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May 27, 2012

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Man chops cops, - had threatened shot dead to burn house Pg 8

Fire strikes MFK building, damage totals millions of dollars

Smoke billows from the top floors of the building

Pg 8

A tonsorial artist for over 40 years …

Three staff members in custody…

Pg 17

As pontoon disappears from Harbour Bridge Aga Khan, the forgotten security guard in the Tullahram Dass is a 'Special Person' Sash Sawh murder Tessa Pg 18

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Pg 12

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Sunday May 27, 2012

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Guyana anticipated EU sugar cuts Hot Wax and Broken Glass Prior to hard-wired electricity, our ancestors used candlelight to illuminate the interior of the home. No matter how large the volume of wax, each candle emitted the same amount of light. The only way to increase the light was to multiply the number of candles or reflect the flame against another object. Some clever people placed sconces on the wall with a mirror or shiny metallic backing thereby increasing the lumen power of the flame.

As equals created at birth, our Creator instilled within each of us the basis of an internal flame. While some of us never ignite the fire within and choose to remain pure potential, others use their passion to spark the flame of life’s purpose and shine brightly for the world to see.

Enhancing and increasing the brightness of being, some folks choose to surround themselves with people and circumstances which provide the opportunity for the highest and best use of their energy, thereby increasing the effectiveness and reach of their essence.

A harbinger of negativity, superstitions warned that a broken mirror brought seven years of bad luck. If the poor soul believed in the tale of unpredictable misfortune he not only faced cleaning up the shards of a mirror, but also years of punishment for one small, accidental act.

In fact, if the scattered remnants of glass were any indication, the back luck would be just as far reaching and difficult to remedy. Each ensuing scenario of broken vengeance could hold its own degree of breadth of impact and its own complications when attempting to clean up the situation.

In life, we “own” or incorporate shortcomings suggested by history, ill-intentions of others or at worst, our own self-doubt. When we buy into these “truths” we begin to create a future which must live up to the folklore we defend as our fate.

Not aware of the far reaches our limitations can spread, we attempt to pick up the pieces of our spirit which shattered at the moment we believed in something against our very nature and not in keeping with our highest self. Unless we carefully clean up life’s little messes, the widespread circle of negativity will remain hidden in the crevices of our fears and the corners of our consciousness, only to pierce our confidence when we unknowingly uncover them.

Before we awaken to our true selves, we too appear different during times of truth and times of illusion. When we deny our talents and powerful nature, we fabricate tales of the unknown and imagine external forces lurking (continued on page 9)

…contrary to Dr. Leslie Ramsammy’s Parliamentary pronouncements During the recent Budget Debates which saw more than $20B being slashed from the national Expenditure, newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, had complained bitterly about the end of the European Sugar Protocol which he said had taken Guyana by surprise and lent in part to the need for the $4B

Three staff members in custody…

A pontoon mysteriously disappeared from the Demerara Harbour Bridge Thursday night and investigators are now questioning a number of staff members.

The pontoon which was to be used by staffers in the major emergency works that started yesterday was discovered missing Friday morning. Reports were made to Ministry of Public Works and to the police.

Officials of Public Works Ministry yesterday said that the Army’s helicopter, the Coast Guards and the Maritime Administration Department have been requested to help in the search for the multi-milliondollar pontoon.

bailout of the Sugar Industry.

His predecessor, Robert Persaud, however, two years prior on February 4, 2010 appeared before the Parliamentary Economic Services Committee, which was at the time being chaired

by Gail Teixeira and included opposition members such as the late Winston Murray.

On that day, Persaud who

then held the portfolio for Agriculture and the Sugar Industry told the Economic Services Committee, that “GuySuCo has had to seriously, and some may say radically relook at its plans, its programmes and at its approach, not only in terms of management but what GuySuCo will embark on.”

Persaud in 2010 told the

As pontoon disappears from Harbour Bridge It is a case that is puzzling the bridge authorities as the Harbour Bridge is an extremely busy area that is very traversed by traffic all day and night long. With the fact that the pontoon is by no means small, authorities are suspecting that there may be some collusion by staff members.

It is believed that the pontoon may have been sold.

It is equipped with four large winches which could also fetch a substantial amount of money.

According to officials, police held three staffers on Friday. It is now being reported that a sum of $1.5M was paid over by persons so far unknown for the pontoon.

Searchers are scouring several waterways up the

Demerara River especially but authorities are also widening the net across the country.

General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Rawlston Adams, declined to comment on the matter noting that investigations are currently ongoing.

A source said that one of the first persons to be informed of the missing pontoon was Works Minister Robeson Benn.

Committee, unlike what had been intimated by Dr. Ramsammy in 2012, that, “We all know that when the discussions had started with the end to the European Union (EU) sugar protocol, the Government had submitted a Guyana National Action Plan of which a subset was the Sugar Action Plan.”

Dr. Ramsammy told the Parliament during the budget debates that there had been an “intention” signaled on the part of the EU, to effect the sugar cuts but there was (continued on page 11)

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KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana.

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial

National Purpose The flags have been raised; the speeches have been made; the congratulations have been received. We are celebrating our 46th anniversary of independence. We do this because the British were sucking our wealth to develop their own countries. Once independence was achieved we would be masters of our fate; captains of our destiny and we could enjoy the fruits of our labour.

But forty-six years down the road, we have to confess that those fruits are not as sweet or as abundant as we expected back then. What went wrong? There is no point in answering that question in a spirit of casting aspersions. We have to look backwards, not in anger, but in trying to ensure that we rectify those mistakes or at least try not to repeat them. The first problem we can discern that continues to befuddle us and is that we still lack a unified national outlook.

We can always complain that the British fostered our divisions through their ‘divide and rule’ policies. Recruiting one race for the state sector and steering others into the private sector certainly has not worked to our advantage. But we cannot continue to hide our heads in the sand or alternatively, wring our hands at the consequences of these artificial divisions in the new globalised economy and minimalist national governments.

Policy makers in countries that started from the same base as ours but were able to forge ahead like Malaysia initiated policies to ensure that the national patrimony and burdens were more equitably distributed. This does not mean that they did not encounter problems with their innovations but at least we have the benefits of their experience. But then again there will always be unintended consequences in every human institution after they are introduced: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A decade ago there was a healthy debate about what new institutions may be appropriate to develop a sense of national purpose in Guyana. We do not have to repeat the debate but surely, some department at UG can recapitulate the points raised then, for decisions in the present. We respectfully submit that the question of ‘national purpose’ is a threshold issue that must be addressed by our political directorate and a minimum consensus reached. Notice that we are not talking about ‘national identity’ which is a related but not identical subject.

The delivery of a ‘new dispensation’ by the electorate at the last elections led to great expectations that the parties elected to parliament would have worked together to arrive at a ‘national purpose’.

So far there has not been much progress. An initial bonhomie was precipitated by the president’s creation of a Tripartite Engagement facility during which the Opposition was allowed to propose matters that they felt were of importance to their constituencies and which the Executive were willing to accept as part of their programmes.

Further progress, however, was shattered by two developments that went against the grain of a ‘national’ approach. The Opposition parties insisted that since they controlled the National Assembly they would have to maintain that control within parliament committees that in essence degutted the principle of proportionality of which the constitution is redolent.

The government was forced to resort to the courts but the latter, while accepting that it had jurisdiction over the case, then sidestepped the issue by asserting that the parliament could make its own rules. In essence the court is asserting that even if those rules went against the spirit of the constitution, it would not interfere.

The British principle of parliamentary supremacy, which had been jettisoned by the adoption of the constitution as the supreme law of the land, has therefore been reintroduced through the back door. The ‘national purpose’ is now the Opposition’s purpose.

The second issue in the way of defining a new ‘national purpose’ was the seemingly arbitrary cuts on the budget made by the Opposition. The Opposition must lay a coherent plan to the public as the government did through its budget. They and the government can then work towards our progress with a national purpose.

Sunday May 27, 2012

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

Will the PPP blow the opportunity Nov. 28, 2011 has presented, just as the PNC blew the opportunity May 26, 1966 had presented?

DEAR EDITOR, Given what has played out in local politics after the British politicos left Guyana in May 1966, I can’t really think of anything significant for which we can celebrate, thus rendering any thought of a 46th anniversary celebration one more of symbolism than of substance.

It may be a paradox that exists in many other excolonies that attained political independence, but it would be interesting to learn what the latest studies are showing about the pre and post-independence thoughts of people, as well as comparative analyses of socioeconomic and political

conditions before and after independence, in ex-colonies, from sub-Saharan Africa to Central Asia to Latin and South America and the Caribbean.

For example, neighbouring Barbados (166 sq. miles and 288,000 people), which attained independence on November 30, 1966, from Britain (six months after Guyana), is exemplary when it comes to political stability and social and economic progress. In 2010, it ranked first among 193 countries in political liberties and civil liberties. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2011 ranks Barbados as second in the Americas and 16th among 183

countries.

The Index of Economic Freedom 2011 ranks Barbados as the fourth freest economy in the Americas and the 37th in the world, while the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 says Barbados is the third most stable banking system in the Western Hemisphere. Should I impress you with more astonishing facts about tiny Barbados just to make the point?

Okay, so let me move on to a stark contrast. Well, there are so many, it is difficult to pick one to illustrate the point, but between sub-Saharan Africa and Latin and South America, we can find prime

examples of what went wrong with these politically independent nations, and the two terms that readily jump out at us are ruthless dictatorships and systemic and endemic corruption in government, resulting in dismal economies.

In Guyana, we had the late Cheddi Jagan leading the fight back in the late 40s to end British colonialism, but it appeared as though he was leading us from colonialism to communism, which was an ideology being promoted universally by the former Soviet Union. When the late Forbes Burnham got help from the West to engineer the ouster of Jagan via a PNCContinued on page 6

Sunday May 27, 2012

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Guyana is no more a democracy today than Mr. Ramnarine needs to take command of his new position and it was when the PPP took power in 1992 DEAR EDITOR, regimes that denied the same “ i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d ” am not given to using rights to their own citizens. democracy when the PPP has request the resources for the job anyI newspaper’s valuable Only the vacuous, the not added a single institution

DEAR EDITOR, Although I look forward to Mr. Patrick E. Mentore’s letters to the editor and applaud his constructive criticisms and positive suggestions in several contentious areas, I have to question his grip on reality when it comes to his most recent letter pertaining to Mr. David Ramnarine who has been banished to the Department of Development of the Guyana Police Force.

From the quality of Mentore’s contributions I get the impression that he puts a lot of effort in researching for his pieces, but this does not make him infallible; as a matter of fact he ignores the current realities of the police force when it comes to vision and strategy implementation.

As someone who seems very knowledgeable about many issues and their circumstance can he honestly say that he does not know the situation of the Department of Development?

That department came into being sometime during the mid nineties and seemed destined to be a crowning legacy of the then administration.

However, this was not

to be since the officers who were assigned in charge of that unit were left with very little to do and from there the impression was born that to be posted there meant that you were effectively sidelined from active participation in matters of development and reform of the police force.

I can understand the argument that Ramanrine should not simply roll over and let this country suffer at the hands of those clowns whose only interest is feeding an already bloated ego and to hell with professionalizing the force.

Nearly everyone knows someone who is a member of the force and therefore it is no secret that the department of development only has one small desk for an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner to occupy.

There is no computer nor accessories; no access to the internet for research; but perhaps most damning of all is that the current hierarchy of the force does not have the vision or the capacity to effectively utilize Ramnarine’s skill set.

Previous commissioners were themselves hard pressed to

task the department because they themselves were in a mode that bespoke a survivalist mentality and a preference to pander to the powers that be.

As it stands Mr. Ramnarine needs to take command of his new position and request the resources for the job; and - as far as practicable ensure that his requests are in writing and copied to the minister who apparently likes to be kept in the operational loop.

As a further measure, having been a part of what passes for administrative, and senior management meetings and aware of the deficiencies of the system, he should be prepared to write position papers and concept notes for the dissemination to the top brass and copied to the minister, at the same time keeping an eye on making his contributions available to the police training college.

In other words he should become a kaburi in their collective flesh that they cannot easily dislodge because the entire country is watching and waiting to see them make other missteps.

Sophie Mangal

I urge sugar workers not to be misled by politicians

DEAR EDITOR, With strong ties to the sugar industry and although retired, I can’t help but observe how the Alliance for Change (AFC) is intruding into the industrial disputes for the purpose of telling the nation the sugar workers want new representation from them.

To me that is what is behind the latest setting up of two Wales Estate workers, Malcolm Hercules and Bertam Cummings. I understand the AFC courted many of the strikers but only Hercules and Cummings were persuaded to put down GAWU. I am now wondering whether GAWU couldn’t outline its representation of these same workers to show how much they have benefitted over the last years and recently from higher ratesof-pay out of a Job Evaluation exercise. It is easy to be ungrateful when you are upset with Guysuco, whose bad management denies you your rightful holiday-pay packets.

GAWU has to be a responsible bargaining agent, working within the limitations of collective agreements. The union also has to ensure that workers’ jobs are always

protected and to avoid the closure/ privatization of the industry. This will enhance the union’s credibility even in the face of the AFC-type usurpers seeking to exploit worker grievances. In any case, does the AFC believe that some exodus from Guysuco will result in some new (political) Union winning promised and imagined benefits from the cash-strapped Corporation than GAWU has been attaining?

Think again AFC. It is Guysuco’s responsibility to deduct both NIS contributions and Union dues.

Registered Union members worldwide and in Guyana pay dues to their unions so that the bargaining agents may administer and manage and represent, while being able to be independent.

I am sure that GAWU will balance its responsibility with insisting that Guysuco finds the workers holiday-pay due to them. I warn and I urge sugar workers not to be misled by politicians when industrial matters are best left to the recognised union. Is it not easy to understand what the AFC really wants?

Clifford Joseph

space to engage in debates with persons whose made-up minds have no use for the enlightening and positionaltering effects of objective facts. But I ask your indulgence to respond to Vishnu Bisram’s letter (KN May 25th), which was a response to my letter published by KN on May 19th.

In that May 19th letter, I argued that the PPP has made no functioning improvement to the democratic framework it inherited from the PNC and challenged Mr. Bisram to present specific evidence to support his fictitious claim that the PPP restored democracy to Guyana in 1992.

I also challenged him to provide proof that the PPP’s commitment to universal suffrage extended beyond the suffrage’s obvious racial usefulness in Guyana.

Instead of presenting the requested evidence, he responded by rebuking me for comments I did not implicitly or explicitly make and offered unsubstantiated assertions that reveal how discombobulated one can become when attempting to defend a fiction.

Mr. Bisram chided me for disputing the contribution of my Indian compatriots to the struggle for universal suffrage and for arguing that it was acceptable for Guyanese to be denied the right to vote. My letter addressed neither of these issues. Mr. Bisram was apparently offended by my rightly pointing out the hypocrisy of the PPP calling for voting rights in Guyana even as it heartlessly supported communist

willfully ignorant or a PPP supporter would miss the point and equate my observation of PPP hypocrisy with a call for Guyanese to be denied their voting rights.

In response to my call to provide proof that the PPP has added anything new to the democratic institutions it found when it came to power in 1992, Mr. Bisram claimed that “….democracy has been institutionalized.” He then offers as evidence the easily discredited assertions that: “People speak and write freely without concerns of being victimized. Their new found freedom allows them to make all kinds of claims that cannot be substantiated with evidence. Elections are free and fair.” Well, Kaieteur News, CN Sharma, Stabroek News, Freddie Kissoon, and people within the PPP itself would not mind speaking or writing with the fictional freedom from possible victimization that Mr. Bisram has conjured up in his mind.

And every Guyanese knows that Guyanese have always been able to make “all kinds of claims that cannot be substantiated with evidence.” We can go to the archives and pull copies of the Mirror and Thunder in which we will find the type of claims that Mr. Bisram wants us to believe can only be made now that the PPP is in power. Also, everyone knows that the PPP came to power under free and fair elections arranged under the PNC, so free and fair elections is not something that started under the PPP. It is completely disingenuous to argue that the PPP has

to the framework the PNC left in place. In fact, it can be credibly argued that our socalled democracy is slowly and frighteningly being deinstitutionalized. The PPP has abandoned the constitutionally-mandated Office of the Ombudsman, has only agreed under pressure from the oppositioncontrolled 10th Parliament to establish the constitutionally-mandated Public Procurement Commission, and former president Bharrat Jagdeo refused to assent to bills within the constitutionallymandated timeframe. Mr. Jagdeo also for years used all kinds of subterfuge to ignore the court’s order to allow Guyanese their constitutional right to establish private radio stations so that they could access information from sources of their choosing.

The plain truth is that, from an institutional or civil rights perspective, Guyana is no more a democracy today than it was when the PPP took power in 1992.

I will not dispute Mr. Bisram’s claim that he has never been a member or supporter of the PPP. However, I do share the widely-held view that he has been an enabler of the PPP’s disregard for transparency and accountability in governance. And his enabling attitude is clearly on display in his letter.

He refers to the PPP’s disgusting corruption and total disregard for transparency and accountability as merely “many mistakes” and “gross blunders”. And rather than Continued on page 7

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Time for some real research to arrest this dangerous development DEAR EDITOR, Over the past few weeks the reports in the dailies seem not to have shocked us sufficiently to unearth in us, enough outrage and concern for the dangerous place in which our young people seem to have found themselves, with respect to senseless violence.

Going back to March 2011 a Kaieteur News Headline read; “Armed Student Gang from City School invades West Demerara Secondary.”

In this situation it was reported that a group of students boarded a mini-bus in Georgetown and traveled to Region Three and invaded a school to get even with another student. Then, on 19th February 2012 an online newspaper caption read: “Guyanese Schoolboy stabbed to death in row over girl.” On this occasion the local media reported that 17 year old Anfernee Bowman died after receiving several stab wounds at the hands of one of his classmates, from an evening lesson. According to reports the incident occurred shortly after the two were dismissed from classes.

Less than a month after, on 17th May 2012, the Stabroek News headline, again, read “Teen stabbed to death during brand name clothing argument”. This time the family of 17 year old Shane George was plunged into sudden mourning. The reporters again told us that Shane succumbed to several stab wounds inflicted, by a class mate whom he attends evening lessons with.

Continuing with the teen violence, a Demerara Waves repor on 19th May 2012 read, “Unease over gang visits to LBI Primary School; student chopped”. In this report it was stated that earlier in the week a gang, on behalf of one student, visited the school to exact vengeance on another student. In this case 16 year old Dameon Jones is alleged to have received a chop in his head. Teachers, we learnt, are

fearful for their lives as the gang had returned to the school and issued threats.

Regardless of the specific facts of the cases it is clear that, as a nation, we are faced with a serious and dangerous situation of teen violence, which requires our urgent, necessary and collective effort. For too long we have placed little or no emphasis on seriously addressing the urgent needs of our children who continue to resort to violence to vent their anger, rage or feeling. No real effort, in my mind, is made to engage in the kind of scientific investigation necessary to address the many problems faced by our youth.

Somehow we seem to think that resorting to archaic means of dealing with the problems will work, or better yet we act as though there is a generic solution to the myriad of problems and issues our youth are struggling with daily.

So, on the issue with the students who left the city and invaded another school in another region, we seem to think that suspending the students from school is the ultimate solution to their unwarranted behavior. While we make the dangerous mistake to fail to recognize that suspension from school alone is not the answer to a deeper social problem. Too often the need for urgent counseling is negated and the troubled teen is left to deal with issues as he/she sees fit.

Today, there should be at least one social worker attached to every high school in Guyana, or have teachers specifically trained to offer more extensive help to students who are experiencing serious social, emotional and psychological problems. This is what development in education means, ensuring that we have sufficiently emotionally and psychologically balanced students in the classroom, a desire which aids in the benefit of all.

It is time the Ministry of Social Services, Ministry of Youth and Culture, and the Ministry of Education work in close and meaningful cooperation to ensure that the violence in our school, and among our teens are properly

dealt with. It is time for serious interagency cooperation! Where is the University of Guyana in all of this, we seem not to recognize the value of our only tertiary education institution in meeting the needs of the challenges in our society.

It is time the government considers contracting the University to conduct scientific studies to deal with teen violence. Let us engage the department of Social Work and Sociology and contract the services of the professionals. It is time we do some real research to arrest this dangerous development.

A country, especially one which has a population of fewer than 800,000, cannot afford to have its most valuable resource being depleted so senselessly. Let us do the kind of research needed and invest in the future of Guyana. I often wonder if we lack the ability to conduct research, or is it that we like to find ‘plaster solutions’ to problems. I say it is time to get scientific, and

invest in research to help the nation’s youth, the time of ‘guesstimation’is over a nation’s youth is crying out for help!

Many of us may offer some kind of reason for these problems, some of us are quick to blame the parents, in fact a few years ago one man wrote and extensive article in the Guyana Chronicle in which he blames the single parent families for crimes in Guyana, some blame the school. I say it is time to shelf the blame and get on with the business of tackling the problem, research must be undertaken. It will also be a good thing if we take the time to examine how our own inaction might be a contributing factor to the escalation of this dangerous state of affairs. While many of us may be going about our business as though we are immune from the effects of teen violence because for us it has not directly affect us, I wish to remind us that the wrath of this violence is closer to us that we imagine. We must not forget that we live

in a society where the young will soon become the adults in charge of our affairs and so we must care who will take care of us in those latter years.

We, therefore, must be concerned now that we aid their ability to be compassionate, responsible, respectful and accountable. A teacher, recently, said to me that when she stood in front of a certain class and realize that twenty years later she might go to the doctor and have to be attended to by one of the said students it made her go the extra mile to impart more than academics. I hope that we will come to the realization that we too, as members of society have a role to play; that old African proverb; “ora na azu nwa” translated “it takes a community/ village to raise a child” is quite instructive on our role as members as society.

Hillary Clinton, who popularized that African phrase wrote in her 1996 book titled, ‘It takes a Village and Other Lessons Children

Teach Us’ wrote; “How well we care for our own and other people’s children isn’t only a question of morality; our selfinterest is at stake too.” And while we can find good nostalgic moments of ‘what was’ it should offer us no excuse for our inaction but rather forces us to act in the interest of helping a youth better his life and by extension our own future.

A few days ago while listening to the ‘Yolander Adams Morning Radio Show’ the commentator asked listeners to share their views as to whether they think the church is still a force to be reckon with in society, one caller gave a most emphatic yes, she went on to explain how in her community the church is dominant and that from getting a resume written to assisting in job skills training, you can go to the church and get some help.

Today I want to ask a broader question, is the religious community still a force to reckon with in our own Continued on page 7

Will the PPP blow the opportunity Nov. 28, 2011 has...

From page 4 TUF coalition in 1964, the hope was that Guyana would be spared communism and its dictatorial propensity.

But then Burnham wound up leading Guyana to independence in May 1966, creating euphoric atmosphere in the country. In February 1970, he made Guyana a Cooperative Republic and embarked on state ownership of commanding heights of the economy, starting with the nationalization of Demba in July 1971. In December 1974, he embarked on a bloodless socialist revolution, and we can pretty much conclude that it was rapidly downhill from there for Guyana and Guyanese.

When he died in August 1985, his successor, the late Desmond Hoyte, changed the political trajectory of the country, and while there were discernable signs of progress, his efforts were cut short by calls for free and fair elections, which resulted in the Jagan-led PPP taking power in October 1992.

After Jagan died in March 1997, his wife captained the ship of state, from December 1997 to August 1999, when Bharrat Jagdeo took over and presided until November 2011.

Throughout the entire foregoing period after independence, Guyana and Guyanese experienced fleeting moments of stable and sound living, despite the socioeconomic constraints associated with a poor country, which was,

nevertheless, sitting on untapped natural resources. But the true meaning of political independence never seemed to resonate deeply with Guyanese, in so far as political and civil rights, economic and social justices were concerned.

Burnham became increasingly autocratic. Jagan went from staunch communist to strangely confused. His wife seemed more enamored of communism and the PPP than Guyana.

Jagdeo, a symbol of youth, energy and hope replicated Burnham in many respects, except that whereas Burnham was overcome with political greed, Jagdeo was overcome with personal greed. One died and left nothing much; the other is alive and has gotten much.

Too much!

So what exactly was the purpose of political independence? Where are the direct benefits of independence for Guyanese? It would seem that political independence benefited politicians and their associates than the people of Guyana, but nothing is more disturbing about the seeming failure of political independence than to recognize Guyanese now in countries under governments run by white people whom our political leaders spent decades vilifying. What an indictment against our political leaders as Guyanese assumed foreign and even dual citizenships!

No one seems to know the exact numbers, but we are told that over

500,000 Guyanese live abroad. From the much despised Britain, to the disparaged America to the delicately detested Canada, Guyanese can be found living their dreams in another land.

And what is worse is that even after the PPP returned to power in 1992, not only did its support base not return home in droves as expected, but the base keeps migrating from a country that is 83,000 square miles in size, with less than 1 million in population and untapped economic potential.

But even if we were to agree in unison that political independence has not delivered because our political leaders failed, how can the leaders not get the message from the people on November 28, 2011, that they want the government to change the way it does business?

November 28, 2011 could well be as symbolically significant as May 26, 1966, if only the political leaders could, for once, put the people’s interests and concerns first. For once, symbolism can finally become substance!

Will the PPP blow the opportunity November 28, 2011 has presented, the same way the PNC blew the opportunity May 26, 1966 had presented? After all, we should be celebrating November 28, not wondering about its possible consequences!

Emile Mervin

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur M@ilbox Kaieteur M@ilbox OUR YOUTHS HAVE BEEN ABANDONED

DEAR EDITOR, Capital News questioned several lawyers on their Monday May 20, 2012 broadcast on the phenomenon of the number of youths before the Magistrate courts on serious criminal charges and comments made at the vigil two nights later brought responses of bewilderment to those questioned and of course hints to neglect on the parental front. But it was the response of lawyer Vic Puran in the first broadcast who simplified the matter by stating erroneously that young people “They don’t want to work ect. “ I take offence to the escapist pronouncement of Vic Puran on the grounds that he must be aware of the process that enveloped this country in a criminal culture that thrashed and corrupted every positive social value system.

The period of ‘Roger Khan’ inserted and legitimized the community of drug

trafficking; recruiting hundreds of young men on both sides of the ‘murder fence’, allowing legal counselors and policemen to get rich by imposing a criminal class on the value system of this nation with rights above the law.

The impact of that criminal phase on the human and economic fabric of this society has not yet become public debate and attempts are made to pretend it never existed.

A generation of Guyanese have grown up to ‘sanctioned murders’ , drive by shootings, the arrest and disappearances of brothers, fathers and neighbours; the accepted presence of ‘junkies;’ they are conscious of privileged drug dealers and hit men who are merely arrested and released when they commit murders or any offence, and who work for politicians. To towns and a city saturated with rubbish, human filth and fallen humanity that seems not to be the concern of

any authority.

Are we not witnessing the result of the legacy of the Bharat Jagdeo dispensation?

The PPP destroyed the National Service because it was Burnham’s idea, ignoring its skill training centers, discipline and character moulding in the interest of national responsibility.

Parents today are hardly able to provide the basics, much less the environment for an education system that seems unsure of the text books they will use for each school term.

Assignments have to be done with computer stations meaning computer, printer and adequate software plus inks and printing paper. When I attended school everyone wore the proverbial ‘bush Clarkes’ so there was no taunting or dress disputes.

But the State is accountable for waging war on young Guyana. not so long ago the State mandated the Police Force to pick up youngsters from as young as twelve

Guyana is no more a democracy today...

From page 5 acknowledge the widelycirculated view that the PPP was abandoned by many of its supporters because of its wanton corruption, Mr. Bisram conveniently claims that the PPP lost support because its supporters believe that PNC supporters have benefitted more from PPP rule.

He then addressed our nation’s obsession with voting along racial lines by making the equivocal claim that he has never “seen any outward document in which the PPP directly called on its supporters to vote race.”

Well, did the PPP “indirectly” make the call? Or did Mr. Bisram see an “inward document” that made a direct or indirect call?

Mr. Bisram’s decision to refer to a PPP document on racial voting rather than to what the PPP said on racial voting amounts to nothing but a disingenuous attempt

to hold the PPP guiltless in our nation’s traditional raceappeal politics, by restricting its communication with its constituents to a documented process. Well, everyone knows that meetings at homes and other places are the PPP’s preferred and most-widely used mode of communication with its constituents. With regard to the AFC, however, Mr. Bisram knows what it said in Indian villages. This begs the question: How come he, a field pollster, has never heard of, or did not report, what the PPP said in Indian villages about voting along racial lines?

As a patriot, I prefer to spend my time thinking of ways to build our nation. So this is my last response to Mr. Bisram on this issue. I hope that he will join with other patriots in demanding that the PPP government demonstrate its commitment to institutionalized democracy by coming clean on NICIL,

reconstituting the constitutionally-mandated Office of the Ombudsman (that existed under the PNC), establishing the constitutionally-mandated Public Procurement Commission, and allowing private radio stations as constitutionally-mandated and court-ordered.

In closing, I want to assure Mr. Bisram that I really don’t need to read anything to understand what has been going on in Guyana because I have been an eyewitness to, and have suffered from, the tragedies our nation has endured.

But if he doubts my ability to process what I have seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, and experienced bodily and emotionally, he can suggest “objective sources” from which I could read “historical accounts” about what I have seen, heard, and experienced.

Lionel Lowe

years old in several Afro Guyanese villages and pass them through the criminal process of finger printing and detention, Political/Cartel collaboration ripped into the impressionable imagination of our youth when the method used to murder the relatives of wanted men or burn their relatives houses became public discourse. I can cite numerous cases in which the state cultivated or ignored lawlessness for its own callous prejudices and spite and all through that national nightmare, a traumatized young Guyana was itself involved. How old was the young man whose genitalia was mutilated, or the children of the disappeared cane cutters and Donna Herod, as they stood witness, and in the case of Donna Herod, Clement Rohee justified what had happened by blaming the village.

Parents are indeed culpable. During the late eighties a negative materialism emerged with the new found money of suitcase and marijuana trading and the brand name nouveau riche emerged. In that period I gave one of my children a sum of money to purchase school items. The child went to the Venders Arcade and bought a brand name sneakers. I took my child back, demanded my money in no nice terms while relatives and other acquaintances reproached me to which I responded ‘Yard style’ directing them to do as they wish with their own children. My child was able to get a bag, a strong brand less sneaker and some school accruements; did well at school and today has a significant career. In my day I wore the best, partied a lot, but I grew up. At the funeral of my friend’s father some years ago the pastor lamented that he was invited

to bless a new home but was astonished that all the electronic equipment was installed with the latest DVDs and CDs but there was no study space for the children to study and there was no evidence of a bookshelf or books in the home. A philosophy has to be imparted to parents. We must not assume that many of them, rich or poor, understand or know that fashion and advertised luxuries on TV are not intended for public mimicry. Today, that nouveau riche culture has expanded to the extremes of political nepotism, intentionally strangling all else.

Much work has to be done with our Educational system; the last Minister of Education was a disaster. I will give one example of concern with Education, I was asked by a member of the Lions to assist with preparing graphic posters at a primary school.

We on more than one morning encountered a youngster who was outside of the class and asked us to buy something for him to eat.

Unlike Vic Puran, we recognize the constraints of many homes including ours, and we complied. One occasion he was outside of the class

because he had hit another student, a female. We both enquired from the teacher what was his problem and she replied that “Some ah them I ent able with”. We proceeded trying to digest what she had said. After the third engagement with the children we realized that there was no art teacher at the school. I protested explaining that at the primary stage art was necessary to teach them concepts, allow their imagination to develop, because art has mathematical principles which can be activated in young children.

This teacher told us that “They will learn that in secondary school, they don’t need art in primary school.

We endured this because we were all in the class room with the youngsters, thus the failure begins in that case with the teacher herself. Vic Puran must know as a recipient of affluent criminal clients that the Magistrates courts are the end result for many whose frustrations incline them to think; wrongfully so, that the evidence around them that crime pays, also applies to them.

Barrington Braithwaite

Time for some real research...

From page 6 society, let me go on to answer by ardently stating yes, I therefore ask our religious leaders to take this issue of teen violence head on. I also ask those who are active members of civil society to treat this dangerous phenomenon of teen violence as urgent. And what about all those decent law abiding citizens let us reach out to help a youth in need, be a mentor to someone it will surely go a long way and positively benefit you in the long run, we each have a role to play. Let us lobby our legislatures to take action now to arrest this avoidable and unwarranted threat to our youth. I ask the Tenth Parliament of Guyana to take action to save the future of Guyana, let us stop this senseless killing. A nation’s human resources will continue to be its most valuable resource, it is therefore imperative that we take every action possible to protect and invest in our young people.

Lurlene Nestor

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Man chops police, shot dead Investigations are continuing into a fatal shooting yesterday afternoon during which one man was shot dead by a female police rank at Vergenoegen, Essequibo. Dead is 42 year old Shawn Watkins of lot 25 Vergenoegen.

His death same one day before his mother was to have been buried. The woman had collapsed and died earlier in the week.

According to police reports, Watkins was killed after he attacked and chopped two officers who were responding to a 911 call made by a relative against the man.

Kaieteur News was told that after the officers arrived at the house, Watkins was allegedly armed with two cutlasses. This newspaper was told Watkins attacked two of the officers.

The injured officers were identified as Jomo Williams, 29, and Alex Solomon, 20.

This newspaper was further told that the officers made several attempts to calm the suspect down, but failed.

Watkins allegedly charged the policemen and chopped them, prompting the others to open fire.

According to a general duty police officer, Alex Solomon, 20, of Golden

Grove, East Coast Demerara a report was made that “the rastaman,” Shawn Watkins tried to chop a female acquaintance and threatened to burn her house down.

The officer said that he and two others went to arrest Watkins. “When we went there he pick up two cutlasses and had us waiting a whole hour.” He said that after the man was making continuous threats at them, they called for backup and four other police officers went to the scene.

After that Watkins still failed to surrender and the patrol called and asked for permission to shoot.

According to the officer permission was granted and when one police officer fired the first shot, “Rastaman run to us and start chopping and the patrol open fire at him,” Solomon stated.

It is unclear how many shots Watkins sustained but according to Solomon, he appeared to be dead.

When Kaieteur News visited the GPHC yesterday, Williams was receiving treatments in the Accident and Emergency Unit. Solomon who received a chop wound on his hand was in the hospital waiting area. He said he believed Williams is critical because he received chops in

his back and belly.

Meanwhile at the scene of the shooting none of the relatives was forthcoming with any information even though they had initially called and asked for the matter to be highlighted.

Relatives said that they were not prepared to say anything since they were preparing for another funeral.

They said that another relative who happened to be a very senior police officer told them to avoid speaking to the press. The senior officer was also there but he kept his distance from the other relatives.

Meanwhile a short distance away from where the shooting occurred, a resident collapsed and died. This newspaper was told that the man whose identity has not been ascertained was walking along the public road when he collapsed.

Several attempts to call an ambulance were unsuccessful. According to reports residents covered the body with a piece of cloth until the undertakers arrived.

Kaieteur News was told that the body was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital mortuary for identification and post mortem.

US-based foundation gives to less fortunate

Persons collecting their bags from members of the foundation at a residence in Little Diamond In addition to teaching yoga and empowering women, the New York-based Krishna Foundation yesterday donated over 200 bags of groceries, clothing, shoes, toys, books and other necessities to those in need.

Its Founder and President, Sandy Sooknanan, said that the charity is one that was set up specifically to help Guyanese.

She explained that the bags for those who have been

identified by members of the foundation were packed accordingly.

“When we meet someone, we see their needs, and so we pack the bags appropriately.

This ensures that they get enough of what they need”.

The foundation also has its widow fund. This is set up to assist widows and or single mothers in doing repairs to their homes, as well as providing training for them to take up a trade.

“When we teach them a trade, we make contact with persons who will sponsor them. Like if we teach them sewing, we will find someone to buy that person a sewing machine,” Sooknanan said.

The programme is an annual one that has been going on for seven years. It was registered in the United States four years ago.

Its members are to return in a few months with even more items to donate.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Fire strikes MFK building, damage totals millions of dollars

Firefighters manage to open the building after more than 30 minutes.

Fire fighters had their work cut out last night before they finally contained a fire of a so far unknown origin which had engulfed the G. Bacchus Enterprise building (formerly MFK) on Hadfield Street, last night.

The blaze which started around 20:00 hours destroyed millions of dollars in stocks which were contained in the ground floor, which houses a supermarket and the first floor that stored household appliances.

The other floors of the four-storey building along with the items that were stored there suffered significant water damage as firefighters, using the state of the art crane used to fight fires in high rise buildings, battled desperately to prevent the fire from spreading throughout the building.

Their aim was also to contain it to the building since another major enterprise adjoined it. That business, Ashmin’s Trading, is owned by Lennox John When the fire started the entire building was shut tight and the firemen were forced to break open the heavy metal shutters as well as glass windows to effectively fight the blaze.

Kaieteur news learnt that the entire building was secured since Friday as yesterday was a public holiday. The owner was reportedly in Berbice and no one else had the keys, as thick smoke billowed from the few windows at the top of the building that were left opened.

After about 30 minutes of trying to break the locks, the firefighters were then able to access the inside of the building which by then was completely dark as a result of the electricity supply to the building being cut off. The firemen, using flashlights, eventually managed to locate where the fire was and began

controlling it, before it could threaten the nearby Ashmin’s Trading.

Fortunately there was no shortage of water, as the nearby hydrants were in working order.

According to a source, the sound of a generator being started was heard following by what appeared to be an explosion.

“I live at the back of the building and around eight o’clock I just hear de generator come on and then I hear, bam!

We start seeing smoke from between the first floor and the second floor,” the source said.

This story was corroborated by a security guard who worked at a nearby building.

In less than five minutes firefighters from the nearby central fire station arrived and went into action.

Eventually, two hours after the fire started, the owner of the building arrived on the scene but by then the business had suffered tremendous losses.

Smoke still billowed from the building because it could only go up. A senior fire officer said that had the building been accessed earlier the fire would have been contained to the first floor.

Instead, it spread to the other floors, fed by the flammable materials inside.

He lamented the absence of a building code. The building was too tall for the zone and that in itself created problems.

At times, the fire would break out at a location where it was thought to be contained. This caused the firemen to train their hoses from one location to another.

In the end they fought the blaze from above and below.

While there could have been no inspection of the damage it was doubtful that anything escaped water damage.

The arrival of the owner allowed for easier access to the entire building and two hours later the firemen were certain that the fire was well and truly contained.

Exhumed remains not Bishop’s, ministers ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada CMC - Grenada’s ecumenical organisation which has been leading the search for the remains of Maurice Bishop and his cabinet colleagues said yesterday that bones discovered by forensic anthropologists in the public cemetery here were not those of the prime minister and other cabinet colleagues, slain in a palace coup 28 years ago.

“The group found remains, they found bones, but they were easily identified as not belonging to those who were shot on the fort that day,” said Father Seon Doggett, spokesman for the

Grenada Conference of Churches (GCC) which is leading the project to solve the mystery of what happened to the bodies of Bishop who along with an unknown number of civilians were executed at the army’s headquarters, Fort Rupert, now named Fort George.

The GCC, the umbrella organisation for Grenada’s religious community, in collaboration with the Grenada government and St. George’s University, brought a nine-member team of forensic anthropologists to conduct a search for the remains of the men and women killed at Fort George.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 9

Dem boys seh In 2009 there were almost 900 cases of child abuse reported. In 2010 the figure was 3,400 cases; in 2011, we surpassed 4,000 cases. Of these cases more than 50 percent have been committed in Region Four while Regions Three, Five, Six and Ten where cases range from six to 16 percent.

This is a tragedy. What is more mind boggling are incidences that have not been reported and those that continue to take place and go unreported given the geography of the other regions.

Our children have fallen victim to various types of abuse physical, sexual, verbal, neglect and abandonment to mention a few.

The statistics reveal that the majority of our children who are abused are of primary school age. These are followed by those at the secondary level, particularly those not attending school.

Many of these children are taken out of their homes and sent to live with other family members since the perpetrators, to a large extent, are parents, relatives, and step-parents.

Even with the passing of specific legislations to address the plight of our children, the abuse continues unabated. This leaves us with the task of finding other mechanisms whereby we can successfully address this crime inflicted upon our future generation. This brings me to the point of parents and parenting.

There is that old adage that ‘every male can father but not all males can be a father’. Similarly it is believed that ‘every woman has the ability to bear a child, but not all women can be mothers’.

The values which we were known to embrace as a people have changed dramatically. We are obligated as leaders to ensure that those who are given the opportunity to be mothers and fathers are given the knowledge and understand their responsibility in the upkeep and upbringing of their off spring.

While some will make mistakes, there are those amongst us who will seek to neglect their responsibilities and we must ensure that they are dealt with in accordance with the law. No parent must

Phillips gets thumbs up - Sectors approve Budget presentation THREE OF the country’s main private-sector lobbies have embraced Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips’ Budget presentation as an encouraging step in the right direction.

The decision to lower the rate of the general consumption tax (GCT) while widening the base of items that will now be taxed and the proposed reduction in the corporate income-tax rate are among several measures that found favour with the leadership of the Jamaica Exporters’ Association, the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC).

JMA Deputy President Metry Seaga, speaking at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum held at the newspaper’s central Kingston offices Friday, argued that the move in relation to the GCT could be Phillips’ way of telling the country that the GCT rate would be further reduced and more items removed from the exempt list.

send a four-year-old onto the street without someone accompanying him or her.

Children must not be kept from attending school because they must baby-sit the younger ones, nor should parents be allowed to spend the Public Assistance on clothes, beauty parlours or on their paramours.

On the other hand, Government must be willing to give assistance where a legitimate need exists.

Specific efforts must be made to ensure that equal opportunities exist for all sections of our society.

Discrimination must never be encouraged; there must be equitable distribution of the national wealth to our people.

Regrettably, the 2012 Budget falls woefully short in addressing this issue. The yearly increase of persons using the Night Shelter — 5,500 in 2010 and almost 6,000 in 2011, tells the dismal story of the inability of persons to cope on their own. Further, the almost 300 residents at the Palms remind us that families are at their breaking point and cannot carry the burden of taking care of their senior relatives.

It further reminds us of the ever widening gap between the few who have, and the many who ‘have not’.

The 2012 Budget does not begin to address in any tangible way these issues. I

want to publicly declare that the issues which our people face each day must be addressed. APNU believes that the 2012 Budget must be the beginning of this process.

We cannot accept nor can we consent to the past president receiving approximately 3M$ in pension and benefits while our seniors are given a mere $20 a day increase, nor that our most vulnerable must be grateful for the 13$ a day increase.

This is an affront to Guyanese. ?We will not accept the reductions in the appropriations for the Social Services while the Government boasts of six consecutive years of positive growth and a revenue of 12.1percent over the previous year yielding some $120.9B. We of A PARTNERSHIP FOR NATIONAL UNITY cannot and will not allow you to give the spoils of the sweat and hard work of our ordinary citizens to the friends and families of this Government.

We therefore, will carefully attend to the appropriations as allocated in the estimates of this 2012 Budget and ensure that justice is served. We hope that the Government, which boasts of their concern for the ordinary people will be like minded and make the necessary adjustments to ensure the smooth passage of this Budget.

Hot Wax and Broken Glass

Dr. Peter Phillips “He has said to us and to the nation, ‘Listen, please understand that this is a first step, it is the intention to get the GCT rate lower, it is the intention to have more products taken off of the exempt list whilst lowering the rate’,” Seaga opined.

“So for me, the minister has turned in the right direction and probably even taken a step in that direction,” he added.

(Jamaica Gleaner)

From page 3 around and within us which frighten us from fully engaging in the present moment.

If everything “out there” is an illusion, the truth lies within each of us; our experiences and interactions with the world bring us information and knowledge about ourselves as well as shed light on the limitations we impose out of fear. The truth remains that the world outside of us is the distorted like pieced together broken glass. Wholeness exists within each of us should we choose to look deep within our glorious nature!

While each of us entered into a human experience with a flame within to offer the world, some of us shine brighter not because of genetics, but due to choice.

People focus on enhancing their gifts with enlightening people and circumstances which increases awareness and in turn, empowers others. By comprehending the far-reaching impact of negativity, you slowly realize that to clean it up involves crawling around in the debris of that which you created in the first place. If you don’t address it, find it and sweep it up, it will resurface to impact you later on.

The illusions of what you think you see about yourself and the world around you easily dissipate when you shine your own light of insight and understanding on your beliefs. When you realize the wax doesn’t make the flame brighter or duller, it merely provides a temporary constraint to contain the inner core (wick) that burns within you, you’ll realize the temporary human experience merely holds the bright burning spirit of who you are!

Uncle Donald sing ‘Welcome to Jam rock’ De whole place like it going mad. A man see police wid gun and he decide to attack dem. He chop two and he dead.

Now when de same police use to put out dem statement how dem had gun and man still use to attack dem people use to seh that de police lie because no man in he right senses would attack de police who got gun.

Well a man show dem that it does happen but de sad thing is that de police got to get chop. Dem boys seh that another stupid thing happen. Right near de fire station a building ketch fire. De fire service people was there but some of dem tek a break fuh de independence because dem believe that was a good night.

Some of dem had big plans fuh see Damien Marley. Well when de fire start nuff of dem had problems. Some of dem decide that dem gun lef de wuk because dem woman want see Marley and if dem didn’t carry dem some other man woulda do it.

De few who been try dem best. De only thing is that dem ain’t getting double pay. This time while de fire blazing Uncle Donald heading to de stadium. He pass by de fire to mek sure that Parliament safe because he planning fuh get back de money dem cut from de budget. When he realize wasn’t parliament he start to sing, “Welcome to Jam rock”.

But was Rohee. As Home Affairs Minister he had to put in an appearance. He vex. When de fire out and he go to de show people keep away from he because he smell of smoke.

He tell some people is a new cologne.

But talk fuh rain, Bharrat Jagdeo didn’t go to de Independence anniversary celebrations. Dem boys seh that since he done wid de presidency he done wid everything that got to do wid de nation. Is a shame. He shoulda go to de flag raising. But then again nuff of dem Minister didn’t go.

Dem boys she that dem eyes pass Uncle Donald.

If was Bharrat all of dem woulda go. If dem did do that when Bharrat was president all of dem woulda been out of de loop. Dem woulda been paupers today.

Talk half and lef half.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

…as critical repairs continue on Demerara Harbour Bridge Management of the Demerara Harbour Bridge began the second leg of critical repairs yesterday, but despite the Independence Day holiday, there were major traffic woes for commuters.

According to General Manager of the facility, Rawlston Adams, work at the moment is on schedule to be completed by Tuesday.

“The traffic is terrible. We are asking drivers and passengers to bear with us during this time. We want the message to get out that we are working as fast as possible. Please be patient.”

The critical works involved changing several sections of the retractor span of the bridge. During the first phase late last month, sections of the eastern section of the ramp were replaced. Work was finished way before the deadline. The works were to have been completed within six days.

This second phase, delayed because of weather, was set to coincide with Independence Day which was celebrated yesterday and which would have seen not too much traffic using the facility.

Yesterday, work was ongoing on the northwestern section of the ramp.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Ongoing works on the bridge yesterday

To speed up works, materials had been mobilized way before the work started and brought to the bridge on a pontoon.

However, it appeared that not many drivers were aware of the works despite the notices to mobile phones and other advertisements. The one-lane traffic was at times stalled for several minutes as impatient drivers attempted to overtake, creating a traffic jam. There were also instances of vehicular breakdowns.

Drivers and passengers complained of being on the bridge for as long as an hour.

According to Adams, the police are helping with the traffic flow situation.

“It is too early to say whether we would be finished before Tuesday as anything can go wrong. But we are keeping our fingers crossed.”

The 34-year-old Demerara Harbour Bridge, considered one of the longest floating structures of its kind, is way past its life span and government has been highly challenged to ensure that it remains operational.

It is being heavily subsidized by government with maintenance cost hitting the roof in recent years.

The bridge management is on a major drive to replace The traffic lines were long on the bridge.

pontoons and deck plates.

Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars are being released annually for the maintenance.

Maintenance cost far outstrips the revenues.

Government has insisted

that the bridge is at its strongest.

With several new housing schemes in the West Demerara area, the bridge has been placed under considerable strain to take off the heavy sand trucks and

other heavy vehicles transporting housing materials.

There are over 10,000 vehicles being added annually to the roads in Guyana, Government says.

The harbour bridge provides a critical link between West Demerara, Essequibo and the city.

Government has been examining alternative facilities.

According to Prime Minister Sam Hinds, during a recent press conference, Government is not ruling out a similar arrangement to the Berbice Bridge where a private/public partnership would be used to raise capital.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

FRAUD at Little Diamond / Herstelling NDC The spotlight is once more being focused on the Little Diamond/ Herstelling East Bank Demerara Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) as residents accuse the staff at the NDC office of being involved in fraudulent actions.

Reports are that two senior NDC officials have been fleecing persons contracted by the NDC to do cleaning and garbage collection in the area by having them sign blank cheques and receipts before they can uplift their payments. The workers are also required to hand over their National Identification Cards (ID) to the NDC and some are even asked to pay a fee of $500 to have someone change the cheques on their behalf.

When these “employees” questioned why the payment was being conducted in this manner, they say that they are told that the Ministry of Local Government needs to “verify” the amount that they are being paid.

According to Zamo Ally, he was contracted by the NDC to clean drainage between Little Diamond and Herstelling at a rate of $160 per rod but he requested to be paid $500 per rod, which was promised to him.

He was never paid.

“I was dissatisfied with the condition and payment of work where the Overseer told us that a new system is in place where the Ministry had to verify the amount so we can get paid. I never see the amount of money on the cheque but I had to pay $500 for the Overseer to cash my cheque. I am asking that this matter to be investigated thoroughly,” said Ally.

He said that he has been contracted to clean the drains for the past four years but this year the payment method was different.

“I had to cash the cheque myself and give back $24,000 to the office clerk at the NDC the said time March 3, 2012. I do believe the money is mine so I decided to give up the contract until things are done in the right manner.”

Ramesh Totaram, of Herstelling New Scheme explained that he has never asked or instructed former Overseer Prashad to change

his cheque but he “had” to sign a blank cheque and receipt before he could be paid as well. He also had to give Prashad his ID card.

“The cheque #32144818 for $80,000 for the purchase of one (1) Massey Ferguson 165 engine back housing and one (1) hydraulic filter bolt, I NEVER sold the NDC, and neither did I collect ANY money for the said housing,” Totaram stated in a letter he had addressed to the Local Government Ministry.

As for Shamal Ally of Herstelling, he firmly emphasised that he has never requested or instructed the two senior officials to change his cheque, however, he was told that he would be paid in cash. This was due to him querying cheque payments where the NDC would give someone a bounced cheque.

He, like others, was told to sign on a blank cheque and a blank receipt and to hand over his ID card which he would usually do.

Shamal stated that at no point did he ever receive a large amount of cash as reflected on cheques with his name from the NDC. “I at no time received any large amount of money shown on cheque #321366844 for $98,000 because I was being paid $7,000 per load but only worked six loads which amounted to $42,000. The cheque showed $98,000 and these records could be verified from the guard book at C.C.I on the date of work. There is also another cheque that has similar problems,” said Shamal.

Copies of cheques dated from January 2011 to October of 2011 were also submitted to Kaieteur News where signatures of both the former Overseer and present Chairperson were visible.

Most of these cheques were encashed for sums over $50,000 for persons per month and payable to persons contracted by the NDC. However, one man identified as Sohan Tulsidas, who was hired to collect garbage with a vehicle, was being paid $84,000 almost every month to execute his duties.

Residents are arguing that this payment is “unjustified” and is part of a “con scheme” since Tulsidas does not Continued on page 13

Page 11

Berbice PTAs, students reject MOE’s automatic promotion The Ministry of Education’s automatic promotion policy, which was implemented two years ago, is being rejected by Berbice Parent-teacher Associations (PTAs) and students, on the premise that it has contributed to poor performances in the classroom.

Even with the policy’s pros of reducing overcrowding in classrooms, reduction of financial woes on the family, and allowing the development of students’ self-esteem, parents and students feel it is destructive.

These views were expressed at a consultation held by the Ministry on Wednesday at the New Amsterdam Secondary School. The consultation led

by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, is the first of a series planned to determine whether the policy will remain, be amended or be discarded.

According to the former Chairman of Berbice High School PTA, the implementation of the automatic promotion policy was a grave injustice to the Ministry. He suggested that in the primary level automatic promotion should be permitted owing to age constraints. However, at the secondary level automatic promotion should be removed and students who fail should repeat the class.

The automatic promotion policy was blamed for students’ lethargic behaviour in the classroom. Cognizant

Guyana anticipated EU sugar cuts From page 3 no clear “indication” of the timing.

This, he said, led to unanticipated lost revenue from sugar and as a result Government would have needed to plug the $4B. But according to Persaud, inherent in the Sugar Action Plan was “that, there were some strategic decisions taken so that we can rescue, save, sustain and make viable the Guyana Sugar Industry.”

According to Persaud, “We also recognise that when this announcement came many of the countries within the Region, and elsewhere in fact, decided that they would leave sugar, and close down their i n d u s t r i e s … B u t recognising the potential socio-economic difficulties this can pose and also recognising too that sugar itself can be part of our overall National Development Plan going forward, given the work and the feasibility done as well as the potential that

Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy exists, the Government took that conscious decision that we will be staying with sugar and in so doing we had to make changes.”

The then Agriculture Minister told the Parliamentary Economic Services Committee that following a similar engagement with that Committee in 2008 “we have seen an acceleration of these changes and in

some regards, we have seen implementation or at least the commencement of implementation of some of those strategic decisions which were captured within the Guyana National Action Plan or the Strategic Plan to save, rescue, sustain and make viable the Guyana Sugar Industry.”

He said, “Some of those decisions or some of those actions include: the commissioning of the Skeldon Sugar Factory, a mammoth investment; an investment close to US$190M…That was the actualization of the original plan…We also saw the full co-generation of component of that project kicked in, and in fact has been supplying electricity to the national grid.”

This, he said, has been in a way, the salvation to Berbice electricity woes and difficulties.

Two years later however the Skeldon Sugar Factory is yet to be operated at full capacity, plagued with operational problems and

Berbice electricity woes continue seemingly unabated.

Persaud also told that Standing Parliamentary Committee two years ago that, “in terms of fulfilling those strategic and broad objectives, the new Board was tasked with coming up with a blueprint which we call a Strategic Blueprint for Success, commonly referred to as the Turnaround Plan…This Strategic Blueprint for Success, in fact, as the mandate given to the Board, and the Board to Management, is to ensure that we have a workable, practical plan that is consistent with the overall strategic objectives of the industry.”

Persaud pointed out that document, that was developed and approved by the Government in May 2008 and, is in fact the road map.

“We see it as the road map – for the vitalisation and the sustainability of the sugar industry.”

This roadmap is also yet to yield the desired results.

that promotion to the next Grade is a must regardless of performance students have been taking a “free ride” through the system.

Parents pointed out that some students are not even attending the remediation classes. They emphasized that students need to be motivated to enhance their performance. As such, having class repetition hanging over their heads they will be motivated to study and move onto the next Grade.

According to a grandmother, who is a retired teacher, like students, teachers also need to be motivated. The education system should reintroduce performance based incentives for teachers. She explained that previously, depending on the pass rate of a class a teacher would receive an incentive.

Like teachers who need to step-up and be observant of students’ performances hence reducing the failure rate, parents need to be more

responsible. The PTAs emphasized that many parents neglect their children.

Many parent-teacher conferences are not attended by parents of students who need improvement in studies.

According to the President of the New Amsterdam Secondary School Student Body, from a survey carried out on the morning of the consultation 78 percent of the students present disagree with the policy. Students believe that promotion to another Grade should not be guaranteed but earned.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Aga Khan, the forgotten security guard in the Sash Sawh murder

Many of us would readily recall the murders of Minister Satyadeow Sawh, and his sister and brother on that fateful night of April 22, 2006; some would even remember one of his security guards, Curtis Robertson, who was also shot dead that very night by a gang of marauding killers.

But how many of us will recall the other Security Guard, Aga Khan, who took a bullet in his stomach while working at the Minister’s residence that night.

Khan, now 68-years old, seems to be the forgotten victim of the attack, so much so that apart from the help of his former boss, the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) and the National Insurance Scheme, he is barely eking out a living after almost giving his life guarding a Minister of the present government.

He spoke of being shunned by the administration despite promises of help by senior operatives at Freedom House.

And it was as if the police were not really interested in successfully prosecuting the murders, since they never even took a statement from Khan who was obviously an eyewitness.

Six years after the tragedy, Khan is still reeling from its effects both physically and psychologically.

He has lost one of his kidneys which was damaged by the bullet fired from a high powered rifle, and has sustained damage to his spine If you see him walking down the street, it would appear as if he is drunk. He sways from side to side.

But this condition is a

Khan examines some of the cards for the several clinics he has had to attend for his injuries. result of the trauma and head injury he sustained after he was shot.

Today Khan is a walking drug store. He has to see doctors on a regular basis.

But no amount of medical attention could erase the ordeal from his memory and even as he lives out his days, a little help and appreciation is all that he craves.

Khan’s career as a security guard took him to the homes of several Government Ministers, including the late Michael Shree-Chand, Indra Chandarpal and finally Satyadeow Sawh and he came to know them personally.

That is why to this day he cannot understand why he has been so shabbily treated.

Yesterday Khan sat down with Kaieteur News at his Lusignan, East Coast Demerara home and recalled the events that changed his

life as well as the lives of many others.

On the April 22, 2006, around 18:00 hours, Khan and his stepson, Curtis Robertson, reported for duty at Minister Sawh’s Earl’s Court, LBI, East Coast Demerara home. Of course they hadn’t the slightest inclination of the brutality that would have been experienced that night.

Although Guyana was in the midst of an unprecedented crime wave, an attack on a Government Minister was almost unthinkable.

It was for this reason that neither Khan nor his stepson was armed (the Minister had requested unarmed security personnel for his home).

Around 21:00 hours that evening, the Minister and his relatives, including his two sons left the premises for an outside dinner.

According to Khan, the night air was pierced with sporadic bursts from squibs (firecrackers) even at that time of the year, so what followed next really caught him by surprise.

The Minister, his wife Sattie, his brothers and his sister returned home around midnight and sat in the verandah of the single flat house, having a ‘drink’.

Khan had taken up his position at the back of the house under a benab, while his stepson was in front.

The elderly security guard said that he got up and went into an outdoor washroom where he “took a smoke” and “spent a little time”.

While in the washroom, he heard what he thought was the usual squibs and did not take it for anything much.

“When I finished smoking and I came out, I hear hollering and I run.” At the time Khan was unaware of what was actually taking place.

“If a centipede or anything in the house, crawling, they would call for Mr. Khan,” he said.

Thinking that it was one such situation, khan ran towards the front of the house.

Khan did not see anyone but as he was approaching the short stairway, he heard a loud crack and immediately felt a burning in his stomach.

A bullet had passed through his left side.

“The chap was in the corner; probably he must be see when I coming and ‘bow!’ after I fall, all I hear Mr. Sawh say, ‘Take whatever y’all want, don’t harm me family’. And all I hear was three shots.”

The entire ordeal, he said, lasted no more than five minutes and to Khan it did not appear is if the perpetrators were there to commit robbery.

He did not hear what the killers were saying nor did he recognize any of them, since there was not much light in the verandah area.

Khan said that after he was shot he fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete but strangely, he did not lose consciousness.

He recalled that as he turned on his side, he saw his stepson, Curtis Robertson, lying motionless by the gate.

With his whole boy numb, Khan could hardly do anything to help himself or even check on his stepson, who he realized was badly wounded.

According to Khan when the bandits were leaving one of them heard Robertson groan and he turned back and “finished him off.”

“Naturally I see the guy

push the gun through the gate and shoot me stepson, ‘Badow!’ Naturally I see his body raise up and fall back down.” Khan is convinced that had he made a sound he too would have been finished off.

After the killers left, the badly injured Khan, bleeding profusely from his wound, got up and went into the house where he met Mrs. Sawh who had by then emerged from her hiding place.

“I tell she, ‘Mistress, before you start hollering,

one of me kidney, part of me urinary tract and I get a pinched disc.”

The fall he sustained also affected his movement.

“When I walk, I staggering. I know where I am going but I can’t walk in a straight line; I always unbalanced,” Khan explained.

He remained in the hospital for several days and since his discharge he has been unable to work.

Khan has been seeing countless doctors for his condition and although they have been able to prescribe

“I believe I get a l’il raw deal.

I went to Freedom House a couple times and they help me with the Old Age pension. phone fuh de ambulance’,” Khan said.

He managed to make it back outside and retrieved the radio set that the dead Robertson was carrying and made contact with his employers.

Twenty minutes later, his Manager arrived and a few minutes after that an ambulance came and took Khan and another security guard from a nearby residence who was also wounded, to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Khan said that he was conscious all the time until doctors at the hospital sedated him in order to operate on him.

“When I wake up, they done de surgery. It damage

treatment, it has done little to alleviate his suffering.

“One time, Dr (name given) ask me ‘Mr. Khan, you want I open you head and see what’s wrong inside’. I was really pissed off about it but I couldn’t say anything because he is a doctor,” the former security guard told Kaieteur News.

For the past six years, Khan has been trying to get some form of assistance from the administration but so far all he has received are promises.

“I believe I get a li’l raw deal. I went to Freedom House a couple times and they help me with the Old Age pension. I went many time and they say they gun see wha (Continued on page 13)

Aga Khan is saddled with a monthly bill of $15,000 for tablets.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Villagers protest outside Little Diamond/Herstelling NDC - claim chairperson is unapproachable, verbally abusive to residents

Some of the residents who were protesting in front of the Little Diamond/ Herstelling Neighbourhood Democratic Council.

Several villagers from Farm and Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, turned up outside the Little Diamond/ Herstelling Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Wednesday afternoon to protest against the actions of the NDC Chairperson, Bibi

Zameena Sookdeo.

They accused the Chairperson of neglecting her duties and responsibilities that include the upkeep and maintenance of bridges and facilities such as the nursery school which is presently housed in the same

compound with the NDC. At the time of the protest, the council was in the middle of a meeting.

“We need an audit of the NDC,” “No works, no taxes, no help, no votes,” “We need good roads and not the ones that is being filled with sand,”

and “The council MUST go,” were some of the slogans displayed on the placards.

One woman explained that for several months affected residents from the Farm Squatting area have been complaining to Sookdeo about the state of the bridges

Aga Khan, the forgotten security...

(From page 12) they can do. I go and went back and every time they saying ‘noting ain’t fix yet.”

Khan said that he met with the late President Janet Jagan and then General Secretary of the ruling PPP, Donald Ramotar, but nothing tangible was obtained.

“I just get fed up and stop going back. The only person I get help from is my boss man Mr. Richard Kanhai and the CIOG. I was really frustrated,” He is confident, though, that should he get an audience with Ramotar who is now the President, he will be able to successfully put forward his case for some form of assistance.

“If I meet with him, I believe that he will try to make the wrong right. Because I talked to him before and he promised to help me but after I go several times and nothing happened, I never went back.

I went about six, seven times and then I said ‘Look, it makes no sense’,” Khan said.

He was further frustrated when he sought an audience with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds only to be told by the Secretary that he has to write a letter, just to see the official.

Khan recalled that before he came out of hospital he was visited by the dead Minister’s wife.

The security guard said that it was he who advised Mrs. Sawh to leave Guyana following the death of her husband.

“I sit down and say ‘Mrs. Sawh, you got your two kids, don’t stay, move, because these guys done know what is what’, and eventually, the next couple months or so, she move.”

Khan’s medical bill is close to $15,000 per month in tablets alone and with his meager NIS income as well as

his Old Age Pension, he has to rely on the assistance of his former employer and the CIOG. “All the hospital giving me is Panadol and Ibuprofen,” Khan stated.

One man, David Leander, called ‘Biscuit’ had faced the court for the murders but no one was charged with the attempted murder of Aga Khan.

Khan wasn’t even called upon to testify at the trial. It was as if his injury was

insignificant. To make matters worse, the police never even took a statement from him.

He described the work of a security guard as very dangerous and he lamented that there is often no thanks for the work that they do.

But despite all of his ‘mistreatment’ Khan is grateful to his Maker for sparing his life.

“We can run from anything but we cannot run from our destiny,” he said.

FRAUD at Little Diamond/Herstelling...

(From page 11) execute the duties for such payments.

“The contract say how he supposed to have a vehicle and come collect garbage but this man doesn’t own or have such a vehicle and getting paid. No garbage was ever collected by him. We are told he is closely associated or related to Sookdeo but we don’t know or care but this man getting a lot of money for invisible work,” stated one man.

Other villagers told this newspaper that cheques written in the name of a cleaner identified as Santy Balgobind Lindo would amount to an average of

$70,000 a number of times during each month.

“This lady Balgobind Lindo is a cleaner and the NDC issuing cheques in her name for large sums of money even reaching over $100,000 sometimes. At the back of the cheques got the woman signature yes but it also got cash received by Prashad,” another man explained.

Copies of cheques dated September 30, 2011, October 7, 2011 and October 14, 2011 were submitted to this publication where it was evident that this was true.

In fact, these cheques were written and cashed for the sum of $175,000 for each date.

“Is why these cheques being paid so much in this woman name and she just got a simple job? Them at the NDC got good sense making people who don’t know better and working hard for their money sign on blank cheques so they can put large figures and steal out money,” an irate woman told Kaieteur News.

These residents are requesting the Ministry of Local Government to investigate this matter urgently and thoroughly since they are of the opinion that these individuals at the NDC will continue to “con” innocent persons and “fill their own pockets”.

and roads in the area but she seems not to consider those issues important.

“It is a set of elderly people living in here and the bridge is in a terrible state. We try to nail a few boards but there is only so much we can do. Many years now the bridge has been deteriorating and they haven’t taken care of this bridge.

“Nobody at the NDC don’t come and do anything; half of the trench they did and half they didn’t dig and when it rain half the people does get flood and half don’t,” she complained.

At present there are more than 100 houses in the Farm Squatting Area, EBD. A cleaner attached to the Providence Nursery School voiced her concern over the management and upkeep of the school surroundings.

This, she stated, is the responsibility of the said NDC. “Them supposed to look after here and they don’t. The teachers does got to beg parents for money to put in the school.

“The lights not working for a long time in the school and the grass in the compound getting higher

and higher without any weeding. As for the water tank it in bad condition and barely got water and it isn’t clean enough for these little children,” the cleaner argued.

Some parents highlighted the issue of the security hut for the school which they said was in a deplorable state.

Kaieteur News understands that the school does not receive water and complaints have also been made to the NDC about this problem. A number of men in the village told this newspaper that Sookdeo does not treat complainants with respect and gives a bad name to the NDC office since she is “unapproachable”.

“I’m a man and when people goes to her with problems that she as the NDC chairperson supposed to listen and address and see to help us. But when people go to her she does chase them and cuss them up. What type of woman does the Government have employed there? And why can’t Government look into this?” he questioned.

Sookdeo verbally abused a media operative who sought to seek a comment from her concerning a road complaint.

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Kaieteur News

ImmigrationTALK

Changing my Temporary Status while in the U.S.

By Attorney Gail S. Seeram If you want to change the purpose of your visit while in the United States, you (or in some cases your employer) must file a request with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on the appropriate form before your authorized stay expires.

For instance, if you arrived here as a tourist but want to become a student, you must submit an application to change your status. We recommend that you apply as soon as you determine that you need to change to a different nonimmigrant category.

Until you receive approval from USCIS, do not assume the status has been approved, and do not change your activity in the United States. For example, if you are currently a nonimmigrant tourist, do not begin attending school as a student until you have received authorization from USCIS to change your status.

If you fail to maintain your nonimmigrant status, you may be barred from returning to and/or removed (deported)

from the United States. Your authorized status and the date your status expires can be found in the lower right-hand corner of your Form I-94, Arrival-Departure Record.

In general, you may apply to change your nonimmigrant status if you were lawfully admitted to the United States with a nonimmigrant visa, your nonimmigrant status remains valid, you have not violated the conditions of your status, and you have not committed any crimes that would make you ineligible.

You do not need to apply to change your nonimmigrant status if you were admitted into the United States for business reasons (B-1 visa category ) and you wish to remain in the United States for pleasure before your authorized stay expires.

You do not need to apply to change your nonimmigrant status if you wish to attend school in the United States, and you are the spouse or child of someone who is currently in the United States in any of the following nonimmigrant visa categories: 1. Diplomatic and other

Sunday May 27, 2012

Former security guard found dead in apartment - One man in custody, alleged suspect on the run

Gail S. Seeram government officials, and employees (A visa category) 2. International trade and investors (E visa ) 3. Representatives to international organizations and their employees (G visa ) 4. Temporary workers (H visa) 5. Representatives of foreign media (I visa) 6. Exchange visitors (J visa) 7. Intracompany transferees (L visa) 8. Academic (F visa) or vocational (M visa) students (you may attend elementary, middle or high school only: if you want to attend postsecondary school full-time you must apply for a change of status).

You may not apply to change your nonimmigrant status if you were admitted to the United States in the following categories: 1. Visa Waiver Program• Crew member (D nonimmigrant visa) 2. In transit through the United States (C nonimmigrant visa) 3. In transit through the United States without a visa (TWOV) 4. Fiancé of a U.S. citizen or dependent of a fiancé (K nonimmigrant visa) 5. Informant (and accompanying family) on terrorism or organized crime (S nonimmigrant visa)

The house in which the body was found.

A 45-year-old former security guard was found murdered in her D’Urban Street apartment yesterday.

The woman Donna Thomas, 45, of 6-9 D’Urban and Cross Streets, Werk-en-Rust, and a mother of three, was once attached to the Professional Guard Service (PGS). She was found lying a pool of blood on her bed with several stab wounds.

Police sources have said that one man who frequents the house was taken into police custody while they are looking for a second suspect.

According to the police the suspect is said to be a drug addict. This newspaper was told that Thomas, who hails from Corentyne, Berbice, had been renting the apartment at D’Urban Street for the past eight months. A source close to the investigation told Kaieteur News that the woman’s body was discovered by colleagues who went to look for her after she did not turn up for work.

It was noted that upon arriving at the woman’s house, the colleagues saw the front door to her apartment ‘slightly opened’.

Several shouts went

unanswered and this prompted them to enter the house where they saw her lying on her bed motionless with several apparent stab wounds about her body.

The landlord for the apartment, Randolph Yaw, said that the woman was living with a drug addict and from to time they would have arguments. The man said that the last time they heard the woman’s voice was on Friday evening about 23:00h, just before he retired to bed.

He said that from information gathered, he understands the woman collected her wages on Friday. Yaw said that the man with whom Thomas was living asked for money but she refused to give him any.

The landlord opined that this may have triggered the man whose name was given as ‘Anthony’ to commit the act. Yaw said he did not hear or see anything out of the ordinary.

At the scene yesterday morning, members of the Criminal Investigative Department were seen searching the area for the murder weapon. Several neighbours were questioned about anything they may have heard or seen.

Neighbhours were shocked at the discovery but thought that something bad would have come out of the relationship since the couple argued regularly. Several attempts to contact relatives yesterday proved futile.

Ticket 1045 wins Prison Officers raffle The first prize of $40,000 in the Ex-Prison Officer’s Association Raffle was won by Ticket 1045. The raffle was drawn yesterday at the Prison Officers’ Sports Club, Camp Street.

The $30,000 second prize was won by 374.

The third prize of $20,000 went to ticket 1153. The consolation prizes were won by ticket 278, 1033, 558, 1443, 468, 681, 47, and 1151.

Winners should call (592) 223-0377 to uplift winnings.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Touting the Dead There have been increasing complaints about families of people who die there being harassed by touts at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The touts who operate illegally at the facility have been in a constant running battle with the hospital's management.

Yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Michael Khan, said that touting at the hospital is illegal and his Chief security guard is working hard to remove the solicitors from the compound.

The CEO explained that the number of touts at the hospital has decreased significantly. The hospital is trying its utmost to remove the touts from the facility.

Within the past few days families have been complaining of being harassed by these touts.

A highly upset woman, Asha Khan, said, “I have my problems. My husband died and when I go at the mortuary to see my husband's body, she (tout) tackling me down and telling me how much I will save in if I carry my dead at where she is working.”

“I was so mad because I didn't enter the mortuary as yet and she was such a pest.”

Another person, Kamala Ramkisson, said that some time last month she visited the mortuary to identify a body. She claimed before she reached the mortuary, a tout

from Sandy's Funeral Home approached her and told her that the fridges at GPHC's mortuary were not working.

“She gave me a card and told me to take some time; to decide and call her in a few minutes.”

The woman said that when she entered the mortuary, another tout from another parlour gave a card.

Kaieteur News understands that there are at least five touts working at the hospital on a daily basis. A source claimed that some nurses, security guards and even to taxi drivers have been soliciting persons.

The source said “touting” is an organized business and although the hospital management is trying to avoid touting, it can never be prevented because “there is no penalty for that crime.”

“Just like how you can pay off a police officer for a minor offence, just like that these touts are paying out the security.”

“When a person dies, their relatives would want the best for them; these touts however, are going to these families and telling them that the hospital is packing ten bodies in one fridge. They (touts) are even bad-talking the other parlours,” the source claimed.

When Kaieteur News visited the mortuary, a Sandy's Funeral Home tout tried to lure the reporter into taking her (the reporter) relative to the parlour.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Fusion of cultural performances highlights Independence anniversary celebrations

President arrives for the Independence anniversary celebrations

By Zena Henry Thousands turned up to witness a fusion of cultural performances and the inaugural speech of President Donald Ramotar. This was the highlight of the 46th Independence Day celebrations at the National Park Friday evening.

A packed programme containing material that educated and entertained about the Land of Many Waters mounted to the final leg of the celebrations; the flag raising and fireworks.

But before this could get underway, the quickly filling stands of spectators were treated to a series of cultural, m i l i t a r y, l o c a l a n d international performances and then the customary fireworks.

The warm up events that rocked the crowd prior to the President's arrival came from our well known locals.

The GT&T 'Feel the Beat' finalists contributed their piece to the celebrations by providing the crowd with well choreographed dance performances that grabbed their attention.

The flamboyant Charmain Blackman had the crowd on its feet when she performed her latest tune to the haters, 'Gi dem mo fi talk'.

Truly a Guyanese hit, the musician received

thunderous applause and cheers.

Adrian Dutchin rocked the crowd with many of his well known tunes including that contagious piece 'I am a Guyanese'. Vanilla, Teneisha De Freitas, and Young Bill Rogers also contributed their piece to the festivities, singing their notorious calypso tunes.

Vanilla grabbed crowd attention and got them moving when she sang her Mashramani hit 'Rage'.

'Colours' was the next tune and to that, the crowd related.

Rogers rendered a calypso tune, 'Paradise', a very fitting tune for the national celebration, the tune detailed matters that the country may be facing-- corruption and political influences, but among it all, Guyana is still a paradise, the tune revealed.

The lovely and very talent DeFreitas sang the national songs 'O Beautiful Guyana'.

The crowd was very attentive and even sang along, a beautiful song complemented by a beautiful voice.

As the night grew on, the Nyrityageet Dance Troup wowed the crowd with colourful costumes and performed a piece presented to the nation recently.

Jovanka Williams and Prashanti Mendez, a foreign violinist performed a national song to which they received a favourable response. It was an ingenious idea by the programme coordinators to fuse the ringing sound of steel pans with that of the soothing stings of th e violin.

At that point the Park was quiet and everyone focused on the clear sounds of the sweet melody.

The Park later witnessed the entry of the Joint Services of Guyana, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Police Force.

The men and women of the military looked smart, sharp and proud neatly dressed. They marched with (continued on page 50)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Tessa

Our Beauty this week believes we should: live simply. love generously, care deeply and speak kindly.

She believes our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

Your playing small does not serve the world. We are all meant to shine as children do.

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

A tonsorial artist for over 40 years …

Tullahram Dass is a 'Special Person'

By Rabindra Rooplall

T

hose of us who enjoy an oldfashioned trim with scissors encounter great difficulty when searching for a reliable individual with this ability. There is one such person who has been around the city of Georgetown for decades.

Fifty-five year-old Tullahram Dass has been “cleaning up heads” for the past 41 years, and can be considered one of the most senior barbers in the country.

His perspective of local barbering is impressive.

Even before I began my interview, Tullahram felt it necessary to define the word barber. Its meaning seemed obvious but, after listening to him, the profession took on an even greater importance.

The man who started to cut hair as a teenager, first described the vocation as tonsorial art. Yes, he and others like him can be referred to as tonsorial artists. But we'll leave that for a bit later.

Dass started off by emphasising that not all barbers can “properly cut or deal with” varying types/textures of hair and shapes of heads, and opined that the reason for this limitation is due to the newer generation's almost total dependency on appliances

such as the electric trimmer.

“The older men who have grown accustomed to the scissors trim have fallen prey or victim if you will, to the abundance of barbers who have abandoned the scissors-and-comb style.

You need to have some flexibility or your work will be ordinary. You can't restrict yourself to one thing.”

Dass said many present barbers have entered the profession not for the love but for the monetary benefit.

Then he spoke of the respect…

barbers did a lot of the cutting of patients and not the doctor, as some doctors never used a blade. I was trimming a young man's hair who worked in the medical profession one day, and he was wearing a green outfit.

When I asked if he knew that green was supposed to be only used in a theatre to perform surgery and the white gown for the office. He said it didn't matter. Then I told him that's why things are how they are, because there are no standards.”

He continued to reflect:

“In order to become a barber, you have to have love for the profession…a dedication; a passion to please each customer that sits to have themselves groomed. You have to fully appreciate what a person's appearance means to them. If you don't, you're in the wrong business.”

“In my time and how I know it, barbers never wore anything else but a white gown… in any part of the world. But now if you go around and check barber shops there are all different colours that have no meaning.”

“It may sound unbelievable, but in the olden days, barbers performed some surgeries.'”

“The barber and the doctor used to wear the same colour gown, and this was because in ancient time

“Take for instance, the use of a barber pole, which I once had on my shop. This was to let persons know where they could find a barber shop. No one needs to know the language of any country they are in to figure out that where the barber pole is, is where they can go and get a hair trim. You could go and check it.”

I did later learn from research on the internet that the two spiraling red and white candy stripe ribbons around the pole represent

two long bandages, one twisted around the arm before bleeding and the other used to bind it afterward.

Originally, when not in use, the pole with a bandage wound around it, so that both might be together when needed, was hung at the door as a sign. But later, for convenience, instead of hanging out the original pole, another one was painted in imitation of it and given a permanent place on the outside of the shop. This was the beginning of the modern barber pole.

It was clear that this ordinary man had not only spent over four decades of his life, trimming the hair of thousands of clients, who trusted and believed in his expertise. He has in many ways made it a study “Let me tell you…I had a sign on my barbershop that said 'Tonsorial art done here

by Tullah' and the amount of questions I had to answer from clients about the meaning of tonsorial art, and who is doing the art, and what is the art, I decided to take down the sign,” Dass said with a smile.

He explained that tonsorial art relates to the work of a barber, and alluded to the fact that many persons don't know the significance of specific hairstyles. Giving an example, Dass underscored that making parts in the hair has great significance, “when a man

Brushing off a customer after a clean-up.

Tullahram Dass got married, for instance, he carried a middle part in his hair, when a man is a master he has a left part in his head, when you are a widower there is a right part in your head. But now people put a part as a style. It is the same thing with people wearing rings on their fingers. Each finger has a meaning, but people just wear rings for style, without understanding the significance.”

Noting that the maximum period he would spend on trimming or cutting a customer's hair is 15 minutes, the traditional barber was quite intent on stressing that he is healthy and is not troubled by any ailments since he takes preventative measures in caring for himself.

“I have been standing on my feet for hours every day for decades, and I have no sickness. That (good health) is very important for a barber, trust me.”

Briefly, on the personal side, Tullahram told me that he was born on November 3rd, 1956, has been married for the past 38 years, to Carmen Dass, and their union produced two children, a boy and a girl.

Dass, who currently operates in Alberttown, noted that his intensions were influenced by senior barbers who took pride in their talent.

“I learn from the oldtimers and I am very glad about that. I think they were the best. My styles have varied over the decades, yet, they keep some resemblance over time. The thing is that the same styles would come back every decade or so, with a different name. The fade as you know it now was called the tapered cut, but it's really the same thing.”

He recounted that decades ago, neighbours in the countryside would trim (continued on page 48)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 19

EMOTIONAL PAIN AND POLITICAL CHOICES There are many Guyanese at home and abroad who are suffering emotionally. They are out there and their pain is visible. It is expressed each day by their attitude.

They are suffering not because of some death in their family or some other personal problem or tragedy. They are in pain; they are traumatized; they are troubled; they are grumpy.

Some of them are in Guyana and some of them live outside of Guyana.

They are frustrated because the PPP is in power and they cannot come to grips with this fact. They want desperately to see the back of the PPP. Unable to achieve this goal, they inflict pain on themselves by drowning themselves in mental turmoil.

At times, their frustration boils over and they blame the leaders of the opposition for being ineffective. They take out their anger and frustration on the very persons they would like to see replace the PPP. These persons are in angst over the fact that the PPP continues to win election after election. They are disturbed by the PPP’s continuing successes in government. The success of PPP governments is driving some people staring mad.

They cannot take it anymore.

These persons who are suffering daily can see no good in anything that the

present governing party does. Even the best of intentions are ridiculed and scorned.

Well-minded citizens have to be patient with these individuals. They have to understand that they are dealing with persons who prefer to see any other party rule over Guyana, even if it is a ruined Guyana, rather than a government which has rebuilt this country after it experienced a political and economic hurricane that destroyed public institutions, morals and values.

Greater empathy has to be shown to those who suffer each day when they see signs of progress and when they read about plans to make the country better. Not all of those suffering are in Guyana.

Some of them are overseas, desperately trying to scrape a living, wanting to come back to sunny Guyana, but are too embarrassed to face the truth, too ashamed to confront the progress that they will see.

They sit in front of their computer screens in the cold, freezing winter and ingest their daily dose of bile and rancour. This is their recourse that makes them believe they are contributing to some noble struggle, when it fact they cannot deal with their own struggles.

Guyanese like to speak about the need to come together. But there are far too many individuals who are not

interested in coming together to build Guyana. They are interested in one thing and one thing only, and that is to see the demise of the PPP administration.

At every step of the way the PPP has, however, defied their wishes. The PPP has won every free and fair election held in this country since 1953.

The PPP has never lost an election, and despite the failure to secure a parliamentary majority last November, it still got the most votes and therefore the right to the presidency.

And so when the rules by which all sides agree to abide cannot deliver the expulsion from power of the PPP, there is a clamouring for constitutional reform.

When this reform comes and still the PPP retains power, there are more calls for reforms of the reform.

At present, the call is for a system that would allow for the parties to coalesce after the elections, so as to secure control of the government.

At present, the party with the highest votes earns the right to form the government.

Ironically, this system was designed so as to ensure the

possibility of a minority party being able to win the presidency. It was put in place to offer the possibility of denying the PPP the right to form the government. But instead it has delivered victory after victory for the PPP since the return to free and fair elections in 1992.

And with each victory the frustration wells up. We can speak about putting Guyana first, and most Guyanese do, but there are many who want to put some party other than the PPP first. And this is the tragedy of this forty-two yearold republic.

There are far too many

persons who, instead of wanting the best for Guyana, want only to see the backs of the ruling party, and therefore are putting partisan interests in front of the country.

Those persons are fortunately in the minority, and many of them perhaps will never come back to Guyana, since they will find it difficult to face the reality of what is taking place in the country.

Guyana can move much quicker if it ignores the naysayers and deals with the many problems that it has to deal with.

But when a poor country

is so swamped by the frustrations of those who are keener on voting out the PPP than with developing the country, when everything that the government does becomes an opportunity for criticism and ridicule, you can conclude that the progress of Guyana will always be much slower than it ought to be.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

East Bank Essequibo was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital and was later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for surgery.

His sister, Carlotta Melville, told Kaieteur News that she is unsure whether the injuries were self-inflicted because she spoke to him a few minutes before he was shot and he sounded “positive.”

She said that Kenneth, who is a gold miner, was staying with their sister, Jean Melville and her son at her home in Tuschen.

Carlotta said that her brother is not suicidal but if he shot himself, she is positive that he did it because he was stressed out over a female.

The sister explained that Kenneth, who is the father of six, “pick up some woman and she don’t want to take leff.”

SUNDAY SPECIAL MARRIOTT HOTEL - AN INFLATED PROJECT The government now claims to have an agreement with a phantom group of investors for the highly controversial Marriott Hotel project which industry executives and politicians insist would be unable to recover costs or make a profit.

Winston Brassington, the head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) – Government’s investment arm – told Kaieteur News two weeks ago that an agreement has been signed with investors. However, he gave no clue as to who the investors are.

The only identified investor thus far is the government, which is putting US$20 million (G$4 billion) into the project.

Industry executives and politicians claim that this is billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being spent on a project that the government cannot justify.

Even with claims that a project of this magnitude makes no sense in a market like Guyana where existing hotels are begging to fill their rooms, the government is still keeping secret the studies it claims to have done to show how the business would be successful.

Industry executives and politicians say that tax dollars are being used to build an unprofitable hotel that would eventually be sold off for next to nothing to friends of the government in a shady scheme that has already been shaped.

TWO HELD IN SUSPECTED MURDERFOR-MONEY SCHEME Police believe that they have unearthed a murder scheme for money that ended with the death of US-based Guyanese Abdul Majid, whose body was found on the Number 56 Village, Corentyne last month.

Recent investigations have led to the arrest of two of the victim’s relatives and the impounding of a damaged and apparently bloodstained car. The suspects are from the Diamond New Scheme.

However, a woman who is believed to have orchestrated the plot reportedly travelled to the US soon after Majid was slain. She has not returned.

Police believe that he was murdered shortly after returning to Guyana, after winning a large financial settlement in the US for injuries he sustained in an accident. It is believed that the killers transported the body by car.

Around 07:40 hrs on April 27 last, residents of Number 56 Village, Corentyne, discovered the body of a faircomplexioned man on the foreshore. The victim was wearing a pair of multicoloured shorts. He was also wearing a silver ring.

The corpse remained unidentified for several days, until an overseas-based resident came to Guyana and identified the victim as his brother, 43-year-old Abdul Majid.

According to reports, none of Majid’s relatives in Guyana had reported him missing. In fact, one suspect

had reportedly claimed that he was in Suriname. ************** MONDAY EDITION AG CHALLENGES OPPOSITION TO MOVE TO COURTS ON NICIL “If the Opposition Politicians believe that NICIL is operating illegally or unconstitutionally then why haven’t they challenged it in the Courts? Why haven’t they sought a declaration from the Court? We have a Constitutional Court; it shouldn’t take too long.”

This was the challenge extended to the Parliamentary Opposition by Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who for the first time has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

Nandlall says that there is absolutely nothing wrong for the Government to invest monies through NICIL at the exclusion of Parliament.

The Minister, in an exclusive interview with this publication last Sunday, explained that that the only requirement on NICIL to transfer funds to the Consolidated Fund relates to its dividends.

Nandlall says that the opposition rank and file, in reference to the Constitution which speaks to Public monies being turned over to the Consolidated Fund, conveniently leaves out reference to the provisions which allow for monies to not be turned over to the Consolidated Fund.

He says that by virtue of

the Companies Act under which NICIL is registered it only has to pay dividends to its shareholders and in this case the Guyana Government is the sole shareholder.Dividends are paid each year.

MAN FOUND IN BATHROOM WITH TWO GUNSHOT WOUNDS A 46-year-old man was found shortly after 12:00 hrs Sunday in his bathroom, with two gunshot wounds to his abdomen.

Kenneth Melville, a licenced firearm holder of Lot 30 Tuschen Housing Scheme,

************** TUESDAY EDITION FOUR MONTHSAFTER MARRIAGE, US WIFE “CONFESSES” TO KILLING HUSBAND The wife of US-based Guyanese Abdool Shakeel Majid has reportedly confessed to murdering her spouse, whose battered body was found last month on the Number 56 foreshore, Corentyne.

The 37-year-old woman was arrested last Sunday after she returned from the United States and reported to the New Amsterdam Police Station to identify her slain husband’s body.

Police have also

impounded the vehicle which allegedly transported Majid’s body. Bloodstains and sand were found in the car trunk.

Detectives reportedly also retrieved the woman’s driver’s permit from the car.

Evidence indicates that the grisly crime was motivated by greed. ************** WEDNESDAY EDITION WIFE, FEMALE COUSIN CHARGED WITH HUSBAND’S MURDER The wife of US-based Guyanese Abdool Shakeel Majid and a female cousin were yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with the murder of the 43-yearold man, whose body was found on the Number 56 Village foreshore last month.

Majid’s wife, Hemwattie Abdulla, 37, also known as Anita Nazeema Khan, a nurse of Albion, Corentyne and of 116-02 132nd Street, Ozone Park, New York, USA, and her alleged accomplice, Seerojonie Permaul, called “Usha,” age 42, of 52 Belvedere Housing Scheme, Corentyne, Berbice, appeared before Magistrate Krisendat Persaud at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court.

It is alleged that on April 26, last, at No 63 Beach, the accused murdered Abdool Shakeel Majid, 43, a citizen of the United States of America.

Majid’s body, with scalp missing, was found on April 27 at the Number 56 Village, Corentyne foreshore. The remains were only identified on May 16, last, when the victim’s brother visited (Continued on page 37)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Ravi Dev Column

I first encountered Philip Moore at the end of 1979 when I returned to Guyana from the United States for the first time in seven years.

A relative told me I had to see this ‘monstrosity’ that Burnham had erected in Georgetown.

The country was in great ferment – earlier in the year, Burnham had declared to Rodney and the WPA that his steel ‘was sharper’.

But as I looked up at the massive bronze sculpture from across the square, all I could think was: “Who was the artist that could create such a work?

The symbolism was so rich and profound; there was no need for any lecture to apprehend Moore’s import.

And after that I took time to find out about Philip Moore, this self-taught visionary from the Corentyne. He reminded me of someone I knew well.

I had been raised by my grandparents. My Nana was born in 1896 and his father had arrived from village India.

He never went to school and the Hindi he could read

Murders continue to be reported at an alarming rate.

Someone is going to find a decomposing body in a secluded area. It would not be immediately clear who the victim would be until a woman reports that her teenage daughter had gone missing.

The police would trace the victim’s last days but would come up emptyhanded until someone would remember something really important. ** A robbery would go all

was passed on by his father and the elders in the logies.

That the world around us was not as we saw it was unquestioned: maya was not an idea – it was their reality.

Symbolism was one technique to convey that deeper reality. The blue of Vishnu connoted his infinitude as of the blue sky; the lotus rising out of his navel, the emergent universe, and so on.

That there were different worlds in different dimensions existing side by side, with the spirit of the pitris or ancestors was also accepted matter-of-factly. But what amazed me about Philip Moore was that while my Nana’s world view – and mine - was passed down orally in an unbroken (albeit increasingly attenuated) line, Philip Moore seems to have been directly in contact with the deeper reality simply through the power of his mind from boyhood.

The mind, we are taught, is the ‘sixth sense’ – connected to the other senses – that reaches outwards to the physical world.

But ultimately, its wisdom is a

reflection of the inner soul that is part and parcel of the animating spirit of the entire creation in all the various dimensions.

Normal minds had to be stilled through meditation so that we may glimpse at the deeper, unified reality. Philip Moore appears to have been one of those very, very rare individuals who were born with this facility ‘full blown’.

I am not suggesting that Philip Moore was ‘Hindu” but to suggest that all ancient cultures – including those of Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas – accepted the multidimensionality of the universe – or even the multiverse.

A multiverse populated with beings most of us are completely oblivious to. Philip Moore was able to unmediatedly tap into his ancestral memories and be in direct contact with these other realities.

The west had begun to glimpse at these truths a hundred years ago – even in its so-called ‘unsuperstitious’ natural sciences.

From Einstein’s special

wrong when the criminals are caught in the act. One of them would even contemplate running back into the house to create a hostage situation, but the homeowners would take the necessary action.

This situation would lead to the discovery that among the bandits would be someone who lived in the neighbourhood. ** A vehicular accident would cause more to be said about road use. The driver would be unlicenced and that is going to cause a check on the motorists on the streets.

Unfortunately one of the victims would be so seriously hurt that there would be talk of flying him out of the country.

and general theories of relativity through quantum theory and string theory, they all speak of realities beyond our senses.

Their artistes like Picasso in painting and Henry Moore in sculpture attempted to represent this ‘new’ worldview. Henry Moore is very interesting since he overtly imitated in his ‘modern’ sculptures, the ‘primitive’ art that he studied.

Philip Moore did not need such ‘training”. What he demonstrated to us in his life is that while he later read many of the canonical texts of myths etc. he had already apprehended the forms of the truths he conveyed without books advising him how to crack the procrustean mind created by ‘modern’ education. He did not need the ‘tools of the master.’

And this is what sets him apart from so many of the activists and artistes that aspire to represent the

essence of African (and Indian) culture – and why he was somewhat sceptical of them.

The minds of those who came to even an honest realisation of the realities he uncovered with ease, are still clouded by the encrustations of Marxisms or whatever other isms into which they might have detoured en passant.

Mr Moore was rooted, yes rooted, in the village. This is not an inconsequential aside.

The village is the African bequest to Guyana: created after horrors never before and never since inflicted by man on man. It is my hope, for what it is worth, that those that claim to admire and respect him will heed his message to revitalise the villages.

One newspaper this morning (as I write this) has suggested that the government fund a memorial at Mr Moore’s grave in Auchlyne, Corentyne.

Ravi Dev

And that citizens fund a Meditation Centre in his village of Manchester, Corentyne, to house his works, so that we and future generations may meditate on them for the upliftment of ourselves and, by extension, our country. I’m ready to throw in my two cents.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

The Mysterious Butcher

of Bartica

By Michael Jordan If, by some good fortune, you were to pass through Bartica, you would be left with pleasant memories of strikingly beautiful women, boats moored on a still, mistshrouded river, hospitable people hanging out at nightspots, and good-natured porkknockers quick to offer total strangers a drink or two.

So, you would surely never associate this community, the proverbial gateway to the community, with a shocking unsolved double-murder.

It’s been well nigh close to 30 years since an unknown killer, whom we shall call the ‘Butcher of Bartica’, slaughtered two innocents in a Second Avenue backyard and badly maimed a third.

Let me take you back to February 1983, to the home of Lucille Ingram.

At the time, Ingram was a pretty, 25-year-old widow. Her husband, Oliver, had died suddenly after being bitten by a snake in the family’s backyard. The superstitious

might suggest that the way Oliver died was a sign of things to come.

With her husband dead, it was left to the young widow to take care of her three children; Andy Ingram, aged five, Henry Ingram, nine, and Lucille’s only daughter, 12year-old Lynette.

Fortunately, Mrs. Ingram reared a few cows and chickens, and this brought in enough income to sustain the family.

On February 23, 1983, the young mother decided to purchase a few things for her children to celebrate the Mash holiday.

After instructing them to check on the cows and poultry, Lucille Ingram left her home at around five o’clock that afternoon. She promised to return with treats for them.

Ingram returned about 30 minutes later and on entering her yard, immediately sensed that something was wrong.

For one thing, the children did not greet her at the gate, as was their habit. After calling and getting no answer, Mrs. Ingram went over to her next

door neighbour, since the children would sometimes play under a dunks tree in the backyard. But the children were not there, so Mrs. Ingram returned home. The front door was unlocked and when the young mother entered, she almost stumbled

over something on the floor.

Lying just by the doorway was her 12-year-old daughter.

The child lay motionless in a pool of blood. Someone had slashed her throat.

Miraculously, she was still alive.

Lucille Ingram screamed.

Her cries brought neighbours racing over to her home.

While some tended to the injured child, others began searching for the woman’s two sons. They eventually found them in the family’s backyard.

Nine-year-old Henry lay in a clump of bushes, his intestines protruding from a gaping wound. Five–year-old Sandy lay a few feet away.

Someone had chopped him on the head. Both boys were dead.

While the bodies of the two murdered boys were taken to the Bartica Hospital mortuary, their wounded sister was air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Miraculously, she survived, though she reportedly still bears the scar from her ordeal.

It was she who would provide

detectives with the few vague clues of the killer’s identity.

According to the girl’s story, after her mother left, a man, who was armed with a cutlass, entered the house.

The intruder was reportedly masked and his head was ‘tied up.’ She said that the man began to chop her. It is unclear whether he attacked the other two children first. According to Mrs. Ingram, nothing was stolen. She also says that no one had any motive for wanting to harm the family.

“I had no enemies…me and everybody alright.”

After some investigation, detectives arrested a young man who Mrs. Ingram described as “Mrs. Wyatt’s son from One Mile.” It is unclear why he was arrested.

Some Barticans said that “Wyatt’s son” worked with the power company and was prone to acting strangely.

According to Bartica lore, the man had several wigs and knives in his possession when he was arrested.

Whether this was so, detectives were unable to link

him to the murders and he was eventually released.

Lucille Ingram says she eventually gave up hope of the killer ever being caught and has tried to move on. But memories of her murdered children and of their killer haunt her. She became afraid to stay in her house and eventually moved to Georgetown. Her daughter moved to Berbice.

Three decades after that fateful day, both women are left with memories of a shadowy figure that entered their lives, slaughtered their loved ones…and vanished.

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58465, 2258473 and 22-58458. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email a d d r e s s mjdragon@hotmail.com.

SEEKING HELP TO LOCATE RELATIVES OF EIGHT CHILDREN KILLED BETWEEN 1969-1970 Michael Jordan is trying to contact relatives of eight children who were murdered between March 20, 1969 and June 1970, by Harrynauth Beharry, also known as Harry Rambarran, Charles Bissoon, Charles Pereira, Anant Persaud and Maka Anan.

Some of the victims are Basmattie, an eight-year-old schoolgirl from Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara. David Bacchus, 15, of Tucville, 11-year-old Mohamed Fazil Nasir, of Number 78 Village, Corentyne, Mohamed Faizal, of Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Jagdeo Jagroop, Mohamed Nizam Ali; Paulton of Hogg Island, Essequibo; Orlando Guthrie, of Grove Village, East Bank Demerara.

Please contact him via his email address mjdragon@hotmail.com., or on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. HeI can also be contacted on 6452447.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 23

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Three dead musicians and the Sandpiper It is generally recognized in the culture of civilization that we are shaped by the people we encounter and with whom we interact, the books that influenced us and the events that changed us forever. Seldom is sufficient weight given to songs and movies that impacted on us so greatly that they contributed to how our character evolved.

I would never deny that songs and movies have had a definite hand in moulding my life. I could just rattle off my head the songs that I loved so much growing up as an employed youth on Durban Street, Wortmanville, and the subtle and not so subtle ways they affected me.

Most definitely were the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “The Fool on the Hill,” Elton John’s “Skyline Pigeon,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Neil Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans,” Demis Roussos’ version of “Smile,” The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” Johnny Mathis’, “Yesterday When I was Young,” Bread’s ”The Guitar Man.” I could go on, but I should not leave out, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and Sammy Davis’s “I’ve Got to Be Me.” In South Georgetown, the cinema was your second home. For poor youths like me, the section we referred to as “pit” was the only option.

No working class youth thought of “house” or “balcony,” the other levels.

“Pit” was not only affordable but you wanted to go there because you met your friends in “pit.” There was always fun and laughter in “pit” not to mention the occasional fights because a fool put his foot on the bench and it dirtied somebody’s shirt.

On Old Year’s Night in 1967, alone without my friends, I saw “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Astor and it left a deep impression on me.

One lazy afternoon, I went to see “The Sandpiper,” at the

Plaza. It starred man and wife in real life, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I was really moved by the story and at my age, these morals and themes can exert a strong influence on you.

The theme song for the movie, “The Shadow of Your Smile” one of the greatest love songs ever written, is one of the most covered songs in musical history and has become a classic.

Within the space of two weeks, three really great, and I mean really great artists in the music industry that had a lot to do with how I managed to stay alive in Wortmanville, passed away. First, there was the inventor of “Ska,” Jamaican Lloyd Brevett. If there wasn’t Ska, there would not have been reggae and maybe we would never have known about Bob Marley.

In South Georgetown, Otis Redding, the Drifters, Ben E. King, Motown and Chuck Jackson competed with Ska, but Ska was our music. It was a Caribbean invention.

I never listened to Brevett himself, but I grew up in Wortmanville with Ska. I left St. Thomas More Primary

School at 14 and became a permanent “limer” There was nothing to do in the day and there was temptation at night.

All Wortmanvile youths waited for Saturday night.

That was when we visited the dance hall (particularly, the three-storied lodge building at Lime and Hadfield Streets, which is still standing, though in a derelict condition) and gambled outside.

I never danced. I just couldn’t, but I always gambled my Saturday nights away, particularly outside of Tutorial High School on Bent Street, next door to Vincent Alexander’s home. Vincent is a Wortmanvile boy like me. I was born a corner away from his house. I didn’t dance, but spent my time in the hall listening to Ska while my friends performed. My favourite Ska tune is a dirty song called “Shaving Cream.”

Last week, Donna Summer died. I don’t want to refer to her as the Disco Queen because that implied there wasn’t a Disco King. There wasn’t. Donna Summer was the Disco Emperor of the seventies. Her music touched

all youths in the seventies.

The tune she introduced me to was, “MacArthur Park.” It is a tremendous song that is movingly piercing. One line reminds me that one day we all will be old people - “The old men playing Chinese checkers by the tree.”

Last week too, Robin Gibb of the famous Bee Gees died.

That leaves only one of the Bee Gees alive, effectively bringing the group to an end.

My favourite composer is Burt Bacharach, though I would put the Lennon–

McCarthy duo ahead of him in terms of philosophical compositions. Bacharach only wrote two philosophical songs, “Alfie,” and “Do you Know the Way to San Jose.”

Bob Marley comes after the Beatles for me, because Marley wrote on the theme of liberation. The Beatles wrote on philosophy generally.

But while the Beatles made you reflect on life itself, Marley taught you to uplift your very life.

Then, of course, there was the Bee Gees. Which

Frederick Kissoon youth in the seventies didn’t the music of the Bee Gees touch? Thank you Lloyd, Donna and Robin, for the music.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

ACP countries follow Ramotar’s lead

By Gary Eleazar The African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugarproducing States, inclusive of Suriname and the Dominican Republic, have unanimously agreed to follow the lead of Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar in protest of a European Union boycott of a major forum in Suriname.

The EU has taken a decision led by a Dutch Parliamentarian to not have the EU/ACP Assembly be hosted in Suriname in protest of Amnesty legislation recently passed in The Netherlands.

Representatives of the ACP Countries met in Denmark on Friday, last, where the matter was discussed and unanimously agreed that the ACP countries would stand in solidarity with Surinamese president Desi Bouterse.

The EU/ACP is the largest multilateral meeting after the General Assembly of the United Nations, and would bring close to 1,000

- stand in solidarity with Bouterse against EU boycott parliamentarians from the European Union, Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific States, to Suriname.

The decision by the EU’s Parliament stems from amnesty law passed in Suriname’s National Assembly last April, that pardons Suriname’s president Desi Bouterse for crimes committed under his earlier military rule in 1982.

Head of State Donald Ramotar this past week told this publication that Guyana will be opposed to such a move, adding that if the European Union respects democracy then it would respect the will of the Surinamese people and their decisions.

Kaieteur News understands that the European members of respective parliaments, opposed to the confab being held in Suriname, are also

unopposed to Bouterse joining the meeting if hosted in another country, hence Guyana was suggested.

According to reports from the EU, there is the belief that Bouterse is seeking to use such meetings in Suriname as a means of demonstrating to those opposed to him that he still gains international respect.

According to international reports, Parmessar Rabin, leader of the Parliamentary delegation in Denmark, has in recent days been lobbying for the ACP countries to get behind Suriname.

It is Rabin who is being credited with forging unity among the former colonies in protest of the EU’s decision.

At the plenary sessions of last Friday’s meeting in Denmark, co-president of the ACP-EU, Musikari Kombo, tasked to communicate the position of the ACP countries to the EU, said that if there is no cooperation from the European side, the joint meeting will not take place in November.

Guyana’s Head of State Donald Ramotar (right) in solidarity with his Surinamese counterpart, Desi Bouterse The EU’s Parliament now suggests moving the venue to either Curacao or Aruba should Guyana not be available.

Guyana had been first proposed as an alternative to hosting the meeting in Suriname, but President Ramotar is not entertaining the idea, insisting that the

meeting must be held in Suriname, and the will of the Surinamese people with the election of their leader must be respected.

Europarliamentarian Toine Manders who had spearheaded the move against hosting the meeting in Suriname, said it wouldn’t bode well for EU-ACP

relations if the ACP parliamentarians decide that they do support Suriname.

“There will be no meeting without the Europarliamentarians, so we should choose a different host country. It would be bad for our relations if the meeting isn’t held at all,” he said, hinting that it is Europe who is footing the bill. “The cost of this meeting is in the millions,” he stressed.

The controversial Amnesty Law was approved

by Suriname’s National Assembly, amidst local and international calls not to do so. The law pardons President Bouterse for crimes committed under his earlier military rule, including the December 8, 1982 murders of 15 men.

Holland, with whom Bouterse has a strained relationship, has since the law was approved, said that Suriname would feel the backlash. Development aid was ceased and the country is being boycotted.

The Dutch Europarliamentarians say it would go against their principles if they would attend the meeting in Suriname, shake hands with Bouterse, and listen to him addressing the gathering.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 25

My column

Keep the pen away from some people Last week, I continued to be unimpressed with what passes for reporting. In the first instance, some of the people who pen their names to articles they write should never have been allowed near to a newspaper. One of them just happens to be Parvati Persaud-Edwards.

This is a woman who would call me for advice on just about every possible thing under the sun. When she had problems with the people at the Chronicle she called me. She called me to complain about Vic Insanally when she worked there; she complained about the treatment she got from the government when she thought that her daughter should get a plot of land.

But it must be that her pique only lasts until someone calls her and tells her that the president or some senior government official needed a facelift. I read a few pieces that she wrote complaining about the people who would have taken a stick to the government and concluded that she was not a reporter, but someone who could string a few words together with a view to making a sentence.

Late last week it was my turn to attract a few words from her pen, and the issue reinforced my view that she was either incapable of understanding the spoken word, or deaf, or delusionary or simply stupid, and the latter is not a word I use lightly when I refer to people.

The headline screamed at me; “Lies of Opposition Cabal exposed - Adam Harris apologises to the Finance Minister for lies”. I was surprised because it never happened. And to imagine that the source of her conclusion was broadcast repeatedly on public television and viewed by hundreds was cause for concern. No one else heard that apology. I would have been ashamed to hold myself before the nation. But not Ms Persaud-Edwards. Blissful in her ignorance, I heard that when her editor Mark Ramotar told her that I had called, she repeated that she heard the apology for lying. It must have been a moment of her madness.

I want to believe that what she concluded was an apology for lying was in fact an apology for raising an issue that was discussed by

the Finance Minister off camera. Really, listening to the words uttered by moderator Michael Gordon and myself, I simply could not comprehend Parvati’s conclusion.

Suffice it to say that I am not one who would contemplate legal action against any media. I remember a one-time editor of the Mirror, Earl Bousquet, writing that had the government been vindictive, I would have been in jail for theft. He had concluded that I had stolen while I was Editor-in-Chief of the Chronicle. When I confronted him, despite Senior Counsel Rex McKay urging me to take legal action and to say nothing to him, all Bousquet could do was to grin sheepishly and to tell me that it was a case of politics.

If the PPP administration is of the view that people should be vilified in the name of politics, then I would be less inclined to believe that such a political party should lead this country.

I heard the same thing when I spoke with Editor Mark Ramotar. He said a few things that are worth mentioning. But first I must state that as an editor, I would question my

reporters about the veracity of their statement.

Ramotar said that he did approach Parvati and she told him that she heard the apology and the reason for the apology. Well, what can I say? I cannot dispute what someone says he or she hears. People have heard the dead talking to them. I once met a man who said that he hears God talking to him.

Parvati must be in that category.

And we come to the next phase of the situation.

Ramotar said that the political situation has tied his hands, preventing him from offering me an apology or from even running a correction. I sympathise with him.

I have said nothing to Parvati because she may hear me saying something that I never said. And besides, she does not have the ability to comprehend the spoken word, so I would be wasting my time. But the managers of the Chronicle must be ashamed. How can a newspaper have an incompetent appealing to readers? Perhaps this explains why the readership is so small—confined largely to Government Ministries and

departments.

Moses Nagamootoo once had some scathing words for this woman because of some drivel that she wrote.

For his part, the Finance Minister gets angry when he is accused of doing something that he has not done. I felt the brunt of his tongue when I published or caused to be published that he had signed a document when in fact he did not. He said nothing when Parvati wrote what she did. Perhaps he considered the writings of a fool something to ignore.

Adam Harris But then again, he perhaps concluded that I could see the situation for what it was, and take the appropriate action.

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Sunday May 27, 2012

Sunday May 27, 2012

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Enhancing CPG relations with the community A few weeks ago, the Community Policing Organization of Guyana celebrated the 36th year of its existence.

To mark the occasion, a number of events were held.

These included public discourses and seminars, highlighting the work of CPGs and demonstrating its significance and benefits to the society.

At one such seminar, Taajnauth Jadunauth, one of Guyana’s leading CPG advocates delivered a presentation entitled “enhancing CPG relations with the community”.

Jadunauth is an executive member of the Enmore Community Policing group and chairman of the Enmore Station Management Committee.

Recently the village of Enmore has come under scrutiny with two highly publicized murders and several break- ins committed on business places.

The village’s community policing group is considered one of the most vibrant in the country and the recent events have been a cause for concern in a community that was once considered impregnable.

Jadunath’s presentation at the CPG anniversary forum is timely and it was felt that it is worth publishing for the general public to digest, especially with the criticism surrounding community policing.

Below is an excerpt from Jadunauth’s presentation.

“If an institution can be alive for 36 years, the persons and support groups who had been nourishing that institution must qualify for high credit… It must have taken great commitment and sacrifice to bring community policing to where it is today and all involved should feel a sense of pride for playing their part.

The structure of

community policing at the community level comprises, preferably, a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary/Assistant Treasurer and six (or seven) committee members.

As advocated in the current Community Policing Handbook, a Community Policing Group is charged not only with being a partner with the Police in crime fighting, but also with being engaged in community development in a broader sense. Some areas have been identified: • Protection of Public Property • Youth Clubs • Education • Health •Environmental development • Fire prevention • Road safety Clearly, the intent seems to be that a Community Policing Group should be involved in a more integral relationship with the community other than community security per se.

Perhaps, implicit in this broader relationship, is the hope that having a finger on the pulse of the community would allow the CPG to become knowledgeable of and be better able to address the security concerns of the community.

As a CPG member myself, I often wonder about the relationship between the ideal and the reality. Can a Community Policing Group, a grouping of volunteers, ever be able to deliver the entire charge as advocated?

Would the CPG be deemed to have failed if it could not achieve any or all of the objectives?

I look at these challenging undertakings required of CPGs and I am persuaded to some level of understanding as to why there is perhaps the failure by many Community Policing Groups to go beyond

patrolling the community.

After all, isn’t it enough as it is, with limited time and resources, that a few dedicated persons give up their sleep and comfort to protect those who rest snugly in their beds, the recompense often being a good dose of cussing for flashing lights in people’s yards or on their doors?

I recall flushing out quite a few “sweet-man” instead of “thief-man” and being on the receiving end of some unhappy females’ wrath. I am sure many here have their own stories to tell.

I recall also being recommended to be charged for wounding for trying to conduct a search on a known drug peddler who violently resisted being searched by members of my Group. I paid $60,000: to settle that matter from my own pocket.

I was representing my community, but my community cut me loose. I recall further some of my men being put to lie down in a muddy drain by a Joint Services Patrol although identification cards were duly produced, and the Enmore Police Station was only about 50 yards away from the scene and the identities of the men could have been confirmed by the Joint Services ranks.

Again, those of you who have been in the trenches would also have your own bitter experiences, some indelibly written in your memories.

However, despite these experiences, despite the abuses hurled our way by the community, the hard and sometimes incomprehensible truth is: We are still protecting our communities; we are still out there at nights, grumbling, risking more ugly encounters, to protect our communities. Why? Because as a person, as a member of a Community Policing Group, there is an

existing relationship, bond even, between us and our community. Because in that community are our immediate families and relatives and friends who recognize us for what we are doing for them.

Because, there are children whose safety we take very seriously. And, more importantly, because we care.

So we continue to work.

I am of the view that the CPG/Community relationship goes beyond just the physical patrols we do, beyond what is seen on the outside. If we were to examine the definition of Community Policing, it talks about helping to reduce the “fear of crime”.

When one can have that feeling that one’s fear of crime has reduced, that is a very comforting feeling. So, when, as CPGs, we bring about that state of mind in our community, we would have delivered on the primary objective for our existence, to wit: Reducing the fear of crime in the community. Thus, from the CPGs’ perspective, the relationship with the community is intact and effective.

Very often, incidents occur in communities and residents ask two questions: (1) Where was the Police? and (2) Where was the Policing Group? Of course, those from the community who ask question No. 2 never before seemed to have acknowledged the CPG or accepted that their safety over the years was because of the very CPG which they suddenly recognized as existing. In fact, those persons should have been asking themselves instead: Where were they?

Doesn’t the concept of Community Policing advocate that the entire community be the Community Policing Group?

On that premise, therefore, those who ask where were you, should be asking where they were.

But CPG members will be the first to agree that getting every male adult, even the women folk, in the community to be a member of the CPG, though desirable, is impossible. But you will agree, also, that it is not impossible to get a greater percentage of the community, if not to join us, to at least support us.

That is an uphill task in the best of circumstances. So, how do we go about it?

I subscribe to the belief that a mature human being is guided by a philosophy or philosophies – be that person a criminal or a saint.

And I would like to propose that the relationship

which may exist between a CPG and that portion of the community, which may be distant from the Group, can be bridged by proactive Community Policing leadership who embrace the philosophy that residents deserve to be solicited or encouraged for their input in exchange for their participation and support.

I hasten to say that I also hold firm to the view that every household in a community has the responsibility, if not the obligation, to be involved as full-fledged partners with its Community Policing Group, and that CPGs should not be seen as the sole shakers and movers in the community.

The big question, however, is: Who bells the cat?

Tough luck, folks! But we who lead our groups have to take that yoke, since with more persons on board, the lighter our work is likely to become.

We must believe in our leadership and we must be guided by the philosophy that nothing surpasses what human beings, talking and working together, can achieve.

If we, as CPG leaders, are of the belief that our community sees us as a resource which they can use to help to ease some of their safety concerns, we must use that momentum to forge a stronger relationship between us and them.

(To be continued)

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Sunday May 27, 2012

The Green Economy and Ecosystem Services

By Denise DeSouza Our economic, physical, mental and cultural health depends on the health of ecosystems and the “services” provided by the ecosystem.

An ecosystem can be seen as “a complex of living organisms and the abiotic environment with which they interact in a specified location.” (the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)).

Although the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES) also known as Environmental Services has existed in scientific literature since the 1970s, it has only recently begun to receive attention in decision-making at the national level and on a global scale.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) is a study that was sponsored by the UN in 2003, in order to evaluate the state of the world’s ecosystems.

This MEA is key to

bringing attention to and promoting the application of the concept in planning and decision-making.

It identified and assessed 24 specific ecosystem services, in the context of what it described as the “benefits people obtain from ecosystems.”

The MEA classifies ES into four types: provisioning; regulating; cultural; and supporting services. The Figure below presents an overview of these types of services and lists some of the ways in which they contribute to human well-being.

The information above (see chart) makes it clear that even business operations and thus ultimately human welfare rely on ecosystem services such as freshwater or other natural resources.

Given that our economies depend on this natural capital, the degeneration or loss of ecosystems and their services pose a significant risk to companies and whole industry sectors.

Nevertheless ecosystem services are not fully captured in commercial markets or comparable economic values and are thus rarely, or only marginally, considered in policy and corporate decisions.

The absence of economic value and visibility of ecosystem services has led to “The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity” (TEEB) Report, which is part of the Green Economy Initiative of UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The TEEB report analyses and highlights the economic value of ecosystem services and associated emerging green markets, such as the ecosystem services of coral reefs or the market for certified sustainably managed forest products.

Responding to the same challenge corporate associations as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and individual companies have started to develop business strategies and corporate environmental policies.

The findings of the MEA, suggested that human activities were impacting negatively on the quality and availability of the ecosystem services – in large part because these services were seen to be public goods and hence made available to all at no cost.

This is deemed to be a market failure. In the search for a method to ration and control their rate of consumption, the idea of attaching a price, reflective of the value contributed by the ecosystem service, has gained significant support.

This is backed by the Ayres principle of Industrial Metabolism which suggests that Prices play a role in signaling shortages far enough in advance to precipitate innovation.

And this is sufficient to prevent misuse or over exploitation of ES. The introduction of payments for ecosystem services (PES) aims to correct the market failure by internalizing the value of the benefits received from nature.

In this way the missing incentives for the provision or conservation of ES would be created.

PES has the potential to become very valuable transfer mechanisms to internalize positive environmental externalities, and to generate new revenues for sustainable development.

In short, it is about putting a “price” on natural assets – recognizing the environmental, economic and social values of ecosystem services (for example from

forests, or biodiversity) – as one way to promote conservation and more responsible decision making.

Several Economic Instruments can be used to meet these purposes, for example taxes, user fees, subsidies, direct contributions, grants, loans, and donations.

THE GREEN ECONOMY There is no unique definition of the green economy, but the term itself underscores the economic dimensions of sustainability or, in terms of the recent

UNEP in 2008, at the height of the global financial and economic crises. It has served to inform governments of two unique opportunities: First, that a significant slice of the multi-trillion dollar stimulus packages could, if targeted at environmental investments, be deployed to revive the global economy, save and create employment, while also assisting in addressing emerging environmental challenges.

And this point was particularly relevant to the developed countries and was

Consultancy Report (2008), which is central to the LCDS propositions, argues that avoided deforestation in Guyana represents avoided emissions of greenhouse gases for the world in the order of 1.5 gigatons of CO2e by 2020.

The challenge therefore is to access the level of compensation for this global environmental service – possibly under a Global Environmental Fund modality in exchange for aligning Guyana’s economic growth along a low carbon trajectory

UNEP report on the Green Economy, it responds to the “growing recognition that achieving sustainability rests almost entirely on getting the economy right”.

It also emphasizes the crucial point that economic growth and environmental stewardship can be complementary strategies, challenging the still common view that there are significant tradeoffs between these two objectives – in other words, that the synergies prevail over the tradeoffs.

Intrinsic to the Green Economy concept is its holistic character, because it encompasses the three pillars of development – economic, social and environmental factors – and its particular focus on inter-generational equity or sustainability.

This is reflected in UNEP’s definition of a green economy as “one that results in improved human wellbeing and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”.

The Green Economy Initiative was launched by

not lost on the USA Obama Administration that has been using Green Technology to drive its own recovery.

Second, that such investments coupled with domestic policy reforms in some key areas and the development of international policy and market infrastructure, could set the stage for a transition to a truly “Green Economy”: one which achieves increasing wealth, provides decent employment, successfully tackles inequities and persistent poverty, and reduces ecological scarcities and climate risks.

Guyana is working to cash in on these opportunities as well through its agreement with Norway, and by accessing REDD+ funds using the LCDS as a vehicle.

While the methods of estimating the value of ES are still evolving, there is a significant level of acceptance of the method for valuing carbon sequestration.

Carbon emissions (and other greenhouse gases) are associated with climate change and the McKinsey

(outlined in the LCDS), and in so doing, mitigate the principal drivers of deforestation that lie outside the forest sector.

According to UNEP, a “…

Green Economy is characterized by substantially increased investments in economic sectors that build on and enhance the earth’s natural capital or reduce ecological scarcities and environmental risks.”

These sectors can typically include renewable energy, low-carbon transport, energy efficient buildings, clean technologies, improved waste management, improved freshwater provision, sustainable agriculture and forest management, and sustainable fisheries.

These investments are usually supported by national policy reforms and the development of international policy and market infrastructure.

For example, Guyana’s LCDS and the carbon market, which has provided Guyana with funding from Norway for the LCDS.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Y-12 training for GDF pilots, technicians and engineers concludes

CATIC Instructors with Commodore Best and other Officers of the GDF, the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of the PRC in Guyana, Mr. Li Qin Feng, and some of the course participants Five pilots and 23 technicians and engineers of the Guyana Defence Force, together with a member of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, on Friday, last, concluded specialist training provided by the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) for the GDF. The programme wrapped up at the GDF Air Corps hangar at Timehri.

In opening remarks at the closing ceremony Commanding Officer, GDF Air Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Cargill Kyte indicated that, prior to the training, his unit suffered a deficiency in relation to the operation and maintenance of its HARBIN Y-12 aircraft, which had also impacted its service delivery to the Force and Guyanese communities.

“That deficiency will be significantly diminished from today, with the graduation of the pilots, engineers and technicians who have successfully completed this programme,” he said.

“The course has had a 100% success rate and six of its graduates are now eligible to have their licences endorsed by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Well trained operational and maintenance staff enhances safety and operational efficiency. For this training to be effective, pilots, engineers and technicians must be able to apply their skills in the real world and the full effect is to be felt in the coming months.”

Flight Operations and Oversight Manager of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority and Transnational Inspector for the Regional Aviation Safety Oversight, Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) Egbert Field, administered the flight examinations to the trainee pilots for the Type Rating on their licences, in keeping with GCAA standards.

Awards for excellent performance were presented

to Major Mohinder Ramjag (Pilot), Sergeant Roopnarine Budhoo (Airframe and Engines) and Civilian Rajendradat Lall (Avionics).

CATIC Project Manager, Mr. Li Ning, expressed his delight at the successful completion of the programme and his gratefulness to the GDF for the diligent and thoughtful work of the GDF’s Officers and Other Ranks who all worked to ensure his training team’s comfort and success in the conduct of their work.

While thanking the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Guyana for its support, Mr. Li said that CATIC was committed to providing satisfactory technical services to the GDF for the sound operation of the Y-12 aircraft.

“Now that the Y-12 training is completed successfully, the personnel of the GDF are well qualified to operate the aircraft: the pilots are very skilled in flying,” he said. “We will support the GDF all the time and we are expecting more and further

cooperation with the GDF and the people of Guyana.”

In brief remarks, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Guyana, Mr. Li Qin Feng noted that the collaboration between CATIC and the GDF was another example of the cordial relations between the GDF and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China. He noted that this year marked the fortieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Guyana and the PRC, and observed that cooperation between the two countries, which spans several areas, has grown over the years.

The envoy announced that the Ministry of Defence of the PRC is offering a fiveyear scholarship for personnel from the GDF to study in China. He congratulated the successful course participants for their diligence and opined that the occasion of the 40th anniversary is the perfect opportunity to enhance relations between both countries and the PLA.

In response, GDF Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best thanked the government and people of the PRC, the PLA and the CATIC staff.

“The excellent relations between the government of Guyana and the People’s Republic of China over the last four decades, has led to another successful collaboration,” he stated.

“This training is unique since it is the first time that China, through CATIC, has provided this particular type

of training outside of its borders. The training adds value and technical competence to the Force and such value must be contextualized in relation to the sacrifices which had to be made in order to make the training a reality.”

Congratulating the successful pilots, engineers and technicians, Commodore Best urged them to be mindful of this, and advised that as a result, a higher level of professionalism, commitment

and dedication were now expected of them. He also thanked the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and all others who contributed to the success of the programme, and later presented tokens of appreciation to the CATIC Project Manager, Li Ning, together with other members of the CATIC team, Instructors Zhao Bao Ming, Mr. Bao, Xian Jun, Ms. Lu Dan, Mr. He Liang, Mr. Li Shangi, and Interpreter, Mr Sun Hao.

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Sunday May 27, 2012

US$6.6M Black Bush Polder road project…

Contractor striving to meet November deadline

The Black Bush Polder roads in East Berbice, which were supposed to have been completed at the end of 2011, are seeing intense works after the last extension granted to the contractor.

BK International, the said contractor, had written to the Ministry of Public Works last November asking for another extension to the April 4 deadline. But this deadline was missed. The new deadline is November this year.

The US$6.6M (G$1.3B) project has seen several delays and residents, especially farmers in Black Bush, are wondering if ever the road will be completed.

Cement shortage and poor weather conditions were cited as excuses for delays to the completion of the project.

April 2012 was the new date given to facilitate the installation of 80 pipe culverts, which were not in the initial design, along the 34.5 kilometres (km) of roadway. The project is 60 percent complete and the contractor will likely be on target if the new completion date is November.

To date, the contractor has installed 52 pipe culverts, erected five concrete bridges

and paved16.5 km of roadway.

Currently, preparation works are ongoing to construct another 14 km.

The area is a mainly a farming one, with rice and cash crops the mainstay of many families.

During a visit to the region on April 5, President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Works, Robeson Benn toured the Black Bush Polder Road to inspect the ongoing works.

Later that day, at a press conference, Ramotar announced that the contractor would not be able to meet the April 4 deadline, but assured “they [the contractors] are working very hard to catch up...and we looked at some areas where remedial works had to be done”. “It (the road) should have been completed yesterday (April 4) — that was the original schedule, but I’ve seen they have revised the finishing time for the road to November this year...so I am very optimistic they will finish the extension this November and we hope that this will be a very good road for the people of Black Bush and I will check it back in November”.

Benn blamed the inclement weather and a

modification in the design of the road on the delays. He added that there had to be a one-metre widening of the road, since considerations were made for passage of trucks.

During a visit to the Lesbeholden Polder in Black Bush this past week, Kaieteur News observed men working on the road. Some machines were parked along the roadway while some were in operation. Sand-filling was being done to some sections, while widening seemed to be in progress on another section.

Kaieteur News visited BK International’s Tarlogie Processing Plant on the Corentyne to have some updated information on the road project but Operations Manager Lionel Kandasammy was not in office. Project Manager Julian Archer was also nowhere to be found and several efforts to reach Bridges Engineer Sunil Ganesh, proved futile.

More inspectors needed to stop child labour The number of inspectors in Guyana is not enough to arrest the problem of child labour, the U.S. Department of State says in its latest report on democracy, human rights and labour.

In 2011, the Ministry of Labour employed 17 labour inspectors who were charged with investigating child and exploitive labour activities, but these were not sufficient to enforce existing laws effectively, the report stated.

According to the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, despite conducting approximately 4,000 worksite inspections, authorities assessed no fines or penalties nor did they charge any employers with

- U.S violations.

The report noted that the Ministry of Labour collaborated with the Ministry of Education, Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Forestry Commission, National Insurance Scheme, and GPF, to enforce child labour laws.

Child labour was most prevalent in family-based businesses, farming, bars and restaurants, domestic work, and street vending, the report pointed out.

It added that small numbers of children also performed hazardous work in the construction, logging, farming, fishing,

manufacturing, and mining industries.

Although the Ministry of Labour reported no child labour violations during 2011, the report noted that NGOs reported isolated incidents of the worst forms of child labour occurred, mainly in gold mining, prostitution, and forced labour activities.

According to local NGOs, children who worked in gold mines operated dangerous mining equipment and were exposed to hazardous chemicals, the report stated.

Local law prohibits the employment of children younger than 15 with some exceptions.

Technical schools may employ children as young as age 14, provided a competent authority approves and

supervises such work.

No person under 18 may be employed in industrial work at night, with exceptions for those aged 16 and 17, whose work requires continuity through day and night, including certain gold mining processes and the production of iron, steel, glass, paper, and raw sugar.

The law permits children under 15 to be employed only in enterprises in which members of the same family are also employed.

The law prohibits children under 15 from working in factories and stipulates that those under 18 may be removed from factory work if authorities determine they are engaged in activities that are hazardous to their health or safety.

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Sunday May 27, 2012

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Interesting Creatures...

T

he pinktoe t a r a n t u l a ( Av i c u l a r a avicularia) is a species of tarantula native to South America, Costa Rica to Brazil and the southern Caribbean. This species is sometimes called the Guyana pinktoe, Common pinktoe or South American pinktoe, since they are frequently harvested from those areas.

The mature pinktoe tarantula has a darkcoloured body and pinkish feet in keeping with its name. Juvenile specimens, however, have pinkish bodies and dark-coloured feet. Pinktoe tarantulas undergo a reversal in their coloration as they approach adulthood.

These types of tarantulas are very docile, albeit nervous and jumpy, and are frequently kept as pets.

Although all tarantulas are prone to cannibalism, pinktoes are more tolerant of one another and can be stored in the same vivarium, if it is large enough. Being arboreal species, they require a relatively tall

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The Pinktoe Tarantula

habitat with plenty of climbing space. They require a lot of moisture, along with ample ventilation to prevent moulds from developing.

Tarantulas are said to come from fairly low habitats, places such as low plants, buildings, under leaves, behind small blocks among other places.

Adult pinktoes can reach lengths of about 4.5 inches.

They are generally regarded as slow spiders although they can move at paces comparable to other species.

It is said that they have no real defence mechanism, as such they rarely attempt to attack. They are unable to spit their hairs and instead have to force them into their victims.

Tarantulas are said to have a certain amount of venom. Although most people are not affected by this species, some may be allergic to the venom, or just more sensitive, making it a dangerous situation. This is one of the reasons that people should not handle this tarantula. Also, New World species of tarantulas

(Aviculara avicularia)

like this one can rub urticating hairs off of their abdomens, which can also cause a reaction, depending on the person. Affects of this tarantula's natural defences may vary between people.

All tarantulas should be considered dangerous.

They are known to tackle most insects, including

crickets, locusts and roaches.

Although generally easy to rear, they can become more of a challenge if more than one are kept together in a terrarium.

It is said that spiderlings can live in a tall clear plastic container with air holes.

Adults can live in a 10- to 40-

gallon tank, depending on the number of tarantulas.

This Avicularia species can be kept communally in a large, well-planted terrarium with many hiding spots and broad-leaved plants.

There should be little or no cannibalism, especially if the tarantulas are about the same size. Height is more

important than floor space.

An ideal enclosure should consist of a 4-gallon tank (give or take a gallon or so), and furnished with lots of climbing material, including cork bark, logs, and fake plants. The bottom of the enclosure should be lined with a layer of substrate, eco-earth of peat does the job well, to help retain humidity. A water dish should also be provided.

Temperatures should be around 25 degrees celsius.

Ventilation is very important with this species, and many people have lost tarantulas due to the poor ventilation. These tarantulas need higher humidity than most other species as well, making ventilation even more important. If the air in the tank is damp and stale, moulds can grow, making it a dangerous environment for the tarantula. Death can occur from moulds growing in the spider's lungs. Overall, the Pinktoe Tarantula can be an inexpensive and rewarding tarantula species to keep in captivity.

(Source: Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia)

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Wishing Mexico’s president well, but not holding a breath

By Sir Ronald Sanders No one should envy the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, as he chairs a meeting of the G20, the world richest economies, in June.

Delivering success for any group of countries is virtually impossible, and the outcomes that Calderón would like to achieve for developing countries look certain to be promises rather than action.

Undoubtedly, Calderón is sincere in his desire to be the developing countries’ advocate — an undertaking he gave to the 15-nation Caribbean Community countries and to the Alliance of the Paciûc (Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Panama as observer).

But, while all appreciate his sincere intentions, few harbour any real hope of his success on their behalf. At the Pacific meeting, Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, told Calderón in frank terms: “If nothing changes radically, the G20 meeting will be another failure… to believe that the G20 will resolve our problems, well, I have a lot of doubts.”

Santos has good reason for doubts. As is usual, the G8 countries – the industrialised nations – met in advance of the G20 meeting.

The G8 huddled at Camp David in the US under the chairmanship of President Barack Obama.

While the declaration from that meeting did not say so, the G8 would have co-ordinated their positions on issues likely to arise at the G20 Summit.

Seven of the eight leaders (Russia excluded) may have different priorities and approaches, but they are far more allied than other leaders in the G20.

By the same token, the developing countries that are members of the G20 have not held a similar coordinating caucus.

What is certain is that, despite Calderón’s best efforts, the G20 meeting will be dominated by the Eurozone debt crisis in Europe. No more than platitudinous attention will be paid by the G8 leaders (whose economies represent more than half of the world’s GDP) to the disastrous effects of climate change on developing countries and on their increasing need for energy and food security, or, indeed, on their debt challenges.

Already, promises of $22 billion in agricultural aid to poor countries, made by the G8 in 2009 for a three-year period, have not been kept.

The donors have disbursed only 22 percent of the amount.

On a global rise in temperature of 2°C — a threshold beyond which catastrophic climate change

is likely to occur, particularly for small island states – the G8 countries at their Camp David meeting did nothing to suggest that they plan to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions or help developing countries to meet the costs of mitigation.

With China and India very likely to dig-in their own heels not to cut their industrialization plans, the G20 meeting offers zero prospect of any meaningful news on this front.

On the Eurozone crisis, the Camp David G8 meeting exposed that the leaders disagree on solutions. This led the former prime minister of Britain, Gordon Brown, to state publicly that: “The unpalatable truth is that European countries can no longer rescue themselves from stagnation without international support.

What should have happened at the G8 – and what must happen at the G20 next month – is a coordinated global response that will help Europe decisively address the two elements of the crisis that are being ignored.”

He identifies the two elements as “crisis in the fundamentals of its banking sector”, and “failure of economic growth and competitiveness that affects every country on the continent with the sole exception of Germany”.

What is worrying the Eurozone countries now – and is also worrying their big

trading partners, the US, China and Britain – is not only the grave uncertainty over Greece (where a debt default has been averted for now) but also that Italy and Spain are on the edge of possible default on their debts.

The Europeans have created a $981 billion bailout fund with a lending capacity of $622 billion. But that would be insufficient to deal with a collapse in Spain or Italy. As Brown said, Europe has to look to the wider international community for help.

Yilmaz Akyüz, chief economist at the South Centre points out: “This is the main reason for the recent initiative to double IMF resources.” But, if expanded IMF resources have to be used to help bail out Spain and Italy with France not far behind, needy developing countries will be crowded-out from access to emergency and last-resort funds should their own economies continue to slide.

Each country in the G20

has its own domestic interest in what happens in the Eurozone.

The US administration is pushing for more spending and less austerity in Europe.

As the Euro slides in value and European spending contracts, so rises the cost of US products, adversely affecting exports to Europe and jobs in the US. In 2011, China accounted for two-thirds of East Asia’s $592 billion worth of shipments to Europe. Now China is suffering from a decline in European purchases, intensifying the evident slowdown in its economy.

On this basis, the US and China will be as focused at the G20 meeting on the Eurozone as will be the four European nations and the European Commission, all of whom are full members of the G20.

The communiqué of the meeting will, undoubtedly, mention global warming, food security and energy security, and promises will surely be made to deliver assistance.

But, development issues will not even have the back seat at the meeting, despite all the brave efforts of President Calderón.

While the developing world should be grateful for his labours, the available evidence suggests that small states, especially, should not hold their collective breath for this G20 meeting to make a meaningful difference to them.

By the same token, developing countries, such as the Caribbean islands that are reliant on Europeans having enough money to travel for tourism, should also support initiatives from the G20 that help to stabilize the Eurozone

Sir Ronald Sanders economies, or their own conditions will worsen.

(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat) Responses and previous commentaries at: www.sirronaldsanders.com

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Sunday May 27, 2012

Guyanese woman uses stun gun on child’s father, lover caught in bed : Cops

Stun gun stunner: Eva Hartman Florida, US – (SunSentinel) - Sometimes the wrath of a woman scorned includes the use of a stun gun.

Eva Hartman, 34, was arrested after catching her child’s father in bed having sex with another woman and then repeatedly shocking the morning lovers with a stun gun, according to a police report.

The stunned Lothario, Alvin Hennis, 42, was in Broward Court Judge John “Jay” Hurley’s courtroom on Thursday trying to help Hartman out of jail. Hennis and Hartman have a threeyear-old daughter together.

“It was pretty much my fault,” Hennis told the judge.

“We were supposed to do something together that morning and I forgot. I went to my house and things happened.”

According to a Margate Police report, this is what happened: Sometime early Wednesday morning, Hartman, who lives in Pembroke Pines and said to be from Guyana, walked into Hennis’ Margate home through an unlocked door.

She went into the master bedroom and found the nude couple in bed. Hennis told police that at the time he was “being intimate” with his current girlfriend, Cordelia Rose, 32.

Hennis told police that Hartman stormed the bed yelling “You and I just had sex last night.”

Hartman then shocked the man on the left arm with a stun gun that was attached to her key chain.

She then turned her fury against Rose, stunning her several times as well.

The type of stun gun was not described on the police report.

The report said Hennis separated the two women and pushed Hartman out of his house.

Rose told police that her boyfriend ordered her to stay in the locked bedroom as Hartman and Hennis were fighting outside. But Rose went out of the house through a window. Trying to make it to her car, she was stunned on her neck and arm

by Hartman’s device, according to the report.

Hartman left the house in Hennis’ car. She was arrested at her home in Pembroke Pines shortly before noon Wednesday.

Nobody needed medical treatment after the incident, according to police.

During Thursday’s hearing, Hennis appeared apologetic while Hartman, dressed in brown jail garb, could be seen trying to hold back laughter. At one point, Hartman and several other inmates who were awaiting their hearings burst out laughing as Hennis urged the judge to be lenient on his child’s mom.

“She is a super mother and a hard worker. I think she got emotional by what she saw,” Hennis told Hurley. “It was all my fault.”

“I could imagine things could get very emotional,” Hurley answered.

“Oh, things got very emotional,” Hennis said.

“Very emotional.”

Hartman was released from jail on Thursday after posting a $2,500 bond. She could not be reached for comments on Friday.

She is facing one count of domestic battery and one count of simple battery, both misdemeanors and was ordered not to have any contact with the shocked couple while she awaits trial.

She also isn’t allowed to carry a stun gun.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

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the life of 16-year-old Elbert Thorne after a dangerous hole in the road sent the car in which he was travelling into a nearby trench.

There were reportedly several other incidents around the same period at that particular spot.

Residents had blocked the bridge in protest, citing its danger to the public.

Government has since started works to repair the bridge.

When contacted, Lowe declined to comment on the issue. Kaieteur News was unable to contact Goring.

From page 20 Guyana. ************** THURSDAY EDITION GOVT. GOING TO COURT OVER OP BUDGET CUTS The government on Wednesday announced that it is moving to the High Court to reverse a decision of the Parliament to cut off key financing to the Presidential Secretariat, crippling the office of President Donald Ramotar.

“This has severely compromised the ability of the President to discharge his constitutional obligations,” said Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat.

While the bulk of the cuts affect low carbon projects the government is pursuing, presidential advisors are among 122 workers at the Presidential Secretariat who risk losing their jobs, Dr Luncheon told reporters at his weekly post-Cabinet news briefing.

One month ago, the opposition-controlled legislature voted to cut the 2012 budget by $20 billion.

The spending that directly affects the President’s office amounts to some $300 million.

“It has essentially stripped the President of advisory services, such advisory services provided

by Cabinet, the Defence Board, Press and Publicity, protocol, climate change et cetera. These cuts are both on employment cost and other charges,” Luncheon stated.

He blasted the opposition for putting the Presidential office in such “dire” circumstances, calling it

“commonsense at its lowest.”

“As a consequence, Cabinet has decided to have these actions by the parliamentary opposition alliance judicially reviewed,” Luncheon stated.

GOVT. BUYING 33 BULLS FOR $26 MILLION The government announced on Wednesday that it is buying 33 bulls for a price of $26 million.

The bulls are being imported from Florida and would be used as part of a programme to boost beef exports.

The announcement was made by Dr Roger Luncheon.

The spending means that one bull would cost some $800,000.

The particular bulls being bought are of the species Brahman, Beef Master and Brangus. The bulls are commonly used for breeding and meat purposes.

The bulls are being imported under the Agriculture Diversification Programme (ADP). The programme is intended to contribute to the increase of Guyana’s export growth rate and reduce its volatility.

In this regard, the programme was designed to establish services and institutions for a sustainable increase in the income derived from the export of nontraditional agricultural exports in the aquaculture, fruits and vegetables, and livestock sub-sectors.

At the end of the five-year Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded programme, the government expects to move

meat exports from US$60,000 to US$7.2 million.

TWO SENIOR GOVERNMENT ENGINEERSAXED Government has reportedly terminated the contracts of two senior engineers following the death of a teen earlier this month on Cemetery Road, Georgetown.

Senior Head of the Works Services Group (WSG), Rickford Lowe, and engineer Leon Goring of the Ministry of Public Works, were reportedly sent off a few weeks ago. They recently received letters from the Ministry which gave them one month’s notice each, that their contracts were being terminated.

While Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, declined to comment on Wednesday, well placed sources have indicated that the decisions by the Ministry are linked to a bridge on Sussex and Savage Streets, Cemetery Road which claimed

WSG’s Head, Rickford Lowe

************** FRIDAY EDITION THIRD WOMAN HELD WITH SLAIN MAN’S WEDDING RING Police have detained a third woman as they step up efforts to apprehend the remaining suspects in the murder of US-based Guyanese Abdool Shakeel Majid, whose battered body was dumped on the Number 56 Village, Corentyne foreshore last month.

Kaieteur News understands that the woman, a Corentyne resident, was taken into custody on Wednesday, after she was found in possession of the slain man’s wedding ring.

A source said that a relative of the murdered man positively identified the diamond-studded ring.

According to reports, the woman claimed that she got the jewellery from her husband.

She is said to be a relative of Seerojonie Permaul, called “Usha,” of 52 Belvedere Housing Scheme, Corentyne, Berbice, who, along with Majid’s wife, Hemwattie Abdulla, has been charged with his murder.

Police are looking for the woman’s husband and another man, since there is information that they played a major part in the crime.

Relatives disclosed that Majid was laid to rest Thursday at Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara.

TWO GET 30 YEARS EACH FOR FEMALE TAXI OPERATOR’S MURDER Two men, who were accused of killing a female taxi operator along Ogle Road, East Coast Demerara, on February 10, 2006, on Thursday each received 30year prison sentences, when they appeared before Judge Roxanne George-Wiltshire at the High Court.

The sentences for the two 24-year-olds, Anandram Dharamraj of Seventh Street Success, East Coast Demerara, and his coaccused Naresh Boodhoo, of Success Squatting Area, East

Coast Demerara, came after the men pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Three men were initially charged for the murder of 40year-old Seerajie Singh also known as ‘Lalita’, who operated a taxi service out of her Lot 129 Seventh Street, Success, East Coast Demerara home.

Hemraj Boodwah, the third accused, had luck on his side when the judge freed him from the charge due to what she described as a police “mess up”. He was advised to make something good of his life.

The police said that on the day in question the duo summoned the taxi driver requesting her service. They then robbed and shot her in the mouth before making good their escape with her motorcar.

The accused admitted to killing the female driver.

The men were initially given 40-year sentences by Justice George-Wiltshire – four years was deducted for the accused pleading guilty to the crime and saving the court juridical time, while another six years was removed because the men had already been in jail for that period. This resulted in each of the accused having to face 30 years behind bars. ************** SATURDAY EDITION THOUSANDS ATTEND INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS Thousands of Guyanese flocked the National Park Friday evening to witness the hoisting of the Golden Arrowhead on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the country’s independence.

The annual event produced a fusion of cultural and military performances.

An estimated 500 children were drawn from various dance schools and organisations to display the country’s past, present and future.

Before the arrival of President Donald Ramotar and his wife, Deolatchmee, the crowd was treated to one of the most interactive entertainment programmes in recent times.

Performances were by the flamboyant Charmaine Blackman, who generated energy in the crowd with her cantankerous hit “Gi dem mo fi talk.”

Adrian Dutchin had the crowd singing to all of his hit tunes, including the infectious “I am a Guyanese.”

There were also performances by the finalists of GT&T’s dance competition “Feel the beat.” And there was the Nyrityageet Dance Troupe just out of an annual stage presentation to perform one of the dances it presented to the nation recently.

Top calypsonians Young

Bill Rogers and Teneisha DeFreitas, along with soca queen Vanilla, added to the night’s entertainment.

With the arrival of the President and First Lady, the Yoruba singers, who are celebrating their 41st anniversary, performed a medley of songs. This was followed by the Region Ten choir the winners of the national competition.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony, introduced the President and he gave a speech that was about 30 minutes. That was followed by the cultural performance and a display by the Army and Police. There was no announcement of national awards.

President Ramotar then witnessed the hoisting of the National Flag at midnight.

ARSONIST FIREBOMBS HAIRDRESSER’S CAR, PREMISES A deliberate attack on the home of a Georgetown hairdresser has left the woman counting her losses. The attack in the form of a fire bomb, destroyed her motor vehicle, and caused serious damage to the front of her home.

Around 02:45 hours Friday, Odessa Wills, who resides at Lot 12 Norton Street, Wortmanville, said that she saw a man running away from her premises seconds before noticing flames emanating from the right side of her Toyota Avensis PNN 7144.

Wills is the proprietrix of Odessa’s Beauty Salon located at Orange Walk, Georgetown. The woman who occupies the lower flat of the two-storey house, said that early that morning she heard the alarm on her vehicle go off about three times. She said that she kept turning it off on each occasion, using the remote.

She recounted that after the third alarm she went to the window at the front of the house. The woman said she thought it was a dog playing around the vehicle, setting off the alarm. But after looking through the window, Wills said she noticed a man in the yard. The woman said she quickly pulled back so she would not be noticed by the unknown person.

The next time Wills said she looked through the window, she saw the individual running away and flames coming from the right side of her car. The gate was open.

Wills said she quickly exited the house and raised an alarm bringing neighbours to her assistance.

The attack destroyed the vehicle. The building was also scorched in parts. No one was hurt during the incident.

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Sunday May 27, 2012

Brazil President vetoes parts of polarizing Forest Code Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday vetoed 12 articles of a controversial forest bill approved by Congress last month, which was promoted by the powerful agriculture lobby but slammed by environmentalists.

The legislation updates the complex Forest Code, regulating how much and what kind of land should be maintained as native forest and how much can be cleared for ranching and agriculture.

Rousseff ’s decision comes less than a month before Rio de Janeiro is due to host a high-profile U.N. summit on sustainable development.

Many Brazilians had pushed for a complete veto, staging protests across the county and collecting 1.9 million signatures for a petition.

Instead, Rousseff opted for line-item vetoes of articles that many said would grant amnesty to those who had illegally cleared land.

She vetoed sections that

would have eliminated reforestation requirements and sharply reduced the area around water sources that must be maintained as forest.

The Amazon rainforest covers a huge area, roughly half as large as the United States, with about 60% of it in Brazil.

It is estimated that nearly a fifth of the Brazilian forest has been lost since 1970, but over the past decade, authorities cracked down on clear-cutting, reducing the rate of deforestation by 80%.

Former environment minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva has been a loud critic of the bill.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

“It’s a setback without precedent after the 23 years of progress we’ve made,” she said.

Sen. Katia Abreu, who represents the agriculture and

ranching lobby, said the question of reforesting around rivers is more complicated than it appears.

“There are a lot of people who only have a tiny plot of

land which is entirely inside the river margins,” she said.

“What are they going to do with those people? How are they going to reimburse them?”

For years, the Brazilian government encouraged settlers to slash and burn forests in the sparsely populated center, north and west of the country for farming and ranching.

Over three decades, Brazil went from being a food importer to an agricultural powerhouse.

The new Forest Code has been an attempt to reach a compromise for farmers and environmentalists.

A waterfall in Chapada dos Guimaraes national park. It is estimated nearly a fifth of the Brazilian forest has been lost since 1970

C’bean Telecoms Union seminar to hear update on network security MIAMI, USA — Delegates to the 10th Ministerial Strategic Seminar of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), which opens in Miami on May 29, will receive an update by Fortinet Inc, a

world leader in high performance network security, on network threat landscape trends, vulnerability and the best ways to mitigate them.

The update and recommendations will be

provided by Pedro Paixao, vice president of international sales for Fortinet.

Paixao will outline the new threat trends and the security solutions that are currently available to today’s network administrators.

In his presentation at the two-day seminar, a follow-up to a similar CTU meeting in Barbados last December, the Fortinet executive will also explain why it is important to be ready to protect and recover from directed cyber attacks and how to create an actionable cyber security action plan.

“We fully support the work of the CTU in promoting the adoption of cutting-[edge technology that enables Caribbean countries to be more competitive at the global level,” Paixao said. “Fortinet has been active in Latin America and the Caribbean region since 2003 and has worked a number of different groups to help educate public and private sectors on the importance of having a sound security strategy when planning a network expansion.”

The CTU’s Ministerial Strategic Seminars create a forum for technology executives to explain the impact of today’s emerging technologies, listen to the concerns of ministers, their secretaries, technocrats, senior policymakers and regulators and provide the necessary insight for informed decision-making.

The seminars seek to educate senior Caribbean government and regulatory officials in order to advance the social and economic development agendas of Caribbean countries.

This 10th Seminar will focus on the need for the Caribbean to participate more actively in global discussions and within international organizations that have a fundamental role concerning internet governance.

The seminar will delve into the mechanisms that are open to the region to participate in these organizations and will discuss a framework that will enable the region to effectively represent its interests.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Sunday May 27, 2012

C-Section may hike risk for toddlers’ obesity, study suggests (HealthDay News) — Babies born by Caesarean section are twice as likely to be obese by age 3 as infants delivered vaginally, a new study suggests.

“Women who may be considering a C-section in the absence of a medical indication should be counseled that their children may have a higher risk of obesity,” said study author Dr. Susanna Huh, director of the growth and nutrition program at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

The study included more than 1,250 mother-child pairs admitted to Massachusetts hospitals between 1999 and 2002. All of the mothers joined the study before 22 weeks into their pregnancy, and 25 percent of babies were delivered by C-section. The rest were delivered vaginally.

Babies were measured and weighed at birth, at 6 months and again at age 3.

Average birth weight was not statistically higher for babies born by C-section. But nearly 16 percent of children delivered via C-section were obese by the age of 3, compared with 7.5 percent of those born vaginally. Also, about 19 percent of the C-

section kids were overweight compared to just less than 17 percent of the others.

Those children delivered

by C-section also had higher skinfold thickness (a measure of body fat) at age 3, the study showed.

The researchers said their findings held even after they compensated for factors known to increase the risk of childhood obesity, including overweight mothers and high birth weight. Exactly what is driving the increased risk for obesity is not fully understood.

“We speculate that the different modes of delivery may influence the bacteria in the gut at birth, and it is possible that gut bacteria may influence obesity by affecting the calories and nutrients absorbed from diet,” Huh said. The bacteria also may stimulate cells in a way that boosts insulin resistance, inflammation and fat, the authors noted.

Another possibility is that some of the hormones released during labor may influence obesity development.

“Further research is needed to confirm our findings, as well as to explore

the underlying mechanism for this association,” Huh said.

The study does not prove that C-sections cause obesity, however, and fear that a child could become overweight should not scare women who need a surgical delivery, one expert said.

There are many valid medical reasons for C-section delivery, said Dr. Amos Grunebaum, an associate attending obstetrician and gynecologist at New YorkPresbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. These include babies in breach position (buttocks and feet first), babies in distress and labors that don’t progress.

“When you have an indication for a C-section, the risk of not doing it is so high,” Grunebaum said. “Having a baby with a potential future risk of obesity is not a good enough reason to not do one.”

The report is scheduled for publication online May 24 in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Between 4 percent and 18 percent of C-sections in the United States are performed at the mother’s request, the researchers noted.

Dr. Mitchell Maiman, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, is quick to point out the dangers associated with C-section delivery when it is done without a clear medical indication.

“The risks to the mother are enormous, if not with the first, then with the repeat surgeries,” he said. “The risk of catastrophic complications from repeat surgery is really, really serious.”

Maiman said the rising Csection rates in the United States are not justifiable.

“Many women who have had a C-section can safely deliver vaginally in the future,” he noted. “This is known as vaginal birth after Caesarean.”

“Babies delivered via Csection have more pulmonary problems [and] are more likely

to wind up in the intensivecare unit, and now there is the possibility that obesity rates will be twice as high,” he said.

Caesarean birth also is known to raise the risk of childhood asthma and allergies, the study authors added.

WHO agrees to tackle research on neglected diseases

Discovery of gene may lead to new male contraceptive

(HealthDay News) — The discovery of a keygene involved in sperm development could eventually lead to the creation of a new type of non-hormonal birth control for men, a study involving mice suggests.

Researchers found that a gene called Katnal1 is critical to enable sperm to mature in the testes. Finding a way to regulate this gene

could prevent sperm from maturing, making them incapable of fertilizing eggs.

This finding also could lead to new treatments for cases of male infertility in which the Katnal1 gene malfunctions and hampers sperm development, according to the study, from researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

The researchers found that male mice modified to lack the Katnal1 gene were infertile. Further investigation revealed that the gene was essential for sperm development and maturation.

Successful trials in mice do not necessarily mean the success will translate to humans, however.

The study was published in the journal PLoS Genetics.

“If we can find a way to target this gene in the testes, we could potentially develop a nonhormonal contraceptive,” study author Lee Smith, of the University of Edinburgh’s Center for Reproductive Health, said in a journal news release.

“The important thing is that the effects of such a drug would be reversible because Katnal1 only affects sperm cells in the later stages of development, so it would not hinder the early stages of sperm production and the overall ability to produce sperm,” Smith said.

“Although other research is being carried out into non-hormonal male contraceptives, identification of a gene that controls sperm production in the way Katnal1 does is a unique and significant step forward in our understanding of testis biology,” Smith concluded.

(AFP) - Campaigners yesterday welcomed a World Health Organization pledge to tackle research and funding gaps concerning some of the developing world’s biggest killer diseases.

Member countries are expected to hold talks later this year on an expert group’s recommendations that a globally binding convention is needed to address neglected tropical diseases (NTD), tuberculosis and others currently overlooked by the research industry.

It follows a meeting of the WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, in Geneva where members adopted a resolution calling on director general Margaret Chan to set up the meeting.

The document, the result of three-day negotiations, meanwhile urges governments and the private sector to boost investment in health research for diseases which disproportionately affect the developing world.

“These were extremely tough negotiations with the US, the EU — led by France — and Japan making every effort to block progress on what health experts agree should be the way forward to meet the medical needs of people in developing countries,” said Michelle Childs from Medecins Sans Frontieres.

“While there’s no doubt we are disappointed that there was not an immediate decision to move towards a research and development convention, countries have agreed to a formal process for considering the report’s recommendations and will bring these discussions back to the WHO in January,” said the policy director for medical charity’s access campaign.

The WHO-appointed group said in a report published last month that public investment in health research was currently dominated by wealthy countries and their own needs.

The panel recommended

a “global binding instrument” to help developing countries access the drugs and technologies they require and suggested member states commit 0.01 percent of their GDP to fund the work.

In a draft resolution submitted to the WHA, Kenya urged the immediate set-up of a negotiating body to develop a convention based on the group’s recommendations.

This was countered by a document from the US, Japan and others supporting more informal consultations.

After about 15 hours of talks the agreed resolution requested WHO chief Margaret Chan “hold an open-ended member states meeting in order to analyse the report and the feasibility of the recommendations.”

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) said it hopes that national and regional-level talks also requested in the resolution will pave the way for a global response.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Prevent and Treat Dark Under-Eye Circles

The skin around your eyes, including both the upper eyelids and the lower eyelids, is the most sensitive and delicate part of the face.

Since the skin here is very thin, it is highly susceptible to darkening, wrinkles and puffiness. Â Dark circles and puffiness around the eyes not just makes you look tired and sick, but also older at times.

When it comes to solving this problem of dark under eye circles, most women can only think of expensive under eye creams and cosmetic procedures.

But fortunately these are not the only ways to cure dark under eye circles, because there are lots of natural ways in which you can combat this problem.

And even if these natural methods don’t help in completely eliminating dark circles, at least they can ensure that your situation doesn’t get worse.

HEREARE SOME THINGS THAT WILL HELP YOU IN DEALING WITH DARK UNDER EYE CIRCLES Stay hydrated This is the most important thing to handle any kind of skin related

problems. Keep your body and skin well hydrated with lots of water and fruit juices. When the skin is well hydrated it has more elasticity, which prevents the formation of wrinkles and the darkening of the skin around the eyes.

Also, consuming enough fluids ensures that the toxins from your body get flushed out on a regular basis. This will again prevent darkening and puffiness.

Get some sleep Dark circles and puffiness around the eyes can also be a result of less sleep. When you don’t sleep seven to eight hours every day, your body doesn’t get a chance to repair and rejuvenate. And even two nights of compromise on sleep will soon begin to show up around your eyes.

Kick the butt If you’re still smoking despite all the health warnings, maybe it’s time to call it quits, at least for your skins sake. The harmful chemicals in cigarettes kill the nutrients inside the body while at the same time they leave your cells dehydrated.

And, the first place that the negative consequences of smoking can be seen is on the skin around the eyes.

Try some eye pack When you are tired and exhausted and your eyes feel gritty, place cucumber slices or used teabags on your closed eyes, and rest for fifteen minutes. If you can’t find either of these, dip a cotton ball in some chilled water and place it over your closed eyelids.

SOLUTION FOR LAST WEEK’S SEARCH & FIND

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Sunday May 27, 2012

Born Loser

LUMBERYARD Jon’s working at the lumberyard, pushing a tree through the buzz saw, and accidentally shears off all ten of his fingers. He goes to the emergency room.

The doctor says, “Yuck! Well, give me the fingers, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Jon says, “I haven’t got the fingers.”

The doctor says, “What do you mean, you haven’t got the fingers? It’s 1999. We’ve got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques. I could have put them back on and made you like new. Why didn’t you bring the fingers?”

Jon says, “Well, damn, Doc, I couldn’t pick ‘em up.” ********** GUINNESSACCIDENT Brenda O’Malley is home making dinner, as usual, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door. “Brenda, may I come in?” he asks. “I’ve somethin’ to tell ya.”

“Of course you can come in, you’re always welcome, Tim. But where’s my husband?”

“That’s what I’m here to be tellin’ ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery...”

“Oh, God no!” cries Brenda. “Please don’t tell me....”

“I must, Brenda. Your husband Shamus is dead and gone. I’m sorry.” Finally, she looked up at Tim. “How did it happen, Tim?” “It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned.”

“Oh my dear Lord! But you must tell me true, Tim. Did he at least go quickly?”

“Well, no Brenda... no. Fact is, he got out three times to pee.” ********** LAZY HIGHWAY CREW One morning a local highway department crew reaches their job-site and realizes they have forgotten all their shovels.

The crew’s foreman radios the office and tells his supervisor the situation.

The supervisor radios back and says, “Don’t worry, we’ll send some shovels...just lean on each other until they arrive.” ********** RETIRED JOY There was an engineer who had an exceptional gift for fixing all things mechanical. After serving his company loyally for over 30 years, he happily retired. Several years later the company contacted him regarding a seemingly impossible problem they were having with one of their multimillion dollar machines.

They had tried everything and everyone else to get the machine to work but to no avail. In desperation, they called on the retired engineer who had solved so many of their problems in the past.

The engineer reluctantly took the challenge. He spent a day studying the huge machine. At the end of the day, he marked a small “x” in chalk on a particular component of the machine and stated, “This is where your problem is”.

The part was replaced and the machine worked perfectly again.

The company received a bill for $50,000 from the engineer for his service. They demanded an itemized accounting of his charges.

The engineer responded briefly: - One chalk mark $1 - Knowing where to put it $49,999 It was paid in full and the engineer retired again in peace.

Garfield

Non Sequitur

Peanuts

Shoe

Page 46

Country profile:

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

THE MALDIVES

OVERVIEW The Maldives is made up of a chain of nearly 1,200 islands, most of them uninhabited, which lie off the Indian sub-continent.

None of the coral islands measures more than 1.8 metres (six feet) above sea level, making the country vulnerable to a rise in sea levels associated with global warming.

With its abundant sealife and sandy beaches, The Maldives is portrayed by travel companies as a tropical paradise.

The economy revolves around tourism, and scores of islands have been developed for the top end of the tourist market.

Maldivian fisherman carrying catch The Maldives’ economy is reliant on tourism and fisheries Aside from the island

President Mohammed Waheed Hassan

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was President for 30 years until 2008

capital Male, outsiders are only permitted onto inhabited islands for brief visits, thereby limiting their impact on traditional Muslim communities.

Tourists insulated Most tourists are taken straight to their island hideaway by seaplane or speedboat, where they are

free to drink alcohol and get luxurious spa treatments, insulated from the everyday Maldives, where alcohol is outlawed and skimpy beachwear frowned upon.

Many Maldivians live in poverty. However, the country has developed its infrastructure and industries, including the fisheries sector,

and has boosted health care, education and literacy.

The Maldives was hit by the December 2004 Asian tsunami. Homes and resorts were devastated by the waves, precipitating a major rebuilding programme.

There is a fear that as sea levels rise, island countries such as the Maldives, and some Pacific territories, will simply be swamped and disappear.

FACTS Full name: Republic of Maldives Population: 313,900 (UN, 2010) Capital: Male Area: 298 sq km (115 sq miles) Major language: Divehi Major religion: Islam Life expectancy: 76 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 rufiyaa = 100 laari Main exports: Fish GNI per capita: US $4,240 (World Bank, 2010) Internet domain: .mv International dialling code: +960 LEADERS President: Mohammed Waheed Hassan Mohammed Waheed

Hassan stepped into his predecessor’s shoes when he resigned amid opposition-led protests in February 2012.

Mr Hassan had been vicepresident to Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader who came to power in 2008 and who says he was forced to resign at gunpoint in what he described as a military coup.

Mr Nasheed says he doesn’t recognise the new government and has called for new elections.

He resigned on national television following weeks of protests over the arrest of a top judge.

Maldives introduced democratic elections in 2008, ending President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30-year autocratic rule.

Mohamed Nasheed had long been at the forefront of efforts to push Mr Gayoom towards democratisation, organising the Maldives’ main opposition party while in exile in Britain.

Before seeking refuge abroad, he was repeatedly jailed for his political activities, and says he was tortured twice while in prison.

MEDIA The government operates TV and radio networks. A handful of private TV and radio stations have been licensed.

Minivan Radio, an opposition station, operates via the internet.

Divehi-language dailies tend to include Englishlanguage pages. They concentrate on local and regional stories.

Broadcasters and newspapers carry criticism of the state, but officials have powers to close media outlets. Self-regulation means that little official action is taken against journalists.

There were 107,460 internet users by June 2011 (Internetworldstats.com).

“Religion is becoming a taboo subject,” warned Reporters Without Borders in 2012. The group cited the arrest of a blogger on the grounds that his page - which was closed by an official order - contained anti-Islamic material.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 47

Page 48

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Tullahram Dass is a 'Special Person'

Although he prefers the scissors-and-comb style, Tullahram is equally adept with electric clippers.

From page 18 one another's hair, usually going for the style known as the 'round cut.' Dass said persons know it is now as a “tapered fade”. He also spoke about the cost of haircuts, then and now.

“Back then customers paid 25 cents to trim their hair, now the average price for a trim is $500. We've really come a long way,” he reflected with a broad grin.

And what about rest?

“Rest? The only day a barber gets a relief is Sunday.

Normally a professional barber works all day sometimes without rest.”

The conclusion of the interview had an interesting comment from the decades-

old barber.

“During the 1970s, the sanitary inspector would visit the barber shop three times every week. That in itself tells you how strict things were in terms of hygiene and systems. It was no-nonsense. That's why I said before and I will always say, in order to become a barber, you have to have love for the profession…a dedication; a passion to please each customer that sits to have themselves groomed.

You have to fully appreciate what a person's appearance means to them. If you don't, you're in the wrong business.”

That's good advice from a dedicated tonsorial artist.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 49

Page 50

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Hire car driver attacked by armed “female” gang

A

hire car driver was attacked by an armed gang whom he believes were either “very, very” muscular women or a transgender gang.

They could not get access to his cash, but managed to cart off his car keys, late Friday night.

According to the driver, 38-year-old Nizam Ahamad, the four women entered his car bearing license plate number HB 6005 around 21:00hrs, and asked that he take them to High Street.

The man said that as soon as they reached the deserted area between Smyth and High Streets, the passengers suddenly asked that he stop the car.

Upon stopping, Ahamad said that the person in the front seat pulled out an icepick and told him not to scream or move.

“Me ask them where them going and they said High Street. So me asked them which part, and they said let me drive, they gon tell me. Now when we reach

by Carnegie, one ah them suddenly said to stop.

When me stop the one in the front seat pulled out an ice-pick and the one behind me seat choked me. Me understand right away wah them want so me try fighting

them off.

While me tackling the one in front with de ice pick, and the two from behind, the other one come out the car and pull out the key,” Ahamad recalled.

The man revealed that his attackers were very strong and muscular persons, who might have been men dressed in female attire.

Nonetheless, Ahamad said that he managed to snatch the ice pick from the person in front. And while in a better position to fight back, the three persons in the back seat escaped, leaving their colleague trapped in the front seat because of the faulty door lock.

The driver said that during the scuffle he might have injured the front seat passenger who later jumped through the window after not being able to open the door.

“Me just want drivers to be on the lookout because as funny as it may sound, it very dangerous.

So they should keep and eye out for a gang like this, or just make sure they remember the faces of them passengers, especially night time,” Ahamad advised.

The matter was reported to the Brickdam Police Station and investigations are continuing.

Fusion of cultural ...

From page 16 their heads high.

M i n u t e s l a t e r, H i s Excellency Donald Ramotar and First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar made their way into the National Park. He later inspected the Guard of Honour.

The Yoruba singers who are celebrating their 41st anniversary gave a powerful performance. The Afro centric group sang and

danced to the cultural folk tunes. That later led to a baton twirling performance by the trainees of the Guyana Police Force.

About 500 of the country's youngsters then came for a colorful and exciting exhibition. The President was entertained by the youths whose costumes represented a specific aspect of Guyanese life, folklore and history.

Page 52

From the Diaspora...

By Ralph Seeram The National Industrial Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) controversy will not go away anytime soon.

Every belated disclosure by its CEO Winston Brassington (can somebody say if he is still the head or not) only raises more questions on questionable transactions.

Instead of “coming out of a hole” the PPP Government keeps getting itself deeper. President

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Let’s have an international auditing firm do a forensic audit of NICIL accounts Donald Ramotar has drawn himself into the mess; so has the Attorney General Anil Nandlall.

Either Mr. Nandlall does not understand his duties as Attorney General or he is a very confused person. Mr. Nandlall’s duty as Attorney General is to DEFEND the INTEREST of the GUYANESE people, not the interest of Winston Brassington, his brother Jonathan, or the PPP Government.

Furthermore, Mr. Nandlall needs to research what

constitutes a CONFLICT OF INTEREST and what is FIDUCIARY DUTIES. The Attorney General is quoted in Kaieteur News as saying “so because your brother sits on a board you are disabled in some way from doing business with that board” and further displays his ignorance by adding that as long that there “is full and frank disclosure, anybody can do business with anybody”.

Mr. Nandlall, after your research you will realize what a foolish statement that was.

Here you have a head of a major shareholder company and an official selling not $1M or $2M but hundreds of millions of dollars in shares.

Winston Brassington, on the right hand is helping to make decisions to sell and on the left hand he is buying on behalf of his brother and the Attorney General sees no conflict. Any layman can tell you something is not right here.

Let’s take the Marriott deal. It is clear that no public details were made of Government investment in the project. Kaieteur News was in the forefront in the fight to get details of the project and how taxpayers’ dollars were involved. There was certainly no full disclosure here.

Mr. Winston Brassington, as head of NICIL is negotiating, leasing and

selling on behalf of NICIL to a company in which he is an official and has a financial interest. Enough has been written about that “sweetheart deal” where the Marriott will lease an acre of land for as I said before less than I can rent a parking space for.

When you look at these two transactions, even a jackass can see the impropriety if not illegality of such incestuous transactions.

Attorney General Nandlall must be privy to information that is not available to the taxpayers. A fully audited up to date report is not yet available but the Attorney General, by his pronouncements, gives the impression that all is well at NICIL. As I suggested before, Mr. Nandlall needs to brush up on conflict of interest and fiduciary duties, in his research he will find terms like “acting in the best interest of the stockholders” acting in good faith and “avoiding conflict of interest” and most important SELF D E A L I N G .

I will expand on the definition of self dealing because the example is so ironic; it fits into the exact situation of the Marriott hotel deal, and here it is, avoid self-dealing. “A self-dealing transaction is one in which a director enters into

on behalf of the corporation that directly or indirectly benefits the director personally.

For example, let us assume that the director represents a corporation that operates hotels. The hotel chain is looking to contract with a laundry company to clean the hotel’s linens. The director of the hotel company enters into a contract on behalf of the hotel with the director’s own laundry company at a price that is twice the cost of other laundry companies for the same services.

In this situation, the director of the hotel company engaged in self-dealing because he entered into a contract on behalf of the hotel in order to unfairly benefit his own personal interests.” Here again our learnt Attorney General sees no wrong doing.

I would suggest to Mr. Nandlall that while doing his research he should look up how many U S Congressmen, State Governors, politicians and CEOs of large U S companies are now imprisoned because of similar circumstances.

We can “pick and choose” the facts to justify actions but as the learnt Attorney General knows it’s the totality of evidence that has to be taken into consideration, does the Guyanese public have a

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood

totality of the facts at NICIL? This mess was not created under President Donald Ramotar ’s watch, so he should not allow himself to be dragged down in the mess.

The PPP lost its majority in Parliament because the electorate lost confidence in the PPP. The PPP needs to learn from that experience and restore its credibility, all this nonsense of no wrongdoing is not fooling or convincing the Guyanese taxpayers.

It is time to put this matter to rest to the satisfaction of all, especially the Guyanese p u b l i c w h o o wn these entities. Let’s have an outside auditing firm by that I mean an international accounting firm like say a KPMG, to look at the book from A to Z, Alpha to Omega, from “womb to tomb” or any other way you want to describe it, let’s get it out “once and for all”.

The President said there was no wrongdoing; the Attorney General also feels so and Mr. Winston Brassington claims innocence, so no one has to fear going to jail.

Failure of President Ramotar to implement such an audit will only strengthen the public’s belief that the PPP is hiding something. That will not sit well with the voters at the next election.

About the cost of such an audit, I am sure the government can find the money. It is time for the Government to stop hiding behind technicalities.

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 53

FFP International visits Guyana, appreciates work done

The visiting delegation holds discussion at the Police Training School.

Officials of the head office of The Food for the Poor International (FFP) organisation in Miami, recently visited Guyana and along with representatives of the local head office in Georgetown, Guyana and the Berbice representative recently toured the Ancient County.

They visited a number of organisations and viewed projects that are being funded and assisted by FFP. The visiting delegation was very impressed with what it observed and commended the local organizing committee for its organising skills and level of transparency.

The delegation headed by Mark Khouri –Director of the Gifts in Kind Department of FFP USA Incorporated, and Javier Ramirez-- International Operations Manager. They were accompanied by Jameel Davis—Manager of the Gift and Kind Department, Guyana, and Alex Foster, president of the St Francis

Robeson Benn presides at Essequibo flag raising A ceremony in observance of Guyana’s 46th Independence Anniversary was held on the tarmac of the Anna Regina Fire Station.

Minister of Public Works and Communication, Robeson Benn, was the government official at the ceremony.

Region Two Chairman, Parmanand Persaud; Vice Chairman, Vishnu Samaroo; Commander “G” Division, Paul Williams; and senior members of the fire station and the Guyana Defence Force, Anna Regina were also present.

In his address to Essequibians, Minister Benn implored Guyanese to strive

for unity, which he believes will lend to the security of the country.

He charged that unity will not be achieved unless social, political and economic progress are attained.

Minister Benn urged Guyanese to unite and work in harmony, in order to establish the nation for generations to come.

Benn added, “Essequibo continues to make great contributions to Guyana’s development, especially in the area of Agriculture.”

The Minister inspected the guard of honor, while Persaud and Commander of “G” Division took the salute

from members of the disciplined services. They then assembled for the symbolic hoisting of the Golden Arrowhead at midnight.

Community Developers and Berbice representative. They toured more than 12 projects and were more than impressed with the amount of work done.

During the tour the delegation visited the All Saints Presbyterian Developmental Centre, Preplayed School and Life Skills training centre in New Amsterdam; the Albion Chapel Centre, Pre-Played School and life skills training centre at Fyrish, Corentyne; the New Amsterdam Multilateral School; the New Amsterdam Hospital and the Regional Health Authority , the Amerindian Student Hostel at Corriverton, Corentyne, Eversham Community Developers , the Felix Austin Police Training College at Adventure Corentyne ; the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club; Berbice Cricket Board, and the St. Francis Community Developers, Head office at Port Mourant Corentyne.

During the tour a digital multi-media reading room was commissioned at Central Corentyne Secondary School while a chicken farm was launched for single parents at Limlair, Corentyne, Berbice.

During the visit the delegation was accompanied

by Region Six Chairman David Permaul Armagon; Deputy Commander of the Berbice Police B division Senior Superintendent Eric Basant; Superintendent Ian

Amsterdam; and Woman Inspector Yonnette Stephen, Commandant of the Felix Austin Training College in Berbice.

Khouri stated that FFP is involved in 17 countries around the world. He is happy that Guyana is one of them.

He stated that he is extremely proud and is looking to fast forward his next visit and his organisation’s continued support.

Davis stated that Berbice is definitely a pacesetter and was loud in his praise for Foster who he says is breaking barriers. Davis wondered why others cannot take a leaf out of the Berbicians’ book. “You have passed all the tests and we are proud to work with you” he stated. He pledged continued support and described Berbice as a proactive Region.

Regional Chairman David Armogan observed that FFP is more than just a charitable organisation in Guyana. “It is a household name which has

been contributing more than other agencies in its bid to assist the government”.

He highlighted the impact of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the country. FFP has touched all communities in the country and Armogan noted the wide collection of representatives present at the ceremony.

There were representatives from as far as Orealla up the Corentyne River to Bara Cara up the Canje River.

Mr Armagon was high in praise of the leadership and the work being done in Berbice by Foster. He said, “you have an able foot soldier in Mr. Foster. I have seen many organisations and, administratively, the monies are not channeled where they are needed. But here the monies go where needed. It does not build big houses. It goes where it is needed.”

The visitors were presented with tokens and gifts by the various associations.

Page 54

WANTED One cook, must know to cook Roti & Puri. Call 6477432 Live-in domestic must know to cook and 1 waitress, salary 50,000 monthly.

Call:610-5043 Persons/family to live & take care of farm @ E.C.D, attractive salary offered.

Contact: 690-1943, 691-8021 Workers for interior general store and Georgetown location. Call: 226-2940 Pastry, roti/puri makers, counter servers, cleaners, handy boys & waiters.

Apply Hack’s Halaal, 5 Commerce St. Manager’s Assistant general duties including Custom and Bond, Security Guards, accommodation available. Call: 676-6700 1 Diesel Mechanic, to work in the interior. Tel# 688-4905 Experienced sewing machine operators. Tele no.: 220-4337 Experienced House Keeper.

To work on the E.C.D (parttime). Tel: 225-1787.

Female to work in production department Tel: 645-1208 Experience Interior drivers Call Paul : 592-646-6730,592225-1939 Mill/Saw Doctors, Moulder Operators to work @ Jettoo’s Sawmill @ Coverden Public Road, E.B.D. Call – 261-5041, 2615042, 226-2756 Skilled Lathe Operator, livein domestic, live-in handyman Arc/Acetylene Welder. Tel: 22-71830 Workers for landscaping.

656-1326, 626-1044 Bright, well-spoken sales assistant for small store, with 5 subjects CXC. Send written application to PO Box 101599 Live-in attractive waitress.

Tel# 228-5129 Kitchen Assistant. Come in to Dian’s Deli, Barr St. Kitty.

One (1) Handyman/ Gardener. For more information please call O. Persaud 222-7003, 664-0807 Truck to fetch mud. Call 6231615 East Coast Guyoil pump attendants wanted (day and night), wash man, office assistant & sales girls. 6842838, 602-5031

Kaieteur News

LEARN TO DRIVE Prudential Learning “ Training to Pass” stick/ manual and automatic 6424827 We’re #1 Soman & Sons Driving School; First Federation Building. Call: 225-4858, 6445166, 622-2872, 615-0964

WANTED Contract cars. Must be in Hire & Yellow. Base free. $3500 weekly. Call 660-9977 Waitresses @ Diamond Gate Liquor Restaurant and Bar, Lot 18 Belmont Mahaica.

Tel# 228-5013, 622-5599 Carpenter with own tools.

Apply at Guyana Variety Store, 68 Robb Street. Tel no.

225-4631 1 General Domestic. Must know to cook, from East Bank Dem. Area. Tel# 614-4358 Sales boy and girl. 615-3090 Office Clerk, CXC English/ mathematics. 225-0188, 2256070 Sawmill workers. Tel: 2616412/653-9752 I need an apartment to rent; call after 06:00pm - 648-0797 Live-in/Live-out babysitter/ clerk/domestic. 225-0188/ 225-6070 Urgently needed one hire car to work and keep. Call: 6155609 Female workers needed; 3 subjects or sound secondary education. Call: 225-7307.

Waitress to work in a bar. Will have to live in. Contact tel# 661-8965 Security Contact: 223-5273-4 (1) experienced waitress @ Mambo’s Bar, 93 Bar Street, Kitty.

Scrap Iron, 1 Cutter/ Fabricator, 1 gardener, 4 scrap metal loaders, dredge workers, 1 truck driver. Tel: 623-2728, 618-1967, 667-5717 One general live-in domestic.

Must know to cook and bake, Security on the E.B.D. Contact: 665-8737 Drivers & porter to work on water trucks on the WCD $20,000 wkly Call: 684-8231 To buy 1-22 RB Dragline. Call: 616-0617, 663-3285 Scrap metal. Call 616-0617, 663-3285.

SERVICES Permanent &Visitors Visa Applications Professional Immigration Consultant Sabita, Room E-4 Maraj Building 225-6496/2238115/662-6045.

US & Canada VISA application services. Call 643-6630. Family discounts available.

We refill HP cartridges for $1,800. Call:650-7699 Visa and Immigration forms prepared for Canada, USA and UK. Also Passport forms. Call 626-9857 Repairs, sales & spares, air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & Stoves.

Ultra Cool: 225-9032, 6472943 ONLINE SHOPPING NO COMMISSION, WEEKLY S H I P M E N T S , AFFORDABLE RATES, FREE PRIVATE MAILBOX. TEL: 231-5789.

FREIGHTLINKEXPRESS@ GMAIL.COM WE FILL OUT PASSPORT & VISA FORMS: USA, UK & CANADA. TEL: 2315789 Repairs in all types of Jet-Ski, stern-drive, inboard and outboard engine (2 & 4 stroke). Contact: 694-7949

Sunday May 27, 2012

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

Body kit for IST. 641-1127

One Massey Ferguson 399 Tractor. Call: 619-6093

1 solar photovolic system for household use. 661-0088, 615-0022 Canon 4 Function Inkjet Colour Printer; also: 80 GB IDE Hard Drives for computer. Reasonable price – Call: 675-5196 or 622-1541 233 pieces Mastercraft Tool Kits; IBM P4 Computer, 18" LCD Monitor. Reasonable price–Call:675-5196or622-1541 Original projector, next to new. Call: 671-935 2001 F-150 Ford, 8 cylinder engine with 4 WD. Very good condition, with fiberglass cab on back. GLL plates. $2,000,000. Call Hans 645-5596 Toyota Starlet 2 E Turbo engine with gearbox and ECU: Call: 624-7155.

NARS lipgloss, eyeshadow & Clinique Chubby Stick. Tel: 669-8374.

Roofing shingles. Call: Mr. Skepmire . 227-5195 (8am to 5pm) Roof Rack, Spot Lights, Crash bar, Blue Tooth Radio, Double Battery System, Leather seats, 645-2286 Brand new Blackberry Torch 9800, under $100,000. Call: 676-7443

Do you need a female bahir (cook) to work in interior?

Call Andrea 692-1798, 6527355

1 AT170 Corona as scrap.

626-1044

Free excavated mud. Supply transportation. Location Hadfield and Sendall Place.

Two 60-180 Leyland Daf dump trucks for sale in working condition. 628-1756, 228-5655

Seeking partners for gold investments. Gold detectors $275,000. Computer repairs.

670-4302

1 Kawasaki Ninja Bike Model 2009, 600cc, CG 2468.

Contact# 677-1218, 216-0317 1 G-Force Freezer $45,000. 2 AT192; yellow $825,000, white $790,000. 1 Desk top computer and accessories.

628-8354 or 231-3417 Clean garden earth and builders’ waste, also Bobcat Rental Excavating clearing and Leveling. Call: 616-0617, 663-3285 Cheap earth delivery to spot, E.C.Dem, E.B.Dem. Tel# 6279977, 698-0182 Generac Generator/American made, 7000w, fully enclosed; low noise. Propane/gas cylinder, ATS available. Call: 612-1486, 646-8326 Dell computers with LCD & free memory upgrade $59,000 Call: 225-3709,641-0537,6912077

We repair fridge, freezer, AC ,washer, dryer Call: 231-0655, 683-8734 Omar.

Bulah Enterprise Inc. seeks interior charter Call: 592-6466730,5692-225-1939 Blackberry unlock $2000, also PC games starting from $1500 Vickram at Call: 652-7560 Unrestricted Internet via our satellite, wireless network, basic installation $775,000. VSat Café package installation $1.5,GPS tracking Call: 6528696 Experienced PMTC graduate seeks job as a perkins mechanic in the interior Call: 653-0456 or 267-0100 Mahadeo’sConstruction , reliable services for your renovations, contact Tony Tel 618-3523,669-7376. For free estimates and plans.

FOR SALE/RENT

Slate pool table, 6 base music set, merry go round Call:2282098

Big blow out sale at Lot 29 Sale/rent 2 bedroom house at Croal Street Enterprise, kids 97 Pearl , East Bank Demerara shoes $200 and lots more.

Call:664-2209 Call: 223-9362

American dog food; 44lbs$5,500; 33lbs - $4000; 4lbs $800. Call: 628-9119 One 21 gallon Air Compressor. Contact Nicky – 646-6000, 697-9610 Peking ducks, call: 266-2711 / 609-4594 Brand new American made Crosely 10.5 cu ft Refrigerator for sale $75,000.

626-4452/697-5677 Blu Ray DVDs. Perfume Dazzle 231-9485 Bag Neck Seal Tape. 231-8819 One Caterpillar D6 Bulldozer.

Call: 622-1957 15ft Fiber glass boat $170,000 call: 260-0301, 685-1233 Going cheap, foreign used Perkins Engines, pressure & clutch plates, hydraulic pumps. 661-3043 1 Super-custom minibus. $1.4M negotiable. Contact #693-6630, 231-8051 Two Detroit Diesel series 50 engines, 300 HP. Call Troy 601-9004.

1 Tundra, 1 Perkins engine & Welder 400 amps. Call: 6605462, 611-5114 2004 Land Rover Discovery.

100,000 miles. Excellent condition.

Off road suspension and tires. Warn Winch. Call: 645-2286 Spares for washer, microwaves, fridges, stovetimers, gear boxes, pumps, etc. Contact 225-9032, 647-2943 Two 8ft Slate American pool tables, one Nissan Titan & variety of restaurant equipment. Call: 622-1957 Corrugated Zinc sheet @ 40% off. Local Lumber @ 25% off. Pine Lumber @ 10% off. Zack’s Lumber. Tel# 2267054.

Games for PSP $900, PS2 $900, Xbox 360 $2600, PS3 $2600, Xbox, Wii. Junior 6722566, 265-3231 Cell Phones – Samsung, LG, Blackberry, etc. on wholesale. Contact 682-6874 2003 Kawasaki Ninja, also 8 Camera DVR Security System. Tel: 643-6468, 6867273 Tibetan terrier, Daschund pup, Pekinese pup. 694-7221, Vreed-en-Hoop – Pet Shop Used 1400x20 Model M Truck tyre. Call 648-2413 1999 Tacoma 4 cylinder engine with 4 WD. Good condition, GLL plates. $2,000,000. Call Andrew 6388599

VEHICLES FOR SALE Just arrived: Allion and Premio, tel: 624-2000, 6221610 Hilux 4x4 solid def pick-up, diesel, long base, excellent condition Call: 623-0243 Corolla Fielder just registered, AT 170 Carina.

Price negotiable. Call 6149623 One Toyota RZ Longbase EFI, hardly used BKK series $1.6M. Call: Rocky 621-5902 2004 Mazda RX8, body kit, black, unregistered, $3M. 617-2891 Unregistered Allion and Spacio. Tel# 697-0294 International Tow Truck with flat aluminum bed; takes two vehicles. Call: 639-3900, 619-5400 1 2004 Honda Civic AT, music, excellent condition.

PMM series. One year in taxi, $1,750,000. Contact 6505567 Toyota Prado, 2004 Prado, 2005 Mark II, GX110, 2005 Tundra. All fully loaded, excellent condition. Call: 600-5759 One unregistered new model Noah. Financing available. Price $3.6M. Tel: 629-2314 2 & 3 ton enclosed canter, unregistered. 617-2891 One Allion, fully powered, A/C, music, mag. Tel: 2590836, cell: 621-7838 1 Marino $650,000, perfect working condition. Part payment available.

Telephone#650-5057, 6489137-1 Just arrived! Hilux solid axle pick up Tel:222-2662,6912077 AT170 Carina. Price $550,000 neg. Call: 673-2945, 671-3020 One 2 ton enclosed canter.

Price $1.1M negotiable.

Contact # 253-3349, 6938830 Unregistered Spacio (Blue) $2.5M. Fielder (Blue) $2.4M. Tel# 641-1127 One EP71 and 82 Starlet, 1Toyota Ceres and RZ Minibus, 1 – 192 Carina, Nissan Pathfinder, PMM. Call: 644-5096, 697-1453 Jag’s Auto.Spacio, Premio, Wagon. Cheapest. Call 6167635 Toyota Sprinter, fully loaded, TV, AC, CD, Alarm, single owner. For immediate sale.

Contact: 669-2747, 626-9834 First Class Auto. Allion & Raum. Tel# 609-8188, 6026307 (Continued on page 56)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

The Abigail Column

Page 55

Golden Arrowhead raised in New Jersey

Is it wrong to be a ‘chivalrous’ woman?

DEARABIGAIL, I have a rather awkward problem. (Or, at least it seems awkward to me!) I’m an eighteen year old woman and I make it a point to be courteous to everyone when I’m out in public.

Recently, however, I began to notice something rather strange. Earlier this week, I held the door open for a man who absolutely refused to walk through. He said something along the lines of, “The hair on the back of my neck would stand up for years — please go through first.”

This isn’t the first time it happened — in fact, it seems to be happening more and

more and only with men. My friends have a habit of jokingly calling me “macho,” and say that men are afraid of me because I don’t act very feminine. As a woman, I do fancy myself as good looking and perhaps a little assertive, but why does it seem like men don’t appreciate courteous gestures like opening doors or pulling out chairs? It’s starting to make me feel unattractive.

Naomi Dear Naomi, You go ahead and hold open that door! This is an important issue, especially in modern times.

The roots of chivalry and its association with masculinity are long-

standing. Many of these ideas come from the eroding expectation that men are dominant over women.

Gender stereotypes suggest that women ought to be communal, friendly, unselfish, concerned with others, and emotionally expressive. Men are thought to be masterful, assertive, competitive, and dominant.

There’s no association with masculinity or femininity, and it seems like in your case, it purely comes from a place of wanting to help people out rather than wanting to assert dominance. You should do what feels good to you!

Continue to act as you please.

So go ahead and be assertive. And above all, continue being yourself!

Sunday May 27, 2012 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): The amount of romance you have in your life is directly proportionate to the amount of romance you add to other people's lives. ****************** TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): You are one popular person today, and folks might try to pull you in several different directions at once -- it seems as though everyone needs your help! ******************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): You don't have to deal with opinionated people today -- just because someone has something to say does not guarantee that he or she is worth listening to. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): If someone has recently started giving you extravagant gifts or treating you to amazing experiences, be aware that this behavior could be covering up a guilty conscience. ******************** LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): In a stressful situation today, you will need to remain calm and controlled -- because no one else will be able to. You might not like taking a leadership role, but it is in your best interests to keep things moving forward. ********************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): Be prepared to have your regular routine turned on its ear today. If you can stay flexible, you'll have fun -- but you'll also gain a new appreciation for some of life's boring, dependable things -- like calendars, watches and schedules!

********************** LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): You can make amazing things happen in a group situation right now, so go for it!

Don't wait for people to ask what your opinion is -- you may end up waiting forever. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): Authority figures who think they know everything don't have the answers today -- and you see this clearly. So how do you voice your opposition without stepping on anyone's toes? ********************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): They say that honesty is the best policy, but they don't know the sensitive personalities you're dealing with right now. ********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Keep in mind that while many people are cheering you on right now, there is one person who feels more deserving of this support and praise. *********************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18): In a negotiation today, you could be asked to compromise your moral values. If you feel pushed to choose something that you think is wrong, find a way to stall for time. *************** PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20): If you've decided to get serious about making healthier lifestyle choices, good for you! But as excited as you may be about this empowering change, try not to project your goals onto other people.

Arti Cameron, Miss Guyana World 2012, recently joined with officials of the City of Newark for the commemoration of the 46th Anniversary of Guyana’s Independence at City Hall, Newark, New Jersey. In photo (left to right) are Arti Cameron; Ms. Molly Etwaroo (President, New Jersey Guyanese American Cultural Foundation); Margarita Muniz (Deputy Mayor—Office of Neighbourhood); and Carlos M. Gonzales (Council Member-at-Large).

DTV CHANNEL 8 09:25hrs. Sign On 09:30hrs. Turning Point 10:00hrs. Kickin’ It 10:30hrs. Lab Rats 12:00hrs. Movie: The Gathering 14:00hrs. Movie: Joshua 16:00hrs. Movie: Murderous Intent 18:00hrs. Faith in Action 18:30hrs. Know Your Bible 19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 21:00hrs. Movie: Man of the House 23:00hrs. Sign Off NCN CHANNEL 11 04:00hrs – Inspiration 04:30hrs – Newtown Gospel 05:00hrs – NCN 6 ‘O’ Clock News(R/B) 05:30hrs – Tomorrow’s World 06:00hrs – 2ndTest West Indies VS England –DAY 3 08:00hrs – Voice of Victory 08:40hrs – Cricket Resumes 10:40hrs – Cricket Info & Quiz 11:00hrs – Cricket Resumes 13:30hrs – Dharma Vani 14:30hrs – Catholic Magazine 15:00hrs – The Naked Truth 15:30hrs – GRA in Focus 16:00hrs – Family Forum 16:30hrs – Shape 17:00hrs – Guysuco Roundup

17:30hrs – Homestretch Magazine 18:00hrs – NCN Week in Review 18:30hrs – Inside the Government (Rebroadcast on Wednesday @19:3020:00hrs) 19:00hrs – Round Table

(Rebroadcast on Wednesday @16:00-17:00hrs) 20:00hrs – Kala Milan 20:30hrs – Bollywood 60 Mins 21:30hrs – Guyana Model Search 22:30hrs – IPL FINAL (Delayed)

Page 56

Kaieteur News

VACANCY Salesgirls & Salesboys.

Apply: Avinash Complex, Water St. Georgetown. 2263361/227-7828

MASSAGE American Style Massage Service. Call 609-4036 Treat yourself to a relaxing massage Call: 622-6256

Experienced Hair Dresser at Nalline Beauty Salon, Vreeden-Hoop Junction (Raymond Building).

Attractive salary. Contact: 687-3341, 639-9884 Be part of our world class customer care team. Join us now! Phone: 220-0401-3 Male Sales Clerk. Hand written application. Perfume Dazzle, 137 Regent St., Lacytown, G/Town.

Fish cleaners. Eccles. 2332546, 675-5467

VEHICLES FOR SALE Top Notch Auto Sales. 2004 Mazda RX8, $3M. Free reg.

Tel: 674-2844.

TO LET Clean, freshly painted house. 3 bedrooms, South Ruimveldt Park. Phone# 672-9846 Business place to rent, very spacious. Call: 226-2674/6846360,223-1301,682-6822

For Porters. Apply in person Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling, Stabroek.

Short term apartments, Eccles. Call: 679-7139

Experienced cooks & able bodied security guards.

Apply in person @ Aracari Resort, 160 Plantation Versailles, WBD. Tel: 2642946

Prashad Nagar $18,000.

Camp Street $60,000.

Cambellville $100,000.

Albertown $150,000. Diana 227-2256, 626-9382

One Electronics Repair Specialist to repair cellphones, laptops, cameras. Attractive salary, blackberry service. Contact 231-9770 for information.

Hilton Hotel: Receptionist & Maids. Henry St. 223-6284.

Phatz Style Boutique: Sales girl. Durban St. 227-0501

Apartments/Rooms. Tel: 667-1549

One two bedroom bottom flat; toilet & bath; fully grilled. Public Road, Grove, E.B.D. Call: 621-0090 Prime business spot 14 Peter’s Hall Public Road, East Bank Demerara. Call: 668-0309

Progressive auto rental, cars from $4,000 per day. Call: 6435122, 656-0087, www.progressiveautorental.com First Choice Car Rental cars $5,000-7,000 per day 6680306, 225-6337 Al’s Car & Pick-up Rental.

Call: 698-7807

Qualify yourself in Cosmetology or nails, make up, Register, Limited spaces. Call Abby: 216-1950, 619-7603, 666-5241 Seeta & Soma Salon.

Specialists in perming, relaxing, styling, manicure, pedicure, etc. Tel: 618-6346/ 644-7142

Toyota Sprinter, fully loaded, TV, AC, CD, Alarm, single owner. For immediate sale.

Contact: 669-2747, 626-9834 Leading Auto. Unregistered Allion, Premio, Runx, Spacio, Avensis, Verossa, 212. Tele: 6777666, 610-7666.

1 Honda CRV Call: 233-5476, 617-4133 1 -2 Ton Mitsubishi Canter open back, GKK series $1.4M Neg. Call: 684-8231 Lexus LS400/Luxury, BMW 740IL/Luxury, BMW 635CSI/ Sports. Bring mechanic, make offer. Call: 612-1486, 646-8326 Blue Mitsubishi Lancer, complete with press start alarm and music set $1.2 Neg. Call: 651-9983

1-1998 Honda CIVIC, manual transmission, PKK series $950,000 Contact: 650-5567 Clearance sale!!!

Unregistered Toyota (Scion) bB&Sienta. Come and make your offer!!! 643-6565,2269931 Quantum Auto. Allion – Silver & white with TV/NAV/ RCam. Grey Premio, Spacio, Fielders. 624-7684 Unregistered 2 Ton enclosed Mitsubishi Canter. Call: 6229123,679-8056 Corolla Fielder just registered, AT 170 Carina.

Price negotiable. Call 6149623

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ACCOMMODATION Signature Inn Luxury Suites & Apartments 83 Laluni Street, Queenstown. Call for reservations 226-2145, 2275037 Harmony inn fully furnished self contained a/c apartments, Short term& long term Parfaite Harmonie WBD Tel:694-7817

Monaco GP: Michael Schumacher quickest but Mark Webber on pole Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher sensationally took pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix but will start from sixth place after a grid penalty.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber will be on pole position after losing out to the veteran

One RZ EFI long base minibus. Excellent condition.

Price $1.175 neg. Call: 6195157

Just arrived! Hilux solid axle pick up Tel:222-2662,691-2077

SALON Make up courses, artist trained & certified in Trinidad: 6605257,647-1773 CAR RENTAL

(From page 54)

Sunday May 27, 2012

CAKES & PASTRIES Courses in cake decoration, pastry making & cookery, tel: 670-0798. Wedding dresses for sale & rental.

DATING SERVICE Immediate link-Singles 18-80yrs.

Confidential: Tel: 223-8237,6486098. (No -text) 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Sun (Both phones same hours).

LIBRARY Closing down sale; text, university, novels & others from-$100 up. Call: 223-8237 FOR SALE American Ladders/Scaffold, 30ft/10ft, adjustable/ platforms. 20 ft heavy duty scaffold, platform/locking wheels. Call: 612-1486, 6468326

PEN PAL East Indian male 48, is looking for a friend. Call: 6901405

PROPERTY FOR SALE

EDUCATIONAL Imperial College – CXC Jan/ June 2013 exam. Day/ Evening classes, flexible hours. Contact 227-7627, 683-5742 Private tutor –home schooling. CXC English, adult upgrading. Call: 6494247 Pam’s Daycare, Playschool & Nursery. Lot 227 KuruKururu.

Registration commenced. Limited places available. Tel no: 261-5496

LAND FOR SALE Land V/Hoop 2 acre: school, housing, factory, etc. call: 658-0115 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content, E.C.D, $256,000.00(USD) Call: 813319-4219 or rpooran@tampabay.rr.com 3990.96Sqft, Suitable for office or warehouse located between DeAbru & Republic Sts. Call: 643-3335 between the hours of 9AM-6PM

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East Bank $12M. West Coast $3.5M. Alberttown $19M. Newtown $28M. Hotel $135M. Diana 227-2256, 6269382 20 X 40 two flat concrete building @ Kitty. All amenities. Price $28 M Call: 668 – 9512, 223- 2570 1 three bedroom house Prashad Nagar, asking price $29M neg. Call: 227-2563, 684-2115

German by 0.08 seconds.

Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg was third ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. Jenson Button, 13th fastest, will start 12th after a grid penalty for Pastor Maldonado.

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn said: “I have to admit I had a bit of a tear in my eye.

He’s faced some tough times since his comeback but he has been in good shape all weekend.”

Schumacher added: “I’m more than thrilled to manage pole position here. It is the race you want to do well at and after what I have been through in the last two years it is just fabulous.

“It confirms what I have felt for a long time, but sometimes you have to put everything in the right moment together.”

The top three drivers were covered by just 0.147 secs in an intense qualifying session, in which Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished sixth. The Spaniard will be the final person to be promoted following Schumacher’s penalty, which was for running into the back of Williams driver Bruno Senna at the previous race in Spain.

Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa was seventh, ahead of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, Maldonado - who will start 19th - and world championship leader Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.

Hamilton said: “Very exciting, massively tough, but it was so much fun. We struggled a little bit in the middle and last sector. It was more the lowspeed corners were not as quick. “But I’m fortunate to have Michael having the penalty so I’m happy.”

Brickdam Secondary...

From page 58 training and that according to him has been difficult to date, but was optimistic that come the end of exams, he is expecting a much bigger turnout of students.

He singled out Captain Eon Sullivan as the pivotal player in the team and one on whose shoulders will bear the burden of the team’s hopes of progressing deep into the competition.

Questioned about the relevance of the tournament, Browne responded by saying that it serves to keep the students active other than the academic aspect, adding that sports play an important role

in helping young people to inculcate good manners, learn how to solve problems and generally how to be a good citizen.

“Instead of liming, sports is a good endeavour to get involved in since it provides an avenue for you to do something meaningful in your spare time,” Browne felt.

He disclosed that preparation for the tournament is around 90%, but envisaged that come tournament time, they would have completed full preparations.

Browne congratulated Digicel for organising such a tournament, adding that he has to take his hat off to them.

Six days to go From page 57 incentives for them to spoil the Trinidadians party and plans once again.

However, the Trinidadians have prepared better than ever this time and even though T&T’s National Coach Larry Mendez agreed that Guyana, “is a tough nut to crack” they are determined to exact revenge for the debilitating disappointments in every sphere of sports they’ve suffered in the past so Guyana better beware and prepare to the hilt to repel the anticipated anger of the visitors.

We surely have the ingredients to do so, we’ve shown in the past that determination and national support are two critical elements for overcoming the

best of oppositions and Chelsea’s dogged efforts and subsequent conquest of the mighty Barcelona and later Bayern Munich teams in the UEFA Champions League are recent examples of such.

They came from the brink of exiting to capturing one of the most prestigious tournaments in world football and it was sheer determination by a bunch of players who faced adversity, but remained focused on the prize that won it for them.

Guyana is definitely the best team in Sevens rugby in the region and the guys are confident that a determined effort come next Saturday will see them maintain their dominance over their neighbours once gain.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 57

“Take that! All is quiet on the West Indies front!

Colin E. H. Croft “Nothing succeeds like success!” “The best way to speak in cricket, as a batsman, is to let your bat do the talking by making runs!” “I told you so!” “We are better than people give us credit for!”

“He who laughs last, laughs best!” “This is our time now!” “We know that we can represent our people well!”

The clichés that could be attributed to West Indies cricket team in England are endless. Now, Darren Sammy and Ottis Gibson may be having the last, and best, laugh! Both should be very pleased with West Indies’ showing in the Test series against England so far; beaten in Test No. 1, but not disgraced!

After West Indies had ignominiously lost its last warm-up game before Test No. 1, beaten by England Lions, effectively England “A”, the future looked quite bleak for the tourists. It seemed as if they would simply succumb to No. 1 rated England with little more than an extremely quiet whimper.

The attitude of many in England was that it would have been a miracle for West Indies to survive to Day 5, at Lords, for Test No. 1. Scribes and other associated personnel made plans for Days 4 and 5 of that Test. In truth, if Kemar Roach had real help in that 2nd innings, West Indies could have won Test No. 1!

In Test No. 2, after being 136-6 at one time, to end Day 1 at 304-6, West Indies staged a recovery that has not been seen since the 1970’s. When India toured West Indies in 1971, Dilip Sardesai, India’s ‘Renaissance Man’, one of India’s premier batsmen back then, and Eknath Solkar, a bustling, effervescent allrounder, regularly rescued India, allowing them to beat West Indies, first time ever; 1-0.

One of the best attributes of any developmental situation, an aspect that signifies positive progress in any sports team, is that every time that team plays, there should be a better performance than the last. In England, despite a frigid start, both personal and weatherwise, West Indies have done exactly that!

Another such element is resilience. Whatever one may say about this West Indies cricket team, no-one can denigrate its industry and effort. Some players may simply not be up to standards that many have come to expect from West Indies teams, but they do try really

hard, none more so than the captain himself, Sammy, West Indies’ ‘Renaissance Man’.

He continues to be always positive!

West Indies in 2012 are rescuing themselves, not only in Tests, but for their very reputations too.

After the showing against Australia, losing 2-0, decidedly fighting to the very last man, it is obvious that West Indies is on the up-andup. All that is needed now is a proper, productive, winning combination!

The rhetoric about absences of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and others has been most vile and pointed. Sammy and Gibson are thinking, with a wry smile, I am sure, if not openly saying; “Take that!”

Recent weeks of this tour were filled with interviews.

Chief Executive Officer of West Indies cricket, Dr. Ernest Hilaire, suggested that the plan for present-day senior West Indies cricket is that the players try to become a star team, one that could perform consistently well, not just a team of stars!

One of those so-called stars, Sarwan, also gave a seriously sad interview, one

that must have come from his heart’s deepest hole, informing that elements inside West Indies cricket have been very responsible for his present sabbatical into county cricket, and his noninclusion in recent West Indies cricket teams.

Combine those with the fact that had all top-class West Indies cricketers been available, this West Indies team to England could, probably would, have been awesome, and all could understand the frustrations.

After all, had Gayle, Sarwan, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, even Kieron Pollard, been fully available for this tour, England could have been the ones looking to take refuge in reflective rhetoric!

Easily the biggest bugbear of West Indies in England has been the continued failure of the top four batsmen. While it is true that you cannot win a Test on the first day, you certainly can start to lose it, from Day 1, if batsmen do not produce runs for the bowlers to defend. Our batsmen need big scores!

Adrian Barath has already found out that general catching at this level is way

above what he would have expected in West Indies regional cricket. Just look at that stunning one-handed catch taken by Jimmy Anderson, no less, in the slip cordon, to effect Barath’s dismissal, off Stuart Broad!

Darren Bravo looks absolutely terribly out of sync. His feet look like lead when he is at the crease.

Already in half; three; of the six innings that he would have in this series, Bravo has failed.

Rapidly, his opportunities to impress on this Test tour are being erased. He must get many runs very soon indeed!

Fellow commentator and former West Indies fast bowler, too, Michael Holding, lamented, during Test No. 2, that Bravo has not yet shown – emphasis on ‘yet’ – what he really could do. All are patiently, but quite restlessly, awaiting Bravo’s advent.

Reputations do not make runs. Cohesive batting does!

If Bravo is bad, then Kirk Edwards is worse. His deterioration has been unbelievable. Being a former Test bowler, Edwards looks like a walking wicket every time he takes guard. He is so square at the crease; “falling

Six days to go

By Rawle Welch When Guyana face Trinidad and Tobago exactly six days from now for a place in the final of the Northern Zone of the NACRA Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, the ruggers from the ‘Land of Many Waters ‘ will be putting a proud record on the field of play against their regional counterparts, at the National Stadium.

The ‘Kings’ of rugby in the region have defeated the Trinidadians two out of three times that they’ve played since 2005 with their most recent victory occurring last

year when they narrowly beat their Caribbean neighbours 22-20 to set up a final showdown against Bermuda which they lost.

The bitter rivalry between these two Caribbean territories in sports has intensified over the years with Guyana chiefly responsible for disrupting their lofty programmes and goals in football and rugby that created much vexation among its people.

The loss to Guyana’s Golden Jaguars that caused the exit of the Soca Warriors from the 2014 FIFA World Cup

over”; to effect strokes to leg, that he leaves spaces in his defence that cars could pass through, much less deliveries from England’s very skilled bowlers!

Kieron Powell is suffering more from lack of experience than anything else. He has the skills, and with proper tutelage, could actually become a competent opening batsman for West Indies in the future. Luckily, at least, he has time!

The failure, though, of Barath, Powell, Bravo and Edwards has put great pressures on the most experienced batsmen in the team, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels. Fortunately, both have risen to that challenge, and have papered over, for the time being, the failures of other batsmen.

Strangely, the quiet is becoming absolutely deafening, especially from the critics of West Indies cricket.

Lords was sold out for the first four days, suggesting that fans are quickly realizing that this West Indies are up for that fight, and as Sir Winston Churchill suggested in WW-II, ‘We shall never surrender!”

Even Day 5 at Lords, and,

Colin E. H. Croft now, with the glorious summer sun finally out at Trent Bridge, the cricket has been fully attended and appreciated. More than anything else, West Indies have showed that they are in England to play the best cricket that they can muster.

To date, Sammy and Samuels, with their respective highest Test scores, are showing what effort and resilience can produce!

Sammy had given an undertaking, a promise even, that West Indies could win Test No. 2 in Nottingham.

There is yet a long way to go, but at the very least, he has put his money, and his bat, where his mouth has taken him. So too has the more mature Samuels. Now, all that is needed is that victory.

Enjoy!

(FLASHBACK)- Champions of Regional rugby pose for a photo op.

was simply too much for them to bear because they are such a proud people and then add how much money was earmarked to be invested in their campaign only to be eliminated by a team whose preparations and investment is nowhere near that of the Warriors.

The fact that they were tamed by a team that benefitted from sparse Government and corporate support prior to the two teams clash provoked much anger among sport administrators, aficionados and even members of the Government.

But, that result came after Guyana had already disposed of their nemesis in the NACRA Sevens format thereby eliminating them from playing in the World Series in Hong Kong earlier this year so the Soca Warriors conquest was the tipping point that caused a national discussion among all stakeholders in sport on the Caribbean island.

Underfunded Guyana had instigated that forum due to their success against T&T and as one writer aptly described Guyanese athletes, “they are hard working,

committed and determined to excel with the meagre funds and equipment that they have, unlike those in T&T who have all the funding and all the necessary tools, but could not dispose of Guyana”.

Speaking with the local ruggers recently, they feel that despite the disappointment of sharing the points with Barbados, the welcomed inclusion of their stars such as Claudius Butts, Richard Staglon and Ronald Mayers and the fact that they are playing at home is enough (Continued on page 56)

Page 58

From page 62 stages of his career.

In 2011, Narine had to travel to Australia to make minor tweaks to his bowling action.

Some regional umpires had raised doubts about his bowling during the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament and told the T&T manager and coach remedial action needed to be taken. The government of Trinidad funded the trip. It was a critical time, just before the T&T side was picked for the Champions League Twenty20. “If I failed I would have to start all over again,” Narine says. “It was a lot of pressure.” In Australia he learnt to bowl a little more side-on. “Little, little adjustments” were suggested without changing his action entirely, which worked well.

Though West Indies as a whole may not quite be a haven for spin, T&T does not lack for slow bowlers. Narine was pitted against the likes of Dave Mohammed, Samuel Badree, Amit Jaggernauth, Sherwin Ganga and Imran Khan. It helped, then, that the first time he was selected for a trials game meant to pick the Trinidad team, in 2008, he took all ten wickets, including that of West Indies opener Lendl Simmons.

It immediately catapulted him over the competition. Narine says he has learned from the rest. “Probably their motivation and love for cricket and the pride they take in representing the country. They are quite serious about their game, and attitude-wise they are brilliant,” he says.

THE KNUCKLE BALL As a youngster, Narine played “windball” cricket with a soft ball, where the bowler squeezes the ball during delivery to make it spin. Shadeed had watched the Sri Lanka offspinner Ajantha Mendis bowl his “carrom” ball, and urged his son to try the knuckle grip.

So did Darren Bravo. “I was practising in the nets and then one of my friends, Marlon, and small Bravo told me why did I not try it in club matches,” Narine says.

He found it hard initially - it’s one thing squeezing a soft ball and another propelling a hard cricket ball across 22 yards - but says he has improved with time and practice.

The knuckle-ball grip involves bending the forefinger and middle finger and using them to propel the ball forwards. What is distinct about Narine’s away-going delivery, as opposed to a carrom ball bowled by someone like, say, R Ashwin, is that the Indian uses one finger to push the ball away while Narine uses two.

Narine has used his knuckle ball sparingly, and says his stock ball will always be the offbreak, which he delivers with more side spin. He also has the topspinner, and a faster ball, which he uses varyingly to keep batsmen in check.

The first glimpse the world at large got of Narine’s repertoire was in T&T’s crucial match against the Chennai Super Kings in the 2011 Champions League Twenty20, when he dismissed Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni - the last two caught and bowled.

“When I came on, they were under pressure, so I was happy to bowl,” he remembers.

Students graduate...

From page 60 that, “To whom much is given much is expected.”

Those graduating were best graduating student Renetta Smith, most Improved Vonez Amsterdam, Most Discipline Parbatty Sahadeo, and most punctual Lateifa Smith. The others who graduated were Avenel Ault, Natasha Bacchus, Regina Balgobin, Kishell Beaton, Tiffany Bennet, Dwane David, Lionel DeJonge, Gordon Green, Kavita Jaimonie, Devon Jones, John Lyte, Gereshwarie Mangra, Audrey Mingo and Surita Swamy.

Kaieteur News

“Against Dhoni, I know he was looking to hit me for a six. So I mixed my pace and got him.”

He rates the performance as one of his best spells to date. “It was my first real exposure to that level of cricket.”

Former England batsman Owais Shah, who moves about a lot in his crease, is the kind of player Narine finds difficult to bowl at. At Eden Gardens in April, Shah came in to bat for the Rajasthan Royals against KKR after a solid half-century against Mumbai Indians a couple of days before.

“He is pretty hard to bowl at because he is not stable at the crease,” Narine says. His game plan was to not give Shah any room, and to bowl as close to the wicket as possible.

It worked and Shah was stumped when he charged down against one that left him.

Two days later Narine took a five-for against Kings XI Punjab at the same ground, including Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh in quick succession. Marsh, one of the best Twenty20 batsmen around, was bowled by a knuckle ball that came in through the gate.

Narine’s favourite wicket of the season so far, though, has been that of Sachin Tendulkar - who was bowled by a sharp offbreak that cramped him for room as he tried to cut it.

Hungry for the big game Narine may have bowled only 81.5 overs in international cricket but he has left a mark there as well. As the Australians, the No. 1 ODI team in the world, found out recently, in particular Matthew Wade, who Narine got three times in 20 deliveries for just two runs in the series in the Caribbean.

Narine’s strength is his consistency, Pollard points out. “The way he analyses situations and batsmen, and if you watched his pitch map in the Australia series, the percentage in one area was very good.” Pollard thinks Narine is learning quickly to adapt, knowing that teams will work him out in international cricket over a period of time. “He will try to keep one step ahead and he will work hard as he is a humble human being.”

Narine for his part says he is still learning to bowl under pressure. “Two things can happen: you can bowl good and get a better name for yourself. Or you can go there and get smashed and then you have to work on something. So I take it up as a challenge each time I go in to bowl to be consistent,” he says.

Geoff Lawson, the former Australia fast bowler, who was in the West Indies as a television commentator for the series, thinks if Narine had played in the Test series, West Indies might have won it - if only because the pitches for the Tests had more bounce. “He does put a lot of work on his offspinner, which makes it effective - he doesn’t just roll it out, so batsmen have to be looking to play for significant deviation off the pitch,” Lawson says. The other thing about Narine that struck Lawson was that he bowls with a scrambled seam. “When you bowl both the offspinner and the topspinner and doosra with a scrambled seam, it is very difficult to pick the actual rotation. If the batsmen aren’t getting good visual clues out of the hand, then they are reduced to playing the ball off the pitch, which has obvious limitations in terms of time to play shots.”

Narine says he is ready and “hungry” to play Test cricket, and reckons his time is nearing fast. “Hopefully I will be fully prepared and fully ready for it,” he says.

He is 24 today. The biggest challenge ahead, he reckons, is to keep his feet on the ground. “I want to learn to adapt to not being successful - how to keep a mindset when things are not going well for me. In cricket there are less ups than downs, so I want to learn to bounce back from a bad over, a bad innings, bad match.”

Sunday May 27, 2012

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ champions start preparations tonight (FLASHBACK)- This is what it will look like come tonight at the Albouystown Basketball Court.

Back Circle, the defending champions of the Georgetown segment of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Tournament will commence preparations tonight when the Banks DIHsponsored warm-up Competition opens tonight with four matches, at the Albouystown Basketball Court, starting from 20:00hrs..

This tournament is being used to set the stage for the upcoming Guinness Caribbean Street Challenge Championships, of which Back Circle, who will be known as Team Guyana is scheduled to participate.

The winning team in this warm up tournament of which matches will be played at the

East Ruimveldt and Burnham Basketball courts, before culminating, at the National Cultural Centre tarmac, will pocket $200,000, while the second, third and fourth placed finishers will take away $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 respectively.

The teams that fail to make it to the final four after the completion of the preliminary rounds will each take home $15,000.

Tonight’s action will see Broad Street taking on Tiger Bay, Team Guyana going up against D’Urban Street, West Front Road clashing with Alexander Village and Albouystown facing Island All Stars.

Meanwhile, the Guinness Caribbean Street Championship

of which Trinidad and Tobago’s Kenwayne Jones will be a part of, is set to be staged at the National Park from June 20-23 with the winners taking home US$4,000 and trophy.

Apart from the cash prize, the winning team will have a piece of land in their community receive an allpurpose five-aside hard court facility, compliments of Guinness, while the second, third and fourth placed finishers will receive US$2,000, US$1,500 and US$1,000 each.

Teams will be coming from Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia to battle Team Guyana for the top prize.

Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Tournament...

Brickdam Secondary intensifying preparations As the commencement of this year’s Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Tournament draws closer, teams are beginning to intensifying their preparations ahead of the event and yesterday Kaieteur Sport engaged the Coach of Brickdam Secondary School Sven Browne in a conversation about the school’s plans to excel in the competition.

Browne, who also teaches at the school, has been the spearhead of preparations for the most prestigious tournament at the junior level and he disclosed to Kaieteur Sport that they have begun early preparations in an attempt to do well in this year’s tournament.

“So far, the sessions are going well, but you have to

Students of Brickdam Secondary School seen during a training exercise yesterday under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Sven Browne (left). bear in mind that some of the players we expect to make the team are still engaged in CXC exams so the turnout so far has been a bit low,” Browne said. He reckoned that the school is trying to eliminate

the disadvantage that it suffers due to being a small school with no sort of environment for training so they have to schedule Fridays and Saturdays for (Continued on page 56)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 59

Hilbert Foster leading a cricket revolution in Berbice

Receiving a cricket sponsorship from a donor

Accepting IOC Award for Sports from President Donald Ramotar along with Patron Beverley Harper The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has been on the move for the last five years and no doubt has been breaking down barriers and setting new parameters on its quest to not only being the best Cricket Board in Guyana, but the Commonwealth and wider afield.

Over the last five years the BCB has been totally transformed and is undoubtedly experiencing one of its best periods with an unprecedented amount of on and off the cricket field projects.

Since the beginning of its new dispensation in 2008 the BCB has overseen the completion of over forty cricket tournaments which is being played at all age levels and over 320 other programmes and activities, making it one of the more prominent nongovernmental organisations in Guyana.

For its part the BCB has attracted an unprecedented large pool of sponsors, unveiled a long list of visionary programmes and has invested heavily in the development of new talent and cricket clubs. This has resulted in the dominance of the county’s cricket teams at all levels.

Its high standard and success has seen the elevation of Berbicians to West Indies Test, ODI, Female and “A” team levels in Narsingh Deonarine, Devendra Bishoo, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Brendon Bess, Royston Crandon, Jonathan Foo, Veerasammy Permaul, Assad Fudadin, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Tremayne Smartt and Subrina Munroe among others.

The members of the BCB should be commended in its

entirety for setting such a tremendous pace with their selfless and unrelenting drive to make the Board even more successful.

Members such as President Keith Foster, Anil Beharry, Carl Moore, Angela Haniff, Leslie Solomon to name a few are the driving force behind the Cricket revolution. However the story could not be completed without mentioning the name of Hilbert Foster.

In fact it can be said that Foster is the driving force behind the success story of the Berbice cricket revolution and is the Secretary and CEO of the much vaunted Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports club which undoubtedly is Guyana’s leading youth and sports club.

Foster’s involvement with the BCB began with the election of the Keith Fosterled administration in 2008.

Hilbert was appointed Public Relations Officer and he immediately went to work recommending the formation of a Special Events Committee to do special projects. His recommendation was immediately accepted. Taking Hilbert’s success story and experience as Secretary and CEO at the RHTY&SC he was predictably entrusted with the chairmanship of that committee.

Hilbert Foster has since being serving as PRO, Special events committee chairman, Marketing Manager the BCB and under his leadership and guidance, the Special Events committee has completed over 320 programmes/ activities and has raised funds for 40 cricket tournaments at all age groups. Among the numerous ideas that foster has successfully

implemented are the Annual Educational Awards Scheme, Awards Ceremony, Annual Review Magazine, Tribute to Heroes, Tribute to Coaches, Senior and Junior Elite Coaching Programmes, Intercounty Cap and MVP Programmes, Senior Players Charity Programme, Cellink Inter-county sponsorship, Educational Outreach Programmes for students like Essays, Spelling “B” etc, HIV/ AIDS Rally, Cricket Educational Posters, Interzones Tournaments, Tribute to Groundsmen, Berbice All Time XI Teams, Berbice Cricket Hall of Fame among others.

Unbelievable they are all mostly Foster ideas. He has also gotten over $15M in finance and materials for the Berbice Cricket Board using his marketing skills, while dozens of clubs in the ancient county have received millions of dollars worth of items due to his efforts.

Kaieteur Sport last week caught up with the energetic Foster at his Area “H” Office of the RHTY&SC. He disclosed that for 2012 the BCB Special Events Committee has completed 65 programmes/activities out of 80 planned.

With just over four months into the year, Foster predicted that over 130 programmes activities should be completed by December.

Among some of the new ideas successfully implemented in 2012 are the Guyoil Berbice wide Coaching Programme, Cricket tournaments in the Berbice River Area, distribution of scorebooks and cricket balls to clubs, Educational posters, Inter-zone Cricket Academy and an Intermediate

Tournament.

Foster also came up with the idea to place special emphasis on the development of the game in the West Berbice, New Amsterdam/ Canje and Upper Corentyne areas by hosting tournaments and coaching programmes for clubs based there. He is also spearheading the Berbice Cricket Board’s effort to establish working relationships with all stakeholders in Berbice. The Independence Day T/20 Tournament organised by the BCB and the B CCDA is also among his ideas.

Foster admitted that being the Secretary/CEO of the Rose Hall Town Youth &Sports Club and his numerous positions on the BCB especially the Chairman of the Special Events Committee at times takes a toll on him.

He said that the two bodies combined undertake a mind-blowing 210 programmes/activities per year. When asked what is the secret behind his success and why doesn’t he slow down after thirty years in community development work, Foster stated that he has no plans to scale back as he is still enjoying making positive differences in the lives of youths, the elderly and the less fortunate.

Successes over the years, he noted has been achieved due to hard work and sleepless nights. Foster said one of his secrets was his ability to come up with new ideas, his faith in God and a good relationship with hundreds of donors. Foster expressed disappointment that many sport administration become stagnant and are only in office

to obtain positions for themselves like coaches and managers to travel overseas.

He disclosed that over the years, he has never slept in a hotel room, never accepted a manager or coach position and has never received a cent from the Berbice Cricket Board for services rendered. Under his dynamic leadership over the years the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club has transformed itself from being a small organisation into one of Guyana’s and the Caribbean’s most dynamic youth and sports clubs.

They have risen to the status of an NGO, completing an unbelievable 2000 programmes and activities since 1990. On the cricket field they have won over 40 cricket tournaments at all age groups.

The club has also produced numerous players for the West Indies, Guyana and Berbice and has also won the Guyana Cricket Board Club of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010.

In addition, the Club has received a Rotary Club Award for Vocational Service and has shared with its parent body, the St. Francis Youth Club,

three Commonwealth Youth Service Awards.

The pinnacle for the club was being recognized by the International Olympic Committee and was awarded as the best sports club for 2011. Foster created history for Berbice when in 2009 he won the National Sports Personality Award from the National Sports Commission.

Questioned about not receiving a National Award for himself, Foster who is perhaps the most productive and successful local sports administrator stated that he does not work for Awards but to see youths like Assad Fudadin and Shemaine Campbelle fulfill their potential.

An excited Foster disclosed that both the Berbice Cricket Board and Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports club would be unveiling several exciting and historic programmes in the upcoming weeks and expressed gratitude to his parents, his wife Sylvia, daughter Marissa and Brothers Keith and Alex for their support over the years.

(Samuel Whyte)

Djokovic, Federer could...

From page 60 and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka vs. U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur; defending champion Li Na vs. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova; and No. 3-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska vs. No. 8 Marion Bartoli.

In her first Grand Slam tournament since revealing she has an autoimmune disease, seven-time major champion Venus Williams could meet Radwanska in the second round and 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third.

Seeded No. 1 at the French Open for the first time, Djokovic will play 97th-

ranked Potito Starace of Italy in the first round and could face two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt in the second.

Starace was ranked as high as 27th in 2007, but later that year he was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000 for betting on tennis matches involving other players.

Nadal will begin his attempt to win a record seventh title at Roland Garros, breaking a tie with Bjorn Borg, by facing 111thranked Simone Bolelli of Italy.

Nadal might have to deal with 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic’s big serves in the third round, and the No. 2-seeded Spaniard could meet Murray in the semifinals.

Page 60

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Students graduate from FIFA moves in on Jack Sports Ministry programme Sues to reclaim US$25m

Tutor Cleveland Rose sits in the middle with his graduating class.

Several Youths graduated in Ministry of Sports organized skills programme recently.

The class numbering 18 youths, graduated from a six weeks course in Information Technology and Office Administration. The youths graduated in the 5th batch of the Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Training Programme which was held at the Vryman’s Erven Training Centre in New Amsterdam under the team “Creating opportunities, realizing potentials.”

The students were taken through their paces by Tutor Cleveland Rose.

Regional Chairman David Armogan in delivering the feature address stressed the need for Education and training. He started by saying that the activity is all about the 18 young people who have decided to make use of the opportunity given them to have a second chance in education and took the

opportunity to upgrade themselves.

Mr Armogan congratulated the grandaunts and told them that it’s a commendable thing for them to make use of the opportunity being given to them to have a second chance at having an Education. He said that the programme mostly caters for persons who do not have a formal education and most of them may be school dropouts. He stressed that not because some of them might have dropped out of school it means that they cannot have a chance to acquire an education and uplift themselves.

He stated that a country’s Human Resource is important and any country must seek to invest in its Human Resources.

Touching on the topic, the Regional Chairman stated that Information Technology is very important in the world today. It is important for you

to be computer literate, so that you can be able to survive and be marketable. He stated that almost everything today will depend on the computer.

He mentioned facebook, twitter, to buy an Air line ticket, to go to the bank, (ATM), to top up for phone.

Most of what you do today takes the computer into consideration and most information can be found on line on the internet.

He told the grandaunts that they have chosen the right path. He told them that education never stops and urged them to continue in their quest to educate themselves.

He told them that a lot is expected of them seeing that they have received some amount of training and education. “When you are trained, people will expect to see a lot of difference in your attitude, behaviour, deportment and generally in what you do.” He told them (Continued on page 58)

Djokovic, Federer could meet in French SF again PARIS (AP) Novak Djokovic’s bid to win a fourth consecutive Grand Slam championship - and first at the French Open - might require a semifinal victory over Roger Federer.

Friday’s draw set them up to face each other in Paris at the same stage as last year, when Federer beat Djokovic in four epic sets to end the Serb’s 43match winning streak that dated to December 2010.

That was Djokovic’s last loss at a major tournament: Since then, he won the titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open. He’s trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four Grand Slam trophies in a row.

Djokovic’s quarterfinal

opponent could be No. 5 JoWilfried Tsonga of France.

Other possible quarterfinal matchups: Federer vs. 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro or No. 7 Tomas Berdych; six-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal vs. No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic; and No. 4 Andy Murray vs. No. 6 David Ferrer.

The highlight of the women’s quarterfinals set up in Friday’s draw could be Serena Williams against Maria Sharapova.

Williams owns 13 major titles, including the 2002 French Open, while Sharapova is hoping to complete a career Grand Slam with her first title in Paris.

The other possible women’s quarterfinals: No. 1-seeded (Continued on page 59)

Rafael Nadal

Na Li

FIFA will take legal steps to recover the ownership of the US$25.5 million Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, which the football’s world governing body claims to have funded.

The issue was raised during the regional body Concacaf’s election, which saw Cayman Islands’ Jeffrey Webb voted in at the congress held in Budapest, Hungary, last Wednesday.

An AP report said Friday FIFA president Sepp Blatter has since cited a “problem” in salvaging the Macoya property, which was allegedly signed over to former Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner’s family business.

FIFA has started legal action against Warner, who resigned from all football-related matters last June, after a bribery scandal which rocked FIFA’s presidential election campaign.

Warner was involved in football in the Caribbean for almost 30 years, before resigning under threat of a FIFA probe.

It is said that Warner, along with former vice-president Lisle Austin, took out a

Centre of Excellence mortgage on the Macoya property, which was built in 2007 using FIFA grants. Blatter was quoted at a news conference as saying: “Definitely, this is now a problem that we are going to tackle.”

The Centre of Excellence, named after former FIFA President Joao Havelange, includes a swimming complex, a lavish garden sanctuary, a fitness centre, a 44-room hotel, an 800-capacity theatre, a banquet and reception hall, as well as several other meeting halls. The Marvin Lee Stadium is also part of the centre.

Chuck Blazer, another former FIFA executive member, was not at the meeting, which detailed an audit of Concacaf’s finances.

He cited illness for his absence. Both Blazer and Warner were the subject of allegations of financial mismanagement, outlined to 40 football nations just after Webb was elected.

NSC Independence Junior Badminton tournament continues tomorrow The NSC Independence Junior Badminton Tournament continued on Friday at the Queens College Badminton Courts with the Under-17 & 19 Events.

Highlights of the day were the most improved player Jonathan Mangra defeating Noel Shewjattan in the Under19 Quarter-Finals and Junior Sportswoman of the year 2011 Priyanna Ramdhani reaching the finals in the Under-17 event by defeating National Player Angelica Holder.

The other Outstanding Player was National Player Greer Jackson who did not drop a set to win the Girls Under-17 Singles event and National Under-15 & 17 Champion & Caribbean Under-15 Champion Narayan Ramdhani who also did not drop a set throughout the tournament.

The Results of the Matches were: Under-17 Boys Finals: Narayan Ramdhani defeated Noel Shewjattan: 21-12, 21-11 Under-17 Girls Singles Quarter-Finals: Priyanna Ramdhani defeated Nadine Jairam: 21-6, 21-8 Under-17 Girls Singles Semi-Finals: Greer Jackson defeated Varsha Boodram: 2111, 21-10, Priyanna Ramdhani defeated Angelica Holder: 2220, 21-9 Under-17 Girls Singles Finals: Greer Jackson defeated Priyanna Ramdhani: 21-15, 21-10 Under-19 Boys Singles Round One: Noel Shewjattan defeated Ketan Persaud: 214, 21-9, Christopher Persaud defeated Sanjave Singh: 2116, 21-17, Cecil Abrams defeated Omari Joseph: 21-11, 21-15 Under-19 Boys Singles Quarter-Finals: Narayan Ramdhani defeated Ashwyn John: 21-5, 21-5, Jonathan

Under-17 Finalist Priyanna Ramdhani & Greer Jackson

Under-17 Finalist Naryan Ramdhani & Noel Shewjattan Mangra defeated Noel Shewjattan: 21-14, 18-21, 1521, Christopher Persaud defeated Cecil Abrams: 21-18, 21-14, Avinash Odit defeated Jonathan Persaud: 21-9, 21-3 Under-19 Boys Singles Semi-Finals: Narayan Ramdhani defeated Jonathan Mangra: 21-9, 21-10, Avinash Odit defeated Christopher Persaud: 21-9, 21-3.

The Tournament continues tomorrow with the Under-19 Finals between National Under-15 & 17 Champion and Caribbean Under-15 Champion Narayan Ramdhani against National Under-19 Player Avinash Odit. The presentation will also be done at the end of the finals to all the winners and runner-ups.

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 61

Police Progressive Youth Club Relay Andrew Strauss century leads charge Festival & Take away lunch set for today BBC - Andrew Strauss hit his second century in two Tests as England made hay against a struggling West Indies attack on another glorious day at Trent Bridge.

Strauss’s unbeaten 102 and a typically belligerent 72 not out from Kevin Pietersen took their side to 259-2 - 111 in arrears - by the close of play on day two, on a pitch that remains perfect for batting.

Under cloudless skies the England captain began cautiously and survived some rash shots to first prosper and then take control with his 21st Test hundred. It puts him just one behind Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoff Boycott on the list of England’s most prolific Test centurions and, together with his 122 in the first Test last week, represents a definitive end to arguments about his immediate Test future.

As at Lord’s, the shot that took him to three figures was greeted with a rapturous standing ovation from both a packed house and delighted England balcony.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy had earlier gone on his maiden Test century as the tourists moved on from their overnight 304-6 to 370 all out perhaps below par on this excellent batting track, but a fine recovery from the depths of 63-4 and 136-6 on the first day.

Sammy rode his luck at times, particularly against James Anderson, but, if his century came up with a streaky leading edge to third man, then the landmark was richly deserved. He has been critically described as a specialist captain, lacking either the batting or bowling skills to merit selection, but his innings here was fundamental to West Indies staying in the contest.

He fell for 106 in the sort of cavalier fashion that he made his runs, top-edging a pull off Tim Bresnan to Pietersen at deep midwicket, and fellow centurion Marlon Samuels went soon after, slashing the same bowler to Anderson in the gully to depart for a Test-best 117.

Their partnership of 204 was the highest for the seventh wicket in Tests by any side in England, beating the 174 shared

by Colin Cowdrey and Godfrey Evans against West Indies at Lord’s in 1957, and the rapid rattle of wickets after their dismissals underlined just how important it had been.

Kemar Roach fended a short one to the diving Strauss at slip to give Bresnan his fourth scalp and Shane Shillingford then aimed a mighty mow at Graeme Swann to be stumped for 16.

Roach and the recalled Rampaul began England’s innings with a searching line

and tight length, only for Roach’s continued issues with no-balls to scupper hopes they could make serious holes in the top order with the new ball.

Alastair Cook was handed an extraordinary double reprieve when nicks behind on one and 12 were ruled out due to Roach over-stepping, his torment deepened by shouts of “no ball!” from the crowd on every delivery thereafter. Strauss was becalmed, managing just one scoring shot off his first 27 balls. When the runs did come - drives crashed through midon, cuts slapped away past gully - so did the false shots and edges.

But it was Cook who went first, pushing at one run across him by Rampaul to get the thinnest edge behind to Denesh Ramdin for 24.

Jonathan Trott was quickly into his stride, clipping through midwicket and driving with alacrity, and it was a surprise when he fell in the first over after tea, lbw for 35 playing round one from Rampaul that nipped back.

Pietersen almost followed as two tight lbw shouts went marginally in his favour.

Characteristically, he responded by heaving offspinner Shillingford into the pavilion and, as Strauss joined the acceleration, England began to take control.

Some 63 runs came off the first 12 overs after tea, the atmosphere at a packed Trent Bridge increasingly resembling a carnival as the thousands in fancy dress cranked up the singing and chanting.

Pietersen began to unveil his full attention-seeking range of shots, crashing anything on middle stump through midwicket with that bottom hand, flicking Shillingford over the wicketkeeper with a scrappy version of the Dilshan scoop and battering Sammy through the off side for brutal fours.

Strauss was now also in complete control. Another trademark cut took him into the 90s, a sweep to 98, and when Shillingford offered him a full ball on middle and leg he clipped it away for four to deafening roars.

Strauss and Pietersen’s partnership - currently worth 136 - is their first century stand in 34 Test innings together.

With the weather set fair for the rest of the weekend, they will hope to take it much further and set England up for the win which will give them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Scores: England 259 for 2 (Strauss 102*, Pietersen 72*) trail West Indies 370 (Samuels 117, Sammy 106, Bresnan 4-104) by 111 runs.

Guyana’s defending Track and Field Club for the Digicel National under-23 Games and the recent President’s/ Jeffords Classic, Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC), will be hosting a Relay Festival Track Meet under the name ‘Police Progressive Youth Club 2012 Relay Festival’ at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary for all clubs and interested institutions today.

The much anticipated Relay Festival will commence at 11:00am when the officials signal the start of the Games which has 16 events including four (100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m) track races which will highlight the festival.

The men’s 200m which is set to underline the relay festival and be one of the marquee events of the day will see upset minded Elton Bollers of the University of Guyana (UG) trying to repeat his mind blowing performance of 21 seconds against established sprinters, such as, Chavez Ageday, Running Braves’ Stephan James, Linden’s Winston Caesar, Guyana Defence Force Patrick King andAkeem Stewart, PPYC’s Tevin Garraway, Shawn Semple, Terry Easton and Keith Roberts.

The men’s 800m is expected to be fiery with Kevin Bayley set to redeem himself from his first defeat for the year in the event at the recently President’s/Jefford Classic III with Cleveland Thomas along with Trevor Scotland, Nathaniel ‘Brother’ Giddings, Tyshon Bentick, Shaquille Smartt and Carlon Halley set to compete.

The women’s 100m and 400m is likely to be a thriller

- 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m set to highlight Relay Festival

Winston Ceasar

Chavez Ageday

Nathaniel Giddings

Stephan James

Cleveland Thomas

Kevin Bayley

with the lineup of Guyana’s present sprinter queen, Alicia Fortune of Running Brave, Neisa Allen, the Daniels twins (Shomaine and Shaquane), Tiffany Carto, Leota Bobb, Alita Moore and Tiffany Smith.

Meanwhile, a member from the PPYC Fund Raising Committee said the event will be the second of its kind.

According to the committee member, the first successful Relay Festival in July 2009 was held in honour of a migrated athlete of the club, Christopher Hall, who at that

time stated that he was returning to Guyana.

The member further revealed that the club will be looking forward in making the event an annual one to aid in keeping athletics alive in Guyana especially with relays.

A take away lunch ($600) will also accompany the activity to assist in raising funds for the club today.

The events for the Relay Festival are as follows: Highlight 100m Dash Open Females Highlight 200m Dash

Open Males Highlight 400m Open Females Highlight 800m Open Males 4x100m Females 4x100m Males 4x200m Females 4x200m Males 4x400m Female 4x400m Males Distance Medley Females Distance Medley Males Sprint Medley Females Sprint Medley Males Mix 4x100m Open Mix 4x400m Open

Afridi, Umar Akmal given top PCB contracts ESPNcricinfo - Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal have been awarded category A contracts by the PCB for the calendar year 2012.

Mohammad Sami, who had been picked in Pakistan’s teams in all three formats for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka after being sidelined for two years, has not received a contract.

Afridi had not figured in last year’s list of central contracts as he was in the middle of a spat with the PCB then. Umar Akmal has been moved up from category B. There are no other changes to the top category: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman are the others in the premier bracket.

Shoaib Malik, who was

not given a contract last year, has been awarded a category B contract, while Abdul Razzaq, who was in the second bracket last year, has been cut from the list. Fast bowler Aizaz Cheema has made the biggest jump, moving from the stipend category up to category B. Other players who were selected for Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka in June and July but have missed out on contracts are Yasir Arafat and Rahat Ali. Quetta’s Bismillah Khan, who was recently banned for a year following a fight during a Grade Two match, has been included in the stipend category.

In all, 21 players have been given full-fledged contracts, while 21 players have been placed in the stipend category. On Friday, the PCB had announced an

increase of 25% in the retainer for centrally contracted players, and an increase of 10% in match fees.

That means category A players will now receive a retainer of 312,500 Pakistan rupees (US$3400 approx), up from Rs 250,000 last year.

Category B players will receive Rs 218,750 (up from Rs 175,000), and category C Rs 125,000 (up from Rs 100,000). Players in the stipend category will receive Rs 62,500 (up from Rs 50,000).

Category A: Misbah-ulHaq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal Category B: Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema Category C: Sarfraz

Ahmad, Adnan Akmal, Hammad Azam, Wahab Riaz, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Nasir Jamshed Stipend category: Sohail Tanvir, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Shakeel Ansar, Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan, Ahmed Shahzad, Usman Salahuddin, Mohammad Ayub, Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Awais Zia, Shahzeb Hasan, Mohammad Khalil, Anwar Ali, Afaq Rahim, Bismillah Khan, BabarAzam, SamiAslam, Zia-ulHaq, Usman Qadir The PCB’s new match fees: Category A: Tests - Pak Rs 385,000, ODIs - Rs 363,000, Twenty20s - Rs 275,000 Category B: Tests - Rs 330,000, ODIs - Rs 275,000, Twenty20s - Rs 220,000 Category C: Tests - Rs 275,000, ODIs - Rs 220,000, Twenty20s - Rs 165,000

Page 62

By Nagraj Gollapudi Cricinfo - Kieron Pollard remembers the moment clearly. Sitting at his laptop in the middle of the night in Barbados, he was following the IPL player auction in Bangalore. “When his name came up and the price started to rise, I think I was more excited than him.

He is one of the guys I have seen come through the ranks in Trinidad & Tobago and he has been on the fringes for a long while, and then to get this opportunity to come to the IPL and not only come but come at such a price was very nice,” Pollard says of fellow Trinidadian Sunil Narine, the offspinner.

Bidding on Narine started at the base price of $50,000.

Two hours into it, the Kolkata Knight Riders and Pollard’s Mumbai Indians were in a tug of war. Eventually the Knight Riders had him for $700,000.

Narine was in Bridgetown at the time, playing in a match against Combined Campuses and Colleges, which he near-

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 27, 2012

Bought as a rookie for an eye-popping fee to play in the IPL, Sunil Narine and his knuckle ball have delivered for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Next up? Watch out, Test cricket singlehandedly won for T&T with a 13-wicket match haul.

He was returning to the team hotel in the early hours of the morning after a liming session with a few Trinidad players, including Dwayne Bravo, who was being fed news of the auction by New Zealand allrounder Scott Styris on the phone. “It was four or five in the morning,” Narine remembers with a smile.

“Bravo asked me, ‘You know you have been bought in the IPL?’ I asked for how much. He said $700,000. I was like, ‘Oh shit, no way, man,’” Over the last month Narine has been delivering on that investment: he is the IPL’s mystery man, whose hands, seam and “knuckle ball” quality batsmen are finding impossible to read.

Going into Sunday’s final, Narine has 24 wickets, one

shy of tournament leader Morne Morkel, though Narine’s wickets have come far cheaper: his economy rate of 5.20 is the best across all IPL seasons among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 30 overs.

Even Muttiah Muralitharan, who played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore this season, has an overall tournament economy rate of 6.48.

That Narine is difficult to get away is also indicated by the fact that less than 40% of the runs he has conceded have come through boundaries (112).

Compare that with Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla, at least half of whose runs have come in boundaries.

Narine is one of the few instances in IPL history where a big buy has provided

value for money in the first season. Joy Bhattacharjya, the Knight Riders’ team director, says that putting big money on Narine was not a risk. The team’s post-mortem

at the end of the 2011 season highlighted the need for a strike bowler who could also be economical bowling at the death. “Narine has fulfilled the need on both fronts,”

Kolkata v Chennai, IPL 2012, final, Chennai...

KKR seek maiden title; CSK hunt hat-trick today They are here, again.

Those resilient, stubborn Chennai Super Kings. In another IPL final, their fourth in five seasons and their third in a row, pursuing a hat trick of titles.

Love them, hate them or couldn’t care less about them, you have to give it to them the Super Kings got game.

They know when and how to turn it on, too, though this season they dangled off the edge of the precipice, holding on with their pinkies, for longer than was comfortable.

Kolkata Knight Riders did not leave their chances hinging on an improbable combination of results over which they had no control.

They reached the playoffs with a game to spare and made short work of Delhi Daredevils to enter their maiden IPL final.

Their performances have been efficient and consistent and they should logically be favourites today. But they’re facing a resurgent side on its home turf.

Super Kings are blessed with loyal fans and the pricklier among them bristle at insinuations that fortune played a role in their team making it to Chennai today.

They got enough points, didn’t they? And they didn’t design the schedule, so they had to hope three results went their way to make the playoffs. And Kings XI

When these sides met in Chennai during the league stage, Knight Riders won by five wickets Punjab just weren’t good enough to beat Delhi Daredevils, and Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore weren’t good enough to beat bottom-placed Deccan Chargers. What’s luck got to do with it?

That Super Kings had to wait five days to know they would be able to defend their title was because of an outof-sorts start to the season.

At times they, the IPL’s least changed side over five seasons, looked passé compared to some of the other teams, who had strengthened squads with

new personnel. Super Kings’ turnaround only began after ten league games, of which they had won four. They won four of their last six matches, so their form, when they entered familiar playoff territory, was satisfactory.

And then they were near perfect. After clambering on to level ground, Super Kings’ misfiring batting line-up, the longest in the IPL, found its guns and annihilated Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils with breath-taking confidence.

While Super Kings had abundant success in seasons past, Knight Riders had

nothing.

In the first three years, they were the only team without a top-four finish. So in 2011, Knight Riders abandoned failed strategies, completely overhauled their squad, and climbed to fourth in the league, but lost the eliminator. In 2012, they have gone farther, converting their second-place finish in the league into a berth in the finals by beating Daredevils in the first qualifier.

Knight Riders also had an iffy start to the season, losing three of their first five games.

Since then they’ve lost only two out of 11, acquiring the rarest quality in Twenty20 cricket - consistency. There were no dramas in their progress to the playoffs.

Their success has been built around two people with supporting contributions from the rest.

The captain Gautam Gambhir has been a reliable run-scorer, while the spinner Sunil Narine has confounded all and sundry with his unreadable variations.

If they perform like they have this season, Knight Riders have little reason to worry. Whether they can perform in their first final, against opponents seasoned to such pressure, is the question.

Watch out for …

Sunil Narine: At present,

he has the second most wickets this season, the best economy rate, and the best average for anyone who’s played more than two matches - 24 wickets, 5.20 per over and 11.95 per wicket.

Gambhir’s used him in a variety of situations - early on to drag back a quick start, in the middle to exercise control over the game and at the end, when batsmen have only attack on their minds.

Narine’s delivered each time. Gambhir’s utilisation of Narine in the final will be crucial. Super Kings bat until No. 9 so Gambhir will have to decide when and against whom Narine can have the greatest impact.

The middle orders: With top orders evenly matched and Knight Riders shading the bowling battle, this is where Super Kings score heavily over their opponents.

The line-up comprising MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, S Badrinath and Albie Morkel is far more reliable and powerful than the one comprising Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Manoj Tiwary, or variations of it.

Knight Riders are more dependent on their top order than Super Kings are, although Yusuf Pathan did make his first proper contribution in the qualifier against Daredevils.

Bhattacharjya says. The Knight Riders play their first IPL final this weekend and Bhattacharjya agrees that Narine has been instrumental in them having gone so far.

“It is a little tough knowing that you have been bought for so much,” Narine says. “There is a little bit of pressure. Knowing that, you still have to go out and do your best. It is not like you just got the money and didn’t perform. Hopefully I can continue performing.”

FROM OUT OF TRINIDAD Narine comes from a small family and lives with his parents and older sister in Arima, Trinidad. He surprised Sunil Gavaskar recently when he revealed in a post-match chat that his father, Shadeed, a big fan of the Indian batting legend, had named his son after him.

It was Shadeed who sparked his son’s interest in sport, taking him to the Queens Park Savannah every evening. Narine is proud he has been loyal to his first club, Queens Park Oval. “I started at age seven and I’m still there at age 23.”

Family support helped Narine keep faith with cricket when his teachers at school were unhappy he was getting increasingly distracted by the sport. “Some of the teachers said, ‘You better concentrate on your books, because one in a million make it big.’” But his father did not let his young son be discouraged.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry.

What’s for you is for you and will happen.’ So I just continued playing cricket and here I am now,” Narine says.

Narine is a Roman Catholic, but says he is not religious, and though superstitious by his own admission, he is reluctant to say what rituals he observes.

Apart from his nowfamous mohawk, he has a tattoo on his arm and wears a couple of bands on his wrists, including a metal one with his first name inscribed on it. His one kit-bag essential is sunglasses: “I have eight shades, all different colours.

Just love them,” he says.

He first came to notice during the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2005, his first games for West Indies.

He looks at that tournament as a stepping stone, because he then graduated to play for the senior side at his club.

“Before that I used to struggle to make the second team at Queen’s Park.”

Bernard Julien, Sammy Guillen and Roland Sampath were among the coaches who played a significant role in Narine’s progress at various (Continued on page 58)

Sunday May 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 63

t r o Sp 2nd Test West Indies vs England:Trent Bridge....

Andrew Strauss century leads charge FIFA moves in on Jack Pg. 61

Ravi Rampaul

Sues to reclaim US$25m Centre of Excellence

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Darren Sammy reached his maiden Test hundred.

Jack Warner

Pg. 60

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