Kaieteur News

Kaieteur News

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

EDITORIAL SEXUAL HARASSMENT In recent weeks, a flood of sexual harassment claims by women in the United States have led to complaints, and in some cases humiliation and shame of public figures. Some noted figures are Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey, comedians Bill Cosby and Louis CK and senior politicians, including Senator Al Franken of Minnesota and the Republican Senatorial Candidate of Alabama, Roy Moore. One must not forget US President Donald Trump who was accused of boasting about groping women. It seems that this is the tip of the iceberg as there are many situations where people, mostly women do not come forward formally. Contrary to what many believe, sexual harassment and sexual abuse are much more prevalent than is being reported. In the US one never knows who will come forward next. In Guyana and the Caribbean where cases of sexual harassment are not taken too seriously, rarely has a woman come forward to complain about harassment. Sometimes the victims of sexual harassment speak to their friends about the ordeal but are afraid to make a formal complaint. One of the reasons women do not file formal complaints is because it takes a lot of courage to do so and there are no frameworks in place to deal with it. Although sexual harassment has been illegal in the United States for 53 years, yet it still happens every day, not only in the work place but everywhere. High-profile media officials including Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly were pushed out at Fox News after a flood of sexual harassment allegations was made against them by women. However, the problem is not limited to famous men only. While the United States is making this issue the talk of the world, in Guyana many women merely whisper about the happenings. A reporter recently wrote about a policewoman who said that sexual harassment is rampant in the Guyana Police Force. The accusation is that women are pressured to go to bed with their seniors before they could be promoted. Some women talk about such harassment when they go to places of employment for the first time. Some say that the demand is sex for jobs. In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the United States received more than 7,000 complaints, nearly all of them from women alleging sexual harassment. In Guyana, one is not sure of the number of reports by women. The EEOC estimates that roughly three out of four women who have experienced sexual harassment at their workplace do not report it, and only a tiny fraction of between 6 and 13 percent ever lodge a formal complaint. Less than a third tell their bosses or human resources. In Guyana the women are often left to their own devices. Perhaps culturally, they are trained to accept harassment as part of being a woman. Despite heightened awareness and sex education in schools and at the workplace about sexual harassment, there is no evidence the problem is shrinking or that women feel more confident about reporting harassers. It is horrific, pervasive and persistent and does not discriminate. It is socially unacceptable, and cuts across all industries, income levels, races, ages and sexual orientations. In Guyana, many women who report sexual harassment are jeopardizing their jobs. Some quit the job, some seek transfers and many are fired. In extreme cases people kill to protect the dignity of their female counterparts. It is unfortunate that women are seen as sex objects and poverty in our corner of the world does nothing to help the situation.

Sunday November 19, 2017

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

This man and his organization paint a false picture of Mabaruma Dear Editor, I happened to open one of the dailies and read from beginning to end, a lengthy article by an individual whom I presumed to be an investigative journalist: Peter Persaud. As former resident of Mabaruma, I was appalled by the picture presented, one of ‘hell’. It was truly unbelievable, so I felt compelled to find out what was really the situation in my ‘almost paradise’ homeland that I knew. So I started calling up some old friends subtly finding out what was happening in Mabaruma and by extension in Region 1. Surprisingly, almost every person I called, greeted me with some good news! Here are a few: ‘Boy, we are a town now, major transformations are happening!’ ‘Man, if you see the lickin’ new concrete roads!’ ‘Boy, school children are being picked up with busses from their homes to go to school!’ ‘I hear a water ambulance is soon coming for the Region’ ‘we got a green park for our children and young people and family!’ ‘A programme is training young people to become self-employed, they are even paying them to learn!’ ‘we got we own radio station, some nice programe to go with it, not all day but still, is something’

and the comments can go on. I had to coerce some to tell me about what good is NOT happening. What I learned from the man in the street is what I could learn from any man in the street from any other parts of Guyana! I called up a friend in Baramita, I was actually surprised to hear that there is special interest in the village since of recent, there has been a spike of movement from top brass individuals from the Region and Country, there is even a small ‘town space’ like settlement with construction ongoing; of health centers, schools, living quarters. This is where my bit of investigation got interesting. So who is Peter Persaud? What is the objective of his articles? (I ran a check online in the dailies and found that this is not the first article of him bringing allegations against the particular Region and individual units or programs). After a few calls, I was told that Peter Persaud was seen in the Region once for the year, at a Regional Toshao’s conference. I thought he was a journalist, but then I ran a check online and saw that he is the President of ‘The Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana’. I also read that their focus is on indigenous rights and cultural identity and their strategies are

lobbying and activism. However, his articles reflect neither lobbying nor activism, but rather scant allegations and what appear to be subjective criticisms. I have a few questions for Peter Persaud: 1. Did you ever sit with leaders of the Region to get their take on the issues brought to your attention? What are the results of the discussions? 2. Have you substantiated the claims made before publishing same in the media? And how authentic are your sources? 3. Do you see it fit to celebrate whatever little success stories may come out of the Region or Amerindian villages? 4. Have you done a comparative analysis of the status quo of Region 1 and the other Hinterland or Coastal Regions? 5. When last did your organization have an election? Are there committees set up within the organization to look into the various issues? It would be interesting to see a response from the Regional Administration to his letter, I will also be grateful if my questions to Peter Persaud can be answered. O. Bennet

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Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Kaieteur M@ilbox

A cursory examination of alternative systems for Guyana - Part 2. DEAR EDITOR, I wish to urge all of Guyana’s remaining independent-minded politicians within both the PPP and the Coalition to ensure they understand the implications of this letter. I also urge all of our civic leaders at home and abroad to ensure that the members of their organizations become familiar with its contents. While I have made every effort to present the ideas in every-day language, some aspects may need clarification. Therefore, while some of us may be excused, our politicians and civic leaders cannot escape the responsibility of their posts on this occasion. Here I have examined more closely Russia’s experience with socialism under Lenin since there is much here that is instructive. Lenin embraced revolutionary socialist politics following the execution of his brother Aleksandr Ulyanov who on May 8, 1887, was hanged along with four others following an assassination attempt on Alexander III of Russia. At the time, Lenin’s

brother had become the main ideologist and chemist making bombs for the terror faction of Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) party, which had dedicated itself to fighting autocracy. It was noted that his brother’s death may have sparked Lenin’s radicalism against the political powers of the day. I would suggest here that his brother’s death ignited intense hate and a desire for revenge against the system of government in place at the time. This drove him to lunacy in his quest for power, since after elections were held subsequent to the revolution in which his Bolshevik party (the party of the Proletariat) lost by a huge margin, securing about 25 percent of the votes to his major opponent’s (the Socialist Revolutionaries, or Party of the Peasants) almost 50 percent, it was noted that he contemptuously dissolved the Constituent Assembly, calling his action ‘true democracy’ because he knew the needs of the proletariat better than they did themselves. By the end of May 1918 Lenin had expelled opposi-

tion parties from the Central Executive Committee. Trotsky (a communist theorist and agitator, a leader in Russia’s October Revolution in 1917, and later commissar of foreign affairs and of war in the Soviet Union ) justified this by saying that, ‘We have trampled underfoot the principles of democracy for the sake of the loftier principles of a social revolution’. By the time of Lenin’s death, political opposition parties had been formally banned. (https:// w w w. h i s t o r y t o d a y. c o m / russel-tarr/lenin-power) The lesson from Russia’s early experience with socialism is that it is founded in violence and the overthrow of whatever system of government happens to be in place. Secondly, it maintains power through violence against its opponents, and oppression of, and suppression of the rights of the masses as a principle of its administration of government. ‘As stated by Lenin himself, his overturning of the majority of the electorate was ‘true democracy,’ or ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat,’

Sad end to a man once regarded as the architect of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle DEAR EDITOR The political situation in Zimbabwe has attracted world attention. The days of President Mugabe are clearly numbered and it is only a matter of time before he is forced by the military and from his own party to resign. The situation in Zimbabwe has important lessons, the most important of which is that regardless of one’s contribution to party and country, a time will come when one would have to make way for others, in particular

younger leaders who have displayed over the years loyalty and committment to the cause of party and country. At 94, Mugabe should have long realized that his time is up and graciously pave the way for younger and more capable and energetic leaders. The final straw that led to his political demise was his attempt to foist his wife as his successor which clearly did not go down well with the military and the party which he founded. It remains to be seen how

the drama will unfold but the writing is clearly on the wall. He will have to go voluntarily or being forced out of office. What a sad end to a man who was once regarded as the Father of the Nation and the architect of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. Hydar Ally

(https://www.britannica.com/ topic/dictatorship-of-the-proletariat) since he, the dictator, declared that he knew better the needs of the proletariat than they did themselves. For his part, Karl Marx has been variously described as an economist, philosopher, historian, sociologist and revolutionary. He was born in 1818 in Prussia. In 1842 Marx became editor of the Rheinische Zeitung newspaper, and succeeded in trebling its circulation. The Prussian authorities suspended it for being too outspoken. During his sojourn in France, he co-edited a yearbook in which he first raised the call for an ‘uprising of the proletariat’ to realize the conceptions of his philosophy. Consequently, he was expelled from France and in 1845 he left for Brussels, followed by Engels. Marx thought that the proletariat should form its own political party and fight against the prevailing parties on the political field. He died in March 1883 in London. While it is debatable whether Marx intended that the resulting government from his socialist revolution continue with the use of violence and oppression as a means of administering the affairs of the state, what is clear, from experience at least, is that his notion of violence

as a means of establishing his socialist government facilitated reliance on it as a means of the resulting government retaining power and control, this ultimately yielding to a dictatorship. The above sheds some light on Guyana’s own experience with socialism under the Peoples National Congress under Burnham when he introduced his brand of ‘cooperative socialist revolution’. According to him, the ‘cooperative’ is to be the “principal instrument for achieving socialism…making the small man the real man.” Under this theory, the ‘cooperative sector’ is to be the ‘dominant sector. He began nationalizing companies with heavy foreign interest, such

as the Demerara Bauxite Company (DEMBA), a subsidiary of the Canadian bauxite company, ALCAN. The massive sugar industry was nationalized in 1975. An External Trade Bureau (ETB) was established to monitor imports and exports. During the 1973 elections, Two PPP supporters, Jagat Ramesar (17) and Jack Parmanand (35), in an attempt to prevent the seizure of ballot boxes, were shot and killed in Corentyne. While the police harassed and intimidated Indian voters outside, PNC party members and government officials at the polling stations employed technicalities to curtail the PPP vote. To my mind, Granger’s (Continued on page 7)

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Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Coping with a vindictive Region Six official

The President is flagrantly breaking those same laws with his unilateral appointment

DEAR EDITOR, Please allow me to highlight some double standards and vindictive behaviour practiced by a named regional official, and my predicament as an AFC activist who would make a stand for justice and truth in Region Six. I am contracted to maintain the No. 66 Creek by manual labour— that is cleaning grass and other vegetation in the canal to make the waterways free for the flow of water. I have now become fed up of the pushing around by the Regional official for payment of completed works done in the region. My predicament in all of this is that the official refuses to sign a certificate that allows for my payment and refuses to visit my canal in my presence even though I have been requesting so for several weeks now. I have since had discussions with the Regional Chairman and the Regional Executive Officer who promised but no resolutions, no visits, no discussions on how or where I failed and no payment to date. I am owed for August, September and October 2017. I mentioned to the regional official over the phone about canals not cleaned and contractors with certain political affilia-

tions getting payments. He urged me to mind my own business. I do not use chemicals in my canal. Knowing that spraying of waterways in Guyana is illegal and knowing that the business of maintenance of waterways in Region Six is in excess of $100 million annually, and also knowing that the official will never be hauled before the courts to answer for any illegality or loss of revenue by the state, why give him the final say as it regards payments? A politician doing the work of a public official is a case of public servants being legally liable and being responsible for their actions and standards. To further frustrate my situation the regional official approved the following canals for full payment even though they were partially cleaned. 1) Maida to Eversham Drainage Canal. 2) Eversham/Kiltern Drainage Canal. 3) # 36 Brighton Drainage canal. 4) Lesbeholden/ Mibicuri front lands distributory. 5) Bush Lot/Kildonan drainage canal. 6) Wellington Park Main Drainage Canal. 7) Kilmarnock Drainage Canal. 8) Limlair to Adventure Drainage Canal. All contractors were instructed by the Region Six Vice Chairman and REO not to spray chemicals or weedicides. There

was zero tolerance instituted. These instructions were given at a meeting held in the Regional Boardroom for canal maintenance contractors some time in January 2017. At this meeting it was recognized that non use of chemicals to manage weeds in state managed systems has been the rule ever since we as a country started our bid to be environmentally friendly. Then the president became man of the earth. This rule about spraying, however, has been honoured in the breach thanks to the Regional official who has the final say as to who gets paid in the region. Is he also chairman of the works committee? Spraying of waterways in the region has been ongoing for at least 10 years and is seen by everyone who knows the difference between spraying with chemicals (weed killers) and manual cleaning. It needs to be recognized that spraying is by far the cheapest and most efficient way to go; this is because it costs the contractor about 10% of the contract sum thus realizing for him 90% of profit monthly. On the other hand weeding by use of cutlass is labour intensive and would cost the contractor almost close to 70% of their contract sum. The benefit of manual cleaning, however, is that more employment would be available for the labourers in our region and the states resources (Money) would reach more working class families in the region; this is the current government’s focus. I am livid to realize that whilst our president Mr. David Granger is emphasizing GREEN ECONOMY our Region SixAdministration is literally honoring his words and intensions in the breach and making a fool of this nation. Joseph Baichu

I would like to have a discussion with you on two matters of importance. My first item surrounds statements made by Dr. Barton Scotland Speaker of The House of Assembly in Guyana. Dr Scotland in his capacity as speaker decries the protest action taken by The Opposition in the parliament chambers. His view is that The PPP/C should not have desecrated the hallowed chambers of parliament with protest action. In his words “The performance by those in The Opposition, was unworthy of The National Assembly and serve to heap disrespect on The Honourable House.” Pretty strong words coming from a man who is quoting from the standing orders or simply put from The constitution of The Republic of Guyana. So I ask the rhetorical question why quote from the constitution rather refer to some quote by someone else? Isn’t it hypocritical that this same speaker can quote from the constitution or the laws that should govern and guide us when The President is flagrantly breaking those very same laws with his unilateral appointment of Mr Patterson as The GECOM Chairman. This is what The Opposition highlighting, a lack of respect for the law! Then it behooves me to say, Isn’t this an indictment on The Speaker? Yes, it is Mr. Speaker, it is for this just cause that The Opposition held a protest. The PPP/C as well as The People of this fair republic were reminding the autocrats that our country has laws that must be observed, laws that must be adhered to. So instead of giving a reprimand to Dr Jagdeo and his Party he ought to be speaking to Mr. Granger about

breaking the law. He should be addressing that burning issue of law breaking, but he is cognizant of the fact that with the authoritarian rule of the PNC, any word of condemnation from Scotland would see his immediate removal from office. And you can see it in his handling of matters coming from the Opposition. He always takes the down road of an impartial arbiter in all matters of parliament. His biased and jaundiced views supersede fairness and equity so I am not in the least impressed by his comments. His deliberations in the house are all for public viewing on YouTube, made public so that you can make your own assessment of him. I now turn my attention to The Guyana Police Force. We are now being informed that the recent slaying of well known businessman Godfrey Scipio was no accidental occurrence or one of robbery, as it was made out to be but one of a planned execution crafted and surgically executed by a seasoned police criminal. The reason for his execution is that he might have been the informant which led to the recent recapture of a wanted criminal. The message is clear you report on anything illegal and you pay with your life. You speak out against criminals and you are immediately blacklisted by the police. This is the society the so called guardians of the law have reduced our country into. A fearsome and ghastly place to live in. But what irks me more is the fact that these workings of criminal rogue cops are nothing new. These crime stories are

grounded in the police force for a long time now. As someone remarked these things come as nothing new - the police are corrupt to the core - that is most of them. When police can be in cahoots with criminals like this, it then tells you where we are going as a country. To make the situation even worse, Freddie Kissoon postulated the nonsensical theory of “Urban Guerrilla” “Phantom Squad” which the PNC ran away with pinning the blame on The PPP as the mastermind behind police or Black killings. They would want us to believe that it is The PPP who were responsible for these atrocities. Another term they loosely peddle is the “extra judicial killings” of the PPP. All Hogwash! Again we must rely on the valuable information from the public confessions of Sean Hinds who gave shocking testimony as to the operations of a criminal police force. Shocking but true! So, I leave you my readers to do the analysis for yourselves. Finally I want to refresh our memory of “Kith and Kin” openly spoken of by Hoyte and to which The PNC Party staunchly supports. He repeated it in grave terms “The police and the army are my kith and kin.” Meaning they are owned and controlled by him and his party. Those words were meant to intimidate and drive fear in the population. Then in like manner I would like them to take responsibility for the actions of “kith and Kin.” Known members of your “kith and kin” are murderers and cold blooded killers, and we are asking you to do (Continued on page 7)

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GECOM granted $$millions more …despite unaddressed fraud issues Fraud allegations involving the expenditure of $100 million still hang over the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) which has been approved to spend $192.8 million on capital projects in 2018. All of the actors at the center of the Auditor General’s investigation into the alleged $100M fraud that surrounds the purchase of communication equipment remain in place. The Commission which is still to hold its first meeting in nearly a year is said to be delaying further action on the forensic audit report. The Ministry of Finance has indicated that GECOM and other constitutional agencies have not submitted a procurement plan which was a requirement of the 2018 budget circular. Overall, GECOM has been approved for $2 billion, the

largest allocation of all the constitutional agencies. GECOM’s allocation includes a $21 million upgrade to the IT office and a further $7.2 million for the purchase of 40 desktop computers to replace current systems in Region 4. Other major projects expected to be undertaken by GECOM in 2018 include the construction of a registration office at Whim, East BerbiceCorentyne at a cost of $25 million and a $50 million project to construct a registration office at Kamarang, Region Seven, in the CuyuniMazaruni region. Also planned, is the construction a 3600 sq ft tarmac at Coldigen Complex at a cost of $17 million which will be used to store materials and equipment for security purposes. GECOM has also been approved for $20 million to source new, advanced equipment to replace used and worn

out ones to upgrade the ID production process. Some $8 million is approved for the purchase of two boats to traverse interior locations in conducting registration and field verification for Regions One and Seven. INACTION ON AUDIT Chairman of GECOM, retired Justice James Patterson, was appointed on October 19, last, and is yet to call his first meeting of the Commission. Commissioner, Bibi Shaddick wants the report on the forensic audit to be high on the agenda. Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, has indicated a willingness to use the powers of his office to call in the police if the Commissioners fail to act on the recommendations in his report. The audit report was handed over to Chief Elections Officer, Keith (Continued on page 12)

A cursory examination of alternative systems... From page 5 recent recommitment to the ideals of Burnham given Guyana’s experience in the 70s and 80s raises questions about his sanity and sincerity in moving Guyana forward. His claims in his recent speech in Georgia, USA on Saturday November 04, 2017 that, ‘We established a democratic party,’ may be subject to scrutiny by persons more knowledgeable than myself, but what is abundantly clear to us all is that democracy as a system of government was lost in Guyana given that it has been established that elections from 1968 through 1992 during which time elections are generally acknowledged as being rigged. I have said elsewhere that Burnham’s ideas have failed us before, and will fail us again. This is the road to disaster. A declared socialist organization, the Peoples Progressive Party found itself trapped by Guyana’s finan-

cial arrangements with international financial organizations like the IMF, IBRD and CDB, and could do little to implement its socialist ideology on its assumption into office in 1992. The following article examines the PPP’s failures during its 23 year run in office up until 2015. Although the preceding discussion suggests that any form of socialism is at odds with Guyana’s current cultural values, I had initially intended to briefly evaluate its appropriateness as system for allocating a nation’s productive resources and the principles which underpin its government. While not exhaustive, the following I think provides enough information to facilitate an intelligent decision. Communism is a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. Social-

ism is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. The theory in the transition to communism is that workers or proletariat would engage in a socialist revolution which suppresses opposition to the cause, and would result in the dictatorship of the proletariat or working class, and the proletariat, or workers themselves. Obvious weaknesses of this type of system is that it is next to impossible for government agencies to correctly estimate and produce the required types and amounts of goods and services in a timely manner. Secondly, general dissatisfaction by workers usually leads to reduced quality with and potential decay in economic activity nationally. Thirdly, the regimented

structure does little to facilitate much innovation and creativity in workers, essential elements for survival in today’s globally competitive environment. Corruption and mismanagement feature heavily in this type of administration. Lastly and most importantly, oppression/repression/suppression of ideas and thinking among workers and intellectuals become part and parcel of the system of government administration and control under socialism. Attempts to speak out against injustices and promote equality and conditions better than what obtains are usually met swiftly with mechanisms for silencing dissension. As an alternative to what obtains under our present political parties, I have drafted some ideas which I would like to share for consideration and discussion as we consider our options going forward. Craig Sylvester.

The President is flagrantly... From page 6 something to stem the tide of these killings. Everything has gone haywire in Guyana from The Police being criminals themselves or sponsors and facilitators of crimes to a speaker making backward and benign statements in The House, it’s all happening here. From the cop coming right down to the common man out there lawlessness prevails. The truth of the matter is lawlessness and confusion seems to be the order of the day. It is also the suggestion that some entity seems to benefit or assumes a position of relevance and importance by its reliance on these grave injustices. The state is held in perpetual paralysis and fear, this is the iron fist of lawlessness and mayhem that has gripped our country. Guyana has become a dangerous place to live in. Neil Adams

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Production Sharing Agreements…

Guyana clings to flawed model while creator abandons it BY KIANA WILBURG Indonesia is said to be the nation that gave the world Production Sharing Agreements (PSA). This arrangement stipulates that the host country will receive its profits after the oil company deducts its operating expenses. The Government of Indonesia thought that this was a wise move in the beginning. But with each passing year, it soon noticed that its cut of the spoils got smaller; the taxes from the oil sector began to shrink and the operators’ claims of deductable expenses were increasing by the millions. This convinced the government that petroleum companies were inflating costs. The government tried everything it could to keep oil companies from exploiting this loophole in the Production Sharing Agreement. But every accounting or auditing effort proved futile against the oil giants. Earlier this year, the country took the decision to move away from the very agreement it piloted. Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram who also studied

Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman the case of Indonesia, recently wrote that Guyana may find lessons from that country in relation to Production Sharing Agreements. Those lessons could be a serious wake up call. It was in January that the Indonesian Government actually walked away from the Production Sharing Agreement approach. It is now using the “gross-split” method.

The gross split rules make contractors bear all the costs in turn for a higher share of the output. The base split for oil blocks is 57% to 43% for the government and contractors, respectively, and 52% to 48% for natural gas fields. This is in contrast to the conventional cost recovery PSCs which caters for the sharing of profits after deduction of the exploration and production costs. The economic benefit from the gross split PSC is that it awards the share of production, bonuses, income taxes and indirect taxes to the state, while contractors receive a share of the production according to the percentage agreed on in the contract. INFLATED COSTS Indonesia’s move from Production Sharing Agreements to the new model in January last was long in the pipeline. In several media reports in that country, the government said that under cost recovery, contractors inflated costs to increase their share of production, the result being that Government’s share is (Continued on page 71)

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Kaieteur News

100-acres BK/BaiShanLin state lands at Providence…

Bank paid off, developer starts work A commercial bank is clashing with a City accountant who was appointed Receiver/Manager

to oversee the sale of a 100acre plot of prime lands at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Dem boys seh...

Very few people can hold de key to happiness Life and time are de best teachers. Life teaches people de use of Time and Time teaches us de value of Life. Is now dem boys understanding de value of life. Life is about being happy. Smart people got de answer to a man’s happiness and it got to do wid de kind of woman dem gat. A man tell dem boys dem gat five ways to be happy. One: Be wid a woman who does mek you laugh. Two: Be wid a woman who does give you she time. Three: Be wid a woman who takes care of you. Four: Be wid a woman who really loves you. Five: Finally, mek sure these four women don’t know each other. Dem boys know that is true in Guyana wheh got very few happy men. Jagdeo is one and dem boys know that you de readers know why. Donald Dumb, on de odda hand, is a happy man. Everybody know that. Dem boys also know Soulja Bai was a happy man before he become president. Moses was another happy man until he tun PM. Dem boys hear he does sit down and cry every day in ee office because he not so happy anymore. He got too much security around. Talking about happiness, de Mare, who is de Town Clown, is not very happy because de child abuser man she trying to protect going to jail, soon. She try to tek sheself out of de matter by blaming de Chief Constable. But de man put pen to paper and seh she was covering up de matter. He seh that before this incident, de man was dismissed fuh de same plugging business he in, and she ordered that de man go back pun de wuk. Dem boys know when he go to jail he gun find a man who gun mek he laugh. He gun find one who gun give him de time; one who gun tek care of him and one who gun love him. But it gun be very difficult or impossible fuh keep dem from not knowing each other. That gun mek him very miserable. Talk half and hope that he stay miserable for de rest of he life fuh wha he do to dem people boy children.

Last Monday, Citizens Bank Managing Director, Eton Chester, wrote, revoking the appointment of Receiver/ Manager, Nigel Hinds, which took effect in January. The Receiver/Manager is accusing the bank of forcing him to act contrary to the laws and of the bank being in a possible conflict of interest situation. On the other hand, the bank is accusing the accountant of not acting in the interest of the bank as the Receiver/Manager. The bank blocked attempts by Hinds to make payments from the special account that had been established. Earlier this month, Hinds wrote to the Governor of Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobind Ganga, who is the regulator of financial institutions, complaining about the interference of Citizens Bank. At heart of the matter is the 100-acre land in Providence known as Parcel 130, Block 111, Zone East Bank Demerara. That land was sold to Sunset Lakes Inc, owned by contractor, Brian Tiwarie, in February 2014. The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) had held onto to the property for three years for Tiwarie before eventually selling it for $458M. A few months later after he purchased it, Tiwarie turned around and sold Sunset Lakes to Chu Hongbo, the main principal of embattled Chinese company, BaiShanLin. The deal between Tiwarie and the

Receiver/Manager: Nigel Hinds

Citizens Bank Chief, Eton Chester

Chinese investor was for US$8M ($1.6B) or almost four times what Tiwarie paid for the land. The Chinese investor later approached Citizens Bank for financing, drawing down on a $1.1B debenture to create what was an ambitious gated community complete with community

centre and all. However, Sunset Lakes with the new Chinese owner, defaulted on the bank payments which was in excess of $9M per month. At the end of October, the interest on that $1.1B saw the figure owed to Citizens Bank mounting. Hinds placed public

notices out for the interested parties to bid for the land. Six bids came, including a $900M bid for 50 acres by Banks DIH, a sister company of Citizens Bank. However, the Receiver/ Manager settled for the highest bid for the entire property which came from Precious Metal Inc., owned by businessman Tamesh Jagmohan. That company made a bid for over $1B, just a little more than what was owed by Sunset Lakes to the bank. The deal reportedly went through last month with the buyer paying the money and taking possession. Works have started. And these works coincided with Hinds’s troubles. When Hinds attempted to have the funds transferred to Demerara Bank to an interest bearing account, Citizens Bank blocked the move, according to documents seen Continued on page 72

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Kaieteur News

Mayor, Town Clerk accused of covering up child sex case Chief Constable, Andrew Foo, believes the recent call by Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green for his firing is clear proof that the male Lance Corporal who is accused of having sex with a detained male juvenile at City Hall enjoys the protection of senior officials. Foo was on leave when the Mayor addressed the investigation of the incident at an Extra Ordinary Statutory Meeting of the Council on Tuesday. That meeting concluded with plans to reinstate the Lance Corporal, and the Corporal who witnessed and reported the alleged act. The Council has been accused of silencing the witness when they took the decision to fire him. The Mayor asserted that if anyone is to be fired it should be the Chief Constable. She also scolded Town Clerk, Royston King, for misleading the Council when he took the unilateral decision to fire both the accused Lance Corporal and the witness. The incident allegedly oc-

curred in August 23. Foo stated that the next day he reported the matter to the Mayor and the Town Clerk, Royston King. “We have senior officials casting blame and chastising officers. It shows that the whistleblower and the persons who are investigating are involved in this matter and are the persons being threatened in terms of being fired….every effort is being made to protect the accused,” Foo stated. Foo told Kaieteur News that he reported the matter to King and Chase-Green because unlike the national police, the City Constabulary is not autonomous. He stated that since the accusation was being made against an employee of the Council, further action required the fiat of the Town Clerk. It was noted that the Town Clerk took some action against the Lance Corporal weeks after the incident. According to Foo, the Town Clerk should have taken the position to provide further direction to fire or interdict the Lance Corporal

Georgetown Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk, Royston King

Chief Constable, Andrew Foo from duty. “In the case of interdiction, the Human Resources Manager has to do that. It passed through the Town Clerk because the Town Clerk is the person responsible for the direction of the Constabulary just as he should be legally advising the Council in keeping with the law,” Foo noted. Foo said that he finds it very strange that the Mayor has taken the position that

she was unaware until the matter was raised in Kaieteur News’s Dem Boys Seh column. “The same sort of passion she is now showing she could have shown from the inception in terms of directing where this matter should have gone,” Foo stated. He added, “apparently, they were not aware that this matter by its nature, required some urgency because of the Sexual Offences Act.” The Lance Corporal was accused of a similar incident last year and following a police investigation he was returned to active duty. Foo stated that in last year’s incident the matter was

transferred to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice. The advice received was that the matter be transferred to the national police because they have the capabilities to handle sexual offenses through a special unit. He said that in this year’s incident, the Constabulary could not have taken statements because once the national police were called in they would have retaken the statements for their investigation. He said interestingly, throughout the whole matter nothing is being said of the Lance Corporal who reportedly committed the act.

“You are finding fault with the Corporal who would have witnessed the incident, you are finding fault with the Chief Constable. Nothing is being said about the person who committed the act and is under investigation,” Foo noted. The Town Clerk has advised the Council that he plans to reinstate both the accused man and the witness. They will then be sent on administrative leave pending the outcome of the matter which is now engaging the national police. The Lance Corporal was arrested by the national police and subsequently released on bail.

Sunday November 19, 2017

COI finds…

GCAA has no technology to detect illegal planes

The plane that was found in 2016 A Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the discovery of a foreign aircraft partly covered on the ground near to the village of Yupukari, Region Nine in 2016, has found that the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has no advanced technology to detect illegal entry of planes. The aircraft was discovered on September 13, 2016 by the Guyana Police Force (GPF). The COI was constituted for the purpose of investigating, examining, advising and reporting all the circumstances in which the aircraft entered the country. The COI found that the GCAA’s most advanced technology capable of monitoring Guyana’s airspace is the Automatic Dependent Surveil-

lance—Broadcast (ADS-B) system and while this is capable of monitoring the country’s airspace, it is not suited to monitoring, moreover, detecting any plane bent on intrusion. This was one of the reasons why the aircraft, which departed Colombia on August 18, 2016 entered the country undetected. Additionally, the COI found that the illegal plane was piloted by a tall “white” man of Brazilian descent and accompanied by a short, slim woman believed to be of mixed Columbian descent with long black hair. During the investigation, it was difficult to trace the activities of the plane after it was sold to the Mexican buyer in 2015.

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The aircraft can only be accounted for when it departed Colombia for Guyana. The COI found that the aircraft developed a port engine failure ca u s i n g t h e pilot(s) to attempt a restart (air-start). When that failed, and knowing that the pressurization of the aircraft at that height required both engines to function, the pilot(s) made an emergency descent to a lower level he considered to be safe. The COI report further stated that the plane continued along its flight path limping on one-engine until it landed on an illegal airstrip in Guyana. It entered the country’s airspace undetected by any of the state agencies who had that responsibility.

Committee of Supply approves $2.976B Supplementary request for Ministries, Regions The Committee of Supply of the National Assembly considered and approved on Friday a supplementary request for Ministries, Regions and other agencies to the tune of $2.9B. According to the Paper, the Ministry Finance requested a supplementary provision of $118M. This is to cater for additional employment in 2017 by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). Opposition Member, Gail Teixeira asked if these persons were hired already. The Finance Minister responded that 61 persons were hired by GRA throughout the year to top positions. Under capital estimates, the Ministry of Finance also requested $302M for the completion of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) financed Basic Needs Trust Fund Project. For the Statistical Bureau, $67.8M was sought for addi-

tional inflows under the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) to facilitate the execution of the first two rounds of the Labour Force Survey. The Foreign Affairs Ministry also needed a supplementary provision of $100M to cater for payment of consultancy services relating to border issues. The Supreme Court needed $30M to cater for employment costs shortfall in November and December 2017, as a result of the hiring of eight magistrates and one legal assistant. With regard to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, $193M was sought for the West Demerara Highway. This was for additional inflows and counterpart resources needed under the CDB loan operation to facilitate payments under the road project. The Ministry also needed $377M for the reconditioning of ferry vessels. It was noted

that the previous supplementary provisions catered for the rehabilitation of the MV Sandaka which was to the tune of $100M and the final payment for the rehabilitation of the MV Lady Northcote which came up to $75M. Additionally, the Ministry of Public Health needed $200M for its malaria, HIV and TB programmes. Other agencies for which supplementary provision was sought included the Guyana Defence Force; Regions Nine, Three, Five and Eight; and the Ministries of Public Telecommunications, Education, Communities, Social Protection, and Public Security.

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Sunday November 19, 2017

GECOM granted $$millions more Accusation leads to shooting A man shot his best friend to the stomach Friday night after being accused by the friend of having an affair with his wife. The incident happened around 21:00 hrs at the Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home of the victim, Sazel Haniff, a 27-year-old mason. According to information received, the suspect went to the home of the victim to lime when an accusation ensued of the suspect having a s e x u a l r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h h i s b e s t f r i e n d ’s w i f e . Kaieteur News was informed that it was not the first time that such an allegation was made by the victim. The suspect reportedly got ang r y, p u l l e d o u t a g u n a n d s h o t t h e v i c t i m a n d then escaped. He has not been located.

From page 7 Lowenfield, who is also the a c c o u n t i n g o ff i c e r, b u t without the meeting of the Commission, further action has not been taken. GECOM’s Secretariat, which is headed by Lowenfield, is being accused of deliberately overseeing a system of procurement frauds involving hundreds of millions of dollars in purchases– from radios, to pliers and batteries, to toners. The Auditor General had descended on GECOM’s office after a series of articles pointed to

what appeared to be worrying procurement frauds at an entity that overlooks General and Local Government elections. One of the purchases for the 2015 General elections was the purchase of several communication radios. It was found that less than 90 percent of the radios were used despite the strong reasons advanced by GECOM to the administration for the purchases. Some $100M was being spent. It was found that the radios arrived too late to be deployed for the May 11, 2015 elections. The radios were purchased from Mobile Authority, owned by Water Street businessman, Michael Brasse. The report found that on top of that purchase for the radios which were all outdated, GECOM went

ahead and bought 12 satellite phones for use in case the radios could not be put into operation. When Local Government Elections were held in 2016, the radios were not used. Checks on the radios found that six of the 50 radio sets were not working. GECOM defended itself for not going to tender by saying that it had little time before the May 11, 2015 elections to undertake the purchase. There were other questionable purchases, forged quotations and prices that were way above market prices paid for several other things. Some of these include Duracell batteries, nippers, toners for printers and even office furniture. While Mobile Authority quoted for other brands of radios, it was selected over another bidder, Advance Officer Systems,

which met the criteria. In the three quotes for the radios, one was from Massy Technology dated a year earlier. The Audit Office found GECOM breached procurement regulations when it went ahead and evaluated the quotes for the radios without first seeking the approval of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). This was done after. In fact, the audit report found that GECOM signed the contract for the radios six days before the elections, making it impossible for the radios to be sourced, delivered, and installed in remote locations and for staffers to be trained. GECOM, in its defence, said that it could find nowhere in the report where anyone could be found culpable and that it would be difficult therefore to engage the police to pursue criminal indictments. Among other things, the police are being asked to find out how a quote from Massy Technology ended up in the system. The company has denied it ever submitted one.

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Sunday November 19, 2017

Education Matters: TVET and the alignment of objectives By Olato Sam The appeal for greater alignment between the educational offerings and the developmental needs of Guyana has been made ad nauseam. Curriculum reform and structural changes aimed at attaining this end were made in earnest at different intervals in our short history. Sadly, all suffered a similar faith, leaving us repeating this

most fundamental call as we are now on the cusp of another curriculum revision exercise. Clearly, it is not enough to simply develop the programmes, as well meaning as they might be, without consideration for the cultural and other contextual realities that have such significant impact on their practical implementation. As an example, Community High Schools

were a highly relevant, wellconceived addition to the education system in the 1980’s. Enough consideration had not been given to the highly elitist secondary placement system and the traditional mindsetregarding technical pursuits. Nowhere in the concept paper for Community High Schools was it stated that the lowest performing students

were to be placed there, yet in practice this occurred; sealing the fate of the institutions. This and other similar experiences highlight the need for and examination of the approachesadopted towards sustainable education reform initiatives. The need for reform is pressing since much of contextual justification and philosophical underpinning of the existing curriculum has been lost for decades. Basically, we must ask ourselves who are the individuals we are seeking to produce at the various exit points of the education system and what roles should these individuals adopt in society. This is not to deemphasize the autonomy that education facilitates and argue for an education of utility instead; both are important. The latter dimension seems to have been taken off of the radar of late however. As such, the need and relevance of alignment of our developmental objectives with our curriculum must be reinserted into the national discourse and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) forms the ideal example to emphasize same. An evaluation of the developmental needs of Guyana must result in the recognition of the key role Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been and must play in this regard. Yet, the backward, traditional mindset that has steered so many competent young people away from the technical pursuits still remains, undermining our growth potential. Too little emphasis is being placed on the tremendous prospects that exist in TVET. References to these pursuits as the ‘Alternative Pathway’ of our education system continue to relegate it to the lower tiers in the priority structures despite its primary importance. The misguided mindset that TVET is for the least academically able among us continues to guide the actions and decisions in schools daily, despite policies to the contrary. The Secondary Competence Certificate Programme (SCCP), our secondary TVET certification programme, is

widely regarded as the avenue for underperforming students. The associated stigma has resulted in the underemphasized and weak articulation of the TVET career pathways within the education system. Few students are given adequate exposure to the range of TVET career options and their respective earning potential. As such, viable opportunities to pursue same are bypassed for more traditional endeavors. Although significant sums have been expended to expand the scope of Technical Institutes and Technical Training Centres, they are woefully underutilized. Strategies must be devised to attract and retain greater numbers of our youth in these programmes— both male and female in nontraditional areas of specialization. The offerings must accommodate the required flexibility that many of the targeted cohort so greatly require. In addition, psychosocial support and stipends to offset the cost of transportation have been proven to be key requirements for the retention of students. The longstanding prerequisites need to be removed and emphasis placed on desired exit behaviours and competencies, as has been recognized regionally and internationally. The TVET career pathways must be clearly defined and a national qualifications framework developed to provide an understanding of the vertical and horizontal interrelation of areas of pursuit. A highly significant TVET accomplishment, Guyana’s recognition by the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA) to offer the Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs), went widely unnoticed and uncelebrated. This gives local TVET certification regional and international recognition and currency. More importantly, it makes accommodation for Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition centres that will enable our vast numbers of skilled but uncertified technicians and artisans to be evaluated and awarded credits or certificates/degrees where applicable. Likewise, secondary schools should be resourced

and streamlined to offer the lower levels of the CVQ as our sister nations within the Caribbeanhave been doing. This would further solidify the existing pathways and facilitate more seamless transitions between and across levels.Greater numbers of individuals must also be encouraged and supported through to the highest levels of technical pursuits with structured scholarship and research grant programmes. We l l - e s t a b l i s h e d relationships with industry exist and should be expanded to facilitate the necessary alignment to ensure that the education system is responsive to the existing and changing needs. That information needs to be filtered throughout the system to enable student to make informed career choices. An examination of the numbers graduating from the various Faculties at the University of Guyana recently reinforces this need. Our overpopulated Social Science Faculty makes the Faculties of Technology and Agriculture pale by comparison. The degree of frustration already experienced by many of these young social scientists in finding employment compared to their counterparts from aforementioned faculties who, for the most part, seamlessly transition into industry underscores the dilemma facing our nation. Many of our youth are not guided by a clear sense of the areas of need within the current and future institutional structures and continue to replicate outdated tendencies. TVET needs a champion at the highest levels within the political structures to place its agenda at the forefront of our developmental thrust. History has taught us that it is not enough to simply create the programmes, a great degree of reorientation and reengineering is necessary. Our national developmental goals need to be clearly defined and articulated throughout the system, especially in education. A collective consciousness regarding our short and long-term national strategic objectives is a crucial pre-requisite to the united effort to attain same. With these fully articulated, justification would be provided for the support of key subsets such as TVET that require extensive funding and broadbased support. As such, the impending curriculum revision exercise would be shaped and defined by these over-arching national developmental objectives.

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Prominent Caribbean academic wants a post-IMF Caribbean economy KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) - The Pro Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles says there is need for both a new style International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a 21st century post-IMF Caribbean economy. Writing in the Friday edition of the Jamaica Observer, one day after the Washington-based financial institution hosted the sixth IMF High level Caribbean forum here, Sir Hilary said that the elements of the regional dialogue are coming together and might constitute at this time a blurred image of an alternate Caribbean economy. But he wrote that they are calling attention to the growing regional interest in a serious focus upon economic sustainability and resilience, and nation building — phase two. Sir Hilary said that the growth in social and economic inequality across the region in recent decades under IMF tutelage has been identified as a major concern. He said the recent United Nations Development Programme Caribbean Economic Report tells the starkest version of the story, indicating that while approved fiscal and financial arguments, and corresponding analytic tools, can explain the significant upward social mobility of the immediate post-independence, pre-IMF period, “we seem impotent to prevent and understand the consequences of the daily descent into poverty from the middle class since the normalisation and domestication of the IMF”. “The Caribbean is not only experiencing the systemic erosion of earlier social mobility gains, but the eruption of a new mental construct in which more citizens, seized in the grip of economic decline, are focused upon “getting out” and “getting even” with the nation.” He said citizen versus state is emerging as a primary political feature of the IMFruled Caribbean, noting that more citizens are feeling abandoned by the state-IMF alli-

ance and consider it, in some places, an opposition force. “We are seeing this antination sentiment playing out in our cricket culture, and the deepening conflictual nature of urban living. “The sustainability of the nation seems imperiled without either violent repression or IMF reinforcements. This circumstance called into question the role of the IMF in the future of Caribbean democracy. For sure, the public perceives that IMF official thinking and tutelage place it on the battlefront where the social effects of its fiscals are fiercely felt.” Sir Hilary argued that either way the issue is examined “IMF economics, while desired and accepted for macro stability, continue to problematise how the propertyless majority is marginalised in the economy they are keenly ready to kick start. “In effect, then, while we have effectively put in place IMF-inspired “Economic Czars” to drive the economic growth agenda, a strategy to be publicly supported, we are also desperately in need of “Social Czars” to keep the bottom from dropping out of democracy ideal.” He said to prevent this, the IMF top-down fiscal focus should be accompanied by an indigenous “middle out” and “bottom up” economic vision that sees social growth and a prerequisite for, rather than a consequence of, economic growth. “Where will the new entrepreneurship come from to stabilise our economies and lay the foundations for innovative, competitive industry drivers in the next two decades? The elite economy will continue to hold its own and this is necessary to keep structures and instructions viable. “However, the global lessons of recent decades show that the middle and bottom have greater creative energy for the economic uplift that is required. “In addition to this, there is the monumental matter of the IMF not wishing to bend

its ear to hear of the colonial mess the region has inherited from European wealth-extractive colonialism. Neither does it wish to hear of the reparatory role these developed countries have a moral and legal duty to play in the enormous cleaning up task that has overwhelmed the region.” The UWI pro vice chancellor said that the IMF proceeds on the basis that Caribbean economies began in 1962 when Jamaica led the path to independence. He said the Washington-based financial institution does not wish to know of inherited structures and values, and as the fiscal and financial voice of these developed nations, it might not be able to unblinker itself. “It is our duty to tell it over and over again that the interface of history and economics has dealt the region an awful hand. And, despite our noblest efforts, cleaning up of colonial debris is overwhelming us.” He said when the late St. Lucian Nobel Laureate, Sir Arthur Lewis stated in 1938 that the 200 years of unpaid slave labour Europe took out of this region must be accounted for, and considered a debt to be paid, he had good reasons to imagine that institutions of the future, such as the IMF, would have taken this reality on board. “This was not to be. So here we are. A holistic Caribbean development model, post-IMF, has to be imagined as we are currently spinning in mud and going nowhere very fast. There is room in future thinking for a revised 21st century IMF. “The one we have at the moment is still embedded in post-colonial thinking that sees the new nations of the Caribbean as places to be tightly policed for their independence audacity. “Everywhere in the Caribbean is now at risk on account of current IMF development thinking. The region sought to convert its colonials into citizens by spending on health, education, urban development, that is, cleaning

The Baccoo Speaks The news is out. The very people employed to protect are the very people who would invoke criminality. One such is currently in trouble with his investigators. In the coming days more names are going to surface. Suddenly the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force would experience much unease because people would start looking at the very people at the top. ** More fires are going to

leave people on the brink of insanity. This is going to be the case of a young couple who would have just occupied a place they call

home. Through the carelessness of a neighbour the domicile would be attacked by fire. ** It’s not all bad news. A family would come into some sudden money, courtesy of a promotion that is so common at this time. What would make the news is that this family is headed by a prominent citizen, giving support to the saying “money follows money.”

Sir Hilary Beckles up the colonial mess they did not create. The IMF demands that such entitlements are beyond its means, and has no policy framework to facilitate social and economic growth simultaneously.” But Sir Hilary asks “should a new, revised, 21st

century IMF not be an advocate for a Marshall plan for the post-colonial Caribbean? Should a new, more relevant IMF not be a facilitator of a reparatory approach to economic growth with social growth? “The IMF as we know it

today might consider itself fit for purpose, but the truth says something more — that by failing to fathom the real depth of the inherited Caribbean economic problem it is at best a band aid operation rather than a growth generator. As the young people would put it, “I am just saying,” he wrote. The forum, which was attended by several Caribbean prime ministers, central bank governors was held under the theme “Unleashing Growth and Strengthening Resilience in the Caribbean”. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, said her financial institution is prepared to support the Caribbean with recovery funding and is cognisant of the impact of natural disasters on economic development and stability in the Caribbean. She told the forum that the IMF is ready to provide leadership with sourcing special funding and expertise to assist the region in developing mitigation and resilience strategies over the short and long term.

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Sunday November 19, 2017

Those heart-rending sacrificial murders By Michael Jordan Who would strangle a five-year-old girl after having a dream about ‘Dutch gold’ buried in their backyard? Or stab a nine-year-old boy to death and dump his corpse in a latrine? And who would squeeze the life out of a new-born baby on the orders of a socalled ‘spiritualist’ in the hope of getting a visa to the United States? The answer: people right here in good old Guyana. People who believe that sacrificing a child to various spirits will bring them wealth, or good fortune, or cure an incurable illness. We friendly, hospitable Guyanese may not like to admit it, but cases like these have been with us for as long as we have had a police force. Perhaps the most infa-

mous case occurred in the fifties. It has become known as the Lilawattie murder. It happened in the quiet little community of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam. It all started when a woman, Kathleen Fullerton, dreamed that a demon-like man told her that there was Dutch gold buried in her backyard. The man in the dream told Fullerton that she could get her hands on the gold if she sacrificed a child. The dream had come at a time when Fullerton and her husband, Edward, were going through very hard times. She consulted her brother, Eric Benfield, who also lived in Stanleytown with his reputed wife, Dorothy Brutus. Eric, known as ‘Shave Ice man’, had a deep interest in the occult and often held

‘spiritual’ sessions in his apartment. He immediately hatched a diabolical plan. Eric and his spouse lived in a back apartment in the same building with their landlady, who had a five-year-old daughter named Lilawattie. He decided that his landlady’s little daughter, Lilawattie, would be the perfect sacrifice. With the help of his sister, Kathleen and her husband Edward, Eric killed the child and hid her in his apartment. However, the landlady soon realised that her daughter was missing and a search was launched for the missing child. One woman, who remembered the case, said that the culprits hid the dead child under their mattress when the child’s mother came to their apartment to see if Lilawattie was here.

When they thought that the coast was clear, they dumped the body in a nearby latrine. However, suspicion fell on them and police eventually searched the larine and recovered the body. For that crime, Eric Benfield, Edward Fullerton and his wife, Kathleen, were all hanged. That certainly didn’t deter people who practice ritual murder for gain. One such man was Michael De Noon. In 1993, according to police, Michael de Noon, a young father, somehow got it into his head that he could acquire a US visa if he sacrificed his new-born baby daughter, Mary, to the ‘spirits’. Reportedly acting on the advice of a female ‘spiritualist’, De Noon forced his wife to take their baby in the dead of night to a desolate spot at the Lamaha Canal. He then muttered an incantation, threw some money in the still black water, and then strangled his baby daughter. De Noon then dumped the corpse into the water. He then forced his wife to accompany him to a city hotel. But while he slept, the woman sneaked out of the hotel and went to the police. She then took detectives to the spot where Michael De Noon had disposed of his

daughter’s body. De Noon was arrested and charged. However, the coldblooded killer died in the Georgetown Prison without facing a high court trial. And there was another child sacrifice a decade later. This time the victim was nineyear-old Daniel Netram. Daniel, nicknamed ‘Jackie Chan’, disappeared from his home at Brickery, East Bank Demerara on Sunday, September 21, 2003. According to police reports, Daniel was last seen alive at around 18:00 hrs, when he and a brother went to fetch water a short distance from their home. But instead of returning home, Daniel reportedly told his brother that he was going to visit a man known to the family, who lived in Brickery. T h e l a d ’s m u t i l a t e d body was found four days later in a latrine aback of an abandoned property. The corpse bore three stab wounds to the chest and one behind the neck. His left arm was severed at the wrist and his head was shaven. Detectives believe that the boy was murdered by an East Bank Demerara couple

on the orders of an ‘obeah man’, who said that offering the lad as a sacrifice would rid them of an incurable disease. Police reportedly acquired a statement from a woman who claimed that she witnessed her husband and another man killing the nineyear-old and dumping him in a pit latrine at Brickery, East Bank, Demerara. Indications were that the prime suspect made unsuccessful attempts on an older boy in the community. However, that child had reportedly managed to escape. Detectives believed that Daniel unwittingly sealed his fate when he went to visit the home of one of the suspects after he was sent to fetch water. The suspect’s wife reportedly said she saw when the lad was killed, mutilated and placed in a bag. Acting on this information, detectives arrested a woman, her husband and a so-called ‘spiritual healer’ from Greater Georgetown. Two people were charged with Daniel’s murder, but the case against them was dismissed.

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Death of a poor man in a beastly country The picture of a security guard, with the involuntary movement of his muscles as he lay dying on the Mon Repos public road, is an image I will never forget once I remain a columnist writing about the existential wasteland that is a country named Guyana. There he was, lying face down, his muscles twitching as the bees ate him. This was a very poor citizen of Guyana. He was a security guard. He was riding his cycle on Mon Repos public road, which we refer to as the East Coast Highway. Imagine in the 21st century you can die from the attacks of bees while riding a bicycle in the hot sun on one of the country’s main highways. Anyone can die from an attacking swarm of bees in any country. It all depends on where you are. It can happen in the US, in the lovely tourist island of Barbados, in the beautiful country of Italy. But surely not in the open environment of Bridgetown, Man-

hattan or Rome. This man was not in the backdams. He was not in some desolate countryside where trees are so tall they touch the sun. He was on the main highway of the East Coast of Demerara. Where did those bees come from? Here is where Guyana becomes a horror story but then again, it was always a horror story. While the man lay dead on the parapet, citizens of Mon Repos told the media that for quite a while now, the bees have been attacking people, and many victims ran into the nearby Republic Bank. One angry man shouted into the camera that the authorities knew about the savagery, but no action was taken. It would not have lasted for more than half an hour if the Ministry of Agriculture’s technicians had moved in to exterminate those insects. This is the same Ministry that has a section that kills puppies and dogs at the Ogle Airport if the owners cannot prove Guyanese birth,

as reported in both the Chronicle and this newspaper. No one is going to call for the resignation of the Minister of Agriculture over the guard’s terrible tragedy. And why should they? In a country where the lives of poor people are expendable, why should the Minister resign because his ministry failed to act in removing a nest containing bees that killed a mere security guard? Remember, a Minister completely locked down the main east coast highway early this year stalling traffic on both the highway and the Railway Embankment, thereby creating unbelievable pandemonium, and no one called for his resignation. I am not on Facebook, but I was told that some congenital fools have posted criti-

cism denouncing the naming of some obscure street after a Chinese city. This is not only a country of clowns, but zombies. With so much morbidity eating away at the collective moral and mental fibre of this nation, people have time to go on their computer and comment adversely on the naming of a street. What about a young man put on remand by a magistrate for possession of one cartridge, a single cartridge? What about the death of this security guard? Will the Facebook postings consist of angry denunciations of the authorities who could have intervened earlier? If that poor guard was in his SUV, as our middle class leadership is accustomed to, he would not have died. But he had a bicycle. What I find

hard to understand about life, despite reading tons of books on philosophy, is how unfair it is to the poor and powerless of this world. People in higher authority who could stop the suffering of poor people never get hurt. But it is the poor classes that do. There are those in authority who get an income a million times more than the dead guard - and who drive SUVs that the security guard would never had been able to buy with his earnings even if he had lived to be two hundred years old - and they were not the ones that the bees stung. It should have been them, because they could have eliminated the bee nest, as they had the power to do so. I wrote about flying debris that is going to blind passersby from those weeders who cut the public parapet. I

Frederick Kissoon am a thousand percent certain that when that happens it will be some poor child from an impoverished area that will be the victim, rather than the aristocratic class of powerholders that couldn’t be bothered with implementing preventative measures. I would suggest you travel in a car when passing Mon Repos; Alfred Hitchcock’s bees are waiting to attack.

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Sunday November 19, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURAL GROWTH A SURE SIGN OF A DEVELOPING NATION The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has been quietly and without fanfare effecting significant change to the landscapes all over Guyana. The changes are already having a positive effect on the general comfort of our citizens on the Coast and inland. The best news is that the Ministry has only just begun, with a long, long road ahead (no pun intended). Under the astute, determined stewardship of Ministers David Patterson and Annette Ferguson, the Ministry is continuing the projects that had begun before they assumed responsibility, and they have conceptualized and are implementing quite a number of new ones. ECD ROAD WIDENING/ IMPROVEMENT PROJECT The project to widen the East Coast Demerara highway had begun quite some years ago, but it stalled prior to the 2015 elections for strange reasons. This administration, with the best intentions to improve road safety and safeguard the lives and property of our citizens who live on and travel along the East Coast corridor, resurrected the project, and from midyear this year turned its attention on the 17km stretch between Better Hope and Belfield. Works re-started here on 19 August last. This time the Contractor is China Railway First Group Company that acquired a concrete batching plant and hot asphalt mixing plant to speed up the works. By the end of October, the base materials were laid; the drains on both sides of the 4-lane section were re-designed and re-dug, and other retaining struc-

tures put in place. Relocation of utility poles began in November. EBD PEDESTRIAN OVERPASSES TO BE COMMISSIONED SOON The five brand new, first-for-Guyana pedestrian overpasses on the East Bank Demerara are expected to be commissioned before year-end, barring unforeseen circumstances. They are located at Houston, Peter’s Hall, Eccles, Providence and Diamond. In addition to a strong foundation, the works included/involved piling, pile caps, concrete slabs, the erection of superstructures, stairways, landings, canopies and a revetment at Diamond. Contractor B & J Civil Works had won the contract for the overpasses at Houston, Eccles and Peter’s Hall while S. Jagmohan Hardware constructed the overpasses at Providence and Diamond. The overarching objective is to provide the right facility to take residents, school children and the infirm across the very busy East Bank highway safely and quickly. The pedestrian overpasses will also help to eliminate traffic congestion on the East Bank road which is about the busiest in the country, and they will keep pedestrians safe from road accidents. IMPROVED ACCESS ROADS AT WEST BERBICE Nestled aback of the Administrative Complex in Region 5, about half a mile south of the Public Road, is a rapidly developing housing scheme being built on lands acquired from the Hopetown Multipurpose Co-op. Catherina’s Lust South is home to a number of retired public servants and remigrants. The new scheme is growing with electric-

ity and water installed and now with a new access road into the scheme from the public road. The residents’ relief at being spared the indignity and hardship of wading through deep mud in the rainy season and being covered with heavy dust when it is dry is almost palpable. Before the scheme was built, the road was originally a Market Road in very poor condition. The decision to upgrade it was actually resisted by some Region 5 Councillors. Why? No one could understand, since farm-to-market roads must also be smooth and easily passable, i.e. if Guyana takes this very real chance to raise our stature in the world of agriculture, to improve our farmers’ ability to supply markets in and out of Guyana with the wide range of products, and to earn revenue! In addition, the company, Air Services Limited (ASL) operates an aerodrome in the vicinity, providing aerial services to rice farmers (seed, fertilizing and spraying for pest control). ASL uses the same stretch of road to access their airfield so they contributed significantly to its rehabilitation. Soon afterward, the regional administration awarded a contract for the road upgrade much to relief of farmers and residents of Catherina’s Lust. The same was done for Baker St. located in the eastern section of Number 22 (Hopetown) Village. For years the residents had been clamoring for a proper road. Because of its bad condition, school children, mothers, farmers and the aged had been forced to take a long detour to get to and from their homes. Baker Street was recently upgraded to a crush-and-run surface. IN THE HINTERLAND For many decades the major corridors link-

ing the Coastland with the Hinterland have taken the brunt of Mother Nature’s wrath with floods, mud and breakaways into ravines. Government through the Public Infrastructure Ministry is determined to change this, to make the road trip into the interior from Linden, Parika and everywhere else along the Coast and near inland areas, as smooth as possible and shorter. Now roadworks at Issano, Karrau to Buckhall are progressing. The Issano road runs 75 miles from the Bartica/Potaro road and extends approximately 52 miles to the Issano Landing. The roadway is primarily used by miners, and it is now so badly deteriorated that travel has become arduous and miserable, even for the frequent riders like small scale miners and mining supply trucks. The sand road was so narrow that two vehicles could not pass each other. MMC is going widen the road to three times the current width. Work on the stretch that runs directly to the Landing will begin in 2018. The contract worth $92M has been awarded to Mekdeci Mining Company and preparatory works have already commenced. Meanwhile, the Min-

istry is also in the process of rehabilitating the road linking Karrau with Buckhall to make movement between the two communities for trade, social activities and passage for loggers much easier.

This contract was awarded to International Import and Supplies, which company is also responsible for the upgrade of the Port Kaituma to Matthews Ridge road. Four bridges along the Karrau to Buckhall corridor are also slated for maintenance and repairs. (To be continued)

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Kaieteur News

My column

How tainted is the Guyana Police Force? The case of Godfrey Scipio, called ‘Sagga’, continues to stun the nation. This past week the Major Crimes Unit arrested a policeman who was once at the top of the law enforcement pile. This policeman got an on-the-spot promotion in 2015 for solving a series of robberies and even one murder. He was adjudged the Best Cop in ‘A’ Division and the runner up Best Cop in the police force. He seemed to know who the criminals were and he would lead his colleagues to the home of the criminal or to the location where the criminal was. Pretty soon the reputation of the Guyana Police Force soared. The rate of crime-solving went up; no criminal was safe and the police force began to report a drop in serious crimes. People began to have faith in the police again. Then comes this bombshell. A decorated policeman is accused of plotting the murder of a popular businessman. From what has been revealed, this policeman solicited a criminal whom he had arrested on previous occasions to pull the trigger on the businessman. By his own testimony, the criminal, who has already appeared in court for the murder, opted to spill the beans on his recruiter. His story is frightening. The country is now hear-

ing that this policeman approached him with the offer and gives him the gun. Soon after the murder the news came out that a policeman had provided the killer with a gun. On Wednesday, the investigators removed the self-confessed killer from the Camp Street jail, sat him down before a video camera and other recording instruments, and got him to tell his story. The sordid details spread beyond the murder, reaching as far as a case of policemen taking a bribe to close down a night club to the advantage of another. This also has some shocking details, including the attempt to kill a policewoman with poison because she allegedly advises one of the ranks to return the money. The use of criminals is nothing new. In the past policemen would use these criminals as informers, to the extent that as soon as some crimes are committed they would pull in these criminals for information. After a while the police were familiar with the modus operandi of many criminals. Then people began to hear of policemen responding to a robbery, would catch the robbers and demand the loot in exchange for the freedom of the robber. It goes without saying that some of these robbers were even killed be-

cause they needed to be silenced. There are businessmen who, if they desired, would tell a tale of getting back some of the money and further giving the cops an inducement or gratuity. There are also people who would report a robbery and complain that a police patrol in the vicinity responded in a dilatory manner. This suggested that the patrol was complicit in the robbery. Such was a case in ‘A’ Field, Sophia. I remember the man, a hire car driver, being shot by a robber. To this day his daughter is convinced that the robber was a member of the police patrol that happened to be in the neighbourhood. A seaman told a story of a group of policemen seizing a quantity of cocaine he had planned to smuggle aboard a ship. He reported this incident to Police Headquarters and got a promise that the situation would be investigated. A Chinese businessman on East Bank Demerara once killed a policeman in his home. He was roused by a noise, so he armed himself with a length of iron pipe. He saw the shape of the intruder and he swung his length of pipe with deadly effect. When the dust settled it turned out that the intruder was a policeman. So we return to this fallen policeman. To give credit

where credit is due, he is innocent until proven guilty. But he has been implicated right to the point where the killer tells of this policeman being seated in a car not far from where he shot ‘Sagga’. He speaks of returning the gun and the chain he took from the dead man. He is recorded as saying that when he reached the car, the policeman asked him if the victim was dead. The policeman is saying that he has no reason for using a person who he had arrested and sent to jail. The criminal retorted that when the policeman approached him he was afraid that he would be set up for a crime he did not commit. The result is that he acceded to the demands of the policeman or risk being killed himself. The tale of rogue cops is all too familiar. Indeed, in every group or organization there will be disreputable elements. The police hierarchy often reports that it would

deal with these elements. Not long after the newspaper would be adorned with news that an ex-cop is involved in some crime or the other. Just recently there was Uree Varswyck, called Malcolm Gordon. He died in a hail of bullets in Linden after breaking out of the Camp Street jail. What is worrying is the distrust that is beginning to creep back into the society. We hear that a policeman was involved in the botched robbery on Republic Bank. This policeman had given the assurance that he would have diverted the police patrol responding to the robbery. People have been charged with this crime. It is now left to see if those charged would finger the policeman. There are also reports that policemen were behind some of the robberies committed on people leaving commercial banks. Meanwhile, the police force is digging deep within

Adam Harris A. A. its ranks for any other who would be part of the criminal network. And the society is looking with distrust at every other rank. People fear roadblocks and there are those residents who would now refrain from passing information to the police. The justice system also has its worry. The policeman at the centre of the ‘Sagga’ murder probe has some cases in the courts. Many of these would collapse and guilty people would be released on the society once more.

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Sunday November 19, 2017

The Common Good- Working together to achieve the good life for all (Excerpts from an address by HE David Granger President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to the 71st sitting of the 11th Parliament of Guyana on 2nd November 2017) The enactment of the Telecommunications Act 2016 and the Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Act will provide greater impetus to the liberalisation and regulation of telecommunications. The Ministry of Public Telecommunications has been strengthening the regulatory framework of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, digitizing education and establishing ICT hubs. The Cyril Potter College of Education, the Carnegie School of Home Economics and 88 schools are among the educational institutions connected to the national network. Nine thousand laptop computers have been distributed under the One Laptop per Teacher Programme, launched on World Teachers’ Day on 5th October 2016. The Ministry is collaborating with the University of Guyana to expand the University’s Campus Area

Network (CAN). It expects to commission a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology at the Turkeyen campus in February 2018. Communities that have been provided with free internet access at schools and key strategic locations include Aishalton, Annai, Bartica, Bamia, Baramita, Iwokrama, Lethem, Linden, Mabaruma, Mahdia, Masekenari, Matthew’s Ridge Orealla, Paramakatoi, Port Kaituma, Santa Rosa and Waramadong. More communities are scheduled for early implementation in financial year 2018. The Ministry of Public Telecommunications, also, has established 53 ICT community hubs across the country and facilitated ICT sector investment. This will further boost the competitiveness of firms and accelerate the delivery of ICT-related services. The country’s transportation network of aerodromes, bridges, roads,

stellings and wharves has been improved. The Iwokrama aerodrome has been lengthened from 762 metres to 1219 metres. More than 30 hinterland aerodromes have been rehabilitated and maintained. The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has completed the first phase of the upgrading of the Bartica Town stelling. The four-lane extension of the East Bank Demerara Public Road has been completed. Village roads, extending over 100 km, have been constructed or repaired, including laying asphaltic cement pavements at Leguan, Lusignan and Victoria. The country’s first pedestrian overpasses have been installed across the East Bank Demerara Public Road. The new capital towns – Bartica, Lethem and Mabaruma – and other hinterland communities have benefitted from the repair of 801.2 km of roads. The rehabilitation of the Vreed-en-Hoop to

HE President David Granger Parika road is being completed. Urban roads, extending over 58.3 km in Georgetown and the capital towns of Linden and New Amsterdam, were repaired. Your Government has fortified the Nation’s climate adaptation infrastructure. Flooding in our National capital has been reduced as a result of the dredging of major drainage canals and repairs to sluices and pumps. Sea defences, extending 92 km along our coastline, were bolstered while the sea defence structures between Kingston and Ogle have been rehabilitated. Your Government has also addressed the Nation’s power-generation needs. New power-generation sets, with a combined capacity of 14.2 megawatts, were procured for the towns of Anna Regina and Bartica and for Canefield. Solar energy systems, with a combined output of 3.35 megawatts have been installed at various locations including Mabaruma Town. THE GOVERNANCE SECTOR Your Government has been most diligent in fortifying the rule of law. The Ministry of Legal Affairs has strengthened the financial regulatory framework in order to insulate our economy from

the proceeds of illicit activities. The promulgation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Act 2015 and the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (No. 2) Act 2015 provide greater safeguards and stronger enforcement, all aimed at ensuring the integrity of our country’s financial system. Your Government has strengthened the country’s legal administrative system. The commissioning of a new, modern and improved headquarters of the Deeds and Commercial registries is aimed at preserving, protecting and promoting property rights. The support for the establishment of a Family Court will enhance the system of justice. The creation of the Upper Demerara Magisterial District brings judicial services closer to the people and reduces inconvenience. Your Government has reestablished and made appointments to institutions decreed by our Constitution. A Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission and an Ombudsman were appointed. Acting appointments were made to the highest judicial posts. A Public Procurement Commission has been established; the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, re-established; and the Judicial Service reconstituted. These appointments manifest your Government’s commitment to abide, at all times, with the Constitution. Your Government has restored the people’s participation in local decision-making. Local government elections were reinstated after your Government piloted the passage of the Local Government (Amendment) Act 2015, the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Act 2015, the Municipal and District Councils and the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Act 2015. This legislation allowed for the historic holding of local gov-

ernment elections on 18th March 2016. The establishment of three new towns – Bartica, Lethem, Mabaruma – further solidified our system of local democracy. The creation of new capital towns is driving the decentralization of development, moving authority away from the centre and placing power directly in the hands of the people. Your Government, over the past 30 months, has begun the process of incubating the development potential of our regions. We have been ensuring that our regions are developed on the basis of ‘action plans’ which are crafted collaboratively by the regions themselves and which involve the main stakeholders. The Ministry of Communities, in this regard, has established a National Regional Development Consultative Committee (NRDCC) to promote collaboration, cooperation and consultation within and between regions. Plans of Action for Regional Development (PARDs) are being developed for each region. Regional Agricultural and Commercial Expositions (RACE) are catalyzing agriculture and agro-processing. Twelve neighborhood democratic councils, so far, have developed local area action plans (LAP). Your Government’s housing policy is focused on affordable housing solutions to low-income workers and state employees. It promotes a holistic approach to community development through the provision of recreational, educational and sports facilities in addition to basic infrastructure services such as electricity, telephones, roads, solid waste disposal and pure water supply. Work has commenced on the first batch of duplexes in the rural housing programme. We are expanding the Hinterland Housing Programme. Houses have been constructed at Sebai, Whitewater, Kwatamang and Massara. The provision of water and sanitation services must become an entitlement of every citizen. We have expanded the provision of water to unserved communities and improved the quality of service. The commencement of the Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Programme (WSSIP) will benefit more than 50,000 consumers through the construction of three new water treatment plants at Uitvlugt, Diamond and Sheet Anchor.

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Kaieteur News

Peripheral artery disease: The leg pain that you need to know about By Dr Zulfikar Bux Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a condition that can cause leg pain that gets worse with activity. Muscle pain that gets worse with activity and better with rest is called “claudication.” PAD affects the blood vessels (called arteries) that bring blood to the legs. PAD can also cause wounds to heal more slowly than usual. Today we will focus mainly on the leg pains associated with PAD as it is often a complaint that patients are often baffled by. Normally, blood flows easily through arteries to all parts of the body. But sometimes, fatty clumps called “plaques” build up inside the walls of arteries. Plaques can cause arteries to become narrow or blocked. This prevents blood from flowing normally. When muscles do not get enough blood, symptoms can occur. Some people have a greater chance of getting PAD, such as those who: - Smoke - Have diabetes - Have high cholesterol - Have high blood pressure WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PAD? PAD often causes pain in the back of the lower leg. The pain usually gets

worse with walking or other exercise, and gets better with rest. PAD can also cause pain in the buttocks, thighs, or sometimes in the feet. People who have leg pain can have other symptoms, too, such as: - Trouble walking up stairs - Trouble getting an erection (in men) or trouble with sexual arousal (in women) Symptoms of claudication can be mild or severe, depending on: - Which arteries are affected - How narrow the arteries are - How much activity a person does People with PAD often realize they have the condition when they have ulcers developing on their legs or poorly healing wounds. They are also at higher risk of having heart attacks and strokes because of similar blockages in the arteries of their brain and heart. IS THERE A TEST FOR PAD? Yes. Your doctor can do different tests to find out if you have PAD, and to check how severe it is. He or she might: - Take the blood pressure in your arm and lower leg (just above the ankle) at rest and right after exercise, and compare them - Take the blood pressure in other places in your

leg (like the thigh) - Order a blood vessel imaging test such as an ultrasound, which can show pictures of your leg arteries HOW CAN I HELP TREAT MY PAD? To help treat your PAD and prevent it from getting worse, you can: - Stop smoking - Get your diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol under control (if you have these conditions) - Walking – Doctors recommend that most people with PAD walk every day. Ask your doctor or nurse how best to begin a walking program. WHAT OTHER TREATMENTS MIGHT I HAVE? Along with a walking program and getting medical conditions under control, some people are also treated with medicines. The medicines used to t r e a t PA D c a n r e d u c e symptoms, increase blood flow to the legs, and help people walk farther without pain. If you still have severe symptoms after trying medicines, your doctor will talk with you about the possibility of having surgery or a procedure to increase blood flow to your legs and feet. Your treatment options might include: - Angioplasty or

stenting – During angioplasty or stenting, the doctor sends a thin tube with a balloon at the end of it to the part of the artery that is blocked. Then the doctor inflates the balloon to open the blockage. Often the doctor props open the artery using a tiny mesh tube called a stent, which stays in the body. - Bypass surgery – During bypass surgery, the doctor removes a piece of blood vessel (vein) from another part of the body. Then he or she reattaches that piece of blood vessel (called a vein graft) above and below the area that is clogged. This re-routes blood around the clog, and

allows it to get to the part of the leg that was not getting enough blood. Sometimes instead of taking a graft from another part of the body, the doctor can use a man-made graft. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT THE DIFFERENT PROCEDURES?

Dr. Zulfikar Bux

Angioplasty and stenting are used to treat 1 or 2 blocked areas that are short. Surgery works best to treat many or longer blocked areas. People who have the fewest long-term problems after bypass surgery include those who are younger than 70, do not have diabetes, and do not

have PAD below the knee. If you suspect that you have PAD, then quitting smoking, eating healthy, exercising and treating your blood pressure or cholesterol levels will help to decrease your symptoms. The earlier you act, the lesser the likelihood of having complications in your legs later in life.

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Kaieteur News

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Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

Sunita Travel Agency celebrates... From page 19 and before long plans were moving apace for a customised motorised scooter to be procured. At a ceremony on Wednesday, last, at a Ruimzeight Mandir, the scooter was handed over to Lallchan in the presence of his family and members of the community. Mahase, in brief

deliberations, before the scooter was handed over to Lallchan, said, “Sunita's Travel Agency is making this occasion very special...� The state-of-the-art eWheeler brand motorised scooter is soundless, powered by electricity, has a modern computer system, and was customised to suit Guyana's roadways. An excited

Lallchan said that he was happy to be recognised by the Travel Agency for the much needed support. Sunita Travel Agency is located at 129-02 Liberty Avenue [Side Street], Richmond Hill, New York. Contacting the Travel Agency is as simple as dialling telephone number: 718738-1700.

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Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

Delivering social services care is a ‘calling’ not a job A fire at the Drop In Centre last year which claimed the lives of two young boys has evoked many changes in the delivery of social services care, especially as it relates to minors. For instance, in adherence to recommendations detailed in the report of an investigation into the fire, a number of measures have been implemented, including the changing and upgrading of staffers. This is according to Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency, Ms. Ann Greene, who has since developed an action plan which takes into account all of the recommendations detailed in the report. “All of the recommendations made, we have responded to. I was able to develop a matrix which outlines who has to do what, by when, and for me, I am continuously working the plan,” Greene disclosed. The report into the fire investigation was tabled in Parliament about two weeks ago but, according to Greene, a number of corrective measures have already been implemented. She said, “in terms of the staff, this year we have changed some of them, those who are trainable, we have trained them up to certificate level.” Greene, who has been involved in the field of social services for many years, asserted “the whole thing with

- Ann Greene social services that people need to understand is that it is not so much about training. Training is one part, but this work here is not just a job, it is a mission.” In fact, she is of the firm belief that in order to fall into social work and other social services-oriented areas for that matter, “you have to have a calling from God himself...in much the way people say they got a calling from God to preach. You can train and train, but you have to bring a lot of you into what you do; you have to bring a level of commitment and passion and you have to be willing to grow;. You have to embrace life-long learning, and learning for this work is not a onetime thing,” Greene stated. It was this very view of the profession that Greene had long embraced. She disclosed that because she recognised the depth of the field of social services that she has been constantly expanded her horizon to not only improve her understanding but to embrace innovative tactics to realise the desired results. “I have worked in human services for so many years and then I went on to do a Masters in Human Services. You have to understand that training for this field is not a one-stop,” Greene underscored. The Childcare and Protection Director was recently able to impress this point of view on Social Workers in training at the University of Guyana. “I told them I am looking for some good Social Workers, and of course, they asked

me what makes a good Social Worker...I was able to let them know that ‘your own selfrealisation is the greatest service you can render to the world’,” Greene noted. The ‘self realisation’ mantra is one that Greene has been sharing with her staff at the Childcare and Protection Agency for many years. “This ‘self realisation’ is learning to be in touch with yourself; you have to know whether you are in the right profession or if what you are doing is just a little job,” said Greene as she confessed, “I have been in it for years and I haven’t worked a day in my life.” She qualified her statement by pointing out that “if you do something you love, you don’t work.” “We have trained people and they have trained to the highest, and then some days they are off and they operate so, and they handle people so, “Greene noted. For such reasons, she disclosed that “in human services, there has got to be constant turnover of staff, because you have to be constantly looking to ensure that people embrace selfawareness; some people burn-out when it comes to this job.” As such, the Childcare and Protection Director has emphasised the notion that “you have got to be good for you before you can be good for people; so you have got to know your stressors.” It might have been for this very reason that one of the recommendations detailed in the report of the fire investigation is that staffers be entitled to off-time. This is particularly imperative, Greene said, since those tasked with the delivery of social services care are in fact deemed secondary victims. “People don’t really understand that and we get attacked sometimes...they don’t understand that every hour of the day we hear sad stories and we have to deal with all of that,” said Greene as she recalled how Social Workers are sometimes chastised even when they try their best. She recalled occasions when persons have described trained professionals offering their services to the Ministry as “so-called” Social Workers. Greene noted that while many of the Social Workers employed by the Ministry of Social Protection are relatively young, there are established Standing Operation Procedures [SOPs] designed to guide how they function. The SOPs, Greene said, are complemented by those with institutional knowledge, such as herself, who have been striving to tackle existing shortcomings in the quest to improve the delivery of social services.

Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

STANDARDS IN FOCUS

Enhancing restaurant services through standards Throughout Guyana, restaurants and other fast food service providers prepare a variety of dishes to satisfy the appetite of their customers. However, as we celebrate Guyana Restaurant Week from November 17 to November 26, 2017, it is time for establishments to adopt a sustainable approach which must include the use of standards. Implementing the National Standard enables providers of restaurant services to truly satisfy their customers. Restaurants and fast food service providers can consult the requirements of the Code of Practice for Quality Management in the Restaurant Service (GCP 17:2003) to ensure that the foods prepared are wholesome and services provided are safe and reliable. The implementation of this Code of Practice can be a major step towards efficiency and a commitment to satisfying the needs, wants and expectations of customers.

Over time, this would widen the gamut of reputable restaurants and fast food establishments available in Guyana. The code of practice specifies the managerial requirements necessary to ensure the efficient running of any restaurant establishment which seeks to ensure quality in the sight of its customers. As such, restaurants implementing this standard will consistently satisfy their customers, have high productivity and their service will become more competitive at the local and international levels. As a requirement in the standard, businesses must establish a quality system which mainly focuses on marketing to understand the wants and expectations of customers, and the design and preparation of the food and service delivery to customers. The Code of Practice also addresses many other requirements which can prevent service inefficiency and

unreliability, and foods that are undesirable and unsafe for consumption. These requirements include personnel, material resources, internal and external communication, system of checking, contractual arrangements, advertising, design and development of new products, quality control, documentation and data control, purchasing, process control, corrective and preventive actions and handling, storage, packaging and delivery. Restaurants and other food establishments are encouraged to acquire a copy of this Code of Practice from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and implement the requirements therein to ensure that they have viable and sustainable businesses. For further information on this subject, please contact the G N B S o n Te l e p h o n e Numbers: 219-0065, 2190066 or website: www.gnbsgy.org

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Sunday November 19, 2017

CONSUMER CONCERNS

Christmas Security and Capture of Motorcycle Bandits By PAT DIAL On Monday last, the Police launched their Christmas Security Plan. The occasion was attended by the consumers represented by the Guyana Consumers Association, the Private Sector Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Private Security Organizations and many senior Police Officers among others. Every year, the Police have been launching their special Christmas Security Operation until it is now taken for granted, but such an Operation necessitates a great deal of skillful planning and hard work and dedicated service by senior officers and ranks.This year, the Operation has been improved in many ways. Up to last year the City spread was confined to five areas. This year, a sixth area has been added to include Sheriff Street and Sophia. The Police Intelligence has been greatly improved and this has resulted in the arrest of more criminals and the prevention of crime. They have been employing more modern

technology including ICT. For example, criminals or pranksters who had once telephoned 911 so as to divert or dissipate Police effort could now be immediately traced. Further, 911 availability has been extended countrywide. During the Season, there would be substantial increases in beat duty men and motorized patrols. The foot patrols would be in operation for 24 hours per day in two shifts. Around the Banks, there would be special C.I.D. surveillance which will be extended to the Georgetown prison, hotels, night spots and general businesses. The Christmas Security Plan not only includes the physical presence of the Police and their ready availability, it also includes a useful educational component which was given by Crime Chief Paul Williams. Assistant Commissioner Williams mentioned a number of simple but important things of which citizens should be aware. He mentioned, for example, that suspicious or unusual behaviour could indicate that a crime is about to occur and

that persons should be vigilant and prepared. It is useful to vary bank deposit routines so that depositors’ activities are not predictable or traceable. Or in coming out of one’s car, one should look around to ascertain that there are no strange persons or unusual activity in the vicinity. If such were to occur, drive away and if one is being followed, drive into the nearest police station or to the nearest police outpost. Similarly, in making a night deposit, one should carefully ascertain that the coast is clear before getting out of one’s vehicle and going towards the deposit machine. Or one should buy from reputable places and not from anyone who may offer a cheaper price. Motor car parts, for example, sold by a non-dealer, could be stolen parts and open the buyers to serious criminal charges of receiving stolen property. Assistant Commissioner Paul Williams gave many other suggestions and tips. For example, in withdrawing large sums of money from banks, it is much safer to use a manager’s cheque since the cashier’s money counter would visibly and audibly

indicate a possible victim to any criminals surveying. The holiday traffic arrangements would come into force immediately enabling the free flow of traffic and so avoiding congestion at any point; cars carelessly parked impeding traffic will be removed. Since Traffic Chief Dion Moore has a detailed knowledge of the roads of Georgetown and its urban spread as well as the times and points when and where congestion may occur, he would therefore be able to deploy his men where most needed.

Shoppers and Christmas crowds would feel far safer with the added police presence and shop owners and their staffs would also be able to carry on their businesses with full confidence. The public transport would be much safer since there would be less temptation of minibuses to speed recklessly and pickpockets and snatchers would be inhibited. There were two criminal activities which seem to intensify during the holiday period. These were not dealt with in detail at the

adumbration of the Christmas Safety Plan: The first is the excessive noise which is generated in the minibuses. This can easily be ameliorated if the police were to act with firmness against offenders. The second is the recent rise of the motor cycle robbers who usually carry firearms which they are prepared to use on their victims. These gangs suddenly pounce on people and rob them, even of their cars. Similar to the motor cycle bandits, there are a number of bandits who use motor cars with dark-tinted Continued on page 69

Sunday November 19, 2017

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Kaieteur News

Christmas Security and Capture of...

SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION, W E D D I N G S , ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Guyana passport application. Graphics design, advertisement. Tel: 6267040; 265-4535. Repairs at affordable prices: fridge, air conditioner, washing machines, dryers, TV, microwaves & freezerCall: 610-5846 or 661-8158 INNOVATIVEMARKETING & PUBLISHING INC –TEL: 600-4212: We create A/ works, logos, busi ness cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included. PASSPORT, PERMANENT & VISITOR VISA APPLICATION, PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT – SABITA IMMIGRATION SERVICES. CALL: 613-3920/625-3767. Eagle’s: Re-gas –low prices, washing machine repairs, gas stove, plasma flat Screen, computer repairs & more. Call: 697-2969/646-0966 Cheapest airfares. Contact V or Amenia at Somwaru Travels. 35 North Road. 2277841/227-7845/616-2727 TOLET 3 bedroom apartment, Free wifi, Fully tiled, Bathtub, Spacious kitchen and living area. #641-3318 Business space for grocery or snackette. 619-5357/6671896SS One two bedroom apartment located in Herstelling New scheme. $50,000 Call: 641-2311 Spacious two bedroom bottom flat, fully grilled with garage located in Georgetown. Price $50,000 Contact: 667-3692 1&3 bedroom apartments. 641-3318

SALON - Make-up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, etc. -CosmetologyCourses:$90,000 Technician Course: $35,000. Call: 647-1773/660-5257

FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY- $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-2274754. Video games and consoles at affordable price. Repairs to video game system .Call:6722566/265-3231 Spare for washing machine, microwaves,fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, motors, etc. Call:225-9032;647-2943;6045198 1 Leyland Daf Cement mixer, 1 caterpillar skid steer 236B. 7 mining blocks (North West) Contact# 650-0402 Family migrating, household items for sale TV, Chair set, Fridge etc. 681-0138 Parika Backdam. 9 acres of land with concrete building. Call Vish Realty: 612-7377

VEHICLE FOR SALE Allion, Primo, Fielder Wagon, Spacio, Bluebird, 212 Carina, NZE, Honda CRV, Toyota IST, RZ & Pit-bull – Call: 650-7501 1-Twinsteer Double Axle DAF and 4 Flatbed Leyland DAF, 1-620-240 DAF engine. Excellent condition. Owner migrating 6498449,228-5655 Pickup Truck from Canada2005 Tacoma $2.3M, Ford F150 Sport $1.5M FordRanger Sport $1.4M #682-5230/ 6154414 Tractor (foreign used) Massey Ferguson -165 -$1.7M, MF-135 $1M,MF-265-$1.9M,165Loader tractor -$2.2M. Call: 682-5230/ 615-4414 One 1998 model Toyota Rav 4 in working condition. $1.5 million negotiable. Contact 218-3463 or 623-8759. Unregistered Axela 2011 $2.5M, dark interior, fully loaded, Nissan pickup extra cab $2.1M. Call: 617-5536 Mercedes Benz 2009 C200. Immaculate Condition- Call 616-5933 Toyota Beita. Excellent Condition, AC, PUU, Like new. Good for bank purchases. 1,850,000. 639-2490. FOR SALE/RENT American Pool Table. Call: 277-0578

FOR RENT

WANTED

VACANCY

PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY,ETC.-CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 2161043; 677-6620 Property for rent - 2 storey house at Republic Park, E.B.D$1200US. Call 647-1773

Experienced male sales attendant, stocktaking knowledge, computer literate, excellent service attitude, Able-bodied. KeyFood McDoom Village.

Confidential Cabs. Vacancy exist for one experienced dispatcher. Tel#231-5784 6951961. Cook/ baker and Kitchen Assistant for interior location. Applicants must have experience. Call:618-2020

One apartment for rent Mon Repos E.C.Demerara, First Street. Tel: 220-7330, 614-0005. 5 bedroom house for rent furnished & unfurnished 6276480 1-Two bedroom apt, fully furnish, AC Room, situated in Eccles, EBD Tel: 667-2536 At Lot 14B Grants Scheme, Craig, East Bank Demerara, Three (3) Bedrooms, fully furnished. 696-8549

LAND FOR SALE Eccles (Corner lot) $7M & 5M Parafaite Harmonie (High and low income) $2M & $1.4M Farm $3M Herstelling $3.5M Tel#611-7223/667-1960 Parafaite Harmonie $1.4m $3.5m $2.5m $1.6m Tuschen $2.7m Herstelling $3m V/Hoop $45m Eccles $6m corner lot. Call: 604-6724/ 686-9608a Parfaite Harmonie business spot $3.5M, $1.3M, $2.5M, Parfaite Harmonie ten year up $3.5M, Tuschen $2.5M, Tuschen $1.5M Call : 6662326 One cornerlot for sale 50x100 in gated community @ Land Of Canaan, Canaan Gardens. Tel: 694-7817, 612-1351 28 acres of land @ Soesdyke public road by owner. Interested persons, send information to P.O 101184 Georgetown. Lot 51 New road Vreed-enhoop West Coast Demerara. Contact Andy on: 671-4420. 1500 acres at No.70 Corentyne with house, good for rice and cattle farming. Call: 592-6570992. Eccles New Scheme, on a main road, corner lot, 12 massive columns with foundation $7.5M 651-1969/656-0701 Farm (East Bank) with reserve $2.5M. Parafaite Harmonie (Front Part) $1.3M 651-1969/ 656-0701 Herstelling New Scheme (100ft X 50ft) $3.5M Eccles New Scheme $5M Uivlugt (High Income) $2.6M 6511969/656-0701 Parafaite Harmonie high income area. Light,water & pitched road (100ft 50ft) $2M 651-1969/ 656-0701

Waitress for bar. Tel#612-2522 One experienced cook, ages 20-45 to work in snackette & bar. Call:663-7741/ 223-5798 Live-in Waitress $20,000 weekly. #610-5043 One live-in General Domestic. Must know to cook Indian dishes. Call: 223-1332 Carpenters to work in Linden. 602-9469 6x6 logging trucks for hire. Logging truck drivers with experience. Contact #656-8754 Truck Drivers. Applicants must work in Georgetown, experience in high & low range is an asset. Tel#227-1717. Accounts Clerk- Knowledge of Payroll and QuickBooks. 614-4358 Salesgirls, maintenance workers, security guard. Tel# 265-3586 1 domestic maid to cook and clean. Please call Tel: 644-4940 Live in waitress to work in bar. Call: 604-6606/ 692-4649 Chefs, Bar attendant, waitresses. Trinidad & Tobago. Tel#868-372-9787/ 868-744-5766 Live-in family. HusbandDriving, mechanical experience etc. Tel: 227-1830

CAR RENTAL PROGRESSIVE CAR R E N TA L : S U V F O R RENTAL- $4,000 & UP PER DAY- CALL:6560 0 8 7 , 6 4 3 - 5 1 2 2 ,EMAIL:PRO_AUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM DOLLY’SCARRENTAL-CALL: 225-7126/226-3693 DOLLYSAUTORENTAL@ YA H O O . C O M / W W W. DOLLYSAUTORENTAL.COM AIDAN’S CAR RENTAL:PICKUP,9-11 SEAT MINI BUS, GOOD FOR AIRPORT & FAMILY OUTINGS, CHEAPEST RATE . Call: 698-7807 WING’S CAR & PICKUP RENTAL: LOW DOWN PAYMENT, CHEAP RATES,SPECIAL OFFERS! . CALL: 690-6494

Account support specialist, Customer service representative, Office clerk with driver’s license. Apply to Zip Logistics @ hr@ziplogistics.com Chef and assistant cookpreferably Carnegie trained. Call 225-7933, or visit 173 Sheriff Street. Salesgirls, D.Singh and Sons, 95 King Street Tel : 226-0881 Looking for professional hairdresser, waitress, cleaner, call: 684-9409. For one Cashier and one Salesperson. Previous experience an asset. Apply in person Mike’s Pharmacy Bel Air, Georgetown. For one experienced Pharmacist, apply Mike’s Pharmacy, Bel Air, Georgetown.

EDUCATION Day Care and Pre-K classes available in Diamond Call Canadian School 2166921,216-6922 First Aid/CPR courses on Saturdays St John’s. Call 225-9082 or visit 110 Cowan street, Kingston. Lessons: Phonics, Reading, Writing (Kindergarten grades 1-2) Common Entrance preparations grades 3-5. Enroll now. Call 667-0296

From page 68 windows. With good Intelligence and determination, the Police should be able to eliminate this form of crime since the motor cycle bandits are few in number and the motor car ones always have very darktinted windows. It is very necessary that the Police suppress and eliminate these motor-cycle robbers since they have taken to operating in the residential areas and attacking prominent citizens— women in particular. Fear of this kind of crime reverberates throughout the Society and is eclipsing much of the good work the Police would have achieved. One such motor-cycle crime was recently perpetrated on a very prominent business woman and newspaper columnist. This particular crime is being discussed at all levels of Society. Capture of these bandits would certainly bring much relief and enhance the reputation of the Police.

Organization hosts mini expo to... From page 63 successful in any single thing that you want to do, that is not something that should keep you back we all have dreams and we all can achieve whatever we want to achieve.” The world celebrated World Diabetes Day on November 14, 2017 under the theme “Women and Diabetes... Our right to a healthy future”. The organisations are urging persons to come forward once they notice any signs such as frequent urination, weight loss, excessive thirst and lack of energy among others, to confront a doctor immediately and remember Diabetes is everybody's business.

TAXI SERVICE GR TAXI SERVICE. CALL: 219-5000; 227-1982 & 225-7878 (24HRS) PROPERTY FOR SALE Concrete house situated in 3rd Avenue, Diamond. House 47x34, Land 110x64. $38Million negotiable. Contact Mr Kitt 626-9797 New Building with two apartment downstairs for sale. 10 mins from Georgetown. Tel: 675-1510/ 613-7964. Business property for sale. Lot 11 Middleton Street Campbellville, Georgetown, Guyana. Contact owner at 240-605-8877 U.S.A. No agents

PEN PAL Overseas male seeks female. Age 29-32. Call or text 6643119

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Kaieteur News

Sunday November 19, 2017

Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

Guyana clings to flawed model...

From page 8 reduced. In fact, the Supreme Audit Agency of Indonesia found that several oil and gas production sharing contractors inflated their operating costs claims to US$300M. The Agency also noted that many of the costs claimed by the company were not even in keeping with the rules and regulations of Indonesia. By moving to a grosssplit, the Government argued that contractors are forced to bear the costs of operating themselves. The Government believes that the new method will encourage the oil operators to spend more efficiently since there is no way to recover them. The Government of Indonesia feels justified in doing away with a cost re-

covery mechanism for oil operators. The citizens there also believe that for too long, they have been abused by oil operators. In this regard, the Government revealed that in 2016 alone, cost recovery by oil operators climbed up to $13.9B. This was more than the sector even contributed in revenues for that year. Additionally, the Government bemoaned the administrative challenges that came with addressing cost recovery as claimed by companies. In fact, the Government said that the problem with cost recovery is there have been endless debates as to how much exactly the production costs should be. The Government said it

is not easy to calculate technology costs, especially in cases where only one company has a particular technology. It was also noted in the Indonesian media that SKK Migas, a governmentowned entity that manages the oil sector, has a staff of 750 professionals. Approximately 80% of that staff is involved in the arduous task of ensuring that cost recovery claims by company are fair and accurate. Anticorruption advocates in Indonesia are of the firm view that given its limited audit resources and benchmarks to evaluate cost claims, the Government’s response to move away from cost recovery as a basis for production sharing is perhaps, a sensible move.

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Bank paid off, developer starts work From page 9 by this newspaper. Hinds claimed that as Receiver/Manager, he is bound to protect the interests of all the parties. In this case, with money just sitting in an account, he wrote all the banks asking for the best interest rates. Only Demerara Bank and the Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry responded. Citizens Bank did not, despite the account and the monies being there. In a letter dated November 13, Citizens Bank’s chief, Chester, objected to the decision to have the money transferred. The banker said that Hinds’s conduct amounted to negligence and in effect increased Sunset Lakes’ indebtedness to the bank. “ A p rudent receiver would have paid a significant amount of deposit to the debenture holder (the bank) in reduction of the company’s indebtedness and reduce the daily interest.” The banker pointed to the caveats by a number of parties and claimed that Hinds did not inform Citizens Bank of them. However, on Thursday, the Receiver/Manager, in his response copied to the Finance Minister, Bank of Guyana, lawyers and stakeholders, insisted that the revoking of his appointment is “illogical” and not supported by

facts. He said that under the regulations, he can deposit the money or proceeds to any bank. “The Receiver/Manager has the absolute discretion to deposit and expend funds from the Receiver/ Manager bank account, within the confines of the law as set out in the 1991 Companies Act. “The Receiver/ Manager ’s bank account could be opened at any bank. The deposit of $750M from the deposit made by the purchaser, into an account at CBGI is not an obligation of the Receiver/Manager; the Receiver/Manager could just as well have deposited the $750M into any other bank.” Hinds insisted he cannot use the deposit by Precious Metal Inc. to pay the loan as the buyer has not yet received title. That is a no-no. Hinds defended handing over possession of lands to Precious Metal Inc. saying that is normal when more from 50 percent of the price has been paid. “Based on the foregoing, it is obvious that there is no provision or clause in the Companies Act 1991 that justifies the revocation of my appointment as Receiver/ Manager of Sunset Lakes Inc.” In his complaint to the

Bank of Guyana earlier this month about Citizens Bank, Hinds said that the blocking, denial and nonprocessing of cheques and bank draft by Citizens Bank prevented him from carrying out his obligations to the parties involved and “raises the hazards of conflicts of interest.” Precious Metal has started works on the Providence p r o p e r t y. Several stalled buildings, impressive edifices, have been sitting there idle with works to start soon on them. The Central Housing and Planning Authority has reportedly visited the site. It has withdrawn its objections. The particulars of the sale of the 100-acre plot by Sunset Lakes Inc. to Hongbo a few years ago had raised eyebrows. From all indications, Sunset Lakes breached the agreement by selling the entire plot without building any homes. How the developer under the Chinese was able to get away with the breaches would raise troubling questions about CH&PA’s monitoring of the housing projects during the reign of the previous P P P / C a d ministration, especially as thousands of persons are on file awaiting house lots. CH&PA is facing questions over its administration of the lands and other housing programmes. Recently, it was disclosed that several close friends of the PPP/C administration benefitted from lands on the East Bank of Demerara.

Sunday November 19, 2017

Kaieteur News

Zimbabwe’s ruling party set to sack Mugabe, sources say HARARE (Reuters) The leaders of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party will meet on Sunday to approve the dismissal of President Robert Mugabe, the only leader the southern African nation has known since independence 37 years ago, two party sources have said. Protesters march calling for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down in Cape Town, South Africa, November 18, 2017. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham An extraordinary meeting of the party’s central committee is expected to convene around 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) to consider removing the 93-year-old, four days after a military seizure of power ostensibly aimed at “criminals” within his entourage. Separately, state television said Mugabe would meet military commanders on Sunday, quoting the Catholic priest who has been mediating in negotiations with the president. Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at Mugabe’s overthrow. Z A N U - P F ’s c e n t r a l committee is also expected to reinstate Emmerson Mnangagwa as party vicepresident, resurrecting the political career of the former security chief, nick-

named The Crocodile, whose sacking this month triggered the military’s intervention. Mugabe’s wife, Grace, will be fired as head of the ZANU-PF Wo m e n ’s League, the sources told Reuters, completing the demise of a 52-year-old former government typist who just a week ago stood in pole position to succeed her husband after Mnangagwa’s dismissal. T h e p a i r ’s s t u n n i n g downfall is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside. SUPPORT EVAPORATING In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armored cars and troops who stepped in this week to oust the man who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. Under house arrest in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ compound, Mugabe has refused to stand down even as he has watched his support from party, security service s a n d p e o p l e evaporate in less than three days. H i s n e p h e w, P a t r i c k

Zhuwao, told Reuters the elderly leader and his wife were “ready to die for what is correct” rather than step down in order to legitimize what he described as a coup. B u t o n H a r a r e ’s streets, few seemed to care about the legal niceties as they heralded a “second liberation” for the former British colony and spoke of their dreams for political and economic change after two decades of deepening repression and hardship. “These are tears of j o y, ” said Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, holding aloft the Zimbab w e a n f l a g . “ I ’ve been waiting all my life for this day. Free at last. We are free at last.” The crowds in Harare have so far given a quasidemocratic veneer to the a r m y ’s i n t e r v e n t i o n , backing its assertion that it is merely effecting a constitutional transfer of power, which would help it avoid the diplomatic backlash and opprobrium that normally follow a coup. The United States, a long-time Mugabe critic, said it was looking forward to a “new era” in Zimbabwe, while President Ian Khama of neighboring Botswana said Mugabe had no diplomatic support in the region and should resign at once.

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MPs defend fees of up to £1,000 an hour to appear on ‘Kremlin propaganda’ channel (The Observer) MPs who have accepted up to £1,000 an hour to appear on television shows broadcast on RT, formerly Russia Today, have defended their links to the station, classed by the US government last week as a Kremlin propaganda vehicle. Analysis of the Commons register of interests for the last two years show at least

10 have been paid handsomely for appearing on the channel, which is now coming under acute scrutiny after both the US and UK governments accused Russia of meddling in elections and pushing fake news. David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, who was paid £750 an hour plus travel costs for four appearances

between last December and September, said he had no regrets about appearing on one of the channel’s shows, Sam Delaney’s News Thing. “The News Thing has given me a fair chance to explain my opinions on Brexit immigration and transgender issues, for which I am grateful,” Davies said. “Sadly, I have not received the same

courtesy from the British Broadcasting Corporation. Instead, on several occasions, its highly paid presenters have criticised me by name without giving me a right of response.” Mike Freer, now an assistant government whip, who was paid £1,000 an hour for two appearances in January and April last year, told the Jewish Chronicle: “I appeared on Sam Delaney’s News Thing, an independent production that is satirical in nature. I went on to poke fun at [Vladimir] Putin, which I did.”

However, Labour’s David Lammy, who, according to his register of members interests was paid £1,000 for two hours of his time on two occasions, is understood to have ruled out further appearances, despite being asked on an almost weekly basis. Many MPs appeared reluctant to discuss their appearances, including Labour newcomer Rosie Duffield, who was paid £500 for three hours for her appearance on the channel; Tory MP Johnny Mercer, a former soldier, who received £1,000 for three

hours of his time on two separate occasions; and the former deputy speaker, Tory MP Nigel Evans, who was paid £750 an hour on two occasions. Duffield defended her appearance on Twitter. Last month she tweeted: “Worked on Sam Delaney’s show in July, paid by production company, not RT.” The biggest earner was the former Respect MP George Galloway, who, between November 2013 and February 2015, was paid more than £100,000 to front his own show on RT.

Forensic audit confirms initial findings…Petrotrin paid for ‘fake oil’ (Trinidad Guardian) It is now official. Two external audits have confirmed that there was a discrepancy between reported oil production in the Exploration and Production Operations in the Catshill Field operated by A&V Oil and Gas and the actual production receipts at Pointe-aPierre discovered by Petrotrin’s Internal Audit Department in the period January to June 2017. Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet is now assuring that the board will be taking “decisive action” in the so-called ‘fake oil’ matter. The allegation, first contained in an internal audit report dated August 17, was confirmed in a forensic audit

report submitted by external consultants Kroll Consulting, of Canada, and also in a report commissioned from global gas consultants Gaffney Cline, which found that the Catshill reservoir was “not capable of producing the volumes in question.” No other details of the findings of the reports from the two external agencies or recommendations made were immediately forthcoming in a release issued by Petrotrin on the matter yesterday. But figures provided in the internal audit report for the period July 1-12, signed by Petrotrin’s Chief Audit Executive Rajkumar Bissessar, showed a daily average of 3,589 barrels per day had dropped significantly in the period July 13-31 and August 1-10, when production de-

clined to 1,369 barrels and 1,396 barrels of oil. The shortage reported for July, according to the report, was 36,302 barrels, down from 111, 006 barrels in June. The internal audit team estimated production for the month of June would have been “over-stated by about 90,000 barrels, which works out to an overpayment of US$2.97 million.” For the sixmonth period January to June, it was estimated that “Catshill over stated its production by at least 350,000 barrels and Petrotrin would have overpaid US$11.5 million (TT$80 million).” As a result, Petrotrin was said to have paid royalties of approximately US$1.86 million to the Government for crude oil “not received during the period 2017 January to June.”

Proposed estimates for... From page 17 Opposition intended to frustrate the process. Nagamootoo reminded that it was the APNU+AFC coalition which fought for the financial independence of the Constitutional agencies in the face of persistent opposition from the People's Progressive Party. He also noted that Article 222 of the Constitution offers an overarching protection of the independence of the Constitutional agencies. The First Vice President said, “It was (the PPP) who refused to guarantee the independence of the National Assembly, the independence of the Judiciary and the independence of the Elections Commission so they could manipulate them using finance as a weapon of control...” Nagamootoo continued, “They are speaking with

forked tongues here in this House when they come to defend those Constitutional agencies. What a day of shame that those people who stabbed the Constitutional agencies in the back and those who cut the throats of the Constitutional agencies can set themselves up here today.” The Prime Minister added, “I speak passionately on this issue because I have seen the various attempts by members of the House to frustrate the consideration of these estimates...” Nagamootoo said that the House should move on with the recommended estimates of the Finance Minister and put the Opposition's tactic to an end. The Committee of Supply subsequently approved the amended $783M budget for the Audit office.