daughter, Nazareen, shared similar sentiments, since she claimed that she too is very attached to Ivan. Thursday’s decision came after six agonising years, during which the summary matter was heard by six Magistrates and presented by seven different Prosecutors, not to mention different defence attorneys. The matter started in February 2008 before Magistrate Yohhannseh Cave and was subsequently heard by Magistrates Heymant Ramdhani, Judy Latchman and Alex Moore and more recently Sueanna Lovell. All seven police witnesses had testified in the trial but the constant adjournments and Magistrate changes resulted in several aborted trials. Another main witness, Ashanti Schultz, called ‘Blondie’ who was also a

prisoner in the vehicle with King, left the jurisdiction shortly after the two cops were charged and therefore was unavailable to offer any evidence. According to the prosecution on November 2, 2007 at Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica, while being on a criminal charge, King escaped from custody. On that day, King had attended court in Georgetown and was being transported back to the New Amsterdam Prison when she escaped. At the time, the 22-yearold King of Lot 1830 North Ruimveldt, Festival City, Georgetown, was facing charges for the December 13, 2006 murder of Selvin King. According to reports, the police vehicle transporting King and another female murder accused, Ashanti Schultz, had stopped at the liquor restaurant. The ranks and the two

murder accused allegedly entered the liquor restaurant where the policemen ordered drinks. While there, King reportedly told the ranks that she wanted to relieve herself and they allowed her to go to the restaurant’s washroom. It is alleged that while the ranks remained at their table, the accused crawled through a hole in the fence at the back of the premises and disappeared. King managed to remain at large while the police ranks faced the court. She was however detained in Suriname and handed over to Guyana police who charged her with escaping from lawful custody. She was subsequently freed of the murder, while strangely enough the escape from lawful custody charge was dismissed. But despite this, the prosecution still persisted with the charges against the police ranks Corridus and Ivan. According to Phulmati Khan, it has cost her in excess of $500,000 in lawyer’s fees alone, and when that is added to the lost days of work and constant travelling to the various courts on East Coast Demerara, the situation has left her financially drained. “For the first four years of the trial, we had to be travelling every month to court,” Khan stated. She explained that “it (the

Constable Ertest Ivan case) went from Mahaica to Sparendaam; from there back to Mahaica; then to Mahaicony, when Mahaica court was under repairs; then back to Mahaica. That is how they had we. “It cost me a lot of money over the six years. I am under tremendous stress,” she explained. News of the constables’ sentencing have not gone down well with his former colleagues either. They remembered Constable Ivan as a dedicated cop with 20 years’ service, who risked his life on several occasions, while on official police duty. One colleague recalled that Ivan was the driver of a police vehicle that was riddled with bullets while they were on patrol in the troubled village of Buxton in 2002. “I tell his friends, ‘tek you sons and send them to cut cane because the police have no thanks to give you’,” an obviously bitter Phulmati Khan declared.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Opposition needs to behave like a Govt. in waiting - Aubrey Norton “It is my view that Parliamentarians need to do more work. And, I define work to be going out to the constituencies meeting with people, understanding their concerns and articulating their concerns at a number of different levels.” This view was expressed by Aubrey Norton, former People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Parliamentarian during a recent interview with this publication at his Plaisance, East Coast Demerara residence. Norton, a Member of Parliament during the Seventh and Ninth sittings of Parliament, emphasized that the Opposition needs to appear like a Government in waiting with clear cut policies on virtually every issue. “So, when Government speaks they (the Opposition) have an alternative, they can state what elements of the Government approach they endorse and what elements they disagree with,” he explained. Zeroing in on what the Opposition should be doing with its one-seat majority in Parliament, Norton stressed that Parliamentarians should be writing Government Ministers to get answers for challenges affecting residents across Guyana. Moreover, they should be developing motions and other means of getting Parliament to take a position on particular issues, he asserted. “Parliamentarians need to do a lot more research so that their utterances and the things they do are reflective of well researched and well prepared documents,” he noted. Citing an example to explain his view on the tabling of motions, Norton said that the Opposition should table a motion on the energy sector which should be well articulated so citizens would become aware of the issues, and what needs to be addressed. Further, if Government’s and the Opposition’s positions are in the open, citizens would be able to compare them and draw their

He reflected that during the Burnham and Hoyte eras, the policies were clearly defined and the PNCR needs to articulate its policies clearly at this stage of Guyana’s. “You can go to the APNU manifesto and see some articulation but the APNU is different from the PNCR. I think the PNC needs to articulate clear decisions on these issues and they should be taken to APNU’s governing body, debated Aubrey Norton conclusions on which they prefer. Such actions would help to shift Guyana from race- based petty type politics, to an issue base politics, he said. Another course of action the Opposition should take is to implore on Government to present state papers on issues. He recalled that when the PNC Government was in power it presented state papers on major issues such as National Service and free education. Norton explained that this allowed the National Assembly to debate the issue at hand and give the society a clear conceptual framework of what Government is going to do with the particular issue. “At present I can tell you a number of areas where I think there is a need for state paper on. There is need for one on technology and the whole airwaves spectrum. It is in disarray. The Government is doing what it likes and the society is in shambles; there is need for a proper state paper on the bauxite industry and the sugar industry,” Norton stressed. According to Norton, the Opposition needs to move in the direction of being organized and clear on its positions to enlighten citizens of their policies and what they will do if they get into Government. Norton, an active member the PNC/R that is the largest faction of the A Partnership of National Unity (APNU), said that the PNC/R is an evolving Party.

The Quest for Knowledge refreshes the mind, recreates the spirit, and motivates the body. It creates enthusiasm and desire to live an exciting and full day in spite of the routine.

and then have some consensus as to how they approach these policy issues,” he added. However, for the PNCR to be a strong political party to effectively contribute to APNU and this country, it needs to develop its middle leadership capacity. He stressed that no political party can depend on its central leadership alone. Therefore, the regional or middle leadership needs to

take its place and step up to the task. “Below the Region you need village leadership. Anybody who believes you can stay from the centre and organize and achieve your objective is fooling themselves…You need leadership from top to bottom,” Norton said. He recalled that one of the things that made Burnham and Jagan significantly different from a

lot of politicians is the leadership abilities of the persons they placed at the middle the party. “In Burnham’s time he had leadership from the middle and at the top. You had a class political leadership with the likes of Rashleigh Jackson, Mohamed Shahabadeen, and Hubert Jack, so I am saying again the Opposition needs to develop that kind of leadership core.” Norton said.

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Guyanese doctor, 23 others face federal charges for sale of illegal prescription drugs A Guyanese doctor is among 23 persons facing federal charges for illegally prescribing drugs used in street sales. Dr. Kevin Lowe, formerly of Campbellville, Georgetown has been living in the United States for a number of years. A New York Times report said that the man owns the Astramed clinic, located at 1228 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx NY, where for the past three years, he illegally prescribed the painkiller oxycodone; raking in for himself alone, some $12M. According to the report, Lowe was involved in the drug scheme which occurred at his clinic, but was actually controlled by drug traffickers. Hundreds of persons, it is alleged, gathered outside the clinic daily to get a prescription. “The clinic was controlled by drug traffickers, and the patients, doctors, prescriptions - and even urine samples - were part of a vast and elaborate scheme to divert oxycodone for sale on the street.” The report continued that,

“a federal indictment charges that in the operation, corrupt doctors were paid $300 in cash for fraudulent medical visits that lasted a minute or two; involved no physical examination and consistently led to the writing of prescriptions for large doses of oxycodone.” “Over three years, Astramed doctors wrote about 31,500 medically unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone, encompassing about 5.5 million oxycodone tablets with a street value of up to $550 million,” government court filing related. Federal prosecutors said that members of the oxycodone ring used threats, intimidation and violence to protect their access to the clinic and its doctors, and had armed bodyguards who remained near the clinic. “The federal indictment charges Dr. Lowe, the owner of the clinic and others in the city, and 23 other people in connection with the scheme. Dr. Lowe alone collected nearly $12 million in fees over

three years in the scheme,” prosecutors said. Lowe, who pleaded not guilty, was granted home detention if he meets certain conditions of a $5 million bond. His lawyer, Robert W. Dapelo, the report said, maintained that, “His (Lowe) position is that he’s innocent and when the dust settles, you will see that the allegations made by the government are not true.” Another clinic doctor, Robert Terdiman, faces state charges of conspiracy and illegal prescription sales. He too pleaded not guilty. The indictment says that Dr. Lowe occasionally saw purported patients and wrote unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions, but he also hired other doctors and directed them to write such prescriptions, and paid the doctors based on the number of prescriptions they wrote. It is alleged that, “since June 2012, Dr. Terdiman wrote about 18,700 prescriptions to over 4,200 people. An analysis of his records showed those prescriptions yielded about

People posed as patients to receive unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions at a clinic in the Bronx. (United States Attorney’s Office; NY Times) three million pills, with a street value of more than $90 million,” the report said. “Most of the people who crowded outside the Astramed clinic in the Bronx had been recruited and paid by oxycodone distributors, known as crew chiefs, to pose as patients to receive the medically unnecessary prescriptions.” The indictment said, “These recruits were typically paid up to $500 for obtaining and handing over the oxycodone obtained. The crew chiefs

also paid clinic employees hundreds of dollars in cash to get their recruits into the clinic to see a doctor. The “patients” could also pay extra to skip to the front of the line.” It is alleged that, “one crew chief recruited “patients” by targeting people who are H.I.V.-positive or who have AIDS and other illnesses and “who therefore were more likely to have established relationships with pharmacies that could fill prescriptions obtained at the clinic.” The clinic also served people who were not part of the operation, like addicts and drug dealers, who could gain access to the clinic by paying an “admission” fee of $1,000 or more, the indictment charges. Oxycodone is a highly addictive, narcotic-strength painkiller, and its prescriptions have enormous cash value to drug dealers, the indictment stated. A 30-

milligram tablet has a street value of $30 to $40 in New York City, and a value as high as $100 in other parts of the country. A single prescription for 180 of those tablets can net a distributor as much as $18,000 in cash. “The world of prescription drug trafficking is looking more and more like the world of old-school trafficking in narcotics like heroin, cocaine and crack,” the United States attorney Preet Bharara was quoted as saying. It was added that more people have been dying from prescription drug abuse than heroin and cocaine combined. Head of the NY office of Drug Enforcement Administration, James J. Hunt said the arrests were part of dismantling “the largest pill mill in the Northeast.” The investigation involved at least a dozen cooperating sources, confidential informers and undercover agents, prosecutors said.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

National competitiveness hinges on passage of Anti-Money Laundering legislation The 10-year work of the National Competitiveness Strategy Council to make the country attracti v e f o r foreign investment would be stymied if the National Assembly does not pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill. This is according to Ramesh Dookhoo, Chairman of the Private Sector C o m m i s s i o n ’s Subcommittee on Trade at the first meeting of the Steering-committee of the National Competitive Strategy Council on Friday. One of the items discussed at the Steeringcommittee meeting was the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, which is in a Parliamentary Special Select Committee, while the country is blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. He said that if the legislation is not passed in the National Assembly the operations and competitiveness of the business community would be

Ramesh Dookhoo, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission’s Subcommittee on Trade tremendously impacted. Moreover, all the work done by the Council for the past 10 years to make Guyana attractive would go to waste. Dookhoo said that the competitiveness of doing business in Guyana becomes irrelevant with Guyana’s blacklisting status. In addition, foreign investors would not be attracted to doing business in Guyana because of the high risk

involved. He explained that with the blacklisting status, the risk rating of the country goes up and therefore the money borrowed by the investor would attract a higher interest rate. As such, the foreign investor would look to other countries such as Suriname, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago to do business. The National Competitiveness Strategy Unit, by the request of the Government has developed a doing business action plan and report last year. According to Tariq Williams, Project Manager of the National Competitiveness Strategy Unit (NCSU), the goal is to improve Guyana’s rating on the Doing Business Index by 30 places by 2015 with a series of reforms across the 10 pillars that constitute the doing business ranking. He said, “The action plan was developed and we have recently gotten approval from the IDB (InterAmerican Development Bank) to include the implementation of the action plan under the support for the Competitive Programme 2014 work plan.”

Williams said that is a big step towards implementing the action plan. The Unit has started working with a consultant to fine tune the action plan in terms of timeline and costing, he added. “We expect as soon as the fine tuning is done we will go to tender, and begin work on this initiative,” Williams said. Another issue discussed by the Steering-committee was last year ’s National Economic Forum. According to Ronald Webster, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, a number of issues came out of the National Economic Forum and the report is currently being sum marized and would

subsequently be released. One of the main issues listed is Port Georgetown’s development and dredging. This would have an impact on the cost of services of goods and the private sector’s competitive ability in relation to exports. According to Dookhoo, the development of Port Georgetown is a big and complicated issue for the private sector since it takes into consideration financing, and the rising cost of consumer goods if the port’s development is factored into the cost of cargo. “In our budget talks with the Minister of Finance (Dr. Ashni Singh) recently, this took up a lot of our time,” he

said. Meanwhile, in the area of the customs warehouses the Council has been making process. He said that the large imports of cargo into Guyana have necessitated the expansion of warehousing facilities by the Customs Department. This has benefited the private sector by reducing the high demurrage charges accumulated at the wharfs for storage of goods. “We are also in touch with the Minister of Finance… We had our first quarterly meeting with him to have the expeditious clearing of cargo in and out of Guyana. Those meetings were extremely productive,” Dookhoo said.

“More resources should mean improved results” - Rohee tells GPF With over $1.2 billion already expended on the nation’s security from 2004 to 2013, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that he is not satisfied with the level of control over criminal activities. The Security Minister made the statement last week, during the launch of the nation’s first ever Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and insisted to ranks of the Guyana Police Force that they need to give more results given the amount of investments being made on the resources they are receiving. The Home Affairs Minister echoed calls for value for money, before expounding on what he said are significant funds being spent in the area of security. Minister Rohee said, “The Government since 1992 has been investing billions of dollars in the Guyana Police Force. Never before in the history of this organization (GPF) have so many resources, costing billions in investment, been made in this organization.” “The Government and we at the Ministry of Home Affairs are not comfortable with the current crime rate in our country, especially as it pertains to serious crimes, and more particularly, when it is committed with the use of a firearm.” “The crime rate must be brought down especially in light of the fact that so many resources are being placed at the disposal of Guyana Police Force,” the Minister said. “There must be no comfort level, there must be no comfort, having regard to the amount of serious crimes that are committed on the national territory of our nation. The

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee only comfort zone we should tolerate is that zone where the citizens of Guyana are comfortable.” “There is no crime statistic that we can live with, what matters is the results. We have to begin to get value for money “Rohee told the gathering of mostly police officers last Thursday. “With all investments being made, we need to begin seeing more and more results, the GPF have the tools to bring out good results.” “The Government, he argued, has provided the force with these tools and they must be used for the benefit of citizens.” He continued that the Home Affairs Ministry which is the Government agency responsible for GPF with regards to policy and providing resources “has in my view delivered to the Force.” “We’ve delivered the integrated crime information system, crime and social observatory, police and policy handling data entry clerks , CCTV cameras, computer

laboratories, land and water transport, training opportunities, a strategic plan; specifically target intervention at institutional levels, regular consultations with senior managers of force and senior members of government so that policies would be easily understood. The introduction of information technology software and hardware at all levels of the force has also been provided, with general and specialized equipment.” He urged that all this (investments) would fail if the crime rate does not go down. The Minister said that between 2004 and 2013, the Home Affairs Ministry made available to GPF specialized equipment, including those for finger prints, crime scene intelligence, ballistic, narcotic branch, photographic and writing sections to the tune of 2 billion dollars. “In respect to land and water transportation, Government provided motorcars, land rovers trucks, armored vehicles, fibre glass boats, motorcycles, water cannon, mobile police stations, communication vehicles, All Terrain Vehicles, patrol boats, -among other equipment- all to the tune of $1.2 billion.” “These are huge investments,” Rohee emphasized. He urged all those raising criticisms about funds being placed in the GPF to re-check their numbers, but opined that it is not the amount of money being spent, “but what it is spent on and how it is used.” He said large sums being spent does not necessarily give the results that one is looking for. He reiterated that, “We need value for money.”

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 25

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” When I read that Woody Allen’s latest and highly popular movie, “Blue Jasmine,” is themed on Tennessee Williams’ fantastic work, “A Street Car Named Desire,” I had to see it. Williams is one of the greatest playwrights of all time. I suspect I love his work because he wrote on tragic family motifs that were present in my own family while I was growing up in Wortmanville. My favourite is a “Street Car Named Desire,” followed by the “Glass Menagerie” and “Orpheus Descending” in that order. Allen on the other had has not been a writer that I greatly admired. Allen’s body of work is contextualized in American culture. He writes for an American audience and if you are not American, certain subtleties and many nuances appear invisible. On the other hand, Roman Polanski writes in a universal context. He philosophizes on people and their innate failures. There is nothing particularly French about “Bitter Moon,” and British about “The Ghost Writer,” my two favourite Polanski films

(please see “Bitter Moon,” great movie on the human condition with an irresistible love song, “Slave to Love,” sung at a concert for the 80th birthday of Mikhail Gorbachev by the original singer, Brian Ferry, at the Royal Albert Hall; check out Ferry’s on-stage, backup singers and dancers – extraordinarily beautiful). Allen and Polanski have very interesting pasts. Allen is alleged to have seduced his adopted daughter and Polanski is wanted on criminal charges in the US for forcefully sodomizing an underage girl in the home of the brilliant actor, Jack Nicholson. Life is amazingly ironic. At the moment at the Old Bailey in London, two former BBC journalists are on trial for forced sex committed on girls in the sixties, that is about fifty years ago, while in Paris, Polanski lives a celebrated life. Back to “Blue Jasmine.” It cannot miss the eye of the viewer that Allen did pattern his latest work on Williams’s “A Street Car named Desire.” The difference, of course, is the stars. “A Street Car named

Desire” featured two artists whose acts are almost impossible to emulate – Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. There is a line in “Blue Jasmine,” that was not in “A Street Car Named Desire,” and this is what makes the overall message of the film so important. The little boy said to his tycoon father, “Dad, the kids at school say that you are rich and give plenty to charity.” The father replied, “Son, when you earn so much wealth, you must give back some to the society, to those less fortunate.” Both “A Street Car Named Desire,” and “Blue Jasmine,” are powerful stories of the evil the overzealous love of money can do to a human. The timing of the popularity of Allen’s film couldn’t be better. In the US at the moment, President Obama and his Democratic Party are locked in a nasty protracted battle with the Republican Party over the role of government in helping the less fortunate The US budget has removed unemployment benefits from over a million

and a half citizens in dire need of it. As folks flock to the cinemas in the US to see Allen’s film, they will get a vivid account of what money does to the rich. It simply destroys the human capacity to be modest, humane, and caring. I have always believed that the inner failing of the wealthy person is that he/she judges every other human by the amount of wealth they have. You can be the best cricketer, footballer, poet, or singer. If you hobnob with the super-wealthy, they will never judge you and see you for the innate qualities you are endowed with. They will judge you through their values which have as the centrepiece, the

amount of money one possesses. Rich people only understand one language, have one value, interact with only one process - the possession of wealth. Once you become rich, your tycoon neighbour who snubbed you will ask you to dine with his family. He wants your company now because you have what he has and such people should get to know each other and socialize with each other. You can’t help feeling sorry for those who want to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses will never completely embrace them because they don’t have what the Joneses have. The famous playboy Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan, made an interesting

Frederick Kissoon observation. The rich folks loved him. Then when he retired and started to build a cancer hospital, his pleas for donations ended in failure. His rich friends didn’t want his company anymore. Khan wasn’t in their class category. See “A Street Car Named Desire.” and “Blue Jasmine,” and listen to “Slave to Love.”

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Housing and You… Guyana does have its own building codes! By Leonard Gildarie Over the past months, we have been discussing almost everything under the sun as it relates to building a home. Of course, some of the topics were overlapping. We spoke of possible best practices in building, applying for a mortgage, electrical works and of course, the need to have a clear understanding with the contractor. In recent weeks, as the examinations focused on some of the things we may be doing wrong, I have been receiving an increasing number of comments and calls. I guess the issues have worried many. One was significant and it will have to be subject of a number of future articles. A regular reader from New York sent a link to the Guyana National Bureau of Standards website (http://www.gnbsgy.org/ i n d e x . p h p /

nationalbuildingcodes). I must admit I am a little ashamed. I should have picked up on it earlier. They are very good guides that could take the construction industry to another level - if they are followed. The National Building Codes’ enforcement “measures” were adapted by a special committee of experts only nine years ago. The codes are very detailed and cover areas including enforcement, fire safety, plumbing, hardwood, block masonry, structural steel, high rise buildings, foundation, septic tank and latrine standards. Before we delve a little in the enforcement section, it would be wise for me to point out again that the codes are too extensive for justice to be done in these weekly columns. Because many new house lot owners would be as ignorant as me, I would suggest that time be found to peruse them

– in depth. Although one can rightfully argue that the lack of enforcement and monitoring by the NDCs, banks, insurance companies and other authorities, leave a lot to be desired as far as the insistence on quality is concerned, not knowing the regulations is worse yet. We just can’t leave it to the Ministry of Housing or Cental Housing & Planning Authority anymore to handle the housing sector. As stakeholders, because it is our hard-earned monies being spent and borrowed,

education and lots of research is the only way to go for us to have a clear understanding of the intricacies. As we look at the Enforcement section this week, GNBS is saying that the standards were approved by the National Building Code Committee and the National Standards Council in 2005. In the formulation of this standard, Guyana would have looked at what prevails in the Caribbean, adapting information from the Barbados Building Act. According to GNBS, this standard was developed for

the establishing and enforcement of technical standards for buildings to ensure that they are safe and have means of escape from a possible fire. This particular code also calls for the registration of building practitioners and building review consultants, the regulation of building matters, the granting of building and occupancy permits and the establishing of a building appeal process. The idea of the enforcement code was to establish, maintain and improve building standards, and facilitate the adoption and efficient application of uniform building standards, GNBS says. One part that I liked is the encouragement to adopt uniform acceptance of building products, construction methods, building designs, building components and building

systems. The codes were geared to maintain, enhance and improve the safety, health and amenity of persons using buildings, including adequate provisions for persons with disabilities. Buildings will also have to be constructed in a manner to ensure that they are environmentally efficient. Another critical part of the enforcement standards pertains to permits. The codes were supposed to ensure measures are in place to provide an efficient and effective system for granting building permits, administering building matters and resolving building disputes and reform aspects of the law relating to legal liability of regulatory agencies. The codes also looked at education for practitioners, and I suppose this includes contractors, to facilitate uniformity in the education. This means training and qualifications of building practitioners and the recognition of qualifications. The code was also expected to facilitate the introduction of cost-effective methods for constructing buildings, all leading to a more efficient and competitive building industry. Now, I have written of a mouthful. I want to stop here and reiterate that this particular enforcement code has been in place since 2005. We may now have to push for authorities to implement them. No need for us to have laws and they can’t be enforced. We would be wasting time as a country. Enjoy the weekend and continue sending those comments and tips to gildarie@yahoo.com or call weekdays on 225-8491.

Daylight robberies are going to become prevalent. A group of young men will attack a number of small businesses in the city. One of the attacks would occur no less than 200 metres from a police patrol. There is going to be a quick reaction, but traffic will hinder the police even as the motorcycle bandits find it extremely easy to escape. ** There is going to be another drowning and this would be caused by carelessness. People simply do not assume that everyone by the water edge is a swimmer. This mistake is going to spark an investigation into murder. As fate would have it, people would withhold basic

information until the relatives of the victim solicit an eyewitness account. ** A mother is going to abandon her children and once more the social services would intervene. The problem is that the mother would turn up dead and this would sway public opinion for a while. When the story unravels the public reaction would be another matter.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 27

My column

It is easy to be confused in Guyana There was a lot of confusion this past week. For one, there was the problem with the ruling of the Chief Justice over whether the parliamentary opposition could slash the budget. Back in 2012, the opposition found that they really could not support allocations to certain things proposed by the government. One of them was the Government Information Agency (GINA) and the other, the National Communications Network (NCN). The vote against GINA and NCN had to do with the perception that the nation was paying for a pro-government service, instead of one that catered for the needs of everyone. But from as far back as I could remember, the government-owned news agencies all tended to favour the government. Therefore, NCN and GINA were doing what they thought was in their best interest, and in keeping with expectations. The truth is that back then when they served the government they were serving the majority of the people. This time there is a minority government. The opposition thought that these agencies should also cater for the

majority of the population, which at this time, is represented by the opposition. So the opposition cut their allocations and proceeded to cut other aspects of the budget. Needless to say, the government protested and took the matter to court. Things get confusing after this because with the parliament being an independent pillar of the constitution, then there was no way any other pillar could intercede. But the courts said that it could and it ruled. This ruling has been the most criticized in recent times. One view is that the court should not decide what happens within the walls of parliament, because this is not the case in any other country with the Westminster system of government. Another view is that the Chief Justice misinterpreted the constitution and therefore his ruling is flawed. The Chief Justice is contending that the National Assembly cannot interfere with the Finance Minister’s budget. Cutting or modifications could be made within the Committee of

Supply. But even that is seen as being denied by the Chief Justice. The opposition feels that if it believes that too much money is allocated for a particular subject, then it should be allowed to cut rather than vote down an entire project which may be good for the nation. The confusion continues. The opposition parties say that they will appeal the decision, but the Speaker wants the House to examine the issue before there is an appeal. I feel that there is going to be even more problems, because in the Committee of Supply when the opposition parties make their amendments, the Minister may very well ignore them. This is where things would get technical; unless the opposition is satisfied it would have to vote against the entire budget, forcing national elections. The jury is still out, but I would have expected the government to make a strong effort to involve the opposition for talks on the budget, but this is not happening. The other bit of confusion arose from a publication on the

Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill. The vote on this Bill is likely to be taken tomorrow, but for a few months the view was that the Bill would be consigned to the garbage pile. One newspaper reported that the government had completed deliberations on the Bill in the absence of the opposition. At a press conference hosted by A Partnership for National Unity, attorney at law Basil Williams accused the government of doing everything to preserve its control over everything in Guyana. Commenting on the invitation by the government for a meeting later that day, Williams said that it would be an exercise in time-wasting to attend. It turned out that the discussions on the Bill had not been closed and that the opposition still had a chance to insert the modifications they wanted from the outset. I now hear that things are going smoothly between the government and the opposition, and there is the distinct possibility that the opposition may vote for the passage of the Bill. Some time back, I was

angry when the Bill was not passed first time around. I was worried about the sanctions against my country. I was attacked. People accused me of falling for the government’s scare tactics; that nothing like withholding of remittances and the like would happen. My friends were and are wrong. One friend tried to send money to Guyana from Canada and failed; others spoke of the same thing. My sisters spoke of the problems they would have if they had to send any money for me. Mr Glenn Lall had problems sending money to Trinidad and Tobago to pay for a shipment of printing ink. I did notice that when I go to the bank to either make a deposit or a withdrawal, I have to present some form of identification. I never had to present identification when making a deposit before. Guyana has gone through

Adam Harris enough these past years. People in the region look on us as those we have the plague, because we are a people running away from a dysfunctional society; a bunch of thieves and forgers and everything bad. They criticize us for the rampant corruption that is now so commonplace in Guyana and we have a society where young boys now easily turn to a life of crime. Anything more would simply make us all want to pack up and leave.

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Brute force and indifference By Dominic Gaskin, AFC Treasurer Most Guyanese by now are familiar with the story of Colwyn Harding, the young man who was violently and disgustingly abused by officers of the Guyana Police Force, two months ago. Most Guyanese, even though outraged, would not have been surprised by the fact that a fellow citizen could have been so savagely mistreated by those responsible for the safety and protection of our people. This is hardly the first time that we’ve been treated to such graphic descriptions of violent excesses carried out by our police officers against members of the public. We live in a society where police brutality is not uncommon,

yet we choose to do nothing about it because most of us would rather ‘live good’ with the police, and are willing to turn a blind eye to the unacceptable and inhumane practices of these agents of the State. What this says about civil society in Guyana is not the main issue here, but it is worth noting that collectively we do have the power to arrest this monster by making it clear that we will no longer accept the situation that exists. If we choose not to exercise this power, then we cannot expect to enjoy the benefits of a modern and professional police force anytime soon. Can we afford to deny ourselves this opportunity? But this goes way beyond the responsibilities of the citizenry to address this issue. The Government of Guyana

must take full responsibility for a police force that is now out of control. Most Guyanese can tell tales about unsavoury interactions with police officers. It is an open secret that drivers’ licences are routinely acquired for a fee. Traffic cops are ‘drawing down’ daily from the nation’s road users. The Minister of Home Affairs is either asleep at the wheel or in a state of denial when it comes to the most important agency under his watch. He also clearly has no idea how a modern police force should function. He seems particularly unaware of the nexus between public confidence and effective policing. He has learnt little from his experiences in the National Assembly. Minister Rohee’s shortcomings should not be allowed to blight the entire nation.

Guyana has an Executive President who ought to be astute enough to assess the performance of his ministers and replace those who are not achieving the results targeted by his government. Perhaps he has set low targets for the safety and security of his citizens and finds his Minister’s performance satisfactory? Or perhaps he too is unaware that, without public confidence, the police force cannot function effectively? Surely he doesn’t think that the Guyana Police Force enjoys the confidence of the public. There are some other troubling features of this incident which do little to inspire confidence in our public institutions. The abuse of Colwyn Harding began in a private dwelling, in the presence of at least three police officers. It continued in a police outpost and then for some time in a police station, where one assumes a chain of command exists and information is exchanged and records kept. It would appear that there are no measures in place to capture any mistreatment of those held in custody at either of these places. Why would any Officerin-Charge not wish to be assured that all is well in the station for which he has responsibility? Unless, as many suspect, there is some tacit understanding that physical punishment of prisoners at the whims of police ranks is okay. It is not. That is not the role of the

police in a civilized society; and at this point we need to question whether we consider ourselves a civilized society. During his ordeal, Mr. Harding also appeared before a magistrate, spent some time in a prison infirmary, saw a doctor and received treatment at a public hospital. Given our understanding of human nature, it is not unreasonable to assume that a young man charged with assaulting a police officer would become the focus of some retaliation while in custody. It is therefore astounding that, all along the way, so little attention was paid to his wellbeing. Have our magistrates become so hardened that they no longer pay attention to the condition of prisoners appearing before them? Is there a special arrangement between the medical profession and the police force that allows doctors to treat prisoners for injuries without enquiring how those injuries were sustained? The public will recall the incident a few years ago where a medical doctor examined and treated a hooded teenager with mutilated genitals who was in the custody of the police, and seemed to think this was quite normal. Abuses of citizens by police occur in all societies with varying frequencies. The more advanced the society, the greater the likelihood that these abuses will be picked up by internal mechanisms

Dominic Gaskin designed to protect the rights of citizens. Guyana has a long way to go in this regard and so for now the trick is: do not get arrested. The AFC has condemned the brutal treatment of Mr. Harding by the Guyana Police Force from the moment it came to the public’s attention. The President of Guyana seems reluctant to show any outrage, preferring to await the outcome of investigations. He has, nevertheless, condemned the manner in which some sections of the media have reported the incident. He has also expressed his reservations about the claims being made by Mr. Harding. None of his utterances on this matter are reassuring to a public that has good reason to believe that our Police Force is in dire need of reform.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Book Review: Critic: Dr. Glenville Ashby “Soaring into Magnificence” delivers an existential hardware that reverberates on several levels. It details the travails and woes of a cancer victim while showcasing the resilience and indefatigability of the human spirit. This is a work presented through the prism of both the fallen victim and her husband, Hilary Kincaid. Kincaid pens an emotive work, a wrenching experience with all the tone, atmosphere and colour to tug at the sensibilities of readers. This is no easy undertaking, but the author reaches deep and with palpable passionate recounts the initial alarm, up to the final stage of a battle that cut down a woman in the prime of her life, and left a gaping wound from which he is yet to recover. Kincaid’s presentation is incisive and unfiltered. His candour is stark. This is work that arguably borders on hagiography. “Ruth cared and loved so much that she went to great lengths to protect me from the full magnitude and implications of her illness. She minimised, she disguised and she forewarned. As this woman of substance went out of the way to shelter me; she did the same for friends and siblings and close friends. I think that this appealed to her sense of nobility, and her Christian ethos of self sacrifice,” reads Kincaid’s encomium. Some may find it disconcerting but Kincaid would have it no other way. He lived through the experience, the pain and her eviscerating death. Only he can understand, and rightly, only he knows her valiant effort, her steely will and her spiritual depth. But to view this as a recollection of cancer ’s scourge is a huge misstep and the loss of an opportunity to engage in philosophical and theological polemics. This is the far-reaching implication of “Soaring into Magnificence.” What is faith? Does God really answer prayers? If so, why aren’t the supplications of the suffering answered? Is surrendering to the will of God tantamount to fatalism? Why do the faithful suffer despite a supposed close connection to the divine? Are we victims of misguided faith? Such are the questions that Kincaid’s work provokes. Such are the questions that are likely to draw a clear line in the proverbial sand. “Soaring’ provides fodder for atheists and agnostics, as it does for the faithful.

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Timeless lessons on Dying, Death and Fate Book: Soaring into Magnificence - Cancer: From Illness to Holiness by Hilary Kincaid Of Ruth’s battle, Kincaid is vividly and jarringly descriptive: “She had to lean on me in a slow walk to move from bed to bathroom; it was negligible distance of twelve to fifteen feet, but a daily marathon and testing of the fibres of her tenacity. Many times in those shuffling walks, I felt her heaviness and wondered how far away was she from collapse and the hard ground.” He pens, further, “Ruth and I decided that we would live - or at least try to live as normal, but with heavier emphasis on faith building exercises, reliance on God, and submission to His will, even when it was the most difficult thing to do...For Ruth it was life as usual.” Kincaid sees miracles in occurrences we take for granted. Weather conditions that eased their gruelling visit for chemotherapy, or a nonproblematic, effortless egress through Guyana’s airport at a time when Ruth’s strength and mobility were severely compromised. Even the seemingly inconsequential is now loaded with meaning. Of the airport experience he recounts, “Ruth hobbled her jaded way slowly towards immigration and miracle of miracles we were through in less than five minutes. This has never happened before in over thirty years of passing through that cumbersome checkpoint.” He later writes: “…though I never stopped praying all the way to the end, I knew Ruth had her fair share of miracles, more than her share. Therefore to pray for more would be selfish, greedy; perhaps even crudely demanding.” Ruth’s suffering transformed her husband. It made him a believer, a thinker. There is virtue and redemption in suffering. And awaiting the believer after death is a divine mead. It’s a philosophy embraced by many faith. Kincaid was clinging to every iota of this teaching. Ruth had long believed that much. Sure, we are all aware of life’s curve balls, its vicissitudes and unpredictability.

Ruth acceptance of God will is stirring. “Thy will be done,” - an excerpt from the Lord’s prayer is a reminder that we shouldn’t attempt to swim against the current; that we cannot abrogate Nature Law but rather act in concert with it. Ruth was special because she danced delicately, almost perfectly between fate and self -preservation. Ruth’s indissoluble belief in Christian eschatology and its soteriological teachings brought a sense of tranquility, a “shekinah” in the face of momentous dread. Her gratitude for life with its paradoxes - of bounty and scarcity; of health and illness; of hope and despair; and of joy and sadness, is also worth examining. Despite his loss, Kincaid work oozes with appreciation for the professionals, family members, and friends who

cared. For sure, Ruth taught him much grace, humility and strength. Ruth’s inspiring story has taught us timeless lessons, notwithstanding our religious and philosophical differences. Her paragon of calm and selfassurance is testament to an indomitable portion of us that is mystical, almost ineffable. Some call it the soul. To others, it’s the spirit. But semantics will not alter its uniquely luminous quality. Would that we all tap into that reservoir of towering love and strength? Ruth did, undoubtedly. Soaring into Magnificence Cancer: From Illness to Holiness by Hilary Kincaid Publisher: Publish America, Baltimore, USA ISBN 978 -1-4560-8393-9 Available: amazon.com Rating: Highly recommended

The book cover of Soaring into Magnificence

Page 30

SUNDAY SPECIAL BUDGET CUTS SAGA…CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS LOOMS IF CHIEF JUSTICE’S DECISION IS TO BE APPLIED A constitutional crisis is looming and it is a by-product of the recent decision by the Chief Justice (Ag) Ian Chang on the contentious budget cuts case, says Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman. The Parliamentary Opposition had made several cuts to the 2012 and 2013 budgets. The Chief Justice ruled that in keeping with the Constitution, the Opposition action was “unlawful.” Chang ruled that in keeping with the Constitution, the Opposition can either approve or disapprove of the Budget in its entirety. And considering that there were no consultations on the budget between government and the opposition, the possibility of a ‘disapproval’ is not a farfetched conclusion. And therein, it was opined, lies the crisis. If the budget is not approved then it could mean elections. Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, explained that he is of the belief that the CJ’s ruling on the case is “flawed.” This position was upheld by the Leader of the Political Opposition faction, A Partnership for National Unity, Brigadier(ret’d) David Granger. The decision handed down by the CJ specifically states that under the Constitution the Opposition does not have the power to cut the government’s budget. He ruled that the role of fashioning the budget is vested in that of the Executive, more specifically, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh. Chang explained that if the amendments are made to the estimates of the budget prepared by the Minister and then approved, it is no longer the budget of the Minister, but that of the Assembly. HOUSEWIFE’S BOUND BODY FOUND IN AGRICOLAYARD – SUSPECTARRESTED - BRITISH-BASED SURVIVOR IDENTIFIES FEMALE INTRUDER AFTER JUMPING THROUGH WINDOW Police detained a female member of the Guyana Defence Force in connection with the brutal murder of 55year-old housewife, Donna Taylor, whose bound body was found at the back of her Lot 16-17 Agricola home shortly after midnight on Saturday last. The 22-year-old army rank was treated as a

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Murdered: Donna Taylor prime suspect after a Britishbased woman, who survived the attack, identified her as one of the individuals who forced their way into the residence. Police said a pair of the suspect’s pants appeared to have traces of blood and the garments were to be examined by ranks from the Force’s forensics department. The woman in custody is the girlfriend of one of the slain woman’s sons. Taylor ’s hands were bound behind her back, her throat was slit, and a piece of cloth was wrapped around her neck. Reports indicate that the mother of four was attacked in her bed around 23:00 hrs on Friday and slain after she was dragged to her backyard. Samantha Sabat, a 26-year-old British-based citizen who was a guest of the Taylors, escaped by removing the panes from her bedroom window and jumping to the ground from the top flat of the two-storey structure. She was found lying unconscious in the front yard. MONDAY EDITION FEMALE SOLDIER TO FACE MURDER CHARGE A 22-year-old female soldier is likely to be charged with murder within a matter of days, as detectives continue to amass evidence linking her to the murder of 55-year-old Donna Taylor, whose bound corpse was found in her Agricola backyard. Police already have a statement from the slain woman’s Britishbased guest, Samantha Sabat, in which she identified the Guyana Defence Force rank as one of the individuals who invaded Taylor’s home. Sabat reportedly told investigators that the woman had tried to clamber over her bedroom wall, while a man, whom she had not seen, had repeatedly ordered her to open her bedroom door. The British-based woman escaped the attack by clambering through her bedroom window and jumping to the ground. It is believed that she sustained a

Rice helped buoy the economy last year but it may not be enough to sustain it at the same level this year, IDB says

fractured arm and facial and other injuries. According to sources, detectives have also spoken with some residents who claimed that they spotted the army rank in the area around the time that the attack on Mrs. Taylor occurred. The suspect reportedly told police that she was at home. Police are treating the killing as a crime of passion, since they believe that the suspect, who is the girlfriend of Mrs. Taylor’s son, committed the act out of jealousy. The Taylors’ guest, Samantha Sabat, is believed to have been the main target. ROBESON BENN DEFENDS NICIL’S LEAD ON NEW DEMERARA BRIDGE …CONFIRMS GOVT. WILLHAVE TOACQUIRE PRIVATELY OWNED LANDS ON E.B.D. Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, has defended the role of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) in the construction of a new bridge across the Demerara

River. Benn was this past week asked why Government did not proceed with the project by itself and according to the Minister it is a case of the funds not being available. He said that since government did not have the funds to go ahead with the project by itself, it decided to partner with entrepreneurial firms to invest in it. Benn noted too that government will be investing partially in the project, but at the time could not put a dollar figure to it. As it relates to NICIL, he said that this is the company which deals with Public Private Partnerships. According to Benn, whenever a vehicle is being created to establish an asset, it is NICIL that has to take the lead. He said that at present, the administration is in possession of a number of proposals for the construction of the new bridge and that these will be vetted in order to identify which is the best one to proceed with. Benn said that when the new bridge is completed, the current Demerara Harbour Bridge will

be relocated. He suggested that it can be relocated to the Kurupakari or Puruni rivers or whichever other location is chosen. The Minister confirmed too that on the eastern bank of the Demerara River, where the bridge will land, Government will have to acquire some of the privatelyowned land. TUESDAY EDITION CHINALIKELYTO FUND GUYANA-SURINAME BRIDGE China is likely to fund the bridge across the Corentyne River, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn RodriguesBirkett announced Monday. She said that the design for the bridge is currently being done, and is expected to be completed soon. She said Suriname had requested that Guyana approach China to fund the bridge. This followed a June 2013 announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his government will offer US$3 billion in loans to 10 Caribbean nations, including Guyana. The idea for the bridge was

developed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Surinamese President Desi Bouterse, when the latter visited Guyana in September 2010. Rodrigues-Birkett said she could not estimate the cost of the bridge. There is currently a ferry service operating for travel between the two countries, but many use the backtrack route to travel between the two countries, using speedboats. FISHERMEN BODIES FOUND AT WEST COAST FORESHORE The bodies of two fishermen were on Monday morning recovered from the De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara foreshore, effectively confirming the worst fears of their family members. The two men, 47year-old Sahadeo Bhagwandat known as ‘Jango’ and 46-year-old Ramdeo Sijogie known as ‘Bobby’, were reported missing since Saturday after the two ventured to the foreshore to ‘set’ seine (Continued on page 41)

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 31

Torturers are “the common enemies of all mankind.” The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration has failed to convene a single commission of inquiry into reports of torture during its entire tenure of office. The Government of Guyana, despite its ratification of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1988 and despite well-publicised cases of torture, seems to be indifferent to recurring reports of the crime of torture involving members of the defence and security forces. Evidence of the PPPC mindset emerged when the matter was debated in the National Assembly on 28th October 2008. The PPPC administration unintelligently sought to justify the unjustifiable by coining the euphemistic doublespeak of “roughing up”. A PPPC Minister announced that the claims by some of the alleged victims had been found to be “false.” He then added that an internal military investigation had found cases of “roughing up.” He then tried to justify the actions taken by suggesting

that, in the light of the “new face of criminality,” the security forces would use “a certain amount of physical and mental pressure” in order to get information, while insisting that such measures did not fit the definition of torture. The term “torture,” under Article 1 of the Convention, means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. The Convention instructs, further: “States are to ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law, including complicity or participation in torture. International law places an

obligation on states to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish torture and other ill-treatment. The obligation to prosecute torture includes those who are complicit as well as to those who directly participate in torture, as well as those responsible in the “chain of command.” The crime of torture was the subject of a significant ruling by the British House of Lords in 1999 in the case of General Augusto Pinochet who was the Head of State of Chile from 11th September 1973 until 11th March 1990. It had been alleged that, during that period, various crimes against humanity (torture, hostage taking and murder) were committed in Chile for which General Pinochet was “knowingly responsible.” According to the House of Lords: “The jus cogens nature of the international crime of torture [that is, a fundamental principle of international law that is accepted by the international community of states as a norm from which no derogation is permitted] justifies states in taking

universal jurisdiction over torture wherever committed. International law provides that offences jus cogens may be punished by any state because the offenders are “common enemies of all mankind and all nations have an equal interest in their apprehension and prosecution.” As a crime of a “universal jurisdiction,” therefore, those who order or carry out such acts can be prosecuted anywhere in the world, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or perpetrator. No one can claim exemption from this because of his or her official capacity. There is no statute of limitations for such crimes under international law. There is abundant evidence that the crime of torture has been committed repeatedly in Guyana. Patrick Sumner and Victor Jones were arrested by members of the police and defence forces in September 2007. They were taken to Defence Force headquarters, Police Force headquarters then to another

military camp where they said they were tortured. Michael Dunn, Sharth Robertson and Alvin Wilson – three defence force soldiers – complained that they had been tortured by being beaten, cuffed, kicked, shocked, and struck with metal objects, between November and December 2007, in a military camp. David Leander was arrested in November 2007. He was so badly injured that he was unable to walk and could hardly speak and had to be hoisted into the Magistrates’ Court to answer charges of attempted murder and possession of narcotics. Twyon Thomas was arrested in October 2007 on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Ramenauth Bisram, a People’s Progressive Party stalwart and former Vice-Chairman of the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region. The boy was taken to the La Grange Police station and thence to the Leonora Police Station where he was beaten and burnt. Colwyn

Harding, most recently, was arrested in November 2013. He accused a policeman at the Timehri Police Station of sodomising him with a baton. Harding suffered severe intestinal injuries. Guyana, as a signatory to the Convention, is obliged to “take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.” No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, in t e r n a l political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture and “An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.” The PPPC administration should heed the counsel of former British Chief of Defence Staff General Lord Guthrie on this subject who said: “Torture is not only illegal, unethical, ineffective, cruel and counter-productive, it is also dumb.”

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

US$150M CJIA expansion…

Yarrowkabra coal-burners protest related sand pit operations Residents of a Soesdyke/ Linden highway community are gearing up for protest action, claiming that their main source of income – coalburning – is increasingly under threat. Yarrowkabra, a community of 2000 persons, has since complained to Parliament’s Opposition - A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change - and it is expected both will take a position this week. At the centre of the issue is a decision to grant contractor, B.K. International, a concession to carry out sand mining last year not far away from a spot where almost 100 persons from the community would work, taking pieces of wood from a nearby operation and turning them into coal. The residents have been using the land for approximately 15 to 20 years now, outside the facility of what was once the glass factory. It is this same land that has been allotted for sand mining purposes. Following protests last year that ended up in front of the Brickdam offices of Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud, and the Guyana

Geology and Mines Commission, the matter had died down and there was no activity until three weeks ago when trucks came in and excavators started to load sand onto them. The coal-burners are part of an association numbering 50 persons. They too have been applying for years now for the land. According to AFC executive member Michael Carrington, who is himself a resident of Yarrowkabra, the coal-burners have complained to him. He explained that last year, the contractor was granted the environmental clearance for the concession to mine sand for the US$150M Timehri airport expansion. “The residents are objecting to the fact that the sand pit is currently a few hundred feet from where they are operating. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes will be needed for the airport and eventually the pit will have to be extended. I am personally of the belief that the area given to BK should be left for an industrial site development. It was always in the works for that.” Another issue that Carrington has is the fact that

the road that the contractor will use to transport the sand is the main one linking the Soesdyke/Linden highway to the airport. “We are saying that there are other sites along the highway that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission could have given to BK (the contractor) for a sand pit. Another issue is that the pit is too close to the road. You cannot dig sand and leave a big pit next to the road…that will damage it.” The AFC executive made it clear that not much consultation was held before the decision for the concession. “There was a meeting on the environmental permit and it ended almost in a fight. We had asked the Natural Resources Minister to visit, but he never came.” The coal-burners, who use the scrap pieces of wood from the nearby Bulkans’ sawmill and shingle business for the coals, said that after noticing that the new sand pit was opened and had started operations, they visited the offices of the Natural Resources Minister over a week ago where a senior official indicated that there is

The sand pit operated by BK International. In the background is the Bulkans’ wood facility with the coal burners’ operations located just adjacent to it.

Coal burners of Yarrowkabra are worried about their future after operations started at a sand pit not far away. nothing that can be done now, as the contractor had acquired the land legally. “He suggested that we visit BK. There we were told that they will not trouble us. But we have been applying for years now for the same land and now we don’t know what will happen next.”

The land that BK has starts from the fence of the Bulkans’ facility, and this is another serious concern expressed by the coalburners who are worried about the foundation and the nearby water tower which could collapse. Philip Cummings, one of

the coal-burners who have been operating there for years, said that the association has a forestry concession. “We have applied for this land to help us with storage, but there is no word. Yet we are now being threatened.” Many of the residents and coal-burners remain fearful of being thrown off the land. Shondel Hope, a regional councillor for APNU, visited the area and said that decision for the sand pit is huge shame as the coal-burners are inclusive of about 40% women, many of them single parents. “They told me that they have applied for this very land. GGMC and Lands and Surveys keep turning them down. Yarrowkabra is a community that depends heavily on this operation for money. How can they start over? It is the main economic base. There are children and senior citizens who depend on what is happening here for a living.” Hope, who will be reporting to APNU’s leadership on the issue, says that the Opposition faction is expected to come out with a statement shortly.

Sunday February 09, 2014

From page 30 intended to catch fish. The men’s bodies were found tangled in the very seine that they had set days earlier. Both bodies bore signs of decomposition. Bhagwandat, a father of four, and husband to Rajkumarie Bhagwandat for the past 22 years, resided at Lot 8 Rail View, West MetenMeer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, while Sijogie lived a short distance away at Lot 188 Meten-Meer-Zorg, with his two brothers. Family members, close friends and other residents of the area braved the inclement weather Monday morning to catch a glimpse of undertakers removing the bodies from the foreshore. With saddened demeanours some were heard speculating whether the men could have met their demise after becoming trapped in the seine. There were even questions asked as to whether the men could have been drunk when they were engaged in their seine-setting activities. Bhagwandat’s only son, Nankumar, had, along with other residents, formed a search party to find the men after they went missing on Saturday. The distraught young man told this publication Monday that his father had been a fisherman for several years and had never encountered trouble before. WEDNESDAY EDITION GOLD PRICES, SUGAR SLUMP WILL LOWER GUYANA’S GROWTH THIS YEAR – IDB A slump in gold prices and poor performance from the sugar sector will see Guyana facing major downside risks to its growth momentum, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has said. In its Caribbean Region Quarterly Bulletin issued last month, the bilateral lending agency said that this will lead to a lower growth forecast for 2014 at 4.3 percent. This will be below the 4.8 percent growth recorded last year. Energy cost also remains a big worry for Guyana. “Further downside risks may stem from lagging investments in productive infrastructure, especially roads, ports and electricity; as the economy’s competitiveness and capacity to diversify are stymied by high energy costs, limited electrical generation capacity and poor quality of electricity service.” During the year, lower gold prices and weak output from sugar prompted authorities to lower the growth forecast from 5.3

Kaieteur News

Page 41

A section of the attendees at the opening of the Engineering conference

President: Donald Ramotar percent to 4.8 percent. “However, the economy remained well positioned for sustained economic expansion as growth continued to be broad-based and buoyed by the vibrant construction, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing sectors.” The IDB noted that the struggling sugar industry still weighs heavily on Guyana’s overall economic performance. “During the first half of 2013, non sugar economic growth plateaued at 6.0 percent, while the sugar sector diminished by 32.5 percent.” CORENTYNE RIVER BRIDGE… SURINAME, CHINATO ARRANGE FINANCING …GUYANATO BUILD APPROACH ROAD The New River Bridge across the Corentyne River to be funded by the Chinese will be done through an arrangement between Suriname and China, not Guyana. This is according to Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who on Tuesday said that the financial affairs of the project are being negotiated between the two countries and as such, she would not be able to say if it would be a loan or a grant. She did point out that the money would be coming from the US$3 billion in loans to 10 Caribbean nations, including Guyana, that was announced by Chinese President, Xi Jinping. Regarding local input into the project, she said that Guyana will only be required to build an approach road to the bridge. The Minister was unable to say exactly where this would be located as more than one location is being looked at. She said that in finalizing a location, a number of factors will have to be addressed, such as the flow of water. The announcement of the likelihood of a bridge across the Corentyne River, to be funded by China, came on

Monday last when Minister Rodrigues-Birkett held an engagement with the media. She said that the design for the bridge is currently being done, and is expected to be completed soon. She said Suriname had initially requested that Guyana approach China to fund the bridge. THURSDAY EDITION GOVERNMENT INCITING PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST OPPOSITION – HARMON “A misuse of state funds to launch an attack on its own citizens by inciting violence,” were the words used to describe the fact that Office of the President, has been funding full-page advertisements in the daily newspapers calling on Guyanese to “Let us stop the opposition from destroying Guyana now.” A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian, Joseph Harmon, on Wednesday said that it has been brought to the attention of the Opposition that it is in fact the Office of the President that is funding the campaign against them. The advertisement calls on citizens to “stop the opposition from holding Guyana at ransom! Stop the opposition from protecting money launderers, criminals, and terrorists.” According to Harmon, the amendments to the Bill have not even been voted on as yet and the Opposition Leader, David Granger, has already signaled to the President that support for the Bill is conditional, in that he (the President) would have to support the Opposition Bills already approved. Harmon said that for the Office of the President to call on citizens to stop the

Opposition, not by the ballot, can only mean a provocation of violence. He said that Opposition members are now insecure. “They are inciting violence against the Opposition; this is a clear provocation.” Female soldier charged with Agricola housewife’s murder A female rank of the Guyana Defence Force was brought before the courts charged with killing a 55-yearold woman whose body was reportedly found in her backyard. Abiola Jacobs, 22, was on Wednesday morning whisked before Chief Magistrate Priya SewnarineBeharry to be indicted five days after the alleged murder. When Jacobs arrived at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in her black skirt and lime-green flowered shirt, she was soon crowded by family members who, with media personnel, followed her all the way to the courtroom. Like a soldier, Jacobs stood in the prisoners’ dock with her hands held tightly behind her back and faced the presiding Magistrate, sparing the media one teary-eyed glance. “Abiola Jacobs, it is alleged that on January 31, at Agricola in the Georgetown Magisterial District, in the county of Demerara, in the State of Guyana you murdered Donna Taylor,” the Magistrate read. Soon after Jacobs was instructed that she was not required to plead as the charge was deemed indictable. The Prosecution is being represented by Inspector Michael Grant, who informed the court that investigations are not yet complete. Jacobs’s court hearing concluded in about three minutes when the Magistrate informed her that

Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett she was remanded and is expected to be in court on February 26 for report and fixtures. FRIDAY EDITION RAMOTAR LAMENTS INEFFICIENT SUPERVISION OF PROJECTS New infrastructure projects are needed to accelerate and sustain growth to ensure Guyana is not left behind while the world is moving ahead. But critical to this is relevant education and training of the human capital. This notion was expressed Thursday by President Donald Ramotar, as he

APNU’s Joseph Harmon lamented the need for efficient supervision of Public Works projects. He was at the time delivering the feature address at the Fourth Ministry of Public Works Engineering Conference held at the Guyana International Conference Centre. Ramotar emphasised that Guyana needs new infrastructure to continue the process of economic growth which has occurred over the past years. These projects, he noted, must take into consideration what is happening internationally and regionally to ensure Guyana is able to be part of international trade.

Page 42

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

What you need to know about Diabetes Dr. Kumar Sukhraj BSC, MBBS. When a person finds out that he or she is diagnosed with diabetes, it must be very upsetting. People who don’t know much about diabetes may ask the question, “What is it?” The word diabetes may have reminded you of a family member or friend who became blind or lost a leg because of diabetes; or of someone working with you who has to watch what he eats because of diabetes; or a cricket friend who has diabetes, but is still the best player on your team. So it is common for the following questions to be asked: “What is diabetes?” “What causes diabetes?” “How can I know if I have diabetes?” “Will it go away?” Can I still do the things I enjoy doing?” “Can I still keep my job?” “What lies ahead?” etc. Whatever your thoughts are, it’s only natural to have a lot of questions. Diabetes is a serious illness and there is no cure, however it is manageable and once it is controlled, people living with diabetes have a normal life ahead. Taking care of your diabetes will not always be easy, and you should strictly follow the instruction of your health care provider and then you are on the way to challenging your illness. WHAT IS DIABETES? Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is a metabolic

Dr. Kumar Sukhra disorder. Metabolism refers to the way our bodies use digested food for energy and growth. Most of the food (carbohydrates) that we eat is broken down into smaller units called glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar in the blood and it is the main source of fuel for our bodies. After digestion of food, the glucose gets down into the bloodstream. Our cells use the glucose for energy and growth. However, glucose cannot enter our cells without insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas) being present. Insulin makes it possible for the cells of our body to take in the glucose and utilize it. After we take a meal, the pancreas automatically

releases an adequate amount of insulin to move the glucose present in our blood into the cells and as soon as glucose enters the cells the amount of glucose in our blood drops. For a person with diabetes, the quantity of glucose in the blood is too high, because the body does not produce enough insulin and/or has cells that do not respond to insulin produced by the pancreas (type two diabetes), or produces no insulin (type one diabetes). As a result there is too much glucose building up in the blood. This excess blood glucose eventually passes out of the body in urine. So, even though the blood has plenty of glucose, the cells are not getting it for their essential energy and growth requirements. HOW CAN I KNOW IF I HAVE DIABETES? SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS People can often have diabetes and be completely unaware. The main reason for this is that the symptoms, when seen on their own, seem harmless. However, the earlier a person is diagnosed with diabetes, the greater the chances are that serious complications, which can result from having diabetes, can be avoided. Many of the signs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are similar. In both, there is too much glucose in the blood and not enough in the cells

of your body.Sometimes there may be no signs and people may be living with diabetes for many years and only seek medical help when a complication occurs. Some of the signs commonly experienced include: · Frequent urination- Are you visiting the bathroom much more lately? Does it seem like you urinate all day long? Urination becomes more frequent when there is too much glucose in the blood. · Excessive thirst - If it feels like you can’t get enough water and you’re drinking much more than usual, it could be a sign of diabetes, especially if it seems to go hand in hand with frequent urination. If your body is pulling extra water out of your blood and you’re running to the bathroom more, you will become dehydrated and feel the need to drink more to replace the water that you are losing. ·Increased hunger – you may tend to eat more than usual. ·Weight loss - The body desperately looks for an energy source because the cells aren’t getting enough glucose. It starts to break down muscle tissue and fat for energy and as such you may lose body mass. ·Tiredness, weakness and lack of interest and concentration - When the insulin isn’t there or if the

cells don’t react to it anymore, then the glucose stays outside the cells in the bloodstream. The cells become energy starved and you feel tired and run down. · A tingling sensation or numbness in the hands or feet- This symptom is called neuropathy. It occurs gradually over time as consistently high glucose in the blood damages the nervous system, particularly in the extremities.Nerve damage can creep up without our knowledge. · Blurred vision, skin that is dry or itchy, frequent infections or cuts and bruises that take a long time to heal, vomiting and stomach pain (often mistaken as the flu) are also signs that something many may take for granted. When these signs are associated with diabetes, they are the result of high glucose levels in the body. In addition to the above mentioned signs and symptoms, diabetes can be diagnosed or confirmed with the following tests from a medical laboratory. 1. Fasting plasma glucose level e” 7.0 mmol/l (126 mg/dl) (this is the blood glucose reading after eight hours of fasting) 2. Plasma glucose e” 11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dL) two hours after a 75 g oral glucose load as in a glucose tolerance test 3. Symptoms of

hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) and casual blood glucose e” 11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dl) 4. G l y c a t e d hemoglobin (Hb A1C) e” 6.5%. (A lab test that shows the average level of blood sugar (glucose) over the previous 3 months. It shows how well you are controlling your diabetes). If you show these signs and symptoms and/or have any of the mentioned laboratory findings, you need to consult a health professional. He or she will be able to tell you if you have reason to be concerned about a diagnosis of diabetes. Please feel free to send an email to kumarsukhraj@yahoo.com or call 622-8032 for further enquiry and discussion on the topic. Patient education plays an important in the diagnosis and management of diabetes and any other illness. Please look forward for a continuation of the discussion on diabetes in the next publication. References: 1.Williams textbook of endocrinology (12th ed.). Philadelphia: Elsevier/ Saunders. pp. 1371–1435. 2.International Diabetes Federation. 17 March 2006. 3.Diabetes Care” January 2010". American Diabetes Association. Retrieved 2010-01-29.

Study links steroid Teens’ poor breakfast choices predict later health problems dependent asthma to depression Teenagers who didn’t eat a good breakfast were more likely to be obese and have elevated blood sugar in middle age, a new study shows. Researchers at Umea University in Sweden found that teens who reported eating no breakfast or only sweets were two-thirds more likely to develop a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease and diabetes when they were in their 40s than their peers who ate more substantial morning meals. “It may be that eating breakfast aids in keeping to a healthier diet the rest of the day,” the study’s lead author, Maria Wennberg, told Reuters Health in an email. Kids who miss breakfast experience hunger surges and tend to overeat later in the day, Dr. David Ludwig, a pediatrics and nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said. He was not involved in the current study.

Wennberg and her colleagues reviewed data from 889 people in Lulea, Sweden. In 1981, when they were 16 years old, the participants completed questionnaires about what they ate for breakfast on a single day. Researchers then examined them in 2008, when they were 43 years old, for metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors that

can lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke. They found that 27 percent had developed signs of the syndrome, according to the study published in Public Health Nutrition. Moreover, those who reported missing breakfast or eating a poor-quality one as a teenager were 68 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome in middle age.

People with severe asthma who rely on prednisone are more than three times more likely to be depressed than those with severe cases who don’t use prednisone and those with mild to moderate asthma, according to a new study from The Netherlands. Prednisone-dependent asthma patients “deserve” screening for depression and anxiety, the authors say, both to alleviate their suffering and possibly improve their physical health through mental health treatment. “There’s a wellestablished connection with asthma, as well as chronic illness in general, and higher reports of depression than the general population,” Dr. Rebecca Hashim told Reuters Health. Hashim, an attending psychologist at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, was not involved in the study. Prednisone is a steroid anti-inflammatory medication

used to treat asthma attacks, often among people with severe symptoms. Previous research has linked steroid use to depression and other mood problems. And links in both directions have been found between depression and the severity of asthma symptoms. To examine depression risk among asthma patients, Dr. Marijke Amelink, from the

department of Respiratory Medicine at the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Simone Hashimoto, of the Institute of Psychiatry at Leiden University in Leiden, recruited 187 patients. Among the patients, 67 had severe prednisonedependent asthma and 47 had severe non-prednisone dependent asthma.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Jay Leno ‘Tonight Show’ goodbye gets more viewers than first farewell

Jay Leno’s send-off as the host of NBC’s late-night talk show the “Tonight Show” drew 14.6 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said on Friday, topping the audience that bid adieu to the host when he left the show for the first time in 2009. Leno’s emotional farewell on Thursday was the comedian’s fourth-largest “Tonight Show” audience since he took the reins from Johnny Carson in 1992. The finale attracted the same number of viewers who tuned in to watch Leno interview U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009, in what was the first ever appearance of a sitting president on a latenight talk show. Carson, who led the show for 30 years, attracted 42 million viewers for his final show in 1992, in an era when broadcast television commanded far greater audiences than today. Viewership of the

“Tonight Show,” which has been the top-rated late night show under Leno’s guidance since 1995, was also helped on Thursday by NBC’s leadin coverage of the first day of Winter Olympics. Leno, 63, was given a starstudded good-bye with comedian-actor Billy Crystal as the featured guest and surprise appearances by Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Carol Burnett and Kim Kardashian, among others. Audiences during Leno’s final week rose to nearly 5 million per episode compared to the season average of 3.9 million. Guests on the show in the past week included actors Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, comedian Jimmy Fallon, former NBA basketball player Charles Barkley and musical performances from country singers Blake Shelton and Lyle Lovett.

Current “Late Night” host Fallon, 39, will take over for Leno on February 17 as Comcast Corp-owned NBC attempts to transition the show to the younger, under50 demographic most coveted by advertisers while keeping its grip atop the ratings. It is not known if Leno will pursue another show in television once his contract with NBC expires in September, but the comedian will tour his stand-up show as he has done in years past. O’BRIEN’S FINAL JAB Leno’s highest-rated show drew 22.4 million viewers in 1993, a year into his tenure, and was tied to the finale of the NBC comedy series “Cheers,” which was one of the most-watched TV episodes in U.S. history. Other notable episodes during Leno’s reign include his first telecast in 1992, which attracted 16.1 million viewers, and 15 million

Lawyers seek to protect Bieber’s ‘personal parts’ from media exposure Lawyers for pop star Justin Bieber are asking a judge to prevent semi-clad images of the teenage singer in Miami Beach police custody following his arrest last month, from being released to the media, according to a motion filed late on Friday. “While in custody at the Miami Beach police station the defendant was captured on videotape in various states of undress which show intimate personal parts of the defendant’s body,” the motion states, noting that the Florida constitution and state law prevent such images from being publicly disclosed. Bieber, 19, was charged with driving under

Justin Bieber influence, resisting arrest and using an expired license after police say they caught him allegedly drag racing on January 23. He has pleaded not guilty to the

charges. He also had marijuana and prescription medication for anxiety in his system at the time of his arrest, according to the state attorney’s office. One video of Bieber in police custody being patted down by and Miami Beach officer was already released to the media this week, the motion states, in violation of the law and prior to Bieber’s lawyers being notified of its existence. On Friday, Bieber’s Miami lawyers Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf, said they learned from the state attorney’s office that various news media outlets had filed public records requests for all videotape footage from Bieber’s time in detention.

Page 43

Google maps, free milk: play looks at women having it all

Can women have it all? This old issue is revisited by Gina Gionfriddo’s piercingly funny play “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” looking at the lives of three women from different generations and throwing in a love triangle for some added drama. After a well-received round in the United States in 2011, American Pulitzer Prize finalist Gionfriddo’s play opened at the Hampstead Theatre in London last week, directed by Peter DuBois. Critical reaction was mixed. The Guardian pointed out that “while the play asks pertinent questions about the dilemmas confronting women... it seems dismally reactionary in its conclusion that public fulfillment and private happiness are irreconcilable”. The Telegraph, on the other hand, called it a “highly intelligent play” with “winning humor and palpable humanity”. The plot revolves around three former grad-school friends in their 40s who reunite when Catherine, a glamorous, high-profile academic and author, leaves her high-flying New York lifestyle to return to her small hometown and care for her mother Alice, who has just suffered a heart attack. Living next door are her ex-boyfriend Don (Adam James) and his wife, the controlling stay-athome mother Gwen (Emma Fielding). To keep herself busy Catherine, played by Emilia Fox, holds summer classes in which she lectures on feminism, pornography and horror films to her only students, Gwen and her former babysitter, the irreverent 21-year old Avery (Shannon Tarbet). In a series of scenes combining feminist theory and dry wit, the three

women clash and end up exploring their own conceptions of women’s relations with men. LONELY AND SAD? Gionfriddo gives her characters plenty of time to discuss the ideas of conservative Phyllis Schlafly, famous for her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States, and those of Betty Friedan, whose work in the 1960s questioned women’s traditional role as domestic mothers. “You either have a career and wind up lonely and sad, or you have a family and wind up lonely and sad?”, asks Avery, as the two older women share their regret over the choices that led to their polar opposite lives. The discussions are peppered with a series of bitingly funny jokes on sex, relationships and, believe it or not, Google maps and pornography. “No one buys the cow when you can get the milk for free,” says Alice, while sipping on one of her many martinis, in reference to Avery’s current relationship status as “hooking up exclusively” (and strictly not the other way round). During the course of the debates, both Catherine and Gwen end up revealing their dissatisfaction with their lives and secret longing for what they gave up - be it career or family. “Being alone wasn’t a problem until I faced losing my mother,” Catherine remarks remorsefully. Gwen’s frustration at having given up college is compounded by Don’s utter lack of ambition in his job as a local college dean. But the real problem is another one. He is addicted to pot and pornography. The “tame” sort, he hastens to add in a

later scene. Avery, meanwhile, is firmly pragmatic, refusing to see having a career and a family as a zero-sum game. Gionfriddo offers no panacea to the issue of navigating a career and a family. The characters all have a stab at compensating for their past decisions but wind up settling for their former, moderately fulfilling lives. The question at the heart of the play, it seems, is left unresolved. Fox cancels ‘X Factor’ as Simon Cowell returns to UK version U.S. television singing contest “The X Factor,” led by judge and show creator Simon Cowell, was canceled on Friday after three seasons, network Fox said on Friday. “The X Factor,” which was unable to replicate the ratings success of fellow Fox singing contest “American Idol,” was only able to muster 6.2 million viewers for its season three finale last December, about half of its first season finale audience. Cowell, 54, whose acerbic on-screen personality helped transform “American Idol” into one of the top shows on U.S. television, will also return to the UK version of the show in an effort to help declining ratings there. “I’ve had a fantastic time over the last 12 years, both on ‘The X Factor’ and ‘American Idol,’ Cowell said in a statement. “And apart from being lucky enough to find some amazing talent on the shows, I have always had an incredible welcome from the American public (most of the time!)” “The X Factor” was seen as a way for Cowell to put his own stamp on U.S. reality television as it was a show he created and produced, and helped lead it to popularity in Britain.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 57

Creditinfo seeks to help poor payers ‘Harmonising’ petroleum trade restore credit worthiness could decrease industrial There are various reasons why a consumer may have bad credit but the fear of making this known in a credit report which is created by Guyana’s finest Credit bureau- Creditinfo, is not something most Guyanese are open to. And that is quite understandable. But the executive members of the bureau are calling on citizens to not be fearful of their transgressions that it can help to improve the image of their creditworthiness. Sales and Business Development Manager, David Falconer, asserts that the bureau is not here to judge but rather, to help consumers make better choices and reveal to them the ways in which they be able to manage their capacity to borrow and turn over a new leaf, thereby leaving their bad credit history behind. “Bad credit is like an infection. Depending on the magnitude of the infection, people are usually scared to go to the doctor because they are embarrassed. But we want people to know that the credit bureau is not here to judge but rather help you nurse your tainted credit history back to good health and to keep it there. “We have a number of ways in which we can do this and we want people to be informed. It is our belief that the lack of this information is what is preventing people from truly understanding how the bureau can help them.” The bureau is not going to pay off the debts but what it will help do in the most effective way is to find the best ways to clear up debts and show you how you can move from having the status of a poor payer to one of a reliable payer. Falconer also noted that the credit bureau recognizes that

there may be various reasons why consumers may have not been in a position to honour their financial obligations with lending institutions and charged that the company wants to help poor payers create a report that shows their potential to be a good borrower. He added, “Many people live their lives in an ad hoc manner, but there are ways in which we can help that person to balance their credit and we can help the person see opportunities that can help them change their credit report. Our doors remain open by appointment to explain to people how things can be made better for them in terms of this report. Poor payers should not be afraid. We can help them bring their history in line. People have various reasons why they have bad credit. We are not paying the loan but we are showing you what paths to take.” He added, too, that when the credit history is improved there are great benefits that can be derived from that. He said that potential borrowers with good

action, JGRA president says

David Falconer, Sales and Business Development Manager credit histories can benefit from reduced lending rates and you are also rewarded in other ways for honouring your financial commitments. The Business Manager then reminded that the bureau is not to be confused with a lending institution but one that collects data from other lending agencies, analyzes it and makes a comprehensive credit report which helps the consumer to benefit from the lending market.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA) President Derrick Thompson believes that a “harmonisation” of the petroleum trade will drastically reduce the need for industrial action in the critical sector. Thompson argued that there are about four groupings –- the gasoline retailers, the tanker drivers, the haulage contractors, and the unions — within the petroleum industry, with each having different goals and specific concerns. He attributed the fairly regular strikes and industrial actions within the sector to these concerns, saying that “a strike could happen at any minute with the different groups, based on their demand”. “In respect of mitigation efforts, we feel there is a need to have discussions, among the various groups and the ministry,” said Thompson. “I will be writing to the minister very soon, about trying to harmonise the trade so that we’ll never have these things (industrial action) happening on such a frequent basis, or in fact if it any at all happens,” the JGRA president told OBSERVER ONLINE in a recent interview. Tanker drivers stayed off the job for two

days in December 2013, and again in January 2014 for three days. Both instances resulted in several service stations running out of fuel, the travelling public greatly inconvenienced, and emergency services potentially compromised. The tanker drivers carried out the industrial action in protest against a delay in the finalisation of a wage and fringe benefits agreement. Thompson, who in January openly expressed his solidarity with the tanker drivers, said that he could not put a price tag on how the recent strikes have affected the bottom line of gasoline retailers, but admitted that it did. “The last three actions we had, we (gasoline retailers) were supporting the tanker drivers, because we feel they have been agitated for far too long and haven’t got there redress,” Thompson told OBSERVER ONLINE. “When the retailers strike, the same thing (happens), so we do support each other.” “It does hit the bottom line,” Thompson added. “In most instances (where industrial action is taken), the retailers decided that even though it is going to hit the bottom line, it is a necessary thing for us to do.

Page 58

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 59

IAN CHANG BUDGET RULING AND FIVE DUCKLINGS By Ralph Seeram I am sure you readers are wondering what five ducklings have to do with Chief Justice (Ag) Ian Chang’s ruling on the budget issue. During last week we heard and read the opinions and reactions of various groups, legal experts and so many non experts. Obviously I am no lawyer but anyone with reasonable comprehension skills can understand what is being played out here. It reminds me of a late friend and bar owner, Eugene Jardine , who was defending himself in the New Amsterdam magistrate’s court in front of a magistrate whose name I think was Alexander. Jardine was asked if he went to Law School. The

meaning was clear, it meant to criticise Jardine, who shot back,”If anyone with your level of intelligence can make it, anybody can be a lawyer.” Naturally, lawyers on both sides of the political fence are divided, as their party is; the same holds for pro and anti government groups, not to mention journalists. Everybody is an expert. One of the things the layman must be aware of is that lawyers and judges are not always right. That’s why you have different levels of Appeal Courts. But even there, disagreements occur. In the United States Supreme Court on quite a few occasions the justices come out with a 5 to 4 decision. At some point we have to accept the decision of the highest court, regardless of how we feel.

…where commonsense meets “book sense” It is my view that this case will go to the Caribbean Court of Justice where again in my opinion the CCJ will overturn CFhang’s ruling. My reasoning? COMMON SENSE. Quite a few years ago my old late friend Rupert Trim was sitting as magistrate, when a case of drunken driving was before him. The prosecutor spoke about the defendant’s blood alcohol level being over the legal limit by some British standard. Rupert objected to the use of the British standard. Trim who studied law in England said Englishmen can’t hold their “drinks” like Guyanese men. Guyanese men, he explained, take a lot of “cutters” with their drink and

Creditinfo provides service... (From page 18) from multiple sources and updating their system, hence it is virtually impossible for persons to get credit from any lender by impersonating someone else. “We would have had the biographic information of the individual as well as other information and we would have been able to cross reference that with the agencies. In fact,

we are even looking to boast our system and add in the TIN number aspect to the biographic information as a primary means of identification because we are aware that a few of the biographic information are susceptible to change but the TIN number remains static. Nevertheless, we have a number of systems in place that are virtually impervious to the best tricks of the most

ingenuous con man. Our system is designed to protect the identity of our clients among other things. And the TIN number aspect is a work in progress.” Falconer stressed that the Olive Gopaul case would have never had happened under the bureau’s watch. He reiterated the call by his colleague in urging citizens to get on board the modern way to protect their identities.

Public invited to make submissions... (From page 3) laws to enter the market. At the head of the line are current mobile providers, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel Guyana. The former has the monopoly on landline and international calls. Government had reportedly moved to break the monopoly but GT&T, largely owned by a US company, had objected strongly. Government has been consulting with both GT&T and Digicel in the last year on the issue. The two Bbills sitting before the special select committee are Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bill 2012 and Telecommunications Bill 2012. The Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bill

seeks to amend the Public Utilities Commission Act, while the Telecommunications Bill is geared to pave the way for the establishment of the Telecommunications Agency and “for a regular, coordinated, open and competitive telecommunications sector and for matters incidental thereto or connected there-

with,” according to the notice yesterday. Already, the public submissions deadline is February 26. Copies of the Bills are available at the Parliament Office with submissions are to be addressed to the Clerk of the Committee or to an email - committees _division @yahoo.com.

eat well so they can “hold their drinks better”. In reality he is correct to a point, we all know some men can hold their drinks better than some men, while the law is the law Trim took a common sense approach and dismissed the case. Trim knew what he was speaking about; I had quite a few “drinking sessions” with him and he definitely “held his drinks” back in the day. I paid attention to the various opinions on the subject, especially the one by former Speaker of the House, Ralph Ramkarran, whose views and opinions I respect and give weight to. In his blog on conversationtree.gy this line of his opinion caught my eye. “Therefore the actions of the Opposition appear to fall within the parameters contemplated by Article 171(2).” The Chang ruling of an all or nothing approach to budget does not make sense. He is saying the Opposition can only approve or disapprove the ENTIRE budget and not parts of it. I am gathering from the former Speaker that in his view the opposition is within its rights to cut parts of the budget. Whose approach is right? We now come to the story of the five ducklings and common sense. Some of you might have heard or read this story with a little variation. A teacher told the class that Mother Hen and her five ducklings were walking along the road. Mother Hen went across the street, so the teacher asked how many ducklings were left on the side of the road. She called on the boy that grew up in the city all his life and he said the five ducklings. The

teacher said that was the correct answer, but the kid that was raised in the countryside raised his hands. The teacher asked him why his hand was raised, to which he replied “da ansa wrang; none duckling left.” The country kid was asked to explain himself, and he explained that if the Mother hen crossed the street all her duckling will follow her across the street, none will be left. Those who grew up rearing poultry will know that to be true. So who’s right here “book sense” or “common sense?” The Acting CJ took the

book sense approach; I think he is actually “splitting hairs”. One must ask if the intent of the framers of the Constitution was to deny the Opposition Parties the right to “cut” sections of the Budget; whether that was the spirit of the Law. I think not. My view is that Chang took the “book sense” approach, not the reality of the situation. Common sense deals with the real world. Whenever there is a doubt “common sense” should always prevail over “book sense”. Ralph Seeram can be reached at: ralph365 @hotmail.com

Page 60

Kaieteur News

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

VEHICLE FOR SALE

VEHICLE FOR SALE

LARGE QUANTITIES O F H IGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICKSILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.

Gifts from Jerusalem, we have various varieties of amazing and unique gift items – Tel:613-9589;678-0998

Smart Choice Auto: Unregistered: Premio, Runx, IST, Spacio, Fielder – Call:652-38201; 665-4529

3 (8) weeks old: White Brown & Cream Fluffy Puppies – Contact:699-6006

Passo , Fielder, Raum, Premio - Call:661—9651; 681-8474

Leroy Trident Car 250 CC, 4 doors, power window, keyless entry $295,000 cash or credit Tel 227-3939, 6214000

M.F Tractor 3650, 4X4, 131 H/P, 6 Cylinder Turbo Diesel Tel: 228-5040; 662-9848 1-2640 MF Tractor 4wd with 1 – Rome Plough 20 dish, 1CAT Satndby 3306,194KVA 3 Phase 60 Cylinder – Tel:693-4596 Spare for washing machine, microwaves,fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Greenheart Piles - Tel:6393450 Live/pluck chicken call: 6504421, 220-9203 1- 500 Ton Cargo ship - Tel: 676-6933 Large Plucked Chickens $280lb retail, Pork $380lb retail @ George & Hadfield Streets. House and land situated at Lot 95 La Penitence Street, Albouystown. Land -7,933 Sq./Ft. – Call:592-687-5851; 604-589-1852 Dell computers complete with 20" LCD $65,000, 6 months warranty @ Futuretech- Call:231-2206 Zmodo Surveillance System – Tel:609-2815 Pure bred Rottweiler & German Sheperd- Tel:6108627/686-3072/618-2903 Fishing Boat: Length - 30ft, Width - 6½ft, Depth - 3½ft. Engine 15HP Tohatsu - Tel: 697-0648; 667-9662 1 - CAT D5 Bulldozer Contact Number: 650-0402 PSP with 3 games and 8gb memory card - $40,000 – 675-2239 1 Stall @ Stabroek Market Tel: 658-0115; 718-757-8031 2 – M132 Laverda Combine, 3- Pressure Pump 4x3 for gold field – call:627-0447 1 Honda 250 customs motorcycle. Good condition. $380,000Call:627-0688 Toyota Verossa (White) Excellent Condition - $2.7M Negotiable – Contact: 6668492. One GX110 (PJJ Series) Toyota Mark 2. Lady Driven. Excellent Condition, $1.9M negotiable. Call:609-2466 Chicken Hatchery (Robbins), 28,000 eggs capacity fully ready, $ 5.5 million or credit available Tel: 227-3939 621-4000

German Shepherd Pups. Tel: 220-2277; 220-8904; 626-0910 PVC Ceiling Panels, PVC Mouldings, Medallions. Royal Quality! – Tel:6148564; 629-0372 2005 Yamaha R6 motorcycle Tel: 609-2815 270 Amps Portable Honda Welders and 1-2002 Tundra Tel: 611-5114 All Types of Power tools, Hand Tools, Silicones, from spray, bicycle & spares, nails, etc -Tel:614-8564;6800862

4DRS Automatic Toyota Starlet - $820, 000 neg. 4 DRS 5 speed Daihatsu Charade (like new) - $650,000 neg. – Tel: 222- 4158; 641-7526 One Carib CRV – Price $1.5M negotiable – Excellent condition- Call:666-9472; 6733152 One Nissan Medalist Solid Engine, transmission – Tel:233-2770 One Bedford truck TM in Solid Condition with winch – Call:674-4649

4 Cylinder Perkins Engine bedded for Brazilian pump – Tel: 646-4501 Games PS2 $900, PSP $900, X-Box 360 $2600 & PS3 $2600- Call:672-2566

FOR SALE

1- 40 foot Cabin Cruiser BoatCall:665-2314

Diesel Generator, 3 cylinder Lister pitter (England) key start, 15,000 watts $550,000 cash - Tel:227-3939, 621-4000

CG125 Honda Motorcycle, excellent condition - Tel:6729530

Generac Generator 15,000 watts portable, $450,000 cash Tel 227-3939, 621-4000

Dog meat @ $50 per pound & pig food - Tel:266-5382; 602-5656

Clarke forklifts 3pcs 2000, 3000, 4000 Lb, lifting capacity $300,000 and up Tel: 227-3939, 621-4000 Diesel Generator silent 28,000 watts SDMO John Deere engine, missing Fuel Pump, Panel, Avr $800,000 Tel: 2273939, 621-4000

Lovely Poodle Pups male and female vaccinated – Call:649-4247 Original Games - Call:672-2566 One enclosed Canter in immaculate condition. $2.5M Tel: 660-8260 1 Set 05 Tacoma lights, 1 pathfinder A/C Compressor, 110V energy bulbs, 12V LED bulbs - Tel:641-1127 Master craft Tools For Sale: Call:689-0486 2 Trucks - Tel:618-1967; 6984321 75KVA Generator, 1 Crash Mercedes Benzes/ C200/ 1998-2000, 3 used commercial air condition and AE91 sprinter – Call:223-1589; 2274406 Houses in Georgetown, ECD & EBD. Investment Properties in Georgetown Commercial land - Contact: 223-8479; 647-3768; 628-1408 www.spaceseek.gy House lots on EBD, 1,500 acres @ Berbice, Executive Apartment Complex Contact: 223-8479; 647-3768; 628-1408, www.spaceseek.gy Pools. Table. Cloth. Balls. Pocket. Cuestick. Coinshute. Rubber. Chalk. – Tel:669-9927

60FT Antenna (Mass) for Radio, TV, Cellular, with cables, brackets, sky light $375,000 Tel:227-3939, 6214000 Exclusive Designed Saris made in India. Price $5,000$6,000. Also Shalwars & Ghararas - Tel:216-1210; 6488961 (In Berbice) 336-6223 Generators Two John Deere, 63 KVA 50KW 3M. 135KW – 168KVA – $4.5M, 440 Volts, 240 Volts – Tel: 644-9084 Supermarket mirrors pressure washer -2200 PSI – Call:6803863

Hilux Surf 4 Doors, minor parts needed, sold as is $650,000 cash Tel: 227-3939, 621-4000 Nissan Maxima, fully powered need repairs sold as is $275,000 cash 227-3939, 621-4000 Stretch limousine, Lincoln Town car, fully powered $6 million or credit available Tel 227-3939, 621-4000 Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car, 18" rims, leather seats, excellent condition $1.8 million- Tel 621-4000, 2273939 7Pcs Trike Can-Am style Motorcycle, 200cc new, unregistered $275,000 neg or credit, Wholesale Tel 2273939, 621-4000 Mercedes Benz S 300 bullet proof, leather seats, automatic, 19" rims $2.3 million cash Tel 621-4000 Driven Auto Blowout Sale!!! – Unregistered Toyota IST $2,195,000 – Bodykit, TV, Camera, spoiler, fogs, HID, Alarm – Tel:643-6565; 2269931 Driven Auto Blowout Sale!!! – Unregistered Mazda Axela - $2,295,000 – Pioneer CD, crystal lights, remote start alarm -Tel:643-6565; 226-9931 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky 621-5902/2251400 1 Toyota RZ bus - $1.6M. Immaculate condition [Hardly Use] – Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota extra cab pick-up automatic (3RZ) 4x4 $3.7M – Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Suzuki R1 wagon (Jeep) Automatic, Fully Powered with A/C, hardly used – Price:$1.3M Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400 Toyota G-Touring, automatic fully powered - $1.4M Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400 Toyota Extra Cab [V6] pickup manual $2.5M -Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400

1 20 KVA enclosed generators – call:675-7838 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 Extra Cab 2002, Nissan Frontier 4X4 Extra Cab 2002, DJ System – Tel:695-9807 212, 192, Park Light, lens original – Call:695-0578

AT212 - $1.2M, Spacio $1.9M, Voxy GSS - $2.1M, Sienta Seven Seats - $1.6M, Madza Tribute PSS – Call:661—9651; 681-8474

Mash Costume: Spandex Ttops, tights, leotards, unitards, bra, underwear, etc. To Order call:622-4386; 2278538

1 Mitsubishi Galant Car; 1 Toyota Corolla AE100 Car, 1 Honda CBR motorcycle – Call:227-7544;612-2542; 6146011

Sunday February 09, 2014

VEHICLE FOR SALE ALYEA AUTO SALE: CARINA 212 NEGOTIABLE @ 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK – TEL:2317284; 622-3823 One 800 Ford Tractor and one 450 Ford Towing Truck Contact Floyd:694-5599 or Gurro: 689-1864 One Toyota Prado and Tundra for sale: - Priced to sell – Tel:600-5759 or 225-0683-5 1 Toyota R4 2004 model – $2.6M cash – Tel:686-5083 Nissan Caravan – Driving Condition, all papers enforced - $250,000 – Tel:2662381 One 2005 Toyota Avensis. Owner leaving country! $3.4M – Tel:628-6160 Toyota Raum PMM Series $1.4M negotiable , Excellent Condition – Call:671-6051 2008 Fielder: Bodykit, spoiler, rims. Unregistered $2.95MCall:617-2891 Manual Mitsubishi Convertible eclipse. Excellent Condition! - $2M negotiable Call:625-9000 2 Ton open back canter with power gate, unregisteredCall:617-2891 Unregistered Toyota Premio $2.550M - Tel: 678-8534; 6939246 One Toyota Tacoma 2006, 12ft Aluminum Boat, Tacoma : rims & tyres – Call:685-8282; 220-1981; 222-5671 Unregistered Toyota Fielder , fully loaded – Tel:689-0999; 663-2700 1 Black Titan 4 wheel drive, fully loaded - $3M negotiableTel:699-2322 or 678-2814 One Toyota Camry SV40: AC, mags, stereo. Price $950,000 negotiable – Tel:661-2391 AA60 Toyota Carina Automatic; Price to go $340,000– Call:660-8404 or 626-7823 One Fuso Mitsubishi Crane Truck & 3 Ton Crane GPP Series - $5.5M - Call: 622-6746 One Ford Crane Truck & 10 Ton Crane (new) - $8M – Call:622-6746 New ATVs: Introductory price $1,875,000 (Duty Paid)Call:691-0234 New 2014 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabsCall:691-0234

VEHICLE FOR SALE One Toyota Noah New model, mag rims crystal lights, flare, PSS Series $2.3M – Call:611-6632; 6643488 1 -1RZ, 15 seater, automatic mini-bus, BNN 3760 - $1.7M Negotiable. Good condition, never used for public transportation – Tel:628-0310 ; 672-5429 First Class Auto: Premio, Spacio, Passo, IST, 212, Raum Cold & New Modles Tel: 609-8188; 602-6307 1-55 Leyland Daf Excellent working condition. Price $2.8M Negotiable – Tel:6568346 1 Toyota NZE corolla, AT192, AT212, AT170, IST, Funcargo, Rav-4, Hilux pickup 4x4 – Tel:644-5096; 697-1453 Mitsubishi Lancer, excellent condition, HID lights, 17" mags, music - $1,250,000. Negotiable – Tel:275-0297; Cell:676-3000; 653-6490 One Super Custom Bus, unregistered 1 Toyota L Touring wagon, EP71 Starlet, Spacio - Tel:6445096; 697-1453 Unregistered Toyota Sienta (2004) 1500cc & 7 seater - Tel: 617-5536 Isuzu Journey Bus, 47 seater BSS115 series – Price: $5.2M negotiable – Contact Brother Keith – Tel:614-5036 2007 Axio $2.85M, Spacio $2.250M, fully loaded unregistered- Call:617-2891 2008 Honda CRV imported from England 17" Rim, fog lamps Surround Sound System, unregistered $6.8M neg. Tel: 642-7295; 220-2345 One RX-8 Mazda fully air conditioned, stick gear, wheel lights, fog lamps, power windows - Tel:653-2477 Tractor Massey Ferguson (Canada) MF135 – 1.3M, MF165 -$1.9M, MF265 $2.2M, MF285 -$2.5M, Ranger Pickup - $1.7M – Tel:682-5230; 628-9596 Hilux Surf, PKK Series – Tel:617-3001 1 AT212 new model for sale: AC, CD Deck, alarm , 15inch mags in excellent condition - $1.4M negotiable – Tel:669-7215 (Continued on page 61)

Sunday February 09, 2014

TO LET Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 347933-9790, 639-4452. Fully furnished Vacation home with all amenities- Call during working hours- 2271218 Furnished apartment in Bent Street, Wortmanville – US$30 per day. Contact:2263309;218-1033; 678-4267 Alberttown - $50,000, Bel-Air - $100,000, Campbellville $90,000, Section K – $US1200 – Call Diana: 2272256; 626-9382 Eccles Furnished apartment, self contained with: Cable, phone, internet servicesCall:233-2770 Secured Concrete bond 87’X32’, lots of yard space suitable for CarMart Public Road McDoom: Tel: 233-0570 Furnished Apartments for Overseas Visitors – Contact: 668-5198 Lodge Apartments (Vlissengen / Durban): Unfurnished - $40,000$60,000 P/M, furnished studio ( for Visitors) - $500US P/M - Tel: 698-9086 Aracari Hotel. West Bank Demerara Rates from US$30 – Tel: 264-2946-8 Furnished executive one or two bedroom suite in Diamond. Ideal for foreigners. Call:609-2466 Fully Furnished 2 bedrooms apartment in South - 6895877 (Overseas or Visitors)

Kaieteur News

VACANCY

PROPERTY FOR SALE

24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant Call: 670-8893/684-2838

Paradise [Land] - $1.5M, Happy Acres - $45M, Regent Street - $46M - Call Diana: 227-2256; 626-9382

Network Technician, must be able to work out of town email applications to jobs@awngy.com

Must Go! 1 – 3 bedrooms house on 5.5 Acres of land @ No.2 Canal – Call:642-0231

Receptionist. Apply to Hick’s Ville Hotel, Contact:227-7714 or info@hicksvillehotel guyana.com Cashiers @ Shell Service Station Providence EBD. Must be able to work shift (5am-3pm & 3pm-12pm) – Tel: 265-7305 Secretary! Send written application to Shakoor Seafood, 80 industrial Site, Eccles EBD Pump Attendant @ Shell Service Station Providence EBD. Must be able to work shift (5am-3pm & 3pm-12pm) Tel: 265-7305 Machine Operator to work at Garment Factory - Tel: 2222541 Lumber Factory Manager, Labourers, Lorry Drivers, woodmizer, brandsaw and moulder operators @ Eccles, Industrial Site – Call Richard 609-7675; 233-2614 One male cleaner. Apply Alabama Trading Georgetown Ferry Stelling Stabroek. Concierge/Security. Apply in person to B.M. Hotels Inc. 123 Kanuku Street, Section ‘M’ Campbellville. One Maid – Tel:614-4358 Hire Car drivers from ECD @ A-1 Taxi – Tel:220-1000

Charlestown Corner Property - $35M - Tel: 6735882 Prime Property for sale – Light Street, Alberttown – Contact:639-3619, 619-7299 Satya Cinema Good Faith Mahaicony – Call:641-8472 Rice Factory @ Wakenaam & Poultry Farm @ Yarrowkabra – Tel:686-4994; 225-3070 Situated in Leonora opposite the market – Tel:674-0645 New 3 bedroom property @ 14 Dryshore, Essequibo, access to River. Bargain Price – Tel: 695-8381 Prime commercial property @ Albertown, 3 lots with business, (Nut Centre) best offer. Tel 621-4000, 227-3939 At Eccles, East Bank Demerara Price -$38M . Please Contact -780-381-6147 or email: irgopaul@gmail.com Income Generating! 2 Storey concrete & wooden. 4 Apartments, concrete yard & fence, garage by SOL, Shell Road EBD – Tel:658-5452 1 House & Land with business potential for sale at La Parfaite Harmonie – Call:686-5083 2 Stroey Transported property with 2 kitchens, 6 bedrooms, 2 toilet & bath @ Tuschen East Bank Essequibo – Tel:650-2982

Two Joiners to work in Workshop – Tel:610-7005; 219-1342

FOR SALE Food Warmer - Tel:696-9999 One brand new double door fridge (23 cubic feet) in seal selling at cost price – call:233-2770 One half lot transported property at Triumph Railway Embankment E.C.D – Tel:6182840 Clean Garden Earth and builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating, clearing and leveling down- Call:6160617 or 663-3285 Cheap earth delivery to spot E.C.D and W.B.D- Call:6279977, 698-0182 Brand New: Power fist Gasoline generators on wheel – 6500 watts – AC (DC) current 110-240 Volts Contact:617-2205

1 Housekeeper must know to cook @ 223 Camp Street. (3 Storey building next to Shell Gas Station) – Call:644-7724 Pump Attendant part time Gardener – Call:680-3863 Security Guard: Requirements: Police Clearance must have NIS, & ID Cards, 2 recommendations, Age: 3545. Call: 642-8140; 642-8650 Host/Hostess & Cleaners – Interested persons can contact us on telephone number:603-4523

FOR RENT Newly Constructed apartment – WCD – Call:698-6496

MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse available- Call:657-5979

Page 61

(From page 60)

WANTED One Office Clerk must be computer literate. Apply @ Survival Lot 10 Bond Vlissingen Road. 1 Whole day domestic – Tel:667-5717; 650-4761 Live in housekeeper / babysitter. Must be willing to work, reliable, responsible, mature & Trustworthy. Please Call:619-2388/ 2226001 Female worker needed, 3 CXC subject or sound secondary school education- Call:626-8586 Watch man to work at Lamaha & Albert Street. Contact: 223-5273/4 Manager / Supervisor at Xenon Hotel Charity / Ebo. Accommodation provided, attractive salary is offered Contact: 771-4989; 7714180; 670-6559 Salesgirl with Secondary Education @ Christine’s Fashion – Tel:227-8529; 6091535 Land to Buy in Parafaite Harmonie, Herstelling & Tuschen - Tel: 675-7292 Able Bodies Labourers – Call:617-8369; 665-3550 Responsible Hire Car Drivers Tel: 231-7200 Experienced Hire Car drivers & minibus drivers – Call: 6450025 One welder for grill work – Call:625-5763 Workers for land Dredge – Tel:694-2310 1 Heavy duty sewing machine – 34000 RPM motor – 6224386 One domestic help needed preferably from the East Bank Demerara Areas – Contact:628-5621 Cooks, kitchen Staff to work at snackette in Eccles and Restaurant on WCD – Contact:650-4974; 686-8640 Carpenters to do floor slab decking - $6,000.00 per day – Tel:231-2060 Contract Cars & Hire cars Drivers to work at Gem’s Taxi Services – Call:627-9424 Experienced Sewing machine operators – Tel:220-4337

SERVICES Electrical Repairs & Servicing Done to generators, water pump, washer, dryers, fans, blenders, stabilizers & Transformers (Johnny 6193194) Mash Costumes: Spandex Ttops, tights, leotards, unitards, bra, underwear etc. To order call:622-4386; 2278538

We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar

Brian Moe @642-3543: Computer Technician: FB/ Brian.Moe.165: Home and Office visits at your comfort!!

For all your prefab building works & welding fabricating etc. 5 Brickery EBD -Tel: 658-2567; 660-3466

FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 CAMP STREET, Prime Business Space Call: 6394499 One Semi furnished apartment to rent at Industry ECD – Tel:222-6001 GT TOOLS RENTAL: TEL:675-0767; 627-2535 Fully Furnished 2 bedrooms apartment with hot & cold shower,etc. Only short term overseas guest. Contact:223-2812; 661-1717 Two bedrooms apartment at Better Hope, ECD – Call:6173001 between 8:00am-4:00pm

Shalom Driving School @ 2 Croal street. Fee $16,000Call:227-3869 Ultravoilet Driving School – Contact:231-2372;6022583;658-4015

2 Business Stall @ Port Kaituma Market – Tel:6187983; 684-6428

Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 689-5997, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964

CAKES & PASTRIES Courses in Floral Arrangement, cake decoration, bridal accessories, cake & pastries – Contact Sharon: 223-3303; 612-4193; 672-8768

Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call:225-9032,647-2943

Secure your homes/ business with High Tech Security Cameras. Mircographics: Vreed-En -Hoop - Tel:2643057 Online shopping just got easier. Now Open! Cybertron ,Vreed-En-Hoop – Call 2643057/ Email for quotes @ micro.gteck@yahoo.com

Commercial Offices in Georgetown, commercial buildings, executive apartments & houses Contact: 223-8479; 647-3768; 628-1408, www.spaceseek.gy

LEARN TO DRIVE

SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620

Brand new 2 bedrooms toilet & bath inside -$50,000 monthly negotiable at Triumph – Tel:615-4178

Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick) HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766

Chauffeur & Personal assistant for company or own use – Call:687-7017 House plan drafting from$10,000 surveying and estimates services available Tel: 667-2189 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,662-6045, 223-8115 We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699 WE FILL PASSPORT & VISA FORMS: U.S.A, U.K & CANADA. ALSO ONLINE CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS TEL:2259030 Transportation services available in and out of Georgetown – Tel:646-4501 Masons seeking job work – Tel:678-9043 Technicians available for appliance repairs – washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves, deep fryers, etc – Tel:6190793; 218-0050 COOL TECH : Repairs Services & Installation of all types if homes appliances: Air Condition & Refrigeration units – Tel: 233-2008; 675-4959 Specialized in all classes of industrial and domestic work, motor rewind and fixing of generators – Tel:644-9084 Transportation & trucking services available – Call:6275378 (Continued on page 62)

Page 62

Kaieteur News

(From page 61)

EDUCATIONAL CAR RENTAL Dolly’s Car Rental- Call: 2257126/226-3693- dollysauto rental@yahoo.com/ www. dolly sautorental.com Premio, Vitz call:347-9339790, 639-4452. Wings Car Rental- Call: 643-1131 Untouchable, low rates, low deposits - Call:226-9668; 677-4613. Aidan’s Car Rental & Pickup Call: 645-7981/ 698-7807

FOR HIRE Dump Trucks for hire to transport sand, aggregate, etc and bobcat for rental – Tel:694-1657; 261-6664 All Types of Trucks - Tel: 618-1967 or 698-4321.

Princeton College Forms 1-5 CXC adults classes, Phonics, Sat, Lessons & Mathematics for slow learners - Tel: 223-7906; 6905008 Learn to decorate with Balloons. Classes on March 1st – Call: 225-3133; 613-7513 for more information. Need help with reading, English, etc? Call Private Tutor - 696-7467 Makeup Classes @ J’ adore Makeup by Natalie. Come register and be apart, its life changing! Call:676-3916; 615-5028 Study in Canada: Any Career. Email:micro.gteck@yahoo.com 9 Courses Diploma in computer studies - $30,000. Individual teaching: limited space. Micrographics Technologhy –Vreed- en Hoop – Tel:264-3057 PEN PAL Male seeking female for serious relationship age 2529. Tex or Call: 592-684-5297.

Sunday February 09, 2014

LAND FOR SALE

LAND FOR SALE

2- Acres cultivated, 2-1 Acres cultivated, 7 Acres cultivated, citrus, house, fish pond, storage at Parika- Call: 226-7968

Parafaite (Dairy) - $1.5M – Tel:675-7292

Lot 12 Mon-Repos E.C.D, Market Street – Tel:2207330

Long Creek $1M, Queenstown 60x244 – $100M, 40x80 -$25M – Tel:231-2199; 618-7483

Section ‘A’ Block Y Golden Grove – E.B.D – Call:6939736/ 697-5742 Private Development 50X100 @ Greenwich Park, EBE Tel: 690-5061 Parafiate Harmonie - $2M (100FTX50FT), Tuschen $2M - Tel: 675-7292 Gold and Diamond mining lands already Prospected – Tel:646-4501 100ftx50ft high income $2.2M @ Parfaite HarmonieCall:675-7292/218-5591 82 Acers @ Hogg Island, 120 acre @ Mahaicony & 11 Lots @ Wakenaam – Tel:6864994; 225-3070 Herstelling (high income area 110ftX60ft) - $3.8M -Call:6757292/218-5591 Land at Parika 70ft by 102ft plus $4M. water, power & road- Call:697-9137 ½ Acre Residential land at Yarrowkabra 5 Minutes of the Linden Highway. Price Negotiable – Call:611-1018 or 642-6564

SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773 Beautopia Cosmetology Training: Day & Evening classes, nails, hair,facial / make-up - Tel: 604-3002; 629-3497

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

US vows to defend Japan against China

US Secretary of State John Kerry(R) and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida deliver remarks to the media after their private bilateral meeting Friday, at the US Department of State in Washington (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards) Washington (AFP) Secretary of State John Kerry vowed weekend that the United States would defend Japan against attack including over islands claimed by China as tensions boil between the Asian powers. Kerry, who said he would visit China next week, met in Washington with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and reaffirmed the 1960 treaty that commits the United States to protect its ally. “That includes with respect to the South China Sea,” he said, before correcting himself to say the East China Sea, where China and Japan have conflicting claims. Fears of conflict rose in November when China imposed an Air Defense Identification Zone over much of the East China Sea. Beijing says it now requires notification from planes crossing a group of islands administered by Tokyo, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and in Chinese as Diaoyu. “The United States neither recognizes nor accepts China’s declared East China Sea ADIZ and the United States has no intention of changing how we conduct operations in the region,” Kerry said. The United States and its allies are increasingly concerned China will take similar action in the South China Sea, where the Philippines in particular has voiced worries about Beijing’s maritime claims. Kishida, for his part, extended an invitation for

President Barack Obama to make a state visit to Japan. Diplomats say Obama is likely to visit Japan on an April tour of Asia, although Kerry is not expected to stop in Tokyo on his upcoming trip. Kishida was visiting Washington after a rare open disagreement between the two allies. The United States voiced disappointment in December when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known for his conservative views, paid a pilgrimage to the Yasukuni shrine which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including convicted war criminals from World War II. Abe’s visit outraged China and also fellow US ally South Korea. Both countries frequently accuse Japan of insufficient remorse for its aggression a century ago. Kishida told Kerry that Japan valued its relationship with South Korea despite their “difficult issues,” saying the two democracies needed to work together in the face of nuclear-armed North Korea. “Going forward, we will make tenacious efforts in

order to build a cooperative relationship with the Republic of Korea from a broad perspective,” Kishida said. Kishida also highlighted progress under Abe in relocating the Futenma air base within the island of Okinawa — an issue that has cast a pall for years over defense ties between the two countries. Kerry, in turn, praised Japan for addressing another longtime sore point by ratifying the Hague convention that sets procedures for the return of children abducted by one parent across international boundaries. Kerry’s latest trip to Asia comes as critics charge that his focus in his year in office on the Middle East has left US allies in Asia in want of a more robust presence by Washington. Kerry said he was committed to the goal set in President Barack Obama’s first term of putting a greater US focus on Asia, and said the strategy was impossible without “ironclad guarantees” between the United States and Japan.

Page 63

Page 64

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Ukraine leader faces fresh protests after Putin talks Kiev (AFP) - Antigovernment protestors in Ukraine readied for fresh mass demonstrations yesterday after embattled President Viktor Yanukovych jetted back to protest-hit Kiev following private talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The late Friday tete-a-tete on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi came amid intensifying pressure from the opposition on Yanukovych to cede some of his broad powers and appoint a new pro-Western government. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials disclosed the details of the two leaders’ conversation except to say that it was brief and held at Sochi’s Fisht stadium where the Games’ opening ceremony was held. “There was no official bilateral meeting. That was not a part of (the president’s) programme,” a Ukrainian administration spokesman said by telephone. Yanukovych had been

expected to discuss with Putin the fate of a $15-billion Russian bailout whose delivery has been effectively frozen pending the formation of a new government. The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million was thrown into its worst crisis since independence in November when Yanukovych ditched an historic EU pact under Russian pressure in a stunning reversal that sparked deadly protests. The sustained demonstrations that followed have since then played out as a titanic struggle for the country’s future between Russia and the West. Sunday’s protest is set to start at midday local time (10:00 GMT) on Kiev’s Independence Square with prayers from religious leaders backing the demonstrations. Yanukovych must now decide whether to submit to protesters’ demands by taking a more conciliatory approach toward a new agreement with the European Union — a possibility that prompted Russia to suspend its loan after issuing just one

instalment of $3 billion in December. But Ukraine’s tattered economy is in ever-growing need of assistance amid sliding domestic production and dwindling foreign reserves. Moscow is already demanding the repayment of a $3.3-billion debt that Ukraine has piled up since last year for Russian natural gas imports on which the country’s industries and households depend. Putin’s bailout would slash the future price of Russian gas imports by a third — a huge relief for the economy that analysts believe should help revive stalled growth. But Russian Economy Minister Anton Siluanov warned on Saturday that Moscow would need at least a partial down payment on the outstanding gas bill before the terms of its Ukrainian package are restored. “We are waiting for the Ukrainian side to meet its gas payment obligations,” Interfax quoted him as saying

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych in Sochi, Friday. (AFP Photo/Alexei Nikolsky) in Sochi. The protracted crisis has seen Ukraine’s borrowing costs spike and the currency lose nearly 10 percent of its value as frightened consumers rush to stock up on dollars and euros. Several banks have reported hard currency shortages and the central bank on Friday was forced to impose capital controls and move the Ukrainian hryvnia’s official rate to 8.7 from 7.9 per dollar — its first shift of the peg since July 2012. The global ratings agency Fitch became the latest to downgrade Ukraine’s standing on Friday when it moved its long-term foreign currency debt just one step above default. Leading Ukrainian lawmakers are expected to meet on Monday to discuss opposition proposals to slash presidential powers and return to a constitution the

country had until 2010 that granted extended powers to parliament. Yanukovych has signalled that he welcomes a discussion of the changes without committing himself to the reform. Constitutional changes granting lawmakers the power to approve the appointment of all ministers and security chiefs are expected to be delayed until September due to stalling tactics by ruling party members. The simmering tensions in Kiev - expected to continue on Sunday with plans for another huge demonstration on the capital’s iconic Independence Square - have spilled over into verbal jousting between the European Union and Washington. One leaked conversation that made a splash on Thursday showed Washington’s European envoy Victoria Nuland using

the f-word in a private conversation to disparage EU leaders’ handling of the crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office on Friday denounced Nuland’s remarks as “absolutely unacceptable” - a comment echoed by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy. But Merkel toned down her comments on Saturday by telling reporters in the East German city of Erfurt the European Union “could not dream of a better partner than the US” on the Ukraine crisis. “We want exactly the same thing for Ukraine,” she added. The two sides’ woes were compounded when a second tape emerged on Friday showing two top EU diplomats angrily discussing their differences with Washington over possible sanctions against Ukrainian leaders for their rough handling of the protests.

Ukraine says not investigating bugging of U.S. diplomats phone talk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine’s state security service yesterday said it was not investigating the bugging of a phone call between U.S. diplomats in which they weighed up which opposition leaders they should back for government in a reformed Ukraine. U.S. diplomats tried to limit the damage on Friday after audio of the phone conversation was posted on the Internet. In it, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was heard using an expletive in reference to the European Union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, already furious with Washington over reports that U.S. officials bugged her own phone, found Nuland’s remarks “totally unacceptable”, her spokeswoman said. “The Ukrainian Security Service is not conducting any investigation into the matter at this time,” Maxim Lenko, a senior investigations official in the Ukrainian State

Security Service, told a news conference in Kiev. Nuland has been Washington’s point person on Ukraine since a crisis broke in the former Soviet republic last November, bringing thousands of protesters out onto the streets of Kiev. The bugged phone call between Nuland and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, was released as Nuland visited Kiev to put U.S. ideas for ending the crisis to President Viktor Yanukovich. U.S. officials have accused Russian intelligence of being behind a ‘dirty tricks’ operation. Nuland on Friday laughed off the incident saying the bugging operation was “pretty impressive tradecraft”. She said she did not think it would rebound on relations with opposition leaders, with whom Western governments are trying to work as part of efforts to end Ukraine’s crisis.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 65

AIDS patients in Obamacare limbo as insurers reject checks (Reuters) - Hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS in Louisiana trying to obtain coverage under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform are in danger of being thrown out of the insurance plan they selected in a dispute over federal subsidies and the interpretation of federal rules about preventing Obamacare fraud. Some healthcare advocates see discrimination in the move, but Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana says it is not trying to keep people with HIV/AIDS from enrolling in one of its policies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The state’s largest carrier is rejecting checks from a federal program designed to help these patients pay for AIDS drugs and insurance premiums, and has begun notifying customers that their enrollment in its Obamacare plans will be discontinued. The carrier says it no longer will accept third-party payments, such as those under the 1990 Ryan White Act, which many people with HIV/AIDS use to pay their premiums. “In no event will coverage be provided to any subscribers, as of March 1, 2014, unless the premiums are paid by the subscriber (or a relative) unless otherwise required by law,” Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana spokesman John Maginnis told Reuters. The dispute goes back to a series of statements from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the lead Obamacare agency. In September, CMS informed insurers that Ryan White funds “may be used to cover the cost of private health insurance premiums, deductibles, and copayments” for Obamacare plans. In November, however, it warned “hospitals, other healthcare providers, and other commercial entities” that it has “significant concerns” about their supporting premium payments and helping Obamacare consumers pay deductibles and other costs, citing the risk of fraud. The insurers told healthcare advocates that the November guidance requires them to reject payments from the Ryan White program in order to combat fraud, said Robert Greenwald, managing director of the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, a position Louisiana Blue still maintains. “As an anti-fraud measure, Blue Cross and Blue

Shield of Louisiana has implemented a policy, across our individual health insurance market, of not accepting premium payments from any third parties who are not related” to the subscriber, Maginnis said. On Friday, CMS spokeswoman Tasha Bradley told Reuters that, to the contrary, Ryan White grantees “may use funds to pay for premiums on behalf of eligible enrollees in Marketplace plans, when it is cost-effective for the Ryan White program,” meaning that having people with HIV/ AIDS enroll in insurance under Obamacare could save the government money. “The third-party payer guidance CMS released (in November) does not apply to” Ryan White programs. Maginnis did not respond to further requests, sent after business hours, for comment on CMS’s Friday statement. Hundreds of indigent HIV/AIDS patients are dependent on Ryan White payments for Obamacare because they fall into a gap. They are not eligible for Medicaid, the joint federalstate health insurance program for the poor, because Louisiana did not expand the low-income program, and Obamacare federal subsidies don’t kick in until people are at 100 percent of the federal poverty level. Before Obamacare, the 1990 Ryan White Act offered people with HIV/AIDS federal financial help in paying for AIDS drugs and health insurance premiums, especially in state-run, highrisk pools. Obamacare, which bans insurers from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions, was designed to replace these high-risk pools. Starting on October 1, AIDS advocates and others in Louisiana “were enrolling anyone and everyone we could” through the Obamacare exchange, said Lucy Cordts of the New Orleans NO/AIDS Task Force. Last month, her clients and those of other AIDS groups began to hear from

Louisiana Blue that their enrollments were in limbo because the company would not accept the Ryan White checks for premium payments. The only other carrier that is refusing to accept such payments is Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, according to a CMS official. North Dakota Blue “restricts premium payment from third parties including employers, providers, and state agencies,” said spokeswoman Andrea Dinneen, but “is currently

reviewing its eligibility policies with respect to recipients of Ryan White Program funding.” Healthcare advocates are worried that the refusal to accept Ryan White payments is an effort by insurers to keep AIDS patients from enrolling in their plans and last month began pressing the issue, including with the office of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. In an email reviewed by Reuters, a healthcare expert on Landrieu’s staff wrote, “BCBS LA told me their

decision was not due to the CMS guidance or any confusion (as we thought before) but was in fact due to adverse selection concerns. I have also recently learned North Dakota’s BCBS plan has implemented the same policy.” Jessica Stone, the Landrieu staff member, declined to elaborate on the email further or to discuss her interactions with Louisiana Blue. Adverse selection refers to the situation where an insurer attracts patients with chronic conditions and expensive care. Louisiana

Blue’s action “sure looks to us like discrimination against sick people,” said John Peller, vice president for policy at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Asked if it were engaging in efforts to avoid adverse selection by refusing to accept Ryan White payments for would-be customers with HIV/AIDS, Louisiana Blue said it was not trying to keep such customers out of its plans. “We welcome all Louisiana residents who chose Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana,” said Maginnis.

Page 66

Kaieteur News

Regional insurance giants CLICO records huge after tax profits P O R T- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad - CMC - The Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO), the regional insurance giant that almost collapsed four years ago, has made an after tax profit of nearly TT$3.8 billion (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) in 2012. CLICO’s audited financial results for 2012 were published on its Web site Friday, after the company’s board, which is chaired by former finance minister Gerald Yetming, approved the financials for issue on January 29. According to the financial statements of the embattled company, the 2012 after tax figure was more than five times greater than the TT$702 million it declared in 2011. CLICO declared profits of TT$6.2 billion from its investing activities for the financial year, which eclipsed the TT$2.2 billion loss from insurance activities. The most significant contributor to CLICO’s investment profits was the TT$3.8 billion gain the company booked on the disposal of some 40 million Republic Bank shares in November 2012. Those bank shares, which were then worth an estimated TT$4.3 billion, constituted 84 per cent of the underlying investment in the CLICO Investment Fund (CIF), which converted the 11 to 20-year zero-coupon bonds into units in the CIF. But the KPMGconducted audit indicates

Gerald Yetming that CLICO had a negative net worth of TT$6.5 billion. This is due to the company’s liabilities, recorded at TT$29 billion, while assets were valued at TT$22.4 billion at the end of 2012. “The company’s board, together with the Central Bank and the Government are working to eliminate the current capital efficiency where the company has excess liabilities to assets,” the financial statement read. CLICO’s liabilities include nearly TT$16 billion in taxpayers’ money, comprising $4.9 billion in preference shares and close to TT$11 billion in Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPA’s) that CLICO policyholders have ceded to the State in exchange for cash, zerocoupon bonds and units in the CIF. CLICO and its sister company, the British American Insurance

Company (BAICO) collapsed in 2009 and the Trinidad and Tobago government signed a shareholders’ agreement with then CLICO chairman Lawrence Duprey following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between them on January 30, 2009. The MOU gave the government control of 49 per cent of CLICO’s shares. The then Patrick Manning government injected seven billion Trinidad and Tobago dollars (US$1.01 billion) into CLICO in 2009 to keep the collapsed insurance firm running and protect policy holders. A few months later, through the passage of legislation in the Parliament, the Kamla Persad Bissessar led coalition People’s Partnership Government committed a further TT$13 billion (US$2.01 billion) to keep the floundering insurance company afloat. Last month, the Barbados government said it would shortly approve a new plan for the restructuring of CLICO operations here with Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler saying that the Freundel Stuart administration would return to the High Court to indicate it has thrown its full support behind the restructuring plan. The appointment of the judicial manager is part of the initiative by Eastern Caribbean governments, including Barbados, to recover some of the assets of policy holders with the CLICO.

Sunday February 09, 2014

PM: The law is clear on a minor having sex…

REPORT IT OR GO TO JAIL Trinidad Express - Seven years in prison and a fine of $15,000 is the punishment parents, doctors, nurses, teachers and employers face if they have reason to believe a minor is sexually active and fail to report it to the police. This was the reminder given by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Friday during a news conference held at the Noor Hassanali room in the Parliament Chamber, Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain. P e r s a d - B i s s e s s a r ’s reminder came on the heels of startling statistics revealed by Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh in the Senate on Tuesday where he stated there are over 2,500 teen pregnancies each year with most of them for fathers in the 25-to-40-year age group. Persad-Bissessar said, according to the law any sexual act against an unmarried child under the age of 16 is considered rape. According to Section 6(1) of the Sexual Offences Act anyone who is found guilty of having sex with a female under 14, who is not their wife, is liable to be imprisoned to life in prison. Section 7 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act says a first-time offender who has sex with a female between the age of 14 and 16, who is not their wife, is liable to 12 years in prison. A repeat offender faces 15 years imprisonment, Section 7(1) states.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar Persad-Bissessar described rape of minors as “heinous” and said no excuses should be tolerated. “They are heinous crimes against children, six-yearolds, seven-year-olds, a child’s life is gone forever,” Persad-Bissessar said. She chastised those who may seek to blame the minors. “I will not entertain statutory rape of a child and use the excuse that the child too hot. No excuse and no exception, I am not going to tolerate that at all,” she said. Persad-Bissessar said according to Section 31(1) parents, guardians, attendants, employers, teachers, doctors, nurses and midwives, who know a minor is sexually active, have a legal obligation to report the incident to the police. They face seven years in jail and/or a fine of $15,000 if they fail to do so, without a “reasonable excuse”. Persad-Bissessar said failure to carry out that legal obligation is a “very serious offence”. She said this law overshadows any professional obligations

doctors feel they may have to about patient confidentiality. “Ignorance of the law is not a defence,” PersadBissessar said. “I am appealing to those people who have that legal obligation to obey the law and make the reports.” Persad-Bissessar said she understood that reporting these situations may be difficult for mothers but the law is the law. “Mothers are under legal obligation to report (incidents of minors being sexually active) but I can well imagine the emotional trauma that may cause, but again if it is a crime it is a crime,” she said. Persad-Bissessar said the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development has been mandated to embark on a public education programme in order to help reduce statutory rape and teenage pregnancies. The terms of reference of the Child Protection Task Force will also be amended to address the situation. A Child Protection Unit in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is also being considered.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 67

Dominica records increase T&T spent TT$34M in three years on foreign nurses in Chikungunya disease Trinidad Express - The Ministry of Health has spent some TT$34 million in the past three years bringing foreign nurses from Cuba, Phillipines, St Vincent and other countries, Health Minister Fuad Khan said Friday. He was piloting the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act in the House of Representatives, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. The bill provides for a new cadre of nurses, called the advanced nurse practitioners, changes the composition of the nursing council board (from 22 to 15) and provides for the removal of the licensing examination for graduates out of a training programme accredited by the Accreditation Council as a provision for the mandatory continuation of education for all nursing personnel. The law would also include males in the definition of midwife. “This level of discrimination is no longer practised today,” the minister stated. Khan said the health sector was facing a crisis in which there was a shortage of nursing staff, notwithstanding the injection of more than 300 foreign nurses. He said Trinidad and Tobago nurses continue to migrate to more developed countries offering more attractive packages. He said the present legislation was a detriment to attracting students. The system includes the three- chance system, which requires a student to redo the entire programme once they fail an exam three times. The minister said there was a high failure rate of graduates sitting the Nursing Council examination, which a graduate student must do before practising as a nurse. Forty per cent of graduates from training institutions, which offer a basic education in nursing, fail the licensing examination of the Council, Khan said. He said under the current system each student is allowed three chances to write the Nursing Council exam within a five-year period, after which the studentship ends. Furthermore, a student can be removed from the register after the second unsuccessful attempt at the entrance exam, the second unsuccessful attempt at the practical or written exam, the third unsuccessful attempt at the practical or written final exam. He said he had received numerous letters pleading for the removal of the onerous provisions. “I want to afford these graduates the

Fuad Khan

opportunity to work and enjoy the profession that they have invested so heavily in.” Khan said the new law would afford persons who have acquired a nursing degree or diploma from a recognised institution after January 2008 to be entitled to a provisional certificate as a nurse intern. These persons can rewrite the council exam while working in the public hospital. The law provides for the creation of the new category called a nurse intern. This person would work under supervision while preparing for the council examination. Khan said this would provide for more nursing personnel on the wards. He said the intern, however, must sit the Nursing Council examination within 15 months of the grant of the provisional certificate. The provisional certificate is valid for four years, during which time the person should pass the exam. Khan said the law would create the title of “advanced practical nurse”. He said in the United States they are called “physician assistants”. “These are nurses who are highly specialised and are trained to examine patients, prescribe medication as well as run clinics on their own. It has proven to be a benefit in the primary health-care system where we cannot get doctors to go into the rural areas. These nurses are trained to such a level that they function as general practitioners.” Khan added that they can therefore be used in main health centres and allow for the centres to open later, as well as on weekends.

ROSEAU, Dominica CMC — Health authorities are confirming increased cases of the mosquito-borne disease, Chikungunya, but say it is confined to two communities in Dominica. Senior environmental health officer, Sylvester St Ville, speaking on the Stateowned DBS radio, said there were now 13 confirmed cases and that the matter “is a major concern for the health care system”. “It’s something that we are trying to manage. As of our latest report, there are 13 confirmed cases. They are confined to those two communities,” he said. The authorities said the cases were confined to Bath Estate on the outskirts of the capital, and Woodford Hill, north of here. St Ville said that the Environmental Health department was taking preventative measures to

reduce the spread of the disease. “Presently we are in Bath Estate doing some source reduction and vector control activities … we will be doing some fogging operations to reduce the population of adults in these communities,” he said, urging residents to clean up the area and reduce the breeding areas for mosquitos. Chikungunya is a viral disease, carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and causes a dengue-like sickness. Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Joint pain and stiffness are more common with Chikungunya than with dengue. Last month, the Trinidadbased Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)

said it was working closely with the French and Dutch authorities where the first ever case of chikungunya had been recorded. CARPHA Executive Director Dr James Hospedales told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that his advice to the region would be “to stay inform and stay alert to the news and any updated information. “Secondly we would strongly advised that you go to our web and download the chart which is a checklist of all the breeding places in the yard where mosquitoes can breed. “The Caribbean is at risk, exactly what will happen in the weeks and months ahead we don’t know because it has not been here before, but we are at risk,” Dr Hospedales told CMC, adding “this is a new virus to the region and therefore the vast majority of people are susceptible”.

Page 68

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Homeless slayings in Suriname capital go unsolved PA R A M A R I B O , Suriname (AP) — At least two of the men died by gunfire. One was beaten to death with a brick. Another was doused with gasoline and set alight. Four were decapitated, two of the bodies seemingly drained of blood. None of them had a home. Several remain unidentified. And the killer or killers have not been caught. The unsolved murders of a dozen homeless people over the past eight years haunt the nighttime streets of Suriname’s capital, and baffle the nation’s police force. No one is sure if the slayings are random, or if there’s a ritualistic Ripper of Paramaribo preying on the city’s homeless, leaving them with a lingering taste of fear. “I would never sleep somewhere where I am alone. I’m scared of what might happen to me,” said Patrick Chin, a 46-year-old homeless man who said he tries to set up camp on a well-traveled corner near where security guards are posted. To the outside world,

Homeless men eat breakfast at a shelter for the homeless in Paramaribo, Suriname. (AP Photo/Ertugrul Kilic)

Suriname may be best, if dimly, known as a place where scientists slog through tropical jungles to discover new species of dung beetles and poisonous frogs. But the former Dutch colony is a

relatively tranquil place to live. It has its share of crime, but Suriname’s homicide rate is among the lowest in South America. Nearly half the country’s 560,000 people live in Paramaribo, a city dotted with white clapboard buildings that sprawls around a bend in the muddy Suriname River, near where it empties into the Atlantic. When the nighttime assaults began with two shootings in February 2006, police suspected shopkeepers were trying to intimidate vagrants to keep them away. But as the attacks continued, they seemed to grow in ferocity, with

burnings, batterings and decapitations. In at least two of the murders, an eerie lack of blood at the scene led investigators to suspect the bodies had been purposely drained, perhaps for some sort of ritual. “It could be they were killed elsewhere and their body was brought back to the spot where they normally slept. But we’re also taking into account the possibility that they were killed on that spot and their blood was collected,” said police spokesman Humphrey Naarden. He put the body count of brutalized homeless people at 12, but said

investigators could not provide a full tally of the slain. Five homeless people were slain in just nine months in 2006, spreading alarm across the little country. Concern among the general public faded as the pace of killings slowed. But the deaths have not stopped. The decapitated body of a homeless man was discovered in late September beneath an old concrete bridge over a trash-strewn canal in an industrial neighborhood on the capital’s outskirts. Detectives won’t disclose a suspected motive, if they have one. The head of the

police force’s investigation unit, Inspector John Steinberg, said there is no conclusive evidence the murders are even linked. “There are too many questions still unanswered to make that assumption,” he said. Some people suspect the killings are the work of a lone serial killer. Others theorize it could involve satanic rituals or some wildly corrupted form of Obeah, an Afro-Caribbean religion that involves channeling spiritual forces. Chandrikapersad Santokhi, an opposition lawmaker who was Suriname’s justice minister when the slayings started, believes the killings have “a ritualistic nature.” Lucien Naarden, a former forensic psychologist with the government, agrees, saying the assailant or assailants likely believe they “draw some sort of power” from snuffing out lives. Police in 2006 formed a task force to try to solve the crimes, but Santokhi said a lack of specialized forensics and crime-scene techniques has impeded the investigations. They also have had few witnesses, even though most of the killings took place near businesses, marketplaces and landmarks. In October 2006, a man heading to work said he saw a lone figure dressed like a homeless man attacking another with an axe. When the witness screamed, the killer ran off and appeared to escape in a car. Police at the time said it might have been driven by an accomplice. Three wealthy teenage boys were detained weeks after the killing, and prosecutors said they acknowledged beating up homeless people, but denied killing any. They were released for lack of evidence. Three months after the ax attack, witnesses saw the stabbing death of 48-year-old Humphrey Charles Brondenstein, who had come to the defense of a fellow homeless man who was being hassled by four men. Police detained four people but they were quickly released. Deborah Winson, who manages the government’s homeless bureau, said that roughly 200 people sleep on Paramaribo’s streets each night. Each slaying of a street person sows terror among Paramaribo’s poorest citizens and they rush to the government-run shelter, she said. “But their fears fade after a few weeks and they return to their normal routine until the next murder.”

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 69

Brazil World Cup: Worker UAE, SA, Bangladesh shortlisted as... dies in Manaus stadium ... From page 72 majority of the ICC Board, including eight Full Members. Two of the Full Members – Pakistan Cricket Board and Sri Lanka Cricket - abstained in the vote as they felt they needed more time to discuss the amended resolution with their respective Boards. ICC President Alan Isaac said: “The Board has made some significant decisions today which provide us with long-term certainty in relation to the future

governance, competition and financial models of the ICC. “This decision comes after extensive discussions between Members that I helped initiate and were given impetus through a position paper presented by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and ECB in early January. “Since this time a set of r e s o l u t i o n s have been drafted, negotiated and modified – based on a set of principles agreed by the ICC Board on 28 January – and

finalized at the meeting today. There were eight Full Members who were in a position to support the resolution today and the two who abstained have pledged to further discuss the issues with an aim to reaching unanimous approval over the coming weeks.” ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “We now have clear direction from the Board and it is our job to implement the approved resolution.”

Sunday February 09, 2014 ARIES (March 21 April 19): Today you'll likely awake, look around your home environment, and realize that there is much room for improvement. Fortunately, you are just the person for the job, Aries! You are creative and have tremendous decorating talent (even if you don't realize it). ******************* TAURUS (April 20 May 20): You are a hard and conscientious worker, Taurus, and certainly have been applying your skills and doing your best for some time now. efforts. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): You may find yourself thinking of looking for a new job in order to increase your income, Gemini. But there is probably no need to take such a drastic step. ******************** CANCER (June 21 July 22): You have a lot of charm and tremendous social skills, Cancer. This is an unbeatable combination, and is especially strengthened with the current astral energy. Be sure to go the extra mile today, even if you aren't in the mood to do so. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): This is a day when you could greatly benefit from spending some time outdoors in quiet reflection, Leo. Even a half-hour's walk through a city park will help you feel more rested and grounded. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): You're a hard and conscientious worker, Virgo, and sometimes you work so hard that you neglect to take any time for yourself.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Today may find you longing for some spots of color in your life, Libra. Do what you can to brighten up your home environment. moustache! ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): Today you may discover that you have more in common with your neighbors than you thought, Scorpio. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21): You may receive some kind of windfall today, Sagittarius. It may be that a rich old relative dies and leaves you some unexpected cash. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19): Romance is very much highlighted today, Capricorn. All the planetary energies indicate that you and your partner are operating on precisely the same wavelength. It's no wonder that the two of you have been getting along so well lately. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18):Anything you attempt to do today is likely to turn out really well, Aquarius. You have an ambitious nature, so by all means take advantage of these auspicious conditions to pursue your career-related goals. ********************* PISCES (Feb. 19 March 20): Today you'll likely find that you begin to make real progress on a project that may have been stagnating for a while, Pisces.

is concerned, there are certain hurdles. According to an IPL insider, the UAE is “not viable”, considering the staging will require “too many government clearances”. He also said: “The Middle East has not been a spectatorfriendly venue of late.” When it comes to Bangladesh, there could be two stumbling blocks. With the country staging three major cricket events - the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, followed by the Asia Cup and the World Twenty20 - the pitches will likely be worn down by the time the IPL begins. Besides, staging IPL matches in and around Dhaka could be logistically difficult, due to a limited availability of five-star or seven-star hotels. It is understood that IMG, the event managers of the IPL, had sent some of its staff to

Bangladesh and the UAE to do a recce over the last week. The BCCI hopes to host marquee games, especially the play-offs in India. Depending on the election dates, the tournament is likely to be divided into two halves - at home and overseas. “If the elections are held in April, then the first half will be played abroad. But if the elections are in May, we may play the initial games in India,” another BCCI official said. If the BCCI decides to shift the IPL to another country, it will be the second time that the tournament will be staged overseas. In 2009, the second edition of IPL was shifted to South Africa after the tournament clashed with federal elections and the Indian government declined to provide security to cricketers.

Page 70

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

“Players who could be possibilities for West Indies honours against Ireland and England” While Nagico 50-overs West Indies tournament 2014 has been positive for our cricket, as it is really needed at this time, it has also been a disappointment in two very important ways. Firstly, the tournament is much too truncated. Any team could only have played a maximum of three games in the preliminary stages, and may only have gotten two additional games if that team progressed to the final. That is certainly not enough cricket for a tournament that precedes our international season. Staging tournaments depends on sponsorship and financing available. Last year, the parallel competition was such that each team played against all other teams in a round-robin format, which helped with cricketing production and form, as batsmen and bowlers settled down for the long haul. Also, many would remind that, as recently as 1990’s, most West Indian cricketers who did not play for English counties also only played in four or five 4day games and five one-day games in Caribbean seasons. Yet, West Indies did manage, in that time, to beat the rest of the cricket world; a much different time! The WI team that played that last 50-overs game in New Zealand, a winning effort, to tie that series 2-2, was as follows: Kieran Powell, Johnson Charles, Kirk

Andre McCarthy

Leon Johnson

Sunil Narine

Edwards, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Chadwick Walton, Denesh Ramdin, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder and Nikita Miller. Simmons, Bravo, Ramdin, Narine, Holder and Miller have distinguished themselves so far this competition. Secondly, because of several injuries, the tournament has been robbed of many of our recent stalwarts and stars, players whom West Indies have come, over recent series, to depend on. Chris Gayle, Kemar Roach, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy are all injured out of their respective teams. Then, as if that was not enough, and with so much cricket to come in 2014, players who have been recognized to be good

enough to play recently for WI have struggled to make any mark what-so-ever. Darren Bravo, Adrian Barath, Johnson Charles, Andre Russell, Andre Fletcher, Nkrumah Bonner, Chadwick Walton, Narsingh Deonarine, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul and Kieran Powell, to name a few of recent WI players in this 50-overs tournament, have failed to fire properly. Kirk Edwards has had a problem with Barbados Cricket Association and was sent home for supposed insubordination. Who knows what will happen to him for both Barbados and West Indies. So, that brings us to those players who could be considered for the series against Ireland, later this

month, in Jamaica – two T20’s and one ODI - and against England, later in February and March, featuring three ODI’s in Antigua & Barbuda and three T-20’s in Barbados. Andre McCarthy, the tall Jamaican middle-order batsman, who looked so organized for his 93 against Windward Islands, could be one of those. So too could Windward Islands’ Keddy Lesporis, whose excellent 100no against Jamaica was classical, even though in a losing effort. Delorn Johnson has done good work for Windward Islands, but his fitness will have to improve much. Ramnaresh Sarwan, veteran Guyanese batsman, looked good after tentative starts, and has impressed with

Stylish Kotsenburg... From page 71 confirmed that the absence from his routine of a “triple” - the trademark trick of the top X-Games riders - was not going to hurt his chances. The judges clearly liked his distinctive moves on the rails and creative grabs and twists in his jumps and, when he reprised them in his opening run in the final, he got the reward he was hoping for. R E WA R D I N G CREATIVITY While it did not look like a score that would keep him on top of the leaderboard, only Sandbech came close to overhauling it with the penultimate charge down the hill of the day. “It’s cool to see the judges reward creativity,” said Sandbech, despite the emphasis on style probably costing him gold. “It was some of the best snowboarding I’ve ever seen out there.”

There was a nervous wait for McMorris when the score for the final competitor, world number one Max Parrot, was delayed but his 87.25 was only good enough for fifth place. “With the judging you just never know,” McMorris, who broke his rib in the XGames last month, laughed when asked whether he thought his compatriot might push him off the podium. “I automatically thought I was done. But I’m just really thankful to be on the podium from where I was last week.” When Parrot’s score finally flashed up on the big screen, the three medallists, all friends, hugged each other swathed in their national flags. “On a global level, the Olympics, it’s sick to have snowboarding in there,” said Kotsenburg. “All of us were having a blast there, you could see us all

diligence and consistency. If West Indies selectors will call him back is a very different question. Leon Johnson, who looks more like Brian Lara than even Darren Bravo, has been around for Guyana for some time, but has only now looked as assured and confident as his experiences should have allowed. Shiv Chanderpaul should be playing in WI ODI teams. How does one not select the best batsman in the Caribbean, one who is vastly experienced, with more than twenty years and eons of runs as proof? Young Ronsford Beaton has impressed all with his pace, but his stamina and fitness would hav e t o improve immeasurably if he wants to be a regular member of any team that represents West Indies in the future. Paul Wi n t z has improved, but at 27, he n e e d s t o m ake massive strides quickly to be included immediately, while his captain, Christopher Barnwell, must take more responsibility for his performances. Kyle Corbin and Kyle Mayers, both Barbadians, but who play for Combined Campuses and Colleges, have been excellent contributors to their team’s efforts to date. They need more consistency in the near future. Jason Holder looked

Keddy Lesporis

Jonathan Carter

Colin E. H. Croft says: organized as a fast bowler for Barbados, while team-mate Jonathan Carter must be included in the next set of probable players for senior West I n d i e s h o n o r s , s o stunningly explosive he is. His century against Trinidad & Tobago will be talked about for much longer. Denesh Ramdin, one of the few successes that WI has had in recent tours, has looked more complete as wicket-keeper-batsman over the last year than any time in his career. Dwayne Bravo has been touted as an all-around WI captain. That is still to be seen, but his all-around cricket is always pulsating, sometimes mesmerizing. He must always be a certainty if fit. Sunil Narine has confused everyone everywhere, so his is No. 1 selection in any WI team. So, there it is, possible, probable players for our upcoming tours. I hope they work well! Enjoy!

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 71

NAGICO Regional Super50 cricket Third Hand in Hand 2nd Div. 40-overs to attract seven West Berbice teams Jamaica beat Guyana Malta Supreme

- forms part of BCB Diamond Jubilee celebrations With the development of the game being the pivotal aim, the third edition of the Hand in Hand Second Division 40-Overs competition, that will attract seven teams from the West Berbice area, was launched on Friday last in the Board room of the sponsors, Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown. This year’s competition which forms part of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Golden Jubilee celebrations (75th year of existence) will see the top Region 5 team being rewarded with $60,000 and a trophy; the runner-up wins $40,000 with the playerof-final is set to walk away with $10,000 and a trophy. Speaking at the launch, BCB Special Events and Golden Jubilee Committee Chairman, Hilbert Foster

stated that this year will be one that would always be remembered by everyone involved. “While the rest of the country is reeling from the negative effect of the ongoing local cricket crisis, it would be cricket, lovely cricket and more cricket in the Ancient County,” Foster emphatically stated. Hand in Hand Group of Companies Human Resources and Administrative Manger Mrs. Zaida, Joaquin in her presentation prior to handing over the cheque, pointed out that her company recognises the importance of sports and culture in building a positive society. Mrs. Joaquin also noted that her company is cognizant of the importance of investing at this level. She said that it is the wish of the company that

the tournament would grow to benefit both entities. The teams that have been named to participate are: Blairmont, Bush Lot, Bath, Rainbow Generation, D’Edward, Rosignol and Hopetown. The BCB articulated its gratitude to Mrs. Joaquin and Hand in Hand for reposing confidence in them for another year. Special thanks were extended to Mr. Joshi and Ms. Andrea for their unflinching support and cooperation. Players in the targeted area of West Berbice were challenged to take full advantage of the opportunity that is offered by way of this tournament through the BCB which Foster said is committed to the growth game in Region 5 at every level. (Franklin Wilson)

Stylish Kotsenburg lands double first

Winner Sage Kotsenburg of the U.S. celebrates after he won the men’s snowboarding slopestyle title at the Sochi Games on Saturday, the first gold medal of the 2014 Winter Olympics. REUTERS/Mike Blake ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Reuters) - American Sage Kotsenburg laid down an almost flawless first run to win the first gold medal of the Sochi Games as snowboarding slopestyle made a spectacular Olympic debut on Saturday. Kotsenburg’s run, the third of the day, earned him 93.50 points, which proved enough to make him a surprise champion in a lowscoring contest where judges favoured stylists over big jumpers. “I’m really excited,” said Kotsenburg. “It feels awesome. I don’t know what to call it. I have no idea what’s actually going on. This is the craziest thing that ever happened.”

Staale Sandbech nailed his second run to snatch the silver medal for Norway with 91.75, while Canadian Mark McMorris, who was riding with a broken rib, was awarded 88.75 for his second run to take bronze and round out a podium of 20-year-olds. There had been concerns that the withdrawal of America’s Shaun White might devalue the maiden event, but the biggest name in snowboarding, and the safety concerns that caused him to pull out of the event, were a distant memory on Saturday. Slopestyle was brought into the Games to try to help attract a younger demographic, and there could not have been a better advertisement for the sport

than the first final. The fans in the stands jigged to pumping rock music as the competitors performed their tricks on rails and over jumps against a backdrop of snowcapped mountains and the brightest of blue skies. “Today was a great debut for slopestyle,” said McMorris. “I think the future for slopestyle is extremely bright.” Kotsenburg had failed to get through T h u r s d a y ’s first qualifying and needed one of the four spots available in the second round of heats earlier on Saturday. The American’s score of 90.5 was enough to put him through to the final and (Continued on page 70)

by 10 runs, take top spot in Zone A

By Sean Devers in Trinidad In Association with Digicel, Carib Beer, Giftland Office Max, Payless Variety Store & Leisure Inn & Car Rentals Twenty-five year-old Nkrumah Bonner fashioned a high-class undefeated 122 to lead Jamaica to a challenging 247-7, leaving the Guyana Malta Supreme to get their highest total against Jamaica to win and top the zone. Bonner became the 12th batsman to score a ton against Guyana and only the third Jamaican to do so after Xavier Marshall and Robert Samuels. His exhilarating knock included seven fours and three sixes from148 balls and his second fifty took just 31 balls. But he got little support with nobody else reaching 30. Ronsford Beaton took 2-58 from eight expensive overs, while Veerasammy Permaul had 2-45 for Guyana who responded with 233 all out in 49.5 overs as they failed to surpass the 236-7 they made to beat Jamaica in 2005. Shiv Chanderpaul topscored with 65 but he took 101 balls and 36.3 overs to do it while the usually aggressive Trevon Griffith laboured for a 75-ball 37 in an opening stand of 98. And with Chris Barnwell and Leon Johnson out of the way after failing for the first time in the competition, Guyana lost their way. Left arm Test pacer Sheldon Cotterell finished with 3-62 while Andre Russell had 3-51. Jamaica won the toss and batted in sunny conditions on a track with a tinge of green, and a fast outfield. Guyana, who made three forced changes; leaving out Ramnaresh Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine due to ‘flu’ along with Paul Wintz who injured his hand during practice, gave Robin Bacchus his debut, while Royston Crandon was brought in for his first game of the tournament and Chanderpaul returned after a leg injury. Horace Miller pulled Beaton for four but then got a beauty that left him from the Montserrat born Guyanese and touched a catch to Wicket-Keeper Anthony Bramble to leave the score on 14-1. Bonner was greeted with a nasty lifting delivery first ball but he and 20-year-old left hander John Campbell were tested by the 21-yearold Beaton, who bowled with raw pace and got good

‘new ball’ support from Skipper Barnwell. Deliveries consistently beat the bat and when Campbell (10) edged one that left him to the Keeper at 25-2 it did not come as a surprise. Beaton tucked up Bonner, who fended one out of his rib cage while the burly Tamar Lambert caressed Barnwell to the cover boundary when he over-pitched, while Bonner stroked Beaton through midon for four as the Jamaicans looked to counter punch. After 10 overs the score was 35-2 as the third wicket pair tried to consolidate the position before Assad Fudadin removed Lambert (7) to another catch by the Keeper as Jamaica slipped to 45-3. Jamaica lost its next wicket at 97-4 when Andrew McCarthy who struck three boundaries in 27, was stupendously taken at slip by Johnson off left-arm spinner Permaul. The 100 took 31.2 overs before Carlton Baugh (8) drilled a short ball from Permaul to Barnwell at cover with the score 134-5 to the delight of a small but vocal Guyana support group energetically waving golden Arrow Heads flags. Bonner continued to flourish even as Beaton sent back Dave Bernard (8) at 1526 and Devendra Bishoo removed Andrew Russell (14) at 170-7. Bonner danced into Beaton and clobbered him for six over cover and crashed him for four to move to 98. He then became the third batsman to register a century in the tournament when he reached his second ton at this level. His first fifty had taken 117 balls. N i k i t a M i l l e r, w h o finished unbeaten on 20, added 73 with Bonner, who played an array of audacious sweeps in their unfinished partnership as the last 10 overs produced 104 runs. When the Guyanese began their reply, 39-yearold Chanderpaul stroked left-arm pacer Sheldon Cotterell down the ground and nonchalantly flicked the solider for six and the crowd went wild. Griffith climbed on his toes and punched Jerome Taylor majestically to the point boundary while Chanderpaul dumped Bernard for a six back over his head off a free hit. The Guyana 50 was posted in 10.5 overs and

Chanderpaul celebrated with a flicked boundary off Bernard while Griffith cleverly ‘glanced’ the bowler for four to fine-leg in the same over. The left-handed Griffith swept Miller high over square-leg for six but sliced Russell to third man with the opening pair 12 short of their second century stand of the competition. Griffith’s 37 lasted 75 balls and included three fours and a six. Debutant Bacchus joined his GCC club mate Chanderpaul and smashed Russell for four with a lovely cut. However, Bacchus (6) edged the Test pacer to the Keeper next to leave Guyana on 96-3 to bring Leon Johnson to the crease. Johnson swiveled and pulled Russell for four before Chanderpaul, in his 84th Regional 50 overs game, soon got to his 19th 50-over fifty for Guyana from 78 balls with his second boundary. Johnson (16) was LBW to Lambert at 124-3 to bring Barnwell to the crease and Chanderpaul exploded with a gigantic six off Miller to bring the crowd to life. Barnwell (11) thumped Campbell for consecutive fours before he missed a juicy full toss from the off-spinner and was bowled as Guyana, slipping behind the required asking rate, slumped to 1454. Fudadin joined Chanderpaul who soon tucked a ball off his hip into hands of short square leg off Cotterell 152-5 leaving Guyana to get 92 from 81 balls. His 65 lasted 101 balls and was laced with two fours and three sixes. Fudadin and Crandon tried to revive the innings by taking the score to 177 before Crandon (13) was run out. Bramble joined Fudadin who was caught off Cotterell for 21 with the South Americans slumping to 192-7. Bramble (14) was bowled by Cotterell and Bishoo (6) had his stumps disturbed by Russell at 216-9 but Permaul hammered Cotterell for six and Beaton also hit the pacer for six to keep the fans interested. But in the end 15 from the last over was just too big a task for the last pair as Beaton was run out off the penultimate ball. Jamaica topped the zone and will oppose the runner up of zone B on Wednesday, while Guyana will take on the winner of zone B on Thursday.

Page 72

Kaieteur News

ICC approves changes to governance

ICC approves changes to governance ICC Media - United Arab Emirates - The ICC Board yesterday approved a comprehensive resolution relating to the governance, competition and financial models of the ICC at a meeting in Singapore. The key elements of the resolution are as follows: Protecting Test cricket A Test Cricket Fund will be introduced to help ensure all of the Test playing teams will be able to sustain a home programme of Test cricket through to 2023. The fund will be available to all of the Test playing Members except the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). There was also confirmation that all Full Members will enter into a series of contractually binding bi-lateral agreements as a matter of urgency so that they can confirm a comprehensive schedule of matches in a Future Tours Programme that will now be extended to 2023. Breaking the glass ceiling Associate Members now have a clear pathway to playing Test cricket. The winner of the next ICC Intercontinental Cup will be entitled to take part in a playoff against the bottom-ranked Full Member and, if successful, obtain Test status. This complements the pathways that are already in place for any Member to be able to qualify for the major events in ODI and T20I cricket. A certain and attractive package of ICC major events The World Test Championship will be replaced with an ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2021. It proved impossible to come up with a format for a four-team finals event in Test cricket that fits the culture of Test cricket and preserves the

integrity of the format. The most recent ICC Champions Trophy event proved to be very popular with supporters around the world and the future events will build on this success. It’s also an event that any ICC Member (including the top Associate Members) can aspire to qualifying for by improving their performances in ODI cricket. With the ICC Champions Trophy alongside the ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC World Twenty20 and the formats and venues already confirmed for all of these events the ICC has a really attractive package for 2015-23 to take to the market. A new financial model for Full Members Full Members will gain greater financial recognition based on the contribution they have made to the game, particularly in terms of finance, their ICC history and their on-field performances in the three formats. This decision is the outcome of a negotiation between Members that has been required to provide longterm certainty of participation of all Members in both ICC events and bilateral series against other Members. Without that certainty, the rights for ICC events, which are to be taken to market this year, would have been significantly impacted and, by extension, so would the financial support that has driven the growth of cricket around the world. The structure of the model will ensure that none of the Full Members will be worse off than they are at present and - if forecasts of revenue generation prove to be correct – all will be significantly better off. The agreement of the model has been an important part of a wider negotiation that will now provide long-term certainty of participation in ICC events by all of the Full Member teams. Enhanced support for the leading Associate Members

Funds that will be directly distributed to Associate and Affiliate Members (AMs) will continue to grow, building on a dramatic increase in the previous cycle (2007-15) if revenue targets are achieved. There is also a commitment to continue to support tournaments for all of the AMs and a range of centralised services. The planning process for the next cycle can now begin in earnest and, as part of this, there will be a review – in partnership with the AMs and their representatives – of the appropriate scope of services and tournaments and the suitability of the current scorecard distribution model of the funds. N.Srinivasan from BCCI to Chair the ICC Board from mid2014 The ICC Board will continue to be the primary decision-making body. From the start of July this year, the ICC Chairman will be N.Srinivasan from the BCCI. A new Executive Committee will be formed to report into the Board. The initial Chair of this Executive Committee (ExCo) will be Wally Edwards from Cricket Australia while the Chair of the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) will continue to be Giles Clarke from the ECB. These roles will be for an initial two year transitional period to 2016 only. Once this transitional period is completed, the Chair of the ICC Board will be elected from within the ICC Board with all Full Member Directors entitled to stand for election. BCCI, CA and ECB - will be represented on both subcommittees, along with two representatives of the other Full Members (who will be elected by the Board). Several of these decisions still now need to be considered and adopted by the ICC’s Full Council. The relevant resolutions will now be drafted through the appropriate committees, including the Governance Committee and the Board before being submitted for approval to Full Council. A set of proposals was initially developed by the respective Chairs of BCCI, CA and ECB – N.Srinivasan, Wally Edwards and Giles Clarke before being presented to a meeting of the Full Members on 9 January. These proposals were then discussed, negotiated and modified at two subsequent ICC Board meetings. A resolution was put to a vote today and supported by the required (Continued on page 63)

Sunday February 09, 2014

Brazil World Cup: Worker dies in Manaus stadium accident

Three workers have died in the last year working at the venue in Manaus. (Reuters) BBC News - A construction worker has been killed in northern Brazil in an accident at a stadium being built for the football World Cup, which begins in June. The man - a Portuguese national - was hit in the head while dismantling a crane outside the stadium in the northern city of Manaus. He is the third worker to die in an accident at the building site. England and Italy are due to play their opening World Cup match at the Arena da Amazonia. The city’s World Cup secretary, Miguel Capobiango, said the crane was being taken apart as work

at the site was almost complete. The construction worker was taken to hospital but died a few hours later. He was identified by the Brazilian Sports Ministry as 55-yearold Antonio Jose Pita Martins. Mr Capobiango said the accident was being investigated and will not cause further delays to the construction work in Manaus. The stadium is due to be finished later this month, says the BBC’s Julia Carneiro. In December, a court suspended construction after a man working on the stadium’s roof plunged more

than 30m (100ft) to his death. Another worker had died at the venue in March 2013. The authorities said working conditions were “unacceptably dangerous”. Work eventually resumed after building company Andrade Gutierrez presented a safety report that satisfied the authorities. Five of the 12 stadiums being used in the World Cup are still under construction, including the venue where the opening match is due to be played in Sao Paulo, on 12 June. Six workers have died in preparations for the tournament.

New Zealand lose ground but stay ahead ESPNcricinfo - MS Dhoni spoke to his team-mates in a huddle before India took the field 35 minutes before lunch. They had lost their last six wickets for 72 runs on the third morning and handed New Zealand a 301-run lead in the first innings. A deficit of such magnitude is hard to overcome. Whatever was said, India not only found the inspiration to produce a dramatically improved bowling effort and reduce New Zealand to 15 for 4 by lunch, they also sustained their intensity for the rest of the day to dismiss the hosts for 105 and then produce a vastly superior batting effort in the chase. India need another 320 runs to win the Test with nine wickets in

hand. With two days remaining, time is not an issue, but the task ahead is gargantuan. To win, India would have to better their highest chase by one run. They will have to pull off the third highest successful chase in Tests. No team has chased more than 348 to win in New Zealand, but India have already knocked 87 off their target. New Zealand will wonder how they allowed India even a sniff at a remotely achieveable target after the third day had begun so beautifully for them. On a humid morning after overnight rain had juiced up the pitch, their fast bowlers ripped through India. Brendon McCullum did not enforce the follow-on,

though, and New Zealand’s day was about to take a ghastly turn. Mohammed Shami exacerbated the hosts’ recent first-wicket problems. Hamish Rutherford was lbw in the first over, and in the third Peter Fulton drove a full ball straight to Ravindra Jadeja at cover. Kane Williamson had not fallen for less than 50 on India’s tour so far, but yesterday Jadeja cut him short on 3 with an acrobatic catch - diving full length to his right - at short midwicket. Scores: India 202 (Rohit 72, Wagner 4-64, Southee 3-38, Boult 3-38) and 87 for 1 (Dhawan 49*) trail New Zealand 503 and 105 (Taylor 41, Ishant 3-28, Shami 3-37) by 319 runs.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

GABF revises prize structure for ‘Road to Mecca’ The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) yesterday announced that it has revised the prize structure for the upcoming, ‘Road to Mecca’ National Club Playoffs, which will commence from March 1 at the Mecca of basketball, The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. It was disclosed at the launch of the tournament on Friday at Duke Lodge that the top club in the competition will pocket $800,000 while the second place club will take home $200,000; but a release yesterday from the

Federation informed of a new prize structure. “The GABF has increased the monetary prizes from $1 Million to $1.2 Million for the National Basketball Playoffs to be held on March 1, 2, 9, 16 and 23,” the release noted. The Federation in its release said the new structure is aimed at rewarding all 16 clubs. The National Playoffs will feature the top five seeded clubs in Georgetown, Linden and Berbice, with a wildcard playoff for the 16th spot. “Prizes to be awarded are

based on the format used for (awarding) prize money at Wimbledon Tennis Championships and US Open Tennis Championships, where each participant receives a monetary award based on their performance during the Championships,” the GABF said. The federation said that the “funds will likely be used by the clubs to strengthen their structure and administration, which is a key goal of the GABF,” and apologised for the information that was release before. The new prize structure for the competition is below:

Page 73

Caribbean athletes bid for honours as Winter Olympics begin

The Jamaican team is introduced during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday. (PHOTO: AP)

UAE, SA, Bangladesh shortlisted as alternative IPL venues

South Africa, which had hosted the IPL in 2009, is one of the shortlisted venues for this season covers, rain. (Getty Images) ESPNcricinfo - The United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and South Africa, in addition to India, have been shortlisted as venues to host IPL 2014. The IPL governing council is likely to deliberate on the issue on February 13, after the player auction in Bangalore. According to a BCCI official, the schedule and venues have not been announced as the IPL governing council is awaiting the dates of the federal

elections in India, which are expected to be made public in the last week of February and are likely to be held in AprilMay. With the World Twenty20 final slotted for April 6, the IPL is likely to start around April 10 and the organisers have been scouting for alternative venues. “It is not a question of who is the favourite to host. We are open to a few venues: Middle East (UAE), South Africa and Bangladesh. South

Africa is open to host but we have to consider the logistics and the timings before we make up our mind,” a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. “In my personal opinion, South Africa is a good contender. But UAE is also there. There are too many matches. So we will discuss everything at the Governing Council.” South Africa has emerged as the friendliest venue among the three overseas countries. As far as the UAE (Continued on page 69)

SOCHI, Russia (CMC) — A number of athletes representing the Caribbean region are participating in the 22nd Winter Olympic Games which began Friday in the Black Sea city of Sochi in South-Eastern Russia. They include a fivemember Bobsleigh delegation from Jamaica, a husband and wife team representing Dominica, and athletes from the US Virgin Islands (USVI), the Cayman Islands and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). “Our Caribbean athletes have demonstrated that they have an unconquerable spirit and it is this undeniable perseverance and grit determination that has put them at the top of their field and also for many individuals, to achieve personal excellence,” said CEO of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committee (CANOC) Broadcasting Inc, Larry Romany. “We know our Caribbean athletes in Sochi will make us proud and it will be another unifying period for our region to support these exceptional athletes who spent countless hours working hard to qualify for the Winter Olympics.” Jamaica’s five-member delegation to the games are pilot Winston Watts, brakeman Marvin Dixon, crew members Wayne Blackwood, alternate crew; Thomas Samuel, coach, and Nelson Christian Stokes, Chef de Mission.

The Jamaican Bobsleigh team gained international fame during their debut in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta, as underdogs among the professional and was the inspiration for the major motion picture, Cool Runnings. United States-based Gary di Silvestri and his Italianborn wife Angelica Morrone di Silvestri, who have Dominican citizenship are representing the island at the Games. Di Silvestri is due to participate in the men’s 15kilometre classical race and his wife in the women’s 10kilometre classical race. Jasmine Campbell, representing the USVI, Dow Travers, the Cayman Islands, and Peter Adam Crook, the BVI, said they were all looking forward to the Winter Olympics. “I will be going to the Olympics trying to ski my personal fastest, my personal strongest, my personal best. That is all I can really hope to do,” said Campbell. “The Olympics are also about bringing the world together in a community of sport and human excellence.” Born and raised in the Grand Cayman, Travers, 26, competed for the island in the 2009 Val D’Isere Alpine World Championships and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The eldest of three talented athletic brothers,

Travers, who lives and works full time in the Cayman after graduating from Brown University with a degree in Geology-Biology, said he’s fully prepared for the Winter Games. “I believe I am prepared and as ready as I’ll ever be,” said Travers, who has been training in Aspen with his brother Dean under coach, former Olympic skier, Jake Zamansky and the Aspen Valley Ski Club. Travers, who will be competing in the Giant Slalom, said he has been training during the week and racing as much as possible followed by strength training in the gym. Crook, who lives in Utah, said he is “excited and a little nervous” about his first Winter Olympics and representing the small mountainous island of Tortola. “When people hear I’m representing Tortola, they always ask me if I ski there! Is there snow there! And then I have to explain it all over again,” said Crook, who started competing professionally four years ago. “It’s a small island and the support for me from the people there is unreal. My biggest goal at the Olympics is to make it through the final round. You never know what can happen. I’d just like to make everyone proud.” The Winter Olympics games run from February 7 to 23.

Page 74

Kaieteur News

Frank Watson memorial tournament to be staged from February 22 The Pele Alumni Corporation, a non- profit North American charity of former players and executives of the club, in recognition of 1st Pele Football Club President, Frank Watson, have organised the Frank Watson Senior and Junior football tournament, which will commence on February 22. The senior tournament has been sponsored by Dr. Colin Watson - an original Pele F.C. player and younger brother of Frank Watson. The tournament will see a senior along with an Under-14 and Under-16 segment. The youths will open the action on February 22 at the Tucville Ground with eight matches starting from 9:00am featuring Grove Hi Tech, Beacon, Western Tigers, Eagles, Conquerors, Black Pearl, Riddim Squad and Den Amstel in the Under-14 segment, while Grove Hi Tech, GFC, Eagles, Renaissance, Conquerors, Den Amstel, Pele and Riddim Squad will battle in the Under16 department. The respective winners advance to the semis and respective finals. The finals are set for Wednesday February 26 at the GFC ground from 3:00pm. Meanwhile, the senior 7-a-side tournament is set for the Den Amstel and GFC grounds starting Monday February 24 and concludes on Wednesday 26. Sara Lodge, Wo r t m a n v i l l e , Wa l e s , North Sophia, Bagotville, South Sophia, Crane, Goed Fortuin, Pouderoyen, Mocha, Stewartville, North East La Penitence, Uitvlugt, Meadow Brook, Den Ams t e l a n d Grove are the teams contesting the senior tournament. The seniors will receive awards ranging from 1st place -$100,000, 2nd place

Frank Watson -$50,000 and 3rd place $30,000. All participating teams will be given balls, trophies for first place and runner-up in both senior and junior tournaments, medals for each player in first place and runner-up teams, trophy for each MVP’s at each level, trophy for each outstanding goalkeeper and trophy for most outstanding defender and for the ‘golden boot’ player. The Youth Under-14 and 16 competition will see the outstanding performers receiving: Vouchers for school uniforms, school supplies or text books, Lap Top Computer – 2 and Apple I-Phones – 2. Admission to the tournament is free. The aim of the organisors is to, apart from promoting football and remembering the former President, Frank Watson, play their role in youth development. They stated in a release that they aim to award prizes to foster continuing education among youths in Guyana. The guiding principles of the Alumni general purposes

and activities are to empower children in Guyana to help them overcome their abject poverty by building their confidence, self-esteem, and ambition through the power of sports. Provide educational opportunities for youth soccer players (boys and girls) who are in need of non-cash support as they pursue their academic endeavors by assisting them in securing University scholarships at Alumni Universities. Provide classes, seminars and workshops concerning sports and its application. Organize, hold and conduct meetings, discussions and forums on contemporary issues concerning sports and its link with continuing education. Foster, promote and increase access to the sport and Academic Scholarship. Solicit, collect and raise money and to expend such funds in the furtherance of the goals and activities of the organization. Aid, assist, cooperate, cosponsor and engage in concerted actions with private, educational and governmental organizations and associations in Guyana on all issues and matters concerning youth sports. F r a n k Wa t s o n , t h e former Pele F.C. President, died at age twenty three in a tragic aircraft crash in which he was the co-pilot, on December 3rd 1973. A lover of soccer and very good youth player with Thomas United F.C., however, his studies did not permit him to pursue his dream to become a ‘national’ player at the senior level. His love for the game never waned and after returning as an airline pilot he threw all of his time, energy and even money into Pele F.C.; a club that has evolved and been around for over 40 years.

GCU&SA names committees The Georgetown Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association (GCU&SA) recently named its respective committees. The selection committee will be chaired by Eddie Nicholls and includes Nigel Duguid and H o r t e n c e Isaacs. Grantley Culbard is the chairman of the disciplinary committee which is comprised of Emily Dodson and Colin Alfred. Nigel Duguid heads the training and examination committee which is made up of Matthew Kissoon, Mikoowanyah Yosef Yisrael,

Eddie Nicholls, Mario Nicholls and Alfred. Leyland Liverpool has been elected chairman of the entertainment and fund raising committee with the other members being Kissoon, Yisrael, Javed Persaud, Ryan Banwari, Zaheer Mohamed, Joseph Jeffery, Rayana Warde, Ava Baker, Linden Matthews, Clyde Layne and Heuvel Cunha. The president of the GCU&SA, Shannon Crawford and secretary Nolan Hawke are ex officio members of each committee.

Nigel Duguid

Sunday February 09, 2014

St. Francis Xavier RC Youth Club completes over 50 activities since re-formation The resuscitated St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Youth Club (SFXRYC) to date has completed over 50 activities/ programmes. This was revealed by mentor of the club, Mr. Hilbert Foster, who and his group members paid a visit to the Church of the Ascension in New Amsterdam last Sunday. The group members, all decked out in their blue jerseys, were accompanied, too, by Fr. Ramesh Vanan, SJ. The aim of the club is to make a difference in the lives of youths, elderly and lessfortunate. Additionally, every birthday person at St. Francis Xavier receives a gift, something that will be ongoing throughout 2014. In chronicling the club’s achievements since October last year, Foster reminded all that the club donated $175,000 in musical equipment to St. Francis Xavier Church in Port Mourant and a new choir was formed which also received gowns compliments of Mrs. Doris Lewis of Georgetown. A monthly leaflet is also being produced, bringing the public up to date with activities of the group. A monthly TV programme on Dave’s Television (DTV-8) has also been on the air twice per month, he added. A massive Christmas concert was held in December at the church which attracted hundreds. Last Saturday, the young people of the church, he said, produced and participated in a TV commercial about suicide. “This will be aired every day on DTV-8 for at least 6 times per day as we try to get young people to say ‘no’ to suicide and ‘yes’ to life…and to Jesus.” Some posters were also printed about suicide and drugs, with the help of the Bank of Nova Scotia. A monthly hamper programme for senior citizens was also introduced in the home parish and the initiative has also been extended to the Church of the Ascension whereby 6 senior citizens will benefit from hampers on a monthly basis. Every month, he added, the club visits 3 Catholic homes where prayer services are held. Every member of the church at Port Mourant was also given a gift “and every Catholic family in Port Mourant received a package and every single Catholic child in Berbice was given a toy for Christmas.” Another major activity is a monthly Bible study for young people in the church. “Our worship is now extra special and our singing has

St. Francis Xavier R.C Youth Club - Fr. Ramesh presents a youngster with a reading package as part of the club’s reading programme. Mr. Foster and group members are in background. much improved and our church members are quickly returning to the fold and the pews…” Outlining future plans, Foster said that the club will be producing a magazine, a rarity for the Catholic Church in Guyana. On February 24, the club will be traveling to Splashmins for a day of fun and relaxation. He immediately extended the invitation to Ascension and Springlands parishes where an outdoor Mass will be said. “We will also be having a joint Mass with N/A, Springlands, Black Bush and Palmyra—we hope to make that special while we plan to invite N/A and Springlands for a Spelling-Bee and debating competition between our Sunday Schools and our young people—and this will be happening in two months.” He also extended an invitation to the choir at Ascension to the club’s very first Musical Festival to be held on Mashramani Day (February 23) at 3:00pm at the St. Francis RC Church. The winning choir will take home $100,000 “so could your church please get yourselves in order for the 23rd of this month—but don’t think you

will beat Port Mourant,” he said with a laugh. On May 26, Foster also invited all Catholic churches along the coastline of Guyana “where we will have a day of singing—we are hoping to have 40 churches from across Guyana—each church will sing one song and the Bishop has accepted our invitation…each choir will sing one song without instruments and the winning prize is $100,000, while the second prize is $50,000 and third prize will be $25,000 and you will have to sing a song from our Catholic hymnal.” The group sang ‘Here I am Lord’ so beautifully for the Ascension congregation during the Mass last Sunday after which they donated 3 basketballs to the youth of the parish and receiving on their behalf was Bro. Stanley Lawrence. Six elderly persons also received hampers after which twelve youths between the ages of 10-13 received 12 educational packages under the club’s reading programme. Fr. Michael Traher, SFM extended thanks and appreciation to Mr. Foster and the group for their generosity and visit just before the final blessing.

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 75

Liverpool put five past leaders Arsenal BBC Sport - Liverpool made a mockery of Arsenal’s status as Premier League leaders by handing out an emphatic beating at Anfield. The Gunners arrived on Merseyside high on confidence at the top of the table, but were demolished as Liverpool scored four in a devastating opening 20minute burst that could have brought them even more goals. Martin Skrtel turned in two set-pieces and when Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge also hit the target for rampant Liverpool, a shell-shocked Arsenal’s confidence was reduced to tatters. Liverpool, unsurprisingly, were unable to maintain that level of dominance in the second half, but Sterling added his second before Mikel Arteta pulled a goal back for Arsenal from the penalty spot. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger must now rebuild morale and belief before Wednesday’s home meeting with Manchester United and an FA Cup fifthround tie against Liverpool next weekend, leading into the Champions League confrontation with holders Bayern Munich. Wenger has maintained confidence in his Arsenal side all season, but this will now be their severest test after a defeat that was far more comprehensive than even the scoreline suggests. As for Liverpool, they continue an impressive pursuit of a top-four place and a return to the Champions League - and they are now only five points behind Arsenal. Liverpool swept away the Gunners in exactly the same manner as Everton were beaten here at Anfield, in a storm of speed, pressing and deadly finishing that was a testimony to the growing threat of Brendan Rodgers’s team. The signals for a harrowing 90 minutes to come were posted inside the first minute when Skrtel cashed in on some flatfooted Arsenal defending to divert Steven Gerrard’s angled free-kick past Wojciech Szczesny.

Raheem Sterling fires home one of his double to lead the onslaught. (Reuters)

L i v e r p o o l ’s o n l y moment of anxiety in a magical first half came when goalkeeper Simon Mignolet inexplicably punched a clearance straight at Jon Flanagan - but otherwise Arsenal were overwhelmed. Liverpool’s second came via Skrtel and another set-piece, the defender showing great agility to head Gerrard’s corner past Alex OxladeChamberlain on the goalline. The speed with which A r s e n a l ’s e f f o r t a n d performance deteriorated in the immediate aftermath of that goal will have horrified Wenger as Liverpool ran riot. Jon Flanagan - but otherwise Arsenal were overwhelmed. Liverpool’s second came via Skrtel and another set-piece, the defender showing great agility to head Gerrard’s corner past Alex OxladeChamberlain on the goalline. The speed with which A r s e n a l ’s e f f o r t a n d performance deteriorated in the immediate aftermath of that goal will have horrified Wenger as Liverpool ran riot. Sturridge should have added a third but a rare blemish in front of goal saw him put a lofted finish just wide before sending in a low cross that just failed to find

Luis Suarez. Suarez almost added what could have been the best of his collection of brilliant Anfield goals this season with a volley of stunning quality and technique that struck the angle of post and bar with Szczesny helpless, Kolo Toure wasting a chance from the rebound. Liverpool were inflicting wave after wave of attacks on Arsenal and the third eventually came, Sterling steering in a simple chance from Suarez’s cross. And as Wenger stood

motionless in his technical area, Sturridge made it 4-0 after only 20 minutes, taking P h i l i p p e C o u t i n h o ’s perfectly weighted pass in his stride to beat Szczesny. If Arsenal expected respite after the break, it did not arrive and Sterling added the fifth in the 52nd minute. Once again Arsenal were ruthlessly exposed by Toure’s pass and even though Szczesny saved Sterling’s first effort, he was able to turn in the rebound in front of the Kop. Wenger

made a triple change on the hour, sending on Kieran Gibbs, Lukas Podolski and Tomas Rosicky for Nacho Monreal, Olivier Giroud and the desperately poor Mesut Ozil. Suarez demonstrated his brilliance once more with an angled free-kick that was heading for the top corner until Szczesny’s intervention. Arsenal finally got on the scoresheet after 69 minutes when Gerrard upended Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arteta scored from the spot,

the Spaniard almost adding a second immediately as Mignolet did well to see his free-kick through a crowded area to save. Liverpool closed out the win to leave Arsenal facing the most searching questions of their impressive season. In other results: Aston Villa 0 - 2 West Ham Chelsea 3 - 0 Newcastle Crystal Palace 3 - 1 West Brom Norwich 0 - 0 Man City Southampton 2 - 2 Stoke Sunderland 0 - 2 Hull

Leroy Brumell 10/10 Cricket and Fun Day on today at Eve Leary The Leroy Brumell 10/10 Cricket and Fun Day will be held today at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary. The day will feature a number of sporting events, including the male and the female finals of the Brumell 10/10 competition. O n F r i d a y , Shahabbudeen Hack, a b u s i n e s s m a n o f We s t D e m e r a r a a n d Windjammer International

Hotel, handed over their contributions to the event, both stating that they were pleased to contribute to the success of the competition. Apart from cricket, the event will also feature a football match involving the Guyana Police Force team, dominoes and other sport events in a Family Fun Day setting aimed at improving the relationship between the Police and the Public.

Shahabbudeen Hack (left), who is a businessman of West Demerara, hands over his support to Police Sports Officer, Colin Boyce for the Leroy Brumell 10/10 Softball Cricket Competition and Fun Day.

Page 76

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 09, 2014

Four nation Caribbean Boxing Championships

Officials in heightened activity as fight night looms By Michael Benjamin The impending four nation boxing tournament that pits the skills of local boxers against their counterparts from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and St Lucia promises to showcase the best talent in the Caribbean and officials of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) are sparing no effort to ensure that local pugilists are thoroughly prepared for the rigorous 3 days extravaganza slated for the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) February 14-16 next. The boxers have been engaged in stiff training in the National Park (05:00hrs07:00hrs) and at the Andrew Lewis Boxing gym (16:00hrs-18:00hrs) on weekdays and at 10:00hrs at the ALBG on Sunday mornings and officials are confident that they will emerge victorious. To w a r d s t h i s e n d , officials have organized several extra-curricular sessions for the boxers that will serve to heighten their knowledge base and further strengthen their chances of emerging victorious. Yesterday morning, the boxers convened at the National Gymnasium, M a n d e l a Av e n u e a t

10:00hrs, where one of the executive members of the Guyana Olympics Association (GOA), Dr. Karen Pilgrim, discussed the intricacies of anti-doping procedures, as required by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), shortly before she delivered inspiring words to the boxers. The boxers were informed of the detriments of using prohibited substances even as Ms Pilgrim outlined a few of the items listed under the prohibition list. Some of these included steroids, marijuana and cocaine among others. The GOA executive further informed the boxers of the potential embarrassment they might experience having to bare their genitals before total strangers and even being asked to perform private ablutions in the same environment. “Such prerequisites have become a necessity as officials attempt to minimize the incidences of illicit drug use,” Ms Pilgrim informed the boxers. The boxers were also allowed to examine and familiarize themselves with the testing kit. S u b s e q u e n t l y, D r Pilgrim engaged the boxers

Mr. Yassin (L) and his Boxing Association equal, Steve Ninvalle, at the press conference yesterday morning in discussion on several inspiring and pertinent topics including the intricacies of physical and mental aspects of preparation and techniques on how to positively psyche oneself into a positive mood before combat among others. Shortly after wrapping up sessions, the GOA executive said that she was heartened by the positive responses of the boxers. She said that she had conducted similar sessions with other

groups but found the boxers to be the most receptive and interactive of them all. She said that the pugilists demonstrated a clear understanding of the concepts shared as well as the rules of the sport. She closed the session by encouraging the boxers to be confident even amidst the many misconceptions and stereotypes that unfairly and adversely label boxers. “They have defied those misconceptions and fully understand their respective

roles,” concluded Dr Pilgrim of the boxers. Media operatives were kept busy as shortly after the sessions with Dr Pilgrim culminated, they were summoned to Olympic House, High Street Kingston where GOA President K A Juman Yassin and Mr. Ninvalle hosted a press conference to update the public on the progress of the arrangements for the impending tournament. Mr. Yassin noted that the Caribbean Amateur Boxing

Association (CABA) has been defunct for some time now and he extended the hope that the impending championships would serve as the catalyst for renewed efforts to reinstate the entity and by extension, continue with the developmental process. He also appealed for corporate assistance towards the success of the tournament. Mr. Ninvalle echoed the pleas of the GOA President, while pointing out that local pugilists now have the perfect opportunity to exhibit their wares and endorse the long standing belief that they are the best in the region. The GBA President also revealed that accomplished A I B A o ff i c i a l , J a m e s Beckles, will be among the overseas contingent and he will be conducting a refresher course for local referees and judges. He said that the AIBA official will focus heavily on the computer scoring system to ensure that the officials have a clear understanding of its use. That system will be used for the first time during the impending tournament. The overseas contingent arrives in Guyana next week Friday and the tournament gets underway one day later.

No. 71 and Young Warriors clash in NBS Final today at No.69 After enduring two rainy seasons and the beginning of a third at long last, the 2013 New Building Society Second Division 40-Over Cricket Competition, which had over one hundred participating teams, will reach its climax today when the final is scheduled to be run off at the No.69 Village Ground. Clashing for the title will be Young Warriors of Cumberland East Canje and No.71 of the Upper Corentyne area, both evenly balanced teams having shown much resilience by not losing a match so far in the round robin competition which was playing in sixteen zones.

The Young Warriors batting will depend heavily on their former Guyana under-15 and Berbice under1 9 c r i c k e t e r, K e v i n Ramdeen, who has so far registered a century and two half centuries in the competition. The only other half centurion in the team is former Berbice under-19 cricketer, Ishwar Singh, but others such as Mortimer F r a s e r, S a n j a y K h a n , R u d o l p h B a k e r, A n i l Beharry and Berbice under17 all-rounder Kassim Khan and veteran Hubern Evans have contributed consistently. The Young Warriors mostly spin attack will be spearheaded by left-arm

spinner Beharry, who is a past Berbice all-rounder, offspinners Sanjay Khan, a former Guyana under-15 and Berbice under-19 cricketer, Romash Munna, Ishwar Singh, Kevin Ramdeen and Hubern “Silver Fox” Evans. The pacers in the squad are Kawal Mangal and Kassim Khan. The No.71 batting lineup will be led by the prolific Soomdat Singh who has amassed 500 runs; the most runs in the tournament by an individual and which included two centuries and two half centuries, Khemraj Sugrim, Fiaz Mohamed and Andrew Seamber, all have half centuries under their belts, while Nazim Mohamed, Deoprakash

Ramdat, Manouram Vincent, Navin Vincent and Lionel Seegobin have all scored useful runs in the past. Their bowling lineup includes three medium pacers in Karamchand Roopraj, Nazim Mohamed and Seegobin, two left arm spinners in brothers Navin and Manouram Vincent and off-spinner Deoprakash Ramdat. Umpires Zaheer Moakan and Clement Brusche will officiate with Omadat Samaroo doing standby duties. The match will commence at 11:00am and the teams and officials will be met by BCB and NBS executives. Kevin Ramdeen

Soomdat Singh

Sunday February 09, 2014

Kaieteur News

Page 77

Checkmate!!Hai Feng Su defies the odds and masters the chess board As the legendary Bruce Lee and Jet Lee are synonymous with karate, so too one would assume that Hai Feng Su must be of a similar disposition on the local sports scene. My first thoughts were that he also was an accomplished karateka or martial arts practitioner. Imagine my astonishment when I eventually learnt that Hai feng is a chess player but with the similarity slick moves as his karate equals. Hai Feng first won the prestigious local junior chess championship in 2011 but lost it the following year. But just like Bruce Lee and Jet Lee, he rebounded one year later with such ferocity that his opponents wilted and once again Hai Feng reigned supreme when he reclaimed the prize late last year. Kaieteur Sport caught up with this unassuming young man and learnt that he was born in Guangdong, a large province in southernmost China with a coastline of over 4,300 kilometers and a population of 86.42 million inhabitants. He migrated to Guyana 13 years ago, with his parents, Yue Tien Cao and Cao Liang Su, when he was a mere 6 year old tot. Hai Feng attended the North Georgetown Secondary School and became interested in Chess when he was in third form. He said that he took an

instant liking to the game but on trying out his hand, discovered that sitting on the side lines observing and actual involvement were two distinct variables. “While observing others playing I felt that I could easily outplay them but it was a totally different reality to the actual competition,” he chuckled. Hai Feng remembers the humiliation of being checkmated in just 4 moves. “I suffered the indignity of many losses of this nature but I remained undaunted,” he informed with a sheepish look on his face. He said that he had initially heard of the long hours of keen rivalry that characterized most encounters and was simply flabbergasted that a player could be checkmated in such a short period. Nevertheless, chess was in his breast and he chugged on. By that time, Hai Feng had moved over to Mae’s Secondary School where he discovered that there were quite a few students that nurtured a similar love for the sport. It was here that he met Rashad Hussain, a national youth player with a similar passion for the game. The two players clashed in a tournament organized by Jessica Clementson, a former player of Mae’s Secondary who has now migrated to Barbados. “I lost out to Rashad but was nevertheless delighted

because I had improved from the humiliating 4 moves loss to a more competitive standard,” he mused. He said that Hussain was impressed by his standard of play and encouraged him to continue playing the game. T h i s b i t o f encouragement led to Hai Feng seeking membership in the local Federation where he faced sterner challenges among such stalwarts as his p r e d e c e s s o r, A n t h o n y D r a y t o n , D r a y t o n ’s predecessor, Ron Motilall and Cecil Cox. The experts advocate that ‘constant practice leads to perfection,’ and while he was far away from such lofty goals, Hai Feng had improved immensely and was now matching pawns with the top players and firmly holding his own. Thus in 2012, he earned the coveted accolade of National Junior Champion after chalking up 5 ½ points from a possible 6. That victory became even more meritorious when it was learnt that Cecil Cox had amassed a similar number of points that necessitated a two best of 3 showdown to determine the champion. Hai Feng eventually won by a close 3-2 margin. Hai Feng held onto that crown for one year before being dethroned by Drayton. He exacted sweet revenge last October when they clashed for championship honours when he amassed an impeccable 6 points as

Hai Feng Su is in a contemplative mood shortly before the commencement of a game. against 5 ½ by Drayton and once again Hai Feng was crowned the National Junior Champion. For most chess players, becoming a grandmaster is their ultimate dream but they know that they must first attain a lucrative FIDE rating. Hai Feng is rated at 1724 by that body and he is optimistic of attaining an even higher rating in the near future. “Really, attaining grandmaster status is not an easy thing but it is every (chess) player’s dream so naturally, I am nurturing such ambitions,” he said with a wry grin. Notwithstanding, Hai Feng said that he is

Athletics track continues to take shape Stand at track

Work at the Athletics Track at Leonora on the West Coast of Demerara is moving apace despite weather setbacks and other

hiccups in the past. It this photo work can be seen in progress on the eastern stand which is under construction by BK International, one of

three on the northern side on the track. BK has informed that all two stands would be completed by mid March. The other building on the

northern side is the Clubhouse which is situated between the two stands. That is being constructed by another contractor.

balancing his love for chess with his academic accomplishments and is currently preparing to write the Cambridge examinations sometime in June. He feels that chess is a microcosm of life and supports academic accomplishments. “Chess fosters patience and tolerance, two variables that are glaringly absent in our society today,” the aspiring grandmaster philosophized. He said that chess is about precision moves; carefully plotting one’s course and using one’s wits to overwhelm the opponent. “So you see, your moves are deliberate and well-structured which, when

extrapolated to life, could foster wholesome behaviours,” he concludes. One would think that Hai Feng would have enjoyed a plate of good old Chinese fried rice or maybe a lap chung chowmein but instead he has blended into the Guyanese culture and prefers a plate of curried chicken. He said he loves browsing the internet as a means of recreation as well as expanding his knowledge base. And to his fellow youths he advises, “Utilize your time wisely for it is through idleness that the devil finds work for idle hands!”

Sochi 2014: Sven Kramer defends 5000m speed skating title BBC Sport - Dutchman Sven Kramer became only the second man in history to win back-to-back 5000m speed skating Olympic titles by winning gold at Sochi 2014. Kramer, who won gold in Vancouver in 2010, also broke his own Olympic record clocking six minutes 10.76 seconds. The 27-yearold was emulating the feat of Sweden’s Tomas Gustafson who won the event in 1984 and 1988. Compatriot Jan Blokhuijsen collected silver,

with Jorrit Bergsma making it a clean sweep for the Netherlands. Blokhuijsen clocked 6:15.71 with Jorrit Bergsma recording 6:16.66, while Belgium’s Bart Swings missed out in fourth. Kramer also won a silver in the event at the Turin Games in 2006. It was his 16th consecutive victory over this distance, shaving nearly four seconds off his previous Olympic record, and he remains unbeaten since 2012.

t r o Sp NAGICO Regional Super50 cricket

Jamaica beat Guyana Malta Supreme by 10 runs, take top spot in Zone A P.71

Shivnarine Chanderpaul gathers runs during his half century. (Ash Allen photo)

Bonner sweeps during his century

Third Hand in Hand 2nd ICC approves Div. 40-overs to attract changes to seven West Berbice teams governance P.71

- forms part of BCB Diamond Jubilee celebrations

P.72

Sochi 2014: Sven Kramer defends 5000m speed skating title Officials in heightened activity as fight night looms P.77

P.76

Hand in Hand Human Resources and Admin Manager Mrs. Zaida Joaquin (2nd right) presents the cheque to Assistant Treasurer of the West Berbice Cricket Association Mr. Rabindranauth Saywack. Also in photo is Mr. Basil Butcher (centre) and Mr Malcolm Peters.

Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Limited, 24 Saffon St.Charlestown, Georgetown.Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/ 226-8210