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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Jagdeo wants international community to sanction APNU Commissioners
GECOM (APNU) Commissioner, Desmond Trotman
GECOM (APNU) Commissioner, Vincent Alexander
By Abena RockcliffeCampbell
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f it were up to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) Commissioners, Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman would be issued travel bans and their bank accounts would be frozen. Alexander, Corbin and Trotman all serve the interest of A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) on GECOM. Yesterday, in the midst of his weekly press conference, Jagdeo expressed displeasure with the actions of those commissioners on Tuesday. O n Tu e s d a y, t h e Commissioners, and GECOM Chairman, retired Justice James Patterson, voted on three motions that PPP Commissioners were against.
GECOM (APNU) Commissioner, Charles Corbin The three motions resolved to inform President David Granger that GECOM cannot be ready for elections within the 90 days mandated by the constitution in the event of a no-confidence motion; inform him that GECOM does not have money to host General and (continued on page 14)
Kaieteur News
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Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
EDITORIAL
The Rusal behaviour is not for Guyana
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omething has to be made clear and straight: this is Guyana in 2019, and not the post 1917 USSR. The concerted line of attack against the workers in the bauxite industry by Rusal points to a premeditated remorselessness that has not a single thread of healthy labour-management relations about it. Neither does it have industrial relations best practices, or regard for basic human decency and human dignity. It reeks of the tyrannical and the intentionally degrading. I think it is time that this government develops some cojones and send unambiguous messages to those who are bent on sending tough and harsh messages of their own to local workers; indeed, those who have taken the lead in delivering such without regard for protocols and processes. The government’s messages have to be: ‘Don’t go down this unconstructive road. Don’t take these backward steps. And don’t mess with our people.’ That is exactly what Rusal has unveiled in one calculating powerplay and squeeze-play after another, and all of these are intended to grind the faces of the bauxite workers into the dust. Not just their noses, but their whole heads are relentlessly locked in a relentless viselike escalation of tactics intended to bring them to heel and under the boots of their paymasters. It started with disincentivizing them (the paternalization and dismissal of 1%); then with demeaning them through the studied insult of ‘don’t let the door strike you in the behind on the way out.’ Out was the order, as in get off these grounds. Next, as a part of cutting off the air supply, came that despicable decision of no cooking for you, no food for you. How lower can it get?); and last, in a lightning series of stunning slaps (more likely kicks) to the body of the reeling workers, were get out of the houses, and get off jobs permanently, as in terminated. Over. Out. Is this the 21st century? Or is this some preindustrial age with robber barons roaming the land unchecked and free to pummel and disgrace worker, government, and nation? The fact that a foreign company does these things, without regard for the laws of Guyana, reeks of a new kind of either colonialist attitude or with distinctive vestiges of a plantation culture emanating from the top and meted out to the vulnerable and strapped, who are held hostage to the weapon of foreign investment, and then taken advantage of in the most alarming and demeaning manners. As the unfolding of events has arrested the attention, one can sense an insensitivity and callousness that borders on the blatantly discriminatory. Look closely and objectively, and it becomes clear that the chain of negative proceedings is highly indicative of the embedded contempt that characterizes masterservant arrangements and relationships. To state the matter with the candor it deserves, the thinking, decisions, and actions on the ground, as aimed by Rusal at the workers in one crippling fusillade after another, have been nothing short of the old slave system. The heavy-handed, unilateral, provocative, and extremely hostile attitude of the Rusal management can only be accurately described as industrial terrorism. In aggregate, the objective is to bring the workers to their knees and then force feed them the scant bitter rations, which they must accept (no discussion, no negotiation), and ultimately submit. Without a doubt, the workers are being sent up the river, and without a paddle. They should not be on their own. Mr. Charles Ogle, the Chief Labor Officer, has made the state’s position clear. In a word: improper; in another: unacceptable.
Editor’s Note; If your sent letter was not published and you felt its contents were valid and devoid of libel or personal attacks, please contact us by phone or email.
The changes at UG are visible, tangible and real DEAR EDITOR, I write this letter as a Student of the University of Guyana. Many times we as a people focus on the negatives and we never acknowledge the positives of a person or institution. Recently some s t a ff m e m b e r s o f t h e University of Guyana staged a protest for an increase in wages. While I will not comment on this, as I advocate for fair compensation for work, I’d like to speak to the negativity that has been linked to the activities spearheaded by the Vice Chancellor, and the claim that he has wasted money doing his “talks and
cocktails”. While I am not aware of the costs of these sessions, they all are usually branded, with a number of companies listed as sponsors. So I highly doubt they cost the University anything substantial, to the point where it’s a waste of funds or affects staff getting a raise. I’ll pay much attention to the talks and cocktails in this letter, because for one, I understand the importance of these kind of civic engagements, alumni engagements and events that allow the university brand to be further recognized and the community strengthened. In fact, events are the
perfect incubators for fundraising. I’m sure Vice Chancellor Griffith has been able to secure funding for the University as an offshoot from a number of events that the University has hosted. Added to that, these events have allowed students like myself to contribute to important conversations about our country, and has allowed us to pitch ideas, and talk about our journey, bridging the generational gaps and encouraging healthy discourse between ourselves, academics and professionals, boosting our leadership skills and opening up our minds beyond that of a box.
In my time at the University of Guyana, I’ve seen new buildings going up, I’ve seen old buildings completely refurbished, I’ve seen the past and present UGSS presidents pushing their agendas and making headway, I’ve seen the sports being hosted at a true track facility, I’ve seen the University brand constantly in the media and I’ve seen an increase of students. University of Guyana has a long way to go, but that journey has started and the changes are visible, tangible and real. Sincerely, Yonnick David Student / Entrepreneur
Dr Jagdeo is not obsessed with power or getting his hands on the oil money DEAR EDITOR, Permit me space to voice my disagreement with several commentators, on social media and discussion forums, who consistently peddle the ill-conceived idea that Dr Jagdeo is obsessed with power and wants to get his hands on the oil money. The reality is that such assertions bear no truth. In fact, his only obsession at this time revolves around two themes: putting back the P P P / C i n p o w e r, a n d bringing back economic prosperity to Guyana. With regards to the first,
Dr Jagdeo has stated time and again that he made it his mission to reconnect his party to supporters and the general populace. He has made it clear since 2014 that the party can no longer sit back in Georgetown and connect with people in villages and rural areas of the country. He has since been pushing the members of the upper echelons as well as other party officials to go to the people. In the wake of the successful no-confidence motion, Dr Jagdeo has reintroduced another dimension to his
Real reform is the people’s agenda DEAR EDITOR, On the 21 December 2018, a vote of no confidence ravaged the Granger Administration. It seems to have caught the government by surprise. I analyzed the situation and deduced that the root cause of their demise was a lack of real reform which they promised in their manifesto.In my opinion Guyana is way ahead of other Caricom countries in creating a multi-party democracy. Guyana is the only Caricom country with proportional representation in parliament, which makes it easier for a third or fourth party to win seats in the National Assembly.Despite this, the Guyana economy has not been providing adequately for most Guyanese. Guyana has a Pareto distribution, where 80% of the nation’s
wealth belongs to 20% of its people and a large number of Guyanese live below the poverty line. The people voted this present coalition government to reform the constitution in order to create a more just society. It appears that the present government made the promise of reform in order to win, but never intended to implement it. This made them politically vulnerable and diminished their political capital. The opposition saw their vulnerability and capitalized on that and won the vote of no confidence - whether financial inducement was used is unprovable. The next government take heed: improve governance, thus improve the standard of living of Guyanese, or your future is uncertain. Yours truly, Brian E Plummer
reconnection theme, i.e., the concept of inclusiveness. The PPP/C has now embarked on garnering and galvanizing greater support from a wider cross-section of the populace, i.e., across the spectrum of ethnic, religious, gender and other social groupings, with emphasis on youth involvement and opportunities.As to the second theme, there can be no doubt that Guyanese enjoyed the greatest socioeconomic success and social cohesion during the two eras under the PPP lead governments, i.e., prior to 1964 and 1992-2015, and the records are there as evidence. Dr Jagdeo is therefore very concerned about the economic slide Guyanese
have experienced in the last three years. In fact, the deep concern was driven by the failure of APNU+AFC’s government: (1) to properly account for oil/gas money received; (2) their attempt to squander the oil advance; (3) their mismanagement of the economy and bad policies that saw the loss of over 30,000 jobs; (4) their lack of support for the rice industry; (5) their shutting down the housing drive (until the last few weeks’ frantic elections/political gimmicks); (6) their shutting down the logging & sawmilling industry; (Continued on page 6)
Russian roulette DEAR EDITOR, It is more than disheartening to learn that after some 10 years now, we are still saddled with labour troubles at the Rusal mining area. The Russians do not seem to be able to follow our labour laws. The union is a popular one and it has the support of the workers. The constant refusal of the Rusal management to treat properly with the workers and their representatives does not augur well for good industrial relations in this sector of the country. Then to add insult to injury, the management is now saying that they have not made any profits since the taking over the mines. But they keep improving production levels and the
ships keep on taking out bauxite regularly. I feel that the stage is now set for a takeover by the workers of the assets. Perhaps the Chinese might be interested in the mines and can align them with their Linden operations. We need to simply throw out the Russians. These people are operating like tyrants. Why can they not speak with Mr. Lewis and have the matter settled in amicable fashion? It is time for the government to step up and be counted. The Russians must go. We do not get significant aid from Russia. We do not need these blighters. The whole country needs to get together and just kick them out. Regards. Cyril Walker
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Guyanese should not be oblivious to the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Venezuela DEAR EDITOR, It is natural and quite understandable for Guyanese to be preoccupied, if not deeply concerned over the gross violation of our constitution currently taking place before our very eyes. Several letters to editors, commentaries and editorials have been published and continue to be published on the matter in the mainstream media, not to mention the hysterics posted on a daily basis on social media. A robust debate rages between those for and against the CJ’s rulings at other levels. The Chief Justice and other sitting Judges must be tickled by the ongoing contretemps. It would not be an exaggeration nor speculative were the situation to be described as one fraught with unexpected or unwelcome eventualities. Guyanese in the street do not favour physical confrontation between supporters of the government and opposition on this vexed matter. To them, a war of words between stakeholders and government is quite understandable, though they look forward with anxiety and hope that good sense will prevail and Churchill’s quip, “it’s better to jaw, jaw than to war, war” will resonate on all sides. In the circumstances, the statement by UN Secretary General Guterres at Davos in January to the effect that “The days of foreign intervention in Latin America are over” is to be welcomed. While Guyanese should look forward to a peaceful and mutually acceptable
resolution of the current internal political impasse, they should not be oblivious to the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Venezuela and its implications for Guyana were there to be foreign military intervention in that country to oust the Maduro administration. There are some in our midst who will express a view to the contrary, and will dismiss out of hand the notion of any implication whatsoever for Guyana, by blissfully trumpeting a narrow nationalistic view to the effect that ‘we ain’t got time with Maduro, let him deal with his problems, we have our own here.” The Government of Guyana’s position on the Venezuelan crisis has been somewhat ambivalent. Moreover, its membership in the Lima Group and its extant foreign policy alignment leave little room for speculation, as regards its posture and the direction in which it will be inclined when it comes to such sensitive hemispheric issues. As far as the hemispheric powers are concerned, the military option has not been taken off the table. And that must be a matter of grave concern for Guyana. The beating of war drums is not so distant nor is the sabre-rattling. Hemispheric security nurtured within the ambit of UNASUR and the CDMA has been thrown overboard. In the eventuality of foreign military intervention in Venezuela and the possible consequential outbreak of civil war on the streets or guerrilla warfare in the barrios and mountains of that country, Guyana could very
well find itself having another Vietnam or Syria on its North Eastern frontier. Consideration must be given to the fact that for over twenty years the Bolivarian Movement has had oversight of the Venezuelan armed forces’ recruitment and promotion procedures. The old guard of the Venezuelan military has been cashiered and sent to pasture. Recalcitrants were phased out over time and there has been constant shifting in and shifting out in the top echelons of the armed forces. Generals cultivated in the Chavista doctrine and loyal to Maduro and the Bolivarian Movement have been in control of various branches of the Venezuelan military for some time now. The recently established Bolivarian National Militia now number approximately 1.6 million members, while the military armed forces have approximately 350,000 personnel including 150,000 ground troops. Maduro loyalists control military arsenals with 300,000 assault rifles, AK-103’s, 45,000 sniper rifles, heavy recoilless rifles, large mortars, small howitzers, 5,000 shoulder firing surface to air missiles. Based on Bolivarian military doctrine, emphasis is placed on a heavily and well equipped infantry. To the conventional military structures and institutions must be added the extensive network of party activists and civilian informants who support police and military intelligence, as well as state and national security institutions spread across the country. It is important to draw
attention to these considerations bearing in mind that, if a full scale military intervention in Venezuela is not executed on the scale as it was in the Kosovo war in former Yugoslavia in March 1999, a prolonged ‘war of the flea’ can be envisaged. In the war in Kosovo, a combination of ground and air attack was executed successfully to effect regime change. In the case of Iraq, the same modus operandi was applied to accomplish a similar objective. However, different approaches to regime change were applied in the cases Zelaya of Honduras in December 2009, Aristide of Haiti in February 2004 and Noriega of Panama in December 1989. In the cases of Iraq, Honduras and Haiti there was little or no armed resistance. But in Kosovo and Panama, armed resistance lasted briefly until the final collapse in the face of overwhelming foreign military force. What is being planned for Venezuela is anybody’s guess. What is certain, however, is that with Colombia and Brazil already supporting openly regime change in Venezuela, the pressure must be on for Guyana to come out openly in support for regime change in Caracas. While Guyanese must continue to press the coalition administration to respect the constitution and to uphold the rule of law, they should not lose sight of what military intervention and a change of government in Venezuela would have for our territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Yours faithfully, Clement J. Rohee
Being unrealistic with Guyana’s fossil fuel industry’s future DEAR EDITOR, I have come to the conclusion that none of the major political parties in Guyana have any sort of comprehensive long term plans for Guyana’s energy future. The deal with ExxonMobil is more or less quick money without a long term economic plan for our place in this industry venture and if you don’t have a plan, this will quickly cave in on us. The ExxonMobil deals compared to what other countries have with theirs is leaving us little room for real gains from the projects scale. While a 52% share may seem like a good deal now, wait till the price of oil plummets again; and it’s very likely it will again. That will be the factor that makes or breaks our very costly investment and we as the citizens and taxpayers will face the burden.The fossil fuel industry has been in a lot of uncertainty and instability for the last 10 years and with the ever-growing push for more environmental-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels like solar and wind energy have been taking the global stage where many countries are starting to adapt them as replacements to traditional oil and gas. Now I am not going to be this basher of ExxonMobil’s corporate structure and wheelings and dealings. I feel any person will simply find that out on their own - from backroom deals with the Russian Oligarch or drilling in
the Kara Sea while Russia is under US sanctions, to the Exxon Valdez spill - that this hasn’t been corrected since, and the list can go on. ExxonMobil has a pretty disastrous record and the Guyana Government is still sitting quietly with them. I propose we adopt the Scandinavian model for our oil and gas sector, primarily what is done in Norway - a mix of a nationalised oil industry with contractual agreements on the drilling and extraction and production of fuel being left to private enterprise, with government having the stronger oversight and regulation of the industry. Norway took their oil and gas profits and made a Heritage fund which is now worth over US$1 trillion for their citizens to have direct access to the money made from their oil and gas sector. Each Norwegian citizen is allowed US$192,000 each year, cap allowance from the fund, and the freedom to use that money as they please. Oil is taxed at rates of up to 78%. Norway established its oil fund in the 1990s as a way of protecting the economy from instability in the price of oil, and as a way of saving up for the day the oil runs dry, and for moving to a greener future without fossil fuel. This is the way we should be moving as Guyana establishes its place in the global fossil fuel industry. Respectfully yours A. Singh
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
I extend an invitation to Bishop Edghill to Committed to offering new inform him of our systems and operations and better ideas of administering DEAR EDITOR, letter. published). In letters published in The issues 1 to 3 raised Contrary to what was our nation’s affairs DEAR EDITOR, African, without the camouflages its class nature various newspapers, Bishop indicated in his letter, I am by him are answered in my We share below a street speech by Dr. Walter Rodney, arguing against racial antagonism prior to his death in 1980, which remains pertinent even today. This is followed by some remarks we consider noteworthy to the national interest. “You see, we have had too much of this foolishness of race. I’m not going to attempt to allocate the blame one way or another. I think more than one political party has been responsible for the crisis of race relations in this country. I think our leadership has failed us on that score. I think external intervention was important in bringing the races against each other from the fifties and particularly in the early sixties. But I’m concerned with the present. If we made that mistake once, we cannot afford to be misled on that score today. No ordinary Afro-Guyanese, no ordinary Indo-Guyanese can today afford to be misled by the myth of race. Time and time again it has been our undoing. “Does it have anything to do with race that the cost of living far outstrips the increase in wages? Does it have anything to do with race that there are no goods in the shops ? Does it have anything to do with race when the original lack of democracy as exemplified in the national elections is reproduced at the level of local government elections? Does it have anything to do with race when the bauxite workers cannot elect their own union leadership? Does it have anything to do with race when, day after day, whether one is Indian or
appropriate party credentials, one either gets no employment, loses one’s employment, or is subject to lack of promotion? “It is clear that we must get beyond that red herring and recognise that it is intended to divide, that it is not intended in the interest of the common African and Indian people in this country. Those who manipulated in the 1960s, on both sides, were not the sufferers. They were not the losers. The losers were those who participated, who shared blows and who got blows. And they are the losers today. “It is time that we understand that those in power are still attempting to maintain us in that mentality maintain us captive in that mentality where we are afraid to act or we act injudiciously because we believe that our racial interests are at stake. Surely we have to transcend the racial problems? Surely we have to find ways and means of ensuring that there is racial justice in this society? But it certainly will not be done by a handful of so-called Black men monopolising the power, squeezing the life out of all sections of the working class, and turning around and expecting that they will manipulate an issue such as the Arnold Rampersaud affair and get the support of ordinary black people because we will say, ‘After all; is only an Indian. We could hang him. No sweat.’ “Because, as I said before, you start with one thing, you end with another. The system doesn’t stop at racial discrimination. Because it is a system of class oppression, it only
under a racial cover. And in the end, it will move against anyone, irrespective of colour. In the end, they will move even against their own. Because, don’t believe if you are a member of that party today, that you will be protected tomorrow from the injustices. Because when a monster grows, it grows out of control. It eats up even those who created the monster. And it’s time that our people understood that.” While the Democratic National Congress concedes that international forces did play a role in the evolution of Guyana’s politics, we submit that they themselves would admit that the current scenario is the worst case which they never contemplated in their efforts to ensure that Guyana was not overrun by socialist dogma. Currently, they are grappling with choosing the best of the worst of the PPP and coalition, and would prefer and support a full government offered by the Democratic National Congress because, along with our solid ideas for economic development, we are committed to and will adopt and maintain sound governance systems to eliminate and minimize corruption and maximize welfare possibilities for Guyanese and the nation as a whole.Like the PPP, by denying Guyanese workers their fair salaries, the Coalition is actually deliberately underdeveloping workers, and condemning their children to a life of insufficiency/poverty.The PPP and coalition are actually responsible for much of the poverty and suffering experienced by Guyanese throughout the length and breadth of Guyana. We do not however support Dr. Rodney’s ideas of socialism as the basis upon which to build Guyana. Further, our interpretation of Dr. Rodney’s use of the word ‘revolution’ is that of offering new and better ideas of administering our nation’s affairs than that proposed by either the coalition or the PPP, the final set of which we take to the electorate for approval and adoption. Regards, Craig Sylvester
Juan Edghill claimed to have received information on “suspicious” transactions at the Small Business Bureau, but never sought to verify the context of the information received or the motive of the person or persons who availed the information to him.In April 2018, management and staff of the Small Business Bureau (SBB), embarked on a process to review and revise various administrative and personnel aspects of the operations, training and development and the delivery of other services. This initiative was driven mainly by the results of a 2017 midyear review and to some extent, based on feedback from clients (e.g. trainees), all done to address some of the gaps identified. As a result of this review, revisions were also done pertaining to training methods and on training partners, with the objective that both trainees/clients and the Small Business Bureau would derive greater benefits from the programmes and services. One aspect of the revision was based o n j u s t i f i a b l e recommendations from the training department, to categorise Partner Training Institutions (PTIs), based on their specific focus areas for various levels of clients. Hence, based on the kinds of identified training needed in the particular instance in which Bishop Edghill referred, the names of three training partners were offered from the approved list of evaluated training partners. The approved list existed long before I even joined SBB. This is the same approved list from which every training partner was always selected from. On the point of the Expression of Interest (EOI) being cancelled; there were some administrative issues regarding that EOI and the process. Hence the decision was taken to cancel the process which resulted in my email that Bishop Edghill published in his letter, being sent to thirteen PTIs (not fourteen as was incorrectly
unaware of any proposal being received from any of the 13 companies. It is now prudent that Bishop Edghill substantiates his claims by providing the public with evidence that 14 PTIs submitted their proposals. Bishop Edghill insinuated that a document dated November 28, 2018, requesting payment to the three training institutes was sent to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Business, before the National Procurement Tender Administration Board (NPTAB)’s approval of the same was given. The facts are herein presented to curtail a miasmic failure by Bishop Edghill to correctly chronicle the sequence of training requests, EOIs and dates: 1. On November 28th requests for payments to the PTIs were sent to the Permanent Secretary (PS) Ministry of Business, but were never approved. 2. On December 3, 2018, the revised requests were sent to the PS as Chairperson of the Ministerial Tender Board. The PS correctly rejected the submission based on the fact that the total sum requested per PTI exceeded the limit of the Ministerial Tender Board. The PS instructed that a new request be prepared and submitted to the NPTAB. 3. On December 11, 2018, SBB prepared the new payment requests addressed to the Chairman of NPTAB, as instructed.Editor, it is interesting to note that the requests dated December 3 and 11, 2018 were not included in Bishop Edghill’s “recent documented information available” to him or in his letter. Would adding it nullify his claims of “highly suspicious and irregular activity”? 4. These requests dated December 11, 2018, were approved by the NPTAB by letters dated 21/12/2018 and addressed to me. The approvals were granted for the contract training of participants in Regions 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and for sums that exceeded that of which Bishop Edghill indicated in his
Dr Jagdeo is not obsessed with... From page 4 (7) their use of revenue-garnering institutions to squeeze out taxes from declining businesses affected by bad gov’t policies; and (8) their sitting back and waiting for oil revenues to boost the economy. Clearly, Dr Jagdeo, who had put Guyana on the path to sustainable prosperity, is concerned that the
APNU + AFC government has no proper plans for advancing the nation; no proper plans for utilizing the windfall oil revenues for national development. Yes, he is concerned that they may go frolicking on beaches with windfall oil revenues and allow Guyana to join the increasing number of failed oil economies. Yours sincerely, Ronald Singh
response. My response to question 4 is; as the Chief Executive Officer of the SBB, I would like to extend an invitation to Bishop Edghill, since he is obviously developing an interest in our operations; to meet with us, so that he would become better informed on the systems and operations and clientele of SBB and their dedication when it comes to training.His letter also made unsubstantiated assumptions that “the awards of the contracts were for training in Region 4, but the companies submitted invoices for training, which were conducted in Regions 5 and 6”. Editor, SBB does not make payments to anyone who does not fulfill the terms of any agreement. As I indicated above, approvals were granted for contracts for training in Regions 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. However, no training was conducted in Region 4, and there were no invoices submitted for training in Region 4. As CEO of the SBB, while I am tasked with managing the affairs of the agency, I also have the fiduciary duty to ensure that it operates in a disciplined way, as well as those who serve the agency operate in a disciplined manner. While I do not expect all to be in agreement with the disciplinary measures and decisions taken, I do expect persons who are in disagreement to operate with integrity and provide an accurate picture of the agency and decisions taken. In the eight years of its existence, the Small Business Bureau has achieved much and has contributed significantly towards the growth of many small businesses in Guyana. The team at the SBB is sagacious and is guided and motivated by our core values. We are committed to supporting small business owners in alleviating some of the struggles they experience daily.If Bishop Edghill or anyone else has information of “massive acts of corruption at the Small Business Bureau, or are aware of “highly suspicious, irregular procurement activity, as stated in his letter, or that “it is a cesspool of corruption”, this should be made available to the relevant authorities, so that appropriate action could be taken. Regards, Dr. Lowell Porter Chief Executive Officer Small Business Bureau
Foreign envoys meet with GECOM
GECOM meeting with the foreign envoys yesterday.
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epresentatives of the ABC countries and European Union met with the Guyana Elections Commission yesterday to discuss preparations for General and Regional Elections. Yesterday, GECOM said that the Chiefs of Mission present were from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and European Union. ”The meeting was held (yesterday) at 10:00hrs in the GECOM boardroom at the request of the diplomatic delegation to meet with the GECOM Commissioners to discuss the agency’s preparations for the conduct of General and Regional Elections.” There was little other information from the statement on what exactly was discussed. Present were Terry Steers Conzales, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America; Lilian Chatterjee, High Commissioner of Canada; Ray Davidson, Deputy High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, and Philippe Coessens, Minister Counsellor/ Deputy Head of Delegation, European Union. According to Yolanda Ward, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, both sides of the Commission - the Government and Opposition-made presentations. Commissioner for the Opposition, Bibi Shadick, disclosed that the envoys asked several questions. In cases, she said, the GECOM chairman, Justice (ret’d) James Patterson did not directly answer. “Basically they were asking GECOM about the work it is doing…and what is stopping them. It boils down to the things they have been saying all the time, that they don’t have the money.” The Commission disclosed that it has written President David Granger in-
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
forming him that they cannot hold elections before March 21 and that they need money. “Of course, I pointed out that that is not true. That since no confidence vote two months, nothing has been done.” Shadick said that it was pointed out that the Constitution and the Fiscal Management Accountability Act makes it very clear that money is appropriated for GECOM in a lump sum, after which GECOM has to regulate its spending in a manner it sees fit. She noted that under regulations one month after the Appropriation Bill is approved, following the budget approval in Parliament, GECOM has to collect the money it had been allocated. She said that GECOM has not received the billions which means that Government is stymieing the work of the agency. The Commissioner insisted that in any case, GECOM doesn’t have to go back to Parliament to ask for money. It can spend its allocation as it sees fit.
She said that come May 1, GECOM has made it clear there will not be a new list. One of the questions asked by the heads to GECOM is if it is the conclusion that the elections are contingent on house-tohouse registration. “They were not answering directly but start talking about sanitizing list, file petitions and unrest. It is the same thing. I respect the intelligence of those people to read through all that…to see what is the true intent. What is clear is that the chairman is not answering any of these questions.” The Chairman, a former judge, according to Shadick, was also asked if it was his opinion that he has to wait on the decisions of the higher court before elections. “One answer he gave is that you have to respect decisions of the court.” One diplomat even noted that situation in Guyana is inhibiting investments. “Nobody said anything. The chairman was not (Continued on page 29)
Irfaan Ali will say nothing more about his qualifications for now - Jagdeo By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell It has been well over a month since People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate; Irfaan Ali’s qualifications were exposed as questionable. Yet, he has been unable to name the university where he did his first degree qualifying him for a spot at an Indian University at which he pursued his Master’s Degree. Ali has been avoiding answering questions about his qualifications. He keeps saying that he is awaiting transcripts from the universities he attended. Now, Leader of the PPP Bharrat Jagdeo is suggesting that Ali exercise his right to remain silent. Jagdeo said that he will not entertain any questions about the qualifications and he will instruct Ali to do same. He said that they will only speak about the qualifications after Ali gets his transcripts in hand. Jagdeo said this yesterday after he was asked a related question by Kaieteur News. This newspaper asked Jagdeo, “What amount of importance do you place on the moral and academic qualifications of a President? Are you willing, as leader of the PPP, to instruct Ali to address the issues surrounding his qualifications once and for all?” Jagdeo responded, “I think he has addressed it clearly, and he should not say a single word more on the issue until he receives the transcript because they not going to play into Kaieteur’s hands and the others where an issue is invented surrounding this and it will be never ending. “I think Irfaan Ali should not say a single word more
PPP Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali about it, not a single word, until he receives this transcript. He made it clear he has released a Bachelors degree, a Master’s degree, his doctorate (Ali said he is still pursuing his doctorate). “Even those now are being questioned which are in the pubic domain and clearly certified…I think he should not say a single word and I too will not say a single word.” Jagdeo then moved to turn the spotlight on President Granger, he said, “Because—without proving a single thing—this is becoming an issue of morality. Ask Ganger about morality. He has a moral and spiritual revival and he cannot respect the Constitution but you not asking Granger about morality. “His government is the biggest thieving government in our history and he still talks about morality and spirituality.” After questions were raised about Ali’s qualifica-
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo tions, he released a bunch of certificates. One of these certificates—purportedly from the University of Sunderland— indicated that Ali attained a Bachelor’s degree in 2006. But this was three years after he got his Master’s from the Indian University. Ali is still to clear the air.
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Guyanese workers must be respected; labour laws upheld
Govt. warns Rusal:
-labour officials to visit Aroaima today
G
overnment has warned Rusal that it must respect workers and uphold labour laws. This came from a key meeting yesterday at the Ministry of the Presidency as bauxite workers remained defiant and holed up at Aroaima, refusing orders to remove from the area by managers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI). A ministerial team that included Amna Ally and Keith Scott, who is charged with labour, is expected to fly in this midday with supplies. Separately, the Ministry of the Presidency said that Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, made it clear that Guyanese workers must be treated in a respectful manner and at all times in keeping with the country’s labour laws. The meeting with the Russians is intended to identify ways in which the ongoing industrial strike taken by workers and their subsequent dismissal can be resolved amicably. Minister Harmon was accompanied by Minister of Social Protection, Amna
Ally; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; and Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott.Rusal was represented by Vladimir Permyakov, Company Representative in Guyana, and Sergey Kostyuk, Director of Alumina and Bauxite Department, who both flew in from Russia for the meeting. During the meeting, Minister Harmon said Government views the ongoing dispute as serious and noted that it was among priority matters on the agenda at the Ministerial Plenary this week. ”There are two objectives to this: the Guyanese workers must be treated in a respectful and fair manner at all times… their rights must be respected and at the same time, the company must function and ensure it makes profits for its shareholders. “It is a question of finding common ground and ensuring that our workers’ rights are respected. We must find common ground to move forward. The issues must be dealt with in a clear way,” he said.
Ministers, labour officials and Rusal representatives meeting yesterday.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Minister Ally said the Government has laid out its contentions while the company was also given the opportunity to do so. The dismissed workers will also be given a chance to have their side heard, she said. Meeting at Aroaima ”(Today) we are going to have a second round of engagement where Minister Keith Scott, the Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection and the person who deals specifically with labour, will be meeting with the workers at Aroaima to have some discussions with them. “What came out of an earlier) meeting is that after we have laid some of the issues, the executive will be taking this matter to their principals, have a discussion and then get back to us.” According to Minister Ally, Government is continuing engagements on the ground
with the workers. “It is Government’s intention to have this matter resolved amicably,” she said. In addition to the engagement with the workers, Ally disclosed that the Ministry of Social Protection will be providing support to the dismissed workers, particularly in the provision of basic amenities. ”One of the things we are going to be doing (today) is that we will be taking up some supplies that will assist the 60-odd workers who have been taken off their work posts; food items, et cetera to sustain them. “The workers are there. They are in need. Their basic needs have been taken away and the Ministry of Social Protection…we are a caring Government and a caring Ministry. We have to find a way to give support and we cannot just leave them there. We have to be able to give
them some sort of support for their livelihood so it shouldn’t be interpreted adversely,” she said. At the close of the meeting, the company’s representatives committed to briefing its principals and making a decision. Bad message for Investors The workers took strike actions last week after seeing what they said was a measly one percent increase in their pay packets. The actions saw the company closing operation in its Region Ten mines at Kurubuka.On Monday, BCGI said 61 workers, ordering them to leave.BCGI insisted that it is normal for the company to give workers raises in keeping with the inflation. The company insisted that it has benefitted workers, with NIS, taxes, vacation, lights and housing. However, the union has
been complaining that the company has refused to treat with it. The company has claimed that it has been operating for 14 years and not making a profit.The people of Guyana own 10 percent and have not received dividends, yet the company has continued operating.The union has accused the company of using ingenious accounting to hide profits.In 2009, 57 workers were fired by BCGI for participating in a similar strike action for better condition. Several unions have called for the situation to be resolved with heavy criticisms against Rusal. “The Working People’s Alliance has noted the recent decision by Rusal to fire sixtyone of its workers with immediate effect. The WPA stands in solidarity with the dismissed workers and demand that they be reinstated. “This decision by Rusal however should not be seen as an isolated matter as it has over the years showed itself to be anti-workers’ rights and consistently challenging the sovereignty of our country.” WPA said it has noted that in addition to firing staffers the company has refused on occasions to meet with Government. “The Working People’s Alliance is of the firm belief that Rusal should no longer be allowed to continue to function in contravention of our constitution, the laws that govern our land and the laws that protect workers and workers rights. Allowing Rusal to continue in the manner that it has functioned will signal to other foreign direct investors our inability to adequately respond to such blatant disrespect of our laws, giving them the belief and view that they too can come here and take advantage of our citizens without fear of being sanctioned.”
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
The elections and GECOM The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) cannot be absolved from responsibility for frustrating the intent of the Constitution in relation to the passage of no-confidence vote. GECOM’s actions since December 21, 2018 have done little to ensure that the 90-day deadline can be met. GECOM is subservient to the Constitution. This means that if the Constitution says that elections should be held within 90 days of the passage of a no-confidence motion, it is for GECOM to put itself in a state of readiness to ensure that elections are held by that deadline. GECOM does not have to wait on the government to put itself in a state of readiness. It should have been ready all along.GECOM does not set the date for elections. It is the President who has to do this. But the President can only do this on the basis of advice from GECOM. The President
cannot go ahead and set a date unless he is sure that GECOM is in a state of readiness.GECOM’s nonreadiness to bring off the elections within three months cannot be factored out of the decision of the President. In other words, the President can only set a date if he is certain that GECOM will be ready for that date.The Leader of the Opposition blundered during his meeting with the President in January. There was no need for him to agree to have the Chief Whips inquire as the readiness of GECOM to hold elections. Instead he should have pressed for the President to write to GECOM immediately enquiring as to its readiness. GECOM’s timelines for the holding of elections this year have attracted caustic criticism. The Stabroek News in a front page comment yesterday lambasted GECOM. It noted that GECOM has not
been able to provide a convincing explanation as to why elections could not be held in three months given that there exists a valid voters’ list which was used as recent at November 12, 2018 for local government elections. The timetable presented to GECOM by the Chief Election Officer was also assailed. GECOM’s timelines indicate that it has gone off the tracks. To say that 148 days is necessary for elections is an indication that GECOM has lost its way. And in so doing it will lose the confidence of the Guyanese people, if it has not done so already. As things stand, the March 19 deadline is going to be achieved one way or the other. And this means that a constitutional crisis is going to exist because the government has no mandate to continue after that date unless there is an extension of the 90-day period by two-thirds
Berbice businessman wins $40 M judgment against Demerara Harbour Bridge High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry granted to a Crabwood Creek businessman, Ramesh Sahadeo, judgment in excess of $40M against the Demerara Harbour Bridge,(DHB). The Judgment was granted after a full trial before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. According to court documents, seen by this newspaper, when the matter was filed in 2017, Sahadeo had requested payments in the amount due after he had supplied 61,000 feet of 5/8" wire rope and 12,500 feet of ¾” wire rope at the price of some $40 M to the DHB. However despite repeated demands for payment of the sum $40,425,000, the respondent DHB either, failed, refused or neglected to do so. The applicant had therefore among other things requested that $40,425,000 and the interest on the amount pursuant to Section 12 of the Law Reform Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Chapter 6:02, at the rate of six percent per annum from the date of filing to the date of judgment and thereafter at the rate of four percent per annum until fully paid. In her judgment, Justice Beharry Sewanarine granted $40,425,000 award and interest on the said sum at six per cent per annum from May 2017 to February 20, 2019, and thereafter at a rate of 4 per cent per annum, until full payment along with costs in the sum of $250,000. The Defendant Demerara Harbour Bridge was represented by Attorney Patrice Henry.
General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Rawlston Adams The Applicant was represented by Attorneys Anil Nandlall, Rajendra R. Jaigobin, Manoj Narayan, Sasha S. Mahadeo-Narayan and others. After the ruling, Henry applied for a stay of execution of the judgment of six months. This Application was refused because Justice Sewnarine-Beharry stated that the respondent, Demerara Harbour Bridge, has not demonstrated to the Court that they have a good prospect of success.
of the members of the National Assembly.In such circumstances the APNU+AFC government would be in office in contravention of the Constitution. This is a road which Guyana has never before gone down.Unless the National Assembly grants this extension, then the international community will have no option but to halt the disbursement of loans and grants to the country. A number of technical assistance programmes are going to be affected and all those persons working with government who are being paid via international funds will not likely be paid.Ministers of the gov-
ernment will no longer be able to be granted visas for international travel by virtue of their governmental office. They will have to apply in the private capacities for visas. A messy situation awaits the nation and GECOM cannot wash its hands of responsibility. It should have been ready for the holding of elections.That it is not ready will result in a further loss of confidence in its ability and, given Guyana’s polarized political environment, there will be questions over its impartiality.The international community is obviously concerned. This is why it is keeping itself informed about
developments.The international community should offer to undertake a technical review of GECOM’s timelines to determine the earliest date by which elections can be held. The international community may also wish to offer to conduct a quick-test of the integrity of the voters’ list to establish whether it is so defective as to render it unusable for elections before July 2019.
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN
My problem with Indian academics writing about African Guyanese
O
ne of the most ex asperating fea tures one encounters in this country are persons, including academics, pondering on the enduring predicaments of their country and do so claiming that they are offering ideas and analyses in genuine attempts to solve the country’s problem without realizing that they too embody the very problems they want to see go away. Nothing changes because
their writings perpetuate the very negatives they want to d i s s o l v e . The Stabroek News columnist, Shaun Samaroo, comes to my mind. He lifted himself above the fray and pontificated on all of Guyana’s social and political setbacks but he was part of the problem. He masked his support for the PPP and appeared to be genuinely concerned about Guyana. He was exposed when he wrote that Guyana
can never have a future without the leadership of what he classified as two brilliant Guyanese – Frank Anthony and Priya Manickchand. Immediately, the other half of Guyana saw him as an Indian supporter of the PPP which he was. The Stabroek News soon parted company with him. The reincarnation of Samaroo is a frequent letter writer, GHK Lall. Like Samaroo, he lifts himself above the mundane back-
wardness of Guyana but on reading him you see he is part of the tragedy. There is a secret about GHK Lall that he needs to be confronted on. How did he become chairman of the Gold Board and can he tell us why he chose that particular building in Queenstown to be the board’s head office, and what purpose and whose purpose that structure served during the 2015 election campaign? Now we have the academic Dr. Ramharack writing on the ethnic security dilemma in a letter titled, “Ethnic Security Dilemmas underline urgent need for Government of National Unity.” He uses the plural for dilemma but Ramharack is really concerned with the security predicament of Guyanese East Indians. Echoing his fellow academic’s sympathy for the ethnic security cul-de-sac of Indo- Guyanese (the list includes Indian academics who should know better), Ramharack expounded on the African domination of the police force. He writes; “There is a real fear among Indians regarding the disciplined forces. Indians remember all too well Desmond Hoyte’s references to “kith and kin”, the promise of “slo fiah, mo fiah”, and the violence against Indians on January 12, 1998, documented by the GIFT report. Balance in the disciplined forces implies that a
targeted-outcome should be established rather than a quota system. Then Ramharack exposed himself like Samaroo and GHK Lall. He becomes suspect and questionable. In other words, intellectual analysis was replaced by ethnic tribalist ins t i n c t s . Here is Ramharack’s dismissal of the fears that African Guyanese have of being dominated by another ethnic group which has most of the country’s wealth at its disp o s a l . I quote him; “I cautioned Dr. Hinds that it was dangerous for Africans to spread the myth that rich Indians control the Guyanese economy and that many Indians were engaged in the narco-trafficking economy Dr. Ramesh Gampat, citing UN figures, had previously debunked the myth about the wealthy Indian controlling the economy of G u y a n a . ”I don’t know where the UN got its statistics from. I don’t know anyone writing on wealth distribution in Guyana has debunked the fact that rich Indians control a huge percent of the economy. I would be interested in knowing how the UNJ researchers acquired their statistics and what methodology they used. I would also like to know why Dr. Gampat found those statistics useful to cite. I don’t know Dr. Gampat and I hope and pray he is not operating within the same framework of R a m h a r a c k . It is academic banality to
Frederick Kissoon polemicze on the ethnic security dilemma of Indians and the fear they have of racial control of the security forces without situating the ethnic security dilemma of African Guyanese in the same context. No researcher can conclude that wealthy Indians do not have a predominant hold on the Guyanese economy. A class analysis of Guyana would reveal that there is a seriously poor Rural Indian peasantry and an Indian proletariat that are as poor as African Guyanese. But it borders on propaganda to say that in terms of possession of wealth, Indians and Africans stand near to each other. That is an alternative fact and alternative facts are asininities. Do Guyanese know that there is a curious economic secret of this country? Among the tiny Portuguese population, there are some that have larger land holdings than 80 percent of the total African community of G u y a n a . The discussion of the ethnic security dilemmas of IndoGuyanese and African Guyanese need to be highlighted by genuine nationalists not Guyanese driven by a racially conscious mentally.
DEM BOYS SEH
Guyana want
Is funny how local politicians does want foreign diplomats to intervene but only at certain times. When dem same politicians talk about elections when Jagdeo was president he seh how dem meddling in Guyana’s affairs. When de same Jagdeo give away radio licence to he friends and family and de American Ambassador talk Jagdeo send Sityra Gyal to put a fine cussing pun de man. Is dem same foreigners tek way dem visa from people like Henry Greene and Ronald Gajraj when dem do wrang things. De people advise Jagdeo not to mek Greene de Commissioner because he was tainted. Jagdeo tell dem up front that he running this country and nobody can tell him what to do. He appoint Greene Commissioner.
Now de same Jagdeo running to de foreign diplomats fuh tek way people visa. He vex because dem APNU commissioners vote against de PPP commissioners and stall de elections. Jagdeo seh he calling pun dem foreigners to tek way Vincent Alexander visa, Charles Corbin visa, and Desmond Trotman visa. He then ask dem foreign people to do something that people did want dem foreign people to do. Everybody know nuff people ship out dem money to foreign bank accounts. Guyana don’t have people to trace de money and after a while everybody who thief and hide de money overseas start to enjoy demself. Now Jagdeo want people to seize dem same APNU commissioner bank account. If a man don’t vote wid him, or if he disagree wid
him, Jagdeo would freeze you bank account. Dem boys tekking note. BK got problems if Jagdeo win and de Waterfalls boss man could find heself in de same boat. Fuh sure Uncle Adam dead because this is a man who know bout freezing people bank account. But de best thing is de rush to protect dishonest people. Irfaat forge he qualifications and people asking questions. Jagdeo done instruct Irfaat not to answer no more questions bout he certificate. In fact, nobody in de party must ever talk bout Irfaat qualification. That is how he use to run de country. When it suit him he would refuse to answer any question. Talk half and don’t let Jagdeo know you got money in de bank.
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
As GECOM prepares for elections… NGO lends support to political leaders to combat race-based challenges Even as the Guyana Elections Commission [GECOM] prepares for general and regional elections, calls are being made for the process to be done in a tranquil as possible environment. With a view to helping political parties to achieve this goal by bridging the ethnic divide during preelections periods, a NonGovernmental Organisation [NGO] – Heal Guyana – is currently reaching out to key political leaders. According to founder of the NGO, Ms. Sharon LalljeeRichard, it is imperative that all Guyanese, especially political activists from all parties understand that it is never helpful to descend into racial stereotyping and racehate of any kind. Moreover, in keeping with the NGO’s ongoing drive to promote peace and unity in Guyana regardless of political preferences among all citizens, Heal Guyana has targeted politicians who have been historically plagued with racially rooted challenges. “This old way of thinking leads to the misguided assumption that if one resorts to race as a means of earning political points, that sort of behaviour achieves the desired outcome, in favour of the party one supports,” said Lalljee-Richard.
Sharon Lalljee-Richard, Founder of Heal Guyana. “In reality, what actually occurs is that potential voters who party leaders hope to persuade to support their policies and leadership, get turned off by the use of hate and division. The entire political party gets branded in an unfavourable way which results in lost votes among a wide cross-section of Guyanese.” She further theorized that “race-baiting is the most dated and unproductive public relations strategy to use as a means of influencing voters in today’s world. This
is apart from the immoral and socially destructive considerations surrounding the behaviour.” According to LalljeeRichard, local statistics show that the majority of voters are now young people and young people in this country are smart, because they have access to real information which educates them on how to reason, constructively. “You will not find them advocating or buying into negativity that promotes the racial divide. They are looking (Continued on page 28)
Friday February 22, 2019
UNICEF lends support to Venezuelan migrants, border communities Emergency Officer for United Nations C h i l d r e n ’s Fund (UNICEF) Guyana, Ian Jones, has said that the agency is helping to build capacity of border communities as Guyana looks to welcome an increasing number of Venezuelan migrants. Speaking at a joint workshop between UNICEF and the Government of Guyana held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston y e s t e r d a y, Jones highlighted the impact the migrant situation is having on schools in Regions One, Two, Seven, and Nine, all of which are closer to the Venezuela -Guyana border. He explained that “UNICEF is focusing on the most vulnerable. We are looking at 12,000 people, including 4,800 children. What we are looking at, are not just the migrants, our caseload includes host communities. We are doing this on a one to one basis, so for every support to a migrant, we are looking to support one person from a host community.” According to Jones, UNICEF is looking to collaborate with the Ministry of Education and the University of G u y a n a ’s E n g i n e e r i n g
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Kaieteur News
Emergency Officer of UNICEF Guyana, Ian Jones Department to build the capacity of school in the host communities. Although he could not give the number of persons coming from the neighbouring country stricken by economic and political crisis, Jones noted that UNICEF has conducted surveys and outreaches to assess the living conditions of the Venezuelan migrants. It will be working to ensure that every child has access to an education. “In Region One,
Whitewater Primary School, which was built for 170 students, there are now up to 240. So this is one of the reasons why we are looking to support the Ministry of Education to build up the resilience of these schools in the border areas.” The UNICEF Representative noted that the primary focus of the work with migrants is providing adequate health and nutrition, sanitation water, education and child protection. UNICEF will be collaborating with the Ministry of Health, Civil Defence Commission,(CDC) Guyana Water Incorporated, Guyana Red Cross and Ministry of Education, along with other Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to help address matters related to the migrant situation. Over the past two y e a r s , Ve n e z u e l a h a s been experiencing worsening economic turmoil following the decline of oil prices on the world market. The country is in its fourth consecutive year of recession. Scores of Venezuelan refugees have fled their home country to escape worsened economic and social conditions.
Post mortem inconclusive on baby burnt in GPHC incubator The cause of death of Quavo Daniel, who died after being burnt in an incubator at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, is inconclusive, according to information shared during a meeting yesterday, between officials of the hospital and the family of the deceased. Daniel was born premature and was placed in an incubator. Sharon Harding, who is the grandmother of the deceased, told this publication that the Chief Executive Officer, George Lewis, did not show up for the meeting he scheduled with the family yesterday. Instead, the family was met by officials from the hospital’s Quality Management department. Harding said that the family was not given any closure as it relates to the cause of the baby’s death. The family was told that the results of the Post Mortem Examination, conducted last week Friday were inconclusive but that the burns suffered in the incubator were not the cause of the child’s death. After the incident, a series of protocols were broken, including that staff failed to for-
Quavo Daniels is said to have suffered burns in an incubator at GPHC mally report the matter. It was only reported after Kaieteur News reported the news of the baby’s death. The officials told the family that recommendations are being made to ensure that protocols are not broken in the future.
Harding said that during her inquiry with the doctor who conducted the PME, she learnt that the investigation has not concluded, and that a full report should be available by mid-March. (Continued on page 15)
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Dominican remanded for forging Peru passport
Remand Jose Rodriguez Fifty-four-year-old Jose Rodriguez of Dominican Republic was yesterday charged and remanded to prison for allegedly forging a Peru passport. The man, through an interpreter, pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on February 9, 2019, at Port Moleson Creek, in the Corentyne Magisterial District, with intent to defraud, he uttered to Police Constable 24555 Bissoon, a forged Peru passport, purporting to show that the document was issued by the Government of Peru, knowing it to be forged. Rodriguez, who told the court he is a businessman, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Police Prosecutor Annalisa Brummell stated that on the day in question, the defendant was heading to Suriname. The court heard the police official at Moleson Creek asked him to present his passport and there it was discovered that he had a forged Peru passport. He was then told of the offence, arrested and taken into custody. The Prosecutor opposed to bail being granted to Rodriguez on the grounds that he has no ties to Guyana, and as such, if bail is granted he won’t return to court for the trial. Hence, the Chief Magistrate remanded him to prison. He was instructed to make his next court appearance on February 26, 2019.
Jagdeo wants international community to sanction... From page 2 Regional Elections and declare that GECOM Secretariat will continue with its work programme for 2019. The motions were in the name of Commissioner Corbin. Yesterday, Jagdeo stressed that the commissioners were out of order. He said that the PPP will be seeking international sanctions against the commissioners Jagdeo said, “We believe they received instructions from Government and apart from that, many of them have pecuniary interests that would be threatened by early elections. Their political role at GECOM is to delay elections. “They are in breach of their statutory duties and responsibilities as GECOM Commissioners and are in breach of the Constitution…they have to invent all sort of excuses as to why they can’t move forward…” Jagdeo said that GECOM did not even bother to give a timeline as to when it can be ready. “Clearly this is untenable and we will not sit idly by
and allow GECOM to subvert the Constitution to its will. It is a creature and it must act accordingly. We have seen in other parts of the world how politically aligned elections commission are dealt with by the international community.” Jagdeo was asked what sort of sanctions he is hoping will be instituted, he responded, “We have seen sanctions of various kinds done by the international community on organizations, government or personal actions…I am more in favor of personal sanctions because when you sanction a country the people all suffer.” Jagdeo said he will be comfortable if the commissioners are banned from travelling to certain international jurisdictions and their bank accounts are frozen. Jagdeo said, too, that he will be seeking sanctions against the Executive when it becomes illegal after the March 19 deadline. He said, “I am meeting with the international community next week. I meet with them routinely.”
Friday February 22, 2019
Private Sector Commission warned about political posturing Members of the Private Sector Commission have been warned to stop making public statements or affirmations which are politically charged or which comment on the current political climate. A letter to the members of the PSC was sent out by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gaico Construction and General Services Inc., Komal Singh, with reference to the state of the PSC as it relates to the current political climate. Singh said that the PSC has exposed itself and its members to a charade of negative comments from the public. He noted that the relationship between the government and the PSC has been questioned on many occasions and that it needs to make sure the commission’s leaders are held accountable “for actions that will have a negative impact on the business
Kit Nascimento community.” Singh said that no statement should be made on behalf of any subcommittee, any members, or the Executive Management Committee (EMC), addressing any issues that have to deal with the current political climate. For such utterances to be made, especially as it relates to the current impasse, Singh demanded that full council consider it first.
Kit Nascimento was mentioned specifically. Singh said, “Kit, I do not support your position and I urge you to desist from doing so unless you get full council approval.” Nascimento had, of late, sent several letters to the press, which could be interpreted to be politically motivated. Rickford Burke said that the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), for which he is the President, received expressions of disgust from several members of the commission, for the PSC leadership’s use of the platform to criticise the government, and act as a mouthpiece for the People’s Progressive Party. In his letter, Singh said that, while it is important to ensure leaders follow the constitution, it is not within the PSC’s mandate to enforce it, and that the PSC’s sole mandate is to lobby for a better business environment.
Post mortem inconclusive on baby burnt in GPHC incubator From page 13 Quavo Daniels was born premature (eight months gestation), on December 20, 2018. The hospital had placed him in an incubator so that he could develop further. Three days after his birth, a defective lamp caused him to suffer burns. Odessa Forde, the baby’s mother, said they
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Kaieteur News
were told that specialists, including a plastic surgeon, were consulted to make sure the baby received the best treatment for the burns. On January 21, last, the hospital gave the baby over to the family, but that wasn’t the end of the f a m i l y ’s t r o u b l e s . T h e child, who had a burn mark
on his arm, was said to often make a light huffing sound. The baby’s grandmother was convinced that the child was in pain, but they couldn’t figure out the exact cause of the pain. Two weeks later, the baby died. The funeral was held on Wednesday. The family has vowed to sue the hospital.
Govt spending tax dollars to woo electorate - Opposition Leader The leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, held a press conference at his church street office, yesterday, where he accused the A Partnership of National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government of funneling government resources into their efforts to campaign for the next General and Regional Elections. He said that the Rupununi Ministerial outreach is not a sincere effort by the government to improve the lives of the residents, but a ploy to find favour with the electorate and to syphon funds into their pockets. Opining that the trip is “abuse”, the opposition leader said that the government ministers are spending over $100M to go there “for the photo opp”. Many of the issues, he believes, could have been fixed a long time ago. “Harmon says the president is going to meet to accelerate the land titling. You’re two months away from completing four years in office. You had US$10M left by the PPP to do this. And now, you’re talking about accelerating land titling because you’re faced with
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo having to go back to elections.” He said that the people understand that “they’re only out there now because of impending elections.” Banking on criticisms of the government’s increased spending to shore up the bureaucracy over the years, he said that more was spent on the ministers and their comfort than on residents.” “The trip was to steal
some money; to spend a lot on admin costs, to try to convince people in Region Nine that they care for them, and that they’ll improve their wellbeing,” according to Jagdeo. He said that the government has committed a series of counterproductive deeds in that region, including increasing the cost of travel and freight, (Continued on page 26)
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Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
Councillor tells Regional Chairman...
“REO doesn’t give a damn about your views” It was another month of absolute chaos and confusion at Region Five’s monthly statutory meeting yesterday at the Regional Democratic Council’s Boardroom, after Councillors on the APNU/AFC’s side continuously interrupted Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal as he addressed the council. At one point, Councilor Dillon Crawford, from the APNU/AFC side told the Chairman that they were lucky that they have a “strong” REO that “does not give a damn about what you think and your views”. His statements were made following requests to have a recording of the February 2018 meeting be made available to the council. This was shut down by the Regional Chairman and Vice Chairman, Ryon Peters. They said that the recorder was turned off after there was a walkout by the coalition
Councillor Dillon Crawford standing defiantly as the Chairman tries to speak. REO Ovid Morrison is sitting at the back. Councilors for that meeting. Councilor Abel Seetaram who asked that the recording
be provided to prove that the meeting was adjourned, stated that for several months
for last year that request was made but it has not been made available. He said, “I am not saying you (Chairman) are lying but we are relying on the recordings. To date you are failing us to tell the clerk to bring forth that recording. Is that something to hide? I would like the clerk of the council to address us because it seems that 2019 will be the same again. “If it cannot be provided something is wrong. You want things your way but it will not happen like that, we have to get it the council way and therefore I am asking for the recording to be provided so we can move on and have a successful year.” However, when the Regional Chairman attempted to address councilor Seetaram’s concerns, Crawford interrupted him. Ramphal then told the councilor that he will have his time to speak but he should not speak when the Chairman is addressing the council. This did not sit well with the councilor since he asked the Chairman to reference where in the standing orders states that he cannot speak when the Chairman is speaking. He then asked that the Clerk of Council provide some guidance on the matter. As
the back and forth shouting continued across the boardroom the Regional Chairman asked the council to reach a consensus on the matter “so that the business of the region can continue”. Councilor Crawford once again interrupted and said that “unless he (Chairman) can point out in the standing order that a councilor cannot get up on a point of order while he is speaking I will not take my seat. “I am just asking for some clarity from the clerk of council because you fail to remember the clerk of council will give us a guidance; that is all we are asking. “We stood here again and again for the recording and you fail, we are not gonna sit here and hear you speak that you asked for the recording which everyone in the house know that you are lying. You are failing us”. At that point when the situation seemed to be brewing out of control, the Vice Chairman, Ryon Peters stood up and explained that the recorder “is usually placed at every meeting and I think that it is by no mistake that the honorable members are calling on recording. “Without any doubt I can say that there is no such recording of you (Chairman) adjourning the meeting
because I can remember when the clerk and the other members stepped outside the recorder was turned off. “I am not speculating; it was turned off, it is by no mistake that the member is asking for a recording”. The Regional Chairman later spoke with the media at his office. He detailed that there have been several issues affecting the people of Region Five but due to the “bullyish attitude” of the coalition councilors, those matters are left at a standstill. He said, “Today’s meeting I mentioned that for us to move forward we must ratify and confirm the minutes of February 2018 because in March, REO had wanted to remove a reporter and because I objected to that and said the council must preside over the matter, the clerk of council refused to sit in the meeting and walked out. “I remained seated for over two hours. APNU walked out since they could not remove the reporter and while I was waiting, they refused to come back. I officially adjourned and left. “The REO reconvened a new meeting with coalition Councillors when he knew myself and the Vice Chairman were in the region. I was in my office. They would have ratified and confirmed the minutes of February and prepared a new minute for the month of March.” Ramphal stated that such an action carried out by the REO, Ovid Morrison is illegal. According to him, there is a hidden agenda behind the breaking up of the meetings. He added, “Contractors are complaining bitterly, financial records are not being provided, the accountability, everything is being kept in secret. This should have been public since it is taxpayers’ money. I have written the REO on many times requesting financial statements, savings under different programmes, employment of staff of region and unto today the REO has not been providing that. He has been shielded by APNU Councillors and that is why corruption continues here”. The Vice Chairman Peters opined that if meetings are successful at statutory then the REO will have to answer questions. He too said that the model farm, an idea birthed by the REO, has not benefited anyone but REO. Peters also mentioned that when excavation works are done in the region, it is only for selected areas chosen by the REO while the regional works committee, which he is the head of, is being sidelined when the projects are executed.
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
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Friday February 22, 2019
Female police ranks exposed to health seminar
T
he Guyana Association of Women Police hosted a health talk with female ranks of the Guyana Police Force, on Wednesday, at the Officers' Training Centre, Camp and Young Street, Eve Leary. This initiative was welcomed by all ranks who were present because
education on female reproductive health is very important and was facilitated by Dr. Faqueeda Watson. Dr. Watson, who is a Government Medical Officer at the Adolescent Health Unit of the Ministry of Public Health, has responsibility for promoting health and rights within schools. She is also an
advocate for girls and women's health and rights; and the need to educate women and girls about sexual health due to gaps in knowledge. The ranks were engaged in interactive sessions where they were placed into different groups and asked to act out scenes on different topics such as mental health, physical health, abuse, sex positions, empowering women and being the “Side Chick�. In this session, ranks were asked to identify some of the issues that were portrayed in the skits. The topic of focus was Endometriosis which occurs when the tissues that make up the uterine lining (the lining of the womb) are present on other organs of the body.
Endometriosis is usually found in the lower abdomen, or pelvic area, but can appear anywhere else in the body. Common signs of Endometriosis include painful periods, pain during intercourse, pain with bowel movement or urination, excessive bleeding and infertility. Endometriosis is not easily diagnosed, however, a doctor can check for physical signs to determine if a woman does have this disorder by way of a pelvic examination. The doctor would manually feel (palpate) the pelvic area for abnormalities, such as cysts on the reproductive organs, or scars behind the uterus. The ranks in attendance were said to be empowered and are now better informed about possible health risks.
Crime Scene ranks to visit area where US missionary fell to death - PM shows injuries consistent with a fall
C
rime Scene ranks are set to travel to Arau, Region Seven, on Saturday to conduct further investigations into the death of United States missionary, Christopher Matthews. A rank who is familiar with the area, and two Americans who knew the victim, will accompany the team. The terrain is expected to be extremely challenging. A police official explained that while there was no suspicion about the circumstance surrounding the missionary's demise, the Force investigates all unnatural deaths. Reports indicate that Matthews was mountain climbing when he fell to his death. Kaieteur News
understands that a postmortem that was performed yesterday revealed injuries that were consistent with the reports of Matthews falling. The missionary is said to have been the Director of the Kaikan Bible School. On Monday, a Cessna 182 which was transporting Matthews' remains to the Ogle airport crash-landed in the backlands at Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara. The pilot, Lionel Gomez, reportedly suffered a broken jaw while police Constable Mark Grimmond, the lone passenger, suffered a broken leg and other injuries. They were rescued several hours later by a Guyana Defence Force team.
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Cop in crashed plane tells harrowing tale of survival The crashed plane in the dense vegetation
Mark Grimond in hospital.
A
G u y a n a Adventist Medical Aviation Services plane with two persons and a body on board crashed landed in the Nismes, West Bank of Demerara area on February 17, 2019. One of the survivors was the policeman on board. Mark Grimond recalled the horrifying events from his bed in the St. Joseph Mercy hospital suffering a broken jaw, a fractured nose, cuts and bruises about his body all resulting from the plane crash he survived. The single engine aircraft departed the North West region destined for the Eugene F Correia International Airport. Grimond was escorting the body to the city. Grimond recalled the pilot looked at the fuel gauge and assured him there was enough to take them back to the city. After crossing the Essequibo River, the plane cut off. At this point, “I locked my seatbelt and held on.� The engine failure caused the pilot to panic, Grimond said. In his panic he then let go of the steering control causing the plane to tilt, he added. The tilted plane's wing then connected with a tree, causing it to spin until it e landed. Mark Grimond recalled thinking his life was over as the plane went down. He said that he was knocked unconscious and cannot recall the landing. The policeman said that upon regaining consciousness he loosed his seatbelt, then kicked out the window of the plane and crawled through. After exiting the plane he heard moaning coming from the front of the plane. The plane was upside down at this point. Grimond said that he climbed over the plane and pulled the moaning pilot out of the wrecked plane. He said that he then tried to console the pilot who was complaining in regret. Knowing the possible dangers of being in wetlands
Mark Grimond at night Mark Grimond ventured into a tree, carefully positioning his phone on a branch above him. He connected his headphone and began contacting help. He relayed their approximate location; this was around 6:00pm. By this time they should have arrived in the city. He said that concerned persons at this time began calling to find out where they were and what might be taking them so long. The pilot and policeman sat and awaited the rescue party. Grimond said that while waiting he improvised using his shirt to strap his broken jaw and pulled the dead body out leaving it on the wing of the plane. Grimond shot four to five flares in total before being rescued. The rescue helicopter arrived on scene, as Grimond waved to signal their location. Due to the harsh vegetation the helicopter was unable to land at the crash site. The pilot was forced to land elsewhere and trek back to the crashed plane. The last flare was fired when the rescue team arrived and began trekking to the location. The rescue team had to chop through raw bush to gain access to where the over turned plane was, according to Grimond. The soldiers on the ground lifted the men away from the crash site. They returned for the body the next day.
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
Steven Ramphal Chutney Monarch crowned Banks 2019
S
creams of delight emerged from the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground last Sunday night when 26year-old Steven Ramphal was announced the winner for the Chutney Monarch Competition. Ramphal walked away with $1M and two airfare tickets to any Caribbean Airline destinations after his song “Rang Ke Bhare Main Bhool Jao” - Forget about your colour and let's live in love” won him the Chutney Monarchy. His energetic, vibrant performance and message of unity and peace undoubtedly convinced the judges as he was awarded a total of 355 points. A very emotional Ramphal said he was ecstatic with his win. This year was a busy one for Ramphal as he also entered the Soca Monarch Competition for the first time with the song 'Soca in Meh Veins'. Last Sunday saw the newcomer just missing the crown by a mere point. The runner-up also won the title of the best newcomer. 2019 Chutney Monarch, Steven Ramphal Ramphal said, his song during his performance last Sunday night 'Soca in Meh Veins' is based on the energy and the love that the general public 'Polourie'. He won a cash prize of experiences during the Mashramani season $600,000. Seasoned Chutney singer, Pooran while 'Rang Ke Bhare' [Forget about Your Seeraj from Bath Settlement, West Coast Colour] aims to tackle colourism in the Berbice came in third with his song 'GT country. Larki' and Arijit Singh earned the fourth “Now that I am entering the Soca industry, position. He sang 'Ring on the Lucknee' my song has positive energy not only to which earned him 228 points. bring my country together, but I want to Other contestants included Hamesh Rhyna bring Caribbean countries together… Rang called 'Entertainer V Star' with his song 'My Ke Bhare is tackling colourism in our dreams'; Christopher Ramphal with his community because at this point, we tend to song 'Sundar Larki'; Sasnaayan Hitnarayan, see a lot of division and I tried to infuse that also called 'Prince HTN' with his song into my song tackling what I want our 'Love and Unity'; Chandarpaul Nathoo with country to have (which is) harmony, love his 'Mash 49'; Deonarine Balkissoon, also and peace,” Ramphal explained. called 'Nishal B' with his 'I Proud to be a Through his appearance in both Guyanese'; Goonwattie Harrynarine also competitions, Ramphal brings a clear called 'Amrita' with her song 'Dulaha message to all Guyanese to unite as 'One Dulahin.. People, One Nation and One Destiny'. The event was backed by the Shakit Strings Meanwhile, second place was awarded to band and supported by various dance Bunty Singh with his performance of troupes. (Modified Reporting from DPI)
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Kaieteur News
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Friday February 22, 2019
Alexandra Correia and Surinamese Vojiya Taylor for INSPIRE YOU Event Vijoya Taylor
Two vibrant and talented young ladies have joined the lineup for the transformational INPIRE YOU event.The event is
THE
Entertainment POLICE
hosted be Sonia Noel Foundation for Creative Arts in collaboration with Women Across Borders. Alexandra Correia is a beautiful and very humble young lady who loves to help people. She is the Commercial Manger of Trans Guyana Airways and Evergreen Adventures, two companies under the Correia Group of Companies. Vijoya Taylor is full of life and passionate about the creative sector. She is the daughter Sean Taylor, the founder of the prestigious Alphamax Academy School. Mr Taylor hails from Guyana and his daughter very proud of her Guyanese roots. Her love for unique, eye-catching jewelry led her to start making her own creations. She lives and works as a teacher in Paramaribo, Suriname, and draws inspiration from the exquisiteness of nature and life Alexandra Correia in the tropics. Marisk They will be joining a lineup of powerful women aFiedtkou Jordan and Ruqayyah Boyer are part of such as Hilda Bournes (Mississippi) Christine Neblette the local line up. (New York) Bethany Love (Arozona) Jacqui Phillips (New The INPIRE YOU event will motivate you to give the Jersey)Dr. Safeeya Mohamed (Trinidad) Cloyette Harris world the best version of you and is scheduled for March 3 Stoute (New York )Ms. at the Pegasus Hotel. Tickets are available at Pegasus and Claudette Rogers Director of Oasis Café. Maritime, Thandi McAllister,
E P
First CARIB Chutney Fest goes down tom night at Better Hope Centre Ground
T
he melodious sounds of the IndianCaribbean musical genre, chutney will be the emanating sounds from the Better Hope Centre Ground, East Coast Demerara tomorrow night. This Carib beer sponsored Chutney Fest will feature several singers including reigning chutney monarch, Steven Ramphal and 2018 monarch, Bunty Singh. Members of the Shakti String Band will also be featured at the show this weekend. Aside from the musical entertainment, patrons can be prepared for an evening of entertainment from comedian and not so fragile, Granny Ivelaw and members of the Shalita Dance Troupe. During the various performances, the crowd will be entertained by several deejays to keep the high energy level at the
event. These deejays include Father Moey, Golden Chyld, and 71 Sound. Trade Marketing Assistant of Ansa McAl Trading Limited, Ray Lutchman stated: “everything is usually kept around Georgetown and for the past few years there hasn't been any such event of this nature on the East Coast of Demerara.” But, tickets can be redeemed with the purchase of a Carib special at selected supermarkets and bars on the East Coast of Demerara before February 23, 2019. Ansa McAl Trading Limited remains committed towards cultural inclusion and is pleased to be associated with this event as a means to provide quality entertainment to the community in which it operates.
Hits and
Jams to host
Sunrise
Brunych
Part
tomorrow
H
its And Jams Entertainment presents an event like no other, the “Sunrise Brunch Party.” It is the ultimate crank up party for Mashramani 2019 which will be held on February 23 from 10am at the Everest Cricket Ground. Be sure to attend this one of a kind event where you will get to savour a variety of pastries, meat, pepper pot, salads, wraps, flavored ice teas, sangrias and mimosas
complemented with the best lights, screens, tents, cabanas and sounds. All inclusive brunch tickets cost $5000, while general tickets $2000 and are available at That Look Boutique. You can receive a free oriental stylish umbrella with every purchase of an all inclusive sunrise brunch ticket. This event is sponsored by Stag Beer, Eldorado Rum, Lipton Tea and Banks Beer. For more information contact 2270580/2270992 or email communicationsofficerhj@gmail.com
Wine of the
Week …
The B&G Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
l Guestier joined omas Barton and Danie hen wine enthusiasts Th ion: firmly vis a n creation, they had world. And forces to make their ow the d un aro s of French wine n tio uta rep the h lis ab est l-bodied taste of bold and gorgeously ful the th wi sly les ort eff they did so rnet Sauvignon. the B&G Reserve Cabe nch wines under one first to offer the great Fre e, and passion remain the s wa o du the t, fac In rtis spirit, winemaking expe da, B&G's Head name. Their pioneering Pra nt ure La y, da To . ced du pro is t tha ttle with almost in each bo rk daily in partnership wo m tea his d an r, ke Winema rsica to offer its uedoc, Gascony, and Co ng La in rs we gro ne wi 50 rn varietal highly distinctive mode followers a collection of on techniques. of innovative vinificati wines thanks to the use
W
G TASTE AND PAIRIN sunny uedoc region where the ng La Sourced from the wines, the ity fru d an h ric produces fruit Mediterranean climate ck bla t Sauvignon has ripe sty and B&G Reserve Caberne toa g rin tte berry) with fla ck bla nt, rra cu ack (bl s aroma ted. spicy notes when agita lvety tannins th on the palate with ve oo sm d It also round an isfaction sat u moments of ultimate e with that are sure to give yo ast ert aft even a long fruity with every sip. There is to. rd wa orice to look for notes of vanilla and lic , spicy g with red meats, pasta irin pa It is excellent for dishes, and cheese. found at rnet Sauvignon can be The B&G Reserve Cabe the Marriott Hotel for $6800 d at the Wine Vault locate cus also find it at the Hibis can u and VAT inclusive. Yo urt Co lm Pa r, Ba d urant an Restaurant, Nice Resta d bars. other leading hotels an
GEMS Theatre Productions to host KFC Link Show next month
G
uyana's most popular annual satirical review, the KFC Link Show 34, which has been entertaining Guyanese audiences by the thousands for the past 33 years, will be opening at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) from March 1 to 4. KFC Link Show 34 speaks to the current political and social situation along with political and topical personalities in a very
funny and entertaining manner. Audiences can look forward to an evening of relaxation and lots of laughter. The production which premiered in November1981 has been thrilling audiences from Charity to Linden to Corriverton and New Amsterdam and between 1997-2001, in the USA and Canada over the years. The cast will comprise of both experienced (continued on page 25)
Kaieteur News
WHATZ
Friday February 22, 2019
HOTTT
this weekend!!! 704 Sports Bar to host the ultimate De-stresser weekend for the ladies
The legendary Destiny's Child famously said, “Ladies it ain't easy being independent.” And at 704, the management and staff understand just how hard the ladies work to take care of themselves hence the reason
this unique establishment is inviting all ladies to head on over to the 704 bar to indulge in their simply tantalizing Destresser cocktail. The first 30 will get this signature cocktail for free. See you there!!!
704 Sports Bar presents Build Your Bucket every Wednesday and Friday
It's Heineken Fridays at 704 Sports Bar
Lil Rick all set to headline Stag Stage 7 - The Ultimate J'ouvert Experience tonight
S
GEMS Theatre Productions to host...
tag Stage 7 goes down tonight at the National Park and the event is going to be nothing short of an extraordinary J'ouvert experience, as organizers of the event, Ansa McAL, have billed Barbados' Sweet Soca Monarch, Lil Rick as the headlining act. This exhilarating performer will be accompanied by some of our most talented local performers. They include: 2019 Carib Soca Monarch, Brandon Harding; Kwasi Ace; 2019 Chutney Soca Monarch, Steven Ramphal, and Big Red backed by the Heat Wave Band, among others. Last year, the experience was invigorating, electrifying, and simply amazing. This year, you can expect to be taken to new heights. The event is one which promises to bring more water, more colourful powder, more paint, more smashing hits for the beloved waistline pelters and of course, and stag beer all night. It is going to be a wicked, wet and wild link up at the National Park Tarmac, Thomas Lands, Georgetown. Tickets are only available through promotions at various bars and supermarkets around the country. Continue to check the Face book page: Stag beer Guyana for more details. You can also visit different bars around the city, drink a stag and if you're lucky, someone just might appear before you with a ticket to attend the event.
Joshua Persaud, Yohance Koama and Nalini Narishwarie Patrons are advised to be there early as the show starts promptly at 20.00hours (8.00p.m.). Security will be provided for vehicles. Patrons are also being asked to adhere to the NCC dress code. The KFC Link Show 34 is produced by GEMS Theatre Productions and The Theatre Company, directed by Ron Robinson. Tickets are $2000, $1200 and $1000 and are now on sale at the National Cultural Centre, KFC Mandela Avenue and Regent and King streets outlet.
ARTISTIC REVIEW It has been nearly 20 years since Lil Rick blasted onto the Barbadian soca scene with mega hits “Hard Wine” and “Bumper Inspector” and in that time, he has revolutionized audience participation, audience expectations and most recently, the perception of local artistes as a brand. Not only is he envied for his endless onstage energy but the 'Hypa Dawg' as he is most fittingly referred to, has taken the Caribbean cultural expression that is 'wukkin' up' (waist and hip gyrations at impossible rpms) to a completely different level. Watching him whip tens of thousands of people into a collective frenzy as they attempt to obey his every command is truly a sight to behold. Lil Rick has consistently released hit after hit and now boasts a cabinet full of trophies and titles from the last decade of Barbados' Crop Over Festival. In 1998, he won the Party Monarch Title with “Down Behind the Truck” and in 2002 and 2003 he won both the Party Monarch and Road March titles with hit singles “Hypa Dawg” and “Mash Up & Buy Back” respectively. In 2005, his album 'Spontaneous' was one of the most anticipated releases for the Crop Over festival demonstrating his skill as a songwriter. He shocked fans with his rendition of the romantic ragga soca “Be My Girl” and his collaboration with Edwin Yearwood on the track “Friends” which
At the 704 Sports Bar, there will always be an opportunity to evolve your choices. And every Wednesday and Friday, party-goers will get a chance to build their bucket. This interesting concept allows you to pick any combination of six beers to Build Your Bucket (BYB) and get it at a special price. This offer is available from 5pm to 7pm! See you there.
Aura Bar and Lounge at Pegasus Hotel pres. club night Saturdays Every Saturday, the Management at Aura will be providing an ambiance filled with quality service, delicious food and great music. Every Saturday should be a party to remember and the Aura is determined to give you that experience. The Lounge will be open from 8pm. Music will be provided by Guyana's most popular DJs. For reservations, you can make contact with management on: 225-2853 or 600-6912.
From page 24 actors and some promising newcomers. Link Show stalwarts like Sonia Yarde, Michael gnatius, Mark Luke Edwards, Mark Kazim, Sean Thompson, Randy Critchlow, Simone Persaud, Simone Dowding, Rajan Tiwari,Nirmala Narine, Paul and Sean Budnah will be joined by other seasoned actors like Sheron Cadogan, NathayaWhaul, Melika Edmonds, Nelan Benjamin,Makini Thompson, Troy Parboo, Raymond Persaud and newcomers on the scene will be Zoya Moore, Tamepha Rodney, Rovindra Persaud, Lee Leung,
If you are a die-hard fan of the Heineken brand then 704 Sports Bar is where you need to be this and every Friday. According to management, fans can get six Heinekens for just $2800 between 7pm and 9pm. Be sure to take advantage of this offer guys!
Escape the after work traffic today at Palm Court As the Great Caribbean Singer, Father Fox says, "Who does go to work on a Thursday or even a Friday?" Well, unfortunately, most of us do! But that shouldn't stop you from "ducking" every once in a while when the pressure seems too much and you desire to have a little fun. Every Friday, one of Guyana's number one entertainment spots, Palm Court will be offering a light celebration called "Escape the after work traffic. The event gets started from 4:00pm to 7:00pm so see you there.
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dispelled any rumours that there was any rivalry with his equally admired contemporary. Together with the immensely popular “Do Fuh Do” which won him the Ragga Soca Monarch title in 2005 and the soca chart topping “Til Morning Come” on the Madness Rhythm, Spontaneous was one of the most heavily rotated albums in 2005. But there is another aspect to this diminutive powerhouse that predates “Hard Wine” and “Bumper Inspector”. At the grass roots level he was once (and in some ways still remains) the dub chanting King. All he needs is a catchy beat with a dominant bass line and he can chant a rhyme over it. By the age of 16, he had honed and fine-tuned his chanting act to the point where he was opening for enormously successful reggae acts like Beenie Man. After a particularly impressive performance opening for reggae superstars Buju Banton & Mad Cobra, a then unknown DJ/music producer Peter Coppin approached Rick and suggested that a career in mainstream calypso might be as successful as his reggae/dub performances. After some discussion and collaboration Rick released the catchy “Bumper Inspector” and “Hard Wine” and Peter's words immediately came to fruition. With four albums to his name Challenge (1997), We Surviving (1999), More Hype (2003) and Spontaneous (2005) the majority of the music from this devoted father of four can be found on compilations executive produced by the Peter Coppin headed Monstapiece Entertainment. In January 2006, the Barbadian musical establishment threw their full weight behind Lil Rick, adding even more credibility to his appeal as a performer. He was nominated in four categories for the 1st Annual Barbados Music Awards: Songwriter of the Year, Male Artiste of the Year, Best Selling Male Artiste of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. He was also awarded the Cornerstone award for his stellar contribution to the development of the Barbados music industry. He has been the official face and voice of Guinness for over 5 years but has moved on to Mackeson. He is presently the host of its massively popular radio show-the Mackeson Hour, (continued on page 28)
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Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
Police Force promotes steel-pan winners; three ranks
Police Commissioner, Leslie James; senior officers and others with the winners. The Guyana Police Force on Monday honoured members of the Police Steel Orchestra for their outstanding performance in the Pano-rama competition held Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, DSS, DSM
and his deputies along with other senior officers, commended the ranks for their performance and attributed the heights met to the leadership of the Director of Music, Senior Superintendent, Charmaine Stuart. He noted that their per-
formance has boosted the force. As a result of their efforts, three of those ranks were promoted on-the-spot. Police Constables 24645 Donwin Jamal Stuart who placed first in the Junior Calypso Competition; 24716 Daniel Daly, first place Jun-
ior Soloist; and 22904 Osbert Cain who placed third in the Carib Soca Monarch have now been elevated to the rank of Lance Corporal. Among those honoured was Roy Malcolm Hinds, a Liaison personnel of the GPF, who at age 80, with over 50
years of experience, plays a critical role in the Music Department. Hinds, who is also a mechanic by profession, led and managed the “Eldorado Steel Orchestra” in the 1960s. This recognition stands as an expression of the
Force’s dedication to reward its members who excel in the many disciplines and foreshadows a new and improved paradigm which will be implemented as we accelerate the much anticipated reformation of the Force.
Taxi driver charged for pawning boss’s car A man, who was entrusted by his employer to use his car as a taxi, and return the proceeds to him, was yesterday charged for fraudulent conversion and fraudulent misappropriation. Rabindranauth Doodnauth, 27, a taxi driver, of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan., yesterday. The first charge against Doodnauth alleged that on January 8, 2019, at Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he obtained the sum of $6000 from Samuel Lloyd, in order to purchase one Ambassador Taxi Service logo, knowing same to be false. It was further alleged that on January 8, 2019 at Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, being solely entrusted by Samuel Lloyd with one Toyota Fielder Wagon HC 5946 valued $2M,
Charged Rabindranauth Doodnauth in order that he may work same, Doodnauth fraudulently converted the vehicle to his own use and benefit.
Doodnauth pleaded not guilty to both charges. Police Prosecutor Stephen Telford stated that Lloyd hired Doodnauth to work his vehicle and return the proceeds to him weekly. However after a few weeks, Doodnauth failed to make contact with the victim. The matter was then reported and Doodnauth was arrested. The court heard that while Doodnauth was in custody, he admitted to pawning his boss’s vehicle to another individual. While the prosecutor had no objections to bail being granted to the defendant, he asked that it be in a substantial amount citing that the defendant has pending matters of similar nature in court. The Magistrate released Doodnauth on $200,000 bail. He was instructed to make his next court appearance on March 8, 2019.
Govt spending tax dollars to woo... From page 15 increasing taxes that affect people in Regions One and Nine, and refusing to utilise the US$17M he claims the PPP left, for hinterland ICT projects. “Now, when you’re faced
with an election, you’re going to roll into the Rupununi convoy and think people will love you.” The PPP General Secretary also raised a contention that the government is awarding
contracts to hustlers affiliated with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), with kickbacks attached. The kickbacks are i n t e n d e d t o b e u s e d to campaign for General and Regional Elections in 2019, he said. Jagdeo said he’s not worried about the ministers traveling, but that he’s worried about them spending taxpayers’ money to do so.
Friday February 22, 2019
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Kaieteur News
Amerindian Affairs Ministry signs MOU for Tourism Advancement with GTA The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs (MoIPA) has signed a collaboration Agreement with the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA. The agreement is aimed at aligning strategies to improve community owned and led tourism enterprises in receptive villages across the hinterland. It will also see a framework and action plan developed to align budgeted resources, capacity building to scale up impact and prioritize receptive communities for development assistance. The MOU was signed at the Ministry’s Thomas and Quamina Streets Head Office by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, Minister within the Ministry Valerie GarridoLowe and Director of the GTA Brian Mullis. Before inking the agreement Minister Allicock said, “The experience that we have had over the three and a half short years in Government, is that we have to work in collaboration with the agencies that knows the business. “We in the hinterland, is where beauty lies, where real life exits and in keeping with the green state development there is no better place than to engage truly the indigenous peoples of the hinterland.” The Minister added that he is very pleased with the positive direction community based tourism is moving in, particularly within the last year and the momentous signing of this agreement would ensure “human and financial resources that needs to be put together for maximum outcome of the resources that we have at hand.” Minister within the Ministry Valerie Garrido-Lowe emphasized MoIPA’s commitment to collaborate with other Agencies to ensure development through strategies beneficial to the respective villages since “to cater for the 78,000 or eleven percent of
the indigenous peoples in the hinterland community is quite a challenge for this Ministry alone… “And that’s what I like with our APNU/AFC Government we collaborate with each other to see how we can really target communities in whatever we want to do that we can achieve that goal.” “The hinterland has been a challenge a long time for various governments and it needed the political will to reach out to our people…and address their economic needs and that’s what we have been doing as it relates to the various projects. “This is where the GTA comes in. How do we market our beautiful hinterland in the best way possible. Up to last week one of our HEYS facilitator accompanied GTA to Moraikobai to train the women there to cater. “We have been experimenting using the cassava and farine so that when people travel to the hinterland they won’t be eating the same chowmein and cook-up but rather cassava made foods,” the Minister related. GTA’s Director, Mullis, noted that “community-led tourism is truly a unique phe-
nomenon in Guyana, it exists in other places in the world, but not at the level or the market of success that we have achieved in Guyana through the leadership of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs in communities like Suruma and Rewa. “It has been the vision of MoIPA for some time to scale that up, how can we take efforts like Suruma that might have taken decades and turn that into several years to where the communities can be successful with tourism.” Among the GTA’s responsibilities is to link visitor ready communities to the tourism value chain. Mullis said, “We want to leverage that past investment which has been significant in tourism in indigenous communities” in terms of domestic and international tour operators and wholesalers. Among its other responsibilities are: completing a community-led tourism framework, an action plan and identify tools required to support implementation. Other deliverables will see the Ministry and GTA develop a work plan, which will outline priorities which clearly
identifies outputs, resources to be allocated and the parties responsible for implementation. Between 2015 and
2018, Government invested an estimated $30.4 million towards improving community based tourism in ten villages
across the hinterland, and in 2019, five additional villages will benefit from eleven million dollars respectively.
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Airline tickets to cost more in wake of US$150 Mairport renovation Passengers using the Cheddi Jagan International Airport will be saddled with additional fees to their tickets come April 1. According to a circular dated January 25, 2019, by the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) to airlines, the facilities are being expanded at a cost of US$150M. “We have added a new arrivals terminal, rehabilitated and expanded the departures terminal and have included amenities such as elevators, escalators and passenger boarding bridges. The main runway is also being extended to 11,024 feet and new remote parking apron constructed to accommodate Codes D and E aircraft,” the airport explained in its circular. It said that undoubtedly these costs, along with additional staffing and equipment needed to handled increased passengers traffic, will see recurrent and capital expenditures increasing significantly in the coming years. It was disclosed that the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO (ICAO) policy on charges recognized that such capital expenditure
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson placed a burden on Government and airports and made provision for such sums to be recovered over a period of time by way of implementation of new fees or amendment of existing fees. The airport said that against this background, effective April 1, the airport security fee will be US$20 per departing passenger. “This fee will replace the current airport security fee
and passenger screening fee,” it was explained in the circular.“Additionally, the fee will cater for: screening of selected passengers; procurement of additional screening including but not limited to Walk Through Metal Detectors, Hold Baggage Scanners, Hand Baggage Scanners, procurement and installation of inline baggage handling system, expansion of the current CCTV system.”
CJIA is preparing to add new fees for airlines that will impact passengers. The airport also said it will be implementing an addition fee…a passenger service charge of US$15. This fee will replace the current passenger boarding bridge and the (Common Use Terminal Systems) CUTE fees. “Additionally the fee will cater for use of the CUTE, FIDs, (flight information display system) (FIDS), Self Check In Kiosks; use of the counters at check ins and boarding gates; and use of the terminal building including passenger boarding bridges. The airport corporation is kindly requesting the airline to put measures in
place to have this fee included on its ticket effective 1st April, 2019,” the circular urged. The circular would be issued as the Government of Guyana prepares to take full possession of the facilities which has been under expansion contract since 2011. However, the project has been marred by one problem after another. The Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company, failed to deliver. The project, the largest ongoing infrastructure one by the government, has spanned three administrations now.
It was inexplicably modified by the Coalition Government starting in 2015 with Guyana getting a smaller airport though still obligated for that US$150M bill. China Harbour, in the meantime, seems to have escaped with a slap on the wrist. The contract had included passenger bridges, and acquisitions of flight information display system, among other things. The project has been angering observers who insisted that Guyana did not get value for its money and in any case, there seems little concern by the government for demanding same.
Lil Rick all set to headline Stag Stage ... From page 25 every Saturday on Slam 101.1FM. The International Entertainment industry also took notice of Rick that same year, 2006; he was chosen to be among the top Barbadian performers for the launch of MTV Tempo. Lil rick in Crop Over 2007 earned Lil Rick his fourth Party Monarch title with his infectious track “Caan Wait”. The three songs released for Crop Over 2007 were; “Conch”; “Girls Gone Wild” and “Caan Wait”, are still receiving heavy rotation on the local airwaves and are making definitive inroads into regional airplay as well. These tracks are all featured on the Return of the Monsta album. With the launch of the Hypa Dawg clothing line, Rick has added another dimension to the Hypa Dawg product and continues to gain respectability and break into non-traditional sponsorship and audience markets. Late last year, this energetic per-
former released his highly anticipated music videos to Crop Over smash hits “Girls Gone Wild” and “Caan Wait”, which are propelling the 'Hypa Brand' into the highly influential video arena of artiste promotion. Lil Rick captured two (2) awards; “Best Soca Single” and “Entertainer of the Year” at the 3rd Annual Barbados Music Awards. Lil Rick thrilled the patrons when he performed his 2007 Party Monarch winning track “Caan Wait”. The receptive crowd could not wait for Lil Rick to sing the first note of his track, and they started chanting “can't wait, can't wait”...this clearly proved why this entertainer who consistently releases a number of hits annually is the recipient of the entertainer of the year award. During the 2008 Crop Over Season, Lil Rick released his much anticipated album, “The Crave.” During the production of this album, his aspiration was to not only satisfying the cravings of his fans, but also his own personal desires as
well. This created an interesting mix of songs that range from the infectious groovy track “This is a Party” to the very popular “Breakaway”, a collaborative effort with his son “The Unda Dawg”. The Album also features the duets with Soca Queen Allison Hinds and Gorg, “Wash Off” and “Wuk Up, You Hear Wha I Tell You” respectively. The album also features a single from Gorg, his solo effort “Tipsy”, and the very popular and sometimes controversial Stabby De Guard with his track “Stabby”. Lil Rick now promotes his family coined Hypa Family, with his oldest son, Underdawg, following in his footsteps as a DJ, calypso and dub singer, as well as two of his younger children teaming up as the Hypa Kids . Lil Rick is a performer, a father, a business man and an overall talent and crowd pleaser. He is truly as his latest nickname says "Mr. Crop Over". (http:// www.gobarbados.org/music/ lil-rick/)
Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
Foreign envoys meet with GECOM From page 7 answering anything.” Meanwhile, a government information statement said that there will be no hindrances to moving into elections mode when a date is announced. While appearing on the National Communications Network (NCN Inc.) programme ‘Context’, GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander explained that until the body is advised on an election date, the commission will be working with its 2019 programme which includes the claims and objections period and house-to-house registration. He emphasised that there will be no “hindrances to GECOM moving into elections mode”. “The pursuit of the 2019 programme would not inhibit GECOM’s preparation for elections when that date is announced because a major element for the preparation of elections would be the preparation of a list and house-tohouse registration would lead such a list,” Alexander said. He explained that it would be impossible for the body to host elections in 90 days given what is required for efficient elections. He said that it would be “foolhardy” of GECOM to embark on an exercise which it cannot complete in the given timeframe. The issue of elections became critical after the historic December 21, 2018 no confidence vote which was carried
against the government.However, Government has appealed.The High Court has ruled that the vote was valid but it is being appealed. That vote, according to the Constitution, was supposed to have triggered elections within 90 days, but GECOM
is saying that it is not ready and that it wants house-tohouse registration first, a process that could take months and push elections till next year.The situation has heavily divided the country.This year, Guyana is expected to start producing oil.
NGO lends support to... From page 12 for sensible solutions that remedy the real issues we face as Guyanese; and political parties must evolve in order to deliver that if they are to be respected by the new breed of Guyanese voters who expect results,” she continued. According to LalljeeRichard, although many leaders already are aware of this state of affairs, they have been faced with difficulties achieving the desired outcome on the ground. Moreover, the nonpartisan organization, which was established during December 2017, has extended an invitation to the leaders of the ruling A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change [APNU/AFC] and the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic [PPP/C] to collaborate with them. A move in this direction, Lalljee-Richard said, is intended to “achieve peace and unity during this very sensitive time in Guyana’s
history.” According to her, each leader will be asked to share their individual views and their party’s official position on where they stand and what sort of behaviour they expect of their followers, going forward into the election season and afterwards. It is therefore her hope that “As we continue to work together as one people, one nation and one destiny we are determined to achieve a bright future for ourselves and country.”
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FOR RENT
SERVICES
FOR SALE
PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION, W E D D I N G S , ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620
Used Scaffolding. Contact Cell: 623-1615 Genuine parts & Aftermarket parts for Doosan, Kobelco, CAT, Electronic parts, hydraulic pumps, fuel pumps #677-8104
Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Graphics design, advertisement, Wedding arch rentals. Tel: 626-7040; 265-4535. ICONIC MARKETING & PRINTING –TEL: 6006887: We create A/works, logos, business cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included. REPAIRS AT LOW COST: FRIDGES, AIR CONDITIONERS, WASHING MACHINE, FREEZER, SALE OF AC’S. TEL#629-4946,225-4822 Repairs at affordable prices: fridge, air conditioner, washing machines, dryers, TV, microwaves & freezer-Call: 6105846 or 661-8158
DOLLY’S CAR RENTALCALL:225-7126/ 2263 6 9 3 DOLLYSAUTORENTAL @YAHOO.COM/ WWW.D OLLYSAUTORENTAL.COM PROGRESSIVE CAR RENTAL: CARS FROM $4000 & UP, SUV’S PER DAY- CALL:643-5122/6560087, ,EMAIL:PRO_AUTO RENTAL @YAHOO.COM Fabs Rental, Beterverwagting ECD Cars from $4000 #6040883
TAXI SERVICE GR TAXI SERVICE. CALL: 219-5000; 227-1982 & 225-7878 (24HRS) PROPERTY FOR SALE House for sale, Eccles Housing Scheme. 7 bedrooms, 3 toilets and bathrooms enclosed. $28.5M. Call 642-0391/ 001447587233657 3 storey commercial building. Location- Lot 1486 Plot B Herstelling (2 Bridge) EBD. Suitable for school/ apartments. Contact #6093777/686-0522
Large 3 bedrooms classic house in solid condition- all amenties, huge yard, security. Price negotiable, Versailles WBD. Call: 660-3415/609-7766
PEN PAL Guyanese/Canadian male seeking female career oriented 24-28 in marriage. Tel# 6823683
Well secured two story bond, space located at Ketley St, Charlestown with light and water. Contact #664-0353 Two bedroom bottom flat in Festival City, Fully grilled, Car parking $80,000 Call: 616-7366
Furnished 2 bedroom apartment. Call: 216-2299/6721906
2 Storey Building @ Prime location in Georgetown. Ideal for business & residence. 89 Robb Street, Bourda. #44-208737-1598/ 225-8427/264-1130 House and land available at Parfaite, Tuschen, Diamond etc. Contact Pacific Development Inc. 223-6035/ 604-4909
General Domestic, must know to cook & salesperson, Apply Keyfoood McDoom EBD
Live in experienced waitress 18-25 #610-3974
Vacancy for one shop attendant. Contact#691-7123
Live in domestic, must know to cook Indian dishes salary$25,000 wkly (Age 2550) #610-3974
General Domestic with cooking experience for East Bank #614-4358
Wanted One (1) Mechanic to work in the interior. must have experience with Cummins engine. Tel#669-3162
Looking for a job & educational services? Contact The Job Centre 43 Croal & Alexander Street or call 6008457/683-8765
One skilled Bobcat operator. Must have 5 years’ experience. Call 609-0766, 2653024
Lineman needed. Contact#661-7777
Minibus driver for route 42 Bus #664-0802
Self-contained rooms to rent in Prashad Nagar. Tel#2272993
One cashier & one cleaner to work shift. Apply in person at Buddy’s Gym 137 Sheriff St #231-4104
Gold land to rent or work ground in Middle Mazaruni #690-5300/225-7026 2 and 3 apt $50,000 ‘B’ Field Sophia, great location 3 month advance #690-5300/225-7026 1 two bedroom apt for rent, fully grilled, fully tiled, huge parking space. Located @ LBI $85,000 neg. Tel#220-9463/ 646-0311 3 bedroom apt, unfurnished, can be used for storage. Rent Negotiable, Lusignan ECD #695-6550/656-9313
One Office Asst. Apply in person to R.P’s Enterprise, Area K Le Resouvenir ECD #220-3710 One Farm Manager to work on Coconut Plantation in Pomeroon River. Experience in Farming. Contact# 226-9768/ 665-6082 Wanted experience drivers & porters for water business. Call: 622-5428 Land to buy in Parafaite Harmonie, Eccles, Uitvlugt, Tuschen,Covent Garden, Herstelling, Diamond, Providence & Zeelugt. Tel#686-9608 LAND FOR SALE
VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 Toyota Tacoma 2007 Extra Cab, Manual $4.5M Tel#6733988 Nissan Laurel Executive antique car, Nissan Pathfinder 4-door Jeep. Superb condition. Price Neg. Call your price. Tel#660-3415/609-7766
VACANCY
Wanted experience hire car drivers and dispatchers at Ramada Princess Hotel Tel: 616-5419, 265-7076
Labourers for wood concession $5000 per day. Call: 618-0487/662-6227
Parafaite Harmonie, Eccles, Uivlugt, Tuschen, Covent Garden, Herstelling, Diamond, Providence, Zeelugt. Tel# 6869608 Zeelugt $1.3M Parfaite Harmonie $1.2M Tel#697-6311 VACANCY
LAND FOR SALE
Vacancy exist for porters. Apply Alabama Trading 65 Robb St, Bourda Georgetown
Tuschen $1.5M Tuschen Phase I $3.8M Transferable $2.5M $1.8M $1.4M Parfaite Harmonie Transferable $2.5M $1.8, $1.4M Providence $6M Call: 666-2326
Vacancy exist for (1) Manager to work at Hotel Purple Heart Restaurant & Bar on the Essequibo Coast #665-6082
LEARN TO DRIVE N. Outar Driving School, Learn to Drive the right way @ Cuffy Square. Affordable package. Call: 644-5166/6912561
WANTED
2 new 3 bedrooms semifurnished houses at Herstelling and Schnoord for $80,000. Call: 677-1975/6295401 for details
6 bedrooms house on transported double-lot, all amentities, private yard/ parking. Located in Georgetown. Call: 6603415,609-7766
HEALTH HERBAL REMEDIES: Diabetes, Hypertension, Infertility, Menstrual disorders, Enlarged prostate, Kidney,Gall stones & Arthritis etc. Call Sparman #676-5924
PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION, W E D D I N G S , ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620
One bedroom apartment Middle Rd La Penitence $40,000 monthly. Contact #614-7225
Property for sale, 32 James St, Albouystown. #682-8236 CAR RENTAL
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
Professional hairdresser specialized in streaking, coloring, ombre, cutting, for further information contact# 652-5800 Professional makeup artist must specialize in manicure, pedicure, facials, nails, for further information contact# 652-5800 Bond Clerk needed. Must have Police Clearance. For more info. Call: 223-0090 Receptionist 24-50 233 South Road, Lacytown #225-0198 Male workers to work at Del Ice Company. Training provided. Call: 231-1408/6429191 Middle aged security guard to work at Private park in Houston. Call: 233-0654 8am to 5pm Hair stylist, Make-up artist, Facials, manicure, pedicure, body massage, gels and acrylic nails technicians #2250115 General Domestic, Carpenter, Driver/Salesman Apply @ R. Sookraj & Sons 108 Regent Street Junior Accountant- Kisson Dyal Rice Mill Mahaica, CAT Qualify Tel#228-5669 Email: Kissondyal10@gmail.com Merchandiser- Kisson Dyal Rice Mill Mahaica, CSEC passes in Maths & English Tel#228-5669 Email: Kissondyal10@gmail.com Urgent 1 male & female with creole cooking experince to multitask, flexible hours. Contact X’s Grill and Cuisine #695-6550/656-9313
Friday February 22, 2019
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Kaieteur News
Alleged fraudster remanded, Killer father in Canada dies in hospital as funeral held for girl, 11 already in jail for similar offence A Toronto-area man charged with first-degree murder after his 11-year-old daughter’s body was found in a Brampton home, died Wednesday, said Peel Regional Police. Roopesh Rajkumar, 41, a Guyanese-born man, had been in Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto with what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound since the night Riya Rajkumar was found dead last week. He died the same day hundreds of mourners remembered Riya at an emotional funeral service in Etobicoke in suburban Toronto, according to a CBC.ca report. Rajkumar was arrested about midnight the night of February 14, around the same time officers discovered Riya’s body in his basement apartment following an Amber Alert issued about an hour earlier. Police said homicide investigators are continuing to investigate the death of Riya. Police were initially alerted by Riya’s mother that Rajkumar had failed to return the young girl from her birthday celebrations that evening. Provincial police found Rajkumar driving north on Highway 11 near Orillia, about 130 kilometres north of Brampton, in a silver Honda Civic. Initially, police revealed he was taken to hospital rather than jail, but declined to disclose what led to that decision. On February 16, Peel po-
Dead: Roopesh ‘Ravi’ Rajkumar lice Const. Danny Marttini, said that after provincial police transferred him to Peel’s custody, officers noticed he was “not acting right” and decided to call paramedics, who transported him to a local hospital. Doctors discovered he was suffering from a gunshot wound and then taken to a trauma centre for further treatment. Details of his wound weren’t immediately released. On Tuesday night,
friends, family, and members of the community gathered at a candlelight vigil in Brampton to remember Riya, who was a Grade 5 student at Meadowvale Village Public School. Chris McCord, acting Peel police chief, read a statement written by Riya’s mother at the event that said: “She touched a lot of lives with her laughter and contagious smile. It breaks my heart to know I will no longer be seeing that smile.”
Mining Lotteries to commence March 22, 2019 As part of its efforts to ensure the fair distribution of mining lands to waiting applicants, the Minister of Natural Resources has tasked the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and Closed Area Committee (CAC) to move forward with the distribution of mining lands by means of a series of mining lotteries set to commence on Friday, March 22, 2019. The criteria, methodology, and timelines for the mining lottery were finalized by Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; GGMC Commissioner, Newell Dennison and CAC Chairman, Abiola Henry, along with their support staff. This was done at a meeting held at the Ministry yesterday. “It was the general agreement of the parties that there will be a few lotteries held in the different mining
districts which will give preference to residents of those districts. The GGMC is currently in the process of finalizing the list of eligible persons.” With this list provided, the ministry said, persons within the districts would be able to pull from blocks in that district. “Those unallocated areas remaining within the districts after this initial exercise, will be made available to others. The lotteries will also facilitate persons who would have applied several years ago. Also decided was that the mining lottery will be a threemonth process which will include the publishing of the names of persons eligible to participate. There will also be public notices stating that the Minister of Natural Resources and the representatives of the GGMC and CAC will be in the mining
areas conducting the closed lottery process.” The first lottery will be held in the Georgetown area on March 22, 2019 and will be followed by others being held in areas such as Matthews Ridge, Port Kaituma, Bartica and Mahdia, among others, within the months of April and May, 2019. “The Minister is pleased to have facilitated the advancement of the mining lotteries which has been on his agenda for quite some time. It is further pleasing to the Minister that the lotteries will be mining district specific, therefore allowing small miners within the districts who have applied to now have a chance to have access to available mining properties. Miners who will now benefit from this exercise are encouraged and further expected to utilize the lands given in ways that are safe and environmentally sustainable and that ensure that the laws of Guyana are abided by.”
A con man who is believed to be responsible for defrauding a hotel proprietor and three other individuals, was yesterday charged and remanded to jail. The man who had falsely identified himself as Kelvin, was later positively identified by police as Faizul Mohamed. Mohamed appeared in the Suddie Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Esther Sam yesterday, charged for allegedly obtaining credit by false pretence. The charge that was read stated that the offence was committed on Mohamed Karim, some time between November 26 and November 29, 2018. The accused is believed to have credited the items from a barber shop in Hibernia on the Essequibo Coast, which is owned by Karim. The charge also listed the credited items, which were an American Eagle slippers, worth $4,000, an Old Navy short pants, valuing $6,000, an Express shirt valuing $4,000 and a waterproof cell phone valuing $35,000. The accused reportedly credited the items under the false pretense that he was a gold miner who had gold to sell. The accused also on the
“Faizul Mohamed day in question, claimed that he will pay for the credited items as soon as they are sold. While in the witness box yesterday, Mohamed Karim said that the accused disappeared from the Essequibo Coast and severed all contact with him shortly after crediting the items. On January 17, 2019, however, Mohamed was called to the Aurora Police station, Essequibo Coast, where he once again met the alleged con man, who this time denied knowing him. The accused
maintained his plea of innocence in court yesterday saying, “For the final time I say I do not know Mohamed Karim, neither does he know me.” While cross questioning Karim, yesterday, the accused who claims he does not know Karim then asked, “You told me at the barbershop that someone give you a water proof phone to sell. Where is the receipt?” Karim in response said that he is unable to present a receipt. Faizul Mohamed was later remanded to prison, where he awaits a ruling on the matter that is scheduled for March 14, 2019. This publication was informed that Mohamed is already serving a six-month sentence for another offence of the same nature. Kaieteur News was informed that during the period November 26 to November 29, 2018, Mohamed defrauded a number of persons on the Essequibo Coast, apart from the barber. Reports indicate that the proprietor of a hotel, a taxi driver and a woman whose identity remains anonymous, were also defrauded by the said individual.
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Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
EPA approves Aurora’s resumption of underground mining development Guyana Goldfields Inc. on Wednesday announced that it has received environmental authorization from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resume construction and development work on an underground exploration decline at its Aurora Gold Mine, located in the Cuyuni, Region Seven. The mine, which has been in commercial operation as an open pit since 2016, is anticipated to transition into an eventual combined open pit and underground operation and would become the first modern underground mine developed in Guyana, according to a statement from the company’s Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs, Perry Holloway. Holloway is a recently retired US ambassador whose last posting was to Guyana. “The Company is committed to meeting the highest standards in its planning and execution of this important project and we look forward
to continued co-operation with the EPA and the Government as we unlock the value of Aurora for Guyana and the company’s shareholders.” The underground decline is intended for exploration and definition drilling in support of planned underground production. The company temporarily suspended work on the underground decline in November 2018 at the request of the EPA. “Today’s authorization to resume operations follows the provision by the Company to the EPA of additional information concerning the application of internationally accepted codes concerning the environment, health and safety practices being proposed.” The EPA also conducted a routine compliance inspection of the Aurora mine and camp facilities in December 2018. “The EPA requested the Company modify some as-
The open-pit area at the Aurora Mines, Region Seven. pects of its current waste management plan, camp waste water treatment circuit and upgrade the waste oil containment facility. The Company has addressed all the matters raised by the EPA during its inspection which will be further assessed during the next site inspection. “At the time of the December inspection the Company
was compliant on all other environmental conditions of the operating permit.” With regards to the underground exploration development plan, the Canadianowned company disclosed that the recommencement of work on the underground decline will begin immediately. “Going forward, the contractor will complete and reinforce the collar and extend the decline 200 metres to fulfill the scope of the early works phase. “The Company expects this work will take approximately three months to complete once the contractor is fully mobilized. A budget of US$2.0 million has been approved for the early works
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs, Perry Holloway phase.” The company also said it is finalizing the review of bids received for the underground development contract with
the target of final award in the second quarter of 2019.” The plan is to advance the exploration decline (Continued on page 33)
Friday February 22, 2019
EPA approves Aurora’s ...
From page 32 approximately 2,500 metres and provide a platform for further underground exploration and definition drilling. “The decline is intended to provide access to all principal underground mining areas, including some highergrade zones in Mad Kiss and East Walcott, which will allow us to further delineate exploration targets and potentially add mineral resources and help convert mineral resources to mineral re-
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Kaieteur News
serves. In addition, the permit allows for test mining of up to 350,000 tonnes that could potentially provide supplemental mill feed during the development period and further unlock value at the Aurora Gold Mine,” it was explained. The company is the single largest gold producer in Guyana, but is facing internal problems with a move underway by a number of shareholders to sack the current board.
Ex-con committed to stand trial for killing ‘Saga’
Charged Aubrey Bobb
Dead Godfrey Scipio called, ‘Saga.
Ex-con, Aubrey Bobb, 27, of Kitty, Georgetown, has been committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of businessman, Godfrey Scipio, called ‘Saga’. The committal came after Senior Magistrate Leron Daly concluded a preliminary inquiry into the offence on Wednesday. She ruled there was sufficient evidence against Bobb. It is alleged that Bobb shot and killed Scipio on October 27, 2017. It was reported that Scipio, of D’Urban Street, Wortmanville, was shot in the chest as he was leaving a city hotel. He succumbed at the Woodlands Hospital. Police had reported that Bobb was nabbed at his William Street, Kitty, Georgetown home which is located a few buildings away from where the killing occurred. Kaieteur News understands that CCTV footage of the attack helped investigators to identify and track him down. Reports are that the murder accused told detectives that he was in the area, and saw Scipio, who was wearing a gold chain, enter
the hotel. At the time, Bobb claimed he was armed with an ice-pick, but later decided that a gun would be more effective. It was also reported that when Scipio exited the hotel, the murder accused accosted the businessman and shot him. Scipio had been selling at the Berbice car park for several years, and was known for wearing lots of gold jewellery. Police are still to recover the slain man’s gold chain and murder weapon. After Bobb was charged with Scipio’s murder, he implicated former Police Corporal Derwin Eastman and his colleague, Police Constable Jemison Williams, in the crime. Both of them are jointly charged with Scipio’s murder and are currently on remand. The Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into their matter is currently on going before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. According to reports, Bobb alleged that Eastman is the mastermind behind the killing since he allegedly provided the gun.
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Kaieteur News
WIPA Executive delivers, returns Skerritt, for consecutive terms unopposed... Shallow... From page 38 Nixon McLean will continue as Vice President, Liam Sebastien as Assistant Honorary Secretary and Ridley Jacobs as Treasurer for the third consecutive term. President Hinds in his opening remarks highlighted, one, the provision of a comprehensive health insurance plan for all retained players, regional and international, men and women, which, in addition to health insurance, provides critical illness coverage; and two, the expansion of WIPA’s cricket development programme, WIPA in the Community, to Jamaica. Health Insurance cards were later presented to the retained players from the Guyana Jaguars franchise.
Honorary Secretary Wayne Lewis commented: “The fact that the executive has been returned unopposed for a 4th consecutive term is a significant statement of confidence placed in us by our members. They’ve obviously recognized the tremendous work we have been doing as an executive to advance their position and this AGM also demonstrates that we’re growing positively as an organization with the full backing of our members.” Mr. Lewis also made special mention of the newly established health insurance plan, which he was instrumental in acquiring, calling it “a watershed m o m e n t i n We s t I n d i e s Cricket.” “We at WIPA are
extremely proud to be a part of it,” Lewis commented, “we are relentless in our efforts to work tirelessly with CWI to improve the fortunes of West Indies Cricket by forging new and effective partnership agreements and cooperation.” The sentiments were echoed by WIPA Vice President, Nixon McLean, “the fact that we were elected once again to serve unopposed is testament to hard work we have done and the faith the membership has in us. The health insurance handing-over ceremony was the highlight of the night, as being able to continue to improve the lives of our membership is one the key areas where we put our focus.”
Friday February 22, 2019 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Financial growth adds to a growing sense of self-worth, Aries, especially since your current situation should continue. You may have a vivid, emotional dream. TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Romance blossoms for you today, and commitment or marriage may be just over the horizon. You and your beloved may have recently reached a new understanding that has bonded you more tightly. GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Service to others might take up a large part of your day, Gemini, perhaps on an artistic level or maybe in the form of sharing psychic or healing energy. CANCER(June21–July22) The words for today are "romance" and "creativity," . Romance is enhanced by passion generated by a gratifying love relationship that will probably last for a long time. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Has a new housemate recently moved in, Leo? If so, you can expect this person to live with you for a while. This is good, because he or she is likely to be very loving. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) A love letter or perhaps a poem or other artistic work dedicated to you could make your day. A warm feeling of being cherished and adored could stay with you throughout the day as a result..
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) A love relationship that's been around for a long time could be enhanced today by an increased level of sensuality, Libra. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Artistic activities or those involving healing are enhanced today. Whatever you try is going to be more a part of your very being than it would be at other times. SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Love takes on an idealized and fairytale aura today, Sagittarius, as you and a current or potential partner spend time alone, talking or just enjoying being together. CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) A meditation circle or other group activity devoted to spiritual pursuits could be on your agenda today. AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Career and financial successes might finally come your way after months and perhaps years of striving. The emotional support you receive from those who've been working with you can be very gratifying, and it's likely to last for a long time. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) A complex creative project could require some in-depth research today, and you could spend much of the day online or in the library. This is probably a subject you love, so you won't mind the time you put in.
From page 33 compromise,” said the information technology and business consultant. “West Indies cricket remains an extraordinary global brand which by all calculations has significantly underachieved. By leading a harmonized effort of all stakeholders, we would be well on the pathway to overdue success.”
GFF successfully conclude... From page 39 Physiotherapist attached to the Upper Demerara Football Association, was high in praise for the workshop: “I found this workshop very, very interesting. It opened my eyes to a lot of issues that are lacking in our football fraternity in Linden and areas that we need to strengthen and improve in. I also had a refresher on some conditions that would require medical attention both on and off the pitch. It also opened my horizon to the treatment protocol for concussion and sudden cardiac arrest. I learned about transporting patients on and off the field and how critical it is, and the importance of time on these cases. Essequibo-Pomeroon Football Association’s Jason Boyce said learning the importance of prevention rather than treatment stood out for him: “This programme was very beneficial to me as a physiotherapist as I’ve never really viewed the content as presented by the facilitators. One of the most outstanding areas was the emphasis on prevention of injuries rather than treatment. They have given us advice on how to prepare for injuries as well as content on how we can prevent injuries. I plan to return to my Association, share the knowledge as well as mobilize players to develop themselves to prevent injuries from happening on and off the field. In terms of difference of approach following the workshop, I would be more careful before the matches rather than waiting to see what will happen in the match, that is, examine the players and see whether they are healthy enough to play the match in the first place, as an example.”
Friday February 22, 2019
Paris proposes break dancing among four sports for 2024 Games Paris (Reuters) - Breakdancing will become an Olympic sport in 2024 if the International Olympic Committee backs the inclusion of four sports proposed by the Paris Olympics organisers. The Paris 2024 organizing committee said yesterday the four sports - also including surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing - would reflect the French capital’s identity and help take the Games out of stadiums and into the streets. The organisers said they wanted to deliver a Games that were “in keeping with the times and inspire new audiences and attract young people... and which can be played anywhere and anytime in urban and other environments.” Skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing will all be making their debuts in the 2020 Tokyo Games. Under new IOC rules first introduced for the Tokyo Games, Olympic host cities can hand-pick sports and propose them for inclusion in those Games if they are popular in that country and add to the Games’ appeal. The IOC needs to approve the French proposals before they can be formally added to the Paris Games sports program.
Friday February 22, 2019
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Kaieteur News
Guyana in Group G for Final C/ship; Top 4 finishers qualify for FIFA U-17 WC Peru 2019 - Draw Reveals Groups for the 2019 Concacaf U-17 C/ship
Many of the players who played in the inaugural GFF/NAMILCO Flour Power U-17 Championship will be in contention for selection. Miami – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) conducted the official draw for the 2019 Concacaf Under17 Championship, at the Concacaf headquarters, in Miami, FL. The 2019 edition of the Under-17 Championship, to be hosted at the IMG Academy Campus in Bradenton, Florida, will be disputed in three rounds. The first-round qualifiers will take place March 16-24 (Groups A and C) and April 1-9 (Groups B and D), while the Final Championship (Groups E, F,
G, H and knockout stage) will take place May 1-16. The event, which sorted the 35 participating teams into eight groups, was conducted by Concacaf Head of National Team Competitions Carlos Fernandez. The groups for the 2019 Concacaf Under17 Championship Qualification Stage are as follows: Group A – Nicaragua, Grenada, Cayman Islands, US Virgin Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines. Group B - Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Montserrat. Group C – Guadeloupe,
Bahamas, Aruba, Saint Martin, Bonaire. Group D - St Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Anguilla. After round-robin play, the top finisher in each group will advance directly to the knockout stage of the competition. The groups for the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship Group Stage are as follows: Group E – Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda. Group F – USA, Canada, Guatemala, Barbados. Group G – Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Guyana. Group H - Costa Rica, Panama, Suriname, Curacao.
After round-robin play, the top three finishers in each of the groups will qualify for the knockout stage, joining the four group winners of the Qualification Stage in the Round of 16. The knockout stage of the competition will be played in its entirety in a single match elimination format, with the semifinalists automatically qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru. In the previous edition of the Concacaf Men’s Under17 Championship played in Panama in 2017, Mexico won its third straight title and seventh overall, with a 5-4 penalty shootout win over the United States in the final.
Skerritt, Shallow launch bid to unseat Cameron Basseterre, St Kitts, CMC – Former Cabinet minister and West Indies team manager, Ricky Skerritt, has formally launched his bid to unseat Cricket West Indies president, Dave Cameron, at next month’s elections in Jamaica. The 62-year-old will be partnered by vicepresidential candidate, Dr. Kishore Shallow, who is the current president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association Inc. and a CWI director. Significantly, Skerritt and Shallow have had their nominations supported by the Leeward Islands Cricket Board and Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, setting the stage for an intriguing campaign in coming weeks in what is expected to be tense election. Jamaican Cameron, a highly controversial figure in West Indies cricket, is running for a fourth consecutive term as CWI
Ricky Skerritt
Dr. Kishore Shallow
president after being first elected back in 2013 when he took over from St Lucian diplomat Julian Hunte. He will be partnered again by vicepresident Emmanuel Nanthan. Skerritt, also a CWI director, said one of their main aims once elected was to significantly reduce the sizeable budget allocated to the president’s office, and redirect those funds into grassroots development. The move is contained in a ten-point ‘Cricket First’ plan,
which forms the bedrock of the duo’s campaign for the top positions in CWI. “By my estimation, too much cost is being wasted on administrative and noncricket related activities including the high price of running an elaborate office for the President,” said Skerritt, a former tourism and sports minister in St Kitts. “The budget for the President’s office has been growing alarmingly in recent years, and I intend to reallocate a sizeable portion
of that budget to grassroots cricket.” He continued: “Refocusing attention on the basics of cricket, and helping more young people to enjoy playing and learning from the game, is what must become our daily mission at CWI. We must also help as many of our talented youth as possible to proudly make the transition to regional and international competitiveness, at the highest levels. “Every dollar CWI spends in the future should relate in some way to the growth and betterment of all those involved in our beloved game.” The 35-year-old Shallow, meanwhile, said he was driven by the belief that the state of West Indies cricket should be “far better than our current status suggests”. “Ricky and I share the philosophy that the actual cricket must be placed first, with absolutely no (Continued on page 34)
Wilbert Benjamin to sponsor Cycle Road Race tomorrow for Father’s 85th birthday Lucrative prizes are on offer and all is set for top cycling action in Berbice tomorrow when the best athletes in the country are expected to journey to the Ancient County to participate in the open event. The race is being sponsored by overseas based former junior and national cycling champion Wilbert Benjamin and organised by the Flying Ace Cycle Club (FACC) in observance of the 85th birthday of Benjamin’s father, Sanko. Race time is set for 13:00hrs from the Benjamin’s
Sports Store at Fyrish Village Corentyne proceeding to the No. 51 Police Station before returning to the place of origin for the finish. Lucrative prizes are up for grabs in the 50-mile contest; the top six finishers overall along with the top three juniors, juveniles and veterans are to be rewarded. Eight sprint prizes are also on offer. Sanko Benjamin is expected to be on hand to send the riders on their way and assist with the distribution of prizes. Randolph Roberts is the coordinator. (Samuel Whyte)
Hobodia to battle Sebai in return T-20 fixture tomorrow Sebai Sports Club located in Sebai River, Port Kaituma will host their neighbour Hobodia Sports Club from Aruka River tomorrow in a T20 fixture commencing at 09:00hrs. According to Public Relations Officer Sherlon Rodrigues, the T20 game will be followed by volleyball and football which will be played in both male and female categories. He added that the clubs are using this engagement to strengthen their relationship which will pave the way for more sporting activities to be held on a regular basis and help in the development of the youths. Rodrigues stated that this is a return visit since Hobodia played host two weeks ago where Sebai won at both cricket and volleyball. The PRO would like to thank Mr. Ryan James for his assistance rendered to Sebai School. Fans are encouraged to support the event as hardball cricket makes a return to Sebai.
Zeelugt overcome Cold Fusion by 102 runs Zeelugt defeated Cold Fusion by 102 runs when the East Bank Essequibo Cricket Committee Dwayne Stephen’s Auto Sale 40over tournament commenced on Sunday last. Batting first at Zeelugt, the home team managed 187 all out in 30 overs. Middle order batsman Nateram Dass struck 59 while opener Keon Roberts made 27, Omar Shakoor 22, Ramnarine Dass 18 and Ta m e s h w a r D a s s 1 7 . Gowkarran Rankie grabbed 3-31, Mahendra Persaud 358 and Darson La Rose 241. In reply, Cold Fusion were bowled out for 87 in 22 overs. La Rose scored 29 and Stephen Harris 15;
Nateram Dass those were the only batsmen that reached double figures as Roberts captured 3-18 from five overs while Awad Dass, Rajin Chrismotie, Ta m e s h w a r D a s s a n d Khaniya Ramkarran had one each. The competition continues on Sunday.
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Elizabeth Styles sponsorship of BCB U-21 KO Cricket Tourney, renewed Last year, the proactive and very vibrant Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) under the Presidency of Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster hosted a record breaking tournaments at the Under-13, 15, 17, 19, 21, Primary School, Secondary School, Internal Zone, Double Wicket, Female, Second Division and First Division levels. This year the BCB hopes to surpass the amount of tournaments played last year by adding the Under-23, Intermediate and Two-Day First Division competitions. The Board plans for 2019, received a major boost on Tuesday last when International Cosmetics Brand, Elizabeth Styles renewed their sponsorship for the Under-21 tournament. A simple ceremony to mark the occasion was held at one of the brand’s distributing agencies in Guyana, Bissan’s Trading, King Street, Lacytown, Georgetown. Director of Bissan’s Trading, Ryan Singh handed over the cheque to BCB President Hilbert Foster in the presence of Public Relations Officer Simon Naidu. Foster, who is spearheading the BCB’s aggressive Marketing Campaign to attract sponsorship stated that the tournament would be the third of its kind and would be open to players born on or after September 1st, 1998. About twenty clubs are expected to participate and among them are Blairmont Community Centre, Paradise,
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
Ryan Singh hands over sponsorship to BCB President Hilbert Foster in the presence of PRO, Simon Naidu. Achievers, D’Edward, Tucber Park, Edinburgh, Mt Sinai, Young Warriors, Rose Hall Canje, Kendall’s Union, Albion Community Centre, Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets, Port Mourant and No. 73. Foster expects that just like 2018, the 2019 version would be a success with all of Berbice’ leading youth players expected to play which includes Javed Karim, Collis Noble, Chris Harry, Seon Glasgow, Nigel Deodat, Alex Algoo, Leon Swammy, Garfield Benjamin, Travis Stanislaus, Kevin Umroa, Karran Arjpaul, Isaiah Thorne, Kevlon Anderson, Sylus Tyndall, Kevin Sinclair, Junior Sinclair, Keith Simpson and Adrian Sukhwa. PRO Naidu stated that
this tournament serves as a bridge between the Under-19 and First Division levels. The Under-23 tournament which would be launched later in the year is also expected to serve as another bridge as the BCB seeks to make sure that all its players have every opportunity to fulfill his/her true potential. Naidu also disclosed that all teams shall have to be fully attired in white and if needed, have the proper records to verify the dates of birth of players. Teams who turn up half hour late shall lose the match by walk over while those who are not present at the venue at the scheduled time to spin the toss, shall forfeit their rights to it. The winning team,
runners-up and Man-of-theFinal shall receive trophies and cash prizes. Executive Director of Bissan’s Trading, Bissoondyal Singh stated that Elizabeth Styles was delighted to sponsor the 2019 tournament and it was very impressed with the two earlier editions. The organising skills of the Board is extraordinary, Singh noted and the brand also received wide spread media coverage across Guyana in the print and electronic press. The tournament bowls off shortly and teams who have interest in participating can contact Hilbert Foster on 337 4562, Simon Naidu on 643 9040, Angela Haniff 333 2375 and Neil Rudder 616 9648.
Amrit Rai Memorial T20
Boodie, Yadram, Imlach slam tons, Narine grabs helmet-trick Centuries by Kevon Boodie, Bhaskar Yadram and Tevin Imlach and a helmettrick by Ganesh Narine highlighted the opening round of matches in the Amrit Rai Memorial T20 tournament which commenced on Sunday last in West Demerara. Leguan beat Omesh XI by 135 runs at Meten Meer Zorg West ground. Batting first, Leguan scored 284-5. Boodie and Yadram put on 267 for the opening stand with Boodie slamming 14 fours and a similar number of sixes in scoring 149 while Yadram struck nine fours and 11 sixes in his 118. Ganesh Narine grabbed a helmet-trick in taking 4-37 from his four overs. In reply, Omesh XI were bowled out for 148 in 16.3 overs. Mark Gonsalves top scored with 36 runs, with four fours and one six while R. Adams made 35 and Safraz Karim 25.Bowling for Leguan, Yadram claimed 3-15, Jason Heyliger 325 and Raydon Austin 2- 28. Host Meten-Meer-Zorg Future Youths beat Dynasty by 105 runs. Meten-MeerZorg Future Youth took first strike and scored 205-5. Imlach top scored with 108 not out while Sheldon Alexander made 52 and Jermain Maxwell 21; Devindra Ramdihol had 2 -24 and Erick Sukrah 2-49. Dynasty were bowled out for 96 in reply. Yougesh Singh scored 26 as Maxwell returned with the ball to grab 3-31 and Alexander supported with 2-12.At Zeeburg, the home team beat Meten-MeerZorg Cricket Club by 135 Runs. Batting first, Zeeburg scored 219-4. Kemol Savory top
scored with 57 not out, Malcolm Hubbard made 47, Balbinder Shivpersaud 29 and Ronaldo Renee 24. In reply Meten-MeerZorg Cricket Club could only reach 84. Rabindra Dasrat scored 32; Andre Seepersaud claimed 3-16 and Mark Jeffers 2-12. At Canal # 2 Ground, Rising Star A beat Players SC by 57 runs. Rising Star batted first and scored 146 all out in 18.3 overs. Anand Bharat got 33 and Nickosi Major 29. Satesh Bisram had 2-10, Naipaul Sundar 2-15, Daniel Barker 2-29 and Teekayam George 2-36. In reply, Players SC were bowled out for 87. Corwin Austin made 26 and Amr Mustapha 13; Marvin Cheong picked up 4-3. Canal # 2 Sports Club beat Rising Star B by 100 runs. Batting first, Canal #2 SC posted 146 all out in 19 overs. Taijnauth Jadunauth made 35, Vishwanauth Jadunauth 30 and Anthony Ifill 23. Chris Naipaul took 214 and Vishal Persaud 2-27. In reply, Rising Star B were skittled for 46. Vishal Persaud got18; Sidieq Sulaman snared 37, Jadunauth 2-8, Narendra Persaud 2-10 and Ghansham Mahabal 2-13. According to Organiser Mr. Troy Khan, the sponsors FAB Mining Company Inc. is currently looking to stage similar tournaments in Berbice and Georgetown. He also stated that, this present tournament is not being facilitated by the West Demerara Board and matches are set to continue this weekend.
D’Edward CC crush... From page 38 with 19. The main bowlers for D’Edward were offspinner Devindra Lalsa 3-34, left armspinner Hemraj Harilall 2-18 and veteran Eon Abdel, 3-19. D’Edward requiring 147 runs from 40-Overs to create a huge upset, soon found themselves in trouble at 2-2 in the 3rd over, Altaf Khan was dismissed for 1 by Nigel Deodat and Shabeer Baksh had Keith Fraser caught and bowled for one. Lakeraj Sookra and the evergreen Jaipaul Heeralall then added a match winning 135 for the third wicket. Lakeraj Sookra top scored with an aggressive 70 (4x4 6x6) before he was dismissed with just ten runs required. Captain Heeralall was left unbeaten on 60 when victory was achieved. D’Edward would now play Bush Lot United Cricket Club in the quarterfinals tomorrow at the Bush Lot Ground. Young Warriors and Rose Hall Canje would clash in another quarterfinal on Sunday at the Canje, Welfare Ground. The winners of both matches would meet in the semifinals. Rose Hall Town Bakewell has already reached the finals after defeating Ramnarine Memorial Cricket Club and No. 72 Cut and Load Cricket Club in their quarter final and semifinal matches, respectively.
Friday February 22, 2019
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Kaieteur News
Twenty years on, Bakewell keeps faith as sponsor of RHTY&SC - Foster hails company’s investment “Today we are widely considered Guyana’s most dynamic and successful youth and sports club but none of our success over the years on and off the cricket field would not have been possible without the support and investment of Bakewell. The Company is without doubt, one of the main foundation for our remarkable success and for this, we are very grateful.” Those were the words of the long serving Secretary/ CEO of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club (RHTY&SC) Hilbert Foster at a simple presentation ceremony to mark the renewing of sponsorship by Bakewell of the Club’s Under17 and Second Division Teams, for the 20th successive year. Bakewell, in 2000 became an official sponsor of the Rose Hall Town Under-17 and Second Division Teams which two teams over the years have won more than 25 championships including six, last year. The titles won were the Ramnaresh Sarwan Under-17, Rhonda Lewis Memorial T20, Roy Fredericks Memorial Tournament, Magic Moments
T20 in Lower Corentyne, Raffik Construction 100 Balls and the Nasir Memorial 5/5 Tournaments. The teams under the inspirational leadership of Guyana youth player Kevin Sinclair have also reached the final of the Berbice New Building Society 40-Overs tournament which attracted over 90 teams. Since 2000, the two teams have also successfully completed over 1,000 Personal Development Programmes under a wide range of sub-headings including sports, coaching, education, anti-drugs, antisuicide, charity, community development, youth development, publication and anti-crime. They have produced dozens of players for Berbice and Guyana with some going on to play for the West Indies. Among those players were Assad Fudadin, Royston Crandon, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond, Clinton Pestano, Shabika Gajnabi, Dominique Rikhi, Jonathan Rampersaud, Mahendra Gopilall, Eon Hooper, Jeremy Sandia, Delbert Hicks, Khemraj Mahadeo,
Shailendra Shameer, Askay Homraj and Murphy La Rose. Eighteen year-old Assistant Secretary/CEO Simon Naidu who oversees the daily operations of the club stated that the Under-17 team would be led by national player Jonathan Rampersaud with Mahendra Gopilall serving as his Deputy. Kevin Sinclair would lead the Second Division team while Guyana’s most promising youth batsman Kevlon Anderson would be Vice Captain. Naidu and veteran Club member Ravindranauth Kissoonlall would serve as Managers. The duo along with Keith Hicks, Tyrone Pottaya and First Division Captain Shawn Pereira make up the Management for all Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS Cricket teams. This year, the two teams would be undertaking a combined 100 Personal Development Programmes including monthly pensioners breakfast at the Rose Hall Town Post Office, Feeding of the Poor, Father of the Year Award, Cricket Academy, Education Summer Camp, Say No to Crime, Christmas Village, sharing out of $1M worth of
FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers
Guyana without services of AEK Athens Power Forward Delroy James; open against Paraguay today The Guyana Senior Men’s Basketball Team arrived in Colombia but will be without the highly anticipated services of AEK Athens Power Forward Delroy James. Guyana will open their quest for glory against Paraguay today from 17:30hrs in a Pool B encounter. Delroy James, who choose to represent Guyana in international competition over his adopted country the USA, was unable to have his Guyana passport renewed. James was unable to present his expired passport in person because he was in Brazil with his club AEK where he propelled them to victory in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup last weekend. Guyana Team Manager, Alex Graham, upon arriving in Bogotá said, “We tried everything to get Delroy’s passport, everyone in the
Federation called everyone t h e y k n o w, I c a l l e d everyone I know, and other called people who know p e o p l e . We w e r e t o l d different things at different times but in the end we don’t have Delroy on the floor fighting for Guyana and that is a major loss for the country.” Pressed further Graham said that he wouldn’t call names “but I expected that those with the power to help would at least meet with us to discuss how, within the law, regulations, and practices, we could have worked together by to find a way for James to represent Guyana. But we couldn’t make happen.” Guyana Head Coach, Andrew Hercules, said that “it is a huge disappointment to lose Delroy James as Guyana is at this level for the first time and James’s experience in the USA, Europe, and South America would have been useful along with his
incredible skill set. However, my job is to win with the team I have and that is my focus now.” James who was disappointed, opted to fly home to Greece than spectate, he’s hopeful for another opportunity to play alongside his brothers in Guyana colors. Guyana play Paraguay, Colombia, and Bolivia t o d a y, t o m o r r o w a n d Sunday respectively in Group B of the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 PreQualifiers in Tunja, Colombia. Guyana’s participation has been made possible through the sponsorship and support received from the Government of Guyana, through the National Sports Commission, Minister David Patterson in his personal capacity, John Fernandes Limited, KP Thomas, Demerara Distillers Limited, Alex Mendes, and NF Agriculture.
RHTY&SC’s Surendra Kissoonlall receives the sponsorship cheque from Bakewell’s General Manager Rajin Ganga. Assistant Secretary/CEO Simon Naidu and Mahendra Gopilall shares the moment. school bags, Berbice Sports Award and Tribute to Law Enforcement Officers. Naidu also disclosed that apart from the cricket sponsorship, Bakewell also co-sponsors the Club’s Annual Review Magazine, Awards Ceremony, Cricket Academy, Patron’s Cup, Monthly Pensioners Breakfast and Christmas
Village, among other activities. Special thanks is being expressed to CEO Mrs. Nasir, General Manager Rajin Ganga and Secretary Ms. Natasha Bhikhari for their cooperation. Ganga, in brief remarks stated that Bakewell was extremely proud to be associated with the Club as it has surpassed all of the Company’s
expectations and has represented the Bakewell brand with passion, pride and distinction. The Company’s late founder, Naeem Nasir was very supportive of the club and General Manager Ganga reminded that the company’s support would continue whilst congratulating them on their numerous successes.
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Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
World boxing champion, Lennox Allen, arrives home - Pays courtesy call on Mayor of Georgetown Last Friday, Lennox ‘2 Sharp’ Allen, overcame the odds to defeat American Derrick ‘take it to the b a n k ’ We b s t e r a t t h e Grand Casino Hinckley in Minnesota, to become Guyana’s fifth male world boxing champion; a joyous occasion for a fighter that had less than five fights in four years, against a boxer that was undefeated in 12 for the past year. Yesterday, after a few hours delay with his airline, he arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, where he was escorted to the capital city to pay a courtesy call on the Mayor via a motorcade. Present at City Hall to receive the Champ was the Mayor; Ubraj Naraine, his deputy, Alfred Mentore, Director of Sports; Christopher Jones, Head
of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control; Peter Abdool, and members of the media. “I want to congratulate you on your success on behalf of the city of Georgetown and the Councilors. I am not a big boxing fan but I will definitely start following the sport”, were the sentiments of the Mayor before handing over a p l a q u e t o t h e Wo r l d Boxing Association (WBA) Interim Super Middleweight champion. Meanwhile, during his address, Mentore posited that, “It gives me great joy to stand here and celebrate one of our own winning a WBA title. It’s not an easy feat and it was achieved by only four other Guyanese fighters with the last being (Andrew)’Six Head’ Lewis.” Mentore further noted that boxing is a sport that
can give much rewards once the fighter has the right marketing team along with a good manager and he believes that he is confident that Allen will be able to achieve greater things. Allen shared the same sentiment of bigger things to come as well after expressing gratitude to all the fans that showed up to greet him, “A lot of times people don’t come out when something big happens but they did today and it was phenomenal. I want to thank everyone that came out today. Much thanks also to Rawle Toney and Carwyn Holland, they have been working real overtime. The next few months I am hoping will be eventful and hopefully I will be able to bring home the WBA, IBF and WBC titles on my next few trips back home.”
From left, Deputy Mayor; Alfred Mentore, Lennox Allen, Mayor; Ubraj Naraine and Director of Sports; Christopher Jones. Allen shared that three minutes before the fight, H . E . D a v i d G r a n g e r, relayed a message of encouragement to him,
noting that the entire Guyana is rallying behind him. That, encouragement gave him an extra skip in his feet and power in his
jab as he made light work boxing his way to the World Title. (Calvin Chapman story and photos)
Narayan Ramdhani receives All Conference Award - Named Athlete of the Week Narayan Ramdhani was presented with the prestigious All Conference Award for his outstanding
achievements in the field of College Sport in Alberta. The leading Guyana Badminton player who is
on a scholarship in Canada received the award from the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference for having been selected to the 2018/2019 All Conference Badminton Team. The award was presented to Ramdhani at the ACAC Badminton Championship Banquet held on Saturday last at the Highlands Golf Club,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Also, for the second time, Ramdhani wa s n a m e d Athlete of the Week for his continued consistent high performances representing Kings University. He is currently training with the Alberta National Team ahead of the National Championships set to be hosted in Nova Scotia, next month.
Narayan Ramdhani displays his award.
BCB/NBS 40-Overs Second Division
D’Edward CC crush Blairmont CC to advance to quarter-finals D’Edward Cricket Club defeated West Berbice powerhouse Blairmont Community Centre Cricket Club by 7 wickets to advance to the quarterfinals of the New Building Society/ Berbice Cricket Board 40-Overs tournament. The Playoff match was a replay after D’Edward had successfully appeal to the Neil Rudder led Competitions Committee of the Berbice Cricket Board. Playing at the neutral Cotton Tree Ground as ordered by the Committee, D’Edward won the toss and inserted Blairmont Community Centre. Blairmont Community Centre was bowled out for 146 all out in 33.1 overs, Javed Karim top scored with 40 (3x4 2x6), Nigel Deodat 57 (5x4 3x6) while Goverdran Khan supported (Continued on page 36)
Friday February 22, 2019
Kaieteur News
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President Granger’s message just before fight give me a boost – Lennox ‘2 Sharp’ Allen By Sean Devers When Guyanese born Brooklyn based, Super Middleweight boxer, Lennox “2 Sharp” Allen beat American Derrick “Take it to the Bank” Webster on February 15, 2019 at the Grand Casino, Hinckleyin the USA to win the Interim World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Middleweight Title, he joined four other male Guyanese to win World Titles since Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis achieved the feat for the time on February 17, 2001 when he won the vacant WBA welterweight title vie a TKO over James Page. Yesterday, after his flight from the USA arrived on home soil over two hours late, hundreds of students from East Bank Demerara Schools lined the route from the airport to welcome Guyana’s newest World Champion who rode in a Red convertible; his motorcade escorted by a Police vehicle with lights flashing and siren blaring.
After few stops en-route to the Tower Suites on Main Street, the 33-year-old pugilist arrived just after 16:00hrs and after checking in with his eight-year-old daughter, he and Boxing Promoter and former Linden Mayor Carwayne Holland, faced the Media in his first Press conference here. Clive Atwell was the last Guyanese to fight for a World Title when he lost to WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny González on May 24, 2014 in Mexico while only Allen and fellow USA based Elton Dharry are presently Guyanese World Ranked Boxers. Allen, who fought just four times since 2015, said he has been a long road for him after so many years many counted him out in this fight which he dominated to win by a unanimous verdict. “Even though I did not get fight fights I was always in the Gym and I prepared for Webster and won the fight with my double jabs which I
Promoter Carwayne Holland and Lennox Allen during yesterday’s press briefing. used throughout the fight. He was taller so every time I jabbed him once, he countered with a jabs over mine but when I used to the double jab it worked for me” said Allen, who last fought in Guyana on June 27, 2009 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall when he won on a TKO over Leon Gilkes. Undefeated in 22 fights with 14 KOs, Allen informed that because of TV timing his bout was brought forward giving just 10 minutes notice
for him change into his Boxing attire. “Boxing is a mental sport but I came out victorious and I want to be the first Guyanese World Champion to defend my title on home soil” said Allen. The Champ said the message from President David Granger just before the bout give him a boost and he knew he had to win for his Country. Asked if would like a warm-up fight before his title defence he reminded
that Vivian Harris lost his warm-up fight emphasising that he wanted to defend his title on home soil. It’s mandatory that he fights either Super Middleweight Callum ‘Mundo’ Smith of England or Mexico’s Santos Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez, both aged 28 and Allen explained that business wise, he would say Alvarez who is a bigger name but that would prefer to go up against Smith. Allen said Boxing is a business and he does not
want to be like those World Champions that have lost their way after their first big pay day. “If you let the fame and money go to your head you will most likely not be a champion for too long. You have to focus on the things they brought you here. I want to dedicate 100% to improving my craft” Allen concluded. Holland thanked the Guyana Government who brought Allen home, Tower Suites for providing accommodation for the 7 days of his trip and President Granger for his support for the Guyanese fighter. “If we get things in place for Lennox to fight here it could be huge for Tourism and I hope the Champs’ success will help to see a turn-around in Boxing here,” said Holland who Promoted the first World Title fight when Gwendoline O’Neil beat American Katy Reivers at the National Park. Allen’s next assignment will be a courtesy call on Prime Minister Mosses Nagamootoo today at 11:00hrs.
Kaieteur News
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Friday February 22, 2019
West Indies Championship
Pestano grabs four after Jaguars routed for 158
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Clinton Pestano
acer Clinton Pestano grabbed four wickets to lead a Guyana Jaguars fight back against Jamaica Scorpions when eight-round of matches in the Cricket West Indies Regional four-day Franchise League commenced yesterday.
In reply to Guyana Jaguars first innings score of 158 all out, Jamaica Scorpions were 108-6 at stumps after facing 26 overs at Sabina Park. Pestano had Paul Palmer (00) caught by skipper Leon Johnson before uprooting the stumps of Chadwick Walton (07) to reduced the Scorpions to 7-2. Jermaine Blackwood hit two fours before he was removed by Pestano for 13 before Brandon King (07) fell to Romario Shepherd as the Scorpions slipped into further trouble. Aldaine Thomas (00) was caught at the wicket off Pestano while Derval Green who struck seven fours was removed by Veerasammy Permaul for 40. Assad Fudadin is unbeaten on 31 with six fours and Kenroy Williams is not out on four. Pestano has so
far taken 4-16 from six overs while Permaul has 1-9 and Shepherd 1-20. Earlier, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Chandrapaul Hemraj added 33 for the opening stand after Guyana Jaguars were asked to bat. Hemraj struck five fours before he was caught off Akim Frazer for 23 while Sherfane Rutherford was removed by the same bowler without scoring, leaving the Jaguars at 35-2. Chanderpaul made 15 before he was taken off Frazer while Vishaul Singh was caught off Reynard Leveridge for 27. Johnson made 24 while Anthony Bramble top scored with 36 including six fours. Shepherd chipped in with 16 while Pestano was left not out on 13 as Frazer claimed 4-69, Jerome Taylor 3-24 and Derval Green 2-31.
At Warner Park, Leeward Islands Hurricanes closed on 296-5 following their insertion against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force. Jahmah Hamilton made 68, Devon Thomas scored 67, Keacy Carty got 44 while Terrance Ward is unbeaten on 64 and Rahkeem Cornwall is not out on 34. Daniel St. Clair has 2-32 and Khary Pierre 2-78. And at Arnos Vale, Barbados Pride managed 215 all out, batting first. Tevyn Walcott scored 66 while Jonathan Carter made 42, Jomel Warrican 25 and Shamar Brooks 21. Larry Edward captured 3-29, Josh Thomas 3-55 and Sherman Lewis 2-40. Wi n d w a r d I s l a n d s Volcanoes are 49-2 in reply. Kimani Melius is not out on 19; Warrican has 2-12.
WIPA Executive delivers, returns for consecutive terms unopposed
Liam Sebastien, Vishaul Singh, Leon Johnson (Guyana Jaguars Captain) and Wavell Hinds. Kingston, Jamaica - The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) in its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston, Jamaica, ratified the return of all
members of the executive. As such, Wavell Hinds will continue as President and Wayne Lewis as Honorary Secretary for the fourth consecutive term and (Continued on page 34)
Kaieteur News
Friday February 22, 2019
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Participants at the GFF’s FIFA-Facilitated Medicine Workshop pose with the presenters and GFF President, Wayne Forde.
GFF successfully conclude FIFA-Facilitated Medicine Workshop The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) last Tuesday, February 19, successfully wrapped up a two-day FIFA-facilitated medicine workshop held for physiotherapists and doctors attached to the nine Regional Member Associations, the first to be held for medical professionals in Guyana following a 23-year lapse. The workshop, which was held at the Guyana Olympic Association’s Conference facility and attended by 27 participants who engaged in both theoretical and practical exercises, was led by Head of FIFA Medical and AntiDoping Department Alexis Weber and included FIFA Medical Instructors Dr. Andre Pedrinelli and Dr. Jairo Cortes Rojas, along with the Group Leader of FIFA Medical Office, Anja König. “We have a mandate as a fraternity to take care of our players, fans, officials and all other stakeholders who serve the game,” GFF’s President Wayne Forde said in closing remarks at the event. He added that building capacity to deliver quality care is among the mandate of the
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GFF’s Executive Committee: It is the mandate of the GFF Executive Committee but, beyond the mandate, it is a moral responsibility of ours to ensure that those of you who a r e c h a rg e d w i t h t h e responsibility to ensure that we can respond appropriately to anyone who is injured or seems to be experiencing difficulty with their physiology during the conduct of the game or any other, is treated with the best and highest level of care we can deliver.” The workshop addressed areas such as the role of the team doctor, medical bag, sideline gears, the role of the physiotherapist, minimum stadium requirements, injury prevention, pre-competition medical assessment, head injury and concussion, antidoping regulations, and emergency medicine in football. It also offered an overview of the FIFA Football Medicine Diploma, which participants were invited to enroll for, and a brief about FIFA and its development programmes. Quacy Paddy, (Continued on page 34)
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World boxing champion, Lennox Allen, arrives home - Pays courtesy call on Mayor of Georgetown
Lennox Allen.
Lennox Allen is stormed by these students as they seek to get autographs from the champ.
FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers
Delroy James
Guyana without services of AEK Athens Power Forward Delroy James; open against Paraguay today
Team Guyana will begin their historic journey to qualify for the FIBA Americas tournament this evening when they play Paraguay in Colombia.
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