Kaieteur News

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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

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS The year 2017 is here with us but no one knows what will happen before it ends. As with life, the people can rest assured that before they know it, 2017 too shall pass. Not too many people expect changes and the few that do, the chances are they may or may not be disappointed.

The political rancor between the government and the opposition will continue as long as Jagdeo is the leader. And given past experiences, it is not likely that the lives of the poor will change. It is anyone’s guess whether the economy will improve, or unemployment and crime will reduce.

The start of a new year has always been greeted with a renewed sense of hope and optimism, the perception that things will change and the inspiration for persons to turn a fresh page.

It is the desire for many to do a few things differently this year. This explains the traditional practice of making resolutions at the start of every year, even though most of the resolutions may later fall by the wayside. Indeed, after the novelty of the New Year wears off, old habits will kick in and things will be back to normal.

Given the many problems in society, every citizen has a responsibility to press for some kind of improvement, which would redound to their collective benefit.

It is very frustrating to do business with some government departments, so frustrating that it is often said that getting things done in Government sometimes is like pulling teeth. Many are not satisfied with the poor service they receive from the government in several areas.

Inefficiency in the public sector and incompetence and arrogance by some others are affecting the people and hurting the economy, which is the source of the nation’s well-being. It seems that the powers that be do not pay careful attention to the dissatisfaction among some sections of the population.

The commitment by the government to reform the civil service and the judiciary has not happened.

Many are hoping that the mini-reshuffle will improve the health sector.

A critical assessment of the state of the country shows that improvement is needed in many areas in order to make life a little better for the people who rightly deserve it.

They made the sacrifices and endured pain and suffering under the last administration.

Given the problems facing the country today, it can no longer be business as usual. The government must choose the right people with the skills to make the necessary changes needed to improve the well-being of the masses.

The nation is fast approaching the mid-point between general elections, constitutionally due in 2020.

With this in mind, those in authority have to become more visible and accessible.

They need to do so urgently. The people are yearning for the government to introduce meaningful changes that will solve the problems facing the country and meet their needs.

However, they can only do so if they have a good grasp of the problems and the needs of the people and, more importantly, how to serve them.

It is rather unfortunate that after 50 years of Independence, the country is grappling with so many problems at almost every level.

After twenty months in office, the time has come for those in authority to solve some of the complex problems facing the nation and improve the lives of the masses. It would be one of the best New Year resolutions.

Saturday January 14, 2017

The Powers of the President under Article 161 DEAR EDITOR, It is now dated news that the President has rejected the list of nominees presented to him by the Leader of the Opposition to fill the position of Chairman of Gecom in accordance with Article 161(2) of the Constitution. In so doing, the President has etched his name in history as the first President to have done so since the Carter Formula was implemented for the 1992 Elections. So we are now navigating in unchartered waters.

The President has compounded the issue by the erroneous impression which he conveyed when he spoke to the media at a function at State House last Sunday.

In his remarks, the President communicated the misguided impression that only judges, former judges or persons qualified to be appointed as judges to the High Court or an appellate court qualify to be appointed as Chairman of the Elections Commission.

The President omitted to disclose that in addition to those possessed of legal qualifications, the Constitution also provides for… “or any other fit and proper person” to be appointed as well.

As a result of a deluge of public criticisms, AttorneyGeneral, Mr. Basil Williams has conceded that Article 161(2) also caters for the latter category of persons. However, characteristically, the AG has added a new set of confusion in his attempt to

clarify. Two very conspicuous blunders were made by the AG which ought not to be left in the public domain, unchallenged. Firstly, the AG contends that after rejecting lists submitted by the Leader of the Opposition, “the President will be forced to make an appointment.”

I submit that the President has no such power. It is only in the event that no list is submitted by the Leader of the Opposition that the President has a power in Article 161(2) to make a unilateral appointment. I am not only fortified in my view by the letter of the Article but also by its spirit and the intendment of its framers.

The Carter Formula was intended and designed to create, as far as possible, a politically consensual and balanced Elections Commission.

Hence, the Commission is composed of three (3) commissioners nominated by the Opposition parties in Parliament and three (3) commissioners nominated by the governing party, along with a Chairman who has a casting vote.

This Chairman comes from a list of six which emanates from the Leader of the Opposition but which must find the acceptability of the President and from which he is empowered to choose one. If the Chairman is to be chosen by the President alone, it would destroy the vital equilibrium which the Elections Commis-

sion was intended to possess.

Secondly, the AG posits: “the Constitution gives him [the President] that power to determine who is a fit and proper person.”

The Constitution does no such thing. The Constitution resides in the President a discretionary power to determine whether the persons are unacceptable or not; not whether they are fit and proper person. Whether a person is fit and proper is to be objectively determined having regard to the context and circumstances which are under consideration.

The term “fit and proper person” can be found in Constitutions and in legislation throughout the world.

Expectedly, it has been the subject of judicial interpretation in various territories. In the U.K., Lord Bingham, speaking on the phrase “fit and proper person,” said: “This is a portmanteau expression, widely used in many contexts.

It does not lend itself to semantic exegesis or paraphrase and takes its colour from the context in which it is used.

It is an expression directed to ensuring that an applicant for permission to do something has the personal qualities and professional qualifications reasonably required of a person doing whatever it is that the applicant seeks permission to do.” (R v Crown Court at Warrington, Ex p.

R.B.N.B [2002] 1 W.L.R. 1954, 1960.

In Shanmugavel v Bahamas Medical Council [2012] 3 LRC 448, the Bahamian Court of Appeal had to consider the Medical Act in determining whether the Appellant, a medical doctor, was qualified for renewal of his registration to practise medicine in the islands.

Among the requirements laid down by the Act to be registered to practise medicine was that the person is “a fit and proper person to practise medicine in the Bahamas.”

In the course of the judgment, their Lordship observed: “the expression ‘fit and proper person to practise medicine in the Bahamas’ is not defined in the Act and it would be inappropriate, we think, for us to attempt any exhaustive definition of the expression. Suffice it to say though (sec) 15 of the Act catalogues some conduct which may lead to disciplinary action and sanctions, including removal of a medical doctor’s name from the register, and it is to that, and the plethora of English authorities, we looked at in an attempt to determine whether the conduct of which the appellant was accused was the kind of conduct that would justify a finding that he was not a fit and proper person to practise medicine in the Bahamas.”

Mohabir Anil Nandlall

APNU+AFC NO LONGER EXISTS; PNC HAS TAKEN OVER DEAR EDITOR, The rejection of the nominees for Chair of GECOM by President Granger is an assault on freedom and democracy. First, it is a repudiation of the APNU+AFC Coalition and a declaration that the PNC is now essentially the government. Second, it is a declaration that the PNC will want in power for as long as they wish.

Their latest move to reject the nominees for the Chairmanship of GECOM from the Leader of the Opposition is setting the stage to name a Chairman in their own deliberate judgment, a person that will carry out instructions from APNU+AFC, in the same sinister fashion as Judge Harry Bollers did prior to 1992.

President Granger has indicated that the reason for rejecting the six nominees from Bharat Jagdeo, the Leader of the Opposition, is that the constitution demands the Chairman be a Judge, as Bollers was. But under the agreement and the amended constitution, the Chairman of GECOM is selected by the President from a list of six persons nominated by the Leader

of the Opposition. That was the compromised position in 1992 and that has been the way the Chairman has been elected since then. This is not just a tradition; this is the way we overwhelmingly agreed to name the Chairman of GECOM. None of the Chairmen of GECOM since 1992 has been a Judge. Rudy Collins (1992) was selected by Desmond Hoyte from a list of six persons named by Cheddi Jagan. All the other Chairmen - Mr. Hopkinson, Doodnauth Singh, Joe Singh and Steve Surujbally were selected by a PPP Government after six persons were nominated by the People’s National Congress.

None of these gentlemen were judges and only Doodnauth Singh was a lawyer. Indeed, none of the nominees from the People’s National Congress (24 in total) were judges.

It is hypocrisy at its grossest and absolute executive lawlessness for Granger to reject the nominee and signal that he will appoint the Chairman of GECOM in his own deliberate judgment. The Leader of the Opposition followed the Carter Agreement

of 1992, followed the law and followed the PNC in selecting his list of six nominees. While some of the six could be deemed as friendly to the PPP, some have been merciless in their opposition to the PPP. But all of them have demonstrated professionalism.

The law is important, but assurance and creating an environment of harmony and social cohesion are equally important. Just as the seizing of the Cheddi Jagan Research Center is an act of dictatorial power, rather than upholding any law, the rejection of the six nominees by the Leader of the Opposition to be a next Chairman of GECOM is not about the law alone. It is a declaration by Granger that the PNC in the form of APNU+AFC wants to hog power in Guyana.

It is intended to be a silent manipulation, but the stink it has already created is a nightmare for Guyana. The bitter taste is in every home and every corner in our country. It has reached Guyanese and our friends, wherever they live. Freedom-loving people, especially those who fought and sacrifice to gain

freedom in our country are no longer under any illusion Granger has used the AFC, like Burnham used the UF, to hog power and deny the Guyanese people their right to elect a government. Just as Granger is selecting a Chairman, he intends to select the government in the future.

The move by David Granger is not shocking, the DNA of Granger is solidly the DNA of former PNC leaders.

He has done exactly what we warned people about prior to the 2015 elections. He has used the AFC to gain power, much like Burnham and the PNC used the UF to gain power. He has not waited as long as Burnham did to discard the AFC. The move to reject Jagdeo’s nominees is a “freedom” declaration of a sort. He has unequivocally declared that the APNU+AFC Coalition has served its purpose and it is time now for the PNC to expose itself. It never disappeared, it disguised itself and now it is ready to assume its place. As of now, the name APNU+AFC is just a name. The government of Guyana is the PNC. Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

Saturday January 14, 2017

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Kaieteur News

Names of other lawyers Recurring flooding has to be blamed on the MoA/NDIA who should have been awarded Silk DEAR EDITOR, Please allow me space in your newspapers to address this open letter to the President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Mr. President, the action that you took at the end of December, 2016 was very wrong. The matter relates to the appointment of Senior Counsels, or ‘’Silk’’, as it is generally called.

Mr. President, in a rather surreptitious way, and pardon the use of this word, but there is no other way to describe it, you would have released another creeping form of ‘’taxation’’, on the backs of an unsuspecting public that is already trying to deal with an increased cost of living.

What is not known to the public is that the cost of ‘’retaining’’ the services of a Senior Counsel is usually more than three (3) times the amount that it will cost to retain an ordinary lawyer. For that reason, Mr. President, the position of attaining ‘’Silk’’ is usually a very coveted position among ALL of the practising lawyers, and in so far as the Legal Profession is an honourable one, the members know which ones from among its numbers should be accorded this particular ‘’honour’’. Mr. President, with due respect, I will submit that your Constitutional position is ALWAYS to assist the professions with the advancement of their best practices, tenets and obligations. In carrying out those duties, I would admit Sir, that there would be some allowances for personal preferences and desires, but it would be expected that the advice given in this regard will seek to prevent the profession from falling into contempt and ridicule. Mr.

Nigel Hughes has done a lot of work for MANY citizens of this country, of all walks of life, of all social and political standings, of all class or description, whether they ‘’retained’’ him or not. Where ever he saw an ‘’error’’ occurring he felt that it was his legal DUTY to prevent harm from occurring, and this is the nature of the ‘’Oath’’ taken by all members of the profession.

So, you see Mr. President, when your list of December, 2016 DID NOT Contain the name of Mr. Nigel Hughes, then it means that a very serious error had occurred in the process of these ‘’consultations’’. In any other process, such as National Awards, or any other process, errors alone would not count for any serious impairment of the process. But in the area of the law, lawyers are TRAINED to correct errors. It would become MY duty, if I see it fit, to enter into the arena and correct ‘’errors’’ that can cause national ‘’harm’’. In those duties, I would not be alone.

The status of a Senior Counsel does not await the endorsement of any state official. It is the actions of practising advocates, in particular that accords them that status. In closing Mr. President I would like to say that my noble profession can boast of the qualities of many more of its sons and daughters. Mr. Roysdale Forde who once ‘’advised’’ a sitting President, almost from the first day of his admission to the bar, and has continuously maintained that very high standard of his legal practice. Mr. Stephen Fraser finds the time to assist in bringing out new lawyers, Continued on page 6

DEAR EDITOR, In a letter which appeared in the news media, engineer, Charles Ceres has opined that it was due to marginalization of the Afro-Guyanese communities there were adverse effects on the recent flooding of large sections of Buxton.

He was also critical of the technical competency of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and its Division the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to deal with flooding of coastal areas and their seeming bias in allocating drainage pumps to East Demerara communities.

The facts, however, suggest otherwise. According to Deon Abrams, Chairman of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), the recent flooding of sections of Buxton was due to the doors of two Kokers left open at high tide and ocean water entered Buxton’s drainage channels, overflowed the Company Dam and then over the East Sideline Dam which was breached flooding large sections of the village. Buxton

has a pump station with two pumps which apparently were unable to remove the flood water expeditiously and therefore the NDIA sent a mobile pump to complement the existing pumps.

Lusignan has no pump station and the one at Pln. Enmore is owned and operated by GuySuCo. Buxton has a pump station with two pumps which is managed by the NDC. In a Flood Management Study (FMS) conducted

by Engineers from the Netherlands and which was commissioned by the APNU+AFC Govt., several recommendations were made to deal with flooding of coastal areas including Georgetown due to heavy rainfall.

Among these was the strategic placement of drainage pumps at several locations. It is inconceivable that the Netherlands engineers would have used the ethnic as one of the parameters to determine the placement of pumps and their numbers in specific coastal locations to relieve

flood water, as Mr. Ceres claims. Pump size and their numbers for drainage requirement are determined by the volume of water to be removed within a specified time.

Therefore land area to be drained and rainfall intensity are among the parameters which have to be taken into account for pumps selection which would be based on their output capacity in cubic feet per second at specified differential heads and not on base slab dimensions as stated by Mr. Ceres.

The reason for recurring flooding of coastal lowlands due to heavy rainfall is because of poor and lax management by the MoA/NDIA which is responsible for drainage & irrigation (D&I) in declared D&I areas, M&CC in Georgetown and the NDC’s .

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure also dabbles with drainage problems particularly when they impact on the river and sea defences.

The APNU+AFC Govt. have no coordinated strategic plan to deal with the regu-

lar flooding of coastal areas.

Flooding will continue to be dealt with in an ad hoc manner with the several agencies handling drainage “doing their own thing” with no one responsible for anything and for that matter answerable to anyone.

Much of the lands on the Essequibo Coast are Declared D&I areas with statutory responsibility by the M0A/ NDIA to provide farmers with irrigation when needed and adequate drainage for their lands as is necessary.

Do farmers get the service they pay for annually? The evidence suggests not and as Mr. Ceres observed at Buxton that due to neglect and incompetence by the MoA/NDIA and probably marginalization and lack of reliable and appropriate response by the APNU/ AFC Govt., to provide the services they pay for in rates and taxes, they are left to the mercy of the weather to grow their crops and protect their homesteads as best as they can.

Charles Sohan

Our gratitude to all who helped to save our son’s eyesight DEAR EDITOR, Thank you for allowing us the space in your newspaper to express our sincere gratitude to the public and your paper for support and assistance rendered to our son, Omkar Persaud, and to inform of his present condition.

Omkar, our 2 year old son was diagnosed with cancer in his eyes.

His left eye was removed in Guyana. The doctors told us that to save his other eye and his life he would require treatment in Cuba.

We asked the public for financial assistance as we could not afford the four million dollars which the treatment would cost.

We are most grateful that many persons generously donated. For this we say thank you.

We particularly thank the Governments of Guyana and Cuba for facilitating the urgent treatment of our son.

We also thank your newspaper for publicizing our request. We are similarly grateful for the many kind wishes, prayers and thoughts expressed to our family. Omkar was treated in Cuba and re-

turned to Guyana last Friday.

He still faces an ongoing battle. Radiation and chemotherapy will continue in Guyana as his fight continues. However, his chances of survival have greatly improved as a result of surgery and chemotherapy administered in Cuba.

As things stand, we do not require any further financial aid at this time. Unfortunately, we have learned that persons have been using our

son’s name to solicit donations.

We wish to inform the public that at the present time we are not requesting nor are we receiving money from any individual or charitable organisation. Having experienced this ordeal, though, we urge the public to continue to be generous to others who are in need as such tragedies can happen to anyone. Again, Continued on page 6

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Kaieteur News

Quoting Nelson Mandela on human rights violations in Guyana DEAR EDITOR, A denial of human rights is tantamount to a crime against humanity, which is oftentimes clothed in the verbiage of intolerance and religious views.

For the most part, human rights were, and historically have been inalienable, fundamental and independent social principles.

All human beings, particularly Guyanese, deserve to be treated with dignity, tolerance and respect.

Firstly, human rights are the bedrock for the achievement of social and economic development.

According to Shale Horowitz and Albrecht Schnabel (2004) of the United Nations University, “Human rights violations are often particularly severe in societies that are undergoing significant political, social, and economic transformations.

Improving human rights practices in transition societies should therefore be a central goal for domestic reformers and the international community.”

This makes sense not only because of the intrinsic value

of improved human rights protection for Guyanese, but also because of the indirect effects that such improvements have on democratization, economic development, and conflict resolution.

Guyana has already signed on to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments, and most of these rights have been enshrined in our Constitution.

More specifically, Article 147 of the Constitution provides for the protection of the fundamental rights of citizens: freedom of speech, freedom of association, and all others.

In addition, since Guyana has a history infringing and encroaching on the fundamental rights of disadvantaged and minority groups such as women and others with its archaic and primitive laws, it gives more credence to the argument that the country should adopt the human rights best practices of the world, especially where addressing the issue of discrimination is concerned.

According to the US Department of State 2015 Human

Rights Report, “The US is still concerned about police brutality, forced labour, violence and discrimination….”

Furthermore, recognising human rights according to international standards will undoubtedly foster greater social cohesion and inclusivity among the peoples of Guyana, irrespective of race, sex, creed, religion, age or even sexual orientation.

In his address to the Parliament on May 12, 2016, President David Granger posited that, “We can construct a more cohesive society by doing more to enforce employment and anti-discrimination laws in order to guarantee the health, happiness and safety of our working people, our women and our children.”

He went further to say that, “Social cohesion is about fostering greater integration in our nation. Integration can increase a sense of belonging.

It can give recognition to all groups and to allow them to freely practise their culture.”

I believe social cohesion should not just be about unifying the communities of Indo and Afro Guyanese.

It should also be about fighting exclusion and marginalization. It should include promoting social, gender and reproductive justice.

It should exhibit the spirit of finding common ground, and working together for the sustained advancement of the lives of all Guyanese.

Moreover, the laws of Guyana must be able to facilitate this.

The laws should be progressive and open to social change.

In conclusion, it would be a failure and an indictment of Guyana and its people if international standards of human rights are not adopted.

It stands to reason therefore, that these best practices should be copied since they incubate social and economic development; they would be a guide to remedy the encroachment on citizens’ rights by primitive laws; and most importantly they foster social cohesion.

It was Nelson Mandela who once said that, “to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” How long must Guyana continue to challenge the humanity of its people?

Kobe J Smith

Guyana needs other types of skills; has enough lawyers DEAR EDITOR, The move by the government to set up a law school in Guyana seems to be getting a negative response from top lawyers in the diaspora. One of them who is based in London said, “This is madness beyond comprehension. It is myopic thinking. The demand for legal education has fallen with the collapse of world economy”. Another wrote, “There would be little or no cross fertilization of ideas.

Caribbean students would not want to attend law school in Guyana. The Guyanese students who attend would receive a parochial legal education and the Guyana economy would not be able to absorb them.”

My view is that Guyana has enough lawyers and moreover Guyana has a quota of 25 every two years to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School. The country needs engineers, scientists, accountants, doctors and specialists in fields other than law. The medical school in Guyana had a shaky start, but bounced back and produced several recognized specialists, but I was informed that it has lost its accreditation, but it is working to regain it. The authorities should concentrate in this important area rather move into a new venture. It is true that scores of LLB graduates are waiting to gain admission to the law schools.

Belizian students who

gained their LLB degrees at the University of Guyana do not automatically gain entry to the Norman Manley Law School because of the limited space, in addition to which they are required to write an entry examination. Jamaican students also have to wait quite some time to gain entry, and a few years ago the then Principal of the Norman Manley Law School, Stephen Vascianne advocated a double shift in order to facilitate the students. The terms of the MOU have not been released, and at this point it is not known if the government is contributing financially to the project and if so to what extent.

What is known is that an

outside agency is setting up the school with permission from the government. The Advisor of the Law School venture spoke of specialization in areas such as Environmental Law, Intellectual Property, Civil Aviation, Maritime Law and Tax Law. He also touched on the important area of continuing education. Continuing legal education is being encouraged in all the districts in the United States and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has embarked on judicial education and President Sir Denis Byron said that he will do everything possible to assist in the furtherance of judicial education in the region.

Oscar Ramjeet

Saturday January 14, 2017

PPP official complains about Government’s attitude DEAR EDITOR, The year 2016 ended with a decision taken by President Granger to revoke the lease granted to the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, popularly referred to as the Red House.

This decision was taken on the closing days of our 50th anniversary year as an independent nation of which Dr. Jagan could be regarded as one of leading luminaries in our independence struggle.

As if such disrespect to his legacy was not enough, persons from the Ministry of the Presidency were sent to pull down the sign bearing his name even though the forty eight hour period given to the Management of the Centre by the President to vacate the building had not expired. And all of this despite a Conservatory Order issued by the Court to restrain the Government from evicting the occupants from the Centre or to interfere in the operations of the Centre!

The dust from the previous year had not been settled when another political bombshell development surfaced the rejection of the list of nominees for the post of GECOM Chairman as submit-

ted by Opposition Leader Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on the grounds that none of the nominees met the eligibility criteria.

Both of these developments are indicative of a governance approach that is at best worrying especially when seen against the background of the President’s call for social cohesion and national reconciliation.

Those of us who were around during the dark period of authoritarian rule and the concomitant paralyzing consequences which flowed there from, cannot but experience a foreboding sense of trepidation regarding the emerging direction in which the country seems to be heading.

And while there are some encouraging indications of some downstream prosperity from our oil and gas potential, it is important that this be buttressed by a strong democratic and judicial foundation where the will of the people and the rule of law remain the bedrock of our body politic and out societal make up.

Hydar Ally Central Committee People’s Progressive Party

Names of other lawyers who...

From page 5 and whose legal practice forms the bulwark for legal relations between very important banks and their customers. Mr. Teni Housty displays all of the tenets of a true gentleman and solid member of the legal profession in the practice of the law. He may have forgotten how elegantly

he handled a situation at the University of Guyana, when he sat with me as a member of a panel discussion and the situation seemed in danger of getting out of hand. Our legal profession boasts many more lawyers of exceptional qualities.

Juliet Holder-Allen Attorney-At-Law

Our gratitude to all who helped...

From page 5 we say thank you to everyone who h a v e a s s i s t e d our family, who offered words of comfort, and who prayed for a positive outcome.

As our son continues treatment, we are heartened by

your support and feel confident that he will successfully beat this disease and have a full and normal life.

May God bless you all.

We owe you all a debt which we can never repay.

Keimchand and Casandra Persaud

Saturday January 14, 2017

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Kaieteur News

28,220 Govt house lots unoccupied - Bulkan Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, revealed yesterday that after A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)’s acceded to office back in May 2015; it found an “overly ambitious” housing programme.

This programme, he said, sought to provide house lots to anyone desirous of acquiring one and latterly, the provision of turnkey units. The Minister said that it was discovered that the execution of the programme saw many housing areas with a total of 66,124 lots being developed. However, to date, 28,220 lots or 45 percent of these lots were divested and are still unoccupied.

Bulkan explained that the situation was further exacerbated during the 2011 to 2015 period where, of the 38 housing areas developed, it produced 20,015 lots of which 16,273 of these remain unoccupied, representing more than 80 percent.

The Minister said that when this scenario takes account of a projected $60 billion that is needed to complete the 38 housing and regularized squatting areas that were under intervention during the last 20 years, it shows that this approach was unsustainable.

The Administration has recognized that the model adopted was not working. It was more or less just land divestment rather than seeking to improve quality of life,

since the numerous housing areas are still plagued with incomplete and inadequate infrastructure and lack of the necessary social facilities and services, Bulkan posited.

He added that in light of these challenges, households were burdened with the prospect of accessing financing and the challenges associated with undertaking their own construction.

This model was definitely not aiming for the good life, the Minister said, adding that after considering these “facts”, the Administration recently conceptualized a new model to improve the housing delivery system to address the backlog of 25,000 applicants, particularly the 17,851 who can be classified as low income households.

A release from the Ministry of Communities yesterday stated that this new model seeks to move beyond the provision of serviced lots to create livable and wholesome communities through the provision of full infrastructure; the necessary so-

During 2011 and 2015, a total of 20,015 house lots were allocated but 16,273 remain unoccupied. cial facilities and services and the supply of housing units.

The new model will also address the issue of reduction

in infrastructure cost, since it seeks to increase density.

Kaieteur News reported a few days ago, that for the year

2016, a total of 2,015 house lots were allocated. This achievement is more than 100 percent of the annual target

of 1000 allocations. Also, 221 regularized squatters received allocation letters of the target of 400.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday January 14, 2017

Saturday January 14, 2017

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Kaieteur News

The Carter formula is a consensus mechanism The President of Guyana should not make rocket science out of the process of selecting a Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission. Having invited the Leader of the Opposition to submit six names for consideration as Chairperson of GECOM, he has complicated a simple matter with his injudicious statements about the Constitution and the qualification of a judge.

We do not have a situation whereby the President can simply appoint whomever he decides once that person is a judge. We are still at the stage of the Carter formula.

The Carter formula was invoked by the President himself in setting in train the process for selecting the Chairperson of GECOM. The Carter formula has been the precedent which has been used to select all of the previous Chairpersons since 1991.

It is a settled constitutional convention. It would be unwise, and unconstitutional, to dispense with it arbitrarily.

The Carter formula is the

best means of ensuring an impartial Chairperson of GECOM. If there was any other agreeable formula out there it would have already been tried and become law. No one has come up with a better formula. The Carter formula is a consensus-achieving process. It ensures that no one side has a numerical advantage in the make-up of the Guyana Elections Commission. The Carter formula is simple. The six commissioners of GECOM are chosen by the President and the Opposition Leader. The government side selects three commissioners and the opposition side selects three persons. A seventh person, the Chairperson, is selected based on a consensus mechanism - the Carter formula.

The Chairperson must be selected from a list of six persons nominated by the Leader of the Opposition. The person chosen must not be objectionable to the President.

This means that there must be consensus between the President and the Leader

of the Opposition on the person chosen. The Leader of the Opposition provides a shortlist of six and the President picks his choice from that list provided that the person picked is agreeable to the President. It could have been the other way around. The Leader of the Opposition could have been asked to pick from a list of six names nominated by the President. The person selected could have been someone from that list that is not objectionable to the Leader of the Opposition. But under the Carter formula, it is the President who selects from the list.Obviously, the President is not compelled to agree to any of the names.

But it is hard to conceive of a process of consensus-building if the President can simply reject the list of names and go ahead with appointing his own choice, outside of that list, as per the original provision in the Constitution.

This would amount to a veto power over the Chairperson. It would destroy the consensus framework of the

Dem boys seh...

Bun down and insurance gun pay There is a popular song name ‘Fire in You wire’. Soulja Bai know it good. Jagdeo, that scamp know it better than Soulja Bai. Whenever anybody ask a question about money and transactions de Ministry does go up in flames.

This start wid de Ministry of Works office after people ask about some contract documents. De same office wha de contracts been in end up flattened two days after.

Then dem had a fire at de Ministry of Housing all because people ask about de money fuh de land wha dem was selling. Bright afternoon de building pun Homestretch Avenue went flat. It wasn’t a bulldozer that flatten it; was fire through a wire.

Dem had a fire at de Ministry of Health; then dem had

de High Court. Dem boys seh it start after people begin to ask about some documents.

These are fires that de insurance use to cover. After that a lot of business people property go up in flames. That is wha trigger all dem fire these days. One family own couple business place and all of go up in flames. De insurance pay, too.

De other day dem had a fire at Patentia. De owner tell de newspaper he had $50 million in stock. He tell de police $30 million.

He tell de media how de police arrest four people who been in he yard at de time. De police seh dem don’t know

wha he talking about.

Two weeks before that fire dem boys hear de police ketch a man who attempted to bun de place. The owner tell de police that he not pressing charges, that dem must loose de man.

De police loose de man and now de place bun down.

Dem boys want to believe that de same man use to wuk fuh Jagdeo. That scamp Jagdeo suh bad that he woulda bun down de whole of Guyana and ask de world fuh insurance money.

Talk half and hope dem insurance company know that business is extremely bad these days.

Carter formula. It would also mean that the Chairperson could be a partial person, thereby upsetting the balance of the Commission by giving the government side four choices rather than three choices. It is for this reason that it is being argued that if the President is confronted with the unprecedented position of not agreeing to any of the names submitted, then he has to ask the Leader of the Opposition for a second list.

The Constitution does allow the President the option of not invoking the Carter formula and appointing a judge or ex-judge to the position.

This was the 1980 proviso that was retained. But that has

been overridden by the Carter formula which is a Constitutional convention by practice.

However, it is not the means of breaking a deadlock between the President and the Leader of the Opposition.

The Constitution provides, also, that if the Leader of the Opposition does not provide a list, then the President can appoint a person of his choice who is a judge, a retired judge or someone qualified to be a judge. This prerogative, however, only arises if the Leader of the Opposition, in some act of political non-cooperation, does not submit a list.

The President of Guyana must not assume, therefore,

that he has a right to appoint someone so long as he is not in agreement with the names on the list provided by the Leader of the Opposition. He only has that right once no list is submitted.

It is therefore respectfully submitted that President is bound by the Carter formula and having invoked it cannot dispense with it as he pleases.

PAGE 10

Saturday January 14, 2017

Kaieteur News

=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

My Person of the Year for 2016 Last year, I had to make direct contact with the Chief Executive Officer of GTT to get my internet service reconnected. This was after days and days of promises. My nephew had visited for the holidays. Going back, he had to pass through Trinidad to see his in-laws.

He requested Chinese cakes to take to them. I travelled personally to all the Banks DIH outlets only to find they had none. He was leaving the next day.

Only one other Banks DIH

outlet I didn’t touch; the one at Quamina and Main Streets.

This was because I was far from that site.

I called more times that I can count but there was no answer. I was dining at the new Chinese restaurant on Albert Street, “Kamboat,” and I keep calling the number because I wanted my nephew to take the pastries to Trinidad. I know that outlet closes at 9 P.M. so I interrupted my dinner and went down there. I saw hundreds of Chinese cakes in the glass

case. I said to them that I called dozens of times, and asked, “Why didn’t they answer?”

I was told; “Oh, Mr. Kissoon, de phone is till at de back and we kyaan hear it.”

Come on man, it is commonsense that if you have three attendants serving people at the front desk, a phone should be placed near to them for when a customer calls. Really man! This cannot be happening in the 21st century. But it happened to me. What I just wrote actually occurred.

My daughter was told by Republic Bank that she has to produce two pieces of proof of address.

No problem. She produced them. My daughter’s name is on the same account with me and my wife, which means she is an account holder. Republic Bank would send our quarterly statement with the address, “Frederick Kissoon, et al”. Now if an in-

surance company or one of the government ministries asked my daughter for two pieces of evidence of proof of address, they will not accept, “Frederick Kissoon et al.”

Surely, if the bank wants proof of address, they must put my daughter’s name on their statements. I guess you know what happened next. I don’t have to describe that for you.

These are just snippets of living in Guyana that make life difficult. It is for this reason I chose the small entrepreneur as my person for 2016 in Guyana.

Do you know GWI does not have to provide public service on weekends? Let us say a small business person is setting up his/her infrastructure and the workers are functioning on weekends, what happens if a main is ruptured and water is cascading down his construction? He cannot call GWI.

Go to the telephone directory and see if there is a listing for the Guyana post office. None of the post offices in Guyana are listed. They have been inadvertently left out. Please do not accept what I as saying here. Go to the latest (2014) directory and look up Plaisance. There are only three listings under Plaisance and the post office is not one of them. Let’s say that you are setting up a business and you want to write the NDC at Pouderoyen and you need to spell the place, naturally you go to the Gazetteer of Guyana.

All Georgetowners and countless Guyanese know that village as Pouderoyen.

But the Gazetteer does not have Pouderoyen. It has Klein Pouderoyen. Well fine.

That is its correct name. What they do all over the world is to list Pouderoyen and then you will see a wording that says, “See Klein Pouderoyen.

These are the irritations that make life onerous in Guyana but the investor and the business person brave this situation as when we brave a storm, and they invest. The Beharry Group of Companies said that for almost a year they heard noth-

Frederick Kissoon ing about their application to City Hall to open their Kentucky franchise. They persisted though.

Take “Smallie.” He is my mechanic. I share the same mechanic as Editor-in-Chief of KN, Adam Harris. “Smallie moved out of Wortmanville where I knew him for “donkey” years and invested in a workshop in Bel Air Village.

These small investors are not daunted by the failure of their country; they persist.

There are small investors all over Guyana, putting their savings into business ventures in this land. They are courageous souls and we must recognize and admire their efforts. These are resilient humans that fight against the odds. Against the background I described in the first section of this article, these people are great souls and they deserve our respect.

Saturday January 14, 2017

From potential to prosperity- Min Trotman The results of the Payara1 oil find confirm that Guyana is more than a “one hit wonder” as the country remains on target for oil production in 2020. Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, said on Thursday evening, that the government was “happy” to have heard of the announcement. Earlier in the day, ExxonMobil, through its subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production, Guyana Limited, had announced that high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs were found at its Payara-1 well in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. “I believe we now can confirm that the basin is an active one that shows potential for more discoveries,” Trotman said.

“Whether they would be very large or not is a matter that we need to wait to see but, I think we can now say that we’re heading into an oil and gas industry,” he added.

According to the Business Wire, the company announced that the drilling of the well “encountered more than 295 feet (90 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was safely drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) in 5,719 feet (1,743

meters) of water.”

Trotman pointed out that the find coupled with the Liza discovery, will change the world view on Guyana. “I believe Liza, its size, and the fact that it is cutting edge, going into ultra-deep waters, it is generating much interest so this is again going to lift Guyana’s image as a country that is no longer seen as poor but we’re moving from potential to prosperity,” Trotman said. Additionally, the minister is looking forward to the added investment that the find will attract to Guyana.

“Before, if you had one well it didn’t take much to have one well developed. But, now that we have multiple wells, it will lead to multiple explorations and hopefully, producers of

PAGE 11

Kaieteur News

petroleum and natural gas in the future,” Trotman reasoned.

ExxonMobil moved its ‘Stena Carron’ drillship to the Payara location last November with initial total depth reached on December 2, 2016.

The Payara find will soon be evaluated for development alongside the Liza discovery.

Liza 3 has the same high-quality reservoirs as the other two Lizas. Last year, ExxonMobil’s Liza-2 offshore exploration found high propensity sandstone reservoirs that could produce more than 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable high quality oil. The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres located offshore Guyana and this is where the Lizas are located. (By:Tiffny Rhodius)

Emergency works caused Thursday’s harbour bridge re-opening delay The management of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) has apologised to commuters for the extended opening of the bridge Thursday which led of long lines on the East and West Bank of Demerara.

“People travelling to West Demerara were affected. Long lines of traffic also affected people travelling along East Bank Demerara,” the bridge disclosed in a statement.

Maintenance Engineer, DHBC, Christopher Grannum, explained that routine maintenance was being carried out when they realized that extended work was needed.

This resulted in the maintenance taking longer than scheduled.

“Due to the critical nature of the work we carried out yesterday, we encountered some difficulties and we would like to apologise for the problems on the East Bank Road but it was regular maintenance work that escalated to critical works,” Grannum explained.

The Maintenance Engineer noted that when an inspection was carried out on Wednesday, it was realised that work had to be carried out to prevent a section of the (Continued on page 21)

Maintenance Engineer, Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation, Christopher Grannum

PAGE 12

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 14, 2017

Saturday January 17, 2017

PAGE 21

Kaieteur News

Man burns house after wife refuses to give him money A Temple Dam, Strathspey, East Coast Demerara (ECD) resident set his house on fire around 17:00 hrs on Thursday after his estranged wife refused to give him $2000.

The suspect, Sunildoot Singh, who tried to escape from the police, was arrested hours after the fire in the village. According to information received, the suspect went to the home of his estranged wife, Kaliani Persaud, and asked for money but when the woman refused, he reportedly told her that she would see what he does next.

It was then that he went to the house that he and Persaud worked and built, and set it on fire.

Yesterday, Persaud said that she moved out of the home because the father of

her four children is an alcoholic and an abusive individual. “(On Thursday) he come and ask me for $1000 and I give he and then he come back later and ask me for $2000 and I tell him that I don’t have and he said that I gone see what he does and he picked up his bicycle and left,” the woman said.

She further explained that shortly after her estranged husband left, someone called and informed her that her house was on fire. “I couldn’t go out and watch it but I see the smoke from where I was and later when I go, I see everything burn up.”

Persaud explained that they were living in a very small structure but eventually she and the suspect pooled money and built a bigger

Kaliani Persaud home so that they could be comfortable with their children. “Only two Christmas ago, we finished building it and now look what happened.”

The woman, who does domestic work for a living,

The burnt structure said that she is not in a state to continue her work because she broke her hand and is

currently seeking medical assistance. Reports are that the suspect lit a mattress on fire.

Anyone willing to assist Persaud and her children can contact her on 687-3950.

Cheddi Jagan would have condemned storing artifacts at “Red House”- Ramjattan Weighing in on the revocation of the Red House lease, was Leader of the Alliance for Change and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, who said that if the late President Cheddi Jagan were alive, he would have been the first to condemn using Red House to preserve his documents in stolen property.

Ramjattan was at the time speaking about the importance of upholding the law at

his party’s bi-weekly press conference yesterday.

He said, “We have to make the law applicable and if you violated the law to store Cheddi Jagan’s papers and documents, the law will still apply notwithstanding that great human being and politician and statesman of Guyana.”

The AFC leader said that the issue has been twisted out of context, loaded with emotions and obfuscation.

Ramjattan said, that persons have questioned the move to reclaim the building located on High Street Kingston for the state.

They are saying that it should not be interfered with based on the personality it has been made to represent.

However, the minister said to media operatives, “Cheddi would have been the first to condemn the preservation of his documents in stolen property. The misappropriated

Emergency works caused...

property, more and more as we study the history, it was always intended to be a temporary place for the laying of those documents. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and People’s Progressive Party Member of Parliament, Anil Nandlall, are purporting to be angels and denouncing government’s move to take back the building.”

According to Ramjattan, Government will not be distracted. And they are going to the law to the extent that the law says the building belongs to the state.

He said that over a year ago attempts were made by the government to negotiate the issue with the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute and the PPP. He said, it was proposed that documents belonging to the late Presidents Forbes Burnham, Arthur Chung and Desmond Hoyte be housed at the said building.

“You know what they respond and say? We shouldn’t contaminate Jagan’s documents with Burnham and Hoyte. So there is a certain purity about

AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan Jagan. What is wrong with these people?

“And look how they contaminate the appropriation of that? We are not going to be diverted we are not going to obfuscated by this attachment to the legacy of Jagan, in my book, one of the greatest Guyanese ever.

“That is where the rule of law gets bent; it is not the rule of lawyers it is the rule of law.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, former President Bharrat Jagdeo during his press conference said that the government needs to answer why it wants to specifically use Red House for housing documents of past presidents. He said that there are so many other facilities in the country to use which his party will undoubtedly support.

When asked if there has been any move to vacate the building, Jagdeo said that as far as he knows the CJRCI has not left the building. He said that it should be understood that the PPP does not own or run the CJRCI; however there are members of the institute’s board who are PPP members.

He said that including the documents of other past presidents would take away from the legacy of Jagan.

“There are so many other facilities that they can use for other presidents in this country that we will willingly support.

“If they want something for Burnham then why not just do it, why do you have to take away from Cheddi Jagan’s legacy?”

AFC National Executive Conference...

The post at Span 37/38 of the Demerara Harbour Bridge which needed emergency repairs on Thursday.

From page 11 bridge from collapsing.

An additional welding team was called in to complete the works. He added that if this was not done, it would have resulted in the bridge being out of operation for days.

“We found that the post at Span 37 and 38 of the bridge was damaged. It had various problems. The eyes of the post were enlarged and it

had a crack so we had to change it due to the severity of the situation. While changing the post yesterday we encountered some difficulties in extracting and installing the (new) post so that’s why we went over the time limit,” Grannum underlined.

Meanwhile, the night retraction which restarted last November is expected to reduce the amount of traffic on the bridge dur-

ing peak periods. This would result in less maintenance.

Grannum said it is too soon to determine whether the night retractions would have actually resulted in a decrease in traffic at peak pe r i o d . H e s a i d e f f o r t s are intensifying to ensure that the traffic is reduced to decrease the number of retractions and maintenance.

From page 17 the party post should they feel that the responsibilities of the said post along with that of their ministerial requirements are too overwhelming.

The press conference panel, which included Patterson, Hughes and A F C L e a d e r, K h e m r a j Ramjattan, was also asked to say, if it believes that they still have the stamina to go on in the leadership positions of the party after acquiring a taste of office life.

The trio agreed unanimously that they are up for it.

They said that there is adequate support for the respective posts and that it is not a “one man job.” They reiterated that should there be any difficulty; members should be brave and honest enough to step aside and allow another to take over.

Patterson also noted that should he be nominated for the leadership position, he would not back down. This sentiment was shared by his colleagues at

the forum.

Ramjattan made it clear that he too would go forward once nominated.

As for Hughes, she said that the conference is open game and the thinking that a longstanding leader cannot be challenged does not exist within the AFC. The AFC members also noted that the co-founder o f t h e P a r t y, R a p h a e l Trotman who serves as Minister of Natural Resources, continues to be very much involved in the work of the party.

PAGE 22

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Saturday January 14, 2017

Kaieteur News

LEARN TO DRIVE C. Persaud & N. Outar Driving School formerly Soman & Sons Driving School @ Maraj Building- Call: 644-5166; 6222872; 615-0964; 689-5997 (affordable packages).

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Continue on page 23

Saturday January 14, 2017

PAGE 23

Kaieteur News

2011 assault on Mark Benschop…

Kwame McCoy to go on trial from Jan.26 Kwame McCoy, former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Information Liaison officer, will go on trial come January 26, in relation to assaulting, stealing, and damaging property belonging to Mark Benschop, a social activist.

This trial date was set by Magistrate Annette Singh yesterday. She is presiding over Courts 10 and 11 at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The first charge against McCoy alleges that on March 5, 2011 at Diamond New Scheme, East Bank Demerara, he damaged a motor vehicle belonging to Benschop.

It was further alleged that on March 5, 2011 at the same location, he stole an Acer laptop valued $120,000 property of Benschop. And the final charge alleges that on the same day at the said location McCoy unlawfully assaulted the social activist.

The incident allegedly occurred outside McCoy’s home while Benschop was attempting to take photographs of McCoy’s residence.

It was reported that at the time of the attack Benschop was running an online radio and a website and was investigating reports that McCoy was building a house worth

CHARGED: Kwame McCoy $100M. Benschop had alleged that while he was taking the photographs, McCoy and two other individuals assaulted him.

He said that McCoy was one of the individuals who smashed his vehicle window and made off with his computer and other valuables from the vehicle.

McCoy who resides at Lot 336 Section ‘A’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara is out on a total of $275,000 bail $200,000 on the first charge, $50,000 on the simple larceny charge and $25,000 on the unlawful assault charge. The charges against McCoy came based on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)

Mark Benschop This matter was first called on April 27, 2016 before Magistrate Leron Daly in the Providence Magistrate’s Court. During that hearing, Attorney Euclin Gomes representing McCoy, asked that his client be released on self bail since he is a “well known journalist”.

In an invited comment, Benschop had told Kaieteur News that it appears he will be getting justice now that the matter has come up.

He said that it is not about any sort of political victimization or witch hunting. “…Nobody wants to victimize him (McCoy); he has vic-

timized so many people in Guyana,” Benschop added.

Reflecting on the incident that occurred five years ago, Benschop recalled “McCoy and his henchmen damaged my vehicle, they assaulted me and they stole items from out of my vehicle.”

The activist stated that police back then had refused to do their jobs because of political intimidation from the then Office of the President.

In early 2016, Benschop made appeals for investigations to be reopened into his claims that McCoy and associates had assaulted him and vandalized his vehicle. But police were unable to locate the file and took new statements.

In February 2016, K w a m e M c C o y, J a s o n Abdulla and Shawn Hinds were each released on $100,000 bail by a City Magistrate for allegedly assaulting Kaieteur News columnist Frederick Kissoon.

According to reports, the three men threw faeces in Kissoon’s face just outside a Robb Street, Supermarket on May 24, 2010.

This matter is still before the court.

From page 22

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PROPERTY FOR SALE Transported property @ Grove and Diamond $16M negotiable. Call: 625-5461 Riverside property, Roeden-Rust, East Bank Essequibo, 3 Miles from Parika. Call: 266-2217/6945109 Eccles New Housing Scheme property for sale by owner.

Call: 618-2603 2 Storey house & land at UG area, East Coast Demerara.

Call: 657-4349 6 Bedrooms concrete house located in Section ‘K’ Campbellville, asking price $55M. Call: 645-6498 Transported property @ BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara.

Call: 658-7216

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Two flat, three bedroom wood and concrete building, Nurseville (Tucber ) New Amsterdam, Berbice -$15M . Call 333-2915 or 687-1837 Two bedroom two flat wooden building on large plot at Adelphi, East Canje, Berbice $6M.Call 333-2915 or 687-1837 Wood and concrete two bedroom building, at Fort Ordnance, Canje. Well fenced yard. bottom flat concrete. Call 333-2915 or 687-1837 One two storey building and business for sale @ Anna Catherina W.C.D. Call: 6619880

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PAGE 24

Saturday January 17, 2017

Kaieteur News

Probe should be launched into C-section spike An urgent investigation is warranted to ascertain whether a reported spike in the number of Caesarean Sections (C-Section) performed at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) should be urgently addressed.

This assertion was recently made by former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, who during an interview with this publication yesterday, said that “in every rumour there might be some truth.”

The Minister was at the time making reference to reports that there has been an unprecedented increase in the

number of C-Sections performed at the GPHC. This publication was privy to information that some 19 C-Sections were conducted during the course of a single day last year at the public health institution.

In fact it is being alleged that the procedures are being deliberately conducted in an attempt to control deliveries and by extension reduce the number of maternal mortalities. Although there were 17 maternal deaths in 2015, that figure plummeted last year to 12.

Minister Norton has shared his conviction that “I

– Minister Norton have no reason to think that doctors would carry out CSections to reduce maternal deaths. I don't think that has happened or will ever happen.”

However, the Minister said, “I will not stand in the way of somebody doing an investigation.

I would hate to think that this is being done at the GPHC or any other hospital, public or otherwise,” stressed Minister Norton.

A C-Section is the use of surgery to deliver one or more

Fire razes Cummings Lodge apartments -several UG students suffer losses

Fire, suspected to be of electrical origin, destroyed a two-storey building at Lot 46 Third Street Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara last night.

The building housed an estimated 35 tenants, including several University of Guyana students. Many of them stated that they were unable to save anything. The fire began at around 20.30hrs and firefighters were still battling the flames at midnight.

Once again, the nation’s inadequate fire-fighting capabilities were glaringly exposed. While four fire tenders were at the scene, they all ran out of water, and two pumps malfunctioned while the crewmen were trying to access water from a silt-filled canal.

Some eyewitness recounted seeing wires sparking in a section of the building and then seeing flames.

One student told Kaieteur News that he was

cooking in the upper flat when he smelt something burning.

He then went outside and observed flames emanating from a locked apartment. He and another tenant attempted to kick the door in, but by then, the flames had spread.

The student said that he lost everything in his apartment, including cash, passport, laptop and other valuables.

Another tenant said that he was returning from a nearby supermarket when he saw that the building was on fire. The man, who is an Indian national, said that he had been renting an apartment there for six years.

A tenant who lived in a similar structure next door said she was sleeping when she heard an explosion. On looking outside, she saw the building engulfed in flames.

Some residents opined that the structure could have been saved had the fire ten-

ders arrived with adequate water.

However, one firefighter was overheard saying that the crew was unable to immediately tackle the blaze due to the presence of live wires.

Guyana Power and Light (GPL) crewmen eventually disconnected the power in the area.

A senior fire official who was at the scene said that the firefighters managed to ‘contain’ the blaze to one building. He said that two pumps broke down while the crew was attempting to access water from a muddy canal.

On Thursday, days after she rented a building at Fifth Field, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, 23-year-old trainee teacher, Maria Barjoan, returned home to find her abode up in flames.

And earlier in the month, a man allegedly torched his parents’ home at Number 59 Village, Corentyne.

Operationalisation of Local Govt....

From page 18 section of the legislation only refers to the Leader of the Opposition consulting the opposition parliamentary parties.

“But that is actually not true. The legislation doesn't say that,” Bulkan had stated.

The Commission is provided for in Guyana's Constitution. Article 78 (a) reads: “Parliament shall establish a Local Government Commission, the composition and rules of which empower the commission to deal with as it deems fit, all matters related to the regulation and staffing of local government organs and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs.”

The Bill to enable the es-

tablishing of the Commission was passed in the National Assembly in August 2013 and in November that year received Presidential assent.

The Commission's functions, outlined at clause 13. (1) of the Act, says that the Commission shall have power to deal with all matters relating to the regulation and staffing of local government organs including employment and dismissal of staff and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs, and in particular, shall monitor and review the performance and implementation of policies of all local government organs, including policies of taxation and protection of the environment.

It also has the power to monitor, evaluate and make recommendations on policies, procedures and practices of all local government organs in order to promote effective local governance; investigate any matter under its purview and propose remedial a c t i o n t o t h e M i n i s t e r, whenever or wherever necessary; monitor and review all existing and proposed legislation, and or policies and measures relating to local government organs and to make recommendations for any legislation or any amendments to any legislation and or policy to the Minister; and examine and propose ways of enhancing the capacity of local government organs.

babies. It is usually required when a vaginal delivery would put the baby or mother at risk.

But according to Dr. Norton, a surgical procedure, regardless of how small, could still be deemed a colossal risk.

Speaking from the perspective of a surgeon, he said, “I am a surgeon; I am an eye surgeon, and my motto has always been that there is no minor surgery. If somebody is going to be cutting away at you with a knife, there is nothing like minor there...So every surgery there is, has its risk.”

According to Minister Norton, for many years he had served at the GPHC in a senior capacity, even as a Senior Consultant for the past 28 years. “I never heard of C-Sections being the way to go to reduce the number of maternal deaths.”

Minister Norton, yesterday, emphasised his displeasure about the possibility of doctors opting to conduct

more C-Sections instead of natural delivery without these being necessitated.

“I simply can't see a conscientious, qualified physician opting to do a Caesarean Section without it being necessary,” said Minister Norton.

With each such procedure a woman, during her pregnancy, is placed at increased risk. “While there are reports that three (C-Sections) should be the maximum, I still think that three CSections are far too many for one woman,” said Minister Norton.

He recalled that during his tenure as Minister of Public Health there were at least four pregnant women whom he monitored very closely because they were each on their third C-Section.

And this was in spite of the fact, the Minister said, that “these women had no issues...They were all healthy but because of the fact that their condition necessitated a C-Section I took it upon my-

self to make certain that the doctors know that I had an interest in those persons.”

“I visited the hospitals and clinics with them, I followed up and I even went to the time of delivery with them to make certain that everything went well...I was so concerned, and I can tell you this, no one in their right mind should do a C-Section unless it is necessary,” reiterated the former Public Health Minister.

According to reports, once a woman would have had an initial C-Section there is a high possibility that future pregnancies will require this procedure. However, CSections have been known to increase the risk of having a low-lying placenta in future pregnancies.

This complication has reportedly resulted in the loss of a great deal of blood during delivery.

Public Health officials recently disclosed that among the main causes of maternal mortality has been deliveryassociated haemorrhaging.

Chinese supermarket robbery suspects refused bail on several charges Two men who are accused of robbing the Good Life Supermarket on Tuesday evening were yesterday remanded to prison at the Albion Magistrate’s Court.

Shawn Thompson, 20, of Lot 55 First Street, Rose Hall Town, Corentyne; and Daniel Grant, 23 of Williamsburg Village, Corentyne, were both unrepresented when they appeared before Magistrate Marissa Mittleholzer, yesterday.

The charge read that the accused allegedly robbed Huang Xiong, 36, and Zhang Bi Hang, 36, of $500,000 in cash and one iPhone 6. They were not required to plead to the charge. However, Daniel Grant was charged separately for allegedly robbing one of the owners, of one gold ring, one gold band and a quantity of Digicel Phone cards, a total of $1M. The duo was also charged with robbing Devendra Narine of a cellphone and Permaul Lachna of a motorcycle worth some $160,000, a cellphone , $50,000 and a DVD player, costing $20,000, totaling $230,000 Prosecutor Orin Joseph objected to bail based on the nature and prevalence of the offences.

Thompson was also charged separately for making use of threatening language towards Gary Batson and for allegedly throwing a missile at Batson on January 6, at the Port Mourant market. Thompson, who is at-

Remanded: Daniel Grant

Remanded: Shawn Thompson

tached to the Albion Estate in the Spray Gang plead guilty to the charge of threatening language and not guilty to throwing a missile.

For the charge of threatening language the Magistrate placed Thompson on one year bond or two weeks imprisonment. Prosecutor Orin Joseph made an application for three weeks to under the grounds that the police are still conducting searches for the gun used in the robbery. The men are to return to court on January 30, for report.

According to the facts of the case, two men on a motorcycle armed with a shotgun and a cutlass invaded the Good Life Supermarket on Tuesday night and robbed Huang Xiong, 36 and his partner, Zhang Bi Hang, 36, owners of the supermarket of approximately $500,000 in cash

and one iPhone 6 cell phone.

The perpetrators ordered the owners and the customers to lie face down on the floor. The entire ordeal was caught on surveillance cameras. One of the bandits stood guard while the other went to the upper flat of the building taking along Xiong with him ransacked the upper flat and found $350,000 in cash.

After returning downstairs the men ordered one of the owners to empty the cash register, $150,000 was handed over from the register. The bandits escaped on the motorcycle.

One of the men is also said to have robbed one of the owners of a gold chain, one gold ring and a quantity of Digicel phone cards. They were subsequently arrested the said the night of the robbery with the swift action of two ranks.

Saturday January 17, 2017

PAGE 25

Kaieteur News

Venezuela’s state energy company sees 2017 oil output stuck near historic lows (Reuters – Exclusive) Venezuelan state energy company PDVSA projects oil production will remain near 23-year lows in 2017, an internal document shows, suggesting more hardship ahead for the crisis-wrought OPEC member country.

Cash-squeezed PDVSA, which accounts for nearly all of Venezuela’s export revenues and is the socialist government’s financial motor, saw production tumble by nearly 10 percent in 2016 due to an unraveling economy and low oil prices.

The company’s weak finances are causing operational disruptions, and are both affected by and contributing to Venezuela’s economic downturn. Three years of recession and soaring prices have pummeled Venezuelans, with many skipping meals and lootings of supermarkets commonplace. Some economists have estimated that gross domestic product contracted by 10 percent or

more in 2016.

This year, PDVSA sees production at 2.501 million barrels per day (bpd), an increase of just 5,000 from the 2.496 million bpd for the first 11 months of 2016, according to a nine-year strategic plan presented in December.

That is broadly on par with output levels in 1993, as the struggle to pay providers has led some services companies to halt work and oil suppliers to delay or halt deliveries of fuel and crude.

The 261-page document seen by Reuters gives a rare window into PDVSA, a highly secretive company that seldom publishes detailed business plans. It shows PDVSA expects a shortfall in imported diluents needed for blending with its extra heavy crude output, along with aggressive refinery maintenance plans.

PDVSA did not respond to an email seeking comment on the internal report.

Crude shipments to po-

– internal document litical ally China, which has lent Venezuela more than $50 billion through a decade-long oil-for-loans program, are slated to increase 55 percent in 2017 from 2016 to reach 550,000 bpd, according to the presentation.

There was no explanation for the jump, but it could signal the end of a grace period that Caracas negotiated with Beijing, which had allowed it to cut shipments in 2016 to 355,000 bpd from 627,000 a year earlier.

Oil shipments to India, however, are expected to fall 15.5 percent to 360,000 bpd.

Unlike China, India pays mostly in cash, so a reduction in exports would likely worsen Venezuela’s financial asphyxiation.

LOW IMPORTS, LONG MAINTENANCES PDVSA also projects a sizeable deficit of light crude and naphtha, both of which

are crucial to turn the extra heavy oil it produces in the Orinoco Belt - one of the world’s largest deposits - into lighter grades for exports.

Venezuela started regular imports of diluents in 2015 because its output of light and medium grades has tumbled, but PDVSA’s cash shortage has led to delays and insufficient purchases.

Long lines of tankers waiting to discharge routinely form at its ports, according to Thomson Reuters data and industry sources.

PDVSA in 2017 plans to import 125,000 bpd of light crude but will still face a deficit of 217,000 bpd, according to the document. It will also face a shortage of 28,000 bpd of naphtha, a fuel similar to gasoline used to dilute Orinoco oil in order to increase its sale value.

PDVSA would partially offset its diluent deficit in the

medium term with maintenance at domestic refineries so they can produce more naphtha. It also plans to restart a refinery in the Caribbean island of Aruba now operated

by U.S. unit Citgo Petroleum.

But the company’s projects are often delayed, the Aruba refinery is unlikely to be up and running soon, and refineries at home are plagued with frequent outages and blackouts.

The 2017 refinery maintenance schedule described in

the document shows PDVSA plans to shut down some crucial domestic units for 90 days - roughly twice the industry standard length for major maintenance.

This suggests that PDVSA is seeking to take advantage of a stagnant production to overhaul its refining network. Refineries in Venezuela and nearby Curacao in 2016 received 200,000 bpd less in crude deliveries than the year before, the document says.

PAGE 26

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 17, 2017

Saturday January 17, 2017

Kaieteur News

Cubans sold everything to reach U.S., now hundreds stranded

A group of Cuban migrants share travel stories outside the Caritas shelter for migrants in Panama City, Panama, yesterday. REUTERS/Melchor Herrera (Reuters) - Hundreds of Cubans who sold their homes and belongings in pursuit of an American dream that now lays in tatters were stranded in Central America and Mexico yesterday after Washington abruptly ended a lenient immigration policy.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday repealed a measure granting automatic residency to virtually every Cuban who arrived in the United States, whether or not they had visas, ending a longstanding exception to U.S. policy.

The end of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which allowed any Cuban who reached U.S. soil to stay, but returned any picked up at sea, took effect immediately. Cuban officials had long sought the change, arguing it would discourage people-trafficking and dangerous journeys.

Jose Enrique Manreza, who sold his house and possessions in Havana to embark on an epic trip by plane, bus and foot through the rain forests of French Guiana, Colombia and Panama, estimated he had spent about $10,000 on the journey.

“Imagine how I feel, after I spent six days and six nights running through rivers and jungles in the humidity,” said Manreza, at a migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, where he heard the news, along with 30 other Cubans.

In Honduras, 75 Cubans were waiting to move on to Mexico and the U.S. border.

In Panama, another 75 gathered in the tree-shaded patio of the Caritas shelter in the capital. Many had sold everything they owned to pay for the voyage of a lifetime. Some said hundreds more were still traversing the treacherous forests of the Darien region

bordering Colombia.

Some expressed dismay that Obama, who is popular in Cuba for punching holes in the U.S. economic embargo and reinstating diplomatic relations, had taken a measure they saw as hurting ordinary Cubans.

“Obama’s decision is killing our dreams,” said Yancys Riccart, 25, a teaching assistant, who said her journey took her through Guyana, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.

She said she was worried she would be mistreated or not given work by Cuban authorities if she went back home.

Victor Berrios, a deacon for Roman Catholic charity Caritas, urged the migrants not to rush into the hands of people-traffickers to reach the United States, reminding them that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could reinstate the law when he assumes the presidency on Jan 20.

“Be patient, we know that from the 20th there will be another government. Do not lose hope. Have faith,” Berrios said.

Washington has unveiled a flurry of last minute agreements to try to prevent Trump reversing the 2014 detente with Cuba, one of Obama’s flagship policies.

Trump has said he would scrap Obama’s Cuba policy unless the Cubans presented a better deal, but it was not immediately clear if he would try to bring back “wet-foot, dry-foot.” “$10 LEFT IN MY POCKET” Anticipating the end of the policy, Cuban immigration has surged since the 2014 normalization. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said some 40,000 Cubans arrived in the United States in 2015 and about 54,000 in 2016.

Thousands of Cubans gathered in Costa Rica and Panama last year as Central American countries struggled to cope with the influx. El Salvador welcomed the new policy, saying all immigrants should be treated equally.

Honduras, a source of thousands of immigrants to the United States each year, despite no Cuban-style special treatment, said it was waiting to see if the policy led to fewer Cubans traveling.

Mexico’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

Manreza said his wife, a nurse, was working in Venezuela as part of a Cuban oil-fordoctors program. Obama also rolled back a “medical parole” program dating back to 2006 that allowed Cuban doctors working in third countries to move to the United States simply by walking into a U.S. embassy.

“She cried when I called her,” he said, without indicating whether she had intended to defect under the program.

Manreza, who ran a soda warehouse in Havana before he left in December with his daughter, said he was deciding whether to return to Cuba, broke, or seek asylum in Mexico.

Ivan Diaz, 45, a health administrator, said he had no intention of turning back.

He left Cuba three months ago with his wife. He said the dash for the United States had cost about $25,000 for him, his wife and Miami family members who sent money to support them.

“I’ve got $10 left in my pocket,” said Diaz at the Tapachula center. “We are going to carry on. We don’t lose anything by going to the Laredo border. We must be able to do something. Otherwise, let them deport me back to Cuba.”

PAGE 27

PAGE 28

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 17, 2017

U.S. House votes to begin repealing Obamacare (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans yesterday won passage of a measure starting the process of dismantling Obamacare, despite concerns about not having a ready replacement and the potential financial cost of repealing Democratic President Barack Obama’s landmark health insurance law.

The House of Representatives voted 227-198 to instruct committees to draft legislation by a target date of Jan. 27 that would repeal the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The Senate approved the same measure early Thursday.

No Democrats supported the initiative. Nine Republicans voted against the measure.

With this vote, Republicans began delivering on their promise to end Obamacare, which also was a campaign promise of Republican Presi-

dent-elect Donald Trump.

The program, which expanded health coverage to some 20 million people, has been plagued by increases in insurance premiums and deductibles and by some large insurers leaving the system.

The resolution passed by the House and Senate does not need presidential approval, since it is part of an internal congressional budget process. But once the Obamacare repeal legislation is drafted, both chambers will need to approve it, and a presidential signature will be required.

By that time, Trump will have been sworn in as president. He has urged Congress to act quickly to repeal and replace the Democratic program.

Obamacare was enacted nearly seven years ago - over Republican objections - in an effort to expand coverage and give new protections for

people with pre-existing health conditions and other barriers that left them without insurance.

In the past few years, the House has voted more than 60 times to repeal or alter Obamacare, but Republicans had no hope a repeal would become law as long as Obama was president and could veto their bills.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said Obamacare was collapsing and action was urgent. For people who have health insurance through the Obamacare system, he said, “The deductibles are so high it doesn’t feel like you’ve got insurance in the first place.

“We have to step in before things get worse. This is nothing short of a rescue mission,” Ryan said.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi rebutted Republicans’ claims that the law was a failure.

After 2016 campaign, more Americans consider Russia a threat: Reuters/Ipsos poll (Reuters) - Americans are more concerned than they were before the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign began about the potential threat Russia poses to the country, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released yesterday.

The Jan. 9-12 survey found that 82 percent of American adults, including 84 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans, described Russia as a general “threat” to the United States.

That’s up from 76 percent in March 2015 when the same questions were asked.

The increased concern comes after a brutal election season during which Democrats and others raised questions about President-elect Donald Trump’s financial ties to Russia and the U.S. intelligence community accused Russia of engaging in cyber attacks during the election.

Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and signaled during his campaign that he might take a softer line in dealing with Moscow, only recently accepted that Russia committed the hacks after receiving detailed briefings from intelligence officials.

Trump initially criticized the findings, saying the culprit could be China or “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin The poll asked people to rate Russia and a slew of other countries on a 5-point scale ranging from “no threat” to “imminent threat.” It found that Americans were more likely to label Russia a threat than they were Iran, Syria, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba or Yemen. Only North Korea ranked higher, with 86 percent of Americans labeling it as a threat.

Some 25 percent of Americans gave Russia the highest concern, labeling it an “imminent threat.”

“Russia is back to the old days of the Cold War,” said Oneita Wilkins, 69, a Republican who lives in a suburb of New Orleans, who rated Russia an “imminent threat.”

Wilkins did not vote in the election. She said she did not trust Trump or Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and chose to not vote for the first time in

more than 40 years.

The latest reports about Russian hacking lowered her opinion of Trump even further. “Trump doesn’t have any experience with other countries,” Wilkins said. “I have a feeling that he’ll be easily influenced by Putin.”

Trump, earlier this week in his first news conference since the election, defended his goal of better ties with Putin, saying, “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,169 American adults, including 490 Democrats and 475 Republicans. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 5 percentage points for Republicans and Democrats.

Saturday January 17, 2017

Kaieteur News

India’s Dhoni says team will see even more success under Kohli (Reuters) Mahendra Singh Dhoni, widely seen as Indian cricket’s best captain, said yesterday the team would do even better under

his replacement, Virat Kohli, days ahead of a limited-overs clash with England.

Kohli had a squad of young players and fast

bowlers that could produce an unprecedented run of wins, Dhoni said in his first comments to the media since stepping aside from captaining the limited-overs side earlier this month.

Kohli took over, becoming the skipper in all three formats of the game.

“You look at the kind of talent they have got and at the same time the age group they are in,” Dhoni told reporters in Pune, where the hosts will meet England in the first of the three one-day international series on Sunday.

“If everything goes well they have the potential to plan for the next 10-12 years if not more ... We have a pool of fast bowlers who can bowl well in any conditions.”

Dhoni rose from the cricketing backwaters of India’s Jharkhand to lead the game’s most passionately-

Saturday January 14 , 2017 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Someone you like may be receptive and actively seeking your company. You may find yourself in an opportune position if you are willing to take a bit of a risk. Your high energy will enable you to take the role of leader in group functions.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) You may have a problem with someone you live with if you don't include them in your gathering. Try not to get upset or angry without having all the facts. Minor accidents could cause trauma and major setbacks.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Take a short business trip if possible. You can get support from groups that you belong to if you're willing to step out on a limb and voice your opinions. This is a great day for a family outing or just a drive.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Don't divulge secret information. You can help sort out problems that friends are facing. Organize social events or family gatherings.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) You could be quite erratic regarding your personal relationship. Go after your goals and don't be afraid to ask for assistance. Take the time to close deals that have been up in the air.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Try to slow down, and take another look. You have two choices; Get out on your own, or bend to your mate's whims.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Try to get away with your mate. Look for professional guidance if it will help unite the family. It might be time to shake a leg and do a personal makeover.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You should include children in your activities. If you haven't already, consider starting your own business.

Stress may cause minor health ailments.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Depression may result if you don't get to do things your own way. Make amends if you can. Be aware of any deception on the part of those you deal with.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Your mate could get on your nerves if he or she backs you into an emotional comer or puts restrictions on your time.

You should be on the road.

Try not to let your emotions interfere with the completion of your work.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) You should follow through on educational endeavors you have wanted to pursue for some time. Take the time to help old friends or relatives who have had a stroke of bad luck. You need to challenge yourself.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) If possible, rely on coworkers to back your objectives, and talk to superiors in order to get approval. Don't make financial contributions in order to impress others.

followed team, before quitting test cricket in late 2014.

The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman has captained India to the three International Cricket Council trophies - the 50-over World Cup, the World Twenty20 and the Champions Trophy.

“This team has the potential to do well in all formats irrespective of where we are playing ... When it comes to winning games, they should win games more than any other captain or team has won,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni said he never believed in multiple captains and he had made up his mind long back to hand over the reins to Kohli, who replaced him as test captain earlier.

“I am somebody who believes... split captaincy is something that doesn’t really work,” Dhoni said. “I always believed that with the Indian team, one player leading the team in all formats is something very crucial.

“It was something that was always in my mind. Virat took over the test captaincy and I wanted him to have some time over there and then get into the full captaincy role.

He was always ready.”

India are already the world’s top-ranked test side, second in the shortest Twenty20 format and third in the 50-over version of the game.

F1 circuits ...

(From page 28) season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 26, had done what was required by putting up additional safety barriers at turn 12 in place of tyre walls. Turns one, six and 14 will have the existing tyre walls doubled in depth. The season has 20 races, ending in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 26.

Mekies also provided an update on the ‘halo’ cockpit protection system that was evaluated by many of the teams in practice last year. “The engineering work is done,” he said.

“Someone needs to decide if it’s right for F1 or not...the net safety benefit is established.”

Mekies said whether it was right for Formula One had become a ‘philosophical’ question that stakeholders needed to resolve and were busy discussing. The halo is fixed at three points including a central pillar in front of the driver that supports a protective loop above his head.

It is designed to deflect large debris and objects such as bouncing wheels, with the governing body estimating it boosts the chance of driver survival by 17 percent. Reactions have been mixed, with some drivers giving it their approval while others have questioned the aesthetics and how easy it would be to get out of the cockpit if the car overturned.

PAGE 29

Wharton softball cricket tourney tomorrow at MSC Trevor Wharton will be hosting a four-team softball cricket tournament tomorrow at the Malteenoes Sports Club.

Mike’s Wellman, Fisherman XI, Trophy Stall and HS Masters will battle for supremacy from 09:30hrs. The winning and runner up teams as well as man-of-the-match in the final will be rewarded. The competition is being sponsored by Trophy Stall Bourda Market.

Kaieteur News

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Saturday January 14, 2017

Chargers bolt San Diego to become second NFL team in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES (Reuters) The San Diego Chargers said on Thursday they will move to Los Angeles this upcoming NFL season, ending sometimes tense negotiations for a new stadium in the city where the sports franchise has played for more than five decades.

Starting this fall, the Los Angeles area will have two National Football League teams in a potential boost to the region’s leisure and tourism industry. The nation’s second-largest city had no NFL team from 1994 until the St. Louis Rams moved and began playing there last year.

The Chargers played their first season in Los Angeles in 1960 before moving to San Diego the following year. Team owner Dean Spanos said in an open letter on the team’s website

San Diego had shaped the team’s identity.

“But today, we turn the page and begin an exciting new era as the Los Angeles Chargers,” Spanos wrote.

In November, San Diego voters rejected a ballot measure that would have raised hotel occupancy taxes to help pay for a proposed $1.8 billion downtown stadium project.

The team and its supporters have actively sought a new stadium for about a decade and Spanos for a time negotiated with city officials over the proposal. But talks between the team and city officials appeared to hit a standstill in 2015.

“As difficult as the news is for Charger fans, I know Dean Spanos and his family did everything they could to try to find a

San Diego Chargers’ President and Chief Executive Dean Spanos .

(REUTERS/Mike Blake) viable solution in San Diego,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

The Chargers will pay the NFL a relocation fee of $550 million upfront or $650 million if paid over 10 years, team spokeswoman Jennifer

Rojas said.

Following news of the move, city officials said it was time to move on.

“At the end of the day, Dean Spanos was never willing to work with us on a stadium solution and demanded a lot more money

than we could have ever agreed to,” Mayor Kevin Falconer said in a statement.

“San Diego didn’t lose the Chargers, the Chargers lost San Diego.”

The reluctance of San Diego officials and residents in recent years to provide public funds for a stadium was unusual for a U.S. city, said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California.

Some in San Diego vented their dissatisfaction.

A video posted online by a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter showed fans dum p i n g t e a m g e a r, including jerseys, in a big pile in front of the team’s headquarters. When a giant toy helmet was dropped off, a man smashed it with a bat.

Going forward, the

Chargers will have a more difficult time attracting fans than the Rams, who were based in the Los Angeles area until 1994, Carter said in a phone interview.

The Chargers will temporarily play at the 30,000-seat StubHub Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, the team said. Its current stadium in San Diego seats about 71,000 people.

Last month, the franchise made preparations for the impending relocation, leasing a portion of an Orange County office facility.

The Chargers said they will eventually join the Rams at a futuristic $2.6 billion stadium, which will be built by Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood and is projected to open in 2019.

Leonard inspires Spurs to thumping win over Lakers (The Sports Xchange) Kawhi Leonard poured in 31 points in just three quarters of play, and four of San Antonio’s starters scored in double figures as the Spurs demolished the Los Angeles Lakers 134-94 at the AT&T Center on Thursday.

San Antonio’s total was a

season-high, as were the 72 points scored by the Spurs in the first half and the 40-point margin of victory.

Pau Gasol added 22 points for San Antonio, while LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker added 13 each, all in just three quarters of the lopsided game.

Hayatou to stand again for CAF presidency LIBREVILLE (Reuters) Issa Hayatou is seeking another four-year term as the Confederation of African Football’s president to extend his grip on a position he has held since 1988, the organisation said yesterday.

Cameroonian Hayatou, 70, will face a rare challenge, however, after executive committee member Ahmad, from Madagascar, declared his candidacy for the election to be held at the CAF Congress in two months’ time.

CAF last year brought in new rules limiting the presidency to just three four-year terms.

The ruling, however, only applies since it was passed in September, meaning Hayatou could extend his tenure by 12 years.

Hayatou, who is also the senior FIFA vice president, was elected unopposed at CAF’s Congress in Marrakech in 2013 and has only twice previously faced opposition, winning reelection easily on each occasion.

The next election is in Addis Ababa on March 16.

The Spurs also got 12 points from Jonathon Simmons, 10 from Dejounte Murray and a game-high 12 rebounds from Dewayne Dedmon.

All 13 players who took the floor for San Antonio scored, and the Spurs (31-8) outshot Los Angeles 60.5 percent to 41.2 percent.

The Lakers (15-28) were led by Julius Randle’s 22 points, but the rest of their starters managed just 20 total points.

Reserves Jordan Clarkson and Lou Williams added 14 and 10 points respectively as the Lakers lost to San Antonio for the ninth straight time.

The Spurs hit 14 of their 24 field-goal attempts in the first quarter on the way to a 36-24 lead after 12 minutes.

Leonard was 5-of-5 from the floor in the period (including all thee from three-point territory) and led all scorers with 14 points while staking San Antonio to a 36-19 lead before he went to the bench.

The Lakers took advantage to finish the period on a 5-0 run to cut the San Antonio advantage to 36-24 at quarter’s end.

A 7-0 run by Los Angeles capped by a steal and a dunk

by Randle cut the Spurs’ lead to 45-41 at the 7:04 mark of the second quarter.

San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at AT&T Center. (Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports) However, there was no panic from San Antonio, which promptly pushed its advantage back to eight points on layups by Parker and Leonard.

The Spurs outscored Los Angeles 23-13 over the rest of the quarter, including three free throws by Leonard after he was fouled by D’Angelo Russell attempting a shot from

beyond half court with 0.3 seconds remaining.

The result was a 72-54 San Antonio lead at intermission.

San Antonio poured it on in the third quarter, pushing its lead to 106-75 on a Simmons running onehander to beat the buzzer to end the period.

The Spurs were relentless inside — Gasol

had six points in the quarter, including a thumping dunk — and out, as even Aldridge poured in a three-pointer.

The Spurs outshot Los Angeles 65 percent to 35 percent in the quarter, with 18 of their 34 points in the period coming in the paint.

With the game all but decided, both teams played mostly reserves in the fourth.

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 14, 2017

PAGE 31

Final Super50 practice game

Shiv (87), Bramble (95) Barnwell (56) hit fifties Johnson’s X1 win by 90 runs

Jonathon Foo skies a sweep to give Permaul a wicket at Providence yesterday.

Shiv Chanderpaul works one through the on-side during his 87 at Providence yesterday.

By Sean Devers Yesterday at Providence, experienced former West Indies left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul led by example with a responsible 87, Wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble fell off the last ball of the innings for an

explosive 95 and Chris Barnwell made 56 to spearhead Leon Johnson’s X1 to a 90-run w i n a g a i n s t Vi s h a u l Singh’s X1 in the final practice match for the Regional Super50 tournament.

The 42-year-old Chanderpaul, the leading

Guyanese run scoring in Regional 50-over cricket with 2,746 runs from 94 matches, struck five fours in a well calculated 114 ball 87 and shared in 90 runs partnerships with Barnwell, whose innings included four fours and one six from 76 balls for the fourth wicket and Bramble who

smashed 95 from 67 balls to lead Johnson’s X1 to an imposing 289-8 off 50 overs on another good track to bat on.

Romario Shepherd (462) was the most successful bowler for Singh’s X1 who fell for 199 in 45.4 overs d e s p i t e Ta g e n a r i n e Chanderpaul’s second fifty

Chelsea drop Costa after row over fitness, reports say (Reuters) Diego Costa has been dropped from the squad of Premier League leaders Chelsea for the match at champions Leicester City after a row over his fitness, according to media reports yesterday.

Costa, the Premier League’s leading scorer with 14 goals, will miss today’s game following a disagreement with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte and a club fitness coach Julio Tous, the reports say.

Costa is said to have not trained with the rest of the squad for the past three days after a row with Tous over the extent of an injury he was complaining of.

Conte is reported to have sided with his coach in the argument and has left his key striker out of the squad as Chelsea seek to protect their

five-point lead at the top of the league.

The latest controversy to surround the famously volatile Spanish international was also reported to be connected with a 30 million pounds ($36.54 million) a year offer the 28-year-old had been made to play in China.

Two Chelsea players, Oscar and Jon Obi Mikel, recently left Chelsea to join Chinese Super League clubs on huge deals.

After an indifferent 2015-16 season at the end of which he considered leaving the club, Costa has cut a completely rejuvenated figure this season, having until now sidestepped controversies while leading the London club’s title assault.

In his absence, Chelsea

Chelsea’s Diego Costa.

(Reuters /Dylan Martinez Livepic) were expected to again use Eden Hazard as their spearhead, flanked by Pedro and Willian, a trident that

proved effective when Costa missed the Blues’ 3-0 win over Bournemouth through suspension

in two games and an attacking 49 from Singh to follow-up his 40 on Wednesday in the first practice game.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul struck four fours and two sixes from 108 balls, while Singh’s run-a-ball 49 was decorated with five fours.

Left-arm seamer Raymond Reifer (3-26) and left-arm spinner Anthony Adams continued to impress with 326.

Assad Fudadin (5) and Shemron Hetymer (11) were removed by Shepherd before Keon Joseph bowled Johnson for a duck to leave his team on 20-3.

But Barnwell, who was run out for 44 on Wednesday and Chanderpaul who has 11 centuries from 268 ODIs, resurrected the innings with sensible batting in steaming heat before Barnwell was removed by pacer Johnson at 130-4, while Reifer (2) was trapped LBW three runs later

by Royston Crandon.

Chanderpaul, only behind Bajan Floyd Reifer in the Regional 50-over aggregate, shared in another big partnership with the pugnacious Bramble before Chanderpaul was sent packing by Gudakesh Motie at 223-6.

Bramble then stamped his authority by clobbering Keon Joseph for two sixes and a four in one over before

hammering Shepherd for two sixes and two fours and with five required for a well deserved century from the last ball, he was taken at long-on to give Shepherd his fourth wicket.

When Singh’s X1 began their reply, Test batsman Rajendra Chandrika (2) edged Reifer to slip at 4-1, while Reifer removed Chanderpaul Hemraj (13) at 28-2 before Jonathon Foo, in ultra defensive mode, laboured for 39 balls for his 20 despite hitting three fours.

Foo’s skied sweep off Permaul orchestrated his demise at 71-3 before Singh joined Tagenarine to take the score 149 before Singh, who hit boundaries including a couple of reverse sweeps, fell to Adams who also dismissed Kevin Boodie (2) at 164-7.

This was after Royston Crandon (1) and Sherfane Rutherford, who was brought back from Trinidad where he was playing for DCC in the UWI T20 tournament, was run out without facing a ball.

Reifer removed Tevin Imlach (12) at 191-8 before Chanderpaul who played some delightful shots including a glorious back cut and an imperious extra cover drive for boundaries of Paul Wintz, lofted Barnwell to deep mid-wicket to be ninth out.

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Twenty-seven coaches receive CONCACAF course certificates Georgetown: Twentyseven coaches who have successfully completed the CONCACAF Goalkeeping and D License Coaches programme held in October a n d N o v e m b e r, 2 0 1 6 respectively, received their certificates last Saturday.

This presentation was made in the GFF’s Boardroom by President of the Guyana Football Federation Inc. (GFF) Wayne Forde and Technical Director, Ian Greenwood.

In brief comments to the attendees at the simple c e r e m o n y, G r e e n w o o d congratulated the candidates and informed them that the Federation will explore more technical courses in 2017 to build capacity of the coaches in Guyana, both nationally and at the Association level: “We’re looking to have a lot more courses throughout the year (which will be) CONCACAF based, FIFA-based (and) from the GFF…we’re looking at developing the coach education structure at the GFF (and) linking it (to) the Coach’s Association as well.

So throughout the year, there will be a structured calendar where there will be seminars, courses and development plans for you as individual coaches.”

Additionally, a coaches’ data-base will also be developed and employment opportunities will be made available. “We’re looking to employ TDOs (Technical Development Officers) in the local Associations; we’re looking to employ youth coaches as well in the Association,” Greenwood

said. He also mentioned the possibility of national coaches being involved in international study visits.

Meanwhile, President Forde noted that the Executive Committee will place much emphasis on coaches’ education and infrastructure development in the New Year. This will see an annual investment of approximately US$750,000 in infrastructural development. However, he underscored the need for self-development of the coaches to complement the formal training being provided: “Apart from the training that Mr. Greenwood and the GFF will expose you to, you need to take some responsibility to develop yourself; you need to read, you need to research and (use) every opportunity you have to exercise your craft. If there is a school within your district, if there (are) a few kids within your neighbourhood that you can bring into the sport, if there is a club that you should be aligning yourself with, by all means take the initiative …”

“I think once you have demonstrated consistently that you are making an effort to improve on yourself, we will meet you…75 percent or 80 percent of the way because we have an obligation, as a Federation, to invest in you…”, Forde stated.

In closing, the President congratulated the coaches, especially the lone female coach, and recommitted the Executive Committee’s plan to develop coaches in the country.

In providing an

overview, chairperson of the session and GFF’s Technical Development Officer, Lyndon France, outlined the number of technical courses conducted in the year including the following: ? October 4 – 6: Goalkeeping Course ? November 1 – 4: D. Licence Course ? December 1 – 3: E. License Course The CONCACAF D. License course saw the participation of 19 coaches, the Goalkeeping course had 25 coaches, and the E. License Course had 24 teachers.

Names of persons who received certificates for CONCACAF D license: 1. Bryan Joseph 2. Devnon Winter 3. Levi Braithwaite 4. Sampson Gilbert 5. Trevor Burnett 6. Akila Castello 7. Vurlon Mills Names of persons who received certificates for CONCACAF goalkeeping course: 1. Quincy Madramootoo 2. Seon Prince 3. Jersild Wright 4. Eon De Viera 5. Dirk Henry 6. Denzil Thompson 7. Oneal Heywood 8. Royston Nascimento 9. Jamal Caster 10. Quasim Yusuf 11. Dwain Babb 12. Dirk Henry 13. Kenneth Edwards 14. Kassie Da Silva 15. Orlando Hendricks 16. Kevin Tixey 17. Andrew Hazel 18. Rawle Gittens 19. Keron Monroe 20. Curtis Joseph

F1 circuits upgraded to cope with faster cars BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND (Reuters) Formula One’s governing body is writing to every circuit on the calendar to advise them of specific measures that need to be carried out for safety’s sake due to faster cars and higher cornering speeds.

The 2017 specification cars are expected to be three to four seconds a lap quicker than last year’s with more corners taken flat out following regulation changes that include much bigger tyres.

“Every single team has been asked to provide simulations for their 2017 cars,” said Laurent Mekies, safety director for the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA), delivering the annual Watkins lecture at the Autosport International Show yesterday.

The lecture is named after the late Formula One doctor Professor Sid Watkins. “ We ’ v e u s e d t h e s e simulations to feed our simulation software, we

therefore simulated every single track with the 2017 cars, so much higher cornering speeds — up to 40 kph faster in high speed corners.

“Every single track is receiving from the FIA a requested upgrade based on that work... that process is ongoing. We are doing it in the order of the championship and therefore not all the tracks have received it yet.”

Mekies said Melbourne, which hosts the (Continued on page 25)

Saturday January 14, 2017

‘Sir Andy’ seeks end to Australian Open agony M E L B O U R N E (Reuters) Having snatched Novak Djokovic’s world number one ranking in a thrilling late-season raid, Andy Murray will bid to storm the Serb’s Melbourne Park fortress and capture an elusive Australian Open title after five agonising near misses.

Murray enters the year’s first grand slam in unknown territory, rated as top seed for the first time in his 12th campaign and with a ‘Sir’ in front of his name as the recipient of a knighthood from Britain’s New Year’s honours list.

The Scot also brings the knowledge that 10 years of hard graft to reach the summit of the men’s game could end in a heartbeat if defending champion Djokovic has his way.

“I’d say Novak Djokovic is still the biggest threat to the number one ranking,” Murray said in Doha where he kicked off his season.

“His record in Australia is incredible. He has won it six times and won a number of finals against me too so I’m expecting him to play very well there.”

Few players know how heavy lies the crown as fellow 29-year-old Djokovic, who spoke of hungrier wolves snapping at his heels after his defeat over Murray last year, his fourth in a Melbourne Park final between the pair.

Long the alpha male of the pack, Djokovic completed his sweep of grand slam titles at last year’s French Open then fell away dramatically in the second half of the season.

Only last week, however, the Serb fired an ominous warning to Murray by snapping his 28-match winning streak in a fiery three-set decider to defend his Qatar Open title.

Djokovic joined Roy Emerson as the most successful men’s champion at the Australian Open last year and can take sole possession of the record with a seventh crown, having won in 2008, 2011-13 and 201516.

Murray is saddled with a less enviable record, having become only the second man in the professional era to lose five finals at a single grand slam when defeated last year.

Britain’s Andy Murray (REUTERS/David Gray)

WAWRINKA LURKS The other, his former coach Ivan Lendl, lost five at the U.S. Open but sandwiched the defeats with a hat-trick of wins from 1985-87.

On opposite sides of the draw, Murray and Djokovic can only meet in the final, with the Scot enjoying a more favourable run in the first week.

Murray plays 93rdranked Ukrainian Illya Marchenko in the first round, while Djokovic has a much less palatable prospect in Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, who upset 14times grand slam champion Rafa Nadal in their opener last year.

Bookmakers see little chance of the title going to anyone other from Djokovic and Murray but U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka is the most fancied of the rest.

Beating Djokovic on the blue courts of Melbourne Park invariably means winning the title and Wawrinka managed it a

blockbuster quarter-final in 2014 on the way to claiming the trophy.

Crowds will clamour for four-times champion Roger Federer to go deep in the tournament as he returns to grand slam action after a long layoff from a knee injury.

But seeded 17th, Federer faces a treacherous first week, with fifth seed Kei Nishikori a likely third round opponent before a possible quarter-final against Murray.

Ninth-seeded Spaniard Nadal, the 2009 champion, can also expect raucous support as he bids to shrug off two barren years at the grand slams.

Other fans will hope the next generation stakes its claim.

Third seeded Canadian Milos Raonic may be the best placed among the younger challengers to clinch a maiden grand slam title, with home hope Nick Kyrgios and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov also capable of troubling the heavyweights.

Saturday January 14, 2017

PAGE 33

Kaieteur News

2nd Annual Limacol Football Tournament

It’s still all about Serena Public draw to be at Melbourne Park conducted today Organisers of the 2nd Annual Limacol Football Tournament will today conduct a public draw of the groups for participating teams at the Bransville Hotel on Pike Street, Prashad Nagar, starting from 15:00 hrs.

According to a member of the Organising Committee, they’ve divided the sixteen teams into seeds with Santos, Western Tigers, Milerock and Police

branded as the top seeds in the respective groups, while the other twelve teams will participate in the draw to place them in particular groups.

The seeding of the teams is seen below and a representative from each team is being asked to attend to participate in the drawing.

First Seed Santos Western Tigers Milerock Police

Second Seed Winners Connection Uitivulgt Riddim Squad Pouderoyen Third Seed Grove Hi Tech Camptown Eagles Den Amstel Fourth Seed New Amsterdam United Anns Grove Northern Rangers Mahaica Determinators

Letter to the Sport Editor Investigation of financial operations of AAG should be launched Dear Editor, I shudder to think that when electing a President/Leader of any sports organisation, the factors that go along with being a good President are not taken into consideration.

I say this against the backdrop that when Mr. (Aubrey) Hutson was elected to head the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), his background was overlooked as a former President of ECDFA (East Coast Demerara Football Association). I guess there were high expectations from the organised clubs that voted for him, but instead after four years in office, there is absolutely nothing that the athletes locally or abroad can boast about.

A careful review would reveal that the sport of Track and Field has declined to the stage where Mr. Hutson can be credited with being the worst President in the history of the sport in Guyana.

Mr. Hutson gave a paltry explanation on national television (Edwin Seeraj Show on NCN) last year as to why he micromanages the association, despite having two distinguished gentlemen as Vice-Presidents, namely now Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton and Colonel Arthur of the Guyana Defence Force. This I see as gross disrespect and gateway to commit acts of skulduggery.

The fact that an elected Treasurer and then an appointed Treasurer called it quits during his tenure

justifies my point.

With elections just around the corner, I am hopeful that the eligible clubs would recognise the need to elect a President and council members, who possess the ability to take the sport of athletics to the next level where we once were.

This means that Council members must not only depend on accompanying teams overseas (Trips), but must have and display at all times the desire to move the sport forward. During Mr. Hutson’s tenure, there was no development for athletes but an obvious degeneration.

No new competitions, no training programmes for athletes to benefit and worst of all no submission of a plan toward the 2020 Olympic Games.

One can safely say that had it not been for the InterServices Meet, The Boyce & Jefford Track meet and now the Aliann Pompey Invitational, the sport of track and field would have died naturally. A look back at the South American 10k Road Race is another indication of poor administration; the race attracted the lowest turnout in the history of the race, approximately 43 competitors overall.

There are many issues that Mr. Hutson should clear up before the Elections. For instance: (1) Why the absence of an audited financial statement from the association for the past three years? (2) How was the US$25,000 received from the South American body for the Aliann Pompey

Invitational spent?

(3) After almost two months, why are the officials and service providers of the South American 10k race still awaiting payment when the IAAF funding for the race comes to the AAG weeks in advance?

(4) Why was the Masters’ category dropped from the South American 10k race?

(5) Why were the officials not rewarded for the Ainlim 10k race?

(6) Why was an official not disciplined for causing a national team to miss its flight, which resulted in the loss of much-needed finance?

(7) What caused an official to not attend a seminar overseas, which again resulted in loss of finance?

(8) I heard of allegations of a robbery committed against Mr. Huston on Basil Bradshaw programme. What is the status of these allegations and are there any fact in them?

(9) Why has Mr. Hutson moved the office of the AAG from Olympic House to his personal office in Alberttown?

(10) Why has the AAG not received any funding from the IAAF for 2015, which is received in 2016?

Wi t h t h e s e i s s u e s outstanding, it would be a serious misgiving for clubs to re-elect Mr. Hutson as AAG President.

Respectfully, Local Athletics Coach (Name and contact provided)

Serena Williams of the U.S. bites her finger during a training session ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, January 11, 2017. (REUTERS/David Gray) SYDNEY (Reuters) For the last few years the main question regarding the women’s draw at the Australian Open has been who or what can prevent Serena Williams from adding to her impressive collection of Melbourne Park titles.

The answer for most of that time has been injury and, until proved otherwise, most deem it wise to continue working on the assumption that, even if not fully fit, Williams remains more than a match for any player on the women’s circuit.

So, although the 35year-old is seeded second, has played two matches in the last four months — losing one — and has drawn a tricky assignment in Belinda Bencic in round one, she is still favourite to secure her seventh Australian Open crown.

Success would mean a 23rd grand slam singles title for the American, allowing Williams to pull clear of German Steffi Graf as the most decorated women’s singles player in the professional era.

Williams lost the number one ranking when she was beaten by Karolina Pliskova in the U.S. Open semi-finals last September and, wrestling with a shoulder problem, did not play again until last week’s Auckland Classic.

The rankings beneficiary

was German Angelique Kerber, who also took away her Australian Open crown with a brilliant performance in last year’s final.

In the absence of 2008 champion Maria Sharapova, who is serving out the remainder of a doping ban, and twice winner Victoria Azarenka, who has just had a baby, top seed Kerber again looks like being the most likely to threaten Williams’s dominance.

The 28-year-old reached the final of three of the four grand slams last year, adding a second grand slam title when she beat Pliskova to win the U.S. Open, and a second Melbourne crown would move her further away from the pack.

While her warm-up performances have been unimpressive, Kerber could have a reasonably easy ride in the opening round against 61st-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, who withdrew from the Hobart International with a viral illness on Friday.

Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska has little grand slam pedigree beyond a single appearance in the Wimbledon final and will have to pick herself up after a humbling experience in Friday’s Sydney International final.

The 27-year-old Pole was quite simply blown off the court by Britain’s world

number 10 Johanna Konta, who went on a fairytale run to the Melbourne semifinals last year and looks a reasonable bet to go deep into the tournament this year.

Spain’s seventh seed Garbine Muguruza, who also owns a grand slam crown after her French Open triumph last year, will open her account against 109thranked New Zealander Marina Erakovic.

Even if she has never been past the fourth round in Melbourne, the 23-year-old Muguruza feels the year’s first grand slam is a little more open this year.

“It is a little bit more equal than last year,” she told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

“There are a lot of girls that can hold the trophy (so) it is going to be a big battle to see who is the best in these two weeks.”

Simona Halep, Pliskova and WTA Tour finals champion Dominika Cibulkova, who lost to Li Na in the 2014 final, are other top 10 seeds who might fancy their chances of picking up a first grand slam crown.

Local hopes still rest largely on the tortured shou l d e r s o f S a m Stosur, who beat Wi l l i a m s t o w i n t h e 2011 U .S . O pen but has not been pas t the third round of her home grand slam since 2010.

Kaieteur News

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Saturday January 14, 2017

Rabada, Philander peg back Sri Lanka in third test (Reuters) Two wickets each for li v e l y S o u t h African seamers Kagiso R a b a d a a n d Ve r n o n Philander left Sri Lanka reeling on 80 for four in their first innings when bad l i g h t b r o u g h t a premature end on day two of the third and final test a t t h e Wa n d e r e r s yesterday.

Sri Lanka still trail South Africa by 346 on a wicket with plenty of pace, bounce and sideways movement, and will rely on the experienced duo of skipper Angelo Mathews (11 not out) and Dinesh Chandimal (3 not out) to rescue the innings.

The tourists had fought superbly to get themselves back into the game in the first two sessions of the day, restricting South Africa to 426 all out from their overnight 338 for three.

Yet with Rabada (2-26) and Philander (2-23) beating

the bat at will on a responsive wicket, the tourists face a mighty challenge to stay in the game.

Philander struck first when he removed opener Dimuth Karunaratne for a duck in the first over as he edged to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and later had Dhananjaya de Silva caught by Temba Bavuma at point for 10.

Rabada got sharp lift off the wicket and claimed his first scalp when he forced an edge from Kaushal Silva to De Kock when on 13, before a steep bouncer to Kusal Mendis (41) looped off a glove to JP Duminy.

Earlier, a magnificent spell of hostile fast bowling before lunch from Nuwan Pradeep (4-78) ripped through the South Africa middle-order as he recorded figures of four wickets for 15 runs in seven overs.

Pradeep claimed the

prized w ickets of home s kipper F af du P les s is (16) as he s quared him up and M endis held on to a catch at s econd s lip.

T h e m b a B a v u m a ’s wretched run continued when he was caught in the slips by Silva off Pradeep two balls later for a duck, before the tourists snared the big wicket of Hashim Amla for 134.

Amla had completed the rare feat of scoring a century in his 100th test but Pradeep brought the magnificent innings to a close when he coaxed an edge to Chandimal.

The seamer grabbed his fourth wicket when he had Philander caught by the wicketkeeper for a duck.

Scores: Sri Lanka 80 for 4 (Mathews 11*, Chandimal 3*) trail South Africa 426 (Duminy 155, Amla 134, Pradeep 4-78, Kumara 4107) by 346 runs.

Kagiso Rabada struck twice after tea, South Africa v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Johannesburg, 2nd day, ©AFP

Record stand lifts Bangladesh as New Zealand fade in first test

Shakib Al Hasan celebrates his double-ton, New Zealand v Bangladesh, 1st Test, Wellington, 2nd day, ©Getty Images (Reuters) Shakib Al Hasan stroked the highest individual score for Bangladesh and combined with Mushfiqur Rahim in a record partnership on the second day of the first test against New Zealand at

the Basin Reserve yesterday.

Shakib (217) and captain Mushfiqur (159) stubbornly denied New Zealand in perfect conditions at the Basin Reserve as they produced

a 359-run fifth-wicket partnership and batted their side into a position where they are unlikely to lose the game.

The previous highest partnership for any wicket for Bangladesh

was the 312 by Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes for the first wicket against Pakistan at Khulna in April, 2015.

Shakib brought up his double century, just the third by a Bangladeshi batsman,

when h e p u n c h e d a Colin de G randhomme delivery behind s quare for his 30th boundary, t h e n s u r p a s s e d Tamim’s record s core of 206 w ith a push for a single to mid-off.

A weary Shakib eventually chopped a Neil Wagner delivery on about 15 minutes before the close of play before the visitors ended the day on 542 for seven, with Sabbir Rahman 10 not out after Mehedi Hasan was caught off the last ball for a duck.

Thursday’s first day was disrupted by regular bouts of rain and then bad light, with the visitors l a y i n g a s o l i d foundation of 154-3 after being asked to bat on a green-tinged pitch.

Shakib was on five when play resumed on Friday with Mominul Haque on 64.

Mominul, however, did not add to his overnight score when he was caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling off Tim Southee to reduce the visitors to 160-4, though that was N e w Z e a l a n d ’s o n l y

success until late in the final session.

Both Shakib and Mushfiqur brought up their centuries before tea, with the former tucking a Wagner delivery off his legs for a single and the latter guiding a Southee ball down to third man for his 17th boundary.

Shakib had a let off on 137 when he appeared to have been caught by a diving Watling down the leg side, but television replays showed the ball had momentarily touched the ground as the wicketkeeper landed and the batsman was recalled.

He was also dropped by a diving Ross Taylor at backward point on 189 from Trent Boult, who eventually ended the pair ’s stand about 40 minutes before stumps when he had Mushfiqur caught behind by Watling.

Ban g l a d e s h ’s previous record for the fifth wicket was 267 that M u s h f i q u r a n d Mohammad Ashraful scored against Sri Lanka in Galle in March, 2013.

Scores: Bangladesh 542 for 7 (Shakib 217, Mushfiqur 159) v New Zealand.

Saturday January 14, 2017

Kaieteur News

PAGE 35

Alpha and Slingerz axing from Caribbean Club C’ship

CONCACAF President promises to fully flush all information following Urling’s email The swift intervention of former Chairman of the FIFA appointed Normalisation Committee that brought Guyana’s football back from being banished has gained the attention of CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani.

Following the axing of both Slingerz FC and Alpha United by CONCACAF based on a letter sent to the confederation by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in December 2016 (pointing out that the clubs were not in good standing with the GFF), the confederation notified the GFF on January 9, 2017 last that the said clubs have been removed from the Caribbean Club Championship which they had qualified for as the top two clubs following the conclusion of the inaugural

season of the STAG Elite League, 2015/2016.

Slingerz and Alpha along with two other clubs (Pele FC and Georgetown Football Club) had disagreed with the GFF on their move to add two more clubs to the existing eight, a move which the clubs deemed, unconstitutional.

CONCACAF had also weighed in and stated in a letter that the federation executive was within its right to alter the composition of the league as they saw fit.

Urling himself weighed in on the issue pointing out that it was startling that CONCACAF had arrived at such a course of action unilaterally without giving either club the opportunity of a hearing.

Such is the concern of Urling that he penned an

Clinton Urling email to CONCACAF President Montagliani on January 12, 2017 pointing out his concerns on the matter and urging the CONCACAF boss’ intervention to review the matter noting that the

Wayne Forde foo t b a l l f r a t e r n i t y i n Guyana is disappointed that Guyana would not be represented at the Caribbean Club Championships.

Montagliani responded to Urling’s email on January

13, 2017, thanking him for the information sent. ”As with correct procedural matter we will through our Member Associations department along with Fifa work with the Member Association to fully flush all

Victor Montagliani pertinent information.”

Both emails were copied to GFF President, Wayne Forde.

There might yet be hope for a positive turn around for the sake of Guyana’s football. Time will tell.

Bolt, Thompson nominated for Laureus awards Usain Bolt nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman-of-the-Year award again.

Elaine Thompson gets her first Laureus World Sportswoman-of-the-Year nomination.

LONDON, CMC – Track & field legend Usain Bolt and compatriot Elaine Thompson were among nominees for the prestigious Laureus World Sports awards.

Bolt has been nominated for the World Sportsmanof-the-Year and Thompson has made the cut for the World Sportswoman-ofthe-Year.

Bolt, a three-time winner of the World Sportsman-ofthe-Year award, successfully defended his Olympic 100 metres, 200 metres and

4x100m relay titles to leave Rio as one of the biggest heroes of the 2016 Olympic Games.

The 30-year-old Jamaican previously won the award in 2009, 2010 and 2013 – and faces a stiff challenge to collect it again.

Rio Olympics 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Mo Farah and tennis gold medal winner Andy Murray have been shortlisted, along with football megastar Ronaldo and NBA basketball superstars Lebron James and

Stephen Curry.

Thompson is one of six Olympic champions n o m i n a t e d f o r Sportswoman-of-the-Year award. The 24-year-old Jamaican became a household name, following her commanding sprintdouble capture of the 100 and 200 titles in Rio. It is her first nomination for the award.

The contest for the Sportswoman-of-the-Year award also promises to be very competitive.

Challenging her are a trio of

Americans – gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Katie Ledecky and quartermile silver medallist Allyson Felix – as well as World tennis No.1 Angelique Kerber of Germany and British cyclist Laura Kenny.

In another competitive category, Mercedes AMG Petronas are nominated for the third straight year for the World Team-of-the-Year award, along with three football teams – European champions Portugal, Champions League winners Real Madrid and Neymar-

inspired Olympic gold medal winners Brazil. The Chicago Cubs, who won their first baseball World Series for 108 years, and NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers, are also shortlisted.

Laureus also presents awards for Comeback-ofthe-Year, Breakthrough-ofthe-Year whose nominees includes Nico Rosberg, retired Formula 1 racing teammate of Lewis Hamilton, Sports Personality-of-the-Year with a Disability and Action

Sports Personality-of-theYear.

For the first time ever, sports fans will have the chance to make their voices heard in a brand new category – Best Sporting Moment-of-the-Year award which will celebrate the power of sport.

The nominees were selected following a ballot by the world’s sports media.

The winners will be announced at the Laureus Wo r l d S p o r t s Aw a r d s ceremony on 14 February in Monaco.

t r o Sp Final Super50 practice game

Shiv (87), Bramble (95) Barnwell (56) hit fifties Johnson’s X1 win by 90 runs

Anthony Bramble smashes Raun Johnson for four before falling off the last ball for 95 yesterday. (Photos by Sean Devers)

Tagenarine Chanderpaul goes over the top against Raymon Reifer yesterday during his 85. (Photos by Sean Devers)

Twenty-seven coaches receive CONCACAF course certificates

The successful participants in the Goalkeeping D License course display their Certificates.

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