Thursday Edition November 08, 2012 - Vol. 5 No. 44
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Marriott Hotel…
Whim shopkeeper Clear as day govt. found with throat separating casino slashed, two held from hotel -APNU Govt. has Demerara no shares Bank in Ezjet - Luncheon breaks Fishing boat captain missing after pirate attack
$1B profit barrier
Chairman of Demerara Bank, Dr. Yesu Persaud
BK submits $174M tender for well …MP finds this unconscionable
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Kaieteur News
Thursday November 08, 2012
Schoolgirl still helpless Health Ministry focuses on after minibus accident non-communicable diseases Following an accident on Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, on September 12, last, 11-year-old Jenell Hoosein has been bedridden. Her battered body still bears the scars of the accident. She does not remember much but the painful scars and the dislocated parts of her body are reminders that she is not an active and productive child. According to her father, Dexter Hoosein, the matter is currently in the courts. The family was contacted once. Hoosein is still curious about any developments into the case. Trying to contain his tears, Hoosein said that he is fearful of the matter being swept under the carpet, affording his daughter’s perpetrator full freedom while she is confined to a settee and her bed. Reports are that Jenell was making her way across the road in front of their Lot 61 Joseph Pollydore Street home when she was struck and dragged along the road by a speeding minibus bearing licence plate number PHH 6010. The child’s stepmother reportedly witnessed the accident. “I was right on the veranda looking at her. I
The injured 11-year-old, Jenell Hoosein
watched how she looked left, right and again. This bus just came out of nowhere and slammed into the child. I just left speechless. I see her under this bus being dragged till to the shop.” The accident occurred while Jenell was returning home from a nearby shop at around 15:00 hours on that day. A report issued by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where young Hoosein was treated, revealed that she suffered “severe head injuries…” and
fracture/dislocation of the left clavicle.” She also suffered a broken finger. Dexter Hoosein said that the child who had dreams of becoming an independent woman is now dependent on her stepmother to complete her every task. She is unable to do the simplest thing for herself. Relatives say that it is a norm for the minibus operators to drive at an unusual speed during the rush hour. Jenell’s family is doubtful that she will be able to attend school again; or even walk.
A bold stance has been taken by the Ministry of Health to place high on its agenda plans to address Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs). This disclosure was recently made by Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, during an interview with this publication. According to him this strategic move is aimed at addressing the various forms of cancers, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic pulmonary diseases as well as cataract. He disclosed too that the threats that support or promote these diseases will also be amplified as part of the health sector’s mission to bring health “right down to the community level.” Minister Ramsaran pointed to the fact that NCDs are usually fostered by the abuse of alcohol, tobacco smoking, sedentary (inactive lifestyles), and bad food choices such as those laden with fat, salt and sugar. NCD is in fact a medical condition or disease which by definition is non-infectious and non-transmissible between persons. They maybe chronic diseases of long duration and slow progression or they may result in more rapid death and can even lead to sudden stroke. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has outlined that in order to reduce the exposure of populations and individuals to the risk factors for NCDs there is a dire need for different factions of the society to be considered for action. Schools, households and communities could play a crucial role, the WHO has highlighted, even as health financing is sustained by innovative approaches such as earmarking revenue from alcohol and tobacco taxes. Policy implementation measures needful to address
Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran NCDs could include the protection of people from tobacco smoke, the enforcement of bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; raising of taxes on tobacco and alcohol and restricted access to retailed alcohol and enforcing bans on advertising, according to WHO. It has been listed as crucial to promote public awareness about salt intake and salt content of food, the replacement of trans-fat in food with polyunsaturated fat and the promotion of public awareness about diet and physical activity. It was against this very background that Minister Ramsaran said, “My Ministry is putting on the front burner the fight against the epidemic of NCDs.” As part of this quest, he said that the Health Ministry has incorporated in ongoing activities to celebrate the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) 20th anniversary efforts to raise awareness about NCDs. The PPP/C on October 5, 1992, won the national election redeeming control of the country from the People’s National Congress. According to the Minister, efforts on the part of the PPP/C regime have been instrumental in bolstering the delivery of
health care adding that “health has done well.” In addition to addressing NCDs, medical outreaches across the country have included moves to zero-in on eye and dental care, cervical cancer screening through visual inspection with acetic acid even as awareness about health care is amplified through the distribution of fliers and posters. In an attempt to pay keen attention to the prevailing cataract condition and by extension utilise the free service offered at the Port Mourant Ophthalmology Centre, the Minister said that the services of at least three expert Cuban ophthalmologists have been retained. Currently the Port Mourant facility is staffed by Cuban experts. According to the Minister all those who are identified with cataract “will be taken in short shifts to the ophthalmology hospital to have their cataract or other eye diseases addressed.” This, according to the Minister, is in fact a method of making sure that there is a sustainable flow of patients to the National Ophthalmology hospital while at the same time ensuring that the national character of the facility is emphasised. “It is not just a nice hospital in Region Six, it is a hospital that has a national reach to any community,” said Minister Ramsaran. Outreach activities have already touched Cane Grove on the East Coast of Demerara, Helena, MahaicaBerbice and Wales on the East Bank of Demerara. The outreach at Wales, according to the Minister, has seen his Ministry collaborating with the Guyana Sugar Corporation, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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BK submits $174M tender for Well The Public Procurement Commission which is a constitutional body born from the Public Procurement legislation should be established to investigate Government’s engineers estimates and contracts for various sectors, according to Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan. Ramjattan noted that the parliamentary
…MP finds this unconscionable opposition and the government submitted the names of persons to sit on the Commission. However to date nothing has been done to institute this Commission. Noting a bid opened Tuesday at the National Procurement and Tender
US$10M sewer upgrade to begin in weeks - Works to be done at night to ensure minimum disruption
GWI’s Project Manager, Orin Browne By Rabindra Rooplall The main sewage system in central Georgetown that caters for some 50,000 residents will start being upgraded by mid-November, 2012. The Project, has been dubbed the Georgetown Sanitation Improvement Programme, and is valued at US$10M and will be funded by a loan from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Guyana. The loan which will be applicable for a five-year period will help to fund four components of the project, the first being the rehabilitation of the Georgetown sewer ring main. The present upgrades will spread over 30 months, with an 18-month execution and a 12month defect liability period. The contract was awarded to S. Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Contracting Services in collaboration with Nabi Construction Inc. as the Contracting Firms. The project is also aimed at helping to eliminate the transmission of neglected tropical diseases around the city as well. GWI’s Project Manager, Orin Browne, said that the funds for the project will be
disbursed in phases to upgrade the entire sewer system. “At present we have an old system which has been in existence since 1929. That system has clogged up so much that in certain parts of the city it overflows.” Adding that the total length of pipes to be laid is 12 kilometers; Browne said that at present 24 different pump stations assist in pumping the sewage into the ocean. He noted that works on the project will be done at nights to avoid congestion, and safety will be paramount. GWI will be working in collaboration with the municipality, the police and other stakeholders to ensure that there is minimum disruption. Browne said that included in the entire sewer upgrade is the purchase of a $72 Million Hi-Vac Truck Mounted Aquatech Vacuum Cleaner which is a “Supersucker” vacuum bought to enhance the cleaning system. The truck was bought by the Government through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). “If there is damage to any entrance or bridge, the contractor will be held accountable and will be liable.”
Administration Board (NPTAB) for the supply and construction of potable water well at Providence, East Bank Demerara, Ramjattan said that the engineer’s estimate was $107 million. The lone bidder, B.K International, submitted a bid for $174M. He said it is either this government engineer is lackadaisical and does not know his job or there is something seriously wrong with the specification in the
contract which made a bidder place such a high bid for the construction of the well. “These things need to be investigated and the Procurement Commission needs to be implemented.” Under the current legislation, Cabinet has the right to review all procurements that exceed $15M. Meanwhile, another parliamentarian said “assuming that engineer’s
estimate is in keeping with today’s pricing and that his bid is close to the project cost, which I honestly doubt, then it goes to show how unconscionable some contractors could be—the lengths to which they would go to maximise their profits”. “They would have done a proper estimate and even added a mark-up that would have been in the vicinity of the $107 million. But surely it goes to show the kind of profits these contractors seek and how merciless they are when doing business for the government.”
Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan
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Kaieteur News
Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
EDITORIAL
Guyana has a lot to emulate
Everyday something happens to make the people of Guyana realize just how underdeveloped the country is. They also get a lesson in partition because every time an election comes around the nation is split along lines that threaten violent conflict. In the period between elections the nation gets a lesson in seeing and keeping its collective mouth shut. The elections in the United States should always teach Guyanese something about democracy; about campaigning and about tolerance. Guyanese have been looking at these elections in real time ever since television came to Guyana in a big way back in 1984. They have seen the campaigns and they have seen what elections behaviour should be. The United States has a diverse population; there are the whites who form the bulk of the population, then there are the Blacks, the Hispanics who now form the second largest group in the country, Asians, Chinese and the Mediterranean group (Italians) and of course the Jews. All of these have a stake in the elections and all have suffered ethnic dislike from one or other of the group. However, whenever the elections end the people simply go back to their daily lives. Not so in Guyana, the losers tend to seek to sabotage national development by attacking institutions and even people viewed as being responsible for their loss. Today, almost one year after the last elections in November 2011, there is still rancor and political rhetoric, the kind that was heard on the campaign trail. There seems to be no move to get down to the job of taking the country forward. It is as if there is perennial election campaigning with the various parties seeking to win candidates. It is not that the political parties in the United States do not go after each other in the House but there is talk and more often than not, there is compromise—give and take that would from time to time demand the intervention of the president. In Guyana there is hardly any giving, only a burning desire to show who is in charge and who is challenging the leaders. Of course, there are those among us who will say that the United States has had more than 200 years of elections. That may very well be the case especially since election dates are statutory. There is no secrecy about when an election would be held. Guyana may do well to adopt this. But what is most remarkable about what happens in the United States is the speed with which the results are delivered. The most recent elections were held on Tuesday and no more than six hours after the polls closed on the eastern seaboard, the results were in and a winner declared. There were more than 100 million votes to be counted. The fastest Guyana has been able to deliver results has been five days after the polls and that was touted as reason to celebrate. Suffice it to say that even after that time and with less than 500,000 votes to count there were mistakes that some believed were designed to favour the incumbent. Canadian Bank Note, the company that manages the Lotto system in Guyana had promised to establish terminals that would allow for the transmission of results as fast as the votes were recorded so that not only would there have been speedy results but would have minimized the extent of fraud. The present government has refused to change the system and to remain with the old system that accommodates fraud. It could be that the leaders of Guyana have taken a conscious decision to keep the country rooted in backwardness because of the rate vote and the desire to perpetuate that. Fortunately, it would seem that the people of this country are tired of the race vote and they demonstrated this during the last elections. They are listening to issues. Crime is a problem as is corruption. The government has failed to provide security; it is failing to effectively address these issues. The people are taking note. They also asked for protection against pirates. None is forthcoming and that too would be an issue in the same way the Americans see rising costs, jobs and economic matters being prime issues in the choice of a government.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Letters... Where your views make the news
Vote allotment was confusing, but Guyanese happy over Obama victory DEAR EDITOR, Tens of thousands of Guyanese Americans joined their Caribbean brothers and sisters in the US as well as born Americans in celebrating President Obama’s convincing victory over Republican Mitt Romney. Even Guyanese at home stayed up late on Tuesday night, anxiously awaiting the results, and nearly all of them went to bed very happy. For the past 18 months, the US television was bombarded with news, comments and advertisements for the Presidential elections which no doubt cost the two parties no less than two billion dollars. I was prompted to write this piece because the o u t c o m e o f O b a m a ’s victory did not rest on the popular vote of the 100 million voters, since the election of the President and Vice President is not conducted on the popular vote but votes from the Electoral College. Obama won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, but his success came from the electoral votes. Like me, most Americans, especially CaribbeanAmericans do not quite understand the system, and I decided to do some research. In the 2000 elections, George W. Bush polled 500,000 votes less than his opponent, Al Gore, but yet he won the presidency because he secured more votes from the Electoral College. But the year 2000 was not the only
election where the candidate who polled less of the popular vote was chosen as President. It first happened in 1824 when John Quincy Adams won the presidency, then Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888. A pamphlet published by the League of Women Voters Education Fund states that “Every four years, the Electoral College, a little known feature of our Constitution, enjoys a fleeting movement of fame. About six weeks after the long grind of the presidential election is over, the 538 members of the college meet in their respective states to perform their sole constitutional function: to elect the President and VicePresident of the United States. But the impact of the college on presidential elections is far greater-and more controversial-than its brief life indicates. For example, many knowledgeable observers of American politics attribute the predominance of two major parties to the winner-take-all feature of the college’s statebased system. In all but two states, losing candidates, whether they got two million or two votes, get no electors. (Maine and Nebraska allot two electoral votes to the candidate who wins the statewide popular vote; the balance are allocated based on the popular vote by congressional district.) As a result, small parties and less well known
candidates seldom have had a chance to affect the outcome of an election directly. The usual effect of socalled “third-force” candidates is to take away votes from one major party candidate in a close race, tipping the results to the other major party candidate. But if a third or fourth candidate does manage to carry at least one state or some electoral votes-and that has happened in four elections since 1900then he or she may have a huge impact-partly because the House of Representatives gets to choose the President (and the Senate, the VicePresident) if the Electoral College can’t produce an absolute majority. Politicians and pundits disagree as to whether the college favors small states, or whether it gives an indirect advantage to rural areas or to ethnic minority clusters in populous states. They disagree over its value as a preserver of federalism or as an impediment to the principle of one-person, one-vote. All observers agree, however, that every four years the voters of America need to be reminded of the ins and outs of the Electoral College system before they
cast their ballot for President. Americans choose their President in a complicated series of steps that have evolved from Article l, Section 2 of the US Constitution, through various amendments, federal and state laws, political party rules and traditions. The Constitution authorizes each state to appoint a number of electors equal to the number of representatives plus senators that the state has in Congress. To this total of 435 plus 100, the Twenty-third Amendment added three for the District of Columbia - the same number of electors as the least populous state bringing the total of the college to 538 members.” The six states with most electors are: California, 55, Texas 38, New York 29, Florida 29, Illinois 20 and Pennslvania 30. The seven small states are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming - 3 each. The Electoral College is determined every 10 years by the US Census thus determining the number of electoral states. Oscar Ramjeet
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news
GPL needs to take a serious look at its operations DEAR EDITOR, I am so happy and proud to see that my fellow Berbicians on the Upper Corentyne are finally standing up and saying “No More!” to GPL. It is good to see residents writing letters to the daily newspapers, and talking on Facebook and other social media about the national disaster that GPL has been, and calling for an urgent improvement in the electricity
supply provided to us. I hope that GPL’s senior management is paying attention to the problems being raised by our residents, and that it will take urgent steps to immediately fix the significant problems in delivering dependable electricity supply to Berbicians. For too long we have been silent as we were utterly disrespected and ill-treated
DEAR EDITOR, Around noon on October 30th, the Presidential Guard lost their favourite guard dog ‘Brown Girl’. She was accidently killed while sleeping under a car. The driver started the car and immediately reversed, not knowing ‘Brown Girl’ was under the car. She died shortly afterwards. I was informed by an employee at Castellani House and I went over and spoke with the guards. They told me ‘Brown Girl’ came to their building as a puppy and grew up with them; she became protective and never left her post. She stood guard every night and her bark always let the other guards know that a stranger was around; they could depend on her to sound the first warning. As one presidential guard put it, “she was a guard without a rifle and was always ready to protect her family”, so they protected her with love, food
and kindness. I had ‘Brown Girl’ spayed several years ago, I don’t think she was too fond of me after that, but tolerated me whenever I showed up with food. We will all miss ‘Brown Girl’ but there are now two other females hanging around, apparently the word on the street is out that there is a vacancy that pays with food and kindness. We will have them spayed and hopefully they will continue the good work that ‘Brown Girl’ started. The Presidential Guards respected ‘Brown Girl’ and buried her next to their compound. I thank them for that kind act. Stray dogs, especially females, are often seen in a negative light, but many offer positive things such as security, love, and now and then a good laugh. Remember, if we spay them we don’t have to stray them. Syeada Manbodh
DEAR EDITOR, I am appalled at the treatment being meted out to the NIS pensioners in Kwakwani. The Pension Voucher Books for the second half of this year were printed with an error - same being November Pension will not be paid until December. This error was acknowledged by NIS and a promise was made that it will be corrected before November. Lo and behold, when these pensioners turned up to the Post Office, they were all turned back because of the very mistake identified and acknowledged by NIS. Now to add insult to this injury, pensioners from Kwakwani are asked to visit the “Nearest NIS Office” to cash the voucher. The nearest NIS office is in Linden, a journey of over sixty-four miles, at a cost of $4200 return
to travel. Just imagine a pensioner receiving $12000, paying $4200 for passage and $1000 for a meal, since going to Linden will take the whole day and they will have to eat something. What will remain to take these pensioners through the month? It is heartless to even think of a decision that will impact so negatively on those persons who have toiled so hard in their younger years and contributed to ensure their last days can at least be somewhat comfortable. NIS should publicly apologise for this blunder and find a way to ensure these pensioners are paid in Kwakwani, without having to use their already meagre pension on transportation. Jocelyn Morian
Guard without a rifle
NIS should publicly apologise for this blunder
by this entity masquerading as a utility company. For too long we have been silent as the number of blackouts per year have increased, as electricity supply has decreased and become less reliable, and as politicians across the spectrum have abandoned our communities after election voting ended. For too long we could only take our suffering in silence, and try to joke that GPL really means “Get Plenty Lamps,” but the time for jokes is over, and we are demanding urgent action now.
To GPL, I say, “No More!” We will no longer accept frequent blackouts. We are not going to accept any more empty promises. We are not going to tolerate being disrespected, and ill-treated, and treated like second-class citizens. We will not stay silent when your emergency hotline is busy 24/7 and residents are unable to make legitimate complaints and inquiries. We are not going to go away and sulk in silence, like you may hope. Your days as an
inefficient, incompetent company will come to an end, whether you like it or not. To GPL’s senior management, I say “No More!” Don’t forget that you work for us, the consumers. We pay your big salaries, and subsidize your operations through our taxes. So don’t tell us to be patient with you for four more weeks, when everyone knows that your company has a horrible track record of keeping its promises. In any other country in the world, your senior
management would have all been fired for failing to achieve the most basic improvements in service. You need to take a good, long, honest look at your operations and tell us why you haven’t been able to improve the power supply for our company when GT&T has been able to, in just a short time, transform and improve the telecommunications sector in Guyana. Perhaps Joe Singh and Sonita Jagan should be placed in charge of GPL. Disgusted Resident
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Kaieteur News
Letters... Where your views make the news
Indeed, let us “wait to see what McCartney means” DEAR EDITOR, I read the fascinating piece by Columnist Freddie Kissoon about the class system. It is a subject that crops up fairly often on British TV and radio programmes, perhaps because Britain is such a class-conscious country. I think social class may be thought of in both personal and general terms - how one perceives oneself and how one is perceived by the society in which one lives. In other words, one might ‘think’ working class but ‘live’ middle
class and vice versa, probably. Paul McCartney describing himself as “a working class boy” is understandable, his feelings may be described as ‘natal roots’, in the same way as an abiding love of one’s country has been defined as ‘spiritual roots’. Because of his material status, he has to live a certain lifestyle, entertain people who move in the same social circle and must be prepared to do so as his financial circumstances allow. But that does not mean
he does not long for a quiet ‘log-cabin’ life, remembering his carefree, non-pressurised working class life, with so many people trying to capitalise on his talent and hard work. Society, on the whole, will see him as rich and in a higher class (income bracket, really). Oprah W. and Tiger W. (and Michelle Obama) probably feel the same as Paul M. and try to give something back to the communities from which they sprang. I am absolutely convinced one always remembers one’s
roots, and the person who has seen life from both sides of the track is the most fortunate of all, because s/he has experienced both the agony and the ecstasy and later in life can appreciate the outlook of both sides. Unfortunately, many seem to concentrate more on the ecstasy, “scorning the base degrees by which they did ascend”. I often wonder about my compatriot who married a man of great talent and now moves in the highest social circles. I remember when her poor father died, leaving his wife to provide for a few small children. My father was an acquaintance of the family and when ‘the boys’ gathered at our home to attend the funeral, they were so concerned about the family’s welfare that they promised to do what they could to help. They need not have worried about the small daughter. Indeed, let us “wait to see what McCartney means”. Geralda Dennison
Thursday November 08, 2012
Fishing boat captain missing after pirate attack The relatives of Ramkissoon Sukhan, a fisherman of Anna C a t h e r i n a , We s t C o a s t Demerara, have said that they are hopeful that he would return safe. According to reports, Sukhan went on a routine fishing trip some nine days ago and was reportedly attacked by pirates some time on Monday afternoon. Relatives of the missing man said they were told by some of the other crew members who were rescued, that Sukhan was shot, beaten and thrown into the Atlantic Ocean some distance off the Corentyne Coast. This publication was told that Sukhan was the b o a t ’s c a p t a i n a n d w a s pulling in the day’s catch when the gunmen struck. The other crew members claimed that after the gunmen took away their valuables they fled but soon returned and took them to another boat which then took them to land. However relatives of the missing man said they do not believe the crewmembers’ story. “If people attack you boat they don’t come back to you to help you. We
Missing 52 year-old Ramkissoon Sukhan want the police to investigate this matter p r o p e r l y, ” o n e r e l a t i v e said. Meanwhile, the relative said they received word that the police had found the bodies of four men somewhere in Berbice. Late last night there were reports that the report was not true. T h e m a n ’s r e l a t i v e s said that while they have not found a body they will remain hopeful that he is alive and well.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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Govt seeks to resume opposition party talks … AFC sets conditions While Cabinet Secretary, Roger Luncheon, during yesterday’s weekly post Cabinet press briefing, announced that the three parliamentary political parties have agreed to resume meetings shortly; the Alliance for Change (AFC), during its press conference, pointed to some key requests to the government. The party said that these are absolutely necessary for its engagement in talks at tripartite levels. AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, noted that his party signaled interest in resumption of the tripartite talks when contacted by Luncheon. He also indicated that the AFC is optimistic of continuing from where it left off a few months ago; but with conditions. Ramjattan made reference
to the list of measures agreed on between the AFC and the government for the initial tripartite talks and expressed that “there are lots of other things that we will like to add to the list…” First, Ramjattan said that the AFC will not be willing to longer tolerate “periods of lapses, extending for six or seven months.” The lawyer said that a lot has occurred since the halt of initial talks at the tripartite levels, things “like Agricola and the Commission of Inquiry. Now the government seeks to call us back at their whim and fancy.” He said that actions like that, will only lead the opposition to gain the perception that it is only when the “government of the day” finds its back against the wall and chooses to resume talks,
Pres. Ramotar congratulates Obama on elections victory Guyana has extended sincere congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama on his re-election as President of the United States of America. “The American people have once again demonstrated their confidence in your ability and that of the Democratic Party to lead their country on the path to further development and increase prosperity. I wish you greater success as you continue to pursue consolidation of the strategic policies for the sustained economic and social progress
of the United States of America.” In a message to the President-elect, Donald Ramotar noted, “It is my hope that our two countries will enjoy even stronger relations and I look forward to working with you toward achieving this objective as well as in the advancement of initiatives for the security and development of the people of our hemisphere. “Please accept my best wishes for your continued good health and well-being and that of the First Lady Michelle Obama and your family.”
ECD accident…
MAN, 64, ON LIFE SUPPORT A 64-year-old man is now battling for his life in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He is currently on life support and has been in the unit for the past two days with his condition listed as critical. Ivor Stuart, of 131 Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, was struck down around 06:00am on Tuesday by a speeding driver, who was at the time racing to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. He is currently in police custody at the Cove
and John Police Station. Kaieteur News understands that the father of two was at the time taking one of his routine morning walks when he was struck down on the Foulis Public Road, ECD. Marxist Stuart, the injured man’s son, said that a friend of his called and informed him about the accident. At that time, his father was already taken to the hospital by police. “I come straight to the hospital after I heard about the accident,” the younger Stuart recalled.
that the opposition is informed. “This is supposed to be an ongoing process. We were supposed to be invited to budget talks; we didn’t hear anything and now we are being told that we could have been invited. We will not stand to be treated with utter disrespect by the government…” Ramjattan noted that there must be equality in the National Communication Network (NCN)
dissemination of information and a halt to the demonization of the AFC leaders; characterizing them as being terrorists who arranged the “thuggery” at Agricola. The lawyer stated that his party must be allowed the opportunity to have an input into the preparation of the 2013 budget. In relation to budget preparation, Ramjattan cited a recent incident where the Region Eight Chairman who was scheduled to hand in a
2013 budget plan for the said region, was told not to worry with that plan; “and a different plan was structured by the PPPites.” Ramjattan was adamant that his party should be privy to information on projects like the airport expansion plan. He noted that at present, his request is far from being honoured. “They are not giving any information; they seem to just want war and when the war isn’t going in their favour, they come to the
talks; we are not going to be used.” Ramjattan noted that he wishes for the tripartite talks to be recoded so that they can be referred to at any time. “We discuss a lot of things at those tripartite talks but we are not getting what we discussed to the public. “We believe that this country’s progress and development depend on a courteous realignment of all political ports so these talks are essential.”
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Kaieteur News
Thursday November 08, 2012
GYSM hosts blood drive
The Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM) is lending support to the National Blood Bank’s ‘Good Samaritan’ programme. The youth movement held the first of its three-day blood drives, yesterday. The drive attracted more than 20 voluntary donors. The first to donate were the members of the University of Guyana Rugby Team – most of whom were first time donors. Chairman of the GYSM and member of Parliament Mr. Christopher
Jones, M.P also donated blood for the first time. He said that he had initial fears about donating blood because of the needles, but overcame them quickly as a result of the courteous, encouraging, friendly staff and the atmosphere at the blood bank. This GYSM programme is to assist the blood bank to reach its 100 per cent voluntary donor mark for the year. The Blood Bank’s voluntary donor collection currently stands at 85 per
cent. The GYSM chairman noted that this venture is just one of the many humanitarian activities that the GYSM will be involved in. He has called on members of the general public to become voluntary donors. Giving blood takes just about 15 minutes and comes with health benefits. It gives the body an opportunity to replenish red blood cells. Today, PNCR Executives, GYSM Executives and APNU Members of Parliament will donate blood at the National Blood Bank on Lamaha Street.
Buzz Bee Dam shooting…..
Hospitalized victim stable A man is in police custody assisting with investigations into the shooting death of a 57-year-old truck driver and the wounding of a porter during a robbery on Tuesday, at Buzz Bee Dam, Craig, East Bank Demerara. Dead is Aga Khan, of Lot 20 Grove Public Road, East Bank Demerara. He was shot at close range in the right side of his neck after he reportedly handed over a bag containing $750,000 to one of four robbers. The father of three was pronounced dead at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre. Khan and the two porters, Mervin Marcus and Ken Ross, were all employed by the Edun Poultry Farm located a stone’s throw from where the robbery took place. The wounded porter, Mervin Marcus, was shot in his right shoulder and is currently a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Yesterday, when Kaieteur News visited Marcus, he was visibly in pain. Although his condition is listed as “stable,” he could have hardly moved. His shoulder was bandaged and so was his neck. When asked about his tragic experience that day, he shook his head to signal that he was in pain and could not speak.
Mervin Marcus Meanwhile, the police in a statement said they are investigating Khan’s murder. A police release said that Khan was attacked by four men, one of whom was armed with a handgun and others with knives. Khan, was driving motor lorry GJJ 2806 owned by Edun Poultry Farm, east along Buzz Bee Dam, when the men walked into the path of the
vehicle causing the driver to stop. One of the men then approached Khan and demanded cash. He was shot to his neck in the process. One of the suspects then approached Marvin Marcus who was in the cab with Ken Ross, 18, of Brickery Road, Craig, EBD. Marcus was shot to his shoulder before handing over $700,000 to the men who then escaped.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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PLAYING WITH WORDS
It is time that the President put an end to this play of words that is taking place within the government. If the President is as serious as he says he is about transparency; if he is keen on opening everything up for scrutiny, the least he can do is to instruct his subordinates to when addressing concerns and criticisms, to be clear and not try to obfuscate the issues by playing with words. There are serious concerns about the viability of the Marriott Hotel project into which the government is pumping millions of dollars. The hotel is not a public infrastructure project. It is a commercial venture that the government is entering into, in partnership with other investors (yet unknown to the public). Commercial projects should yield commercial returns for the public investment but there is no guarantee that the government will secure preferred shares in this project. In fact, it is the private investors who are likely to have these preferred shares. The government has justified its involvement in this project by saying that private investors alone would not have been able to finance this project and thus it was necessary for taxpayers’ monies to be used. The fear is that when this project is completed, the billions of dollars that the taxpayers of Guyana would have sunk into it would end up being not worth the paper on which it is written since it has been suggested by critics
of the project that the syndicated investors would have the first lien of repayments should this hotel run into problems, something that knowledgeable persons have indicated is likely to happen. If this hotel, as is expected should go bankrupt, it would mean that the syndicated investors would end up owning the hotel while the billions of taxpayers’ monies would go down the drain in paying the debts of the hotel. The revenue stream of this hotel is highly questionable. Those who understand the business indicate that given the occupancy rates of hotels in Guyana, it makes no good business sense for anyone to put monies into such a hotel, much less to put billions of taxpayers’ monies into this venture. Even with the revenue stream from the casino and the other entertainment sections of the hotel, not many of the knowledgeable pundits are confident that this hotel can avoid being in the red. It was therefore shocking to read a report which indicated that the government would be contracting out the entertainment sections of the hotel. This has caused a public furor, with the opposition expressing concern about this development. The government which had long promised to be open and transparent, has
Dem boys seh...
A well hole more expensive than gold, ask Irfaat De government, especially Irfaat, get more bareface. Long time when de government had to dig a well it use to cost little or nutten. When was Shaik Baksh a well use to cost $40 million. Now de man who tek over from Shaik digging dem same well it cost $70 million. Now overnight de same well cost $174 million. When dem boys ask how come de well suh dear, de Tender Board people, including Don Duckloo, claim how de well digging to Trinidad. Guyana going to import water. De man who put in a tender fuh dig de well is a Bee. Only a Bee coulda come up wid such a high price. Dem boys seh that people shouldn’t be surprise if de well price meet $200 million by Christmas. And by 2013 it gun meet $400 million.
De way things going, don’t be surprise fuh hear that a latrine hole cost $200 million. And Uncle Donald want glasses. He can’t see wha happening. He can’t see that all dem contract price jack up. He does sit down in Cabinet whole day and hear dem same high price because all he Minister got to guh to he fuh approval. De same Cabinet discuss Brazzy and he hotel. Luncheon confuse de situation too. He tell dem boys no matter how much money dem spend pun de casino, is still Brazzy own. Brazzy got to come clean and explain de statement. In fact, he need to explain de whole Marriott deal to de nation. Is de people money and dem have a right to know. Talk half and start worry bout de other half.
through NICIL responded in a disingenuous way to those concerns by stating that both the hotel and entertainment segments of the business will be owned by the company which the government formed but that the operation of the entertainment section will be outsourced. The impression trying to be created is that the outsourced private operators of the casino and other entertainment aspects of this hotel will be managed by private companies just as how the Marriot will manage the hotel segment. The very report from the government indicates that the private operators will be
responsible for outfitting the entertainment section which is expected to cost US$ 4 million dollars. However, the government obfuscates its plans by stating that while the entertainment complex would be privately operated that all investment, income and expenditure will be in the hand of government. Who does NICIL really believe it is speaking to? Does it really believe that it can bamboozle the Guyanese people with this play on words? If private operators will operate the casino and other entertainment centres; if these same operators are responsible for outfitting the
entertainment complex, then obviously they will control the revenue flow. You cannot ask someone to invest four million US dollars and then you control the revenue from this investment. In effect the company that owns and controls the hotel will be renting space to those who will operate the entertainment complex. The only revenue stream that AHI will get is for rental. Those who will inject the four million dollars will run the casino and other entertainment divisions as a business and they will expect a fair rate of return. In short what is being proposed is the outsourcing of the casino.
This will further reduce whatever chances this hotel has of being viable because without the revenue stream from the entertainment complex, the company which owns the hotel will not even be able to pay its operating costs. Taxpayers’ monies must immediately be pulled from this project. This is a project that will enrich others and leave the taxpayers holding worthless paper.
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Thursday November 08, 2012
=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===
Same train, same conductor, same direction In the newspaper last Monday, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran published a letter in which he advocates taking out of the hands of the presidency and the government, the authority to confer Senior Counsel status on lawyers. He proposes to put the authority in independent hands. There is a part of his assessment that needs repeating. Ramkarran informed readers that four lawyers were denied the status under President Burnham because of their
politics. Then he cited the situation of three lawyers who today are being denied the Senior Counsel honour because of their politics. What comes out most graphically from the Freudian pen of Ramkarran is the identical psychology of the PNC and PPP. You wonder if one day the PNC isn’t going to wake up and tell the PPP that “you guys aren’t different from us, never were and never will be so we are taking back the power for which you fought us down
for twenty eight years.” The mirror image of the PPP Government from 1992 with that of President Burnham’s regime is uncanny and frightening. Some time after 1992, there must have been a very secret meeting with Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan and their protégés and the decision was that “if we are going to keep power we must behave like Mr. Burnham, we must emulate the way Mr. Burnham used power.” That message has become buried in the collective psyche of the PPP leadership and it finds expression in the Freudian copying of all of Mr. Burnham’s sordid deeds. The pattern is not almost identical but definitely identical. The time and place and names are different but the game is played out with identical precision. It is a sickening case of copycat politics. Mr. Ramkarran reminded us of political interference then and now in the Senior Counsel scandal. Under Mr. Burnham, Rodney got exiled from UG. Under Burnham, opposition activists got charged with treason. The PPP supplied
itself with its own quota of treason accused. Most Guyanese believe there was a hand of the State in Walter Rodney’s murder and they feel the same about the way Ronald Waddell was killed. Burnham as Head of Government sued a constant critic, Archibald Codrington, for libel. President Jagdeo sued this columnist. President Burnham took the Catholic Standard to court and so did President Jagdeo against the Stabroek News. Burnham took control of the University of Guyana through the political composition of the Council. The PPP has copied this tactic with extreme zeal. The PNC Government behaved as if it owned the Chronicle and the country’s only radio station. The PPP does the same. The PNC Government removed the wife of WPA stalwart, Moses Bhagwan from her job with the state company, GPC. The PPP Government did exactly the same with my wife at GOINVEST. Burnham denied a lawyer senior counsel status because his wife employed him as her divorce lawyer. Mr.
Jagdeo has done the identical thing. Burnham had his goons. They operated from the House of Israel. The PPP goons are more resourceful because today the money to pay them is plentiful. You had affiliation and/or membership with the PNC, you become a favoured one. This pattern remains firmly intact with the PPP. High police and army officials took instructions from ruling politicians under the PNC; the PPP Government does the same shamelessly. The PNC Government had its share of mysterious deaths; the PPP has its quota. A wife of a PNC Minister died suddenly and suicide by poisoning was cited as the cause. The exact occurrence visited a Minister of the PPP Government four years ago. President Burnham took over a 19th century colonial house at Belfield after installing a swimming pool at his other residence at Castellani House. President Jagdeo built a luxury villa at Pradovile 2. To many analysts in psychology, politics and sociology, these two parties are victims of the post-
Frederick Kissoon colonial grab for power. What the white man had, they wanted. Democracy was the slogan used to fool the masses. There was never any appreciation and respect by PNC and PPP leaders, including both Janet Jagan and Forbes Burnham, for the ideology of liberal constitutionalism. On the contrary, they had contempt for democratic institution. The rule of Mr. Burnham lasted from 1968 to 1985 when death intervened and Desmond Hoyte began the twin process of glasnost and perestroika. The reign of the PPP has entered its 20th year. Most analysts and commentators and political observers believe the days of the tropical Mussolinis in power since 1992 are coming to an end. It may be an ignominious collapse.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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WHIM SHOPKEEPER FOUND WITH THROAT SLASHED, TWO HELD The business place where the Corentyne shopkeeper was found.
The Ragnauth family was surprised at the discovery of the body of Winston Ragnauth, aka Tony, 57, of Lot 2 North Whim Public Road, Corentyne, Berbice with his throat slashed. The man’s son made the discovery yesterday morning. The father of threeAndrew, Gavin and Constable
Emmanuel Ragnauth was separated from his wife of 30 years for over 10 years. His reputed wife Ms. Zaira Ally who works at the Region Six Department of Education, described the deceased as a very quiet and peaceful person who never interfered with anyone. She said that he was a shopkeeper for the past
20 years having spent his early life as a Head teacher and a market vendor at Rose Hall Town Market. Mr. Ragnauth, she said, lived at the back of his business place to provide security for his business. Ms. Ally learnt of his death from her son, and a police rank stationed at the Whim Police
Station that lives in the compound. According to Ms. Ally, her son said that a policeman went to purchase something from Mr. Ragnauth’s shop which would normally open early in the morning. The shop was open but the police got no answer from Mr. Ragnauth. The rank then
went to ask Constable Emmanuel if his father had left his shop open because he got no answer from him. Between 07:00 and 07:30 hrs Constable Emmanuel Ragnauth left to check on his father when he made the gruesome discovery. He immediately alerted his mother, other relatives and
the police. The neighbours said that they noticed nothing strange. Kaieteur News understands that Mr. Ragnauth was robbed prior to his death and one of the bandits served a jail term for the robbery. Two persons are in police custody as suspects into Mr. Ragnauth’s death.
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Kaieteur News
GRA employee killed in Soesdyke crash
Dead: 28 year-old Dorian Welcome An employee of the Guyana Revenue Authority was killed almost instantly at around 23:00 hours on Tuesday after a car crash on the Soesdyke Highway. The dead man has been identified as 28-year-old Dorian Welcome of Kuru Kuru and a clerk attached to the GRA’s Management Unit. Reports are that the incident occurred in the vicinity of Ivan Street, Soesdyke. Welcome was driving motorcar PFF 3813 when he reportedly lost control of the car and slammed into tyres
which were on the side of the road and then into a fence. The car was seen in the air before landing and turning turtle. Persons who ran to the man’s assistance said that it appeared as if the man died instantly because when they tried pulling him out of the car his neck appeared to have been broken. His body was also badly disfigured. The man’s body was subsequently taken to the Lyken Funeral home where it is awaiting a post mortem examination.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Weapon tendered in Corentyne murder trial The alleged murder weapon in the Number 54 Village Dam, Corentyne, killing was on Wednesday tendered into evidence when the trial of 17 year old Rayan Alli called ‘Karran’ of No 54 village Corentyne andformerly of Black Bush Polder continued in the Berbice High Court before Justice Roxanne GeorgeWiltshire and a mixed jury. And on Tuesday, two eyewitnesses testified at the trial. Alli is on trial for the murder of Premchand Sugrim, called ‘Copper’ and ‘Pluck’, of No. 54 Village, Corentyne, on July 20, last year. Police Detective Corporal Hasrat Mohamed, who had testified earlier returned to court on Wednesday with what allegedly was the murder weapon. Being led by State Prosecutor attorney at law Priteema Kissoon, he showed the court a piece of iron which he said was collected from the scene on the day in question. Mohamed also presented a cutlass in court which he said was retrieved from the scene of the incident. However, the cutlass was not tendered as evidence by the prosecution.
On Tuesday, Goomatie Singh, 14, of No 54 Village, and a student of Tagore Memorial Secondary School and her father, Ramsingh, a labourer, had testified. The girl testified that she knew ‘Copper’, who lives about two houses away from her. She also knew ‘Karran’ for about one year. He lived about five houses from her. She said that he used to live at Black Bush Polder before he came to live in the village. Singh said that on the day in question she was at home hanging out clothes when she saw ‘Copper’ walking on the dam. She said that she saw ‘Karran’ run out from behind some black sage bush with an iron bar in his hand and lash ‘Cropper’ on his head. ‘Cropper’ fell and ‘Karran’ throw the iron bar on the ground and went away. She said that she did not see ‘Cropper’ do ‘Karran’ anything neither did she see ‘Cropper’ with anything in his hands. She also said that her father was in the vicinity when the incident happened. Nothing blocked her view that day. She said that she went
Rayan Alli and informed one ‘Shabana’ what happen. “The woman came and put Cropper head on her lap, took off his shirt and wipe away the blood.”
In his evidence Ramsingh stated that on the day in question he was walking with Sugrim towards his house, when Karran came out from behind some bush and struck Sugrim with an iron bar on his head and ran away. He threw away the iron bar on the ground. When the police came they picked it up and took it away. He said that he did not go to Sugrim after he was hit. He went home. Sugrim, he said had a cutlass in his hand; he was a labourer. The State’s case being presented by Priteema Kissoon is that on July 10, 2011, following a dispute between the two men, Alli, who was 15 at the time, used an iron pipe to lash Sugrim, a relative, in the head. Sugrim collapsed and was picked up and rushed to the Skeldon Hospital, before being transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital. He was then transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died 10 days later. The State is expected to call 12 witnesses. Alli is being represented by Attorney at Law Kumar Doorasammy. The matter will continue today.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
Demerara Bank breaks $1B profit barrier Chairman of Demerara Bank, Dr. Yesu Persaud
Nearly 18 years after opening its doors for business, Demerara Bank says it has broken the billiondollar-profit mark. According to the bank’s Chairman, Dr. Yesu Persaud, the performance by the bank is a record for the industry. In published financial statements yesterday, it was disclosed that the financial institution recorded $1.043B profit after taxes for the year ended September 30, 2012. “I am pleased to report that the Bank had an exceedingly good year hitting the billion dollar mark of $1.043B in less than 20 years of existence. A record for the banking industry to date,” Persaud said. The profit performance would have meant an increase of approximately 6.1 per cent over the previous year. Loans and advances have increased from $12B to $15B with the net worth of the institution rising solidly from $4.4B to $5.7B, representing a 30 per cent increase over the previous financial year. “Demerara Bank being the only fully owned Guyanese Bank and the youngest Bank among all the commercial banks in Guyana, to reach a landmark figure of $1 Billion
in profit is really an outstanding achievement for the Bank,” Persaud said yesterday. Significant improvements were reflected in deposit base of the bank which is at its highest of $35B, registering a rise of 16.7 per cent when compared to the 2011 corresponding year. Investments have also increased by 21.6 per cent to $15.2B; loans and advances grew by 25 per cent. Demerara Bank’s assets for the financial year grew to $42B compared with $36B at the end of September 2011. Interest earned on income over the past year totaled $2.4B representing interest earned on both loans and advances and investment. This compared with interest earned totaling $2.2B during the preceding year. Since opening its doors on Camp Street, the Bank now has a network of six branches and there are plans to add a brand-new head office shortly. Demerara Bank, described as Guyana’s first true indigenous Bank, opened for business on November 21, 1994. The last financial year, ending September 30, 2011, the bank amassed $984M net profit. (Leonard Gildarie)
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Thursday November 08, 2012
Marriott Clear as day govt. separating Hotel… casino from hotel -APNU
G
overnment’s plan to build a multimillion dollar hotel in Kingston along with a casino continues to face burning questions with one Parliamentarian making it clear yesterday that his party would be asking for more information. According to Joe Harmon, the Shadow Minister for Public Works of the A
Partnership For National Unity (APNU), the publication of ads asking for parties to express interest in operating a planned casino, Night Club and restaurant makes clear conclusion that it will be separated from the hotel. The entertainment section of hotels around the world is a virtual moneymaker with income from rooms just part of the
income. Government has been insisting that the entertainment section, which includes the three, is part of the hotel. However, Harmon, a lawyer by profession, believes that the advertisement is confusing by its very wording. There have been accusations that the hotel was
deliberately being separated from the lucrative entertainment section to protect the latter in case of a possible bankruptcy. The actual wording of the advertisement which has been running in the Guyana Chronicle newspaper includes one part that said the entertainment section would be “annexed” to the hotel.
APNU’s Parliamentarian, Joe Harmon
AHI Head, Winston Brassington The use of the word sends a message of it being separate, Harmon argued. “Then the ad is asking for the operators to outfit and conduct the operations of the section. Obviously the operators would be signing some agreement to run the entire thing. So it works out that government would be really renting this section. It would be interesting to examine the agreement regarding payments that the hotel owners…the government…has with the operators.” Another factor that stands out like a sore thumb is that government is looking for company with a brand to handle the casino and the other business. “This is significant if you have on one hand a Marriott brand and then an international casino manager like say…Trump. Trump would not want to be swallowed up or subsume by Marriott. Two separate operations.” “I think the whole thing is a big scheme to ensure that a casino is there.” Yesterday, Government’s chief spokesman, Dr. Roger Luncheon, said that the entire operations will be owned by Government through a specially e s t a b l i s h e d c o m p a n y, Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI) which is headed by former Privatization Unit head, Winston Brassington. It will consist of 150-rooms a n d c o s t u p t o US$60M…Government is planning to invest one-third of that amount. However, although the grounds in Kingston have been broken and the ground works are underway, the project has been met with rejection from local hotel operators who are arguing that too many empty rooms exist to justify the building of another hotel. Government has not released the feasibility study that was completed to justify the hotel.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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Linden inquiry commissioners to present report next February
H
ead of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr R o g e r L u n c h e o n , y e s t e r d a y, announced that the Linden Inquiry Commissioners will return to Guyana early January 2013, to conclude outstanding matters principally addressing the compensation claims by those affected and injured by the Linden protest. Luncheon made that disclosure yesterday at his weekly press conference at Office of the President. Luncheon told the media that the final report would be done subsequently and the submission is scheduled for February 2013. He said that Cabinet also agreed to meet with the Region Ten delegation to discuss the stalled works on the Economic and Electricity committees. The Commission of Inquiry into the July 18 shooting at Linden wrapped up hearings last week. Lawyers for the police, the victims who suffered losses, the APNU and the families of the three dead men all made their closing a rg u m e n t s b e f o r e t h e Commission. Attorney Peter Hugh, who is representing the police, in his summation said that if the organizers and leaders of the protest action on July 18 had asked the protesters to leave the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge, there would have been no cause for the police to get involved and the incident at the bridge would have been avoided. Hugh also suggested that there is no evidence to show that the police were responsible for the injuries and death suffered by protesters. Attorney Latchmie Rahamat, who represented the individuals that suffered property losses because of the July 18 incident, also summated that the organizers of the protest should be made to bear some liability for the losses of her clients. Rahamat represented the Guyana Revenue Authority, People’s Progressive Party, Linmine, and NICIL among others. The lawyer said that the failure of the organizers to control the protest led to the losses and so the organizers should therefore bear some responsibility for compensation. Nigel Hughes said that there is compelling evidence
to prove that the police shot the three deceased and injured the Lindeners. He said that Superintendent Patrick Todd, who was in charge, admitted that he discharged several rounds
from shotguns which he took from various ranks that were on the police line in uniform. Todd further said that he was the only one who discharged the shotgun. Hughes suggested that
evidence shows that no witness, whether civilian or police, claimed to have seen anyone else but the police armed with a shotgun. Attorney at law Basil Williams, who represented
APNU, said that July 18 would go down in the history books as one of the saddest days in Guyana, when peaceful protesters were shot and killed by the police. Williams said that the
evidence points to the police and no one else. According to the lawyer there was a prior plan to derail the fiveday protest for which the Lindeners were given permission.
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Thursday November 08, 2012
Govt. has no shares in EZjet - Luncheon Government has reiterated that it has no shares in the low-cost charter, EZjet. Responding to what appeared to be a concerted effort over the last few days by a number of government-affiliated news agencies to defend the company, Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, yesterday stressed that the administration is concerned about passengers’ welfare. On Sunday, Kaieteur News published a report that EZjet had notified the US Department of Transportation that it would be cancelling 26 flights between October and May 2013. Following that article, EZjet issued a statement which was published on Monday in the Guyana Chronicle, the Guyana Times, and other governmentaffiliated television channels and websites. Kaieteur News received the release on Monday. That release accused the newspaper of attempting to scare its passengers. EZjet and its founder, Sonny Ramdeo, have been facing court actions over the alleged theft of US$5.4M from a US healthcare company and its 11 hospitals. The monies were allegedly passed through the accounts of EZjet and that of Payserv, a payroll company that Ramdeo also owns. Ramdeo has since resigned as Chief Executive Officer of EZjet to clear his
Govt. Spokesman, Dr. Roger Luncheon
EZjet founder/former CEO, Sonny Ramdeo
name. There have been questions as to the source of financing for the charter company which started last December and which recently applied to the US government for permission to become a full-fledged airline that will fly from Guyana to any part of the US. Initially, the Florida-based EZjet official said that he funded the charter venture from his pension, stock options and mortgage. But the questions persisted. There were reports that EZjet was owned by local businessmen. A government official has since said that
several individuals from Florida have stakes in the company. Responding to questions yesterday on Government’s rush to defend EZjet, Dr. Luncheon insisted that the administration does not have to own shares in companies to defend them. Government, he said, has a “keen interest” in avoiding collapse and failure of companies operating in Guyana. He noted that in the case of EZjet, Government has an insurance deposit in place to protect flyers in case it goes bust.
Commission to investigate Ecuadorean-registered aircraft Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon has announced that a Commission of Inquiry will be launched into the arrival and activities of the Ecuadoreanregistered aircraft which was found abandoned at an airstrip east of Pirara. That strip was said to be illegal and was previously destroyed. Dr. Luncheon made the announcement yesterday during his weekly media briefing. According to the Cabinet Secretary, the Presidential Inquiry will see five Commissioners being appointed. He explained that the Terms of Reference will include looking into the circumstances surrounding the aircraft’s presence in Guyana and the subsequent, related unfolding events. Further, Dr Luncheon said that the nature of ownership, the involvement of persons in the placement and its flight handling in Guyana, the authorization permission and
nature of the mechanical works and ground handling and storage for the aircraft at Ogle, will all be looked into once the COI gets underway. Dr. Luncheon added that the authorization given and the handling use and procedure followed in allowing the aircraft to depart Ogle on a flight plan filed for Boa Vista, Brazil, and the nature of events and circumstances leading to the search and rescue effort and the eventual discovery of the aircraft at an illegal airstrip east of Pirara will also be looked into. Luncheon said that to date findings have revealed that the aircraft had been in Guyana months prior to its discovery. On Saturday October 27, the aircraft with the registration 8CCIK departed the Ogle Airport on a 90minute flight to Boa Vista, Brazil. Three hours later, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority declared the
aircraft missing and efforts to locate it along the planned flight path were initially unsuccessful. Some time Sunday morning the rescue coordination centre was fully activated and the search for the aircraft intensified. Works Minister Robeson Benn had said that there was a report of the aircraft being in an area, just south of Mahdia, Potaro. Then contact was made with the pilot on Sunday morning, but according to the Minister, there was some garbled explanation as to the location of the aircraft. However, the information garnered was mostly inaudible and of little value in terms of locating the aircraft. The aircraft was subsequently found minus its pilot. It was painted over and found to be fitted with extra fuel tanks. Local law enforcement officials having made the discovery, seized the aircraft.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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Jamaica paying big bucks for consultants
Jamaica Gleaner Ninety-eight consultants have been engaged by the
Portia Simpson Miller-led government at a cost of more than J$255 million since the administration took power in January. The information was provided by Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips in response to questions tabled by Opposition MP Audley Shaw. Several politicians who carry the flag of the governing People’s National Party (PNP) are included among the list of consultants. Among them are Basil Waite, Phyllis Mitchell, Marjorie Taylor, Burchell Whiteman, Delano Franklyn and Lucius Thomas. The information provided by Phillips also shows that Simpson Miller has employed
six fewer consultants than former Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Eighteen persons were employed under Golding, while Simpson Miller’s 12 consultants are costing the country J$37.8 million. At the same time, Dr Phillips has 10 consultants employed to the Ministry of Finance at a cost of J$25.4 million compared to Shaw who had 11 consultants directly employed in his ministry, and one each to the Customs Department and the Inland Revenue Department. The cost of the consultants under Shaw was J$36.2 million. In 2009, then Prime Minister Bruce Golding
reported to Parliament J$12.4 million was being paid for consultancy services within his office. That number swelled to J$37.9 million by the time the Government left power in 2011. Simpson Miller had nine consultants in the Office of the Prime Minister when she was at Jamaica House. Jamaica paid J$22.7 million to employ them. The Golding administration paid out at least J$190 million to consultants in ministries compared to J$127 million for consultancy paid by the previous PNP administration. In terms of the politicians turned consultants, Whiteman,
de Ware Tijd PARAMARIBO – It is possible that Surinamese in the Diaspora with the legal status of ‘Persons of Surinamese Origin’ (PSA) will get the right to vote in Suriname’s elections. Legislator Marinus Bee, an initiator of the PSA bill, tells dWT that the debates in Parliament would show whether there is support for giving PSAs the right to vote. The initiators are considering giving this right to PSAs who have lived in Suriname for a certain number of years, Bee says. He does emphasise, however, that the Surinamese nationality will
remain a requirement to be a candidate in elections, as well as for government positions. For the latter there is an emphatic requirement by law to possess the Surinamese nationality. Surinamese in the Netherlands are pleased with the PSA bill, as it grants some special rights to Surinamese in Diaspora, including the right to work in Suriname without a work permit. Chairman Robby Makka of the Kenniskring Nederland – Suriname calls the PSA a “breakthrough, a historic moment and a recognition of and tribute to Surinamese abroad.”
He believes the PSA status should be brought in line with that of Suriname in the CARICOM. That is why the PSA must also grant the status of CARICOM citizens to Surinamese in Diaspora. Mahin Jankie, chairman of the Vereniging Surinaamse Nederlanders (VSN) believes it is praiseworthy that the coalition has submitted this bill. He criticises the Nieuw Front governments that have neglected this issue. Jankie considers the PSA additional legislation for all those to whom the nationality agreement does not apply. NPS Netherlands’ Owen Venloo praises the initiative.
He believes that after 37 years of independence, a foundation is being laid for a comprehensive Diaspora policy. “In short, the talents and expertise of Surinamese outside Suriname can be utilised now for Suriname’s development.”
Dr Peter Phillips, Audley Shaw
Possible voting rights for Surinamese in Diaspora
Kamla dismisses Nicki Minaj’s AIDS claims Trinidad Guardian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has dismissed claims by T&Tborn rapper Nicki Minaj that 250,000 nationals were living with AIDS. Minaj made the claim during an interview with the UK Guardian last week
T h u r s d a y. A s t a t e m e n t issued by the Office of the Prime Minister Monday said it wanted to clarify Minaj’s statistics on HIV and AIDS in T&T. The OPM said: “From 1983 through 2011, there have been 23,906 reported cases of HIV infections, of
which 6,440 became AIDS cases. Reports revealed that the estimated number of people living with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2010 was 22,787 which represents a HIV prevalence rate of approximately 1.5 per cent.”
Caribbean Journal staff Hurricane Sandy, which killed at least 60 people in Haiti, also severely damaged the country’a agriculture sector. Now, Haiti, with assistance with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, is seeking $74 million over the next 12 months to help repair the country’s agriculture sector. “The recent natural disasters in Haiti require the robust response of the international community to support ongoing government efforts,” said Adam Yao,
senior emergency coordinator for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. Of that funding, $4 million is sought to immediately help 20,000 families make it through the winter cropping season starting in December. Sandy was the third disaster to hit the country this year, following a major drought at the beginning of the cropping season in May and Tropical Storm Isaac in August. The combined impact of the three totaled around $254 million, according to Haiti’s
government, affecting around 1.5 million people. Another UN estimate put the total number of Haitians affected by Sandy alone at around 1.8 million. A number of areas in Haiti’s south, southeast and Grand Anse departments are isolated due to the destruction of road and other infrastructure. The FAO, along with the UN’s World Food Programme and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and partners will be conducting a helicopter survey of those areas.
FAO seeking to raise $millions to assist Haiti
former ambassador to the United Kingdom, who served as a minister of Government in previous PNP administrations, is being paid J$6.29 million. His functions include preparing position papers and editing briefs, as well as attending high-level meetings on behalf of the prime minister. Whiteman’s salary is slightly above that paid to Franklyn, whose sole shot at representational politics ended in defeat at the hands of Robert Montague in West St Mary in 2007. Franklyn is being paid J$5.79 million to prepare and edit position papers, write speeches for the prime minister to assist with the legislative agenda and deal with diaspora affairs. Mitchell, who left representational politics after being beaten by Gregory Mair in North East St Catherine in the 2007 general election, is being paid J$3.6 million to assist Labour and Social Security Minister Derrick Kellier. A similar salary is being
paid to Waite, who failed to gain the party’s nod to contest North East St Elizabeth in the last general election. His job is to assist Local Government Minister Noel Arscott. Taylor, who left politics over a decade ago and assumed the post of ambassador for children, is being paid J$3 million to be a special adviser to Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson. She is tasked with “performing duties aimed at mobilising resources and fostering collaboration with other ministries and with development partners in support of adolescent health.” Thomas, a former commissioner of police, is being paid J$4.4 million to be the director of police welfare and advocacy. Once the standard-bearer for the PNP in North West St Ann before illness forced him to pull back, T h o m a s i s n o w responsible for ensuring that police personnel benefit from the implementation of government policies.
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Syrian rebels fire at, but miss Assad’s palace
Residents flee their homes after a shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at Houla, near Homs. REUTERS/Misra Al-Misri/Shaam News Network/Handout AMMAN (Reuters) Syrian rebels fired mortars at President Bashar al-Assad’s palace in Damascus yesterday but missed, in an attack
underlining the growing boldness of forces fighting to end his family’s 42 years in power. As violence flared in other
parts of the country, Turkey said it was about to ask NATO to station Patriot missiles along its border with Syria to guard against violence spilling onto
its territory. Syria’s war, which has already destabilized neighboring Lebanon and raised the specter of wider Middle East turbulence, poses one of the greatest foreign policy challenges for U.S. President Barack Obama as he starts his second term. Damascus residents told Reuters heavy-caliber shells apparently aimed at the palace hit the nearby residential Mezze 86 district that is home to members of Assad’s Alawite sect. Staterun media said at least three people were killed and seven wounded in what it described as a terrorist attack. Rebels have focused efforts on high-profile attacks against symbols of Assad’s rule, such as his palace. A July bomb that killed four of Assad’s top lieutenants was shortly followed by an advance into Damascus by rebels who were then partially beaten back by Assad’s forces. Fighters in the mainly Sunni Muslim opposition have stepped up attacks in the capital this week, setting off bombs in at least two areas populated by Alawites and assassinating two figures seen as close to the Assad administration. The violence has highlighted the sectarian dimension of a civil war that is deepening the rift between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims in the region - Assad’s Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. An Islamist rebel unit said it targeted but missed the palace, a compound mainly used for official functions
which sits on a hill overlooking the city. It was not possible to verify whether Assad was staying there at the time. He has several residences in the city. “This operation came in response to the massacres committed in our beloved city,” the Lions of Islam rebel group said in a statement. They said they also attacked a military airport and an intelligence facility in the capital, but there was no independent confirmation of those reports. State media said a judge, Abad Nadwa, was killed in Damascus on Wednesday by a bomb placed under his car. The brother of the speaker of parliament was killed in Damascus on Tuesday. International and regional rivalries have complicated efforts to mediate any resolution to the conflict - Russia and China have vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have put Assad under pressure. The conflict has also started to drag in neighboring countries. Turkey has been responding in kind to mortar bombs hitting its territory from fighting between Syrian rebels and Syrian government forces. A senior Turkish foreign ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday the government would make an “imminent” request to NATO to protect its 910-km (560-mile) border with Patriot missiles. The official said there was a potential missile threat to Turkey from Syria and Turkey had a right to take steps to counter such a threat. He gave no further details. The United States and other Western powers say a
resolution to the conflict has also been frustrated by divisions and in-fighting between Syrian opposition groups. In a new push for unity, the main Syrian overseas opposition group the Syrian National Council (SNC) was due to elect a new leader and executive committee at a meeting in Qatar. The SNC and other groups will then meet today to form a new 50-member civilian group that will later choose a temporary government for Syria and coordinate with the revolt’s military wing. Highlighting how Palestinian refugees have been drawn into the conflict, rebels killed 10 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which is loyal to Assad, in fighting near the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, opposition sources said. Syrian rebels and proopposition Palestinians announced the formation of a new brigade last week to battle the PFLP-GC. The Syrian foreign ministry said Syria would stand “with full determination against any attempt to drag the Palestinians into what is happening in Syria”, the state news agency SANA reported, quoting a ministry official. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has asked both the United Nations and Russia, one of Assad’s last remaining international allies, to work to protect Palestinians in Syria, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
ATHENS (Reuters) Greek police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters who flooded into the main square before parliament yesterday in a massive show of anger against lawmakers due to narrowly pass an austerity package. The violence erupted as a handful of protesters tried to break through a barricade to enter parliament, where Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to barely eke out a win for the belttightening law despite opposition from a coalition partner. But the parliamentary session was briefly interrupted when parliament workers went on strike and opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber in protest. Outside parliament, loud
booms rang out as protesters hurled petrol bombs and police responded with teargas and stun grenades. Smoke and small fires could be seen on a street next to parliament. That came after a sea of Greeks braved a steady downpour holding flags and banners saying “It’s them or us!” and “End this disaster!” stood before riot police guarding parliament. In all, nearly 100,000 protesters - some chanting “Fight! They’re drinking our blood” - packed the square and side streets in one of the largest rallies seen in months, police said. Protesters held aloft Italian, Portuguese and Spanish flags in solidarity with other southern European nations enduring austerity. “These measures are
killing us little by little and lawmakers in there don’t give a damn,” said Maria Aliferopoulou, a 52-year-old mother of two living on 1,000 euros a month. “They are rich, they have everything and we have nothing and are fighting for crumbs, for survival.” Public transport was halted, schools, banks and government offices were shut and garbage was piling up on streets on the second day of a two-day nationwide strike, called to protest against the vote. Backed by the leftist opposition, unions say the measures will hit the poor and spare the wealthy, while deepening a five-year recession that has wiped out a fifth of the country’s output and driven unemployment to a record 25 percent.
Violence erupts at Greek protest, parliament interrupted
Thursday November 08, 2012
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Grenada to host regional technology meeting ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Industry experts from Grenada, the region and international countries will come together at a four-day caucus, being held in St. George in two weeks. The fourth regional meeting of the Caribbean Network Operators Group, (CaribNOG) will be held from November 20 to 23, 2012. The four day event is being jointly hosted by the C a r i b b e a n Telecommunications Union (CTU) and Packet Clearing House, with support from the Government of Grenada and
other industry organizations. A key objective of CaribNOG is to better position the Caribbean to address critical technology challenges and issues and to collaboratively derive relevant solutions. This fourth event comes on the heels of a series of successful technical workshops and training events held across the Caribbean throughout 2011 and 2012. CaribNOG has been steadily building its reputation as an influential forum, where network technicians and technology professionals
Up to 18 dead in 7.4-quake - Guatemalan president
Otto Perez Molina SAN MARCOS, Guatemala (AP) — A 7.4magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Guatemala yesterday, killing up to 18 people according to preliminary reports from the country’s president. President Otto Perez Molina told a news conference that not all deaths had been confirmed, but others reported of people buried in some of the 30 houses that collapsed in the town of San Marcos near the northwestern border with Mexico, where most of the damage was reported. Ovidio Perez, spokesman for the fire department in San Cristobal Cochu in the state of San Marcos, told the radio station Emisoras Unidas that the 10, including a four-year old, were buried. At least a dozen were reported injured in the same area. The magnitude-7.4 quake, about 20 miles deep, was centred about 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and about 100 miles
southwest of Guatemala City, shaking buildings as far away as Mexico City and El Salvador. Survivors by radio and social media talked of widespread landslides and people trapped. But the accounts of deaths and people trapped were difficult to independently confirm as communication and roads were cut off to the area believed most affected, the mountainous state of San Marcos on the northwest border with Mexico. It was the largest earthquake since a 1976 temblor killed 23,000 in the small Central American country. People fled buildings in Guatemala City, in Mexico City and in the capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas, across the border from Guatemala. Molina said in a radio interview that the country of 14 million had been placed on its highest level of disaster alert and he asked people to evacuate tall buildings as an emergency measure. The country’s minister of communications and infrastructure said landslides had cut off several highways in the west of the country, and it would take at least 24 hours to reestablish transport links to San Marcos, the capital of the department or state of the same name located along Guatemala’s northwest border with Mexico.
share experiences and participate in expert-led, high-tech training exercises and hands-on technical workshops. A registered participant for the November 20-23 conference says he was driven to participate in the event because “the CaribNOG meeting will provide an opportunity to meet with other experts in the IT field and network with other IT professionals around the world”. The CaribNOG programme includes world class training for building skills in Cyber
Security and Threat Detection, Advanced Routing and Network Design Techniques, Internet Exchange Point Design and Management among others. I n f o r m a t i o n technology skills, noted the participant, which “are necessary in helping build the human capacity in Grenada”. CaribNOG 4 is expected to draw industry experts from across the region and beyond. The event is expected to attract expert facilitators and participants from Jamaica, Barbados, the
Eastern Caribbean, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Latin America and North America. Regional ICT practitioners have a unique opportunity to benefit from the expertise of some of the top minds in the industry. Admission to the meeting is open to Internet Service Providers, Network Administrators, and Computer Engineers, Technology Researchers and ICT Consultants and other interested stakeholders. All CaribNOG meetings are free of charge for students and educators.
CaribNOG is a not-forprofit, independent technical community committed to providing a regional forum for sharing industry experiences and expertise; building capacity and knowledge; and advocating relevant solutions for the region. The organisation is committed to providing a regional forum for influencing technical development in the Caribbean and raising awareness among network operators and ICT practitioners as to their common role and collective responsibility.
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Obama triumph raises hope of fresh start with Africa
People celebrate the re-election of US President Barack Obama at the sprawling Kibera slums of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, yesterday. REUTERS/Noor Khamis KOGELO, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyans in Barack Obama’s ancestral homeland stayed up all night and danced with joy yesterday as America’s first black president won a second term in the White House, raising the prospects of a fresh start for his ties with
Africa. Many Africans feel Obama has not responded to their huge enthusiasm when he won the presidency four years ago with an increased U.S. commitment to the world’s poorest continent during his first term. His re-election failed to
rouse the same level of jubilation that was seen across Kenya following his 2008 election victory. But as news of Obama’s victory came through, hundreds of people gathered in his late father’s village, and cheers and chants of “Obama, Obama, Obama!” erupted
when key U.S. states fell to the east African country’s favorite adopted son. In the tiny western hamlet of Kogelo, men waved tree branches and banged drums at the Obama family home where his grandmother Sarah lives. Women ululated and cried tears of joy, muttering prayers of thanksgiving. Obama’s grandmother joined in the dancing and cheering outside her house after the results were declared. “He is welcomed home,” she told reporters. “I would just like to tell him to give his best to the people who have shown their faith in him by electing him.” Obama, who hails his African roots, visited subSaharan Africa only once in his first four years - a stopover of less than a day in Ghana between summits elsewhere. President Mwai Kibaki, who declared a national holiday in Obama’s honor four years ago, this time merely sent him a message of congratulations for his victory over Republican Mitt Romney, saying he hoped Obama would deepen ties with Kenya.
However, in Kogelo, where Obama’s father was born and buried, they still celebrated his win with gusto. Residents saw his victory as a boost for Kenya-U.S. relations. Some said it gave Obama another chance to provide more development aid to the continent, and many still held out hope that he would visit the country of his father’s birth. “If I had a chance to talk to him, which hopefully I will get after he is inaugurated again, my message would be to focus on Africa,” Mustafa Obama, the president’s half brother said as he plucked weeds and tended to flowers on their father’s grave. “If he can put more emphasis on education, health and all that matters to Africa instead of politics, that is my message to my brother,” he told Reuters. Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, has been idolized by many Africans in the way the Irish revered U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s - as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Macharia Munene, a lecturer on international relations at the United States International University, said Obama’s re-election gave him a chance of a fresh start with Africa. “There is a possibility that he might want to be seen to be more concerned than he was with regards to Africa. He may say, ‘let me go and see my grandma, and say hi to Africa’. In that sense it is an opportunity to start afresh,” Munene said. Some people in Kogelo had predicted an easy victory for Obama. Witch doctor John Dimo had tossed some shells, bones and other items to determine who would win Tuesday’s election. Pointing to a white shell on election day, he declared: “Obama is very far ahead and is definitely going to win.” Several new-born babies at a hospital near Kogelo were named after the U.S. president. In the spirit of bipartisanship, Millicent Awuor, 20, named her twins after both candidates. “I named the first twin Barack and the second one Mitt,” said Awuor, a housewife.
Hague prosecutor urges Libya not to grant amnesty for war crimes UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Libya should not grant amnesty for war crimes committed during last year’s uprising against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, regardless of who committed them, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said yesterday. In her first official presentation to the U.N. Security Council as The Hague-based court’s top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda said that the ICC’s pretrial chamber would decide “in due course” on whether the late Libyan leader’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi should be tried in Libya or The Hague. Bensouda recalled the Libyan authorities’ stated commitment to ensuring that there would be no impunity for crimes committed during the fight to overthrow Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October 2011 after a half-year civil war. She pointed to a recently approved Libyan law that raises the possibility of amnesty for “acts made necessary by the 17 February revolution,” apparently creating the possibility of not prosecuting crimes committed by anti-Gaddafi fighters. “I encourage the new Libyan government,
scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow ( today 8 th November), to ensure that there is no amnesty for international crimes and no impunity for crimes, regardless of who the perpetrator is and who is the victim,” she told the 15-nation council. Bensouda said she understood that the Libyan government has committed itself to a strategy of addressing all crimes committed in the country. “I encourage the government of Libya to make this strategy public, and to work with key partners to receive feedback on this strategy and to seek out the views and concerns of victims in Libya. Early finalization of this strategy will be yet another milestone on Libya’s path to democracy and rule of law.” Richard Dicker, an international law expert at Human Rights Watch, welcomed Bensouda’s remarks on the Libyan amnesty law, which he described as “an affront to victims of serious crimes and a flagrant violation ... of Libya’s responsibilities.” Libya is not an ICC member but the Security Council referred Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on prodemocracy protesters during last year’s Arab Spring uprising to the ICC in
February 2011. That makes Libyan cooperation with the court mandatory. Bensouda said her office continued to gather information on a possible second Libyan case focusing on allegations of rape and sexual violence targeting men and women, allegations against other members of Gaddafi’s government, and charges of crimes committed by rebel forces. “I will take a decision on the direction of a possible second case in the near future,” she said. Libyan authorities have refused to extradite Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to face charges in war crimes committed during the NATO-backed revolt that toppled his father last year. Libya wants to try Saif alIslam in its own courts, but judicial experts say he is unlikely to get a fair trial. ICC judges will rule whether Libya is capable of properly trying the man once seen as Gaddafi’s heirapparent or whether it should extradite him to The Hague. Earlier this year, a lawyer appointed by the ICC to defend Saif al-Islam was detained in Libya for three weeks on spying allegations and said her experience had shown it was impossible for him to get a fair trial in his home country.
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PNM rethinks coalition option Trinidad Express - The People’s National Movement (PNM) has returned to its roots. That was the position of PNM political leader Dr Keith Rowley and chairman Franklin Khan Tuesday as they responded to the view that the PNM was moving away from its “win-alone, lose-alone” posture and was moving instead towards a coalition style of politics. In prosecuting the Section 34 affair, the PNM joined with other organisations to stage two marches- one in September and another last Friday. Some political analysts have seen this as a major change in the PNM’s approach to politics. But speaking Tuesday with the Express, Rowley said he had merely returned to the PNM’s original moorings since Eric Williams, in defining the party in the
PNM’s charter, stated: “We are not a party in the ordinary sense of the word, rather we are a convention, a rally, cutting across race, colour, creed, class, uniting for the common good.” Rowley said Williams was stating that the party, while not prepared to align itself with any group simply for the sake of office, was a coalition of sorts, embracing all under its banner. These are not idle words in the People’s Charter, he noted.
Rowley said that “win alone, lose alone” “was something that evolved out of somebody’s mouth somewhere. It never formed part of the PNM’s fundamental doctrine,” he said. “I am positioning the PNM to be what the PNM said it was,” he said. “The bottom line is that we are making an effort to be what we said we are - a convention, a rally for all cutting across race, colour, creed and class. And the single purpose is to unite for the common good,” he said. “We don’t have to be the same thing on every issue. It says we just have to unite for the common good,” he said. Rowley said the PNM became over time so “inwardlooking and so talking to itself” that it eventually imploded. He said, however, that those who talk about
Portia Simpson Miller of the money is to be used to address damage to some health facilities. The Ministry of Health had reported that it would
strengthen its vector control programme in light of an increase in breeding sites as a result of rains from the hurricane. The prime minister said there would be a boost to the vector control programme especially in the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas, St. Mary, St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew. The most recent update from the health ministry indicated that as at October 20 there were 2,198 suspected dengue cases and seven suspected deaths.
Dr Keith Rowley
$270 million boost for dengue battle
Jamaica Gleaner - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has indicated that approximately $270 million is to be reallocated through the Ministry of Health to address vector control issues as Jamaica continues to battle a dengue outbreak. Simpson Miller made the disclosure in the Parliament Monday while providing an update on some of the activities to be undertaken by the government as part of restoration efforts following the passage of Hurricane Sandy. She added that a portion
coalition as being possible or not possible should remember that during the 1818 period, it was a PNM General Council that met at Balisier House and authorised the political leader to go to Crowne Plaza (now Capital Plaza) and negotiate with Basdeo Panday if he had to. “And the General General told the political leader that whatever he negotiated in those circumstance it will support. A PNM General Council gave the political leader a free hand to go and negotiate,” he said. Chairman Khan said the position of the PNM, as articulated by Williams, was a coalition of forces
representing the national interest. “That was clearly stated by Dr Williams. The ‘win-alone, lose-alone’ syndrome that was particularly articulated by Mr Manning, we think the politics has changed significantly to warrant a rethink of that position,” he said. Khan said the party was exploring its options and would take no important decision without going to the PNM General Council or the National Convention. He said the party was far away from any formal coalition (designed to fight an election), but it claimed the right to associate with any person or group whom it feels
is operating in the national interest or who shares some of the thinking of the PNM. “But the adoption by the PNM of a monolithic culture would not stand scrutiny in this modern era,” he said. He said the party, however, was guarded with whom it associates and the kind of alliances it was building. “But we are in the process of building national alliances with forces which we feel are compatible with us,” he said. He said the party must reach out and be flexible while holding on to its moral, spiritual and political principles.
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Thursday November 08, 2012
Deng leads Bulls run to beat Magic (Reuters) - The Chicago Bulls dominated the start of the fourth quarter to beat the Orlando Magic 99-93 on Tuesday in a matchup of two teams trying to adjust to playing without last season’s All Stars. Luol Deng scored eight of his team-high 23 in the fourth quarter where reserve Nate Robinson also provided a spark to quickly erase a threepoint deficit and take the game by the horns. “I think we wanted it more,” Robinson told reporters after scoring seven of his 11 points in the final period. “Coach said to do whatever it takes to get the win.” The Bulls were able to
improve to 3-1 this season where they are without 201011 MVP Derrick Rose, sidelined indefinitely after tearing knee ligaments during last season’s playoffs. The Magic, rebuilding followi n g t h e t r a d e o f Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, suffered their first loss of the season despite 28 points from Arron Afflalo. In a tightly contested game, Orlando grabbed a 7168 lead after the third quarter before Chicago opened the fourth with a 12-2 run. Robinson and Deng traded critical jump shots during the scoring run to position the Bu l l s f o r victory.
Chicago Bulls Joakim Noah (13) and teammates, Luol Deng (9), Derrick Rose (1) and Carlos Boozer (R) pose for photographs during media day for their upcoming NBA basketball season in Deerfield, Illinois, October 1, 2012. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes
Thursday November 8, 2012 ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) Your love will not be willing to listen to your criticism. This will not be the day to lend money to friends or family. Secret affairs will come back to haunt you. TAURUS (Apr. 21- May 21) You can enhance your cash flow if you pick up additional skills. This will not be the best day to try to push your ideas or concerns. You may be overreacting to personal problems. GEMINI (May 22-June 21) If you've taken on a lot of work, be sure to leave some time for yourself and family. Cultural activities open your eyes to new ways of doing things. Spend some quality time with the one you love. Your talents will shine at work. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You can handle situations that require contact with institutions or large corporations. Problems with financial investments could make you nervous. Be careful to avoid wrong doings. LEO (July 23-Aug 22) Disputes on the home front may be hard to avoid. You should take good care of your health; get lots of rest. This is a good day to check out your investments. VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) You will have to control the way you feel. Try to do things with children that will enable you to bond closer to them. You need to focus on yourself, not on others.
LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) Be careful if a friend asks you for advice. Be careful not to show your temper when dealing with the boss. New friendships will develop through group events. SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) Creative pursuits should payoff. Take care of any paperwork concerning institutional or governmental agencies. You must not allow them to force you to rush. SAGIT (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Use your genuine warmth and compassion to win hearts. Try to keep your opinions to yourself. Sit back. CAPRI (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) If you're willing to cut loose you will find yourself in the midst of an exciting encounter. Be discreet and don't reveal any personal information. Accept the inevitable. AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)
You could have a change of heart if an old flame waltzes back into your life. Visit friends you don't get to see that often. Focus your efforts on your work. PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) So smile! Career changes may not be your choice right now, but in the long run they will be to your advantage. You may find that your mate is well aware of the circumstances.
Joakim Noah had 20 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Bulls while Carlos Boozer added 12 points and eight rebounds. Glen Davis, who had been carrying the Orlando offense and entered the game with a 25.5 points per game,
could not find his range and made just 7 of 22 shots. He ended up with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Magic are playing through injuries and were without point guard Jameer Nelson who missed a second successive game with leg injuries.
Forward Hedo Turkoglu is also out after breaking his hand in the season opener. “There’s no All-Stars on this team,” Davis said. “Any night, anybody can be our star. We need to help each other, and tonight we kind of got away from it a little bit.”
2012 Carib Beer 20/20 Cricket Tournament
BCB/Carib Beer 20/20 Tournament bowls off on Friday
The Berbice Cricket Board 2012 Carib Beer 20/20 Tournament bowls off on Friday with twelve teams involved. The teams are Blairmont Community Centre, West Berbice, Cotton Tree Die hard, Bush Lot United Rising Star, Edinburgh, Bermine, Young Warriors, Police, Skeldon Community Centre, Albion Community Centre, Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets and Port Mourant Karibee Rice. The teams have been divided into three zones of four teams each with the top two from each zone advancing to the Knock-out Playoffs stage of the Tournament. All matches start at 13:30 hours. The fixtures for the first round matches are: Zone A: - West Berbice: Blairmont Community
Centre vs West Berbice @ Blairmont Cotton Tree Die Hard vs Bush Lot Rising Star @ Cotton Tree Zone B: - New Amsterdam/Canje: Edinburgh vs Bermine @ Edinburgh Young Warriors vs Police
@ Cumberland Zone C: - Lower & Upper Corentyne: Skeldon Community Centre vs Albion Community Centre @ Skeldon Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets vs Port Mourant Karibee Rice @ Rose Hall Town.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
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West Indies tour game reduced to two-day affair ESPNcricinfo - West Indies’ three-day warm-up match, prior to the Test series, has been reduced to a twoday affair because of the condition of the ground in Savar. The BKSP ground, which was slated to host the match between the West Indians and a BCB XI from November 8, has not dried sufficiently to be fit for play following a week of wet weather, and will now start on Friday. “The first day of the threeday practice match between West Indies and BCB XI has
been called off,” BCB cricket operations manager Sabbir Khan said. “The BKSP cricket ground hasn’t adequately dried, and the decision was made based on the curator’s opinion.” West Indies coach Ottis Gibson attempted to travel to BKSP on Wednesday morning for an inspection but returned after realising he would miss the team’s first training session in Mirpur due to the traffic. He said later that he still hoped to get some match practice. “We’ve been told the ground where we are
supposed to play the practice match is wet. We are still monitoring the situation, we are hoping to get some practice before the Test match,” he said. The BKSP ground in Savar, a town about 40kms north of Dhaka, had hosted tour matches in the past but has poor draining facilities. No other match on West Indies’ tour of Bangladesh is slated for the venue. The two-day game will be played on November 9 and 10, ahead of the first Te s t i n M i r p u r o n November 13.
Jamaica beat Antigua 1:0 in U20 W-Cup Qualifier Celtic earn stunning win over Barcelona Darren Sammy listens to Coach Ottis Gibson at a Media conference in Bangladesh. (WICB photo)
Jamaica Observer KINGSTON, Jamaica Jamaica and Cuba made winning st a r t s i n t h e Caribbean Football U n i o n ’s ( C F U ) M e n ’s Under-20 World Cup Group B qualifiers with 1-0 and 21 wins over Antigua and Suriname respectively at the Stadium East field on Tuesday. Both Jamaica and Cuba are on three points with Cuba on top on goal difference having scored more goals. Suriname and Antigua are pointless in the four-team group. Jamaica had to sweat hard for their narrow victory as Oshane Boothe nodded home a high Andre Lewis cross in the 42nd minute. A double strike from Arichel Hernandez in the 25th and 45th minutes pushed the slick moving Cubans to their
victory. Miquel Darson pulled one back for Suriname in the 46th minute. In the feature encounter, head coach Luciano Gama started with only four players that played in the Under-17 World Cup last year in Alvas Powell, Omar Holness, Romario Jones and Andre Lewis. St Jago’s Rashaun Patterson was given the nod in goal ahead of the Cavalier pair of Nico Campbell and David Mitchell. Powell was joined in the backline by Kareem Manning, Hugh Evans and Sean McFarlene. The midfield had a familiar look to it with Holness, Lewis, Jones and the skilful Paul Wilson. Upfront was Javanie Mitchell and Oshane Boothe who sometimes comes off the St George’s College bench,
showing what a powerful schoolboy team there are. Antigua came out full of running but Jamaica was the first to create a goalscoring chance when Holness found the sidenetting in the 10th minute. A minute later, Mitchell whistled a shot just wide as the young Reggae Boyz got into their stride. The Jamaicans took the lead when Lewis’ cross deceived goalkeeper Prince Walter for Boothe to head home in the 42nd minute. It was an awesome display from the young Reggae Boyz but they got the three points nevertheless. But they will have to step up a notch when the play a dangerous looking Cuban outfit that rang rings around Suriname for great parts of the game.
Simon captures GDA title
The top three finishers in the GDA competition display their hardware. Carlton Simon amassed 16 points to win the final of the Guyana Draughts Association Annual National competition which concluded recently at the National Gymnasium.
Khemraj Pooranmall placed second with 13 points followed by Mark Braithwaite on 10. Simon received a cell phone for his efforts from the president of the GDA, Jairam,
while the second and third place finishers were given trophies compliments of the Ministry of Sport. The competition was played using the 100 square boards.
Celtic took a massive step towards the last 16 of the Champions League with an astonishing victory over Barcelona. They took the lead when Victor Wanyama rose majestically to head past Victor Valdes. Barcelona pressed for an equaliser, but Tony Watt came off the bench to give Celtic a cushion in the closing minutes. Lionel Messi tapped home in
injury time, but Celtic held on to inflict Barca’s first defeat of the season. It was a momentous victory for Neil Lennon and his men, banishing memories of the injury-time defeat in Barcelona a fortnight ago. Celtic Park was rocking at a decibel level previously reserved for the most meaningful of Old Firm derbies, but predictably the unflappable maestros of Barcelona, twice
champions of Europe in the last four years, paid the partisan crowd no heed as they quickly settled into their fluid passing game. In other results: Bayern Munich 6 - 1 Lille, Benfica 2 - 0 Spartak Moscow, Braga 1 - 3 Man Utd, CFR Cluj-Napoca 1 - 3 Galatasaray, Chelsea 3 - 2 Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus 4 0 Nordsjaelland and Valencia 4 2 BATE Borisov.
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Kaieteur News
Thursday November 08, 2012
Windies will push hard to win in Bangladesh says Sammy DHAKA, Bangladesh – Darren Sammy said West Indies were under little additional pressure to succeed against hosts Bangladesh in their upcoming, two-Test series, the first since they won the ICC World Twenty20 Tournament. The West Indies captain said winning the World T20 was a major achievement for his side, but it would only provide motivation for the players to push themselves harder to do well in other versions of the game. “International teams are always under pressure to perform,” he said at a media conference on Wednesday here. “We came on this tour to do one thing – to win – like we did last year – and to win in all three formats. “We have improved as a side over the last few years and a number of players have come on board. We are a little bit more consistent and, in the
last Test series we played against New Zealand, we won both Tests and performances came from different players.” Sammy added: “It is more of a belief factor. We have played some good series over the years where we were competing against highranked teams, now we believe we can be even more competitive and get results over higher-ranked teams. We have a team goal which we want to achieve, but this is going to be a step-by-step process. “It’s important to come here and win every match and it’s a challenge we put on ourselves. Just like we forced ourselves to try and win the World T20, we achieved that and we are now looking forward to the next series which is against Bangladesh. We believe we can achieve our goals.” Sammy said the presence of players like Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and
West Indies players jog, Dhaka yesterday (AFP) Marlon Samuels gave West Indies depth in their batting and probably the edge in the series. He warned however, West Indies could not take Bangladesh lightly. “We have got an experienced batting line up. Last year, we came here without Gayle who is now in the team, while Chanderpaul is still one of the best Test batsmen in the World and Marlon Samuels is in good form. “We have young players like Darren Bravo and Kirk Edwards that had a good
series here the last time. . .and we have Sunil Narine.” He said: “We are quite confident in the players we have and what we could do, and we just need to execute our plans. I think we have got a good balance and are just looking to come out and perform consistently. “Bangladesh is a team we have never taken lightly, they are always difficult opposition at home, so we have a lot of respect and will do our best to win.” West Indies continued their preparations yesterday
afternoon for the series with a full practice session, including nets at the Shere-Bangla Stadium here, where the first Test will take place. They were due to start a three-day match against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI today. But this match has been reduced to two days a n d i s n o w s e t t o s t a rt tomorrow due to a soaked outfield at the BKSP Ground in Savar, about 25 miles north of the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.
The prestigious Players Championship sponsored by Citizens Bank will be played off Saturday at the Lusignan Golf Course. Citizens Bank Chairman Clifford Reis will lead a strong field of over 40 players in the tournament which forms part of the Bank’s 18 th Anniversary celebrations this week. Recently crowned Guyana Open men’s and w o m e n ’s champion Av i n a s h P e r s a u d a n d Christine Sukram are both expected to participate. Andre Cummings is the defending champion of the championship now in its third year. Other big names lined
up are f o r m e r w i n n e r Mohanlall “Santo” Dinnanauth, Patrick Prashad, William Wa l k e r, Kassim Khan, Kishan B a c c h u s , C o lin Ming, Rawle Moore, Munaf Arjune, Muntaz Haniff, C a r l o s A d a m s , Tr o y Cadogan, Maurice Solomon, Avinda Kishore, Robert Hanoman, Mike Guyadin, Roy Cummings, John Tracey, Mark Lashley, Gavin Todd, Brian Hackett, Joaan Deo, Chatterpaul D e o , B . H a r r y, D a v e
Mohamed, Mike Mangal and Brian Glasford. Prizes will be awarded to the top three players with the best net scores as well as Nearest to the Pin. There will also be a prize for the best female player. Citizens Bank Managing Director Eton Chester and other senior executives of the bank are expected to be on hand to present the prizes to the outstanding players. Te e o ff i s a t 1 2 : 3 0 hours.
Golfers tee off in Citizens Bank Players Championship Saturday
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thursday November 08, 2012
RHTYSC Busta Champion of Champions
Kaieteur News
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Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets and Albion Community Centre to clash on Sunday
The long standing rivalry between Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets and Albion Community Centre Cricket Club will continue on Sunday when the two top Berbice Cricket Teams clash in the final of the 2012 Busta Champion of Champions at the Area “H” Ground. The two teams featuring most of Berbice’s best players who have dominated Berbice first division cricket for the past five years, while the Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets have won the Busta Cup seven out of the eight times it has been played. Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets have a hundred percentage victory rate playing at home this year and even in the absence of captain and test cricketer Assad Fudadin, they have a strong batting line up with players
of the caliber of Delbert Hicks, Renwick Batson, Jason Sinclair, Dominique Rikhi, Rajiv Ivan, Eon Hooper, Royston Crandon and Clinton Pestano. Their bowling would be spearheaded by medium pacers Pestano and Batson with support from offspinners Crandon, Rikhi, Loyydel Lewis, Shailendra Shameer, Ivan, Hooper and leg spinner Shawn Pereira who would lead the team. Albion has been having a nix 2012 season and in the absence of West Indies players Narsingh Deonarine and Veerasammy Permaul would need to lift their game. Their batting would depend heavily on discarded West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, Kandasammy Surujnarine, Andy Mohan, the hard hitting
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD - The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the various territorial boards will soon establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalise their relationship. WICB CEO Michael Muirhead briefly spoke about having an MOU during his introduction to the Trinidad and Tobago media at a press conference at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain yesterday. Muirhead, in explaining his goal of having a structure in place for the sustainable success of the regional side, said: “I would like to see cricket at all levels have a structure that feeds into a programme that can sustain itself,” he said. “We do have that with the Kiddy Cricket programme, the grassroots, the Under-13 Under-15, Under-17, Under19 and going all the way to the Test level. What I think will concretise that, would be establishing the MOU with
the various territorial boards within some structure and that is one of the achievements I would like to see happen,” he added. Another goal Muirhead has, is to expand the high performance programme. “I am looking at expanding the high performance aspect within the West Indies Cricket Board...not necessarily having another High Performance Unit to mirror exactly what is in Barbados, but having almost a feeder programme of high performance centres in all the territories which will ultimately feed into the one in Barbados,” he explained. T&T director on the WICB Dr Allan Sammy also spoke about the MOU during the press conference saying: “The Territorial MOU seeks to cement the relationship between the WICB and territorial boards, strengthening the relationship in keeping with the WICB strategic plan.”
Billy’s Sports Bar of 19 Public Road Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, opposite Amrol Tyre Shop, will be hosting a mega Pools Competition called “Best of the Best” on Sunday from 1pm with some $110,000 up for grabs in total prize monies. The teams wishing to enter will be required to pay $2000 entrance fee and are asked to contact Boyze on
681-6098 or Bradley on 6896517; the winner of the competition will pocket $80,000 and a trophy while second place gets $30,000 and trophy. There will also be a BarB-Que and Lime with Slingerz Family entertaining patrons; Carib, the real Caribbean Beer is the sponsor with five Carib beers costing $1000 all day. The Bar-B-Que will be served from 3pm.
WICB to establish MOU with boards
Billy’s Sports Bar to host Pools Competition
Jonathan Foo, the inform Devendra Bishoo, who hit a century last weekend and the promising Sharaz Ramcharran. Albion would also hope that youth players like Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Balchan Baldeo, Veerapen Permaul and David Latchaya comes to the party with some crucial runs. The bowling is mostly spin based with only Satesh Dwarka bowling medium pace. Discarded West Indies leg
spinner Devendra Bishoo will lead the spinners with support from Chattergoon, Ramcharran, Permaul and the impressive left arm spinner Motie-Kanhai. General Manager of the Guyana Beverage Company Robert Selman and Marketing Manager Shameeza Yadram would meet the teams before the game which would be broadcasted ball by ball on NCN Radio. The winning team would receive $100, 000 and a trophy, the runner up
$50, 000 and Man-of-theFinals $10, 000 and trophy. Umpires for the finals would be Imran and Zaheer Moakan with Shawn Cunja as the standby. Teams: Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets: Renwick Batson, Dominique Rikhi, Jason Sinclair, Rajiv Ivan, Delbert Hicks, Royston Crandon, Eon Hooper, Clinton Pestano, Shawn Pereira, Loyydel Lewis, Shailendra Shameer, Askay
Homraj and Arif Chan. Manager: Patrick Lewis. Coach: Michael Hyles Franco. Albion: Sewnarine Chattergoon, Kandasammy Surujnarine, Sharaz Ramcharran, Jonathan Foo, Veerapen Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Satesh Dwarka, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, David Latchaya, Andy Mohan, S. Shrikissoon, Balchan Baldeo and Lachman Bishram. Manager: M. Permaul.
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Kaieteur News
Thursday November 08, 2012
DDL expresses confidence and commits to future support for K&S football tournament
Kashif Muhammad (2nd left) is all smiles as he accepts the sponsorship cheque from Ms Langhorne in the presence of her colleague, Ms Kassim and Mr. Major (extreme left & right respectively).
The pleas of administrators of the Kashif and Shanghai football organization for tangible support towards the success of the 23 rd edition of their yearly football extravaganza scheduled to get underway on December 16 next, seems to have reached the right ears and coming closely on the heels of a donation of a motorcycle from Cell Phone Shack for a lucky patron at the Buxton fixture, another corporate entity, Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL), has pitched in with a tangible contribution. Yesterday afternoon, DDL Marketing Manager, Alexis Langhorne, accompanied by Marketing Assistant, Almira Kassim, journeyed to the Irving Street offices of K&S where they contributed handsomely towards the success of the tournament. This is the third year that the beverage company is supporting the tournament, under the Gatorade product, and Ms Langhorne explained
that her executives are impressed with the organizational skills of the K&S duo. She also underlined her company’s interest in the development of local footballers thus their input. As in the previous years, the DDL executive assured the K&S duo that her company will continue to render support to the tournament. Mr. Muhammad expressed gratitude to his benefactor even as he informed that arrangements are progressing satisfactorily. He said that his executives are currently engaged in discussions with various stakeholders including Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport , Frank Anthony, other members of the corporate community as well as the bottom tiered workers. “This year’s tournament will top all others not only in the area of shrewd organizing but also with the quality of play,” assured Mr. Muhammad who also boasted of having the best teams in
the local pool competing against each other. In all, sixteen football teams comprising the cream of the crop will commence the arduous journey to the top starting on December 16 next. The top team will cart off 4 million dollars plus the trophy, a symbol of local football excellence. The runner up team pockets one million dollars while the third and fourth place teams win $750,000 and $500,000 respectively. The latter prize was donated by Charles P Ceres, Managing Director of Ground Structures Engineering Consultants Inc. Further, all participating teams collect a complete uniform kit for its members. The Most Valuable Player will drive off with a luxury car while the top coach will ride of with a Jailing 110CC motorcycle. This year also, the youth would get a chance to hone their skills in a U-13 tournament that will be staged adjacent to the K&S tournament.
Thursday November 08, 2012
Kaieteur News
Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ starts Saturday - Bartica, Berbice will have their segments as well Sales and Marketing Executive of Banks DIH Carlton Joao called it a resounding success and even ventured to refer to it as a phenomenon and despite the promotion of the event which starts this Saturday being a bit behind time, the popularity of the format has been embraced by all and sundry and its success is virtually sealed. The 5-a-side ‘Guinness Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Tournament has come again and 32 teams have been identified to contest the competition which has prize monies totaling in excess of $2million with the winner set to receive $600,000, runnersup- $300,000, 3 rd place$150,000 and 4 th place$75,000, while group stage winners will divide $720,000. During yesterday’s launching of the tournament which was conducted in the Boardroom of the sponsor, those in attendance apart from Joao included Outdoor Events Manager Mortimer Stewart, Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste, PRO Troy Peters and Brand Manager Errol Nelson. Joao speaking at the Launch said it is a wonderful privilege to once again be part of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Tournament
which has brought immeasurable success to the Company and the brand. He pointed out that the support of the communities has been phenomenal and extended commendation to them for their patronage throughout the four years of the tournament’s existence. Joao disclosed that because of their support, they will have an opportunity to be rewarded through novelties that the Company will initiate during the tournament, giving as an example a shootout where the winner will take away a special prize. Additionally, Joao revealed that the tournament unlike previous years where it was contained to just Georgetown and Linden, they have now included Bartica and Berbice, adding that those communities have long expressed a desire to host and integrating them to the list of communities where the tournament will be staged is long overdue. He further stated that Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony has been invited to do the symbolic kick-off and he is expected to be present at the venue in Albouystown to do so since he has been a consistent supporter of the event. Joao singled out Directors
of the Petra Organisation Troy Mendonca and Marlan Cole, who both were unavoidably absent as playing integral roles in the tournament’s genesis. Quizzed on whether there will be beefed up security at the various venues, Joao promised a strong presence of such personnel, while making a plea to members of the communities to ensure that no unhelpful state of affairs occur that would jeopardize the safety and security of fans. Games will be played at the National Park, East Ruimveldt, Albouystown, National Cultural Centre Tarmac, Burnham Court, Sophia Exhibition Centre and Banks DIH Tarmac with the finals set for January 8. The Linden segment will follow shortly after the completion of the Georgetown Zone, while the Bartica and Berbice Zones will be played early next year, before the winners of those zones engage each other in a playoff to determine the national champions and the right to represent Guyana at the Caribbean championship. Back Circle that finished runners-up in the Caribbean tournament is the defending champions.
P&P Insurance Brokers & Consultants Limited onboard again with Motor Racing
Ms. Christina Abdool, Account Executive of P&P presents the sponsorship cheque to Mr. Rahaman. P&P has once again renewed its sponsorship of Kemal Rahaman, this time for Sunday’s Caribbean ‘Race of Champions’ Meet scheduled to be staged, at the South Dakota circuit. P&P has been a consistent supporter of
Rahaman and in brief remarks, CEO of P&P Insurance Brokers, Bish Panday encouraged him to do his best and wished him good luck. Rahaman in response thanked Panday for his continued support. Rahaman will be competing in the
competitive Group 3 category against the likes of Ryan Rahaman, Kemal Seebarran, Ravi Singh and Ryan Gayadin among others. Twenty-six races are carded for the day and entrance fees to the Circuit are $2,000 for adults and $1,000 for children.
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Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ starts Saturday Pg. 22
- Bartica, Berbice will have their segments as well Sales and Marketing Executive Carlton Joao (centre) poses with other members of the Banks team involved in the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Tournament. From right- Mortimer Stewart, Troy Peters, Errol Nelson and Lee Baptiste.
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