Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
Mr. Sharma needs to be better informed DEAR EDITOR, Just a quick response to the assertions in PD Sharma’s letter “The outlandish content in those letters should have been edited out” (KN, Jan-13). Mr. Sharma states, “It is no wonder that no political party would want to be publicly associated with Mr. Johnson, even the party he supports, and even if he is the unofficial culture spokesperson of the party.” While I was AFC’s Cultural Policy Advisor in the elections of 2011, I am not now or I have I ever been a member of any political party, no r h a v e I s o u g h t acknowledgement or latitude from any. My pronouncements on cultural policy requi r e no
endorsement other than my own - when it was that the AFC, provided with inadequate information by Anthony, offered de facto support of the Minister’s budgetary allocation of the Culture and Arts fund, I publicly challenged them and the party leadership was magnanimous to take my criticisms into consideration. The Minister ’s letter was a weak attempt to salvage his crumbling public image, and he sought to appear gracious even as he tried to paint me as his “sole critic”, and one with a grudge. This week alone, in addition to the my “overbearing salvos” on the Caribbean Press, Frank Anthony has to deal with
Parliamentary questions on the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall being used a slaughterhouse for goats, has been at odds with his National Drama Festival Director over the National Cultural Centre’s upkeep, and participants in the NDF accusing him of underpaying them (over a month behind schedule) for a privately funded festival. Mr. Sharma may consider the following quote from their official statement, signed by 30 people: “At the time of writing, closer inspection has revealed that it appears that as much as $600,000 of prize money is missing from our collective winnings. Coming out of the festival, members of Lichas Hall – Linden’s version of the Theatre Guild – discovered
A degrading, disrespectful and life-contaminating experience DEAR EDITOR, I could not help tearing up while reading an article in last Friday’s edition of the Kaieteur News (Jan 10th ) about a 23 year old gentleman who was reportedly brutalized and sodomised with a police baton by a police officer at the Timehri Police Station. My younger brother, my cousins, all the males in my life and my unborn sons immediately came to mind. The truth was that this could have been anyone’s relative, including mine. What a degrading, disrespectful and life- contaminating experience! Are these police officers out to protect us citizens or are we the citizenry pawns in a game of chess, expendable with no real worth? Are these police officers human beings? Life in Guyana has become, and continues to get so difficult, it is like a friend of mine often says; “you got to have skills to live in GT.” The police have grown to become the citizens’ biggest fear. We protest for what we want, they are sent to look over us and given the word, shoot us down, take bribes, run into our homes as if they help pay our rent or bought the stuff there, and most notably, exercise their power in the most unprofessional ways. For us who know what is happening in Guyana we all know the catalyst behind this behaviour and action, but when will it stop? When will citizens feel comfortable and secure in their own country? I believe that a lot of the despicable things happening in this
country are because of this ‘whatever goes, one-sided culture under which Guyanese are being ruled.’ I feel so deeply for this young man and many others who have become victims of this worn out and most times irrelevant police force. The whole country knows that the police force needs reworking except for our leaders. It is no wonder the Home Affairs Minister said that Guyana has no security crisis, he might not have one since he enjoys the security we the citizens pay for.
I however hope to hear the Minister speak out on this issue, along with human rights organizations and mothers across Guyana. I implore the family of this young man to take to the streets and demand justice and sue this uncaring system if they have to. It is obvious that the citizens of Guyana stand alone and we have been abandoned by our political leaders. Come on Guyanese, come on. Let us come together and take Guyana back! Elyza Henry
The Minister needs... From page 4 creators of these foolish rules living in??? This is the 21st century. I fully support the observations of the artists of the Drama Festival (letter in press on 13/1/14) and feel it is time for professional respect be shown to all performing artists. I close by giving kudos to the Ministry for the National Drama Festival in which I participated and now have the pleasure of being a judge and the National School of Drama in which I am a Tutor. I hope the standard and level of these two much needed programmes improve with years and help to advance the quality and standard of theatre in Guyana. It should be mandatory for all staff of the NCC to attend the Drama School or recruit new staff from the school. I have written numerous unacknowledged letters, left many unreturned phone messages and suffered cancelled appointments, over the years in an effort to sit down and discuss these matters with the Minister. I remain at his service should he wish to draw on my experience. Gem Madhoo-Nascimento
that an annual subvention for the Hall has been in the Ministry’s budget since 2008. This would be great news if it weren’t for the fact that Lichas Hall up until very recently knew nothing of the subvention and has no record of ever being in receipt of the funds allocated to them. There are also fees due to Lichas Hall for use of the facility during the Linden leg of the festival.” The Minister has attempted to use the reputable people who volunteered to work on the Caribbean Press as a shield for his own mismanagement and lack of accountability that is what is besmirching the reputations of those persons, who were involved in the press operations, not my questioning of the Minister. As to how I want to be ‘remembered’ - even as I continue to write and publish my own work, I have recognised that writers in Guyana can benefit from a far better environment than the one the government, the Ministry of Culture in particular, is preparing for them. As a national man of letters, it is not only my duty
to engage in literary activity to probe at the deeper problems which ail us, it is also my duty to actively challenge abusive authority, particularly when its ‘leadership’ believe that they are above criticism as Anthony clearly does. Borges wrote, “Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of
caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking... Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer.” I acknowledge Mr. Sharma’s past praise and present advice, and hence humbly suggest that he be better informed before he goes out on a limb to make as assertive the comments that he has had in his letter. Ruel Johnson
This is the height of executive lawlessness DEAR EDITOR, I read with concern your article “New criteria tailored to favour New GPC…opposition unable to prevent its implementation – Granger.” Mr. Editor this is now the height of eye pass to this nation that the Government, in its bid to ensure the cash flow to new GPC headed by the controversial figure Dr Bobby Ramroop, the Ministry of Health devised a ploy to continue to hand him billions every year. Surely the Minister of Health must now explain to this nation why this is being done. Can he really justify this latest scandal that Kaieteur News has exposed? No less a person that President Donald Ramotar himself should explain this executive lawlessness. I await their explanations. Patricia Looknauth
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Alleged police brutality, sodomy…
Victim seeks $100M in damages By Rabindra Rooplall and Tiffanne Ramphal Sharon Harding, the mother of the 23-year-old who was allegedly brutalized by a policeman stationed at Timehri Police Station, has initiated the legal process of suing the Guyana Police Force for the assault and injury caused to her son. The woman and her son, Colwyn Harding, are being represented by the Hughes, Fields and Stoby Law Firm. She is demanding the institution of criminal charges and compensation in the sum of $100 Million. Attorney-atLaw Nigel Hughes has informed that the demand, in written form, was delivered to the Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell on Monday last. According to the suit filed, “the Guyana Police Force has infringed the guaranteed constitutional rights of our client to protection from inhumane treatment and protection of his right to personal liberty.” The document made reference to a recent decision made by a senior High Court Judge, Honourable Justice William Ramlal, who had awarded the sum of $2Million to be paid for the wrongful detention of a citizen who had
Colwyn Harding
been detained without being placed in a cell for four hours. It was further stated that the State offered to pay $500,000 for the four hours and noted that on that judicial pronouncement, a citizen is entitled to $12Million for each day of his wrongful detention. “We are instructed to point out that given what the Attorney General acting on your (Brumell) behalf was prepared to pay the sum of $500,000 for four hours detention, this computes to the sum of $3,000,000 per day for the wrongful detention, then our client is entitled no less for just his detention.”
Further, in addition to the wrongful four-day detention, the gravity of the situation and the failure of the Guyana Police Force to act were cited, resulting in the demand for compensation in the amount of $100 Million. The Police Commissioner was, in the letter, cautioned that failure to comply with the request within seventy-two hours of receipt will result in the institution of constitutional and other processions without further notice. The story was broken last week Friday by Kaieteur News. Meanwhile, Hughes
informed that the case against Harding was called at the Providence Magistrates’ Court on Monday last on counts of assaulting a peace officer and disorderly conduct. He was placed on bail in the sum of $50,000 for the offences since November 15. Hughes said that his family was unable to raise the sum and he was remanded to prison. However, currently he is under guard at the hospital where he remains a patient. Regarding the Constable who performed the act against Harding, Kaieteur News was informed that the Police Commissioner said that he has been transferred from the Timehri Police Station pending the outcome of the investigation. According to
Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes him, an Officer of Professional Responsibility is investigating the matter. At the same time, Hughes
informed that “the victim’s (Harding) defense team have commenced their own independent investigation with a view of filing private criminal charges in the event that the Police fail to institute any criminal charges by next week Wednesday.” Harding claims that on Friday, November 15, 2013, he was violently assaulted by several police officers at a home in Timehri North where he was staying at the time, and later at the Timehri Police Station. He alleges that he was beaten by a Constable and other officers into a state of unconsciousness twice, and was sodomised by a condomcovered baton resulting in serious injury to his intestines.
AFC condemns “horrific brutalization” of Colwyn Harding The following is the full text of a statement released by the Alliance For Change (AFC) on the alleged police brutality issue involving Colwyn Harding: “The Alliance For Change like most Guyanese learnt of the horrific brutalization of another Guyanese young man, Colwyn Anthony Harding, aged 23 of 1A Laing Avenue, West Ruimveldt, when we read a report in Kaieteur News a few days ago. We note that this event is now a regular occurrence in Guyana and is another in a long lists of assaults and injustices meted out to young Guyanese men who by way of their economic circumstances are taken advantage of by what can only be described as sick, power hungry, barbaric inhumane individuals within the Guyana Police Force, and who ironically are charged with the responsibility to “protect and serve” the
citizens of this country. We note with increasing alarm that the level of brutality inflicted by rogue elements in the Force is increasing and that the Police Commissioner, Mr. Leroy Brumell and the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, have continually failed to discharge their legal responsibility to investigate criminal activity perpetuated by officers of the Guyana Police Force. In the case of Colwyn Harding, the Commissioner of Police has failed to take action on an event which took place in November and today the victim lies critical in a bed at the Georgetown Hospital with feces oozing out of his protruding intestines, after a police officers’ baton was shoved up his anus. Brutal as it is, these are the facts that the AFC has ascertained took place and we feel it is important for all Guyanese to understand the depths to
which we have sunk as a people. Colwyn Anthony Harding was arrested on the 15th day of November 2013 at a house in Timehri North. A party of policemen and members of the community-policing group visited the house he and his girlfriend were staying and kicked down the door. They claimed that he had stolen some articles from a resident. The group included an Inspector, Corporal Lowe and Constable Singh, who searched the house found nothing of evidential value. Constable Singh then said that he was going to bugger Harding and videotape it. Harding said that he was not a girl and there was no way in which he was going to let that happen. Singh then took his baton and hit Harding repeatedly until he fell unconscious. Harding regained consciousness in the Continued on page 12
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
More flooding as heavy showers strike coastal areas
Scenes from yesterday’s flood in Georgetown (Photos by Dwayne Hackett)
Several parts of the city and a few villages along the East Coast of Demerara were flooded, as heavy rains and cloudy skies dominated the weather pattern for the last 24 hours. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, ‘moderate heavy showers’ are expected to continue today, over Regions One to Five. “Other regions can expect mostly cloudy skies with moderate showers. Thundershowers are likely over some coastal areas,” the Ministry said in a press release last evening. The statement explained that rainfall is expected to range between 20.0 mm and 60.0 mm over the aforementioned regions, with the highest expected over Regions Two, Three and Four. Other regions can expect rainfall values between 5.0 mm and 20.0 mm. Yesterday’s highest rainfall figure was at 84.4 mm in Georgetown. The Agriculture Ministry advised that tomorrow (Thursday), there will be mostly cloudy skies with occasional “light to moderate showers” over coastal areas, while other regions are expected to have cloudy skies with scattered showers. “Rainfall amounts are likely between 20.0 mm and 40.0 mm over coastal areas. The highest is expected over
Regions Two, Three and Four, while the other regions can expect values between 5.0 mm and 15.0 mm,” the Ministry said. Meanwhile, as of last evening, residents of La Penitence, Georgetown, and its neighbouring wards became very worried after the community’s koker was shut tight, leaving several areas flooded, even as the flood waters began to recede. As of press time, residents were attempting to rectify the problem. In late November last, a few days of flooding, due to heavy rain, brought the city to a standstill, with more than 42 schools being closed, and several businesses having to cease operations. Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had described that period of rainfall as being the most intense the country has ever recorded during a six-hour period. Shortly after, the Government via Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, blamed the Guyana Hydrometeorological Office for failing to provide timely warning. During the time of the last flood, several water pumps in and around the city were not in working condition. This was despite the government expending billions of dollars on drainage
and irrigation systems. The 2012 budget had said that government pumped $7.1 billion into this area. In the 2013 budget, a total of $6.5 billion was budgeted for the final payments towards the acquisition of fixed irrigation pumps, the construction, and rehabilitation of pumps and pump stations in Regions Three, Four, Five, and Six. According to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), 11 sluices in Georgetown were operational, and had been properly discharging excess water into the Demerara River. In addition, only three of the five city pumps were in working order. Although yesterday was a national holiday and many businesses were originally closed, owners of a number of entities in the city did not hesitate in implementing precautionary measures. Meanwhile, some twelve city schools will be closed today due to the current conditions. The schools listed by the Ministry of Education are: Tutorial High, Comenius Primary, St. Gabriel’s Primary, Queenstown Secondary, St. Ambrose Primary, The Bishops’ High, St. Rose’s High, St. Agnes Primary, East R/veldt Secondary, St. Sidwell’s Primary, South Road Nursery and Happy Hearts Nursery
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
PNM playing politics with crime, says AG Trinidad Express Attorney General Anand Ramlogan claimed yesterday that the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) lacked political will to fight crime and there was the view that this was a coded message to people to “mash up the place”. Ramlogan was a guest on CNMG’s First Up morning programme, with host Paul Richards, where he criticised the Opposition for not supporting the Bail Bill and the Government’s anti-crime measures. “I want to make the point—the PNM will not support any crime-fighting measure here in this country, because they, as far as they are concerned, they are banking their political fortunes on the crime rate getting worse,” said Ramlogan. Richards then asked whether the AG was suggesting or stating that the PNM was playing politics with crime. Said Ramlogan: “They absolutely are, that is why they are not supporting the bail amendment, and rasing spurious arguments about its constitutionality when they did the same thing with the ‘strikes and you are out’, that is why they voted down the death penalty bill we brought to Parliament.” He went on to say that the PNM’s political fortunes were linked to the crime rate. “In fact, in some quarters, Paul, on the ground, I don’t believe it, but on the ground, people are saying that it is as if the PNM has sent a
Anand Ramlogan message to their troops on the ground...well, look, mash up the place,” said Ramlogan. Richards replied: “Well, that’s a very strong statement, that’s suggesting that the PNM has connection with some irreverent activities and irreverent individuals who may be committing crimes.” Ramlogan said: “Well, it’s a bit like Abu Bakr saying ‘don’t loot’,” during the 1990 attempted coup. The Express later contacted Ramlogan by phone and asked him to clarify his statements, which he said were made in the context of the lack of political will on the part of the PNM in supporting crime-fighting legislation. “They have a responsibility to their constituents and to the country to make their presence felt on the crime and work with the Government to ensure crime is reduced in those areas, but you can only
see them at the funerals for dignitaries...they have virtually abandoned those vulnerable communities and use them for when it is politically convenient...it is in that context I said there are some on the ground who feel that the PNM had turned their back on the people as if to send a coded signal to mash up the place,” said Ramlogan. The PNM, he said, says one thing and does another. He said the Opposition had indicated that they would support the death penalty but voted against it. Ramlogan added that the PNM also refused to support the Bail Amendment Bill, which refused bail based on one strike, when they were the ones who introduced the three strikes and no bail system. He added that the Opposition refused to support the bill to give soldiers police powers on the grounds that they were trained to kill. “As if the bandits are aiming for people’s shoulders and toes...their actions betray their words. “When last have you seen a PNM MP attend a wedding, wake or funeral and sit down and talk to the youths to tell them to change because they can become a better citizen. They are virtually absent from their constituencies as if they have condemned it as a killing field or graveyard,” he added. “Their silence and absence from their own constituencies can easily be misinterpreted as political encouragement or, worse yet, dereliction of duty,” said Ramlogan.
TCI former premier released on bail PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands – CMC - Former Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) premier, Michael Misick, has been released on conditional bail by the TCI Supreme Court , according to a statement from the Governor’s Office. The Office said that the bail terms would remain private. But one newspaper reported that Misick’s bail had been set at US$10 million, and 10 persons, all TCI nationals had come forward as sureties with land and buildings valued at just over US$12 million. Misick, who was extradited from Brazil last week, is due to re-appear in court on March 7 for a sufficiency hearing. Misick’s bail application was initially rejected by a Magistrate last week before being accepted on appeal by the Turks and Caicos Supreme Court.
But while bail had been agreed, the conditions were not met, and he was remanded in custody at Her Majesty’s Prison Grand Turk, from where he was released Monday. The allegations of corruption against the 47year-old former government leader, stem from the findings of the 2008/2009 Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry which found widespread misuse of government funds and property. Misick, who has maintained his innocence, had sought political asylum in Brazil, claiming that he was unfairly targeted by British authorities. The one-man Commission of Inquiry had found there was “a high probability of systemic corruption in government and the legislature and among public officers in the Turks & Caicos Islands”. In the wake of this Inquiry, London
TCI former premier released on bail instructed the TCI Governor to suspend part of the Constitution and Misick’s then elected government was removed and replaced by an interim administration. In 2012, the Progressive National party (PNP) led by Dr. Rufus Ewing won the general election
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
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How we reached this state of affairs Shame is a terrible burden to carry, and at most times, almost impossible to admit. One way of dealing with or avoiding shame is to deflect it by blaming others. Take for example the situation with respect to Georgetown. The unsanitary and disordered state of the city, the flooding and the garbage pile-up, the
squatting on reserves and the illegal vending is not an overnight phenomenon. These conditions were not created under the PPPC government. Long before free and fair elections were held in 1992, the city had deteriorated. The City Council, which is responsible for the maintenance of municipal
services had failed to collect garbage on a regular basis, failed to keep the drains clean, failed to keep the pavements clear, failed to maintain the cemetery and failed to even spend enough on its own headquarters, City Hall. Garbage had begun to pile-up to the extent that residents were forced to light bonfires to burn their
Dem boys seh
De police and de Bees b****ring people Is sad when a man got to walk away from he wuk and he got to shake he head in distress. This man might do plenty good things all he life; people does only remember de one bad thing that he lef de wuk wid. Is de same thing mek people only remember Henry de Yellow for a rape accusation. He was de commissioner when de same police burn de li’l boy penis. Nutten ain’t happen to dem policemen. Only de head of de station get transfer to wuk at a juvenile prison in de city. When Brumell tek over de wuk he come wid a clean slate. Now he got police who push a baton up a man and smile. De man in hospital and de
police quiet. Brumell claim how he transfer de policeman. Dem boys want to know if de police does always move one problem from one place to de next. This policeman get a chance fuh do he lawlessness to another person in another location. De thing wha get dem boys vex is that all dem who claim that dem can investigate suddenly expose dem self. Now people know why de police got a hard time to solve any crime. De judge who does handle complain fail to handle this complain. And Brumell sitting at de top of de force. He was de one who cry when he get de wuk and is now dem boys know why he
cry. He see shame and couldn’t do nutten. Now dem boys seh that dem would like to see he and de judge get de same treatment wha de police corporal do to de man. And dem boys seh that it look like de police love to mess wid men backyard. Dem also wonder about dem policemen married life. Of course dem police tek dem action from de leaders. That is how dem been treating de nation. De people know that dem big one was b****ring dem. This man suing fuh wha de police do to him. Dem boys want sue dem Bees on de same grounds. Talk half and protect you tail from de police.
household waste, because it was no longer being collected regularly. Roads were heavily potholed to the extent that a major road-rebuilding project had to be launched by the incoming government in order to repair these roads which were the responsibility of the City Council. Lands aback of the cemetery were converted into a dumpsite. It was a perennial eyesore and almost to its last days, unmanageable. The physical condition of markets had begun to deteriorate and vendors had begun their influx and occupation along the pavements of the city and outside of the bus parks. The state of Georgetown did not decline under the PPPC. It is not the PPPC which is responsible for the state of the city. In fact had the PPP not spend the billions that it spent on municipal roads in the wards of the city, most of these would have been impassible today. Had the government not intervened and repaired the pumps, the flooding situation would have been dire a long time ago. A few years ago, just a few years ago, there was a big public outcry over the state of the cemetery in the city. The council charges citizens for burial plots but fails to maintain these plots.
The cemetery soon became impassible. It was turned into a jungle with huge trees and overgrowth concealing the tombs. Persons turned up on Mother’s Day only to pay their respect to their loved ones. But they could not penetrate the jungle to locate the tombs of their loved ones. Many left in tears, frustrated and hurt. The government intervened and cleared the heavy overgrowth which the Council had found so difficult to do. A helping hand had been lent to the Council and it was for them to restore the cemetery from which thousands are collected for each spot. The cemetery has returned to the jungle. The fetid material that exists in most drains and alleyways today have been there for years and successive attempts at cleaning them have not been maintained by the Council which has always had the resources to pay contractors to undertake these works but has never been able to ensure sustained and routine cleaning after the contracted gangs had dredged the drains and the alleyways. Desmond Hoyte, the former President of Guyana, did not mince words when it came to his assessment of the Council, which included
some of his party’s own councilors. He considered the Council as having failed and felt they should all be removed. He was forced to ask someone from the private sector to undertake cleaning of the city. This is the extent to which he had lost confidence in the ability of the Council to fulfill its mandate. When people therefore seek to blame the PPPC for the present state of the city, they are not simply ignoring who it is that has ultimate responsibility for the state of the city. They are at times also ignoring the process that led to this state of affairs and at other times they are simply deflecting the shame that is felt, because the parties they supported have proven so incompetent in administering the capital. This failure is the source of shame that they wish to be deflected. Instead of deafening cries for the Council to go, especially in light of the incessant flooding of the city, there continues this shameless charade of calling on the government and its officials to take the blame.
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN
Will there be democratic opening in 2014? If you look into history at the pattern of democratic redirections in authoritarian structures where a tyrannical party sought to dilute its repression and open up, the transformation never came without a change of personnel. The two phenomenal examples were the USSR under Nikita Khrushchev and China under Deng Xiaoping. In those two countries, internal leadership changes led to political openings. The same happened again in the USSR where the death of the party boss made the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev possible. Fidel Castro is a zealous oppositionist to any form of free enterprise. Once he had remained at the top, Cuba would not have allowed the forms of small private enterprises that are on show today. The search for a contrary
pattern is very hard to find and maybe the law of human nature explains why. Once the dictatorial party remains in the hands of the same aging faces, group-think takes over and transformation becomes impossible. Perhaps the greatest example of progressive redirection in the Caribbean is the death of Burnham and the rise of Desmond Hoyte. In Guyana, the PPP is not your run-of-the-mill, undemocratic organization. This is a closed, Stalinist structure with pellucid characteristics of messianism and paranoia. The Jagans have left with the PPP the instinct of PPP greatness and its destiny to own Guyana. In the PPP’s experience of Guyanese organizations opposing this megalomania, the PPP has incorporated into its psychology the process of
paranoia. The PPP hierarchy, from Cheddi Jagan, right down to the hard-working third tier leadership, is afraid of open criticism. Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan had to be ostracized, because there was fear that their outspokenness would cause the weakening of the government. President Cheddi Jagan himself expressed this fear to Khemraj Ramjattan when Ramjattan called for the retirement of Police Commissioner Laurie Lewis. To date, Ralph Ramkarran has not written about the occurrences inside that fateful meeting of the executive committee that led to his resignation. One powerful apparatchik told Ramkarran to his face that his column on corruption would invite attacks on the PPP, thereby threatening the
PPP’s hold on power. Mr. Ramkarran cannot deny this. If the paranoid streak did not exist in the PPP and the PPP was a less tyrannical party, Ralph Ramkarran’s anticorruption article would have been discussed, with the meeting ending in hugs and kisses, and Ramkarran would have remained in the hierarchy. Any political observer hoping for glasnost from the PPP in 2014 will be disappointed. The out-of-control paranoia will prevent any kind of democratization. The 2011 election results have virtually sealed the fate of the PPP. If ever the paranoia went out of control, it was after the loss of the parliamentary majority. For the PPP, the removal from power is a ghost that haunts it every day. The PPP fears that Parliament is out to displace the PPP from office. If there are any changes towards a freer, more democratic Guyana, it will not come from inside the PPP. The least quarter to expect
changes is from Mr. Ramotar. Few observers and opposition politicians are fully aware of how mediocre and ordinary is Mr. Ramotar. Donald Ramotar has never been a thinker or initiator inside the PPP. He was always a party apparatchik that concurred. Once there is Luncheon, Teixeira, Bheri Ramsaran, Rohee, Robert Persaud, Jagdeo, Clinton Collymore, Navin Chandrapal, Komal Chand, Kellawan Lall at the PPP’s pyramid, the PPP will continue to see Guyana as belonging to them and the paranoia will grow. If Guyana is to see a loosening of the PPP’s grip on Guyana, it will come from three sources – one inside the PPP, the other two, external. If the PPP implodes, state power will be difficult to retain and also a galvanized opposition will call for an interim administration. Such a scenario is hardly likely. Secondly, should Ramotar become incapacitated, Sam Hinds will not turn over the Executive to a PPP leader as he did before. He knows he is
Frederick Kissoon at the end of his political career and will occupy the presidency. Sam Hinds will most likely move in democratic directions. Finally, there are strong indications that the ABC countries and the opposition parties have reached their limit with terrible governance by and corruption inside the Government. The ABC may exert more than subtle pressure. The opposition is facing frustration from their supporters, especially the African constituencies of the PNC, to display a more nononsense attitude to the PPP’s crass and terrible insensitivities. It will be an intriguing year in which something definitely has to give. Hope you stay around to witness the unfolding of history.
E.C.D four-lane expansion...
$493M road contract should be revisited - Goolsarran Government did not adhere to the Procurement Act when it awarded a $439M Public Works contract without following the public tendering process stipulated in the Act. This view was expressed by Anand Goolsarran, former Auditor General, who explained that Cabinet’s role in the procurement of goods and services is restricted to its no-objection to the award of contracts valuing over $15 million. The Procurement Act does not have any provision for Cabinet to award a contract. As such, Goolsarran believes that the joint Opposition - A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change - should insist that the contract for a section on the East Coast Demerara Public Road four-lane expansion be revisited with a view to ensuring that the correct procedures are
followed. On Monday, Kaieteur News published that Government, without going to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), awarded a contract for over $300M to Colin Talbot Contracting Service from De Endragt to Good Hope. The contractor is already executing works from Mon Repos to De Endragt. This is not the first time the Ministry of Public Works awarded a multimillion dollar contract without going to tender. In 2012, under this project in Lot One, from Better Hope to Montrose, the Ministry terminated Falcon Transportation and Construction Services’ contract. Without going to tender, the Ministry gave a modified contract to Dipcon Engineering Services. According to Goolsarran, the Opposition should deal
with this matter expeditiously before Government agencies usurp the function of the NPTAB. He stressed that it is the NPTAB and its evaluation committees that are responsible for determining who gets a contract, and not a Ministry or Department, with Cabinet offering no objection if all the procedures are followed. Cabinet cannot object to the award of a contract on any other ground. Even with criticisms of Guyana not having a Public Procurement Commission and perception of rampant corruption, Government had always maintained it has one of the most progressive procurement procedures. However, according to Goolsarran, the Minister of Finance appoints all seven members of the NPTAB, who also report to the Minister. The Minister is also a key member of Cabinet which offers no objections to the award of contracts. It is not publicly known if Cabinet objected to the award of a contract. To do so, Cabinet would in effect be calling into question the work of the Minister. This is one of the flaws in our procurement legislation, which needs to be corrected, Goolsarran concluded.
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
Anti-Money Laundering legislation…
AFC POSITION REMAINS THE SAME - TREASURER By Dwijendra Rooplall Executive member and Treasurer of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Dominic Gaskin in a telephone interview with Kaieteur News expressed that the AFC position has not changed with respect to the party offering support for the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill. AFC’s contention is that their support for the passage of the amendments is conditional upon the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC). “Once they have agreed to establish the Public Procurement Commission, we will agree to support the amendments… That’s what we have been saying all along,” Gaskin said. The AML Bill was last year voted down by the combined opposition with its one-seat majority in Parliament, because the Select Committee which was established to review the concerns of the opposition and stakeholders over the AML Bill was closed off by government and sent to Parliament unfinished. The consequences of which saw Guyana being blacklisted last year by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) for being non-compliant with the recommendations put forward by the said body. Attorney General Anil Nandlall had said that Guyana was given up to March this year (when CFATF will hold its next plenary meeting) to get its act together or face a higher level of blacklisting which will take years of reform and compliance to be taken off of. As such, the defeated AML Bill was resent to the Parliamentary Select
Committee where work on gaining consensus on the Bill started on Monday last. Speaking on the Select Committee, Gaskin said that the AFC has no qualms about the amendments proposed by government over the AML Bill; their concerns are with the establishment of the PPC. He said that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) “has amendments that they wish to propose and we will look at them. As long as they resolve in strengthening the apparatus to fight money laundering, we would be happy with them…Bearing in mind that this kind of legislation throughout the world is constantly updated and amended as new ways of laundering money come about. So it’s an ongoing thing; if it’s not sufficient this year there will be more amendments next year, so there will be tons of opportunities to amend the legislation.” Gaskin said that with respect to the PPC, the government is holding a position that is not consistent with the Procurement Act. He explained that what the government would like to do is amend the act to retain a role in the process where they can review over $15M, and that award can only go ahead if government gives their no objection to it. “We are saying that the act is very specific about that and it says that that role will come to an end when the Public Procurement Commission has been established. We are maintaining that that role come to an end.” According to Gaskin, the AFC does not have a problem with government objecting to that award of the contract, but government must take the objections to the PPC, which is what that body was
AFC Treasurer Dominic Gaskin established to deal with. “ We d o n ’t w a n t t h e Cabinet…specifically at the end of the process where the award of a contract has been made…. that cabinet must have the role of looking over that contract and deciding whether or not they will support it, because that can lead to all sorts of corruption,” said Gaskin. “Can you imagine a big contractor being approached by the PPP for a campaign donation knowing that he has a contract that has to be reviewed by Cabinet in a few weeks…is he going to say no?”
“Things like this play a major part in how democratic your country is governed, so cabinet must not have a role in the process… not a review role at that… bearing in mind that the government is involved in every step of the way. The procurement agency is u s u a l l y a government ministry, they design the contract, they control the Tender Board and everything, so at the end of it all when it goes through that process, there is no reason for Cabinet to have this noobjection rule and it’s only there for one reason; only they want to control and intimidate the contractors.” According to Gaskin, that is one of the reasons why the AFC decided to use the AntiMoney Laundering legislation as a “bargaining chip” “More so in the light of the fact that this Bill was tabled at the last possible minute, and we knew that the government has been playing games with this bit of legislation and had been in breach of the recommendations of CFATF for a long time now, and were only hustling to cover up this by tabling the legislation two of three weeks before the meeting.”
Correction/Apology In an article headlined ‘Robb Street granny execution….Abusive language, death threats erupt in court as two committed to stand trial in High Court,’ published in our January 14 edition, Kaieteur News reported that Attorney-at-Law Basil Williams was the lawyer of one of the men committed to stand trial in the High Court. It should however be noted that the attorney did not represent either of the accused. Kaieteur News apologises for the erroneous publication and any inconvenience that it may have caused.
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More mental health doctors needed - Dr. Ramsammy Mental health is generally ignored by countries worldwide with this country being no exception. In Guyana, there is a need for more psychiatrists and trained professionals in this regard to diagnose and treat mental health patients. This assertion was made by former Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy during a brief interview with this publication yesterday. Whilst acknowledging that the National Psychiatric Hospital, New Amsterdam, has one psychiatrist, Dr. Ramsammy said having two psychiatrists at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is necessary because most acute cases visit that facility. GPHC acts a holding facility for patients for between 24 hours and 48 hours where they are given medication. If the patients need long term treatment they are transferred to the National Psychiatric Hospital. In August 2008, a patient set the GPHC’s psychiatric ward on fire. That ward was never rebuilt. According to Ramsammy, generally no hospital is geared towards long-term treatment for mental health patients. During his tenure as Health Minister, moves were being made to equip Regional hospitals to provide short term care for patients. In fact, General Medical Practitioners were being trained to assist with patients. However, he is unaware if this is still being perused. He said that professionals in this field are very difficult to recruit worldwide and not only in Guyana. As such, training the medical minds available would have provided some form of relief. Dr. Ramsammy said that there is a shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists in the Caribbean. He said that when Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases were brought under the spotlight in 2011 at the United Nations, mental health was omitted.
RAINS CLOSE 12 CITY SCHOOLS Twelve city schools will be closed today owing to the flooding caused by heavy downpours. The schools listed by the Ministry of Education are: 1. Tutorial High 2. Comenius Primary 3. St. Gabriel’s Primary 4. Queenstown
Secondary 5. St. Ambrose Primary 6. The Bishops’ High 7. St. Rose’s High 8. St. Agnes Primary 9. East R/veldt Secondary 10. St. Sidwell’s Primary 11. South Road Nursery 12. Happy Hearts Nursery
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
AFC condemns “horrific brutalization” of Colwyn... From page 6 bathroom after a bucket of water was thrown on him and observed that Singh had his camera from his mobile phone on. He then placed a condom on the baton and violently inserted the baton in Harding’s rectum thereby causing injury to his intestines. Harding started to scream and Singh inserted two panties into his mouth in order to suppress the screams. Harding lost consciousness again. After the beating became excessive, the inspector said let us take this man to the
station. Singh continued to beat Harding after which he and his girlfriend were arrested along with a thirteen-year-old boy from the area. They were taken to the Police station at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. After a short while the officer at the police station observed that Harding was looking poorly and called Constable Singh at the Timehri Police station and told him to come and uplift his prisoner as he did not want him to die at the outpost. Mr. Singh and a party of policemen then went and
uplifted Mr. Harding and took him to Timehri Police station. At Timehri station, Officer Singh continued to beat Harding in the presence of the Inspector and Corporal Lowe. The thirteen-year-old who had been arrested with them told the officers that it was his brother who stole the articles. The police then left the station to arrest the brother. After arresting the brother and recovering the stolen articles, Colwyn Harding demanded to be released and he was again beaten unconscious again by Constable Singh. He was placed in a fecesstrewn cell and was crying in deep pain. The other prisoners who were in the adjoining cell repeatedly called out to the police to take Mr. Harding to hospital as they feared he would die in the cell. The following day instructions came from Georgetown to take Harding to the hospital and again Constable Singh was assigned the task of taking Harding to the hospital. Mr. Harding maintains that the Constable went to a rum shop where he left the victim in the vehicle while he went to drink and later came out of the rum shop visibly staggering and then he took Mr. Harding back to the Timehri Police station. At Timehri station Mr. Singh told the female constable on duty to beat Harding because he complained. The female officer was reluctant to beat
him so Mr. Singh took the baton and said to her here is how you beat prisoners. He proceeded to beat Harding into a state of semiconsciousness. Colwyn Harding remained in custody until Monday when he was taken to the Providence Magistrate’s court where there was no case jacket for him so he was kept overnight at the Providence police station. On the following day charges of assaulting a police officer and disorderly behavior were filed against him, his girlfriend and another person. He was admitted to bail in the sum of $50,000.00 on both charges. His family was unable to afford the bail and he was remanded to custody at the Georgetown Prisons. While in the prisons he deteriorated further and was finally taken to the hospital where he was given painkillers and sent away. On his return to the prison he passed out and was taken to the hospital where he had to undergo emergency surgery. He thereafter had to undergo further surgery. He has ruptured intestines through which feces are being expelled. There are no colostomy bags at the GPHC and they cost $3000.00 per bag so they have strapped his stomach with pampers in the meantime. Last (Monday) night they discovered that there is a serious infection in his intestines as a result of the treatment and colostomy bags have been almost impossible to locate. Ironically Mr. Harding’s mother, Sharon Harding, is an ex policewoman who was a member of the People’s Parliament. She texted Commissioner Brumell early in December to
inform him of the situation and was immediately contacted by Commander from Division A Assistant Commissioner Vyphuis and invited to Brickdam police station where she spoke to Mr. Vyphuis, Mr. Watts and Mr. Vanderhyden about the matter. She was advised to give a statement to Police Complaints Department and despite having given the statement nothing was done. Commissioner Vyphuis last week informed her that they would take her son to court to see if they can get the bail reduced. An attempt was made on Friday last when Mr. Harding was removed from the police station and taken to the Magistrate’s court but there was no court jacket. After being contacted by Sharon Harding, AFC Chairman and Attorney at Law Nigel Hughes was able to yesterday (Monday) secure Harding’s release on his own recognizance but the court had not informed the Prison so he remains shackled to the bed in the male surgical ward. On Sunday the 12th of January 2014, Mr. Hughes took his client Sharon Harding to the Timehri Police station to make a formal report of the matter. An extended report was taken by the constable on duty and recorded in the station diary. The Alliance For Change holds the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Home Affairs responsible for the rogue activities of ranks like Constable Singh and feel they both should resign, as is expected in any democracy. The failure of the policemen and women at Timehri station to act while a clearly visibly injured Colwyn Harding laying motionless on the cell
floor speaks volumes of the prevailing climate in the Guyana Police Force. We are well aware of their failure to institute effective procedures, checks and balances that could have prevented such an incident from occurring, and their failure to act or seek redress after becoming aware of the situation. We demand to know if Constable Singh has been charged and what disciplinary proceedings have been instituted against him. We further demand that both the Commissioner of Police and Minister Rohee resign immediately. Colwyn Harding could be your son. We ask all Guyanese to raise their voices in outrage recognizing that the sons of ordinary Guyanese are being targeted and snuffed out with no indication of this situation improving over the last few years. The fact that no institutions or services could come to the aid of Mr. Harding is even more worrying. Where possible, the Alliance For Change hopes that the public will assist Mr. Harding by securing and donating colostomy bags to aid in his recovery. The bags can be delivered to Cathy Hughes M.P at her offices above Sidewalk Café in Middle Street, and will be forwarded to Sharon Harding. This incident highlights that we all are at risk of such violations of our fundamental human rights. We note that Dr. Amir who admitted and treated Mr. Harding has been sent on leave for reasons which are not immediately apparent. The Alliance for Change expects a comprehensive investigation into this matter.”
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
House to deliberate rejected Bills again The National Assembly will tomorrow convene its first sitting for 2014 and among the matters up for discussion would be the Bills that were rejected by the majority since they had originally been tabled by Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee. The Bills, Summary Jurisdiction (Procedure) (Amendment) Bill and the Evidence (Amendment) Bill Firearms (Amendment) Bill 2013,
were recently reintroduced by Attorney General Anil Nandlall. The Opposition had previously rejected the Bills, given that they were first presented by Rohee and that a motion of no-confidence was passed against him to perform the duties as Minister of Home Affairs. The Firearms Amendment Bill seeks to create a new criminal offence namely the possession of any part of a
Constable chopped by ‘vigilante’ at Corentyne A police constable was on the receiving end of a cutlass attack by a man well known to the authorities and who claimed to be a vigilante. The severity of the attack caused the policeman to receive seven stitches. According to information, at around 11:00 on Sunday two policemen, a detective and a uniformed police rank were on motor cycle patrol in the Number Naught area when they were attacked. Uniformed rank Constable Griffith, who was the pillion
rider, was chopped by the cutlass-wielding man. He was subsequently rushed to the hospital where he received seven stitches. Police reinforcement arrived and sought the perpetrator, but the residents who were being instigated by a prominent individual began to raise objections. The individual subsequently disappeared. The police however are continuing their hunt for the man who is expected to be charged.
weapon. The current law only allows for the criminalizing of a complete intact weapon. At the time of its rejection, Opposition Leader David Granger sought to justify the vote by saying that “the greater danger must be recognized”. The greater danger referred to was Rohee’s continuing to function in his current capacity as the Minister of Home Affairs. Granger told the media that Rohee’s presence at the Ministry of Home Affairs is weakening law enforcement and the fight for public security. Granger further affirmed “he must leave Home Affairs, let him go to Tourism.” Granger had maintained that “We have taken a position that he (Rohee) is not competent to remain Minister of Home Affairs and we take responsibility for that position. His remaining in that position is the greatest danger to public security.” During its most recent press engagement the Opposition leader hinted at voting favourably for the pieces of legislation, given that it had been tabled by a different Minister.
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SPEEDING MINIBUS KILLS GIRL, 10 A school girl lost her life yesterday morning when she was struck down by a speeding minibus on the Bloomfield, Corentyne, Public Road. The incident occurred shortly after 11:00hrs. According to reports, the child Saleena ‘Marissa’ Anthony, 10, of 383 Bloomfield Village and a student of the Auchlyne Primary School was cycling while on an errand to the shop when she was hit by the speeding minibus BRR6403, driven by its 40-year-old owner of No 59 Village Corentyne, Berbice. According to an eyewitness the bus was proceeding at a fast rate of speed towards New Amsterdam. The driver alleged that the child who was riding a bicycle rode out from an access street into his path. He applied brakes and tried to swerve out of her way, but the left side of the
DEAD: Saleena Anthony bus stuck her. The child, who it is understood sustained major head injuries, was picked up and rushed to the Port Mourant hospital where she died while
receiving treatment. T h e c h i l d ’s m o t h e r, Monica ‘Julie’ Anthony, stated that she was informed of the accident by a neighbour. She immediately abandoned her chores and hurried to the location where her daughter had been struck. By that time, h o w e v e r, t h e c h i l d h a d already been taken to the hospital. The mother then hurried to the hospital, but was not allowed to see her daughter. She was subsequently informed that her child had died. Saleena Anthony leaves to mourn her parents and five siblings. The minibus driver is in police custody assisting with investigations. Anthony’s death is the second such fatality in Berbice for the year, with both accidents involving minibuses.
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Kaieteur News
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
WANTED
LARGE QUANTITIES O F H IGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICKSILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
3 Female (8 weeks old) German Shepherd pups - Tel: 638-5778
One live in Domestic age 1835yrs, must know to cook & live in waitress age18-25yrs Tel: 610-5043
L- Touring Wagon in excellent condition – 15’ Rims, DVD, Tv, Remote Start Alarm & HID lights $1,300,000 Negotiable – Tel: 667-9013
Diving Suites - Tel: 265-3449; 613-5158
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Bicycle Frames, wheels, accessories, parts, etc - Tel: 642-1141
1 - 40Ft Boat Cabin Cruiser Tel: 628-9209 Dell computers complete with 20" LCD $69,000, 6 months warranty @ Futuretech- Call:231-2206 New arrival: 1 Toyota Tacoma, aluminum boats (12ft & 14ft)- Call:2201981,685-8282,690-1945
ATTENTION LOGGERS! ¾ METAL STRAPS, NAIL PLATES, ANCHORSEAL WAX – TEL:265-3541; 695-4785
Spare for washing machine, microwaves,fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943
Two plot of land ¼ Acre or 3X25 Rod each @ Lot 15 & 16 Doctor Dam, La-Grange WBD - Tel:697-5009; 665-7022
1- 320 C.L Caterpillar Excavator. Excellent Condition with 2 complete 6" & 8" Dredge - Tel: 648-5371
One fishing boat 350lb Catguts seine (5 Inch) 40 Yamaha Engine – Tel:2207655; 220-0410; 667-8921
Greenheart Piles - Tel: 6393450
Ridgid Pressure Washer, Honda Engine, Honda Pressure Washer - Tel: 6277835 House and Land in Pigeon Island East Coast Demerara contact within –Telephone # 220-4776 3 White water tanks that can be used for water business Call: 622-5986 2 Female German Shepherd mix with Pit-bull – Tel:6941900; 687-6072 Concrete Bourda Green Stall Tel: 692-7888; 610-0227 1- Rome plough 20 dish, 11630 Bedford truck articulated with 2 trailerCall: 693-4596 2- M132 Lavarda Combine, 1- 22RB Dragline, 3- Pressure pump 4x3 for gold field, 12640MF tractor 4WD- Call: 627-0447 1 CAT standby 3306, 194 KVA 3 phase 60 cycleCall:641-8472 Games PS2 $900, PSP $900, X-Box 360 $2600 & PS3 $2600- Call:672-2566
1 smoothie machine,2 ice machine- Contact: 231-0655 ,683-8734 1 Stall @ Stabroek Market Tel: 658-0115; 718-757-8031 Original Games- Call:6722566 Fluffy Puppies – Tel: 6450240 Lovely Terrier pups and dogs for adoption – Call: 6967467 iPhones - $30,000 – Tel: 6262771 1- 500 Ton Cargo ship - Tel: 676-6933 Live/pluck chicken call: 6504421, 220-9203
Scrap Metal – Tel:658-9045; 687-6072; 615-5315 Porters & Salesgirls. Apply with written application at Best Buy Food Supplies, Lot 1 Middleton & Dennis St, Campbellville. Live in waitress to work in a bar - Tel: 650-4309 ONE SHOP KEEPER FOR THE INTERIOR (MALE) CONTACT: 223-5273/4 One male & one female live in domestic – Tel:613-6613 One dragline operator - Tel: 613-6613 Attractive live in waitressCall: 327-0252/674-4665 Experienced general domestic, must know to prepare Indian dishes - Tel: 656-6388 Female worker needed, 3 CXC subject or sound secondary school education - Call: 612-1607 Experienced pastry maker. Apply @ Shanta’s, 225 Camp & New Market Sts.
1 Labourer / handyman ½ day in Georgetown - Tel: 226-3736 Experienced Drivers. Apply in person with written application @ Hacks Halaal, 5 Commerce Street.
VACANCY
EDUCATIONAL
Attractive live in waitress Call: 604-8277; 228-5129
Writer needed. Web and article copywriting. US$1,000/month. www.capitaltyping.com/ gypro for details.
Cashiers/ salesperson/ Delivery Clerks to work in supermarket/general store on East Coast Demerara Call: 220-2128,642-1141
24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant - Call: 6910894/684-2838
IAE @ 194 Camp St – CXC 2014. Full-time, morning, lessons & adults classes: Mathematics, English A, Business & Science Subjects Tel: 683-5742; 223-0604
ONE COOK FOR XENON HOTEL [CHARITY] CONTACT: 771-4989/ 6706559
1 Lorry driver apply @ Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling.
One maid – Tel:614-6675 Mason skilled in laying blocks and plastering, carpenter skilled in home interior finishing - Tel:2271830
Responsible hire car drivers Tel: 231-7475
Sales Attendant @ Phatz Style Boutique, 16 E½ Durban St. - Tel: 227-0501
CAR RENTAL
1 IPod Touch 64Gb - Tel: 6913812 1 – Leyland Crane truck, 1 – Even rude outboard engine 115HP – Tel:614-2759
One experienced female shop attendant to work in interior - Contact: 681-6044
1 Bedford 4x4 truck with Hiab, 1 4x4 bush ready pick up – Contact Kim – Tel:658-5193
One experienced male shop attendant to work in interior, contact:6816044
FOR SALE / FOR RENT
One cook for family in interior – Contact:681-6044
LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964 Ultraviolet Driving School – Contact:231-2372; 226-0765; 602-2583
One Trainee Refrigeration & AC technician - Tel:231-0655; 683-8734
Driver and Salesman for Gas Trucks on E.C.D, W.C.D and E.B.D, Security Guards, Part Time Gardener. 266 4427
Dolly’s Car Rental- Call: 2257126/226-3693- dollysauto rental@yahoo.com/ www. dolly sautorental.com
Experienced Taxi and bus driver and dispatcher at Princess Hotel – Tel:2657076; 616-8419
Sales person to work in store. Police Clearance and 2 references – Tel:226-5473 Two joiners to work in workshop - Tel:610-7005; 219-1342
One experienced excavator operator to work in interiorContact:681-6044
American pool table - Tel: 277-0578
1 Live in maid must be from the country & Know to cook, age 35-50 - Tel:6110200; 662-1124
Persons for full time night security. Georgetown area Tel: 227-1830 One male shop attendant age 17-22 years – Tel:6791151 (7am-5pm)
Wings Car Rental- Call: 643-1131
Pluck chicken - Call:676-0931
One RX-8 Mazda fully air conditioned, stick gear, wheel lights, fog lamps, power windows - Tel:653-2477
Live-in waitress, bartender and going and coming cooks - Tel:643-9007; 664-1804 Need one live in maid, must know to cook – Tel:689-0330
WANTED Land to buy in Parfaite Harmonie –Tel: 675-7292.
Experienced driver to work one 42 route RZ minibus – Contract Alvin on # 674-2060
One Nissan 2005 Bus unregistered & one Toyota Prado – Tel:642-1141 1 5Pc Chair Set, good condition - $60,000 & 1 overedge sewing machine, 4 threader – Tel:619-8788
SPRAYMEN, JOINERS & WOMEN to work in furniture factory preferably from East Bank Demerara – Tel:6642604; 233-6743
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Premio, Vitz call:347-9339790, 639-4452. Aidan’s Car Rental & Pickup - Call: 645-7981/ 698-7807 Latest model vehicles @ unbeatable Prices – Tel:6855011; 692-1051 Joshua’s Car Rental Call:6656485; 679-8400
Ice Loaders & General Workers @ B.M. Enterprise Inc. GFL Wharf Houston Tel:592-227-8176/7
Waiter & waitresses for 704 Sport Bar – Tel:223-5273/4 1 Plaine operator, 1 portable miller operator, labourers Tel: 619-9143
Courses in dressmaking, curtains, floral & cake decoration - Tel:670-2653; 618-1706 Princeton College: From 15, CXC adults classes, lesson for school children: Business & Science subjects - Tel: 231-5678, 6905008, Albertown Private School, Grove/ Diamond: Nursery, Primary, Secondary full time and lessons @ Acres Academy Tel:216-4557; 216-2723; 2161409. Day and evening CXC Business classes for students & adults. S.B.A and Third Paper Tuitions – Tel: 602-0700 Private homeschooling teacher for all levels: Reading, English ‘A’ and ‘B’ Call: 649-4247
Gardener / Handyman Available – Tel:679-1608 Security & I.T Technician. 5 CXC & Cabling Experience Tel: 627-8786 Existing Vacancies For: Western Union CSR, Office Assistants & Cleaners. Apply @ Survival Shopping Complex 173 Sheriff St Georgetown - Telephone # 227-5286-9 One Female Clerk – Tel:2315171 Female Accountant and Accounts Clerk. Apply at Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling, Stabroek
Hairdresser must be able to work with nails & handyman. Apply @ West Shore Plaza, 15 Public Road Ruimzeigt W.C.D - Tel: 269-1524 One live-in maid between age 30-45 - Contact:681-6044
Balloon Décor Training. Classes on 28th January 2014. Call 225-3133; 613-7513 to register and more info.
LAND FOR SALE 10 Acres Farm land next to Creek @ Splashmins, Linden Highway – Tel:687-1392 1 Farm @ Yarrowkabra – Tel:265-3586 2- Acres cultivated, 2-1 Acres cultivated, 7 Acres cultivated, citrus, house, fish pond, storage at ParikaCall:226-7968 Durban Squatting Land $600,000 & C. Sophia - $2.7M Tel: 231-2199; 618-7483 Parafaite Harmonie $800,000 - $1.2M, $2M (100FTX50FT) -Tel:675-7292
MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse available- Call:657-5979 Massage Therapy Service – Tel:674-8147
DRESSMAKING Designing and sewing classes in your district. Sharmela (Canadiantrained) - Contact: 626-2629, 676-6312
Land at suitable location in Parika, near road, with water and light utilities available – Call:697-9137 Land @ Diamond New Scheme – Tel: 604-8369 (Continued on page 23)
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Kaieteur News
Page 23
Improvement of Maternity Unit a priority For this year, officials of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation will be placing even greater emphasis on the institution’s Maternity Unit in an effort to ensure all mothers leave the facility without any complaints or discomfort. This announcement was made by the health institution’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Khan during an interview at his office yesterday. After receiving numerous complaints from patients and their relatives about the nurses’ uncaring behaviour, officials from the hospital launched a Communication Programme some time ago where nurses as well as various staffers from the facility benefitted from training which will enable them to interact with patients in a friendly but professional way. Khan in the interview said that there will be more training this year for midwives and nurses from the Maternity Unit so that patients in future would not have any complaints and would in fact, enjoy their stay in a comfortable ward with friendly staff. “Since we started the programme, the number of
– GPHC CEO PROPERTY FOR SALE VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community - Call: 592-6248704/ 592-684-9203 Transported property : House + property for sale by owner @ Lot 153 Sparendaam Scheme - Call: 592-220-8573; 592-672-2348 3 Storey 17 rooms hotel @ Broad St - Tel: 654-4939; 6984700
CEO Michael Khan complaints we were receiving in the past about the nurses, have decreased significantly. The training is continuous,” Khan posited. He added that there will also be an upgrade of equipment at the unit for this year. “We will purchase more fetal monitors for the ward.” The fetal monitor is a device that checks unborn babies to ensure that there are no abnormalities or difficulties. One of the equipment is valued $1.2M.
TO LET FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 One steel building 5000 square ft, 3000 PSI floor. Just outside of Georgetown, East Bank Demerara - Contact: 619-2475
Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 347933-9790, 639-4452. Newly built apartment - Tel: 698-6496 Aracari Hotel. West Bank Demerara Rates from $30 – Tel:264-2946-8 Fully furnished apartments $5,000 per night @ Harmony Inn – Tel:694-7817; 602-8769
1/2/3 Bedrooms @ Lot 2 Anna Catherina, WCD - Tel: 276-0818
Furnished apartments, long term & short term - Tel: 687-3017
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Fully furnished top flat apartment with all amenities, long term only Tel:651-5382
Space to rent as Sports Bar and restaurant - Call:6573274 Two bedroom concrete apartments, self contained toilet & baths; security steel bars & grills @ Unity ECD-Tel:680-4447; 228-2497
Apartments & Houses from $50,000 – $160,000- Tel:6757292 Fully furnished apartments for rent: TV, air-conditioned, hot and cold water @ South Ruimveldt Park- Tel:689-5877 Rooms - Tel: 225-9223; 2253234
For the BEST RATES, call us on 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491
House and land @ De’ Edward W.C.B – Tel:6892973 2 Business Property on Whim Public Road Berbice – Tel:619-7134; 225-6481 One three storey business property @ Middle Street Georgetown – Tel:619-7134; 225-6481 1 Property for sale @ Covent Garden Island, includes all furniture and electrical appliances - $15M - Contact: 265-3586; 617-8369 Supply: 1 House, 1 gas station (3 tanks: 1000 & 1500 gallon capacity) wharfing facility. Land size: 87’X250’ - $70M negotiable - Tel:231-5876 Friendship: 1 house, 2 sheds with saw milling equipment, 2 overhead gantries & river access. Land Size:37’X55’ - US$800,000 negotiable - Tel: 231-5876 Nandy Park: Three Storey house with automatic backup generator, semifurnished. $85M negotiable Tel: 231-5876 Vacant one house upstairs and downstairs with toilet and bath, big space for parking @ Prospect EBD – Tel:673-1872
New 2014 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabs - Call: 691-0234
VEHICLE FOR SALE
1 Black Titan 4 wheel drive, fully loaded - $3.5M – Tel:699-2322 or 678-284
New ATVs: Introductory price $1,199,000 (Duty Free)Call:691-0234
One Tacoma Pick up 4 wheel drive, fully loaded. Asking price: - $3,750,000 – Contact Sady:628-9524
One RZ Mini-bus BHH series –Tel:615-5784
Cactus Auto Sales: Instock - Spacio, Fielder, Raum, Premio, Allion, Etc – Tel:6814208; 220-6262 Mazda RX-8 Blue, 6 speed manual, Type S, Mint condition, PNN Series – Tel:681-4208; 220-6262 Unregistered Toyota Raum (2004) - $2.150M – Tel:6917475; 657-1796 Minibus BGG Series $750,000. In working condition - Call: 646-7979 1-55 Leyland Daf Excellent working condition. Price $2.8M Negotiable – Tel:6568346 1 Noah BRR Series – $2.2M negotiable & 1 Allion PPP Series -$2.2M negotiable – Tel:692-2291; 602-6333 Toyota Ceres PGG Series, immaculate condition, lady driven – Tel:664-7525; 2257131 One new model L.F/DAF dumping truck in very good working condition – Tel: 6815988; 675-5448 2002 Rav 4 PNN series, fully loaded – Tel:694-6537; 6507875 AA60 Carina PNN 2852 $550,000 negotiable. Excellent Condition - Tel: 666-9719 1 -1RZ, 15 seater, automatic mini-bus, BNN 3760 - $2.1M Negotiable. Good condition, never used for public transportation – Tel:6280310 ; 672-5429
SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773 Earn a Certificate in Cosmetology, wig designs or nails alone, beginning February 3rd Limited Spaces Tel: 666-5241/ 6197603 Beautopia School of C o s m e t o l o g y : Cosmetology, nails, facial / make-up courses – Tel:6043002; 629-3497
(From page 22)
VEHICLE FOR SALE One 800 Ford Tractor and one 450 Ford Towing Truck – Contact Floyd:694-5599 or Gurro: 689-1864
First Class Auto: Premio, Spacio, Passo, IST, 212, Raum Cold & New Modles Tel: 609-8188; 602-6307 Nissan Pathfinder (Left Hand Drive) - $1.7M & Nissan Laurel - $700,000 Telephone: 644-1144 One Sand truck CF65 – Tel: 666-5905; 672-9415 Unregistered Toyota Sienta (2004) 1500cc & 7 seater - Tel: 617-5536 Cheapest: Manaul VVTI Buses, Spacio, CRV - Tel: 616-7635
2005 Nissan Skyline with TV, DVD alloy rims, navigation – Tel:679-9672 1 Toyota NZE corolla, AT192, AT212, AT170, IST, Funcargo, Rav-4, Hilux pickup 4x4 – Tel:644-5096; 697-1453 Smart Choice Auto: Unregistered Premio, IST, Runx & Spacio - Tel:6523820; 665-4529 One Toyota 2RZ minibus, GPP 7051, Excellent Condition – Tel:614-5168 Must See!!! – Unregistered 2002 Premio $2.5M & 2001 AT 212 - $2M – Tel:226-5473 Nissan Laurel Car – Price: $350, 000 - Tel: 223-9677 1 2L Diesel Toyota Hilux Extra Cabs 4X4. Looks and runs good, never driven off road - $2M – Tel:6864020 Saturn Jeep American made Tel: 223-9677 2 - 2007 Toyota Avensis - Tel: 698-0674 Toyota Noah newly registered - $2.4M, AE100 Corolla Wagon - $1M - Tel: 611-6632; 664-3488 1 Grey Toyota Premio in excellent condition, fully powered, 80,000 miles – Tel:643-9772; 223-6279 One Honda CRV fully equipped with running bars & other accessories, PNN Series. Excellent Condition! Price Negotiable – Tel:6606763 AT192, 212, Allion, Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN & RZ & Pitbull buses, 7 seater super custom. Cash / termsCall:680-3154 We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses; Extra Cab pickups; 2006 TacomaCall:680-3154
SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. U l t r a C o o l , call:225-9032,647-2943 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick) We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar Instant Blackberry unlocking - Call: 675-2239; BBM 25C58FEO HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766 House plan, estimates & construction. Contact T. Boodhoo:625-9883 Appliances Technician: Specialized in repairing and servicing of refrigerators, dryers, washers, stove ovens, etc – Tel:661-5099 Technicians available for appliance repairs - washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves, deep fryers, etc - Tel:6190793; 218-0050 Brains Construction & Rental Services: Excavator, Bobcat, Truck, Tools Tel:601-5024/ 227-4536 (Bobcat & Excavator Operator needed) Masons seeking daily or job work – Tel:678-9043 GT Tools Rental: Call this month, specials on ransom & steel rod cutter, etc - Tel: 675-0767; 6275098 For professional Visa & Passport Applications: K&P Project Management Co. – Tel:231-5876 School bus from GroveGeorgetown – Tel:646-5147
1 RZ Bus EFI series BMM – Price:$1.5M negotiable – Contact:685-6415 1 New Model 212; Excellent Condition, Price negotiable. Tel: 609-4680 Hilux Surf, PKK Series. Tel: 617-3001
LAND FOR SALE Parika - $4M & Herstelling (110FTX57FT) -$4M - Tel: 675-7292
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Wednesday January 15, 2014
WBD schools ‘need repairs’ - Parents complain of feeling neglected by regional authority As the rain continues to come down in torrents, parents of those attending the Vergenogen Nursery and Malgre Tout Primary Schools are apprehensive about sending their children to the institutions of learning, given the condition of the buildings. According to parents, the roofs of the two schools are leaking, there are missing floor and wall boards. “When it rains, the teachers have to shift the students onto one side of the classroom just so that they don’t get wet,” one parent claimed. The woman, whose four-
year-old daughter is attending the aforementioned nursery, explained that the school building needs to be extensively repaired, since there is more than one structural defect. She said that complaints have been made to the school’s administration. The parent told Kaieteur News on Sunday last that letters have been written to the regional authority, but their plight continues to be unaddressed. “Me ain’t know what else we must do. The rain falling every day, and the children does get wet even in the
classroom. How is that right? The school yard does always flood, and even though it unhealthy, we does still send we children to school. But no! Me ain’t prepare to tolerate them getting wet inside the building. Come on man, have a heart; this is unacceptable,” the mother of two stressed. Meanwhile, Andy Greene, whose 10-year-old daughter attends Malgre Tout Primary told this newspaper yesterday that he is considering whether or not he should start organizing a protest, since “this is the only language dem big ones does speak.”
The man added that countless complaints have been made by parents to the schools administration, but the same situation continues. “How you could get dem small, small children studying and learning dem school work in dat kind of environment? Something got to be done. Some days when the rain start fall, I don’t want to send me child to school, but I know it important and she got to go,” the man said. Kaieteur News understands that even the Head teacher’s office at Malgre Tout Primary is leaking.
Abducted baby found in Pouderoyen house (From page 15) cause me and she don’t talk.” “So I end up hearing the description and I realise I know the girl who tek Miracle. The description dey give me is fuh this li’l girl that used to live next door to we in Melanie. I used to babysit she brother, she sisters and cousins.” When asked whether there was any known conflict which could have resulted in the abduction, the woman said “I used to take care of them when I never used to work. We ain’t got no problem, so I don’t know why she would take me baby. We ain’t got no problem, no problem, no no no problem.”
The woman stated that she is the one caring for her family in Guyana and her husband who is currently in Barbados did not respond “nicely” to hearing that his daughter was missing. Meanwhile, when Kaieteur News interviewed Seatta Ried, the head of the day care, she related how stressed she had become over the situation. She explained that it was Miracle’s first day in her care. “It was the first day that the baby come to the day care. Her mother came and didn’t full out the form and so on. She tell me she gotta rush and go to work; that she gonna come and do it later.”
A distraught Reid explained to this publication that “The mother tell me that she, she daughter, she son-in-law or the baby grandmother could come for her. So about 3:30 when this young lady come for the baby, I was a bit confused.” She added, however, that the convincing young lady managed to provide her with a name which she unknowingly accepted as a possible family member. “She identify herself as Michelle Prince and I decided to have one of the girls hand over the baby.” The young lady was later seen flagging down a bus taking the baby away with her.
According to Reid, the baby was “fussing earlier that day and one of the girls had to give her breast milk” but she stayed with the girl. The day care manager explained how confused she was when the mother of the baby arrived to uplift her baby later that day. “Then about 5:30, the baby mother came for the baby and I told her aunt Michelle Prince collect the baby, and she told me that didn’t know who it was.” She claimed that she only realised the error when one of her workers then told her that she handed the baby over to the then unknown individual . However, according to her, that was too late.
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Turkey president urges shift in Syria policy Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul called yesterday for a shift in government policy towards Syria after years of vocal opposition to the Damascus regime. His comments came just a week ahead of peace talks aimed at ending the civil war in Syria that are due to open in Switzerland on January 22. “I am of the opinion that we should recalibrate our diplomacy and security policies given the facts in the south of our country (in Syria),” Gul told Turkish ambassadors gathered in Ankara. Turkey has long called for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad but he remains in power in the face of an increasingly fragmented rebel movement almost three years since the uprising against his regime erupted in 2011. Ankara has been accused by its Western allies of backing some of the more radical rebels in
Abdullah Gul Syria and of shipping weapons to Al-Qaeda linked groups, allegations it has strongly denied. But it does host the exiled Syrian opposition on its soil as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees f l e e i n g t h e increasingly deadly conflict. “We are pondering what to do for the realisation of a win-win situation in the region,” Gul said, saying it called for “patience,
calmness... and, when necessary, silent diplomacy. “Today’s situation, however, represents a loselose scenario for each state, regime and people of the region. Unfortunately we see there are no magic formulas to reverse this picture.” Turkey found itself increasingly isolated over the civil war when the United States decided last year not to launch air strikes against the Syrian regime after an August chemical weapons attack. The opposition National Coalition is due to debate on January 17 at a meeting in Istanbul whether to attend the so-called Geneva II peace conference. The United States and Britain have told the opposition that they will stop their support if it fails to turn up. The Syrian regime has said it will attend the negotiations but insists that Assad’s departure is not on the table.
Greek socialists to form new leftist alliance for EU elections ATHENS (Reuters) Greece’s once-mighty socialist PASOK party will team up with a new centerleft group to contest European Parliament elections in May rather than run alone, after its support was decimated by the country’s debt crisis. The party, a junior partner in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, has been fighting to survive as a political force since backing austerity cuts and is hoping the new alliance will help revive its fortunes. The European elections
to be held in May alongside local elections will be a key test of support for the fragile coalition, which is under pressure to show a recovery has taken root after four years of austerity. Latest polls show Samaras’ conservative New Democracy party tied with the leftist, anti-bailout Syriza party, while PASOK’s support is down to just 5-6 percent, from 43 percent when it won the national election in 2009. The socialist party will run under a joint ticket in the EU elections with the Progressive Democratic
Party, also known as “58 Initiative”, a new center-left movement formed by a group of professors, economists, businessmen and artists, PASOK spokesman O d y s s e a s Konstantinopoulos said. “There will be an alliance, there are efforts to form a big, democratic party for the EU e l e c t i o n s , ” Konstantinopoulos said. “The country needs a new socialist force which will have a balancing role and contribute to the efforts for recovery.”
House Republicans voice support for $1.1 trillion spending bill (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives voiced tentative support yesterday for a $1.1 trillion spending bill, signaling likely passage and removing one source of potential drama ahead of the 2014 elections. The 1,582-page measure provides a $45 billion increase in military and domestic spending to ease automatic “sequester” budget cuts and about $85 billion in Afghanistan war funding this fiscal year. It is scheduled for a vote in the Republicancontrolled House today, and
consideration later this week by the Democratic-controlled Senate. The House yesterday approved by voice vote a stop-gap measure to extend current funding for three days past midnight today deadline to allow more time for passage of the “omnibus” spending bill. Enactment will eliminate through September 30 the threat of another government shutdown like the 16-day standoff in October that caused the public’s opinion of Congress to plumb new depths in polls. The bill adds funding for some Democratic priorities
such as a $1 billion increase in the Head Start pre-school education program for the poor, but Republicans scored a partial victory when negotiators denied a funding increase for implementation of “Obamacare” health insurance reforms. Republicans also succeeded in denying funds for highspeed rail projects and for International Monetary Fund reforms. The bill also contains a provision to ensure that the government can continue efforts to dispose of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Israel minister angers US with Kerry peace push diatribe
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) listens as US Secretary of State John Kerry. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski) Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel’s defence minister accused US Secretary of State John Kerry of an “incomprehensible obsession” with his push for Middle East peace, drawing an angry response from the Jewish state’s chief ally yesterday. The US State Department described Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon’s comments as “offensive,” in a mark of the degree of outrage in Washington at the latest public spat between the two allies, which follows a major row over Iran policy. Israel’s top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted Yaalon as expressing
hope that Kerry, who has visited the region 10 times since taking office in February 2013, would end his peace push and focus his energies elsewhere. “The American plan for security arrangements that was shown to us isn’t worth the paper it was written on,” Yaalon was quoted as saying in private conversations with Israeli officials, accusing Kerry of being naive and implying he is a nuisance. The State Department said Yaalon’s reported remarks were “inappropriate” for a minister in the government of a close ally. “The remarks of the
defence minister, if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate especially given all that the United States is doing to support Israel’s security needs,” spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told reporters. Psaki said Kerry and his team “have been working day and night to try to promote a secure peace for Israel because of the Secretary’s deep concern for Israel’s future. “To question his motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defence minister of a close ally,” she said.
UN cuts rations for a million Zimbabweans Harare (AFP) - Around a million poverty-stricken Zimbabweans face hunger after the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced yesterday it was cutting food rations due to a cash crunch. “We’d been hoping to have scaled up our seasonal relief operations... in the coming months with distributions of food and, in some areas, cash,” Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesman in Zimbabwe, said as the country enters the peak of the so-called hunger season. But “we’ve had to cut rations for one million of our beneficiaries in recent months and there are likely to be deeper cuts as from next month,” Phiri said in a statement. At least 2.2 million people — a quarter of Zimbabwe’s rural population — will need food aid until the next harvest in May, according to
Zimbabwean children wait for food. (AFP Photo/Alexander Joe) estimates by aid agencies and government departments. Food prices have doubled since last year, forcing many more into hardship, according to the WFP. The UN food agency needs $80 million to feed
hungry Zimbabweans in the next six months. So far it has just $20 million and is working at raising the remaining $60 million, WFP regional spokesman David Orr told AFP in Johannesburg.
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Army chief Sisi in focus as Egyptians vote on constitution (Reuters) - Egyptians voted yesterday for the first time since the military deposed president Mohamed Mursi on a draft constitution that may set the stage for a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. At least nine people were killed in confrontations between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police, official sources said. Two small bombs went off, one in Cairo and one in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla, injuring no one. The Brotherhood, still backing Mursi who is now in jail, has called for a boycott and protests over the draft, which deletes Islamic language written into the basic law approved a year ago when he was still in office. It also strengthens state bodies that defied him: the army, the police and the judiciary. While a state crackdown has erased many freedoms won by the 2011 uprising against president Hosni Mubarak, anticipation of more stable government sent the stock market yesterday to its highest level since his downfall. The main index exceeded its January 2011 peak, in its fourth straight gain. The referendum is a milestone in the political transition plan the armybacked government has billed as a path back to democracy even as it presses a fierce
crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organised party until last year. A presidential election could follow as early as April. Echoing a view widely held in Egypt, a senior European diplomat said Sisi would probably announce his candidacy in the next few days - a prospect that will delight supporters but could stir more conflict with his Islamist opponents. With little or no sign of a campaign against the draft one moderately Islamist party says its activists were arrested while campaigning for a no-vote - it is expected to pass easily, backed by many Egyptians who staged mass protests on June 30 against Mursi and the Brotherhood before his removal. “We are here for two reasons: to eradicate the Brotherhood and take our rights in the constitution,” said Gamal Zeinhom, a 54year-old standing in line at a Cairo polling station. Others cited a desire to bring stability to Egypt after three years of turmoil. Sisi ousted Mursi, Egypt’s first freely-elected head of state, last July. His Islamist opponents say he is the mastermind of a coup that kindled the worst internal strife in Egypt’s modern history and revived an oppressive police state. But after a failed
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi experiment with democracy, many are weary of the upheaval that has gripped this nation of 85 million and shattered its economy. They see Sisi, 59, as someone who can stabilise and protect Egypt from what local media depict as foreign and domestic conspiracies to divide the nation. Sisi inspected a polling station after voting began, dressed in desert-coloured fatigues and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses. The two-day vote ends yesterday. A Sisi presidency would mark a return to the days when the post was controlled by army men - a pattern broken by Mursi’s year in office.
Brotherhood supporters staged protests in at least four cities. Police arrested 65 Brotherhood supporters who were trying to obstruct voting, security officials said. The bloodiest clashes were in Sohag, south of Cairo, and in Giza on the outskirts of the capital, the health ministry said in an emailed statement. Local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said four Brotherhood supporters were killed in Sohag and more than 20 wounded, in addition to three policemen. But the Interior Ministry said Brotherhood supporters had killed four people and wounded nine more, including a police officer,
when they opened fire on passers-by to stop them reaching polling stations, the state news agency reported. Four people were also killed in clashes in Giza, two of whom were shot head in the village of Kerdasa, a bastion of Islamist support. Security sources identified them as Brotherhood supporters. A man was also killed in Beni Suef, south of Cairo. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a Geneva-based group that works to uphold the rule of law, described the draft constitution as highly flawed. “The referendum campaign has taken place within a context of fear, intimidation and repression, calling into question the fairness of the entire process,” it said in a statement. The government has recently escalated its crackdown on the Brotherhood, declaring it a “terrorist organisation” on December 25. Al Qaedainspired militants have stepped up attacks on security forces since Mursi’s ouster. While the government has linked the attacks to the Brotherhood, the group has repeatedly said it is a nonviolent movement committed to peaceful resistance to the state. But the security clampdown - hundreds of
Islamists have been killed and thousands arrested - has taken the steam out of protests while fuelling anger among young Islamists. Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders have been arrested and are on trial. Underlining how the political picture has changed since Mursi’s downfall, Mubarak asked for permission to vote in this referendum, his lawyer Fareed El Deeb said. It was not immediately clear whether Mubarak - who faces retrial for his role in the killing of protesters in 2011 - would get to vote. While Western states have criticised the crackdown and called for inclusive politics, they have put little pressure on Cairo. Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal, has been a cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Middle East since the 1970s, when it became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel. The government has been supported by Gulf Arab states hostile to the Brotherhood. They jumped to Egypt’s rescue after Mursi’s overthrow, offering billions of dollars in aid. The U.S. Congress’ new spending bill would restore more than $1.5 billion in military and economic aid to Egypt, largely cut off after Mursi’s ouster, but would make the funding conditional on Egypt taking steps toward restoring democracy.
Russia denies visa to U.S. journalist critical of Putin (Reuters) - Russia has barred a U.S. journalist critical of President Vladimir Putin from the country for five years, in a move that could upset relations with the United States and has echoes of the Cold War. Moscow’s treatment of David Satter could fuel concern about freedom of speech before the Winter Olympics in Sochi next month, although Putin has tried to appease critics by freeing former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and members of the Pussy Riot protest group in the run-up to the Games. “I was expelled from the country,” Satter wrote on his personal website. “This is an ominous precedent for all journalists and for freedom of speech in Russia.” The Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Satter, author of three books on Russia and the Soviet Union, had been prevented from returning to Russia last month after grossly violating
visa regulations. In a website entry, he dismissed the official version of events, saying he had followed all instructions, and he blamed the foreign ministry, which handles foreign journalists’ media accreditation, for causing delays that led to his expulsion. In Washington, the State Department said it was disappointed that Russia had denied Satter a visa and had raised the issue with the authorities in Moscow. “The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has raised our concerns on this case and the treatment of journalists and media organizations in general with Russian authorities,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a daily briefing. “We’ll continue to monitor the case.” Satter said that he had flown to Kiev to receive a new letter of invitation but instead received only a statement read to him by a Russian
diplomat there declaring him persona non grata. “The competent organs have decided that your presence on the territory of the Russian Federation is undesirable. Your application for entry into Rus s i a i s denied,” the statement said. Such expulsions have been rare since the end of the Cold War and collapse of the communist Soviet Union in 1991. But the ministry dismissed suggestions by Western media that the move against Satter was politically motivated as “tendentious”. A former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, Satter was back in the Russian capital last year and advising Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a broadcaster funded by the U.S. government. In one of his books, “Darkness at Dawn”, Satter accused the Federal Security Service (FSB), a successor of the Soviet-era KGB, of being responsible for bombings of
Russian apartment buildings in 1999 which killed more than 300 people. The FSB, which was headed by Putin before he became prime minister and then president, has denied the charge. Russian authorities blamed the attacks on separatists from Chechnya in the volatile North Caucasus. The crimes were never solved. The Foreign Ministry in a statement said Satter had failed to report to the federal migration service as required when he last arrived in Russia on November 21. “In fact, from November 22 to November 26 this U.S. citizen stayed on Russian territory illegally,” the ministry said, and a Moscow court had ruled on November 29 that he should be expelled. A court spokeswoman confirmed the ruling. Satter said the ministry had delayed giving him an invitation, causing him to go to court and pay a fine before flying to Kiev to start the visa
process again. The ministry said Satter had left Russia on December 4 and was refused a visa when he wanted to return. He was just one of about 500,000 foreigners barred from Russia for periods of three to 10 years for breaking the law, the ministry added.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said the U.S. embassy in Moscow had sought an explanation from the Russian authorities, without success. Relations between Moscow and Washington improved during U.S. President Barack Obama’s first-term push to “reset” ties.
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Wednesday January 15, 2014
At talks, Colombian rebels urge regulated drug farms Havana (AFP) Colombia’s FARC rebels yesterday called for the regulated cultivation and sale of illegal crops like coca leaf, opium poppies and marijuana as a fresh round of peace talks with government negotiators got under way. Rebel negotiator Pablo Catatumbo unveiled the proposal before the start of a negotiating session dealing with drug trafficking, the industry that has long fuelled
Colombia’s brutal civil war. He said the proposal would “regulate the production and marketing of coca leaf, poppies and marijuana, in recognition of their nutritional, medicinal, therapeutic and cultural qualities... as well as their artisanal and industrial possibilities.” He called for the demilitarization of areas where small farmers would be allowed to grow the crops
under UN supervision, and an end to the crop eradication programs that have been a central feature of US-financed counter-drug programs in Colombia. Catatumbo said the latest proposal was based on a pilot project advanced during a previous unsuccessful set of peace talks in 2000 by FARC founder Manuel Marulanda. “The amounts produced would be based on studies of the potential domestic as well
as international demand,” said Catatumbo. “That involves creating a legal market for coca leaf, poppies and marijuana, controlled by the state through a system of price supports and state purchases,” he said. Under the FARC’s proposal, the program would be funded by the government with the savings that come from eliminating the military presence in those areas, he
said. Funding should also come from international sources, including the countries that are the biggest consumers of illicit drugs, he said. Catatumbo denounced what he said were “criminal state policies based on the persecution, stigmatization and criminalization of peasant farmers.” There was no immediate reaction to the proposal from the government of President Juan Manuel Santos. But the FARC initiative echoed a recent move by Uruguay to legalize and regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana, as well as drug legalization proposals elsewhere in the Americas. Last November, the FARC’s top leader, Timoleon Jimenez, alias “Timochenko,” said he was in favor of drug legalization in Colombia, arguing that eradication programs had created social problems by depriving poor farmers of a source of income. The government,
meanwhile, accuses the FARC of financing its operations through the drug trade in areas where it holds sway. Founded in 1964, the FARC is Latin America’s longest insurgency and biggest guerrilla army, with an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 fighters. Colombia is one of the world’s top producers of cocaine. The Santos government and the FARC opened peace talks in November 2012, taking up the issue of drug trafficking in the past two months. Negotiators have so far reached consensus on just two agenda topics — rural development, and the rebels’ participation in the country’s political life once a comprehensive peace agreement is reached. But two other agenda items have yet to be discussed: compensation for victims of the conflict and the disarmament of the rebel forces.
Hunters vow to overturn hunting ban in Trinidad P O RT- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad (AP) — For decades, the baying of hounds and a cacophony of shotgun blasts echoed across the hinterlands of northern Trinidad, where hunters chased deer, armadillo and agouti, a cat-sized rodent. But since October, the lands have largely fallen silent, leaving the country’s 13,000 licensed hunters fuming and their 26,000 trained hounds idle. Trinidad and Tobago’s government , a t l e a s t o n p a p e r, h a s t e m p o r a r i l y transformed the Caribbean nation into a no-trapping, no-hunting zone to give overexploited game animals some breathing room and to conduct wildlife surveys. Conservationists have long argued that the wideranging freedoms enjoyed by hunters have depleted the population of wildlife in the twin-island republic, which is home to more than 100 mammals and is internationally famed as a bird-watcher’s paradise. Licensed hunters never had bag limits, except for birds, and a flourishing market for “wild meat” for parties meant that almost anything that ran or flew wild was targeted. Even the protected national bird, the scarlet ibis, could end up in a curry sauce.”Hunting here r e a l l y s e r v e s n o useful purpose and is
really quite ridiculous. I mean, you have six Trinidadians and 15 dogs to hunt down a small animal like agouti! It’s not exactly big game hunting in East Africa,” said Christopher Starr, a life sciences faculty m e m b e r a t Tr i n i d a d ’s U n i v e r s i t y o f t h e We s t Indies. But close-to-the-land hunters are fighting to overturn the two-year ban that took effect Oct. 1, and a high court ruling could be handed down in February. They also vow to make the government pay during national elections due next year, passing out bumper stickers that read: “No hunting, no vote.” They say the practice of hunting with dogs is a key form of wildlife culling that binds together rural society. They insist it’s also a source of income that creates thousands of jobs. Hunting with dogs here is a far earthier pursuit than in Britain, where scarletand-black jacketed riders chased foxes with packs of dogs until the sport was banned in 2004. Most hunters in Trinidad transport their packs of hounds and mongrels in scarred pickups and rattling vans. Subsistence hunters often never bothered with getting a state game license, even though it costs just over $3.
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Barbados public service layoffs Jamaica confident of another good year in tourism delayed until January end BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – The Barbados government has extended by 18 days, the deadline for laying off public servants following talks with labour unions on Monday January 13. Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said the delay would allow the Ministry of the Civil Service to generate a list of names for those who would be retrenched as his administration seeks to turn around an ailing economy. He said the unions- the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) and the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) – would be involved in the process. “We had set the 15th of January for the taking of the first bit of action. That date must now be vacated because of the challenges posed to the Ministry of the Civil Service in even generating the list to be affected,” Stuart said. “But we are certain now that by the end of this month, we should be able to deal with those issues definitively and finally and of course between now and the end of the month the union will have an opportunity to further report on those issues,” he added.Last month, the government announced the plan to cut public service jobs in a bid to save BDS$143 million (One BDS dollar = US$0.50 cents). It said it would also institute a “strict programme of attrition” across the central public service, filling posts only where it is absolutely unavoidable, over the next five years, ending 2018-2019. “This attrition is expected to reduce central government employment levels from approximately 16,970 to 14,612 jobs – a projected loss of 2,358 posts; and savings of BDS$121 million. Over the current 19-month adjustment period public sector employment will be reduced by an additional 501 jobs with a projected savings of BDS$26 million,” said Finance and Economic
Freundel Stuart
Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler, who was also present at Monday’s meeting. The government said it intends to trim the service by 3,000 jobs and had hoped to begin laying off workers by January 15. Prime Minister Stuart said the layoffs would not include both breadwinners from the same household even as he insisted that the layoffs were unavoidable. He said a humane approach would be taken in preparing the list. “When that list becomes available, then we will be in a better position to know what the exact fallout will be, but whatever the exact fallout is going to be budgetary targets cannot be compromised. “Having said that I should also make the point that we cannot allow our humanity to yield ground to the pursuit of budgetary targets,” the Prime Minister said. The meeting followed two rounds of talks i n v o lving Sinckler and Labour and Social Security, Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo as well as representatives of the two trade unions. “I think every Barbadian knows we have to do something,” said Byer Suckoo, following the latest rounds of talks on Saturday,
while Sinckler said “we will respond formally on Monday to the proposals but I think they (unions) pretty well know where our position is. “Of course this situation cannot be allowed to drag on,” her added. But Opposition Leader Mia Mottley addressing the first “ P e o p l e ’s Assembly” organised by her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) on Sunday night, called for the resignations of Prime Minister Stuart and Sinckler. “Barbados will not grow until Chris and Freundel go,” she said, adding the government was now engaged in a public relations exercise.
Minister of Tourism and Entertainment Dr Wykeham Mc Neill (right) makes a point to (from left) Aram Zerunian, general manager Half Moon Hotel Jamaica, A Rock Resort; Director of Tourism John Lynch and Junior Tourism and Entertainment Minister Damion Crawford before the start of Monday’s Caribbean Marketplace media luncheon at the hotel. Jamaica Observer - ROSE HALL, St James — Director of Tourism John Lynch Monday expressed confidence that 2014 will be a banner year for the island’s tourism sector. “Jamaica’s tourism product is the best it has ever been in years and I am able to say this with assurance,” Lynch told journalists at a Caribbean Marketplace Media Luncheon held at the Half Moon Hotel here in St James. Arguing that the ‘testimonials and awards earned justify the confidence,” Lynch pointed
to a slew of positives in the sector, which earned roughly US$2 billion last year. “Our room stock exceeds 30,000, which has been bolstered by the opening of several newly renovated properties in 2013. This has resulted in the addition of approximately 800 rooms,” the tourism director boasted. He noted that the island has welcomed some established brands in its hotels’ portfolio, which
include Blue Diamond Resorts, which opened its new ups c a l e R o y a l t o n White Sands property in Trelawny; Melia Hotels, which has taken over the B r a c o Vi l l a g e , a l s o i n Trelawny, under a 15-year management agreement; Sensatori which opened its Karisma Resorts in Negril; and Sagicor, which has taken over its third property under the Jewel Resorts brand.
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Jamaica re-affiirms commitment to regional integration MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – CMC - The Jamaica government has re-affirmed its commitment to the regional integration movement as regional tourism stakeholders were meeting here as part of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014. Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, addressing the opening ceremony of the premier regional tourism award show that ends yesterday, said her country’s commitment to regional development and partnership remains firm and that such devotion to the region finds expression in, among other things, its active involvement in various regional bodies and initiatives such as the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA). She said Jamaica believes “in the power of the Caribbean brand and its
Portia Simpson Miller ability to demonstrate that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. “After all, there is only one Caribbean and tourism is a critical industry for so many Caribbean economies. Our region’s performance in tourism is one we can all be proud of. It has enormous potential for growth.” She said that “it is in that spirit of cooperation and collaboration, tinged with healthy, keen and friendly
regional competition, that you gather here for the next few days to market the region as the preferred destination to the world’s travels.” The meeting is also being attended by delegates from the United states and Canada and Prime Minister Simpson Miller said she was pleased to welcome them, who in the words of the tune by late Jamaican singer, Bob Marley were “coming in from the cold. “We hope that the lives of all residents of those areas, but in particular the worst affected, return to normality in the shortest possible time,” she said, noting that the extreme weather conditions have highlighted the critical need for countries to pay greater attention to the issue of climate change. Caribbean Travel Marketplace, organised by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), is the largest and most important business-tobusiness marketing event for the region’s hospitality industry.
Opposition says extortion resurging islandwide KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition spokesman on National Security, Derrick Smith, has called on the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to foc u s m o r e attention on the crime of extortion which, he said, appears to be resurging nationwide. In a statement yesterday, Smith said his information is that this particular aspect of crime is on the rise and engulfing businesses across the island, especially small business owners including Chinese operators of wholesale and retail operations. Smith said that, although the main area of activity is downtown Kingston, it is evident that it is rampant
Derrick Smith islandwide and could force closure of many small businesses, as well as discourage prospective investors from going into these areas of investment. He observed, “This would be a serious setback for the
economy, especially in a climate in which the government has been content to focus on austerity, and leave growth entirely to the private sector, I am calling on the police to immediately put in place the strategies necessary to thwart the growth of this scourge, which had been such a serious threat to investments in the past and which is reemerging at a most inopportune time,” he added. Smith said that the reemergence of extortion on a wide scale in Jamaica is not only a criminal and social issue, but is also a serious economic issue as the country seeks to promote investments, employment and growth.
Miles of beachfront coated in Trinidad oil spill KINGSTON, Jamaica — At least 11 oil spills have crippled parts of Trinidad and Tobago, coating miles of beach with crude as the state-owned energy company scrambles to control what is being called one of the country’s worst environmental disasters, according to media reports. Petrotrin, Trinidad’s stateowned oil company, first responded to an oil spill near
La Brea on December 17, according to a report from the Trinidad Guardian. Over the past month, the company has confirmed at least 11 spills and was slapped with a $3.1 million fine from the country’s Environmental Management Authority last week, which the company’s president, Khalid Hassanali, called “harsh”. The pipeline responsible
for the first of the leaks at Petrotrin’s Point-a-Pierre facility, which resulted in an initial spill of more than 7,000 barrels, m a y n o t h a v e undergone any inspections for the past 17 years, according to a confidential report commissioned by the company and obtained by the Trinidad Guardian and reported in the Huffington Post.
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England finish unbeaten in Powell tells panel he ‘forgot’... Pool A, Australia top Pool B From page 32 (70th) sealed the victory in favour of England by scoring two field goals in the later stages of the match. Meanwhile in a Pool B clash, world champions Australia took the initiative in the first half by scoring four goals as against Argentina’s one. The Kookaburras set out their stall early on as Dean Beale (3rd minute) stole possession and slotted home a reverse stick goal. After Beale’s opener, Mark Knowles (11th)
scored from a penalty spot after a foul in the circle. Kieran Govers (14th) extended Australia’s tally with a well taken shot from wide of the goal. A rg e n t i n a , h o w e v e r, reduced the margin in the 32nd minute through a field effort from Facundo Callioni. Australia pumped in their fourth goal in the final minute of the first half through Govers with a penalty corner strike. In the second half, Australia extended their lead through two goals f r o m o p e n p l a y. F i r s t
Russell Ford (44th) followed up on a shot that had been saved by Juan M a n u e l Vi v a l d i i n t h e Argentine goal, and then Kiel Brown (48th) made it 6-1 for the Kookaburras. England will play the bottom-placed team of Pool B in the quarter-finals which in this case is Belgium, while Australia will be up against the laggards of Pool A which will be either India or New Zealand, depending on the result of the final Pool A match between India and Germany.
Wednesday January 15, 2014 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): You might be feeling especially adventurous today, Aries. The same old streets and buildings in the same old town might suddenly seem to be closing in on you. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): An intense dream or vision could result in a spiritual breakthrough of some kind, Taurus, and you might spend much of the day in a bit of a daze, trying to make sense of it. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): You're apt to be in a very joyous mood today, Gemini, and it's going to show on your face. This isn't going to go unnoticed by the people you meet. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Today you might host a gathering of people interested in psychic or metaphysical matters, Cancer. A very special guest could give a talk or lead a discussion group. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Writing may be one of your main focuses for today, Leo. You have a lot of information to impart to anyone who might be interested in what you have to say. You could try your hand at a magazine article or perhaps fiction or poetry. very interesting. Go to it! ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): Professional interests continue to expand, Virgo, and you're managing to keep very busy. Your income is rising, and you could be achieving a certain prominence in your field.
LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Travel in the company of a close companion might be looming over the horizon, Libra. In fact, you might be leaving pretty soon, and you're probably growing excited. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): An unexpected lucky break could come your way today, Scorpio - something you would never have expected in a hundred years. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Don't box yourself into a corner and shut out everything around you except your immediate concerns. The more you isolate yourself and insist that you don't need anyone else's help, the more frustrated and sad you'll become. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Some kind of unexpected shakeup could take place today, Capricorn, and you could find yourself suddenly being offered more money or responsibilities. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18):Today you might attend at least one festive social occasion, Aquarius, and therefore you may meet some very interesting people in unusual professions, such as film or TV. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Your level of health and physical well-being is likely to be very high, Pisces, and thus you're probably glowing. As a result, you might find that those around you pay more attention to what you're saying than they usually do.
From page 32 positive at the national championships. Powell’s former training partner Sherone Simpson was among those to return adverse findings for the banned substance and appeared before a disciplinary panel last week. Her hearing resumes on February 4. Both sprinters are blaming a newly-hired Canadian
trainer, Chris Xuereb, for supplying the supplements, including Epiphany D1, which has since been found t o c o n t a i n oxilophrine. Xuereb has denied providing them performance-enhancing drugs and said the sprinters should take responsibility for their failed dope tests. Powell, who held the 100m world record from 2005 until compatriot Usain
Bolt broke it in 2008, said he did not consult his coach before taking new supplements. “I don’t normally consult coach because we had a large club and coach tends to a lot of athletes,” said Powell. The hearing resumes Wednesday, when Powell’s long-time agent Paul Doyle is expected to testify.
GBA boxes off itinerary... From page 35 International Directorate in Budapest Hungary and National coach, Wensel Thomas. The boxers selected are asked to convene at the National Park at 05:00hrs tomorrow morning to commence road work exercises. They will also train in the afternoons at the Andrew Lewis Boxing Gym from 16:00hrs. Those called up for na-
tional duties are Dennis Thomas, Imran Khan (Police) Clairmonte Gibson, Eon Bancroft, Bert Braithwaite, Dennis Amsterdam, Trevon King, Ron Smith, Omar Charles, Mark Marshall, Mark Pierre and female boxer Dwon Thomson (GDF), FYF representatives include, female pugilist Theresa London, Stephen Chan, Septon
Barton, Junior Henry and Diwani Lampkin. Harpy Eagles representatives include Stephan Gouveia and Orin Bancroft while Republican boxers are Stephon Nedd, Anandram Dharamraj and Jason Barker. Two youth boxers from the Tiger Eye Boxing Gym, Travis Fraser and Michael April will complete the squad.
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Hockey World League Final Second Brazilian airline pledges England finish unbeaten in cap on World Cup airfare Reuters - Avianca Brasil became the second Brazilian airline to cap the cost of traveling during this year’s World Cup on Tuesday (yesterday), putting more pressure on the country’s two biggest carriers to do the same. Avianca will not charge more than 999 reais ($420) for domestic flights from February to July, Chief Executive José Efromovich told reporters. Rival airline Azul pledged the same ceiling for airfares in June and July, when Brazil hosts the global soccer tournament. The head of Brazilian Tourism Agency Embratur,
Flavio Dino, applauded the move by Avianca and Azul in a Tuesday release, urging other airlines to follow suit. Gol Linhas Aereas and TAM, the local unit of Chile’s Latam Airlines Group, came under fire last year when the government noticed ticket prices soaring during the World Cup. Some of that tension could ease starting tomorrow, when ANAC is expected to authorize about 1,500 new domestic flights for the World Cup, expanding travel options between cities hosting games, which should provide some relief for prices. Avianca requested 430 of
those additional routes, Efromovich said yesterday, part of the airline’s plans to expand its Brazilian network by 19 percent this year. TAM, Brazil’s biggest airline, is also loading up on extra routes for the World Cup. The carrier announced on Tuesday that it had requested permission for 850 new domestic flights and over 200 additional international flights in June and July. The new flights will cost more then 50 million reais to operate, TAM said, in addition to the cost of hiring and training over 1,000 temporary employees. ($1 = 2.35 Brazilian reais)
Germany want repeat of Vancouver medal haul in Sochi BERLIN (Reuters) Germany want to repeat their successes in Vancouver four years ago when their athletes compete at the Sochi Winter Olympics next month. The country finished in the top three in the medals table in 2010 along with Canada and the United States. “Our aim is again to win at least 30 medals like Vancouver or even to exceed that,” German Olympic sports confederation general secretary Michael Vesper told reporters on Tuesday. “We want to be on the podium in the final medals count.
“It will certainly be no easy task but we will fight for it. It is an ambitious target but our federations are well positioned and our athletes fully motivated.” Ve s p e r s a i d h e w a s confident Russian authorities would offer maximum security despite recent suicide bombings in Volgograd. The Games open on February 7 in the Black Sea resort on the western edge of the Caucasus mountains where insurgents want to carve out an Islamic state. Russian forces have gone
on combat alert this week in Sochi and around 37,000 personnel are now in place to provide security at the Olympics. The Germans, expected to send a team of 160-plus athletes to the first Winter Games to be held in Russia, are a traditional powerhouse with a wide range of medal contenders in almost every sport. Luger Felix Loch, Alpine skier Maria Hoefl-Riesch and figure skaters Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy are among their bigname athletes.
Powell tells panel he ‘forgot’ supplement names Reuters - Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, who tested positive for a banned substance last year, told a disciplinary panel yesterday he did not list the supplements he was taking because he could not remember their names. The former world 100 meters record holder, who faces a two-year ban if found guilty of a doping violation, tested positive for the banned substance oxilophrine at last June’s national championships. According to Powell, who testified before a threemember Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel for over three hours, the supplements provided by a new trainer were foreign to him and he researched them for six hours before using them. “I could not remember their names,” said Powell, 31, one of five Jamaicans to test (Continued on page 31)
Asafa Powell
Pool A, Australia top Pool B
New Delhi: An impressive England spanked New Zealand 5-1 to finish on top of Pool A, while Australia thrashed Argentina 6-1 to emerge as the leaders in Pool B at the Hero Hockey World League Final, here on Monday. Irrespective of the result, it was Zealand who had the first promising scoring opportunity in the match when Phil Burrows won the ball in the circle and his shot missed the net by centimetres. Both teams played expansive and open hockey but solid defending resulted in few shots on goal in the opening 25 minutes at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Both the teams worked hard but failed to break the deadlock till the 30th minute when England surged ahead through Ashley Jackson who converted his side’s second penalty corner.
World No.4 England doubled their lead in the 44th minute from yet another penalty corner conversion from Jackson. England extended their lead six minutes later when Mark Gleghorne scored from
another penalty corner. The Black Sticks managed to pull one back in the 57th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Hugo Inglis. But Tom Carson (67th) and Barry Middleton
Jenson Button’s father dies aged 70 of suspected heart attack BBC Sport - Former world champion Jenson Button’s father has died aged 70 of a suspected heart attack. John Button was found dead at his home on the French Riviera by a friend on Sunday. He was a strong influence on his son’s career, which includes winning the 2009 World Championship. A statement released by the McLaren driver’s agent read: “It is with great sadness I can confirm John has passed away.” It added that “initial signs indicate a suspected heart attack”. The statement continued: “John’s children Jenson, Natasha, Samantha and Tanya and the rest of the family are clearly devastated and ask for their privacy to be respected during this extremely difficult time.” Former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton þled the tributes to the 2009 champion’s father, tweeting: “Deeply saddened by the passing of John Button. I’m so sorry @jensonbutton John was such a great man and will be missed by so many. God bless.” McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “Speaking on behalf of all at McLaren Mercedes, I want to say how very sad I was to hear the news of John’s passing. “In my long Formula 1
- Button celebrates his maiden victory with his father at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix career, I’ve encountered many drivers’ fathers, but I think it’s safe to say that John was perhaps more devoted to his son than any of them. “Ever since Jenson was a boy, racing go-karts, his dad has been at his side, helping him, supporting him, finding the money for the next race. “He was not only a great dad, but also a lovely man, and he’ll be enormously missed by Jenson, of course, by all at McLaren, and indeed by the Formula 1 community at large.” Button’s new team-mate Kevin Magnussen wrote on
Twitter: “I’m very, very sorry for my team-mate, Jenson Button. His dad was a really great guy who will be missed by all in F1.” Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso tweeted: “My condolences to all the Button family, especially to Jenson Button. Very sad news. John.... a great man, a friend, we will miss him.” British driver Max Chilton tweeted: “So sad and shocked to hear the sad passing of John Button. One of the greatest characters in the paddock & will miss him dearly.”
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FIFA’s direct financial support Germany want repeat of reaches USD 1 billion mark Vancouver medal haul in Sochi A landmark announcement in the history of FIFA’s development initiatives was made at the Home of FIFA yesterday, January 14, 2014, with the direct financial support programmes of world football’s governing body hitting the USD 1 billion mark for the first time since their inception by FIFA President Blatter in 1999. In the past 15 years, FIFA’s 209 member associations and six confederations have received a total of USD 778 million and USD 331 million respectively. The funds have been mainly used for infrastructure projects, planning and administration, technical development, men’s and women’s domestic competitions and youth football. The annual funds available under the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) as determined by FIFA’s budget currently amount to USD 250,000 per member association and USD 5.5 million per confederation (through the development support provided to confederations under the programme). The symbolic USD 1 billion mark was reached through the payment made to the Botswana FA. Under the
relevant regulations, applications for FAP funds should be submitted to FIFA by 31 December of the previous year and/or by 30 June of the current year. “What started as an ambitious goal of providing all member associations and confederations with unprecedented means to assist and complete FIFA’s work of promoting and developing football worldwide has now become a well-consolidated process that has contributed to enhance football structures in all continents, thus further promoting the unique popularity of our sport,” said FIFA President Blatter. “The FAP has played a vital role in ensuring that all human beings willing to play football can do so. Even in the most difficult settings, such as Afghanistan and Somalia, we have seen very positive results.” A total sum of more than USD 2 billion in development funds has been invested by FIFA since 1999. While the largest investment has been made through the FAP, the remaining funds have been channelled via Goal (USD 270 million), PERFORMANCE (USD 35 million budget in 2011-2014), educational and technical activities (USD 49 million budget in 2011-2014)
and other initiatives. According to the revised General Regulations for FIFA Development Programmes, member associations have to comply with important conditions and prerequisites in order to access the FIFA development programmes and funds that they are entitled to (FAP, Goal, PERFORMANCE, courses, etc.). These prerequisites are: - Global annual accounts (not only FIFA funds) to be audited - Auditing company to be appointed by the member association’s general assembly - Auditing company to audit the annual financial statements presented by the member association’s executive body - Annual audit report to be submitted to the member association’s general assembly - A general secretary and a technical director to be employed - All FIFA development programme transactions (not only FAP funds) to be combined in a unique “FIFA programme account” in the name of the member association or confederation. This bank account may not have a negative balance (overdraft) under any circumstances.
BERLIN (Reuters) Germany want to repeat their successes in Vancouver four years ago when their athletes compete at the Sochi Winter Olympics next month. The country finished in the top three in the medals table in 2010 along with Canada and the United States. “Our aim is again to win at least 30 medals like Vancouver or even to exceed that,” German Olympic sports confederation general secretary Michael Vesper told reporters on Tuesday. “We want to be on the podium in the final medals count.
“It will certainly be no easy task but we will fight for it. It is an ambitious target but our federations are well positioned and our athletes fully motivated.” Ve s p e r s a i d h e w a s confident Russian authorities would offer maximum security despite recent suicide bombings in Volgograd. T h e G a m e s open on February 7 in the Black Sea resort on the western edge of the Caucasus mountains where insurgents want to carve out an Islamic state. Russian forces have gone
on combat alert this week in Sochi and around 37,000 personnel are now in place to provide security at the Olympics. The Germans, expected to send a team of 160-plus athletes to the first Winter Games to be held in Russia, are a traditional powerhouse with a wide range of medal contenders in almost every sport. Luger Felix Loch, Alpine skier Maria Hoefl-Riesch and figure skaters Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy are among their bigname athletes.
Hours after lifting Ballon d’Or Ronaldo’s back in training - winning has increased his value by £6m!
Australian Open: Nadal joins... From page 37 on break point in the ninth game of the second set, and Sharapova served out. Tomic ca l l e d a m e d i c a l timeout after three games, and twice more before he quit. Federer started his record 57th consecutive Grand Slam tournament with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over Australian wild-card entry James Duckworth on a day when the heat forced at least one player to black out during his match. Azarenka played the opening match on the center court, and said it felt ‘’like you’re dancing in a frying pan.’’ She had a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over No. 91ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden. Wimbledon champion Murray, on the comeback from minor back surgery in September, had a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Go Soeda of Japan and No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro rallied for a 67 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over U.S. qualifier Rhyne Williams. Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt lost in five sets to No. 24-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy only a
week after beating Federer in the Brisbane International final. A hot, gusty breeze swirled across Melbourne Park all day, making conditions more challenging instead of cooler. The crowd for the day session was 35,571, almost 12,000 down on day one. Players draped bags of i ce over their necks and shoulders and sat under covered seats in the changeovers. They retreated into the shade at the back of the courts between points. Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic said he blacked out during a 7-6 (12), 6-4, 6-3 loss to No. 27 Benoit Paire of France. Dancevic had treatment in the second set but continued. To u r n a m e n t R e f e r e e Wa y n e M c K e w e n d e fended a decision not to invoke measures which would have seen outdoor matches suspended and the roofs on two arenas closed. No. 13 John Isner, the only seeded American man in the draw, retired with an injured right ankle after losing the first two sets
against Martin Klizan. Czech veteran Radek Stepanek retired with a sore neck in the fourth set against Blaz Kavcic, but said it wasn’t heat-related. No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 Australian finalist, advanced with No. 11 Milos Raonic, No. 16 Kei Nishikori, No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 31 Fernando Verdasco. In the longest match of the day, No. 18 Gilles Simon of France beat Daniel Brands of Germany 6-7 (4), 6-4, 36, 6-3, 16-14 in four hours, 32 minutes. Simon came into the tournament with an ankle injury sustained in a warm up tournament. American Sloane Stephens, who beat Serena Wi l l i a m s in the quarterfinals here last year, defeated Ya r o s l a v a Shvedova 7-6 (1), 6-3 and 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and 19th seed was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanzka, No. 8 Jelena Jankovic and No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki advanced.
Ronaldo was straight back onto the training ground on the morning after Ballon d’Or awards It was a tearful night for Cristiano Ronaldo after he picked up the Ballon d’Or award in Zurich on Monday lasy, but he had no time to rest as he was back on the training ground with his Real Madrid team-mates on Tuesday (yesterday) morning. Ronaldo was spotted sharing a joke with Gareth Bale and Fabio Coentrao in the wake of his lifting the trophy for the first time in six years. And there’s more good news for the Portugal international after it was revealed that winning the award added £5.9million to ‘brand Ronaldo’ according to a study by the Portuguese school of marketing (IPAM). In their report published just before the Zurich gala Cristiano Ronaldo was given a ‘Sports Reputation Index’
rating of 84 on a scale of 0100 based on factors such as his 70m Facebook followers, his 23m Twitter followers and his 137m references on Google. This rating was given an economic value of £36m, but the marketers claim winning his secon d G o l d e n B a l l boosts that figure to £41m. ‘Cristiano’s numbers are incredible’ said Daniel Sa, a professor at the IPAM. ‘His fame goes far beyond football and the Ronaldo brand is a hugely powerful one. We can think of him as a small multinational.’ The IPAM carried out a similar study of Leo Messi two years ago and rated the Messi brand at £30.1m. Meanwhile, Ronaldo will celebrate his Ballon D’Or win with children suffering
from Leukaemia keeping a promise made on Spanish radio last year. Ronaldo met the children on radio Cope show Partido de la 12 in November and said if he won h e w o u l d celebrate with them. Following the celebrations he spoke to one of the children - who will have an operation this month - and told the youngster: ‘Don’t worry I have not forgotten’. Ronaldo was interviewed by a group of young cancer sufferers in November and one asked him if he won the award would he dedicate it to them. He said: ‘If I win you are all invited to the party.’ On Monday night he told presenter Joseba Larranaga: ‘I will speak to the children and we will arrange something.’ (MailOnline)
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France to face Reggae Boyz, CONCACAF introduces AntiNorway and Paraguay Racism Protocol for matches
Reggae Boyz
PARIS, France (AP) — France will play Norway, Paraguay and Jamaica in friendly matches as part of its World Cup preparations. The French Football Federation announced the schedule on Tuesday (yesterday), adding that the
squad will get together at its traditional Clairefontaine training camp on May 19. France will play Norway on May 27 at Stade de France, then face Paraguay in Nice on June 1, and finally Jamaica on June 8 in Lille.
France beat Ukraine 3-2 on aggregate in the World Cup play-offs after losing the first leg 2-0. At the World Cup in Brazil, France will play in Group E and face Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras.
Stoke striker Jones fined £80,000 after texting boss Hughes to say he wouldn’t play against Liverpool Kenwyne Jones has been fined two weeks’ wages by Stoke City after texting Manager Mark Hughes to say he was unavailable to play against Liverpool. The Trinidad and Tobago striker was hit with an £80,000 penalty after failing to report for Sunday’s game. Jones, who has six months left on his contract, contacted his Manager on Saturday night to say he had no intention of turning up at the Britannia Stadium. Stoke were unsure whether he would carry through his threat but it became evident that the 29year-old would not be playing after he failed to attend the team’s pre-match meal at the club’s Clayton Wood training ground. Hughes was understandably furious and his only comment to media who enquired after the 5-3 defeat to Liverpool was that Jones had been ‘unavailable’. The Manager and Chief Executive Tony Scholes were called to a meeting with the player and his agent after training on Monday. Stoke, who immediately censured the striker for breach of contract after he effectively withdrew his labour, believe
Kenwayne Jones
that Jones may have another club waiting in the wings Everton are among his admirers. However, a suggestion that the player ought to be allowed to write off the remainder of his deal was laughed at by club officials. Stoke would save themselves £1million in wages but Jones would then be free to sign for someone else during the transfer window without Stoke receiving a fee. Hughes is baffled by the whole incident, particularly as Jones played in the FA Cup defeat of Leicester City the previous week and did well. Jones has seen his place in the side taken by Peter Crouch, who has grasped the
opportunity and given himself a new lease of life in the Potteries. But there was no indication from the management before Sunday’s game that Jones would not be playing. Hughes has no intention of allowing the forward to leave while he remains in the hunt for additional firepower. Stoke are committed to bringing in one, if not two, strikers this month.Hughes is not going to leave himself short of options by agreeing to sanction Jones’ exit with the club still needing to safeguard their top flight status during the decisive second half of the season. (MailOnline)
Miami - CONCACAF’s Executive Committee has passed a comprehensive protocol for dealing with racist incidents during matches in CONCACAF tournaments which enters into force with immediate effect. The protocol outlines a three-stage method for dealing with any serious racist and/or discriminatory behavior in football stadiums, such as racist chants, insults, screams and banners. “We congratulate our 41 Member Associations for safeguarding a culture of diversity within football. Even though the history of CONCACAF shows a great track record when it comes to diversity on the field, the Confederation is committed to creating standards to continue promoting good practice across the region,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb. Under the protocol and as a first phase, when a Referee becomes aware of serious racist and/or discriminatory behavior committed in a stadium, he or she shall first stop the game and order a stadium announcement urging the behavior to cease. As a second phase and if the behavior continues, the Referee shall suspend the game for 5-10 minutes and send the teams to the dressing room while another stadium announcement is made.
Jeffrey Webb Finally, and if the behavior continues, the third phase shall consist, as a very last resort, in the referee declaring the match abandoned. CONCACAF will provide training to Integrity Officers, Match Commissioners and Referees to assist in monitoring for incidents during high risk games. However, Referees will ultimately be responsible for implementing the approved protocol during each game played throughout the Confederation’s tournaments. Regardless of whether a game is declared as suspended or abandoned, CONCACAF’s Disciplinary
Committee will still establish whether disciplinary measures should be imposed to sanction the undesirable incidents. “The procedure outlines a clear and precise approach of zero tolerance for racist or discriminatory incidents that may arise during matches,” said Webb, who is also Chairman of the FIFA AntiRacism and Discrimination Task Force. “By safeguarding the basic principle of respect amongst all individuals in our stadiums, we hope to make sure that nothing steers the focus away from the talent displayed by our players during each game.” This protocol is part of the Confederation’s Embrace Diversity™ campaign, launched during the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, which will include strong educational initiatives throughout 2014 and beyond. Sessions on awareness of diversity and discrimination issues will be included in CONCACAF’s ongoing grassroots development courses and other training for Coaches, Referees and officials across the region, starting with the program in St. Lucia on January 25. The Embrace Diversity™ campaign was created to provide a strong, recognized, effective and influential voice to promote inclusion and tolerance within the football community and society.
Khan back in training as he prepares for potential mega-fight with Mayweather Amir Khan has returned to training in San Francisco ahead of a potential superfight with unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the summer. Khan revealed last month that he had signed his part of the contract to take on Mayweather on May 3 – but is waiting for the American to put pen to paper on the deal. Speaking in Dubai, Khan said: ‘I am the one who signed the contract, I’ve signed my part of the contract, they’ve not signed theirs. If he wants to fight Amir Khan then he should sign it.’ In the meantime, Khan is back training in San Francisco doing fitness work as well as some light training in the ring. Khan has posted three videos on his official Instergram account showing him back in the gym. One shows him doing chin-ups, another working on a step
machine and doing some work on his hamstrings and another shows him in the ring doing some pad work. Khan has lost two of his last four fights and Floyd Mayweather Sr. does not believe that the Bolton boxer holds any threat to his son. Mayweather Jr. is understood to have options to fight both Khan or Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas but Mayweather Sr. doesn’t see either of them as giving his son a competitive fight and accused Khan of having a glass jaw. ‘Both of them easy. Two easy fights; both of them is easy. Maidana might have punching power, but you still can’t hit what you can’t see,’ Mayweather Sr. said to Hustleboss. ‘So that’s going to put Maidana under a tree. Amir Khan’s got a glass jaw. And if you look at it too hard, it’ll shatter.’ (MailOnline)
Amir Khan works on his hamstrings in the gym in San Francisco
Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
What have we descended to? By Claude David Kaieteur News of January 1, 2014 carried the story headlined, “Gumendra Shewdas banned by IPF for anti-doping rule violation suspended for two years; GAPF fined 2000 Euros”, several of our Sports Journalists have weighed in on the issue making pertinent comments, suggestions and asking questions. Two of those Journalists, Rawle Welch and Edison Jefford, have gone in-depth on the issue of the positive drugs test by Mr. Shewdas for the banned performance enhancing substance Methylhexaneamine and Oxilofrine. Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell is involved currently in a hearing process to determine his use of the very stimulant Oxilofrine in Jamaica. Now I will not rehash what my two colleagues would have written and bore readers with the details they already know, but rather I want some questions answered. President of the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) Peter Green, in that January 1 article made a profound statement that simply boggles the mind. The article states; “In an invited comment, GAPF President Peter Green said he was very disappointed in the entire episode which will certainly jerk the development of the sport that has taken off in the past five years or so. Green posited that the GAPF will have to launch its own investigation. Green further noted that no local athlete will be able to compete overseas for 2014 which will see the federation
going on an all out campaign to educate and enlighten its athletes on the dangers of performance enhancing drugs.” Now my question: Why should all the other athletes who have been representing Guyana with distinction over the years suffer because of Mr. Shewdas’ infraction? Based on my knowledge of international sport and the current fight against the scourge of drugs in sport, athletes in top flight competition are tested, some r a n d o m l y, a n d predominantly winners of events to ensure they are above board and have won fairly. ‘Big’ John Edwards, Randolph Morgan and Winston Stoby will certainly have stories of that nature. Is there something being hidden from the public domain, is there a question of wide spread doping going on here that the GAPF is afraid that more people will be caught and Guyana are in danger of more serious sanctions. I may be dead wrong in my line of questioning, but the lack for forthrightness and based on the current world scenario leaves one to wonder. Why should one athlete’s indiscretion force so many who have and can continue to bring Guyana glory, suffer. This is a travesty and great injustice, especially to those that have blazed the trail bringing medal after medal back home to Guyana. What are we descending to? Mr. Green I have to put you in the uncomfortable place of requesting that you explain this injustice. The federation should not be made to pay for Shewdas’ major blunder and neither the athletes, he
should foot the Euro$2000 fine, and the federation along with what corporate sponsorship acquired, fund athletes sojourns abroad for top flight competition which we know they can and will do well. I will not go on to ask other pertinent questions relating to Mr. Shewdas’ excuses on how he came into contact with these banned stimulants…they simply don’t add up. These are hitech drugs designed to mask the use of other things and they don’t come cheap, do the math, Guyanese are not stupid. Mr. Green needs to reverse that decision and let those others that are able to attend overseas competition do so. The defaulter should be made to pay the fine. We indeed need to get to the bottom of this whole issue; that will be another story. Mr. Green said in the January 1 article, “This is certainly a setback for us but it is not the end, it’s an awakening call for us. It is my intention to lobby for a national Anti-Doping Committee to combat the use of drugs. The simple message now is that no athlete should take any supplements which include the many energy drinks on the market.” Indeed athletes should be made aware of possible pitfalls in relation to doping and an aggressive effort is necessary to ensure none other falls by the wayside. Testing is becoming more stringent and cheats will be caught, therefore let’s set Guyana apart, we have naturally talented athletes and foods that can give us the edge, just proper research is needed. The time for new strategies is now.
GBA boxes off itinerary with Tri Nation Boxing C/ships January is quickly winding down and the executives of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) are getting ready to commence a hectic itinerary starting from next month when local boxers will square off with their Caribbean counterparts from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica in a TriNation championship administrators say is geared to get the pugilists in shape for a year of stiff international encounters. The Tri-Nation
Power team encamped for national duties tournament will be contested between February 14-16 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) and the GBA has called up a team of the country’s best boxers to commence training on the national team. Tournament Director, Terrence Poole said that the boxers will remain encamped even after this tournament concludes, in preparation of several other overseas engagements. These include the South
American Games in March a n d t h e Yo u t h Wo r l d Championships slated for Bulgaria in April 10-25 among others. Poole will be assisted by Cuban Coach, Francisco Roldon, recently graduated Coach, Sebert Blake, who completed three months of diligent studies at the Semmelweis University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Strategic and (Continued on page 31)
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2013 a hard but fruitful year, say Bolt, Fraser-Pryce
Jamaica Observer - As expected, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce walked away the RJR Foundation National S p o r t s m a n a n d Sportswoman awards for the year 2013 in a glittering ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Friday night. Netball aficionado Molly Rhone won the prestigious Sagicor Iconic Award; veteran jockey Winston Griffiths was presented with the Chairman’s Award and schoolboy Javon Francis ran away with the People’s Choice Performance of the Year award. Bolt, 27, who was recently named IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, was copping the RJR National Sportsman of the Year award for the fifth consecutive year, following his outstanding performances at the 2013
World Championships in Moscow where he won three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. “For me, this year was a wonderful year. It was hard; a lot of ups and downs, but overall it was a great season,” said Bolt, who was neatly decked in a grey suit, black shirt and black and grey tie. “I had a lot of support from all over the world, including my family, my friends, and I want to thank everyone for that. I want to thank RJR for keeping this one more year and giving me a cheque,” he said laughing. “You guys have showed me so much love, and the energy that I have gotten this year is just continuing to grow in so many ways,” he added. Like Bolt, Fraser-Pryce added the RJR National Sportswoman of the Year award to the IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year following a dominant season
in which she copped three gold at the Moscow World Championships and walked away with the historic Diamond League sprint double titles. “I would like to say thanks to the RJR Foundation and its selection committee for choosing me again this year, it’s very sweet,” she said with a chuckle. “It was a hard year. It was a year that met my expectations, seeing that I worked hard. I was fully committed to the task ahead and I completed it,” she noted. “It was an effort from me that was collective; my managers, my teammates as well, my coaches and, of course, my family and my friends. I always said the 2013 sportswoman of the year comes over into 2014 and I hope it’s a blessing [of] a good start to days to come,” said Fraser-Pryce.
Mayweather Jr. to visit South Africa Cape Town, South Africa (AP) - Floyd Mayweather Jr. will arrive in South Africa today for a six-day visit that the government hopes will help ‘’resuscitate’’ boxing in the country. South Africa’s Sports Ministry, which organized the trip, says Mayweather will visit Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein
and East London on the South East Coast, the city regarded as the hotbed of South African boxing. Sports Ministry spokesman Paena Galane said it was counting on Mayweather, ‘’the greatest athlete in the world,’’ to revive boxing. In his last fight, Mayweather dominated
Canelo Alvarez in September to improve to 45-0 with 26 knockouts and enhance his reputation as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter. Mayweather earned $41.5 million for the fight. Mayweather hasn’t announced an opponent for his next fight, expected to be in May.
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Kaieteur News
Watts newcomer in WI Women’s Squad St John’s, Antigua – The We s t I n d i e s s e l e c t o r s yesterday announced the 15m e m b e r We s t I n d i e s Women’s squad for the upcoming eight-match series in New Zealand. The team will again be led by inspirational Captain Merissa Aguilleira, who has been at the helm since 2008. There is one newcomer, Vanessa Watts, an accurate right-arm slow bowler and steady lower-order batter from Jamaica. The 26-year-old Watts was one of the leading slow bowlers during last year’s W I C B Wo m e n ’s Tournament when she helped Jamaica win both the 50-over and T20 titles. She took eight wickets in the 50overs competition, including best figures of 4-12 against Dominica. She also had six wickets in the T20 tournament including 2-17 in the final against Barbados. “We want to welcome Vanessa to the squad for the upcoming series and we know she will fit in very well. She is one of the players who has been knocking at the door for a while now and she has earned her opportunity,” said Sherwin Campbell, the Head Coach. “She is a hardworking cricketer and has a very good work ethic. We have a core of really good players and a very cohesive unit going to New Zealand and I know she will fit into the group and make her contribution when she gets the opportunity.” The squad includes most of the players who featured in the West Indies Women’s victory in the Tri-Series TriNation last October –
Merissa Aguilleira
including Stafanie Taylor, the two-time ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year; and Anisa Mohammed – one of the most successful wickettakers in women’s cricket history. T h e We s t I n d i e s women’s team, the World Cup runners-up, will arrive in New Zealand on Monday, February 10 and will have a one-week camp as they prepare to face the White Ferns in three One-Day Internationals and five T20 Internationals. The ODIs will be played at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. The first three T20s will be at Queens Park, Invercargill, with the last two T20s at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. FULL SQUAD: Merissa Aguilleira (captain/wicketkeeper), Shemaine Campbelle, Shanel Daley, Chinelle Henry, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight (wicketkeeper), Kyshona Knight, Natasha Mclean, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Shaquana
Quintyne, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt, Stafanie Taylor and Vanessa Watts. TOUR SCHEDULE February, 2014 Tuesday 11th to Tuesday 18th: Training camp at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln Saturday 22nd: 1st ODI at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln Monday 24th: 2nd ODI at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln Wednesday 26th: 3rd ODI at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln March, 2014 Saturday 1st: 1st Twenty20 at Queens Park, Invercargill Sunday 2nd: 2nd Twenty20 at Queens Park, Invercargill Wednesday 5th: 3rd Twenty20 at Queens Park, Invercargill Saturday 8th: 4th Twenty20 at Bay Oval, Mt Maunganui Sunday 9th: 5th Twenty20 at Bay Oval, Mt Maunganui (WICB Media Release)
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Samuels mending well after surgery West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels is hoping to be fit and ready in time for the ICC World Twenty20 championship, which will be held in Bangladesh in March. The 32-year-old, who played a pivotal role in helping the West Indies lift the Twenty20 title two years ago, is currently recuperating from a hand surgery, which was done two weeks ago. “The hope is that I will be fit and ready prior to the World Twenty20,” said Samuels. “The surgery went very well, and I am really pleased with my progress so far. I would also like to take the time out to thank Dr (Akshai) Mansingh for the excellent work he did during the surgery. The swelling has been settling down and I have started to move my fingers since. It is therefore just a matter of allowing it to settle some more before I start therapy and rehab work. So, all in all, I must say that I am happy, and in a matter of weeks I hope to be back in the nets again,” he added. According to Samuels, the injury, which occurred close to his wrist, has been affecting him in recent times.
Marlon Samuels
It was not, however, until the team’s tour of New Zealand that it acted up and required surgery. The injury will sideline Samuels for the West Indies Cricket Board NAGICO Super50, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago from January 30 to February 16. He is also likely to miss I r e l a n d ’s t o u r o f t h e Caribbean, which gets under way on February 19. The Irish are down to play two Twenty20 matches and one one-day
international. Samuels, however, will be hopeful that by the time England tours the region in late February he would have made significant progress. The English are slated to tour between February 28 and March 13, and are down to play three one day and three Twenty20 Internationals. The World Twenty20 will follow soon after with the opening game on March 16 and the final fixture on April 6. (Jamaica Star)
Allie / Evelyn dominate Endurance Meet The team of Afraz Allie and Keith Evelyn captured the overall prize when the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club held its season
opening Endurance Meet on Sunday last at the South Dakota Circuit. Allie in the process also carted off the fastest lap time
of 1:22.435to crown an outstanding day. The full results of the day are as follows:
Entries close on January 31 for GSCL Inc./Republic Cup Entries for the Georgetown Softball Cricket L e a g u e I n c . (GSCLI)\National Sports Commission Republic Cup will be closed on January 31. The tournament is set to start on February 14 and will consist of two categories, Open and Over-40. Secretary of the GSCL Inc. Samuel Kingston said that teams desirous of competing in the Over-40 division are required to submit a copy of
each player’s identification. The drawing will take place on a date and venue to be announced later. Teams that have so far confirmed their participation are Farm, Regal, Trophy Stall and Wolf’s Warriors in the Open category while Bartica, Regal Masters and Frontline have confirmed participation in the Over-40 segment. The winning team in the Open category will take home G$1M, a trophy
and medals and the champions of the Over-40 division will receive $600,000, a trophy and medals. The Man-of-theseries for both categories will be given a three piece living room suite and the Man-of-the-match of the final, $10,000 and a trophy. Entrance fee for the open category is $140,000, while those who wish to do battle in the Over-40 segment will have to pay $120,000.
Overall winner was Afraz Allie with 83 laps, while the best lap time of 1:22.435 was also recorded by him.
Kaieteur News
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Page 37
Australian Open: Nadal U.S. extends CWU20 winning streak to 13 joins Federer in 2nd round
Roger Federer
McKenzie Meehan Georgetown, Cayman Islands – McKenzie Meehan scored three goals and the United States defeated Guatemala 10-0 on Monday in the CONCACAF Wo m e n ’s U n d e r - 2 0 Championship at Truman Bodden Sports Complex. The Americans completed Group A play with a perfect 3-0-0 record and a first-place finish. In Friday’s semifinals, they will face either Mexico or Trinidad & Tobago, who square today to decide the Group B winner and runner-up. Costa Rica, which tied Jamaica 1-1 earlier in the evening, will join them in the final four. Meehan opened the scoring in the eighth minute after collecting Rachel Hill’s deflected attempt and sweeping a left-footed effort past goalkeeper Yoselin Franco.The 19-year-old also added two strikes in the second half. In the 57th
minute, Meehan put the U.S. ahead 7-0. After some determined play by the dynamic Stephanie Amack, Mallory Weber slipped a brilliant pass in the box for Meehan to fire in from eightyards out. The Boston College forward completed the scoreline in the 74th minute, executing a beautiful giveand-go with Rachel Hill and slamming home from the left side of the six yard box. Weber, a substitute, struck for back-to-back goals in the second half.Her first came in the 61st minute off a pass from Hill and she followed it up with an unusual tally seven minutes later. A goal-bound header by Margaret Purce took a bounce off a Meehan’s back, allowing the Penn State midfielder to find fortuitously the back of the net once again.The two-time
Rafael Nadal defending champion took a 4-0 lead into half-time. Amack made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute, leaping high to head Morgan Andrews’ rightsided corner inside the right post. Left-back Brittany Basinger got her name on the scoresheet in the 31st minute, swooping in at the left post to knock in Hill’s parried attempt.Savannah Jordan netted in a third consecutive game six minutes before the break, burying a penalty kick after Purce was taken down in the box. Three minutes into the second half, Hill successfully converted on another kick from the spot, while Purce grabbed her first of the tournament in the 54th. The Americans’ have now won 13 consecutive games in the tournament, extending their record, and have conceded only one goal in their last nine outings. Guatemala returns to Central America with one point.
Melbourne, Australia (AP) - After a day of searingly-hot temperatures which raised complaints from players, top-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round of the Australian Open in relatively mild conditions.
Victoria Azarenka
N a d a l ’s A u s t r a l i a n opponent Bernard Tomic, bothered from the start by a left leg injury, retired from the match after losing the first set 6-4. Some in the capacity crowd of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena booed lustily when Tomic indicated he could not continue.Roger Federer, Andy Murray and defending champion Victoria Azarenka advanced earlier Tuesday (yesterday) amid temperatures that topped 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit). Third-seeded Maria Sharapova joined them when she beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-4 in the
last match of the night. Mattek-Sands double-
faulted (Continued on page 33)
Watts newcomer in WI Women’s Squad P.36
t r o Sp
GBA boxes off itinerary with Tri Nation Boxing C/ships Power team encamped for national duties P.35
Vanessa Watts delivers a ball during one day match for Barbados.
Sebert Blake
Imran Khan
FIFA’s direct financial support reaches USD 1 billion mark P.33
Youths going through the paces druing one of the FIFA funded programmes Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Limited, 24 Saffon St.Charlestown, Georgetown.Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/ 226-8210