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Kaieteur News

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

The court has spoken

he Court has spoken. And how it has…And however interpreted by all parties, there is neither cause for rejoicing, nor selfcongratulating, nor excoriating and disdaining. The process is sure to stay alive in what has been—and promises to be—a bitter struggle all the way to the final bell. And then beyond, too. No favour offered, no quarter given. As a practical matter, the ruling of the Court of Appeal can be articulated in numerous ways, but which all say the same thing and return to the same place: status quo ante. Square one. It is an uninspiring place: a place and time both upheaving and undermining to the wellbeing of citizens in this pathetically fragmented society. At an hour when this nation should be thrilled with its discoveries of nature’s bounties, and God’s gifts, there is only reciprocal rancor, mutual madness, and divisive and diversionary disagreements. Diversionary because when the nation’s eyes ought to be firmly fixed on its unfolding burgeoning promise, it is crippled by an oozing, weakening sickening. Neither leaders nor people can concentrate on what the developments of the times demand be prioritized: ownership. Stewardship. Authentic statesmanship and responsible citizenship. Like Midas of fable, there is only the greed and discontent of wanting more, of wanting it all. Unlike Midas and his bitter learning travails, this is no storybook message, but the hard lesson of life, real life. Regrettably, the now is upward to the CCJ. And no less regrettably, upward to the CCJ means a spiral of the downward for a poor country that persists in pauperizing its prospects, through the dissipation of its energy, its intellect, and any capacity that it may have possessed for good sense and the reasonings and visons that come with those. In view of all of this, and the current boiling, agitated state in which this beleaguered state finds itself yet again, it is no longer surprising that that pejorative which combines mud and skull applies so accurately and so stubbornly. There is no space, no traction for what is thoughtful and progressive. What is left in the aftermath of a verdict that will wend its way into the annals of the storied (contingent upon point of view) is dismay and disgust, on the one side: how could that be? And on the other side of this harsh, tense, bottomless divide: why should it not be? What is left is the continuing flight of substantive activity in the arena of enterprise, through a sitting on the hands, waiting for still another decision, and then the inevitable re-partnering with onetime colonial history. This time it is a voluntary exercise, which is already in motion; and, at the crux, a willing bowing before the sagacity and supposedly superior judgment of lesser gods. Twist or turn, like or leave, this is where Guyana is presently. This is where a nation and its citizens stand with disfigured psyche, rancid, swampy visions, and with all the many cerebral and cardiac clots that leave it crippled, depleted, and utterly wasted. So the plaintive cry remains in a threnody of the stricken: help wanted. That would be the CCJ in this trail of tears. Hear the continuum of that cry: help needed. At that time, it would translate to the saving grace of a patient, benevolent international community. Help wanted and is desperately needed to enable this sad country, its woebegone leaders, its warring groups, and its trapped citizens to find a way to somewhere. The hands and minds of strangers are called upon again, to put on the temporary unified political pathway that continues to elude.

Editor’s Note; If your sent letter was not published and you felt its contents were valid and devoid of libel or personal attacks, please contact us by phone or email.

It is important that we recognize and honour the early Portuguese who came Dear Editor, I noticed that the Press has reported there will be new features for an Annual Portuguese Arrival Day. It is good and necessary that the media highlight the contributions made by these Immigrants brought from Madeira to be part of the Labour Force on the plantations. The reasons for the colonial powers to identify persons from Europe are well known and documented. Even though, the Portuguese in Guyana represent the smallest group, it is important that all of our six people recognize, respect and honour the early Portuguese who came. It is well known that the

imperial power who managed British Guiana sought to use the Portuguese in an effort to secure some form of European balance in the population. As a result, very early there were sensitivities in the colony. To all, the divide and rule philosophy was strong so you had the cent bread – Angel Gabriel Riot. However, my personal experience was a delightful relationship with the Portuguese I came in contact with. In Albouystown, I remember Tunnus, a huge, strong gladiator who along with Buffy at the instance of my mother taught me as a young lad the art of self

defence. In Howes Street, Charlestown, my mother built a well-appointed cottage which was occupied by Joe De Barros and his family. Joe was a Supervisor at G. Bettencourt & Sons and reared bees. Our relationship was so good I grew up as a child calling him Uncle Joe. I can never forget whenever Uncle Joe harvested the honey from the hives, he would offer me some of the honeycombs. Of course, typical of the indiscretion of a young man, one day, I had more than my fill with results which were terrible enough to teach me discretion. I believe that Uncle Joe’s

eldest daughter, Anita is still alive somewhere in North America and should be approaching her 90s. In my political and personal life, I can never forget the likes of Carl Daguiar who managed the Singer branch in Alvida Road, Mackenzie. Carl was the most trusted person that I knew in the challenges of the 60s. After a campaign outreach in that area in the presence of Joseph Aaron, Norman Chapman, as we played dominoes at his home and being fed by his wife Yv e t t e . S h e w a s t h e personification of hospitality and graciousness. Earlier, the (Continued on page 6)

Sunday March 17, 2019

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Kaieteur News

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Freddie again distorts with intent to suffice his fringe readership DEAR EDITOR, Anyone who read my letter in either the Chronicle in March 12, or on March 17, 2019 in Kaieteur News ‘The ethnic security dilemma from a personal experience’ in response to Baytoram Ramharack’s letter on February 18 in the Stabroek News, which carried references to Terron Khemraj’s column on 10, February in the same paper would ponder on the references to that letter made by Freddie Kissoon in his column on March 18, in Kaieteur. His article was not enhanced by distorting, misrepresenting and with intent falsifying content that I had possibly written overtime in several articles, each time with historical references, and not my imagination, because I suffer from no mental aberrations. I declared that from all records between the PPP and the PNC Ethnic constituencies that the Afro Guyanese

had more to fear from the PPP in power than Indo Guyanese from the PNC in power in respect to the Ethnic Security Dilemma. The text is available to all, and the arguments to support what I said. However I should reiterate with further clarifications, because this kind of debate will not be diminished unless conversation is conducted to eliminate the ‘political stock arsenal of falsifications and part truths’ as I used in my letter concerning the 1973 election incident. I am not trained in politics; instead, I am trained enough in research and cross research towards the verification of facts, which includes understanding influences of cultural and religious platforms and political manipulation of the same. During the sixties I lived with my Godparents at Mahaica. I can recall neighbours across ethnic groups in that area coming

Young people are feeling the brunt of this ganja law DEAR EDITOR, Having recognised the increase in the jailing of youths for small amounts of marijuana and bringing it to the attention of the Government and people, it seems as though I have aroused some anger. It seems that more and more young people are going to prison for three years for small amounts of marijuana. How inconsiderate and oppressive to poor people. I say this because only the poor are heading to prison because he or she couldn’t post bail or he or she was never granted bail. The Government must act now to stop this injustice which criminalises our youth. Those in the developed world know they must bring an end to this discrimination and

victimisation meted out to our youthful brains; as such they are continuously decriminalising and legalising marijuana in their countries. I call on the Government to decriminalise small amounts of the weed for medicinal and recreational activities and stop making criminals of our boys and girls. I am appealing to our Beloved President David Arthur Granger “Please ensure the decriminalisation of small amounts of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use”. Ras Aaron Blackman

together to keep watch against intruders who were from either ethnic group entering their space. I and other male children kept watch near to the food and read comic books to lamp light, no electricity existed in the area, to us it was a manly adventure. When a relative came from Town to take me to ‘safety’ I was allowed to make my choice and I refused, my godfather was a plumber and I recall the quiet conversations on the specs for ‘pipe guns’ with bucket handle triggers in response to the high powered weapons smuggled up the Mahaicony creek from the Caribbean by a certain political party, and what happened at Mahaicony, I knew where the impetus of the ESD lay. Now I will extract from one of numerous public records to verify my conclusion on matters in the 1960’s pg 108 Guyana Democracy Betrayed by Jai Narine Singh “Jagan had by now lost his main militant supporters, and had himself become a kind of dictator governing the affairs of Guyana as lord and master of it all. He organized protest demonstrations in several parts of the country in the course of which Afro-Guyanese were killed and murdered. This resulted in a chain reaction, organized by the PNC and their supporters that led to mass killings, lootings and burnings and migration. Indo Guyanese moved away from the villages where they were the minority, and the Afro Guyanese moved away those where they were the minority.

And to a second reference in the same book pg 221 as follows “There is a voluntary segregation now taking place in many areas throughout the country. There is widespread lawlessness, and an almost complete breakdown of law and order. The group responsible for starting the events leading up to a breakdown of law and order is the Peoples Progressive Party.” [Incidentally Jai Narine Singh is the father of Robin Singh the opposition leader’s apprentice] The recent years from 1992 onwards speak for itself in murders, drug addiction and the criminalisation of the state as the ‘DOSSIER’ demonstrates. I respect your adding to the public conversation the terminology of ‘Ideological Racism’ and providing evidence of its mechanisms. You even provided in your column evidence of early post 1992 sabotage directed at benefits at the Afro-Guyanese UG hierarchy. In your court testimony you said “From historical data, Afro-Guyanese, he said, maintained an existence with administration of the state, including state activities, education, the Arts and related activities. With this Kissoon said came derived Afro-Guyanese power, authority and influence, while the more land and property based Indo Guyanese derived their power from their physical possessions and wealth.” You continued with a convincing argument of a callous usurpation of the said ‘Plural model.’ This “fundamental shift

was pregnant with disastrous possibilities,” so am I wrong to say that the PPP poses more of a threat to Afro Guyanese than the PNC to IndoGuyanese? I will not deal with aspects of the ‘Plural model’ that I have reservations about, but I would implore you to explain how could you produce such grounded evidence then agree with the same Bharrat Jagdeo on denying the proponents of the Afro based Arts the human right of Copyright ? The facts are that as long as political columnists fail to recognise the dishonesty in the management of the expertise that must be developed into earnings, we will not evolve with mutual respect and absence of suspicion. For example, the contempt that the opposition leader treats the sugar workers with as current political cannon fodder, after knowing their fate since 2004, misusing monies received in

their interest and shamelessly blaming the current administration and talking about theories alien to his nature like the constitution and morality? The writers who conspire to feed from the tainted no confidence motion, must come to terms with the fact that one cannot corrupt the law of perception and call it right; here my brother is where the gauntlet rests. Our problem before Independence was ‘Bread & Butter’ and it still is, we do not manage our expertise well. I did not see the advocates of the Ethnic Security Dilemma step forward to raise a regiment to be deployed on our western border, nor on our eastern border when Suriname and Venezuela were breathing heavy against us, no, they slither back into their safe crevices and I heard not a whisper, did you? Yours Respectfully Barrington Braithwaite

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Release the data on Guyana’s Impact Goals achievement

It is important that we recognize ....

DEAR EDITOR, There has been much discussion in the press recently, on the factors that would have hindered the attainment of the “Impact goals” in the PAHO Strategic Plan 20142019 for the Guyana Health

sector. Could Dr. William AduKrow (The head of PAHO) release the data on how Guyana performed in terms of achievement of the “Impact Goals” set out by PAHO for 2014-2019?This information must be in the public domain,

and should be of interest to all Guyanese, especially those in the health sector. Dr. Madhu Pandey Singh M.D (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), D.C.P. CEO Dr Balwant Singh Hospital

From page 4 Administration agreed to make Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg a single Community. It was at his home that Carl suggested that the new areas be named in honour of the Founder Leader. I took this idea to Georgetown hence the name Linden. At the political level we had sterling contributions from the likes of Christopher Kit Nascimento, Eugene Francis Correria, a stalwart in the Bartica and mining Community The Gouveias from

Lombard Street and Lodge, Anthony Chaves, the other set of the Daguiars from lower Eas t C o a s t , t h e Founder of Modern Optical, Jose Da Silva and of course, John Gabriel Joaquin who in the height of the crisis at a public meeting in Kitty blurted out (we black people must stick together). This drew much laughter from the crowd. In my public life, I remember a decent principled and courageous citizen, Attorney David De Caires, who helped establish Stabroek News. When we come to building monuments for journalists and patriots, David De Caires must be on the priority list. I b e l i e v e t h a t Sister Moniz and others will con-

tinue to document the work by the descendants who arrived here on 3rd of May 1935 on Louisa Baille. . Dear Editor, the above represents the warm friendships I shared with persons who are Portuguese and to remind our people that we came in different ships but today we are all in the same boat and must paddle to the beat of an ancestral drum harmoniously to enjoy the fruits that the Creator has given to us – gold, diamonds, timber, bauxite, oil, agricultural lands, and a vision. And of course, it is safe to say that many Guyanese still look forward to the garlic pork during the festive season. Thanks to our Portuguese Brothers and Sisters. Yours Respectfully Hamilton Green

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

Investigations into former Brazil President Michel Temer continue

rrested on Thurs day last, former President Michel Temer is under scrutiny for 10 issues. The case that led to his arrest is related to work done on the Angra 3 Nuclear Plant. The Federal Public Ministry says one of the companies in the consortium responsible for the project paid a bribe to the Temer group. This inquiry is one of five that were authorized by the Minister Luís Roberto Barroso of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in 2019, when Temer no longer had a privileged forum, and that they were then sent to the lower court.The investigation related to the company Engevix, involved in the payment of the bribe, is now with the task force of Lava Jato do Rio. The other five issues were

already processed and sent to the lower court. 1. Engevix’s R$1 million gratuity The owner of the construction company Engevix, José Antunes Sobrinho, said in a statement that he paid R$1 million in bribes, at the request of Colonel João Baptista Lima Filho (friend of Temer), former minister Moreira Franco and with the knowledge of President Michel. 2. Reform of daughter’s property The Federal Court of São Paulo analyzed the alleged money laundering crime committed in the renovation of a property of Temer’s daughter, Maristela, in São Paulo. According to a request submitted by the Attorney General of the Republic, Raquel Dodge, the reform was made and funded by Argeplan,

Former Brazil President, Michael Temer without reimbursement . The work would have cost between R$1.5 million and R$2 million. The PF says that the amount of R$1 million came from a payment of the J&F group’s bribe, at the request of Temer, and that the money was delivered by two employ-

75,000 more Guyanese accessed potable water in last 3 years As Guyana joined with the rest of the world on March 22, 2019 to observe World Water Day under the theme “Leaving no one behind,” it was proclaimed that approximately 75,000 more Guyanese gained access to potable water since 2015. This proclamation was made by Managing Director of Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Dr. Richard Van West-Charles, at a symposium hosted by the company on Friday at the Egbert Benjamin Conference Hall in Linden, Region Ten. The Managing Director also strongly believes that GWI will attain Sustainable Development Goal number 6, which speaks to “Clean Water for all” by 2025, five years early. He was at the time addressing an audience of regional officials, representatives of international organisations, GWI staff, students and teachers. This, he explained, will be made possible with the commitment of GWI’s staff and policy guidance from the Government. Even as he spoke with confidence of future achievements, Dr. Va n We s t - C h a r l e s a l s o took the opportunity to highlight that the utility has since 2016 immensely improved its water quality testing and analysis. The capacity building of its staff and the establishment of a number of mini laboratories across the country were noted as the factors responsible for these improvements. GWI has also increased the inventory of transmission and distribution mains by more than ten percent (10%). Dr. Van West-Charles said that the theme of World Water

Day 2019 calls on all stakeholders to examine why persons are left behind and places emphasis on how access to water, sanitation and sustainable water management can be the drivers for change. According to him, access to knowledge, coupled with the attainment of understanding is needed in this regard. This year’s theme draws focus on the importance of freshwater and its sustainable management. In Guyana, freshwater sources are in the form of Watersheds, with the Dakoura Creek Watershed in Linden being the most researched and documented watershed in Guyana. This Watershed is the source of water for some 10,000 residents of Linden. The Managing Director therefore took the opportunity to stress that this therefore means that protecting and safeguarding the watershed is critical. Additionally, he called on citizens of Linden to set the tone for the organisational policy and programmatic focus of watershed management Dr. Van West-Charles said that focus must also be placed on the nexus between the contamination of freshwater and groundwater resources as attention is being placed on those persons without access to potable water. He also took the opportunity to urge Guyanese to care for GWI’s infrastructure which is utilised for water production and distribution, failing which, persons who do not have access will be affected. He underscored the important roles played by the regional democratic councils,

government ministries, customers and multilateral agencies in ensuring water for all. Meanwhile, Linden Mayor, Ms. Waneka Arrindell congratulated GWI’s Linden team for their efforts in ensuring that no citizen of Linden is left behind. She also took the opportunity to stress that as Linden moves towards adapting the Sustainable Development goals, the sustainable use of freshwater sources is very important. She said that persons must be cognisant of how they utilise water and how it affects others and work towards protecting and preserving, rather than wasting water resources. Ms. Arrindell assured that the Linden Mayor and Town Council is willing to play the necessary roles. According to her, the council together with the Ministry of Communities is embarking on a stringent pro g r a m m e t o c l e a r a l l waste from the environs o f t h e D a k o u r a Creek Watershed in an effort to protect the watershed. Vice Chairman of Region Ten, Mr. Delroy Adolf, in his remarks stressed the importance of water as he urged residents to conserve the valuable resource. He stressed that the only way to leave no one behind is to conserve water so that others can have. In addition to the symposium hosted on the occasion of World Water Day, a panel discussion, tour to the Dakoura Creek Watershed and essay and poster competitions were hosted, with emphasis being placed on watersheds. Results of those competitions will be announced shortly. (GWI)

ees of the group, directly to Colonel Lima, at Argeplan headquarters in September of 2014. 3. Over-invoicing under Argeplan’s contract The investigation concerns the suspicion of contracting Argeplan / Concremat by the Court of Justice of São Paulo, with indications of services not rendered and overinvoicing of a contract valued at approximately R$100 million. The agreement foresaw that Argeplan would provide architectural and engineering services and would be responsible for designing the construction of 36 new fora in São Paulo. 4. Fictitious contract in the Port of Santos The plaintiff Flávio Calazans and an internal audit of the company Pérola S / A indicate the existence of a fictitious service contract in the amount of R $ 375 thousand in the port of Santos.

5. Irregular contract between Argeplan and Fibria Celulose The Federal Court of São Paulo analyzed suspicions of an irregular contract between Argeplan Arquitetura e Engenharia and the company Fibria Celulose S/A, with values around R$15.5 million, as well as relations between Construbase Engenharia LTDA and PDA Projeto and Architectural Direction - were 58 transactions, between 2010 and 2015, involving R$17,743,218.01. 6. Dinner at Jaburu with Odebrecht The investigation finds that R$10 million was owed to Odebrecht by Temer and former ministers Moreira Franco and Eliseu Padilha. According to the report by Cláudio Melo Filho, former vice president of Institutional Relations of Odebrecht, at a dinner at the Palace of Jaburu in 2014, it was agreed that the illicit transfer of money would be made. 7. Ports Decree In the Federal Court of Brasilia, the case was known as the “port inquiry”. At the end of last year, Temer was denounced by Attorney General Raquel Dodge for crimes of passive corruption and money laundering, for integrating a supposed scheme to favor specific companies in issuing a decree on the port sector. 8. Money bag by Rocha LouresThe former president was reported for passive cor-

ruption in the case of the suitcase with $500,000 received by Rodrigo Rocha Loures , a former adviser to Temer. Loures was filmed by police when he received the suitcase at a pizzeria of former J & F group executive Ricardo Saud. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the money would be bribed to Temer. 9. Criminal organization MDB quadrillion In 2017, the then Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, presented to STF a complaint against Temer by a criminal organisation. According to him, Temer and some other former government officials received bribe values that totaled over R$587.1 million, collected from companies and public agencies, including Petrobras, Furnas, Caixa Econômica Federal, Ministry of National Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Secretariat of Civil Aviation and Chamber of Deputies. 10. Talk with Joesley Batista at Jaburu Inquiries find out if there have been irregularities on the part of Temer because of a conversation recorded by Joesley Battista in which they dealt with appointments and topics of interest of the J & F group. In a note released at the time, the Presidency stated that “there was nothing in the dialogue that would compromise the conduct of the President of the Republic.”

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

President Granger no longer needs chemotherapy In photograph are President Granger (center), Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla (right) and Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba, Halim Majeed.

resident David Granger has suc cessfully completed the first phase of his medical treatment in Cuba. According to a government statement, the Cuban medical specialists who are overseeing his medical care for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma have expressed their full satisfaction with the President’s response to chemotherapy and his overall physical wellbeing. “Based on their expert evaluation of his medical condition, they have deemed it no longer necessary in the treatment of the President.” President Granger is expected to commence radiotherapy in early April. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by the Cuban medical team at CIMEQ late last October and has been undergoing medical

treatment and evaluation by specialists at that institution. On Friday, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, paid a courtesy call on President Granger and congratulated him on the positive response to the medical treatment. The President noted that this is the third time that Minister Bruno Rodriguez has visited him since he has been undergoing medical care in Cuba. The Cuban Foreign Minister briefed President Granger on the present political and economic situation in Cuba and praised Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for consistently supporting Cuba. He said that Cuba sees the Caribbean as an extended family and informed President Granger that a Caribbean Heroes Park will be open next

month in Havana. President Granger acknowledged the sacrifices made by Cubans, nationally and internationally, and explained that from his point of view Cuba was a success story in spite of all the hardships the country was enduring. He took the opportunity again of expressing gratitude to Cuban President, His Excellency Miguel Diaz-Canel; First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raul Castro Ruz; His Excellency, Narciso Reinaldo Amador Socorro, Ambassador of Cuba in Guyana, and the Medical Specialists at CIMEQ.” The President, who was accompanied by Mrs. Sandra Granger, First Lady, and ADC to the President, Major Mark St. Claire, was expected to return to Guyana yesterday.

PSC calls for respect for decision of Court of Appeal on No Confidence Motion

he Private Sector Commission, (PSC) has called for Appellate Court majority decision which was handed down on Friday last to be respected. The ruling effectively said that although 33 votes constitute a majority of the National Assembly for routine business. However, 34 votes, which is an absolute majority, is needed to unseat a government via a motion of No Confidence, the court ruled. The Court therefore essentially ruled that motion passed in the National Assembly on 21st December, 2018 is invalid. As a consequence of the ruling of the Appellate Court, the Private Sector Commission has called on all of the

political parties and their supporters and, indeed, the entire country, to respect the decision of the Court. The PSC is also urging the Guyana Elections Commission GECOM to continue its preparations for the holding of general and regional elections whenever they become due. On Friday, the Court of Appeal by majority decision of 2-1 disagreed with the argument that 33 Members of Parliament (MPs) can effectively pass a No-Confidence Motion against the Government. Appellate Judges, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Dawn Gregory upheld the argument that an absolute majority is required for the passage of no-confidence mo-

tion against the Government. The two Judges agreed an absolute majority in the context, calls for 34; not 33 votes of all elected members of the National Assembly. Justice Rishi Persaud, on the other hand, disagreed. He ruled the no-confidence motion was validly passed by 33 to 32 votes. That decision was previously handed down by Chief Justice Roxane George at the High Court. However in her ruling, Justice Cummings-Edwards said the Chief Justice’s calculation of 33 votes was for a “simple majority.” She held that a no-confidence motion cannot be upheld using the same yardstick that is applied for the passage of ordinary legislation, since it results in much more grave circumstances — the toppling of a government. Both Appellate Judges (Cummings-Edwards and Gregory) alluded to the submissions proffered by Queen’s Counsel (QC) Dr. Francis Alexis, a former Attorney General of Grenada, who has been hired by the Attorney General of Guyana, Basil Williams, to argue the government’s case at the Court

of Appeal in relation to the noconfidence motion matters. The Queen’s Counsel had amplified the arguments that were already raised at the High Court. He insisted that there was a miscalculation of votes, and that in order for the motion to be passed, an “absolute majority” of all elected members was required. According to him, in calculating the “absolute majority”, the 65 members of the National Assembly had to be divided by two, which would result in 32.5, but since the .5 represents half and there is no half-member, that number needs to rounded off to 33, and add one more, making the majority 34 –an absolute majority. QC Alexis had also submitted, “But you can only round up if a fraction is the result. A fraction comes into the exercise. You cannot get away from that. A fraction is rounded up, not down. That’s why the fraction was rounded up in the case of Hughes v Rogers.” He argued that the Chief Justice failed to apply this rule when arriving at a majority, since, in her judgment she explained that it was not re-

quired, given that it was an odd number House. The longstanding jurist also argued that passing a noconfidence motion is not on the same level as passing ordinary laws, which would require a simple majority, that is, a majority of all elected members present and voting on a particular exercise. The lawyer had insisted that Justice George was erroneous in making such a ruling. He also rebutted arguments presented by attorney Anil Nandlall who appeared on behalf of leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo. However in a dissenting judgment, Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud, on Friday said, “With the greatest respect to Dr. Alexis, the formula of firstly dividing by half then rounding up to the nearest whole (number) plus 1 has no application here. It does not amount to logic and common sense where there is an uneven number of members, unless of course that specific formula is prescribed.” Additionally, in relation to the dual citizenship issue, all of the Judges noted that there was no evidence before the court, which suggests that former government parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud knew he was disqualified from being a member of the National Assembly owing to him being a dual citizen of Guyana and Canada. They agreed that Persaud’s dual citizenship would not invalidate his vote on the grounds set out in Article 165 (2) of the Constitu-

tion. According to that Article, “The Assembly may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership … (even) after any dissolution of Parliament and the presence or participation of any person not entitled to be present or to participate in the proceedings of the Assembly, shall not invalidate those proceedings.” On January 3 1 , l a s t , Chief Justice (CJ) George declared, “In our 65-member National Assembly, a majority of all elected members, in accordance with the principle of ‘one over all rivals combined’, is 33 members.” The CJ had ruled in three matters stemming from the no confidence motion passed in the National Assembly on December 21 last. Compton Reid, a private citizen, had challenged the vote of expelled Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud. Persaud had cast a vote in favour of the no-confidence motion against the Coalition Government, which he represented. Reid challenged the validity of the motion on the basis that Persaud is not qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly due to his dual citizenship by virtue of his allegiance to Canada, a foreign power. In another case, the Government had approached the Court for an interpretation of the Constitution as it relates to the majority vote count for the successful passage of noconfidence motion.

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Procurement Commission investigating alleged breach at Tender Board Bid tampering…

The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is investigating an alleged attempt to tamper with a bid document at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). The Commission, which is the body to investigate wrongdoings in the handling of state contracts, has written the NPTAB asking it also to explain why they were not apprised earlier that there was a problem. The attempt to tamper with a bid document has raised alarming questions for NPTAB, a processing entity for state contracts. It acts as a sort of clearing house for accepting bids from ministries and state agencies, processing and recording them. Over time, the NPTAB has been accused of wrongdoings, including collusion with contractors. Yesterday, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, in giving an update said that Procurement Commission wrote asking for a report. “I can tell you that matter is being looked at by the Procurement Commission. They have asked for a report into the alleged incident,” Minister Sharma said. However, while Sharma was tightlipped, Kaieteur News was told that the Procurement Commission was upset that it had to learn of a problem at NPTAB through the media. On Tuesday, two Procurement Commission officials were present at the Tender Board proceedings at the offices located in the Ministry

NPTAB office, Main Street.

Chairperson of the Public Procurement Commission, Carol Corbin of Finance compound, Main Street. Until now, the NPTAB has not issued an official statement. In fact, it was only when approached that Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, disclosed that a report has been completed with the matter being addressed by the Finance Secretary, Michael Joseph. Jordan admitted that “some irregular activities” occurred. Asked about whether he is worried about the breaches after the Coalition Government had vowed to clean up things at the Tender Board, on being voted in May 2015, Jordan was clear.

NPTAB Chairman, Berkley Wickham “You will always be worried. As we said, no system is fool proof but luckily we had (Contiinued on page 71)

Dem boys seh ...

A leopard hiding he spots When people change everybody does seh how de person tun over a new leaf. When a man use to drink and drunk everyday and fall down pun de road, when he stop, everybody does be glad. Dem is de people who does tell everybody how So and So tun over a new leaf. Dem boys seh Jagdeo tun over a new leaf. He was a man who use to refuse to listen to anybody. If he doing something wrong and people talk, he couldn’t care. He and Jimmy Carter even fall out because de old man mek a wise proposal and Jagdeo tell him to carry he proposal wheh de monkey put de nut. Was de same thing wid

Aunty Janet. She mek a comment bout something Jagdeo did and de man put she to she place. He tell de whole country how she is a private citizen. Now this is de same man who offering advice to everybody. In fact, most of de advice is fuh de coalition. He tell dem don’t sign no new contract because he gun scrap dem. Then he advise dem to talk about all de oil money dem get. He seh dem must put it in de consolidated fund. But dem boys remember this was de same man who refuse to even seh how much money he collect from de lotto funds. He even refuse to put it in de consolidate fund and

he seh loud and clear, he had no apology to give nobody. He collect money from GTT. That company use to pay a special fund to de government. Jagdeo use to keep it secret. To this day that money spend and nobody don’t know how. That is why dem boys seh in those days he was a heathen. Now he going to church, temple and masjid regularly. That is why he tun over a new leaf. This is a man who change he wicked ways. Dem boys watching him and shaking dem head. Dem doing de same fuh de courts wid its simple and absolute. Talk half and watch how tiger can hide he spots.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

President Granger no longer needs chemotherapy In photograph are President Granger (center), Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla (right) and Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba, Halim Majeed.

PSC calls for respect for decision of Court of Appeal on No Confidence Motion

against the Government. The two Judges agreed an absolute majority in the context, calls for 34; not 33 votes of all elected members of the National Assembly. Justice Rishi Persaud, on the other hand, disagreed. He ruled the no-confidence motion was validly passed by 33 to 32 votes. That decision was previously handed down by Chief Justice Roxane George at the High Court. However in her ruling, Justice Cummings-Edwards said the Chief Justice’s calculation of 33 votes was for a “simple majority.” She held that a no-confidence motion cannot be upheld using the same yardstick that is applied for the passage of ordinary legislation, since it results in much more grave circumstances — the toppling of a government. Both Appellate Judges (Cummings-Edwards and Gregory) alluded to the submissions proffered by Queen’s Counsel (QC) Dr. Francis Alexis, a former Attorney General of Grenada, who has been hired by the Attorney General of Guyana, Basil Williams, to argue the government’s case at the Court

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Vagrant remanded for cocaine found in Krazy-glue container A vagrant will be spending the next three weeks in prison until his matter comes up again in court where he is accused of having three grams of cocaine in a Krazyglue container for the purpose of trafficking. Dexter Prass, 55, was yesterday brought before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer his charge. He entered a not guilty plea to the charge which alleged that on March 15, 2019 at Bourda Market, Georgetown, he had in his possession three grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Prass who appeared to still be celebrating the recent holiday came to court with a bottle of Phagwah powder and he had on a shirt filled with various powder colors all over it. According to the defendant the illegal item is not his. “That thing is not me own.

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

When they catch me I was carrying a bag for a woman so I don’t know what they talking about.” Police prosecutor Sanj Singh related the facts of the charge which stated that on the day in question city constables were in the vicinity of the Bourda market when they observed Prass acting in a suspicious manner. He was then stopped and searched. A creamish, rock like substance suspected to be cocaine was discovered in a Krazy-glue container in his pants pocket. Prass who was silent when the constables told him of the suspicion later ran away when they attempted to arrest him. The accused was subsequently arrested and charged. Senior Magistrate Leron Daly refused to grant bail to Prass and remanded him to prison. He was instructed to return to court on April 12, 2019.

Officer appointed to help promote agriculture in Region 10 schools The appointment of an agricultural officer is expected to help promote the subject area of agriculture in Region Ten schools. This development comes even as the Region embarks on a massive agricultural drive to enhance and further promote agriculture through its Regional Democratic Council. Mr. Deryck Collins, the recently appointed officer, said that already a number of agricultural initiatives are in train. These will see the region, which is known for mining, pursuing agriculture projects instead. Collins said that his department has sought to execute a two-phase pilot project which targets secondary schools within the region and will by extension create an avenue for the community to benefit. “We have commenced all activities slated for 2019. There would be a two-phase project whereby we seek to establish agriculture in the schools, while we also seek to push agriculture production in the community.

Region 10 Agricultural Officer, Mr. Deryck Collins “The first phase targets the schools and we hope to complete this by May/June. In the off season constructors will be building shade houses in the seven secondary schools [across the region],” said Collins. He also disclosed that while his department will provide the initial planting material, “Some secondary schools have requested poultry, swine and even fish as in the case of the Multilateral [School].” According to Collins, although the construction of shade houses was initially proposed, based on the estimates for these, the

Region may only be able to complete 16. He further pointed out that discussions have already been held with the various schools. The process has begun with schools being encouraged to play their part in the process. “The first set of seeds and seedlings are about to be purchased while we have also purchased the plastic for the shade houses and we are waiting on the schools to hold their end of the bargain,” said Collins. Commenting on the need for training, Collins disclosed that already one session was held through the Region’s collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health’s Veterinary Unit and other stakeholders. This training, he said, focused primarily on eliminating bottom house slaughtering which he said is critically important if the production standards are to be lifted. “This training saw a full turn out of some 45 plus farmers. Later in March we will be holding two training sessions which will see one session dealing with Sweet Pepper agronomy and the other focusing on Poultry disease,” the agricultural officer shared. According to Collins,

training is particularly important since there are some crops that require significant attention as does the rearing of poultry. He disclosed that “many times what we find is that a lot of persons rear both layers and meat birds, but do not take into consideration the diseases that affect these birds so we have a lot of persons crying out for heavy mortality, so through this training we are seeking to bring about awareness,” Collins said. The Region Ten Agricultural Officer has therefore given assurance that for the rest of the year the Region will be embarking on at least two training sessions each month. He stressed that this would be important as efforts are made to enhance the agricultural sector within the region. Collins added that a team will be visiting the communities along the Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo Rivers once every quarter in order to reach out to farmers in every area of the Region. “Our plan is to bring Region Ten back to where it used to be in terms of it being self-sufficient in the area of agriculture. “So we will be meeting and going to every area so as to ensure that the right training and systems are put in place,” Collins added.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

International Diabetes Federation to collaborate with local arms The International Diabetes Federation is in full gear as it embarks on a collaborative effort with the regional and local arms to tackle Diabetes in the Caribbean and North America. A body of representatives representing the local and foreign arms of the International Diabetes Federation held their Regional Meeting on Friday last at the Marriott Hotel. The venture was the first of its kind locally and it was geared at heightening strategies to counteract diabetes in Guyana and North America, even as it is aimed at implementing sustained mediums to educate the public on preventative measures and treatment for the disease. The function was spearheaded by Guyana’s International Diabetes Federation’s Glynis Beaton who incidentally is also the first Guyanese to occupy a prestigious position as board member of the IDB. Amongst Beaton’s many functions is advocating for better treatment for diabetes patients at a global level. She is also the President

for the Young Leaders for Diabetes (YLD) in which Belize, Guyana, Mexico, Barbados, and British Virgin Islands (BVI) is represented. In an interview, yesterday, Beaton indicated that that the recent regional meeting was attended by representatives from Guyana, BVI, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), Curacao, Mexico, Suriname and Barbados. She explained that it was indeed notable that the function was also attended by Guyana’s Regional Representative Interim, Melissa Kandhi, who heads the Young Leaders for Diabetes (YLD) body. The YLD also represents for young leaders throughout North America who are behind the drive to sustainably tackle issues surrounding diabetes. Opening yesterday’s general meeting was Guyana’s YLD Leader, Keziah Nestor, who spoke on the importance of implementing strategic planning and implementing corrective and preventative measures to counteract the spread of diabetes around the globe.

Suspects in car toss gun in full view of patrol Trying to escape from one patrol, the occupants of a Premio ended up disposing of a gun in full view of another patrol. The incident occurred at around 14:30hrs in Hadfield Street. A release stated that the two occupants of a Premio, in trying to dispose of their illegal weapon before being arrested by the police who were following closely, tossed the

firearm unto the road. This was done in full view of ranks of another patrol. The weapon with two live rounds and a spent shell, was promptly retrieved and the vehicle with the suspects intercepted. They are in custody pending charges and are also being questioned in relation to several offences including armed robberies.

Young YLD Representatives at Friday’s International Diabetes Federations General Meeting She noted that with a sustained global effort by all parties concerned, the disease can be managed in a manner that promotes a reduction in cases globally. Beaton on the other hand told this publication that it is of vital importance that the IDF and YLD engage in a collaborative effort in all sister countries to ensure control of diabetes, noting that the IDF will be working closely with the YLD bodies to ensure the disease is tackled as it is intended. She added that as a board member of the IDF she will be putting all her energies and skills into fostering promoting ‘high tech’ care and educating of diabetic patients, and the public as an extension. Guyana’s PAHO/WHO’s Representative Dr. Williams Adu-Krow emphasized on the strides acclaimed through collaborate efforts by his organization with the Diabetes Association with regards to the area of capacity building.

Representing for the Ministry of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, expressed her pleasure at the collaboration between the Caribbean and North America, citing that such intensified discussions and advocating between the two parties assure heightened awareness of diabetes, and creating scope for more building on the within the collaborative effort.

Other issues discussed at the meeting included the deliberations on what progress each country would have acclaimed from 2018 to 2019. According to Beaton, all countries involved excelled considerably in this area, particularly with their awareness and outreach programmes. To date according to Beaton, St. Kitts have already accomplished diabetes test-

ing in schools, and this will also be an important factor to be soon tackled by the local Diabetes Association here in Guyana. Amongst Beaton’s other functions is the spearheading of programmes orchestrated by the YLD, and ensuring they make positive changes for the betterment of their organisations and diabetes patients combined.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Officials should be jailed for hiding oil transactions - Jagdeo The Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, contends that public officials should be jailed for failing to make public, negotiations and transactions with any oil company. He was, at the time, responding to questions from Stan Gouveia on Radio 94.1 FM, on Friday last. During the interview, Jagdeo rebuked contentions raised by members of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition that he is trying to “get his hands on the oil money”. He said that, if anyone wants to get one’s hands on the oil money, it is this government. He said that this was illustrated when the government hid the US$18M signing bonus it received after signing off its

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge contractual arrangement with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The contract was signed in 2016 but the general public

only found out about the bonus over a year later, in 2017. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, had told the National Assembly that the Fiscal Management

Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and Accountability Act (FMAA) specifically provides for public monies to be held in extra-budgetary funds and deposit funds until they are credited to the Consolidated Fund. Jagdeo had accused Greenidge of misleading the public, since the Act also requires the fund and its source, upon its establishment, to be reported to the National Assembly.

“They took the US$18M and hid it, then Jordan said, ‘We never requested it, nor did we receive it’,” Jagdeo said. “For one and a half year, this country did not know that it received US$18M.” He recalled that they had put the signing bonus into an account that was not the consolidated fund or the central bank reserves. Until today, he said that this money

has not been recorded in the consolidated fund. “It’s as though this money never existed.” The government had later indicated that the money is being used to pay legal fees at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in Guyana’s bid to protect its sovereignty over the Essequibo region from Venezuela. Jagdeo scolded the government for hiding the signing bonus from the general public, and for claiming that they hid it for national security reasons. He said that, when news reached the public, “the sky didn’t fall”. So, to prevent recurrences of this matter, he said that if the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wins the next election, it “will pass a law that says the Minister of Finance and the Secretary to the Treasury must publish, in the official gazette, any receipt from the oil company.” Further, he said that if these officials fail to do so, they would face 10 years’ imprisonment.

Parents of six making waves in Mabaruma –HEYS on the move. Cleveland Joseph and Marissia Santiago are among participants of the Hinterland Employment Youth Service HEYS Programme. They are making waves in the Mabaruma sub-district, Barima/Waini, Region One. They are also moving towards large scale agriculture production. Participants from Khan Hill and other villages and communities participated in the second phase of this “Life Changing Youth Programme”. During a visit to the region by Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe and team, the couple excitedly shared their experiences gained from the HEYS Programme. The parents of six collectively invested in what they deem an “activity that we truly love - Agriculture.” “ I rather the farm because I could get things from the farm to eat, plus get things from the farm to sell and get lil money”, Cleveland noted. Cleveland also commended the HEYS programme, noting that he was able to gain tremendous knowledge through participation, hence the reason for him calling on the Government to “let this program continue”. His partner, Marissia Santiago, noted that she too gained a fair share of knowledge through the programme. She admitted that she was able to assist her partner thus allowing him to become more

proficient in Math and English. “I went to school so I know to read and write. Some deh li’l hard but still I does try and I does show my husband how to spell and read and he does ketch on,” Santiago stated. Turning his attention to some of the produce the couple cultivates on their nearly two-acre plot of land, Cleveland said, “I plant bitter cassava, sweet cassava. Coffee? We got the seed deh and what we parch and done grind, we done make tea wid it already. It taste nice and we sell some already from it. Plus we got we coconut tree, banana, plantain, pepper, pine, pear, lime”. They have already harvested from their farm and sold in the Kumaka market. They have also used their profits to improve their standard of living. The couple will be among participants who will receive a $100,000 grant to further boost their business. Meanwhile, Ernie Samuels from White Water Village has a thriving Pig Farm and Dry Goods shop. When the team visited, Ernie was not at home at the time. However his father, Ernest Samuels, who is also the Village Toshao, said his son started his farm with four pigs. At one time he had twenty two pigs. One of his sows is pregnant and is ex-

pected to deliver in the coming months. He has since sold pork to villagers and the wider Mabaruma region. His father also related that after selling some of the animals, Ernie was able to establish a dry goods shop which benefits the community and also save villagers time and energy of having to walk long distances to find the closest shop. Close to 4,000 youth from across the hinterland were given the opportunity through empowerment initiatives to positively change the direction of their lives and already, this commitment is beginning to bear economic and other fruits. The Ministry has been giving special attention to the HEYS program, its Flagship Youth Programme which continues to positively impact the lives of the indigenous youth with an investment of approximately $2.3Billion since its commencement in 2015. Businesses established by the youth under the HEYS Programme range from cattle rearing, Poultry Rearing (Broilers, Layers and Ducks), Crops & Vegetable Farming, Pig Rearing, Honey Production, hardware stores, floating grocery stores among others. In 2019, participants with existing businesses will receive an additional grant of $50,000 each, to boost their respective business ventures.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

Shortage of CSEC teachers being addressed aggressively in Kwakwani â€“ REO assures Although a grave shortage of teachers is hampering the delivery of education in Kwakwani, Region Ten, Regional Executive Officer [REO], Mr. Orrin Gordon, has vowed to address this shortcoming. According to Gordon, plans are on stream to aggressively deal with the challenge which will manifest shortly with the

REO Orrin Gordon making his point in the presence of his Deputy Regional Executive Officer [DREO] Ms. Maylene Stephen.

recruitment of some eight teachers. These teachers, the REO informed, are expected to help prepare students for the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate [CSEC] examination later this year. The teacher-shortage situation was first brought to the attention of the Regional Democratic Council by Councillor Mavis Lewis who

made clear that there is need for it to be addressed urgently since a number of CSEC students are currently without tutelage. Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, had instructed the REO to immediately launch an investigation into the matter to ascertain what can be done and why the students have been without teachers for some time. (Continued on page 16)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday March 24, 2019

Shortage of CSEC teachers being addressed... From page 15 Gordon has since reported that the Department of Education has been able to secure the services of some teachers for Kwakwani, something that has been a challenge. But Gordon assured that his office is working closely

with the Education Department to have this matter corrected, swiftly. According to him, one of the greatest challenges in attracting teachers has been linked to accommodation. He explained that despite some teachers being from Linden, they

do not have accommodation in Kwakwani. Although works have been completed on a living quarters for officers working in the region, it was revealed that this facility is yet to be furnished. “The quarters that will be housing these officers are

finished but we are awaiting the furnishing that has to go into the building before the officers can take up their accommodation. There are four teachers who have been sent in and we have space in the teachers’ hostel as well. However the greatest challenge now is furnishing; that is the burning issue,” REO Gordon said. He said, too, that he envisions that within the shortest possible time that this matter would be resolved.

According to the REO, with efforts being made to acquire the required furnishing, he anticipates that the teachershortage issue would soon be resolved. “I am confident that we would have secured the furnishing that is needed and we will be able to get eight teachers required for the schools in Kwakwani,” Gordon said. The REO has since urged Councillor Lewis to continue playing a vital role in closely monitoring the situation in

Kwakwani. He said that it is her vigilance that caused the Region to become aware of the situation that exists. Because of such vigilance, he said, his office received the needed support to address the shortcoming in a timely manner. “At the end of the day we are part of the situation and we need to be vigilant as there may be instances where persons may try to thwart the process but we need to be focused and vigilant on the matter,” REO Gordon said.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

---Hinds’ Sight by Dr. David Hinds---

Give thanks to the Court of Appeal: They put a break on the farce

am glad the Court of Appeal has overturned the No Confidence Vote. Not because I am rooting for the Coalition, but because the whole thing had become a farce. And despite our immense failings as a political community, we deserve better. Political farce is a constant in politics, but when it is allowed to continue indefinitely, it becomes the norm. It was truly painful to endure the daily doses of pontificating that passed for constitutional debate. For the last three months we witnessed one party, which has generally shown little respect for constitutional correctness, hiding behind the constitution to try to depose its political adversary, and the latter in turn hiding behind GECOM as it held on to power. The PPP had a right to ask the court to settle differences in the interpretation of the constitution, but it was clear to me that they were going

beyond that—they were asking the court to join them in removing the Coalition from power. I always thought that the No Confidence Vote (NCV) was validly passed. Until credible evidence is produced to show that Mr. Charrandass Persaud accepted a bribe in exchange for his vote, I will respect his decision to break with his coalition. In politics as in life, decisive actions are consequences of more than often meets the eye. Despite my belief that bribe or no bribe, Persaud’s decision reflected a deep and deliberate failure of the Coalition’s leadership to creatively manage the partnership, I supported its right to review the NCV in the courts. I, however, felt that such a review should not automatically eliminate the consequences of the outcome of the NCV. It meant that there ought to have been a political initiative that balanced the consequences of the vote and the right to review it. It was incum-

bent on the leaderships to find a political solution to the political crisis brought on by the success of the vote and the inevitable review of it. But the PPP along with some of our political and legal scholars and commentators chose to ignore or downplay one element in the scenario— the right to review. They instead treated the NCV as being beyond challenge or review. In that regard, they manufactured a “constitutional crisis” and used the constitution in an abstract manner to insist that the government must resign, and elections be held by March 22. That one-sided approach invariably engendered an equally one-sided response from the other side, which all but ignored the consequences of the NCV and focused on the right to judicial review. The farce that I referred to above was now in full swing. When the Chief Justice gave her ruling which favoured the PPP, the latter

The Baccoo Speaks Petty robbers are at large. Armed with homemade weapons they would pounce on a man going home. The man would put up a fight and would be wounded by the robbers who would get nothing. The attacker would be caught in his neighbourhood. He would be beaten and handed over to the police. ** The police are going to be kept busy with disgruntled political

supporters. There will be a report of threatening behaviour. This will lead to an arrest, but the police station

would be besieged. The tension is high in the country. ** Another vagrant will die on the streets. The body will be discovered by a person heading to the hospital. The death of the vagrant would be treated as another of death by natural causes but a post mortem would reveal something suspicious. Investigation would suggest suspected poisoning.

thought it was all over. But they forgot one thing—the other side still occupied the seat of power . And that side was headed by a party which understood the imperatives and logic of power and was well practiced in wielding it. To expect the PNC to give up power without a fight is wishful thinking. But even a party that is well versed in the exercise of naked power needed a cover. They found it in the highly and totally partisan GECOM. This is an institution that is independent in theory and does act independently when the stakes are low, but when the stakes are high, it resorts to its partisan self. So, the Coalition hid behind a willing GECOM majority as it held on to power pending the decision by the Court of Appeal. In the meantime, GECOM’s majority and minority carried on their own sideshow and the PPP used its ample media space to wage a propaganda war that had the effect of making the country nervous. The PPP took to the streets and the top brass of the Police Force issued the inevitable threat to put down the assumed insurrection if it

materialized. The pretense of democratic order was beginning to show itself. Jagdeo had blood in his eyes and seemed willing to push the limits of the right to protest. This is where the farce threatened to explode into something else. The Carter Center and the other foreign interests were trying to get the two sides to agree to something. So, the ruling of the Court of Appeal has put a break on the farce—hopefully. A rescue act of sorts. The PPP is appealing the ruling to the CCJ. Hopefully the mantra of “constitutional crisis” will go away and the GECOM “house to house registration” chorus would retreat to where it belongs. I don’t mean to make light of the discourses on the constitutional consequences of the NCV or the debates on the work of GECOM; my issue has to do with what they were used for. So, here we are. The government would continue being the government. Its loyal supporters would gloat and hate Jagdeo more. The PPP would turn its attention to stopping GECOM from preparing to “rig” the election and its supporters

Dr David Hinds would hate the Justices on the Court of Appeal. The ethnic symbolism of the breakdown of the vote at the Court of Appeal would be whispered about, but few would have the courage to say it out aloud. If the CCJ overturns the ruling by the Court of Appeal, the “constitutional crisis” would return and GECOM would hit the spotlight again. In the end, the political crisis would continue - it never goes away. But for now, I say, give thanks to the majority on the Appeal Court. More of Dr. Hinds’ writings and commentaries can be found on his YouTube Channel Hinds’ Sight: Dr. David Hinds’ Guyana-Caribbean Politics and on his website www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.news. Send comments to dhinds6106@aol.com

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

The man who knew too much By Michael Jordan The man who knew too much By Michael Jordan I first met him around 1993. He just walked into the Chronicle’s editorial department like he owned it; this tallish, slim, bearded man with a sheaf of papers in one hand, and the strangest story I had ever heard. He told me that he had witnessed a murder and that the killer was a cop. We sat in the office, and he told me the story. According to him, some months back, a team of policemen from Eve Leary had

picked him up and taken him at night to the section of the Lamaha Canal known as ‘the blacka.’ He alleged that at least one other man, who was a suspect in a crime, was also taken to the area. He claimed that as he watched, one of the policemen stripped to his underwear, tied a rope around the suspect and then forced the man into the ‘Blacka.’ According to the stranger, the policeman repeatedly dragged the suspect beneath the water until the man eventually drowned. For some reason, the policemen spared the life of this

George Bacchus man who had allegedly witnessed this heinous crime.

He told me that he had related his story to a senior attorney. I never wrote the story, but that was not the last time that I would hear about the incident. A few months later, the case surfaced in the High Court with all its lurid details. The alleged eyewitness testified that the senior police rank had informed the suspect that they were going on a ‘bubblesession.’ According to him, the socalled ‘bubble session’ consisted of submerging the suspect in the Lamaha Canal until he perished. No one was convicted in the case, although the senior

officer was transferred from his post at Eve Leary. To this day, there are some police ranks who are angry over what they feel were spurious claims against a brilliant detective. Nine years passed before I met this controversial man again. This time, the circumstances were even more bizarre. I was living in Hadfield Street, Lodge, and had two brief conversations with a burly chap who rode a large motorcycle and occasionally hung out in the area. Somehow, he found out that I was a journalist, and during one of our encounters, he commended me for an article I had written about hit-man Axel Williams, shortly after this alleged killer was slain. I learned that he lived in Princes Street, Lodge, and I would soon learn that he was a central figure in the crime wave that had resulted in numerous kidnappings and murders. One night in January 2004, I received information that yet another person had been gunned down in the city. The victim, a Princes Street resident named Shafeek Bacchus, was sitting on a boulder outside his home when the occupants of a passing car riddled him with bullets. When I arrived at the house, I saw the burly motorcyclist in the yard. When I was leaving, the man indicated that he wanted to talk to me.I returned the following day, and the man, whose name was George Bacchus, took me to a room in Shafeek Bacchus’ three-storey house. First off, he stated that the gunmen who had slain his brother, had actually meant to silence him. Then he told me he had worked with a squad of gunmen and a senior Government official, who were eliminating criminal elements they believed were responsible for the brutal crimes around the country. Bacchus said that he provided the information and other members of the organisation did the killing. One man suspected of being a serial rapist was gunned down at the back of the Botanic Gardens, he said. He claimed that another was dismembered with a power saw.But Bacchus said that he became disillusioned with the organisation after some of them began to execute petty criminals and even persons who were no longer committing crimes. Now, he alleged, the same

killers were targeting him. I began to meet frequently with George Bacchus. It was after one of these visits that we realised that we had met years before, when he had visited me at the Chronicle with his unusual story. George Bacchus also became an almost daily fixture in the media. He appeared on television and he was not afraid to talk. Meantime, the alleged perpetrators behind the Shafeek Bacchus murder were arrested and charged. One of them, a former policeman, died under unusual circumstances at the Georgetown Hospital. The other suspects were subsequently freed. But it appeared that not everyone was buying George Bacchus’ tale. Commissioner of Police Winston Felix himself expressed doubts about the alleged informant’s credibility. “We were burned by this man before,” he stated at a press conference; no doubt referring to the allegations Bacchus had made against the police so many years ago. I was asleep at my then Hadfield Street home at around 03:00 hrs on June 24, 2004, when the sound of a gunshot awoke me. A few minutes later my cell phone rang and someone whispered: ‘They just kill George Bacchus.’ I ran across to the Bacchus residence. Only a few policemen were there. A few relatives of Bacchus were on the road. I learned that Bacchus had been shot dead while sleeping in his bed. I wondered at the fact that this man, who claimed to be marked for death, had made himself such an easy target. Adding to the surreal atmosphere was a large macaw in the Bacchus’ property that squawked a cordial: ‘Good Morning’ to everyone entering the yard.Several hours passed before a team of undertakers emerged from the house and staggered down the stairs with Bacchus’ burly corpse.It struck me that during all our encounters, Bacchus had spoken almost incessantly.Now, the man who had known so much would never speak again. If you have any information about an unsolved murder or disappearance, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location. You can also contact us on telephone numbers: 2258458, 22-58465, 22-58473 or 22-58491. Or you can contact Michael Jordan on his email address: kamarangnight@gmail.com

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

==THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN==

An appeal to Chris Ram…don’t do it Travis Chase of HGPTV Nightly News shared the same dinner table with me at a function sponsored by the families and relatives of the Lindo Creek massacre victims to honour their names. Chase, with a huge smile on his face, said ‘Freddie, you must have get plenty libels” to which I replied, “You don’t want to know.”When it comes to political activists getting libel writs, I have an unenviable record. I don’t think any activist in the history of this country has been more sued for libel than I have. In fact that is only one side of my libel coin. The other side is that no other activist in the history of Guyana has been more libeled by others in the media. Do you know that in the history of newspaper publications in Guyana, no other citizen has had more letters written on them than me. For five consecutive years under the presidencies of Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar, there was a yearly output of more than 150 letters. In one year, I counted over 220. When the Guyana Times was born, I became a target for their letter-writers too. Ninety percent of those correspondences in the Chronicle, under an editor named Mark Ramotar (is he related to the infamous Guyanese De Donald?) scandalized, derogated, vilified and libeled me. I never sued. I never thought of a writ because of one fundamental reason. You have to live with the

viciousness of people when you decide to fight dictatorship and change the world for the better. You do what urges you to fight and forget about these detractors. In the fifteen years that Jagdeo and Ramotar dominated my country, I would have won hundreds of millions of dollars from the writers and the newspapers on what the Chronicle and Guyana Times carried on me. As for the libels, I gave Travis Chase some names. The list includes two Vice Chancellors of UG, Professor Dennis Craig and Harold Lutchman; Christopher Ram; Tacuma Ogunseye; Dr. Hughley Hanoman, Dr. Walter Ramsahoye, Ralph Ramkarran, Larry London of the PNC, President Jagdeo, Juan Edghill. I avoided libels by editor’s advice to apologize on more than fifty occasions In the context of the kind of political culture Guyana has, I think libel is used to shut up social activists, commentators, and academics. Among social activists, I don’t believe we should resort to the use of the archaic libel laws of Guyana. I remember when Tacuma Ogunseye sued me over my analysis of the violence in Buxton, and took Mortimer Coddett as his lawyer, Morty who was a friend said to me grinning wildly; “Freddie wuh going on here, y’all suppose to be on the same side, how it come to this?” My reply, “ask Ogunseye, I didn’t sue any-

body.” Morty never went through with the case. It is in this context, I would appeal to Christopher Ram not to sue one of the WPA’s major figures, Desmond Trotman. Ram has played a huge part in the struggle for rights and justice under the dictatorship of the PPP. This columnist here has been a recipient of the energies of Ram’s activism. I recall that when Khurshid Sattaur sent me eight tax forms and demanded that I submit property tax submissions, it was Chris that did all the paper work pro bono. I use this opportunity to thank him once again.

On the other hand, Desmond Trotman has made a substantial contribution to working class politics. He is no middle class man. He is no petty bourgeois. He has been a consistent activist on the side of the working class. Together in the WPA and the People’s Parliament (grassroots organization formed on High Street opposite Parliament building in 2012 to protest the gunning down of three unarmed protestors in Linden) both men have participated in raising the level of consciousness of the Guyanese people in the era of the hegemony of Jagdeo/

Ramotar. Though I believe the struggle for justice and liberty in the era of Jagdeo and Ramotar has not borne fruit, in that what we expected from the post-2015 dispensation has gone badly wrong, and has caused some formidable falling out among those who were bonded in struggle, I think there are unique circumstances that exist between Ram and Trotman to avoid a court case. Let us leave the terror of libel to power-driven leaders and corporate heads who are afraid of exposure. People who fight for the rights of the

Frederick Kissoon downtrodden should not make use of such laws. I sincerely hope that the mutual friends of both Ram and Trotman make a timely intervention. This is my little effort here.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

The Judiciary must be able to work without pressure from any side

he new American Ambassador to Guyana, SarahAnn Lynch, seems to have rolled up her proverbial sleeves to continue the job of maintaining the solid relations between the United States of America and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. She displayed a firm grasp of political events in Guyana, the marked separation of legislature and judiciary which she expressed as support for the decisions made by Guyana’s judiciary. In her remarks after she presented Letters of Accreditation to President David Granger, the Ambassador

said: “We have seen a strengthening of the democratic process and political institutions (in Guyana) along with broader political participation and citizen representation. Moving forward, we will continue to encourage genuinely free and fair elections, freedom of speech and assembly, multi-party representation and a constitutional judiciary process.” Since then, more than a few cynical comments have been trolling social media. Many detractors suggested that her remarks were expressing support for the Coalition

Government and their (detractors’) erroneous opinion that the government is attempting to snub the Constitution and delay national elections. After some in-depth Internet surfing on the subject, we found some impressive academic dissertations, one on “Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy: the Hungarian Constitutional Court” by Laszlo Solyom, and another titled, “The Supreme Court and Constitutional Democracy” by John Agresto. These studies were done in former authoritarian states which have since been democratized. Like Guyana, the

Judiciary in those countries is separate from the Executive, and they function as independent, constitutional branches of the State. RULE OF LAW In his capacity of Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo delivered a feature address in which he made a distinction between “Rule by law” in which a Government places itself above the law, and the “Rule of Law” which implies that everyone in society, including the Government, is bound by the law. PM Nagamootoo had stated: “It is on the latter that we (APNU+AFC) have rested the structure of government, recognising that constitutional limits on the exercise of governmental authority, which is a key feature of any democracy, require adherence to the rule of law. Indeed, the quality of governance is defined by observance of the rule of law. Good governance depends on it.” As such, the Government maintains that there must always be clear limits to the power given to the Executive. Our Constitution empowers the judiciary, which makes it a constitutional body. Its independence is the strongest guarantee for the protection of citizens’ rights. An independent judiciary is the bedrock of stability in our nation, and the guarantor of the rule of law. This is the exact reason why our judges are now confident that they will remain immune from any improper,

inappropriate or unwarranted influence, not from the Government or the opposition. That is a huge step, a change that the Coalition made in 2015, and we pledge to stand by it no matter what the circumstances are! Guyana’s judiciary enjoys freedom from censure even when the Government expresses opposing views or disagreement with any ruling. The Guyana judiciary also enjoys institutional and financial independence, and we are justly proud that we achieved this. This spotlight on our independent judiciary is to stress the Coalition Government’s position that come-what-may, we will abide by the rulings and/or take whatever lawful recourse remains. Another scholarly work we found was by renowned jurist Dr. Francis Alexis, author of “Changing Caribbean Constitutions”. He explained that a clear majority is one half of all MPs Plus One. In an odd-number scenario like Guyana’s where one-half is equal to a fraction, the sensible thing to do is round up to the next higher number, then add one. When applied to our 65-member House, it could ultimately reveal that the 33-member vote did not meet the constitutional threshold of a majority of all elected members of the National Assembly. The coalition maintains that our Judiciary must be able to work without pressure from the Executive or the parliamentary opposition. The Judiciary must protect the Constitution of Guyana, and interpret its provisions and intentions within the context of democratic prin-

ciples … without fear or favour. These principles include the conduct of credible, transparent, free and fair national elections. GECOM is itself constitutionally free to do its work without fear or favour, to hold local or general elections when it is ready to do so, and to deliver results that could not be successfully questioned. ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE GOOD LIFE It seems as if the Opposition plans to destabilize the country and again deny you, the citizens, a better life with the wealth from your natural resources. Let’s forget for a moment their apparent desperation to return to power and control over those resources. Now consider what could become of the wealth that is almost here in your hands if the PPP succeeds in bringing shame and disgrace upon this country … yet again. Only recently Guyana was applauded around the world for successfully turning around a pariah state that was known for its reputed ties to the drug world. Our country was winning awards again, and our Caribbean brethren are coming back to work in Guyana, to buy our manufactured products, to open their own businesses, and they no longer have that eye-bulging fear of being robbed and killed by Guyanese criminals. The Opposition PPP is willing to throw all of those gains away. They don’t mind risking the departure of the oil giants. That is very possible if they continue to provoke social unrest and chaos.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

My column

The road to the mother of all elections

ast week the Carter Center once more became involved in local politics. Guyana became a hotspot after the vote of a no confidence motion on December 21, last year. That vote sparked numerous legal views, all of them rooted in the constitution. For the first time I realized that the constitution is not a document that should be taken section by section. The part that sparked the most confusion dealt with the resignation of the government in the wake of a failed no confidence vote. That section said that the Cabinet should resign. And resign it should and did. This meant that the business of the government should be put on hold until a new government takes office. But the government said that it has gone to the courts and that any action should wait until a definitive decision by the courts. However, there was the clause that determined that elections should be held within ninety days of the no confidence vote. For elections to be held, the Guyana Elections Commission must signal its readiness. This commission is independent of any political intervention. So here we have a situation. The president is being asked to name a date when another section of the constitution states that he must be advised by the elections commission before he could do so. This certainly was ignored by the political opposition, who quite correctly argued that the commission should always be in a state of readiness. Indeed, I have seen snap elections called in other Caribbean countries. There is no question of the elections commission not being ready. But Guyana is a different kettle of fish. There was a question of the votersâ€™ list, which all the commissioners agreed was bloated. If the list is indeed bloated, and I said so from the time the country was preparing for local government elections, then it must be sanitized. There could be court challenges to any election that appears to have been tainted. The political opposition said, however, that bloated or otherwise, since the list was used for the local government elections, it could be used for the general elections. The commission itself said that it was working to sanitise the list. It argued that it was working within a timeframe that would put it in a state of readiness for elections in 2020. Part of the sanitization programme involved house to house registration. The opposition argued that if there is to be

house to house registration then the ninety-day timeline could not be met. For starters, there is a large overseas population that actually comes to Guyana to vote. The Carter Center suggested that the commission could sanitise the list by removing the migrant Guyanese. As though this is an easy task, the Carter Center suggested that the commission could involve the immigration department. The law states that an individual must be resident in the country for a period of nine months in order to be allowed to vote. With all these things on hand, the commission by a majority vote insisted that there be house to house registration. Acting on the advice of the commission, President David Granger suggested that he could fix a date by November. The opposition leader said that this was unacceptable. There were some other factors. The ninety-day period did not end on March 21, 2019 as was so loudly touted. The Carter Center quoted the Act which said that the actual deadline was March 22. But so set was the opposition that the deadline was March 22, that on that date, it organized countrywide protests. In the city, one former Minister actually dubbed Granger a former president, although the constitution said that the president should remain in office until a new president is sworn in. Then came the decision by the Guyana Court of Appeal that overturned the decision by the High Court. The Court

of Appeal decision nullified the no confidence vote. It endorsed the right of the government to remain in office. It is here that things get interesting. I have seen the chats on social media that seem to suggest something that everyone wants to ignore; that there is a sharp racial divide in the country. And this divide is accentuated only when elections loom. People forget that decisions are rooted in law. In the case of Guyana, any decision can be tested by the highest court, the Caribbean Court of Justice. True, there was a dissenting decision and those bent on beating the race drum have taken note of the ethnicity of the dissenter. I remember when the Jagdeo challenge for a third term went to the High Court, Justice Ian Chang ruled that the challenge had merit and should be upheld. The matter went to the Guyana Court of Appeal and was upheld. Again there was a dissenting vote. Once more, as is the case now, the dissenter was of a different ethnicity from those voting to uphold the decision. The Caribbean Court of Justice upheld that dissenting decision and put the matter to rest once and for all. Once more this court is going to be asked to determine the final outcome of the matter. The government is now, by the decision of the court, able to summon Parliament. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had said that he would not be going to parliament unless it is to determine funding for the holding of elec-

tions. That is not going to be the case. It now remains to be seen whether he would maintain his position. He had also said that any decision taken by the government would be illegal after March 22, 2019. He did not consider the ruling by the Guyana Court of Appeal. There are going to be decisions until the appeal courtâ€™s ruling is overturned. Would he consider these decisions illegal? That apart, the campaign for elections is truly on. I have heard repeated statements that those in Government actually became inaccessible to the voters. People called them and could not gain access. People wrote letters and were ignored. One young woman spoke of repeated efforts to access

Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge and was ignored. She sent a letter to President Granger and got an acknowledgement. This past month, there has been a concerted move to make contact with the very voters who said they were ignored. Why was this not a continuous effort all along? Were Ministers aloof? Even press conferences were rarities. Ministers were not keen to advertise their progress and other developments. If indeed the government is to remain in office until November, then what has suddenly started should be continuous. Meanwhile, the opposition is working assiduously among its supporters as it has always been doing since it

Adam Harris vacated office. I see the letters in the press; I see the comments from people who were once associated with the then government. They are prolific writers. The same cannot be said for the government supporters. Whatever the case, as Finance Minister Winston Jordan once said, the elections will be the mother of all elections, and I agree with him.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

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United we stand a better chance to fulfil our destiny It is clear that Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who now personifies the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and is the only person allowed to speak for that group is trapped in the ‘old politics of Guyana. Listen carefully to the cunningly crafted ‘dog-whistles’ and the not so elegant language of this Constitutional Office holder and one can see clearly that Jagdeo is trapped in and wants to take this country back to, the divisive politics of the past.

Those were the days when ethnic support determined elections results and campaign tactics. The political landscape was one not of ideas, but instead, of racial rivalry. At the end of these ethnic censuses, the winner walked away victorious and the country remained divided. What Mr. Jagdeo fails to realise is that the tide of ideas in Guyanese politics has turned. We have moved away from confrontation and collision, to cooperation and coa-

lition. The new politics is aimed at creating a community with a common cause. Instead of fighting each other and using our differences to divide and rule, we are a movement aimed at reaffirming our common commitment to confront the challenges facing our nation. To quote President David Granger; “We are a movement to establish an equitable society, in a stable political environment with a prosperous economy. We are a movement,

most of all, to secure the future of our youth and our children.” The present political climate creates an opportunity for cooperation and consultation, but unfortunately the PPP in the person of Mr. Jagdeo is not interested. The Constitution clearly at Article 106(7) leaves open the door for legislative dialogue, but Mr. Jagdeo has chosen to shut that door. The question must be asked; why is the PPP bent on confrontation and colli-

sion? APNU+AFC has always advocated for inclusionary democracy. The Constitution of Guyana has ordained: “The principal objective of the political system of the State is to establish an inclusionary democracy by providing increasing opportunities for participation of citizens and their organisations in the management and decision making process of the State, with particular emphasis on those areas of decision-making that directly affect their wellbeing.” The parties that make up the coalition are determined and will continue to advocate for inclusionary democracy. We owe it to future generations that the politics of the past remain in the past. We still believe that our task is to transform disunited parties into a government of national unity. In short, APNU+AFC has embraced change. A political party that does not change dies and the PPP is dying ideologically and intellectually. It has no ideas about how to transform Guyana. It has no interest in how to change Guyana. The party has given its voice to one man who wants to take our country back. Back to what? Back to corruption? Back to the crime spree, murder and mayhem that characterised his 12 years as President? Back to Cronyism? Back to governing in the interest of a favoured few? Back to control-freakism and no local democracy? Why exactly one must ask, is the PPP promising/promoting a sordid past instead of promising a glorious future? The evidence is there for all to see, that the coalition APNU+AFC over the last three years has governed in the national interest. The Coalition is the face of the future. Our common commitment is to give all Guyanese a ‘good life’ and we encourage members and supporters of the PPP to join us as compatriots as we work together to ensure that our children enjoy a great future. In 2015APNU and the AFC came together because Guyana was at a breaking point. Guyanese were tired and fatigued after more than

two decades of a failed PPP government. The PPP had dragged our nation to the pit of the human development index. The record numbers of arson, armed robbery, murders, suicides, road fatalities, illiteracy, unemployment, trafficking in persons, and trafficking in narcotics had made Guyana a pariah state in this hemisphere. The PPP worse still, had divided our nation. APNU+AFC after just over three years in office has turned the ship of state around. The Coalition has put an end to cronyism at high levels that was draining our financial resources; we established a procurement commission; we have started to arrest the crime that was bleeding the bodies of our women and youth and scaring away investors; we have begun to clean up the corruption in our law-enforcement and regulatory agencies; we have cleaned up and restored our capital city, kept the nation safe, and public and investor confidence has been restored. To quote President David Granger “the APNU+AFC coalition is a visionary combination of political and social forces that has the capacity to ensure that a real government of national unity emerges; not a bogus civic alliance; that our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society provides a place for all citizens to prosper; that our people- regardless of their gender, geographic location, class, creed or ethnic originenjoy a good life; that an environment which is free from the ravages of poverty and discrimination and from the scourge of criminal violence, epidemic disease and ignorance is created and that information and communication technology is extended to all corners of our great country.The APNU+AFC coalition is actually more than six parties. It has become a national movement for transformation. The whole is greater than the sum of all its parts. The momentum that the coalition has generated is evidence of the people’s satisfaction…. United we stand a better chance to fulfil our destiny. Divided, we fall victim to the tactics of the PPP.”

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

Silent Heart Attacks: They happen more often than you may think By Dr Zulfikar Bux Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine We often associate having a heart attack with chest pains. Well this is not always the case with heart attacks. There are times when persons do have a heart attack but it’s silent. Recent research suggests that nearly half of all heart attacks are silent heart attacks. A silent heart attack is a heart attack without the traditional symptoms. You often don’t know you are having a silent heart attack. Many people don’t find out until weeks or months later when they visit their doctor for other symptoms or symptoms related to a complication from their silent heart attack. WHATARE SOME SYMPTOMS OFA SILENT HEARTATTACK? The symptoms of a silent heart attack are not as severe as those for a regular heart attack. They can often be mistaken for other conditions. Some people feel no symp-

toms at all. Pay attention when you feel any of the following: • Discomfort – You may still feel pain, but it won’t be the unmistakable chest pain of a regular heart attack. You may feel discomfort in the upper abdomen, in your back, or in your jaw. It could feel like you’ve strained a muscle. • Shortness of breath – If you are feeling short of breath or having trouble breathing doing small activities, it could be a sign of a heart attack. • Heartburn – Mild pain in the throat or chest can be mistaken for gastric reflux, indigestion, or heartburn. • Fatigue – Physical discomfort or feeling very tired can be signs of many things. When they happen with a silent heart attack, they are often mistaken for other things. These could include poor sleep or age-related aches and pains. • Feeling lightheaded – If you break out in a cold sweat, feel nauseated, or feel lightheaded, you could be having a silent heart attack. WHAT CAUSES SILENT

HEARTATTACKS? Silent heart attacks are caused by the same things that cause traditional heart attacks. This happens when part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies because it hasn’t received enough oxygen. This is often due to a blocked artery in the heart. Risk factors for silent heart attacks are also the same. They include: • smoking • diabetes • age – Risk increases for men older than 45 and for women older than 55 (or after menopause) • high cholesterol • high blood pressure • family history of heart attack • lack of exercise • stress • obesity • gender – Women have silent heart attacks more often than men. HOWARE SILENT HEART ATTACKS DIAGNOSED? Many times, silent heart attacks are found during a routine check-up. If your doctor thinks you may have had one, he or she may order imaging

tests. T hese could include an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) or an angiogram. These tests can show if your heart muscle has been damaged, signaling that you’ve had a heart attack. If you’ve gone to the emergency room with silent heart attack symptoms, the doctor may order blood tests. Can silent heart attacks be prevented or avoided? A healthy lifestyle can help prevent any kind of heart attack. This includes: • Quitting smoking if you smoke, and avoiding secondhand smoke. • Keeping a healthy diet that is low in fat and low in cholesterol. • Exercising regularly. • Managing your stress. • Controlling your blood pressure. • Managing your blood

sugar level if you have diabetes. • Seeing your doctor regularly for check-ups. HOW IS A SILENT HEART ATTACK TREATED? Normally, silent heart attacks are found long after the heart attack is over. Treatment will mostly involve taking medicines. These medicines help improve blood flow to your heart, prevent clotting, and reduce the risks of having another heart attack. Your doctor will prescribe the medicines that are right for you. If you have had a heart attack, your doctor will also talk to you about lifestyle changes. You can make these changes to prevent more heart problems. LIVING WITH SILENT HEARTATTACKS After you’ve had a silent heart attack, you are at higher risk of having another one.

Dr Zulfikar Bux This one will likely be more severe and harmful. Your doctor will likely recommend heart-healthy lifestyle changes to help reduce your risk. Symptoms during a second heart attack may be different than the first one. If you have any new symptoms of heart attack or are in any doubt, do not hesitate to visit your doctor or an emergency room. Early treatment is the key to surviving a heart attack.

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SUNDAY Jordan says…Progress being made on debt writeoffs from bilateral partners Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, has assured that progress is being made when it comes to reducing the US$170M Guyana owes to several countries. The economist during an interview with Kaieteur News said, “…We are close to concluding a debt reduction agreement with Kuwait. We recently established contact with Libya and are in the early stages of reconciling the outstanding debt. “In the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we have put a proposal to them and are awaiting a response.” Similarly, the Finance Minister said that the Ministry tried to engage Argentina over the past year, but has not received a reply on this matter. Finally, since engaging Serbia in 2017, Jordan said that the Ministry has not heard from that country. He noted nonetheless that efforts would continue to be pursued for debt reduction from them. In spite of the expected gains to come from the petroleum sector, the coalition Government has said that it will continue to manage the nation’s debt in a most prudent manner. Specifically making this point was the Finance Minister during his 2019 budget speech. The economist said that the Government will maintain a moderate risk of debt distress and, in this regard, will undertake not to borrow at rates that could compromise the country’s fiscal stance. In addition to this, Jordan reminded that the public debt legislation is currently being drafted and is expected to be laid in the House in 2019. He said, too, that the Government will prioritize the crafting of a national debt strategy and an annual

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

borrowing plan, which together, will define the optimal mix of financing mechanisms in the short-tomedium term, for the funding of development initiatives. In tandem with the aforementioned, the Finance Minister reminded that the Government has also published a Public Private Partnership Policy Framework, in 2018. He noted that this presents a structured framework within which the Government can pursue new options of financing that would reduce the need to incur significant debt. The twin GPHC pronounced twin dead, family discover one alive….dies 24 hrs later The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation is once more under the spotlight. On Friday, a nurse allegedly pronounced twin babies stillborn. However, family members discovered that one of the babies was still alive when taken to the mortuary. According to reports the mother of the twin, Bhanwattie Budhram, from Enmore was taken to the hospital where she delivered the babies prematurely by Caesarean section. When they enquired, the young mother and family members were informed that it was a stillbirth. The bodies of the babies were wrapped to be taken to the mortuary. However, the relatives of the woman asked to see them. It was then allegedly discovered that one of the children was alive and crying. The infant was quickly unwrapped and taken to the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. However, according to a close family member, a young female doctor reportedly advised that although the baby was breathing, the lungs were not fully developed and as such no oxygen was given to the child, initially. Also, the infant was not placed in an

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

incubator. The baby was placed next to the mother. But shortly after midnight a nurse reportedly placed an oxygen mask over the infant. This measure was believed to be too severe because the child’s lungs were not properly developed. Sadly, the child who can be said was strong at heart died after a few hours later.. A hospital official has confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the matter. MONDAY Bid document probe…Procurement officer caught on tape asking contractor for kickbacks A Senior Procurement Officer who has been sent on administrative leave pending an internal probe was also allegedly caught on tape last year negotiating with a contractor for kickbacks. A complaint was reportedly made to his superiors but it is unclear what, if anything, was done about it. The officer was sent on leave about three weeks ago after he was found removing sensitive bid documents from a secured room and later allegedly, illegally adjusted the amount upwards by $15M. Fortunately, it was discovered and the project, a road contract, will have to be retendered. On Friday, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, confirmed that a probe was underway and that an initial report has been handed to the Finance Secretary and Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma. Expressing worry, the minister was upbeat that the systems of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) were good enough to have picked up what he described as an irregular activity at “irregular hours.”

NPTAB is the body that accepts and processes government’s bid documents for goods and services and construction. Guyana owes US$114.7M to Venezuela but US sanctions stalling payments – Finance Minister When it comes to Guyana’s financial relations with Venezuela, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan has confirmed that at the end of 2018, Guyana owed the Spanish speaking territory US$114.7 million. In a brief interview, the economist said that since September 2017, Guyana has been unable to make cash payments to Venezuela, given the US imposed sanctions. He said that a special account was established into which these payments are transferred on a monthly basis. “As soon as the situation normalizes, we will transfer the accumulated amount in the account to Venezuela,” the Finance Minister expressed. $1B Lethem industrial estate project targets local entrepreneurs, Brazilian companies On Thursday, a few minutes’ drive from the Takutu Bridge, which links Guyana and Brazil at the town of Lethem, several officials gathered at an unfinished building. It is earmarked to be a conference area that adjoins what will be a business incubator centre, a hub for gathering entrepreneurs who won’t have to worry about start-up office costs or training. Outside, construction is in full swing with blocks, worksite sheds and labourers milling around. A company using what appears to be Brazilian equipment was busy laying asphalt to the driveways. With the closeness to Brazil, a country that is self-

sufficient, on a larger scale, the possibilities are endless. The estate, at the country’s borders, will be testing new grounds for Guyana, trying to woo investors. In the conference area gathered were Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin; head of the Guyana Office For Investment (GO-Invest), Owen Verwey; President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Daniel Gajie and Region Nine’s chairman, Brian Allicock. Also there were representatives from a number of Brazilian companies. According to Sharon Alexander, the Business Ministry’s Department Head of Industrial Development, the 70-acre plot of land was identified in 2014 with development slated to be completed in three phases. Already, over $1B has been spent with another $500M required to bring the industrial estate to where the Coalition Government envisions the project to be. It is all state-of-the-art, looking at the similar initiatives overseas. That 70 acres has parking lots, fire hydrants, concrete power poles, water reservoirs to counter the dry season that Region 9 is accustomed to, over 3,000 meters of marked roads and 6,000 meters of drainage. It is the intention to bring internet, power and water and unveil a showroom of products. In the industrial site itself, the area is being zoned for light to heavy manufacturing. There will be workshops and training, Alexander disclosed, as a Brazilian translator told the visitors what to expect. TUESDAY ‘The clock has not been stayed’ -British envoy urges swift resolution to political impasse The

diplomatic

community is becoming impatient with the political situation in Guyana. In what would be strong words for the political parties in Guyana, British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, yesterday warned voters to choose wisely on policies and not on what families members would have traditionally been doing. “Voters also have a responsibility. To hold their elected officials to account for what they have done or are doing. To not blindly follow one party because that has been what the family has always done. It is time to look to whomever has the best policies and best plans.” The envoy was speaking during the Annual General Meeting of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Speaking to several business leaders and other members, Quinn insisted that the Constitution is the supreme law of Guyana. He also noted that the 90-day timeline for the vote has not been stayed. “It is not, however, my role to interpret that Constitution. But what I will say is that the clock is ticking following the no confidence vote in December. A legal process is ongoing, I recognise that, but that clock has not been stayed. I therefore urge, indeed implore, the political leadership of this country to get together and agree a constitutional way forward.” The High Commissioner, who was here for the 2015 elections, insisted that it is imperative this happens. “If no way forward is found, I fear there will be a further and more harmful impact on business and investment in Guyana. None of us in this room want that.” He said that all political parties have a responsibility to act (Continued on page 33)

Sunday March 24, 2019

From page 32 honestly and truthfully and to act for the betterment of every citizen – not their own pockets or to their own narrow interests. GECOM erred in selection of Deputy CEO… ethnicity played no part in hiring practices – ERC concludes Watchdog body, the Ethnic Relations Committee (ERC), has ruled in a complaint filed by the Opposition asking for an investigation into the hiring practices of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The commission had also been asked to pronounce on the appointment of Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers. In released excerpts of the final report by ERC, it was disclosed that former Deputy CEO, Vishnu Persaud, who was one of the candidates applying for the position last year, had scored higher than Myers during the interviewing process. “By all objective criteria, Mr. Persaud was, on the available evidence, the most qualified candidate for appointment to the position of DCEO. By long established practice, the candidate acquiring the highest score secured the appointment. Save and except for the case of Mr. Gocool Boodoo, all appointments were made upon the unanimous vote of all of the Commissioners,” the report said. It was pointed out that before Myers’ vote by the commission, the vote of the Chairman to break a voting deadlock happened only once before in GECOM. “In all other cases, the appointments were made following a consensus between all of the Commissioners: that is to say the three Commissioners appointed by the President acting in his own deliberate judgment together with the three Commissioners appointed by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Leader of the Opposition.” The ERC said that Persaud whose contract was not renewed a few years ago as DCEO, was the first candidate in the history of GECOM who had obtained the highest score and had not been appointed. “Because of the way that our population is distributed over the country, it is inevitable that in some areas where there is a preponderance of Guyanese of a given ethnicity, there is likely to be a majority of employees in those areas of the majority ethnicity.”

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ERC found that there are no institutional rules or practices in GECOM, which allows for ethnic discrimination in hiring. Rusal was also granted fuel import licence On top of all the tax breaks and other incentives granted to Rusal, for years now, they were also offered a free rein on fuel imported into Guyana. The country gave up millions of dollars of what would otherwise be revenues. According to documents pertaining to the contracts signed by Rusal’s subsidiary, Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), the company has been benefitting from a fuel import licence with concessions that allows them to pay no taxes on it. Rather, the Guyana Energy Agency would mark the fuel and send it along. The licence to import fuel is important, as it is now emerging that the Russiancontrolled company has been operating for nearly a decade and a half in Guyana, without declaring a profit. The profit would be crucial as Guyana owns 10 percent of BCGI. Guyana got naught in dividends. C o n s e c u t i v e governments appeared not to care much about Rusal’s operations and what it was doing. In fact, nothing was done when in 2009, Rusal sent home 57 workers, including supervisors, for protesting better pay and working conditions. Critics have been pointing out that Guyana bent over backwards, giving up millions of dollars of revenues so that Rusal would have a better edge of profits at its operations in the Kurubuka mines, Upper Berbice River, Region 10. A decade and a half ago, the Government of Guyana entered an agreement with subsidiaries of UC Rusal for the management of the Aroaima Mining Company and for the development of the Kurubuka area. The company not only inherited assets, including equipment and housing units with infrastructure, but also operations, which were considered going concerns. The Government, in the mid-2000s, invited Rusal to invest in the Aroaima Mining Company, which was being operated by the state and which was experiencing declining production and sales. According to the Fiscal Incentives Agreement, which was signed March 2005 between Guyana, the Bauxite and Alumina Mining Venture Limited, located in Cyprus; Bauxite Company of Guyana

defendants. The Chief Magistrate in passing her ruling said that she considered the evidence led by the Prosecution headed by Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) Prosecutor, Patrice Henry. The Magistrate said she also considered the no-case submission which was made by the defence attorneys, and the prosecution’s reply in that regard. THURSDAY Jagdeo vows to turn up heat on Gov’t following constitutional deadline Inc. (BCGI) and Guyana Trading Company Limited (GTC), registered in the British Virgin Islands, Rusal/BCGI enjoyed years of tax breaks. WEDNESDAY GECOM Chairman tells President no elections before late November; wants $3.5B – PPP commissioners were not consulted; walk out of meeting On Tuesday, GECOM Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, advised President David Granger via letter that the earliest General and Regional Elections can be held is late November. The missive from Justice Patterson to the President did not have the blessings of the three Opposition-nominated Commissioners- Bibi Shadick, Sase Gunraj and Robeson Benn. The three commissioner’s walked out from Tuesday’s meeting, signalling more tough times ahead in the political landscape. Patterson’s letter to the President came days after he was asked to provide a work programme and more details about the readiness of GECOM for early elections. The Opposition is insisting that GECOM’s job is always to be ready for

elections and to register Guyanese. According to Shadick, during a post-walkout press conference, from the language of the letter, it did not sound like the Chairman wrote it. The delays in naming a date are a clear design to hold off on elections as long as possible, the commissioners said. According to the letter from Patterson, he consulted with his Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, and senior staffers. He blamed the walkouts as delaying the process of naming a date. “This has occurred at every session convened since February 28, 2019, including the Commission’s last meeting on March 14, 2019.” The chairman said that he was advised by the CEO that given all current considerations, an amount of $3.5B is required. Magistrate dismisses contempt case against GBTI CEO, Directors After being on trial for over a year for allegedly failing to comply with a production order issued by the Chief Justice, eight high ranking officials of Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), were freed Tuesday

after a related charge against them was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Those who were charged were Chairman, Robin Stoby; and directors, Edward A. Beharry, Suresh Beharry, Richard Isava, Carlton James and Basil Mahadeo, along with Chief Executive Officer (ag) Shaleeza Shaw, and Kathryn Eytle-McLean. They all denied the charge which alleged that on September 7, 2017 at Georgetown, they failed to comply with a production order granted by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, for them to produce certain documents to the head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Sydney James. The order was made on August 29, 2017. They were on trial before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. They were represented by a battery of lawyers, including Nigel Hughes. Before handing down her ruling, yesterday, the Chief Magistrate outlined that in order to prove guilt the prosecution is obligated to adduce sufficient evidence. She added the prosecution must therefore prove that a production order was granted and that the order was violated without reasonable cause by the eight

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the pressure is set to increase on the Coalition Government after the March 21, 2019 Constitutional deadline. Jagdeo has been accusing the Government of ignoring the constitutional provision by failing to call elections in accordance with the Constitution and the decision of the High Court. In addition to the passage of the motion, the Court had ruled that the no-confidence vote cast on December 21, 2018, is irreversible. It upheld the argument that the 33-32 vote is a majority of all the elected (65) members of the National Assembly on a vote of no-confidence. Quoting the constitution, the Court ruled “Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the election.” With no agreement of the Opposition as it relates to an extension of the current Government’s time in office (Continued on page 34)

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From page 33 before the constitutional deadline, Jagdeo has been arguing that APNU+AFC Government, including the President, is no longer lawfully in place. Addressing media operatives at his weekly press briefing, the Opposition Leader sought to reassure his supporters that the party will not let up on the Government easily. “We will make life very uncomfortable for those who are occupying offices illegally; who have been violating our Constitution, and who in their self interest will push our country into a crisis.” Additionally, Jagdeo said that the PPP has already taken steps to have international sanctions imposed on “the illegal government.” “We will continue to seek international condemnation of this government. We have already sought those sanctions. We have written to a number of international organizations arguing for non-recognition of this government after March 22.” Survey shows Exxon well extends into other company’s oil block Maps contained in a recently published Resource Report for Certain Assets in Offshore Guyana, indicate that one of ExxonMobil’s 12 oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block extends into the Orinduik Block which is operated by oil majors Tullow, Total and Eco Atlantic. The report was prepared

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for Eco Atlantic by Kevin S. Weller, a Registered Petroleum Engineer at Gustavson Associates. The evaluation was completed on March 15, 2019 and released on Monday. The Petroleum Engineer noted that the bulk of the Tertiary age Hammerhead accumulation is on the neighbouring Stabroek Block, but an estimated one square kilometre is on the Orinduik Block and thus becomes an excellent analogue for Tertiary age leads and prospects for Eco Atlantic and its partners. (See link for full report: https://www.sedar .co m/ GetFile.do?lang=E N&docClass=13&issuerNo=0 0025813&issuerT ype=03&projectNo=0288 6425&docId=447946 1) Industry analyst, SP Angel Corporate Finance, which is based in the UK, has also taken note of the situation. During an interview with www.proactiveinvestors.com, the firm said, “What is interesting to note is that very little is being given away by the Hammerhead discovery already in the block, which given the abundance of highquality seismic significant improves exploration confidence, even if exploration risks remain.” The company concluded, “Whatever the outcome, that Hammerhead has been observed as coming on to the licence already means that the Company has more than exploration value, but the question is how much. These are luxury problems to have,

and ones which we believe will result in value creation for the Company and its shareholders.” Also speaking on this matter recently during an interview with www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk as well was Eco’s Chief Executive Officer, Gil Holzman. The CEO spoke extensively about the plans for drilling offshore Guyana for 2019. In this regard, he was asked to say why the company is looking to start drilling on the eastern side of the Orinduik Block as opposed to the southwestern side where Exxon’s Hammerhead-well is located. FRIDAY Opposition Leader says…Granger’s timeline for election unacceptable President David Granger will shortly announce a date for General and Regional Elections but from all indications it will likely be nearer to the end of the year. The Opposition in a quick-fire response on Thursday, in the middle of the Phagwah celebrations, said that it is totally unacceptable. On Wednesday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon wrote Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, informing him that the President is preparing to announce the date. The letter suggested that Granger would be likely veering for what Chairman of the Guyana Elections

Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson informed him this week- that based on the fact that house-to-house registration will take some time, no elections can be held before late November. The response from the GECOM chairman came after the Head of State wrote him, asking him to produce the commission’s work programme and to inform of the readiness to deliver “credible” elections in Guyana. Patterson on Tuesday, March 19, then responded to the president: “…I would proffer that the Commission would be in a position to conduct General and Regional Elections no earlier than late November 2019 with an official list of electors having a qualifying date of 31st October 2019.” Giving an indication of the president’s thinking, Harmon, in the released letter sent to Jagdeo, said that the president’s announcement of a date would be within the context of what the GECOM’s chairman has provided in his answer. Companies resisting release of tax information for Guyana’s EITI report… Laws must be amended to improve complianceIndependent Administrator The tax payments of natural resource companies are crucial to the comprehensive production of Guyana’s first report which has to be submitted to the Extractive Industries

Transparency Initiative (EITI) next month. But Rached Maalej who has been hired as the Independent Administrator to prepare the report, encountered major challenges in trying to access such information. During an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, yesterday, Maalej who works with UK accounting and business advisory firm, BDO LLP, revealed that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) by law is constrained from releasing the tax data. In trying to find a solution, Maalej said that 34 companies which are believed to contribute the bulk of the revenues from the sector were asked to sign a document granting the Administrator permission to access their tax information. Unfortunately, less than half of the companies were willing to comply. On a positive note, however, Maalej said that the eight active oil firms in Guyana readily signed the waiver. The Tunisian said, “GRA has a point in saying that it cannot disclose anything so we tried to come up with a legal solution and we needed to, otherwise, we will not be able to comply with the EITI Standard. Looking to amend the laws right now might take too long so we tried to have what we call waivers of the confidentially constraints and GRA accepted this. “We tried to collect waivers from the private companies but not all of them signed… It was not perfect…We need from GRA,

all the information.” The Administrator continued, “We got the information from those who signed the waivers. (They were) around 10 or 14 but these are the biggest which is a good thing. All eight active oil companies signed and GRA was able to give us but we need information even for the small ones. SATURDAY Appeal Court rules 2—1… Govt. remains in office - Noconfidence vote invalid Guyana got its answer Friday afternoon from the nation’s highest court. An “absolute majority” of 34 votes is required. With that, the Court of Appeal by majority decision of 2-1 disagreed with the reckoning that 33 Members of Parliament (MPs) can effectively pass a NoConfidence Motion against the Government. The ruling which lasted close to three hours resulted in mixed reactions from the attorneys, media operatives and members of the public present at Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown. This came on the heels of 90-days expiration date set out in the Constitution following the initial passage of a no-confidence motion on December 21, last. Even as the Appeal Court handed down the decision, yesterday, Opposition-led protests were being held countrywide. The Opposition has been calling

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From page 34 for the holding of general elections, but as a matter of urgency, removal of the government which it deemed illegal from March 21. But in a twist of events, Appellate Judges, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Dawn Gregory upheld the argument that an absolute majority is required for the passage of no-confidence motion against the Government. The two Judges agreed an absolute majority in the context, calls for 34; not 33 votes of all elected members of the National Assembly. Justice Rishi Persaud, on the other hand disagreed. He ruled the no-confidence motion was validly passed by 33 to 32 votes. That decision was previously handed down by Chief Justice Roxane George at the High Court. On January 31 last, Chief Justice (CJ) George declared that “In our 65-member National Assembly, a majority of all elected members, in accordance with the principle of ‘one over all rivals combined’, is thirty-three (33) members.” The CJ had ruled in three matters stemming from the no confidence motion passed in the National Assembly on December 21 last. In the first case, Compton Reid, a private citizen, had challenged the vote of expelled Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud. Persaud had cast a vote in favour of the no-confidence motion against the Coalition Government, which he represented. Reid challenged the validity of the motion on the basis that Persaud is not qualified for elections as a member of the National Assembly due to his dual citizenship by virtue of his allegiance to Canada, a

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foreign power. In another case, the Government had approached the Court for an interpretation of the Constitution as it relates to the majority vote count for the successful passage of noconfidence motion. And the third case, Attorney-at-law Christopher Ram called for a declaration that the passage of the noconfidence motion requires the resignation of the Cabinet including the President with all convenient speed. Ram asked the court to declare that the general elections be held within 90 days from the passage of the motion or within such extended period as the National Assembly shall determine by resolution support, by not less than twothirds of the votes of all elected members, which was stipulated by the constitution. Ram contended that he has several grounds for the application which includes that on December 21, 2018, on a vote of all elected members of the National Assembly, the government was defeated on a vote of confidence brought on a motion by the Leader of the Opposition, which was passed with 33 votes in favour and 32 against. Ram argued that under Article 106 (6) of the Constitution of Guyana, the cabinet, including the President, has to resign if the Government is defeated on a vote of no-confidence. However in her ruling Friday, Justice CummingsEdwards said the Chief Justice’s calculation of 33 votes was for a “simple majority.” She held that a noconfidence motion cannot be upheld using the same yardstick that is applied for the passage of ordinary legislation, since it results in much more grave circumstances — the

toppling of a government. Both Appellate Judges (Cummings-Edwards and Gregory) alluded to the submissions proffered by Queen’s Counsel (QC) Dr. Francis Alexis, a former Attorney General of Grenada, who has been hired by the Attorney General of Guyana Basil Williams, to argue the government’s case at the Court of Appeal in relation to the no-confidence motion matters. The Queen’s Counsel had amplified the arguments that were already raised at the High Court. He insisted that there was a miscalculation of votes, and that in order for the motion to be passed, an “absolute majority” of all elected members was required. According to him, in calculating the “absolute majority”, the 65 members of the National Assembly had to be divided by two, which would result in 32.5, but since the .5 represents half and there is no half-member, that number needs to rounded off to 33, and add one more, making the majority 34 —an absolute majority. QC Alexis had also submitted, “But you can only round up if a fraction is the result. A fraction comes into the exercise. You cannot get away from that. A fraction is rounded up, not down, left alone. That’s why the fraction was rounded up in the case of Hughes v Rogers.” He argued that the Chief Justice failed to apply this rule when arriving at a majority, since, in her judgment, she explained that it was not required, given that it was an odd number House. The longstanding jurist also argued that passing a noconfidence motion is not on the same level as passing ordinary laws which would require a simple majority, that is, a majority of all elected

members present and voting on a particular exercise. The lawyer had insisted that Justice George was erroneous in making such a ruling. He also rebutted arguments presented by attorney Anil Nandlall who appeared on behalf of leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo. Meanwhile in affirming the ruling by Chief Justice, Justice Rishi Persaud said, “With the greatest respect to Dr Alexis, the formula of firstly dividing by half then rounding up to the nearest whole (number) plus 1 has no application here. It does not amount to logic and common sense where there is an uneven number of members, unless of course that specific formula is prescribed.” Additionally in relation to the dual citizenship issue, all of the Judges noted that there was no evidence before the court which suggests that former government parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud knew he was disqualified from being a member of the National

Assembly owing to him being a dual citizen of Guyana and Canada. They agreed that Persaud’s dual citizenship would not invalidate his vote on the grounds set out in Article 165 (2) of the Constitution. According to that Article, “The Assembly may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership … (even) after any dissolution of Parliament and the presence or participation of any person not entitled to be present or to participate in the proceedings of the Assembly, shall not invalidate those proceedings.” We’re going straight to the CCJ – Nandlall APNU+AFC Govt. can hang around for a while but the outcome is inevitable – Jagdeo The Court of Appeal halted the bid of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) for a possible early return to power Friday, in majority rulings making it clear that a no-

confidence motion was not properly carried on the evening of December 21, 2018. Rather, of the 65 seats, the absolute majority needed to carry a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly is 34—not 33. The PPP is now making its intentions clear – the party is going to the Caribbean Court of Justice - the final judicial review, for the ultimate opinion. In effect, the opinions of the three Court of Appeal judges have allowed the Government to continue business as usual. Around 18:00hrs, lead counsel for the Opposition, Anil Nandlall, a former Attorney General, emerged from the courtroom, and said that he is “disappointed” as it was always felt that 33 has always constituted a majority in the National Assembly, since independence. He said that the development of the Court yesterday has upturned the belief of what a majority was. (Continued on page 36)

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From page 35 “So while we won on all issues of law, we have lost on Maths…and I never thought that this was a case of Maths. I thought it was a case of law.” According to Nandlall, he has been arguing that nowhere in the Constitution was the term or prefix “absolute” used in front to the word majority. He said that the framers of the Constitution did so deliberately. He said that if the framers had wanted to use the term “absolute majority”, they would have done so. “Instead, they said a majority of all members of the National Assembly, and a majority of all members of the National Assembly, when the whole is 65, the majority is 33.” According to Nandlall, the Opposition has always said that the matter will be going to the Caribbean Court of Justice, if that is what it takes. He said that he will be taking one issue and it can be heard in a matter of days. He admitted that the effect of the decisions in the Court yesterday is that the no-confidence motion was not validly passed. Meanwhile, Attorney General, Basil Williams, told reporters that the case had stretched the extremities of the law. The proper principle has been applied to the compilation and calculation of a vote. “We always believed that it was the right way. We had to find the road to satisfy the court and I think we did that very well.” Williams sidestepped questions about what is next in context of the planned announcement by President David Granger about early elections brought on by no confidence vote. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, in a Facebook post, said that the APNU+AFC Government can hang around for a while but the outcome of the next General and Regional Elections will be inevitable. In spite of this ruling, Jagdeo said that the People’s Progressive Party will move swiftly to the CCJ for an early review of the Appeal Court’s ruling. He said, too, that calls will continue for early elections and that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) should not pause or halt its preparations for elections in this regard. Jagdeo said that the CCJ could very well overturn the ruling of the Appellate Court. “We will continue to call for early elections, and there is a great possibility that this adverse ruling could be overturned at the CCJ, and if

it is overturned there and they (GECOM) are not prepared, then that would mean further delays in conducting elections. We will continue to press for early elections preparations. If they (Government) prevail, then we simply don’t have to go to elections.” Further to this, Jagdeo expressed disagreement with the argument used by the court. The PPP General Secretary, a former President who served more than decade, said that the Constitution clearly outlines that the Cabinet, including the President, shall resign if it is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the House on a vote of Confidence. “By all calculations of right thinking Guyanese, it is acknowledged that the majority of the 65 members who make up the National Assembly is 33.” Yet, Jagdeo said, the Appeal Court deemed that the majority of 65 is 34. “No strange mathematics can change what the Constitution says. There was widespread acknowledgement of this in Guyana by President David Granger in 2014...and many others...” Additionally, Jagdeo said that he had expected that if the High Court’s ruling that the noconfidence motion was valid had to be overturned, perhaps some other technicality would have been used. He thought that the argument of the dual citizenship status of former AFC Member, Charrandass Persaud, who voted in support of the motion, would have been used. “I never thought that this issue of 34 votes is needed now to pass a No-Confidence vote. It is probably the weakest argument...We will be respectful of the ruling of the court, but one of the reasons we joined the CCJ is to have external reviews and we think we will be able to convince the CCJ that the no confidence motion was validly passed and that this strange insertion of a simple versus majority, when the Constitution says majority is not enough. This weird interpretation is not enough to invalidate the vote.” Jagdeo vowed to intensify the struggle to dislodge the Coalition. “They can’t hide forever. They have a record of mismanagement, large scale corruption, hopelessness in the country, loss of jobs, welfare etc. The outcome is inevitable and they have seen this. The elections will come whenever they come. I am appealing to my members not be demoralized , keep working , keeping going into the APNU strongholds, because people need our guidance and support there too.”

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Reg. 3 RDC, NDCs consulted on new Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling - vendors to be relocated and selling standards to be lifted The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is embarking on a project that will see the rehabilitation of the Vreed-en-Hoop and Stabroek Stellings. Funded under a grant scheme by the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF), a contract was awarded to Mott MacDonald to conduct the feasibility study. Mott MacDonald, a consultancy group from the United Kingdom, on March 20, met with stakeholders in Region 3.

The first consultation was held with the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara administration. Consultant Jonathan McCue gave an overview of the project and solicited the cooperation of the administration. “This is a project that I am certain will benefit this region tremendously and our intention is to ensure that not only is it feasible but also in keeping with the green state strategy of the Government. The project must give an aesthetic outlook to your area and at the same time be

environmentally and economically friendly to your region and by extension t h e c o u n t r y, ” M c C u e noted. Expanding further on the project was Coastal Engineer Lucy Eyres, who presented a draft design to the administration. Eyres noted that the design will cater for the relocation of the vendors who currently occupy the area. Space for parking of vehicles and consideration for persons living with disabilities are also in the draft design. The new stellings are expected to be

powered by solar power. Coming out of the discussion, the consultants will try to facilitate a recreational space within the design, but that will be based on the space and other resources available. The design will also cater to the rise in water level which sometimes leads to flooding at the stellings. According to the consultants, an environmental assessment and other related studies are also being conducted. Assistant Regional Ex-

ecutive Officer (AREO), Shameer Shahid, said the project will receive cooperation from all the stakeholders. “We wish to commit our fullest support to this project. We as an administration will facilitate meetings and engagements with the minibus operators, vendors and speed boat operators so that they can also be on board with this project. Yes, when the actual project commences it will bring some discomfort, but the result will be worth the discomfort, because we will be far way more comfortable when the project is completed than what we are now.” After meeting with the

Regional Administration, the Mott MacDonald team met with the Best KlienPouderoyen Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) which is the local authority area in which the Vreed-enHoop Stelling falls. The NDC pledged its support and welcomed the initiative. The team also met with other NDCs within the region namely Stewartville-Cornelia Ida, Hague-Blankenburg, La Jalousie-Novelle Flanders. The consultants will continue their discussions with other stakeholders after which a final document will be submitted to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

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22 Health Facilities receive early licences for 2019 Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud on Friday issued licences to 22 Health Facilities for 2019, effectively placing the Ministry of Public Health’s grant of approval on those institutions. He noted that 25 facilities’ licences are currently pending inspection by the Ministry’s team. The licences were handed out in the boardroom of the National Blood Transfusion Centre. Dr. Persaud lauded this year’s early allocation as an improvement because, in previous years, healthcare facilities applied later than they were supposed to, and this resulted in licences being processed much later in the year. He said that the licences are of different types and coverage, depending on the type and level of service provided by the facility. Some facilities are licensed specifically for dialysis services, radiotherapies, and cancer treatment services. Some of the basic requirements include adequate washing facilities, proper recording systems, spaces for confidential consultations, proper cleaning and waste disposal mechanisms, enough water, and proper toilet facilities. These are necessary, said Persaud, “so when someone comes to a licensed facility, they [can] expect to receive a full package of service”. Some of the health facilities that received licences on Friday include public health facilities in the villages of Industry, Enmore, Ithaca, Unity, Mon Repos, Melanie, Enterprise, Mahaica, and Lusignan. The private licensees include Universal Health Care, Dr. Leslie Persaud’s Clinic, Demerara Para-

dise, Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA), St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Resident Care, AMK Renal Care, Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital, Biomed Energy Enterprise, Anamayah Memorial Hospital, and Woodlands Hospital. Some have received provisional licences, pending further consideration by the board, while others have full licences. Dr. Persaud said that the ministry is continuing to work with those facilities that have not been fully licensed, to rectify their non-compliance. Every licence expires annually on the anniversary date of its issuance or renewal, so health facilities are expected to apply for renewal every year. Dr. Ivory de Franca of Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital congratulated the Public Health Ministry on this initiative, because this is the first time the institution she represents received its licence early in the year. She recalled instances when she wasn’t sure which providers she could refer patients to for dialysis services, and explained that it’s important for the public to know what services are provided by an institution from the Ministry’s verification. This is because the law typically requires a full-time nephrologist to be stationed at a healthcare facility for it to be licensed to provide dialysis services. Dr. Persaud said that although the law makes such requirements, the Ministry allows certain facilities to retain their certification in some cases, if they don’t have those specialists on hand, due to a shortage of skilled pro-

fessionals countrywide. In those cases, the facilities would need to have medical practitioners with some level of certification in the field. There are certain challenges being faced by the Ministry when it comes to meeting the needs of the entire population, said Dr. Persaud. Firstly, only 94 facilities have applied for licensing, so the Ministry is encouraging others to join the fray. Secondly, there are 372 health facilities operating nationwide. Because the Ministry can’t completely inspect all of those, the facilities which take precedence are the more comprehensive ones and those which serve larger populations, like hospitals. Health posts are generally allowed to provide services anyway. The inspections, according to Dr. Persaud, are done by a multi-stakeholder board of healthcare representatives from all administrative regions, and other stakeholders, like the Bureau of Standards and the Environmental Protect Agency. The facilities are expected to each provide a report to the board, and the team evaluates then provides recommendations to the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence. The central board meets once per month. Dr. Persaud gave special thanks to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for assisting Guyana to develop its capacity for the provision of more specialised services, like those offered by radiotherapy specialists. Inspection is scheduled to commence on March 26 for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and that will conclude on March 28.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

That’s Not Even Her Real Name: 15 Secrets About Reese Witherspoon That You Probably Forgot Is there anything that Reese Witherspooncan’t do? Last year, we at this very website declared the multihyphenate one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, noting that she’d expertly managed to take a 20+ year acting career and elevate it something so much more. Venturing into the world of producing, writing, retail, and activism, Witherspoon has become the sort of woman unabashedly worthy of calling Oprah Winfrey her pal. And as she celebrates her 43rd birthday on Friday, March 22, the year ahead for the star looks even brighter than the last.Not only does she have the highly-anticipated second season of Big Little Liesdue to hit HBO this summer, but her team-up with Jennifer Aniston for one of Apple’s first original dramas—set in the world of morning TV—is due to be have a release date announcement literally any day now. Not only that, but there’s the Hulu miniseries co-starring Kerry Washington, an adaptation of Celeste Ng’s novel

Little Fires Everywhere, to look forward to, as well as the two films she has in pre-production as a producer. But for as bright and exciting as her near future looks, her past is just as interesting. She is a celebrity after all. So, before you break out your best Wreath Witherspoon— bless you, Mindy Kaling, for introducing us to such a delightful concept—and celebrate Reese’s big day, brush up on 15 of the most fascinating facts from her 43 years around the sun! 1. She was born Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon in 1976 in New Orleans. Reese is actually her mother Betty’s maiden name. 2. She is a claimed descendant of John Witherspoon, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, though that claim has not been verified by the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence genealogists. 3. Her father Dr. John Draper Witherspoon served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve and, as

result, Reese spent four years of her childhood living in Wiesbaden, Germany. 4. Growing up a dedicated student who loved reading, she earned the nickname “Little Miss Type A” from her parents. She would later launch her own production company with a title that nodded to the moniker, Type A. In a 2005 profile with Interview, however, she clarified the title choice, saying, “It was actually an in-joke with my family because at [age] 7 I understood complicated medical terms, such as the difference between type A and type B personalities. But I just wished I’d named the company Dogfood Films or Fork or something. You carry that baggage all your life.” 5. Her first acting gig came at age seven, when she selected as a model for a florist’s commercials. It inspired her to take acting lessons. 6. In 1991, she attended an open casting call for the film The Man in the Moon, intending to audition as a bit player. Instead, she landed the lead role of Dani Trant, the 14-

Wine of the week ...

The Stella R osa Moscato Rosa D’Asti is Simply Divine The Stella Rosa Moscato D’Asti is a wine that only be described as simply divine. This semi-sweet, semi-sparkling wine features gorgeous layers of peach, apricot and honey. It can pair superbly with salted nuts, chicken alfredo pasta, pizza and cheese cake. And for its exceptional semi-sweet taste, it has earned several coveted awards which include the 93 Points, Gold Medal from the Monterey Wine Competition; the 91 Points, Gold Medal from the Los Angeles Intl. Wine Competition and the Gold Medal of the International Women’s Wine Competition. HISTORY The Stella Rosa Moscato D’Asti all started in 1917, when the Riboli family founded Los Angeles’ historic San Antonio Winery. Back then, Los Angeles was the prime location for wine growing in all of California. For some time, the wine industry reigned as one of Southern California’s most economically significant and popular industries of that time. About a century later, the Riboli family continued its artisan winemaking tradition through four generations. From within the tasting rooms of San Antonio Winery, customers repeatedly requested a sweeter, light, refreshing wine. The Riboli family took this unique opportunity to create a new semi-sweet, semi-sparkling wine style, which today, they are a leader of. And so, Stella Rosa was born. STELLA, THE STAR To create the Stella Rosa wines, the family chose the region of Asti, a province in Piedmont, Italy, as the source for its aromatic grapes, which have become the hallmark for the Stella Rosa style of wines.

The area of Asti has particular significance to the family, as it is the birthplace of its family matriarch, Maddalena Riboli. The first Stella Rosa wine was Moscato D’Asti, which has become a flagship of this line. Soon after, Stella Rosa Rosso was created – the brand’s first semi-sweet, semi-sparkling red wine blend, and first wine of its kind to be brought to America from Asti. The rapid phenomenal successes of these two wines began the lineage of the L’Originale and Imperiale lines of Stella Rosa, which now boasts 16 distinctive flavors. This divine wine can be found at the Wine Vault located at the Marriott Hotel for $8500 VAT inclusive. You can also find it at the Hibiscus Restaurant, Nice Restaurant and Bar, Palm Court and other leading hotels and bars.

year-old girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17year-old neighbor. In her debut, she was nominated for Best Young Actress at that year’s Young Artist Awards. 7. Despite making her acting debut at 14, she maintained good enough grades to get accepted to Stanford University as an English literature major, but she withdrew after a year to pursue her burgeoning acting career. 8. Reese met her first husband, Ryan Phillippe, when a mutual friend brought him along to her 21st birthday party in 1997. As she told People in 2002, she told him at the end of the night, “I think you’re my present.” 9. After filming the cult classic Cruel Intentions, which was released in 1999 and returned to theaters for a limited engagement this year for its 20th anniversary, Phillippe proposed to his girlfriend in December 1998 with a homemade breakfast-inbed meal of waffles with strawberries and cream. They tied the knot in Charleston, South Carolina on June

5, 1999. Their daughter Ava, who’s grown into the spitting image of her mother, was born three months later. 10. On September 29, 2001, Witherspoon hosted the very first episode of Saturday Night Live to air after the September 11 terrorist attacks. “It was a really difficult time in New York City,” Witherspoon told Katie Couric in 2015. “But I was so proud to be there and be on stage with firemen and Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels I think did an incredible job getting that show back on its feet and making America laugh again.” 11. When she landed the lead role in director Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, Nair joked that Witherspoon should get pregnant to gain weight for the role. The actress wound up announcing her second pregnancy during filming, with careful costuming needed to help conceal her baby bump. 12. Witherspoon and Phillippe’s son Deacon, born in October 2003, was named after former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Deacon Phillippe, a relative of her then-

husband’s. 13. For her performance as June Cash in Walk the Line, she joined a very small list of actresses who have won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for the same performance. 14. She and Phillippe split in 2006 after seven years of marriage. 15. Witherspoon decided to become a producer after reading a terrible script that her agent sent her way. As she told Chelsea Handler in 2017, “I thought, ‘If every actress in Hollywood wants this part, I need to start making movies because this is not worth women’s talent.’” (www.eonline.com)

This Is Why Fans Think Miley Cyrus and Drake Are Collaborating on New Music Miley Rae Cyrus continues to spice things up on the ‘gram. Sharing another highly stylized photo of herself with her 88.8 million followers— decked out in a Dior two-piece and flashy jewelry, no less— the 26-year-old star is giving fans something to talk about. Take one look at her latest social media post, and you’ll notice her followers are going into a frenzy over the possibility that she and Drake are collaborating on new music. “Drenching myself in @champagnepapi tears,” the “Malibu” songstress captions her alluring photo, where she’s casually pouring water on herself while she’s in a pool. It’s a 2019 mood for sure. Naturally, her fans are speculating she and the “Mia” rapper are working together on new music, especially since her recent posts allude to the fact that she’s exploring a different style and possible new sound. If anything, her latest Instagram pictures are reminiscent of her fashion, attitude and overall vibe from her fourth studio album, Bangerz. Because of her recent snap and its accompanying caption, many of her fans’ comments range from “collab?” to “im dying right

now.” “Drake Collab,” one commenter simply writes. “im dying right now imagine drake x mc,” another follower says. As mentioned before, in the last few days, the “Wrecking Ball” singer has teased a series of ostentatious photos. Each with a cheeky caption. Just two days ago, her Instagram post read, “Came thru drippin’ (drip drip).” Yes, those are Cardi B’s iconic lyrics from the song, “Drip,” but because Miley didn’t tag the female rapper, many didn’t jump to the conclusion that they were working together. However, best believe the 26-year-old star’s fans have certainly been asking her to release new music. “The face I make when y’all rushin me to drop music,” she sassily posted on the

‘gram.While Miley and Drake haven’t collaborated before, fans of the “In My Feelings” rapper will recall that he impersonated the “Wrecking Ball” songstress in 2015. For his “Energy” music video, the Canadian-born star included a small nod to the “Wrecking Ball” video. In the short scene, someone is dressed in a similar getup as Miley’s—yes, the model is wearing a white tank, bright red lips and there are close-up shots galore. Miley hasn’t confirmed (or denied) if the collaboration rumors are true, so fans will just have to keep their eyes peeled on her social media accounts to see if she reveals anything. (https:// www.eonline.com/news/ 1026127/this-is-why-fansthink-miley-cyrus-anddrake-are-collaborating-onnew-music)

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

Daily chocolate intake linked to lower ‘Stop using BMI as measure of health,’ say researchers risk of diabetes, heart disease Study co-author Prof. Saverio Stranges - visiting academic of the University of Warwick Medical School, United Kingdom, and scientific director of the Department of Population Health at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) - and colleagues publish their findings in the British Journal of Nutrition. Chocolate is often perceived as a treat that should only be enjoyed from time to time. Given its high fat and sugar content, this is no surprise; overconsumption can lead to health problems, such as tooth decay and obesity. However, studies are increasingly suggesting regular, moderate chocolate consumption may yield significant health benefits, particularly when it comes to dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has the highest cocoa content, which means it has the highest levels of antioxidants - specifically, flavonoids - which are molecules that can prevent some forms of cell damage. For their study, Prof. Stranges and colleagues analyzed the chocolate consumption of 1,153 people aged 1869 who were part of the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk in Luxembourg (ORISCAV-LUX) study. Data on chocolate intake were gathered from participants’ completion of a food frequency questionnaire. The team set out to investigate whether chocolate in-

take is associated with insulin resistance - where the body’s cells do not effectively respond to insulin, raising the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. They also assessed how chocolate consumption affected liver enzyme levels, which is a measure of liver function. Reduced insulin resistance with daily chocolate consumption The researchers found that 81.8 percent of the study participants consumed chocolate, with an average consumption of 24.8 grams daily. Compared with participants who did not eat chocolate every day, those who did were found to have reduced insulin resistance and improved liver enzyme levels. The effect was stronger the higher the chocolate consumption, the team reports. The findings remained after accounting for participants’ age, sex, education, lifestyle, and dietary factors that could affect the results. Dietary factors included intake of tea and coffee rich in the antioxidants polyphenols, which the researchers say have the potential to spur chocolate’s benefits for cardiometabolic risk. Cardiometabolic risk refers to a person’s likelihood of developing diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. Participants who ate

chocolate were more physically active, younger, and more highly educated than those who did not eat chocolate, according to the authors. Prof. Stranges and colleagues say their findings suggest that chocolate consumption may reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders by improving liver enzyme levels and protecting against insulin resistance. “Given the growing body of evidence, including our own study, cocoa-based products may represent an additional dietary recommendation to improve cardiometabolic health; however, observational results need to be supported by robust trial evidence. Potential applications of this knowledge include recommendations by healthcare professionals to encourage individuals to consume a wide range of phytochemical-rich foods, which can include dark chocolate in moderate amounts.” However, Prof. Stranges notes that it is important to distinguish the difference between chocolate that contains natural cocoa and processed chocolate; the latter is much higher in calories. “Therefore, physical activity, diet and other lifestyle factors must be carefully balanced to avoid detrimental weight gain over time,” he adds. http:// www.medicalnewstoday.com.

Happiness genes located for the first time In the journal Nature, the international team describes how it analyzed genomic data from hundreds of thousands of people to find genetic variants associated with our feelings of well-being,depression and neuroticism. One of the researchers, Alexis Frazier-Wood, assistant professor of pediatrics and nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, says: “We report that we found three genetic variants associated with subjective wellbeing - how happy a person thinks or feels about his or her life. We also found two genes harboring variants associated with depressive symptoms and 11 genes where variation was associated with neuroticism.” The team also found that the gene variants are mainly expressed incentral nervous system and adrenal or pan-

creas tissues. For the study, the team carried out a meta-analysis that is, they brought together genomic data from many other studies - and used advanced statistical tools to analyze the pooled data as if it came from one huge study of 298,000 people. Previous studies have suggested that individual differences in happiness and well-being might be linked to genetic differences between people. There is increasing interest in the topic as growing evidence suggests well-being is a factor in both mental and physical health. However, the researchers warn that genes are not the whole story when it comes to determining how people think and feel about their lives. They explain that the environment, and how it interacts with genes, is just as impor-

tant. But, studying the genes could help us start to understand why some people might be biologically predisposed to develop these symptoms, they note. The researchers also hope the findings, which are available for follow-up research, will help to clarify the picture of what causes differences in happiness. They see this breakthrough discovery as just the beginning and believe the variants they have located are but a small fraction of what is waiting to be discovered. “The genetic overlap with depressive symptoms that we have found is also a breakthrough. This shows that research into happiness can also offer new insights into the causes of one of the greatest medical challenges of our time: depression.” http:// www.medicalnewstoday.com.

The study provides more evidence to support the idea that a person’s body mass index (BMI = weight in kg divided by height in m2) is a flawed measure of health. In spite of this, BMI continues to be used as a yardstick for determining health status. Many employers use it to calculate workers’ health care costs, note the researchers behind the new study, who report their findings in the International Journal of Obesity. And soon, if a rule proposed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is adopted, US employers will be allowed to charge employees up to 30% of health care costs if they fail to meet certain health criteria such as not having a BMI in the normal range (between 18.5 and 24.99). The study, led by A. Janet Tomiyama, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), analyzed the link between BMI and cardiometabolic health using data from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The cardiometabolic health data available in the NHANES gives measures of blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, insulin resistance and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation).

The analysis shows nearly half of Americans whose BMI puts them in the overweight category (34.4 million people) are actually healthy according to cardiometabolic measures, as are 19.8 million whose BMI classes them as obese. The researchers also found that 15% of Americans (2 million people) whose BMI calculation is 35 or higher thus classing them as very obese - are also healthy. Prof. Tomiyama says: “Many people see obesity as a death sentence. But the data show there are tens of millions of people who are overweight and obese and are perfectly healthy.” She says that these people would be unlikely to incur higher medical expenses and it would be unfair to charge them higher premiums based only on their BMI. The study also finds over 30% of Americans whose BMI puts them in the normal range (nearly 21 million people) are actually unhealthy according to cardiometabolic measures. Altogether, say the authors, nearly 75 million adults in the US are misclassified as either healthy or unhealthy when BMI is used as the sole health indicator. Prof. Tomiyama says she is surprised by the large numbers they found in the new study and remarks how unfair it is that many healthy

people may be penalized, while many unhealthy people will not get charged more for their health insurance, based on their BMI. She notes: “Employers, policy makers and insurance companies should focus on actual health markers.” In previous work, her lab - which specializes in diet, stress and health - has also found no clear link between weight loss and improvements in blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, glucose and other health measures. Prof. Tomiyama now intends to study people with high BMI who are very healthy.Co-author Jeffrey Hunger, a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Santa Barbara, urges people to obsess less about their weight and focus on following a healthy diet and taking regular exercise. He says their study confirms how flawed BMI is as an indicator of health and concludes that “this should be the final nail in the coffin for BMI.” In 2013, Medical News Today reported on a Science paper that discusses why BMI is an inaccurate measure of body fat content and how there is an urgent need for accurate, practical and affordable tools to measure biomarkers that can better predict the risks of disease and death. http:// www.medicalnewstoday.com.

Low salt intake may raise risk of heart attack, stroke, and death Published in The Lancet, the study found that low salt, or sodium, intake may raise the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death, compared with an average salt intake. Lead author Andrew Mente, of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Canada, and colleagues say their results indicate only people with high blood pressure(hypertension) who have a high salt intake should reduce their salt consumption. Furthermore, the researchers suggest current recommendations for daily salt consumption may be set too low.The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that Americans consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day the equivalent to 1 teaspoon of salt.However, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year revealed that

around 90 percent of Americans consume salt at levels above the recommended limit.It is widely accepted that too much salt in the diet can lead to high blood pressure, increasing the risk for heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. But does reducing salt intake to the levels recommended in current guidelines really reduce the risk of such outcomes? This is what Mente and colleagues set out to investigate.The team analyzed data of more than 130,000 individuals spanning 49 countries.They looked at the sodium intake of participants and how this related to the risk of heart disease and stroke among those with and without high blood pressure. Compared with people who had an average sodium intake, the rates of heart attack, stroke, and death were higher among those who had a low sodium intake, regard-

less of whether participants had high blood pressure. Interestingly, low salt intake in the study was defined as an intake of less than 3,000 milligrams a day, which is above current recommendations in the United States. Furthermore, the researchers found that only individuals with high blood pressure appeared to be subject to the risks associated with high salt intake - defined as more than 6,000 milligrams daily.Mente says the team’s findings are “extremely important” for individuals with high blood pressure.“While our data highlights the importance of reducing high salt intake in people with hypertension, it does not support reducing salt intake to low levels.Our findings are important because they show that lowering sodium is best targeted at those with hypertension who also consume high sodium diets.”

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Kaieteur News

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Sunday March 24, 2019

When Jacqueline Fernandez replaced DJ Snake! One of Bollywood’s most hottest actresses Jacqueline Fernandez turned Dj for a day at a recent party where she took over the stage from none other than world famous DJ Snake. The party anthem queen of Bollywood came together with one of the most popular DJs of the world, as Jacqueline Fernandez and DJ Snake celebrated Holi together. Taking the festival of colours to an all new level, international artist DJ Snake performed at an event in Mumbai. While many Bollywood celebrities attended the unique fusion of the East and the West, it was Jacqueline Fernandez who took over the stage from DJ Snake. Jacquline uploaded a video of the same and wrote, “Best Holi ever!! Hope everyone had an amazinggggggg Holi full of love laughter music and partyyyy!! d’= @djsnake

===Þ @abhishek4reel” Later the pictures of DJ Snake and Jacqueline Fernandez where all over the internet where both of them where seen doing Namaste. Additionally, Jacqueline Fernandez is one such actress who has been not just famous on screen but in brands too. With the commitment, dedication and huge reach the actress provides, there has been an upsurge in the number of brands Jacqueline has signed in such a short time span.

Solutions to last week’s Holi Word Search

St. Patrick's Day Word Scramble

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There is a pressure to not let Salman Khan down: Zaheer Iqbal Zaheer Iqbal, who is making his Bollywood debut with Salman Khan’s production Notebook, says there is a pressure to not disappoint the superstar. The newcomer, who stars in the film alongside Mohnish Bahl’s daughter Pranutan, says even though Salman’s name is attached to the project, their performances in the movie will decide their fate. “I know about the pros and cons and the pressure of being launched by Salman Khan. I know what people will say. There is a pressure to not let him (Salman) down,” Zaheer told PTI. “He told me that his name is associated with film and therefore the film will be screened at the 12 pm or 3 pm slots at the theaters but after that, the film will ride on us and its story. So we know that few people might come to watch because of him,” he adds.Since his childhood, Zaheer has been catching up on almost every film and his love for cinema grew further during his college days when he used to actively participate in

theatre and other creative activities. Zaheer, who worked with Sohail Khan as an assistant director on Jai Ho, says his training was not only about acting or dancing.“Salman bhai also prepared us for how to face love, success and failure. He told us we can’t please everyone every time.”Notebook, directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Nitin Kakkar, is adapted from Thai film Teacher’s Dairy and Zaheer says he has seen only a few portions of the original. “The plot is adapted but the characterisation is different. It is an adaptation and not a remake. Nitin sir told me it is not required to see the film,” Zaheer says. The film arrives in theaters on March 29. Post Notebook, Zaheer says, his endeavour is to be a versatile performer.“I have been approached for certain scripts but I am waiting for our film to release. The offers that I have got are all very different from one another. I like films like Notebook,” he said.

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Q: Where do you find Dumbledore's Army? A: Up his Sleevy Q: What do you call a coughing Quidditch commentator? A: A Weasley! Q: What do you call a Hufflepuff with two brain cells? A: Gifted Q: Why did Crabbe and Goyle cross the road? A: They were following Draco, of course! Q: Did you hear about the witch who won the lottery? A: Yeah, she went completely Knuts! Q: Why did Barty Crouch Jr. quit drinking? A: Because it was making him Moody Q: What kind of cereal do they serve at Hogwarts? A: Hufflepuffs Q: What do Harry Potter and Charlie Brown have in common? A: They're both in love with the little girl with red hair. Q: Why did Death Eaters cross the road? A: The Dark Lord ordered it Q: Why do Slytherins cross the road twice? A: Because they are doublecrossers Q: Why did the Hufflepuff charm her hair blonde? A: To look intelligent. Q: Why did Snape stand in the middle of the road? A: So you'll never know which side he's on Q: How many centaurs does it take to light up a single wand? A: Two... one to say the spell and the other to keep remarking how bright the wand is tonight Q: How many Death Eaters does it take to stir a cauldron? A: Just one. He puts his wand in the cauldron and the earth revolves around him Q: How many Slytherins does it take to screw a light bulb A: 5â€Ś 1 to screw the light bulb and 4 to say with their fathers connection at the ministry they could screw it faster Q: How many wizards does it take to change a lightbulb? A: None - wizards don't use electricity! Q: Why did Draco cross the road? A: So he could swing his hips at Potter Q: Why did the Dark Lord cross the road? A: Because Potter couldn't stop him Q: Why did Trevor cross the road? A: To get away from Longbottom Q: Did you hear about the Hufflepuff who gave his Kneazle a bath? A: He is still trying to get the fur off his tongue You're so Muggle, you thought the floo network was on channel 54. Q: How many Weasels does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: Weasels don't screw in a lightbulb. They screw in the Burrow. Q: How many Slytherins does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: One to blackmail a Hufflepuff Q: How many Hufflepuffs does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: All of them Q: Three girls are all first years: a Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw, and a Slytherin... which is the sexiest? A: The Hufflepuff, because she is seventeen. Q: Why did Dumbledore cross the road? A: He was following the poisoned lemon drops Q: Why did the Weasel cross the road? A: Somebody tossed a knut

Kaieteur News

Sunday March 24, 2019

How to Make Hair Roots Stronger Naturally Stay Hydrated Staying hydrated is important for all body functions, including growing hair. Drinking more water will ensure adequate moisture for your hair follicles and scalp. Massage Your Scalp A 2016 study found that doing a four-minute scalp massage every day for 24 weeks resulted in thicker hair. Why? Because massaging improves blood circulation to the scalp and allows your hair follicles to receive adequate nutrition for hair growth. Ask a friend or partner for a scalp massage or do it yourself. Massage has the added benefit of reducing stress, which can also improve hair health. Stimulate Your Scalp With Rosemary In a 2015 study, researchers found that topical application of rosemary essential oil significantly increased hair count after a period of six months. How to make roots stronger at home with rosemary essential oil: 1. Mix 2 drops of rosemary oil into several tablespoons of a carrier oil like olive oil. 2. Gently massage the oil mixture into scalp and allow to sit for 30 minutes. 3. Shampoo hair as usual. Avoid Over-Styling While hair extensions may seem like a solution for thinning hair, in the long term, they can cause more harm than good. Any hairstyle that pulls tightly on the hair follicles can damage them, resulting in thinner, more damaged hair over time. Avoid too-tight braids, ponytails, buns, and too-heavy hair extensions, all of which can destroy hair strands and even lead to traction alopecia. Reduce Oxidative Stress With Vitamin E In a 2010 study, researchers found that a vitamin E supplement increased hair count by 34.5% after eight months. Vitamin E is an antioxidant, so this improvement in hair growth was attributed to vitamin E's ability to fight free radicals that cause damage to hair follicles. For stronger hair roots at home, massage a few drops of vitamin E oil into the scalp. Allow to sit overnight, then wash with a mild shampoo in the morning. Quit Smoking According to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, smoking reduces blood flow to the scalp, preventing hair follicles from receiving adequate nutrition to grow healthy hair. Plus, according to the same study, smoking increases certain hormones that contribute to hair loss. Just another reason to ditch this unhealthy habit!

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEKâ€™S WORD SEARCH

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Country profile The Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous territory in political union with Tanzania. It consists of the island of Zanzibar or Unjuga, Pemba as well as smaller neighbouring islands. A former centre of the spice and slave trades, present-day Zanzibar is infused with African, Arab, European and Indian influences. In 1964 members of the African majority overthrew the established minority Arab ruling elite. The leftist revolution was swift but bloody; as many as 17,000 people were killed. A republic was established and the presidents of Zanzibar and Tanganyika, on the mainland, signed an act

Sunday March 24, 2019

Zanzibar

of union, forming the United Republic of Tanzania while giving semi-

autonomy to Zanzibar. Separatist sentiments have been gaining ground on the

islands. LEADERS President: Ali Mohamed Shein Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Ali Mohamed Shein from the governing CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) party was voted in as president in elections in November 2010. In March 2016 he and the

CCM party were declared winners of controversial re-run elections. The polls were a r e - r u n o f elections the previous October that were cancelled by the Z a n z i b a r Electoral Commission (ZEC) over fraud allegations. Fifteen European and US diplomats issued a joint statement regretting the vote, which was boycotted by the opposition. Zanzibar has its own cabinet, known as the Revolutionary Council, and a 50-seat house of representatives. Elections, by popular vote, are held every five years. MEDIA The media in Zanzibar come under a different set of regulations to their counterparts in mainland Tanzania. Press laws are stricter, Reporters Without Borders said in 2010. The watchdog added that media freedom had improved in recent years. State-owned Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) runs radio and TV stations. They are mouthpieces of the local

government, a 2012 study found. More than 20 radio stations and several TV channels some of them privatelyowned - are licensed. The BBC broadcasts on FM in Zanzibar (94.1) and Pemba (93.5). The press  Zanzibar Leo (Zanzibar Today) - state-run daily  Zanzibar Wiki Hii (Zanzibar This Week) private, weekly Television  TV Zanzibar -

state-run Radio  Voice of TanzaniaZanzibar - government-

Sunday March 24, 2019

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150 miners participate in lottery The government says it has kept its promise. It held its first mining lottery in the first quarter of 2019 for small scale miners. After listening to concerns of residents regarding mining and land allocation during a visit to Mahdia in Region Eight last month, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, revealed that he had taken steps to hold a lottery to benefit the local community. The minister had stated that he had written to Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Commissioner, Newell Dennison, about hosting a lottery. On Friday, Minister Trotman said he was elated that Government had kept its promise. He said for a very long time he felt the frustration of Guyanese who could not access these prospective

properties. “Today is a good day for miners.” “Today is a feeling of elation, of satisfaction that something that we wanted to do for some time is actually getting done and I’m happy that it is being done without any controversy or confusion.” The exercise got underway just about 10:00hrs at the Girls Guide Pavilion in Brickdam. Over 150 miners registered and paid a non-refundable participating fee of $5,000 to become eligible for the lottery. They would have also

had to provide their National Identification card, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) certificate and proof of address. Minister Trotman said that in the group, there were persons who never mined before, but like everyone else, they too had a right to the country’s natural resources. He said the staff at GGMC had been busy in the background. “They have been going through coordinates... we have to ensure that the lands are not somebody else’s land

and that they have a good prospect for gold recovery.” In the meantime, many miners related their gratitude and satisfaction. Alicia Veloza said the miners waited a long time

to acquire land in the extraction sector. “For years we had problems acquiring land, and so we had to work on other people’s land. This is an opportunity to have our own.”

Minister Trotman said there will be other mining lotteries in various parts of the country; including Bartica, Mahdia, Port Kaituma and Matthews Ridge. (DPI)

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Man jumps into garbage bin to escape police

Former armed robbery accused, James Alleyne, of 102 Graham Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara who was charged back in 2018, found himself before the court once more, accused of a similar offence. It was alleged that on March 14, 2019 at Waterloo Street, Georgetown, the accused, armed with a knife, robbed Timothy Roach of one gold chain valued $23, 000 and one cell phone valued $10, 000. The 24-year-old who is a painter denied the allegation after it was read to him yesterday in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly. The facts of the charge indicated that on the day in question, about 21:00hrs, Roach was walking along Waterloo Street when he was approached by Alleyne who was riding a pedal cycle. Alleyne allegedly dismounted his cycle and whipped out a knife, throw-

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

ing his victim to the ground in the process. He managed to relieve Roach of the articles mentioned in the charge and attempted to make good his escape. An alarm was raised and public-spirited persons gave chase. The accused reportedly dropped his cycle some distance away and jumped a fence to get into an abandoned building. Shortly after he was trapped there the police were called in. They then proceeded with a hunt for Alleyne. Upon seeing the police nearby, Alleyne left his hiding spot and jumped another fence and hid in a garbage bin. Police ranks were able to make it to the bin, and raise the covers to see the defendant hiding inside. Alleyne, according to reports, then allegedly started to act aggressively, attacking the police with a knife. The police proceeded to use a firearm to warn him of his behaviour, however,

Alleyne reportedly ignored the warning and continued. A round was discharged in his direction, hitting him in the upper left foot. Alleyne was arrested and taken to the police station where the charge was made out against him. He was found in possession of Roach’s phone and was also positively identified by the victim. Based on the facts presented, police prosecutor Sanj Singh objected to bail being granted to the accused. Magistrate Daly who upheld the submission made by prosecutor Singh remanded Alleyne to prison. Alleyne then claimed that he was attacked by the police and was shot when he only had a fake knife. He started shouting loudly as he left the courtroom saying, “I have to get out of here because I didn’t do anything.” The matter was adjourned until April 12, next.

Teenage murder suspect reappears in court

Killed: Michael Pooran St Lucia (St Lucia Times) -Teenage murder suspect, Mathew Defleurmon Jr, aka Bowman, made his second appearance in court Thursday and was remanded in custody until April 18, 2019. Defleurmon, 19, was formally charged on February 27, 2019, for the offence of murder in connection with the stabbing death of Guyanese national, Michael Pooran. The matter will come up for case management on Defleurmon’s next scheduled court date, according to law enforcement officials. Michael Pooran died after he was stabbed

Teenage murder suspect, Mathew Defleurmon Jr. during a party at Bagatelle on Sunday, February 24, 2019. Relatives of the deceased told St Lucia Times that the funeral and cremation service was planned for Friday afternoon, March 22, 2019, after which the ashes will be flown to Pooran’s native Guyana.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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STANDARDS IN FOCUS

MAINTAINING STANDARDS IN THE PRODUCTION OF RICE Farmers across Guyana are preparing to harvest the first rice crop for 2019, and while they are aiming to maximize profits from their yields, millers are aiming to buy paddy at the most reasonable prices. The production of rice can become very cost effective when farmers and millers conform to the national standard and ensure that an accurate and reliably measurement system is utilized in the industry. Rice producers must continue to maintain the production of high quality rice to keep their grasp on Guyana’s share of the international market and to penetrate new markets. In addition, because rice is a food commodity, good production practices also have to be maintained to safeguard the health and safety of consumers of the commodity. The implementation and use of standards is very im-

portant and can be considered essential for addressing quality issues in the rice industry. For rice as a consumer product, implementing standards in the industry improves quality, facilitates local and foreign trade, increases productivity, maintains consistency and protects consumers’ health and safety. With standards, rice producers conforming to requirements can also improve the packaging and labelling of the commodity and protect the environment. The use of verified instruments also ensures reliable and accurate measurements. The GNBS as the National Metrology Institute and possessor of the National Measurement Standards ensures that measuring devices used in the rice industry are accurate and reliable. Devices verified in the industry include weighbridge

scales, platform scales, hopper scales and smaller laboratory scales. Verification provides equity and traceability of measurements for rice offered for sale locally and on the overseas market. Meanwhile, proper determination of the quality of rice also maximizes value and increases buyer satisfaction. The CARICOM Standard – Specification for Rice— which prescribes the requirements for the grades of paddy, cargo rice, milled rice, cargo parboiled rice and milled parboiled rice, is available for use by stakeholders in the rice industry. The agency that regulates and monitors the production of rice is the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). The GRBD routinely conducts checks at rice mills countrywide to ensure that they comply with available requirements. For approximately four years now, the GRBD Central

Laboratory has been internationally accredited to the ISO/ IEC 17025 Standard, which specifies competency to carry out testing. This accreditation is a huge advantage for the industry as the Central Laboratory can determine the quality of rice locally and the results it generates are accepted internationally. Packaging and labelling of rice are also important, particularly to consumers and larger buyers. For labels that conform to requirements, millers and packers can be guided by the national standard for the labelling of prepackaged foods GYS 9-9: 2003. Further, the implementation of internationally recognized Management System

Standards such as, the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems Requirements and the ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems – Requirements with Guidance for use and the ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management System Standard can be order winners for rice millers and exporters. Already CARICOM Rice Mills on the Essequibo Coast and Nand Persaud and Company Ltd on the Corentyne are ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 certified, respectively. Other millers desirous of becoming internationally certified can garner technical support and training from the GNBS at very affordable costs. To support the prosperity of the rice industry, the GNBS

will continue to work with farmers, millers, exporters and the GRDB to develop, promote and implement standards, which are beneficial to the industry. For further information, call the GNBS on telephone numbers: 219-0065 or visit the GNBS website: www.gnbsgy.org or facebook.com/gnbsgy

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SERVICES

FOR SALE

PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION, W E D D I N G S , ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620

Coconuts 14000 weekly. Bananas 4000lbs weekly. 6891270 or 662-5173

Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Graphics design, advertisement, Wedding arch rentals. Tel: 626-7040; 265-4535.

MODEL M BUSH TRUCK, big wheels, GPP, 2019 fitness, winch, good condition 3.7M Call#6826238/672-1906 1 250 KVA Onan generator powered by Cummins #2690603/644-1190

ICONIC MARKETING & PRINTING –TEL: 6006887: We create A/works, logos, business cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included.

1 CAT 215 Excavator, 1 Honda 450 Atv, 2 8-cu yds Mack Mixer Truck, 1 Pneumatic 9 wheeled tryre roller #2750367/683-7225

Jay’s Welding Est specialized in: Grills, Gates, Rails, Fencing, Razor wire, Repairs etc. Tel#698-0501

1 Double Steel Wheel Roller, 1 CAT 428 Back-hoe, CAT 215 Excavator spare parts, 2 Bitumen spray kettle. #2750367/683-7225

REPAIRS AT LOW COST: FRIDGES, AIR CONDITIONERS, WASHING MACHINE, FREEZER, SALE OF AC’S. TEL#629-4946,225-4822

New 26 Gauge 42'’ normal corrugated pre-painted red roofing sheets. 3x15ft, 2x25ft, 3x12ft, 2x17ft, 1x22ft Tel#2254106/643-0333

I N S TA L L AT I O N S , REPAIRS AND PARTS FOR AC, FRIDGE, WASHING MACHINE, STOVE ETC. CALL NICK 627-3206, 6301600 Eagle’s re-gas AC, Fridge, Washing machine & computer repairs, Gas stove, Plasma flatscreen, Electrical installation & more. Call: 6972969/646-0966 HOUSE PLAN TO DRAW UP OR ESTIMATES? GIVE US A CALL 216-0671, 6928464, 622-0267 VEHICLE FOR SALE Foreign used 6x4 sinotruck Howo dump truck & excavators for sale. Tel: 5023408/677-8104 Nighthawk Black Pearl Honda Accord 2400cc American Automatic for sale $3M Contact #346-818-0822 1 Toyota AT-172 in excellent condition. Reg# PGG7037. Price 1,200,000 Neg. Please contact 624-1372 1 Minibus VVT-I engine gas automatic series BPP. Price 1.9million. Excellent condition. Tel#225-6567, 693-9498 Honda SUV PTT series. Contact 225-1005, 225-9230, 623-0368

Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Boat for sale- 1 Steel hull cargo boat 50’x13’x6' with GM671 marine engine165 HP.Contact#603-1445

FOR RENT

VACANCY

WANTED

PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION, W E D D I N G S , ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620

Wanted for Soesdyke area. One headmaster as team leader. Good remuneration package. Call 612-1848

Security Guards to work with Private Firm in G/town & Interior, must have Military Background. Contact#6656082

1 Bedroom for working couple/single person $35,000 & $32,000 monthly. Light & water included. Lodge. Call 623-0076 Prime business location. Lot 3 Anna Regina Public Road (size 2400 sq feet). Contact 662-0561 for details Upper flat Barr Street Kitty. Perfect for restaurant. #6279685 One bedroom home. Better Hope E.C.D. #627-9685 3 Bedrooms house. Better Hope E.C.D. #627-9685 Fully furnished self contained bedroom in adult family home. C/Ville area. Information call 226-8901 7:00am-7:00pm PROPERTY FOR SALE 2 storey building, Broad St (Business area) Georgetown. Contact Ray’s Realty #6279685 2 storey concrete property 11 (classey) self contained rooms, Broad St, Georgetown. Contact Ray’s Realty #627-9685 Well kept 3 bedroom home, Melanie ECD. Contact Ray’s Realty #627-9685

CAR RENTAL DOLLY’S CAR RENTALCALL:225-7126/ 2263 6 9 3 DOLLYSAUTORENTAL @YAHOO.COM/ WWW.D OLLYSAUTORENTAL.COM PROGRESSIVE CAR RENTAL: CARS FROM $4000 & UP, SUV’S PER DAY- CALL:643-5122/6560087, ,EMAIL:PRO_AUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM Fabs Rental, Beterverwagting ECD Cars from $4000 #604-0883 AIDAN’S CAR RENTAL:PICKUP,9-11 SEAT MINI BUS, GOOD FOR AIRPORT & FAMILY OUTINGS, CHEAPEST RATE . Call: 698-7807 WING’S CAR & PICKUP RENTAL: LOW DOWN PAYMENT, CHEAP RATES,SPECIALOFFERS! . CALL: 690-6494

Property for sale. High Street, Alexander Village, South, Charlotte St, Bartica 3rd Avenue. Tel: 667-7659 House and land available at Parfaite, Tuschen, Diamond etc. Contact Pacific Development Inc. 223-6035/ 604-4909 House for sale, Eccles Housing Scheme. 7 bedrooms, 3 toilets and bathrooms enclosed. $28.5M. Call 6420391/ 001447587233657 TO LET Cummings Lodge, close to university, 3 large bedrooms, spacious sitting room, kitchen, aparment, full furnished, small family. Contact 222-9026 Business space to rent. No restaurant. Serious enquiries only. 233 South Road 2250198/615-0317 Lodge Apartments (Vlissengen/Durban): Unfurnished studio $40,000, Two bedroom $60,000, Furnished studio (For visitors) US$600 p/m #677-9638/668-7687

One Gardener/Yard Maintenance person to work Sundays only. $ 3000 Apply @ R Sookraj & Sons 108 Regent Street Coconut and banana pickers for farm in the Pomeroon. 6891270 or 662-5173 One experienced cook and one chef. Apply to the manager Herdmanston Lodge, Peter Rose & Anira Cashier. 2 Shift - 7am-3pm & 3pm-11pm. Apply to: Shell Service Station Providence or Shellramsburg@gmail.com Receptionist. 25-50 yrs. 233 South Road Lacytown or call 225-0198 Vacancy exist for the following. 1 Maid. 1 Office assistant. Attractive salary offer. Whatsapp 603-2590 for further information 1 Live in domestic. Salary $75,000. Call 683-1606 One experienced salesclerk. Basic computer and accounts knowledge an asset. Apply Mike’s Pharmacy, Bel Air Industrial Sales Representative, 5 Subject CXC Age 25+ Experience in Sales, must own vehicle, email r e s u m e : vacancy@josarltd.com One General Domestic. Must know to cook. Apply @ R Sookraj & Sons 108 Regent Street DemBake @ Land of Canaan is seeking distributors & experienced drivers & sales agents. Email CV: admin@demerarabakery.com / 266-5848 FOR SALE/RENT Vacant land for rent 58ft x 122 ft, Georgetown #661-2828 LEARN TO DRIVE N. Outar Driving School, Learn to Drive the right way @ Cuffy Square. Affordable package. Call: 644-5166/6912561 EDUCATION Private custom brokerage. Training course/ AW lecturer with 30 year experience. April 29. Call 694-8322,690-4225. Reg now & save

Cashier/waitress, night supervisor, assistant cook. Apply within 172 Sheriff Street or call 225-7933 Maid, taxi car drivers. Tel#2259223/225-3334 (1)Diesel Mechanic to work in the interior. Interested persons can call cell#625-5136 Monday-Friday 8am-4pm Security guard. Apply immediately to manager, Herdmanston Lodge, Peter Rose & Anira Sts 1 welder to work in the interior, interested persons contact tel# 625-5136 Monday-Friday from 8am-4-pm Porters. Apply with written application @ Best Buy Food Supplies, Lot 1E Dennis & Middleton Street, Campbellville We buy residential house lots. Tel#651-1969/648-1635 1 Live in domestic. Must know to cook indian dishes 25-50 yrs. Salary 100,000 monthly. #610-3974 (1) Manager to work @ a hotel, restaurant & bar located in Charity on the Essequibo Coast. Contact 665-6082 Cargo boat 36'-42' new or used. Suitable for open water. 676-7677 Domestic worker. Must be good with children. Age 4550. Please call: 673-7071

Man who ran away from police recaptured during police operation The freedom of Denesh Sookram, called “Lilman”, the 18-year-old who escaped from the police in the vicinity of the Whim Police Station two weeks ago has ended. Sookram, of Friendship Village, Corentyne was recaptured in the Friendship backdam following a police operation. He has since been taken to prison to await his next court date. The teen had appeared before Magistrate Renita Singh in the Whim Magistrate’s Court on a charge of break and enter and larceny. He was accused of stealing three silver chains, three silver finger rings and two diamond rings after breaking into a Corentyne home. He was placed on $200,000 bail, but hadn’t the money to post bail so he was being taken to prison when he escaped. He is also expected to be charged with escaping from lawful custody. The police had stated that Sookram was placed in the lockups after he could not provide the $200,000 bail. It was while in the lockups that he escaped by removing a board. The man had however told a media house in an interview that he ran away from the cops. “I just pull away from the police and run out the station.” The police reportedly launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the convict’s escape. That investigation is still ongoing. PEN PAL

Male seek female penpal that can speak hindi, spanish and 1 Experienced cook wanted. chinese. Whatsapp #698-6391 Call 623-8654. 8 - 4pm HEALTH Experienced hire car drivers at Ramada Princess hotel. 265- HERBAL REMEDIES: Diabe7075, 616-5419 tes, Hypertension, Infertility, Menstrual disorders, EnLAND FOR SALE larged prostate, Kidney,Gall stones & Arthritis etc. Call House lots at Middle Rd, La Sparman #676-5924 Penitence G/town, Enterprise and Paradise ECD. Contact LAND FOR SALE Ray’s Realty #627-9685 Schoonard 100ft x 50ft Parfaite Harmonie $1.6M $900,000. Parfaite Harmonie Dairy- with Foundation & $600,000. Farm $1.8M. Fence $2M Schoonard $4M Herstelling $2.2M. Tel# 648Farm (East Bank) $3.5M 1635 Tel#656-0701/651-1969 Foundation and column Parfaite Harmonie completed. Land size 40x80, transferrable 2.5M, Parfaite structure 30x24. Price $6.5M Harmonie 1.6M, Farm 3.5M, Diamond Scheme. Contact Herstelling 5.5M, Diamond Ganesh Tel#669-9539, 69311M 5096

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Kaieteur News

CONSUMER CONCERNS

BE HEALTHIER, WASH YOUR HANDS By PAT DIAL In the 19th century, washing of hands was not a regular custom. This could be gleaned from reading the novelists of the period as for instance, George Elliot or Charles Dickens. There is a factual story of a Hungarian doctor, who, in the earlier years of the century, enthusiastically tried to disseminate the advice that hand-washing was one of the secrets to health. He was fiercely resisted and ridiculed and was eventually put away in a lunatic asylum. With the advance of knowledge of Science, the relationship between bacteria and disease was firmly established but it took almost two generations for this knowledge to spread and be fully accepted by the public. By the beginning of the 20th century, this knowledge was accepted by nearly everyone and hand-washing was regarded as a healthy practice. But despite this was known, a sizable proportion of the world’s population still do not wash their hands when they should, even if there are facilities for hand-washing. Much useful research on hand-washing has been done by American institutions, the main ones being the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture, the Global Hand washing Partnership (GHP) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. We will mention some of their findings but will not source them to the particular institution. We do this for easier reading but the institutions and their Reports could be accessioned on line. In America, people who wash their hands do not do so for the necessary 20 seconds and do not usually dry them with a clean towel. Or worldwide, only 19 per cent of people wash their hands after contact with excreta. In addition, provision of hand washing facilities varies greatly among countries, ranging from 100 percent in the Developed Countries to 10 percent in others. It has been found that hand washing could prevent one in three diarrhea -related illnesses and one in five respiratory infections such as colds or flus. It has been pointed out that germs from unwashed hands can enter the body through the eyes, mouth and nose and also from unclean surfaces such as door knobs or Bank notes and coins. Germs could also enter

food and drink from unwashed hands. The American institutions recommend using either anti-bacterial or ordinary soap, or either bar or liquid, though there seems to be a preference for liquid. If water is not available, one could use an alcohol-based sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. In Guyana, fortunately, soap and water are liberally available and are provided in the lavatories of all public places unlike in so many other countries. In Guyana, therefore, the main problem is not the absence of soap and water or hand washing facilities as in some desert countries; the problem is that Guyanese have to develop the hand washing habit and also how to wash one’s hands properly. It may be mentioned that some people are under the impression that it is preferable to wash the hands with hot water since there would be less bacteria in such water. Actually, if hot water is used repeatedly for hand washing, it may increase the risk of dermatitis. PAHO/WHO has been helping in the process of educating Guyanese about hand washing and it has produced an attractive poster illustrating the hand washing process with twelve simple pictures. The poster could be seen in a number of public lavatories but not with the ubiquity which they should be. The steps given in the PAHO/WHO poster are the following: Wet the hands with clean running water, thereafter turning off the tap. Then soap the hands with either liquid or bar soap. If it is bar soap, rinse the bar since someone else would have used it. ‘Rub the palms together, getting it into a lather and then rub the back of the hands and between the fingers and under the nails. The scrubbing of the hands should be done for a minimum of 20 seconds. Then wash the hands with clear, running water then drying the hands with preferably a single-use towel if available. In turning off the faucet, use a towel or paper napkin to do this. In the restaurants or fastfood shops, customers should walk with their own sanitizers or wipe their hands with the paper or cloth napkins before beginning to eat. The waiters and other servers in the restaurants should always be reminded by management to avoid touching the food they would be serving to customers. For example, when filling an ice cream cone, the waiter

should always have the cone wrapped in a serviette or napkin. In educating the popula-

tion about hand washing, it should be taught in the primary schools and all businesses should periodically

remind their staff of proper hand washing. In restaurants and food shops, management must ensure the staff do not

touch the customer’s food. The Public Health officers should constantly give health tips to the street food sellers.

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Inquiry into fisherman’s death ongoing Six years after 59-year-old Bode Persaud was killed after he was struck by a motorcar as he urinated on the Golden Fleece Public Road, Essequibo Coast, an inquest into his death commenced last

Friday before Magistrate Esther Sam at the Wakenaam Magistrate’s Court. An inquest is an official process to discover the cause of someone’s death. Based on reports, Persaud, also known

as, ‘Blacks’, a fisherman, was reportedly urinating at the side of the road when he was allegedly hit by a speeding motorcar. His body was hurled several feet into the air before

landing on the car bonnet, breaking the windscreen before hitting the ground. The injured man was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed seven days later. It was reported that the

driver of the car attempted to flee the scene after the accident but was stopped by residents who declared they knew the car’s registration number. Based on reports, the driver of the car was never charged. Those scheduled to testify in the inquest are Dawattie Pearilall of Zorg, Essequibo Coast; Fizuel Imamudeen of 567 Charity Extension Scheme, Essequibo; Rohit Ramsammy of Perserverance, Essequibo

Coast; Satesh Shameer of Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast and Paranawattie Persaud of 74 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara. Also slated to testify are Actar Afmad Jay of 22 Good Hope, Essequibo; Police Constable Nazir Rasool and Lance Corporal Vijay Mahadeo both of Suddie Police Station; Detective Constable Kwesie Abrams of Anna Regina Police Station; Ravendra Sanimie of Cullen Old Road, Essequibo Coast.

Drunk mining camp owner kills relative with arrow A 19-year-old miner is now dead after he was stabbed with an arrow by a drunken relative. Police said that Dave Boyal, of Batavia, Cuyuni River, was slain around 22.00 hrs on Friday at Blackwater Island backdam, Cuyuni River. According to reports, Boyal and other workers were in their hammocks when the

camp owner, who was reportedly intoxicated, entered and began to cut down the hammocks. When Boyal intervened, the camp owner, who is his relative, picked up an arrow and stabbed the teen in the abdomen. Boyal succumbed shortly after. His body is at the Bartica Hospital Mortuary, while the suspect has been arrested.

Sunday March 24, 2019

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Govt’s status rests with CCJ-Nandlall I

f the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) over turns the Court of Appeal’s majority decision that the No-Confidence Motion is invalid, then the APNU+AFC Government returns to its unconstitutional status. This was noted yesterday by Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall. Nandlall, who is also t h e O p p o s i t i o n ’s l e ad counsel, said it also means that the CCJ would have restored the validity of the No-Confidence Motion, the passage of which requires the holding of General and Regiona l E l e c tions. Because that three months period would have expired, however, Nandlall contended that it would result in the government’s illegal status resuming. He added, “The effect of such a decision would mean that the motion was validly passed on December 21 and the government was supposed to have held the elections within three m onths from that date.” Nandlall also reminded that the period to hold the elections expired on March 21, last. “...The framers of the Constitutions say that three months is sufficient notice for GECOM to always be ready for an elections,” concluded Nandlall on this matter. While the PPP heads to the CCJ for a review of the Appellate Court’s decision, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has said that the APNU+AFC Government can hang around for while. He confidently stated that the outcome of the next General and Regional Elections is inevitable. Further to this, Jagdeo noted that calls will continue for early elections and that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) should not pause or halt its

preparations for elections in this regard. The Opposition Leader said, “We will continue to call for early elections and there is a great possibility that this adverse ruling could be overturned at the CCJ and if it is overturned there and they (GECOM) are not prepared then that would mean further delays in conducting elections. “We will continue to press for early elections preparations. If they (Government) prevail then we simply don’t have to go to elections.” Jagdeo also expressed disagreement with the argument used by the court. The PPP General Secretary said that the Constitution clearly outlines that the Cabinet, including the President, shall resign if it is defeated by the vote of a majority of a l l t h e elected members of the House on a vote of Confidence. By all calculations of right thinking Guyanese, Jagdeo said it is acknowledged that the majority of the 65 members who make up the National Assembly is 33. Yet Jagdeo said that the Appeal court deemed that the majority needed to oust a government is 34. Jagdeo said, “No strange mathematics can change what the Constitution says. There was widespread acknowledgement of this in Guyana by President, David Granger in 2014...and many others...” Additionally, Jagdeo said that he had expected that if the High Court’s ruling that the No-Confidence Motion was valid had to be overturned, that perhaps some other technicality would have been used. He thought that the argument of the dual citizenship status of former AFC M e m b e r, Charrandas

Opposition’s Counsel, Anil Nandlall

Persaud who voted in support of the motion would have been used. The Opposition Leader said, “...I never thought that this issue of 34votes is

needed now to pass a NoConfidence vote. It is probably the weakest argument...We will be respectful of the ruling of the court but one of the reasons we

joined the CCJ is to have external reviews and we think we will be able to convince the CCJ that the No Confidence Motion was validly passed and that this strange insertion

of a simple versus majority, when the Constitution says majority is not enough. “This weird interpretation is not enough to invalidate the vote.”

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Joseph and Gill matter dismissed The matter of assault and common assault between former APNU/AFC Councillor Carol Smith-Joseph of Hope Town West Coast Berbice; and opposition Member of Parliament, Harry Gill of Lot 27 School Street, Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, against each other has been dismissed.The two appeared in the Fort Wellington Magistrateâ€™s Court before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh and pleaded not guilty on the first appearance. When the matter continued no evidence was provided. As such the matter was dismissed. The incident is said to have occurred at 11:45 hrs on Wednesday, November 7 at the back of the GECOM building at Fort Wellington

West Coast Berbice. The two were part of their respective delegations that was at the site at the arrival of the GECOM containers. Gill, claimed that Joseph struck him and hit his phone out of his hand after she was told that he was recording.Joseph on the other hand claimed that Gill struck her under her left side breast, causing her injuries. The mater was reported and a file was prepared and sent to the DPP for advice and it was subsequently advised that they both be charged. Joseph was represented by Attorney-atlaw James Bond and Darren Wade while Attorney Ian Anamayah represented Gill.

Sunday March 24, 2019

Guyana create history in the battle of the Jaguars; qualify for first ever Gold Cup... From page 77 free kick by Elroy Kuylen in the 25th minute from about 25 yards out was curled brilliantly over the wall and well away from Guyana’s custodian, Akel Clarke to equalise for the otherwise ordinary Belizeans. Two minutes before stoppage time in the first period of play, the boisterous fans that packed the stands of the NTFC and the borders of the barricades were jumping again after Welshman kept his composure to ensure the local side finished the first half in

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the lead with a powerful shot from outside the box that followed a superb raid in Belize’s final third. The second half provided no goals but it was full of energy and excitement with Guyana dominating again. There were doubts by some before the match about what the chemistry of the side that had seen some new additions but the team played well as a unit. Terence Vancooten was outstanding in defence and he won almost every aerial challenge. Each of the Golden

Jaguars played their part and brought tremendous energy including the substitutes in Stephen Duke-McKenna and Sheldon Holder. During the post match press conference, which was joined by President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde, the head administrator posited briefly that, “We have given ourselves a lot of welcomed work to do now since planning will have to begin immediately”, for the Gold Cup that kicks off in the United States of America (USA) this July.

Sunday March 24, 2019 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Today is one of those days when you might feel like four people have a hold of each of your limbs, Aries. The people are tugging and you're getting stretched in every direction. TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) There's an emotional intensity inside you today that's squirming to find a way out, Taurus. Sudden outbursts are likely, so take care to hold your temper in check. GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Today may have some crazy emotional ups and downs. There seems to be an intense cloud seeping into every part of your day. Don't try to fool people. They will see right through you. CANCER(June21–July22) This day will be filled with many exciting surprises for you, Cancer. Approach it with gratitude and you will be amazed at the number of things that just naturally seem to flow your way. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) There's a larger trend operating in your life, Leo. It's asking you to break the rules and enter a new realm - a new mindset or way of living. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Pour yourself a comforting cup of tea today, Virgo. Take a hot shower or a long bath. In short, pamper yourself. You may be picking up on the extra tension of the people around you. Be conscious of this and make a mental note to strip away the garbage that others dump on you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) It may be that people are a bit upset by some of your recent actions or words, Libra. The offhand remark you made a couple weeks ago is catching up to you. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) This is an exciting day for you, Scorpio. You can accomplish quite a bit. Your intuition is especially acute and your sensitivity is strong. Computers might irritate you today. SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) You might be a bit jittery, even without caffeine. Sudden actions may cause people to freak out, since people will be on edge in general today anyway. CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Things may be coming at you from all angles today. Sooner or later you will be forced to take action. It may seem like the walls of the room are slowly caving in. AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You may be excited about an idea today, but unfortunately no one else may be. You spring up with enthusiasm only to smack into a brick wall. One side of you may be communicative and witty while the other is confused. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Much of today will be a continuation of yesterday, but with perhaps a bit more intensity for you, Pisces. There's an added buzz in the air, like static on a radio. This background noise may not provide the best environment to work in.

Bowlers lead Windward... From page 76 had 2-12. Melicia Clarke removed openers Stacy-Ann Adams (01) and Rachel Francis (00) before Edwards accounted for Kimone Homer (00) as Windward Islands suffered an early scare in the chase at 19-3. However, Juliana Nero and Fletcher added an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 35 to see their team home as they finished on 54-3 in 21.1 overs. Nero struck four fours in a top score of 30, while Fletcher made eight. Melicia Clarke took 2-22 and Edwards 1-14. Swayline Williams was named player-ofthe-match. At Everest, Trinidad and Tobago beat Jamaica by four wickets. Batting first, Jamaica were bowled out for 115 in 29.5 overs. Tameka Sanford made 24 off 33 balls with one six, while Corrine Howell scored 22 off 25 balls including one four and two sixes, Natasha McLean got 17 and Chinelle Henry 11. Leandra Ramdeen picked up 4-35, Karishma Ramharack 3-19 and Anisa Mohammed 2-27. Trinidad and Tobago responded with 118-6 in 34.3 overs. Lee Ann Kirby struck six fours in a top score of 39 not out from 49 balls, while Reniece Boyce made 31 not out from 42 balls with five fours. The pair put on an unbroken seven-wicket stand of 67 to steady the chase after Trinidad and Tobago were reduced to 385. Felicia Walters supported with 19; Henry captured 3-18. Ramharack who was involved in nine dismissals, was named player-of-the-match.

Ninvalle elected... From page 79 body toward the developmental thrust of the Caribbean associations. Ninvalle has been pushing for improvement in Guyana and has increased the number of events for local boxers, successfully involving our Caribbean counterparts. Currently a team of boxers are preparing for several overseas engagements, starting with the Pan Am qualifiers from April 2 to 11 in Nicaragua, but as usually the problem is funding. The GBA is currently waiting on the Director of Sport and the National Sports Commission to approve the required funds to green light the teams’ travel to their first regional engagement of a series. Corporate Guyana have been very supportive and a thankful Ninvalle and local team will continue to also depend on their input to ensure the team travels and bring Guyana continued glory on the international boxing scene.

O’Selmo, Spencer and Henry are winners... From page 78 cyclist Ms. Clicelia Spencer in keeping with the sponsors’ goal. O’Selmo, the winner of the senior category was awarded the $10,000 David’s Voice Award, which was given in recognition of an autistic boy whose parent has seen the work done by London Lambert Classic founders; and has pledged to support. The ‘LonLam’ Classic body, will, through the parent of the autistic child launch a scholarship fund at the beginning of the new school year starting with $50,000. This annual donation is to assist a student who has

defied the odds to pursue their education. The event organised by the Bauxite Flyers Cycle Club began from Richmond Hill in Mackenzie to Silver Hill and back to across Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge and into Winifred Gaskin Road to finish in One Mile Wismar at the hill junction in the vicinity of Wisrock. It was also announced that on April 7, the Linden Bauxite Flyers Cycle Club will stage the annual Bakers Memorial 60-Mile cycle race which will began at the Falls Gas Station on the East Bank Demerara and will end outside the Telecoms junction in Linden.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Legends have not performed off the field: Cameron KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Incumbent Cricket West Indies president, Dave Cameron, has accused some legendary former players of not “delivering the goods” when given the chance to do so in the boardroom. As such, the controversial Jamaican argued that the value of these great former players lay in their ambassadorial roles in promoting West Indies cricket, not in cricket administration. Several iconic figures, including Sir Viv Richards, Sir Andy Roberts and Clive Lloyd, have come out in s u p p o r t o f C a m e r o n ’s challenger, the former St Kitts and Nevis government minister, Ricky Skerritt, ahead of Sunday’s CWI presidential elections here. In his comments, Sir Viv said Skerritt’s election was necessary in order to bring “respectability” back to the office of president while Lloyd made reference to the “decimation” of West Indies cricket “especially under this administration”.

Legendary former captains Clive Lloyd (left) and Sir Vivian Richards.

Cameron said he was unfazed by the criticism. “We will continue to support them. As a matter of fact, we don’t take it personal and we believe that they believe that the opposition can provide a different way,” the Observer newspaper quoted him as saying. “We believe in standards and processes and some of

those persons (legends) we have given opportunities in almost every area of West Indies cricket, except probably being the president, and they haven’t delivered the goods except playing on the field.” Lloyd, who led West Indies to historic triumphs at the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, has served as team manager and more recently

chairman of selectors, while Sir Viv, who never lost a Test series as captain, had a spell as chief selector and Windies coach. Sir Andy, a member of Lloyd’s fearsome fast bowling battery of the 1970s and 80s, also served in capacities as coach and selector. Speaking ahead of his bid for a fourth successive term,

Cameron defended his administration use of the Windies legends, pointing out they had been used to promote such global events as the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup last November. “We use them as ambassadors. They were just ambassadors for the Women’s World T20 and any opportunities like that we will use them, but we don’t take much credence from what their views are in respect to administration, but we respect them,” he said. “The reason why we are West Indies Cricket is because of them, so we respect them. We are not thinking too much about that and at the end of the election come next week. We will treat with that going forward.” Cameron, re-elected unopposed in 2017, has received a stiff challenge this time around from Skerritt and running mate Dr Kishore Shallow. Not only have legendary former players not backed him but at least two sitting prime ministers, Dr Keith Michell of

Grenada and Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines, have signalled their support for Skerritt/Shallow ticket. However, Cameron remained upbeat about his chances, maintaining that with Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands behind him and providing six of the 12 votes up for grabs, he simply could not lose. “At this point, and I think you heard the vice-president (Emmanuel Nanthan) say it, we can’t lose the election,” he contended. “Obviously we would like to hear that Jamaica is in support going forward, but at this point in time we can’t lose the election. We have six secured votes, and not just votes, but you see the leadership of those organisations coming out in support of us.” The Jamaica Cricket Association is yet to declare their support for a candidate, after hosting meetings with both last week, while the Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago have already endorsed Skerritt.

Nervous Hetmyer fails on IPL debut in low scoring encounter

Shimron Hetmyer … run out without scoring. (file photo)

CHENNAI, India, CMC – West Indies batting star Shimron Hetmyer made a wretched start to life in the Indian Premier League here yesterday when he made a two-ball ‘duck’ as his Royal Challengers Bangalore crashed to a

seven-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings in the season-opener. Entering at the fall of South African AB de Villiers’s wicket at 38 for three in the eighth over, the 22-year-old Hetmyer was nearly run at the striker’s end before facing a ball, after being called through for a sharp leg bye by Parthiv Patel. The left-hander then blocked the first ball he received from veteran offspinner Harbhajan Singh but then pushed the next delivery to short cover and set off for an impossible run, and was beyond the

CSK celebrate with Harbhajan Singh after his wickets. (BCCI)

point of no return when the bails were removed. Hetmyer was picked up by RCB for US$596,000 in last December’s draft, one o f s e v e r a l We s t I n d i e s players along with Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran and Oshane Thomas, to land lucrative

contracts. Playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, RCB were dismissed for 70 in the 18th over to record the sixth lowest total in IPL history, with South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir (39) and Harbhajan (3-20) finishing with three

wickets apiece. Only Patel, with 29 off 35 balls, reached double figures before he was last out, holing out to square leg off former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. In reply, CSK made a meal of their run chase before getting home with 14

balls to spare, with opener Ambati Rayudu top-scoring with 28. Scores: Chennai Super Kings 71 for 3 (Rayudu 28, Chahal 1-6) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 70 (Parthiv 29, Tahir 3-9, Harbhajan 3-20) by 7 wickets.

Sunday March 24, 2019

PAGE 75

Kaieteur News

NBA roundup: Harden scores 61 as Rockets stop Spurs James Harden matched his career high with 61 points, delivering early and late to bail out the host Houston Rockets in their 111-105 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. Harden, who also scored 61 points on Jan. 23 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, finished 19 of 34 from the floor while drilling 9 of 13 from 3point range. After the Rockets coughed up a 19-point, thirdquarter lead and fell into a 100-94 hole late in the fourth, Harden responded with three successive 3-pointers and a pair of drives to the basket to secure the victory, the Rockets’ third consecutive win over the Spurs. Bryn Forbes led five Spurs in double figures with 20 points while Derrick White added 18 with eight rebounds. DeMar DeRozan posted 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while LaMarcus Aldridge paired 10 points with five blocks for San Antonio, which captured its first lead at 85-84 on a Patty Mills reverse layup with 10:48 to play. Nets 111, Lakers 106 Joe Harris scored 26 points, and visiting Brooklyn made enough plays down the stretch to earn the victory and eliminate Los Angeles from postseason contention.

Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Rudy Gay (22) and guard Derrick White (4) in the second half at Toyota Center. (Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports) The Nets followed up their historic comeback win in Sacramento and improved to 2-3 on a season-high, sevengame road trip that continues Monday in Portland. D’Angelo Russell had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Brooklyn. JaVale McGee led Los Angeles with career highs of 33 points and 20 rebounds. The Lakers lost their fifth straight, dropped to 2-12 in their last 14 games and will miss the playoffs for the sixth

straight season. The loss officially ensured that LeBron James will miss the postseason for the first time since his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004-05. James had 25 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds. Thunder 116, Raptors 109 Russell Westbrook had his 28th triple-double of the season as he scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added 13 assists, and visiting Oklahoma City came back to defeat Toronto and

end a four-game losing streak. Paul George added 28 points, and Dennis Schroder had 26 points for the Thunder, who lost to the Raptors in overtime on Wednesday and overcame a 13-point deficit on Friday. Kawhi Leonard scored 37 points for Toronto. Pascal Siakam added 25 points while Danny Green had 19 points. Nuggets 111, Knicks 93 Nikola Jokic scored 21 points and pulled down 17 rebounds night for surging

Denver, which moved back into a tie for the top seed in the Western Conference by cruising past host New York. With their sixth straight win, the Nuggets (49-22) tied the idle Golden State Warriors for the best record in the West. Denver has never earned the top seed in the West and has yet to make an appearance in the NBA Finals. Jamal Murray scored 18 points for the Nuggets, who also received 14 points from Gary Harris. Bucks 116, Heat 87 Giannis Antetokounmpo posted 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead host Milwaukee over Miami. The Bucks’ Khris Middleton contributed 18 points, a game-high 10 assists and eight rebounds. The Heat, who were led by Hassan Whiteside’s 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three blocks, had closed their deficit to 63-58 early in the third quarter before falling apart. Their three-game winning streak ended. The Bucks have the best record in the NBA at 54-19. Their 29-6 home record is the best in the Eastern Conference. Clippers 110, Cavaliers 108 Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points, and Los Angeles hung on to beat host Cleveland. Shai Gilgeous-

Alexander scored 16 points, adding five assists and two steals as the Clippers earned their ninth win in 10 games. Lou Williams scored 15 and had six assists off the bench for Los Angeles. Montrezl Harrell scored 14 and had a crucial offensive board late in the game to stave off the Cavaliers. Kevin Love led Cleveland with 22 points and had eight rebounds. The Cavaliers had their four-game home winning streak snapped. Magic 123, Grizzlies 119 (OT) Evan Fournier gave Orlando its first lead of the game with 4:05 to go in overtime, then gave the Magic the upper hand for good with another hoop with 1:14 remaining, giving the Eastern Conference postseason hopefuls a much needed victory over visiting Memphis. The come-frombehind win allowed the Magic to stay within arm’s length of the seventh and eighth playoff positions in the East, spots currently held by Brooklyn and Miami. Fournier finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists while teammate Terrence Ross led all scorers with 31 points. Memphis lost despite a 23-point, 24rebound performance by Jonas Valanciunas. (Field Level Media)

Skerritt: “We need Lasith Malinga to retire after 2020 T20 World Cup to adjust our sails before it’s too late” KINGSTON, Jamaica - In his final message before the keenly contested election, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Presidential candidate Ricky Skerritt urged voters to be the agents of change and elect him as the leader of the regional institution. Skerritt, 62, and his running mate Dr. Kishore Shallow, 35, face three term incumbents Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron and Vice President Emmanuel Nathan in the election today, Sunday, March 24. Propelled by his enterprising and practical 10 point plan, that prioritizes fixing ‘Cricket First’, Skerritt and Shallow have presented and defended their plans on multiple media outlets and various public forums in the last two months. Skerritt remained confident going into today’s vote, one that is seen as critical in the future of Cricket West Indies, as it would mean the removal of Cameron, the often controversial leader.

“Dr Shallow and myself will bring integrity and a greater commitment to the needs of cricket. We will ensure that our executive management team is focused strongly on the underlying governance and performance principles that generate successful organizational change, learning and improvement. He added, “The results of these efforts usually hinge on leadership skills and the personal effectiveness of the people leading and implementing them. These principles are not new to us. To be successful, we need to continually rediscover them for ourselves, repackage them for our time, and make them relevant for today’s problems and circumstances. In the past weeks Skerritt and his running mate Dr. Kishore Shallow have received overwhelming support and public endorsements from some of the regional game’s iconic players and administrators.

ESPNcricinfo - Sri Lanka limited-overs captain Lasith Malinga has announced his decision to retire from the game after next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. The 35-year-old fast bowler, who made the announcement following Sri Lanka’s 16-run loss against South Africa in the second T20I, also said there was a chance he would quit ODIs after the World Cup this year. “I want to play in the T20 World Cup and then end my career,” Malinga said after the match in Centurion. Malinga made his Sri Lanka debut in 2004 and has played 30 Tests, 218 ODIs and 72 T20Is. He’s Sri Lanka’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is and is also one short of Shahid Afridi’s world record of 98 wickets in the format. He is the team’s thirdhighest wicket-taker in ODIs too, behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. One of his greatest highs was leading Sri Lanka - in Dinesh Chandimal’s absence - to the T20 World Cup title in 2014. He’s been a part of Mumbai Indians in the IPL

Lasith Malinga was on fire in his comeback match. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)

since the fourth season and also served as their bowling mentor in 2018. Despite not having played last season, he remains the highest wickettaker in the tournament’s history, with 154 wickets at an economy rate of 6.86. This year, however, Malinga has ruled himself out of at least the first six matches of the IPL in a bid to qualify

for Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad, with the selectors having told the players they must play in the forthcoming

Super Provincial One-Day domestic tournament to be considered for the World Cup.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Kaieteur News

Chen defends world figure skating title with record-setting skate SAITAMA, Japan (Reuters) - America’s Nathan Chen successfully defended his world figure skating title yesterday with a spectacular, record-setting free skate in a nail-biting contest with hometown favorite and Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Chen built on a strong lead in the short programme with a dynamic free skate that included four clean quadruple jumps and had the crowd at Saitama Super Arena, just north of Tokyo, clapping along by the end. The 19-year-old Chen broke the world record for both the free skate and total points, set moments before by Hanyu, surging to victory with 216.02 and a total of 323.42. “As soon as I stepped on the ice, I felt that energy already there. He (Hanyu) has been pushing the sport making the sport so enjoyable, so competitive, and that definitely made me so much better of a skater,” said Chen. Hanyu, 24 and competing in Japan for the first time in several years, brought the

Nathan Chen of the U.S. in action during Men’s Free Skating ISU World Figure Skating Championships at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

house down with a routine that began with a clean quadruple loop and hit two more clean quads, with a quad Salchow under-rotated. In a routine that was haunting and energetic,

Hanyu, who had not competed for four months due to an ankle injury, racked up 206.10 points in the free skate and 300.97 in total, breaking the record he set in a Helsinki Grand Prix event in 2018.

Bowlers lead Windward Islands to comfortable win; T&T beat Jamaica by 4 wkts Led by a disciplined bowling performance, Windward Islands defeated Leeward Islands by seven wickets when the teams collided in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Colonial Medical Insurance Women’s Super 50 yesterday. Leeward Islands decision to bat at Enmore backfired as they were reduced to 9-2 with both openers Jenisen Richards (01) and Malissa Howard (02) falling to Pearl Etienne. They never recovered from this position as Akeira Peters picked up the wickets of Jamella McClure (04) and Saneldo Willette (01), leaving Leeward Islands in further trouble at 21-4. Following the early inroads made by the new-ball pair, spinners Afy Fletcher and Swayline Williams combined to destroy the rest of the batting as they were bowled out for 50 in 18.3 overs. Amanda Edwards was the only batter to reach double figures with 11, while Rozel Liburd was the next best with nine as Williams finished with 3-13 from 3.3 overs, while Fletcher had 316 from four overs, Peters claimed 2-8 and Pearl Etienne (Continued on page 73)

Yet it was only enough for silver. “I had one mistake in my free program but I am pleased I could perform well at the world championships,” said Hanyu, whose fans cheered ecstatically when he landed his jumps. Hanyu, who is known as a perfectionist, added that he was far from satisfied with the result. “I really want to win. I think I did my best, but the problem is that in figure skating competition consists of two days, and I am losing in both,” he said. “I am a really competitive person and want to compete with a strong opponent. I respect Nathan in this sense.” American 18-year-old Vincent Zhou finished third with a dynamic and powerful routine that helped him rise a place from

the short program, claiming 186.99 points for a total of 281.16. “It wasn’t perfect but I am more than happy with that. It felt unbelievable doing that out there,” he said. FOURTHCHAMPIONSHIP Unstoppable French ice dance duo of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron took their fourth world championship crown and set a new world record with a sensual routine that won a standing ovation. The two, who were narrowly edged out of gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics after Papadakis’s costume came unfastened in the short dance, surged to victory at the Saitama Super Arena after tango-ing to a substantial lead in the rhythm dance short skate. With a new scoring system in place this season,

Papadakis and Cizeron seemed to mirror each other through a series of spins and gravity-defying lifts and finished with 134.23 in the free dance and 222.65 altogether. They ended up roughly 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals and eclipsed their own world record set at this year’s European Championships after a season dogged by back problems for Cizeron. “We were exactly here five years ago in Saitama (for the World Championships) and remember the whole experience from those five years. It is incredible,” said Papadakis. Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov finished second ahead of Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

Cheddi Jagan Annual Memorial cricket set to commence at Hobodeia The annual Cheddi Jagan Memorial Male cricket competition, football and females softball cricket competitions are slated to commence today at Aruka River village, Hobodeia, Mabaruma, Region One. The competition is creating a stir among rival teams as top players from Barbina, Wauna, Yarakita, Hotoquai, Hobodeia, Sebai among others are expected to be on show.

Sport loving fans are encouraged to flock the venue early as inform players such as Ellon Hutson, Kelwin Benjamin, Devon James, Orison sealy, Romario Pritchard, Elton Brown, Eddie Thomas, Clinton De Souza among others are expected to entertain the spectators with quality cricket. A very strong male and female team from Sebai departed yesterday for the much anticipated games at Hobodeia.

Sebai female cricket team. Match referee Hayden Bruce presents the player-of-the-match award to Swayline Williams.

FHC Invitational hockey tourney

Team Guyana reaches semifinal

Player-of-the-match Karishma Ramharack accepts her prize from Match Referee Arleigh Rutherford.

On Friday; the opening day of the of the Field Hockey Canada (FHC) Invitational Indoor Hockey Tri-Nation series in Canada, Guyana’s female hockey team played to some mixed results which included a thrilling win over Kazakhstan women who are ranked 13th in the world, at the University of Toronto’s Athletic Centre. The Guyanese team that are ranked 31st was quoted as being the youngest put together squad in years by their head coach, Philip Fernandes. In the win, Trisha Woodroffe scored both of Guyana’s goals during a good 2-1 victory, a big feat for the largely developmental team that is the poorest ranked side in the series.

In Guyana’s second group game on Friday, they lost to Canada Red (Canada A team) 6-0 but a 0-0 draw against Canada White on yesterday, ensured that the local team qualified for the knockout stage. In an invited comment with Kaieteur Sport, Coach Fernandes expressed pleasure with the ladies for their spirited performances and he explained that reaching the semifinals of the tournament is already exceeding his pre-tournament objectives. He predicted that in a couple years, Guyana’s female team will be a formidable side. Up to press time, the result of the Guyana’s semifinal match was available.

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Sunday March 24, 2019

Colonial Medical Insurance Female Super50 Tournament

Dottin destroys Guyana bowling with brutal unbeaten 75 By Sean Devers A destructive unbeaten 7 5 f r o m We s t I n d i e s Women’s batsman Deandra Dottin followed up Skipper Hayley Matthews’ 4-25 lead defending Champions Barbados to their fourth consecutive victory with a five-wicket win over Guyana at Providence in the penultimate round of the Colonial Medical Insurance Female Super50 Tournament. Off-Spinner Matthews followed her 7-29 against the Windwards with 4-25 and received support from Player-of-the Match Dottin (2-29) and Sherika Selman (2-23) as Guyana were bowled for 159 in 42.3 overs. Skipper Shemaine Campbell top scored with 40 from 65 balls aided by six fours but only Shabika Gajnabi, who followed her 77 in the last round with three boundaries in 24 reached 20 for the Guyanese who suffered their third loss in four matches. Dottin, who finished the contest with a six, faced just 55 balls, batted 76 minutes. She reached the boundary 12 times and cleared it once, while Kycia Knight with a 44-ball 45 with eight fours and Matthews (11) got into double figures as Barbados reached 164-5 in just 25.2 overs. Left-arm pacer Erva Giddings continued her consistent performance with the ball to finish with 2-52, while off-spinner Sheneta Grimmond had 2-23. Barbados, opted to field

on a track with tinge of green on a lightning fast outfield and a fair size crowd of mostly screaming females, saw Grimmond push halfforward to be LBW to Shanika Bruce for duck in the second over at 2-1. Mandy Mangru looked positive and square drove and cut pacer Shamila Connell for successive boundaries, while Campbelle punched Connell past cover for four as the partnership flourished. But when on 16 from 19 balls, Mangru tried to work a full toss from Selman behind square and got a top edge to be caught at short square leg to leave the score on 42-2 in the eight over. Campbelle danced into Matthews, who started with a maiden, and lifted her over mid-on for four before Gajnabi used her feet to the 21-year-old off-spinner, who been playing at this level since she was 12, to hit her back over her head for four. Campbelle on-drove Connell past mid-on for four before hammering Selman down the ground for another boundary, while Gajnabi smashed Dottin for four more as the pair scored at a fast clip. But Dottin who bowled a ‘heavy ball’ from a short runup, broke the 48-run stand when she removed both batsmen in the space of eight runs. The 27-old induced Campbelle miss a pull at a short ball which kept a bit low and crashed into her stumps before uprooting Gajnabi’s stumps to leave

- Matthews befuddle Guyanese to set up 5-Wkt Bajan win

Shebika Gajnabi goes over the top during her 48-run stand with Campbelle at Providence yesterday. (Sean Devers photos) Guyana on 98-4 in 24th over as tight bowling from the versatile Matthews, who won CARIFTA Gold in the Javelin in 2015, put the brakes on the scoring. The powerful Akaze Thompson (2) struggled to get the ball away before pushing hesitantly forward and was bowled by Selman who also kept the Guyanese in shackles. L a s h u n a To u s s a i n t pulled a high full toss from Danielle Small to the midwicket boundary but was removed by Matthews at 128 before two wickets fell to Matthews at 130. Matthews, who captained her school’s Boys team at nine years old, removed Melani Henry (1) and Cherry-Ann Fraser for a duck. Tremayne Smartt, with a rear guard 19, found a useful

Deandra Dottin ended the game with a six to finish unbeaten on 75 as B’dos won by 5 wickets.

partner in Giddings to take Guyana to 157 before Smartt was caught and bowled by Selman before Giddings (9) was last out. When Barbados began their reply they were in early trouble at 16-2 as Giddings bowled Small (4) at 12-1. Matthews, who along with Campbelle and Jamaican Skipper Stefani Taylor have scored centuries in this tournament, was troubled by the spin of Grimmond who opened the bowling. Matthews executed an imperious cover drive off Grimmond for four but miscued a release shot in the same over and was well taken at long-on by Gajnabi and the Guyanese celebrated the demise of Barbados’s leading run scorer. Grimmond struck again when the left handed

Concacaf Nations League

Over 4000 fans witnessed the Guyana Golden Jaguars beat Belize 2-1 in the final round of the Concacaf Nations League (CNL) at the National Track and Field Center (NTFC), Leonora, last night with one goal each off the boots of Neil Danns and Emery Welshman. The Michael Johnson coached side was described as, “The greatest team in the h i s t o r y o f G u y a n a ’s football”, by skipper Samuel

Cox during the post match press conference and the victory will see the local side qualifying for the prestigious Concacaf (2019) Gold Cup for first time. The match kicked off at 18:30hrs and after a goal was ruled offside for Belize that found the back of the net in their first run on goal, Guyana completely dominated the clash thereafter. Emery Welshman could have easily fired Guyana ahead inside 10 minutes but a tame shot from him was gobbled up by Belize’s

after the 50 came up in nine overs, but when five short of what would been a welldeserved 50, Knight was removed by Thompson at 119-4. Two runs later, Aaliyah Alleyne was caught behind for a duck off the impressive Giddings at 121-5. Dottin pounded Giddings for a ferocious boundary after reaching her 50 from 37 balls with nine fours and along with Charlene Taitt (12) saw her team to victory with consecutive boundaries off Thompson, the second one going for six. Guyana play their final match tomorrow at Bourda when they face the Windwards, but the match of the final round should be at Enmore where Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago face-off in a virtual final.

Celebrating Gold Cup Qualification, The Golden Jaguars after the final whistle against Belize.

Guyana create history in the battle of the Jaguars; qualify for first ever Gold Cup Calvin Chapman story and photos

Kyshona Knight was caught behind by Campbelle for two with the score on 28-3 and with Matthews gone Guyana were back in the fight. Dottin, the first woman to score a century in T20Is when she made a 38-ball ton against South Africa in 2010 which remains the fastest by any cricketer (male or female) in T20Is, joined Kycia, the twin sister of Kyshona, and batted positively. Although Dottin dominated the stand Knight also played several audacious shots on both sides of the wicket before Dottin cut and reversed swept Mangru for consecutive boundaries as Thompson escorted the ball to the ropes. Knight tucked Thompson behind square to post the 100 in the 16th over

skipper and goalkeeper, Woodrow West. Welshman, who played up front for the Golden Jaguars, was very menacing against the Belize Jaguars’ back four and he won two penalties in the first half after being brought down by a couple of poor challenges. Danns then made no mistake in converting the first penalty in the 16th minute but he fluffed the second after opting to go in the other direction, to the goalie’s right. By then, a well weighed (Continued on page 73)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 78

Sunday March 24, 2019

Jumbo Jet Triple Crown’s second leg

GMR&SC Drag Championship

Don’t bet against Team Mohamed’s

Stage set for anticipated horse race meet Fans today will be in for premium excitement when the second leg of the Jumbo Jet Triple Crown is staged.

Team Mohamed new Ekanoo/Magnus GTR (www.AckeemThomas.com photo)

he weather has been kind and it is forecasted to continue today for the first round of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Drag Championship that will boost off at South Dakota Circuit’s drag strip, located in Timehri. The conditions are already inviting but fans will be keener to witness the new and fastest of the three Nissan GTRs that has been recently added to Team M o h a m e d ’s f l e e t o f machines. The undisputed king of the drag strip, Team Mohamed’s, holds the current strip record of 7.5 seconds and if they hadn’t contributed handsomely to the extension of the straightaway from 1000ft to a full quarter mile (1320ft), that record would have definitely been under threat. T h e n e w Ekanoo/Magnus GTR was not so long ago the fastest GTR in the world, setting a time of 7.3 seconds across the quarter mile at a top

speed of 206mph. In an invited comment from Kaieteur Sport, P r i n c i p a l o f Te a m M o h a m e d ’s ; A z r u d d i n Mohamed, revealed that both the Ekanoo/Magnus and the ‘Goliath’ GTR will be in action today and as usual, he isn’t really fazed by any of the competition. S&D Performance are t h e c l o s e s t t o Te a m Mohamed’s in race time and although the best machine from this garage; Shawn Persaud’s Toyota Caldina, has not been able to notch a win against the slower and undefeated ‘Goliath’ GTR, it is unfair to say they are rivals. “The strip has been extended to a full quarter mile so all the winning times will be new records. So we will be looking to set the bar real high”, Mohamed posited. After examining video footage seen by this publication during the GMR&SC test tune on Friday, Team Mohamed’s Ekanoo/Magnus will be a

force to reckon with and a bit of advice to the many fans that will be up at the track today is to not bet against the drag car. Tickets cost $1000 for adults to witness the action while kids pay half price and for those desirous of more comfortable seating, there are VIP tickets available for $4000. The corporate community has been very supportive of the GMR&SC and they bid to take motor racing to new heights in Guyana and sponsors for the event include Mohamed’s Enterprise, BM Soat Auto Sales, Motor Trend Service Centre, Delco Ice Factory, Trans-Pacific Motor Spares, Supreme Ventures, Air Services Limited, PowerLine Auto, Cyril’s Taxi, Omega Brokers, ENetworks, Prem’s Electrical, Miracle Optical, Choke Gas Station and Super Bet, R. Kissoon Contracting Services, Hand-in-Hand Insurance and Top Brandz Distributors. (Calvin Chapman)

Venezuela national soccer coach offers to resign after meeting Guaido envoy (Reuters) - The coach of Venezuela’s national soccer team said on Friday he had offered to resign after meeting with opposition leader Juan Guaido’s envoy to Spain, in the midst of a power struggle between Guaido and socialist President Nicolas Maduro. After a 3-1 victory over Argentina in Spain, the coach, Rafael Dudamel, said he had spoken with officials from Venezuela’s soccer federation and “put my role up for review” following his meeting with Antonio Ecarri, designated by Guaido as his ambassador to Spain, before the game in Madrid.

Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, invoked Venezuela’s constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing Maduro’s 2018 reelection was fraudulent. Most Western nations, including Spain, have recognized Guaido as the country’s rightful leader. He has designated representatives to a number of countries that have d i s a v o w e d M a d u r o ’s government. Maduro calls Guaido a puppet of the United States, and says he is the victim of an attempted U.S.-led coup. “We have been living through very complicated

times, and we are very politicized,” Dudamel told reporters after the game. “We respectfully received the visit of the ambassador, Mr. Antonio Ecarri ... just as we have [in the past] received the ambassador of President Maduro.” He later accused Guaido and Ecarri of “politicizing” the visit, telling CNN the meeting took place on the condition that any photographs or videos of the meeting would be for “internal consumption.” Guaido had earlier tweeted a video of Ecarri speaking with the players. “Today was denigrating, it’s unfortunate how they have acted,” Dudamel said.

All systems are set for the Jumbo Jet Thoroughbred Racing Committee’s Triple Crown’s second leg which gallops off today at the Rising Sun Turf Club in West Coast, Berbice (45 minutes from Georgetown, according to chairman of the organising committee, Nasrudeen Mohamed Jr. In an invited comment with this publication, Mohamed reiterated that the track is in good condition for today’s meet due to the prolonged good weather and turfites can expect to be fully entertained as is customary. Over $20million in cash

and prizes will be up grabs over the three legs of the Triple Crown event with the grand finale set for Easter Sunday, April 21 at Port Mourant Turf Club. The feature race today will attract a total prize purse amounting to almost $2million with the winner of that C Class and lower race pocketing $1million. The winner of the threeyear-old Guyana bred race will pocket $400,000, the F Class winner; $350,000, H Class; $300,000, I Class; $250,000, J class; $230,000, K Class; $220,000, L Class; $200,000, L Class and lower;

$140,000. Over 70 entries have been registered for today’s meet and the promoters have guaranteed safety with the implementation of additional security protocols which has also been geared towards having a safe environment for the animals. In addition, today will see the return of the undefeated ‘Vera’s Finally’ from the Jumbo Jet Racing Stables to go along with Jockeys from Trinidad and Tobago along with an international commentator from the twin island republic.

2nd London and Lambert Classic in Linden

O’Selmo, Spencer and Henry are winners Seasoned cyclist Rastaf O’Selmo and Christopher Cornelius broke away early to start the 2ndLondon and Lambert Classic Road Race on Phagwah Day and were never caught as they took the top two sports, while other winners on Thursday were Jaheme Henry among the juveniles, the veteran Andrew Spencer won in his class and for the females Clicelia Spencer was the winner. The first place winner O’Selmo copped two sprint prizes with second placed Christopher Cornelius getting the other two and Marcus Keiler was third in the senior category. Andrew Spencer rode off with the veteran’s race and in the course of that win captured all five sprint prizes with the second position taken by one of the sponsors Nigel London and third was John Charles. Jaheme Henry won the

Rastaf O’Selmo winner of 2nd London and Lambert Cycling Classical in Linden collects his reward.

race among the juveniles, which started at Fairs’ Rust to the GuyOil Gas Station in Amelia’s Ward and back, from second placed Mark Lewis (Jr.) as Esau Lowden was third. Clicelia Spencer took the female race winning from second placed Abigail Jeffrey as Shakina London came in third. Apostles Nigel London

and Leon Lambert, who have an interest in promoting local cycling, were the main sponsors of the event, while Gideon Construction, R and N Electrical and Consulting Company have joined as sponsors and others both local and overseas. A new racing cycle was presented to young female (Continued on page 73)

Kaieteur News

Sunday March 24, 2019

PAGE 79

Murray, Harper join chorus of former players backing Skerritt for CWI post

RIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Ex-West Indies vice-captain, Deryck Murray, and former offspinner and head coach, Roger Harper, yesterday announced their support for Ricky Skerritt and Dr K i s h o r e S h a l l o w, a s resistance continued to build against the incumbent Dave Cameron ahead of Sunday’s C r i c k e t We s t I n d i e s elections. Murray, also a former Trinidad and Tobago board president, said in a statement that the Skerritt/Shallow ticket represented the “way forward for West Indies cricket” at a stage when the game in the region was at a “crucial juncture”. “I am asking for full support of those who can

vote, to cast it in favour of Mr Ricky Skerritt and Dr Kishore Shallow,” said Murray, who played 62 Tests for West Indies between 1963 for 1980. “I think their candidacy is a way forward for West Indies cricket and thank these gentlemen for putting themselves forward at this crucial juncture in West Indies cricket. “We all know that West Indies cricket needs radical change and hope Mr Skerritt and Dr Shallow can bring that to the table and I look forward to them taking over and improving the fortunes of West Indies cricket on and off the field.” Harper, who played 25 Tests between 1983 and 1993 and led the regional team as head coach from

Ninvalle elected AMBC Vice President President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle may have just earned himself the title of one of the most powerful men in amateur boxing in the Americas. The GBA boss was on Friday elected Vice President of the American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) at a Congress held in Panama City, Panama. Ninvalle’s most recent elevation adds to two other important appointments he received this year. “It’s a plus for us (CARICOM) as before we never had a representative from the Caribbean elected to such a high office in the Confederation. My intention is to use this as a vehicle to further the development of the sport right across the Americas,” Ninvalle commented on his appointment. A M B C i s a n organization with 43 countries affiliated and governs boxing in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. It is one of five confederations that falls under the umbrella of the 203-nation AIBA. Ninvalle’s most recent elevation highlights his work and work ethic, increasing his appointments to other posts over the last three months. In January he was elected as Chairman of the Caribbean Steering

Steve Ninvalle Committee which oversees the sport in Caricom, while one month later AIBA appointed him Chairman of its Youth Commission. The AMBC elections are held every four years. The Panama Congress also saw two other Caribbean administrators being elected to the Executive Committee of the AMBC. Leyla Jackson of the Cayman Islands and Dr. Debra Stephen-John from Grenada were elected in first and second place to the eight-man Executive Committee. This is a plus for the Caribbean and the confidence they have put in Ninvalle and the other executives appointed, as they decided on a unified approach to their representation on the international and regional bodies as they push for better offerings from the parent (Continued on page 73)

2000 to 2003, said Skerritt possessed both the professional and personal qualities necessary to advance West Indies cricket. “During my time as coach of the West Indies team I had the opportunity to work closely with Mr Ricky Skerritt who was the team manager,” Guyanese Harper said. “I was able to observe Mr Skerritt’s management, organisational and communication skills first hand and I have no doubt that he will be able to build positive relationships with all of the relevant stakeholders in West Indies’ cricket to ensure that the West Indies team progresses to the top of our beloved game where it belongs.” He added: “Importantly,

we need leaders who are responsible, objective and honest, who will put cricket first but treat the governance of West Indies cricket with the seriousness it deserves. I believe that Mr Skerritt and Mr Shallow will do that.” Harper’s home territory has already signalled its support for the incumbent Cameron, so much so that it snubbed a request from Skerritt and Shallow to address the body. But with the Guyana Cricket Board embroiled in confusion in recent years, Harper says a change in CWI change could also have positive spin-offs for the GCB. “As a Guyanese, I look forward to new leadership of CWI, new leadership that will be committed to resolving the crisis in the administration of Guyana’s

Ex-West Indies vice-captain and wicketkeeper, Deryck Murray.

cricket that has been ongoing since 2011 without democratic elections.” Murray and Harper are the two latest cricketing personalities to come forward in support of Skerritt/Shallow candidacy. This follows similar endorsements over the last week by legendary former players Sir Vivian Richards,

Sir Andy Roberts and Clive Lloyd, along with two-time Twenty20 World Cupwinning captain, Darren Sammy. So far, veteran former Windies left-hander, Shiv Chanderpaul, along with former speedster, Tino Best, have publicly endorsed Cameron and vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan.

t r o Sp

Concacaf Nations League

Guyana create history in the battle of the Jaguars; qualify for first ever Gold Cup

P. 77

Neil Danns (#16) scored Guyanaâ€™s first and the gameâ€™s opening goal to send the crowd into a frenzy.

Part of the huge crowd last night which propelled the Golden Jaguars to victory.

FHC Invitational hockey tourney

Team Guyana reaches semifinal P. 76

Emery Welshman in control for the Golden Jaguars.

Abosaide Cadogan is backed into a corner by two opposing Kazakhstan players during the Guyanese 2-1 win in their opening group match.

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