Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

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Authorities lax with human traffickers The non-prosecution of persons allegedly involved in human trafficking is allowing the vicious sex trade to continue and undermining all efforts and resources used to rescue victims, says a resident of Mahdia, who recently helped authorities rescue five teenagers including an 18-year-old from Imara Creek. While the teenagers have escaped from the holding shelter in Georgetown, their

one time sex traders are still frequenting Mahdia. According to the man, cognizant of what was happening in the backdam with the teenagers, the relevant authorities were informed. The police acted on the information and the girls were rescued. They were handed over to a welfare officer and were subsequently sent to Georgetown to give statements at police

headquarters, Eve Leary. The man has been inquiring about this particular Trafficking in Persons (TIP) matter because he wants the perpetrators to be prosecuted. He said that if the authorities are willing to capture the perpetrators, particularly the woman who is seemingly the ring leader, they could since they frequent Mahdia. President of Guyana Woman Miners’

Organization, Simona Broomes, said that this rescue mission occurred when she was overseas so she was unable to be part of it. However, since her return she has been following up on the matter with the Ministry of Human Services, which, she said, has provided no help. Apparently, the teenagers escaped from the shelter where they were being held because of the lack of food and other necessities.

Opposition gives the nation hydrocele instead of hydro power - AG

By Kiana Wilburg “When the history of post independence Guyana is recorded, July 18 will feature prominently. It will feature prominently unfortunately from a notorious perspective for it was on this day that the joint opposition in the National Assembly, whose principal function is to always act in the best interest of the people whom they swore to represent, unleashed a most destructive act of betrayal of the people’s interest. “They voted down and rendered moribund the Amaila Falls Hydro Project,” said Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall. “Even Burnham had said that if we don’t get hydro

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall power, we will get hydrocele and again, we are at a precipice where we are choosing hydrocele instead of hydro power.”

The Minister expressed his disappointment with the position of the joint opposition and accused them of playing a game of “petty politics”. Nandlall recalled, “In 1971 when the Guarantee of Loans (Public Corporations and Companies) Act was passed, the external debt ceiling limit then was $25 million. “On February 9, 1974, it was increased to $50 million. On March 8, 1978, it increased to $200 million. On March 20, 1978 another resolution was moved and it increased from $200 million to $500 million. “Then on April 21, 1980, it was increased from $500 million to $1 billion.” All these increases, he noted, were done under the People’s National Congress Reform and for the first time in 2013, the PPP/C administration sought to raise it from $1 billion to $150 billion and there seems to be much unrest by the opposition with regard to this motion. The Attorney General indicated that prior to his address, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, gave the mathematical computation and calculated the inflation rate to establish beyond any disputation why they have advanced this

motion. “We are not doing it arbitrarily and capriciously; we are doing it to meet a requirement which is at hand. “Often it is said that if Guyana’s potential is unleashed then we can catapult ourselves beyond where we are and many reasons can be advanced as to why we have not moved swiftly up the development ladder. “No one can dispute that among the problems which have hindered Guyana’s economic progress up the ladder is our inability to provide our people and the manufacturing sector with affordable, cheap, reliable and a sustainable source of electricity,” Nandlall expressed. “How are we going to justify the monies spent which could have been spent otherwise, like on the construction of hospitals and more books for our children? “We took that money and we built a road going to a project that we slaughtered in this National Assembly; a project that is now on its way to death.”

Broomes said Guyana does not have a centre for TIP victims and so they stay at a shelter owned by a NonGovernmental Organization. The Ministry is supposed to be responsible for the victims’ wellbeing but it seems that the Ministry does not execute their duties effectively. Reflecting on the recent rescue of another batch of five girls, this time from 14 Mile Issano, Broomes said some of the girls left the shelter because of the same lack of food. She said food is inexpensive and should be provided to the victims. She emphasized that when the girls leave the shelter there is no witness to testify against the perpetrators. As such, all efforts should be made to make the victims comfortable thus gaining their confidence to see the prosecution of criminals. In addition, programmes should be available to help integrate the victims back into society, giving them renewed hope that something better is

out there for them. Commenting on the recent rescue mission, Broomes said that the law provides for persons transporting TIP victims to be prosecuted. She said that the truck driver and porter who helped to transport two of the victims in the backdam should also be prosecuted. Broomes said the truck driver helped to positively identify the police rank of Sherima Police Station, who allegedly raped one of the victims in the station’s barrack room for her to gain entry into the backdam without identification. Broomes said at first that it was believed that two police ranks raped two of the victims, aged 16 and 26, but as the matter unfolded, only one rank was fingered along with a member of a private security firm. She said that there were supposed to be two ranks on duty that day but one of them was not there. Numerous calls to the Commissioner of Police went unanswered.

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KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial

Diversifying or grow more? We wonder whether the Government will ever launch a “buy local” campaign for local produce? In the last few years, the Ministry of Agriculture has sheepishly made some stabs in that direction while pushing its “grow more food” and “diversifying” campaigns. It would appear that after the ‘busing down’ of the previous administration for “banning dhal and flour” the government does not want the two programmes to be linked. That is unfortunate. But the idea behind the “buy-local” program was – and remains - essentially sound. Guyana is a poor country and we need to increase our rate of savings as a nation so as to facilitate investments that could provide the take-off momentum necessary for sustained economic growth. The money that was – and is - being spent on the goods and others such as sardines and apples could have been better spent on capital goods that would provide jobs – and wages - for Guyanese. The wages would have given them the wherewithal to purchase more local goods and boost employment in that sector as investors and producers rushed to satisfy the increased demand. All around, there was to be created a virtuous circle of increased production, savings and growth of the economy. While there has been quite credible improvement in local food production, we are certainly not producing enough food to be deemed “food independent”: food imports have skyrocketed. We understand the need for variety in food choice but we are sure that at this point our food import bill must be reduced. The “buy local” campaign would create a local market platform for the “grow more food” campaign. We threw out the baby with the bathwater after the buylocal program failed. That failure was not in the “buy-local” component but rather in the effective ban on, and consequent shortages in, what were considered “essential” items. We should have woken up by now to the fact that foreign investors and Caricom are not going to suddenly start breaking down our doors. Our local entrepreneurial class needs to be encouraged and facilitated. We believe that a buy-local program can play a catalytic role in this process of investment and job creation. However, we have to learn from the missteps of our first foray. First and foremost there can be no “banning” – defacto or otherwise – of any items. Under the present dispensation, this move is quite unlikely but it should be stated up front. After all, most economic decisions are based on psychological decisions of both the producer and the consumer and their minds therefore must be put at rest. But if there is to be no banning, then the local products will have to be as good as, if not better, than the items they will seek to replace. We cannot undo the fact that our people have become even more accustomed to the high quality of the foreign producers and our producers will have to rise to the occasion. This will help our economy overall as we tighten our standards to match international ones. Take the easiest products that can kick-off a buy-local program – vegetables and other agricultural products, for instance. Our present packaging of the same, by and large, is simply nonexistent. In many instances, products are simply strewn on unsanitary bags on roadsides. This will not do. We note the efforts of the Government to open packaging plants for export in all the three counties. This is a good start but the effort must not only be geared for the export market: the local market itself must be groomed to demand the more sanitary products. This will increase the demand for packaging facilities and reduce the unit costs even for the exporters. Then there is the matter of sustained and consistent supplies for purchasers. For a buy-local program to succeed we cannot force the new convert to return to the foreign product because the local one is not unavailable or is not up to standard. This has been the bugbear of all substitution programs: it must be addressed. Let us diversify our agriculture and buy local.

Sunday July 21, 2013

Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

There’s enough for everybody in the world but not for everybody’s greed DEAR EDITOR, It is no surprise that President Donald Ramotar would disingenuously address the public after the bold stance the joint opposition took in voting against the bill to amend the Hydro Electric Act in Parliament on Thursday, July 18. Fellow Guyanese, all the years when the PPP had the majority in Parliament, bills were passed in their favor that the opposition had no control (VAT, allocating extra money to projects, Budget allocations) and most of them were not in the favor of Guyanese and as a result, extra hardship was forced on us in Guyana. The then President didn’t address us and asked us to have patience and that things will get better.

Mr. Ramotar said jobs will be created, I am wonder if the jobs would be for us or Chinese, because the last time job was created, Chinese gets it (check Marriot Hotel). This is one of the biggest investment in Guyana and was never started correctly. Fip Motilall collected money for unfinished work and I didn’t hear Mr. Ramotar saying anything. The Skeldon Sugar Factory was suppose to deliver lots of things too and to date, we are still awaiting on results. Look at the exorbitant fee Berbice Harbor Bridge is fleecing from motorist. What guarantee we have that this project will not turn out like the Berbice Bridge for the next twenty years before

it is handed over to us? Kemraj Ramjattan claims that the IDB did not want country’s external ceiling debt raise to $150B from $1B. Mr. Ramotar did not tell us how they reach to that figure. Fellow Guyanese, when it was proven that checks were being written to certain individuals names instead of the NCN and no charges laid, the President never explained why. Corruption is being exposed regularly in Guyana and no one is being charged or dismissed from their job. Now that the joint opposition is scrutinizing how our money is being spent, we are getting an address that is aimed to make them looks bad. It would have indeed be a sad day for us if the opposition had voted in their favor.

Fellow Guyanese, since the PPP started to govern Guyana in 1992, corruption over took Guyana like a cancer and most of them pointing to Ministers or Party members/supporters and none of those that accusations level against was ever charged or disciplined. Today, the corruption is so many that Guyanese are forgetting them and only when similar occurs or someone mention it, they recall it. The address shows the level that they would stoop at to get what they want. Mohandas Gandhi famously said that there is enough on Earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed. He must have foresee the PPP ruling Guyana and decided to say that! Sahadeo Bates

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox Empty promises will not improve the lives of the poor DEAR EDITOR, One of the more discouraging features of life and politics in Guyana is how the regime has been blatantly doling out rewards in the form of jobs and contracts to loyalists and friends of the party during the past ten years. This corrupt practice continues today despite calls by the majority opposition for transparency and the establishment of the long awaited Procurement Commission. Given the ingrained nature of our politics, we don’t expect that this practice will end as long as this regime is in power. However, the fact that political loyalty and friends are more important than qualifications, experience or performance is the exact reason why the country is not developing and why the taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth. It is no surprise that fairness, good and transparent governance and the equal distribution of the country’s natural resources to all people have been replaced by greed, selfishness and massive corruption at all levels of government. Simply put, the government has failed the people of Guyana because of its inept and racist policies that have led to the marginalization of a huge section of the population. Given its huge natural resources and a small population of roughly 725,000 people, Guyana by any stretch of the imagination is too rich to have so many poor and unemployed people with little or no opportunity to improve their lives. And even though some in the government will point to economic growth in the country, a large section of the population continues to live in poverty due to high unemployment, especially among the youths. Needless to say, the poverty gap

between the rich and the poor has significantly increased during the past ten years and this is the only growth rate that most Guyanese are aware of. There’s no doubt that being a loyal member or relatives and friends of the ruling party give people a sense of entitlement to positions which they are either not qualified to fill or are not competent to execute the duties. This entitlement is spawned by an attitude that members and friends of the ruling cliché should be rewarded financially with huge contracts and well-paid jobs. The appointment of inappropriate, unqualified and inexperienced persons to jobs and their retention despite unethical behavior by some has not only stifled development but has resulted in such massive corrupt practices never seen before in Guyana. No one can honestly refute the fact that corruption was far less than what it is today under the Burnham, Hoyte and the Jagans regimes combined. We believe that the political leaders of the current regime must be blamed for the corruption and nepotism which has reached crisis proportion because they embrace and support the idea that jobs, contracts etc., must be given to members and friends of the party. It is unfortunate but this

is the political reality that exists in Guyana and it is for this reason that the country cannot find qualified and experienced people who want to serve their country, free of party loyalty and with the sole goal of nation-building. What is difficult for the people to understand is why is it that when political appointees are not performing or have committed serious errors they are not removed from office or are ask to resign? Is there no shame by either the appointee or by the governing elite? No sense of justice? No desire to do better? It seems that the current political leaders and political appointees are oblivious to embarrassment. Indeed, the more public opprobrium, the more it is necessary for the political leaders to demonstrate their appreciation for loyalty and to defend the infallibility of the decision to appoint the loyalist. The people want change, and they are hoping that change will come sooner rather than later. They no longer trust the government to protect their security and promote their interests. They realized that empty promises will not improve their lives. Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh.

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Sunday July 21, 2013

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The Thomas Carroll Book again Disappointed in the party DEAR EDITOR, I refer to Davis Casavis’s response to my review of his book. Unlike Mark Benschop who knows Mr. Casavis and has announced in a letter that he is selling Mr. Casavis’ book, I do not know Mr. Casavis at all. Therefore I have no reason to hate or dislike him. I know absolutely nothing about Mr. Casavis. I reviewed his book and I stand by evaluation It is downright silly and borders on stupidity that someone can say that people have a right to buy a book and judge it for themselves but it is wrong for a reviewer in his assessment to advise readers not to purchase a book. Movie critics and book critics all the time advise against people seeing a film or reading a book that is not up to standard. Some reviewers are so harsh that after their critiques, the novelist may not get a publisher to show future interest or a movie actor may not get future contracts. I remember movie critics literally destroyed the acting career of Sofia Coppola, the daughter of the famous director of mafia films, Francis Ford. She never acted in another movie and constantly speaks about the effects on her life of those reviews Of course, if you are a friend of the actor or the novelist and you are helping to sell the writer’s publication, then you will not be able to objectively judge the flaws of the work. And instead of concentrating on the flaws of the reviewer’s work you personally attack the messenger. I am accustomed to people attacking me personally. At the end of the day, the Guyanese people know who has intellectual substance from those who cannot even write a paragraph of intellectual analysis. Caribbean politics has been harsh to activists and politicians who lack intellectual qualities and some of us will find that out as we try to convince our fellow citizens to entrust us with power.

I stand by my review with emphasis that Mr. Casavis’ volume did not make use Carroll’s cooperation statement with the DA and that such a statement is more informative to the Guyanese people than the book. Mr. Casavis quite strangely does not respond to the constant charge of mine about the Carroll cooperation statement. As to his qualifications, Mr. Casavis is very sparse with details I can only find one paper from him in 2009 on Equatorial Guinea and he did a paper in the same year on the same country at Hofstra University on the 40th anniversary of that country’s independence. From 2009 to the present, there is no Google information on Mr. Casavis. In, November 2012, he put up a page on his election campaign for local office in New York. And his qualifications are not dwelled upon. It states he has two Masters but did not spell out in what area. With due respect to Mr. Casavis, no right thinking person would ask voters to choose him based on that kind of little information. I think he lost. Let me end with a conversation I had with the man of the moment in Guyana, Vincent Alexander. In his job as Registrar of the University of Guyana, I approached three times with my curiosity that the contents of the curriculum vitae of the Director of the Berbice campus, Dr. Samad, I am unable to verify. This was based on the large amount of journal articles and books that were stated in the CV. Google should assist you because all journals today are online and you can freely read the content page. I wasn’t saying anything about Dr. Samad except I couldn’t find the stuff on the net that was in his CV. The same for Mr. Casavis. I wish him well in his future academic work but if he continues to write on Guyana, I think my pen will be deeply probing Frederick Kissoon

we supported

DEAR EDITOR, Please allow me some space in your news paper to explain the total disappointment myself and colleges feel with the party of our choice at the 2011 election. We are young professionals, the so called future of Guyana and we truly believed Mr. Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan when they declared that they are going to usher in, in Guyana a new type of politics, one that is based on principles, with the young generation at the centre of Guyana’s development. We believed them, switched from the PPP and campaigned feverishly for the AFC, sparing no time and resource because we truly believed that Guyana finally have a chance of creating a new political culture with young people at the centre of it all. When the results were out we were overwhelmed with joy and hopes for a better future. Our hopes were high and we were sure that with the AFC holding the balance of power in the Parliament the era of constructive engagement would become an important part of Guyana’s politics and that the national and not individual of group interests will determine the order of the day. But alas, we were in for great disappointments. Our first disappointment was when our leaders, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan abused our votes and supported the residents of Linden’s demand for free electricity without giving a thought to the fact that it is we who are saddled with the burden of Linden’s electricity bill, without giving a thought that we have to always be conscious of the necessity of conserving because of cost while Lindeners can use and abuse as they like because we are paying for it, not them. The second disappointment was when the AFC instigated and encouraged the Agricola mayhem. Words would never be enough to describe the horrible experiences of many, mostly young Indian women that evening. The third was the chopping of all of the government’s major development projects from which the young generation stands to benefits the most since thos e projects are the ones that would be lay the foundations for development from which we the young generation will be reaping the benefits in the future. And now, the biggest disappoint of them all, the denial of all Guyanese, especially

the young generation of the life line of development - cheap, reliable and abundant energy by voting down the Hydro Electric Project. We could have expected anything, but not this, especially since there is not one single valid reason for this action. What makes it more disappointing is that the AFC is not short of “qualified economists”. We hope that Mr. Sasenarine Singh, et al, the economic gurus of the AFC would see it as their duty to enlighten us and the nation on the reasons for voting down the Hydro Electric Project. We are eagerly waiting. We used to be proud to be associated with the AFC, but now with the voting down of the Hydro Electric Project we are ashamed to be so identified. How can Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan and other leaders of the AFC, who promised the young people of Guyana a better future, by their irrational and vindictive actions seek to destroy the very foundations upon which that promised future must be built? Where is the pragmatism and constructive engagement that they publicly promised the nation, especially the young generation? I think it is time that progressive forces within the entire Opposition speak out against the denial of development to Guyana. Pragmatism and constructive engagement with the Government demand that projects crucial to the development of Guyana must be supported regardless of whose initiatives they are since it is the entire Guyanese population that stands to benefit. If the AFC is serious about putting the young generation at the centre of development then it must understand that cheap and abundant energy is the backbone of development and their act of denying it to them throwing away their future, the future of those who they swore to promote and defend during their 2011 election campaign. Aren’t the Opposition, especially the AFC doing the exact opposite of what it promised the young people of Guyana? The obvious answer is yes and I challenge any of its leaders to prove me wrong. Such divergence of word and actions are called hypocrisy and actors are called hypocrites. True? Of course true. It is now clear that the AFC and its leaders are noting but wolfs lambs’ skins. And a Guyanese would normally say “bi I done wid that” Reaz Holladar

Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Five-year-old in need of money Jealous lover stabs Port for brain tumor removal Kaituma woman

The family members of five-year-old Bibi Zaheeda Mohamed are pleading with the public for financial support which would aid her daughter’s lifesaving surgery. In May 2011, the child was diagnosed with a brain tumour. A surgery was conducted the following month by Dr. Ivor Crandon at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). A significant portion of the mass was removed, and everything appeared to go well with the Mon Repos Nursery School student. However, recently, while attending the follow up clinic, doctors found that the tumour has progressed, and advised further surgery. This procedure is expected to be performed by Dr. Robert Ramcharan of the Saint Clair Medical Centre in Trinidad, sometime next month. The overall cost of the trip, inclusive of surgery cost, traveling expenses, accommodation and meals was estimated at around $7M. Relatives have been able to raise $1M, while the Ministry of Health has provided the family with a similar figure. The child’s mother, Tyjawattie Mahadeo, was in tears yesterday as she related that nothing can be done for her little girl, unless Guyana helps her to raise the required finances. “It is not easy at all to watch my daughter every day, knowing that she sick and we

Bibi Zaheeda Mohamed

can’t do anything to save her life. We begging people to come forward and help us save our little girl,” the mother of two said. The woman added that it hurts tremendously as parents “to know that we so strong, and she so little and got to go through all this…It ain’t easy.” Zaheeda was three years old when she started to complain about pains in her head in the afternoons. However, it was when the child suffered a seizure that the family realized that something was wrong. Mahadeo describes her daughter as being very jolly and active. “She does wake up sometimes at four o’clock in the morning and wake up the whole household…she would say ‘mommy, daddy wake up, place bright, and that’s how

she would mek we day start good, good,” the mother said, adding that the family would have to put a padlock on the gate, so as to ensure that the “busy-bodied” child doesn’t run out on the road. Dr. Ramcharan who is a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Medical Centre, in a letter to Zaheeda’s family, said that her condition is critical, and that surgery should be performed as soon as possible. It was also asserted that the child may require a blood transfusion after the surgery. This, the family would have to fund as the Trinidad law allows only for citizens, or someone who has been living in the country for six months, to donate blood. Following the surgery, the child would be required to spend an additional week at the medical facility, for the purpose of observation.

A Port Kaituma stall holder is now nursing eight stab wounds about her body after she was attacked by her jealous ex-boyfriend on Friday. According to the victim, 42-year-old Yonette Barrington, of Mc Doom, Port Kaituma, North West District, she left Georgetown on Friday morning around 9:00 hours and landed in Port Kaituma one hour later. She added that during her time travelling the assailant kept calling her phone but she refused to answer. The woman continued that when she landed at Port Kaituma she then headed to her shop, which is located on the bus park, to charge her phone before heading home to rest. When she returned to her stall around 14:00 hours, she then engaged herself in a conversation with a fellow

vendor three stalls from hers when she saw her exboyfriend, Seon Jones, coming along the road. “He approached me and said I calling yuh phone and you ain’t answering. I told him I don’t have to answer my phone and we had a scuffle and them he cuff me to my mouth,” Barrington said. She added that after Jones dealt the cuff to her face, he “brackle” her in a corner where he then pulled out a knife and began to stab her repeatedly. “While he was stabbing me he keep saying you don’t love me, I gon kill yuh”, the traumatized woman said. After the attack, Barrington was rushed to the Port Kaituma Hospital where she was later air dashed to the city and remains a patient at the GPHC. The injured woman added

that police then apprehended the man and picked up the offensive weapon. Jones remains in custody. Barrington told Kaieteur that Jones stabbed her about three months ago over a misunderstanding the two had. She added that Jones was arrested and placed before the court but she dropped the charges against him. “He doesn’t deserve a woman; he is very jealous and abusive. He should be locked away,” Barrington said. The woman believed that the attack was premeditated as it was related to her that Jones had stripped naked at his work site in a drunken state and told persons that he would kill her. “He should be put away, No other woman should have to go through this,” the injured woman said. Barrington received three stab wounds to her abdomen, four stab wounds underneath her breast and one to her left arm.

CCCC calling on Parliamentarians, Stakeholders to support Hydro project The President, Executive and Members of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) are calling on all Parliamentarians and Stakeholders to support the enactment of the Amaila Falls Hydro-power Project (AFHP) bill. “We cannot over emphasize the importance of this project since it is vital in so many ways in transforming our manufacturing and agro

processing sectors. This development in turn will create higher paying jobs and challenge our youth to be builders in every walk of life with the passing of this bill,” according to President of CCCC Leekha Rambrich. “By not supporting this Bill we will remain underdeveloped and would leave our manufacturing companies at a disadvantage of not being able to compete

with international companies since the present cost of electricity is not competitive.” Rambrich noted that Guyana has been waiting a long time for hydropower. Now is the time to make this energy a reality. Renewable, affordable and reliable energy will help Guyana to move forward in a positive direction and enhance enormous economic development.

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The fallout continues on the Amaila Falls hydro As the fallout continues from Thursday’s nonpassage of two Bills critical to the financing of the country’s flagship US$840M Amaila Falls hydro electricity project, attention has been centered mainly on what transpired in the National Assembly. However, there has been scant regard for the monies spent so far or possible implications, if in the worst case scenario, the players walk away. Government would have been spending on the access roads leading to Amaila Falls, Region Eight. Sithe Global, the developer, has also been spending. So too has China Railway First Group, the Chinese contractor, which has also been awarded a contract to complete a section of the access road. What has been reported so far is that almost US$38.4M ($7.68B) has been committed to contracts for the access roads, which includes 100 km of new roads and 85 km of existing ones. The roads are needed to move equipment to the work site and a pre-requisite to financing. With regards to Sithe Global, sources of the ruling party indicate that with the contract already signed, should that contractor walk, Guyana could be liable for up to US$30M. Government, also through its Amaila Hydro Project Inc, the local subsidiary for Sithe Global, has signed a contract

with China Railway for US$506M. It is unclear what happens if the year-end deadline is not reached in terms of penalties. FRESH NEGOTIATIONS Government has declined to disclose details of repercussions, admitting that should the contract with China Railway lapse beyond this year-end, it will involve fresh renegotiations as that contract is tied to prices of materials and labour. This could effectively drive the US840M price even higher. On Thursday, two key Bills that Government said are pre-requisites for the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) were voted down by the Opposition which said that not much clarity on the spending has been forthcoming. IDB is currently assessing an application for a US$175M loan to the project. Guyana is contributing US$100M while China Development Bank has signaled its intentions to come up with US$413M. IDB had, according to the administration, given Guyana until July 31, to pass the Bills. Government has said that the Bills, which pertain to the raising of the country’s debt ceiling from $1B to $150B (US$750M) and the creation of a reserve area in Region Eight to counter the impacts of the hydro facility, could still meet the July 31 deadline, if the Opposition agrees.

Dem boys seh...

Hard ears pickney does feel When people ain’t get wha dem want dem does seh all kind of things. This past week nuff people did want nuff thing and some of dem lef like a dog without a bone. Dem boys know that de hydro is important. Everybody know that. Dem got two Bill fuh pass in Parliament. These Bills important. De opposition tell de government that if it bring de Local Government Reform Bill then everybody can look at everything. But arrogance is a bad thing. De government behave like if de opposition can’t tell it nutten suh it refuse to bring de Local Government Reform Bill. Dem boys remember when dem mother tell dem that if dem don’t fetch de water dem ain’t gun eat. De government refuse to fetch de water and now it crying. Dem Minister guh pun TV wid snot running down dem nose and talking bout terrorism. Wha really happening is that de government campaigning fuh elections already. Dem telling people how de opposition bad. All because de opposition stop de wholesale thiefing. De plan is to thief more hydro money but de opposition put on de brakes and that is why dem crying. Dem boys even see how people can lie. Gail tell de Parliament how she gun get dem fuh debate de Local Government Bill de next day. When sun raise she tell de parliament that she change she mind. Well is cuss and cuss back. One man claim how de hydro project dead when it ain’t dead. Dem boys seh that all that happening is people kicking up dem foot because dem can’t have dem own way. Boodoo did that too until he get a slap down. Is now de commissioners talking how he was a rude man and how he use to drunk and how he do strange things wid de commission money. Well dem same commissioners hang he out to dry and imagine he getting stiff already. De government was supporting Boodoo and that is why dem boys seh that dem remember birds of a feather and the saying bout show me you company. Talk half and watch out fuh more cussing.

government reforms would be tied to the passage of the hydro Bills. Government also said that the voting down of the bills would send the wrong signals to international investors who are eyeing Guyana. It would also rob Guyana of a chance of getting cheaper electricity. It also has eroded the trust between political parties, the PPP said. The business community has issued statements calling for the National Assembly to resolve the issues and move to have the hydro built as it is badly needed in the country.

PM Hinds, APNU’s Leader, David Granger and Deputy Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine on Friday night in deep discussion. Under the rules of the National Assembly, the highest law making body of the land, a Bill that has been debated and voted on cannot be laid for consideration again until the next session. The National Assembly is set to go on a two-month recess starting in August and returning in October, the same month that the IDB Board has to meet and consider the loan. With documents from Guyana to be submitted way before, the non-passage of the two bills have “greatly wounded” the hydro project, Energy Minister, Prime Minister Sam Hinds said Thursday night. During the sitting, the Opposition demanded that it wanted Government to pass four bills that paved the way for longoverdue elections to be held, before it lent support to the legislations for the hydro. SABOTAGE Government has accused the Opposition of sabotaging the project with its vote with

President Donald Ramotar saying Friday that it is now in jeopardy. He also described the downing of the bills as akin to terrorist acts. Seven-seat Alliance For Change, which together with A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) has a slim oneseat voting advantage over the ruling party in the National Assembly, has denied that the hike in the debt ceiling is a requirement of the IDB. The party said it learnt this following a meeting with the bank’s regional head earlier this week.

APNU, in defending the coalition’s decision to vote against the two bills, said it does not want the 165 megawatt hydro facility to end up like the troubled US$200M Skeldon Factory which is still facing technical issues more than three years after being commissioned. Government, on Thursday night, accused the Opposition of sabotage saying that it has been meeting regularly and providing answers on the project. There were no indications from the Opposition at any point in time that the local

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Passengers seek compensation GPL identifies 6000 pensioners for subsidy for Matthew’s Ridge plane crash Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Power and Light, Bharat Dindyal, said that since parliament approved a $20,000 a year subsidy for pensioners, the company has only identified 6000 beneficiaries. Dindyal’s comments came at a press conference which was held at GPL’s Boardroom, 91 Duke Street, Kingston, late last week. The conference was to discuss measures that will be implemented to mitigate the impact of the quality of service during the inclement weather. Dindyal added that the power company has since received a list of names from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. He added that the company has attempted to match the

provided names to their data base for pensioners in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven. “We actually received a match for one of the names (first and last name) from over 12,000 pensioners but when we tried to do a match for names and addresses, the addresses in most cases did not match”, the Chief Executive Officer said. Dindyal added that when they tried to do an address match the company found over 6000 address matches in their system. He added that the power company has contacted the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) to see how they went through cleaning up their list. What they discovered was that each customer was contacted in order to get a

match. Dindyal further stated that in order to receive the subsidy, pensioners have to be a customer of GPL. “Over the coming weeks we will call in those customers for whom we have found matches to try and clarify who they are and finalize a list,” Dindyal said. He then stated that GPL is “hoping” that within another month a final list of names will be submitted into the system so that eligible pensioners can benefit from the subsidy. The Chief Executive Officer added that pensioners who come into the head office will have to walk with a form of identification and a proof of address so that the company can verify both pieces of information and finalize a list for the Ministry.

Farmers, millers trained in rice grading The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) in partnership with the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has started a training programme for the graders at mills and for farmers across the region. The aim is to get them to better understand how the quality of rice is graded. The GRDB, which is the regulatory body of the rice industry, has started this programme in an effort to

restore the confidence in the graders. The board has also stressed that it is here to ensure equality and transparency, from the checking of the graders to the quality of the grading equipment used. General Manager of the GRDB, Jagnarine Singh, said that the training programme started since last week in Essequibo. “There have been complaints about a high percentage of infestation in

the paddy we are taking to Venezuela and the complaints come more so from Essequibo so we have started there,” said Singh. The General Manager added that they have currently divided the country into three regions. A senior officer will be sent at least twice a week to examine the day to day operations of the mill. This will be done to bring back some semblance of (Continued on page 51)

What was left of Cessna Caravan 8R-AMS after the crash Attorney-at-Law Melvin Duke says that a statement of claim has been sent to Air Services Limited (ASL) on behalf of two clients seeking compensation for inconveniences caused following a plane crash in Matthew’s Ridge last week. Clinton Campbell, 30, and Troy Henry, 25, are seeking to be rewarded for minor injuries sustained and trauma endured as a result of the accident. Campbell is a father of two and has a pregnant wife. He said he is unable to work because he received injuries to his hand. Henry also received injuries. The men were onboard the Cessna Caravan 8R-AMS when it went down in the North West District on Monday. Campbell told Kaieteur News that he and the other person had joined the flight at the Ogle Airport and were on their way to a place called ‘Fine Gold’ outside

Matthew’s Ridge. They are miners working on a land dredge operating in the area. As a result of their injuries, Campbell said his employer contacted the Attorney to discuss the legalities of the matter. Duke told Kaieteur News that so far, his office is awaiting a reply from the ASL in relation to the claim letter. According to the information his clients have related he said there the air service company might have to take some responsibility. He said that his clients mentioned irregular occurrences before the flight took off but still it made the journey to the interior. The client also told the lawyer that even before the plane crashed, there were some inconsistencies. Campbell explained to Kaieteur News that the plane had taken off from Ogle and circled the airport three times before landing and taking to

the sky again. He said about a mile from the interior airport, the plane went down low and circled three times. He said the plane went another distance and circled twice before crashing on the third attempt to circle the airport. Campbell said no one panicked on the plane since many persons had not realized that something irregular was occurring. He said when he looked out the plane it was flying very low. The next thing persons felt, was the impact. Attorney Duke said that he will be citing the Warsaw Convention which speaks to the rules and regulations of airlines’ coverage for passengers. The Warsaw Convention is an international convention which regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage or goods performed by aircraft for reward. A female pilot and 11 passengers were injured when the aircraft went down. Reports said that the aircraft was flying in heavily overcast conditions. Among those onboard the plane, eight persons received injuries; the pilot, Feriel Ally, Esther Williams and her two-yearold daughter, Jonel, Alona Massay, 27, Naline Dellon, Wesley Johnson, Shellon Williams, Urmella Rajesh and Dexter Benjamin. Reports are that the pilot was attempting to land in overcast conditions when the mishap occurred. Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, told reporters that there are reports that the aircraft clipped a tree some two and a half miles south of the airstrip.

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 21, 2013

PPP attacks former Speaker …he never raised corruption during Presidential bid - says statement The ruling party yesterday went on the offensive against outspoken, former Central Executive Member and party stalwart Ralph Ramkarran, questioning the timing of accusations of corruption in Government. The statement by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) comes just two weeks before the party’s all important first National Congress in five years. The choosing of new leaders will be one of the highpoints of the party which took power in 1992 but failed to secure a Parliamentary majority for the first time in its reign, in the 2011 elections. Ramkarran, a prominent lawyer who served as Speaker of the National Assembly for two terms and was set to return following the 2011 elections, lost that position to Raphael Trotman, an opposition-nominated candidate. He resigned last year June from the party, a few weeks after penning a critical note on corruption. Ramkarran has since been writing on his website, conversationtree.gy, penning among others, one piece entitled “The Kleptocratic Republic of Guyana” in which he accused the government of

corruption. Ramkarran and his family have been around for decades in the party’s hierarchy. He has been with the party since 1962, becoming a Central Committee member in 1974 and a member of the Central Executive in 1975. He had left Guyana in 1972 to pursue further studies overseas. His father, Boysie Ramkarran, was a founder member of the PPP, having been a member of the Public Affairs Committee, the forerunner of the PPP. Ramkarran was one of two persons in the upper level of the party who never worked with government and is a principal figure in Cameron and Shepherd Law Firm. Recently the party accused Ramkarran and others of attempting to influence the upcoming congress by their writings in the press. Yesterday, the PPP in hitting back at the former senior party official pointed out that Ramkarran had made a bid to become the Presidential Candidate of the party in the 2011 elections…the same party he is now accusing of corruption. “His profound vitriol

against leaders of the PPP makes one wonder why was this not exposed when he was one such leader and contesting for the Presidency in 2011. Why was this aspect of his moral position not revealed during his bid for the Presidential candidacy? In fact, why would one want to be a presidential candidate for a party he has now described in such disparaging terms and accused of such dastardly acts?” The PPP also wondered what would have happened had Ramkarran won the Presidency. “One can draw no other conclusion as to wonder whether we would have had to wait at least another five years of silence had he won the Party 2011 Presidential Candidate nomination, and possibly the Presidency, for the disclosures he is now making.” ARELEVANT RAMKARRAN The statement said that since his departure from active politics and from the ranks of the leadership of the governing PPP/C, Ramkarran has done his utmost to remain relevant. Making it clear that Ramkarran is “all pretence”, the party said that in 1997,

Ralph Ramkarran

“after unacceptable revelations he was not selected as the Party’s P r e s i d e n t i a l Candidate. Subsequently, the party recognized and spoke appreciatively of his fortitude in returning to active leadership after that personal

reversal. He also played a significant role in the constitution reform exercise, (1999 - 2001).” The party accused Ramkarran of being ambitious and showing this as early as 2006. “From 2006 to 2011, as Speaker, his ambitions resurfaced and were clearly enunciated — he was again aspiring to be the next President of Guyana and publicly strove to show that he was unique and different from other PPP members, definitely from its leadership of the PPP/C Administration and the PPP leadership. In February 2011, his bid for the PPP presidential candidacy was again lost.” At no point in time did

Ramkarran, in his bid to become Presidential Candidate of the party, raise the issue of corruption, the PPP said. “In fact, corruption of Government and party officials was not featured in the issues he was going to address were he to be elected as the President.” SUPPORT Despite not being elected Speaker in January last year, “the PPP and the PPP/C administration stood by him and exposed the opportunism of the opposition parties. The PPP leadership did not waiver in its support for him. However, his end (departure) was inexplicable as it was sudden.” The statement said that one day, at an executive meeting, feigning great intolerance, he walked out and resigned. “His resignation was reaffirmed as efforts by party leaders to reverse the outcome were rudely rebuffed. Mr. Ramkarran now has discovered that he has so much to share about his experiences and knowledge about the PPP and Government. “Not unexpectedly, he portrays himself as a wronged person in order to justify his efforts at leaking dreadful secrets of his political past. Unfortunately, Mr. Ramkarran has become his own worst enemy. “Since his veneer has been lifted, the PPP is certain that he will use the ample time he has on his hands, to regale Guyana with some more high points of his long association with the PPP. So we shall anticipate more of his recent disclosures with interest.”

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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From Death to Redemption - former addict Sheikh Shamshudeen tells of his struggle By Rehanna Ramsay His story is one of death and redemption. After several years of struggling to break a cycle of addiction to alcohol and drugs, Sheikh Shamshudeen is on a mission to save others from the damning struggle. Sheikh as he prefers to be called tells his story. “I grew in Cane Grove on the East Coast but in teens, after my parents separated I went to live with my mother in Mon Repos. There, while liming with the older boys at School I got my first taste of alcohol and marijuana.” Now 45 years old, Sheikh said that his introduction to drugs and alcohol in his teens led to a life of addiction. He explained that addiction is often subtle. “I wanted to fit in with the Street boys, it started off with just one or two drinks or a puff or two. Then the parties; you enjoy yourself. It seems harmless but in time you are hooked and can’t do without the high.” PARTY DAYS Sheikh explained how his life spiraled out of control, due to heavy alcohol consumption. “I married and moved to St Kitts & Nevis. While in Nevis, I lived a party lifestyle, I partied and drank a lot; it caused domestic problems between my wife and me …and she eventually left me.”

Distraught, Sheikh said that he attempted suicide. “I drank a mixture of pills and ended up in the hospital for days before regaining consciousness. When I came to myself, my mother was standing beside my bed. She pleaded with me to return home, but I stayed on the island a while longer.” DEATH In 1991, after living overseas for 12 years, Sheikh returned to Guyana, but that was also the year that he would meet his biggest demon yet, cocaine. “When I came home, I hooked up with some old friends and we began to hang.” Still very much a heavy drinker, one of Sheikh’s closest friends invited him to a popular drinking spot one night, where he had his first taste of cocaine. “From the first day I took that smoke I never get back that high and kept searching for it. That took my life in a whole other direction. I lost touch with the world.” From alcoholic to drug addict Sheikh says his story was one of death and redemption. It was a miserable painful lonely period for Sheikh as he succumbed to his addiction. “I dissolved everything to fulfill my craving for the cocaine. I sold everything — my house, my furniture, everything even. When I

and possibly kicked my addiction. I stayed clean for six months.” But before long Sheikh was out on the streets again, his condition worsened.

Former addict Sheikh Shamshudeen

REDEMPTION This time, Sheikh remained there for three years, he was sitting just after getting high before he heard someone call his name. It was a recovering addict whom he had met during his time in Rehab. “Come quickly!” the familiar voice said. “The captains would like to see you.” From then Sheikh’s life changed drastically. He met Captains Matignol and Murielle Saint-Lot. The couple had tremendous influence on his life.

didn’t have, I stole to support my habit. I became a complete junkie.” Sheikh was now homeless. On the streets, his life deteriorated. “I was like any other junkie you see out there— dirty, smelly, wrapped up with cloth and so...” THE PROMISE It was while living on the streets of Georgetown that Sheikh‘s father visited him. “He had returned from the United States and heard of my condition. He came to see me;

he saw my deterioration. He made several promises to me but told me that he would only help me if I got help; that I would have to join Rehab. “I was not concentrating on that I was only trying to get what was in his pockets.” Several months later, Sheikh finally opted to take the challenge of enrolling him into a rehabilitation facility, but overcoming his addiction was the last thing on his mind. “All I thought of was all the promises my father had made to me if got into to rehab

“I enrolled in the Salvation Army Rehabilitation unit in Kingston … I met Mr. John Greaves who also played an important role in helping me kick my addiction. Mr. Greaves now operates an independent counseling body called Social Life Issues. “He taught us about thinking attitudes and other methods of curbing our desires, we had workshops and sessions that helped a lot.” Sheikh has been clean for more than five years now. He thanks G o d f o r h i s redeeming power and hopes that his story will help others make better choices or overcome whatever battles they may be facing.

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Kaieteur News

AFC demands withdrawal of Ramotar’s “act of terrorism” comment

Immigration INFO: Immigration News For Our Community Same-sex Marriages Eligible for Immigration Benefits Attorney Gail S. Seeram Gail@GailLaw.com Same-sex marriages that are valid under State law are eligible to apply and receive immigration benefits. Applicants will still be required to prove to Department of Homeland Security that the marriage is bona fide, meaning good-faith and based on love and not entered into for an immigration benefit. On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case U.S. v. Windsor, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional as a violation of the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. With this decision, DOMA was removed as an impediment to the recognition of lawful same-sex marriages if the marriage is valid under the laws of the State where it was celebrated. The U.S. Supreme Court decision was re-affirmed in the immigration case Matter of Oleg B. Zeleniak that was reviewed by the Board of Immigration Appeals on July 17, 2013 and concluded that applicants of same-sex marriages are eligible for federal immigration benefits

once the marriage is lawful and good-faith. The first state to recognize same-sex marriages was Massachusetts in 2004 – the United States has come a long way since 2004 in now recognizing same-sex marriages for purposes of the spouses receiving federal benefits (including immigration benefits). What type of immigration benefits can same-sex marriages receive? Fiancé and fiancée visas, immigrant visa petitions (including based on marriage), refugee and asylee derivative status, inadmissibility and waivers of inadmissibility, removability and waiver of removability, cancellation of removal and adjustment of status. Which States allow samesex marriages that are legally recognized by Immigration? District of Columbia: Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington I am a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident in a samesex marriage to a foreign national. Can I now sponsor my spouse for a family-based immigrant visa?

Sunday July 21, 2013

Gail S. Seeram Yes, you can file the petition. Your eligibility to petition for your spouse, and your spouse’s admissibility as an immigrant at the immigration visa application or adjustment of status stage, will be determined according to applicable immigration law and will not be automatically denied as a result of the samesex nature of your marriage. My spouse and I were married in a U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but we live in a state that does not. Can I file an immigrant visa petition for my spouse? Yes, you can file the petition. In evaluating the petition, as a general matter, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services will look to the law of the place where the marriage took place when determining whether it is valid for immigration law purposes. That general rule is subject to some limited exceptions under which federal immigration agencies historically have considered the law of the state of residence in addition to the law of the state of celebration of the marriage.

Seemingly, a tit for tat cold war has erupted between Government and the joint Opposition as two Bills presented by Government related to the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project were shot down in the National Assembly, on Thursday. The tension in Guyana’s uncertain political landscape is visible with both sides being unrelenting in casting blame for the stalemate. The Alliance For Change (AFC) has rejected a statement by President Donald Ramotar referring to the Opposition not approving the Bills as an “act of terrorism”. The Party wants the immediate withdrawal of this intemperate comment. “The AFC hopes that in the future greater emphasis can be placed on developing greater levels of negotiation and compromise in the interest of all Guyana.” “It is a dangerous statement and a threat to all law-abiding citizens. It is grounded in shallow political rhetoric that is designed to terrorize the national elected Parliamentarians into submission. President Ramotar after all has suggested that the 33 elected opposition MPs are domestic terrorists and we call for condemnation of this,” the AFC said in a press statement yesterday. On Thursday evening, the AFC and A Partnership for

National Unity (APNU) did not approve two Government Bills: raising the external debt ceiling from $1B to $150B, and Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill 2013. The AFC was prepared to support the Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill 2013 because of the need to protect the environment. But, AFC is waiting on the Inter-American Development to complete a technical review of the Amaila Hydropower Plant Project before approving any laws relating to the project. However, because Government was silent on the four Local Government Bills that would allow Local Government Elections this year AFC did not approve the two above mentioned Bills. The AFC said Government was using the Opposition as scapegoats. It was reported in the Guyana Chronicle that President Ramotar “accuses Opposition of… political blackmail, terrorism - This is an ‘act of terrorism’ against the development of Guyana, Ramotar says in w a k e o f O p p o s i t i o n ’s attempt to bury the Amaila Falls project.” According to the AFC, “Parliamentarians are elected to enable and give life to the Constitution and thus are protected by the rule of law in doing their w o r k o n t h e p e o p l e ’s

b e half. At no time are parliamentarians engaged in acts of terrorism in the chambers of the National Assembly.” The party appealed to Ramotar to respect and embrace the founding principles of their God-given, unalienable fundamental rights to life, liberty and most importantly, the freedom of expression. “Rather than use his bully pulpit at the Office of the President to thrash these core values of the Guyanese people with his wild claim that the opposition defeat of the Amaila issues is an “act of terrorism” against development in Guyana,” the AFC said. The AFC said Ramotar’s comments do not respect the will of the Guyanese people. The party will remain prudent before supporting any public policy of the PPP/C Government, especially since the party has accumulated a reputation for manufacturing information, scandals and unfair practices as they continue to mislead the nation. The release noted that the AFC would continue to ensure accountability for the public purse and to ensure that the public debt dynamics remain sustainable. “We in the AFC have stated publicly that we want a professional opinion from the IDB before we sign on to any increase in the debt ceiling and feel justified in taking this stance.” According to the AFC, it is not interested in creating another Skeldon Sugar Factory, which is not churning out the expected amount of sugar as boasted by Government. “We have a duty to the children of Guyana, who in time will be saddled with the responsibility of paying back any future debt. Therefore we will only support projects that will maximize their contribution to economic growth and poverty reduction,” the AFC said. The Party signaled its intention of closely monitoring the risks related to the contingent liability exposure associated with the Amaila Hydro Project to not compromise the medium-term debt management strategy. “We recognize that only the IDB has the capacity to investigate and signal financial approval and we prefer to wait on this before moving forward on these issues,” the AFC said. The AFC said that it is committed to motivating the PPP/C Government to taking Guyana towards a reduction in the primary fiscal deficit, as one of the many measures to (continued on page 52)

Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

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Ravi Dev Column

Marginalisation and Reparations CariCom, finally officially supporting the demand for reparations from Britain for their enslavement of millions of Africans in the Caribbean, should base the claims not only on the historical damage wrought by the “peculiar institution” but also by its still insidious manifestations in the present; summarised by the heuristic, “marginalisation”. Reparations obtained could be used to address this existential marginalisation. The following will initiate a series originally offered in 2008. The debate about African marginalisation in Guyana has been conducted without sufficient attention to the underlying world-view or paradigm, which unfortunately structures the arguments in a veritable cul de sac in which we just snarl at each other. That worldview, which we share along with literally the rest of the world to some extent, is so contaminated at its deepest level with race and racism – specifically antiAfrican racism – that it distorts our judgement, even

I had seen and spoken about the impact of unqualified people leaving school. The result is that these people believe that the society owes them a living and so we have this crime wave. Guns are common and so too will be the gangs. There is a two-man gang that is doing very well having relieved people of millions of dollars in the past week and still keeps on attacking the hapless. The life of this gang is about to end. The identity of the gang members would leave people in shock.

our capacity to reason – when subjects like marginalisation especially African marginalisation - are scrutinized. The term marginalisation is derived from the word “margin” which means to be on the edge, the periphery, or on the outer limits etc. - away from some centre. When applied to groups within a society, marginalisation would imply the agreement of what constituted the valued goods that define the “centre” and one or more groups excluded from those goods. In the sense of lived experience, marginalisation often includes exclusion, discrimination, rejection, omission as well as isolation. As with any social phenomenon, one does not have to be Marxist to appreciate that a historical inquiry can shed useful insights into understanding the practice. In our estimation, the African experience in the “New World” defines the word “marginalisation”.

Following the peformative inability of the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean to withstand the labour demands and diseases of the Spaniards (evidenced by ninety percent of them dying off within decades of Columbus’ arrival) the Christian Church recommended the importation of Africans as slaves. Unlike with the Amerindians, they could discern no sign of a soul in the latter group and deemed beyond salvation. They were fair game for slavery - or extermination for that matter. The enthusiastic entry of the English, French, Dutch etc, ensured that some 18 million Africans were eventually dragged across the Atlantic, but the fact that only 600,000 survived at “Emancipation” in 1834 offers a clue to their prior living conditions. The appallingly barbaric treatment, which included stupefying physical brutalisation, destruction of families, wrenching away of languages and cultures etc.

** A huge fraud is going to be revealed at a commercial bank. Already the investigators have zeroed in on three staff members with whom they have spoken. The unfortunate thing is that the

money is not in local banks having been used to purchase foreign currency. The fraud need not have happened had some enterprising dealer not attempted to fleece the bank staff. ** Road accidents are as commonplace as the flu. There is no need to question the number of people who drive but the quality of the people. A child is going to be knocked down. This is going to spark a chain of collisions and would involve some innocent people.

demanded the creation of some sort of rationalisation since Europeans were supposed to be “civilised” while doing all of this. In the beginning, slaves who worked alongside white European indentured slaves, were simply defined as “heathens” and could be kept on the margins as such. It was when they started to convert to Christianity that colour became the marker to distinguish them from the “mainstream”. The concept of “race” was created and transmuted into racist practice that relegated and maintained Africans to the margins of society especially from the 18th century onwards. As I wrote in 1993, “Race and racism, as we know them today, are very modern constructs arising out of a European 18th century discourse that ran parallel with the European conquest of the rest of the world and especially with the justification of African slavery. Notable names such as Hume, Kant and Hegel were involved in the project, which gave a social significance to physical markers. This is illustrated in Hume’s position that, “negroes… are naturally inferior to the whites”, and Kant’s view, summarised by his comment, “this fellow was quite black …a clear proof that what he said was stupid.”

My contention is that “race and racism” are part and parcel of the “Western Enlightenment,” project exported as one weapon in the European arsenal of imperialistic conquest. “African and Black” were constructed as the binary opposite to “European and White” and like all dualities it is not possible to eliminate one without the other. Racism is not a phenomenon that ended with the abolition of slavery – and it has not ended even though many assert that “race” has no objective existence. It persists in the totality of its relations that have become imbricated on the sinews of the “civilization” that we all practice. Following Foucault, one can consider “racism” as a discursive field that incorporates beliefs, descriptions and actions, and the principles on which racist institutions are based. The discursive formation would include the normative rules and norms – including laws and moral rules about how we “ought” to act towards each other. In the words of Cornell West, racism discourse is a product of the “structure of modern discourse…the controlling metaphors, notions, categories and norms that shape the predominant conceptions of

Ravi Dev

truth and knowledge in the modern west.” As I wrote in 2006, West assures us that “there is the lingering effect of slavery and past discrimination in the continued attack on black humanity and racist stereotypes which are designed to destroy black self-image”. This, if true, would of course, ensure the continued marginalisation of Africans in general. To appreciate its possible continued impact on the marginalisation of Africans in Guyana, one must inquire into the extent to which the premises of the old discourse of race and racism has survived into our particular socio-historical conjuncture and continued to influence our thinking. To suggest how difficult this project would be is to consider that even the empirical sociological tools we would probably use such as, say, social psychology, are all contaminated with premises of “races”, “racial differences” and “racial attitudes”.

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Sunday July 21, 2013

A recipe for bloody murder By Michael Jordan Let’s get a 31-year-old widower. Mix him with a lonely, lovestruck married woman, add in a wealthy and jealous husband, and what do you get? A recipe for bloody murder. Sounds like a silly riddle? It wouldn’t sound so silly to some folks at Chelsea Park, Mahaica. And it certainly wouldn’t sound so foolish to old Sookranie Dass. There are people from that village who have come right up to her and said that this is how her son got himself killed. Those folks have named names of men that Ms. Dass has known for most of

her life. At least, that is what elderly Ms. Dass is saying; and if the stories are true, her son was biting the hand that fed him, and that hand decided to bite back. At around the time this story begins, Jadesh Dass had been working for about a year with a Mahaica businessman who owned several trucks. At around 1.00 a.m. on April 17, 2012, the 31year-old truck driver left his mother’s Chelsea Park, Mahaica home on his bicycle to pick up a truck from his boss’s home. He then drove along the Mahaica New Road with the intention of heading to a sand pit along the Soesdyke/ Linden highway.

An hour later, Sookranie Dass was awakened by someone calling at her gate. The visitor was one of the truck drivers who worked with her son and he had brought troubling news. The driver said that he had passed Jadesh’s truck on the Mahaica New Road, near Unity. The truck was parked with the hazard lights on, and the man assumed that Jadesh had gone into the bushes to relieve himself. According to the man, he had become worried after realising that the vehicle was still motionless and he decided to turn back to check on his colleague. After calling repeatedly and getting no

Jadesh Dass answer, the driver eventually found Jadesh’s cell phone. On hearing this, Ms. Dass and other relatives set off to search for the missing truck driver. They scoured the area near the parked truck; calling his name but getting now answer. Eventually, at around 2.00 a.m., they found Jadesh Dass’s body on the parapet near a trench. At first, police surmised that someone had clubbed him in the head with such force that bits of his skull were left on the parapet. But a post mortem revealed that Dass had been shot twice at close range with a handgun. One of the bullets entered near his right eye. Almost immediately, detectives ruled out robbery. The slain man’s wallet was still in his pocket and $20,000 was in the truck. Some

Relatives at the murder scene

relatives suggested that Dass must have known his killer for him to have stopped his truck where he did and emerge from his vehicle. So who had killed Jadesh Dass after making him stop on the desolate, unlit road? On the very day of Dass’s murder, detectives began to get hints as to who might have wanted him dead. Rumours were circulating that Dass, a widower, was having an affair with the wife of one of the men connected to the trucking company where he was employed. It was suggested that the jilted husband and others had carried out the attack. Dass’s mother also said that her son had confided in an in-law about the affair. It was suggested that the married woman had made advances to her son. Dass’s mother said she was also told that the woman would sometimes contact her son by telephone and that she had

given him $100,000 a few days before his death. Ms. Dass says that she knew the alleged lover, and she and the woman had lived “like family.” All that changed after the murder and subsequent investigation. According to Ms. Dass, she had sensed that her son was worried about something. He had not confided in her, but had reportedly told others that someone had threatened him. Acting on these rumours, detectives detained three men from the trucking firm. They questioned them, swabbed their hands for traces of gunpowder- and got nowhere. Police also questioned the slain driver’s alleged lover. She denied having an affair with Dass. They eventually released the three men on $100,000 bail each. When Ms. Dass spoke with me this week, she wasn’t very optimistic that her son’s killers will ever be caught. “This can’t solve. When you go to the police, they say that you have to get evidence. People tell me what happen, but nobody want to go to the police.” If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58465, 2258473 and 22-58458. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address mjdragon @hotmail.com.

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Obama, Snowden and the MIC Few scholars would deny the suggestion that if the Snowden affair had occurred before the re-election of Obama, he would have probably lost or received far fewer votes. The Snowden affair is not doing Obama much good for two obvious reasons. The thing reminds one of the Bush era that Obama successfully denounced and which substantially contributed to Obama’s first term victory. Secondly, the Snowden scandal does not appear to be the kind of thing you associate Barack Obama with. Obama is generally perceived by most people around the globe as a good and unique human being who believes in doing the right thing for the world. In analyzing the fallout of the Snowden saga for Obama, the question that must be asked is if Obama knows everything the large branches of State security do in the US. The answer is no. Did Obama know that the Prism project was spying on American citizens? The answer is no. So why does Obama come across as a President that is out to get Snowden at all cost and defends the purpose of Prism? The answer lies in political theory. We begin with the theory of the militaryindustrial complex (MIC). It goes back to the thirties with the rise of Hitler and German industry that nurtured its war machinery. The term gained widespread usage in academia after the rise of the superpowers and the resuscitation of the West in the sixties. The MIC is described as

the most powerful stakeholder in large industrial societies where gargantuan industrial firms and the powerful directors in the armed forces combine their power to protect the status quo in which the armed forces will receive their machinery from the industrial elites who in term will rely on the generals to ensure that liberal leaders don’t go too far in undermining capitalism or endangering the economy to the point where their wealth is jeopardized. Critics of the MIC argue that democracy will always be limited in the industrial West because the MIC is the real source of power and will stop at nothing to ensure the war machine remains intact and the profits of giant firms remain solid. Popular German philosopher, Herbert Marcuse, though he did not specifically deal with the MIC, argued in his seminal work, “One Dimensional Man,” that such is the nature of US society that democracy is literally a sham. Marcuse’s work had tremendous influence on American and European academia. Despite the power scholars have attributed to the MIC, since 1945, it has not actually shaped the direction of the West. Some argue that the reason for this was because since WW2, no liberal leader has emerged in the West to threaten the status quo. It would appear that the MIC has flexed its muscles in only three instances since the WW2. The first was John F. Kennedy. Who killed Kennedy remains a mystery, but few researchers would deny a role for the MIC, because they feared that

Kennedy was phenomenally liberal and would fundamentally rearrange the nature of American society. It was strange, too, that his liberal brother set to become president was also assassinated. Next was Labour Prime Minister of the UK, Harold Wilson. Released archival documents revealed the security forces wanted to undermine Wilson because he was soft on communism and was too much leftleaning and sympathetic to socialist economics. Finally, the MIC hounded down Bill Clinton, but in the end failed to topple him. Two reasons explain this. Firstly, the MIC was split on Clinton’s removal. Secondly, the theory of the French philosopher, Louis Althusser comes in here. The MIC was divided on Clinton’s undermining, because whereas the superwealthy section of American society was totally contemptuous of him, seeing him as too liberal, bohemian in style and likely to be also left-leaning. The generals on the other hand, had no beef with Clinton. Clinton never touched the military. On the contrary, he approved military operations in Somalia and Serbia. We come now to Barack Obama. How did the MIC allow a liberal like Clinton and an African to be elected? Enter the theory of the “relative autonomy of the state.” It was French philosopher Althusser who argued that contrary to Leninist writings on the state in capitalist society, the state is not a total instrument of the ruling class. Althusserian scholar Nicos Poulantzas popularized

the term and wrote profusely on the subject. It needs to be mentioned in the context of theories of the State that before Althusser and Poulantzas, British philosopher, Sir Karl Popper, achieved worldwide fame with his book, “The Open Society and Its Enemies” in which he launched into a scathing attack on Marx’s theory of class struggle. Repudiating completely Marx’s theory of dialectics in history, Popper argued that intra-class warfare determined history even more than interclass battles. For Popper then, the State hardly ruled in the interests of the capitalist classes. Poulantzas’ main contention is that the state is a referee in capitalist society that regulates the behaviour of societal contents in order to maintain system stability.

It is this regulatory function that may not at all times find approval by the MIC and other capitalists. Respected American sociologist, Fred Block, has taken Poulantzas and admirably stretched him very far. Block argues that the State has evolved in such a way that it has interests of its own that will conflict with the MIC (Althusser, Poulantzas and Block did not mention the MIC in their work; they prefer the term, capitalist class). Block speaks of a State class that is another actor in society just like the MIC, the working class, the blue collar class, bourgeoisie, etc An adherent of Block would argue that the complex nature of American class society would not have allowed the MIC to do what it wanted with the dialectical process that led to the election of Clinton and

Frederick Kissoon Obama. But Obama is in dire straits. The Snowden affair directly involves the generals, the armed forces, the security branches. Obama knows that he is not in a position to openly reject the purpose of Prism. Does he have the power to? The Guardian (London) reporter who published the Snowden material gave a hint that the real stuff that Snowden has could seriously damage the US. This has been interpreted to mean that national security was spying on Obama and his Cabinet.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

A writer’s provocative Book Review: look at society and crime

BOOK: Understanding the criminal: Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Imprisonment REVIEWER: Dr Glenville Ashby Adam John McIntyre embarks on an interesting study as he searches for the elusive elixir that promises social stability and justice. McIntyre’s ideas, though probing our conscience and inviting dialogue, are hardly original. Yet, in cutting to the chase, his exhortations on crime, the criminal, and society, touch a nerve, sounding a salvo for an emotionally charged enquiry. McIntyre’s background, credentials and experience lend an unmistakable seal to this undertaking. He is impressive, no doubt. A stellar career as an educator in Jamaica, a corrections officer and an innovator in the Cayman Islands’ penal system, do not fully cover the enormity of the resources he now offers. He later emerges as a maverick, of sorts, after being derailed - ending up on the receiving end of the legal system - only to be exonerated. But is his work definitive? Can anyone truly understand the dynamics of the criminal mind? McIntyre, in viewing the problem through various prisms comes close, but not close enough.

To decode a problem that has beset man from the earliest days of his creation is a tall order, one that dwarfs thinkers whose solutions are based on social and material dialectics. McIntyre is right in saying that despite soaring accomplishments in science, medicine and the arts, humankind is still socially hamstrung, internecine and and victims of their own lust for violence and retribution. He is right, again, when he states that prison, ”by its very nature, is inhospitable to the acquisition of positive values.” And for all his perspicacity, there is that detectable strain of paradox in his work. He writes, “....we cannot afford to get it wrong this time, for it is by understanding the criminal that we will enhance our chances of co-existing with him, of sharing his world, for, as we now know, the criminal is here to stay.” The corollary to such an assertion raises an emotive debate. Should society seek some common ground, some tolerable coexistence with criminals? Is it at all possible? McIntyre courageously hoists substantive blame on society - individuals and the institutions that spawn social rejects... It is a sensitive argument, albeit, unquestionable to a degree. ”Aren’t our teachers, pastors and counselors often guilty of theft and abuse of

office for stealing the hopes and dreams of countless children by their failure to provide the youth with the skills that they need to cope in a changing world?” His argument that faithbased programmes in prisons are therapeutic and useful in

the rehabilitation process is measured, impartial and a strong response to detractors. His views on parenting and the onslaught of technology and secularism on traditional values are well articulated. He posits that

parents must adapt to changing scenarios. And his counsel couldn’t be more crucial. He writes: ”A deliberate and intensive effort to teach our youth to manage adversity...needs to be given urgent priority.” That children create the setting where parents can learn invaluable lessons to cope with life, and, in turn render good counsel to their children is indisputable. “Parents should switch to the learning mode and pay attention to what their children are trying to teach them,” he demands. In viewing the society as the fons et origio of crime (not the individual), McIntyre must see some hope in restructuring our institutions. But his own words on the ubiquity of the criminal mind could well bury his ambitions. Understanding the Criminal is insightful, analytical, offering panoramic view of prison life; the conflicting interests between the custodial and therapeutic staff; the prisoners’ distrust; the primal fear and survival; the dehumanisation; the erosion of self worth, and the formation of new identities that wage war against a society that in effect has created them. We also learn that correction officer teeters on the brink of disillusion, a victim of an onerous, ingratuitous profession.

McIntyre, at times verbose, is a worthy writer thoughtful, detailed, and deliberate with an enviable ability to “metaphorise” situations for added effect. And there are more than flashes of academic brilliance. Unfortunately, they can be shrouded by his overreaching sensibilities. As McIntyre flirts with the neuropsychological, the psychiatric and physiological dimensions of the criminal mind, the reader begins to fathom the complexity of such a daunting undertaking work, begging the question, “Is human behaviour really predictable, or, even measurable? That said, the value, the “werthurtheil” of McIntyre’s work will be judged by the results of its application. Will society embrace the author’s call for introspection, for change, for a drastic overhaul of how its culture? In detailing the hubris and untamed violence of our forebearers I believe that McIntyre has already answered that question. Feedback: glenvilleashby @gmail.com/Follow me on Twitter@glenvilleashby Understanding the Criminal by Adam John McIntyre Selecto Publications, 2012 Kingston, Jamaica ISBN: 978-9768050-33-5 Available: Amazon.com Rating:Recommended

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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MY COLUMN

The big GECOM cover-up So many things grabbed my attention toward the end of the week just past that at one stage I thought that I would refrain from writing about the many things that really bothered me. Instead, I thought that I would just do something that would make people smile and reflect on their youthful days. And I actually started a few lines until I realized that I should look at the things that actually made people feel that an injustice had been done to someone when in fact this was never the case. Of course on this issue, there were people who said to me that I could end up in court. I have been living in this country all my life and I know what people with worth do whenever their closets are exposed. They run to the courts and try to hide. I have been a victim of that for so many times that it has become routine and one more lawsuit would not hurt. The sad part of this is that I can never get the courts to grant me justice when people make frivolous claims in pursuit of a protected identity. I happened upon some

information that made me realize that sometimes people always try to protect the organization at all costs, even if it means covering up some of the ills that once exposed, would threaten the very organization. A member of the Guyana Elections Commission actually wrote, “It is quite difficult, displeasing and even odious to be placed in a position of having to make a decision about renewing Mr (Gocool) Boodoo’s contract…because we have gone through thick and thin together, and I have had to defend him sometimes against my better judgement.” This commissioner continued, “The pre-eminent focus is to dispassionately protect GECOM’s achievements from those who would attempt to pull them down, and to ensure that our image cannot be besmirched.” But while this was happening the nation was led to believe that the very GECOM was fair, transparent and above reproach, when this was not the case. As a reporter, I found it extremely

important to get information about many things pertaining to Guyana’s electoral practices. To a man, the commissioners would simply say that my questions should be directed to the commission. At the same time the commission was not prone to meeting with the press. Media conferences were only called in the run-up to elections. So it was that when Mr Boodoo’s contract came up for renewal, the media was not aware of all the things that Mr Boodoo had done to place a wedge between himself and the rest of the commission. I was not alone. When someone asked Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon about the decision not to renew Mr Boodoo’s contract, the man gave an answer that Mr Boodoo was a victim of some harsh commissioners and an equally harsh Commission chairman. He was unaware that between 2002 when Mr Boodoo became Chief Elections Officer and April 30, 2013, that he had so many things that he could have

been in jail. One Commissioner directed me to the minutes of meetings, knowing that the only way I could get my hands on any of the minutes was if a mole slipped me a copy. But he did say that there was the blatant misuse of funds to purchase vehicles for the 2006 elections. Two Commissioners, one of whom has since died, relayed shock at their findings to the Commission. He spoke of the issue of toners for printing. He said that Boodoo caused the commission to believe that these would cost many millions of dollars when it turned out that they cost a mere $2 million. GECOM opted to block the high charging company and actually took a documented decision. Yet when it was time to purchase toners, the very company using a different name was recommended—a fact that was brought to Boodoo’s attention. Who recommended the company? “There are other expenditures by Boodoo that besmirch the image of GECOM. There were the trips

with his team members to out of town offices who would then cross the borders to enjoy weekends. It boggles the mind that these things were kept quite ostensibly to protect the image of the Commission. A parent covering the ills of a child is surely not doing the child or the household any good. Businesses have been known to take staff members to court without any worry about the image. Others have sacked people and still others have not hesitated to talk about the recalcitrant staff member. I was shocked when I learnt that Boodoo was disrespectful to the Commission, that he turned up to commission meetings under the influence and was unable to contribute, and that he covered up serious incidents such as repairing a vehicle that got into an accident during a jaunt and not informing the commission. One joke was that when someone at the commission spoke about his drinking he retorted that he could hold his

Adam Harris l i q u o r. Well the time has come when despite all the support he got, and all the fights he fought, he could no longer hold on to his job. The Commission must still tell me why the big cover-up until the Vincent Alexander letter revealed that all was not well.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

Extended Airport runway a better option By Moses Nagamootoo and Sasenarine Singh We have read the typically adamant but ill-tempered declaration by the Minister of Works that the PPP/C Government will proceed with the new billion-dollar airport at Timehri, regardless. This is most unfortunate, since the Alliance For Change (AFC) is only responsible to the national needs and priority, and will remain flexible and rational, but only in service to the people of Guyana, not any Minister with any anti-national agenda. By using our scissors on further massive, loan funds for a new airport, we have made it clear that the AFC would not support the project in its current form. Guyana is fundamentally dependent upon air transportation and in order to get economies of scale from larger aircraft – not to mention, lower air fare - the extension of

the Timehri runway from 7,500 ft to 11,000 ft, would have been a viable project to which the AFC can easily support since it is in service to the people of Guyana. But do we need this new terminal building? WASTE OF RESOURCES Breaking down the renovated airport for a new one is a scandalous waste of resources. Though our objection to the new airport initially was based on lack of economic justification for the project and the risk of adding some $30 Billion to our estimated $380 Billion in debt, we also have tremendous challenges with the actual bills of quantity, now that it has been finally shared with us. It is clear that Government cannot justify a new terminal with eight covered gates since the revenue from the airport cannot reasonable payback the debt. On whose shoulder will the debt burden fall – the people again? It was estimated that $12 Billion was to be

spent on the new terminal building. For a start, that project would destroy the livelihood of the small businesses in the Timehri area, as these small business people are displaced. They would be replaced by the new cronies, who are closely aligned to the ruling elite. Is this “development with a human face”? ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION The feasibility study and contract documents show no clear economic justification why we should spend $12 Billion to knock down the current terminal. The solution to problems in the air transport sector is not bigger terminal buildings, but better equipped airstrips and air terminals to satisfy all the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). We challenge the Government to show us that the ICAO regulations demand a bigger terminal with sterile loading gates. This is another hoax by the post-Jagan PPP to load more debt on our backs. Such a debt undertaking cannot be classified as a human development, as government would have to fleece the hides of taxpayers to service and repay these growing debt obligations. The AFC will have none of this. Further to this extension of the runway, we call on the government to seriously interrogate the $7.5 billion quoted to construct a new Fire Pump Station, a new domestic Waste Water Processing Station, new Generator Room, a modern power supply system, a modern water supply and fire extinguishing systems, an advanced sewage treatment plant and a new fuel farm. Whatever happened to the private investor fuel farm project proposed by Travelspan? DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY The National Development Strategy (NDS) recommended (a) the creation of autonomous agencies to guide the sector; (b) the privatization of portions of the sector where possible; (c) adoption of an open skies policy and freedom of entry to general aviation companies; (d) the upgrading of the system in areas such as air traffic control, search and rescue, and control centres in the interior; (e) upgrading of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) airplane movement area (runway), and upgrading of the CJIA (then called Timehri). The latter was concluded a decade ago by a contractor named Kishan Bacchus. NDS experts had cited a cost of G$400 million for these expansion works. So, clearly what is being proposed by the post-Jagan outfit was not the vision of the thinkers behind the NDS. The engineering experts we have consulted advised us that after the rehabilitation work by Kishan Bacchus, the

CJIA now boasts a bigger arrival and departure lounge that has the basic features to handle annually some 500,000 passengers. To corroborate this situation, the IDB revealed that in 1996, the CJIA processed 316,506 passengers in the old and much smaller terminal before the expansion project. On January 7, 2013, the CEO of the CJIA reported to the media that in 2012, the immigration authorities processed 267,652 passengers. This is a reduction of over 48,000 passengers over a sixteen-year period. So, clearly airport space is not an issue! The IDB reported that air cargo in 1996 was 3,752 tons, facilitated mainly by Amerijet and Laparkan. These companies are still there, but the CEO of the CJIA reported that in 2012, the airport processed 2,233 tons of air cargo, representing a 40 per cent decline. Our airport businesses have contracted, so how do we justify building a new airport? NATIONALCARRIER We cannot, so for now the AFC will:1. Support the extension of the runway and apron at CJIA and the rationalized ancillary external works as outlined above, such as the fuel farm and fire Pump Station, new Generator Room, a modern power supply system, a modern water supply etc. 2. Continue to support the work by members of the Aircraft Owners Association in relation to upgrades of the Ogle Airport. 3. Support the upgrading of all 56 airstrips in Guyana under the control of the Civil Aviation Authority. The PPP foolishly wanted the entire programme head to be severed for propaganda reasons, but we are ready to restore funds to upgraded hinterland airstrips. We also support a programme for inspection, improvement and further certification of hinterland aerodromes. As soon as the Minister brings the supplemental budget to fund these upgrades of the hinterland airstrips, the AFC is ready to support these projects. 4. Support re-introduction of a joint venture low cost national carrier, firstly to service the Guyana/Trinidad/Caribbean destination and to transit for international connections. Ogle today is a fine example of private sector ingenuity and AFC knows that a national carrier will not be beyond the reach of our airline pioneers, which tells us: Yes! We can do it! So, even in anticipation of our own national carrier, we believe that money spent on an extended runway would be efficient use of resources. Having prestigious show-pieces like a new airport with million-dollar toilet bowls and urinals, and a new hotel/casino reveals a lack of vision and financial adventurism.

Sunday July 21, 2013

SUNDAY SPECIAL DRIVER PERISHES AFTER TRUCK RUNS INTO CREEK A 24-year-old truck driver perished after his truck ran off the road into a swollen creek at Rupanau, South Rupununi, 70 miles from Lethem, late Friday night (July 12). The lifeless body of Dwayne Sancho of Lethem was discovered some 40 feet from the truck he was driving which was almost completely submerged under the rising creek water. His body was subsequently transported to the Lethem Hospital Mortuary. Sancho had left Lethem around 14:00 hours on the aforementioned day with a truckload of fuel destined for the gold rich Marudi Mountains. On board the truck were his porter, Sean Martin, businessman Quincy Browman, two other passengers and two children. According to reports, the truck had just crossed the Rupanau Bridge. Sancho with the help of his co worker was navigating the road, which was covered by several feet of water, when the mishap occurred. Kaieteur News understands that the truck slipped off the narrow road and sank into the nearby creek. However, no one was immediately in danger. It was while trying to right the truck that tragedy struck. There are reports that while all the other passengers of the truck managed to disembark and made it to the safety of the land, Sancho initially went under the water in an attempt to activate the truck’s winch to try and salvage the vehicle. However he apparently encountered difficulty and had to retreat. He sought refuge at the top of the truck’s cabin, but subsequently lost his life. MONDAY EDITION GOVERNMENT LOBBIES OPPOSITION SUPPORT FOR AMAILA PROJECT * APNU SAYS IT IS STILL

Kaieteur News

TO INSPECT AND DECIDE * AFC TO AWAIT GREEN LIGHT FROM IDB Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh has called for unanimous support in Parliament for two pieces of legislation that will directly affect the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. According to Singh, lack of “timely” Parliamentary support, will most likely threaten progress as critical deadlines are looming and expiration dates on certain commitments expire this year. The two pieces of legislation to be debated that are being dubbed critical for the progress of the Amaila Falls project are a motion to increase the debt ceiling and Amendments to the Hydro Electric Act. A Partnership for National Unity has noted that it has to carefully inspect the pieces of legislation. Therefore, no definite decision has been made yet on whether or not support will be given. On the other hand, “Absolutely not,” is what the Alliance for Change (AFC) said as it stands by its position not to support any legislation linked to the Amaila Falls project until it is given the green light from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB). Leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan told Kaieteur News last Sunday that his party will not budge from the decision made to await the IDB’s approval. He said that the due diligence study undertaken by the bank will be completed by the end of October and then and only then will AFC either support or withhold its support from the Amaila Falls project depending on what is reflected in the report. “If IDB gives the reorganization we will piggy back on that.” GUYANAPOLICE FORCE PAYS TRIBUTE TO 60 “FALLEN HEROES” Sixty ranks who died in the line of duty between the periods of 1913 – 2013 were

last Sunday honoured when the Guyana Police Force held its annual wreath laying ceremony for their “Fallen Heroes”. The ceremony which was held at a special monument in the Police Officers’ Mess compound, Eve Leary, saw the attendance of relatives of the slain cops, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and Senior Police and Joint Services Officers. Relatives, including children laid wreaths in memory of their loved ones. This year’s ceremony saw the addition of three other slain ranks. They are Constables Marlon Letlow and Leedon Aaron who were both killed by criminals at Yongpalu Karisparu in October 2012, and Corporal Romain Cleto who was shot dead by criminals at Avenue of the Republic and Regent Streets whilst performing patrol duty. Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell in brief remarks Sunday said for the Force to lose 60 ranks in the line of duty since 1913 “is not something easy” and they will continue to sympathize and mourn with the families who lost their loved ones. “I know it is painstaking at this time of the year to evoke memories, but we cannot help it, we have to show respect for those ranks who died while trying to restore law and order in our dear land of Guyana,” Brumell said. TUESDAY EDITION CUSTOMER SHOT DEAD DURINGARMED ROBBERY Bandits shot a customer dead and accidentally wounded a member of their four-man gang at around 19:30 hrs Monday during a botched robbery at the popular Fuzzy’s General Store in Arapaima Street, Guyhoc Gardens. Heron Dennis, of Guyhoc Park, was shot in the neck when the bandits opened fire on customers who retaliated to their robbery attempt by

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hurling missiles at them. Dennis collapsed and died in the shop before he could receive medical attention. But one of the three bandits, identified as Dwayne Simon, 29, of Mc Doom, East Bank Demerara, was also shot in the back and right leg during the ensuing gunfire. Simon’s accomplices fled empty handed, leaving him behind. Simon, said to be an ex-soldier, was charged in December 2009, for robbing Lennox Taylor of a Taurus pistol, nine .32 live rounds of ammunition, a gold band, a cell phone and a quantity of cash, totaling over $313,000. PLANE CRASHES AT MATTHEW’S RIDGE…PILOT, 12 OTHERS WALK AWAY WITH MINOR INJURIES A female pilot and 12 passengers were injured around 08:00 hrs Monday after an Air Services Limited Cessna Caravan aircraft, flying in heavily overcast conditions, crashed at Matthew’s Ridge, North West District. Among the injured were the pilot Feriel Ally, Esther Williams and her two-yearold daughter Jonel, Alona Massay, 27, of Matthew’s Plane crashes at Matthew’s Ridge

Ridge; Naline Dellon, Wesley Johnson, Shellon Williams, Urmella Rajesh and Dexter Benjamin. The pilot and another female passenger suffered lacerations to the face. The injured were air-lifted to Georgetown and most of the victims were admitted to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Reports indicate that the pilot was attempting to land in overcast conditions when the mishap occurred. Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, said that there are reports that the aircraft clipped a tree some two and a half miles south of the airstrip. Benn expressed relief that there were no fatalities, but added that he regrets the injuries the passengers sustained and the loss of the aircraft. According to eyewitnesses, the Cessna Caravan bearing registration 8R-AMS circled the airstrip about three times before crash-landing at an area called Rail End, located at the back of the airstrip. WEDNESDAY EDITION LUSIGNAN MASSACRE TRIAL…WITNESS SAYS ACCUSEDADMITTED KILLING RESIDENTS Defence Attorney Nigel Hughes took to task a prosecution witness who alleged that his client on trial for the Lusignan massacre admitted being part of a guntoting crew that slaughtered 11 persons in the early morning hours of January 26, 2008. Derwin Wright, aged 30, was Tuesday’s fourth witness on the stand. He appeared before Justice Navindra Singh at the Supreme Court. Mark Royden Williams, called ‘Smallie’ and James Anthony Hyles, known as ‘Sally’ are facing murder charges. The two are being represented by attorneys

Roger Yearwood and Nigel Hughes respectively. Wright was led in his evidence-inchief by Senior State Prosecutor Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin. GECOM BLANKS BOODOO’S CONTRACT Following damning revelations on his “inadequacies” and deliberations as to whether his contract should be renewed, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Tuesday, through a majority vote, decided not to renew Gocool Boodoo’s contract to the post of Chief Elections Officer (CEO). Boodoo had moved to the High Court to block the Commission from deciding his fate, but this was rejected by Chief Justice Ian Chang after the latter reversed himself. Chang had dismissed his own order to block the Guyana Elections Commission from deciding not to renew Boodoo’s contract. He told the High Court sitting that Boodoo’s court action against each of the six commissioners and Dr Surujbally could not be entertained, because the commission is a collective body that doesn’t operate individually. On Tuesday all the Commissioners nominated by the government voted for Boodoo to be awarded another contract but the Opposition representatives said no to the former Chief Elections Officer. Boodoo’s fate was now in the hands of Dr Surujbally who said that based on Boodoo’s interaction with stakeholders and his leadership qualities, among other parameters, he found that Boodoo was lacking and therefore he couldn’t support the renewal of Boodoo’s (Continued on page 37)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

He’s doing a ‘heckuva’ job Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, in his six and a half years, has been unable to improve human safety or ensure a higher level of public security. Proof of the Administration’s failure has been the current high rate of armed robberies. It was not surprising to learn that, by mid-year, there had been 472 armed robberies – an average of n e a r l y t h r e e p e r d a y. Fourteen persons have been killed during armed robberies so far this year. The surge in armed robberies, of course, is neither

sudden nor surprising. A demoralised Police Force, ‘phantom’ death squads, drug-traffickers, gunrunners and assorted smugglers, combined with lax border security resulted in a flood of handguns in the country over the last decade or so. The number of legal and illegal firearms will continue to grow unless lawenforcement agencies impose stringent limits on the issuance of firearms licences and strict border controls in order to suppress the illegal trade.

The Police reported that, by mid-year, only 49 illegal firearms - 19 revolvers, 18 shotguns, 10 pistols, one sub-machine gun and one rifle - had been confiscated. About 60 per cent of these were manufactured in Brazil with which Guyana shares a lengthy and largely unpoliced 1,120 km border. Brazil is the world’s third largest exporter of small arms after the USA and Italy. Many armed robberies in Guyana involve the use of the famous ‘Taurus’ Brazilian handguns. Gun-running, however, will not stop of its

own accord. The administration, admittedly, is doing little to eliminate the crime. The everyday use of handguns has become a grave threat. Many shootings, often fatal, occur during minor robberies where the criminals’ spoils are paltry. Armed robberies nowadays are so commonplace that they are often carried out by only one or two persons; frequently without masks to conceal their identity; in broad daylight and at public places along busy thoroughfares. Every place that handles valuables seems to have been targeted to be raided, more because of the opportunity it presents than because of the prospect of a big haul. General stores in the crowded central business district; hair-dressing salons; internet cafés; jewellery stores; gas stations; guest houses; mining camps; money-transfer services and municipal markets have all been targets of fleeting, shoot-and-snatch raids. The PPPC administration has impaired the State’s capacity to ensure public security. The response of criminals to the spate of extra-judicial killings by the Police Force in the 1990s was to acquire handguns of their own which they do not hesitate to use. The instinctive response of business persons and rich people who think that they might be targets of armed robberies has been to seek to acquire firearms of their own. This has triggered a sort

of ‘arms race’ – a cycle of gunacquisition – in which both businessmen and criminals seek weapons to defend themselves from each other. The result has been that, the more guns there are, the more gun crimes there will be. The Administration seems either unable or unwilling to promulgate a plan to prevent the influx of illegal weapons into this country or to conduct an aggressive programme to search and seize illegal firearms. The consequences have been costly. The Administration could make a real impact on public security if the resources of the hardpressed Police Force were directed at reducing the number of handguns in the country. Crime statistics for the first half of 2013 confirmed fears that the public security situation is parlous. The lethal use of illegal firearms continues to push the rate for serious crimes. The worst effects of the surge in armed robberies have been the murders in the ‘big empty’ spaces of the undermanned and unmanageable hinterland comprising 152,000 km² or about 70 per cent of the national territory. It is evident that the most likely supply routes for illegal weapons pass through the same hinterland from Brazil. Gun crimes on the coastland cannot be controlled without controlling the borders which surround the hinterland. The Administration boasted of having wiped out the last of the gangs with the killing of Rondell ‘Fineman’

Rollins five years ago. It is now clear, however, that previously unknown gangs have begun operating with astonishing efficiency and regularity to attack vulnerable targets. Gangs of bandits pounce on isolated gold-mining camps in the hinterland. Gangs of riverine pirates continue their depredations undeterred on the waterways. Gangs of armed robbers invade business premises in urban areas. These new gangs have contributed to what the police call “a very high level of violence and fear” in the country. The Administration, despite the deteriorating security situation, actually has no plan to counter the current spate of armed robberies. It seems not to understand that the first thing to do is stop illegal weapons entering the country. The Administration must therefore recruit personnel to bring the police force up to its required establishment levels; it must provide the police marine unit with fast boats to pursue pirates; it must implement stricter border surveillance to staunch the influx of illegal weapons. It must, in short, start its strategy by preventing illegal weapons from entering the country. The Administration, despite the abundant evidence of a serious armed robbery situation, continues to keep Clement Rohee as Minister of Home Affairs. Clearly, he is doing a heckuva job!

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Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

From page 27 contract. Kaieteur News has also learnt that the Chairman took into consideration legal opinions that had all advised that Boodoo had no legitimate expectation for contract renewal. The way forward is that the post “must” be advertised as vacant and word is that Boodoo, who has been off the job since April 30, is free to re-apply as can any other suitably qualified individual. Also, the terms of reference may have to be redrafted. THURSDAY EDITION POLICE DO NOT HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO CCTV – CRIME CHIEF The Guyana Police Force may not be as efficient as it ought to be in terms of using the surveillance cameras deployed at strategic points in the city and its environs to aid in the apprehension of criminals. The explanation could be quite startling. Significantly the feed from the cameras are not actively manned by the police themselves but by intelligence operatives located at the Office of the President. “The feed is going to an organization other than the Guyana Police Force…It falls under the Office of the President. I think it’s an organization in the making,” the Crime Chief said. This disclosure was made by Crime Chief Seelall Persaud on Wednesday at a press conference organized by the police to address the issue of

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rising criminal activity. Persaud said that the programme with respect to the surveillance cameras, needs to be expanded to give the police direct access to the footage derived from them. “I think it’s a programme that needs to be expanded. It has helped in some incidents of crime, it has helped a whole lot in traffic investigations as well,” Crime Chief Persaud told the media. “There is an effort right now to have the feed come directly to the police so that we can independently research and use what evidence is collected there,” Persaud said. At present the police can only access the feed from the cameras upon request. Wednesday’s disclosure adds more fuel to the suspicions expressed by members of the opposition. FRIDAY EDITION OPPOSITION STRIKES DOWN KEY HYDRO BILLS - PROJECT GREATLY WOUNDED – PM In a severe blow to the US$840M Amaila Falls Hydro Project, the Opposition, on Thursdy evening in a Parliamentary sitting punctuated by starts and stops, voted against two key Bills, threatening a month-end deadline set by one of the major financiers and essentially placing the project in limbo. The development could very well push back the prospects of a hydro project of that magnitude by another five years, Government said.

It was unclear what the next steps would be. According to PM Hinds, the hydro project has been greatly “wounded”. Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh said that the Government will now move to reflect on the implications and remain engaged with partners. The blocking of the Bills would effectively mean also that none of them could be tabled again in this session of the 10th Parliament. Government officials said that in all likelihood, critical financing of US$175M from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is dead, at least for this year. In October, when the National Assembly resumes its sittings after the August recess, would be too late, Government says, as the IDB board is meeting then. All documentation has to be submitted before. GOVERNMENT DEFENDS BOODOO - SAYS GECOM’S CHECKS AND BALANCES WORKED The government on Thursday came out in defence of Former Chief Elections Officer Gocool Boodoo, saying that the decision of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) not to renew his contract was “odd”. Some Commissioners argued that Boodoo’s flawed mathematical formula would have seen him declaring the PPP as the majority winners in the last elections. On Thursday, the government’s chief

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spokesperson Dr Roger Luncheon said the fact that this was picked up and Boodoo was not allowed to carry through with his formula meant that the checks and balances of the Commission worked. It is claimed that the same formula Mr Boodoo attempted to use in the last elections was used in the 2006 elections, robbing the Alliance for Change of a seat in the National Assembly. Dr Luncheon said that the entire elections commission made mistakes before. “It was incontrovertible that the same Commission was prepared to disenfranchise over 7,000 Guyanese voters in its abortive attempt to close claims and objections. You might recall the strenuous objections made to overtake…overcome Chairman [Steve] Surjubally’s intention to close claims and objections that led to the

extension, during which 7,000 additional Guyanese voters were enfranchised,” Dr. Luncheon said. “Should the Commission have resigned? Should the Secretariat have been sacked or removed?” Luncheon questioned. SATURDAY EDITION AMAILA PROJECT IN JEOPARDY - PRESIDENT RAMOTAR President Donald Ramotar issued a statement Friday on the implications of the opposition parties’ striking down of two key pieces of legislation in relation to the Amaila Falls Hydro project. “Following our 2011 elections, I was hopeful that this unprecedented configuration of our Parliament would have allowed us the opportunity to move forward. I had hoped that all the political parties in Parliament would have worked together in the

interest of the Guyanese people. Last (Thursday) evening those hopes were dashed. Yesterday, (Thursday, July 18), the Opposition in Parliament voted against a bill to amend the Hydro Electric Act and a motion to raise the debt ceiling that would create the financial architecture to implement the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. Their actions now place the Amaila Falls Hydro-electrical project, the largest project in Guyana’s history, in jeopardy. Government made it clear that support of the Bill was a pre-condition to complete due diligence by the IDB. The legislative amendment was expected to be completed by the end of July. Government has met with the joint opposition on numerous occasions to brief them, supplying them with all information requested and answering all questions asked.

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Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Venezuela says it ends efforts for better U.S. ties CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuela said it was ending efforts to improve ties with Washington after the Obama administration’s nominee for envoy to the United Nations vowed to oppose what she called a crackdown on civil society in the “repressive” OPEC nation.In an echo of the many bust-ups between the two countries during the late Hugo Chavez’s 14-year rule, President Nicolas Maduro has demanded an apology and said the United States had no moral right to criticize his government. The foreign ministry said Samantha Power’s remarks had contradicted “in tone and content” what it said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told his Venezuelan counterpart, Elias Jaua, at a rare meeting just last month. “The Bolivarian Republic

Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is terminating the process that was started during the conversation in Guatemala, which was aimed at regularizing our diplomatic relations,” the ministry said late Friday in a statement. Maduro has often clashed with Washington since he narrowly won an election in April that was triggered by the death of his mentor Chavez

from cancer. At times, the former bus driver and union negotiator has appeared to want better ties with the United States, and both Jaua and Kerry had talked positively about their meeting. But relations have frayed fast since then, with Maduro becoming the world’s first leader to offer asylum to Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence contractor wanted by Washington for disclosing details of secret surveillance programs. During a Senate confirmation hearing this week, Power promised to stand up against “repressive regimes”, and said that meant “contesting the crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.” The foreign ministry in Caracas said her comments were “interventionist,” and that the United Nations had often recognized Venezuela’s “solid system of constitutional guarantees” that ensured its citizens’ fundamental rights.

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

Eleven more doctors join national brigade

The graduating batch from Essequibo

Eleven new medical practitioners graduated after completing their final year Internship at the Suddie Public Hospital Corporation, Saturday. Ten of them were Essequibians. The lone Berbician was Cerdel Mc Watt. The eleven graduates completed their internship in areas of Internal Medicine, General Medicine, General Surgery, Gynecology and Pediatrics. The graduates were Marlon Orlando Sooknaraine, Student President in charge at the Suddie Public Hospital; Suzette Reynolds, Deoram Kajam, Suresh Surattan, Khikouti Dass, Lew Wai See; Vijay Persaud, Smolama Swan and Andy Da Silva. Dr. Cacia Maria Ochoa, Director of Medical Science in her native Cuba, reminded the graduates that they are being entrusted with a greater responsibility. It is another opportunity for the doctors to improve the Health system both locally and nationally by availing their committed services to patients, she said. Ochoa called on the doctors not to become stationary. Instead, they would have to give great service, and do so without fear. Student President in charge of doctors at Suddie Public Hospital, Marlon Orlando Sooknaraine, explained that the 11 doctors spent six years in Cuba. Their final year was spent at various hospitals in Guyana. Sooknaraine, a 25-yearold and former product of the Anna Regina Secondary School, gained a Cuban Scholarship, after gaining 14 CXC subjects. While he was fascinated with medicine from an early age, Sooknaraine added that he studied hard and was successful after the completion of his studies in

Student President: Marlon Orlando Sooknaraine

the Spanish-speaking country. Based at the Suddie Public Hospital, Sooknaraine’s intention is to further pursue medical studies in specialized or General Surgery. He is even contemplating studies in Infectious Medicine and Epidemiology. He said that the most common complaints experienced by patients on the Essequibo Coast were Hypertension, Diabetics, Malaria, Dengue and Typhoid. Parmanand Persaud,

Region Two’s chairman, who also graced the ceremony, described the partnership programme between Cuba and Guyana as “wonderful”. He said that Essequibo stands to benefit even as he urged the new doctors to give of their best services. While compliments were hailed at both countries, Persaud has also announced that some time in the future the Suddie Public Hospital will introduce a Post Graduate Degree for perspective medical students in the Region. (Yannason Duncan).

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Farmers, millers trained in... (From page 10) fairness and to ensure that the rights of the farmers are protected and they are graded fairly. The minimum requirement for farmers who are a part of the training programme is for them to at least know how to read properly .The training will last for four weeks. The programme will be taken to Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. Though the GRDB has officers at several mills, Singh said that they still receive complaints about the grades farmers would receive. He said that if the farmers are aggrieved with the price they

receive from the graders at the mills, they should by all means appeal to the board and this has to be done within 24 hours. Their concerns will be dealt with promptly. “We are trying as much as possible to get people to help with the next crop that is coming. Though we are training in every region, we intend to train 20 farmers at least to help us with this and before the next crop is harvested, all the graders and farmers would have completed their training,” expressed Singh. “We don’t want the farmers grading. That is not what they will be trained to do. They will just

oversee. We don’t want them grading because that is supposed to be done by the people buying the paddy. The graders at the mills will have that responsibility. That is why they are being trained, tested and certified.” However, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said, “While it is important that the graders at the mills ensure that grading is done correctly, we have been training the farmers in Essequibo to grade their own rice so that their interest can be protected. The combination of the farmers and us will help to keep the millers in check”.

Guyana’s oldest Living... (From page 50) Canje upon the completion of that scholarship. From an early age he was able to read blue prints and do his drawing based on Geometric principles. Amazingly, at the age of 96, he can still vividly remember things. He recalled a horrible incident at the Rose Hall Estate which took place on January 13, 1970, when seven workers in the boiler section drowned. As a result of the fatal accident, Sir Edward Luckhoo, the acting Governor General of Guyana, ordered a Commission of Inquiry. Sir Kenneth Stoby headed the Commission. A report was issued in May 1970. It concluded that

the men died from the dangerous gases in the clarifier. The Commissioners blamed Booker’s (now Guysuco) for its failure to ensure compliance with the Factories (Safety) Regulations of 1953. The Report also faulted the company for other failures. It called for written instructions to be issued to

workers and more frequent factory inspection by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Grenville Felix spent most of his affirmative years working in the Sugar Industry most of which were spent at the nearby Rose Hall Estate. He concluded that through his job, he saw many

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By Ralph Seeram We knew for sure we were in for a severe “cut ass”. My cousin Eric and I had broken a most important rule of my aunt; do not go and play without permission. More important do not go beyond the immediate home surroundings. Not only did we venture beyond the immediate area but we were missing for about two hours. One of my cousins met us at the gate and gleefully told us to prepare for “licks”. My aunt was a strict disciplinarian. She had to be; she had eleven children of her own plus me. Now you may be wondering, what was our major infraction of the rules? Well we went to the Babu John foreshore to catch birds. Yes a group of friends decided to go to the Babu John foreshore, where flocks

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of birds gathered to feast on shrimps and fishes on the foreshore, the very foreshore on which Cheddi Jagan was cremated. We basically had one person chasing the flock and we threw cast nets to catch the birds. We caught hundreds, and divided them among ourselves and headed home. As my cousin and I were about to enter our yard we were greeted by another cousin who with some measure of satisfaction told us to “prepare for licks”. We were already prepared, so when my aunt asked where we went, we told her we went to Babu John and showed her our catch. To our amazement she calmly told us to clean up the birds and bring them to her to cook. That was it; she loved bird meat; the birds of Babu John saved our hide from a licking. Today the question is,

can Babu John save the PPP? The PPP is returning to Babu John at Port Mourant for its congress—Port Mourant the birth and memorial site of its founder leader Cheddi Jagan. Port Mourant was considered the heart of the PPP, and I use the word “was” in a relative sense. There was a time when you dare not say anything “bad” about the PPP to the people of Port Mourant. Now the people of Port Mourant are speaking “bad” of the PPP. That’s how far the PPP has declined. The evidence became very clear at the elections in 2011, where the AFC made inroads in the PPP stronghold... But don’t tell that to Clement Rohee and company. They delude themselves that everything is going smoothly within the party; there is no disunity in the rank and file. Clement Rohee is either an

idiot or in “la la land” to not realize that the PPP is in deep trouble. The former maybe closer when you consider the idiotic statements he made in his mathematical equation, using the initials of Ralph Ramkarran, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan. The PPP has lost support even among its base support, sugar workers. Will congress at Babu John map out a plan for the PPP to retain its former glory? Some in the party may wonder why the party is losing support in a thriving economy. Despite what some may argue, the PPP government has done a great job in terms of the economy. The answer is what most Guyanese are aware off, the corrupt nature of some in Government. In case they have not noticed the PPP has been losing votes consistently at each election culminating with them losing the House at the

AFC demands withdrawal of Ramotar’s “act of ... From page 14 help contain the public debtto-GDP ratio towards a level of 60 percent or below. “We in the AFC are not ready to go back to the uncreditworthy days of the PNC ever again and thus this runaway appetite of the PPP for new debt has to be interrogated and questioned. That is why we ask the PPP/C Government to act more responsibly and await the due diligence report from the IDB.

“If the report is favourable from our perspective, we are prepared to support all the rational conditionalities associated with the Amaila Hydro project,” the AFC said. The AFC believes that Ramotar’s statements are unjust and unfair and contains some dangerous characterization which compromises the independence of the Legislative Branch of the Government.

Sunday July 21, 2013

2011 election. Today they are paying the price for that. In fact, the Guyanese public is paying the price as the APNU and AFC opposition keeps decimating their projects and development plans, such as the new airport, the Marriott Hotel, the subsidy to electricity and now the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. President Donald Ramotar must be frustrated by these irresponsible actions of the opposition parties. Most of these plans were formulated by former President Bharrat Jagdeo and it’s ironic, as the general feelings are that Jagdeo cost them the election. So what’s the way forward for the PPP? What changes will congress at Babu John make? Ralph Ramkarran has spelt it out for the PPP. He made a road map for the recovery, and those delegates attending should read his piece. For some in the PPP, instead of paying attention to what he said, like Rohee, they attacked him. Some of the PPP mouthpieces and soup drinkers went to the internet to attack Ramkarran’s character. Instead of paying attention to the message they are attacking the messenger. President Ramotar, I am sure, wants to make some changes. I gathered this much during my interview with him a few months ago. But he will need the assistance of delegates at the forth coming congress at Babu John. Delegates will have to vociferously voice their concerns about the corruption in the Party; they

will have to sweep out the new elite that have drifted away from the ideals from its founder Cheddi Jagan. The President, I am sure, is looking forward to the Congress to strengthen “his hand” to make significant changes. He is aware of what needs to be done, but those PPP delegates who are disenchanted will have to give him the support he needs. One must remember that those at the top control the “pie”, they may want to retain their position by doling out small pieces of the “pie” to delegates. Promises of jobs, position and perks can be tempting. There will be some serious internal campaigning by the elite to retain their position, these elites really do not care about the survival of the PPP, they care about their bank accounts and that is what delegates have to pay attention to. So the question is, will Babu John save the PPP ship from sinking further, or will they steer it in the direction Ralph Ramkarran mapped out for them? The last PPP congress was three years ago. Who knows if the next one will be three years from now well past the next election? This makes this Babu John congress crucial for the survival of the party. Babu John saved my cousin and me from a licking. Can Babu John save the PPP from a severe licking at the next election? Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Police issue tractor licences to Black Bush rice farmers ...initiative to be taken countrywide History was made when the Guyana Police Force (GPF) ‘B’ Division issued tractor licences to several rice farmers and tractor operators yesterday at the Mibikuri Police Station in Black Bush Polder (BBP). The initiative was as a result of several engagements and meetings between the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA) and ‘B’ Division police. GRPA President, Mr. Leekah Rambrich stated, “It is the first of its kind ever being held within the rice- growing belt. We try to facilitate farmers with easy way of having their tractor licences”.

He said that one of the burning concerns of rice farmers and their tractor operators was that they did not have the tractor component added to their licensing arrangement; hence they used to be harassed constantly by the police on the road. “So we had discussions with the police and Mr. [Calvin] Brutus, the Officer-inCharge of Traffic in Region Six was kind enough to facilitate this activity, having the police on the ground doing the driving test.” He noted that the GRPA plans to take this arrangement all across the region especially

Guyanese on murder charge in Barbados Guyanese, Feroze Rafikh, was on Friday brought before a Barbados Magistrate’s court charged with murder of a person believed to be a peacekeeper in a dispute, and was remanded to prison until August 16. Rafikh, 42, of Second Avenue, Amity Lodge, Christ Church, is charged with the stabbing to death of 26-yearold Tito Gill, who reportedly attempted to stop two men from fighting around midnight Tuesday when he received stab wounds to the abdomen and armpit. He died in hospital the following morning. The incident occurred in the home where Gill lived in Seclusion Gardens, Black Rock, just outside Bridgetown. Media reports are that Gill, a Barbadian, who has been

closely affiliated with the Guyanese community in Barbados, shared the fourbedroom house with his Guyanese girlfriend, Crystal Lambert, along with her relatives. According to reported statements of Gill’s brother-inlaw, Parmanand Lambert, Gill was stabbed while making peace between an occupant of the house and a man who lives on Westbury Road, another area that borders Bridgetown, where the dispute originally flared up but continued at the Black Rock residence. “This should not have gone so far, it shouldn’t have reached this stage. We all lived under the same roof,” Parmanand Lambert said.

within the rice- producing areas “and we hope it can bring some relief to police and farmers.” Rambrich stated, “These are persons who hold a driver’s licence but they don’t have the tractor component and a tractor is a heavy duty machine and it’s [the licence] not given to you when you first have a licence—it has to be added.” He stated that the same problem obtains in Essequibo and other rice producing areas. “It was reported to the GRPA that farmers are being harassed by the police. We had discussions with the officer and we realize that a lot of people in rice cultivating areas are holders of licences but do not have a tractor licence, so the first stage is to make sure these drivers have the added tractor licences... “We are doing 23 people today. Another 30 will be submitted to the police for

Inspector Joachim and rice farmers/tractor operators engage in a chat during the licence issuing process yesterday scrutiny. And commenting on the crop, the GPRA President stated that the rice is near “flowering stage in the region.

Sowing is coming to a close.” Nearly 59,000 acres are being sowed. While the market for rice is good, the official stated that

negotiations are ongoing with the Caricom market. “We are looking to expand to the Panama market. The European market is always there.”

Salim Bacchus on trial for gun possession Murder accused and alleged narcotics dealer, Salim Bacchus, called ‘Black Salim’, is once again before the court. Bacchus, 52, of 39 Line Path ‘D’, Skeldon, Corriverton Corentyne, Berbice who was recently committed to stand trial in the Berbice High Court for the murder of Police narcotics detective constable Jirahan Diananand, is now before the court on a charge of possession of arms and ammunition without being the holder of a licence. Bacchus appeared before Magistrate Roby Benn on

Friday at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge of being in possession of arms and ammunitions without being the holder of the relevant licence. According to the Prosecution, on December 18, 2009 at Grant 1805 Crabwood Creek, Upper Corentyne, Bacchus was found in possession of one Glock Pistol and eight matching 9mm rounds. The court was told that the police, acting on information, descended on the premises and found the

items. Bacchus was in the vicinity. It is understood that upon arrival at the house the police noticed someone throwing something into a neighbouring yard. Upon retrieving the items they were found to be the gun and ammunition. Bacchus who was in the vicinity was arrested and charged. He is being represented by Attorney at Law Mursaline Bacchus. Bacchus, who is the brother of Azad Bacchus,

called ‘AK 472 , who was killed in a shootout with the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) in 2001, was previously charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. He was among four men who had been arrested and charged in connection with a 40-kilo cocaine bust in November 2011. He was acquitted in June 2012 but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) appealed the acquittal. His next court date is fixed for the 25 July.

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2007 R1 MotorcycleCall:623-4045/689-4864

1 Complete 4" Dredge 16 & 32HP engines $1.2M negTel: 647-1291/661-9447

Male & Female English Mastiff dogs: $300,000 for both- Call:678-2814/699-2322 Uni-float Pontoon 56’×21’, 27 Pieces. Interested persons please contact 667-2934 1 Yamaha 150 HP four stroke outboard engine, new condition- Call:649-8324 Plants: Carmichael street, Georgetown (opposite the Oasis)- call:666-2863 One complete Dell Computer Desktop 17" flat screenCall:662-6151 Pure bred German Shepherd puppy, 2 months oldCall:231-9419/617-7577 1- 215 BLC Excavator, 1 German double steel wheel roller, 1 low bed (hauler & trailer)- call:681-2995/6471615 853 Bobcat & Massey Ferguson Tractor: Reasonably Priced, No time wasters. Call 442-4325/667-5292 3 Fiber Glass Boats And Trailer $1.1M (Negotiable) Can Be Sold Separately, Best Offer Accepted- Call: 699-1711

Porters: Apply at Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling, Stabroek TOURS Suriname Tours: August 1st4th, Shopping Dolphins Butterfly Gardens: Book early- Call:639-2663/6440185/665-5171/227-8290 Suriname Carifesta Summer Tour: August 15th-20th & August 22nd-27th: Casino & Site seeing: Book earlyCall:639-2663/644-0185/6655171/227-8290 Shiba Kaleke Resort (Rock Stone) welcomes Schools/ churches/groups/individuals & families. For Rain forest Nature Trips! Call: 618-4499

Sunday July 21, 2013

2 Plots of land adjoining 21 acres @ Hauraruni, Linden/ Soesdyke Highway Price: $7M- Call: 226-9485 Mon-Fri (9am-4pm) House & Land @ 47 miles, Mabura road, 2 acres of fenced yard Price: $10M- Call: 226-9485 Mon-Fri (9am-4pm) Removal (1) two storey Wooden Building located in 76 Queen Street, Kitty: Negotiable- Contact Mrs. Beryl Haynes @ 222-5928 225HP Yamaha Outboard engine and 23ft ×6ft boat seats 17, Price $1.6M- Call 226-9485 Mon-Fri- 9am-4pm

Cover button machines (all sizes of moulds), Press Stud machine- Call:227-4311/2278360 (After 5pm) Zack’s Lumber Yard Georgetown: Millcut form board $115 per BM, Softwood & H/wood $180 per BM- Call:687-5361/674-0013

CAKES & PASTRIES Courses for: Bridal accessories, Cake decoration, Floral arrangements, Cake & Pastry-contact Sharon:6728768/223-3303/612-4193 Courses in cake decoration, pastry making & cookeryCall: 670-0798. Also Wedding dresses for sale

MASSAGE

Fiberglass Spindle moulding- Call:639-7546

American Style massage services- Call:678-7499

Shop & Guest house @ Kurupung landing Price $5M- Call 226-9485 Mon-Fri (9am-4pm)

Flock Goats- Call: 696-8103

FOR SALE

Shop/Bar & 11 rooms Guest House @ Barlow Landing, Eping Price: $5M-Call:2269485 Mon-Fri (9am-4pm)

1 Yamaha 115HP four stroke outboard engine- Call: 649-8324

House & Land for sale @ Naamryck, Parika, Price $5M Call: 226-9485 MonFri (9am-4pm) 10.7 Cubic feet Ultrasound Freezer- Call:227-5421 New Craftsman Gas pressure washer 2200 PSI $100,000Call:680-6374 Dell laptops & desktops complete computers from $55,000 Futuretech call: 231-2206 1- 20HP Mercury outboard engine. Call: 651-4699 or 686-0895 WE HAVE ANY SIZE AND AMOUNT OF PALMS: #1 PLANT SHOP, 70 SHERIFF ST. CALL:227-8094 German Shepherd pups. Tel: 619-6086/699-7077 Gold & Diamond land at Kurupung, Middle Mazaruni. Call 694-1707 Toyota Ipsum Vanette, Mitsubishi single cab pickup. Call 225-3557 15HP Yamaha Engine & 40HP Yamaha Engine. Call 225-3557 1 Ransom, price negotiableCall:265-7306 150 Yamaha outboard engine $900,000 or best offer- Call: 592-667-8896

1 Ford F150 4×4 (3) doors: Working condition $700,000: Spacio, Raum, Premio: We finance @ low ratesCall:641-6516/264-2232

1 Toyota- AT212, AT192, AT170, Ceres, Vitz, Hilux Pick-up Solid DEF, EP82 & 71 Starlet- Call:644-5096/ 697-1453 1 RZ Bus EFI: BMM 1286 long base: Price $1.7M neg: Owner leaving country- Call: 685-6415 One black Titan (2005) 4 wheel drive, fully loaded: $4.2M negotiable- Call:6782814/699-2322

2 Garette Gold Detectors $220,000- Call:675-7292

Model M truck 4×4 with winch, barely used. GRR series- Call: 226-9485 MonFri (9am-4pm)

2004 Raum Nav + TV $2.4M, 2003 Fielder Nav + S.P, R.R $2.5M, 2003 Spacio $2.4MCall:616-5595/661-6161

2004 Ford F150, unregistered: Accessoriesrims- Call:682-8817/649-4265

PLAYSTATION 3 With 2 Games (your choice): Game discs for PS2 & 3, X-Box360Call:609-8132/672-8569

1 Pontoon, dimension 200×50×12, 1-500 Ton cargo vessel haul both as is where is- Call:623-4045/689-4864

VEHICLE FOR SALE

73" Mitsubishi TV- DLP, bulb needs checking: Sold as is $425,000 (2 to choose from)- Call: 621-4000 50" Panasonic Plasma TV, multiple input/output next to new: Price $225,000Call: 621-4000 1-Generator GX160, 5.5HP. Call 618-1828/668-9850 Makita Jackhammer (brand new)- call:653-1822 3D 73" HD Mitsubishi DLP television, multiple input/ output built in surround sound $1M-Call: 621-4000 Iphone5 $180,000, iphone 4s $105,000, Samsung Note2 $180,000, Playstation2 $50,000, WII system with games $65000- Call: 225-4631 Generac generator 15KVA, in perfect working condition $850,000- Call: 621-4000/ 690-6000 Generator 10KVA Lister Petter (English) with exhaust system $750,000- Call:6214000/ 690-6000 Generator 28KVA silent with storage tank SDMO Mitsubishi engine, need repairs $500,000- Call: 6214000/ 690-6000 Household appliances: Generator 7500 watts, music set etc. Call: 269-0959 First Alert Safe: Model #2702DF $180,000 and Portable money counter $18,000- Call: 664-8660 Garden Earth and Builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating clearing and leveling done- Call: 616-0617 or 663-3285

Toyota Corolla L-Touring Wagon, PLL series: Excellent condition- Call:612-2258 Nissan Canter gas $1.5M or best offer- Call: 592-667-8896 1 Leyland DAF 60 single axle & dump- Call:613-6615/ 216-1315 2 Ford F150: Price $4.5M & $3.5M- Call: 643-5249 / 2654979 1- 8340 (4) Wheel drive Ford and 135 MF tractor: In excellent condition: Please call:601-7535 1 Toyota Raum 2000 model, late PPP series $1.850MCall:626-9590 1 Toyota Land-cruiser Prado PMM series- call:225-0188/ 225-6070 To y o t a P r e m i o : P N N s e r i e s : C D / D V D / T V, Chrome rims, accessories, fully loaded: Excellent condition- Call:616-3686 1-55 Leyland DAF for sale: Excellent working condition: Price negotiable- Call:6568346 1-Raum, PMM Series $950,000. Call 618-1828/6689850 1-F150 (Ford) in Excellent Condition, 1-AA 60 Carina. Tel 690-6520/642-0110 One Mitsubishi Canter, GRR-5201- 15ft tray. Call 2540247/613-2150 Stanley’s Auto Sales: New models Raum $2,150,000; Spacio $2,350,000; Premio $2.6M: Unregistered: Call Now @ 264-2644 or 641-6516 1 Toyota Premio, old model, A/C, fully powered: Excellent condition $1.2MCall:613-5308 (Continued on page 56)

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 55

Gordon won’t be ‘stampeded Govt. and Opposition support human trafficking amendments into quitting’ Trinidad Express - Resignation holds no “dragons” for Integrity Commission chairman Ken Gordon but he does not think he ought to resign. In a statement done in a question and answer format which was released to the media Friday by the Integrity Commission, Gordon nevertheless concedes that he might have done a number of things differently if the same circumstances- of Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley asking for an “urgent” meeting— were to present themselves tomorrow. Gordon said: “What I would do differently is to ensure that I had a fuller understanding of the nature of the “urgency” which existed before arranging the meeting that afternoon. Equally in the light of what has transpired I would do everything possible to ensure that I had a clearly spelt-out remit for the office of sole Commissioner”. Asked why he believed that he should not resign, Gordon said the Integrity Commission by law is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority. “It has the power to do what it considers necessary or expedient,” he said. “It must also be understood that whether or not a “constituted” Constitution existed on May 15,

the day of the meeting, the identical circumstances could have occurred. “My response would almost certainly have been the same except that I might have immediately called one or other of the Commissioners on the phone on Dr Rowley’s departure. Without the full Commission in place I did the next best thing and immediately wrote an aide memoire which was typed the following day.” Gordon pointed out that he resigned from four previous national appointments under three different Governments, so he has no fear of resigning. “In each instance it was a principled position against what I considered to be wrong. What I will not do is to be stampeded into taking such action for the wrong reasons,” he stressed. In explaining his decision to seek legal advice and publish it on the matter of the Integrity Commission’s jurisdiction to investigate the section 34 e-mails, Gordon took issue with Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s statement that no one ever questioned the Integrity Commission’s jurisdiction in the investigation of the e-mails. Gordon cited statements in the three daily newspapers as well as the Hansard of the Prime Minister’s contribution in the House of Representatives on the debate on the motion of no confidence to prove his point.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Justice, Senator Mark Golding, says that the amendments to the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act, will play an important role in suppressing human trafficking in Jamaica. It is an important element in our fight against modern day slavery and international crime,” he said, as the Senate debated and passed several the amendments to the Act. Senator Golding noted that among the benefits of the changes will be: an increase in penalties for trafficking in persons; new provision for conspiracy to commit an act of human trafficking; and provisions for restitution to be granted by the court to victims, after successful prosecution of traffickers.

Golding noted that human trafficking was an organised crime against humanity that often occurs across borders, and has affected virtually every country, including Jamaica. He was supported by Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Arthur Williams, who pointed out that review of the Act,

which was enacted in 2007, was appropriate six years later. He said that the amendments had the full support of the opposition. The Bill, which was passed in the House of Representatives on July 9, will return to the House for finalization, after three amendments were made by the Senate, Friday.

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Sunday July 21, 2013

(From page 54) VEHICLE FOR SALE Toyota IST, PPP series: Lady driven: Excellent condition $1.8M Neg- Call:601-8083 Mitsubishi Galant $1.1MCall:645-3605 1 Toyota Harrier $3M: Excellent conditionCall:231-7831 One ATV 500 Honda, 2 shocks foreign use: Duties already paid- Call: 625-3615 Sale! Axio: TV, DVD $3.1M Neg: Pre-order Premio $2.5M Neg- Call: 655-3400 1 Toyota Rav4 PLL 9804 $2.8M cash: Excellent condition- Call: 686-5083/ 611-9646 Quantum Auto 2004 silver Spacio & Silver Premio with Alloy wheel & dark interior: Excellent condition- Call: 624-7684/617-2378 Cheapest- Premio, Spacio, Hilux, Stick Gear Buses- Call: 616-7635 Mercedes Benz S300 armored luxury Sedan, full leather seats, CD player $3.2M cash call:621-4000, 690-6000 (1) Jialing JL 100-3 Motor Cycle in excellent condition: Minimal usage: Prices negotiable- Call: 220-0890/ 691-5952 or 657-3682 Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car, 5 speed, CD player,18" rims, HID lights, $2.8M cash: excellent condition- call: 6214000, 690-6000 AT170 Toyota Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, mags, CD player, price $675,000- contact Rocky: 225-1400 or 621-5902 Mitsubishi Pajero (Immaculate condition); automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $2.8M- Contact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 AT212 Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, A / C , C D p l a y e r, p r i c e $1.375M- contact Rocky: 225-1400 or 621-5902 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota Raum (PMM series) automatic, fully powered, price $1.4M, Hardly used- Contact Rocky 621-5902 Stretched Limousine Lincoln Town car, automatic, seats 12 persons, perfect for rentalsCall: 621-4000/ 690-6000 Cherokee Jeep, automatic, 4 doors, projection & LED lights, 15" mag wheel, good condition $1.7M cash- Call: 621-4000/ 690-6000

FOR RENT Short Term Furnished Apartments/ Rooms available - Call:687-3017 One bedroom apartments to rent $55,000 GYD- Contact: D&J Investments @ 2238479 or 647-3768 Executive Apartments and Houses to Rent, From $500 USD upwards-Contact: D&J Investments @ 223-8479/ 647-3768 Two bedrooms house @ Haslington, E.C.D-Tel: 663-9816 Houses & Apartments: $55,000, $35,000- Call:6757292 Business Spot at 14 Peter’s Hall E.B.D- Tel: 233-5110/ 668-0309 Luxury house, 5 bedrooms self-contained, maid quarters & lovely patio, security $2600us :2250854, 2250843, 672-7390 2 Bedrooms upstairs apartment. Yard and fence, fully concrete: Next to SOL BB Rome, E.B.D- Call:6585452 SERVICES Creative Constructs: Professional Caribbean to I n t e r n a t i o n a l Construction: Specialized in General Construction, from start-finish- Call: 6137964/675-1510

VEHICLE FOR SALE 2- 07 Toyota Avensis- Call: 698-0674 Mercedes Benz A-140 PMM series, automatic, fully powered, need repairs, sold as is- $2.3M- Call:621-4000/ 690-6000 Mecedes Benz- 190E, automatic, flair kits, mag wheels, need repairs, sold as is $400,000- Call: 621-4000/ 690-6000

LAND FOR SALE At Blankenburg W.C.D: 50ft×350ft- Tel: 265-6019, 696-3505, 261-6501, 718-7571106, 718-629-5141 3 Acres land @ Parika Main Dam, Farm Land- Contact: 617-4837/650-0402 House lot for sale: Friendship EBD & drafting of house plans call:223-0733, 223-0730 Transport Land; Land for Sale at Craig Public RoadContact: 695-6641/ 223-3120/ 690-8571/ 666-9972, Price Negotiable Land @ Amelia’s Ward Linden $1M- Call:613-1810/ 697-2550 2- Acres cultivated, 2-1 Acres cultivated, 7 Acres cultivated, citrus, house, fish pond, storage at Parika. Call 226-7968 Parfaite Harmony, $1.3M. Call 675-7292 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content Mahaicony, E.C.D: US$175,000: Call:813-3194219: rpooran@tampabay. rr.com Grove/Diamond $5M, $5.5M, $4M, $6.5M, $3.5M: 6727390, 225-0854, 2250843 Eccles New Scheme 50x100 $5.5M, $439M: 6727390, 2250854, 2250843 Parfait Harmonie- $1.5M, $2M, $2.5M: 2250843, 2250854, 6727390 Tuschen- $1.5M, $1.8M, $2M, $2.5M-2250843, 2250854, 6727390 Vreed-en-Hoop- 1.1 Acre $13M- 2250843, 2250854, 672-7390 Grove Fully Fenced 50x100$5.5m (neg) 2250843, 2250854, 672-7390 Republic Park 7 Bedrooms, 2 Story Concrete: Fixed kitchen very spacious $40m: 2250854, 2250843, 6727390 Tuschen 5 Bedrooms, 2 Story concrete $29.5M: 2250854, 2250843, 6727390 Tuschen Flat house 2 Bedroom concrete double lot $9.5M: 2250854, 2250843, 6727390 3 houses in the yard La Grange Public Road, West Bank Demerara $32M: 2250854,2250843,6727390

LAND FOR SALE

La Grange old road head of No.1 Canal 2 storey concrete 7 bedrooms huge yard $35m: 2250843,2250854,6727390

SERVICES Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115

LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964

Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool. Call: 225-9032, 647-2943 House Plans, estimates and construction- Contact T.Boodhoo 625-9883 / 6759296 We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer. Call:2310655, 683-8734 Omar HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766 General Desktop & Laptop Repairs: Installation & Configuration of Security Cameras: Linking Security Cameras to the internet- Tel: 699-3615

PROPERTY FOR SALE Property for Contact:699-9926 PROPERTY FOR SALE 2-bedrooms flat house ,on land 35x150, Pouderoyen, W.B.D $6.5M: 686-9888 Versailles W.B.D. new Exclusive large 2 storey 5bedrooms house with extra lot, (Gated Community) $122M:686-9888 W.B.D, current operational Business Property, Land 200’x25’.Ideal Location $50M (Negotiable)- 686-9888

We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699

Land 50’x90’, with foundation, Posts, Roof etc. Building 30’x50’, Parfaite Harmonie, WBD $6.8M (Negotiable)-686-9888

For all your GPS Surveying, Compass Boundary line Establishment, Prospecting, Sampling, Road Tracking, etc-Call:672-2920

Commercial/ Residential property 150’x45’ Building 70’x30’ Kitty ($4M. per year income) (Negotiable)-6727390

Computer Repairs in homes. Call 675-7292

Eccles concrete 2 flat, ground floor 1 bedroom apt & office, top floor 3 bedrooms G$32M-Call: 609 2302, 609 6516

Do you need a Car/Van Driver with over 5 years experienced? Call:615-5609 Wayne’s Delivery & Taxi Service- Call: 672-8137 Ram & Sons Mechanic Shop: Specialist in all types of Japanese vehicles & Volkswaggon: Eccles- Call: 233-3072/656-2506

Lodge H/S 2 Storey Concrete (needs repairs) $14M neg: 672-7390, 225-0854, 2250843 2 Storey concrete house,2 families house Blackenburg $17.5m: 2250854, 2250843, 672-7390

Spray Painting & Reconditioning servicesCall: 666-4060 (Rohan)

Hadfield street 3 houses in yard $8.5M -2250854, 2250843, 672-7390

Repairs and Maintenance to TV, washer, dryers, A/C- Call: 666-4060 (Rohan)

3 bedrooms corner lot business front Charlestown $33M: 2250854, 2250843, 6727390

Computer Repairs, custom built PC, surveillance cameras and more- Call: 6648660 ONLINE SHOPPING ZERO COMMISSION, WEEKLY SHIPMENTS,AFFORDABLE RATES, FREE PRIVATE MAILBOX.CALL: 2315789, 225-9030 WE FILL OUT VISA FORMS:USA, UK & CANADA & CREDIT CARD SERVICES CALL: 231-5789

New 2 stories 4 Bedrooms building, suitable for residential/commercial, Tuschen main road $22.5m: 2250854,2250843,6727390

Double Lot Central Georgetown Lambert 1.2US 2250843, 2250854,672-7390

TV repairs, DVD, Microwaves, Amplifiers, Stereos, Washing machines etc. Call: 693-2683

La Grange Main Road 3 Houses in Yard 37x600ft $22M - 2250854, 2250843, 6727390

2 Storey concrete spacious house, 3 Apt Republic Park $37M- 2250843, 2250854, 672-7390

Brian Moe @642-3543: Computer Technician: Home and Office visits at your comfort!!

Parfaite Harmony 2 Bedrooms Flat house: Unfinished $6.5M (neg) 2250854,2250843,672-7390 Diamond 6 bedrooms, 2 families House $26M: 2250854,2250843,672-7390 3 Stores, 6 Apartments, 8 bedrooms Corner house, Charlestown $32M: 6727390, 2250843, 225-0854 North East La Penitence concrete 4 apartments, ground floor 2X2 bedrooms top floor 2X2 bedrooms G$36M-Call:609-2302,609-6516 Diamond/Grove 2 Storey Concrete Newly Built: Automatic Gate/Garage, Spacious Kitchen & 4 Bedrooms $36M: 6727390, 2250854,225-0843

sale-

Versailles 5 Bedroom House with modern facilities and beautiful landscape- Call: 592-684-9203 / 592-624-8704 Houses and Land for SaleContact: D&J Investments @ 223-8479/647-3768 Hotel For Sale- Contact: D&J Investments @ 2238479 or 647-3768 1-Going Business Property at Bloomfield Public Road, Berbice. Tel 690-6520/642-0110 West Bank $18.5M; Campbellville $35M; AA Eccles $70M; Lamaha Gardens $70M. Call Diana: 227-2256/626-9382 NEW 2 STORIED Concrete 4 bedrooms building, suitable residential or commercial @ Tushen, W.C.D (front road)- Call:6098132/686-9888 Lot 618 Obama Drive,Amelia’s Ward $7M NegotiableCall:660-0324/657-1665 2 Storey business premises: 94 Campbell Avenue, C/VilleCall:680-8857/647-300-4294 Town& Country Real: 5bedrooms concrete 2 storey Kitty $55M- 225-0853, 2250854, 672-7390 2 Bedroom Flat House Diamond $9.5m Neg: 6727390, 225-0843, 225-0854 Mandela Ave 2 Storey Concrete 4 bedrooms $19m(Neg): 672-7390, 2250854, 2250843 Herstelling 2 Storey wooden house: 40x120 (needs repair) $14.5m: 6727390, 225-0854, 2250843 Diamond Concrete Upper Flat 3 bedrooms $13m: 6727390, 225-0854 ,225-0843 Newly built Kitty 7 bedrooms 2 Storey concrete: 2 apt downstairs $48 (neg): 6727390, 225-0854, 225-0843 New Built Concrete La Grange 1 Master bedroom,2 Bedroom and Entertainment $65m: 225-0854, 225-0843, 672-7390 BB Eccles H/S concrete 2 flat 4 bedrooms, G$32MCall: 609-2302, 609-6516 Nandy Park concrete 2 flat, ground floor 2 bedrooms, top floor 3 bedrooms G$34MCall: 609 2302, 609 6516 (Continued on page 66)

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

Bailed Russian opposition leader vows to become Moscow mayor Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny (L) addresses his supporters after arriving from Kirov, with his wife yesterday. (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny told cheering supporters yesterday he wants to contest and win an election to become Moscow mayor after being freed on bail while he fights a five-year jail sentence. Hundreds of people, some waving white roses, gave one of President Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Moscow on the overnight train from Kirov, the industrial city where he was convicted of theft on Thursday. The crowd applauded the tired-looking anti-corruption campaigner as he stepped off the train and chanted: “Navalny is our mayor” and “We represent power”. “We have a big and difficult election campaign

ahead of us. Seven weeks of work non-stop. And that is only the beginning,” Navalny told the crowd through a megaphone. “Let’s fight for political power in the country right now.” Punching the air with his fist, his wife Yulia at his side, he said: “We will certainly win! Let’s get to work! We are going for elections and we will win.” Navalny, 37, can run for mayor on September 8 if he can string out his appeal until then. Winning would hand him a propaganda victory and give him of the most influential jobs in the country, with offices a few hundred meters from the Kremlin. The sentence was unexpectedly tough and was seen by Putin’s opponents as part of a wider clampdown on

dissent since the president began a six-year third term in May, 2012. But it was followed by an equally surprising move on Friday when a judge approved a prosecution request to free Navalny pending an appeal so that he could run in the Moscow election. Experts said it was unprecedented for the prosecution to seek bail on such terms after sentencing, and political experts said it pointed to differences in the Kremlin over how to handle Navalny and unease over the renewed protests. Navalny’s supporters say the decision to release him could also be an effort by Russian authorities to legitimize the election and Sobyanin’s likely victory.

Rival accuses Germany’s Merkel of deceit over euro zone bailouts (Reuters) - Germany’s main opposition leader Peer Steinbrueck accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of covering up the likelihood that German taxpayers will have to fund further euro zone bailouts due to a looming election. Steinbrueck, who is lagging Merkel in the run-up to the September 22 vote, was quoted by a German magazine yesterday as saying a fresh writedown on Greek debt would mean losses for public creditors, in other words taxpayers. “As such, the illusion about not being a union of joint liability would burst like a bubble - possibly even

before the federal elections,” Steinbrueck told Wirtschaftswoche. He added it could “not be excluded in any way” that other countries might need further financial help after the election. Many debt experts believe Europe will have to write off some bailout loans to Greece if the country is to make a successful return to capital markets. The International Monetary Fund said last month Athens may require additional debt relief as early as next year, although it did not specify what the relief might look like. Merkel and her

government have in recent weeks repeatedly ruled out a further writedown of Greek debt. An open debate about loan losses could damage Merkel in the run-up to the vote. She is tipped to win a third term, in part because voters believe she has shielded them from such losses during a debt crisis that first erupted in Greece in late 2009. Private owners of Greek debt were forced to swallow significant losses on their holdings last year, but European governments and the European Central Bank, which bought up Greek bonds at the height of the crisis, have refused to take a hit.

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Egypt forms committee to amend constitution CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s interim president named a committee of legal experts yesterday to propose amendments to the country’s Islamist-drafted constitution after a popularly backed military coup ousted the country’s first freely elected president. It is the latest push by the country’s new leadership to move ahead with a militarybacked timetable for a return to democratic rule despite determined protests by former President Mohammed Mursi’s supporters over his ouster. The drafting of Egypt’s constitution was one of the most divisive issues that came to characterize Mursi’s first and only year in office. His Muslim Brotherhood group officially has refused to negotiate with the new government, saying they are open for talks only after Mursi is reinstated. They say the only legitimate constitution is the one voted on and ratified by Mursi in December. Liberals twice walked out of committees drafting the charter under Mursi, complaining that the Brotherhood and its allies dominated the process and stifled their suggestions. Protests over the constitution and the direction of the country turned deadly after Mursi issued temporary decrees in late November that put himself and the drafting committee above judicial oversight. The charter was then finalized in a rushed overnight session and passed in a nationwide referendum. The military suspended the constitution after the July 3 coup. In a decree yesterday, interim President Adly Mansour appointed the 10-

Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Mursi hold his poster and wave national flags as the protest at a park in front of Cairo University. (AP Photo) member committee that will propose amendments to the constitution. The committee is comprised of six judges — two from the Supreme Constitutional Court that Adly headed — and four constitutional law professors. Committee members have 30 days to suggest amendments. A second committee, comprised of 50 public figures including politicians, unionists and religious figures, will then have 60 days to review those amendments. After that, citizens will vote on the proposed amendments in a referendum, according to the militarybacked timetable. Parliamentary elections are to follow. Unlike the previous drafting committee under

Mursi, at least 20 percent of the second committee is to be represented by young Egyptians who helped galvanize street movements and women. Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, a leading figure in the Tamarod petition drive that mobilized the massive street protests that led to Mursi’s ouster, said his group has launched a new initiative to collect suggestions from Egyptians on the constitution. In a decree yesterday, interim President Adly Mansour appointed the 10member committee that will propose amendments to the constitution. The committee is comprised of six judges — two from the Supreme Constitutional Court that Adly headed — and four constitutional law professors.

Pakistani clerics ban women from shopping alone in northwest area DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Clerics in northwest Pakistan have issued a temporary ban on women shopping unless accompanied by a male relative, a police official said yesterday, in a step designed to keep men from being distracted during the holy month of Ramadan. Police are supporting the ban, announced over mosque loudspeakers on Friday in Karak district in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, district police official Fazal Hanif told Reuters.

Unaccompanied women will be arrested and shopkeepers may be punished for selling items to women on their own. One trader said he feared the ban would affect business and damage the region’s reputation. “We never supported this ban and convened a meeting on Wednesday to protest over the clerics’ decision,” Munwar Khan, one of the merchants in the region, told Reuters. Vast swathes of rural Pakistan, whose name means “Land of the Pure”, are deeply

conservative. Thousands of women have been killed in recent years for behavior their families considered improper. The mosque announcements said the ban was intended to stop men from being distracted during Ramadan, when Muslims are meant to fast from dawn to sunset. The annual period of fasting and prayer falls in July this year. The ban was proposed by a faction of the Jamiat Ulemae-Islam party led by Fazl-urRehman, local administration official Sarfaraz Khattak said.

Sunday July 21, 2013

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

Sunday July 21, 2013

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The Abigail Column Find out if sweetheart is open to change

DEARABIGAIL, I’ve been dating a man for about a year. Our relationship got serious very fast. We stated to live together, and since then, he has shown his true colours. When we argue about things such as household chores (just one of the many issues we have), he likes to ignore me, tune me out, etc. He calls me childish, but I’m pretty sure ignoring me is

acting a little like a 5-year-old. I’m on the verge of packing up my things and leaving. I want to try to work things out before giving up completely. My man does have many good qualities, and I do love him very dearly, but my patience is wearing very thin. Turned Off

interest in changing. One thing is that while good communication is one key to a successful long-term relationship, some couples succeed by simply going to their separate corners and agreeing to disagree. Name-calling, however, will never work. Contempt is a deal breaker. You two can work together to change the dynamic between you. If he is not open to talking about this, or if he thinks the unhealthy dynamic is your fault and your sole responsibility, then you should probably get out of this relationship.

Dear Turned Off, To start living together when you are still getting to know each other is challenging. The phrase “What were you thinking?” springs to mind. Before pulling up stakes, however, gauge your man’s

Sunday July 21, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): It’s time to fulfill your domestic obligations or professional responsibilities and, if you do your job well, significant rewards are yours. The point is that you must earn them the good oldfashioned way with determination and hard work.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): Applying your energy toward projects around the house is nurturing for your soul today. However, frustration might set in if the good times seem to be a step or two away.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20): Even if you’re deeply involved with family issues now, you might have to adopt a more cautious approach to what’s going on at home.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): You have places to go and people to see now that the ambitious Capricorn Moon is moving through your 3rd House of Distractions. Unfortunately, your calendar may be so full that you don’t get to do what you want.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20): You may wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, thinking about all the responsibilities being piled upon you. There’s no need to be silent; speak up if you don’t think you should be doing what’s being asked of you now.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): You are so smooth at justifying your decisions today that others might think your actions are based upon your strong personal values. You’re adept at keeping your feelings hidden now, making it nearly impossible for anyone to see your real motives.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): Feeling stress from a relationship has you questioning your own motives today, along with everything else. You don’t know what to say in order to delay an emotionally disruptive interaction but nearly any action is likely better than doing nothing at all.

CAPRICORN(Dec.22–Jan.19): It’s a mixed blessing when the Moon activates your sign for a couple of days. Normally, the evocative Moon draws you toward your emotions. However, you may be keeping your feelings to yourself now.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22): You’re slightly annoyed today because you feel as if you should be working on something even if you don’t know exactly what it is.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18): Almost anything that isn’t out in the open now can be the source of great stress. For example, someone may be creating trouble behind your back to block your forward movement.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): You are quite aware of your social obligations now and you are resigned to fulfill them, no matter what it takes.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): You may be quite creative today, but it’s challenging to locate an outlet for your bursts of spontaneous expression.

Boxing coaches deliver insightful lectures as pugilists... From page 71 performance, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and Sport, bringing with him 23 years experience as a Coach in a Centre for High Performance and an additional 12 years experience as a boxer. “You will be leaving here with more knowledge than you came here with, so I urge you to grasp as much as you can and take this back to your respective gyms, making your gyms and boxers much better” said Ninvalle.

He applauded the two females present amongst the participants, adding that the GBA is trying their utmost best to put amateur boxing on the pedestal where it needs to be, saying it is not an easy task, but they are not giving up the fight to do so, while he thanked Roldan for his presence and willingness to impart his knowledge to the participants. Activities conclude today and will commence at 11:00hrs whereupon at the end of ses-

sions participants will receive certificates. (Michael Benjamin)

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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‘WEST INDIES COULD STILL FINISH WITH A FLOURISH, BUT SENIOR BATSMEN NEED TO STEP UP!’ Colin E. H. Croft Later today, at 1-1, one tied, two to play, West Indies and Pakistan go at it again, trying diligently to effect superiority! That tie in “Helen of the West” – SLU - last Friday only re-confirmed how extremely close these two teams have always been. If hearts are not perfect, do not try to endure these next two games! Former, maybe even next, West Indies One Day International captain, Darren Sammy’s tweet was right. He exhaled with a massive sigh of relief for his team’s success in Guyana. Even that tie was a strange win! West Indies needed that face-saving success against Pakistan in 2nd ODI, at Guyana’s National Stadium at Providence. Again, batsmen failed, generally, but, at least, like almost always, bowlers shone through! What is it about these batsmen that is so enigmatic? Vast deserts do not blow this varied hot and cold! Having tied last Friday at truly beautiful Beausejour cricket ground, in the island I consider the Caribbean’s most beautiful, St. Lucia, West Indies could still finish the 2013 ODI season on a great high! Triumphantly starting 2013 playing Tests against a gallant but under par Zimbabwe, West Indies faltered badly after that in ODI’s; Champions Trophy in UK, then against India and Sri Lanka last month; not even, disappointingly, making their “own” final. Few expected that decline. As promised and has been so since their first series tour

Regional U19 tourney Aaron Jones stroked a fine century as Barbados grabbed first innings points from Guyana in the first round of the Regional U-19 Three day tournament which continued yesterday at

Lendl Simmons (WICB)

Misbah-ul-Haq (AFP) against West Indies, in 1958, when legends Conrad Hunte, Everton Weeks, Clyde Walcott, Hanif Mohammed, Wazir Mohammed, Roy Gilchrist, OG “Collie” Smith, Lance Gibbs, Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Fazal Mahmood, Nazim-ul-Ghani, Imtiaz Ahmed and Saeed Ahmed all featured, Pakistan and hosts are now as evenly poised and evenly placed as ever. My first Test series, 1977, Pakistan’s second only Caribbean tour, was even closer than that, West Indies just winning 2-1. Certainly, with this excitement, Pakistan should tour here much more often! As in my 1st Test, in Barbados, Pakistan should

failing and the line-up always needs propping up from the tail! Misbah’s 75 and that flashing 40 from wicketkeeper Umar Akmal, reminding all too of his older brother, and former wicketkeeper, Kamran, put Pakistan to an unlikely, quite underwhelming, gettable, 229. Jason Holder, always with potential, has settled in well, 2-40 (10 overs) showing that his 4-13 at Providence was no fluke. To date, six ODI’s, ten wickets, avg. 20.70, economy rate 4.19 per over, are not bad at all. 98, 232-8 and scramble to tie at 229-9, have also shown that West Indies batting is not doing its job well!

Jones century gives Barbados first innings points, Narayan bags 5 Warner Park. Barbados resumed on their overnight first innings score of 53-3 with Aaron Jones on nine and Jameel Stuart on seven, in reply to Guyana’s 234 and rallied to

Demerara Cricket Board calls meeting for all East Coast clubs The Demerara Cricket Board is inviting all active Clubs on the East Coast Demerara to an important meeting regarding cricket and the B o a r d ’s Competitions. This invitation is being

have won last Friday. Had it not been for real doggedness, showing true team grit, from bowlers turned batsmen, as in 1977, West Indies would have lost! Chris Gayle did make a century in Jamaica last month, as highlighted, after ten poor innings, but the lull continues. He has gone so much off the boil that one wonders if he is in the house, much less the kitchen! Again that old stager, Misbah-ul-Haq, quite reminiscent of Mustaq Mohammed, kept Pakistan together, easily displaying why a batsman like West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul should always be included, especially when their batsmen have been

issued as a result of numerous complaints from Clubs in the area about inactivity regarding cricket. The meeting will be held on Monday (tomorrow) July 22, 2013 in the GCB Boardroom at 17:30 hours.

305 before they were bowled out in 100.5 overs. Jones and Stuart took the score to 101 before Stuart was caught off Sankar for 31. Jones then shared in a fifth wicket stand of 58 with C Maynard, reaching his half century in the process which came in 159 minutes off 135 balls with six fours. Maynard was then caught for 32 off Shawn Pereira at 159-5 before Shamar Springer was bowled by Narayan without scoring at 202-6. Jones soon reached his century off 232 balls in 200 minutes with fourteen fours. He and Jofra Archer frustrated

the Guyanese with a seventh wicket stand of 92 before play was halted for a few minutes due to rain. After the interval Narayan trapped Jones leg before for 143 at 294 before Archer and Jerome Jones were dismissed in quick succession as Barbados took a 71 run lead. Narayan was the pick of the bowlers with 5-57 in 22.5 overs. Guyana, hunting their 13th title began their second innings in disastrous fashion losing the wickets of Shimron Hetymer (02), Tagenarine Chanderpaul (04) and Brain Sattaur (05) at 11-3.

Indeed, had it not been for recently recalled all-rounder, Lendl Simmons, who should have featured fully against India and Sri Lanka, West Indies would have fared even worse. His 75 in ODI No. 3 was priceless! At 7-184, over No. 47, with Kieron Pollard again failing, no-score; his confidence seems utterly shot; West Indies were down and almost out. At 9-205, over No. 48, Pakistan certainly held the upper hand. But the two young Barbadians, Kemar Roach and Holder, obviously known much more for their bowling than batting, held their own brilliantly, for at least a West Indies tie. That is very similar, incidentally, to a young Joel Garner and Colin Croft, along with Andy Roberts, actually saving West Indies, for a tight draw in Test No. 1, back in 1977! It seems that West Indies bowlers are always saving face for the batsmen, but really, these present batsmen can hide no longer. Their massive reputations go before them, but they have fizzled out! Only Darren Bravo, 54 in ODI No. 2, along with Simmons’ 75 last Friday, have been West Indies batsmen’s totals of more than 50. With such a batting line-up, that

Colin E. H. Croft statistic is severely galling! Johnson Charles, his more illustrious counterparts Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Pollard, even Marlon Samuels, are finding that the wispiness and varied speed, left and right, from Pakistan’s Mohammed Irfan, Asad Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Mohammed Afeez, to be very troubling. The pitches too have not been what perhaps West Indies needs. Misbah-ul-Haq has already suggested that the Providence Stadium pitch was one of the toughest that he has played on, where scoring runs was at a premium, while Beausejour was also relatively slow, if at least more bouncy and playable. So, evenly matched, the series has become a cauldron of survival for batsmen! West Indies’ own have a chance starting today, to change that, and, for a bonus, win a series too. Enjoy!

RBC postpones Seawall Bandstand race The inclement weather has forced the Roraima Bikers Club (RBC) to postpone its Bryden and Fernandes 10-race event around the Seawall Bandstand which was scheduled for today. According to club President Brian Allen, they decided to reschedule the event in the best interest of cyclists’ safety. Allen has apologised to cyclists and fans for the postponement, saying that the activity would be held as soon as the weather improves. For this inaugural event, the club is partnering with Bryden and Fernandes, a subsidiary of the John Fernandes Group of Companies. Allen noted that the aim of bringing off yet another race meet at the Seawall Bandstand is to reignite the interest of spectators in the sport and he is elated that Bryden and Fernandes is on

board to help in this regard. Earlier this month, RBC in partnership with the National Milling Company (NAMILCO), brought off the 10th annual CARICOM Day event at the same venue with more races and it attracted a huge turnout. Allen posited that the Bryden and Fernandes’ activity will be another success. The Bryden and Fernandes Classic, 30-laps contest will be the feature race which carries a first prize of $10,000. The top six finishers will be rewarded financially. Other races on the day: 12-14 Juveniles (3 laps), Junior/Category 4 (5 laps), Category 1-3 (5 laps), Veteran’s Over-50 (5 laps), Veteran’s Under-50 (5 laps), Team Time Trials (4 laps), Win and Out (8 laps), Mountain Bike Open (5 laps) and Female Open (5 laps). Incentives are at stake for the top three spots in each race.

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Sunday July 21, 2013

Over 75 entered for RCMTC&SF and PMTC horserace meet

All systems are in place for the long awaited Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sports Facilities (RCMTC&SF) and Port Mourant Turf Club (PMTC) one day horserace meet set for today at the Port Mourant Turf Club. The meet will now have eight races on the cards and still has over a whopping $6M in cash and trophies up for grabs. The B and lower event will once again be the feature activity of the day with horses such Score’s Even, Mission King, Ellies Vision, Renia Del Café, Got to Go, Who Is on The Case, Country Armagh, and new Imports like Bee Bomb, C.P Got Even Africianise and Funny factor all trying to make an early impression for the $700,000 and trophy in the 1200M sprint. The race for Guyana and West Indies three year old

horses has the likes of Cat Messiah, Silent Night, Flying Baby, Set for Fame, Another Jet, De legend, Silver Jet, Party Time and Easy to win going for the win in the 1300M race and the $350,000 and trophy up for grabs. Summer Classic, Traditional Man, Captain Crook, War Craft, Treacle, Celebrating Love and Top of the Line are among the top class cast entered for the much anticipated G1 and lower contest for the $300,000 and trophy over 1300M . The G3 and lower event is also expected to be a ding dong affair with Joyful Victory, Quiet Storm, Silent Lizzy, Third World, Super Bowl, Rock Sonia, Windy War and Rosetta among those looking for the victory and the $300,000 top prize and trophy over 1200M. The G1 and lower race will feature War Craft, Dubai Duchess, The Bailiff, Bridal

Stone Corner, Traditional man, Appealing Harvest and Captain Crook. Among other horses lined up to compete are Summer Classic, Top of the Line, Joyful Victory, Rock Sonia, Quiet Storm, Cat Messiah among others. The two year old West Indies bred race has Treasure Hunt, Unsettled, No Body Want me, Golden Key, Royal Empire, Quiet Dancer and Book Rules all will be looking for a good introduction to the track as they compete for the $300,000 and trophy over 1000M. There is the two year old event for Guyana bred horses with a winners money of $220,000 over 1000M, the ‘I’ and lower race will be a 1200M affair with a first prize of $200,000 and trophy and the J and K class 1200M event with $150,000 and trophy at stake. Outstanding individual

performers including top Jockey, trainer and stable will be presented with accolades compliments of the Trophy Stall, Bourda Market and the organisers. Among the sponsors on board so far are Banks DIH Limited, Omai Transportation, Trophy Stall of Bourda Market, Toolsie Persaud Limited, South Land Incorporated, Sharon Incorporated, Mohamed Rahim and Sons, Balram Shane General Store, Friends of Port Mourant, Bobby and Indranie Misir, R and C Poonai and Delmur Shipping Company, Crown Spot Lemonade, Krishna Auto Sales, Terrence Laljit, Guinness Bar Rose Hall Town and Attorney at Law Tajenarine Ramroop. The race will be run under the rules of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA). Race time is 12:30 hrs.

West Indies v Pakistan, 4th ODI, St Lucia

TOP-ORDER WORRIES REMAIN FOR BOTH TEAMS ESPNcricinfo - Attribute it to the impact of Twenty20 if you may, but with the recent trend in one-dayers, even a cushion of 15 runs to defend off the final over may not be enough for fielding sides to feel safe. Ask Pakistan. In the last two months, they have choked while defending the exact number, first against Ireland and Friday against West Indies. Both ended in ties. More recently, Sri Lanka too cracked under pressure against last-minute specialist MS Dhoni, the only difference being they conceded the match and the tri-series trophy to India. Such is the standard of death bowling these days that it is possible for Nos 9 and 11 to finish off improbable chases. Friday’s game was Pakistan’s to lose with West Indies needing 39 off the last three with two wickets remaining. A combination of poor field placings and equally poor bowling cost them. Even with 15 to defend off six, Pakistan were better off saving boundaries than cutting off singles. Wahab Riaz bowled length instead of firing in yorkers, that Junaid Khan did so effectively. One of the commentators suggested that Mohammad Hafeez would have been a better choice. Despite the choke, Pakistan had positives to draw from the game, most notably their fielding.

Excluding a couple of blunders that cost boundaries - a misfield from Shahid Afridi at the start of the chase and Riaz moving the wrong way at long-on during the climax - the commitment was pleasing. Ahmed Shehzad and Hafeez took a couple of sharp catches and the number of sliding stops inches from the rope only made West Indies’ task harder. In the batting, Umar Akmal and Riaz played positively in the slog overs to take 52 off the last 4.2 overs. Misbah-ul-Haq laid the platform with 75, but it was another laborious knock that consumed too many balls. One thing the two sides have in common is an undependable top order. A spectator held a placard asking for Chris Gayle to be demoted down the order, given his lackluster form. Gayle has been struggling against two new balls and a quality seam attack, so it may not be a bad idea for him to swap places with an in-form Lendl Simmons. West Indies have also put more pressure on themselves by not rotating the strike enough. Pakistan don’t really have a weak fifth bowler, so the batsmen can’t expect too many boundary balls. As the captain Dwayne Bravo said after the match, the tie was not a satisfactory result for the hosts because the batsmen had no business

leaving the dirty work to the tailenders. IN THE SPOTLIGHT A glance at the scorecard shows that Marlon Samuels’ 46 was the second-highest score of the match. A closer look reveals an unpalatable strike rate of 43.39, that of a painful 106-ball stint that really slowed West Indies down. He hasn’t been himself in these three matches, facing 246 balls for 92 runs. Something’s been bothering him. It could be the nature of the pitches or a quality bowling attack, or both. West Indies might still place their faith in him to rediscover his touch, but will the short turnaround time between matches be enough? Pakistan experimented with a one-dimensional left-

arm seam attack and among the three, Mohammad Irfan was the most probing, with his steep bounce and angle that made the likes of Gayle and Samuels think twice about going for their shots. He has the pace as well to go with those attributes, making him a handful in the bowlerfriendly conditions. The teams could go in with unchanged line-ups. Kieron Pollard has six ducks in 2013. The recordholder for the most ducks in a calendar year is Herschelle Gibbs, who had eight in 2002. Will he play and will he get another? Misbah-ul-Haq is currently the leading runscorer in 2013 with 692 runs at 53.23 and from his performance that could continue.

Grenville Felix cycle road race set for today It is expected to be stiff competition when the second annual Grenville Felix cycle road race gets underway in Berbice today. The 96 year old retired Engineer is expected to send the cyclist on their way around 09:00 hrs from in from of his residence at Canefield East Canje, Berbice. The 40 miles event, which is for cyclists of the Flying Ace Cycle Club only, will see the riders’ journeying from the point of origin to

Adventure on the Corentyne Coast and back. Prizes will be awarded to the first four finishers, the first two juniors, the first two veterans and the first juvenile to cross the finish line. Felix along with his relatives including his 10 overseas based children will be on hand to assist with the distribution of the prizes after the event. Randolph Roberts is the coordinator.

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Joe Root’s 178 not out gives England total control BBC Sport - Joe Root scored a masterful unbeaten 178 to put England in total control against Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. The Yorkshire batsman batted throughout the third day as England lost only two wickets to close on 333-5, a lead of 566. At 22 years and 202 days, Root became England’s youngest Ashes centurion at Lord’s and shared partnerships of 99 with Tim Bresnan and 153 with Ian Bell, who made 74. On another miserable day for the tourists, who were bowled out for 128 on Friday to concede a 233-run firstinnings lead, Bell was controversially given not out on three by third umpire Tony Hill despite appearing to be caught just above the ground by Steve Smith. He took full advantage, unfurling some sublime shots after tea and marching towards his third consecutive century of the series, before dragging a long-hop from Smith straight to midwicket. Root’s mature and composed innings was a timely reminder of his talent and ends the debate over his promotion to the top of the order at Nick Compton’s expense. Root, who scored his maiden Test century against New Zealand in May batting

Joe Root completes his first Ashes hundred (Getty Images)

at number five, had only mustered 41 runs in three previous innings in the series. But, having had a lucky escape on eight on Friday evening when he edged between wicketkeeper and slip, he struck the first ball of the day through midwicket for

four and looked untroubled thereafter. He took 122 balls to reach his fifty, another 125 to complete a century, but only 64 more to reach 150 as he and Bell carried England’s lead beyond 500 to suck any remaining morale out of

Australia. With England’s lead already 148 runs in excess of the highest successful fourth-innings chase in Test history, captain Alastair Cook must decide whether to declare overnight and give himself two full days to bowl Australia out, or to continue batting in order to further wear down the pitch. Either way, with offspinner Graeme Swann looking to add to his firstinnings five-wicket haul on a pitch turning substantially, England appear all but certain to take a 2-0 lead in the fivematch series and establish themselves as overwhelming favourites to retain the Ashes. Australia began the day knowing they needed to pick up where they left off on Friday, when three quick wickets had given them hope of fighting their way back into the game. They found stubborn resistance, however, as Root and Bresnan carefully consolidated England’s overall position of strength during only the third wicketless session of the series. Bresnan had advanced to 38, with four fours, when he pulled James Pattinson to midwicket to give Australia their first wicket of the day. And when Bell appeared to be caught by Smith at gully

after fending off a rising delivery from Ryan Harris, Australia thought they had a second. Bell shrugged to suggest he was unsure whether the catch was clean, and the on-field umpires referred the decision to Hill, who ruled that there was insufficient evidence to give the batsman out. Australia’s players made their frustrations clear to the officials, while an angry tweet containing expletives was posted on the official account of Cricket Australia, prompting an apology from the governing body. Bell, who scored 109 in both the second innings at

Trent Bridge and first at Lord’s, showed no remorse as he cut, drove and swept his way to a 36th Test fifty. He and Root scored 109 in 17 overs either side of tea as England took advantage of some average bowling with the old ball. Bell sank to his knees in frustration after picking out Chris Rogers to deny himself another hundred, but the day belonged to Root, who signed off in style by launching Smith for two sixes in three balls. Scores: England 333-5 (Root 178*, Bell 74) and 361 lead Australia 128 by 566 runs.

Joe Root plays the reverse sweep (Associated Press)

T&T Karate Federation Stag Beer/WDFA Senior League CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter Matches continue today finals in Baltimore sold out President receives US Miami – The July 19, 2009 at Arlington, Rivalry in the Stag Beer games in the opening match President award Confederation of North, Texas) and New sponsored West Demerara at 14:00hrs.

Virginia Seebaran (L) & Nicholas Seebaran Trinidad and Tobago Karate Federation (TTKF) President, Virginia Seebaran received the US President Physical Fitness Award for excellence for her contributions to the development of martial arts. This award is bestowed upon individuals who unselfishly give their time and expertise to advancement of Sport in the United States.

Ms. Seebaran took over as President of the TTKF in December of 2007. Under her leadership the TTKF has secured lasting

relationships with major World martial arts organizations. TTKF is well known for its pursuit of education ‘beyond black belt’. No other group has done so much to enhance and elevate the position of the martial arts coach, official and instructor. Also receiving Presidential award was Nicholas Seebaran for karate officiating. Nicholas is the youngest referee certified by the World United Karate Organization (WUKO) and holds a Continental Referee license.

Football Association (WDFA) Senior League will continue today following two matches yesterday at the Den Amstel Community Centre Ground, West Coast Demerara. Fans and supporters are in for a treat when Uitvlugt, unbeaten after 3 matches comes up against Jetty, still languishing without a point after a similar amount of

The main clash features point’s leaders Slingerz (12 points) and Young Achievers of Pouderoyen, with six points from their three matches having suffered one loss. Yesterday, Stewartville FC were down to face Beavers in the feature attraction, while Seawall FC and Wales were to collide in the opening game.

Rules change on... From page 68 retired at age 23. “I just decided to move on,” Houseman said. While he can’t speak for WADA’s reasoning for the change, Fedoruk says he thinks the goal is to focus on more “potent ergogenic drugs such as EPO, human growth hormone and testosterone. “Enhancing our capabilities in doing our job better to being able to detect those is always a goal of the

anti-doping movement. To the extent that perhaps resources can be reallocated because countries maybe aren’t spending as much on cannabis, I think it’s a potentially good thing.” Rebagliati, who retired from snowboard competition in 2000, is open about his feelings on the subject. “Everybody knew I was a pot smoker after the Olympics,” he said. “I said I smoked and I still smoke but I never denied it.”

Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) has disclosed that the 2013 Gold Cup quarterfinals featuring USA vs. El Salvador and Costa Rica vs. Honduras on Sunday (today) July 21, will be played before a sold out crowd of more than 71,000 fans at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. “The support of fans in every Gold Cup venue has been incredible,” said CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb. “I am extremely happy with the news from Baltimore that Sunday’s Quarterfinal doubleheader at M&T Bank Stadium is sold out. It will be a tremendous day for soccer, CONCACAF, the Gold Cup and the city of Baltimore. “Once again, people will be united through our great sport.” The Baltimore doubleheader will be the third largest CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinal attendance in the tournament’s history. M&T Bank Stadium joins Cowboys Stadium (85,000 on

Meadowlands Stadium (78,807 on June 28, 2011 at East Rutherford, New Jersey. “It’s incredible to see the sustained excitement that international soccer has generated in Baltimore,” stated Roy Sommerhof, the Ravens’ vice president of stadium operations. “Fans in this region are tremendously passionate, and we’re delighted to feature a world class competition like the Gold Cup at M&T Bank Stadium.” Kickoff for USA-El Salvador is set for 4 p.m. ET live on FOX and Univision, followed by Costa RicaHonduras at 7 p.m. ET, live on FOX Soccer Channel and Univision. The winners of Sunday’s matches advance to the semifinals at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday, July 24. The 2013 Gold Cup final, which will crown the best of the confederation, as well as secure a play-in spot to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, will be played Sunday, July 28 at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

RULES CHANGE ON OLYMPIC MARIJUANA TESTING USA Today - It’s been 15 years since Ross Rebagliati won snowboarding’s first Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games — and then nearly lost that medal after he tested positive for marijuana. Since then, the drug has become an integral part of Rebagliati’s life. Next month Rebagliati will open a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Whistler, British Columbia, called “Ross’ Gold.” The Canadian has also become a public face for pot-smoking athletes around the globe. “Anytime somebody gets in trouble for weed I’m the guy the media calls,” Rebagliati, who lives outside Whistler, told USA TODAY Sports. “I went on NBC to defend (Michael) Phelps for smoking responsibly. I told them, Hey, it’s zero calories, zero fat!’” Now 42, Rebagliati

believes that changing attitudes toward marijuana — it’s now legal for medicinal purposes in Canada and 14 U.S. states — justifies the drug’s removal from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances. Like cocaine and heroin, cannabis is banned during competition by WADA, which oversees drug testing worldwide in Olympic sports. WADA recently amended its rules on cannabis, raising the threshold for a positive test from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 ng/ml. In 1998 at the Nagano Games, Rebagliati recorded a level of 17.8 ng/ml, and argued the test resulted from second-hand smoke, which he still says. Ben Nichols, a spokesperson for WADA, said the raising of the threshold is meant to catch only athletes who smoke during the period of a competition. The drug isn’t prohibited out of competition.

“Our information suggests that many cases do not involve game or eventday consumption,” Nichols said. “The new threshold level is an attempt to ensure that in-competition use is detected and not use during the days and weeks before competition.” Raising the threshold level to 150 nanograms per milliliter means that an athlete would have to be a “pretty dedicated cannabis consumer” to test positive, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Last year four athletes in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s pool tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana. That’s a small percentage of the 2,776 incompetition tests the agency

Haroon Lorgat appointed new CSA chief ESPNcricinfo - Haroon Lorgat, the former ICC CEO, has been appointed Cricket South Africa’s new chief executive. The position has been vacant since October last year, when Gerald Majola was fired in the aftermath of the bonus-payments scandal. “Mr Lorgat’s appointment follows a thorough and rigorous process to fill this important position,” CSA president Chris Nenzani said. “The quality of the candidates was exceptional and I would like to express my appreciation to the subcommittee of the board as well as my colleagues on the board who have brought this matter to a highly satisfactory conclusion.” Although CSA refused to confirm the other candidates, Lorgat is believed to have seen off challenges from at least three other hopefuls. They included former football head, Bheki Shongwe, who was the managing director of Kaizer Chiefs, Murphy Morobe, who is in charge of Kagiso media and Denver Hendricks, a director at the University of Pretoria. Of the names on the shortlist, Lorgat was the only one with extensive experience in cricket administration. He was previously a treasurer of CSA and convenor of selectors, and he spent four years as CEO of the ICC. It was in the last of those

Haroon Lorgat comes with extensive experience in cricket administration (Getty Images) roles that Lorgat is believed to have bumped heads with the most powerful body in cricket, the BCCI. They are thought to have clashed over the Future Tours Programme, the DRS and an ICC independent governance review. The BCCI expressed their unhappiness at Lorgat’s possible appointment as early as March, when CSA drew up their initial shortlist. At the time, lead independent director on CSA’s board Norman Arendse confirmed that the BCCI had raised concerns over Lorgat. “We said to them we had embarked on a process and that it would be a premature to discuss him or the outcome of that process because we are waiting for it to be concluded,” Arendse said.

CSA had also heard that the BCCI were considering pulling out of the upcoming tour should Lorgat be appointed. CSA proceeded to lengthen the process of appointing a new CEO, widened the net and allowed for more applicants to put their names forward. Lorgat, who remained interested in the job, provided the board restructured as they were instructed to by a ministerial investigation into the bonus-payments affair, was also on the list the second time around. Before interviews could be conducted, the fixtures for an India tour comprising of two T20s, seven ODIs and three Tests were released by CSA. The BCCI stated their objection to the schedule but there has been no official news of a bid to boycott the tour. ESPNcricinfo understands the two boards are in discussions over whether to tweak the itinerary and CSA do not foresee any problems with India’s visit. Lorgat and his fellow applicants presented to CSA’s board today and Lorgat was appointed immediately. A date has not been released for Lorgat to officially take up office, but he is believed to be available immediately. That would mean acting CEO Naasei Appiah will vacate the post as soon as next week.

conducted. But one of the athletes, wrestler Stephany Lee, was kept off the Olympic team after testing positive at the Olympic trials. USOC chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky declined to be interviewed for the story but released a statement that said the USOC is committed to clean competition. “Additionally, we respect WADA’s decision-making expertise and processes – they decide what is banned and what thresholds to apply and we work to ensure that U.S. athletes are appropriately educated,” the statement read. Although marijuana isn’t viewed to have obvious performance-enhancing qualities, one of the reasons it’s on WADA’s list in the first place is because of the drug’s possible effect during competition. For example, you wouldn’t want a bobsledder driving down an icy track while impaired, said Dr. Matt Fedoruk, USADA’s science director. He adds that the the definition of performance enhancing drugs shouldn’t be limited to “making you stronger and faster and being able to jump higher. It’s how it affects some of the other parameters that are really important like pain or confidence or some of the things that are a bit more difficult to measure or define analytically.” Athletes sanctioned by the USADA for marijuana generally receive suspensions ranging from three months to a year, depending on the athlete’s case and if there was a past violation and whether the drug was coupled with other banned substances. A threemonth suspension can be deferred if an athlete completes an education program. The International Olympic Committee originally banned drugs like marijuana and cocaine because of their illegality, and because they violate the “spirit of sport.” WADA, created in 1999, follows three criteria in establishing its list of banned substances: performance enhancement, danger to an athlete’s health and violation of the spirit of sport. Society’s attitudes toward marijuana may have contributed to the timing of WADA’s change, St. Pierre said. He points to Colorado and Washington passing legislation last year to legalize the drug for recreational use. “So they kind of ask the question ... if we really don’t

Ross Rebagliati works with growers in anticipation of the opening of Ross' Gold store. (Photo Sports Images for USA TODAY) believe overtly that this is causing people to game the system by developing greater athletic skills, shouldn’t we really revisit this,” St. Pierre said. “It’s kind of hard to imagine that cannabis should be thrown into that mixture (of banned drugs) unless it is still viewed as a moral turpitude,” he added. “Society doesn’t seem to view it anymore as a moral turpitude.” Attitudes toward the drug vary around the world. “It’s a global prohibited list,” Fedoruk said. “One country doesn’t have the last word per se on inclusion of substances. Globally there’s been some pressure from various stakeholders to address what is the appropriate threshold that you would catch use in competition only of cannabis. I think the change was to try to reflect that more accurately.” St. Pierre also raised the issue of the anti-inflammatory qualities associated with cannabinoids and whether they could provide some athletes an unfair advantage. Athletes such as former Dallas Cowboys center Mark Stepnoski have said that the drug has helped in recovery after strenuous training. St. Pierre says there’s more scientific research being done that supports those claims. In the sports that fall under WADA jurisdiction, pot use still accounts for a significant number of violations. According to USADA statistics, of the 147 sanctions since 2008, 28 were from cannabis. Dr. Don Catlin, founder of the UCLA Olympic Analytic Laboratory, said cannabis violations account for a larger number internationally. In 2003, cannabinoids accounted for 13.9% (378 of 2,716) of all adverse analytical findings (samples that found the presence of a banned substance or method), according to WADA

statistics. Only anabolic agents such as testosterone and stimulants surpassed cannabinoids as banned substances found in testing. In 2011, WADA reported 445 violations for cannabis or 7.9% of 5,600 adverse test results. One of the founders of modern day drug testing, Catlin said there was a longrunning debate about marijuana during the early years of testing for banned substances. “Some people felt it wasn’t correct to use a PED test to try and clean up the image of sport,” Catlin said. “In the end the IOC decided you should test for those kinds of drugs.” Positive marijuana tests can have a serious impact on athletes lives. Last summer American judo athlete Nick Delpopolo was sent home from the London Olympics after testing positive. Delpopolo, who said the test was a result of eating baked goods laced with marijuana, declined comment for this story. Lee, the wrestler, was banned for one year for her positive test last summer. It was her second doping violation. In a radio interview after her second positive, Lee said she used marijuana for medicinal purposes, but said she had stopped smoking two weeks before competition. “It’s hard,” Lee said. “I’m home watching the opening ceremonies on TV.” In 2003, a positive test for cannabis drove downhill mountain biker Gary Houseman out of his sport entirely. A BMX prodigy, Houseman became the first American in four years to win a stop on the UCI World Cup when he won in Grouse Mountain, British Columbia. But when he tested positive for marijuana — and faced a $2000 fine and a year suspension — Houseman (Continued on page 67)

Sunday July 21, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 69

‘I’M FITTER, FASTER THAN Lee Westwood leads BEFORE’, SAYS CARTER Tiger Woods at Muirfield Nesta Carter looks poised ahead of the start of the men’s 4X100metre relay

Jamaica Observer - MONTEGO BAY, St James — Nesta Carter, Jamaica’s fastest man so far this season, has upped his preparations for the IAAF World Championships to be held in Moscow next month. Carter, who ran a season’s best 9.87

seconds to win a 100m race at an IAAF World Challenge meeting in Madrid, Spain, last weekend, released a statement from the MVP training base in Lignano, Italy, on Thursday, saying: “I am feeling fitter and faster than ever before. My 9.87 seconds (season’s best) is a stepping stone to my 2013 World Champs.” Carter, who was fourth at the JAAA National Senior Championships in June, and earned a place in the relay pool, will now replace outgoing champion Yohan Blake in the Jamaican line-up in the men’s 100m at the World Championships that starts on August 10. Blake had received a bye to the championships after he won the gold medal in the last Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011, but announced his withdrawal from the championships earlier this week after he failed to get over a hamstring injury that he suffered in April. Usain Bolt, who had been disqualified from the 100m final in Daegu after a false start as he attempted to defend his title from Berlin, Germany, in 2009, will be given the bye, as he is the IAAF Diamond League champion. Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade, who were second and third, respectively, in the final at the National Trials, will complete Jamaica’s line-up in the men’s 100m, which starts on the first day of the Championships. Carter was a finalist in the 100m in Daegu, and has led off several of Jamaica’s 4x100m teams to gold medals and world records at the World Championships and Olympic Games. He pulled out of a meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Wednesday with a thigh strain, but is expected to be healthy in time for a Diamond League meeting in London next week.

Upper Mazaruni teams preparing for Inter District Games The Upper Mazaruni district in Region #7 is transformed into a sports village in August of each year and this year is expected to be no different when the annual Inter District Games are held from August 4-9, 2013 at Waramadong. The District Sports Council, which is responsible for organising these games, have been putting things together ever since March of this year. Pre tournament Volleyball and Football, which saw male and female teams competing, were held in April at Waramadong and Jawalla, respectively. Waramadong jousted Kamarang, Paruima and Kaikan, while Jawalla entertained teams from Quebanang, Kako, Phillipai, Group A Kamarang vs Waramadong Quebanang vs Chinoweing ROUND TWO Kamarang vs Chinoweing Quebanang vs Waramadong ROUND THREE Kamarang vs Quebanang Chinoweing vs Waramadong

Rudolph Wellington Imbaimadai and Chinoweing. Attention is now focused on the actual games set for next month at Waramadong and teams have been investing quality time and resources to ensure that they are in the best possible shape for the high level of competition that is

anticipated. Coordinator Rudolph Wellington disclosed to Kaieteur Sport that all systems are in place and they are anticipating some exciting rivalry given the level of preparations that teams have ongoing. Wellington noted that the villages are ‘crazy’ about football and they leave no stones unturned in order to compete and makes the games attractive and competitive. He disclosed that some teams would travel for as much as three days to take part. “We are looking forward to another successful year and we are anticipating that this will be the biggest ever Inter District Games yet”. Following ate the preliminary round fixtures:

ROUND ONE Group B Jawalla vs Paruima Imbaimadai vs Arou

Group C Kako vs Kaikan Phillipai vs Isseneru

Jawalla vs Arou Imbaimadai vs Paruima

Isseneru vs Kako Phillipai vs Kaikan

Jawalla vs Imbaimadai Paruima vs Arou

Kako vs Phillipai Kaikan vs Isseneru

BBC Sport - Lee Westwood held off Tiger Woods to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield. The pair duelled on an absorbing afternoon in the Scottish sun, but Westwood held firm to fire 70 and finish three under. Woods faltered at the 17th and carded 72 to end one under alongside fellow American Hunter Mahan, who shot 68, as overnight leader Miguel Angel Jimenez fell away with a 77. Masters champion Adam Scott, runner-up to Ernie Els at Royal Lytham last year after blowing a four-shot lead over the final four holes, inched to level par on his own with a one-under 70. The sun-baked course and testing wind were not the only difficulties on the shores of the Firth of Forth as tournament timekeepers clamped down on slow play. A number of groups were put on the clock, including the final pairings of Woods and Westwood and Jimenez and Stenson, while Japan’s Hideki Maruyama was penalised a shot for two slow-play warnings. But the timekeeping issue was a sideshow to the drama in the penultimate group, which consisted of world number 12 Westwood and top-ranked Woods. The duo began the day two under, one shot off the pace of Jimenez, but the duel ignited on the long fifth when Westwood took a driver off the fairway for his second shot and then holed a long, curving, rolling putt from off the front of the green for an

Lee Westwood

eagle to take the lead. A Westwood birdie to a scrappy Woods bogey from over the back at the short seventh gave the Englishman a three-shot lead, but the pair were level again after a Woods birdie at the ninth. The 40-year-old Westwood stuck his nose in front at three under with a birdie on the 14th but pulled his tee shot into thick rough on the short 16th and could only hack out short of the green. He putted up the bank to 15 feet, but crucially slotted the putt to escape with just a bogey to slip back alongside the American. But when Woods made a scruffy three-putt bogey on the long 17th to Westwood’s birdie, the Florida-based Englishman was back in front by two from Woods and clubhouse leader Mahan. Two pars up the last put Westwood in pole position to clinch his maiden major at the 62nd attempt. Westwood, who has had seven top-three finishes at majors in the past five years, was second at the Open at St Andrews in 2010, third at Turnberry in 2009 and

fourth at Troon in 2004. Woods, who is chasing a 15th major and a first since 2008, has never won a major when trailing going into the final day. Argentina’s double major winner Angel Cabrera (73), first-round leader and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson (73), fellow American Ryan Moore (72) and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (74) were tied on one over. Phil Mickelson climbed to one under after 12 holes but gave away shots at the three of the next four holes for a 72 to end two over alongside Italy’s Francesco Molinari (72). Spain’s Sergio Garcia found some form with a 68 to climb to three over alongside Matsuyama (72), American Brandt Snedeker (69), who led after the second round last year, Wales’ Jamie Donaldson (71) and Australian Jason Day (72). Els carded a one-under 70 to end five over but will be mindful of last year when he came from six strokes back on the final day to overhaul Scott.

Jamaica sweep England in U21 netball Jamaica Observer JAMAICA defeated England 41-32 to sweep their threematch Tri-Nation Under-21 Netball Series 3-0 at the Dr Donald Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTech) on Thursday night. By virtue of beating England, the Jamaicans ended the series unbeaten by winning all five matches, three against England and two against Trinidad and Tobago. The Trinidadians and England were scheduled to play their final match last night. Jamaica’s head coach, Oberon Pitterson-Nattie said the local girls played well throughout the series and she was very pleased. “We were tested for the first time in the series by England in Thursday night’s

encounter, as we came under tough challenge from the visitors. This is the type of game we would like to have, tough competition and we came under pressure,” Pitterson-Nattie said. She said England played well and this is the type of tough matches they would like to have to see where the players are and how they can handle the pressure. “More improvements need to be done especially in the defensive area. “England made a lot of adjustments with their team and gave us a good fight, but our players were tremendous throughout,” she said. Meanwhile, England’s coach Colette Thompson said this is the best performance they have played against Jamaica and it shows that the players are improving a lot.

“We made too many errors in the first quarter and missed too many easy shots. We had anticipated a very tough series with Jamaica as they are very good. The team needs to do more speed work and get the ball quicker to the shooters,” said Thompson. Jamaica took a 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, increased it to 25-16 at half time, before maintaining the cushion at the end of the third quarter, 34-25. Goal-shooter Shantal Slater scored 27 goals from 41 attempts and goal-attack Shanice Beckford added 11 goals from 20 efforts for Jamaica, while for England, goal-shooter Alice Travis scored 16 goals from 21 attempts, goal-attack Rachel Shaw netted eight from 11, and Shaunagh Craig, eight goals from 13 efforts.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 21, 2013

Froome poised for Tour glory, Quintana wins stage SEMNOZ, France (Reuters) - Chris Froome virtually sealed his maiden Tour de France title with yet another strong climbing performance in yesterday’s penultimate stage won by Colombia’s Nairo Quintana. Britain’s Froome leads Quintana by 5:03 overall, with Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez jumping into third 5:47 off the pace after Alberto Contador, the 2007 and 2009 champion, slipped out of the top three when he cracked in the final ascent of the 125-km 20th stage. Contador, who was dripping with sweat on the slopes of Semnoz, is fourth 7:10 behind Froome going into today’s final stage, a festive parade from Versailles to Paris with only the final sprint being contested.

Barring a crash, Team Sky’s Froome will succeed compatriot and team mate Bradley Wiggins, who missed this year’s race because of a knee injury. “I think for the GC (general classification), this time it’s done,” said Froome. “Tomorrow will be for the sprinters. We, are done.” Slovakian Peter Sagan is set to retain the green jersey after opening an unassailable lead in the points classification over Mark Cavendish, who will look to claim his fifth straight win on the Champs-Elysées today. On his Tour debut, Quintana is also about to secure the white jersey for the best Under-25 rider as well as the polka-dot jersey for the best climber. “I can’t ask for more. I almost have everything, it’s

fantastic. Thank you to my team mates and my sports directors, who have helped me achieve this,” the 23-yearold, Colombia’s first stage winner since Mauricio Soler in 2007, told reporters. Quintana of the Movistar team sped away with one kilometer left in the final climb, dropping Froome who had earlier shaken up a group of favorites with a trademark attack - rooted to his saddle, jutting elbows and nodding head. Froome was then overtaken by Rodriguez, who had worked hard in front of Quintana and the Briton in the final kilometers to distance Contador and become the second rider to feature on all grand Tours podiums without winning any of them.

Ravens oust #1 seeded Pacesetters from GABA Playoffs

The number four ranked Dyna’s Ravens ousted number one ranked Trinity Grid Holdings (TGH) Pacesetters from the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) top-tier Playoffs held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall Friday night. Ravens blew out Pacesetters for the second consecutive time 74-57, ousting them from tonight’s final at the same venue. Ravens were the only team that defeated Pacesetters in the recent GABA Division I League on the Burnham Basketball Court. Ravens took their dominance indoors with Ryan Stephney scoring 25 points and Akeem Kanhai 17 points in a composed and collective effort. Guard, Stephney was a menace to the Pacesetters defence all night with some huge jumpers when it mattered.

Nippy Pacesetters guard, Travis Burnett struggled with his offence, especially his ability to shoot the ball as Ravens gave him space at the top of the arc. However, Burnett dropped 18 points with Naylon Loncke scoring 11 points for struggling Pacesetters, playing for the first time this decade without Coach Robert Cadogan, who

-set up riveting final showdown with Colts tonight migrated to the United States. Ravens played excellent defence inside with forward, Jermaine Slater the main defensive leader in the paint. The defence frustrated Pacesetters in a physical game that forced Pacesetters to claw back from a 14-4 deficit to equalise at 21 in the first half. However, Ravens went back to a 2-3 defensive zone that clogged up the driving lanes to prevent easy points for Burnett; with their scoring in the paint neutralised, Pacesetters were forced to take the outside jumpers with both Loncke and Stephan Gillis misfiring. In the other Division I semi, played among the top four clubs in Georgetown, Colts romped to a 68-53 win against the number three ranked, Pepsi Sonics. Ravens, and the number two ranked, Colts will play in tonight’s Division I final at the Sports

Hall. Colts continued its giant slaying form, running the ball from the first whistle to the last. Shelroy Thomas was an offensive beast with some big jumpers that always kept Colts ahead. He had the next best individual score with 15 points as Dane Kendall scored 17 points. Sheldon Thomas and Nikkoloi Smith scored 13 and 11 points respectively. Sonics’ Jason Squires dropped 22 points for Pepsi Sonics. Meanwhile, in the Division III contests, Buxton topped Colts 43-29 to reach that final while Pacesetters will have hope in its Division III team following a walkover from Sonics in the first game of the night. Both Division I and III finals will be played tonight in battles that will surely decide who won the battles and who won the wars of the GABA programme.

Quarter-finals action on today at four venues The 2013 Digicel Nationwide Schols Football Championship has reached the quarter-finals and four matches are scheduled to be played today at various venues. Over at the Minsitry of Education ground, last year’s beaten finalist Waramadong take on Santa Rosa from 16:00 hrs. At the Bayroc ground in Linden, defending champions

Wismar / Christianburg tackle Region 5 champions Ash Educational Institute from 15:00 hrs, while at Burnham Park in Berbice, Georgetown champions St. George’s clash with Region 6 champs New Amsterdam Technical Institure from 15:30 hrs. In the final fixture, Region 3 champions Leonora engage Region 4 title holders Covent Garden at Grove Playfield at 15:30 hrs.

Nairo Alexander Quintana of Colombia (right) and Chris Froome compete during the 20th stage. (Reuters)

INCE OPTIMISTIC TEAM WILL DO WELL Despite a number of players set to make their debut in regional competition, Head Coach of the Guyana squad, Carl Ince, speaking with Kaieteur Sport one day before the team departed yesterday morning to participate in the CASA Championships said he was satisfied with their preparations and was looking forward to good performances. Ince, who has been at the helm of the junior development programme for the past 15 years during which time Guyana has won the overall title on 11 occasions in addition to a few runner up returns under his stewardship, told this newspapers that the entire coaching staff is extremely encouraged by the team’s preparations and are optimistic that they will perform well. “I’m satisfied, the Physical Trainer is satisfied and we are ready,” a buoyant Ince said during a telephone conversation on Friday. Guyana will be defending the team and girls titles, along with Nyron Joseph’s individual Under-17 title

Carl Ince

Deje Dias

which he is set to defend after being named as part of the travelling contingent. Ince, a very experienced Coach, revealed that big things are expected from players such as Ben Mekdeci, Shomari Wiltshire and Joseph, while adding that the U-15 boys have a strong chance of winning the title. “Ben (Mekdeci) is a strong favourite to bring back the title having played in the same category last year and have a fair knowledge of most of the

young Shomari Wiltshire, who he reminded, will most likely be the youngest in his category, but plays a mean game and could be very difficult to get past. Victoria Arjoon also came in for special mention with Ince expressing optimism of her doing well. He closed by mentioning that even though the usual situation of a number of players becoming ineligible to participate this year arose, those graduating to the national team are very strong and has a bright future. Commenting on the selection of Deje Dias as Assistant Coach, he said it was a good move made by the Guyana Squash Association to expose him to the rudiments of coaching at a higher level and is definitely a positive for the sport locally.

players who he will be competing against,” Ince said.

He disclosed that compared with last year everyone is well prepared and he expects them to be strong contenders for the titles up for grabs. The reticent Head Coach said he was looking forward to something special from

CONCACAF Disciplinary Committee fines Costa Rica’s Head coach Miami, FL - The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced on Saturday that its Gold Cup Disciplinary Committee has fined Costa Rica Head Coach Jorge Luis Pinto the amount of $5,000 (five thousand dollars), and has given him an official warning for future incidents.

The fine comes as a result of infringements by Mr. Pinto to Article 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code that emanated from public criticism of the Confederation during his press conference following the group stage game against Belize in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as unacceptable and offensive language used against CONCACAF officials.