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Thursday July 20, 2017

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Kaieteur News

The President was advised that his We need to treat prison officers and inmates more humanely DEAR EDITOR, that produced milk for the duction of similar products prisons. The coordinator for position was wrong The nation has experi- system and adjoining govern- from a famous local enterprise. this committee was a Supt. DEAR EDITOR, Reference is to the Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George’s ruling. l done and well adjudicated. President Granger was many a time over, advised that his opinion was wrong, that his opinion had no basis in law, yet he continued to insist that his opinion was the correct one. As Guyanese we have our own local descriptions of such an attitude but out of respect I would not mention that here. So the question is why did the president continue to maintain that his interpreted opinion was correct? Were the legal minds in and around cabinet, fearful of giving contrary advice? Lots of fodder for the opposition to attack

in a more pointed manner. From the start of this issue I had written an opinion that the President was wrong and many others equally did so. As well, many agreed with the President, but not, in my opinion, convincingly with their emphasis on word placements and compound sentences. Now it is never good for the Court to rule against a President especially in a country like Guyana with its own list of oddities, so I am disturbed at the hard line the President took. But then again he might have been complying with the many bits of advice given to him. In any case it was and is an unpleasant situation. Carl Veecock

Riot revealed the social texture of the... From page 4 greased lightning within the prison environment while others may take longer. Within the prison, staff at all levels need to both speak to, and listen to the prisoners. If the staff listens there is information to be garnered. Strange but true the prisoners will tell them what is going on in the prison. Accountability is another issue to be resolved. Even after the fire and the rehousing of the inmates, there was still a dubious tally of prisoners. Knowing where prisoners are at all times is of prime importance. A formal roll call system should be in place, supplemented by formal counts at prescribed times. Contraband items (anything that a pris-

oner should not possess) should receive the utmost attention. There should be enforced regulations on the amount of items a prisoner can possess, or even have in his cell and the rules must be stringently enforced. Tensions and incidents are natural to the prison and prison personnel are trained to deal with them. Mental preparation for incidents is as equally important as physical preparation. It is blatantly apparent that the recent riot has provided all the answers to the questions. The facts have been borne out by the acts. What needs to be addressed is Quo Vadis? Would there ever be an end? Hopefully the fire will a clear message send. Yvonne Sam

enced great trauma within the last 16 months as we observed the travails of the Guyana Prison Service. This service is the outside child of government and the step sibling of the other members of the Joint Services. When we look at the salaries and conditions of employment of its officers and ranks vis a vis the other services, we see a clear pattern of neglect. Most of the officers of the other services regularly attend the standard officer’s courses of the GDF. In addition many are sent on overseas training programs. Prison officers are lucky to be able to attend conferences abroad. In 1972/ 73 I had the opportunity of working closely with then Director of Prisons, Mr Davis, his deputy Mr France and Senior Supt. of Prisons, Mr Richards. They had invited me to work along for the establishment of a program geared to bring significant change to the prison system. This resulted in the setting up of a technical/vocational school at the Mazaruni Prisons; the upgrading of technically trained officers to technical instructors; the redesigning of th e C a m p Street Prisons Trade Shop; the setting up of an industrial/commercial entity to market products made in the prisons. In those days the Mazaruni Prisons had the largest piggery in the Caribbean and both Lusignan and the Mazaruni Prisons had several Holstein type cows

ment institutions. The school was a first for the Black Commonwealth. We were able to set up a system where when the officers and men were let out on hire on external projects, the Service took two thirds of the proceeds and one third went to the inmates who had laboured. I proposed that inmates be placed to work on mainly government projects whether they were drainage or road projects. Inmates would then have a sizeable amount of money on their discharge. Additionally some of this money could have been used to help their families on the outside and thus remove the strain from public assistance. They also had the opportunity to start a small business. The Camp Street Trade Shop was modernised and new equipment to make chainlink fencing and barbwire were installed. The manufacture of these products predated the pro-

I must note here that with the introduction of these measures the prisons settled down and disorder was at a minimum. However these new measures fell down some years later as the effects of the OPEC oil crisis and economic stringencies took their toll. The promised salary scale improvements for officers who maintained the training programs were not put in place and officers became disgruntled. On a personal note I too suffered. The recommended honorarium and gold medal were denied since my employer, Ministry of Labour and the Public Service Commission felt that I was already compensated by employment in the system. Fast forward to 2008/09. I was invited to a committee that was set up by Director Mr Erksine. This committee comprised educators and others who made valueable inputs towards the operations of the

Clarke who was appreciative of our combined efforts. This was the time when inmates were sent up for CXC exams and many of them passed creditably. My task was to help in the rehabilitation of the Camp Street Trade Shop; the crafting of a program for the instituting of a prison industrial complex. These matters were treated in a number of concept papers which I presented. I proposed fees for a consultancy and assistance to put the program in place. The fees proposed did not find favour with the subject minister and I demitted the committee. It was proposed that the Service request 500 acres of land aback of Lusignan This land would be used for the erection of a new maximum security prison; the cultivation of rice and other crops; the erection of modern workshop facilities to cater for the maintenance of the prison Continued on page 6

Dr. Roopnaraine is one of the more articulate politicians of our time DEAR EDITOR, This is truly a difficult one. My memories of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine go back to him on the campaign trails in earlier elections. I remember him very energized and reaching into his soul during his deliveries, convinced that common sense would prevail at the polls. I remember him during this 2015 election, with less steam, less enthusiastic about the

outcome, convinced that racism would triumph again. I am sure that he was more than overjoyed that the country had overcome that hurdle this time. So had the country, Dr. Roopnaraine, so had the country. Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine will undoubtedly stand as one of the more educated, intelligent and articulate politicians of our time. Dr. Roopnaraine, please

accept my respect and humble tribute to your seeming lifetime efforts at righting Guyana’s political and economic problems. I sincerely hope that you continue to make a difference behind the scenes. And may the Guyanese who followed your work take up the mantle you just passed to them and carry on the struggle for a better and more prosperous Guyana. Craig Sylvester


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President Granger has infringed on the separation of powers DEAR EDITOR, Fundamental to our constitutional democracy is the doctrine of Separation of Powers. Under that doctrine, the Judiciary is that branch of the Government vested with the sole and exclusive responsibility to pronounce conclusively on legal matters. Additionally, the Judiciary is the guardian of our Constitution and only the Judiciary can pronounce conclusively on the Constitution, its interpretation and effect. Against this backdrop, the statements attributed in the press to the President on Chief Justice George’s recent ruling in the Marcel Gaskin matter are nothing short of an aggravated assault on the doctrine of Separation of Powers, the Constitution itself and on the Chief Justice of this country. They are the most intemperate and contumacious utterances emanating from a Head of State and directed to a Chief Justice in the English speaking Caribbean in recent memory. The President must understand that in the face of a pronouncement from the Judiciary on legal and constitutional matters, his obdurate and obstinate personal per-

Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

ceptions of what the Constitution says or means fade into oblivion and must yield in deference to those judicial pronouncements, whether he agrees with them or not. That is the unconditional and unqualified duty of every citizen of this land, without exception. Unfortunately, the President’s remarks are not isolated. To understand the gravity of this situation it is necessary to examine the President’s remarks against a larger mosaic of similar conduct from other functionaries in his Administration. The Attorney General, the Chief Legal Advisor of the Government, is on record of unleashing a most scandalizing attack on the former Chancellor of the Judiciary, as a result of a recent decision delivered by the Court of Appeal of which the Chancellor was the President. This was followed by the very Attorney General launching another contemptuous tirade against a High Court Judge in open court causing that Judge to unceremoniously walk off the bench and lodging a letter of complaint with his superiors. Then you have a series of well-documented policies and

actions designed to undermine similarly independent constitutional oversight bodies. In this admixture, one must add the fact that the President dithered and dilated for 11/2years on recommendations from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to appoint Judges, when the Constitution mandates him to act promptly. Lastly, the nation is also aware of the President’s belief that he can determine the legality of important documents such as 99-year-old leases and eject from the leasehold premises the occupants within 48 hours, without any resort to the Judiciary. The above are by no means exhaustive. But they all support a contention which I have consistently advanced over the last two years that there is a rise of authoritarianism in Guyana and that the authoritarian perceives democratic and constitutional institutions as nothing but obstacles. This recent incident has again vindicated my contentions. It is the duty of every citizen to protect and preserve the independence of our Judiciary and similar independent institutions. For it is only the Judiciary and those institutions which will restrain this Administration from continuing to violate the rule of law, our Constitution and the civil liberties of our citizens. We need them now more than ever. Anil Nandlall

Indigenous groups will not support this undertaking DEAR EDITOR, This letter has been sent to Mr. Clayton Hall FCPF Project Co-coordinator. We ask for publication in your newspaper. That the FCPF seems to be gaining momentum is good and I again commend you and your secretariat for that. Having said that I noted that advertisements were placed in the media for Consultants for Institutional Strengthening of the NTC and Indigenous NGO’s of Guyana. Sir as you would recall I had raised the issue of support to the NTC and the NGO’s at previous meetings in the initial stage of the FCPF and mind you I was integrally involved in getting the FCPF program formulated and approved for Guyana. The NTC and more so the NGO’s at least TAAMOG the understanding was clear that direct support would come to the organization. US$150,000 was earmarked for the NTC and US$ 150,000 for the four NGO’s henceforth TAAMOG was expected no less than US$ 35 to 40,000 in direct support. I have been on record to make this point to the secretariat that the organizations need direct support and not consultant based support. This was the trust of the FCPF program document. More so you would recall at the April 2017 meeting at

the Regency Hotel a number of attendees expressed strongly that support should be provided directly to the beneficiaries rather than hiring consultants to do capacity building and reports. I recall this point being made by Mr. Thom of Kwakwani, Mr. Lincoln Lewis of the TUC and Ms. Karen De Souza. It was noted that the program should not waste resources in hiring a bunch of consultants just to do capacity building and a report. You indicated that this was certainly not the case and the project is a very people oriented project. Low and behold the ads are for consultants for two long years (24 months) just to do the said capacity building/institutional strengthening activities as outlined in the advert. TAAMOG and many other indigenous leaders find this very worrying and troublesome and needless to say a waste of project resources. As per my previous letter TAAMOG and other indigenous groups will not support such an undertaking and we urged that this consultancy be scrapped and a task force to setup to include a wide cross section of civil society actors such as Mr. Thom, Mr. Lewis and Ms. De Souza that will help identify priority areas for the funding and chart the best approach

for use of the funds. Guyana has in house capacity and the indigenous groups are aware of the issues but need tangible resources to make an impact. The current approach being adopted by the secretariat is a quick fix and will leave no lasting impacts and I am afraid will not work for the Amerindian peoples of Guyana. I would also like to know the IDB’s input into this activity and the IDB having being part of the drafting of the FCPF document with the World Bank is fully aware that the expectation of the program was direct support to beneficiaries. I therefore find it strange that the IDB would give its no objection and change course without consulting the indigenous groups on what form of support is best suited. I do look forward for the project’s Terms of Reference (TOR) to be adjusted and until such time I would again plea with the Tender Board not to proceed with this particular consultancy any further. This letter has been copied to; Ms. S. Mckonen- IDB Country Representative, PS, Ministry of Natural Resources, Chairman, National Tender Board, Media Houses, IDB and FCPF Secretariat, Washington DC, Peter Persaud. President, TAAMOG

Complaints against Vreed-en-Hoop post office DEAR EDITOR, Can you please publish this letter in your letters column as it is through this medium one would receive some resolution. We the Pensioners and Users of the Vreed-en-Hoop Post Office wish to register our disgust at a situation that has been reoccurring over the last few months. The situation is as described - the Post Office cashes pension vouchers and as soon as a crowd builds up, an announcment is made that that all monies are finished.

One wonders if this is a deliberate strategy in order to stagger out the work load over a given day. For example at 10am there will be such announcement, asking senior citizens to return the next day. However if one were hang around the area and revisit the Post Office, you would witness them recommencing the cashing of vouchers. Seniors citizens of this country are an asset and ought to be treated as such.

Additionally, consideration should be given to those senior citizens who require transportion by taxi to and from home to the Post Office. One must be cognizant of the fact that it depletes their actual spending money. The Post Office operates on a “who knows who principle”. We plead for some intervention to be made for the benefits of the Senior citizens of this country. SENIOR CITIZEN

We need to treat prison officers and... From page 5 built infrastructure; furniture manufacture; block making entity; and the instruction of inmates in various crafts. As with the earlier Mazaruni facility no welding was to be taught at the prisons. A secretariat comprising senior officers of the Service would have been responsible for the oversight of the program. Officers with technical knowledge would have been favoured for inclusion in the program. I believe that the foregoing would show that worthy attempts were made to make life easier for both the officers and inmates of the

prison system. However one will find that persons can only respond according to their levels and extent of competence. What we need is a paradigm shift in our thinking of the prison system in this country. The persons to do same exist. We need to look a little deeper into things and perhaps then the solutions would be found. We need to treat our officers and inmates more humanely. Government needs to include persons from the society when solutions for the problems in the penal system are being sought. Cyril Walker


Thursday July 20, 2017

Jagdeo fears govt. will be outmanoeuvred by Exxon Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo is of the opinion that the government will be outmanoeuvred by Exxon Mobil, the oil company that has been contracted by the Guyana to conduct oil exploration and production. Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdeo was asked a number of questions on the country’s preparedness for the looming oil and gas sector. He said that ExxonMobil is one of the largest companies in the world, whose profits are greater than the Gross Domestic Product of a number of countries. As it relates to the company’s capacity, Jagdeo said that ExxonMobil probably has more technical personnel than the Caribbean countries combined. He advised that since Guyana is engaging the company it is important that the country is represented by as many skilled people that have clarity about the negotiation position so as to provide guidance on the way forward. Jagdeo said that the current team in government that is leading negotiations with the company cannot do so on a technical level. He added that there are persons within the A Partnership for National Unity party that have the technical ‘know

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Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo how’ to lead negotiations but are not given prominence in the government. He said that it must be recognised that ExxonMobil will try to get the best deal for itself and as such, Government officials need to protect Guyana’s national interest. “They don’t have the technical skills. I don’t see any attempt to acquire it. I don’t see the transparency being pursued to allow us to know who the negotiators are, what the negotiating brief is so we can share our views on it. And that can be discussed in committees or smaller circles so that it doesn’t get out wildly. My fear is that they will be hopelessly

outmanoeuvred.” The Opposition Leader said that his opinion is not based on ExxonMobil being some kind of monster but rather that the oil giant will look out for its own interest; hence Guyana must do likewise. “The ideal thing is that in this partnership, both sides benefit. And that has to be worked on in terms of solid engagement agreements.” Jagdeo stressed that the government must ensure that the country’s technical capacity is improved so that all agreements and regulations agreed on, that satisfy international standards, can be enforced. “So it may be of a technical nature; it may be of an environmental nature. This is why we were more supportive of a model of the Petroleum Commission that keeps the Minister far away from it. “But now, in the parliament, we have a Bill where the Minister can appoint the Board (of the Commission), he can fire the Board, if he doesn’t appoint the Board, he becomes the Board. He will appoint the Chairman, and if he doesn’t appoint the Chairman, he becomes the Chairman.” Jagdeo said that this model would not allow Guyana to build strong technical capacity.

Westford’s lawyers appeal High Court ruling

CHARGED: Dr. Jennifer Westford Following a High Court ruling to quash a Constitutional Motion to examine the issue of amnesty filed by Attorneys-at-Law for former Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, the matter has since been taken to the Court of Appeal. Dr. Westford of Lot 55 ‘AA’ Victoria Avenue, Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) and Ms. Margaret Cummings, former personnel officer at the Ministry of Public Service of Lot 709 Section ‘A’ Diamond, EBD are charged in relation to eight state vehicles, for which they

CHARGED: Ms. Margaret Cummings

forged documents and attempted to transfer to persons. In August 2015 the former minister was placed on a total of $800,000 bail after she pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges alleged that between July 17, 2014 and June 23, 2015, she attempted to transfer eight state vehicles to four persons. Cummings was also slapped with four counts of forgery which alleged that she forged documents for the purchase of the eight motor vehicles. She has been released on a total of $1.2M bail.

A trial in the matter which commenced before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore has since been stalled pending the ruling on the Appeal Court proceeding scheduled for next week Wednesday (July 26). When the matter was called in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday, Dexter Todd, who is among the battery of Attorneys-at-Law representing Westford and Cummings, requested that the trial be adjourned pending ruling on the Appeal Court matter. Magistrate Continued on page 23


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President reaffirms commitment to appoint GECOM Chairman President David Granger has reaffirmed his commitment to uphold the Constitution in relations to appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, (GECOM). Speaking with members of the press following a swearing in ceremony for Judges at State House yesterday, Granger said that interpretation of Article 161(2) by Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane GeorgeWiltshire adds credence to his belief that the GECOM Chairman must be able to function independently and impartially in the execution of his duties. The President stressed that the role of a GECOM Chairman is a critical one. “The Chief Justice gave a ruling based on her perception of the law and I will continue to act within my perception of the Constitution. I will not appoint somebody that I do not consider fit and proper” On Monday, Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane GeorgeWiltshire handed down a ruling in response to concerns raised over President Granger’s interpretation of the constitution as it regards the appointment of a GECOM chairman. The court action had been filed by businessman Marcel Gaskin. Justice

George-Wiltshire noted that the GECOM chairman does not necessarily have to be a judicial officer, or a person qualified as such. The person, she noted, however, must possess integrity, honesty and impartiality. She stressed that the words ‘fit and proper’ can apply to persons from a number of professions or calling. The judge noted that Article 162 (2) of the Constitution speaks to the need for dialogue and compromise. As such, she noted that Granger in rejecting the list provided by the opposition should give reason for the rejection of the names as it would give an indication of those to be accepted. But in response to questions by the press yesterday, Granger said that he will only relent to what is stipulated by the Constitution. “If you can show me the Article of the Constitution, which requires me to give a reason, I will comply with the Constitution but I will not do what the Constitution does not require me to do,” he said. Following the ruling a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency said that Chief Justice upheld the Government’s conviction that it is the President who must determine whether the list of nominees submitted by

President David Granger the Leader of the Opposition for the position of Chairmanship of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is acceptable. The Chief Justice also confirmed in her ruling that it is the President, acting in his own deliberate judgment, who must determine whether a person is ‘fit and proper’. According to the statement, the Chief Justice further said that the Head of State is not obligated to select a person from the six names on a list of which he has determined positively that the persons thereon are unaccept-

able as fit and proper persons for appointment. The statement outlined that the Chief Justice in her ruling stressed that the President must consider each person unless the President pro-

vided the Leader of the Opposition with guidelines of who is unacceptable. “President Granger did provide the Leader of the Opposition with a list of criteria based on his interpretation of the Constitution, for a person to be qualified for the position of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission in a letter sent on March 16, 2017. The Leader of the Opposition did not object to those criteria and submitted a second list.” The Chief Justice ruled that the President did not have to wait for the submission of a new list. He, according to the Constitution, could have gone ahead and appointed a Chairman, having rejected the first list,” the statement added further. However, the ruling did not sit well with the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. Jagdeo in a subsequent statement said “I am informed that in the course of her ruling, the

Honourable Chief Justice is interpreted to have said that if the President deems every name on a list as unacceptable, then the proviso to Article 161 applies.” “If this report is correct, we respectfully take issue with this aspect of the Chief Justice’s ruling. We maintain most resolutely that the proviso only applies when no list has been submitted. Once a list has been submitted, the proviso has no applicability.” Mr. Jagdeo contended that the proviso to Article 162 of the Constitution was not placed before the Court for its interpretation, nor was it part of any of the questions posed to the Court, nor was it the subject of any legal submissions, either from the Applicant’s, nor the Guyana Bar Association’s nor his Attorneys-at-Law. It is therefore rather strange that such a proposition appears to form part of the ruling in the case.

Transparency watchdog to hold final leg of consultations in G/T today After hosting community outreaches in several districts across Guyana, the local transparency watchdog, the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI), will be hosting its final leg of consultations in Georgetown today. The entity would have already visited Corriverton, Bartica, Linden and Charity. Today’s session will be held at the Marian Academy auditorium at 17:00hrs. These consultations would come at a time when Guyana is aiming to submit its candidature application to become an EITI candidate country in August. The EITI is an international standard for openness

around the governance of oil, gas, mineral and other natural resources. Governments disclose how much they receive from extractive companies operating in their country and these companies disclose how much they pay. Governments that sign up to implement the EITI Standard must meet its requirements. The EITI Standard is applied to eight areas of implementation which includes: effective oversight by a MultiStakeholder Group; legal and institutional framework (fiscal regime, license allocation, registries, contracts, beneficial ownership, state participation); exploration and production activities; revenue collections; revenue alloca-

tions; social and economic spending; outcomes and impact; and compliance and deadlines for implementing countries. Guyana must meet criteria within these areas before it can be considered an EITI compliant country. The GYEITI Secretariat, Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) and the Carter Center Country Representative would have already met with business owners, indigenous leaders, community leaders, officials and students, where they were provided with an insight to the EITI and explained why it is important to have their feedback and involvement as Guyana commits to creating better mechanisms and systems for greater transparency and accountability. At the various outreaches, presentations were made by Dr Rudy Jadoopat, National Coordinator, GYEITI; Mr Rod Henson, Mr. Hilbert Shields and Mr. Patrick Harding. In his presentations, Dr Jadoopat explained that EITI will bring benefits to not only Government, but also to civil society and industry – the three sectors comprising the Multi-Stakeholder Group. He Continued on page 9


Thursday July 20, 2017

The WPA’s gambit The Working People’s Alliance has made a daring political gambit. It has cornered the President of Guyana, using his own words. According to the WPA, it was the President’s position that all of the parties which constitute the coalition government have a presence in the government. The WPA was therefore made to believe that Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine was the WPA presence in the government. The WPA countered by claiming that Dr. Roopnaraine was never the party’s representative in the government since he was not selected by the party to be that person nor was the party consulted both on his appointment and on his removal. This obviously was not the President’s problem. It was the WPA which had the problem and which has to resolve its own internal problems concerning just who Dr. Roopnaraine was represent-

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ing within the government. The party claims that it had never pressed Dr. Roopnaraine to reveal secrets of the government because as far as they were concerned he was not their representative in the government. Dr. Roopnaraine was not accountable nor was he taking party positions within the government. He was, in other words, a free agent within the government. That free agent role came to an end yesterday. Reports are surfacing in the media that Dr. Roopnaraine has resigned as a government Minister. The reasons for the resignation are said to be ill-health. The President however has indicated that he has not accepted his resignation but the President cannot technically stop Dr. Roopnaraine from walking away from the government, more so since he was effectively demoted a few weeks ago. Also, it is difficult to see

how the President can refuse a resignation on the grounds of ill-health. He has no choice. He has to accept. If someone is ill, you cannot then refuse that person’s resignation, can you? The President faces a dilemma. He has been cornered by the WPA. If, as is being claimed, every party is represented in the government, the resignation of Dr. Roopnaraine, means that the WPA is no longer represented, acceptance of resignation or not. What this means is that President, if he is to be consistent, has to appoint a WPA representative to the Cabinet. The WPA’s logic would suggest that the President now has to appoint a representative of the government. The WPA had better be careful it does not fall into its own trap, because while the President may wish to be consistent by appointing some-

Dem boys seh... ExxonMobil running from de media like ol’ higue running from manicole broom This thing did start like joke and of course, people use to laugh when some of dem boys seh that de colonial days come back. In de colonial days dem white people use to ignore de locals. Dem never use to tell de people nutten and when anybody ask question de answer never come. Instead, de colonial people use to ignore everybody. It was bad till Guyana get independence and start to paddle its own canoe. People start to ask dem leaders question just like how dem use to ask de white people and when de leaders didn’t answer de people use to cuss dem. Dem boys notice that de same thing starting to happen again. De leaders refusing to answer certain questions. In de Jagdeo government he and Brassington use to claim confidentiality clause. Everything was a secret. Soulja Bai people learn from that and de people gone back to hearing bout de confidentiality clause. Some white people come to drill fuh oil and dem bring de same attitude that de old time white people had. Dem arrogant and dem eyes pass people.

Yesterday de Ministry of Communities invite some reporters fuh a session at Pegasus. De ExxonMobil people was part of de session. As soon as dem see de reporters dem start to holler how no reporter should have been invited. Dem boys seh dem behave like when ol’ higue see manicole broom. Dem don’t want no session to have to answer question. Dem boys notice that since ExxonMobil come dem never meet wid de press and dem got some people who siding wid dem. Jagdeo done seh he don’t care wha dem do in other country. De shaat man seh de same thing. Suh it lef to dem boys to protect Guyana by showing all de things that ExxonMobil do all over de world. Imagine these people telling dem boys in a smartie way that nobody should question dem. Well dem got a lot of forum yet and dem boys advising all of dem to hide because everywhere dem go dem boys gun ask question. Talk half and watch how some rude white people want change back Guyana.

Transparency watchdog to...

one from the WPA, he does not have to appoint a representative of the party; he can simply appoint someone from the party. The decks are evenly balanced. It is left to be seen how this peculiar gambit will unfold. APNU obviously wanted to fade the WPA out of the government. It has now found a resurgent WPA which is publicly taking positions on issues, including positions on governance. The coming days will be interesting. It could see a big row between the President and the WPA. Of course, all of that can be avoided if the President simply appoints someone from the WPA to take Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine’s position if that person obtains representative status from the WPA.

From page 8 provided a status update on Guyana’s EITI application submission process. There is every expectation that Guyana is poised to become an EITI Candidate Country before the end of 2017 as the extensive work to satisfy the comprehensive list of requirements to make Guyana eligible to submit its application is being successfully completed by the tripartite Multi-Stakeholder Group and the GYEITI National Secretariat. Advocates of EITI argue that companies will have a stronger social licence to operate locally. This will lead to better relations with communities and Government. For companies, the EITI could promote better understanding of company activities and mitigate political risk and public discontent. This is necessary in order to safeguard assets and pave the way for further investments. It could also be a catalyst for developing local capacity and infrastructure. The EITI’s benefits to civil

society will come from increasing the amount of information in the public domain about the revenues that governments manage on behalf of citizens, thereby potentially promoting more accountable governance. Benefits for Government include an improved investment climate by providing a clear signal to investors and international financial institutions that the government is committed to greater transparency. EITI also assists in strengthening licensing, record keeping and tax collection systems, and legal and fiscal frameworks for a relatively low cost. The EITI could also promote greater economic and political stability which can prevent conflicts in the extractive industries.


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=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

Granger depended on a lawyer to deconstruct language for him; both failed Lawyers cannot deconstruct words. It is not part of their profession; it doesn’t come within their legal interest. What lawyers do is to interpret words with a narrow purpose in mind – win cases for their clients. Lawyers do not have a professional fascination with epistemology. It is not a subject that attracts them. Their task in quite simple – put their own meaning on language to strengthen their clients’ cases A lawyer is going to interpret a passage in a book with one purpose in mind – to offer what he/she thinks is the meaning commensurate with the argument that up-

holds his/her client’s contentions. If one offers to deconstruct the passage and in so doing its meaning will affect his/her client’s prospects in court, the lawyer will refuse it and for practical reasons. Academia operates with diametrically opposite purposes. An academic will deconstruct a text for intellectual purposes only. There is no client that is paying him/ her to do that. President Granger, in my opinion, relied on the judgement of a lawyer or a group of attorneys that advised him that the words in the constitution; “and any other fit and proper person” also denote person with judge-like quali-

ties. With this in mind, President Granger used the following words; “I am going to choose someone who is fit and proper to be a judge.” From there on the meaning of words took over the debate. In fact, when the president rejected the first list from the Opposition Leader he said that none among the six was a former judge or eligible to be a judge. Professor Duke Pollard, formerly of the Caribbean Court of Justice and currently a law professor at UG may have influenced the President’s insistence on “judge like qualities,” when he wrote the following words in a letter to the newspapers; “The employment of the pronoun “other” speaks volumes and must be interpreted to mean that such “other fit and proper person” must possess the characteristics of the twonamed preceding persons. In effect, such person must possess the generally accepted distinctive characteristics of a judge….” From here on, the President became adamant on the question of “judge-like quali-

ties” and maybe the following words of the professor are what convinced the president; “Concerning the matter at hand, reference may be made to the authoritative perception of Professor HLA Hart that definitions are not solely concerned with the employment of words but, even more importantly, with the realities words are intended to portray. The same applies to legal language! For present purposes Article 161(2) of our Constitution is not only concerned with the employment of words but, more importantly, with the enhanced awareness of words to sharpen the perception of relevant phenomena” (end of quote). I replied to that adumbration by Professor Pollard because I thought in that very pronouncement above, the professor contradicted himself and opened the door to a defeat of his thesis by bringing in extraneous factors such as the interpretation of reality. In my column, “Epistemology, Deconstruction and any other fit and proper person” of January 20, 2017, I rejected the professor’s use of reality

to bolster his point that “any other fit and proper person” means judge like qualities. I quote from that column; “When you deconstruct words, the story becomes

Frederick Kissoon another story, and contexts other than the existing ones come into play…Unfortunately, in introducing Professor Hart to support his polemic, Professor Pollard has walked straight into the minefield of deconstruction and epistemology, thereby removing any prospect of an agreement of what Article 161 (2) could mean. Two nuances are important in the outline of Profes-

sor Pollard and both are enemies of Dr. Pollard. If definitions of words are intricately tied to the realities in which they exist, then there cannot be a conclusive definition of words, because reality is always subject to endless interpretations. The second enemy of Professor Pollard is his position that it is not only the employment of words that matter but “the enhanced awareness of words to sharpen the perception of relevant phenomena.” Obviously two questions poke you in the eye – who is doing the enhancement and who is doing the sharpening?” The story of what “any other fit and proper person” means ended in the court two days ago. We all know how the judge ruled. But it may not be the end. The Attorney-General could appeal and the climax could take place in the CCJ. The President should not take that route simply because life is not as complex as the president believes - a highly educated computer expert or surgeon can be GECOM’s Chairman.


Thursday July 20, 2017

Two years later, no sovereign wealth fund …but Jagdeo says he can create one, alone, and in one month Guyana has been making preparations for an oil and gas sector for quite some time. According to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, it is disappointing that the government has not established a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) that was promised two years ago. At a press conference yesterday held at the Leader of the Opposition’s office, Jagdeo said that if given the chance, he can create a model of a Sovereign Wealth Fund within a month without the assistance of a lawyer. He said that his model would possess some of the strongest principles to separate political figures from investment decisions of the fund and from having access to the fund. He said that preventing access to the fund by politicians is critical. Moreover, he said that the fund would not be used in a manner that destroys other sectors. Recounting events that occurred prior to the May 2015 announcement by Exxon Mobil that the company discovered oil offshore Guyana, Jagdeo said that the company had to be encouraged by his government to drill since there was a five to 10 percent chance of success. “For a company to just push a couple hundred million US dollars in drilling a well when there is a five or 10 percent chance of success, you had to encourage people and so there was a lot of

pushing for the drilling. They started; they found oil just before May 2015.” Jagdeo said that his government in preparing for oil did not want to repeat a 40-yearold occurrence within the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). This, he said, relates to a hydro power division that was created in the GGMC. “Maybe 40 years ago, a hydro power division was created, staffed with lots of people and we never produced a single kilowatt of hydro power except for Moca Moca (Falls). So we didn’t want to do that again, build a large petroleum unit over there and then sit around and wait for oil to be found. But we knew that we had to wrap up quickly.” Jagdeo said that he could not understand what the entire ‘gaffe’ was about within the government to have the SWF established since it could be done within a short time span. “They are just making it complex, so when they do come up with something like the infrastructure they are putting in the petroleum commission, they are doing it in a manner that will bring it under the control of a minister.” Meanwhile, this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its 2017 report that the SWF is important for the building of confidence in the public and financial Continued on page 12

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Kaieteur News

Raids on Cuyuni mining camps…

Cops confirm female cook ‘taken’ by Spanish-speaking gunmen With police ranks on their way to several mining camps in the backdam of Kartuni, Cuyuni River, Region Seven, Divisional Commander, Rabindranauth Budhram yesterday confirmed that there are reports of a female cook being taken by the heavily armed bandits. The six gunmen, who are said to be speaking fluent Portuguese and Spanish, have been robbing camps in that backdam for the past six days. “We got report that the cook (for one of the camps which was robbed) gone with them,” the commander noted. He could not say whether the woman, who is Brazilian, went with the men willingly or by force but it is suspected that she was held hostage. A chartered helicopter took the police ranks to the backdam yesterday. Up to press time, the ranks had reached one camp and were collecting information before they travel down to other camps in the area which were robbed. Budhram confirmed that the information he received so far (based on what his ranks would have reported) was that one camp had been robbed and a firearm was taken. It is unclear how many camps were attacked by the men. There is information that the gunmen are carrying high powered guns and they escaped with raw gold, phones and at least six tractors belonging to the owners of the

Sheriff Mining Company that was attacked on Monday mining camps. Kaieteur News was informed that the police were able to recover the tractors— abandoned some two hours from where the men carried out

their attacks. At each camp the gunmen attacked, they reportedly destroyed the communication system, making it difficult for ranks and even the owner for

the camps to get information. Sheriff Mining Company owned by Mohamed Sheriff Harry was attacked on Monday afternoon. The gold miner told reporters the bandits escaped with his guard’s weapon and an undisclosed amount of gold after beating his workers. Harry noted that he heard that bandits were in the area and made contact with the police at the Bartica Police Station on Friday. He said that he was informed that the ranks were already aware of the issue. He added that on Monday afternoon, the police made contact with him and informed him that his camp had been attacked. ”I ask the police how they know and they said that one of my workers was heading to the camp when he saw what was happening and immediately went to the other camp where he called the police at the Landing,” Harry noted. The miner said that persons in the area are relieved with the police’s presence.


PAGE 12

Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

Jagdeo doesn’t care ‘too much’ about ExxonMobil’s past By Kiana Wilburg Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, is not “too” concerned about the worrying track record US oil giant, ExxonMobil has in some parts of the world. He made this comment, yesterday, at his press conference which was held at his Church Street office. The former President asserted that ExxonMobil is a huge company which has operated in many countries. He said that the company’s gross earnings alone would dwarf the GDP of many countries. The Opposition Leader also stated that ExxonMobil may even have more technical personnel, in terms of corporate lawyers, than the Caribbean would have at its disposal. But when it comes to the debilitating state some nations have been left in after ExxonMobil would have set up operations, Jagdeo emphatically stated, “I don’t care too much about what they did…once we protect our national interest.” Jagdeo emphasized, “We have a duty. Exxon Mobil will always look out for itself. But the idea is we have to look out for ourselves; to get a fair share and then the partnership will run smoothly…”

- says Guyana must look out for itself

The Opposition Leader also contended that the Government’s posture regarding information on oil related matters seems to be a defensive one. Jagdeo recalled seeing news reports which highlighted the fact that various individuals and transparency groups have been calling for the release of certain information, but their appeals continue to go unheard. The Opposition Leader asserted, “…With this government, you can’t get information. I have seen some of

the articles written and groups calling for transparency but the (Government ministers) are not forthcoming at all. In the meantime, they are busy doing political work.” Several critics have noted that it is crucial for local authorities to pay attention to the mistakes made by other nations and more significantly, how inexperienced governments were outmaneuvered by ExxonMobil. In this way, transparency advocates have said that Guyana would be in an even better

position to safeguard itself against instances of abuse and fraud. Kaieteur News would have carried a few weeks ago, several articles as part of a series which provided crucial information on what the nation needs to know about ExxonMobil. In that series, this newspaper showed how nations essentially were left worse off after ExxonMobil found oil in those territories. One example cited in this regard, was that of Chad. The Central African nation is considered to be one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world. When news surfaced in the early 2000s that it struck oil, everyone thought that this should have been an instant blessing. In spite of the country being landlocked, dirt poor and corrupt ExxonMobil expressed interest in Chad and demonstrated this to a great extent. So great were the contributions that Chad’s President, Idriss Déby, threw out two other oil companies that were operating in the country at the time and decided that ExxonMobil was to be dealt with solely. In the beginning, oil seemed to be a tremendous economic turning point for

the Central African nation. The country earned billions of dollars in revenue; about US$9B since Exxon Mobil opened the Kome oil field near the southern town of Doba in 2003. But with all that money in its pocket, Chad it seemed, ended up in a situation of ‘more money more problems’. Instead of oil revenues being used to increase poverty alleviation and improve public services like education, infrastructure, and healthcare—It brought instead, more corruption, pollution, and the misuse of natural resources.

According to the 2004 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Chad was ranked as the third most corrupt out of 142 countries. The next year, it was ranked as the most corrupt out of 158 nations. Ten years later, Chad placed among the top 20 most corrupt nations on the CPI. Additionally, the World Bank in one of its reports on this nation found that Chad’s oil failed to reduce poverty, but instead became associated with increased civil conflict and a worsening of governance. In short, Chad is worse off than it started.

Two years later, no sovereign wealth... From page 11 markets. The report noted that the SWF will play an important role in addressing uncertainties concerning how oil revenues will be spent. The government had said that the SWF would have been established in 2016 but this did not materialise. The Bill to set up the fund is with the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan. The policy is yet to be brought up in Cabinet, where it must reach before being presented in the National Assembly. Trotman had told Kaieteur News that he is con-

fident in the quality of the draft policy which benefited from the technical knowledge of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Private Sector and the Ministry of Finance that is reviewing the draft. Further, Trotman while speaking to the National Assembly had said that it is being considered to include three sub-funds within the SWF. These include the Stabilisation Fund, Infrastructure and Social Development Fund and Citizens Participation Fund.


Thursday July 20, 2017

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Kaieteur News

U.S., Chinese officials conclude contentious economic talks, steel stocks soar WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded contentious economic talks yesterday but the outcome was clouded by the cancellation of closing news conferences and U.S. demands for a “more fair” trading relationship with Beijing. U.S. Treasury and Commerce Department officials declined immediate comment on the annual summer dialogue between Washington and Beijing, while the Chinese delegation’s leader, Vice Premier Wang Yang, left the Treasury building without speaking to reporters. The two sides did not issue a joint statement or action plan following the meeting, a significant departure from past years and another sign of likely disagreements. Investors interpreted the negative signals from the talks and lack of new trade announcements as making it more likely that the Trump administration would forge ahead with broad steel tariffs or quotas based on a national security review, sending steelmakers’ shares soaring. Shares of United States Steel Corp closed up 4.8 percent, while AK Steel rose 3.6

percent and Nucor rose 2.2 percent. After the market closed, a reporter at the White House asked President Donald Trump whether he would impose steel tariffs, eliciting the response: “Could happen.” The potential steel tariffs, which could be announced in the coming weeks, were expected to be a difficult topic in the U.S.-China talks. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has blamed massive Chinese excess capacity for a global steel glut that is hurting U.S. producers. “Investors are essentially handicapping a probability that Trump will announce a broad-based anti-dumping measure on steel imports,” said Longbow Research analyst Christopher Olin. In opening remarks to the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, Ross sharply criticized China’s $347 billion trade surplus with the United States, saying it was not the product of market forces and the bilateral trading relationship needed to change. “We must create more balance in our trade by increasing exports of made-inAmerica goods to China,”

The two sides did not issue a joint statement or action plan following the meeting (Reuters photo) Ross said at the Treasury Department. “There are significant opportunities to do this if we can work together to remove the significant barriers that continue to exist.” Neither the Treasury nor the Chinese embassy offered explanations for why their news conferences scheduled for late afternoon were canceled. It was unclear whether

the talks covered U.S. demands that China put more pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile development efforts. Trump has said that China would get a better deal on U.S. trade terms if it cooperates on North Korea. The Trump administration could impose new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other firms doing busi-

ness with Pyongyang within weeks, administration sources said last week. The meeting came at the end of a 100-day effort to craft an economic plan aimed at reducing the U.S. goods trade deficit with China. So far, China has agreed to resume purchasing U.S. beef after a 14-year hiatus and committed to buy U.S. liquefied natural

gas and open some parts of its financial services markets, such as card payment services. Even if the U.S. and Chinese governments fail to agree on more substantive trade terms, corporate chief executives from the two countries pledged to deepen their cooperation and joint investment efforts. Led by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Alibaba Group CEO Jack Ma, a group of 20 executives said they were committing to increase bilateral trade, including the export of U.S. agricultural goods, liquefied natural gas and consumer products to China. “A stable, growing economic relationship between the United States and China is mutually beneficial to the people of our two countries and for the world,” Ma and Schwarzman said in a joint statement. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin repeated calls by his predecessors for Beijing to rebalance its economy toward household consumption and away from exports and investment, a move he said would foster healthier, more sustainable growth.


PAGE 22

EDUCATIONAL I.A.E – Registered now for full-time secondary school, lessons, CXC/CSEC classes, adults, students, repeaters. Call: 683-5742/621-7365 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. Repairs to refrigerators, gas stoves, A/C units, washing machines. Call Lindon: 6411086/ 694-2202 Eagle’s: Re-gas -$8,000, Washing machine repairs, Gas Stove, Plasma flat Screen, computer repairs & more. Call: 697-2969/646-0966 Repairs at affordable prices: fridge, air conditioner, washing machines, dryers, TV, microwaves & freezerCall: 610-5846 or 661-8158 Passport, permanent & visitor visa application, Professional Immigration Consultant – Sabita Immigration Services. Call: 225-6496/ 662-6045

WANTED 1 Accounts Clerk, preferably from E.B.D – 5 subjects CXC minimum @ gtcareers592@gmail.com 1 live in domestic- Call:6741767 Experience taxi and bus drivers at Princess taxi service. Call: 616-5419 Experienced taxi drivers and dispatcher. Call: 622-6413/ 667-9013 One male experienced merchandiser apply in person @ James Trading, 136 Regent Street. Call: 226-0114 Cook apply at Shanta’s, 225 Camp Street. Live in waitress to work in bar. Call: 604-6606/ 692-4649 One nail technician who knows to do everything. Contact Urban Salon: 6644445/630-8152 Help Wanted! Plumber tiler, mason, painter and carpenter for wooden steps with router, etc. Call: 625-3705 Need experienced garbage trucks driver & labourers. Call: 670-7920 Driver and porter to drive sell water. Apply Nimbus water system, 79 Albert Laluni Street, Queenstown. Tel 6220445/231-7002 One husband & wife to work on farm in the Interior. One night security. Call: 667-5717.

Summer Classes for slow learners in Maths, Phonics, Reading, Spelling and much more. Call: 675-4379 Summer Classes: Phonics, Reading, Language, Mathematics, Art & Craft & fun day (4-12yrs) July 17th- August 11th @ Roxanne Burnham Gardens-Tel:218-2076; 619-4355 INSTITUTE OFACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Registration commenced for I.A.E Secondary school, forms 15, termly fee -$30,000. Call: 683-5742/621-7365 Summer School ages 4-14, Rising Star Academy, Phonics, Reading, Mathematics, Science. 5 Weeks: July 17-Aug18. Call: 677-0296 Rising Star Academy: Register now for kindergarten & Grades 1-4, build a strong foundation for common entrance. Call: 6770296 9 Course, Diploma in computer- office 2016, windows 10 -$20,000 off for CXC students 2017 @ MicroGraphics, Vreed-enHoop. Call: 264-3057

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PROPERTY FOR SALE Transported property @ Grove and Diamond $16M negotiable. Call: 625-5461 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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1 Set of used magrims, 4 holes 17". Call: 685-6874/653-2477 House & land for sale, latest Toyota Tundra and Tacoma parts. Call: 646-8594 Elevator good condition $700,000, sauna, ceiling fans - $3,000, AC- $10,000, metal gate- $25,000, glass doors $40,000. Call 231-1284

Prime land to build that dream home. Not far from Princess, New Thriving, Massy, HJ water world $13M neg- Call: 669-8397 Land at Well Street Ogle, E.C.D, back lot, 65feetX105feet - $12M. Call: 625-1514 26 Happy Acres, East Coast, 5,830sq (53X110), 25 Million, negotiable. Call: 614-4358 W.B.D: Schoonord -$3M, Uitvlugt 50X100 -$2.8M, La Parfaite 50X100 & foundation -$3.5M, $1.5M, $1.6M, Coglan Dam, Nimes -$2.5M. Call: 231-2199/618-7483

VACANCY Office clerk, apply at Survival Lot 10 Vlissengen Road, Newtown, Kitty. Experience Tutor/ nanny to read, teach & care for 2 years old from 12:00hrs to 5:30pmCall: 623-1615

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Farm New Scheme (East Bank) 100ftX50ft- $2.5M (deal) all legal fees paid. Call: Farm worker, interested 667-1960/656-0701 person only. Call: 265-3586 La Parfaite Harmonie - $1.3M, Cook/ Baker for interior. way up front, already clean, Applicants must be all legal fees paid. Call: 6511969/ 611-7223 experienced. Call: 618-2020 1 Salesclerk, 1 Part-time domestic, preferably from West Bank/West Coast Demerara. Call: 600-1559

Land @ No.7 Village W.C.B – 86’X317’, roadside -$34M negotiable. Call:622-6473 (Raj), 648-6873 (Bernard), 661-4604 (Veronica)

1 Maid for East Bank area. Call: 614-4358 One data entry clerk, must be computer literate & have passes @ CXC Maths & English. Apply PO BOX12118 1 Counter clerk, must have a decent handwriting & passes in Maths & English. Send handwritten application to PO BOX 12118 1 Canter driver. Call: 629-2912

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Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

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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TO LET 1 Two bedrooms bottom flat at P a t e n t i a H o u s i n g Scheme, W.B.D- Call: 6462120 or 603-3119


Thursday July 20, 2017

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Kaieteur News

$1M stolen from Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club -95% of items recovered, two in custody Perpetrators on Sunday evening broke into the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club office, located in Area H Ground, Rose Hall Town stole a quantity of cash, appliances, hampers and donated items valuing nearly one million dollars. Hilbert Foster, CEO/ Secretary of the club, told reporters that on Monday morning he was informed by a market constabulary rank that his office was broken into. He said the grill door which leads to the office was ripped away at the bottom. Foster disclosed that a businessman had donated a million dollars in back packs. “My first concern was the

school bags, but after checking we discovered that the majority was here. However when we checked we noticed that a grass cutter valued at $100,000, 20 school bags, a music set costing $150,000, amplifier, electric saw, electric drill, ten hampers, a large sum of food supply, more than $60,000 in cash and a cordless phone, among other items were stolen”. Club members, he stated, had raised suspicions after the incident about the persons who would have stolen the items. “There is a building in front of J.C that was taken back by the bank. We had our suspicions

that the materials would have been stored down there. We went with two policemen and I peep through the window and saw a grass cutter standing up next to the wall. When I look I saw (hampers) lying on the ground”. He revealed that 95% of the stolen items were recovered. The residents of Rose Hall assisted by returning some. “Some bag packs were seen scattered around the area but residents in Rose Hall brought them back”. Two suspects have since been arrested in connection with the break and enter, while police claim that they are on the hunt for two others.

Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club building

DIGICEL GUYANA launches unlimited rollover data and talk Digicel Guyana is now making lost data and talk a thing of the past. Today, the total communications and entertainment provider announced that all prepaid and postpaid customers can browse, stream, share and chat to their hearts content on Digicel’s 4G network and roll over all their unused bundles. Digicel customers will find Unlimited Rollover Data and Talk easy to understand and easy to use. By simply renewing their smart bundle before

it expires or paying their postpaid bill on time, customers can immediately start enjoying these amazing benefits. Prepaid customers also get to retain their unused bundle if they choose to upgrade to a higher plan. Gregory Dean, CEO for Digicel Guyana said, “This is all about simplicity and putting our customers in control. What people want most of out of their Smartphone experience is to be able to enjoy every bit of data and voice they paid for. With unlimited

rollover, customers keep what theirs is rightfully for as long as they want to and use it whenever they want.” Digicel officials said that the company’s Smart Bundles are designed to keep customers always on and connected to the things they love. Jampacked with value, Digicel’s Smart Bundles combine data, talk and text. Plus, with the MyDigicel app, customers can easily track their usage. With Unlimited Rollover, Digicel said it is ensuring customers always win.

From page 7 Azore adjourned the matter until July 31, for reports. This trial has been forced into several adjournments on issues surrounding this Constitutional Motion. In June 2015, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, had told the media that it was brought to his attention that some documents were sent to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), purportedly signed by Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Hydar Ally. This was done under Ally’s letterhead, but signed by someone else. “He had no knowledge of this transaction,” Minister Harmon had stressed. It was Ally who directed Harmon to the discrepancy in the paperwork forwarded to GRA for the transfer of eight vehicles. In light of the overwhelming evidence, the vehicles were returned to the government. In January 2016, Magistrate Azore overruled a submission citing “executive abuse” made by Senior

Counsel Neil Boston and signaled her readiness to proceed with trial. This was after Boston had contended that the institution of criminal charges against the former Minister and Cummings breaches an amnesty promise made by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during a June 19, 2015 press conference. Boston had stated that Harmon had promised that once the vehicles were returned no prosecution would take place. He had stated that during the press conference, Harmon said, “They can quietly bring them (state assets) back to the Ministry, in which they came from or to the Office of the President (OP). They can park them outside the gate…” Boston had related that all the vehicles were returned to the then Office of the President and in spite of the

amnesty, his clients were still charged. The lawyer had made this claim while addressing the court on why court proceedings against his clients should not go forward. However, the Magistrate ruled that the statement made by Harmon was ambiguous. She stated that the court is not sure if what the minister said amounts to an amnesty or pardon and signaled her readiness to proceed with trial. The battery of lawyers then moved to the High Court and filed a Constitutional Motion preventing Magistrate Azore from proceeding with the trial. But the Constitutional Motion was quashed some time last year by then Chief Justice (ag) now Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards. The lawyers have since appealed the ruling.

Westford’s lawyers appeal...

The house where some of the items were found.


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Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

Nearly US$59 billion in World Bank support to Caribbean in 2017 WASHINGTON (CMC) – The World Bank says its commitments to help developing countries, including those in the Caribbean, take on poverty and boost opportunity reached nearly US$59 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees in fiscal year (FY) 2017 (July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017). “With aspirations of the poor on the rise, and overlapping crises, such as forced displacement, famine and climate change adding urgency to our mission, our staff this year worked to provide marked increases in financing from IDA, IFC, and MIGA,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Tuesday. IDA is the abbreviation for International Development Association, IFC for International Finance Corporation and MIGA for Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. “While this year we have had to actively manage IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) lending, the Board and management are discussing approaches to ensure adequate capacity across the World Bank Group to best help countries achieve their development goals,” Kim said. “As always, we are committed to working with our member countries and other partners to crowd in private investment and

maximize resources for the poor,” he added. The World Bank said commitments from IBRD— which provides development knowledge to countries, combined with financing and risk management products— were at US$22.6 billion in FY17. “This reflects the bank’s careful attention to ensuring continued strong capital adequacy ratios and prudent financial management into the future, while responding to client countries’ most pressing development challenges,” the World Bank said. It said commitments from the IDA, which provides zero or low-interest loans and grants to the world’s 77 poorest countries, hit US$19.5 billion in FY17. “IDA’s increased commitments reflect strong demand for financing, as well as IDA’s efforts to better leverage resources and expand financing options for borrowing countries,” the World Bank said. “FY17 continued to reflect very high demand for IDA financing from clients, fully committing the three-year resource envelope of IDA17.” The bank said these efforts include an additional US$3.9 billion allocated for non-concessional lending to finance transformational projects in qualified IDA countries. Increased financing has also allowed IDA to respond rapidly to

global crises. The World Bank said the IFC, the l a r g e s t g l o b a l development institution, focused exclusively on the private sector, leveraged its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities wherever they were needed most. Preliminary and unaudited data as of June 30 indicated that IFC’s long-term investments totaled about US$18.7

billion, including funds mobilized from other investors. In FY17, IFC made nearly US$11.9 billion in long-term investments from its own account and mobilized about US$6.8 billion from other investors. The World Bank said these “often-complex” investments supported 342 long-term finance projects in developing countries around the world. IFC maintained its strategic focus on the poor e s t c o u n t r i e s a n d

regions, providing more than US$4.6 billion in long-term financing to accelerate development in IDA countries, including funds mobilized from other investors. It said these countries accounted for nearly 25 percent of IFC’s total investments. The World Bank said investments in businesses in fragile and conflictaffected areas totaled US$858 million, including funds mobilized from other investors. This is in line with the bank’s broader strategy to channel resources to hard-hit countries. As the World Bank continued to look for new ways to ramp up infrastructure investment, in October 2016, IFC introduced MCPP Infrastructure, a pioneering initiative to mobilize up to US$5 billion from insurance companies and other institutional investors for investment in infrastructure projects in emerging markets.

The World Bank said the effort builds on the success of IFC’s US$3 billion Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Programme, a loansyndications initiative that enabled third-party investors to participate passively in IFC’s senior loan portfolio. MIGA, the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group, issued a record US$4.8 billion in guarantees in FY17 in support of 33 projects, helping draw in US$15.9 billion in foreign private capital to developing countries. The World Bank said some 45 percent of the projects were in IDA countries, while 21 percent were in fragile and conflict-affected states. The projects will collectively help avoid an estimated 1.1 million tons of CO2e in greenhouse gas emissions, increase delivery or improve quality of electricity for 8.5 million people, and deliver health care to 8.7 million patients annually, the World Bank said.


Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

Brazilian judge freezes ex-president Lula’s assets after conviction Braslia (AFP) - A Brazilian judge leading an anticorruption probe has ordered assets belonging to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva frozen after last week convicting and sentencing him to prison for graft. Lula, as he is widely known, remains free pending an appeal of the verdict. He denies any wrongdoing and says he will attempt a political comeback next year by contesting presidential elections. Ordering the asset freeze, Judge Sergio Moro said, was in response to the charge that Lula accepted a bribe of a luxury beachside apartment and $1.1 million in cash from one of Brazil’s biggest construction companies, OAS. Moro put the value of Lula’s assets in property and bank accounts as $4.3 million, according to court papers released yesterday. They comprised three

Ex-Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (AP file photo) apartments, a plot of land, two vehicles and two accounts holding more than the equivalent of $190,000 in cash. Lula was a week ago given a nine-and-a-half-year sentence after his conviction. The 71-year-old has portrayed the judicial blow as an attempt to keep him out of the running for the presidency. One of the most popular

Brazilian leaders of modern times, Lula held power from 2003 to 2010, the maximum two consecutive terms permitted by the constitution. His protégée and fellow Workers Party member, Dilma Rousseff, then took the reins, winning two elections. But she was impeached and ousted last year for fiddling government accounts to hide liabilities. Her vice president from another party, Michel Temer, has taken over. But he, too, is accused of taking bribes, as have several of his ministers who have resigned. Lula had been leading in voter intention polls up to his conviction. He has vowed to “be criss-crossing the country” to win support for his bid to return as president in the October 2018 elections. Moro, however, is also a popular choice for possible candidate, thanks to his unflinching anti-corruption drive.

Venezuelan business leader slams Maduro’s congress plan MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela’s severe economic crisis will worsen if President Nicolas Maduro presses ahead with a controversial new congress that would further undermine investor confidence in the OPEC nation, the head of the country’s biggest business guild said. Despite months of protests by the majoritybacked opposition and widespread international condemnation, the ruling Socialist Party is holding a vote on July 30 to set up a legislative superbody known as a Constituent Assembly. The assembly would have powers to rewrite the constitution and abolish the existing oppositioncontrolled legislature in what foes fear would enshrine a leftist dictatorship. “What country in the world has a successful socialist model? None!” Carlos Larrazabal, 60, president of Fedecamaras told Reuters on Tuesday during its annual meeting in the sweltering western city of Maracaibo. “In a constituent process, with the characteristics that are being proposed, there is no legal certainty and that does not attract investment but rather scares it away,” added the U.S-educated economist. Fedecamaras has long been at odds with the

government after a former head briefly became interim president in a 2002 coup against late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. Though officials have given few details on what the Constituent Assembly which the opposition is boycotting - might do, investors fear its legal and economic ramifications. Comments by a Socialist Party candidate that the assembly could rewrite parts of the constitution that allow joint ventures with foreign companies have spooked some in the country’s oil sector - though state energy company PDVSA later reassured partners that would not happen. The political showdown comes amid a brutal economic crisis: inflation is in triple digits, the currency has fallen 99 percent against the dollar since Maduro was elected in 2013, and millions are struggling with food shortages. A Reuters poll of economists yesterday forecast Venezuela would shrink 6 percent this year and another 3.0 percent in 2018. “The forecasts are catastrophic. We have no positive expectations,” Maria Uzcategui, president of retailers’ guild Consecomercio, told Reuters at the Maracaibo conference. Consecomercio estimates almost a million jobs in the

private sector were lost in the last 18 months, and 1,150 businesses looted amid this year’s violent anti-Maduro protests. Venezuela’s private sector wants to see an end to currency controls, enacted by Chavez in 2003 to curb capital flight, and price controls, which crimp production.”Those would be the real solutions,” said Uzcategui. Some 100 people have died in nearly four months of anti-Maduro unrest. On Sunday, Venezuela’s opposition capitalized on anger and held an unofficial vote in which they said 7.5 million participated and 98 percent rejected the Constituent Assembly. The campaign is due to escalate today with a national strike, recalling events prior to a short-lived coup against former leader Chavez in 2002. Fedecamaras’ line on the strike is that each employer and employee must decide for themselves whether to follow the opposition call for a 24hour shutdown. Maduro says the July 30 vote is necessary to achieve peace in the volatile South American nation, and also defeat an “economic war” being waged against his government by the opposition and Washington. “Here, there is no economic war...

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Thursday July 20, 2017


Thursday July 20, 2017

Trump ends CIA arms support for anti-Assad Syria rebels: U.S. officials WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has decided to halt the CIA’s covert program to equip and train certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar alAssad, two U.S. officials said, a move sought by Assad ally Russia. The U.S. decision, said one of the officials, is part of an effort by the administration to improve relations with Russia, which along with Iranian-supported groups has largely succeeded in preserving Assad’s government in the six-year-civil war. The CIA program began in 2013 as part of efforts by the administration of then-President Barack Obama to overthrow Assad, but produced little success, said the officials, both of whom are familiar with the program and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Washington Post was first to report the program’s suspension yesterday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders de-

clined to comment on the topic at the White House briefing. The CIA also declined to comment. The decision was made with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo after they consulted with lower ranking officials and before Trump’s July 7 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany. It was not part of U.S.-Russian negotiations on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria, the two officials said. One of the officials said the United States was not making a major concession, given Assad’s grip on power, although not on all of Syria, “but it’s a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia.” Trump is under intense scrutiny by Congress and a special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump’s campaign had ties to the activity. Rus-

sia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ allegations of Moscow meddling, and Trump has denied collusion between his campaign and Russians. A downside of the CIA program, one of the officials said, is that some armed and trained rebels defected to Islamic State and other radical groups, and some members of the previous administration favored abandoning the program. Before assuming office in January, Trump suggested he could end support for Free Syrian Army groups and give priority to the fight against Islamic State. A separate effort by the U.S. military effort to train, arm and support other Syrian rebel groups with air strikes and other actions will continue, the officials said. However, aside from air strikes after the Syrian military launched a chemical weapons attack, the Trump administration has not increased military support from the limits set by the Obama administration.

Jamaica ranked number one in region for Cyber security KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Jamaica has been ranked number one in the Caribbean on the Global Cyber Security Index. According to a report produced by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Jamaica was among 134 member states which responded to questions based on the core areas of the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA). The survey conducted in 2016 through an online platform, measured the commitment of all 193 ITU member states to improving cybersecurity through legislation, projects and

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programmes, capacity building and cooperation. According to Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr Andrew Wheatley, while he is optimistic about the latest rankings and applauds the efforts of the Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT), the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and the Communications Forensics and Cybercrimes Unit (CFCU), there is still a lot more work to be done. Wheatley added that the Government through the Cyber Incident Response Team continues to strengthen

its cybersecurity responsiveness and boost its public education programme. He said he is confident that Jamaica’s ranking will continue to improve. “The overall picture for Jamaica suggests that Jamaica’s Cybercrime efforts have improved significantly even as the country continues to strengthen all four elements of its national cybersecurity strategy. “There is room for capacity building and cooperation between the public and private sector at all levels but we remain committed to meeting all international standards and best practices” he said.

Brazil expects to raise $3.2 billion this year from tax hikes: sources BRASILIA (Reuters) Brazil is likely to announce higher taxes on gasoline today to help meet this year’s budget target during a slow economic recovery, a government source said. A second source with knowledge of the discussions said the possible tax increase could be implemented through a hike in federal value-added taxes. The source did not rule out a small increase in import taxes on the fuel too. The Finance Ministry declined to comment on the matter. But Finance Ministry of-

ficials were planning to use the tax hikes to raise an additional 10 billion reais ($3.2 billion) this year. Gasoline tax increases would have little inflationary impact after successive price cuts by state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras. They would also help ethanol producers become more competitive with the fossil fuel after years of heavy losses in the biofuel industry. The government is aiming for a budget deficit of 139 billion reais ($44.1 billion) this

year before interest payments. Officials have said they would take any necessary measures to meet that goal, after years of misses that cost the country its investment-grade credit rating. Federal tax revenues rose in June as job creation improved, data showed earlier on Wednesday, but proposed changes in Congress to a tax debt amnesty program, if confirmed, would also cause a “significant” reduction in estimates for tax collection this year, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said last week.

Senator McCain diagnosed with brain tumor: McCain’s office WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain has a brain tumor and is reviewing treatment options that may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, his office said yesterday. The six-term Republican senator and 2008 presidential nominee, who is 80, has been recovering at home in Arizona since undergoing surgery at

the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix last Friday to remove a blood clot from above his left eye.Tissue analysis since that procedure revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the clot, his office said. McCain’s doctors said he was recovering from his surgery “amazingly well” and that his underlying health was

excellent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, a hero and said he looked forward to having him back in Washington. “We all look forward to seeing this American hero again soon,” McConnell said in a statement.


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Kaieteur News

Thursday July 20, 2017


Thursday July 20, 2017

Both Guyanese schools in no-result... From page 31 resulted in a late start and caused the overs to be reduced, probably prevented him from scoring the first ever double century in the tournament which began 31 years ago and produced players likes of Brian Lara, who played for Harvard Cricket Academy of Trinidad in the inaugural tournament. Braithwaite clobbered 14 fours and nine sixes from just 95 balls and160 minutes to lead Combermere School to 280-5 before Harrison College were restricted to 130-8 in 30 overs at the Windward ground in rural Barbados. At Wayne Daniel ground, Oakville Cricket Academy of Canada made 125 all out in 32.5 overs with Neil Johnson 21, Matthew Nandu 21, Dwayne Dick 21 and Bryan Brown 14 reaching double figures. Aman Ali (4-24), Jonathan Bowley (3-37) and Paresh Kalley (2-6), bowled well for London Schools as they were dis-

missed for 119 in 38.2 overs. Alexander Evans top scored with 32 not out as Shemar Davis captured 5-8 and was supported by Dick’s 228. At Dover: Fatima College of T&T was bowled out for 206 in 32 overs before St Joseph’s High reached 11-0 in 1.5 overs when rain ended the contest. Wendell George 60, Jonathan Ramdhanie 33, Stefan Des Vignes 30 and Andel Nicholas 19 were the leading scorers for the Trinis; Jeremiah Scott grabbed 5-29 in another good showing for the Woolford Avenue School. Elian Whyte 2-32 and Stephon Wilson 2-46 offered support for the Guyanese. At Bridgefield: School of the Nations were bundled out for 95 in 30.3 overs despite 38 from Tathesh Shivrattan and 14 from Akash Singh. Joel Sutherland (3-1) and Kyle Khan (3-26) did the damage for Presentation College which was in a spot of bother at 11-2 in 7.2 overs when rain stopped play.

Thursday July 20, 2017 ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) Get on with business. Praise will be yours if you have been pursuing your goals. Changes to your self image will be to your benefit as long as you don't over pay. TAURUS (Apr. 21- may 21) Your need to obtain additional details will lead you into strange topics of conversation. Help if you can, but more than likely it will be sufficient just to listen. Try to accommodate them without infringing on your own responsibilities. GEMINI (May 22-June 21) Be cautious not to get involved in office chatter that will cause problems for others. Don't overextend yourself in the process. Now is a good time to ask for favors. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Don't overspend or give too freely to others. You will be a bit of a spendthrift today. It won't take much to upset your lover. LEO (July 23-Aug 22) Don't let your partner get you going. You are best to travel or attend lectures or seminars. Professionalism will be of utmost importance. Concentrate on work and on making money. VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) Rely on the one you love for support and affection. You may find that getting together with colleagues after hours will be worthwhile.

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LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) Self-deception about relationships is a problem. Only bite off what you can chew. You may want to try your hand at a little creative writing. Don't let your boss get the better of you. SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) Evasion is likely if you aren't direct about your feelings. Be careful what you consume today. Relatives may not be telling you the whole truth about a family situation. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Rewards for past good deeds will highlight your day. Use your quick wit to win points and friends. Go out shopping today. CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) Make plans that will take you to exotic destinations. You can make amends by taking them somewhere special. You may find your self a bit frazzled if you allow someone to goad you into an unsavory debate. AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19) Romance may be likely if you travel. A passionate party for two might be just the remedy. If you're feeling uncertain, spend some time alone and reevaluate your motives as well as your needs. PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) Someone you care about may not be too well. You will be able to enlist the help of colleagues who believe in your ideas.

Joshua pays a visit to Mayweather’s Las Vegas gym ahead of fight against McGregor Anthony Joshua has swung by Floyd Mayweather’s boxing gym in Las Vegas as anticipation continues to build ahead of the Money Man’s fight against Conor McGregor. The heavyweight champion flashed a smile as he posed under the Mayweather Boxing Club, which has large red, white and blue lettering and features ‘The Money Team’ logo. Joshua captioned the Instagram post: ‘It’s only right... AJBXING / TMT’ as he appeared to throw his support behind Mayweather for the upcoming fight. He was later shown inside the gym itself as he met with heavyweight boxer Marcellus Williams and took photos with a series of fans. Joshua previously informed Mayweather that he wanted to be on the undercard for his fight with McGregor, which takes place on August 26 at the TMobile Arena in Las Vegas. ‘Get me on the undercard!,’ he told Mayweather when the pair were introduced back in May. ‘That’s legendary s***, that fight will go (down) in history’. Joshua posted a video of himself on a camping trip with adventurer Bear Grylls earlier this

Formula 1 to introduce... From page 27 teams, certain features of [halo’s] design will be further enhanced.” The strategy group of leading teams, commercial rights holders and the FIA committed in July 2016 to the introduction of additional frontal protection to F1 in 2018, a decision which delayed by a year its originally intended debut. Last April, the sport’s bosses decided to prioritise the ‘shield’ with the idea of introducing it for 2018. But the test at Silverstone proved the device needed a lot more work. With time running out and teams needing to start work on finalising their 2018 car designs, the rule-making strategy group on Wednesday decided to push forward with the only device that does work. The strategy group also agreed to set up a working group to examine the problem of cost control in F1, its aim to “come up with innovative solutions aimed at ensuring the sport remains sustainable”. A statement said the group debated “a number of sporting measures aimed at improving the show”. It did not reveal what they were but said “specific studies will be carried out to assess” them. (BBCsport)

Poker player Dan Blizerian poses with Mayweather. month as he took a break from training. The 27-year-old is closing in on his next fight and says he is keen for a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko after their thrilling bout in April which Joshua won via knockout. Mayweather, meanwhile, was pictured on Tuesday with

professional poker player Dan Blizerian, who is known for flaunting his extravagant wealth on Instagram. Blizerian posted a photo of the pair together with the caption: ‘Money never sleeps’as he sat beside theAmerican in a dressing room. (MailOnline)


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Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

England Women reach World Cup final after thrilling run chase against South Africa England’s women are through to the World Cup final on Sunday after a runchase that veered from cakewalk to calamity and included all the emotions in between. There were just three balls to go when No 10 Anya Shrubsole carted Shabnim Ismail through the covers to inch England over the line by two wickets and reduce several members of the South African team to tears. Yet it could easily have been Heather Knight’s teams drying their eyes after they came close to blowing an apparently impregnable position in sight of Lord’s, where they will meet either Australia or India in front of a sell-out crowd of 26,500. One more win, and they can celebrate their first 50-over World Cup success since 2009. At 139 for two in pursuit of 219, England needed only 80 off 18 overs with eight wickets in hand. The only question was how quickly they would get them. But Sarah Taylor, who had earlier pulled off a brilliant leg-side stumping to get rid off Trisha Chetty, was run out for 54 by

South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk. Then Knight, who slapped a full toss straight to square leg, and Nat Sciver, bowled round her legs, fell in the same over to leg-spinner Suné Luus. When Katherine Brunt was bowled on the charge by left-arm seamer Moseline Daniels to leave England 173 for six, it was impossible not to think back to last year’s World Twenty20 semi-final against Australia in Delhi, where they collapsed in sight of what had seemed a routine victory. The game turned again when Fran Wilson ramped Ismail for four, and Jenny Gunn used all the experience gathered over 138 one-day internationals to batter two boundaries in Ismail’s next over. But there was still time for drama. Wilson was caught behind off Marizanne Kapp for 30 aiming another ramp, and with two runs needed Laura Marsh was bowled by Ismail. Cue Shrubsole’s moment of glory. ‘I’m still speechless,’ said Gunn, who had watched on from the

non-striker’s end. ‘But we bat all the way down and that showed in how calmly Anya came out.’ For Knight, the victory – England’s seventh in a row in this tournament after they lost their opening match to India – was the culmination of the work her side have put in since coach Mark Robinson controversially dispensed with captain Charlotte Edwards after the World Twenty20 disappointment. ’It’s special,’ she said. ‘The Lord’s final has been at the forefront of our minds. A sold-out final at home – there’s nothing better for me. Everything we’ve done in the last 18 months has been about being there. ‘The plan was to get to Lord’s and sing our team song and we managed to do that.’ The South Africans, who have grown in stature as the tournament has progressed, were inconsolable. ‘If you were in our changing-room right now, you’d probably start crying now too,’ said a red-eyed van Niekerk. ‘It’s tough, and to lose in a game so close hurts even more.’

In reply, England started steadily before Taylor came to the crease and took control. The sense that they had missed a glorious opportunity to reach their first global final was compounded by dropped catches and 25 extras, including 17 in wides; England’s bowlers, by contrast, gave

away only four, with the newball attack of Brunt and Shrubsole performing as well as they have done all tournament. England can now sit back and await the result of

England thrash Scotland in EURO 2017 opener as Taylor scores hat-trick

England’s Jodie Taylor scored the first hat-trick at a women’s European Championship since 1997

Thursday’s second semi-final at Derby. They have already helped take the women’s game to new heights over the past few weeks. Victory on Sunday could be the start of something special. (MailOnline) Jodie Taylor scored a hattrick as England produced the most convincing performance of Euro 2017 so far to thrash arch-rivals Scotland. The Arsenal Ladies forward, who was ignored by former boss Hope Powell and had an injury-hit 2015 World Cup, made her mark in her first European Championship with two first-half goals, and added a lobbed third before she was substituted before the hour. The Merseysider, the first senior England women’s player to score a hat-trick in a major tournament, latched on to Fran Kirby’s flick to open the scoring, then tucked in from a tight angle following a goalmouth scramble. Ellen White scored a seventh goal in nine games when she followed up Jill Scott’s strike against the bar to make it 3-0 before halftime and, following Taylor’s third, Jordan Nobbs’ volley and Toni Duggan’s injury-time header completed the rout. After a bright start, Scotland - who are making their debut at a major tournament and have several part-time players - were limited to chances from set-pieces. They were outclassed by a superior England side who, at fifth in the world rankings, are 16 places above Anna Signeul’s team and lived up to their status of the favourites for the tournament following their third-place finish at the World Cup two years ago. In Group D’s earlier game, Spain beat Portugal 2-0. England face the Spaniards on Sunday after Scotland play Portugal.


Thursday July 20, 2017

Bolt winning race against time to peak for London Monaco (Reuters) - Usain Bolt says he is over his early season setbacks and running into form at the right time to sign off his career with two more gold medals at next month’s world athletics championships in London. Bolt labored to a 10.06 seconds 100 meters victory in the Czech Republic last month and immediately traveled to see his doctor German HansWilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt for some treatment on the back issues that have troubled him for years. The Jamaican world record holder will test his treated back in Friday’s Diamond League meeting in Monaco, which will be his last outing before he defends his 100m title and then goes in the 4x100m relay in the world championships. ”I’m feeling good,” Bolt told a Monaco news conference on Wednesday, before explaining how the death in a motorcycle accident in April of his close friend and former British high jumper Germaine Mason had hampered his progress. ”The season started off slow for me. I had a setback after my friend Germaine passed away, it kind of set me back a little bit,” he said. ”I had some work to do so I’ve been a little behind schedule but I’m training well.

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Froome in control as Aru slips down the rankings

Usain Bolt I’m feeling much better over the last couple of days because I went to see my doctor in Germany and I’ve been training good, so that’s a good sign, the weather’s great here so hopefully on Friday it will be the same and I can perform at my best.” Bolt is unlikely to ever again match his best - the 2009 world record of 9.58 - and the 30-year-old said he would be happy with any sub-10 second time as he seeks to find the speed he knows he will need on Aug. 5. ”It’s just all about execution now, going out there trying not worry too much about time,” he said. “It would be good to dip under 10 seconds which will always help everyone’s confidence.” Bolt, with eight Olympic and 11 world championship

gold medals and a host of world records to his name, said the time was right to retire having achieved all his goals. He laughed off the suggestion that he was running scared of Wayde van Niekerk and said he regretted that he was walking away just as the South African 400m and - as of last month - 300m world record holder was becoming the sport’s newest star. ”I think that’s one of the most disappointing things in my career now, that he came along at this late stage, that I didn’t get to compete against him because I think he’s one of the best hands down right now,” he said. ”I’m never afraid, I love competition, but it’s too late now, he’s at the end of my career so, we’ll never know.”

French President Emmanuel Macron talks to Froome after the British rider retained his over Tour lead on stage 17. Serre-Chevalier, France (Reuters) - Chris Froome kept control of his rivals in a grueling Alpine ride to move a step closer to a fourth Tour de France title yesterday, retaining the leader’s yellow jersey after the 17th stage, won by Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic. The defending champion was attacked by last year’s runner-up Romain Bardet

Formula 1 to introduce controversial cockpit head-protection system in 2018 The controversial ‘halo’ cockpit head-protection system will be introduced into Formula 1 in 2018, governing body the FIA has confirmed. It said the halo “presents the best overall safety performance” after the evaluation of “a large number of devices over the past five years”. The move comes less than a week after a transparent cockpit ‘shield’ proved unusable at the British Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel said the device made him dizzy after one lap. The ‘shield’ had been prioritised by F1’s bosses because of mixed reactions to the ‘halo’ after extensive testing last year. The ‘halo’ was found to be the only device that both successfully passed the test of deflecting a wheel fired at it at 150mph and provided a largely unobstructed view. Some drivers have expressed concerns about the ‘halo’, a wishbone-shaped device that sits on top of the cockpit and meets in a point in front of the driver, both on

Kimi Raikkonen used the ‘halo’ at the final pre-season test in Barcelona in March 2016 aesthetic and philosophical grounds. But, as a collective body, they are in favour of additional head protection. Alexander Wurz, chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said: “We drivers respect the FIA’s stand on safety and support its ongoing quest to make racing safer. “Over recent decades, we

have seen increasing speeds and every faster lap times and this ultimate racing quest is solely possible due to increasing safety. ”Equally, over the same period of time, we have seen an increase in popularity of our sport. “F1 is a role model for ever-increasing safety without jeopardising perfor-

mance. While the halo solution might not be the most aesthetically pleasing for everyone, we drivers will nevertheless race and push as hard as we can on track, which is the key for F1 to continue its growth and popularity.” A statement from the FIA said: “With the support of the (Continued on page 25)

and Ireland’s Dan Martin in the lung-busting ascent to the Col du Galibier but he stayed calm and covered every offensive move. Bardet and Martin’s accelerations, however, were damaging for Fabio Aru as the Italian lost 31 seconds and slipped from second to fourth place overall. Froome leads Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Bardet by 27 seconds each, while Aru is now 53 seconds off the pace. ”It is not a massive margin but it’s a margin that I’m relaxed and happy with if I can go into the time trial in Marseille with the same margin I’ll be pretty confident,” said Froome. “My team mates rode out of their skin today (yesterday). I am certainly feeling a lot better than I did in the Pyrenees which is a great sign and hopefully I’ll have good legs again tomorrow (today).” ”I was surprised by Aru dropping time today (yesterday). I expected him to go on the attack but it’s the third week of a Grand Tour that tests everyone and there is no hiding place if you’re having a bad day in the third week.” Cycling enthusiasts had anticipated an Alberto Contador victory as the two-time champion, too far down in the general classification to threaten Froome, threw caution to the wind with a long-range attack shortly before French President Emmanuel Macron went into Tour director Christian Prudhomme’s car to follow the stage until the finish. Kittel Out - But the Spaniard cracked on the Galibier, a

17.7-km ascent at an average 6.9 percent gradient culminating at 2,642m above sea level, when Roglic attacked from the day’s breakaway group. Martin and Bardet launched countless attacks of their own on the climb, but Froome stayed in control. The Irishman, whose uncle Stephen Roche won the Tour in 1987, paid the price later on, but Frenchman Bardet hung on to finish fourth behind Uran and Froome. Uran and Froome snatched small time bonuses but Bardet missed out, meaning the Colombian from the Cannondale-Drapac team leads the Frenchman by a few hundredths of a second. Roglic held the group of main contenders off to become the first Slovenian to win a Tour stage, crossing the line 1:13 ahead of Froome, Bardet, Uran and Frenchman Wa r r e n Barguil, who consolidated his grip on the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification. German Marcel Kittel, holder of the green jersey for the points classification, abandoned the race after a crash. New leader Australian Michael Matthews looks likely to wear the jersey all the way to Paris thanks to his big lead over second-placed Andre Greipel. Today’s stage, a 179.5km ride from Briancon to the 2,360m Col d’Izoard, is likely to be the last-chance saloon for Bardet and Uran to unseat Froome ahead of Saturday’s final time trial, which is expected to favor the Briton.


PAGE 32

Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

Cyclists to match pedals at 4th annual Grenville Felix Memorial Cycle Road Race on Sunday

GFF presents footballs to Pele and GFC as part of reintegration process

Claville Francis assisted by Rawle and Winston Felix hands over the cheque to Randolph Roberts. Cyclists are gearing up for this Sunday’s 4th annual Grenville Felix Memorial Cycle road race in the Ancient County which is organised by the Flying Ace Cycling Club (FACC) of Berbice in association with the Felix Family. The 60-mile contest is the fourth annual event and is open to riders throughout Guyana. It is held in honour of the late engineer who passed away four years ago at the age of 96. Felix who was one of Guyana’s first and oldest engineer’s at the time of his demise, worked with the Bookers and Guyana Sugar Corporation in Guyana and various parts of the world. This is the sixth cycling event held in his honour. The first two was held in recognition of his birthday. It was changed to a memorial event after he died. Accord-

ing to Roberts the event this year is expected to be bigger and has attracted more incentives. On Wednesday, Felix’ overseas based children and other relatives presented the sponsorship coordinator, Roberts. Speaking at the simple ceremony, Claville Francis said that the family will continue to sponsor the event, since it was something “Uncle Gren” liked apart from his engineering work and other community activities. Francis also expressed confidence in the work of the FACC and Roberts and the way the event is conducted. Roberts thanked the Felix Family and for the confidence they have shown in the club and assured that the event will be well organised. The race will begin at

10:00hrs, with a flying start from his former residence at Canefield East Canje, Berbice proceed to his former place of employment at the Rose Hall Estate before turning back. They will then proceed to the #51 Police Station and back to the place of origin. Prizes will be awarded to the first 10 finishers while the first four juveniles, first three veterans and first three females will also be rewarded. The first two club cyclists will also be recognised. There will also be 10 sprint prizes at stake. The juveniles will pedal off from Nand Persaud and Company Limited while the females will ride from Tain UG Berbice campus to the finishing line. There will also be races for BMX riders and they will ride from New Street Cumberland to the finishing line.

GFF President Wayne Forde with Pele’s Alexander Best (right) and GFC’s Jafar Gibbons. To aid the reintegration process into active association football, President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde, presented footballs to representatives of the Guyana Football Club (GFC) and Pele Football Club respectively. This presentation was made in the Boardroom of the GFF on Tuesday last to Jafar Gibbons and Alexander Best. Prior to presentation, Forde expressed the GFF’s commitment to the reintegration of the clubs in question to mainstream football: “We will do our part in repairing the

bridge and rebuilding this relationship that has been an extraordinary relationship over the years. The legacy of the clubs was one where they both have been dominant forces on the field and we hope that the leadership of the clubs will reposition their priorities and objectives over the coming months to reassert themselves as strong bodies.” He wished the clubs well. Alexander Best, First Vice President of Pele Football club in an invited comment following the presentation expressed gratitude for

Herath leapfrogs Ashwin to second place Rangana Herath has leapfrogged R Ashwin to be ranked as the No. 2 bowler in Tests, following his match haul of 11 wickets against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at Khettarama. Herath claimed his eighth ten-wicket haul and also passed the tallies of Waqar Younis (373), Malcolm Marshall (376) and Ian Botham (383) in Colombo. All of that contributed to Sri Lanka achieving the highest successful chase in Asia, beating Zimbabwe by four wickets.

Ashwin, as a result, moved down to third place while James Anderson, who took seven wickets in the Trent Bridge Test, climbed one place to be tied with Josh Hazlewood on fourth. Hashim Amla, who made fifties in each innings in Trent Bridge, returned to the top ten on the batting front. He moved six spots up to seventh. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, who struck centuries in the Khettarama Test, were also major gainers, achieving career-best rankings. Ervine moved up 20

places to 40th while Raza vaulted 28 places to 48th. Vernon Philander continued his steady rise towards the top in the allrounders’ rankings. Philander’s Manof-the-Match performance at Trent Bridge - he scored 96 runs and took five wickets saw him rise two places to break into the top five. He also moved to ninth in the bowlers’ rankings. Other significant movers were Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer, whose nine wickets against Sri Lanka helped him gain 20 places to a career-best 53rd while South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj rose 12 spots to 26th after claiming six wickets against England at Trent Bridge. (ESPNcricinfo)

Rangana Herath ©AFP

the balls and his pleasure at being active in football: “We are excited to be back on the field…it’s very nice to be back with the GFF and we will accept these balls as a part of the grooming process for the team. We will mostly wish to use the balls for the practice games as we normally train with the local balls. Since we are concentrating on the youth, we would want to provide them the exposure of playing with the FIFA balls so they can get a feel of them.” Like Best, Team Manager of GFC, Jafar Gibbons, said the balls will also be useful to enable their youth footballers to become familiar with game balls: “It’s a great step by the GFF. You can make a field anywhere, you can make a goal out of anything but at the end of the day, the most important thing in football is the actual ball because you can’t play without a ball.” Gibbons continued, “It will be great if we practice and play with game balls as all of the leagues use the balls. If we train with a different ball, mistakes are usually made in the games when kicking a ball one is not familiar with so I think it is a great step forward especially since we have a very active youth programmme. It will be a great thing to enhance what we already have.” This initiative is part of a continuous effort by the Executive Committee to ensure active football in Guyana especially at the senior level.


Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

Digicel 2017 Senior National Squash C/ships

Fernandes beat Low in Over-50 category

Page 33

Urban Benjamin Memorial Cycle Gold Race

De Nobrega wins ounce of gold as top senior; Curtis Dey claims ½ ounce as junior winner

Allan Downes (right) beat Khalil Ali in three games at the GT Club on Tuesday night.

David Fernandes about to play a back hand off the glass against Robin Low. (Sean Devers photo) The 2017 Digicel Senior National Squash Championships commenced on Tuesday evening at the Georgetown Club Courts and four matches were played in three of the four categories that are being contested. Javed Rahaman and Adam Alves began with victories in the Men’s Open while Khalil Ail won in the Men’s 35-49 division and David Fernandes emerged

victorious in his Men’s Over-50 match. With National Junior players Taylor Fernandes and Rebecca Low urging their fathers on, Fernandes showed better court coverage in his win over Robin Low in the lone veterans Men’s Over-50 match. Low, the President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) put up a spirited fight in the first

game to lose 9-11 but F e r n a n d e s , t h e Vi c e President, won the next two games 11-6, 11-6 to take the match in straight games. In the Men’s Open division both matches were won in four games. In the first match Rahaman outlasted Steven Xavier winning 12 - 10, 4 - 11, 11 - 6, 11 - 9 while Alves defeated Douglas De Groot 11 - 8, 8 11, 11 - 6, 11 - 6.

Sparta Boss, North Ruimveldt, Leopold Street & West Front Road into ¼ finals minute and completed his double in the 24th minute. Jamal Pedro had tipped in two of his hat-trick in the 13th and 14th minute while Hubert had tucked in three of his helmet-trick with strikes in the 17th, 19th and 23rd minute. Jamal Williams scored both goals for Newtown (25, 27) but by then it was a situation of the horse already bolting out of the stables a long time ago. The seven goal cushion was restored with another goal each from Jamal in the 26th and Hubert in the 30th minute. Sparta, made light work of Broad Street in the main attraction of the evening, romping to a 4-1 win on account of goals from Devon Millington who banged in a brace, Solomon Austin and Sheldon

Shepherd. Leopold Street was pushed to the hilt by Bent Street but managed to hold on for a narrow 2-1 win. Sheldon Profitt in the 16th minute and Omallo Williams four minutes later were the players hitting the back of the nets for Leopold Street. Bent Street’s consolation goal came off the boot of Travis Allen. And, Future Stars ensured their future, at least in the quarter finals was cemented with a 3-1 win over North Ruimveldt. Meanwhile, the final set of quarter final matches are set for tomorrow at the same venue and will serve up some exciting action. One of the much anticipated clashes will see new Guinness Greatest of the Streets champions, Linden’s Dave and Celina

Paul De Nobrega

Stephen Fernandes

Andrew Spencer

In the Men’s 35 – 49 clash, Alli won in straight games over Allan Downes 11 - 6, 11 - 6, 11 - 9 and Joe Mekdeci defeated Medhi Ramdhani 11 - 1, 11 - 8, 11 5. The tournament was scheduled to continue last night with the round-ofsixteen matches in the Men’s Open, first round matches in the Women’s Open and more round-robin matches in the Veterans categories.

GT Beer Keep Your 5 Alive KO Futsal Tourney – Rd of 16

Cantering into the quarter finals of the GT Beer Keep Your 5 Alive knockout Futsal competition which continued on Tuesday night last at the National Gymnasium were Sparta Boss, North Ruimveldt, Leopold Street and West Front Road (Goal is Money) which registered the biggest win on the night. Led by the Pedro siblings, West Front Road were in a no nonsense mood as they inflicted a 9-2 drubbing of Newtown Kitty in the night’s opening encounter. By the time Newtown Kitty got on the scores sheets for the first time in the match, the P e d r o ’s h a d a l r e a d y combined for sevn of the nine goal. Omar Pedro opened the scoring in the 5th

Curtis Dey

All Stars aiming to add this championship to the collection when they come up against Tiger Bay in the evening’s third match. The feature match pits Back Circle against Riddim Squad with main supporting play between Show Stoppers and Tucville. The curtain raiser at 20:00hrs brings together Upsetters against Muslim Brothers and this will be followed by a showdown between Kitty and Alexander Village. The GT Beer Keep Your Five Alive is sponsored by HJTV, 94.1 Boom FM, Trophy Stall, Star Party Rental, A&J Carpet House, Ravi’s Carwash (Pike Street, Kitty), Cheese Please, Colours Boutique, Confidential Cabs and GT Beer.

Team Evolution’s Paul De Nobrega was golden in his performance on Sunday last on the Essequibo Coast where he pedaled to victory in the senior category of the Urban Benjamin Memorial Cycle Gold Race and in the process won one ounce of gold as his prize. The 75-mile contest saw the riders pedaling off at Charity rode all the way to Supenaam before returning to the starting line for the finish of what was a grueling battle. In the end, De Nobrega, representing the organising club, Evolution, completed the distance in Two Hours 55 minutes 52 Seconds (2:55.52) beating into second place Geron Williams who was followed by Christopher Griffith, Romello Crawford, Alanzo Ambrose and Jamal John, respectively. Trojan Cycle Club’s Curtis Dey collected the biggest prize any junior has

ever won to date in Guyana for winning the junior category, half ounce of gold ($114,000); the event being sponsored by the Benjamin Family. Christopher Cornelius had to settle for the second place behind Dey with Briton John coming in third. Also enjoying a lucrative day was the veteran’s Under45 winner who also enjoyed half ounce of gold as his prize. Taking that accolade and prize was another Team Evolution rider, Stephen Fernandes who beat off the challenge of Lear Nunes and Steve Ramsuchit. Emerging as the top Over-45 competitor was Andrew Spencer ahead of Amrit Sankar and Oliver Young. Meanwhile, there was a novice race which only attracted riders from the Essequibo for five-miles. Rockwell Smith took the top honours from Marlon Stoby.


Page 34

Kaieteur News

Thursday July 20, 2017

Simmons, Yadram fire Young Windies to dramatic series win Durban, South Africa, CMC – Off-spinner Bhaskar Yadram held his nerve to bowl a brilliant last over as West Indies Under-19s snatched a dramatic two-run victory over South Africa Under-19s to seal a 3-2 win in the five-match Youth OneDay International series here yesterday. Set 245 to win at Chatsworth Oval, the hosts entered the final over requiring eight runs but Yadram conceded just five runs to restrict them to 242 for seven off their 50 overs. In fact, the Young Proteas were in pole position to take victory with just three required from the last two deliveries but Yadram kept Kenan Smith scoreless off both, to complete a phenomenal spell. All told, the Guyanese ended with three for 37 – including two wickets in the 44th over which blew the game wide open after South

Africa U19s seemed to be cruising to victory. Left-arm spinner Jeavor Royal was again among the wickets with two for 31 from his 10 overs. The result was heartbreaking for opener Matthew Breetzke who struck exactly 100 – his second century of the series – while partner Jiveshan Pillay got 44 and Gerald Coetzee, 33. Earlier, West Indies U19s rode on the back of opener Keagan Simmon’s unbeaten 107 as they gathered 244 for five off their 50 overs, after being sent in. Opener Joshua Persaud, in only his second match of the series, struck 46 while Alick Athanaze extended his decent form with 40. Seamer Thando Ntini, the son of legendary South Africa Test fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, claimed two for 38. Simmons took the Manof-the-Match honour while

Keagan Simmons Yadram was adjudged Manof-the-Series for his 205 runs

– including two halfcenturies – along with his five wickets. The Young Windies were handed a great start by Simmons and Persaud who put on 83 for the first wicket to frustrate the South Africans. While the left-handed Simmons faced 152 deliveries and counted 14 fours, wicketkeeper Persaud struck eight fours in his 62ball innings. When Persaud perished in the 21st over, Simmons put on a further 39 for the second wicket with Yadram whose 21 came from 32 balls. But Yadram fell in the 32nd over at 122 and captain Emmanuel Stewart suffered the indignity of a first-ball ‘duck’ in the next over with no runs added, to leave the Windies stumbling.

Bhaskar Yadram However, Simmons remained solid and found an ally in Athanaze who produced a busy innings containing four fours off just 45 balls, as the pair added a critical 93 for the fourth wicket. Trinidadian Simmons raised his half-century off 101 balls in the 34th over before stepping on the gas to gather his second fifty off just 46 deliveries. Righthander Breetzke then put South Africa in the driver’s seat, anchoring a first wicket stand of 112 with Pillay and a

further 70 for the second wicket with Coetzee, as the hosts marched to 182 for one in the 39th over. But Royal struck key blows, accounting for Pillay in the 21st over before returning to claim Coetzee, sparking a collapse where six wickets tumbled for 55 runs. The turning point came when Breetzke, who faced 114 balls and struck seven fours and three sixes, was one of two wickets to fall in successive deliveries to Yadram, as the contest opened up in the 44th over.

GNDF, GDA President Faye Joseph host massive B/day Domino Competition In celebration of her birth anniversary, President of the Guyana National Dominoes Federation (GNDF) Faye Joseph, who also holds the top post at the Georgetown Dominoes Association (GDA), will host a massive competition this Saturday, at Transports Sports Club, Thomas Lands. According to the Organiser Mark ‘Jumbie’ Wiltshire, all teams that register before 15:30 hrs will be able to enter the tournament free of cost, while teams that arrive after the deadline will have to pay an entrance fee of $9,000. Joseph, who has been instrumental in raising the

awareness of the game and taking it to a level never seen before will actually be celebrating her birthday today. Among the highlights of her Presidency are the staging of an international competition where teams from Barbados, USA, Puerto Rico and many other Caribbean territories compete, while the movement of the sport on the sports calendar has also been a significant achievement during her tenure at the helm. Meanwhile, the tournament is open to teams all across the country and interested teams can contact Wiltshire on telephone #665-5855 or Joseph on 6851009 for more information.

Faye Joseph


Thursday July 20, 2017

Kaieteur News

59th Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships

Page 35

Commonwealth Junior Championships

Senior Women’s into semis; Mix up see Guyanese boxer, Christopher Male team exiting, GTTA lodge protest Moore chalks up inaugural win

Moore (backing camera) lashes out with a left hook to an advancing Christofi

The Guyanese team at the World Islamic Games Baku, Azerbaijan from right, Nathalie Cummings, Chelsea Edghill and Trenace Lowe. G u y a n a ’s s e n i o r Women’s team have made it into the semi finals of the 59th Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships and will play host nation Cuba in the Semifinals as they go after the gold medal. On their journey to the final four, the Guyanese team of Trenace Lowe, Chelsea Edghill and Nathalie Cunnings defeated Martinique 3-0, lost to the Dominican Republic 3-1 and humbled Puerto Rico 3-0, earning their semi finals berth.

According to GTTA President, Godfrey Munroe, the Men’s team encountered some challenges in a mix up with the team rankings. He said that Guyana should have been ranked higher than the other teams with the exception of the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The mix up resulted in Guyana being given a lesser seed and placed in a stronger group robbing the Guyanese of a medal. Munroe has informed that a protest has been registered. In a valiant

effort in the group matches, the Guyanese team of Christopher Franklin, Shermar Britton and Nigel Bryan lost to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico by similar 3-1 margins; Britton being the standout player. The Guyanese rebounded to trounce Dominica and St Kitts & Nevis by 3-0 score lines. Team matches in semifinals were expected to continue last evening and conclude this morning. Singles action will serve off this afternoon.

Caribbean Development Boxing champion, Lightweight pugilist, Christopher Moore, won his inaugural bout in fine style as Guyanese boxers started their trek for championship honours at the Commonwealth Junior Championships, currently underway in Nassau Bahamas. Moore defeated Dimitris Christofi of Cyprus (CYP) in what

coach, Sebert Blake, described as a convincing win. He said that Moore took early command of the bout and once he retains his form, will end up on the podium. Meanwhile, Moore’s compatriot, Keevin Allicock, will step into the ring this afternoon in a bid to emulate the win and move on to the other round.

Other events today for Team Guyana is as follows: Swimming 10:30am - 50m Backstroke - Kenita Mahaica 11:00am - 100m Freestyle - Kenita/Daniel Scott 11:45am - 50m Breaststroke – Daniel Athletics 4:00pm - 100m qualifying rounds - Onassha Rogers, Keneisha Phillips 6:30pm - 100m semi-finals 8:20pm - 100m final 7:00pm - 1500m final - Claudrice Mc Koy

Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools tourney

Both Guyanese schools in no-result matches; Bajan U-19 skipper slams 180 The sixth and penultimate round of the Sir Garfield Sobers International 40-overs Schools cricket tournament was again affected by the inclement weather in Barbados on Tuesday with both St Joseph’s High and School of the Nations forced to endure no-result games. Guyanese off-spinning all-rounder Dwayne Dick produced a useful performance with both bat and ball to lead his team, Oakville Cricket Academy of Canada to a six-wicket win against London Schools Cricket

Association of England while Jeremiah Scott captured a five-wicket haul for St Joseph’s High in their washed out game. But the day belonged to 17-year-old Barbados U-19 Captain Shian Brathwaite, who slammed a pugnacious unbeaten180 for Combermere School in their 150 run win over Harrison College, the match reduced to 30 overs because of rain. Brathwaite, of no relation to fellow Bajans West Indies players Kraigg or Carlos, followed up a century in the

Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) Division one 50-over tournament last Sunday by joining Trie Mason and Oakville’s Bryan Browne as the only century makers in this year’s Sir Garfield Sobers competition to date. Brathwaite had an ordinary tournament for the West Indies U-19 team which played in the last Regional Super50 and failed to make the West Indies U-19, presently in South Africa. An opening batsman, Braithwaite batted the entire innings but rain, which (Continued on page 25)

Shemar Davis

Shian Brathwaite


t r o Sp P.30

Simmons, Yadram fire Young Windies to dramatic series win

Champions! Windies under 19a beat South Africa by 2 runs to take series 3-2.

GT Beer Keep Your 5 Alive KO Futsal Tourney – Rd of 16

P.29

Keep Your Five Alive action at the National Gymnasium.

Sparta Boss, North Ruimveldt, Leopold Street & West Front Road into ¼ finals

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