Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news...Letters... Where your views make the news
The heckling and booing of President Aksharananda writes a second letter in support of the PPP Ramotar by his own supporters DEAR EDITOR, The heckling and booing of President Ramotar in his own yard serves as a reminder that you can fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Never in the history of Guyana can it be recalled any PPP leader being booed by their supporters and since the PPP engineered resuscitated FITUG, no PPP and union leaders have ever been heckled at their May Day Rally. What these actions made clear is that the workers have had enough and while for years many have quietly expressed their disappointment in the stewardship of their country, on May Day that quiet expression became vocal and overwhelming. This should be a lesson not only for the PPP, but for those labour leaders who continue to fool and exploit the people and become extensions of political parties, and lose the focus of their labour mandate to represent the workers who rely on them to help create a worker-friendly industrial climate. What these developments signal is the evolution of our political environment from the maximum and charismatic leaders to people exercising their power to give direction to their desires. And more so, removing from government officials that carte blanche opinion that they can use state and political power to silence the masses and secure complicity. This rebirth of political revolution to question leaders in the 21st century was made real in the 2012 Linden/Region 10 struggles under the youthful leadership of
Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon. It was this community that stood up to the national leaders and their party leaders, demanding respect for their right to inclusion in decision making, consistent with Article 13 of the Guyana Constitution that requires of the nation the practice of inclusionary democracy. This Principal Political Objective of the State requires the involvement of persons in decision-making that affect their wellbeing and while some may not be aware of this constitutional requirement, instinctively man’s desire for equality, respect and to be treated with dignity, will make him react against forces that seek to suppress and trample these principles and values. What we are witnessing in Guyana today is an advancement of the masses to take control of their destiny and to put public leadership in its rightful place as servant not master. This progressive thinking and movement is also influenced by information communication technologies where we have the benefit of observing in real time how other societies function and deal with their challenges, as we too become involve in expressing our views to what is taking place internationally and what we desire at home. Any government or political party that ignores the tea leaves does so at their peril. People are more empowered today about their rights in society which are guided by acceptable international standards. And these are the tenets upon which they expect their business to be transacted. The failure of any
government to confirm will evoke the wrath of the people who are not afraid today to stridently take position to fire a government and to hire a new one! This society is conscious that the moneys that pay the parliamentarians and those entrusted the responsibility of the state belong to the people and not a political party. And more so, that the moneys come from the people through taxation. While change in Guyana appears to come slowly, the benefit of it is that it advances stability and is likely to last longer. A humbug to this change is that of the slow takeover of the minds through years of brainwashing that would make it take longer to unlearn. Coming to office in 1992 on the wave of the nation’s goodwill rather than build on the foundation laid and working towards developing a nation and national unity, some leaders in the PPP spent the time enriching themselves, families and cronies; securing personal gains; undermining state institutions and national security; trampling on the citizens’ rights; securing themselves through misrepresentation and undermining of laws. The rule of fear and ruthlessness become the order by which they instituted themselves in government. The PPP squandered several opportunities to make all Guyanese feel represented, protected and a beneficiary in Continued on page 23
DEAR EDITOR, I refer to Swami Asharananda’s letter of May 1, 2015 (“We are being told that when Africans vote for the PNC they are asserting ethnic pride but when Indians vote for the PPP it is racism”). I am convinced by this second letter of Aksharananda that he has taken up where Ravi Dev left off. He has taken up the mantle of his Indian supremacist mentor Ravi Dev in which Guyanese history is vulgarly distorted to suit an ethnic agenda and to maintain PPP hegemony over this country. I read this man’s letter and there is absolutely nothing scholarly redeeming about his historical and political descriptions. His arguments are so scheming that my best assessment would be dangerous propaganda. They say never say never, but I could never have any respect for this man as religious figure in Guyanese society. What follows is a point by point rejection of the main contentions in Aksharananda’s polemic. First, he asserts that Africans voted for race loyalty in 1992 elections. There is no mention of the phenomenon in the form of Desmond Hoyte. In post-colonial politics, Desmond Hoyte has broken the tradition of authoritarian politics. African Guyanese voted for Hoyte because they wanted to give him a chance to deepen the process of glasnost and perestroika only matched in world politics at the time by Mikhail Gorbachev. What Hoyte did was extraordinary in the
history of post-colonial politics and he deserved to have been elected in 1992. I did not vote for him because I believed that the WPA should have been in government. African Guyanese voted for Hoyte’s policies but Aksharananda sees race in every aspect of Guyanese politics. Secondly, Aksharananda posits that Indians voted race too but because of that they have been denounced. There were admirable philosophical reasons for Africans to vote for Hoyte in 1992 than Indians for the PPP in 2011. By 2011, the post-Jagan PPP had become a Machiavellian house of kleptocracy and oligarchic intentions. If Indians wanted to vote race and keep the PNC out in 2011 then the had a wonderful redeeming opportunity in the form of the Alliance For Change. They stuck with the PPP and that was a primitive
choice that deserves intellectual condemnation Thirdly, Aksharananda is wrong. Africans do not vote race at all times. Aksharananda knows what happened in 2006 but that phenomenon will muddy his racist demagoguery so he ignores it. African Guyanese gave the AFC five seats in 2006. These ballots could not have been exclusively for Raphael Trotman because the AFC was not an African party, Trotman as an African didn’t have control over the AFC as with the leader of the PNC and PPP. Fourthly, African Guyanese have shown a deep moral revulsion to authoritarian rule in Guyana that Indian people have refused to emulate. The African dominated Burnham regime was literally vanquished through the open and bold defection of the Continued on page 23
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 04, 2015
Ramotar maintains that Jagdeo was speaking the truth Even as sections of the nation remain outraged at statements made by former President Bharrat Jagdeo at Babu Jaan, Port Mourant in March, President Donald Ramotar has come to Jagdeo’s defence again, saying that the statements were not inflammatory but true. Ramotar made the line of defence during the radio programme Hard Talk, which was broadcast on Sunday. During the programme, it was noted that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/ C) had come under fire for comments made on the campaign trail. Questioned in particular on Jagdeo’s Babu Jaan’s statement, Ramotar in turn asked, “The issue here is, did such a thing happen?” Referring to the claims Jagdeo made about the opposition riling up communities during the 2011 General and Regional Elections, Ramotar maintained that the events did occur. “Jagdeo heard about it and I also heard about it; I also heard that they did go on the elections morning into the villages, beating drums and calling people to come out,” Ramotar maintained. He continued, “So, Jagdeo was reporting what he heard and what was never denied. Before Jagdeo made his statement, it was all over the place and no one ever denied it before. I think they just jumped on it because they wanted the public to get at Jagdeo. But those are things that were reported to me,
“Jagdeo was speaking and he was speaking to an audience and he felt in his judgment that he should bring it out. I don’t see anything wrong with that. My own discretion is whether he was manufacturing anything and I can say that he wasn’t because I heard it myself.” myself.” However, Jagdeo’s claims only came to light at Babu Jaan and, when this was pointed out to Ramotar, he responded, “It doesn’t matter when it came to light, whether it was true or not, Jagdeo heard it and he chose to repeat it.” Further, Ramotar was questioned on the responsibility leaders had in repeating information they heard, particularly if that information can incite division. “It depends. Every circumstance has its own explanation. We can’t have
one cut fits all in that regard. Jagdeo was speaking and he was speaking to an audience and he felt in his judgment that he should bring it out. I don’t see anything wrong with that. My own discretion is whether he was manufacturing anything and I can say that he wasn’t because I heard it myself.” He further stated, “I don’t know if it’s inflammatory; I would say that what was inflammatory is what was done (riling up by the opposition). Not the person who reported it.” Meanwhile, Ramotar does
not believe that Jagdeo’s conduct du r i n g t h e l a s t elections led to the PPP/C losing its majority for the first time since it came into power. Instead, Ramotar said, other factors led to the party’s poor performance in 2011. He believes that the party’s supporters became overconfident and in turn did not turn out to vote as they believed the PPP/C would have “won the elections in a big way” regardless. He added that his party had failed to focus on the micro issues affecting communities and had instead focused on the big picture. He also opined that his party had underestimated at the time what the opposition was doing. Coming back once more to the claims made by Jagdeo about the opposition riling
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo
President Donald Ramotar up communities, Ramotar said, “Because they couldn’t compete with us, they had to resort to the type of behaviour they did…so I think those are the contributing factors; I don’t think it had anything to do with Jagdeo’s performance.” Ramotar also denied that former President Jagdeo was “pulling the strings” behind
the scene at the Office of the President. Ramotar further denied that his party is using fear mongering to garner more votes amongst the electorate and said that he believes his party is in a position to win the upcoming elections. He added, “I hope that this would be our biggest majority yet.” In exactly one week, Guyana’s electorate will take to the polls at the 2015 General and Regional Elections to determine the country’s next government.
Intoxicated man survives after falling into well Leonard Dorrick, 63, was so drunk that he thought he was merely stepping into a pothole in the road; but instead it turned out to be a 40 foot well on April 18 last at Yupukari, Central Rupununi. He only sobered up after he was pulled out by public spirited persons a few hours later and ended up initially in a Brazilian border hospital. Dorrick is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, having
been transferred from the Lethem hospital after his injuries could not be treated there. Yesterday in the male surgical ward of the GPHC, Dorrick in the presence of his wife, Diana Dorrick, related to Kaieteur News that he was walking in an area not familiar to him, unaware of a well being there and fell in. Dorrick suffered a broken left arm, broken right leg, fractured right shoulder and lacerations about the body. He disclosed that he will be undergoing surgery for his broken arm soon. Kaieteur News understands that the man is a frequent consumer of alcohol, and at the time of the incident
A sober Leonard Dorrick in his hospital bed yesterday. he was so drunk that he staggered into the well. A friend of the injured man who dropped by for a short visit was overheard encouraging him to desist from drinking rum because he is endangering his life as she made reference to his mishap. In response he said that the incident is an “eye opener”, and it will help him not to “drink rum no more”. He also expressed how grateful he is to have survived his little misfortune. Hopefully the incident will be a lesson well learnt.
Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
PPP makes last minute appeal to win back lost Berbice votes As time winds down on what is expected to be a tight contest between the two leading parties, the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/ C) spent their last stop in the ancient county painting a dark image of a coalition-led government and a bright one for their own. As several thousands of party supporters, decked primarily in red, converged for a mass rally at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, yesterday the incumbent party leaders were heard making last-ditch efforts to garner support, with bright plans they believed are destined to take the country forward. Speaking to those who gathered in an empty lot next door to Region Five’s Freedom House, leaders of the PPP/C blasted the opposition for “non-judicial” budget cuts they say stymied development, and launched a stinging attack on the Alliance for Change for collating with A Partnership for National Unity. To those who came from far and wide and even those who were trucked in, the ruling party came with future offerings of sustaining the sugar industry, creating jobs, working to empower women, encouraging education programmes, improving health care, fostering youth access to technical and vocational training, improved care for the elderly and promoting the rights of the differently-able. They placed emphasis on the importance of the PPP/C regaining the majority of Berbice votes some of which was taken by the AFC during the 2011 elections. The party’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee started his passionate address by first highlighting that this was the elections crunch time. After hyping the crowd on a PPP victory, come May 11, Rohee said they must believe that they will win and that Guyana has a bright future. Speaking like a visionary, he urged supporters to be strong and “stand up for what they believe in.”
“We have to defend the democracy that we have fought for all these years…if as we said we want to win this elections, we do not want to gamble with our future. Our future is too precious comrades,” he said. Rohee told the thousands that in order for his party to be victorious, they have to win the votes of the 6899 in Region Five who stayed away from the 2011 polls. “In this Region Five, over 6000 voters did not go out to vote and approximately 3000 persons went and voted for the AFC.” The party’s General Secretary highlighted that the Region Five voter’s list has grown by approximately 6409. Rohee said “We therefore have a major task ahead of us and the task ahead of us is to keep those thirteen thousand votes with us, to win back those who voted against us, to bring back those who did not vote for us, who stayed away and also to win over those who have now been added to the voters’ list.” Rohee described this as the major task they have ahead of the polls next Monday. Dishing out a tongue lashing on the recently formed coalition, A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), the General Secretary said it was an effort to “double bank” his party, but “we want to let them know that we will beat them back.” Charged, Rohee asked the massive crowd if they were ready for battle, and the crowd, needing no further nudge, screamed. “We have to fight,” he said. He added, “We are the builders, they are the destroyers. We want to go forward, they want to go backward.” The party’s General Secretary spoke confidently of a landslide victory. “We want to warn them that any attempt to subvert
the democratic process in his country, we will fight them back,” Rohee proclaimed. The General Secretary alleged that the opposition forces are trying to interfere in the democratic process, and he lashed out at Attorney-atLaw James Bond, a candidate for APNU+AFC for what he described as “irresponsible” Facebook post. Shortly after members of the Joint Services cast their ballot on Saturday, Bond, in a Facebook post, stated that 94% of Disciplinary Forces have voted in favour of the coalition, even though their ballots are yet to be stamped or counted. This was seen as an act seeking to sow mischief in the country but the PPP will not allow anyone to subvert the electoral process, he said. “We have Dr. Cheddi Jagan who has fought hard for the party to be where we are today…from tomorrow, each and every one of you irrespective of where you come from, must go out there and be a soldier for the PPP/ C: work the grounds, knock on every single door, speak to everyone. This elections is too dear for us to lose it. The election is too precious for us to allow ourselves to be thrown back.” He appealed for party supporters to bring out their friends, family members and even enemies to cast ballots in his party’s favour. Also, Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar told the candidates that they must win to safeguard their future. Ramotar, in his 30minute delivery, spent a considerable time rehashing incidents of the past but the crowd, which saw a large youth turnout appeared unaffected. Stating openly that the Opposition has a ‘plan’ to steal ballots, Ramotar called on supporters to be vigilant when at the polling stations next week.
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Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
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REVOLTING! Nothing could have been as revolting and indecent than the sight of a female, supposedly a supporter of the opposition, urinating over the flag of the ruling party, the PPPC. The incident took place in South Georgetown, a stronghold of the opposition and it took place during a meeting of the ruling People’s Progressive Party. The violence that took place at that meeting should be condemned, as was the
use of children in the whole exercise at disrupting the meeting of the ruling party. But the sight of a female resident urinating in public over the flag of the ruling party sets a new low in our country. This is not just a political problem. It is not just an isolated incident. It is in fact part of the moral depravity that has stepped into this country where somehow people simply do not have as great a concern as they should have
about the example they are setting by their public actions. The video that was posted on social media showed it all. Here was a female, in full glare of the public, including police ranks, standing over a flag of the PPPC, putting her hand under her skirt, pulling her underwear to one side and pissing all over the flag of the PPPC, to the amusement and applause of those watching on.
Dem boys seh...
Dem red shirt fool Donald People really touchous these days. A man announce how de Joint Service vote support he party and dem boys never see people run fuh complain like that. De thing quiet down li’l when de man seh how he do an exit poll. Jimmy Carter did de same thing in 1992 and nobody didn’t seh nutten because exit poll is strategy people does use in dem elections. In Uncle Sam is all dem exit poll. Dem boys remember one time when some exit poll also announce that somebody did win de elections and dem print de newspaper. Is a good thing nobody didn’t put dem papers pun de road because it woulda been shame pun shame. Dem had to print over de paper. But one thing dem boys know fuh sure is that everybody nervous. Donald tell people to vote fuh him at de May Day rally and dem people tell he “No way.” Right away he remember when Jagdeo go to dem people in Canje and talk how de party gun do nuff thing when it go back in. One man watch he full in he face and tell he, “Too late.”
But is de confusion in de place. People start fuh talk how somebody printing ballot paper and then somebody else talk how dem see people paying money wrap up in jersey and some people giving away de jersey. When dem boys ask how much money, some people seh that was $6,000. That kind of money fuh vote is like tekking $6,000 fuh punish. Dem boy would tek de money and buy a drink and vote how dem want. If was a case of dem having to tek out photo of how dem vote then everybody would ask de people if dem remember wha happen to de man who use to
sponsor football. He ain’t ketch heself yet. Dem boys hear bout people buying ID card but that and all is stupidness. Of course this is de time fuh stupidness. Things get suh stupid that Granger and Moses end up wearing red shirt because red is de Pee Pee Pee colour. When Donald watch dem people marching May Day he tell Sam and Rohee how he got maximum support. He see all dem red shirt and he think was a party rally. Poor Donald get a shock when de same red shirt people tell he that dem not voting fuh he. Talk half and watch more stupidness.
What sort of example is this to the young people of this country? There would have been a time in this country when persons would have been ashamed if they had to urinate in a secluded public place. Look how shameless things have become whereby someone can do something as revolting as this in full view of the public. And for what purpose, other than to demonstrate her opposition to the ruling party. I think it is disgusting to say the least. I think it sets the wrong example and it represents a new low in our country, one that we should all be concerned about. The problem here is that this is not an isolated incident. I have heard stories and even seen incidents of some very lewd behavior in public. I once saw two women having a war of words with each other and one of the women, to the cheers of onlookers, raised up her dress in full view to show everyone concerned what assets she had. It is appalling public behaviour that is happening all over Guyana and for which something needs to be said and done. I have seen in the past persons show their backsides to others as a form of ridicule. I have heard the most colorful
of languages being used in public. But never have I seen something so disgusting as the sight of a woman urinating over a flag in full view of other women, children and men. What a sight! The main opposition party has said that it intends to take the moral high ground in this election campaign. I am not going to blame the opposition for that revolting piece of political theatrics during which a female urinated on a flag. You cannot control all of your supporters. But when they behave in a certain manner, you can disassociate yourself from such conduct and condemn it. I am convinced that the demonstration that evening in Warlock, East Ruimveldt, was orchestrated. This was no spontaneous protest by citizens to the fact that the ruling party was holding a meeting in an area perceived to be a stronghold of the main
opposition party. The whole disruptive exercise seemed planned and I have no doubt that it was. I expect the opposition party to condemn the vulgar display. But in an election season, it may be asking too much of our political parties to condemn their supporters. But I am sure that they will appreciate how indecent and crude it was to see a woman doing what she did in full view of the public. What have we come to in this country? Where are we going when something like this can elicit cheers of approval and support? I dread to think what next. Suppose when that woman was urinating she had an urge to do a number 2. Now who would have been cleaning that up?
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Monday May 04, 2015
=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===
I call on all Guyanese Indians to reject Jagdeo’s evil advocacy Bharrat Jagdeo has thrown out of the window the Code of Conduct for the 2015 election campaign and his dismissal of it is so corruptibly contemptuous that it needs the intervention of the GECOM Head, Steve Surujbally. The GECOM Chairman is never wanting for words and is known for his loud decibels in his defensive arguments. He has hailed the GECOMinvented Code as the Holy Grail for campaigning. Jagdeo has made it into the Surujbally Grail of nonsense and the GECOM boss has a moral obligation to speak out. Ask me if he will and my answer is he will not. Surujbally is going to find all kinds of jejune reasons not to point in Jagdeo’s direction but Jagdeo has crossed the line and is now beyond redemption. After his latest press conference and his speech at
the function of the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) last Friday at the Providence Stadium, the question any academic analyst should ask of Guyana is if Jagdeo hasn’t permanently damaged any prospect for ethnic harmony in this country. If the PPP wins the elections, can non-Indians actually accept the government of the PPP after these demonic tales of racist demagoguery that Guyanese are seeing from Mr. Jagdeo? The independent media, both print and electronic, have found it wise not to report the worst manifestations of fear mongering using the worst race jumbie ever seen in election campaigns in the history of this country by Jagdeo. I assume that they believe that such racist poison should not be aired and I can understand their attitude but one can argue that such
dangers should be explained to the public. I would like to think that academic analysts have a nationalist obligation to contextualize the insane resort to the worst aspects of tribal instincts that have overtaken the PPP election campaign. If older Guyanese found the campaign slogan, “Vote Apaan Jaat” to have created a lasting venom in the body politic of Guyana, then Jagdeo’s deportment in this campaign has reduced the “Apaan Jaat” message to a triviality compared with what we are seeing with Mr. Jagdeo’s performance. After monitoring Mr. Jagdeo’s racist incessancy, I am still in shellshock that this man could have sued me for categorizing him as an ideological racist. In this campaign, Mr. Jagdeo has become obsessed with saturating the PPP bandwagon with the worst rhetoric of racial
advocacy. Surujbally praised GECOM’s invention of the Code and since he is the Chairman of GECOM for the past decade, he was in fact praising himself. Surujbally now has to do the decent thing and make his pronouncement on Jagdeo’s racist distortions that will take Guyana back to very tragic times. Jagdeo said last week that the lone passenger that was shot in a bus in Agricola was going to the police to reveal the connection between the opposition party and the robbery at the Bourda Post Office. Without any pretence of subtle language, Mr. Jagdeo accused the coalition of being the planners of the robbery. This was getting real low. But Jagdeo hit the lowest level (as yet, I repeat, as yet) when he addressed the audience at the IAC’s event to celebrate the
arrival of Indians as indentured servants. It was volcanic race-baiting, murderous fear-mongering and insane racial sermonizing never before seen in election campaigns even in the era of “Apaan Jaat.” Jagdeo like a cowboy ready to invade a Wells Fargo money train told his listeners that the ancestors of Guyanese Indians fought for dignity, achieved it and now it is under threat by the bullyism and old methods of repression of the coalition. Please note; he didn’t say Guyanese but Indians. Pandering to race sentiments, he developed the theme of ethnic superiority by a poor pretence at sociological analysis. He posited that all the races that came to Guyana were equal but Indians stood out because they brought a rich culture and tradition. They brought music and philosophy. One has to be a complete idiot if one fails to see the racial
Frederick Kissoon superiority message in that statement. Next, Jagdeo reminded them that the PNC who attacked Indians in the past has returned under a new guise, meaning the APNU-AFC coalition. He warned them there are forces that are out to take away the freedom of the Indian people and if Indian people allow that their ancestors would never be proud of them. He urged Indians to stand up to these forces who want to make them second-class citizens. I guess Surujbally will find a way out and say that the event was not an election campaign speech so the Code was not broken. The Code has become an ass.
Over half GTU membership ready for industrial action today More than half of the Guyana Teachers Union’s (GTU) members have indicated their willingness to participate in industrial action set to commence today. This is according to GTU President, Mark Lyte, who told this p u b l i c a t i o n yesterday that the work-torule action that has been organised by the Union is certainly not an elections gimmick. The industrial action, which will see teachers doing their assigned task and no more, and possibly even returning h o m e i f t h e i r working environment is not conducive enough, is one intended to retaliate to G o v e r n m e n t ’s nonpayment of debunching monies. The debunching payment is intended to cater to the
salaries of teachers, whereby those with the same status will be paid based on their years of experience. This would, for example, ensure that a senior teacher who was trained 10 years ago will not be placed on the same salary scale as a senior master or mistress that was subsequently trained. According to Lyte, the Union has informed the Ministry of the industrial action by way of letter, and the various schools were given written notification. The GTU President however admitted that some of the teachers within its membership are reluctant to embrace the action since they are not convinced that it will yield the desired impact. He informed that the reluctance of some teachers to participate might be linked to their
- GTU President
GTU President, Mark Lyte ignorance of the form of industrial action. As such, he noted that during the Union’s observance of Labour Day on Friday the teachers in
attendance were sensitised about the work-to-rule. “It is not a waste of time,” Lyte insisted, as he assured that the possibility of intensifying the action has not been ruled out. “We can do a sit-in, or a full-blown strike for about a week but we want to start by alerting the administration (Government) that we will not sit back and be ignored. We are sending a message to them via this action that if they don’t get their acts together, we can take other forms of industrial action,” warned the GTU President. But according to Lyte, “we don’t really want to be calling a full strike action because teachers will lose money...they don’t even have money already and so the
Dax contract is born out of corrupt intentions ... From page 3 necessary support to receive and transmit data by way of the cable after granting the company an operating licence. And for free, Mohamed will be able to use the Government-owned fibre optic cables and structures including, roads, the poles, access to repeater stations and other things. Dax Contracting Services would also be provided with tax exemptions and incentives, including but not lim-
ited to tax holidays, remissions, tax waivers and duty free concessions on equipment, spares, tools and vehicles. The government insists that it will retain possession and use of most of the bandwidth, as agreed to between Dax and the government. As the owner of parts of the cable, Mohamed can invite and sign with any company or entity to use them to transmit and receive data and information from any part of the world in the same way that
today's telephone companies operate. To add insult to injury, the government has agreed to pay Dax for specific emergency maintenance. In exchange for the operating licence, Mohamed will accept the risks involved in accepting and using the operating licence even before the telecommunications legislation is passed. This arrangement will insulate the government from any legal challenge from the monopoly holder of the
landline service, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company. Should the telephone company pursue legal avenues, it would be Mohamed facing the fire. This same contracting service owned by Mohamed, was one of the five contractors hired to lay the cable from Lethem to Georgetown. When a Kaieteur News reporter contacted Mohamed, he told her, “Hey, hey listen. You can go and f**k youself.” He hung up the phone immediately after.
strike might be something that we cannot sustain. Teachers have mortgages to pay and other expenses, and Government knows that we wouldn’t be able to sustain it.” Lyte in explaining the work-to-rule process said that teachers are being asked to pay keen attention to the non-academic norms (working conditions) of their schools. And according to him, if teachers are to work based on the conducive conditions of schools it could be very impacting since most schools across the country do not have conducive measures in place. He noted that with the work-to-rule action, teachers will go to work each day as per norm but can leave after reporting faulty conditions to their Head Teachers. “Once these concerns are not fixed, they can leave early every day,” explained Lyte as he pointed out that the onus is on the Head Teacher to report the teachers’ concerns to the respective Departments of Education. Ly t e i s h o p e f u l t h a t while just over half the U n i o n ’s 7,000-odd membership will participate in the industrial action from today, more will eventually come on board. As such the GTU President is of the belief that the industrial action
could have a significant impact on the education system. The education system i s p r e p a ring to not only conduct the National Grade Two, Four and Nine Assessments but also the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). Lyte at a press conference last week said that the industrial action is likely to continue indefinitely until such time that teachers are afforded the monies owed to them. This is in spite of the fact that the Union has not even been given a guarantee by the Administration that the payment will be forthcoming should the People’s Progressive Party/Civic win the upcoming national elections. The Union, during the latter part of last year, had discussions with A Partnership for National Unity, but according to Lyte, the debunching matter was not an issue that was discussed. A decision to institute the industrial action was one that followed on the heels of a meeting between Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, and Union executives two Wednesdays ago. During that forum, Lyte informed that Dr Luncheon revealed that Government is unable to honour the debunching payment, a promise that was first made 10 years ago.
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President Ramotar says...Guyana has lowest corruption rate in entire Caribbean and most of the world By Desilon Daniels Despite his government being accused almost daily of condoning corruption, President Donald Ramotar has come out and said that not only are the claims against his government mostly untrue but also that Guyana has the lowest corruption rate in the entire Caribbean and among other countries. During Sunday’s broadcast of the radio programme Hard Talk, Ramotar added that his government had been the one to restore accountability in Guyana. In an interview that lasted more than an hour, Ramotar said that although corruption in Guyana is present, the extent of it is inflated. He said that the extent of corruption that exists in Guyana is nothing near to what is being propagandized for political purposes. Pointing to a series of corruption debates held during his tenure, Ramotar said that the Opposition was unable to prove any instance of major corruption. Nonetheless, he said, the opposition continues to “push the line” to gain political mileage. He further said that
- PPP/C restored accountability
President Donald Ramotar reports of corruption are not necessarily based on a great amount of facts. Instead, he said, “a lot of distortion has taken place”. Ramotar opined that in the early days, his administration made a mistake in not immediately responding to accusations of corruption. “We probably thought that they were talking nonsense and people would see through them but in fact it does takes on traction,” Ramotar said. He continued, “But, if you go to real corruption, I suspect that we probably have the lowest corruption rate in the
whole Caribbean and most other countries.” He further said that the question of corruption is linked to the question of accountability. He stated that his government was the one to restore accountability in Guyana and to be transparent. He said that since his government came into power, government books have been audited every year. He said too that Guyana’s Cabinet is the only cabinet in the whole Region and probably the whole Commonwealth that does not award contracts. Instead, he said, they simply give No Objections and allow the awarding of contracts to be done by the National Tender Board. However, when questioned on claims of the bidding process for contracts not being done impartially, Ramotar in turn questioned who made these claims and if there was evidence to back up the accusations. Seemingly irked, he also questioned what better system is there than the bidding system that can be implemented. He said that if
Govt. continues old ways of “no transparency” with Dax contract – Ralph Ramkarran
Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran The Government has come under heavy fire from Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, who described its recent contract with Dax Contracting Services Ltd (Dax) as having “all the hallmarks of criticisms made against the Government in relation to procurement.” That agreement sees Dax being given a 25 year maintenance contract with the option to renew for an additional 15 years. The maintenance contract is for the rehabilitation of the Brazil to Guyana fibre optic cable.
Dax, which is owned by Faisal Mohamed, was also granted millions worth in tax breaks and holidays in exchange for the maintenance of the cable. The Former Speaker aired his criticism on the agreement in a recent post on his blog, The Conversation Tree entitled “Axe the Dax”. The former House Speaker said that this particular cable project has been plagued with controversy, as it was to be part of the E-Governance Project, which had the objective of providing Government agencies with the capacity to develop ICT capabilities. This is despite the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company’s fibre optic cable having the capacity to satisfy all of Guyana’s Telecommunication need. With the implementation of another fibre optic cable, the Government is being accused of undermining GT&T, as they could have purchased the cable from the telephone company which would have proven to be far more cost
effective. “The contract between the Government and Dax Engineering Company Inc. in relation to the E-governance Georgetown to Brazil fibre optic cable, drew loud objections from APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) and the WPA (Working People’s Alliance), both vowing to rescind it,” wrote Ramkarran. The political commentator further highlighted the provisions which were granted to Dax under the Government contract; that being the access Dax has to use the entire fibre optic cable, repeater stations, infrastructure and equipment for 25 years, with an option a 15 renewal. The agreement also includes enormous tax benefits, in return for repairing the cable as well as Dax being given licenses to “transmit and receive data and information”. In his article, Ramkarran explained that while the constitution and other legal avenues do not object to the contract, “entering into Continued on page 25
a better system is recommended to be put in place, his government is ready to go with it. However, he said, “That is the problem in this country; general statements with nothing to back it up and nothing to put in place.” Ramotar ’s claims of Guyana being the least corrupt country in the Caribbean and in most parts of the world is in stark contrast to recent data coming out of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). In 2014, Guyana was ranked the most corrupt nation in the Englishspeaking Caribbean. Out of the 175 countries surveyed by the international body, Guyana ranked 124, with a score of 30, zero being highly corrupt while 100 was very clean. The only other countries in the Region that ranked below Guyana were Haiti and Venezuela. However, despite these glaring reports, Ramotar maintains that corruption in Guyana is only a perception
and not fact. NO SUPER SALARIES HERE Meanwhile, Ramotar also addressed accusations of his Ministers receiving “super salaries” during his interview. He denied these accusations and said that his government has always been “above board”. He said that a total account of all monies and what Ministers earn is submitted to the Integrity Commission. “For me, I do it myself and my Ministers do that and therefore I do not think, I know that they do not get super salaries,” Ramotar emphasized. In fact, he said, his Ministers probably deserve more than what they get “because they work 24 hours a day yet they do not get super salaries.” He further said that the gap between the rich and the poor has been closing over time. Speaking on the huge homes and expensive rides owned by many of his Ministers, Ramotar said that
more ordinary, working people have their own homes now than ever before. He said too that, in regard to his Ministers’ homes, the most important question is how they got them. He added that their lavish lifestyles can be explained. “Logically, they can show how [they got it] and that is why they submit all of these things to the Integrity Commission; they can all show how they have been able to possess what they have.” Meanwhile, Ramotar also spoke on the issue of Ministers and government officials using millions of taxpayers’ dollars to conduct medical procedures such as dental work. Speaking specifically on two Ministers, who used funds to fix their teeth, Ramotar said that these Ministers were not being looked at closely. “I don’t want to sit here and justify that, but I will say that that will never happen again; we are putting other systems in place to prevent such things from ever happening again,” Ramotar said.
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 04, 2015
Ram to take NICIL, NIS to court over BBCI shares A t t o r n e y - a t - L a w, Christopher Ram has signaled his intention to move to the courts over the $950M worth of preferential shares in the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI) that was dumped by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) over to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). Initially, Ram had chosen to tread along a different route and had written to Chairman of the NIS Board, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who is also a NICIL Director, seeking information on the transfer of shares. He did so as he expressed fear of “irreparable financial damage,” to NIS. Ram on behalf of three pensioners, on April 22, wrote to Dr. Luncheon requesting detailed information on almost $1B in preference shares in BBCI for which NIS is receiving no dividends. When Ram wrote Dr. Luncheon, he had requested a response within seven days which would have ended on April 29. However, since Dr. Luncheon refused to respond, the lawyer decided to move straight to the courts. He made this known during a telephone interview yesterday. Ram, who is also a Chartered Accountant, said that he was seeking relevant information in the interest of his clients, the pensioners.
NIS acquired preference shares in BBCI at a face value of $950M since 2013 but never received any dividends because the company claimed that it made no profits. NIS had bought those shares from NICIL. Ram said that his clients are concerned about the decision to make investments since Dr. Luncheon would have been aware that NICIL, the previous owner of the shares had to forego the dividends. His clients are also concerned that no independent valuation was done before a decision was taken on acquisition of the shares. Also, Ram’s clients are concerned that as Chairman of NIS board, Dr. Luncheon appears to have been in a position of conflict of interest since he is also a Director of NICIL, the seller of the shares. Ram wrote Dr. Luncheon requesting the date of acquisition, the price paid for the shares and whether it is cum dividends or ex dividends. He also wanted a copy of the valuation report based upon which the decision was made to buy shares and evidence that the Directors, in making the decision, took account of the potential or actual loss of approximately $5.5B which the scheme incurred but is still on its books in relation to the investment in CLICO. The lawyer also sought
NICIL Director and NIS Chairman, Dr. Roger Luncheon extracts of the minutes from both the NIS and NICIL confirming that Dr. Luncheon excluded himself from participation in the relevant meetings of the two companies on the issue. Ram also indicated that another client has joined the other three pensioners. While he did not reveal the name, the lawyer said that his new client is a Trade Union. NIS remains in deep trouble following its investment in two companies that proved to be financially disastrous. NIS invested an accumulated $6.5B in the Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) and the BBCI ($5.5B in CLICO and the remainder in BBCI). Experts have said that the absence of proper
Attorney at Law, Christopher Ram management on government’s part is what landed NIS in its current financial dilemma. The negative effects of Guyana’s handling of the collapse of the CLICO and its subsequent impact on the NIS
are continuing to be felt some six years later. With CLICO Bahamas in winding-up proceedings, it is still unclear whether Guyana will ever get back that money. Government has remained largely silent on this investment with criticism still lingering over the manner in which the money was invested in the first place. But the same Party that has been in government while NIS made these two bad investments has failed to outline a turnaround plan. The incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/ C) released its Manifesto with no action plan on how it is going to return NIS to financial stability if re-elected. When asked at PPP’s last press conference why nothing is in its Manifesto with regards to how government will revive NIS,
PPP/C General Secretary, Clement Rohee gave all assurance that “something has to be in there (the manifesto) about NIS, I am sure.” However, checks and double checks proved otherwise. In an invited comment last week, Ram told Kaieteur News that he is not surprised that PPP failed to make such provisions in the manifesto. He said that he is convinced that the incumbent has “no clue” what to do. “NIS was already in a bad situation after CLICO then they (government) went and made it worse with the investment in the Berbice Bridge.” Ram said that it seems as if the government just prefers to ignore the dilemma of the Scheme, “but they will not be allowed to ignore it, they will not be allowed to do so at all.”
APNU+AFC’s manifesto undermines rule of law - Attorney General ...places private property under siege After conducting what he termed as a “peripheral” examination of the opposition’s recently launched manifesto, Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall summed it up to be an instrument that undermines the rule of law and places private property under siege. He referred to a part of the APNU+AFC manifesto which says that the rights to personal property will be protected where the asset has been fairly acquired. Nandlall posited that with such a suggestion, the seeds are being sown for the expropriation of private property, if in the opinion of the partnership it has not been “fairly acquired”. “This is a threat to personal property everywhere. It is indeed, a proposition that makes every statement in that manifesto about the rule of law and about the bill of rights, ring hollow. By this statement, the Coalition is saying to the Guyanese people that they will determine, whether persons acquired their property “fairly” and if in the opinion of the Coalition, the property was not “fairly acquired” then it is liable to be seized,” The AG explained. He said that this is “constitutional anarchy” being prescribed. Nandlall stated that every single Guyanese should take cognisance of this. Also of crucial importance, Nandlall said, is that in the APNU+AFC’s manifesto, there is no reference to the rule of law or the constitutional right of the
Attorney General Anil Nandlall citizenry to be protected against “compulsory acquisition of their property by the State.” He added, “This authoritarian assault on the constitutionally enshrined right to own property must be carefully noted by the electorate. At a minimum, the coalition has been decent enough to forewarn the population that private property will no longer be safe.” Nandlall then spoke to the APNU+AFC’s plans to establish a Constitutional Reform Committee. The attorney-at-law said that it should be noted that such a committee already exists with Opposition Leader, David Granger serving as its Chairman for the last three years. The AG said that it is important for the nation to note that the committee met not more than three times in those three years under Granger’s chairmanship.
Even more puzzling to Nandlall, is the APNU+AFC’s proposals for Constitutional Reform. He said that he finds the suggestions under this heading to be absolutely bizarre. To support his position, he mentioned the opposition’s plans for appeals from the High Court to go directly to the Caribbean Court of Justice in certain constitutional matters, thereby bypassing the Guyana Court of Appeal. “No explanation, whatsoever, is offered for this most weird procedure. What sinister motive do they have for ostracizing an important link in the hierarchical chain of our Judiciary? Why this vote of no confidence against our Guyana Court of Appeal? ...Now, the nation witnesses another proposal to emasculate this most vital cog in our judicial wheel...The rule of law is being undermined,” Nandlall argued. He also spoke to the fact that the coalition is proposing that it will reduce the immunities of the President. Nandlall contended that this was already done in 2001 through the Constitutional Reform process. He claimed that today, it is no different from any other Head of State in the civilised world and challenges anyone to prove him wrong. “What is the rationale for reducing Presidential powers but adding three “Vice Presidents” to the Cabinet in the same government?” questioned the lawyer. Nandlall also criticised the opposition’s promises to (continued on page 24)
Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 21
AT PLAY IN THE FIELD OF THE LORDKensington Oval, Saturday April 24, 1993 The third Test between England and the West Indies started May 1, at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Twenty-two years ago, the second Test match between the West Indies and Pakistan went into its second day on April 24, 1993. I had started a consultancy with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) in November 1992 and this was my opportunity to see my first cricket match at Kensington Oval, Barbados. It was memorable and altogether new and strange. This is what I wrote at the time. Every human activity has its hallowed halls, its sacred and sacrosanct sites and sanctuaries. Baseball has its Field of Dreams. English soccer has Wembley and English Cricket has Lord’s. The Moslems have Mecca and the Jews, Jerusalem. West Indies cricket has Kensington Oval. It is Zion, Parnassus and Olympus. It is our Camelot, capitol and citadel, our base and bastion.
I had long dreamt of the day when I would sit in the stands of Kensington hearing the “Hoi! Hoi!” of the hoi-polloi, their “Cor Blimeys” and the agonized “Jeeez-U” of puzzlement and exasperation. So here I am on Saturday, second day of the second Test. I have successfully survived the bottleneck that is the entrance and the gauntlet that is the narrow, hazardous walkway between the bar and its patrons. I am grateful to the blazing early morning sun for the empty front row on the far right of the Kensington Stand and I plunk down my bag and feast my eyes as hungrily as Alan Quartermain sighting the treasures of Solomon, or Indiana Jones an Incan ingot. Kensington is not as picturesque as the Queen’s Park Oval or as old as historic Bourda. Its beauty, however, is far beyond the bare facade of stands, scoreboards and superficialities, and rests in the fact that it is the spiritual home of West Indies cricket, a pitch “true” in every sense
of the word, where the ball comes on to the bat, and where there is pace and bounce. Here we have no unfair advantage, no pitch doctored for us. This is all we ask of life and the game- a level playing field where everyone is equal, but where we are more equal than everyone else. I look over at the “Three W’s” Stand and see the advertising slogan of a “classic” soft-drink,” Can’t beat the feeling!” I smile delightedly at the aptness of it all and bask in the sight of the team doing their warm-up lap around the ground. We stand up and cheer as they pass our little corner of the ground and the applause greets and follows them around the ground in waves of warmth. I notice the Pickwick Pavilion and think that one must have the very Dickens of a time to get in there. Next to it is the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion. I marvel at the fact that two buildings now literally joined together in
Police Constable accidentally shot by colleague A young Police Constable was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday after a round from his colleague’s gun accidentally struck him in his left shoulder. Nathaniel Giddings, 22 of Lover’s Lane, Mc Kenzie, Linden received his injury when the gun of a Police Corporal accidentally went off. The incident occurred at the Mc Kenzie Sports Complex, Linden around 05:45hrs and at the time the Corporal was engaged in a scuffle with two men, who had allegedly robbed persons. According to Giddings, a member of the Tactical Service Unit, stationed at Eve Leary, Georgetown, he went to the sports complex with his two cousins to be part of the Linden Town Week activities. He recalled that he had just entered the ground when he saw the Police Corporal trying to arrest the men. He stated that the men resisted the officer’s arrest and a scuffle ensued between them. Giddings pointed out that he informed the Corporal that he was a policeman and tried to offer assistance to him when the gun went off. He said that after he was shot, “I fall to the ground and the police told me to get up and walk to the station”. While on his way to the
Nathaniel Giddings sitting outside the hospital yesterday station he fell to the ground and was left there for about two minutes, while the officer took the two robbery suspects to the station. Giddings, who was in a semi-conscious state was then picked up by his cousins and taken to the station. He was subsequently transported to the city in a police vehicle. However, he has since been discharged from the hospital with minor injuries. Police in a press release issued yesterday stated that
their investigations have disclosed that two police ranks, one of whom was armed with a s e r v i c e r e v o l v e r, w e r e m a k i n g efforts to arrest two suspects in a larceny from the person matter during which a round was accidentally discharged t h a t s t r u c k C o n s t a ble Nathaniel Giddings who was in the vicinity at the time. The two robbery suspects are in police custody assisting with the investigation.
space represent such a gap in time and circumstance. We have crossed the great divide from colonialism to independence and have done it without bloodshed. The civilizing influences of cricket and Sir Frank Worrell made the journey from Pickwick to Sobers much easier. It is still not over and today’s “Test” is fittingly named and exactly thatanother episode in the continuing rites of passage of the Caribbean people. Already the signs are up. In front of the 3Ws stand is a banner borne by some Trini fans commenting on what they consider the Pakistani equivalent of Weekes, Worrell and Walcott- Wasim, Waqar and Weed. (Waqar was supposedly caught smoking weed on the Gran Anse beach in Grenada. The Independent reported, “Akram, Waqar, Aqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed, along with two female tourists and a local man, were arrested on the beach at the team’s hotel on Thursday night. They were charged with ‘being in possession of a controlled drug’. Police said tests would determine the drug, but it was thought to be marijuana). I have found myself near two Pakistani fans and a Dominican taxi-driver from Roseau. The Pakistanis are glumly despondent, their
green hats bilious at the batting and battering still to come. The Dominican laughs when I tell him about the peanut vendor in the Queen’s Park Oval who was selling Ambrose nuts- “long-grain.” We start talking politics and he is not amused when I tell him that Paul Keens-Douglas says that “O.E.C.S” stands for “Only Eugenia Charles Speaks.” He denies it. “Listen to me,” he says. It is almost time to start and some doves pace the ground anxiously watching for “Dicky” Bird. Five little brown seed-birds skitteringly imitate him. Bird and Barker come out and the crowd applauds. The lady behind me asks her male companion “Which one is Cummings?” The first ball is bowled and I am far from the madding crowd, lost in the game, hoping for Hooper, wishing him well. He is the old West Indies, enormous talent with a fatal flaw, one beyond diagnosis and discovery. He glows briefly and then is out. Murray comes in and lights up the ground until he is a victim of his own temerityanother of our failings. This team is us and ours, most of the time a mirror reflecting our strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes a glorious lantern, illuminating the way
forward, piercing the gloomy darkness of dependency and division. A very brief shower and the umpires race in panic for the pavilion. The sun shines brightly but the covers are still on. The doves coo their concern and look enquiringly around. The little brown seed birds hop and twitter and kick at the grass in disgust. A little cricket. Another shower. Dicky Bird sprints for the pavilion. Barker has mysteriously got there before him. The sun comes out but not the umpires. The doves are furious and pace angrily up and down. Two blackbirds arrive, having been assured that it is the Pakistanis playing here today and not the South Africans. “Which one is Cummings?” one asks the other as the umpires make a very belated return. The brown seed-birds want to change their surname. (To be continued next week). *Tony Deyal was last seen saying that in 2001 six members of the South African team and the team’s physio were caught smoking marijuana in their Antigua hotel room. According to the police they were higher than the penthouse in the hotel in which they were staying.
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Kaieteur News
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For Doctoring: Stroke, Fits, ERD problems & cleaning faces – Tel:2310774; Cell: 671-9450 “Bush Doc” Continued on page 23
Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 23
Letters... Where your views make the news
BLACK TEA, MILK TEA, NO TEA DEAR EDITOR, It has not become fashionable for some on the campaign trail to express their new found prosperity by likening it to drinking milk tea. In our local culture when one’s tea has milk one is said to be doing well; black tea means, in our colloquial, that one is living in poverty and below standard.Milk is good. But drinking milk tea does not build an economy; patriotism does. I have decided to examine this talk about the kinds of teas we drink in the context of our political history. Those who speak about black tea refer to the days when certain items including milk were restricted. But those days must be taken in a particular global and local context. It was in 1970s, during the oil crisis when all non-oil producing countries suffered from massive economic shocks. Guyana, like many other countries, was very vulnerable to those shocks. Our main foreign exchange earners- sugar and bauxitewere degraded; foreign exchange was a major challenge. Therefore, the leaders were forced to take certain measures to prevent further chaos in our wider society. Prior to the oil crisis Guyana could get about one barrel of oil for four tonnes of sugar. During the crisis it took about thirty tonnes of sugar to equivalent one barrel of oil.This situation was exacerbated by internal political and industrial relations problems, particularly in the sugar belt. At that point, the then President of Guyana, the late Forbes Burnham adumbrated the philosophy of: feed, clothe and house the nation. The policy of self- reliance was principally relevant then as it is today. Today, all the
leaders of the world are calling upon their people to grow more food to ensure food security and to prevent the spread of hunger in local communities. So instead of importing apples, grapes and raisins, Guyanese were encouraged to grow more and eat more local fruits, instead of importing salted fish, Guyanese were encouraged to process local fish; instead of wheaten flour, rice flour was processed. Incidentally, the value of rice flour is being promoted in our local rice industry because markets are becoming a challenge. However, the idea was to produce indigenous flour and simultaneously diversify that industry. Then we had factories: clay brick, bottle- making, fridge, and stove GRL, Tapir vans were assembled here in Guyana.We made components for radiosGreco, built ships, made bicycles and had a glass factory. All of that was buttressed by a robust education system; education was free. These, of course, mirrored other sectors of the economy because Guyana just did not have the foreign exchange to import those things in the usual quantities; they were restricted. Milk was restricted but a local dairy farm was established at Moblissa to produce fresh milk. Also, in those days we pasteurized local milk in Kingston. So milk was produced but people had become accustomed to importing things and thought that local foods were inferior to the foreign stuff; not so. What we are not hearing is how many local industries were established, how many local farmers grew and sold more produce and a report on
the general public health of the nation in those days. What were the statistics of infant mortality, and suicides then as compared to this period of milk drinking? Then in 1985, the late President Desmond Hoyte reversed many of decisions taken by President Burnham. He lifted the restrictions on many foods and open up the economy for additional investment. He was a shrewd and wise leader. He introduced the Economic Recovery Programme. He facilitated and encouraged foreign investors; he opened up the economy. Today, we have an open door economy. We have many foreign investors. There are no restrictions on foods and other things. Many are “drinking milk”. But we are faced with the challenge of advancing our local industries- rice, sugar and other local crops because we are unnecessarily importing things we can very well do without and markets are very difficult to obtain. Imagine, with the abundance supplies of nutritious fruits and vegetables, we are importing icicles, and fried banana and plantain chips. When certain fruits are in seasonpineapples, mangoes, ginips- supplies are so great that many are left to rot in dumps around market places. Imagine in Guyana, the land of many waters, we are importing bottled- water, in PET bottles; we should be exporting high quality water to countries in the Caribbean and around the world.It is a resource that is likely to cause war, if we do not reverse the negative trends of global warming and climate change. With our vast array of
Aksharananda writes a second... From page 5 African middle classes, the African rural peasantry and sections of the urban African proletariat particularly the army. The era of WPA activities and the WPA weakening of the Burnham regime is a permanent mountain standing between the Indian supremacist propaganda of Ravi Dev and Aksharananda. It vitiates every day the efforts of people like Dev and rabid Indian racists in the diaspora to see Guyanese history as a permanent embrace of Africans for the PNC and Indians for the PPP. My feeling after witnessing 24 meetings of the coalition’s 2015 campaign is that Indians are begriming to wake up. Fifthly, Aksharananda is bordering on wickedness and maliciousness to equate criticism of Indian support for the PPP with Indians having pride in their culture. The two are not related in any conceivable way. The two great examples are Yesu Persaud and Eusi Kwayana. Yesu Persaud is a brilliant devotee of Hindu culture and as a Hindu has created Indian institutions in Guyana. But he is not a PPP supporter and is a formidable critic of PPP authoritarianism. Eusi Kwayana is a staunch advocate of
African culture in Guyana but he has been a tireless activist against the PNC government which was an African dominated administration. The point is you can be a fanatical devotee of ethnic culture but it should not blind you to the destruction of your country by people who belong to your ethnic culture. Apparently it has done so to Aksharananda The open, barefaced message to Indians that because they voted for the PPP, their critics want to deny them their right to the practice of their tradition, culture and religion and be proud of being Hindu and Indian is the only weapon people like Dev, Aksharananda and the PPP have of retaining the Indian vote, that is why after long years of silence since the death of ROAR, Aksharananda has finally shown his true colour It will not work. Young Indians are disgusted with an Indian party with corrupt leaders who have demolished their country. They are going to into that ballot station and vote against the PPP then go into their temples and mosques and pray. People like Aksharananda and Bharrat Jagdeo belong to the distant past Frederick Kissoon
local woods and other materials we are still importing building and construction materials for housing and other construction works. We have not been able to diversify our sugar and rice industries. Where are the cottage industries? After fifty years of independence, we do not have even one cannery in any part of Guyana. Where are the factories? In a land so extremely rich in natural and human resources why do we have to import almost everything? I have noticed that, the kinds of jobs that are available are the ones that deal with telemarketing and other work that do not cater to professional development of our young people. But we are basically a primary economy with a large agricultural base. We are in mining of gold, diamonds and other precious minerals. Where are the education and training institutions to develop our youths in this vital area of our economy; where are the geologists, the agronomists, the geotechnical and allied professionals to advance this sector in an environmentally friendly way? Where are the gold and other jewel refineries? Where are the real jobs; the ones that can really develop Guyana in a sustainable way? It is clear that the lack of viable local industries is facilitating unemployment and underemployment in
many regions. In regions 10, 9, 6, 2, 3 jobs are really hard to come by. As a result, many are not drinking any tea, let alone tea with milk. This is resulting in many other problems in our society. For example, criminal activities appear to be occurring with greater frequency, in many parts. Many of our women are forced to become security guards. Many of them are single parents, who must leave their children on their own, unattended, at nights to put food on the table and to send them to school. This affects early childhood development and spiral into other very serious problems, which affect our entire society, including deviant behaviours. So while many could afford to stand and unflatteringly shout out loud to their audiences: “I am now drinking milk” others are forced by very unfortunate circumstances to be contented with no tea; how sad. If drinking milk means a broken economy, cultural degradation, social ills, unemployment, crimes and acute inequality then we, as a nation, need to review that perspective. Drinking milk must not only benefit special selected individuals it must benefit the entire nation. In Guyana, everyone is entitled to drink milk but only some have access to the milk can. I drink “bush” tea without milk. Royston King
The heckling and booing... From page 5 the Guyanese economy. For the first time in the history of post independent Guyana, Guyanese can truly say that there is a growing sense, based on indisputable evidence and not orchestrated political propaganda that the government does not care about them. All Guyanese deserve to be led by a government that recognises that post-election must be a period of healing, of moving forward, building bridges and governing in the interest of all, and resist the temptation of serving only supporters. The moneys to run a country come not only from the elected government supporters but also from those who did not support them as their choice for leadership. Societies are best served by leaders who recognise the importance of forging a nation and united people for national development. Lincoln Lewis
This cruel Government...
From page 4 by funding from Food for the Poor. Similarly, they campaign on facilities which have been placed in Communities by the Red Cross. Why are they so scared of the people hearing the truth and making decisions for themselves? If their track record was so good, there would be no need to put villagers on lock down. If they had appointed a Trained Teacher for the school in Barima/Koriabo and set up a Nursery Section in the Primary School at Imbotero among other little fixes, people would have recognised that the PPP Government ‘cares’ about them. The PPP is banking on the Amerindians because among many others, the sugar workers shunned them at the May Day Rally. Most of the Amerindians are standing up to them, but they manage to keep some in political bondage. Pharoah,Pharoah, Let My People GO! Confident Amerindian
(From page 22)
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 04, 2015
Freedom of the press is a form of liberty that must be pervasive throughout society - US Chargé d’Affaires Charge‘d’ Affaires of the United States Embassy in Georgetown, Bryan Hunt has noted that World Press Freedom Day in Guyana has special meaning in 2015, even as the country approaches General Elections. In a statement issued over the weekend, the Chargé d’Affaires said that given the upcoming elections, it is critically important for the press to provide fair and balanced coverage to educate and inform Guyanese citizens about the issues and the positions of the contesting parties. According to the Embassy official, “the media is often called the fourth branch of government (or the “fourth estate”). That’s because it monitors the political process in order to ensure that political players don’t abuse the democratic process.” Highlighting the fact that
journalists are being silenced around the world, Hunt said “freedom of the press is a form of liberty that must be pervasive throughout society, and it is incumbent upon members of the press corps to be responsible when exercising this freedom.” “In too many places, they are imprisoned, attacked, intimidated, disappeared, exiled or murdered for trying to report the news or exercise their freedom of expression.” As such, he noted that the responsibility of the press is daunting. “Editors and television executives must weigh the public’s right to know against the potential for inciting civil unrest by publishing or televising inflammatory news stories. This is responsible journalism.” Speaking more specifically about the elections, Hunt pointed to the fact that in less
US Charge‘d’ Affaires Bryan Hunt than two weeks, Guyanese voters will go to the polls to determine the political organization that they believe is best suited to govern their nation over the next several years. What must hold firm before and after the elections, regardless of the result, the Charge‘d’ Affaires said, is a
Monday May 04th, 2015 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): You may believe that gathering more information is a smart idea today, but additional data won’t help you make a better decision. Usually, compiling more facts enables you to easily choose an effective course of action. TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20): Your career objectives may have been clear in your own mind, but that was before you set your plan into motion. Now it might appear that you’ve made the situation worse. GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Challenging circumstances might prevent you from being clear about your direction today, making you feel as if you just want to retreat. Unfortunately, this is not a great time to give up on your dreams. CANCER (Jun. 21–July 22): You may not understand why everything isn’t going your way today, but you might be jumping to the wrong conclusions. Whatever seems to be problematic now can actually work out for the best later on. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22): You could feel as if you’re fighting an inner battle now, yet it may play out in a current relationship. Don’t withdraw; facing a difficult issue with a close friend or partner is the best way to conquer your fears. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): You may be bored at work today, but still need to fulfill your obligations. Instead of doing your job the same old way, it might help to take a new approach.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): Even if you are receiving encouragement everywhere you turn today, you still might not believe the good news you are hearing. It’s difficult to trust the optimism of others. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): You might not get everything you want today, yet there are still plenty of opportunities to make the best of current circumstances. Part of your problem may be your inflated hopes, leading you to expect things to fall magically into place. SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): You don’t like to place all your eggs in one basket. However, you may be so focused on specific tasks that certain aspects won’t likely work out as expected. CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19): Everything seems to be blown out of proportion today, so it’s challenging to find the right pace and stick to it. Even the littlest problem could become an insurmountable obstacle. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20– Feb.18): Sometimes you can appear disconnected from reality, but others usually don’t know how far out your thoughts actually are. Now, as the Moon moves through your sign, you can surprise everyone with your uncanny brilliance. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): If you are justly accused o f a w r ongdoing today, quickly admit your guilt and ask for forgiveness. Don’t make excuses or slip into denial.
determination and an unwavering commitment by the press to accurate, fair, and equitable coverage of all leaders and parties contesting the polls. “Print, radio, television, online news sources and all forms of press must rededicate themselves to ensure the stories they write or air on radio or television are based on facts and that they provide equitable coverage to all sides’ points of view. Public trust is difficult to earn, but when it is gone it is even more difficult to win back,” the US official warned. As he pointed to reports of the Media Monitoring Unit, (MMU), the US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires noted that there is room for improvement. Almost all major reporting organizations were cited for their lack of judgment and failure to remain objective, but there were examples of outstanding journalism and those can be multiplied in the future. The Charge‘d’ Affaires further stated that reporting is a difficult job with untold pressure to quickly conduct thorough and accurate research and to produce high quality writing while meeting very tight deadlines. “Salaries are often barely enough to make ends meet and the sacrifices made in terms of work-family balance (continued on page 25)
Nagamootoo promises 'Day of ... From page 19 candidate's call for peace comes at a time when the PPP/ C is claiming disrespect from APNU+AFC supporters. The former had accused the coalition of carrying out planned attacks during public meetings. The latest of these accusations came after a PPP/C public meeting in Warlock, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown on Wednesday evening, when persons threw rocks and bottles at the speakers, including Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon. On the other hand there have been counter-accusations hurled at the PPP/C for acts of intimidation and abuse as well as the hanging of effigies of APNU+AFC Prime Ministerial and Presidential Candidates. A d d i t i o n a l l y, Nagamootoo, who grew up at Whim, Corentyne, Berbice reminded Berbicians of the neglect they received under the current administration and said that Guyana deserves a government that will cater to all. He said it was time for change and spoke highly of the party's recently unveiled Manifesto as he lashed out at former President Bharrat Jagdeo for his criticisms of the
document. He asked Berbicians whether they support a 20 percent wage increase for police ranks along with 10 percent increases for teachers, nurses and other public servants, were wastes of time. The crowd cheered loudly in agreement with Nagamootoo, making their demand also for the toll at the Berbice River Bridge to be reduced by half. Nagamootoo took to task the health care system which has resulted in women delivering babies in hospitals where they have no confidence. He expressed concern too of the instances where women are sleeping "two and three in a bed" while the current leaders are living it up at
a five star hotel. He urged Berbicians to vote to restore trust in public hospitals. Just recently the New Amsterdam Public Hospital became the centre of a protest action orchestrated by the relatives of patients who complained that a patient died after being starved at the institution. Nagamootoo promised betterment for Berbicians and highlighted his party's intention to set up the Public Procurement Commission which will supervise and scrutinise every project so that no one can take 10 or 15 percent; ensure integrity laws and set up a tribunal to investigate officials of the governing party and the questionable wealth that they have attained.
APNU+AFC’s manifesto undermines rule of law ... From page 12 address the delays in confirming the appointment of members of the Judiciary and rationalize the position of the Chief Justice and the Chancellor of the Judiciary. He found this to be more than comical “since the entire country knows that it is the Leader of the Opposition who
has steadfastly refused to agree for the confirmation of the current office holders of these two positions as is required by the Constitution.” The Attorney General expressed that what the APNU+AFC is doing, is seeking to solve problems which they themselves have created.
Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
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Policies alone cannot improve the Thriving countries worldwide education system - Educator are run by coalition governments - local NGO Paulette Ragobeer, an educator concerned about the teaching/ learning process.
There is no denying that the education system has some very good policies in place. But according to Educator of many years, Ms. Paulette Ragobeer, having good policies in place alone will not change the way people operate. Ragobeer made this point as she outlined that “it is the heart of a teacher that reaches the students. So we can have big buildings, we can have all the furniture in place, we can have overhead projectors, we can have all of the hardware but if the heart of the teacher is not engaged in what he/she has to do then the students will be short-changed.” Moreover, Ragobeer, who has taught at a number of local schools and currently lectures at the University of Guyana, observed that the teaching/learning process is dynamic. In fact, she shared her opinion that a teacher is no longer viewed as “the ‘sage on the stage’ where we are the fount of all knowledge, but more and more our role is that of a facilitator.” And according to her too, “it is amazing how much you can learn from students once you create the right environment.” In commenting on the state of the local education system, she pointed out that many good teachers are today migrating for one reason or another. Primary among this might very well be a wanting remuneration package. “Nobody wants to be struggling for many years on end without seeing light at the end of the tunnel. There must be hope and if hope does not arise in their hearts in Guyana then they go where they can embrace that hope and see what they are working for, or see that they are working towards progress,” asserted Ragobeer.
NEED FOR INCENTIVE But according to her, if deliberate efforts are made to retain teachers by offering them incentives that are reasonable and that are more than just a drop in the ocean, “then I think a lot of teachers would opt to remain in their homeland.” Speaking from an informed standpoint, Ragobeer, who has taught at schools overseas, said “it is not easy to be living in another person’s country where you are considered a second or third class citizen. If they (teachers) can be given those incentives and there can be hope. If you say to teachers do this and then there will be this reward, they will stay and work.” In fact, she is convinced that if the education system embraces the reward tactic, teachers will not only be happy to stay but they are more likely to take on the challenges here rather than travel abroad to take on challenges that are in another country. PARENTAL SUPPORT But according to the Educator, while the administrators of the education system have a role to play in helping teachers with the delivery of education, parents and/or guardians also have a crucial responsibility in this regard as well. As a parent herself, Ragobeer said that this has always been a keen focus she has embraced. She pointed out that she has always had educational goals in place for her children but noted that she has been accused of doing this mainly because she is a teacher. “Maybe this is so but I can still say that if parents can see down the road; if you can be the visionary for your child...now you are older than they are, you have passed this way before, you know if they go this way what can
possibly be the result; if they go that way this could be the result.” As such she remarked that parents/guardians should be the one to help to guide their children in the schooling process. “There are too many parents relinquishing that responsibility and they are putting it all at the doorstep of the teachers,” said a concerned Ragobeer. She went on to point out that it is imperative that parents remember that their children live with them and not with their teachers. “We can teach them and we can try to impact their lives; we can influence them for the time that they are with us but then they leave and they go home. When they go home what are the parents doing? There are too many parents who are just leaving the children to just watch television, text or be on Facebook,” said Ragobeer as she pointed out that while she is not opposed to technological advances, these have time and place. “Many of the children today don’t know where the off button is for the television...so they sit there and the hours just roll by but those are hours that they should be devoting to their school work,” she firmly insisted. It is therefore the parents/ guardians’ role, she noted, to help ensure that children have things in proper perspective. She however noted that the onus is also on students to ensure that they remain focused if they hope to achieve the desired results. According to Ragobeer, “If you are hoping to become a doctor, teacher, lawyer, politician or engineer, then you are going to have to put some amount of muscle into your preparation; it’s not just going to happen by osmosis!”
As the date for General and Regional elections draws near, non-governmental organizations are openly throwing support behind the political forces that seem to be best for Guyana. One such organization is one calling itself A New Guyana. The organization is independent and is supporting the APNU+AFC coalition in the 2015 General Elections. It recently placed a prominent advertisement in Guyana’s leading newspaper, the Kaieteur News. It reflected a call on all Guyanese not to let “the past chains shackle us from realizing our full potential as a nation.” In the advertisement, the organization pointed out that many first world countries are being effectively run by coalition governments and noted that many other countries are looking into such form of governance. A New Guyana noted that
the Indian government run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a coalition government and so is the British government of Prime Minister David Cameron. The advertisement continued, “The German government with Chancellor Angela Markel is a coalition government. The Canadian government ran by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as well as that of Japan ran by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, were all coalition. Bringing it closer to home, A New Guyana pointed out that the Trinidad and Tobago government, being run by Prime Minister Kamla Persaud Bissesar, is a coalition government. Joey Jagan, the son of the late President Cheddi Jagan, who is often referred to as the father of the nation, was quoted in the advertisement saying that his father was a believer of coalition politics. He stated that the Civic
component of the People’s Progressive Party is a living testament to such belief. Sections of society have expressed confidence in the coalition based on the fact that if any of the parties forming the coalition acts in violation of the constitution, the will of the masses, morals or the law, the other parties are there to sanction. The Alliance for Change (AFC) had told its supporters that it will not allow the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to do as it likes and APNU made a similar commitment in the reverse. On February 14, the two political bodies joined forces in a bid to take over the reigns of government in Guyana. The union is steered by an agreement named the Cummingsburg Accord. This document stipulates the rights and expectation of both the AFC and APNU. The document has been so drafted that no party has dominating powers.
Freedom of the press is a form... From page 24 are significant. Access to government and non-government officials can also be challenging, and the dangers associated with investigating sensitive matters are well documented.” Alluding to the words of President Obama “that investigative journalism, explanatory journalism, journalism that exposes corruption and justice gives voice to the different and the marginalized, the voiceless — that’s power. It’s a privilege,” the Embassy official noted that the theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day, “Let Journalism Thrive! Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality, & Media Safety in the Digital Age,” should be embraced. ”Each year many journalists make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty to cover
the story, get the human angle to a crime, or cover a war embedded within a military unit. And women are often subject to harassment by the subjects they interview. To make matters worse, they are often paid less than men performing the same function. To the credit of all those in the press corps who treat their work as more than a job, but as public service, we applaud your contribution to building a thriving democracy.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the right of every person “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” “We must continue working together to ensure that right is enjoyed by all citizens in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, and by our brothers and sisters throughout the world.” the Embassy official said.
Govt. continues old ways of “no... From page 11 important contractual obligations or arrangements by the Government after the announcement of elections is prohibited by convention.” To this end, Ramkarran posited that the Government is unbothered by the principles of transparent governance, as the recent timing of the agreement with Dax is testament of that. Moreover, the former politician outlined three issues that arise from Government’s most recent procurement. The first of which being the timing of the contract so close to elections with the second being that the terms appear to have already been negotiated and is a “complete giveaway”. The latter he said is contrary to Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon’s indication that negotiations were still necessary to determine the number of “pairs” in the cable that Dax would eventually receive. The third of these issues, according to Ramkarran, is the failure of the Government to transparently advertise bids for the project. According to the former PPP member, such issues present a clear vindication of those who were initially against the project
due to the suspicion that it was being set up in competition to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) to benefit cronies. However, Ramkarran said that the Government may claim that circumstances necessitated the privatisation of the project, but stressed that this move will result in a “destructive competitive environment”, with respect to a product which will be in oversupply as a result of Government action. “It will result in an undermining of market forces and loss of confidence by the business community in the Government’s bonafides with respect to creating fair conditions for creative competition to flourish,” wrote Ramkarran. In concluding his article, Ramkarran stated that the awarding of a contract more suitable for competitive bidding and has implications for an entire industry, continues the Government’s “old ways” of “no transparency”. This, he said, is despite the PPP/C’s promise to deal with corruption. “The other companies which have been granted permission to lay fibre optic cables have also been undermined by this act,” concluded the former speaker. !
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 04, 2015
With nobody set for majority, Russia signs up to $100 bn Britain braces for hung parliament BRICS fund to rival IMF Moscow (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified an accord Saturday to set up a $100billion reserve fund for the so-called BRICS — the five leading emerging economies that include Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. Moscow is expected to contribute $18 billion to the reserve, well behind the $41 billion China has promised to pour into the fund that was set up after an agreement signed in July 2014 in Brazil. The emerging economies also plan to form their own international bank based in Shanghai to challenge western dominance over international money markets. “The accord on the creation of a common reserve fund for BRICS countries has been ratified,” a document from the Kremlin quoted by RIA Novosti news agency said. The fund is meant to shield the BRICS against
“short-term liquidity pressures” and promote greater cooperation between the five member countries. Russia — which has suffered huge currency fluctuations since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine — sees the fund as an alternative to international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank that are dominated by the United States. The BRICS countries between them account for 40 percent of the world’s population, and a fifth of the planet’s GDP.
Vladimir Putin
Baltimore mayor announces end of city-wide night curfew (Reuters) - Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced yesterday she has ended a city-wide night curfew that she imposed last Tuesday after violence erupted during protests over the death of a black man who suffered fatal injuries while in police custody. “My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary. I believe we have reached that point today,” Rawlings-Blake said on Twitter.
(Reuters) - Britain is heading towards a hung parliament after Thursday’s national election, fuelling uncertainty about the country’s future in the European Union, its economic policy, and Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom. Four days before Britain’s closest election in decades, the prospect of no single party winning an overall majority and which alliances could be struck with smaller parties afterwards is dominating debate. Opinion polls show Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, neck and neck, with neither on track to win control of the House of Commons on their own. “No one is going to win. I know David Cameron and Ed Miliband go around robotically that they’re going to win. They’re not, and they know it,” said Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who in 2010 became junior partner in a coalition with the Conservatives. He was speaking on BBC television. If Cameron is re-elected, he has promised to hold an in-out EU membership referendum in 2017, while the
David Cameron
Ed Miliband
rise of Scottish nationalists who lost an independence referendum last year - is generating continued uncertainty about Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom. The uncertain outcome of Thursday’s election reflects the fact that Scottish nationalists threaten to overrun Labour in an area it once considered a stronghold, and the rise of the anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP) which risks splitting the Conservative vote in its English heartlands. Labour and the Conservatives are likely to win less than 300 seats each, short of a majority in the 650-seat parliament. The Scottish
National Party (SNP) could take over 50, the Liberal Democrats between 20 and 30, and UKIP less than 10. The two main parties are refusing to publicly countenance a secondsuccessive hung parliament, something that would be taken as evidence that their decades-old grip on power has been permanently weakened. Still, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said yesterday the country’s winner-takes-all electoral system, which favours the two main parties because it gives no representation to second- and third-placed candidates, was “bankrupt”.
Heavy clashes in Aden airport, alliance accused of cluster bomb use
A Southern Popular Resistance fighter fires a weapon mounted on a truck during clashes with Houthi fighters in Yemen’s southern city of Aden yesterday. Reuters/Stringer (Reuters) - Local fighters battling the rebel Houthi militia in Yemen’s port of Aden stormed areas around the airport yesterday in an operation supervised by the Saudi-led coalition, which also provided air support, the group’s spokesman said. “Special forces from the southern fighters have been prepared and trained for an operation to attack Aden airport,” said Ali al-Ahmadi, spokesman for the Southern Popular Resistance. Ahmadi retracted an earlier statement that 40-50 coalition special forces fighters had deployed alongside his militia and Saudi Arabia denied that a major ground operation was under way or that it had put non-Yemeni forces on the ground in Aden.
The coalition, which seeks to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, includes eight other Arab states and is receiving logistical support from the United States, Britain and France. It has refused to rule out the eventual use of ground troops, but to date it has mostly used air power and some artillery on the Saudi border to bombard Iranian-allied Houthi militia and allied army units. Aden, a hotbed of anti-Houthi sentiment, has been a flashpoint since the war began on March 26, when the coalition began attacking Houthi forces opposed to Saudi-backed Hadi, who was based in Aden for several weeks before fleeing to Riyadh.
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Freed Nigerian women tell of Italy says 10 migrants die, 5,800 rescued in ongoing mission horror of Boko Haram captivity YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram fighters killed older boys and men in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest where many died of hunger and disease, freed captives said yesterday after they were brought to a government refugee camp. The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week from the Islamist fighters in northern Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest in a major operation that has turned international attention to the plight of hostages. After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released yesterday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in the eastern town of Yola, to be fed and treated for injuries. They spoke to reporters for the first time. “They didn’t allow us to move an inch,” said one of the freed women, Asabe Umaru, describing her captivity. “If you needed the toilet, they followed you. We were kept in one place. We were under bondage. “We thank God to be alive today. We thank the Nigerian army for saving our lives,” she added. Two hundred and seventy-five women and children, some with heads or limbs in bandages, arrived in the camp late on Saturday. Nearly 700 kidnap victims have been freed from the Islamist group’s forest stronghold since Tuesday, with the latest group of 234 women and children liberated on Friday. “When we saw the soldiers we raised our hands and shouted for help. Boko Haram who were guarding us
started stoning us so we would follow them to another hideout, but we refused because we were sure the soldiers would rescue us,” Umaru, a 24 year-old mother of two, told Reuters. The prisoners suffered malnutrition and disease, she said. “Every day we witnessed the death of one of us and waited for our turn.” Another freed captive, Cecilia Abel, said her husband and first son had been killed in her presence before the militia forced her and her remaining eight children into the forest. For two weeks before the military arrived she had barely eaten. “We were fed only ground dry maize in the afternoons. It was not good for human consumption,” she said. “Many of us that were captured died in Sambisa Forest. Even after our rescue about 10 died on our way to this place.” The freed prisoners were fed bread and mugs of tea as soon as they arrived at the government camp. Nineteen were in hospital for special attention, Dr. Mohammed Aminu Suleiman of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency told Reuters. The army said troops on patrol on Saturday had discovered 260 women and children in Adamawa state. Some had fled their homes during fighting while others had been abducted but managed to escape from the Islamists. The military also said in a statement it had arrested a supplier of food and fuel to Boko Haram on Sunday morning.
Amnesty International estimates the insurgents, who are intent on bringing western Africa under Islamist rule, have taken more than 2,000 women and girls captive since the start of 2014. Many have been used as cooks, sex slaves or human shields. The prisoners freed so far do not appear to include any of more than 200 schoolgirls snatched from school dormitories in Chibok town a year ago, an incident that drew global attention to the six-year-old insurgency. Umaru said her group of prisoners never came in contact with the missing Chibok girls. Nigerian troops alongside armies from neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger have won back swathes of territory from the fighters in the last couple of months. Last year, the group exerted influence over an area bigger than Belgium. But a counter-attack launched in January has pushed them into Sambisa, a nature reserve. While the Nigerian army is confident it has the group cornered, a final push to clear them from the area has been curtailed by landmines. President Goodluck Jonathan, who relinquishes power later in May after his election defeat to Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to hand over a Nigeria “free of terrorist strongholds”. Rampant corruption and a failure to stamp out the uprising in the north were factors that cost Jonathan the election won by Buhari, a former military ruler.
Children rescued from Boko Haram in Sambisa forest get their hands washed at the Internally Displaced People’s camp in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria yesterday. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Migrants board a bus after arriving at the Lampedusa island early yesterday. AP Photo/Mauro Buccarello ROME (Reuters) - Nearly 5,800 migrants were plucked from boats off the coast of Libya and 10 bodies were recovered in less than 48 hours, Italy’s coast guard said, in one of the biggest rescue operations this year. Two weeks after nearly 900 boat people drowned in the worst Mediterranean shipwreck in living memory, the flow of people desperate to reach a better life in Europe has accelerated as people smugglers take advantage of calmer seas. Seven bodies were found on two large rubber boats packed with migrants and rescuers plucked from the sea the corpses of three others who had jumped into the
water when they saw a merchant ship approaching, the coast guard said. Separately, authorities in Egypt said that three people died when a migrant boat attempting to reach Greece sank off its coast. Thirty-one people were rescued. Italy’s coast guard has coordinated the rescues by its own navy and coast guard, a French ship acting on behalf of the European border control agency, merchant ships, and one vessel run by the privately funded Migrant Offshore Aid Station. Growing lawlessness and anarchy in Libya - the last point on one of the main transit routes to Europe - is giving free hand to people
Three rescued eight days after Nepal quake as U.S. Marines arrive (Reuters) - Three people were pulled alive from the rubble of their home eight days after Nepal’s devastating earthquake, as a supply logjam threatened to hamper disaster relief efforts bolstered by the arrival of U.S. aircraft and troops. The small-scale rescue, announced yesterday by a home ministry official, brought fresh hope to a badly-hit district northeast of the capital Kathmandu, but about 50 bodies were also discovered on a northern trekking route obliterated by an avalanche that the April 25 quake triggered. That increased the death toll to 7,059, and the figure was likely to rise further as an entire village was carried away by the same avalanche and scores more people - both locals and foreign trekkers - were missing, officials said. U.S. military aircraft and personnel were due to begin helping ferry relief supplies to stricken areas outside the capital, a U.S. Marines spokeswoman said, after arriving in Nepal yesterday, a day later than expected. Meanwhile United Nations Resident Representative Jamie McGoldrick said the government needed to loosen its normal customs restrictions, as criticism mounted over a pile-up of aid at Kathmandu airport, Nepal’s only international gateway. Ganga Sagar Pant, the head of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, said the avalanche had wiped out the village of Langtang.
smugglers who make an average of 80,000 euros ($90,000) from each boatload, according to an ongoing investigation by an Italian court. Libyan state news agency Lana said yesterday authorities there detained 500 migrants in five boats off Tripoli and a further 480 migrants - from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia - were caught in a farm near the central town of Jufra, and another 170 were detained nearby. Those rescued in the Italian operation were being brought to Italian shores, some already arriving at Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island, and others at Trapani, Sicily. More were to be brought ashore overnight and on Monday. Shocked by last month’s record disaster, European Union leaders agreed to triple funding for the EU sea patrol mission Triton, but there is still disagreement on what to do with the people fleeing conflict and poverty in various parts of Africa and the Middle East. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that the EU should set up a quota system whereby member countries agree to take in more refugees in order to relieve some of the pressure on Italy, Greece and Malta. But Austria’s proposal is likely to face tough opposition from some members states, including Britain and Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that EU states should be allowed to set their own rules on migrants, and that Hungary did not want any of them.
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DPP probes Judicial Centre Project...
Volney in hot water for $3M payout Trinidad Guardian Investigations into a multimillion-dollar payout made by former justice minister Herbert Volney has reached the desk of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The Joint Consultative Council (JCC), led by Afra Raymond, is currently spearheading the call for Volney to answer questions about an initial $3.02 million payment made to a single contractor for “professional services” on September 27, 2011, on the billion-dollar Judicial Centre Project. The JCC is alleging that there were several contraventions to the law while the Minister of Justice was attempting to start construction on four judicial centres. Three days before Volney was removed from office in 2012, the JCC met and spoke with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and in an ensuing letter, they broached the topic of the judicial centres. In that letter to the PM, the JCC stated that Volney had breached three rules including that the commissions for the design of the centres were never publicly advertised, that he paid more than the $1 million ministerial limit, and that the US-based company that was
Herbert Volney retained was not registered. The JCC, in 2012, also alerted the Integrity Commission of the possible breaches made by Volney in the award of that payment for professional services, citing the illegality surrounding the award of that contract. The US-based company, according to the documents forwarded to the Integrity Commission by the JCC, was retained to provide architectural designs for the billion-dollar project. “Our assertion as to the illegality of the contract/s is based on the fact that Central Tenders Board which has sole responsibility for contracting in these situations, was circumvented.” A response from the
commission, dated January 23, 2015, stated that the completed investigation has been referred to DPP Gaspard. The Sunday Guardian understands that Gaspard is expected to the give the JCC an update on his investigation by next week. The JCC’s chief concern, which has been detailed in a series of letters to the Integrity Commission, the DPP, and the Central Tenders Board (CTB), is that Volney not only bypassed the Central Tenders Board in order to make that $3 million payment, but also overstepped the $1 million limit normally allowed to ministers. The JCC also alerted the Central Tenders Board of Volney’s alleged breach of its own regulations, informing them that the CTB was bypassed in order for Volney to make the $3.02 million payment. Within days, the CTB responded to the JCC describing the issue as a “serious one.” In that letter, also obtained by the Sunday Guardian, the CTB states that the information raised by the JCC was sent to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance for investigation, as the CTB does not possess the ability to conduct any such investigation.
Monday May 04, 2015
UWI approaches China as Govt. subvention dries up The Gleaner - The University of the West Indies (UWI) has approached China to assist in financing a gap in its budget as government subvention to the regional tertiary institution continues to decline. In an exclusive interview with The Gleaner, new vice chancellor, Professor Hilary Beckles, said the UWI is engaged in preliminary discussions to access funds from the China-led Asia International Bank and the New Development Bank, formerly the BRICS Bank, established by emerging
powers Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. The New Development Bank, which was set up by the countries as an alternate to the World Bank, is focused on financing infrastructural projects. However, Beckles says regional governments have a responsibility to maintain their contribution to the UWI. Government subvention to the UWI has reduced from 60 per cent of the university’s total financing since 2001, to just below 50 per cent. Beckles succeeded Professor Nigel Harris who demitted office last week.
Hilary Beckles
Venezuela to nationalize food distribution Caracas (AFP) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has promised to nationalize food distribution in the South American nation beset with record shortages of basic goods, runaway inflation and an escalating economic crisis. During a rally Friday, on I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo r k e r s ’ Day, the socialist leader allowed a union activist to ask for the nationalization of food and essential-item distribution. Citing new decree-making powers recently granted by the National Assembly, Maduro said he would carry out such a measure “in the coming days and weeks.” Maduro had pledged last week to announce economic
Nicolas Maduro reforms. Various estimates suggest the government already controls about half of the country’s food distribution,
but that hasn’t stopped record shortages in shops and markets. Venezuela is struggling with a recession, 68.5-percent annual inflation and severe shortages of the basic goods that it relies on oil money to import. On any given day, people in Venezuela can wait hours to get some subsidized milk, cooking oil, milk or flour — if they can be found at all. Maduro’s government is strapped for cash in the face of a global supply glut that caused oil prices to collapse by more than 50 percent between June and January. Nonetheless, Maduro also announced a 30-percent increase in public wages on Friday.
IMF puts Barbados at bottom of list
Dr. DeLisle Worrell
Daily Nation - The International Monetary Funds (IMF) has crunched its latest numbers and concluded that this year Barbados will have the worst economic performance among 12 Caribbean countries. And as far as 2016 is concerned, it will not be
much better, with only St Lucia expected to keep Barbados company at the bottom of the growth projections list. Three weeks ago the Central Bank issued its f i r s t q u a r t e r r e v i e w, i n which Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell predicted that the economy would grow by between 1.5 and two per cent “principally on the strength of tourism activity and further private sector investment of approximately $700 million”. However, in its new Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere, the IMF differed. It said Barbados’ economy would grow by no more than 0.8 per cent, and 1.4 per cent next year.
Monday May 04, 2015
Kaieteur News
Fidel Castro meets Japanese foreign minister in Havana Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro has met with Japan’s foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, local media reported. Kishida, who yesterday wrapped up the first visit to Cuba by a Japanese foreign minister, met the ailing revolutionary icon a day earlier at Castro’s home east of the capital Havana, the Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. “Fidel and the distinguished guest spoke about the ties and relations between Cuba and Japan and held an exchange on important themes from the international arena,” the statecontrolled newspaper said. Local media did not publish photos of the meeting, held in the 88-year-old Castro’s home. Kishida also met with Castro’s brother, Cuban President Raul Castro, on Saturday. Kishida said Japan supports US and Cuban efforts to normalize relations and that Tokyo wants to take its own ties with Havana to “a new level.” Fidel Castro makes few public appearances. On March 30, after an absence of 14 months, he met with a group of young visitors from Venezuela. Kishida returned to Japan yesterday, according to an official schedule. (AFP)
Fumio Kishida
Terror Attack On Dana
Report on senior counsel’s assassination sent to National Security Council almost a year later Trinidad Express - The murder of senior counsel Dana Seetahal was an act of terrorism. That is the synopsis provided to the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, by the country’s intelligence agency almost a year ago. On July 21, 2014, a 14-page intelligence report, which focused on a gang based in East Trinidad and whether it posed the possibility of destabilising Trinidad and Tobago with another coup,
was submitted to the NSC for consideration and action. “Terrorist activity should not be discounted though since such acts are not limited to a coup d’etat and could involve explosions causing multiple injuries or assassinations of key figures, for example. It should be noted that there may be some overlapping of the domains in that terrorist-type tactics could also be used in order to carry out criminal activity,” it said. “It has been noted in previous reports that it
Oil drill brings new platform for Barbados Daily Nation - The recent agreement between the Freundel Stuart administration and BHP Billiton Pretroleum for oil exploration off the island has been described as “a platform to explore the frontiers of a new form of development in Barbados”. This is the assessment of Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler given during a cocktail reception at the Barbados Hilton, last week to celebrate the signing which took place earlier in the day between Prime Minister Stuart and Dr Niall McCormack vice president exploration of Billiton. The event attended by a phalanx of Cabinet members, senior private and public sector personnel and representatives from Billiton, including McCormack, heard Sinckler praise the initiative as an “historic event”.
Chris Sinckler He said given the substantial nature of the project and the technical detail involved, it was critical that Government took its time to ensure that there was “a solid platform from which we can spring into a bright and successful future for all concerned”.
should not be assumed that another attempt at a coup d’etat would necessarily be made since there are other means by which terrorising a nation could be accomplished. The murder of Ms Seetahal is a case in point. “It should be considered that a natural consequence of the said murder would be the terrorising of the jurors, lawyers and judge involved in the Vindra NaipaulCoolman case along with the law fraternity and Judiciary. This incident could also be the beginning of attempts by criminals to pervert the course of justice in criminal cases through the use of such sensational events,” it said. At the time of Seetahal’s murder two cases were at the forefront of public attentionthe Naipaul-Coolman murder trial and prison litigation issue (referred to as “prisongate”) of alleged unethical conduct of attorneys and inmates involved in prison-related lawsuits against the State. In the case of NaipaulCoolman, Seetahal was a state prosecutor. The case began on March 24, 2014, eight years after the Xtra Foods CEO was kidnapped and murdered. State prosecutor Israel Khan had said Naipaul-Coolman was possibly alive after she was shot when her killers took an electric saw and dismembered her body by cutting off her legs, arms, head, abdomen and chest, before placing the body parts in four garbage bags and disposing of it. Twelve men are before the courts for that murder.
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Anthony Downes wins Assuria Open 2015 Men’s Singles Title
The respective winners and runners up along with officials of the GTA and Sponsors Assuira Insurance take a photo op following the presentation. When the curtains came down on the Assuria Open Singles Tennis Classic 2015 at Harry Panday’s tennis courts, it was the 23yr old Anthony Downes, who once again proved that he is Guyana’s Men’s Tennis Champion for six consecutive years when he overpowered the 18yr old Daniel Lopes in straight sets 6-1,6-1 to win the title. In the first set, Lopes battled with shaky nerves but eventually built enough resilience to Downes’s powerful ground strokes to earn himself a break of service in the 4th game. However, Downes was able to easily sustain the pressure making fewer errors and quickly securing the set at 6-1 even though Lopes had several opportunities to capitalize on break points. In the second set, both players held serve at 1-1 and it seemed that Lopes would now mount a better challenge for Downes but the match
progressed under Downes terms and conditions as he became more aggressive and once again quickly closed out the set at 6-1. In the end Downes had 5 double faults, 16 unforced errors, 4 winners and won both of his net points. Lopes racked up 8 double faults, 37 unforced errors (23 of which were on his forehand), 3 winners and won 3 net points. At the Closing Ceremony, Tournament Chair Charles Adams Jr. reported that the tournament concluded successfully with 42 entrants and 54 matches in 5 categories namely Men’s Open, Ladies Open, Men’s Over 35, Men’s Over 45 & Novice Medley at three venues, the National Racquet Centre, Le Ressouvenir Tennis Club & Mr. Panday’s residence. “Being the first major tournament of the year, Assuria Open has set the bar for the upcoming tournaments,” he said
referring to several enduring and hard fought matches. He thanked everyone for all their hard work, time & commitment towards making this a successful tournament. President of the Guyana Tennis Association(GTA) Grace McCalman thanked Assuria Insurance Management for supporting the GTA in rebranding the tournament for Open participation. It was especially beneficial to the juniors who are not generally exposed to playing the various styles of the adult players. She expressed great confidence in this type of tournament evolving into something big enough to attract foreign players. She was also especially pleased with the general level of tennis played by the veterans, citing Godfrey Lowden’s double championship against Carlos Adams and Rudy Grant’s 2hr
30min and 3hr 20min matches. She thanked the Tournament Coordinators Shelly DalyRamdyhan and Nicholas Glasgow for successfully coordinating matches at the three locations; Harry Panday and Sam Barakat for providing lighted facilities. But she pleaded for more volunteers to come forth to help in future tournaments. “There is no magic in running a successful tournament,” she said. “It’s all hard work and there is always a need for linespersons and umpires.” Assuria Operations Manager Clyde Muntslag reported that the company
was elated to see the enthusiasm of the young players as he reminded the GTA that Assuria Insurance made a deliberate decision in 2013 to support tennis in Guyana as a component of their corporate responsibility. This is the third year of the tournament and the company will uphold its commitment to sponsor annually as long as it continues to see the GTA progress the sport locally. He thanked the GTA for a great tournament and hopes to see everyone at the tournament next year. Mr. Muntslag congratulated the
GCA/Carib Beer T20
MSC, GNIC, GCC in winners’ lane
Busta Soft Shoe football already... From page 36 goal arrangement as attested by their consistent positive results in nearly every competition contested. These two teams possess some of the best exponents of the art of this format that requires a certain level of skill on a vastly reduced measurement to the field. However, what has made the format a best seller as evidenced by the success of its sister competition the Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ which is played on a hard-court is the rivalry that is resultant between the various communities, a phenomenon that has caught the eye of the corporate community, that now sees it as a good reason to offer its
support. The design has been able to whip up a frenzy among participating teams and fans that makes supporting it almost compulsory. The Guyana Beverages Inc must be applauded for investing such a huge sum of money in an event that was being seen for the first time in Guyana, going ahead without practical evidence of its success. However, judging from the growing support the tournament has started to enjoy, especially beginning from the latter stages of the preliminary rounds and then the knockout phase, the sponsors must be satisfied with the support received so far.
The early prognosis seems to indicate that just like the Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Competition, the Busta Soft Shoe Tournament is on its way to becoming a similar staple for football fans, especially from a communitybased perspective. The Platinum sponsor has promised to take the competition to other communities around the country that offer support to its products and this move must be commended, especially for the above stated reasons. It is here to stay and fans are being urged to come out in their numbers to support their respective community teams vying for top honours and bragging rights tomorrow.
winners and presented the trophies and monetary prizes after which players enjoyed an evening of entertainment and tennis compliments of the Pandays. Winners List: Men’s Open: Winner: Anthony Downes, Runner-Up: Daniel Lopes. Ladies Open: Winner: Nicola Ramdyhan, RunnerUp: Shelly Daly. Men’s Over 35: Winner: Godfrey Lowden, Runner-Up: Carlos Adams. Men’s Over 45: Winner: Godfrey Lowden, Runner-Up: Carlos Adams. Novice Medley: Winner: Daniel Razick, Runner-Up: Charles Adams.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), GNIC SC and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) registered victories when the Georgetown Cricket Association/ Carib Beer T20 competition continued recently.
Host MSC beat GNIC by six runs. MSC batted first and posted 156. Imran Hassan scored 46; Steven Jacobs made 27 and Anthony D’ Andrade 26; Raun Johnson claimed 2-25. GNIC threatened, but were restricted for 150-6
in reply. Krishna Arjune slammed 101 off 61 balls with thirteen fours and four sixes; Dellon Darymple snared 3-24. At Bourda, GNIC thumped Transport SC by seven wickets. Batting first, TSC managed 96-8 in 20 overs. Devaughn Nandan made 24 and Oslyn Batson 19. Raun Johnson, Leroy Bristol and Arjune took two wickets each. GNIC responded with 97-3 in 16.4 overs. Dexter Soloman cracked 33 and Assad Fudadin 24. GCC trounced Everest by six wickets at the said venue. Everest made 126-3 in 20 overs, taking first knock. Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored 45 not out (1x4), while Rajendra Chandrika hit 27 and Shaheed Mohamed 19. Leon Johnson, Robin Bacchus and Raj Nanan took one wicket apiece. GCC replied with 1284 in 18.2 overs. Elon Fernandes struck 38; Johnson scored 37 and Raymond Reifer 31. Zaheer Mohamed took 2-15.
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Windies crush England in three days By Sean Devers in Barbados In association with Carib Beer & Noble House Seafoods Barbados is littered with fabulous Beaches and while many of the English fans arrived at the Kensington Oval late on a sunny morning yesterday in order to sample the white sands and blue water, the locals, anticipating something special, turned up to create the biggest home support of the match and they were not disappointed. On a third day track which offered turn for the spinners out of the rough, England resumed the third day of the third and final Test against West Indies on 39-5 and fell for 123 leaving the host to get 192 for a series leveling win. Jerome Taylor (3-33), Jason Holder (3-15) and Veerasammy Permaul (3-43) were the wicket-takers for the hosts, who reached 194-5 to win by five wickets in three days.
First win against the Brits since 2009 Fabulous batting from 26year-old Daren Bravo, who returned to fine form with a classy 82 from 215 minutes, 148 balls with seven fours and three sixes. He shared in a 108-run fifth wicket stand with Jermaine Blackwood, who ended the game with a six and finished 47 not out. The Jamaican followed up his 85 in the first innings by hitting four fours and a six from 147 minutes and 104 balls in his second innings knock to take the Man-of-the-Match award. Their partnership was the highlight of the day after the pair came together at 80-4 when Shiv Chanderpaul was bowled by James Anderson for a duck. This was West Indies’ first win against England since February 2009 when they won the first Test in Jamaica by an innings and 23 runs. It was also their first win against the Brits at this venue in 25
GSCL Inc extends sympathy with Roberts’ relatives Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc (GSCL Inc) has extended condolences to the family of the late Chronicle Sports Reporter Calvin Roberts. Roberts served as Public Relations Officer of GSCL for a number of years and up to his demise. Trustee of GSCL Inc Mahendra Hardyal said that members of the organization are struggling to come to grips with his demise and his services will surely be missed. Hardyal said that Roberts was always willing to go the extra mile when called upon to ensure the GSCL Inc tournaments are successful. GCUC SYMPATHIESES The Guyana Cricket Umpires Council (GCUC) has also extended sympathy to Roberts relatives and wished them well in this their time of bereavement. Roberts was well acquainted with many members of the council; his demise has left many in a state of shock.
Finalists decided in Hilbert ‘Old Beef’ Humphrey schools U-15 football competition Underdogs Vryman’s Erven Secondary (VESS) Canje Secondary School (CSS) are through to the final of the annual Hilbert ‘Old Beef’ Humphrey Inter School football competition being played at the All Saints Scott School ground in New Amsterdam. The lads from VESS recorded a 2-0 win over New Amsterdam Multilateral School (NAMS) with VESS goal coming through a defence error and a Gevonanie Rover strike. The CSS team then booked their place in the final by getting the better of Tutorial Academy Secondary (TASS) by a 1-0 margin.
The winner and runner up teams will be presented with trophies and medals, while outstanding individual players including the most valuable player, top goal scorer and best goalkeeper will be presented with awards. The Late ‘Beef ’ Humphrey was an ardent sports fan with several of his children representing Berbice at football and other sports. Some are still actively involved in promoting the further development of the sport in Berbice. The tournament is organized by Hearts of Oak Masters football Club and coordinated by former national player Neil ‘Grizzly’ Humphrey.
years and their first win here since they beat Zimbabwe in 2012. Earlier, England reached their 50 in 25.3 overs with a neat flick off Taylor by Ben Stokes, who slammed one back past the bowler in the same over for the same result. An ungainly pull to one that kept low by Gary Ballance off Marlon Samuels somehow reached the boundary as the visitors compiled important runs. Permaul struck which his second ball of the day when he removed the dangerous Ballance, caught at slip for 23 at 62-6. Joe Butler joined Stokes before a crowd which included a lot more ‘locals’ than the previous two days. The pair fought hard as Taylor, the West Indies’ best bowler, was switched to Malcolm Marshall end and Stokes survived a confident caught behind appeal after Stokes was given out, only for the verdict to be overturned by TV replays. Permaul, in his fifth Test, was hit for six by Butler in a pressure-filled season in which the English, urged on their several thousand adoring fans, battled doggedly to deny the West Indies of leveling the series. Stokes reverse swept Permaul for four and cut him for a triple while a sweep for three by Butler in the same over brought up the 150 lead and all of a sudden England were wriggling out of the vicelike West Indies grip. Stokes took another boundary off Permaul and the tourists were beginning to wrest back the advantage in
the sea-saw contest at 90-6 and the lead 158 after the first hour. Permaul was stroked for four through cover by Stokes but the Guyanese combination accounted for him next ball when Chanderpaul held a good diving catch at extra cover to break the 33-run partnership and send the left-hander packing for 32. It was a carless shot and England had again lost the ascendency as they slipped to 97-7. Barbadian Holder had his former school mate Ray Jordon, who attended the Charles F. Broome Primary, which also produced Olympic sprinter Obadele Thompson, LBW for two at 98-8. Holder then knocked out Chris Broad’s stumps first ball, but Anderson averted the hattrick. Butler smashed Permaul for consecutive boundaries to bring up the 100 in the 40th over before hammering Holder majestically to the cover boundary. Permaul was replaced by Shannon Gabriel 20 minutes before Lunch and Butler stroked him for four and clobbered him for six, b e f o r e Ta y l o r r e m o v e d Anderson (2). Butler was left unbeaten on 35 with four fours and two sixes and shared in a 25run last wicket stand with Anderson, who took the Man-of-the-series award. Memories of the second Test at Lords in 2000 between these two sides resurfaced. West Indies were bowled out for 54 in their innings and set England 192 to win. England eventually scraped to a two-
Jason Holder
wicket win. The big question was could the West Indies reverse that result? By Lunch, West Indies were 4-0 from one over and in the second session Shai Hope climbed on his toes and punched Anderson gloriously to the cover boundary before being dropped off Broad at slip on four to keep hope alive. Watched by a crowd which had built up to capacity, Kraigg Braithwaite, who came off the mark with a text book straight drive for four and fellow Bajan Hope built a firm platform against some testing fast bowling. And an epic fight was brewing although not in the same magnitude of the Mayweather, Pacquiao ‘fight of the century’ which Mayweather won by a unanimous decision Saturday night in Las Vegas. Braithwaite delightfully ondrove Broad for four while Hope (9) survived a confident LBW ‘shout’ off Jordon at 290 before Jordon removed him at 35-1. Without addition to the
score Moeen Ail had Braithwaite (25), well caught by Jordon at slip as Bravo and Marlon Samuels joined forces in an atmosphere that was absolutely fantastic. The fans produced a Kaleidoscope of color and many flags fluttered merrily in a cool breezy that blew across Kensington as Music emanated from massive speakers in the Party Stand. With Tea 10 minutes away, Samuels (20) got one that cut back and kept low from Broad and was bowled at 70-3. By Tea the West Indies had progressed slowly to 70-3 with victory 122 runs away after the last six overs bowled before the break were consecutive maidens. The first ball after Tea from Root was dumped for six by Bravo, who played a sumptuous cover drive for four two balls later. Chanderpaul, who joined Bravo, began this innings needing 82 to surpass Brain Lara’s record of 11,953 Test runs by a West Indian from 131 Tests. But the 40-year-old in his 164th Test, played an indecisive shot and was comprehensively bowled for his 16th duck by Anderson in what surly must be his last test innings at Kensington, to leave the West Indies on 804. This was his second consecutive Test series in which he scored less than 100 runs after managing just 91 in the three Tests in South Africa. Scores: West Indies 189 (Blackwood 85, Anderson 642) and 194 for 5 (Bravo 82, Blackwood 47*) beat England 257 (Cook 105, Moeen 58) and 123 (Holder 3-15, Taylor 3-33, Permaul 343) by five wickets.
Clippers send Spurs packing with Game Seven win
Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes (22) blocks a shot by San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)
(The Sports Xchange) - Chris Paul scored the winning basket with a second left as the Los Angeles Clippers beat San Antonio 111-109 in Game Seven to send the Spurs crashing out of their Western Conference first-round playoff series. Paul, who strained his left hamstring in the first quarter, scored over Spurs forward Tim Duncan to seal the win and finished with 27 points as the Clippers advanced to the conference semi-finals against the Houston Rockets. Game One is today in Houston. Clippers forward Blake Griffin added 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the series. Duncan finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Spurs. Point guard Tony Parker had 20 points. Griffin’s two free throws with 3:35 remaining put Los Angeles up 102-101 but Duncan’s putback and forward Kawhi Leonard’s follow-up from a miss by Patty Mills lifted the Spurs to a 105-102 lead. A three-pointer from Barnes tied the score again before Parker’s putback made it 107-105 for the Spurs with 1:23 remaining. Clippers guard Jamal Crawford scored on a drive to tie the score and Paul’s two free throws with 13.3 seconds left gave the Clippers a 109-107 lead. Duncan converted two foul shots with 8.8 seconds remaining to knot the score at 109-109 before Paul’s last-gasp winning basket.
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Kaieteur News
Mayweather cements legacy with Pacquiao win
Monday May 04, 2015
Americans too fast for Bolt to catch in relay (Reuters) - Not even Usain Bolt could overcome a big American lead as the U.S. men sprinted to a convincing victory over Jamaica in the 4x100 meters relay at the IAAF World Relays in Nassau on Saturday. Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay powered the Americans to a five-meter advantage through three legs of the highly anticipated race and Ryan Bailey brought the team home in 37.38 seconds. Bolt, who had missed last year’s inaugural World Relays, made up ground on Bailey in their anchor leg but could not close the gap as Jamaica, running their 2013 world championship team, finished second in 37.68. The Americans’ time equaled the seventhfastest ever over the distance as all eight teams in the final, including third-placed Japan, earned automatic qualifying spots for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The victory highlighted a sparkling night
Manny Pacquiao covers his face. REUTERS/Steve Marcus LAS VEGAS (Reuters) Floyd Mayweather Jr cemented his place among the pantheon of boxing greats by improving to 48-0 with a unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday in a fight that lived up to its immense hype and price tag. Mayweather weathered an early assault from the Filipino southpaw before winning the later rounds using his reach and jab to finish ahead on all three scorecards in a welterweight showdown set to be the top grossing prize fight of all-time. “When the history books are written, it was worth the wait,” Mayweather said in the ring after a four-belt unification bout that was more than five years in the making. Though Pacquiao repeatedly forced Mayweather to backpedal, the wily American blunted his opponent’s best efforts by using his renowned defensive skills while getting in several telling jabs and punches of his own. Mayweather and Pacquiao had promised to deliver on years of hype and give fans their money’s worth and were true to their word in delivering an entertaining contest that had the capacity crowd on its feet roaring from the opening bell to the end of the 12 round showcase. “Manny Pacquiao is a hell of fighter, I see now why he is at the pinnacle of boxing,” the 38-year-old Mayweather said after an emotional embrace with Pacquiao. “I’m a smart fighter, I outboxed him. “We knew what we had to do. He’s a tough competitor...
a very awkward fighter and I had to take my time and watch him closely.” The fight between the two greatest boxers of their generation was one that appeared might never happen as Pacquiao resisted Mayweather’s demands for blood-testing for five years. When the two camps finally hammered out a deal, it was the richest in boxing history, setting new records for payper-view (PPV) buys and gate receipts. The fighters were also paid royally for their night’s work, with Mayweather guaranteed $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million although both men could pocket much more depending on the number of PPV purchases. For Mayweather, the fight was one that will shape his legacy. Even if he were to have retired unbeaten there would have forever been a question mark hanging over his career without at least one meeting against his Filipino rival. SEPTEMBER SWAN SONG Mayweather said in the ring that he would fight again but that his next bout would be his last. “My last fight is in September and then it is time for me to hang it up,” Mayweather added. “I am almost 40 years old now, I have been in the sport 19 years, I have been world champion 18 years. “I am truly thankful and I am blessed.” Dubbed the “Fight of the Century” the MGM Grand Garden Arena crackled with energy as the rich and famous settled into their ringside
seats. Actors Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington rubbed shoulders with sports celebrities such as Michael Jordan, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and billionaire Donald Trump. With prime seats commanding six-figure sums on the resale market even the very wealthy and very famous were forced to call in favors to secure a golden ticket while an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 fight fans flooded into the desert gambling capital to be part of the buzz. Wearing a simple white Tshirt, Pacquiao knelt in his corner for a prayer as boos filled the hall when Mayweather appeared on the giant screens. There were no smiles from the stone-faced American as he entered the ring wearing black white and gold trunks and sporting a $23,000 mouth guard infused with flecks of gold and pieces of a hundred dollar bill. Five years of hype then reached a climax when famed announcer Jimmy Lennon stood in the center of the ring and told the crowd, “the wait is over, it’s go time”. The bout marked Mayweather ’s 11th consecutive fight at the MGM but it was Pacquiao who enjoyed a massive edge in support as he appeared in the arena. “It is a good fight. I thought I won the fight. He didn’t do nothing. He always moved outside,” said Pacquiao, who dropped to 576-2. “I did my best but my best wasn’t good enough.”
for U.S. athletes, who also set a world record in the women’s distance medley and took top honors in the men’s 4x800m relay. Shannon Rowbury anchored the U.S. women home in 10 minutes, 36.50 seconds in the medley with strong support from Treniere Moser, Sanya Richards-Ross and Ajee Wilson. The relay, which has just became a world record event, consists of legs of 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600m. Kenya were second and Poland third. Robby Andrews led the U.S. men to a championship record 7:04.84 in the 4x800 with Poland second and Australia third. Misfortune struck the Americans in the other final, the women’s 4x200, when Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix collided. Nigeria claimed the victory in 1:30.52 with Jamaica second after the Bahamas were disqualified. The relays conclude on Sunday with Bolt likely getting a second chance to beat the Americans in the 4x200m.
Kallicharran returns to his hometown - Port Mourant The training programme organized by the GCB and facilitated by Alvin Kallicharran over the past month as coach and mentor met its conclusion yesterday with Kallicharran returning to his home town Port Mourant. The session which started at 09:00 hours, saw some 30 odd players from the Under 17, 15 and 13 levels participating in the planned activities. These players were able to showcase their talents in the presence of Kallicharran, Colin Stuart (Territorial Development Officer of the GCB), Winston Smith, Coach and other relevant cricket officials. For this session, Kallicharran placed emphasis on two main components, namely “length and application.” The technical aspect of the session focused
...training stint concludes on the importance of Length for both batters and bowlers. The latter was encouraged to bowl a length of uncertainty, where the batter may find it difficult to score from cuts, pulls or front foot drives. Whereas, the mental aspect of the session placed significance on the batters ability to judge the length of the delivery in question, to determine whether in shot selection - the use of back or front foot or to leave alone or play a shot, to pick the gaps in the field, appropriately drop the ball for singles and to be alert and clear in their communication while running between wickets. Apart from these two main learning components for the session, a number of players received guidance on
technical aspects of their game and on their general attitude and mental approach to the game. The players’ response were favorable, with players expressing a strong willing, interest and desire to be meaningfully involved in the planned activities. At the close of the programme both Godfrey Persaud and Godwyn Allicock (Vice President and Secretary respectively of Port Mourant Cricket Club) expressed their gratitude for the programme and Alvin Kallicharran’s contribution. Kallicharran over the past month was able to visit a number of locations across the country, imparting knowledge to a variety of young players.
Alvin Kallischarran (left front row) with some of the youngsters involved in the programme.