Kaieteur News
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
EDITORIAL LULA’S CONVICTION: LESSON FOR OUR POLITICIANS Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been convicted on one of five corruption and money laundering charges. He was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. The conviction stemmed from a giant embezzlement and kickback scheme centered on the state-owned oil group Petrobras, at the heart of a sprawling corruption probe known as “Car Wash.” Lulu, an iconic leftist politician who rose from childhood poverty to rule Brazil from 2003-2010 would remain free pending an appeal. The ruling has not only stunned Lula, Brazil’s first working-class president who left office in 2010 with an 83percent approval rating, but also surprised many leaders around the world. During his tenure in office, the former union leader won global admiration for transformative social policies that helped to reduce inequality and poverty in the country. The former president is the highest-profile individual to be convicted of corruption in Brazil which for over three years has thrown the country’s economic and political system into disarray. As the champion of the poor, Lula is among the more than 1000 state senators and other political figures in the 40 plus Latin American countries to be caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar, and he will not be the last. In India, 30 percent of its 545-member lower Parliament had criminal charges filed against them for corruption. In the United States, several high-ranking politicians, at the federal and state levels including governors have been convicted and jailed for corruption. However, there are lessons to be learnt from Lula’s conviction on corruption and the sentence handed down to the once darling of Brazilian politics. Despite having a new government in office, Guyana is still a corrupt country. There is corruption at several levels of government. It has always been so and will probably remain so because it seems that corruption is entrenched in our psyche and has become part of our culture. But unlike in other countries where high-ranking officials have been convicted of corruption, those in Guyana with status do not have to worry because only a few low-level officials are being prosecuted. Very often we listen to the Auditor General reports of alleged corrupt practices in the public sector. We are also fed with information about the misdeeds in certain government departments and agencies, some of which are criminal in nature and are referred to the police. And no one is disciplined, fired or is ask to resign. Within days, incidents of corrupt practices fade away and we go on with our lives as if nothing has happened because they do not directly affect us. Corruption is rampant in Guyana; it has become normal in society. The recurring theme in Guyana and perhaps in many other countries is that where there are people, there will be corruption. But what is worse is that some are in denial and there is an unwillingness to punish those caught in the act. We are aware of the problem, but we continue to ignore it by turning a blind eye and go about our daily chores, pretending that it does not exist. However, we should learn the lesson from Lula who entered Brazilian politics and offered hope to the many hopeless, especially the poor. He promised to fight corruption and to bring transparency and accountability to Government, a familiar political rhetoric recited by most politicians. But today, Lula is convicted and sentenced to prison because the systems in place in Brazil to fight corruption have worked, irrespective of his status.
Editor’s Note; If your sent letter was not published and you felt its contents were valid and devoid of libel or personal attacks, please contact us by phone or email.
TRIBUTE TO ROSA PARKS WHO WENT TO JAIL FOR US Dear Editor, “In life Marcus Garvey was controversial, and in death he continues to impact our nation in small, useful ways — teachable moments. He was no angel; most of our heroes were criminals — outlawed, jailed, hanged.” Franklin Johnston “I had not planned to get arrested…to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn’t hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.” Rosa Parks As we observe American Independence, we must pause for a moment and appreciate the monumental efforts of those who made America, although still imperfect, a better place. Our community, I hope, knows about heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the father of the civil rights movement, and an iconic figure globally. But how many even know who Rosa Parks was? We must not only be proud of our Duck Curry festivals, and material things like huge flat screen TVs, blasting car stereos, mansions and fancy cars. Our outlook must be much broader than that. You must
empower yourselves and become citizens, register to vote, exercise that most important franchise of voting, and be active in our communities. Charity begins at home. As Harriet Tubman once said, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer.” Take inspiration from people like Rosa Parks, a humble woman, who stands supreme as the mother of the civil rights movement, and on whose shoulders you now stand and flourish. Immigrant and minority communities like ours should always sing the praises of these righteous heroes who changed America, for most of us would not have migrated to Jim Crow America as it existed before they made their groundbreaking changes. People of color could not marry a white person, use the same rest rooms, eat in the same restaurants, play together, attend the same schools, be hospitalized in the same institution, nor sit in the same buses and trains with white folks like we do n o w. P r i m i t i v e a n d inhumane, but that was what America was before heroes like Dr. King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and others changed it. As we
stand on their shoulders, let us not forget the legacy they left us, and build on the gains they bequeathed to all who come to the “Home of the Free, and the Land of the Brave” for a better life. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela vanquished the evils of apartheid with statesmanlike courage. In India, Mahatma Gandhi’s liberating victories against Britain and improving the lives of untouchables, or lower caste people is a beacon to the world. Similarly, in America, we owe heroes like Rosa Parks. Robert Kennedy once said, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of these acts will be written the history of this generation.” Rosa bent history itself, and forced America to become a better nation. One of the most important lives to ever walk the earth, Mrs. Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama when, in December of 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. She was not tired physically, but tired of seeing so many men treated as boys and not called by their proper names or titles. She was tired of seeing
children and women mistreated and disrespected because of the color of their skin. She was tired of Jim Crow laws, of legally enforced racial segregation.The bus driver had her arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating a local ordinance. She went to jail for all of us, and for your generations to come. Her act sparked a citywide boycott of the bus system by blacks that lasted more than a year, crystalizing into a movement that catapulted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to national martyrdom, and resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision outlawing segregation on city buses. Over the next four decades, Rosa Parks helped make her fellow Americans aware of the history of the civil rights struggle. As a pioneer in the struggle for racial equality, she was the recipient of innumerable honors, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her example remains an inspiration to freedomloving people everywhere. Uplifting humanity was her oyster. Thank you, Rosa Parks, for the legacy you gave us. Albert Baldeo
The prison should not be rebuilt on Camp Street Dear Editor, As a businessman I would like to be the first to publically suggest that the Government sells the Lot 12 Camp Street site. I have on occasion agreed with President David Granger and on this solemn occasion I do again. I agree with him that the prison should not be rebuilt there on Camp Street. I would want to add, however, that no incarceration, of any kind, should take place there. The government should immediately seek an evaluation for a reasonable market price for that property – As Is – with no repairs or remedial works done. They should cease all attempts at cleaning, fixing, “suring-up,” or carrying out works on that site, which will cost the taxpayers another dime. They should obtain an evaluation of the property and immediately auction off
that place. I will guarantee that they will receive an initial amount of money to begin the ground work for any holding facility or eventual prison that they want to build. Editor, this is definitely not the time for the blame game, except to again agree with the President that “this was a disaster waiting to happen”. The President did say that contingents were being put in place to reduce the overcrowding of the facility. However, that those measures were not accelerated, given the inferno last year March, is still a sore spot in the minds of many onlookers. Also, there were other methods that the Prison CoI called for that was not expeditiously implemented; like alternative sentencing. Or the separation of prisoners based on classification. Or the introduction of a prisoner
rehabilitation program. The United Republican Party noticed that there was more emphasis placed on the structural infrastructure of the prison system and not on the human capital. It will be a long process in getting Guyana’s prison situation under control. The problems did not begin now and the URP does not expect them to end over night. What we do expect and are advocating, is that the Granger administration take politics out of the management of this situations. There are people and the URP knows of one particular person – Pastor Wendell Jeffrey – who have the training and expertise to aid both in the reduction of crime and the reducing of prison overcrowding. We believe that the President needs to follow through on his promise to allow ‘other voices’ to play pivotal roles in the administration of the
country. This is one such opportunity. So I hope commonsense will prevail in this regards. Until there is a complete rebuilding of all the prisons, or until there is a facility to house all the inmates – collectively, the remaining prisons will be subject to the careful vigilance of the authorities. The URP is therefore admonishing the Government to “go high”. Move away from the petty, political, partisanship and allow for the holistic development of Guyana. After all, Guyana belongs to all of us. Editor, please allow me, on behalf of my party, to offer my condolences to the family of Mr. Odinga Wickham, the prison officer who was killed. We also would like to keep in our prayers those who have been injured. Dr. Vishnu Bandhu Leader, URP
Friday July 14, 2017
I hold no brief for the Attorney-General DEAR EDITOR, I refer to a letter in KN, Wednesday, July12, 2017 under caption “Curry and roti, roti and curry arguments of a Guyanese lawyer” by “Nand Puran”. The court is a rather cloistered forum where mistakes can remain unrealized. My arguments (as invariably there are) are unassailable irrefutable. The letter evinces a persistence of an obstinacy in the outrage that LRC and CLR law reports are matters of semantics. And, there being a recognition of the unassailability of my legal argument, you, Nand Puran resorts to casting and insinuating improper motives to my modus vivendi (which I readily admit and make no apology what so ever) of when I was a Magistrate recreating at the Chinese restaurant on Sheriff Street. ( what you called my “annex”- not my word, yours’.). It is only an idiot who would suppose (or hoped to be believed) that a person of my intellect would be so impetuous as to choose such a place of openness
and public glare as a venue to commit the kind of impropriety you are cowardly insinuating. So, I turn now to the matters of serious legal import in your letter. Here is a simple test as to how wrong, misconceived and inexcusable it must be for a lawyer to treat and consider LRC and CLR as “curry and roti, roti and curry”. If when arguing a case before the court (judge or magistrate) and you rely heavily on a case reported only in a volume of the CLR (not coincidentally also in the LRC reports) would you take to Court a LRC volume to cite and quote from? Would you in citing the report of the case on which you so heavily rely, tell the judge/ magistrate, LRC, rather than CLR?. The courts (much less the Chief Justice’s) is no kangaroo court. The argument that the matter was argued in Court and the matter proceeded with and the conservatory order granted on the footing that all the dramatis personae (i.e. the Hon Chief Justice (ag); the state counsels rep-
resenting the AG and SOCU, and Mr. Nandlall) were fully cognisant and aware that the subject matter of the application for the conservatory order were LRCs and not CLRs is neither credible nor supportable. If that were so, then it was nothing but a comedy of errors. Nandlall’s and their misunderstanding is not to be attributed to SOCU. Besides, in that adversarial setting the State Counsels were quite right not to wise up but instead to leave Mr. Nandlall in his state of confusion (or perhaps ignorance) as to LRC and CLRs (this caused no prejudice to SOCU). And the learned CJ (ag) was right (being a civil matter) not to get into the arena. In the circumstances, she granted Mr. Nandlall just what he prayed for. He, could not order (using this analogy) “curry and roti” (i.e. a conservatory order for CLR); and, expect to be served dholl puri and dholl (ie conservatory order for LRCs). And Nand Puran, I hold no brief from Basil Williams, SC the Attorney General. I recall an exchange of (Continued on page 6)
Former official thinks Maduro may invade Guyana as a diversion tactic DEAR EDITOR, Beatrice Rangel, a former Chief of Staff to former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez has said that a desperate President Nicolas Maduro may well order military intervention into Guyana as a means of trying to divert attention from his internal troubles but not a single platoon of the armed forces of Venezuela will obey that order. “It is not going to happen, the military is too fragmented “ she said in response to questioning by former Guyanese diplomat Wesley Kirton about such a possibility during a forum Thursday here entitled “ Voices from Venezuela” put on by the Council of the Americas. Rangel had earlier argued that the Venezuelan president is desperate and is being “propped up” by a number of international criminal organizations including the Russian and Chinese mafia and the Colombian drug cartels which are currently directing the Maduro regime’s every move. She criticized the international community’s lack of action on brokering a solution to the crisis in the once oil rich Latin American republic saying that the violence which is likely to erupt this Sunday, may force it to act. The opposition and the government are scheduled to hold votes this month, the opposition holding a referendum on Maduro’s leadership
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this Sunday and Maduro holding a vote for a constituent assembly on July 31. This could be the bloodiest day in Venezuela’s recent history, Rangel said pointing out that this may be the occasion for the Organization of American States (OAS) to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter and request the United Nations (UN) Security Council to address the crisis in Venezuela. Rangel said the OAS resolution which fell short of passage by three votes at the recent General Assembly in Cancun, Mexico, was a result of threats and scare tactics carried out by Venezuela’s mafia connections which forced countries like neighboring Trinidad and Tobago to abstain on the resolution out of fear. She said these groups had been terrorizing Trinidadian fishermen off the coast of Tobago, making life difficult for Tobagonians. However, a representative of one of Trinidad and Tobago’s non-governmental organizations participating in the forum later told me that Rangel’s analysis was flawed and that his country’s abstention had to do with future joint exploitation of oil and gas resources that are to be found in the maritime space of the two neighboring countries. Asked about the role of the oil industry Rangel said that is a complicated architecture of relationships and ac-
cused Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA of helping to finance and facilitate companies and interests whose access to finance and financial institutions has been cut off as a result of US sanctions placed on them. She cited as an example a reported recent telephone conversation between Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Putin suggested that Maduro may want to ensure he operates within the Constitution and to which Maduro responded that such advice could force him to ask Russian oil interests to leave Venezuela. As for a solution to the crisis in Venezuela, Rangel said the international community has to broker a deal but in the process of negotiation has to recognize that it is not dealing in an environment of traditional negotiations and therefore has to be tough, offering Maduro the option of peaceful exile or imprisonment. She also argued that there will have to be the emergence of a new political entity to counter balance the current opposition. The new political party would have to be one that would represent (Continued on page 6)
THE ECONOMIC STABILITY IN REGION 2 IS ASSURED AND ENCOURAGING DEAR EDITOR, Despite the numerous challenges including regular black-outs at this stage, Region 2 remains stable and on course to expand its growing potential in the areas of agriculture, tourism, entrepreneurship and cultural diversification. Rice indeed remains as the economic stimulator within the Region and I was pleased to learn that despite the consistent heavy rainfall previously, little damage was done to the rice industry. This was attributed to the Regional Administration’s prudent management of the sector including having resources readily available on the ground to facilitate decisive action and prevent excess flooding. The heartening news that the Government has secured markets in Panama and Mexico are positive indicators that have propelled farmers in the Region to increase their yields. Additionally, agricultural state officials are on the ground visiting homes to advise house- holds on small scale farming of cash crops that could generate further income and for families to become self-sufficient. Such unprecedented developments have created an increasing level of dynamism and which is benefitting communities across the Essequibo Coast. Region 2 can be viewed as a sumptuous paradise for its scenic beauty including captivating
lakes and resorts based at Mainstay, Capoey and Suddie. These are imminent tourist attractions that are depictions of natural beauty and splendor. I am also impressed with the glowing landscape that are being developed in various parts of the Region including in Anna Regina, ExMouth and Cotton Field which have transformed the social trajectory of those societies and which would have been studiously undertaken by the Administration under the stewardship of the Regional Executive Officer, Mr. Rupert Hopkinson. These small but significant projects should be replicated in other villages too as a prerequisite towards sustaining social cohesion, family orientation and which can serve as positive channels to reduce stress and increase the level of participation and even relaxation. These social instruments have certainly complimented the general nature of the people of Region 2 who are quite peaceful, sociable and hospitable. Such qualities are manifested daily by Essequibians who are considered as good Samaritans regardless of their differing persuasions or political affiliations. As a sign of approval, entrepreneurs are investing into the local economy as more super markets are being established thus increasing the competitive drive and more options for consumers; there are also constant
infrastructural development with the provision of better drainage and irrigation, roads, access dams for farmers as well as residents receiving clean and treated water into their taps. The State through the Ministry of Public Telecommunication is now providing technological hubs in many parts of the Region whereby residents can now have access to free internet connection including in Public Offices and other institutions. These advancements have catapulted the aspirations of the people into enjoying a good life through the provision of better and transparent services. Our cultural chemistry is also thriving with the abundance of talented young people who have been eager to express themselves at every given forum in the field of dances, songs and dramatic poetry. Essequibians are indeed proud to celebrate together whenever the opportunity arises and I have seen the joy in which this has occurred over the years. Such a harmonious atmosphere can only be strengthened therefore with the continued passion and commitment from the Government, local organs including the Administration, RDC, Community leaders, private sector, stakeholders and the people of Region 2. Notwithstanding, Essequibo’s stability as a community is evident with the potential to forge ahead. Elroy Stephney
Guyana Cricket Board versus Berbice committee, and they are the board of the B.C.B. Hubern Evans - APBeharry- PRESICricket Board Anil POINTED EXECUTIVE DENT DEAR EDITOR, The Berbice Cricket Board notes with disgust a press release emanating from the Guyana Cricket Board published in the Kaieteur News of Sunday July 2nd 2017 on page 65, in which it seeks to inform the general public that “Mr. Dhieranidranauth Somwaroo is currently the President of the Berbice Cricket Board and should, along with his executives be the point of contact for all matters relating to cricket in the county of Berbice.” The Berbice Cricket Board categorically refutes this assumption of the Guyana Cricket Board and wishes to state the last elections of the Berbice Cricket Board was held on the 28th December 2014 and the following persons were elected to serve on
Dhieranidranauth Somwaroo- VICE PRESIDENT QualisWintnter- VICE PRESIDENT Vemen Walters - VICE PRESIDENT Angela Haniff- SECRETARY Plaffiana MillingtonASSISTANT SECRETARY Vicky Bharosay - TREASURER Ricardo Bachan - ASSISTANT TREASURER Five persons were also appointed to serve as members of the executive
Albert Smith- APPOINTED EXECUTIVE Julian Cambridge- APPOINTED EXECUTIVE VickramSeubarranAPPONTED EXECUTIVE Rabindranauth SaywackAPPOINTED EXECUTIVE However, for various reasons the following (Continued on page 6)
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There is a lack of knowledge as to what is driving the criminal mind DEAR EDITOR, This is where Criminologists come in handy. A couple of weeks ago the nation was pondering the anomaly of educated young men, with reasonably good jobs, taking up arms to rob a bank. It baffled many as to the causative factor and/or the modus operandi behind such thinking. Why would educated men, who can easily get into White Collar crimes, descent into a realm that is probably out of their element? Well, the answer is simple. Desperation! The climate for white collar crimes changed drastically when the administration changed. Many of the avenues for a “lil’ hustle” that took place before 2015, were closed when the Granger ad-
ministration came into power and began tightening the screws. Banks have now instituted a host of hoops that you have to jump through, just to obtain or deposit your own money. No doubt this mash-up many other bank ‘runnings.’ Additionally, the galore of audits reports caused many to virtually cease all (or most) illegal activities, even in ministries and companies that were not subject to any audits. This ‘new environment’ is causing many people to be very fearful of continuing in their old ways of consistently engaging in activities that were illegally supplementing their income. So now the white
collar type of crimes has been significantly reduced. With this explanation as the backdrop, one must now understand that folks like the bank robbers, who might have been involved in such crimes, or who thought that their education might have provided an avenue for them to get involved in those white collar kinds of crimes, have now found themselves in a thigh spot. Their desires for ‘bigmoney’ are the same. Their need for extravagance has not been curtailed. But now, the established avenues for them to thrive have been reduced. So they default to Blue Collar crimes. These kinds of crimes are more risky;
Guyana Cricket Board versus Berbice... From page 5 persons ceased to be executive members of the BCB and they are: Anil Beharry Plaffiana Millington Vicky Bharosay RicardoBachan VickramSeubarran It should be noted that the sole surviving members of the 2014 Board are: Dhieranidranauth Somwaroo - VICE PRESIDENT QualisWintnter - VICE PRESIDENT Vemen Walters - VICE PRESIDENT Angela Haniff - SECRETARY Hubern Evans - APPOINTED EXECUTIVE Albert Smith- APPOINTED EXECUTIVE Julian Cambridge- APPOINTED EXECUTIVE Rabindranauth SaywackAPPOINTED EXECUTIVE It is pertinent to note that after the resignation of Mr. Anil Beharry in early2017, Mr. D. Samwaru sought to impose himself on the Executives by
firing some and appointing others. This matter is currently engaging the attention of the court in an action filed by Mr. Smith and Saywack. He also sought in a conspiratorial way to have himself elected as President in contravention of the court order stopping elections of the county boards and the Guyana Cricket Board. The Berbice Cricket Board wishes to inform the general public and the Guyana Cricket Board that the Berbice Cricket Board is a body cooperate (Act #14 of 2014) and is empowered to elect at its Annual General Meeting the following Executives President Three Vice Presidents Secretary Assistant Secretary Treasurer Assistant Treasurer It is also pellucid and understood that in the event of a “Vacancy occurring among the officers, then such vacancy should be filled at a special general meeting of the
board” (article 13 of the Constitution of the Berbice Cricket Board). Further it is pertinent to note that Mr. Samwaru could not have been elected to the Presidency since this would have been in contravention of restraining order granted to Mr. David Black and Mr. Godwyn Allicock in a matter filed against the Berbice Cricket Board on the 4th March, 2015. The Berbice Cricket Board, therefore categorically states the Mr. D Samwaru is not and have never been elected President of the Berbice Cricket Board and the person to be contacted in relation to cricket matters in Berbice, is the Secretary to the Berbice Cricket Board. The Guyana Cricket Board is also advised to refrain from publishing false information that is designed to create mischief and confusion in Berbice Cricket. Angela Haniff Secretary Berbice Cricket Board
Former official thinks Maduro may... From page 5 the interests of the working and middle classes that supported the late Hugo Chavez. The forum also heard from a number of other presenters from Venezuela including Jose Domingo Mujica, National Coordinator of the Electoral Assembly of Education, University Professor Juan Manuel Raffle and journalists
Marianela Balbi and Nathan Crooks, Venezuela Bureau Chief, Bloomberg. President of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) Mike Mc Cormack and President of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Dr. Troy Thomas were among participants from CARICOM member states in the forum. Wesley Kirton
they are crasser, and; they carry more jail time. However, in desperation, one is likely to try anything and I am thinking that that is what happened with those bank robbers. They crossed over into a realm that was unfamiliar to them and they botched the job. The rest is history. Now, let’s look at a different scenario. Four of the prison escapees abducted a young man. These escapees are all convicted murderers; all of whom have been convicted of killing more than one person. Again the Guyanese public defaulted to the presumption that the young man would be killed. In the minds of most of us, he was a goner. What further solidified our suspicions that he was dead, was his race vis-a-vis the race of his abductors. However, M r. S h i v t a h a l i s s a f e l y home with his wife and son. The convicted murderers did not kill him. (They might have promised to kill him, if he said what they told him not to say, but that is a different story for a dif-
ferent time.) Again, we have to go into the minds of those four escapees. What would make them not kill Mr. Shivtahal? Some say that it’s because he begged for his life and because he has a young son. Well, is it not true that the men – at least one of them – were convicted for killing women and children? If the men did kill those people, some of them must have begged to have their lives spared. So, begging for your life and calming to have children are not sufficient reasons for convicted killers to not kill you. The point I am trying to make is that we, in Guyana are shooting in the dark. We do not quite know what is driving our so-called criminals (the blue collar ones, especially). For 7 years I have been speaking on this topic and I have been suggesting that the authorities create a semiformal process that will subject every arrested suspect to an interview. (Not an interrogation,
akin to what the investigators have to do). But an interview, conducted by a person, or persons, who have the ability to win the confidence of the detainee. The interview should be designed to unearth modalities of behavior: defective consciences, emotional immaturity, inadequate childhood socializations, maternal deprivation, and/or poor moral development. Guyana does NOT have a crime problem. We have leadership, parental and academic problems which lead to crime. More than 60% of our criminals are repeat offenders and more than a quarter of those locked up are on remand. For 7 years I have been speaking on this issue and I honestly believe that if the successive governments had listened to me, those 18 guys would not have died last year and we would not have lost our prison and be internationally humiliated, this year. Editor, I will continue to address this issue until Guyana’s criminal justice system makes the necessary and timely changes. Pastor Wendell Jeffrey
I hold no brief for the Attorney-General From page 5 letters in another newspaper between myself and Mr. Nandlall as long ago as January 2002 over the appointment of Mr. Manning (rather than Panday) as the Prime Minister in the tied General Elections in T&T. And Nand Puran if as you claim in your opening words of your letter: “I am not a lawyer”, then you are a pretender and imposter to legal knowledge; and you are intellectually in no position to know whether my legal views are “idiotic”; and it follows as day follows night that accordingly, your opinion is like unto “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing”. And this tale extends to your appavent fetish for rumour mongering and your “more revelations will come soon” with which you end your letter. But, I end mine with high standards. But if I were a practicing lawyer and were I retained in this matter (even if in an advisory capacity) I
would take and establish the point of law (as a preliminary point) that the Court/Judge has and had, no power or jurisdiction whatsoever to grant a “conservatory order” which is in substance and effect, analogous to an INJUNCTION against the State (the Guyana Police Force in which SOCU is a unit). And, that such conservatory order would, and ought to have been refused were the provision of section 16(6) of the State Liability And Proceedings Act, 1984 Cap: 6:05 brought to the attention of the learned CJ (ag). Section 16(6) provides relevantly: “where in ANY proceedings against the state any relief is sought… the Court shall NOT grant an injunction… but may in lieu thereof make an order declaratory of the rights of the parties”. What is so prohibited directly, is equally indirectly prohibited in the form of some interlocutory conservatory order (i.e. “CO”), the effect of which (unwittingly or otherwise) is to in, and by, a civil court, impede or frustrate the
presentation of the prosecution’s case in a CRIMINAL trial and preempt a finding of fact it must be the duty of the criminal court to make. But these technicalities and idiosyncrasies of the law would be your brain grade. And if the CO ought to be discharged as void for want of jurisdiction (section 16(6)) it can only be a pyrrhic victory to boast in “Nand Puran’s” letter that a “High Court Judge has impounded the challenged search warrant” (ie the SW which SOCU abortively sought to execute recently). It is up to the State Counsel’s representing SOCU to take the point of jurisdiction and there upon persuade the discharge of the CO. When that happens there would be no colour of legal basis for impounding (if in fact that has happened) the search warrant. And by the way it is not competent for courts to grant interlocutory/ interim declaration of rights order. Maxwell E. Edwards Attorney – at – Law (Former Magistrate)
Friday July 14, 2017
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UG academic staffers want revised workload policy Lecturers of the University of Guyana [UG] through their Union, the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association [UGSSA], are calling for a revision of the university’s workload policy. This call, according to information reaching this publication, has been linked to a protracted accusation that the lecturers have been delinquent in providing students with their grades. Although current UG Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, has also accused the lecturers of being delinquent since taking office last year, UGSSA President, Dr. Jewel Thomas, said that this is a dilemma that predates the appointment of the VC. In fact, she disclosed that the situation, in some cases, has been no fault of lecturers, and in some other cases, has been linked to the lack of resources to get the job done. But according to Dr. Thomas, a revision of the workload policy could essentially help to address the state of affairs. “We would like to have a revised workload policy that looks at the realities of the situation in Guyana, and the
UGSSA President, Dr. Jewel Thomas reality of the situation is that we just don’t have the resources,” said Dr. Thomas. Supporting his union colleague, President of the University of Guyana Workers Union, Bruce Haynes, said that there is a dire need to examine the workload policy, even as he pointed out that “you can’t bring a First World view of the workload in a Third World university or you will have a problem.” “Ours is peculiar and it has evolved overtime, but we need to structure those elements of our workload so that we have
our own generic workload, because in the other first world universities there is nothing close to what we have....it would have to be put into its proper context, and then we can evaluate how many hours an academic staff really spends per year, and that has been a difficulty,” said Haynes. Dr. Thomas explained that the existing policy that the university administration has in place was derived from universities that have every resource known to those countries such as teaching assistants, well resourced libraries, among others features. “The amount of time we spend working as our own support staff, it’s incredible... The university has grown, but we don’t have, in many instances, the support that we should have that would lighten our workload,” said Dr. Thomas, who herself is a lecturer within the Sociology Department of the university. The workload policy essentially speaks to the hours that a lecturer is expected to give towards lecture sessions during an academic year. “Depending on how you look at it, you might, for ex-
ample, decide that a lecturer can teach six or eight courses a year, perhaps four per semester,” said Dr. Thomas, who explained that such hours might be practical in an environment where lecturers are furnished with necessary resources. Dr. Thomas spoke of lecturers in first world countries who attend to as many as 800 students, but do not have the responsibility for marking. Even without the resources in place, the UGSSA President said, lecturers here have some very large courses with as much as 500 students. “These courses naturally take longer to mark. You cannot expect, given the resources that you are working with, that the marking will be completed within 10 days. Ten days is standard time for a class of 30 or 40 [students] but not enough even if you have three persons marking as is the case in some instances,” said Dr. Thomas. Dr. Thomas explained further that some lecturers have been forced to submit late grades, simply because of the fact that courses sometimes start late into the semester. “That is not within our
control. If contracts are late in being awarded to lecturers, how can they start teaching, especially if you have parttime lecturers? I can’t say I fault them! Would you start to work if you haven’t been approved to work?” Dr. Thomas questioned. “Sometimes a course starts a month or two into the semester, so you can honestly expect the lecturers to have grades ready the same time with other lecturers? The grades will naturally be late, sometimes a month delayed,” said Dr. Thomas. Stressing the unfairness of the accusations levelled against lecturers, Dr. Thomas said, “I can tell you, some lecturers sacrifice and do things that are dangerous to their health in order to complete marking, to give students back their work in reasonable time. They are doing their best in the circumstances,” she asserted. According to the UGSSA President, too, “I understand the need for grades, but I cannot ask a lecturer to endanger his or her life in the process. The amount of stress involved in that process [marking] is incredible.”
Dr. Thomas said, “We are asked to cut down on mistakes; we are asked to do more scrutiny, but [the administration] don’t give more resources... but [lecturers] have to be more careful.” “We feel it is defamatory to say that lecturers, across the board, do not care about students and are delinquent in submitting their grades. We have asked the Vice Chancellor repeatedly to stop making these blanket statements that make lecturers and the staff of the university look as if we don’t care about what we do”. Since the Union is not in the business of promoting deliberate delinquency, Dr. Thomas said that the body has been calling on the administration of the university to produce the evidence. “Since you are saying many lecturers are delinquent, can you please show us where these problems lie? If you don’t want to give us names, that’s alright, just tell us which courses or departments have issues, and we would like to see if we can work to help these persons, because we recognise that it is not good to keep students waiting,” said Dr. Thomas.
Several villages targeted for dental and medical services - as Guyana Watch Inc. hosts 24th outreach Starting Saturday, Guyana Watch Inc. will continue a tradition of bringing much needed health care services to the Guyanese populace. The medical outreach will see a team of about 30 health care professionals using their expertise to assist residents of multiple areas across the country. According to President and Founder of Guyana Watch, Mr. Tony Yassin, the outreach will be characterized by a week of medical and dental outreach clinics. While those who will offer the dental services have previously been a part of past Guyana Watch Inc.’s outreaches, Yassin disclosed that some of the medical experts on this occasion are fresh faces to the annual outreach. The visiting team, which is scheduled to arrive today, will consist of experts mainly from New York, United States, Yassin said. This year will mark the 24th outreach for the New Yorkbased Guyana Watch Inc. organization and, according to its President, the occasion will be marked by the dissemination of more than US$400,000 worth of medications. “We hope to have a good medical outreach this year,” said Yassin who anticipates that the team will be able to attend to well over 3,000 people in need of various health care services this year. Among the areas that the visiting team is set to target are: Wales, Patentia, and Vreed-en-Hoop West Demerara; Canje, Mara, Stanleytown, Bath Settlement, and Hopetown in Berbice and also areas including: Soesdyke, Kuru Kuru, Timehri, and Santa Mission.
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‘Massive extension of Mazaruni Prison on the cards - Feasibility study already completed Monday’s riot at the Camp Street Jailhouse, which resulted in sections of the facility being burnt to the ground, would be the second such incident in 16 months. Questions have begun to surface over the implementation of recommendations that came out of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report, into the first fire in March 2016, which resulted in the death of 17 inmates. Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, said yesterday that despite talks of not much being done to implement these recommendations, “a lot” has been done with some measures already in the chute. He then revealed Government’s plan to construct a new prison at Mazaruni as part of an extension programme. This project was initiated months ago with the award of a contract to carry out consultancy services for the design of the new structure. This is being done in keeping with the CoI recommendations, he pointed out. The Minister noted that $276M was budgeted in the 2017 National Budget, to initiate the first phase of the
construction. He said that immediately after accessing the funds, the government advertised for consultancy services for the design of the structure. This service Kaieteur News understands was funded through a grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This project however, hit a snag after, according to Ramjattan, no local company “qualified for the project”. This reportedly set back the overall objective to construct the new facility. The project was later retendered internationally and a Trinidad company, VIKAB Engineering Consultant, won the contract. Ramjattan said that the company has already submitted its design – which was subsequently given the green light from the President, David Granger. The report submitted by VIKAB Ramjattan explained, entails the specifications that are needed to guide contractors, who will be desirous of submitting bids to construct the facility. “This consultancy report will be submitted next week to commence the tendering
An impression of what the new facility at the Mazaruni Prison will look like.
process for contractors to commence construction...We want four contractors to work simultaneously on this project because it is a major, major project that we want done within the shortest and fastest time possible,” he noted. Shifting back to the first phase of construction,
Ramjattan expounded that the $276M will be spent to carry out the foundation works. Additional funds will be allocated in the 2018 budget to carry out another phase, which will entail the construction of walls. More allocations will be released from future budgets to complete the structure, the
media was informed. “We want a four-storeyed building but it will take some time; the construction and all of that. This will be a major, major piece of construction but it will start as of this year...I understand that the project will take some years and may cost in the vicinity of two billion dollars,”
Meanwhile, other works are being carried out at the Mazaruni Prison. Some $276M was allocated in the 2017 Budget for the construction of the administrative building. Additionally, 12 houses will be constructed for prison officers. (Continued on page 10)
Friday July 14, 2017
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Kaieteur News
They came to see the rubble! T h e g o v e r n m e n t ’s public relations, including that of the President, handled the jailbreak conflagration with typical incompetence. The poor PR was overshadowed only by the tragedy of the destruction by the fire itself. The APNU+AFC government is clearly of the belief that as long as it provided information about what the government is doing that this will help its image. It clearly does not comprehend the importance of public relations. Every government needs to manage its image through effective public relations. Governments are not perfect. They do not always act perfectly. They make mistakes. In fact, they are prone to mistakes. They make blunders which can be politically disastrous. PR is also necessary in Guyana for a different reason. The country is
divided politically. The government supporters are always likely to overlook its mistakes. But there are other constituents whose approval is needed by the government. This is where PR is necessary. The APNU has made a tactical decision to split the portfolios of the Ministers from the AFC who were once the more powerful. The portfolio of the Minister of Public Security was degutted of the important responsibility of immigration. This was handed to an APNU Minister. The Prime Minister who was supposed to be responsible for information has found that he is handicapped because the Presidency itself has a major press division which handles the flow of information from the Office of the President in w h i c h , i r o n i c a l l y, t h e Prime Minister is located. A communications
crisis therefore exists within the government because more than one agency holds responsibility. But communication is not PR as was evident last Sunday during the fire which razed the prisons. During the disaster, we were told that the President summoned an emergency meeting which included the heads of the agencies responsible for responding to the problems. Now this meeting was being held when the fire was being fought. The people who should have been on the ground helping to bring order, were in fact in a high level meeting with the President. What more calamitous situation could exist? The heads of the fire, police and military should have been outside of the prisons as should have been the Minister of Public Secur i t y. T h e P r e s i d e n t
should have been out there getting first-hand information and issuing instructions. In the old days, one of the first persons who used to be at the scene of major fires was the former Prime Minister of Guyana, Hamilton Green. He used to turn up in person to help direct operat i o n s . U n d e r t h e P P P, President Jagdeo and Robeson Benn were always at the scene of major fires. Yet, here was a fire raging inside of the prisons and a major security crisis developing and the top Ministers of the government were at a meeting briefing the President at another location. Can you believe this nonsense that is taking place? This was a PR disaster for the government. It conveyed a hands-off image, The President and the minister should have been at location providing support to the secu-
rity services battling the fire and trying to control the prisoners. Their presence there would have provided assurances to a frightened population. Go to the scene; get a first-hand look and then go to the war-room to plan. To c o m p o u n d m a t ters, the government, two days after the fire, decided to engage in a PR e x e r c i s e . I t was a most hopeless and incompetent PR exercise. The entire Cabinet visited the scene of the fire. What did they g o t h e r e t o d o ? To s e e rubble? They should have gone to Lusignan to sort out of the mess that was taking place there. The images of the Cabinet at Lot 12 Camp Street tell its own tale. The Minister of Public Security painted a forlorn figure standing at the side while the Prime Minister and the Minister of State stood beside the President. This is not the sort of
imagery the public needed to see. It was humiliating to the Minister of Public Security who has since had to take action to host his own press conference to provide information and demonstrate that the government is taking steps to regain control. The government sent the army in Buxton. This was a cheap political gimmick. No one expected the army to find anything. The army was doing a photo opportunity. This was another unmitigated PR disaster by the government. PR is ‘big people’ work? It is not for a bunch of ‘little children’ running all over the place!
Camp Street prison fire/jailbreak… Too early to determine collusion; inmates’ records being reconstructed- officials Officials have dismissed “speculations” that Sunday’s orchestrated jailbreak and fire at Camp Street jail could have been avoided. Six dangerous prisoners are on the run and sparking an intelligence-led manhunt focused in the city and the backlands of Demerara. During a press conference yesterday at the offices of the Ministry of Public Security, Brickdam, it was made clear that even the best plans in place would have been severely challenged. Police ranks who for several years now have ringed the perimeter of the Camp Street men’s facilities, as an extra layer following the Mash Day jailbreak of 2002, would have been focused on prisoners attempting to scale the walls and not so much on what was happening at the front gates- which is supposed to be controlled by prison officials. Five prisoners, armed with two handguns, managed to breach the front gates, but not before a prison officer, Odinga Wickham, was shot five times. Several other officers were injured in a coordinated attack as prisoners set at least four fires to wooden buildings in the compound. It was confusion all around. This was according to Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud, and prison chief, Gladwin Samuels yesterday. Ramjattan admitted that the situation was a testing
one that involved putting out the fires, controlling the inmates, and shuttling them to the Lusignan prison. The fact that records were burnt further compounded the situation. Using other records, including warrants which were stored separately and saved, officials were able to eventually ascertain the prisoners who escaped. During the interim, there was uncertainty as to how many prisoners actually escaped. The situation was worsened by the fact that the almost 1,000 inmates taken to Lusignan, were not cooperating, making a head count difficult. As of yesterday, the officials said, they were able to determine that six persons, dangerous criminalsincluding one from Death Row- were at large. According to Minister Ramjattan, several prisoners were moved from Lusignan to New Amsterdam and Timehri prisons. Some 90 were shuttled to New Amsterdam, Berbice, while 48 were taken to Timehri. Early releases were granted to 57 while six magistrates visiting the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara facilities earlier this week allowed 26 persons on self bail. Another eight prisoners on remand managed to raise their bail money. Prisoners shifted It was disclosed that within the next few hours, about 500-plus prisoners who
Within the next few hours, authorities are expected to complete works at the area at left to place prisoners in a more secured environment at Lusignan prison, ECD. were being kept in temporary situation in an open area in the Lusignan jail compound, will be moved to another fenced area where a tarmac, toilet and other facilities are being constructed. According to Ramjattan, it is the intention within the next few days, to move at least 250 prisoners back to Camp Street, where one of the concrete building is still virtually intact and some repairs, including zinc sheets replacements, are being made. Another 100 prisoners will also soon be accommodated
right at Camp Street at what is known as “The Cage”, making it a third of what the prisons had once held. Government has said that Camp Street jail will not be rebuilt to what it was before— -a wooden facility. Ramjattan insisted that under the prison rules, he had the powers for early release and even “earlier release”. According to the prison chief, they were able to retrieve about 97 percent of the warrants and other records, including some that had photographs of the
inmates at Camp Street. From these they were able to reconstruct the profiles of prisoners. However, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud also made it clear that the records are not totally lost as the police and the courts all have records which could be used to rebuild the database. With regards to whether police outside lapsed, Persaud said the situation was fast paced, and it was understandably that the ranks were paying attention to ensure no prisoner
breached the walls during the confusion over the fire. According to the prison chief, it is too early to determine collusion between the inmates and prison officers, as only a police investigation will do so. He explained that from indications, convicted Bartica and Lusignan massacre killer, Mark Royden Williams, got help from other prisoners to break him out from the cell of the condemned prisoners’ section where he was being held. From there, they quickly (Continued on page 31)
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Kaieteur News
=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===
I shape my columns; Ministers shape policies At the birth night party of Aubrey Norton at his home last Saturday, a minister expressed disappointment at my columns. It was a light remark, and in the same light vein, I turned to Bert Wilkinson, and whispered into his ear, so the Minister couldn’t hear, the following words, “I don’t tell him how to run his ministry, he can’t tell me how to do my columns.” Then I did say to the minister that there are good people he ignored on board placements. He rejected that saying to me that he did ask Bert and others if they wanted to be on certain boards. My knowledge of postMay 2015 politics told me otherwise. The music was ricocheting
off the wall, the liquor was cascading like Kaieteur Falls (not me, I do not imbibe; never did), the ambience invited friendship and not politics, so I let it pass. The evening was too comradely to be despoiled by political exchanges. In any case, the Minister is my friend but I wear on my shirt sleeve the constant reminder that the Aristotelian inherency of politics can spoil friendship. In another environment, I would have pursued the controversy of board placements of which the President and the Prime Minister are guilty of opportunistic betrayal but not at an enjoyable birth night and Aubrey Norton’s party’s atmo-
sphere was impeccably tasteful. But come to think of it, I could use this column to pontificate on the opportunism of the President and the Prime Minister with regards to board placements and my non-interference in ministerial affairs so I don’t give a damn about what ministers think of my columns. Maybe the President could invoke memories of who and who were with him when he held his weekly picket outside the Office of the President protesting the suspension of Parliament by President Ramotar to avoid the no confidence vote. It wasn’t a large attendance but I did participate. I wondered who the Presi-
‘Massive extension of Mazaruni... From page 8 Modernisation of Prison System Speaking on the issue of modernisin g G u y a n a ’s Prison System, Ramjattan reported that a consultant’s report has already been submitted. This contract was awarded to a Jamaican firm, Dr. Trevor Hamilton and Associates. “That was delivered. The first question that was
asked was in relation to selecting one from five options: whether we privatise the prison system; whether we regionalise it; or a combination of both; and whether we keep it in (the) State’s hands with a Board of Governance,” Ramjattan disclosed. He said that Government has opted for the governance structure (to be in State hands with a Board of Governors).
He noted that the new governance structure will require amendments to the Prisons Act – which is being worked on by Attorney-atLaw, Duke Pollard. Ramjattan said that he has asked Pollard to complete his proposed amendments and it is expected to be submitted by the end of this month. This system, he said, would have been tested in other jurisdictions.
dent consults when he decides to make appointments. Obviously he has to seek the opinions and advice of others seeing that he is very inexperienced in politics and would want to hear what certain “old heads” would have to say since they would be more familiar with societal permutations, dimensions and parameters than him. Last month, I described in one of these columns how the Prime Minister stopped his entourage on Church Street to greet me when I was leaving the pet shop. I went to buy stuff for two pets I find more warm and reliable than humans. The Prime Minister did remind me he was a friend of mine. But seeing that I have the same years as him in political activism and longer years in journalism, I find it surprising that he never called me for a little talk on who to put on the boards that he has jurisdiction over or even a little chat about my knowledge of who he has in mind for what appointments.
With my long career in the media, he never thought it necessary to invite me for coffee and sugar free donuts to talk about who he has in mind for the board of the broadcasting authority, NCN, Chronicle etc. I did have a few names of people that I think would have performed far better than his choices and people who have made a contribution to the fall of the PPP so Nagamootoo and Granger could be where they are today Bert Wilkinson sat next to me at the birth night party and obviously, the topic of the Chronicle came up. Bert is on the board of the Chronicle. I plan to submit a guest column to the Chronicle assessing the competence to date of both the President and the Prime Minister. I will not be harsh and I promise to be objective. But let me telegraph my thoughts to the Prime Minister on that column. I will ask
Frederick Kissoon two questions; what does he do in government since as an analyst I haven’t a clue, and is it true he drives the most expensive SUV in the country? Incidentally on the issue of boards, CEO of GWI, Van West Charles, was at the party. I wanted to go up to him and enquire if it was President Granger that appointed the Georgetown Mayor to be Van West Charles’s boss at GWI since she is chairman of the board. I resisted the temptation because it was a lovely party; why spoil it with political cynicism?
Dem boys seh ...
Lula get jail, Jagdeo to follow Brazil ex-president, Lula come to Guyana pun a state visit. Jagdeo was president. De same Jagdeo seh Lula was he best buddy. Lula going to jail. Dem boys wonder how long more before Jagdeo follow him. Jagdeo did give him Guyana’s highest national award. Rohee was Home Affairs Minister when all this happen. He could barely read and write and fuh sure he can’t spell. He tun a Minister and he hold couple press conference and talk a lot of fraff. Then he tun general secretary and in de middle of that press conference he seh goat nah bite him. Now he resort to writing letters to de press. Last week he write one cussing down de govt to mek de ExxonMobil contract public. Dem boys agree wid him. But he was right in de govt wid Jagdeo, that scamp, when dem never
release none contract. And is not that people didn’t ask. Dem use to beg Jagdeo and he kavakamites. De Marriott contract, de Berbice Bridge, de Skeldon factory, de One Laptop Per Family, de Enmore packaging plant, de hydro road contract, de airport contract, just to name a few. Guyana can’t see dem contract on to now. Yesterday de same man who want to know if goat bite him, write another letter saying de fire people didn’t have de technical and scientific skill to determine de cause of de Camp Street jail fire. When dem boys read that dem believe that is somebody else write de letter and sign he name to it because technical and scientific is two big words and dem don’t believe he know de meaning. If he really know de meaning, dem boys challenge him to go wid
dem to de forensic lab he build for over a billion dollars just to see what it can do. He got to show dem it is functioning and what it can analyse. After all fuh de 23 years de Pee Pee Pee been in office he, Rohee, was de head of de prison. What he ever do to better de lives of de prisoners. De money he spend pun to repair some stations, coulda give Guyana ten top class prisons. Rohee should tell us wheh de money gone. Dem boys never forget going to Suriname at Moleson Creek. Dem was repairing a li’l station. When a sergeant tell dem how much hundred millions Rohee was spending, dem boys collapse and de boat go way and lef dem. Talk half and dem boys can’t wait to see Jagdeo follow Lula fuh leading Rohee.
Friday July 14, 2017
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Kaieteur News
UG inks agreement to strengthen ties with China University A School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation [SEBI] was last week launched by the University of Guyana [UG]. In wake of this newest introduction, the University has announced that it will be offering a Minor in Mandarin Chinese Studies. In fact, UG has entered into an agreement with the Dalian University of Foreign Languages [DUFL] in China to offer studies in this regard, and also to develop a Bachelor’s Degree in Mandarin for UG. This agreement, it was revealed, was reached recently when a team from UG comprising Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith; Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Planning and International Engagement, Dr. Barbara Reynolds; Director of UG’s Confucius Institute, Al Creighton, and Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute Ma Tao, met in China with officials of DUFL. The meeting was regarded the first historic official meeting of UG’s Board of the Confucius
Institute. DUFL is UG’s partner in China for the operation of the Confucius Institute. As such the meeting was held on the DUFL campus in the city of Dalian, China. Representing DUFL were Vice-Chancellor Professor Liu Hong; Dean of the Multilanguage Base in Dalian for the International Promotion of Chinese Language, Professor Sun Yuhua and Li Fan of the International Office at DUFL. Professor Sun Yuhua pledged the full support of DUFL with assistance from Hanban – the headquarters for Confucius Institutes in China – for the programmes. With the agreement in place, UG is slated to continue to offer Mandarin as one of the languages that its students may choose in addition to Spanish, French and Portuguese. Mandarin will also be available as one of the foreign language requirements of the new School of Entrepreneurship and Business
The University of Guyana campus and Innovation. Moreover, at the meeting chaired by Ma Tao, both universities reaffirmed the con-
US pledges continued support to Guyanese …as Embassy commemorates 241st Independence
The U.S Embassy commemorated 241 years of U.S Independence last evening The United States of America through its Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway, has pledged to continue supporting Guyana in every area that assistance is needed. The Embassy of the United States of America commemorated the 241st Independence of the USA last evening at the Guyana Marriott International Hotel. During his address, Holloway, on behalf of U.S President, Donald Trump, said that his country would have done a lot for Guyana and will be doing much more as long as President David Granger and the people of Guyana want
his government to continue. According to Holloway, assistance would have already been given to Guyana towards: the oil and gas sector, provided employment opportunities, improving Guyana’s chances of being a candidate for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), providing assistance through its volunteer arm the Peace Corps and in-
creased information sharing between U.S. government and Guyanese entities through the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). He said that what the US has done thus far in Guyana was only possible because of the cooperation of past and present governments, civil society, and the uniformed services, along with the hard work of the Guyanese people.
tent of an MOU already in force between them and pledged continued cooperation. Added to this, Dr. Reynolds at the meeting proposed ideas for areas of future cooperation and ways in which the institutions can assist each other for mutual development. She also reaffirmed UG’s Vice-Chancellor’s invitation to DUFL to visit UG for its next meeting of the Board. Meanwhile, Director of the Confucius Institute, Al Creighton, presented the re-
port of the Institute, covering its operations since 2014, the conduct of the programme in Mandarin as well as the academic, cultural and social events on the UG Campuses and in the Guyanese community. He also presented the budget of the Institute and outlined its vision, plans for its future development and ways in which there can be deeper academic exchanges to support programmes in each university. Dalian University of Foreign Languages was selected
in 2013 to partner with UG in the setting up of the Confucius Institute on the campus. DUFL trains and makes available lecturers in Chinese Language Teaching for the Confucius Institute. Although it was historically founded with its strength in foreign languages, it now has programmes in several other disciplines and according to information disseminated, UG will now look forward to a widening in twoway exchanges involving areas beyond Chinese Language Teaching.
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
Nine counting losses as fire destroys Trench Road homes A fire yesterday left two families counting their losses as an afternoon blaze burnt through two units of a range house in Trench Road, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The fire which started around noon began at Lot 145 Trench Road, according to Natasha Delph, who resides at Lot 146. She said that she and her family were asleep when the fire started. Delph said that she lives with her husband, two daughters and two grandchildren. She said that her sister, who lives aback of her, noticed the fire at the neighbour’s unit and raised an alarm. She recalled that earlier in the day she had pleaded with her husband to stay home and not go to work. “I tell he ‘Man don’t go to work, stay home with me. Now I don’t know wha mek I tell he stay home; and he lie down in the big chair downstairs and fall asleep. And then me sister come round and tell we, ‘“Look fire.’” The woman said that they were not able to get all their belongings out of the house. “Everything can’t even hold through the door to come out.” She said that she first observed the fire crawling over into her unit through a bedroom upstairs. She said that nobody was at home next door at the time the fire begun. “The woman went out and she son went to work.” According to Delph’s husband, Andrew Forde, a bucket brigade was formed to douse the flames until fire attendants arrived. He said that the fire service’s response was prompt. “If they didn’t come, this whole place woulda burn
Firemen in action yesterday trying to prevent the fire from spreading down because it start spreading in the two other buildings next-door.” Forde, who works at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council as a pump attendant, said that all the belongings were soaked inside the house on both floors. “They got a part on t h e r o o f w h e r e i t s t art ketching and coming over by me. We gotta do some repairs there too.” Despite the extensive damage to his home, he said that his family will have to mop-up as much as possible and sleep in the house because they have no other place to stay. “We gon gotta try and clean out and try and mek weself comfortable because we ain’t got nowhere else to go.”
He said that there was no power outage in the area so he believes that the fire might have been electrical in nature. Based on information received, the unit in which the fire is said to have started is owned by 70-year-old Cynthia Johnson who resides at the premises with her son and niece. Reports are that Johnson, the last to leave home, did so around noon to visit the pharmacy to purchase medication. It was there that neighbours informed her that her house was on fire. After returning home, Johnson noticed the upper flat of the home on fire. Responding to the fire were water tenders from West Ruimveldt and Central Fire Station.
ExxonMobil-Guyana oil deal…
Guyana should opt for revenue sharing rather than profit sharing –Goolsarran Local intellectuals continue to question the direction in which Guyana is going as it relates to the management of one of the country’s most valuable natural resources—oil. Equally significant, is the fact that many continue to question the government’s silence on the deal secured with US oil giant, ExxonMobil, among other related issues. Anand Goolsarran, an accountant and anti-corruption advocate, is one such individual who thinks that government should revise the direction in which it is going with regards to the profit sharing aspect of the oil deal (which is all the nation is aware of along with the two percent royalty). The former Auditor General thinks that there is more to be gained by Guyana if better terms are negotiated. He said that it is not too late for the government to consider renegotiating to secure revenue sharing with ExxonMobil instead of profit sharing. Goolsarran said that according to the government’s announcement, crude oil production will commence in 2020 with 100,000 barrels a day. He noted as well that Government will gain a two percent royalty rate as well as half of the yearly profit secured by ExxonMobil. Using the current world market price of approximately US$50 per barrel, and assuming that production will take place 300 days per year, Goolsarran calculated the revenue derived from royalties per annum will be two percent of (100,000 x 300 x 50) = US$30M. This works out to just 2.4 percent of the 2017 National Budget of G$250 billion. Goolsarran said, “This is not a significant sum as a measure of
Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran compensation for the extraction of one of the country’s natural resources, and therefore, Guyana has to rely on the profit-sharing agreement for a greater portion of its revenue from crude oil production.” He then turned his attention to the other part of the deal which states that Guyana will get 50 percent of the profit derived. This, according to Goolsarran’s reasoning, is not the best direction to go. PROFIT SHARING VS. REVENUESHARING Goolsarran said that a key concern relating to profit-sharing arrangements is that profits can vary significantly from year to year. He said that this would change, considering; the volatility of prices on the world market; and the need to recover the initial investment over a period of time. The former Auditor General said that there are detailed accounting rules to be followed in relation to the recovery of the investment. “Generally speaking, the initial investment (i.e. expenditure not directly linked to production) is capitalized and
shown as assets in the balance sheet of the oil company.” He said that the expenditure on physical assets for example plant, machinery and equipment, is written off against revenue over the economic useful life of the assets. Similarly, Goolsarran said that intangible assets are amortized over the life of the investment, typically over a 30year period, using predetermined rates. “Taking into account these considerations, it is entirely possible for losses to be recorded in the early years of operations.” “Given the uncertainty of the extent of profits that is likely to accrue, there are strong arguments for there to be in place revenue sharing agreements rather than those relating to profit-sharing.” Goolsarran said that a revenue-sharing agreement provides a guaranteed flow of income to governments once production begins, and can be monitored easily from the government’s perspective. In that way, he said, there will no longer be a need for detailed and independent scrutiny of oil companies’ costs to ensure that only legitimate expenditure is charged against revenue. This is an area that has been the subject of intense disagreements between oil companies and governments. An additional consideration is that oil companies can curtail production in anticipation of higher prices in the future, with consequent adverse impact on profits. It was mainly for these reasons that India has moved away from the profit-sharing model to one of revenue-sharing, based on a recommendation of the country’s Auditor General.”
Friday July 14, 2017
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Kaieteur News
Region Two continues to suffer at the hands of GPL The frustrated and depressed residents of the Essequibo Coast yesterday had an opportunity to meet with officials of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). The meeting follows a series of blackouts that continues to plague the northern end of the Coast. Present at the meeting were officials representing the Regional Democratic Council, Regional Director of GPL, Nigel Belfield, deputy CEO of technical Department GPL, Elwyn Marshall, and other stakeholders of the business communities. Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council, Daveanand Ramdatt, expected frank and honest discussions. His expectations however were short-lived as distressed residents were eager to unleash their burning concerns to the officials of GPL. Ever so anxious were the residents of Charity, who were exposed to the blackouts. For
...Residents of Charity now skipping baths
From extreme right, Regional Chairman Daveanand Ramdatt, Elwyn Marshall, and Nigel Belfield, Regional Director of GPL and other regional officials the past eight days residents living in Charity had no electricity. As a result the GWI pump station in Charity was unable to supply water to residents living in the area. The Chairman on the other hand is concerned and disappointed that timely information was not provided and the methodology used by G.P.L. was prudent. “Charity is the most affected; as indicated to GPL we have numerous prob-
lems. We would like to have clear and sincere comments from G.P.L. that point us in a direction so we can see what’s in store. “The R.D.C recognized that Region Two needs to be more vocal in representing itself, though quietness cannot be continued, descent efforts must still be made.” Chief Executive OfficerTechnical, Elwyn Marshal, said that G.P.L. offers apology
Republic Bank attempt robbery…
Five head to court today
Jamal Haynes
KILLED: Elton Wray
Five men, who were implicated in the attempted robbery at Republic Bank, Water Street, Georgetown branch on July 4 last, are expected to be arraigned before a Magistrate today. This was confirmed by a police official last evening. Those who are to be charged are bank employee Jamal Haynes and Keron Saunders, and a police constable and rural constable who reportedly admitted their involvement in the attempted robbery. This newspaper was unable to confirm if the fifth suspect is the second bank employee, who was allegedly providing information to the suspects from inside. It was Haynes, Saunders and Elton Wray, an agronomist, who went into the bank and held the employees hostage. Wray was shot dead. Kaieteur News understands that the men were planning on getting their hands on the night deposits since it was a three-day weekend and companies would have deposited millions into the chute. The robbery on the bank had reportedly been planned three months before. As customary, a female staffer was supposed to be at the bank at 07:10 hours two Tuesdays ago and should have been emptying the chute and taking the cash to the vault. According to the bandits’ plan, when they entered the bank, they would have held the staffers hostage and seized the woman who
Keron Saunders
would have been emptying the chute—there they would have grabbed a few bags of cash and escaped. Everything went according to the plan until the three bandits entered the bank and Haynes did not see his colleague who had access to the chute. “Hold! She is not there.” This was a text message investigators discovered on a phone belonging to one of the alleged bandits who went into the bank. The text message was reportedly sent by a staffer who was inside the building before the gunmen arrived. A staffer at the bank said that Haynes panicked because his colleague was not there. She had not arrived at work to empty the chute and take the cash to the vault. Instead, she was at the entrance of the bank when she learnt of the commotion and left. The alleged bandits had no alternative but to start checking the canister for cash. They also began knocking on the vault to get it open. Meanwhile, Haynes’s senior colleague and junior staffers were in the vault when they saw what was happening on camera. They immediately called the bank’s security manager who then called the police. By this time, the Professional Guard Services (PGS) in the vicinity reached the scene in less than a minute. There was a 10-minute shootout between the police, guard service and the men before they were held and Wray was killed.
for the unreliable supply of current. Marshall said the power outage is due to loss of power in two major units. In no circumstance could the units be maintained to offer reliable service. Marshall said that the Company has formulated a plan to minimize the periods of Blackout experienced throughout the northern section of the region. “The Essequibo Coast has two sequences of power. Two years ago a south system was established temporarily in Fairfield. Our plan is to relocate the set in Southfield to Anna Regina. This in turn would result in less load for the Anna Regina generator sets. At the same time persons on the south will not experi-
ence power outages.” One of the major concerns that still remained however was the situation at Charity. Marshall added, “We plan not to feed villages between charity and Anna Regina so that Charity can have some current for at least 12hrs. We are now fixing our equipments and have spare parts for the technicians. If all goes well by Saturday the flow of electricity on the Coast should be reverted to a state of normalcy.” The units at the Anna Regina PowerStation are old and worn-out. . Unit number one currently has an alternator failure, Marshall said that technicians were shipped in from Miami to get repairs done. “We are sure that the set would be operational by tomorrow evening.” G.P.L. has paid to acquire three new units with 5.1 megawatts, the new units are expected to be commissioned by late October. Residents believe that the people of the Essequibo Coast are treated unfairly and continue to be left neglected by the power company. “Fishermen can’t go to sea
because there’s no ice to preserve their catch. Losses due to a lack of communication were subsequently reported. President of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce, Deleep Singh, said that the service provided by G.P.L. is grossly inadequate. He added, “Those two engines have lost both their lives for quite a long time now, years. The northern part of the Essequibo Coast contributes 75% to the Region’s economic activity. The people of Charity are poor and ordinary people, still the Hospital is out of water and communication linking us to the world is still down. “We don’t give G.P.L. problem; G.P.L. gives us problems. We pay our bills and we expect better. A lot of families can’t get water to do domestic work more so have a bath. We have meat and vegetable that we had to throw away.” The RDC is seeking to make arrangements to have water tanks put in place to supply residents if water is not back on as soon as possible.
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
Dr. Niamatali, former army chief join team to develop national drainage plan
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, yesterday announced during the quarterly meeting of the Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinating Committee, held at the headquarters of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), that Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh, at the request of President David Granger, will join that body. Maj Gen. Singh’s wealth of knowledge and experience in disaster risk management is a key factor in him joining, the Ministry of the Presidency explained. Dr. Carl Niamatali was also introduced as a new member. Noting that both men bring a wealth of experience to the table, the Minister challenged the team to look at developing a strategic national drainage and irrigation plan, which will result in a more efficiently managed drainage network countrywide, since though the individual systems are interconnected, they are currently managed by separate agencies. “We are in a constant disaster preparedness situation… You really need to have a national authority to be able
Expertise needed: Major General (Ret'd), Joe Singh to say this is what we will do, having regard the concerns and the livelihood of all the persons involved,” Minister Harmon said. The Minister discussed with the committee several pertinent issues related to natural disasters, particularly the risk of flooding countrywide, which likely due to the effects of climate change, is affecting all the administrative regions. “We have to organise ourselves as a platform and all of
Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon and Director General of the Civil Defence Commission, Colonel (Ret'd) Chabilall Ramsarup during a meeting of the Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinating Committee the structures which fall beneath the platform to ensure that we can, if not prevent these things from happening, at least do some type of amelioration when they occur,” Minister Harmon said. Minister Harmon said, too, that the President has mandated him to carefully look at the country’s preparedness and to determine if more national resources need to be allocated to adequately address incidences of natural disasters. Representatives from the Ministry of Social Protection, the Ministry of Communities,
the University of Guyana, the Hydro meteorological Office,
the United Nations, the Environmental Protection Agency
and several others were present at the meeting.
Man on trial for killing lover’s estranged husband - Victim’s daughter testifies Ameena Garnett, the daughter of murdered forklift operator testified yesterday that she was present on the day that her father and her mother’s lover engaged in a fight which eventually led to her father’s death. She was called to the stand by State Counsel Siand Dhurjon to lead evidence in the murder trial of Aniki Jones. Jones, a resident of Lamaha Springs, stands accused of murdering her father, Carl Garnett on December 15, 2013. Garnett would have called the Lamaha Springs residence to speak with the child that he shared with his estranged wife. However, following a disagreement over the phone, Garnett is said to have armed himself with a cutlass and went to the home where he confronted Jones. A fight ensued between the two which left both parties injured. The two men were then taken into the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where Garnett, a 42-year-old father of four from Sophia, Greater Georgetown, succumbed as a result of the injuries received. Jones is currently facing a trial for the murder before Justice Nareshwar Harnanan and a 12-member mixed jury at the Georgetown High Court. He is being represented by Attorneys- at- law, Mark Conway and Keoma Griffith. Yesterday, Ameena Garnett, the victim’s daughter recalled that she was about 18 years old when the incident occurred. She told the court that her parents had separated and her mother was living with Jones, herself and three siblings.
Garnett recalled that it was around 6:20 pm on December 15, 2013 that the telephone rang. She said her mother was in the kitchen preparing food and her stepfather (Jones) was lying on a bed listening to music. She said that her little sister was on a bed lying next to the man. Garnett said that her mother spoke to her father over the phone. She said during the telephone call her mother became annoyed. The witness noted that she went to bathe in a bathroom located in the yard. But not long after that, there were sounds of rapid footsteps in the house. During the time, she said that she heard a ruckus in the house. She recounted there was what sounded like a scuffle and screams from her mother and sister. The witness said that she grabbed her towel and rushed into the house. There, she assisted her mother in separating her father and Jones who were engaged in a fight. After she pulled them apart, Garnett said that she noticed that Jones was bleeding. She admitted that she took a cutlass from her father and threw it through a window. Garnett told the court too that she did not see any injuries on her father but he was unconscious. The men were eventually taken away by the police and she later saw them at the hospital---- her father remained unconscious but Jones had on bandages. The witness reported that her father eventually passed away. On Wednesday, Detective Superintendant of Police, Joel David, detailed a
Murdered: Carl Garnett statement to the court in which he said Jones detailed a fight which eventually led to the man’s demise. According to the statement which Officer David read to the court, the accused admitted that he was engaged in an altercation with Garnett before the time of his death. In his the caution statement, the accused told police that he was in a relationship with a woman (Rhonda Garnett) who had left her husband. The statement outlined that Jones believed that the woman‘s husband was not pleased that she was with him but (himself and Rhonda) lived as husband and wife. On the day of the incident, Jones told the police that he overheard a conversation between Rhonda and her husband--- they had sounded like they were having a row. Approximately 10 minutes later, Jones said that Garnett walked into his house armed with a cutlass and an altercation ensued between them. According to statement, Jones told investigators that he is very sorry for what happened to Garnett as a result of the altercation. “Ah sorry bad. I wish he bin live,” the accused concluded his statement.
Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
Estimated $115.6M to fix sinking Bagotville Bridge
The arrow points to the section of the bridge that is sinking. Engineers have estimated that some $115.7 million will be spent to rehabilitate the sinki n g B a g o t v i l l e B r i d g e , We s t B a n k Demerara. Four contractors have already submitted bids to carry out the works. The tenders were
open at National Procurement and Tender Administrative Board (NPTAB), Georgetown yesterday. The table below illustrates the names of the bidders that are vying for the project, along with their respective bids (amount):
The Bagotville Bridge was closed to heavyduty vehicles about three weeks ago after the eastern lane began to sink. This was due to two damaged supporting beams. The piles supporting these beams are also exhibiting cracks. Residents have reported that despite the sinking section being cordoned off, the bridge appears to be sinking more every day. When this publication visited Bagotville yesterday, the eastern end of the structure was cordoned off and ranks from the La Grange Police Station were seen directing traffic. The western side of the bridge is facilitating north and south-bound traffic. Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, during a recent media engagement, had stressed the importance of having the Bagotville Bridge fixed within the shortest time possible, noting that the western side of the structure was also being threatened.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure would have already met with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Guyana Power and Light (GPL), to apprise them of the current situation. The works will be carried out as “emergency works�. The Ministry of Finance would have been approached for the necessary funds. This was part of the plan outlined by Patterson some two weeks ago. Meanwhile, heavy-duty vehicles were being diverted via the Canal Number One Polder Access Road and La Parfaite Harmonie Access Road. Two weeks ago, the La Parfaite Harmonie Access Road was in a deplorable condition. However, one of the contractors that worked on that road, Gaico Construction and General Services Incorporated, immediately carried out the remedial works.
The circle shows the cracks on one of the piles.
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PAGE 16
CDB signs MOU with Export-Import Bank of China
Monica La Bennett, Vice-President (Operations), CDB, signs the MOU between CDB and EXIM Bank of China. Looking on are (L-R) Yu Wen, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Business Department, EXIM Bank of China. Dr. Warren Smith, President, CDB, Diana Wilson Patrick, General Counsel, CDB and Dr. Justin Ram, Director, Economics, CDB. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will allow both parties to discuss opportunities for cooperation and coordination in CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs). The MOU will allow both institutions to explore co-financing options, as well as coordinate development strategies, concepts and activities in those countries. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Monica La Bennett, CDB Vice-President (Operations), said that both CDB and the EXIM Bank hold a common conviction of the importance of trade in promoting economic ties between China and Caribbean coun-
Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
tries. She noted, therefore, that the partnership had tremendous potential. “We are especially optimistic about the prospects for co-financing projects in key sectors such as infrastructure, human resource development, agriculture, and renewable energy and energy efficiency. “We, therefore, welcome this collaboration with the Export-Import Bank of China and look forward to combining our resources, knowledge and expertise to further the development of the Caribbean Region for the benefit of its people,” she said. “CDB and EXIM Bank, we share the same target, to improve the economic development of Caribbean countries…I am quite sure that by signing this MOU we will expand this kind of coop-
eration and achieve the given result, the economic cooperation between China and Caribbean agencies,” added Yu Wen, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Business Department, Export-Import Bank of China. The signing ceremony took place during a CDBhosted conference on the use of Chinese Renminbi in the Caribbean, which was held at the Hilton Barbados Resort on Monday. China EXIM Bank is a state-owned policy bank that supports China’s foreign trade, investment and international economic cooperation. It implements projects around the world, including in Latin America and the Caribbean. China has been a member country of CDB since 1998.
GGDMA: State of roads forcing miners to pay double on transportation The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) is calling on Government for help on the state of a number of key hinterland roads. The association, in a statement, yesterday, said it is deeply disturbed over the length of time it is taking the government to take action. “While we do agree that there must be some transparency in the process of awarding the contracts, this must be done in an expeditious manner, not by individuals taking their precious time to review contracts whilst the roads become more and more impassable.” GGDMA said that the deplorable roads have added down time and increased the operations cost to miners. In fact, some have to pay double to have their fuel and other supplies delivered to their camps. “Additionally, many of our miners’ trucks and other equipment are being severely damaged due to these roads. This, once again, puts additional financial pressure on the miner as unnecessary maintenance cost. One would believe that sane thinking should be the way forward to ensure that the proper infrastructure is in place for the gold and diamond mining sector which has been the backbone for Guyana’s economy over the past decade.” But unfortunately, this is far from the case. According to GGDMA, all that seems to be happening is that the fees and taxes by the Government agencies seem to be increasing with no proper incentives for the miners. “Miners already have been paying billions of dollars in royalties to the GGMC when they sell their gold and therefore the GGDMA wants to know why some of these monies are not being converted to maintain the integ-
…calls on Govt. to speed up repairs
One of the hinterland roads rity of roads leading to the mining areas.” The association said that the cost of maintaining these roads not properly reflected in the 2017 Budget. “The GGDMA is calling for greater collaboration between the GGMC, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance and the Hinterland Infrastructure Committee [HIC] to have better roads available for our miners.” In light of the above mentioned, the GGDMA said it is
questioning whether this is the better life that was promised to the miners, who make tremendous sacrifices and contribute to Guyana’s economy. “The GGDMA remains steadfast to promote and protect the rights, interest and welfare of all miners.” Gold was the biggest foreign currency earner for the economy last year. This year, poor weather has wreaked havoc for miners with difficulties in getting supplies in to camps.
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
Suspect confesses to being Prison has no space... with gang that killed bus driver Magistrate grants
bail to illegal firearm accused
Fifty-six-year-old Samuel James of Baramita, North West District was yesterday granted bail in the sum of $50,000 after he made an appearance before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The defendant denied the charge which read that on July 11, last, at William Place, North West District, he had in his possession a 16-gauge shotgun, when he was not the holder of a firearm license at the time. Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore objected to bail being granted to the defendant citing the prevalence and penalty of the offense.
The prosecutor further told the court that the defendant did not outline any special reason as to why bail should be granted to him. Facts presented by the prosecutor stated that on the day in question, police acting on information received, carried out a raid at the defendant’s home where the firearm was found between two posts in the bedroom. However, the Chief Magistrate granted bail to the defendant citing that the special reason for bail is that the prison has no space to accommodate prisoners. The prose c u t o r s a i d that the case file is incom-
Charged Samuel James plete and the defendant will make his next court appearance on August 9 at the M a t hews Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
New standby generator procured for Mabaruma Police cordon the area where Tedroy Neil James (inset) was slain A Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara man has reportedly confessed to being part of a three-man gang that killed minibus driver, Tedroy Neil James, near Mc Doom on Tuesday. Kaieteur News understands that the suspect, who was detained on the very day of the killing, has told investigators that he was involved in the planning of the robbery and was also present when James was shot dead. However, he denied being the shooter. Police are likely to seek legal advice today, and indications are that the detained man, who is in his twenties, will be charged. “The suspect in the bus driver murder is in custody (and) investigators have established a strong case
against him,” a senior police official told Kaieteur News yesterday. “However, because of the prevailing situation, the police will be asking for an extension of his detention period. “Two others suspects are wanted, but despite searches at their respective places of abode, they weren’t located.” James, 38, of Suddie, Essequibo, was shot in the back while attempting to drive away after two bandits, who were posing as passengers, began robbing other commuters. The Route-32 (Parika/ Georgetown) driver was heading north along the East Bank Demerara Public Road, around 11.00 hrs, when a male passenger, whom he had picked up on the West Coast Demerara, asked to stop at Middle
Street, Mc Doom. But as the passenger was about to disembark, two other men, one armed with a handgun, began to rob the other passengers. James, upon noticing the ruckus, attempted to drive away, but was shot by one of the bandits. The suspects then scaled a median before running into a nearby street. Public-spirited citizens subsequently took James to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police have refuted earlier reports that two brothers from Agricola were held for the killing. The brothers were in fact held for another incident on East Coast Demerara.
The standby generator The restoration of electricity to some households within the Mabaruma and surrounding communities is imminent with the procurement of a 500-kilowatt generator, according to Region One Chairman, Brentnol Ashley.
The generator, which will be used until a new engine for the permanent gen-set is operational, was procured by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ashley explained. He told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that
the Regional Democratic Council through the Ministry of Communities and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure collaborated for “the resources to procure a new engine,” Ashley noted. This new engine is expected to arrive shortly in Guyana. This new, larger engine “will be able to power all the homes within the communities,” the Regional Chairman explained. The generator will power communities as far as Hosororo, Kumaka, Mabaruma, Thomas Hill, Sliver Hill, Barabina and Bumbery. The new engine for the gen-set is estimated to cost some $16M. Residents of the Region One communities have been without steady electricity for over five weeks due to the malfunctioning generator that went down on May 15, last.
Friday July 14, 2017
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Kaieteur News
$550M cocaine-in-lumber bust…
Former Medicare employees Trial delayed as prisoners on $2M embezzlement charge unable to attend court
On Bail: REMANDED: Stephen Vieira Sherwayne De Abreu Last Sunday’s jailbreak and fire at the Camp Street prison has had a significant effect on the timely hearing of matters at courts throughout the country. It was no different yesterday, when the trial of four men accused of aiding another to traffic over 187 pounds of cocaine was postponed as a result of two of them- who are remand prisoners-being unable to attend court. Former Customs officer, Sherwayne De Abreu, of Section a Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, and Tazim Gafoor of Menzies Street, Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara were unable make an appearance at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court due to the present disarray in the prison system. In light of the situation, Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool adjourned the matter until September 13 for commencement of trial which will continue on September 15. In doing so, Magistrate Liverpool said it is only fair that the prisoners be present for the trial since their absence is no fault of theirs. Their co-accused Stephen Vieira, of 37 Middle Street,
On Bail: Nazim Gafoor
South Cummingsburg, Georgetown and Nazim Gafoor, the son of Tazim Gafoor were each granted $5M bail last month by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George. They have posted the hefty sum. They were ordered to report to the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Headquarters until the determination of the matter and to lodge their passports. It is alleged that between March 1 and May 12 at Narine Lall Sawmill, they aided Hakim Mohamed to traffic 84.986 kilograms of cocaine. The cocaine is said to be worth some $550M. CANU had detained Mohamed but he has not been charged. Lall was charged in absentia for trafficking in narcotics. A warrant has been issued for his arrest since he is said to be out of the country. Kaieteur News understands that the bust was made after CANU officials received a tip off on May 12. When they acted, the boards were being packed onto a truck. The truck driver and porters were arrested but were
REMANDED: Tazim Gafoor
subsequently released after it was discovered that the vehicle and its workers were hired to transport the timber. The drug agency in a release said that ranks conducted a search at the parapet in front of the premises of Mohamed and searched a truck laden with several pallets of 1×6 dressed lumber boards prepared for export. Several pieces of boards were drilled randomly by the ranks and revealed a whitish substance. The lumber was packed at a sawmill located at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo belonging to Narine Lall to be transported to a wharf in Georgetown and then shipped to the United States of America, CANU stated. CANU in a statement said that Vieira is listed on the shipping documents as a representative of the shipper, Lall. According to CANU, Tazim was placed before the court charged for his role in another cocaine matter. The 43-year-old man was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, last year September following the discovery of over nine kilograms of cocaine.
Crime scene photographs tendered... From page 19 scene were also tendered into evidence yesterday. Reports on the murder suggested that Roberts left his home around 21:00 hours on November 4, 2009 with two of his friends, in a goldcoloured Toyota Tacoma pick-up Land Cruiser.
The men were said to have been on their way to the gold and diamond fields, when they were stopped by a group of men dressed as policemen. The party of policemen was said to be searching for arms and ammunition. It was some time after, that the men were hijacked by a
group of men, who duct taped them and placed them in the tray of the Tacoma vehicle. While Roberts's friends managed to escape their captors, his body was later found just off a trail at Dora, Soesdyke- Linden highway.
Three former employees of Medicare Pharmacy yesterday made an appearance before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan, in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after being charged with embezzling money from the company. Twenty-three-year-old Vanwattie Ramnarine of Lot 259 Area D’Willem, West Coast Demerara and 20-yearold Celina Sookdeo of Lot 296 Old Road Goed Fortuin, both denied the charge which alleged that between September 6, 2016 and June 2, 2017 at Medicare Pharmacy, Georgetown, while being employed as a clerk or servant at the company they fraudulently embezzled $655,245, money taken into their possession in the name of or on the account for the company. It was further alleged that 43-year-old Zalena Khan, of Lot 389 East Street North Cummingsburg and Vanwattie Ramnarine, both denied the charge which alleged that between May 4, 2016 and June 15, 2017 at Medicare Pharmacy, Georgetown while being employed as a clerk or servant at the company they fraudulently embezzled the sum of
Charged: Zalena Khan
Charged: Vanwattie Ramnarine
$1.6M, money taken in their possession in the name of or on the account for the company. Ramnarine and Sookdeo were both represented by Attorney-at-law Marcia Sharma, who asked that her clients be released on reasonable bail since they have no previous or pending matter in any court. The lawyer further told the court that Sookdeo is the sole breadwinner for her family, while Ramnarine is the mother of two. Khan was represented by Attorney-at-law James Bond, who in his application to secure bail for his client told the court that his client is the
mother of two and that bail should be granted to her since she is not a flight risk and will return to court for the trial. Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore had no objection to bail being granted to the defendants but asked that conditions be attached. Bail was set in the sum of $150,000 for each of the defendants. The magistrate ordered that the defendants report to the fraud section at the Brickdam Police Station every Friday until the completion of the trial. The prosecutor said that the case file is still incomplete and the trio will make their next court appearance on August 4 for statements.
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
U.S. asks nations to provide more Trump says he would invite Putin traveler data or face sanctions to White House, but not now WASHINGTON (Reuters Exclusive) - The U.S. State Department will require all nations to provide extensive data to help it vet visa applicant s a n d d e t e r m i n e whether a traveler poses a terrorist threat, according to a cable obtained by Reuters. Countries that fail to comply with the new protocols or take steps to do so within 50 days could face travel sanctions. The cable, sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts yesterday, is a summary of a worldwide review of vetting procedures that was required under U.S. President Donald Trump’s revised March 6 executive order that temporarily banned U.S. travel by most citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries. The memo lays out a series of standards the United States will require of other countries, including that they issue, or have active plans to issue, electronic passports and regularly report lost and stolen passports to INTERPOL. It also directs nations to provide “any other identity information” requested by Washington for U.S. visa applicants, including biometric or biographic details. The cable sets out requirements for countries to provide data on individuals it knows or has grounds to believe are terrorists as well as criminal record information. Further, countries are asked not to block the transfer of information about U.S.bound travelers to the U.S. government and not to designate people for travel watchlists based solely on their political or religious beliefs. “This is the first time that the U.S. Government is setting standards for the information that is required from all countries specifically in support of immigration and traveler vetting,” the cable said. The new requirements are the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration
says it is taking to better protect the United States from terrorist attack. However, former officials said much of the information sought is routinely shared between countries, including examples of passports and additional details about particular travelers that may present security concerns. Some U.S. allies may worry about privacy protections if Washington is seen as seeking information beyond what i s a l r e a d y shared, said John Sandweg, a former senior Homeland Security Department official now with the firm Frontier Solutions. “I don’t think you can ignore the political aspects of the unpopularity of the current administration. That puts political pressure to stand up to the administration,” he said. The cable lays out risk factors the U.S. government will consider when evaluating a country. Some of these are controversial and could be difficult for countries to prove to U.S. satisfaction, including ensuring “that they are not and do not have the potential to become a terrorist safe haven.” Countries are also expected to agree to take back citizens ordered removed from the United States. If they do not provide the information requested, or come up with an adequate plan to, countries could end up on a list to be submitted to Trump for possible sanction, including barring “categories” of their citizens from entering the United States. The real worries for countries may not come until the results of this review are known, said Leon Rodriguez, the former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “Once they start making decisions I think that is where there is going to be a lot of anxiety,” he said, saying delays in visa processing for nations that do not pose much of a threat could start to hurt “ordinary business
and personal travel.” The most controversial of Trump’s immigration-related moves are two executive orders, challenged in federal court, which impose a temporary ban on travel to the United States for most citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. While the orders were initially blocked from being enforced, the Supreme Court on June 26 allowed the ban to go into effect for people from the six nations with no strong ties to the United States. The cable requires countries to act quickly, but stressed that the United States would work with foreign nations to assess if they meet the standards and, if not, to come up with a plan to help them do so. The cable asks that U.S. diplomats “underscore that while it is not our goal to impose a ban on immigration benefits, including visas, for citizens of any country, these standards are designed to mitigate risk, and failure to make progress could lead to security measures by the USG, including a presidential proclamation that would prohibit the entry of certain categories of foreign nationals of noncompliant countries.” The cable says the U.S. government has made a preliminary determination that some countries do not meet the new standards and that others are “at risk” of not meeting them. It does not name these, listing them in a separate, classified cable. The State Department declined comment on the cable, saying it would not discuss internal communications. “The U.S. government’s national security screening and vetting procedures for visitors are constantly reviewed and refined to improve security and more effectively identify individuals who could pose a threat to the United States,” said a U.S. State Department official on condition of anonymity.
Brazil congressional panel votes against putting Temer on trial BRASILIA (Reuters) A Brazilian congressional committee yesterday voted against sending a corrupt i o n charge against President Michel Te m e r t o t h e S u p r e m e Court for the leader to be put on trial.
The vote is non-binding and the full house must still vote on the charge, which would only be approved if two-thirds of legislators vote for it. Temer was charged last month in connection with a graft scheme involving the
world’s largest meatpacker, JBS SA. General Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot accused Temer of arranging to receive a total of 38 million reais ($11.85 million) in bribes from JBS in the next nine months.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talks to U.S. President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters) PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, who is fighting off allegations of ties between his election campaign and Moscow, said he would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House but that now was not the right time for that. “I don’t think this is the right time, but the answer is yes, I would,” Trump said when asked if he would extend such an invitation to the Russian leader. He was speaking to reporters on Air Force One during a flight from the United States to France in comments released by the White House yesterday. The Republican president drew criticism last week from Democrats who accused him of not pressing Putin hard enough at a meeting they held in Germany over Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Accusations that Moscow meddled in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign have dominated Trump’s first months in office. Russia denies meddling, and Trump says there was no collusion. Trump told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that he had asked Putin if he was involved in Russian interference in the campaign. Trump said he spent the first 20 or 25 minutes of his more than two-hour meeting with Putin last Friday in Hamburg on the subject. “I said, ‘Did you do it?’ And he said, ‘No, I did not. Absolutely not.’ I then asked him a second time in a totally different way. He said absolutely not,” Trump said. U.S intelligence agencies
said earlier this year that Russia sought to help Trump win the election by hacking private emails from Democratic Party officials and disseminating false information online. TRUMP JR. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan yesterday urged Trump’s eldest son to testify to a congressional committee about the alleged links between Trump’s election team and Russia. If he testified, Donald Trump Jr. would be the first member of the president’s inner circle of relatives and White House aides to give testimony to congressional investigations into the Russia allegations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican, planned to send a letter yesterday to the younger Trump to ask him to appear before his committee in a public session, CNN reported. Ryan, the top-ranking Republican in Congress, told a news conference he supported that. “I think any witness who’s been asked to testify in Congress should do that,” Ryan said. Trump Jr. disclosed this week that he had met with a Russian lawyer last year who was said to be offering damaging information on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. eagerly agreed to meet the lawyer, who he was told by an intermediary was part of Moscow’s official support for his father’s campaign, according to emails the son released this week. The emails were the most concrete evidence that Trump’s campaign might
have been willing to accept Russian help to win the election, a subject that has also prompted an investigation by a federal special counsel. Asked by Reuters on Wednesday if he knew his son was meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June last year, the president said: “No, that I didn’t know until a couple of days ago when I heard about this.” He later told reporters on Air Force One that “in fact maybe it was mentioned at some point,” referring to the meeting, adding he was not told it was about Clinton. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the intelligence committee, said it was odd that senior members of Trump’s campaign attended the meeting but that Trump himself said he knew nothing about it until recently. “How is it was plausible that nobody told then-candidate Trump about it? We’ve got to ask about this. We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” Wyden told reporters. Trump said in Paris yesterday that the lawyer was a private attorney and not a Russian government lawyer, and that nothing of substance came of the meeting. “My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer, not a government lawyer but a Russian lawyer. It was a short meeting. It was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast,” he said at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump said it was normal in U.S. politics for campaign teams to look into allegations about their opponents, as his son agreed to do before the meeting in June 2016.
Friday July 14, 2017
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Kaieteur News
Ex-Brazil president launches fiery Outgoing British envoy says Jamaica defence after corruption conviction can still access deal for new prison -vows to run for highest office again in 2018 and says : ‘They haven’t taken me out of the game’
Ex-Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva addressing the crowd at Workers’ party headquarters yesterday. (Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters) (theguardian.com) Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a defiant public defence after being convicted of corruption and money laundering, and vowed to run for president next year. “If anyone thinks that with this sentence they will pull me out of the game, they should know that I am in the game,” Lula told supporters at the headquarters of his Workers’ party, a day after he received a nearly 10-year sentence for accepting bribes in return for helping an engineering company win contracts with the state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras. In a brief, at times emotional speech, Silva told
supporters in São Paulo that the court had no proof and the conviction was politically motivated. To cheers, he said he wanted to run for reelection next year. “From this moment, I want to ask the Workers’ party for the right to be a candidate for president,” he shouted. “Lula for president!” the crowd responded. The ruling marked a stunning setback for Lula, one of the country’s most popular politicians, and a serious blow to his chances of a political comeback. The former union leader, who won global praise for policies to reduce harsh inequality in Brazil, faces four more trials and will remain free on appeal. If his conviction is upheld
on appeal, Lula will be barred from office, removing the front-runner from the 2018 race and opening the door to outsiders playing to widespread outrage over a deep economic recession and evidence of vast political graft. Lula remains Brazil’s bestknown politician and has retained a base of loyal supporters despite his legal woes. As president, he put resources from a commodities boom into social programs helping to lift millions from poverty. Lula characterized the verdict against him as part of Brazilian elites’ backlash against his legacy, denying any wrongdoing and excoriating the decision handed down by Judge Sergio Moro, who has overseen a sweeping threeyear graft inquiry. Wearing a bright red shirt under his dark blazer, Lula’s appeal to fellow partisans was folksy and upbeat, soliciting laughter and cheers from party elders and a crowd of hundreds outside the Workers’ party offices in downtown São Paulo. The former president said he continued to support strong democratic institutions, including police and prosecutors, but he lamented what he called politically driven lies in the case against him.
Venezuelan weekend vote seen as last chance to stop power grab (Miami Herald) - Venezuelans head to the polls Sunday in a tense vote that the opposition hopes will mark a watershed — and the government insists means nothing at all. The weekend plebiscite will ask voters if they support the government’s plan to elect an unpopular National Constituent Assembly (ANC) that will overhaul the 1999 constitution. Critics, including some inside the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, fear that President Nicolás Maduro will use the new entity to tighten his hold on the South American country and further delay — or outright cancel — elections. “The Constituent Assembly is a fraud, because it doesn’t resolve any of the problems that Venezuelans are facing, like hunger and crime,” said opposition con-
gressman Omar Ávila, with the Unidad Visión Venezuela party. “This is another trick to try to hold onto power ... until we simply can’t take it anymore.” Organizers of Sunday’s vote are hoping that if they can get millions of people to reject the deal, the government might be persuaded to drop its plans. So far, that seems unlikely. Maduro and his supporters say Sunday’s referendum is illegitimate. And they’re pushing forward with their own July 30 vote to elect 527 members of the assembly, known as ANC for its name in Spanish, in a process designed to stack the body with the party faithful. This week, Maduro reiterated his claims that the ANC was “the only solution” to bring peace to the troubled nation after more than 100
days of anti-government protests have left more than 90 dead. Even so, a massive turnout Sunday rejecting the plan would be another signal to the world that the administration has gone rogue and is ignoring the will of the people, analysts said. The vote “will largely be symbolic, but in politics symbols are important,” said Ronal Rodríguez with the Venezuelan Observatory, a think tank at Colombia’s Rosario University. “This could give oxygen to the opposition and fuel more disobedience.” Organizers say the vote might be followed by a national strike. And analysts said it could put the opposition on course to recover the presidency during elections in December 2018 — if those elections happen.
(Jamaica Gleaner) Nearly six months after the Andrew Holness administration rejected a J$5.5 billion offer by the United Kingdom (UK) government to help construct a new adult correctional facility in Jamaica, a British diplomat has said the door is still open for the island to access the deal. “If the Government were even to want to discuss it again, my door would be open, as with my colleagues in London,” said outgoing British High Commissioner David Fitton. In January, the leader of government business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith, told lawmakers that the administration had turned down the UK’s offer to build a modern prison in Jamaica. At that time, she said that the terms of the offer “were not beneficial to Jamaica as a whole”. However, she did not state the unfavourable terms. “With any issue - whether tackling crime or dealing with some problem in society or building a facility, a factory or school - there is no point in us pushing ahead and doing any of that without the host government wanting it,” the British high commissioner told The Gleaner, days before his tour of duty ends in Jamaica. JAMAICA’s DECISION RESPECTED According to Fitton, the UK government respected the decision of the Holness administration, which indicated that it had other priorities and, as such, could not accept the offer. As a condition of the prison deal when Jamaica and the UK signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in 2015, the UK would transfer some 300 Jamaican prisoners in British jails to
David Fitton, outgoing British envoy to Jamaica complete their sentences back home. At the time, however, the UK’s $5.5 billion for the 1,500-bed facility would represent only 40 per cent of the full cost to construct the facility, with the Jamaican Government having to find the balance. The island’s two main correctional facilities, the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre and the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, are severely overcrowded, with deteriorating, outdated infrastructure. The two facilities were built in the 1600s and 1800s, respectively. In a Gleaner interview earlier this year, Public Defender Arlene Harrison-Henry argued that the prison conditions were below minimum constitutional requirements. RIGHT CHECKSAND BALANCES The UK diplomat said in 2015, when then British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica, an offer of £300 million was made to the Caribbean to assist with infrastructural development. Fitton said Jamaica was now taking advantage of an allocation from that funding to
support irrigation projects in southeast St Elizabeth and other initiatives to come on stream shortly. “That’s where our infrastructure fund became more valuable to the prime minister now, to help him with irrigation, farming and development projects in Jamaica,” he added. On the issue of crime, Fitton said the Zones of Special Operations Bill, which cleared Parliament on Tuesday, is a measure that is worth supporting. “It looks as if it incorporates the right sort of checks and balances,” he asserted. “We will work with whoever wants to implement that in the best way we can.” Under increased pressure from Jamaicans to address the upsurge in violent crimes, the Holness administration passed the zones of special operations law, which is aimed at clamping down on criminal activities in volatile communities. With the governor general’s signature expected to be affixed to the statute shortly, the law should be ready for implementation in a matter of days.
Woman dies from powerful jet engine blast PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (CMC) – A 57 year old woman from New Zealand was killed after the blast from a powerful jet engine knocked her to the ground at the Princess Juliana International Airport . The local police reported that yesterday, the woman was at the airport, which is just metres from the beach, when the force of the engines on Boeing 737 jet threw her backwards causing serious injury. She was rushed to hospital, but later died. In a statement, the police said they visit the area daily to discourage tour-
ists from clinging to the runway fence. “The landing and taking off of all types and size of aircraft at the international airport of St Maarten is well known worldwide as major tourist attraction,” police said. “Many tourists come to the island to experience the thrills of the landing of approaching aircraft flying low above their heads and the holding on to the airport fence and standing in the jet blast of large aircraft taking off. Doing this is, however, extremely dangerous.” The director of tourism on the island, Rolando
Brison, in an interview with the New Zealand Herald said he spoke to the woman’s family. “I met with the family of the deceased this evening and while they recognised that what they did was wrong, through the clearly visible danger signs, they regret that risk they took turned out in the worst possible way,” he said. The landing strip on the Dutch overseas territory is notorious as planes fly extremely low over packed tourist beaches. Many holiday makers flock to the site seeking to feel the blast of the jet engines as they land and take off.
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EDUCATIONAL Canadian School of Arts & Science: Summer Classes 2017- Pre-K, Nursery, Primary, Secondary (July 10th –August 11th). Call: 216-6921/22 for registration SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY,ETC.-CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 2161043; 677-6620 Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Guyana passport application. Graphics design, advertisement. Tel: 6267040; 265-4535. INNOVATIVEMARKETING & PUBLISHING INC –TEL: 600-4212: We create A/ works, logos, busi ness cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included.
WANTED 1 Accounts Clerk, preferably from E.B.D – 5 subjects CXC minimum @ gtcareers592@gmail.com Wanted urgently @ C a m p b e l l ’s Wa s t e Management: drivers for garbage truck & labours. Call: (592)670-7920/ 2317012 Waitresses wanted @ 50/50 sports bar & lounge, Vreeden-Hoop, Age 18-25, 2pm2am. Call: 647-4491 Wash boys @ Nandy Park, E.B.D – Call: 233-5227
Passport, permanent & visitor visa application, Professional Immigration Consultant – Sabita Immigration Services. Call: 225-6496/ 662-6045
Urgently needed 1 electrician, must be able to work with minimum supervision. Contact Lawrence: 644-9084/ 6649635
Repairs to refrigerators, gas stoves, A/C units, washing machines. Call Lindon: 6411086/ 694-2202
Responsible Hire Car Drivers. Call: 231-7200
Affordable house plans for residential and commercial buildings @ 37 Camp and Croal Streets. Call: 610-4085/ 614-0525/227-3575
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LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
Furnished three bedrooms top flat, next to Georgetown Hospital. Call: 225-3756/603-2257
La Parfaite Harmonie (main road) - $2M, $1.6M, $1.4M, $1.8M, Herstelling -$3M, Tuschen - $1.2M, Farm $3M. Call: 666-2326
Paint Sale! Until supplies last! Coloured latex paint, 50% discount. Call: 265-3541/ 6954785/616-3411
Hair/Nail Station rental & barber station rental, New Market Street. Call: 638-1106 Property for rent - 2 storey house at Republic Park, E.B.D - $1200USD. Call 6471773 Fully furnished luxury apartment to rent 2 & 3 bedrooms, long and short term stay. Call: 665-3505 1 Fully furnished a p a r t m e n t a t Vi c t o r i a Avenue Eccles, E.B.D, inclusive of: parking, cable, internet & 2 bedrooms (one AC). Call: 667-2536
Office clerk, apply at Survival Lot 10 Vlissengen Road, Newtown, Kitty.
SALON - Make-up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, etc. -CosmetologyCourses:$120,000 - Technician Course: $45,000. Call: 647-1773/660-5257 ANN’S BEAUTY SALON & COSMETOLOGY SCHOOL SUMMER CLASSES: HAIR, NAIL, FACIAL, ETC. LOT 132 CUMMINGS ST BOURDA. CALL: 223-8452 Register Now! Summer Courses in cosmetology & nails 7th -18th August; Cost: $20,000. Limited space available. Call: 618-2417
FOR SALE/RENT Large 3 bedrooms house upstairs/downstairs @ Parfaite, Recht- Door-Zee, for sale or rent 40,000 monthly. Call: 690-5061 or 667-0022 1 furnished liquor restaurant & bar for sale -$20M or rent, location: E.C.D, 1 AT192 Carina - $575,000 for sale- Call: 600-7228
One concrete three bedrooms house for sale at Block 8 Mon Repos -$17M. Call: 645-8543 Need cash? Selling your house/ land? Call:(592) 681-7120 Transported property for sale at Bush Lot village E/Bo. Price $10M negotiable. Call: 695-9932
La Parfaite Harmonie $1.6M, $1.4M, $1M, $2M, Eccles - $5.5M, Herstelling $3M, Tuschen - $1.2M, $5M. Call: 604-6724 or 686-9608 House lots in Blankenburg $3.5M. Contact-6500402\603-1402
Accounts clerk with 5 Subjects or more @ Trophy Stall Bourda Market. Cleaner/Janitor Shakoor’s Seafood, Eccles. Call: 233-2546/ Male fish cleaner @ Shakoor’s Seafood Eccles. Call: 233-2546 Security guards, apply manager @ Herdmanston Lodge, 65 Peter Rose & Anira Streets, Queenstown. One experienced female Accounts Clerk- Apply in person to Alabama Trading, 65 Robb Street Bourda. One female general domestic apply in person to 65 Robb Street Bourda. Male with experienced in poultry farming to work on chicken farm in the interior, age 25-45yrs. Call: 680-2702
One Diesel welder, excellent condition, owner leaving country. Call: 699-4300/ 2282734 German shepherd puppies. Call: 220-2277/220-8904/6291471/639-5466
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One three bedroom concrete house for sale Contact Mala: 917-254-2909, location: Vryheid’s Lust, North. Call: 699-4111/626-2208
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Land at 42 Coglan Dam, size: 37X270 price -$5.5M negotiable. Call Mr. Howes: 677-9938 or Mrs Clarke: +13473870537
Summer School ages 4-14, Rising Star Academy, Phonics, Reading, Mathematics, Science; Register Early. Call: 677-0296
PROPERTY FOR SALE Transported property @ Grove and Diamond $16M negotiable. Call: 625-5461
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PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620
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Friday July 14, 2017
Kaieteur News
VEHICLE FOR SALE
TO LET 1 Two bedrooms bottom flat at Patentia Housing Scheme, W.B.D- Call: 646-2120 or 6033119 Unfurnished 3 bedrooms, upper flat located at Durban Street, Wortmanville. Call: 600-2828 Two bedrooms bottom flat at C.I Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara, preferably 1 person or couple. Call: 6619689
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ACCOMMODATION Journey Inn apartment rental, short term with AC & Kitchen, as low as -$15US. Call: 642-1783/ 646-3011634/ 718-2301695
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Friday July 14, 2017
Appreciation for the police
Corporate society is always prepared to lend a helping hand to the police. On Wednesday, former sergeant in the rural constable, David Coates, called L a m m y, m a d e a d o n a t i o n o f a f l a t screen television set to Commander of ‘A’ Division Marlon Chapman on be-
half of XL Mineral. According to Mr. Coates, the presentation was to signal an approval for the work being done by National Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan. The presentation was made at the Brickdam Police Station.
Too early to determine collusion; inmates...
Under pressure: (l-r) Top Cop, Seelall Persaud, Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and Prison Chief, Gladwin Samuels yesterday. From page 9 took control of the prison, overpowering the guards. No weapons taken Samuels said that there are no indications at this time that any weapons were taken from the prison’s armory. However, one weapon could not be accounted for from the Operations Room. It was made clear that investigators are unsure if the weapon is lost in the rubble as the building had collapsed. The officials disclosed that there were adequate communications between prison officials, police and others as was evidenced from the quick response by fire
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Kaieteur News
and backup officials. Yesterday, Samuels admitted that there are difficulties in conducting a search at the open yard at the Lusignan prison where the Camp Street inmates are being held. Rather than provoking a situation, authorities will wait and in due time, conduct searches. There are indications, it was disclosed, that prisoners were burying improvised weapons. However, the officials stressed, prisoners being moved are being subjected to checks. With regards to new prisoners, while the courts are
moving to accommodate bail for smaller offences as much as possible, the more serious accused persons will have to be accommodated right at Lusignan. Staffers are being counseled with Ramjattan disclosing that he will be moving to Cabinet to discuss compensation for prison officers. However, it is unlikely that the compensation will be above what it establishedabout a $1M- as the Government is tight on cash. The officials praised the backup support of former policemen and others who assisted during the incident.
New Central Committee begins planning for Mashramani 2018
A section of the first planning meeting for Mash 2018 “It is my wish and by extension, the Government’s desire to see an improved difference in the way Mashramani is administered. The aim is to make more impact where the value for money is seen and a Guyanese culture is presented and preserved,” said Minister Nicolette Henry. She is the Chairperson of the newly formed Mashramani Central Planning Committee. She has already held the first meeting of minds tasked with planning and executing a most successful and memorable Mashramani list of activities for 2018. As the Ministry of Education Department of Culture Youth and Sport wraps up the organising aspects for a 70strong contingent to represent Guyana at CARIFESTA XIII in Barbados, planning for a more improved hosting of Mashramani 2018 festival has commenced. On Wednesday, the first meeting of members of the National Planning Committee met in the boardroom of the Ministry of Education Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, Main Street. There Henry as the Chair-
person, with National Events Coordinator Lt.Colonel Godfrey Bess, and Permanent Secretary Melissa Tucker, met with the team to discuss a proposed initial plan that may form the content of an enhanced Mashramani/ RepublicCelebration for 2018. It was agreed by those present that the road to an early launching of the road map and schedule of events must begin soonest. The first order of business is the selection of an appropriate theme to encompass all the activities. It was agreed that by July 31, next, there should be a collection of submitted theme ideas from the public that would fashion a direction under which all activities will behosted. Dates for events would be revised. A regional briefing is planned to take place soonest for issuing directives to all regional points of contact. Minister Henry noted that Mashramani is a Guyanese activity and given a list of possible options by the Guyana Police Force it would be left up to the new committee to make a selec-
tion for possible consideration. The Minister noted too that the committee’s decision wouldbe taken to cabinet and cabinet will make the final decision on the most appropriate route to be used for the float parade that will end at the D’Urban Park venue. While the Government’s budget for the Mashramani 2018 National activities will be decided on after submissions are made, Minister Henry stressed the need for Transparency in all dealings by thoseinvolved at the Central Committee level. There could be some amount of reworking for the Chutney Monarch for more inclusion at the organising level. Minister Henry proposed that efforts will be made to engage Ansa McAl and other corporate citizens for the reintroduction of the Soca Monarch competition in 2018. The government is the main contributor to Mashramani being a success but efforts are to be made to motivate more private sector involvement in all areas.
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Fugitive Venezuela police pilot pops up at opposition vigil CARACAS (Reuters) - A rogue Venezuelan police pilot wanted for lobbing grenades and shooting at government buildings appeared briefly at an opposition vigil last night in a surreal twist to the crisisworn country’s political drama. Oscar Perez, 36, who also is an action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond-cum-Rambo figure on
social media, surprised opposition supporters by popping up at a Caracas event to mark the deaths of about 100 people related to anti-government unrest that started in April. “We don’t want any more blood on the streets,” he said. Perez, flanked by young men clad in balaclavas and surrounded by cameras, said the opposition must continue
protesting. On Sunday, the opposition will hold an unofficial referendum to let Venezuelans have their say on Maduro’s plan to rewrite the constitution. Two weeks ago, Perez hijacked a police helicopter flying over Caracas’ center and fired shots at and lobbed grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court to
fight what he said was a tyrannical government. Perez has appeared only once since that incident in a video saying he was in Caracas and keeping up the fight against the government of unpopular President Nicolas Maduro, who has called Perez a terrorist. Venezuela is undergoing a major crisis as hundreds of
thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months calling for an end to Maduro’s presidency, amid food shortages, a collapsing currency and soaring inflation. Perez’s stunt shocked many in Venezuela, although some suggest it was a false flag operation by the government to distract from the crisis. His Instagram feed shows
him riding horseback in combat gear, scuba-diving with rifles and pistols and jumping out of a helicopter with a dog. Perez produced and starred in a 2015 Venezuelan action movie called “Suspended Death” about the rescue of a kidnapped businessman, which includes scenes of him firing a rifle from a helicopter and emerging from water in scuba gear.
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo dies in custody, struck by liver cancer SHENYANG, China (Reuters) - Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, died yesterday after being denied permission to leave the country for treatment for late-stage liver cancer. Liu, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms. Mourning his death, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Liu was a “courageous fighter for civil rights and freedom of expression”, while the French, British and U.S. governments called on China to allow Liu’s family to move around freely.
Already seriously ill, Liu, a thorn in the ruling Communist Party’s side since he helped negotiate a deal to allow protesters to leave Tiananmen Square before troops and tanks rolled in, was moved last month from prison to a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang. The Shenyang Bureau of Justice said in a brief statement on its website that Liu had suffered multiple organ failure and efforts to save him had failed. Though allowed out on medical parole he was never freed, spending his final days in the hospital surrounded by security guards. Teng Yue’e, the chief doctor treating Liu, told a news conference in a nearby hotel that Liu died at 5:35 PM (0935 GMT) surrounded by his family.
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Umroa five-wkt haul gives Guyana narrow win over... (From page 38) said region before hitting Zawandi White to the long leg boundary. Singh continued to attack and drove Elroy Francis Jnr. down the ground and pulled him for fours through mid-wicket before sweeping Uri Smith for another boundary as Guyana sensed a huge total. But then the rain came and sent the players off the field with the score on 68-1 in 19.3 overs; Singh on 35 and Sinclair 19. The interruption lasted for over three hours and when play resumed the game was reduced to 21 overs; Guyana finished on 72-1 with Singh on 37 and Sinclair on 21. Using the Duckworth/ Lewis/Stern method, Leeward
Islands were set a revised target of 140. Pacer Jevon Schultz started off with five wides as the first over cost nine runs. Umroa was introduced early and made an impact immediately; he sent back White for six and had Smith stumped by Kevin Christian for eight leaving the score on 21-1. But Leeward Islands fought back through a third wicket stand of 77 between Trishawn Francis and Paul Miller. Francis hit Ashmead Nedd and Kevlon Anderson for sixes before driving Nedd for four while Miller, who was put down early off Omroa took boundaries off Sinclair, But Nedd brought back Schultz and the Berbice pacer re-
moved them both in quick succession to bring Guyana back into the contest. Singh was given the ball at a crucial stage and leaked 14 runs from his lone over as Elroy Francis threatened to take Leeward Islands home, but then Umroa had him caught at the wicket to trigger the slide. Umroa had Sharma Boodgenarine and Tuckett both stumped without scoring. Shaquan Pemberton and James were run out for 10 and one respectively at 134-8 and Guyana were two wickets away from victory. Anderson was asked to bowl the last over in which the Islanders needed three. He bowled three dot balls before James was run out. The fifth
Chuck Blazer whose corruption admissions... (From page 33) Presidential election. Bin Hammam, a Qatari who headed the Asian Football Confederation, had been the lone challenger to Blatter, who was elected unopposed to a fourth term after Warner and bin Hammam were suspended. Blatter was elected to a fifth term in 2015 before
resigning. But it turned out Blazer’s conduct was as corrupt as the actions of the people he accused. A CONCACAF investigation report released in 2013 said Blazer ‘misappropriated CONCACAF funds to finance his personal lifestyle,’ causing the organization to ‘subsidize rent on his residence in
the Trump Tower in New York; purchase apartments at the Mondrian, a luxury hotel and residence in Miami; sign purchase agreements and pay down payments on apartments at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.’ US government agents stopped him on a Manhattan street, threatened him with arrest, and he became a government informant in 2011. US prosecutors have brought charges against more than 40 football officials, marketing executives, associates and entities, and prosecutors in Switzerland also have been investigating. He was banned from football for life by FIFA on July 9, 2015. An NYU graduate, Blazer started in coaching his son’s club in New Rochelle and joined boards of local and regional soccer organizations. He was the US Soccer Federation’s executive vice president from 1984-86, becoming chair of the national teams committee. In 1988, he and Clive Toye, who had brought Pele to the United States as the general manager of the New York Cosmos, formed the American Soccer League. Blazer urged Warner to run for president of CONCACAF in 1990. When the Trinidadian won, he made Blazer the general secretary. In 1991, Blazer created the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the organisation’s national team championship that is played every two years, and he rose within FIFA to become chairman of its marketing and television advisory board. (MailOnline)
ball leaked a single and with two needed off the final delivery, last man Demari Benta (14) was caught by Christian attempting a big hit to spark celebrations among the Guyanese as Leeward Islands were bowled out for 138. Schultz claimed 2-16 and Anderson 1-22. Umora was named man-of-the-match. At National Cricket Centre, Windward Islands were 464 batting first against Barbados when rain stopped play. And at Gilbert Park, Trinidad and Tobago beat Jamaica by eight wickets on the DLS method. Jamaica were 113-8 in 45 overs when the rain came and Trinidad and Tobago were set a target of 79 off 20 overs, and reached home in 17 overs losing two wickets.
Kevin Umroa became the second bowler to take a 5-wicket haul in the tournament
Friday July 14, 2017 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) If you address those in a position to grant you favors you should get the support you require. You need to take a long, hard look at yourself and your personal situation. Opportunities for new and exciting relationships will be yours if you get out and join groups. TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Be sure to pay attention to your bank account. Don't let others know about your private affairs. Don't divulge secret information. GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You're on to something tangible and need to act fast Lack of cash might be partly to blame for the problems at home. Physical activity will help defuse your frustration. CANCER (June 21–July 22) Changes involving your domestic scene may be unpleasant. You can make changes that will enhance your appearance. You may have the opportunity to get involved in some interesting conversations. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Join a club to work off that excess energy; but consider ways of doing that without spending the money. Reciprocate by offering helpful hints. Changes regarding your career direction will payoff handsomely. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Try to make amends by planning a nice dinner for two. Exercise your talents and present your ideas to groups you think you can contribute to.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Be sure to keep communication open with those you live with. Don't count on your friends to be loyal when it comes to doing things. Emotional deception is evident. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Passion is inevitable and commitments can be made during the heat of the night. Don't bang your head against a wall. Changes in your domestic scene are apparent. SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Get back to the comforts of cottage or home. Things will be emotional with your mate. Losses could occur if you haven't been careful when dealing with joint financial ventures. CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Stand up and propose your ideas, and you'll be surprised how many people will follow you. Hide your cards and learn to say no. You will meet new romantic partners through the company you keep. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Just be yourself. You are likely to be left alone if you aren't willing to bend just a little. You could do extremely well in competitive sports events. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Don't let your anger consume you and don't allow important matters go unattended to. Difficulties with children will surface if you try to break a promise you made. Don't allow colleagues to stand in your way.
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Venus eclipses Konta to reach Wimbledon final Muguruza demolishes Rybarikova London, (Reuters) Venus Williams became the oldest woman in 23 years to reach a Wimbledon final as she defied her age and a despondent home crowd to inflict a crushing defeat on British hope J o h a n n a K o n t a yesterday. Eight years after her last Wimbledon final and more than two decades since Martina Navratilova became the last 37-year-old to reach the same stage, Williams produced the sort of attacking performance that led her to five titles in her heyday. Her 6-4 6-2 semi-final win over the Briton was a clinical execution and set up a showdown tomorrow with Garbine Muguruza, whose own ruthless demolition of Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1 6-1 also y e s t e r d a y whetted the appetite for an intriguing final. A visibly confident Muguruza needed just 64 minutes to beat the 87thranked Rybarikova, who had overcome third seed Karolina Pliskova and A m e r i c a n C o c o Va n d e r w e g h e o n h e r unexpected run to the last
four. Muguruza, who lost to Serena Williams in the 2015 final, will face h e r s i s t e r Ve n u s i n S a t u r d a y ’s s h o w p i e c e after the American beat Johanna Konta in straight sets. It will be Williams’ ninth at Wimbledon and the stage for a potential eighth grand slam crown and having defied the odds to reach this point, few would now bet against her. Konta was looking to become the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon final since Virginia Wade in 1977, but her hopes were crushed as Williams picked her off at crucial points. The American, who has dropped only one set all tournament, was too strong for her opponent from the baseline and was able to produce booming serves whenever Konta threatened. After initially going toeto-toe with Wi l l i a m s , Konta was unable to generate any sort of sustained pressure and ended the contest a clear second best, losing eight of the final 10 games.
She saved two match points before Williams finally ended her resistance with a devilish forehand that flew past the Briton and left the American to twirl in celebration on Centre Court. ”You can play this game for a while if you love it, you put in the work a n d s t a y h e a l t h y, ” Williams, who was beaten by sister Serena in January’s Australian Open final, told reporters. ”I’ve played some good tennis in different points of m y l i f e . I t h i n k i t ’s wonderful to have the opportunity to play well and to be strong and have experience. Experience can either work against you or for you. I like to think it’s working for me.” Konta’s one chance to upset Williams came in the ninth game of the first set when the Briton crafted two break points. It proved only a fleeting window of opportunity, h o w ev er, as Williams saved the first with a backhand winner and launched a 106mph second serve to snuff out the second.
Powerade/Rainforest Water/Malta Supreme/GABA U23 Tourney
Williams celebrates her victory while Konta looks dejected in defeat. The 37-year-old now faces Garbine Muguruza in the final. That was as good as it got for Konta, who was immediately broken in the next game to cede the opening set and then twice more in the second as
Williams wrapped up victory over her sixth-seeded opponent in an hour and 13 minutes. ”She dictated the match from the very first ball till
Chuck Blazer whose corruption admissions ignited the global scandal dies aged 72
Eagles soar over UG Trojans; Pacesetters bounce past Colts When rivalry in the Powerade/Rainforest Wa t e r / M a l t a S u p r e m e sponsored G e o rg e t o w n Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Under-23 tournament continued at the Burnham Basketball Court in the City on Wednesday night last, recording wins were Eagles and Pacesetters. Contesting the feature game, Eagles led at the end of all four periods to beat UG Trojans 74-66 despite a big surge in the final period by the Trojans when they poured in 22 points to Eagles’ 7 but the latter had done enough in the first three periods to hold on for the win. For the Eagles, Travis Belgrave tipped in the game
high 27 points and found able support in the form of Shemar Huntley who chipped in with 19 points while Kwesi Thompson had 9. Leading UG Trojans was Kadeem Peterkin with 20 points; Jubari Joseph supported with 13. Scores at the end of each period in favour of Eagles: 22-19, 52-29, 6744, 74-66. The young Colts bolted into and maintained pole position for the first three periods but the hungry Pacesetters rebounded in fine style in the final period to record a memorable five (5) point’s win, 85-80 after trailing 57-64 at the end of the third period; the winners outscored the losers, 28 points to 16 in the final period.
Pacesetters’ charge down the stretch was led by Tafaway Daly who had the game high 22 points and was backed up by Kwesi Roberts who had 14 while there was 8 apiece for Jermaine Goddard and Jude Corlette. Jonathan Pooran had the team high 19 points for the Colts which lost steam at crunch time. Jamal Gilkes accounted for 16 points, Timothy Thompson 11 and Jonathan Mangra, 8. Last evening at the same venue, play continued in the first and second division tournaments which are also sponsored by Powerade/Rainforest Water/Malta Supreme. (Franklin Wilson)
the very last one,” Konta said. “I think she just showed her true qualities and why she’s a five-time champion here, just a true champion that she is.”
Chuck Blazer C h u c k B l a z e r, t h e disgraced American football executive whose admissions of corruption set off a global scandal that ultimately toppled FIFA President Sepp Blatter, died on Wednesday. He was 72. Blazer ’s death was announced by his lawyers, Eric Corngold and Mary Mulligan. At a November 2013 court hearing during which Blazer entered guilty pleas to 10 federal charges, Blazer
said he had rectal cancer, diabetes and coronary artery disease. A person familiar with his death said Blazer died in New Jersey. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the place of his death was not disclosed in the statement. ’I’ve known Chuck for a lot of years. He did a lot for the sport. Sorry about all the issues regarding FIFA, but he was a good man,’ US national team coach Bruce
Arena said. ‘He helped the sport in the United States.’ With girth, charm and a pet parrot, Blazer was a bon vivant as he made deals from an office and apartment in Trump Tower. The No 2 official in the governing body of football’s North and Central American and Caribbean region from 1990-2011 and a member of FIFA’s ruling executive committee from 1997-2013, Blazer was central to the rise of the sport in the United States. He relished his status, posting a photo on his blog of him in a private jet with Nelson Mandela. Corruption had been rumoured for years before Blazer accused his boss, CONCACAF President Jack Wa r n e r , a n d f e l l o w executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam of offering $40,000 (£31,000) bribes to voters in the 2011 FIFA (Continued on page 32)
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CWI agrees truce with star players over availability The biggest names in Caribbean cricket could be about to return to the West Indies team after significant progress was made in negotiations between players and the board. Not only has a resolution been agreed to the Darren Bravo impasse, but the likes of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle are also available for selection for the ODI side after an amnesty was proposed by WIPA, the players’ union. That means they could be available for the limitedovers section of the tour to England that starts in a few weeks. Gayle, who marked his international return after 15 months during the one-off Twenty20 International against India in Kingston last week, said during an event in Bengaluru yesterday that “things have been steadily improving” and playing the 2019 World Cup, for which West Indies may have to
qualify, is still a burning desire. ”The fans were happy to see me back on the field representing West Indies. Hopefully, things can get better. Hopefully I can play a few more games. I definitely want to play the 2019 World Cup,” Gayle said. “Things are beginning to open up a little more now between players and the board. It’s looking good, and we’ve to try and build from this to get the best players out on the field.” The key to the resolution has been Cricket West Indies abandoning its contentious policy regarding player availability for regional cricket. Whereas, in recent years, CWI policy dictated that players would only be eligible for West Indies selection if they had played in the corresponding format in regional cricket, the board is now in the process of softening that hardline stance.
Darren Bravo It is anticipated it will be formally relaxed when the new round of central contracts are introduced in October, with a new range of white-ball contracts also adding to the players’ security and flexibility. Both Jimmy Adams, Director Of Cricket, and Johnny Grave, CWI CEO, have previously intimated their desire to change the policy, with Adams labelling it “unsustainable”.
In the meantime, though, an amnesty has been proposed to those who have not been involved in regional cricket, giving them the chance to represent West Indies again. The likes of Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy and, once his WADA ban is served, Andre Russell could be other beneficiaries. While the amnesty has yet to be ratified by the board of CWI, ESPNcricinfo understands a conference call will take place before the end of the week where it is hoped the proposal will be accepted. Darren Bravo, who has been suspended since November 2016 when he was sent home from the tour of Zimbabwe following his Twitter condemnation of board president, Dave Cameron, is also set to return. Both parties have released statements of apology* and Bravo’s tweet will be deleted with no
Romain Bardet wins Tour de France stage 12 For the first time in this year’s Tour de France a stage ended without a rider from Team Sky wearing the Maillot Jaune, as Fabio Aru snatched the overall race lead. A day of drama set against the theatrical backdrop of the Pyrenees produced the kind of racing fans, especially those in France and Italy, have been waiting for during the previous two sprint-dominated flat stages. A Frenchman, Romain Bardet, took the stage on the eve of Bastille Day and Italian champion Aru slipped into the yellow jersey. Until the final few hundred metres it looked as if Sky would be able to continue their dominance of the race so far. Now, for the first time on this year’s Tour, they find themselves chasing the race. Chris Froome looked well set not only to stay in yellow but also to win the stage as he was paced up the final kick to the line by team-mate Mikel Landa. In the end it was Landa who finished ahead of his leader, as Froome cracked in the final metres, surrendering the race lead to Astana’s Aru by six seconds. Home favourite Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale took the stage in
Fabio Aru takes yellow jersey from Chris Froome Home favourite Romain Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale took the stage in the dash for the line.
the dash for the line and picked up valuable time in the GC too. For the second time after Aru prevailed at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles last week, Froome was beaten in a summit finish. ’I didn’t have the legs. It’s a nice victory for Romain Bardet, and hats off to Fabio Aru for taking the yellow jersey,’ said Froome, whose team had contained the opposition until the final effort. ‘I did my best but I didn’t have the legs to follow.’ British champion Steve Cummings looked like he
had made an audacious bid for solo victory stick as the race hit the penultimate climb but the punishing pace set by Sky saw him reeled in long before the summit. Sky’s grind up the Col de Peyresourde saw a number of pre-race favourites, including last year’s runnerup Nairo Quintana and former champion Alberto Contador, dropped down the mountain. There was a scare for Froome at the foot of the climb when Sky’s Mikel Nieve overshot a turn with his leader and, perhaps fortunately, chief rival Fabio
Dave Cameron admission of liability and without prejudice to the pursuit of any claim for damages. That will not only allow Bravo to take a full part in the forthcoming CPL season but render him eligible for West Indies selection once more. Having not played much red ball cricket of late, he is not thought to be a realistic candidate for the Test tour of England. He could well feature in the ODI team,
though. That method of solution had been suggested as far back as February. But Bravo instead pursued legal action against the board, claiming lost earnings. It seems that action is on-going despite the apparent thawing in relations, though it is understood no damages have been paid to date. A similar resolution is expected imminently in the case of Nicholas Pooran. It all amounts to encouraging news for longs u ff e r i n g We s t I n d i e s supporters. With the side having slipped to 9th in the ODI rankings (they are 8th in the Test rankings and 5th in T20), it is almost impossible for them to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup ahead of the ODI rankings qualification cutoff date in September. The availability of some familiar faces is a significant step in the right direction. (ESPNcricinfo)
Wimbledon wheelchair star Stefan Olsson knocks out defending champion Gordon Reid Sweden’s Stefan Olsson
Aru following him between two roadside campervans. After being paced back to the main group, all looked well for the three-time champion before the closing stages and the attacks of Bardet and Aru. ‘It’s a great joy. I had good legs but I was patient,’ said AG2R-La Mondiale rider Bardet. ‘The team has never been so strong, we are a real factor in the race. Now we have to do our best in the final part.’ Before adding: ‘Let’s be wary of Team Sky. They don’t like to lose and they will be out for revenge.’ (MailOnline)
G o r d o n R e i d surrendered his Wimbledon wheelchair singles title with defeat yesterday to the man he beat in last year’s final. World number two Reid struggled on his return to Court 17, the scene of his triumphs in the singles and doubles last year. Sweden’s Stefan Olsson proved too strong for the topseeded Scot, winning 6-2, 63 to reach the semi-finals. Reid went on to add Paralympic singles gold to his Wimbledon triumph last summer, but this year has been more of a struggle. He also lost in the opening round of the singles at both the Australian Open and French Open, with doubles team-mate Alfie Hewett
going on to take the title at the latter tournament. The 25-year-old Reid held serve as he got under way against Olsson but then dropped five games in a row, and soon the opening set was gone. His struggles continued into the second set, despite the encouragement of the crowd, and at 4-0 behind his hopes looked over. Reid got back to 4-3 and threatened a second break of serve when he forced Olsson to deuce in the next game, but the 30year-old bearded Swede resisted the pressure. It was all over for Reid when Olsson took his second match point, the home player lobbing a forehand a foot over the baseline. (MailOnline)
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Abdulla Hamid Foundation Summer Basketball Training Camp underway G u y a n a ’s l o n g e s t running basketball programme which teaches the fundamentals of the sport to young people, both male and female in the Bauxite Mining Town of Linden is presently underway at the Mackenzie High School, H a r d C o u r t . I n i t s 2 9 t h y e a r, t h e programme which is being held under the theme, “Teach Them Now and Not Later”, bounced off on Monday last and will be targeting a maximum of 50 participants between the ages of 7 – 17 years-old, Hamid informed. The former National player who is also a coach at the highest level said that the programme which is sponsored by a number of individuals and non-profit organisations will continue for many more years to come. This all important programme he said would run for three weeks and serves to ensure equal opportunity for both genders of players.
This is how it is done! Coach Hamid demonstrating with a participant while others looks on. Hamid lamented the fact that the programme whilst playing a critical role in the development of youths has never received any support from Government or the private sector but has
survived purely on the benevolence of good friends and family including the likes of James Brush, John Davidson, Michael Carrel, Abdulla Pompey, Save The Child Foundation, MP
Jermaine Figueira, Caring For Others Foundation, Gary Stephens and most of all, A l m i g h t y G o d . He believes that if corporate entities invest more in programmes of this nature,
“We will have better men and women in sports like in the developing world.” The dedicated Coach who is also a former FIFA Assistant Referee and current Beach Soccer National Coach
reminded that he loves what he is doing and more importantly, providing an avenue for young people to utalise their talent. “I love doing it and I will do it until God is ready for me.”
RFA Champions League to conclude tomorrow
Four Horse Men / Emancipation Horse Race Meet
Titans to tackle Deep South for female title; Saints engage Central Rupununi in male clash
Banks DIH, Toolsie Persaud, Cummings Electrical, Delmur Shipping, Sankar on board
The Titans Female Football Team of Aishalton Village. The respective female and male finals of the Rupununi Football Association (RFA) will be contested tomorrow at the St. Ignatius Sports Club ground where fans of the contesting teams are expected to come out in their numbers. Titans Football Club of Aishalton Village will match skills with their rivals from Deep South in the Rupununi for championship honours in
the female finale while the male championship match will bring together Saints Football Club of the Rupununi and Paiwamak Warriors Football Club, based at Annai in the North Rupununi. Titans are favourites to take the female title and on their way to the final, downed Paiwamak Warriors in the semi final after taking care of Shiriri Football Club in their quarter final match. Kaieteur Sport was informed
that the Titans travelled a distance of 455km, return, to take on their semi final opponent and came away victors. At stake for the respective winners in both male and female competitions is cheque for $200,000 with the respective losers pocketing $150,000along with trophies and medals. Tomorrow’s first final will kick off at 15:00hrs.
A number of sponsors are on board joining hands with the Four Horsemen Promotions for the much anticipated Emancipation one-day Horse Race Meet which is slated for Tuesday August 1st at the Port Mourant (Big Yard) Turf Club, Corentyne Berbice. Among the companies stepping forward so far for what will be a riveting, exciting and action packed day of racing are beverage giants Banks DIH, Jus Water, Delmur Trading Company, Toolsie Persaud Limited, Cummings Electrical, Attorney-at-law R.N Poonai, Fazal Habibulla of Habibulla Meat Center and Rising Sun Cattle Ranch, Assuria Insurance Inc., Sankar Auto Works/Valvoline, Fix It Hardware and Bothers Incorporated, among others. Already, more than 30 of the country’s best horses have registered for the seven race meet which has an attractive $5M in cash,
trophies and other prizes at stake. The feature event is for animals classified E3 and non-winners for 2016 and 2017. It also caters for animals’ classified F and G that has not earned over $500,000 for 2017 over 1300m, for a winning take of $350,000 and trophy. There is an event for 3 year-old Guyana bred animals over 1300m for $ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 a n d t r o p h y. Animals classified H 3 and lower will run over a 1200m distance for a first prize of $300,000 and trophy. The 2 year-old Guyana bred animals will have their first taste of the track over 900m for a $250,000 reward and trophy. The I 3 & lower animals will be competing over 1200m for a take home purse
of $200,000 and trophy. The J 3 and lower animals and those 4 year-olds and older and K class will be racing over 1100m for a top prize of $150,000 over 1100m. The L class non earners of $150,000 in 2017 will have an opportunity to run competing for $120,000 over 1200m. The top jockey along with the runner-up, the top stable and champion trainer will all receive trophies and other incentives. Interested persons can contact Bobby Vaughn on 624 6788, 223 5097, 227 7061, 333 0290 or 333 0301; Fazal Habibulla on 657 010; Ramnauth on 337 5311, 697 1979 or Campton Sancho on 690 0569 for further information. Colin Elcock is the Coordinator. Race time is 12:30hrs.
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Friday July 14, 2017
Guyana U17 Team selected for Central America and Caribbean Basketball C/ships Guyana will be participating in the Under 17 Central America& Caribbean Basketball C h a m p i o n s h i p s (CentroBasket), which is scheduled to take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from July 26 to July 30 of 2017. The selection of the Guyana U17 Basketball team has been finalised to play in the Championships. The trials concluded on July 8, 2017, with twelve players being selected from the squad by Head Coach Lugard Mohan and the assistant coaches. Returning to Guyana to play in the CentroBasket Championship is United States based Guyanese Kevon Wiggins, who is a 6’0 starting Guard at the Evander High School in Bronx New York. Wiggins was the leading scorer for Guyana in the Caribbean Basketball
Roydon Glasgow
Nigel Bowen Confederation (CBC) U16 2016. Guyana will also benefit from the coaching expertise of Kenneth Avent of the United States of America. Av e n t i s a p l a y e r development specialist, with FIBA and is also a USA Basketball Licensed Coach and Youth Development Specialist, Gloucester Times - Coach of the year and was
also awarded American Professional Basketball League coach of the year for 2016. Mr. Avent will be th joining the team on July 14 . Other countries participating in the CentroBasket U17 Championships are Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and US Virgin Islands. Guyana is in Group
Jermaine King
A alongside Mexico, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. The team will be encamped from July 14-24, 2017 and will train twice daily at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall from Saturday, July 15. A press release from the GABF said it expects that the high level of the competition will expose its youths to the intense training required to succeed at the international
Lugard Mohan
level. In addition, the exposure will also impart self-confidence, patriotism, and discipline among our youths. The team will depart Guyana on July 25 and return on August 1, 2017. The Guyana delegation will consist of the following players: Nigel Bowen, Tramine Brown, Kelmar Carmichael, Akeem
Crandon, Shamar France, Roydon Glasgow, Jether Harris, Andrew Johnson, Jermaine King, Kevon Wiggins, Anthony Yanson and Jahleel Young. The coaching staff will be led by Lugard Mohan, Head Coach, Kenneth Avent, Assistant Coach, Andrew Hercules, Assistant Coach/Manager, and Jonas Anestal, Physical Trainer.
Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey
Pepsi Hikers, Bounty GCC men and Pizza Hut GCC ladies solid The Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships saw more high-scoring performances on Wednesday evening as the Bounty GCC men and Pizza Hut GCC ladies both made their first appearances with convincing wins while the Pepsi Hikers continued their dominance to the top of the table. The opening match of the evening produced high drama for the excited fans as Saints HC beginning with +12 goals needed to hold off the unbeaten GCC Spice (+4) in their debut match. It took Spice 15 minutes to add to their goal tally but once the breakthrough was made they seemed destined for victory with two more in the half. As the Spice raced against the clock to close the goal deficit on Saints, national striker, Tekeisha DeLeon drew the loudest noise from the crowd in her heroic defence for Saints, blocking several Spice shots and keeping her team’s hopes alive. With a hat-trick from Vanessa Pires, doubles each from Tricia Fiedtkou and Tiffany Solomon and a final goal from Dominique DeGroot, GCC Spice managed to draw even with
Bounty GCC defender Steven Xavier on the counterattack against SHC Old Dogs.
Tekeisha DeLeon charges to defend a Dacia Woodroffe penalty strike. six minutes remaining. The final buzzer however beat Spice to the line as Saints erupted in jubilation at holding the pool leaders to a 12-12 draw. In the other ladies clash of the evening, the most senior side in the tournament, Pizza Hut GCC boasting a litany of national players got past the babies of the tournament, Spartans by 17-13. With Spartans beginning on a plus 12 goal advantage, their lone additional goal in the match from a Makeda Harding penalty corner in the 30th minute received the loudest cheers. By then however, the Pizza Hut
ladies who started with zero goals, had drawn even and dominated the rest of the game with four more goals for the 17-13 win. Kerensa Fernandes was the top scorer for Pizza Hut with 5 goals; Aliyah Gordon scored 4, Marzana Fiedtkou and Sonia Jardine 3 each and Gabriella Xavier two for GCC. The always entertaining Pepsi Hikers strolled to a 1712 victory over SHC New Tricks in the opening men’s match of the evening. With New Tricks beginning on a plus 12 goal advantage, the Hikers dominated from end to end and gave a masterful demonstration of hockey to
their young rivals. Captain Robert France topped the score sheet with 5 goals while teammate Aroydy Branford added 4. Randy Hope, Jamrai Assanah and Andrew Stewart with 2 each and one each from Colonel Heywood and Rayon Branford rounded out the scorers for the Hikers. Bounty GCC had a productive evening, winning both of their matches, first, a 19-14 win over the HHC Recruits followed by a 17-12 triumph over SHC Old Dogs. Bounty’s Captain Kevin Spencer was their main marksman of the evening with nine goals in the two
matches while Mark Sargeant put in an entertaining performance with several solo goals including a diving finish to end the final game. The young Old Fort Warriors created the upset of the evening in their men’s clash against veteran’s GCC Vintage. Wi t h t h e Wa r r i o r s enjoying a handicap of 20 goals to the Vintage’s 6, they {Warriors}had to use their youth and speed to hold off their experienced opponents to less than 7 goals per half. Goalkeeper Paul Andrade produced a stellar performance for the Warriors as Vintage saw several shots
being saved, each escalating the volume level of the keen Warriors supporters. Vintage was able to score four goals in the last ten minutes of the match but still fell two goals short of catching the Warriors which went on to celebrate a 20-18 victory. The Pepsi Hikers and Bounty GCC lead the men’s table with 6 points each while GCC Spice is atop the women’s pool with 4 points followed by Pizza Hut GCC and the Old Fort Shooting Stars. The tournament continues today and concludes tomorrow with the final from 18:40hrs.
Kaieteur News
Friday July 14, 2017
Action in the Linden leg of the Colours Boutique/Guinness Greatest of the Street National Football playoffs.
Colours Boutique/Guinness Greatest of the Street National Football playoffs continue today on the West Side Another action-packed night of football is anticipated when the Colours Boutique/Guinness Greatest of the Street National Football playoffs continue tonight with six more matches at the Pouderoyen Tarmac, West Demerara. The Linden leg proved a tough hunting ground for teams from Berbice, East Coast Demerara and one Georgetown side as they suffered elimination. Tonight’s programme will kick off with Plaisance of East Coast Demerara squaring off with Broad Street Ballerz of Georgetown at 19:00 hours. Show Stoppers of West Demerara will tackle River View of Bartica to be followed by Money Team of West Demerara coming up against Sparta Boss of Georgetown while Back Circle of Georgetown will face off with Hustlers of West Demerara. The winner of the Plaisance/Broad Street Ballerz will face the winner of Back Circle versus Hustlers clash while the winner of Show Stoppers/River View will take on the winner of Sparta Boss/Money Team for places in the semifinals. Two teams from the mining town - Dave and Celina All Stars and Silver
Bullet have already booked their semi-final places following the successful staging of the Linden leg last weekend at the Mackenzie Bus Park Tarmac. The teams eliminated were New Amsterdam Kings and East Bank Gunners of Berbice, Melanie and Buxton Diamond of East Coast Demerara, Tucville of Georgetown and Swag Entertainment of Linden. The semi-finals, third place play off and final will take place on Saturday at Demerara Park, opposite Thirst Park. Director of Sport Christopher Jones as well as senior executives of Banks DIH Limited and Colours Boutique have been invited to witness the finals at Demerara Park. Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste disclosed that all systems are in place for the finals and he anticipates another exciting two nights of c o m p e t i t i o n i n We s t Demerara and at Demerara Park. ”It has been a long road for the Guinness Greatest of the Streets this season with Zone meets in Georgetown, East Coast Demarara, West Demerara, Bartica, Linden and Berbice and we will now witness “Who will be made of more” as we crown the 2017 champions,” he added.
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Kaieteur News
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Friday July 14, 2017
Regional Under-17 Tournament – Rd 2
Umroa five-wkt haul gives Guyana narrow win over Leeward Islands By Zaheer Mohamed in Trinidad and Tobago in association with V Net Communications, Mike’s Pharmacy, 4R, Regal Stationery and Computer Centre and Ramchand’s A u t o S p a r e s Left arm spinner Kevin Umroa grabbed five wickets as Guyana defeated the Leeward Islands by one run (DLS) method when the Regional U17 50-over tournament continued yesterday. Guyana were steering the down the barrel of defeat with Leeward Islands needing 14 runs from three overs with six wickets in hand, but Umroa maintained a steady line to finish with 526 from five overs, becoming the second player in the tournament, joining fellow Guyanese Kevlon Anderson as the only
The Guyanese players celebrating their breathtaking win. bowlers with five-wicket hauls. Guyana were inserted on a decent batting pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium and lost Alex Algoo for three with the
score on 26. However Sachin Singh and Junior Sinclair consolidated as they added 42 for the second wicket before rain interrupted. The left-handed Singh
pulled pacer Miandre James to the mid-wicket boundary before driving Javel Alford off the back foot for four. Singh was put down off a difficult chance off Alford at
cover but undaunted; he drove Alford sweetly through the covers for a n o t h e r b o u n d a r y. Sinclair on the other hand was very watchful at first as
he rotated the strike well; he then struck off-spinner Carlon Tuckett for four through mid-wicket and smashed him for six in the (Continued on page 32)
Kaieteur News
Friday July 14, 2017
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Top Brandz Corona Invitational football
‘Tigers’ devour Black Peal 13-0; Camptown needle GFC; Police trounce Beacons 14-1
The Petra organised Top Brands Corona Invitational football competition continued on Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground with three matches. Watched by a fair size crowd Western Tigers, led by five goals from the crafty Andrew Murray, devoured Black Peal 13-1 and Police Football Club overpowered Beacons 14-1 in one-sided games while Camptown squeezed past host GFC 1-0 in the other match. In the opener, Tigers were ruthless in ripping Black Peals to shreds. The boys in yellow and black dominated possession and fired shots to goal at will as they roared to a 7-0 lead at half-time. Black Pearl spent most of the opening stanza in their own half and even when they managed to get the ball they quickly lost it as the West Ruimveldt based Tigers demonstrated far superior skill and ball control in soggy and slippery conditions. While most of the first half goals resulted from kicks outside the box, a header from Linden Pickett from a corner was perfectly placed to the far post, the defenders and Custodian
Swarmed by plenty of red shirts Linden Pickett (2) scores with a perfectly placed Header from a corner as goalkeeper Nicko Gayner is well and truly beaten (Sean Devers photo) Nicko Gayner had no chance as it left Black Peal in disarray trailing 0-4 in only 22 minutes of action. Hubert Pedro opened the scoring in the 3rd with his first goal before Devon Millington hammered in a shot from close range to find the back of the nets in the 10th minute. Murray was in belligerent form and waltzed past two bemused defenders in the 15th minute to beat Gayner, who endured a nightmare between the uprights. After Pickett’s clinical header, the Tigers would produce two more goals before the half time whistle was blown with Dwayne McLennon scoring in the 33rd minute and Pedro hitting in his second goal four minutes later, completing a commanding half for the Tigers. The second half began just as the first half with the Tigers’ Goolie at times sitting on the ground with nothing to do as Mark Grittens netted in the 56th minute before McLennon booted in his second goal in the 59th minute.
Hamilton Green Cup football postponed The eagerly anticipated Hamilton Green Cup knockout football tournament which was set kick off today with a double header at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground in Linden has been postponed due to the unavailability of the ground because of the inclement weather. In what promises to be an
exciting tournament, 24 teams are set to battle for attractive prizes which includ es $ 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 and tr o p h y for th e w inner, $250,000, $150,000 a n d $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 respectively for the 2 n d , 3 rd an d 4th p laced f in is hers. The organisers says a new date will be fixed, shortly.
Murray toyed with Black Pearl’s porous defense to score again in the 52nd, 79th, 80th and 83rd minute but as the match progressed, the intention decreased as both teams began to tire and the match ended 13-0. The second match, which commenced at 19:00hrs, was keenly competed as Camptown got past GFC 1-0. Oziel Small found the back of the nets with four minutes to half time, the final score remained unchanged. The feature match saw Police FC romping to a huge 14-1 win over Beacons who were down 8-0 at half time. Quincy Holder scored four goals (7th, 37th, 39th, 45th) in the first half while Athio Wallace netted in the 21st minute and three in the second (47th, 70th, 78th), Dwain Jacobs (72nd, 81st), Jermaine Granderson (13th) and Stephan Ramsey (34th, 84th, 42nd) doing the damage for Police. Christopher Galloway in the 43rd minute scored the consolation goal for Beacons. The competition
continues today with three second round games, Pele opposing Eastveldt from
17:00hrs, Santos taking on Flamingo at 19:00hrs and Riddim Squad battling
Northern Rangers in the main match. (Sean Devers)
t r o Sp Powerade/Rainforest Water/Malta Supreme/GABA U-23 Tourney
Eagles soar over UG Trojans; Pacesetters bounce past Colts
Pacesetters’ Zion Gray distributes the ball as his side takes the charge to Colts on Wednesday night at Burnham Court.
Regional Under-17 Tournament – Rd 2
Umroa five-wkt haul gives Guyana narrow win over Leeward Islands
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