Sunday November 24, 2013
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Heist of media, telecoms industry…
Secret deal gives cable TV operators free ride on GPL poles - power company reportedly losing millions from uncollected rentals
Bharrat Jagdeo
GPL Chairman Winston Brassington
Vishok Persaud, E-Networks
Brian Yong, Quark Communication Inc.
Not only did the administration of former President Bharrat Jagdeo facilitate granting his friends cable TV licences, but there may have been some concessions too. The power poles owned by the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) are being used to string cables in certain parts of the city and the coast but there is no clear indications whether rental monies are being paid, how much and at what rate. The leverage given to some of the companies may shed some light on how certain businesses were given unfair advantage above others under Jagdeo. It may also signal how taxpayers’ monies were used by the former Government to enrich a few close ones, more
than likely under the direction of the former President. Back in June, GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal, disclosed that over 8,000 power poles are in use by three cable companies- ENetworks, Bartica Communications and Atlantic Cable TV Network (ACN). He said, then, that ACN was in negotiations for use of the power poles. However ENetworks had signed an agreement. So too had the Bartica outfit. However, there are no indications what arrangements are in place. E-Networks has been stringing cables along GPL’s poles starting from Lamaha Street and reportedly reached along the East Coast of Demerara. That company and Quark
Communications Inc. were among two companies given the controversial operational go-ahead to run cable TV services by Jagdeo. Now both companies,
along with Global Technology, stand at the head of the line also for telecommunications licences that will be granted once new (Continued on page 49)
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KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210
Editorial
Quizzes prove a boon to education Guyana is trying its utmost to turn its academic fortunes. It is borrowing ideas from various quarters, not least, the developed world. Today, we borrow the opinions first published in the New York Times. Grading college students on quizzes given at the beginning of every class, rather than on midterms or a final exam, increases both attendance and overall performance, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings - from an experiment in which 901 students in a popular introduction to psychology course at the University of Texas took their laptops to class and were quizzed online - demonstrate that the computers can act as an aid to teaching. Moreover, the study is the latest to show how tests can be used to enhance learning as well as measure it. The report, appearing in the journal PLoS One, found that this “testing effect” was particularly strong in students from lower-income households. Psychologists have known for almost a century that altering the timing of tests can affect performance. In the past decade, they have shown that taking a test — say, writing down all you can remember from a studied prose passage — can deepen the memory of that passage better than further study. The new findings stand as a large-scale prototype for how such testing effects can be exploited in the digital era, experts said, though they cautioned that it was not yet clear how widely they could be applied. On the first day of their Psych 301 course in fall 2011, James W. Pennebaker and Samuel D. Gosling — who have taught it jointly for years — instructed all 901 students to bring a laptop to class, if they had one (they all did). The students then learned why: They would be taking a short quiz in each subsequent class on their computer. The quizzes would be short and personalized — seven questions that the entire class would answer, and one tailored to each student, usually a question from another quiz that he or she got wrong. In place of a final exam, grades were based on cumulative quiz scores. The questions “weren’t impossible, as long as you did the reading and paid attention in class, but there were definitely some ‘thinkers,’ “ Namita Pallod, 18, who recently took the course in the quiz format, said by email. “The harder part for me was always when old questions you had missed previously came back.” Most students hated it at first, Dr. Pennebaker said. “Sam and I usually get really high course evaluations” from the students, he said; “these were the lowest ever.” Dr. Gosling offered one explanation. “For the first few weeks, every time their friends went out drinking, they couldn’t go; they had yet another test the next day.” Their co-author was Jason D. Ferrell, also at Texas. By the end of the course, however, the class had outperformed a previous Psych 301 class of 935 students that used midterm exams - scoring 10 percent higher on a subset of 17 questions that appeared on both classes’ tests. The quizzed group also got slightly higher grades, the study found. The grade improvements were sharpest among students from lower-income backgrounds - those from poor-quality schools “who were always smartest in class,” Dr. Gosling said. “Then they get here and, when they fail the first midterm, they think it’s a fluke,” he went on. “By the time they’ve failed the second one, it’s too late. The hole’s too deep. The quizzes make it impossible to maintain that state of denial.” By forcing the students to stay current in the reading and pay attention in class, the quizzes also taught them a fundamental lesson about how to study, the authors said. They also cut down on another kind of denial — that most hallowed of college traditions, cutting class. In the middle of the semester, attendance usually averages about 60 percent, Dr. Pennebaker said, adding: “In this quiz class it was 90 percent. If you know you’ve got a quiz, you have to show up.”
Sunday November 24, 2013
Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com
The PPP is about to complete yet another billion dollar raid on State resources DEAR EDITOR, One may ask, what is a government elected to do? Our primary understanding would be to govern in the national interest for the betterment of all the people; not in the interest of a few. So why is the PPP only fostering the business interest of a small group of people closely aligned to that party? This issue has been studied with much diligence over the years and the Kaieteur News expose captioned “The Heist of Guyana - the Communication Scheme” is just another revelation of how the PPP hierarchy is about to
complete another billion dollar raid on the Treasury to enrich themselves, relatives and friends. They have done this many times before but this is going to be the largest raid ever on the people’s money. It is wrong and we must vehemently condemn it. The general thrust of owner Glen Lall and editor Adam Harris’ Kaietuer News article “The Heist of Guyana” points us in the right direction - namely, the Jagdeo cabal with the full collaboration of the Ramotar bunch have made plans to retroactively transfer one of Guyana’s greatest and most
valuable assets— the wireless telephony spectrum - from the people of Guyana to themselves and friends for a pittance. This is worse than the most outrageous corrupt practice or any highway robberies. The greatest political act in the history of Guyana was when the PPP was relegated to a minority Government status. The main causation of that political revolution was the PPP’s gross acts of massive corruption and maladministration of the affairs of the State, including the whole scale plundering of the people’s resources. Yet, the PPP will not stop such
depraved behavior; in fact, they have caught the disease called “kleptocrotitist” meaning the inability to prevent theft from the Treasury. This is a disease that is easily spread among the group and can only be cured by therapeutic help from well qualified and experienced Psychiatrists, most of whom can be found in the developed countries. The electro-magnetic spectrum is worth billions of dollars (the last estimate was G$24 billion) but yet we find that the PPP is determined to transfer these expensive spectrums for little or nothing (Continued on page 6)
Sunday November 24, 2013
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A comprehensive effort was made to destroy the Afrikan presence in business DEAR EDITOR, What does Mr. Ramracha mean when he speaks of black impediments” and “black inadequacies” in the letter “Indians still strive for progress …..”? Kaieteur News, November 18 2013. Such references to ethnic groups are not only out of vogue but betray the disrespect of a bygone era in which it was okay to ridicule by negative stereotype and racial profiling Afrikans without sanction. I would be inclined to go along with Ramracha’s accusation of black lethargy if it could be shown that there is another people in Guyanese history who accomplished the following (a) working without pay for close to 200 years, to (b) move one hundred million tons (90,700,000 metric tons) of earth to build up the coastland of Guyana (c) to reclaim 15,000 square miles(38,850 sq. km) of Guyana’s territory from forests and swamp (d) dig 2.58 million miles of drainage and irrigation canals and clear the cane fields in establishing the cane industry, (e) lay three and a half thousand miles of roads and footpaths and (f) and built 2.2 thousand miles of sea and river defence. The current no show by Blacks in business in a significant way is neither the result of a culture of state dependency nor an outdated leadership approach in the Afrikan community. It is not an indication of an unparalleled lethargy, being stocked in the military and public service, and a refusal by blaks to embrace some offer of business development by the Jagans. These things are not the cause of but rather the effects of our absence from business. The cause is due by and large to 19th century European interest in Guyana which destroyed the fledging but significant Afrikan Entrepreneurial Movement. Not only would it have hurt their economic interests, it was an embarrassment to Europe propaganda which paraded as education, science and profession. But for a fleeting reference to the acquisition of Buxton and Victoria Ramracha shows a complete ignorance of the movement in which the freed Afrikans having recently acquired some degree of political freedom attempted to complete that political freedom by working towards their own economic freedom. It is this absence from business which is one of the powerful indicators
used to justify the malicious maligning of our character and is proffered as the evidence to elicit support for the negative stereotyping hurled at us. In 1854, there were one hundred and seventy three plantations producing sugar in the colony. By the end of their acquisition of land in the form of plantation purchases, Afrikans had acquired approximately 188 estates more than were under cultivation in 1854. Their own business/ economic outlook and capacity was just as grand as the Europeans. That these now called villages were once production co-operatives or rather business ventures with a pronounced social component, is attested to by a description given to them by Walter Rodney. “The villages were collectives, communal arrangements that had a total aspect to them. They were not merely units of production. ...”. Such was the vibrancy of this entrepreneurial movement that while the sugar factories were paying 32 cents per day for field labour in 1842, at the beginning of beginning of 1841 Victoria was paying “$1.50 a day for trench cleaning”. New Orange Nassau (Buxton) paid a dividend to the original shareholders of $26 approximately currently valued at G$30,000. B.V. was returning $1,000 (G$1.2M) per month from selling plantains. Afrikan land purchase and development led to an appreciation in land prices. In 1840 Plantation Thomas which was sold for $45,000 at abolition appreciated to $100,000 and Vigilance which was bought in 1831 for $15,000 was now being offered at $90,000. Afrikan business it is recorded was so vibrant that by 1848 Afrikans in Berbice had “produced so much ground provisions as to have
manufactured a glut on the market.” Such was the scale and impact of Afrikan entrepreneurship. This kind of industry and presence in business (a) presented a threat to the European interest of keeping the Afrikan as a labourer on the sugar plantations (b) was an embarrassment to European academic/ education, religious and professional circles which had propagandized the Afrikan as lazy and dependent and (c) brought about a comprehensive socio- economic- political response from the whites who, armed with state, judicial and legislative power proceeded to decimate the Afrikan business presence in British Guiana. The result is that the 188 estates co-operatives (businesses) acquired in the 19th century have now diminished to the few Afrikan villages that we know today. Nothing captures more succinctly the European thinking and the importance they paid to destroying the Afrikan business expression than The Reverend John Sterling’s report of 1835 which perceived that “The stability of the colonial society in the West Indies will be at stake once full freedom is attained.” Halting the movement to full freedom was to be embarked upon immediately and education was to be used as the medium for this purpose through achieving “power over their minds” …ironically he said with the aim of “bettering their condition.” The following sources present the data which demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the effort to destroy the Afrikan presence in business. (a) Chapter 20 -The Negro Struggle for Economic Freedom in “Short History of the Guyanese People” by Vere T. Daly , “Themes in African- Guyanese History” edited by Winston F. Mc
Gowan, James Rose, and David A. Granger, (c) “The Approaches to Local Self Government in British Guiana” by Allan Young, (d) “From Nigger Yard to Village” by Walter Rodney, (e) “The Colonial Foundations of Race Relations and Ethno-Politics in Guyana” by Percy Hintzen…etc. These writings reveal the process by which the Afrikan Entrepreneurial Movement was brought to a crushing halt. None other than Governor Light declared in 1842 that should the Creole “be forced to keep up roads in protection of his acreage and (that) should (he) be taxed according to his acres, he will …find his possession not so desirable.” They reveal how denial of credit, sabotage of agricultural production, education, slander, immigration, the legislature, taxation transfer pricing and bad governance were all used against the Afrikan to oust them from business. The result was, that “As
Guyana approached independence, the foundations of its political economy were firmly entrenched on the economic side to the advantage of external and other business interests and a small, domestic comprador group of other business interests, derived primarily from the Portuguese, Chinese and East Indian sections of the population.” As a result of the economic sabotage leveled against the Afrikan Entrepreneurial Movement Afrikans found themselves in “… the largely urban based state sector, comprising the general civil service, including the security forces, and the relatively small public enterprise sub-sector, (which) was preponderantly staffed by the African racial group. This latter group was also preponderantly involved in mining activities, particularly in the bauxite industry.” Dr. Melissa Ifill completes the description “Members of the East Indian community are
heavily concentrated in agriculture, hunting, forestry and the various service trades while the heaviest concentration of the African community is in the public service and mining and quarrying.” Gone was the Afrikan presence. This then is how Afrikans came to be out of business not lethargy and dependence. Indian presence in business in not due purely to Indian thrift and sacrifice, the history of land distribution in Guyana proves this to be true. Land distribution and attitudes towards land are key foundations of presence and hence visibility in business as it is “a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth”. An analysis which ignores this variable is severely faulty. Allan Young in “The Approaches to Local Self-Government in British Guiana” p.149-161 points out several means by which Indians and Chinese were (Continued on page 08)
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Sunday November 24, 2013
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The PPP is about to complete yet another billion dollar raid... From page 4 to their friends and family through their back door corrupt practices which were perfected by the Jagdeoites. This spectrum supports businesses in the quad-play sector which constitutes cable businesses, businesses using the broadcast television frequency, radio frequency and the jewel in the crown - the wireless (cellular) telephone frequency. No government in its right mind, except for the PPP would give away such treasured state resources to their friends and relatives for nickels and dimes. As APNUMP Joseph Harmon rightfully said, “them eyes pass we.” In 2011, the Jagdeo regime literally gave away the radio and television frequency for absolutely nothing to their friends and family creating the conditions for them to earn billions of dollars at the taxpayer’s expense. In April 2013, Prime Minister Sam Hinds confirmed that the PPP will not collect fees from two companies in the cable business, both owned and controlled by persons close
to former president Jagdeo. Again, more milk and honey for a pittance for the best friends of the PPP. The fact remains, Jamaica was able to leverage some US$40 million for just one cable license. Score sheet so far Guyana ZERO; Jamaica US$40 million. The PPP did not stop there. They wanted total domination of the airwaves in Guyana. While we acknowledged that the drafted telecommunication legislation meets the basic international standards, we are quite disturbed that the PPP cabal, like a thief in the night, inserted the licensing of three PPP aligned telecommunication companiesQuark Communication, ENetworks and Global Technologies-all owned by friends of the former president, again for a pittance. This goes to show how crooked this regime is as they continue to bleed the nation of all its vital resources. This is not what the people had expected when the PPP promised to level the playing field and bring order to the telecommunications
industry. The risks that GT&T and Digicel took, and the investments they have made over the years are enormous and should be respected by the PPP cabal; and this should easily justify their place at the table. However, these three PPP fly by night operators have done very little in terms of investing in technology for the wireless communications network over the years and should not be given licenses for a pittance? What risk did they take? What investment have they made for the direct benefit of the Guyanese people? Have they ever built any children hospital like Digicel or paid the billions of dollars in taxes like Digicel and GT&T did over the years? How dare these members of the “Committee for the Reelection of Jagdeo” popularly referred to as the CREEPS, reap the rewards by not taking the appropriate risk and truly investing in the Guyanese people? Why is the PPP giving away the state’s valuable airwaves frequencies to their rich friends?
The only answer is the PPP has taken corruption to its highest level; therefore, we will be forwarding this letter to all the members of CARICOM and to all regional and international communication bodies. We demand that the PPP cabal rescind their preferential treatment to the three communication companies owned by their friends this telecommunication bill be sent to the select committee for further scrutiny. We also demand that the playing field should be leveled and regularized between GT&T and Digicel first, before any other players are invited to take part in the process. The market place can be opened to all other players by way of a spectrum auction in a regulated manner once it is regularized and they are prepared to pay the fair market value for the available band width. If the friends of the former President need space on the spectrum, let them compete in a transparent manner like everyone else in the world; they should not be given preferential treatment by the PPP. We strongly
opposed this corrupt PPP minority regime for giving their friends and relatives who are the owners of Quark Communication, E-Networks and Global Technologies and to have free access to the state most prized resources. We also called on all Guyanese to revolt against this corrupt regime for such unethical practice. We say thanks and Glen Lall and Adam Harris of Kaieteur and we salute them for exposing the racketeering and plundering of the state resources by the PPP. They have done their part diligently, so now is the time for the people of Guyana to follow suit. We can no longer stand idle and allow this crooked and immoral regime to commit such blatant crime against the state. We are calling on the majority opposition to use the powers granted to them by the Constitution to investigate this criminal act and surcharge the alleged perpetrators for their twisted ways and warped mentality. This is the time for the opposition to unite and vigorously defend the interest of the people.
Furthermore, the majority Parliamentary opposition must take their responsibility more seriously and design laws in such a way to meet the objective of fostering competition while at the same time securing the best value for money for the people of Guyana. Once this cat is out the bag, there is no opportunity for any future government to roll back this conspiratorial PPP plan and thus if this is not done using best practices, the nation will have opportunity losses to the tune of billions of dollars that will never ever be recovered. Is that a price we as Guyanese are prepared to pay to please the economic oligarchic who controls the PPP? We say no and hope you do as well. Chandra Deollal, Esq. Mark Dacosta, Dr.Terrence Simon, Joycelyn Wilson, Guyatree Balgobin Esq, Aubrey Reteymer, Noel Moses, Sasenarine Singh, Asha Balbachan, Derrick Arjune, Esq. Donna Mattho, Asquith Rose, Ricky Bisnauth, Harish S. Singh.
Sunday November 24, 2013
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Some other insights about the Jagdeo and Ashni Singh must creative industry in Guyana answer to the Guyanese people DEAR EDITOR, Monday 18th November Kaieteur News carried an interview about me as a writer /artist and self publisher in the reality of Guyana. The interview was conducted by a friend and writer himself, Michael Jordan. In that article I did mention that we did not receive replies from some corporate entities that we emailed and even sent hard copies to in this current time frame, for the exploitation of a particular ‘Cultural Item’. This was a comparison made against the enthusiasm that was evident in my experience of an initial period on self publishing in this genre. The particular ‘Cultural Item’ mentioned above did yield an exception. With the advent of the tenth Parliament I realized that some of these Corporate persons were operating on a far out pretext that was not within the normalcy of their authority. That particular ‘Cultural Item ‘mentioned above was based on the licensing of a particular copyrighted Character series as an advertising expression. One colleague with the broad vision of the CEO and an interactive background of the entertainment arts, was the exception. He did respond and took this ‘cultural item,’ licensing the project for a year, but the work was never used, though I was paid the agreed sum.
When I embarked on self publishing in the eighties, there were creative people in business, men like Len Beharry, Wilfred Holder, Bernard Ramsey, Ovid Holder, the founders of the Kissoon business group, to mention a few out of the jurisdiction or passed on, among others. Luckily, a few of them like Brig. Ret. David Granger are still around. The crux of the matter is, that we presently exist in a surreal administrative environment of cerebral defectiveness, where a dominant street cleverness, driven by banal idolatrous senses, is bent on stealing the economic and philosophical future of this nation. The development of Art and its arteries are beyond their functional consciousness. Art and its currents to which we are its medium of expression, will continue to drive us. Occasionally as I do, I find myself alone, as most of my peers have physically migrated... others like Tyrone Dorris and Gregory Shanks have migrated to other ‘PotBoiling’ fields; even Angold is more Digital that Oils today. To really answer ‘Mike’ on the question that prompted the interview last week “What will become of the creative self of Guyana?” I honestly feel that it will redeem itself from the current stupor, because we are blessed with talented young people who will find their way eventually, and that we are having this discourse means that we’re aware that there’s a problem. I was fortunate to have lived and was young and impressionable when Forbes Burnham insisted on the
development of the creative imagery of the Guyanese Identity, producing the indulgence of self from Harold Bascom, Basil and Angold Thompson, Nauth, Shurey, Bernadette Persaud and many others, administrators like Olga Britton, Oswald Kendall, the late Billy Pilgrim and Derrick Bernard all supplemented the atmosphere then. I must include that with the collaboration of GGMC, I was able to publish a twenty year old project ‘The illustrated History of The Porkknockers’ in 2009 . A foreign Company, that wished and still wishes to remain anonymous, presented me with a cheque of appreciation after the launching of that project. To chide Halloween’s incursion into the Guyanese psyche or any other product of the foreign Cultural Industries is petulant in the absence of just whining and not lifting a finger towards the emergence of our own. Those people worked hard to create their thing. We’ve got to keep banging at our parliamentarians to enforce that rehabilitating the State approach towards the Arts is as important as the Procurement Commission, in its capacity for the development of Cultural Industries. I’ll close by repeating what Akon said when a local reporter asked him the rhetorical ‘Stock question’ “ what advice he had for the local youth ?” he replied, “ I’m from Africa and you’re here; in the Americas.” I never knew if any one understood what the brother was implying. Barrington Braithwaite
DEAR EDITOR, The statement by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) on Thursday that Government was told in November 2011 to take certain steps to make Guyana compliant is highly alarming. Is this regional body saying that Guyana knew for a while and waited until this year to take action. My research is now telling us that Guyana knew since in early 2000 that the US has placed measures in place to ensure that monies coming from illegal means do not end up financing terrorism. Surely our Government knew what was coming. All the other countries in the Caribbean, with exception of Dominica, have complied. The US paid the price and has the right to protect itself. Guyana was warned that it must put systems in place to join the rest of the world in doing its part or face being sidelined from doing business with them.
It is therefore alarming to learn that after knowing this, the Government, under the watch of President Bharrat Jagdeo and Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, failed to take steps to ensure Guyana is in keeping with requirements. This year, they attempted to speed the required changes to the law through the National Assembly and we all know what happened. Now Guyana has been found to be noncompliant. Why must Guyanese and businessman be penalized because our Government failed to do its work? We know of delays that will start and the fact that other countries have been warned to be careful when doing business with Guyana. We will see delays in overseas payments to suppliers and significant hardships. Jagdeo and Ashni Singh must answer to the Guyanese people why they took so long. Looking forward to an early response. A long time PPP supporter
A comprehensive effort... From page 5 able to acquire land. These include: (a) poaching on plantations left unattended by Afrikans chiefly in Berbice by the Indians; (b) government assistance in the area of land acquisition to the Chinese and Indians. For example Huis t’Dieren an estate of over 600 acres was acquired in 1880 by Government acquired and laid out into village and cultivation lots. The project began with 73 immigrants. Each settler paid an annual tax of $1 for each lot for which the Government was responsible for the upkeep of roads and drainage. By 1894 Plantation Helena on the East Coast of Demerara was purchased for $7,000 and converted into a settlement in which 1206 Indians received
allotments, 573 men, 394 women 121 boys and 118 girls. Each immigrant over 10 years received a grant of 1/5 acre for house lot and 1 acre as a cultivation plot. Those under 10 years received half the amount. Similarly favorable conditions were made available to Indians at Unity, Lancaster, Clonbrook, Windsor Forest, La Jalousie, Hague Nooten Zuil, Whim, Bush Lot, Marias Pleasure, and Bloomfield. This trend of discriminatory land continued to the 1950’s, Dr. Melissa Ifill in the E.R.C. “Study to Assess Whether There is any Discrimination in the Award and Distribution of Economic Opportunities in Guyana Report” informs us “During the PPP reign in the mid to late 1950s, it was revealed in the ICJ (1965) report that in the land settlement agricultural schemes, lands were allocated by the state to 3,854 Indians as compared to 550 Africans and that the state was investing heavily in rural development.” The revelations of the Kaieteur News “Heist of the Nations Series” and the revelations of the Bharrat Jagdeo vs. Freddy Kissoon case follow the colonial pattern of resource allocation. In spite of these
restrictions coming on the heels of close to 200 years of enslavement, Afrikans purchased between 1838 and 1850 and developed property to the tune of $2.5 million. The value of which in today’s dollars is approximately $ 1.3 trillion. The evidence does not fit your assumption of the Afrikan as the ones in the comfort zone of un-paralled lethargy and the Indian as the back breaking worker and the virtuous purveyor of thrift and sacrifice, what appears to be thrift and sacrifice has been more a case of state discriminatory state patronage and subterfuge. Social justice, equity and precedent demand that some form of affirmative action be applied to correct this historical wrong. A consciousness of and willingness of our historical needs to be the subject of discussion advocacy and programmes pursued by our religious, academic, education, political, labour, and cultural leaders. The gut to demand same is also necessary if Afrikans are to rise economically again. Can we do it? Yes we can realize the great vision which Buxton and Victoria stand as memorials of. Jonathan Adams
Sunday November 24, 2013
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Dem boys seh Guyana’s ‘blacklist’ status akin to Iran, North Korea - CFATF Rob de Earth is The blacklisted status applied to Guyana by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) is akin to that which was applied to Iran and North Korea. This is according to Roger Hernandez, a financial advisor with CFATF, who in an invited comment to clarify the status of the decision on Guyana said, “Guyana’s CFATF listing is similar to the listing that the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) has applied to Iran and North Korea in that it calls on its members to apply countermeasures against Guyana in particular against financial transactions and relationships with persons and businesses from Guyana.” He said that the language used by FATF when it issued a warning against Iran and North Korea is the same applied for Guyana. “You will see that the language is the same as that applied against Guyana,” said Hernandez He noted too that the CFATF statement is also carried on the FATF website which is also effectively, “warning all FATF members, which includes all the major economies of the world.” Hernandez said that in order for Guyana to get off the list, it has to do what the public statement says, pass the requisite legislation and remedy the identified deficiencies in the statement. This past week, following a review of Guyana’s compliance as it relates to the CFATF recommendations for Guyana in addressing its deficiencies when it comes to Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, Guyana was found wanting and as such was blacklisted. CFATF has called on its member countries to “consider implementing counter measures to protect their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Guyana.” In its review it was found that Guyana had strategic anti-money laundering deficiencies. Further, it did not make sufficient progress
to address the deficiencies or did not comply with its Action Plan developed with CFATF to address these deficiencies. That body was making direct reference to the voted down Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill which was voted down in Parliament recently. In November 2011, the international regulators had warned the Bharrat Jagdeo administration that the country needed to take steps to ensure that the nation had strong financial regulations but this was ignored and two years later, the country is still to comply with the necessary measures hence the blacklisted status. Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon explained, last month that the amendments were fashioned by CFATF and that Guyana had no option. However, for the two years that CFATF ordered Guyana to get the necessary legislation in place, the administration did nothing. It was only in April of this year that the Bill made its way to Parliament at which point in time the political opposition voted to send it to a Parliamentary Select Committee. That Bill was returned to the Full House but did not
find favour with the Opposition which argued that the work of the Committee was not completed and wanted it recommitted. When Government refused and put it up for a vote, the opposition rejected the Bill in its current form and voted against it. The CFATF decision will inevitably affect payments for oil, family remittances, payment for goods and a host of other transactions that could virtually cripple trade. The Accounting Firm Ram and McRae have since cautioned that while there will be consequences but one should not press the panic button. “We do not anticipate that countries will stop doing business with Guyana. We believe, however, that there will be consequences for businesses and individuals alike as other countries review the framework within which transactions are carried on with Guyana,” said Ram and McRae. Guyana will be reviewed again in May to see if the deficiencies have been corrected, according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who would have led a team this past week to the Bahamas plenary.
With the news of the country being blacklisted, Government and the Opposition continued pointing fingers at each other over the delays and fallout. CFATF, in a statement on Guyana to its members, explained that in November 2011, it notified its members that certain deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) will have to be corrected. An action plan with target dates was developed by both Guyana and CFATF to address the deficiencies. The body, in rendering its decision, said that as a result of Guyana not meeting the agreed timelines in its action plan, it has recommend counter measures be put in place when transacting business with Guyana. According to CFATF, “Guyana has made efforts to address its deficiencies, however, it has not taken sufficient steps towards improving its AML/CFT compliance regime by failing to approve and implement required legislative reforms.” Guyana is required to pass the relevant legislation and implement all the outstanding issues within its action plan, including fully criminalising money laundering and terroristContinued on page 51
a gold vendor
It ain’t got a day that somebody ain’t find something to talk bout de people who leading de country. Even a Chinee man seh how dem know bout corruption in dem country but this country beat all. That is how Chinee come to Guyana because de people hear that Guyana got a university that does teach corruption and when you graduate you can go anywhere and mek good. Rob de Earth don’t deal wid money. That don’t mean that if somebody give he a small piece he wouldn’t tek it but wid anti-money laundering if he got too much money then he in trouble. That is why de Chinee now in de gold business. Dem dealing wid de earth and Rob de Earth keeping sweet wid dem. Some of dem does deal wid land because dem claim that land don’t spoil and if dem got land dem can convert it to anything. De rat convert he land to foreign currency which he use to send to Miami till a shipment get hold up. Dem boys seh that is one of he friends who like sing to de Feds mek that happen. This was de man who ship two container of gifts to de Rat fuh construction purposes. In return de man get land over de river and one near to de Pee Pee Pee paper. Since he get jail de things collapse and de Rat money get seize. But dem got other things like gold. Right now, when a shipment go out de Feds does ask if is everybody in Guyana got a dredge. Nuff Minister who know that de anti-money laundering legislation was coming start fuh ship out gold. Is only now dem got a problem. De buyers asking too much question. Dem boys seh that de plan is to bury de extra gold but one thing, who do de burying got to keep a map. People mustn’t be surprised if dem see two men wid gun standing in an open pasture. Know that dem got gold in de ground. Talk half and pray fuh de corruption done.
We cannot determine our destiny, but we do have a choice of a philosophy that will influence the direction of our life.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
Businessman kills sleeping wife, commits suicide By: Romila Boodram and Sunita Samaroo The turbulent relationship of a Campbellville, Georgetown couple ended tragically early yesterday, when a 48-year-old businessman shot himself after killing his younger wife to whom he had been married for the past 15 years. Dead are Ramdat Lokhnauth, aka Moses, and his 42-year-old wife, Siromanie aka Nadia. The gruesome discovery was made around 04:30 hrs yesterday in the upper flat of the couple’s three-storey business place, R&S Enterprise, located at Garnett Street and DelphAvenue, Campbellville by the businessman’s son, Rajin and two other relatives. It is believed that Lokhnauth shot his wife to her left ear with his .32 Taurus pistol before
shooting himself to the right side of his head. Relatives said that the businessman was found lying on the bed with the gun just below his chest. The bloodied body of his wife was lying next to him with one of her hands resting on her husband’s abdomen. It is believed that Siromanie was asleep when she was killed. According to reports, the 48year-old man who was divorced three times, and Siromanie, who walked out on her first husband and children to marry the businessman, were having “serious” marital issues. Relatives of the businessman said that Siromanie demanded a divorce and half of his wealth. Her relatives claimed that the 48-year-old man was “seeing” someone else and had asked his wife for a divorce. The couple had no children together and they were living in
separate homes for the past several months. Kaieteur News was told that for the past three months, the businesswoman was staying with her two children in the United States of America but came here on Wednesday after her husband called and requested she come to “sign some documents.” SCENE Yesterday, this newspaper was told by the security guard on duty, Rohit Persaud, that about 03:00hrs yesterday, his employer called out to him from the upper flat of the property and let down the keys for the house in a basket. He added that Lokhnauth seemed “normal’ when he asked him to give his son, Rajin the keys. The guard said that around 04:30hrs, the businessman’s son and some relatives arrived at the business entity and collected the keys. The dead woman’s sister, Valenie Persaud, said that the businessman called his son some time after 03:00hrs and told him that he and his wife had a fight and that he should collect his uncle and come to the home as soon as possible. “When they go in, a little later all I hear is scream and they start crying and one of them come tell
me that them (couple) dead,” the guard said. The now dead man had left a voice note on his son’s phone early yesterday, expressing his love for his wife. “He said that he loves his wife and he made a mistake and he don’t think she is going to give him a second chance and if he don’t get her then nobody else can’t,” a relative stressed. Another relative of the dead man, Joseph Lewis, said that the businesswoman had filed for a divorce a few months back. “The grounds that she used was that she can’t cope with his children but his three children are married and living by themselves.” Kaieteur News was told that Siromanie demanded to have a large amount of money which her husband didn’t have at that time. “She wanted him to sell this place but he can’t do it so he told her that he will go through the bank and take a loan and give it to her.” According to Lewis, “She say she will sign the paper when they reach the bank and exchange the settlement. He (Moses) really loved her. Although they were going through the divorce he did his best to have her back.” This newspaper understands that when Lokhnauth applied to the bank two weeks ago for the loan, he called Lewis and told him
Dead: Nadia Lokhnauth that he will travel to the States and give his wife the money and beg her for another chance. “He told me that he will tell her that money is not the issue and that he will go to her and give her the money and tell her that he will buy a house over there so that they could live there,” Lewis stated. Lokhnauth would call the bank daily to find out about his loan application but was told that it is processing, Lewis said. “Two days ago, he received a letter from the bank that the application was denied.” He added that the businessman called his wife and asked her to travel to Guyana so that they both can go into the back to reapply for the loan. “She agreed and come. They went to lunch, dinner and so and like they agree to give their marriage a second change because they went to the pastor to seek counseling. They were suppose to go to a resort in Essequibo today (yesterday).” Lokhnauth was going though some “tough” time with his business. “He has a lot of debts; he was now coming out of it but his wife couldn’t understand that,” a relative said. A friend of Lokhnauth said, “This building has a second mortgage and for documentation purposes she
is part of the loan. But she wanted more money than they agreed to. Moses has been complaining and nagging for weeks because he trying to tell her he can’t make it and she isn’t accepting it.” The businessman’s friend added that he had even started drinking and smoking as a result of the impending divorce. Other friends of Moses who visited the scene said that Moses worked his way up from a shop in the market. “I sense this boy Moses was provoked. She was just evil. Money fly to she head. She just vicious.” Workers of a nearby business entity said that on Thursday morning loud wails were heard coming from the home. The workers said that they heard Lokhnauth crying loudly and repeatedly begging “Ah love yuh.” There are reports that the businessman had received information that his wife had been receiving flowers from someone. Some suggested that this might have been the cause for him killing his wife and committing suicide. Meanwhile, the dead woman’s sister, Valenie Persaud gave a different version of the story. She described her sister as a “family person” and not as someone who would walk out of her marriage. According to Persaud, three months ago her brother-in-law, Lokhnauth, asked her sister for a divorce and requested that she leave the home. “She was in a very abusive relationship. He always nags at her for no reason. I think he was seeing someone else and he ask her to leave but three months later, when he realized that he cannot run the business alone, he keep begging her to come home back and she fell for it.” “She abandoned her children for him,” the sister added. Investigations are ongoing.
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Miners granted permission for How Guyana’s economy responds foreign $$$ accounts at local banks still to be determined - Finance Minister Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday issued a missive seeking to outline the effects of being blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF). The decision by CFATF to encourage its member countries to consider implementing counter measures to protect their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Guyana is most unfortunate. As a result of this warning Guyana’s credibility in the international community will be severely damaged. International business relations with Guyana will be subjected to intense scrutiny which inevitability will become bureaucratic and costly for investors. Such environments will undoubtedly detour investor interests and ultimately limit Guyana’s marketability. Countries which have been blacklisted and received similar warnings have responded differently based on their unique economies. How Guyana’s economy responds will only be determined in time. What is known is, regardless of Guyana’s current economic state, the consequences of the warning issued by CFATF are far reaching: 1. Persons who receive
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh remittances/cash via money transfer systems, may experience delays in receiving the transfer. There may also be an increased processing fee resulting from additional paperwork. 2. Proof of income and identification of the sender of such remittances will be enhanced. Persons most likely to be affected by this are undocumented aliens who reside abroad. 3. The transfer of money from local to external banks will be delayed as international banks begin to sever ties locally. 4. This delay in bank transfers or severing of financial ties with local banks can affect fuel prices and ultimately the cost for travel Continued on page 51
Gold miners, battling for a number of concessions that will ease cost of production, has managed to wrest from Government, permission to operate a foreign exchange account at the local banks. The miners had been battling the Guyana Gold Board for some time now to pay them in foreign currency for gold sold to that entity. Earlier this year, several meetings were held with Government, including President Donald Ramotar; Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh; Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud and representatives of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). Among other things, the miners wanted duty free concessions on pickups, a reduction on the fuel tax and payments in foreign currency for gold sold to licensed buyers. According to the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), as of November 1st, permission has been granted for all miners who sell gold to the Guyana Gold Board to access a foreign currency account at a local commercial bank. “This account will give miners access to foreign currency to purchase required equipment and spares directly from overseas suppliers, resulting in a reduction in their operating expenses,” the Association said yesterday. But there will be requirements. Among other things, the miner must have an
established profile with the Guyana Gold Board. The client can access 10% of the accumulated sales value in US dollars from the bank, for a maximum of three months. “If the funds are not accessed within three months, then the accumulated amount is forfeited and the cycle restarts.” The frequency for transactions should also be within 28 days of declaration and sales as outlined by the Guyana Gold Board act. GGDMA disclosed that the request for the funds must be made to the offices of the Guyana Gold Board which will be verifying the records for eligibility. “Thereafter, the client will be informed by the GGB whether he/she can access the funds at the Bank of Guyana. The GBB will send the respective information to the Bank of Guyana on the client’s behalf.” The Mining Association said that if the client does not have an existing foreign currency account at any local
commercial bank; the GGB will recommend to the BOG that an account be opened on behalf of the client where the approved funds will be transferred to their desired commercial bank. “All receipts of funds will be accessed through the client’s respective local commercial bank. The client will be informed by the GGB to check with their local commercial bank within 3 –5 working days, upon approval.” GGDMA warned that the foreign currency benefits are not transferrable to other clients. “The client must have a continuously active profile with the GGB after each receipt of the benefit. The foreign currency facilitation can be revised at the discretion of the Ministers of
Finance and Natural Resources and the Environment.” In recent years, gold production became one of the biggest contributors to the country’s economy, last year eclipsing rice and sugar. Despite a drop on the world market of the price of gold from US$1900 per ounce to just over US$1200, it has been inching upwards. The spinoffs from gold mining in recent years have been a boon to the Government. Banks have been lending money like crazy with over 4,000 excavators bought and in operation in the gold bush. Scores or workers have migrated to the industry in an attempt to cash in. However, the drop in prices has been worrying and the miners have been seeking ways to reduce costs and maximize profits. This year, Guyana has set a target of 460,000 ounces with over 435,000 ounces declared already and with just over a month left. However miners are aiming for the 500,000 ounces mark. Last year too, Guyana broke the magical 400,000 ounces mark, the first time since the absence of large scale producer, Omai Gold Mines.
The Quest for Knowledge refreshes the mind, recreates the spirit, and motivates the body. It creates enthusiasm and desire to live an exciting and full day in spite of the routine.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
Guyana/Trinidad Land deal…
MOU should be halted for wider consultation - APNU By: Kiana Wilburg A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, believes that all plans to move ahead with the recently signed Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago should be halted because it is shrouded in too much secrecy. The MOU, which is a Jagdeo based initiative is geared towards making some of Guyana’s lands available to the Twin Island to invest in Agriculture.
The Ministry of Agriculture recently informed that the exact amount of land which will be granted to the Caricom member state has not been agreed upon though it has been reported that some 10,000 acres of land was already earmarked for the project. At a press briefing on Thursday last, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy as well as the Food Production Minister of the neighbouring island, Devant Maharaj, said that based on the findings of the technical team, they will be moving forward with the project. However, the detailed
- Lands in Region Six earmarked for project findings of the technical team were not disclosed by either Minister. Meanwhile, lands in Region Six, in particular, the Canjie Basin and the intermediate savannahs, were earmarked for the possible Trinidadian investors to use for agricultural purposes. However, Dr. Ramsammy revealed to this publication that while these potential areas have been identified, the amount of land that will be used is still undetermined until specific investment proposals are made.
Be that as it may, Dr. Roopnarine has asserted that while he is not informed about the details of the MOU, he insists that all plans to move forward with this aspect of the project should be brought to a standstill immediately. Although reports have been made that Guyana stands to gain substantial benefits from this project, the APNU politician stressed that the “details” of these so-called benefits have not been made public. “How does this project
benefit the people of Guyana? Why the findings of the technical team weren’t made public information and how does this fit into our plan for the Agricultural development of Guyana? We need to know these details for such a project, and until then I believe that it should be shelved and the MOU be made a subject of wider consultations.” The Member of Parliament also said that the details of the MOU should also be made public as well. He said, “Land is a very
sensitive issue and when it comes to issuing lands to non Guyanese for the best of reasons, all details must be revealed.” At the press briefing, Dr. Ramsammy had also indicated that they are still in the initial stages of this collaboration, but have made some amount of headway as they have already identified crops such as corn and soya to be propagated. Discussions with regard to the land deal are still ongoing. Maharaj has also stressed that the project is being done with the intention of creating sustainable employment and to diversify the T&T economy from being heavily dependent on energy and moving towards developing a second frontier. He also expressed that the project comes at a critical time since they are currently turning away investors due to the unavailability of land needed for such a venture to successfully materialize. When Maharaj was asked about the reports of Trinidadians who expressed concerns over the project, referring to it as irrelevant, since they claimed that their island already has fertile land, the Food Production Minister said, “We may have the acreage but it is broken up and spread across the entire island.” He said that to date he has received no objection towards the signed MOU since it was announced earlier this year. Maharaj is of the belief that these “alleged complaints” are spread by political agents who are simply seeking political mileage.” He said, “The Housing Ministry is mandated to provide subsidized housing for persons in TT. To date, we have close to 200,000 applications for housing and they only produced about 9000 houses in the last three years. Before that, they produced about 2000 houses so this gives an idea about the intense competition we have for land between housing and agriculture.” “There are lands in TT but persons are either uneducated or uninformed when they make statements about TT having land for this project. They think lands are just sitting there and not being used but the lands which they refer to, are privately held lands where persons have received a lease from the state and as such, they have legal entitlement to those lands and it would be illegal and immoral for the state to arbitrarily and capriciously take those lands from those individuals without due process.” Minister Maharaj then said, “With regard to this project, both governments are simply acting as facilitators. We are simply helping our investors to have access to land which TT does not have to offer.”
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Minister Jennifer Webster lied!!! Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Jennifer Webster, was not completely honest when she said that she was not present at Cabinet when it had discussed the Memorandum of Understanding to pursue a US$30M recycling plant with ‘Ghost Company’ Natural Globe Inc. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, recently debunked the Minister’s claim. He said that she would have had to be present at a number of meetings where the subject was discussed. According to Dr Luncheon, the MoU would have been engaging Cabinet for a number of months and as such the Minister inevitably would have had to be present at a number of these. Dr Roger Luncheon further told media operatives that the Minister at no point in time informed Cabinet that her daughter was one of the three directors of the Natural Globe Inc, which incidentally was only registered three months ago. The proposal to build the US$30M recycling plant was submitted to Government 14 months ago. This past week Dr Luncheon announced that
…never told Cabinet about her daughter’s involvement with ‘Ghost Company’ - Dr Luncheon following days of explosive revelations regarding Natural Globe Inc, Cabinet has decided to abandon the MoU. The decision would have been made days after Government stoutly defended the company and the MoU. Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud, had even accused the media of seeking to scare away investors, such as Mohamed Osman, the Chief Executive Officer of Natural Globe Inc. The Minister of Local Government claimed that he was “satisfied that there is credible evidence with regards to Mr Osman (sic) experience, involvement, and expertise in the business of recycling and his initial commitment to invest approximately US$30M in this particular project. “The standard operating procedures were followed in identifying Natural Globe Guyana Inc.” Dr Luncheon this past week however, took an aboutturn and said that it was the media exposure that prompted the review and eventual abandonment of the
Minister Jennifer Webster MoU. “In the wake of the media revelations and in the context of its recent execution of the MoU with the firm Natural Globe Inc, for recycling services in Guyana, Cabinet has decided to withdraw its execution of the MoU with the firm,” said Dr. Luncheon. Asked about the due diligence that Government would have conducted prior to inking the MoU with Natural Globe Inc, Dr.
Move courageously into uncertain future - says valedictorian UGBC Valedictorian, Ms. Coffiea Coretta Brummell
Ms. Coffiea Coretta Brummell was the Best Graduating Student at the University of Guyana Berbice Campus’s 12 th Convocation last evening on the University lawns in Berbice. Ms. Brummell, who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (Primary General) is a Primary School teacher. She received the Republic Bank Award. In giving her Valedictory Address to the 222 new graduates of the University, Brummell noted that they have reached a critical point in their lives. “In terms of jobs…many of us do not know what the future holds, but what we know for sure is that we are all equipped to make a difference in the way we do things.” She urged her colleagues
to move forward courageously “to the uncertain future.” “Let us do what we have been taught to do best— transform lives.” Brummell then requested that the graduates never “fail to try but continue to strive to make great things happen.” “Indeed, we are special. We are graduating at this special point in time when the University is celebrating its 50th anniversary.” She added that her dream was not just to become a qualified teacher, “but the best teacher that there could ever be.” She began to fulfill that dream four years ago. Other outstanding students, too, received prizes and medals. Sherilee Althea
Samuels- Reid was Second Best Graduating Student and received the Homeline Furnishing Award; Gail Elizabeth Balkarran received the Ansa McAl Award for Best Graduating Student in the Diploma/Associate Degree Programme. Karl Orrin Vanier received the Director’s Award for Graduating student with a Bachelor ’s Degree for contribution in other areas of University activities.
Luncheon said, “A number of areas were inadequately attended to.” He said that it was “the media revelations that pointed this out, rather forcibly, to the attention not only of Cabinet, but of the Guyanese people.” Natural Globe Inc, the company in question, is run by Osman and has as its Directors, his son, Imzamam Osman and Andrianna Webster, the daughter of the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Jennifer Webster. Asked to identify the investors, he said that it was the Minister’s daughter and himself that would be putting US$15M each. Minister Webster while confirming that her daughter was a Director of the company, vehemently denied that she was investing any money given that she was not a shareholder. Pressed further on the source of his share of the financing, Osman said that he is the Vice President of Mogford Enterprise in Canada which is the parent company for a subsidiary called the Tadger Group International. While there was no website found for the parent company, one was located for what he claimed is the subsidiary. When questioned further about this company, details such as contact information, among other things, Osman said he could not recall at the time and would text Kaieteur News the information. The Ministry of Local Government had on the very day contradicted what Osman was saying when it released a statement that he “Osman serves in the capacity of Technical Advisor to this agency.”
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Kaieteur News
GGMC, Gold Board to take up residence at Port Kaituma The under construction multi-complex at Deon Stoll Main Road Port Kaituma.
Two significant agencies affiliated with the mining sector are scheduled to take up residence at the growing and popular mining community of Port Kaituma in the North West District. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Robert Persaud told a gathering in the Region One community earlier this week, that in an earnest effort to improve and better monitor mining in the area, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board are expected to share housing at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Port Kaituma branch. The announcement came during an indepth presentation on the challenges faced by the agencies tasked with ensuring the “organization and legal” growth of the very important sector. Persaud reiterated that gold mining plays a significant role in the country’s development, but charged that there are many challenges posed by indisciplined persons who refuse to follow the rules of the system. “We need to ensure that mining is done in an environmentally clean and responsible way, but also, in a socially positive way for the benefit of communities.” He continued
ImmigrationINFO (Immigration News For Our Community)
Illegal Family Members of U.S. Military Personnel May Adjust Status in U.S. Attorney Gail Seeram
that, “we are coming to Port Kaituma with a long term and fixed presence. We were able to work with GBTI in getting them to construct a facility which the GGMC and the Guyana Gold Board could share and therefore have a permanent office in Port Kaituma.” He told the residents that having the bank in Port Kaituma would be good for them since it means that the agency would also be providing support in financing mining activities. The Minister said, “We are coming here because we care. We are coming here because we want the mining sector to grow and we want it to grow in an organized way.” “We don’t want people looking around for staff or if they have gold to sell, they have to be, as it were, encouraged to sell it other than the legal way. We are providing all the necessary facilities to make what we are preaching possible.” The construction site is said to be the home of a soon to come multi-complex facility that will house the bank and the mining agencies. It was noted that the initiative is a joint venture of the government and GBTI to support the transformation of Region One through increased economic activities.
Sunday November 24, 2013
A new initiative has been launched to assist illegal aliens who are present without admission or parole and who are spouses, children and parents of those serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve or who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve. In an effort to demonstrate its commitment to assisting military families, the Department of Homeland Security will use a discretionary tool called “parole in place” to help military dependents secure permanent immigration status in the United States as soon as possible. Although it is most frequently used to permit an illegal alien who is outside the United States to come into U.S. territory, parole may also be granted to aliens who are already physically present in the U.S. without inspection or admission (sometimes called “parole in place”). The basic authority for parole in place is INA § 212(d) (5) (A), which expressly grants discretion to parole “any alien applying for admission to the United States.” The grant of “parole in place” allows illegal aliens who entered the U.S. without inspection or illegal aliens subject to the three years and ten years ban for unlawful
presence to adjustment status in the United States without having to leave the United States. Also, there is no requirement to file a waiver in or outside the United States. The illegal alien must not have criminal convictions of any other grounds of inadmissibility besides the two mentioned grounds mentioned in this paragraph. STEP 1: Determine Eligibility Remember, the decision whether to grant parole in place under INA § 212(d) (5) (A) is discretionary (on a case-by-case basis, looking at “urgent humanitarian reasons”). The applicant must be a spouse, child or parent of an Active Duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces, an individual in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve or an individual who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve. Absent a criminal conviction or other serious adverse factors, parole in place would generally be an appropriate exercise of discretion for such an individual. If USCIS decides to grant parole in place, the parole should be authorized in one-year increments, with re-parole as appropriate. To request parole, the alien must submit to the director of the USCIS office with jurisdiction over the alien’s place of residence: (1) Completed Application for Travel Document;
Gail S. Seeram (2) Evidence of the family relationship; (3) Evidence that the alien’s family member is an Active Duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces, individual in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve or an individual who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or the Selected Reserve or the Ready Reserve such as a photocopy of both the front and back of the service member’s military identification card (DD Form 1173); (4) Two identical, color, passport style photographs; and (5) Evidence of any additional favorable discretionary factors that the requestor wishes considered. STEP 2: Apply for Adjustment of Status Once you have obtained approval of your parole in place, you can proceed with filing a visa petition (signed by the U.S. citizen) and adjustment of status application, all at the same time. It is advised that you seek the advice of an experienced immigration lawyer when pursuing this new process of obtaining “parole in place” in order to seek adjustment of status in the United States as a family member of military personnel. For more information, email Gail@GailLaw.com or call 1-877-GAIL-LAW or 407292-7730 and ask about a FREE consultation.
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
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No siblings: A side-effect of China’s one-child policy By Celia Hatton BBC News, Beijing What’s it like to grow up in a world where no-one has brothers or sisters? Are siblings really that important? Researchers have been asking those questions for years - and China, with its famous one-child policy, has been a good place to look for an answer. Chinese families used to have an average of four children each, but life changed radically in 1979, when a law was introduced dictating that most parents could only have one child. Last week, we learned that the policy will now be relaxed, after being enforced across the w o r l d ’s m o s t p o p u l o u s country for more than a generation. “On the township roads, there are slogans written on flamboyant red banners, telling people to have fewer children and raise more pigs,” says art photographer Fan Shi San, recalling a recent trip to the impoverished province of Gansu. Fan, himself an only child, takes photographs of single children alongside their “phantom” brothers or sisters - the siblings they never had. “Most of my audiences don’t realise they have a s p e c i a l i d e n t i t y, ” h e explains, noting that many parents even stopped questioning why they couldn’t have more than one child and forgot that things had ever been different. In 1979, when the policy was first unveiled, the new rules were a major adjustment for those accustomed to large families. But children growing up under the policy were unaware of this. And in the early years, the parents of most new single children came from large
It must be madness, because people are simply not taking heed. The violence is in part due to frustration created in part by an economic climate that reduces life to insignificant proportions. The drug situation is not helping and that is where the root of the problem is. A businessman is going to lose heavily because of a drug bust. This is going to cause pressure that would make this businessman see life as being expendable. Some other desperate people will die as they try to defend this
families - so instead of siblings, the children were able to forge close relationships with cousins. Since 1997, sociologist Vanessa Fong of Amherst College in Massachusetts has followed a group of 2,273 Chinese “singletons” as she calls them. Every year, she interviews and surveys between 600 and 1,300 of the original group so she can track how their lives have been affected by growing up without siblings. To begin with, the very notion of “sibling” was a hard one for the children to grasp - a task made more difficult by the Chinese tendency to use the term for “brother” or “sister” when talking about cousins. Even when the children were in their teens, she would have to explain the difference to this group of people that had never encountered genetic siblings. “They’d say, ‘Well, yes, I have many brothers and sisters.’ And I’d say, ‘How did that happen? Most people have no siblings.’ And they’d say, ‘Oh, I’m talking about my aunt’s children’.” The first singletons born under the one-child policy experienced other changes, too, apart from the absence of brothers and sisters. “Every family suddenly had a huge amount of discretionary income to invest in education and also in consumption,” Fong explains. The resources that had been spread among several children in past generations were now focused on one child. The result - China’s new singletons were more educated than generations before them. And Chinese education costs soared overnight. In the past, parents would usually choose just one of their children to
progress in school. But after the one-child policy came into practice, each single child shouldered this focused pressure from two parents. Ge Yang, a 32-year-old woman who grew up in Beijing, says the unflinching, relentless attention she received from her father, a driver, and her mother, an accountant, altered the course of her life. “If my parents had had other children, they would have paid less attention to me, in which case I might have spent more time and energy doing things that interest me. Chinese parents of my parents’ generation like to plan life for their children,” she explains. Ge now works as a pharmaceutical sales representative, a solid middleclass job. But things might have been different, she says, if she had had siblings to share the burden of her parents’ expectations. She might have chosen a different career, or moved away from
businessman. ** The United States government is going to be the most serious of those who want to see a vibrant anti-money laundering legislation. Those Guyanese who leave with large sums of money are suddenly going to come
under the radar. Two of them will declare their money, but that will not prevent seizure for months. ** The police are going to crack a smuggling ring. Already there are people who are stealing cars in a nearby country and stripping them of parts that are shipped to Guyana. At the same time there are car thieves here who are doing the same thing. The police would get lucky when they stumble upon a gang in the process of hijacking a car.
Fan Shi San’s ‘Two of Us’ project imagines a sibling for an only child
Beijing. “I think if I had another chance, I might choose to work in the tourism industry, or live in another city,” she muses. “But as a single child, I have the responsibility to look after my parents. I couldn’t leave my city. I need to be with them. This is something I cannot change.” Nonetheless, she sees her singleton status in a positive light. “As an only child, I have my parents’ love all to myself,” she says firmly. “I don’t want to share my parents with others.” But what about Little Emperor Syndrome - the notion that China’s children would grow up spoiled and self-centred? It was widely feared, but a number of studies including many conducted by Chinese researchers - have failed to turn up any nasty personality traits among those who grew up in China’s one-child families. There’s no real evidence that China’s singletons are any different than other children, they argue. But other studies contend that China’s singletons are different. A study of only
children in Beijing released by a group of Australian researchers this year used a series of games and surveys to test behavioural traits. The study attempted to unveil the subjects’ real personalities by using games tied to real financial rewards, explains University of Melbourne economist Nisvan Erkal. “What we found was that people born after the policy, and who are single children because of the policy are significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk averse and less competitive,” he says. “From the surveys, we find they are also more pessimistic and less conscientious.” Those born in the later stages of the one-child policy will provide researchers with even richer material. While children born in the 1970s and 1980s were usually surrounded by large extended families, those born more recently will typically have been born to parents who were single children themselves. With fewer cousins, aunts and uncles in the mix, children grow up in much smaller families than before. An increasing tendency
for people to move home for the sake of a job also makes it more likely single children will grow up without close ties to their grandparents, or even childhood friends, notes the sociologist, Vanessa Fong. “China has changed a lot, so relationships are not as intimate as before,” she explains. “In previous generations, people were not able to move to other cities or other countries. Now, there is a lot more migration, both within China and between China and other countries.” Ge understands that concern. Her three-yearold daughter is experiencing a much different childhood than the generations before her. “My child will have very few stable friends. She will have many new friends as she grows up, but she will have very few long-term friends who grow up together,” she ays. Under the new relaxation of the one-child policy, Ge and her husband qualify for a second child. However, she knocks down that idea with a quick wave of her hand. A second child would be too expensive, she explains, if she wants to be able to afford a good lifestyle. “It is not that we don’t want to raise more children, it is that we cannot create that many opportunities for them. If I cannot create that much opportunity for my children, I think that my children will feel lost in competition against other children,” she says. Although the one-child policy is still in place for many in China, it is possible that one day in the not-too-distant future, China’s one-child generation will become a chapter in the country’s history books. But even when that happens, the ultimate verdict as to whether China’s singletons were hurt by the policy, or benefited from it, may still be the subject of debate.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
The quiet computer technician’s secret life By Michael Jordan None of us suspected that he might have a secret life. None of us thought that the time would come when his name would be mentioned in the same sentence with unsavoury figures from the Guyanese underworld. After all, he was Veeran Veerapen, a mild-mannered, middle-aged guy with glasses, who worked in the Chronicle’s Computer Room. ‘Penn’, as most of us called him, was a member of the Rama Krishna Church in Barr Street, Kitty. He was happily married, had fathered two children, had worked at
the same job for 25 years, didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t smoke, and never raised his voice. But on Tuesday, January 12, 1999, something went badly wrong in the life of Veeran Veerapen. At around nine o’clock that day, the 49year-old computer technician left his Owen Street, Kitty home after informing his wife, Indroutie, that he was going to GT&T’s Brickdam office to pay the family’s phone bill. From all reports, he disembarked from a minibus at Regent Street and Orange Walk, and headed towards Brickdam. And then he simply disappeared.
Night fell, and dawn broke, and there was still no sign of Veerapen. An intensive search began for the missing technician. On Thursday, January 14, a group of children living in a small community near the Madewini Creek got an unpleasant surprise. Lying on the ground, in a clearing some 100 yards off the East Bank Public Road, was the badly battered body of a man of East Indian ancestry. Detectives who arrived at the scene concluded that the victim had been bludgeoned to death. Scouring the area, the detectives also found an empty bottle several feet from the corpse. The bottle smelled of the unmistakable odour of monocrotophos — the deadly insecticide used in the local farming industry. Suspecting that the victim was missing technician Veeran Veerapen, detectives contacted the missing man’s family. Two relatives immediately identified the body as that of Veerapen’s. Forensic pathologist Dr. Leslie Mootoo found traces
of the insecticide in the dead man’s stomach, but the autopsy revealed that Veerapen died from brutal head blows he had received. Dr. Mootoo concluded that someone had forced the noxious substance down Veerapen’s throat before killing him. What, everyone wondered, could this quiet, decent family man have done to come to such a brutal end? Who had wanted him dead? Detectives attempted to find out just that. Retracing Veerapen’s movements on the day he disappeared, the investigators discovered that he never arrived at GT&T to pay the telephone bill. The phone bill amounted to $6,000. When Veerapen was found, only $1,000 was in his pocket. Then the investigation took an even more sinister turn. Veerapen, the detectives were told, was walking along Orange Walk and Croal Street, when three men cornered him and forced him into a white car. Digging into Veerapen’s background, the detectives found out that the Chronicle computer technician also did computer work for persons with whom he had been acquainted for several years. Their investigations led them to suspect that Veerapen’s computer expertise had led to him
rubbing shoulders with some figures in a ‘backtrack’ ring which provided Guyanese with false documents to migrate to the United States and Canada. Veerapen, they concluded, had somehow incurred the wrath of key members of a recently-busted ‘backtrack’ ring, and had paid the ultimate price. Some of the reports also seemed to indicate that the men who had abducted and killed Veerapen had met him at his home a few days before he was slain. Determined to find possible clues, investigators removed Veerapen’s personal computer and accessories from his home and perused the files. They found nothing. They also reportedly sought, and received, assistance from US Embassy officials who had investigated the same ‘backtrack’ operation that was suspected to have ‘taken out’ Veerapen. But, again, they found nothing. The trail went cold, and has stayed cold. In fact, no one was ever arrested for ‘Penn’s’ murder. Throughout it all, Veerapen’s wife, Indroutie, has steadfastly maintained that her husband had not been into any shady business. She stated that she
knew all of the persons for whom her husband had done private work. Her belief, she said, was that the people who murdered her husband had mistaken him for someone else. Years after her husband’s unsolved murder, Mrs. Veerapen still had a haunted look when I turned up at her home to ask her about the case. Stressing her reluctance to speak about the matter, she told me she has resigned herself to the fact that his killers will never be caught. Their fate, she says, is in the hands of the Creator. And so it seems that what happened on that fateful January day will remain a mystery, known only to a group of cold-blooded killers and their victim, Veeran Veerapen, the quiet computer technician with a secret life. If you have any further information on this or any other case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street office. We can also be reached on telephone numbers 2258465, 22-58491, or 2258473. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address mjdragon@hotmail.com
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 23
== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==
Is this self-destruction? There is a lesson to be learnt by Guyanese stakeholders from the present drama that is going on in American politics between the Republicans and the Democrats. On Thursday, the US senate voted by a simple majority to do away with the filibuster rules with regards to the presidential nominations to federal courts and certain state appointments. Filibuster is a tactic that allows debate on a Bill or a motion to go on indefinitely and can only be brought to an end by sixty votes in the Senate. Both Republicans and Democrats have used the filibuster throughout the more than two hundred years of American history. Neither side wanted to do away with it, because each found it a useful political weapon. But matters went out of hand when in the past four months, Republicans have filibustered dozens of important appointments of President Obama, effectively reducing his presidential functions. The President’s party did not have sixty votes to end the filibuster. Using a technicality last Thursday, the Democratic Senators voted by a simple majority to change the filibuster rules, except for appointments to the Supreme Court. This means that President Obama’s nominees
could now go through. The lesson to be noted here is that a majority vote carried. Whether the Republicans liked it or not, they have to observe the American constitution and accept that by a majority vote, rules that existed for many, many moons in the US Senate have been changed, and by a parliamentary majority. Guyana’s predicament is that since the 2011 elections, the ruling PPP has not accepted that it does not have control of Parliament and therefore it has to accept majority decisions. The configuration of Parliament was arrived at an election process that the PPP recognized, since that very election result also gave the presidency to the PPP. So on the one hand, the PPP accepts the election result for the Executive but rejects it for the Parliament. This is where the role of important stakeholders comes in. Once the PPP began to reject an oppositioncontrolled Parliament in early 2012, and gridlock emerged, it was the nationalist duty of these stakeholders to act as earnest liaison. The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has most vulgarly abandoned that road and now Guyana may have to endure difficult economic times because of
the non-approval by Parliament of the anti-money laundering legislation. Trying to understand the way the people in the Private Sector Commission think is more difficult than studying the way fishes think. If the legislation fails because of opposition rejection, then why not talk to them? Why not engage them, because your interests are at stake. Instead, the PSC has taken the self-destructive pathway – it slavishly advances the position of the PPP that the opposition must pass the Bill. If the PSC’s cry that financial trouble is coming is true, then that body has become self-destructive. The same can be said for the bankers’ association. If Guyana’s financial system will be severely devastated by crippling sanction from the globe’s major financial institutions, then only one method is available to our business folks - talk to the people who have the power to stop the disaster. What the PSC and others have done is internalize the fear of reprisals since the results of the 2011 elections, and that has led it into a situation of sycophancy. Now this very servility threatens the business operations of the private sector. The PSC is caught in a
maze that it has created. After two years of bowing to the intransigence of the PPP, it cannot muster the intestinal muscle to go to the presidency and ask them to meet the opposition halfway. As a replacement for that obligation, it insists that the opposition must accede to the request of the Government. In a country where the opposition won the general elections by their combined strength, it cannot form the government because of our peculiar constitution. In most,
if not all political systems in the world, the constitution would have allowed for a coalition between APNU and the AFC to form a Cabinet. Yet stakeholders like the PSC want the opposition to behave as if it is a minority in Parliament. This is extreme naiveté. Where do we go from here? Unless the PPP leadership goes to the table and a process of give and take is allowed to evolve, Guyana’s stagnation will continue. If a financial crisis is looming that will cripple our
Frederick Kissoon economy, then decent and patriotic stakeholders should immediately seek dialogue with the opposition, ascertain what it wants, then go to the PPP and ask for compromise. Nothing else will save Guyana.
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Book Review… Oftentimes, we are told to judge a book by its merits, not its packaging. It’s an axiom applicable across the board. In the case of Singleholic, such counsel never proved so true. At the outset, this literary teaser can easily be misconstrued as a whimsical chronicle of a woman’s search for Mr. Right. And while a cursory read may bear this out, there is an undeniable message of philosophical depth. Katherine Bing has penned an urbane, stylish, overtly contemporary work that takes a bohemian and paradoxically flippant look at dating, love and marriage. Sarah, the protagonist is a thirty-year-old professional, professedly at the cusp of irrelevance without a beau. She is obsessive, self doubting - a bundle of nerves when encountering a prospective suitor. Her biological clock is ticking, ticking. Her ruminations are hilarious: ”YESSIREE...I am
Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
A sassy look at Society, Gender and Romance BOOK: Singleholic by Katherine Bing CRITIC: Dr Glenville Ashby IN DEMAND now. Guys are ringing, begging to see me. I am doing OK. Chibu, Sam, and Charlie… Guys really want me. I have too many men and too little time.” Her prognostications are desperate and irrational. ”By the time next year,” she mulls, ”I will have an engagement ring on my finger.” She goes on to envision ”the most fabulous wedding of the century,” after a chance meeting with an attractive gentleman. Bing impresses as a writer, flirting with a range of colour and tone. She imbues vigour into a subject that’s potentially banal with a short shelf life - at least on paper. Her work is vivid, entertaining. The strength of her undertaking is its broad appeal. For women, Sarah becomes a reflection - a mirror that deciphers self worth and
identity. On human behaviour, there is so much to be gleaned. Strengths and weakness are laid bare. This is a literary joyride, no doubt, but its clinical worth is unquestionable. Bing offers a panoramic view of romantic indulgence within a contemporary framework. No writer has done it with such raw honesty and candour. It’s Sarah’s stage, but all the characters come alive. Georgina, the perfect doyenne; Manuele, the sexual libertine; and Sarah’s friend, Jacqui, who is the poster child for the modern woman, or, is she? A professional and top of her game, she offers a crash course on dating. ”Men are children really children,” she asserts, as she counsels Sarah on the commandments of dating. ”Men need to feel that
they have worked to get you or they will never adore you...don’t always pick up the phone. Let them think that you are out having a ball. And always make sure you end conversations first...” We later learn that Jacqui’s history with men, including her father, has all but coloured her view of the opposite sex. Her defence mechanism is a bi-product of social expectations…the emergence of a new system of mores. But it also stems from painful experiences. Interestingly, Sarah, a teacher and well heeled, proudly wears the badge of the traditional woman, seeking that knight in shining armour, white picket fences, and children to be whole. She recoils at the young generation’s flippant, nonchalant view to marriage. ”We,” referring today’s women, ”are like seventeen-year-olds in terms of out career ambition, but we still hang on to the romantic notion of love and marriage from our mother’s generation. Is it possible to have both?” she asks herself. It’s an interesting observation that invites sociological debate. Bing’s work is not without some culturally sensitive moments. It is tinged with stereotypes about race and ethnicity. In a multicultural society such as Brixton, and biracial (British father and Jamaican mother), Sarah is
liberal in her selection, but she prefers black men, if only they were more culturally palatable.”So many of them wear loads of gold….YUCK...” And later, when Sarah dates Chibu who is of Nigerian heritage, she muses, “he sits up straight as he drives. What a relief. Ever notice how many black guys drive almost lying down?” Throughout, there is a definitive message that takes, oh, such a long time for Sarah to grasp. The key to happiness is always embedded within. Sometimes
lessons learned are painful. And Sarah has sure had a fear of anxious, doleful episodes. In the end, she realizes that what she so aggressively sought was never really far away. Singleholic bubbles with the best of pop culture – speed and internet dating, multicultural trysts, and of course, “female empowerment.” It’s an intriguing mix that packs a hypnotic punch. Feedback: glenvilleashby @gmail.com Follow me on Twitter@glenvilleashby
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 25
My column
The blacklist resulted from Jagdeo’s gamble There is always the saying that one should never tempt fate. I have seen young motorcyclists weaving their way through traffic as though they are daring the cars and other vehicles on the road to hit them. A relative of my exwife was one of those who tempted fate. He had one of those socalled big bikes and he would go speeding along the roadways, enjoying the adrenaline rush. But as they say, all good things come to an end. One day there he was speeding along the East Bank Demerara thoroughfare, with a cousin as pillion rider, when he weaved from behind a car and slammed into a truck that was coming in the opposite direction. People who witnessed the accident said that this young man flew into the air, reaching as high as the electric wires that are strung along the posts. I remember seeing a piece of a fender on the wall of his mother’s home. From this distance in time all I could say was that this young man tempted fate once too often. I have heard somewhere that a young Bharrat Jagdeo was one who also tempted fate. It is as if to say that when one is young, one tempts fate almost at will. I am certain that he tempted fate with the information provided by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, that he received in November 2011. That was the year when
we all knew that elections were due, but from the way things were going, it almost appeared that the elections would have come without an announcement from Bharrat Jagdeo. In the end the announcement came and the date was no longer a surprise. Jagdeo had waited until the very last moment to make the announcement. He was certain that his party would win the elections with a handsome majority. After that victory, many things would simply be put into place using the parliamentary majority. That would explain why Jagdeo went ahead with a large number of projects at a time when ruling parties would be asked to hold off on projects until after the elections. Desmond Hoyte had to hold off on the Essequibo Road project although the money was there. However, Cheddi Jagan was there with his People’s Progressive Party. He had campaigned in the corridors of Washington and he had secured the
services of others in the United States government and had won the assurance that he would be aided in his quest for power. Hoyte was forced to put his government in pause mode. Jagdeo had no such restrictions. He announced the construction of the Marriott Hotel mere days before the elections. A few weeks earlier he had announced the pursuit of the Amaila Falls project, the Specialty Hospital, the One Laptop Per Family project and expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport project. Many Third World Governments are not allowed to undertake new projects in the shadow of the elections, but Jagdeo did. He was supremely confident. This confidence also saw him shelving the threat by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. The elections came and went, and with it, the result of Jagdeo’s over-confidence. His party did not enjoy the overwhelming parliamentary
majority. This must have created some panic in the ranks, but the opposition parties were never made aware of the things that lurked in the background. We saw the arrogance in the guise of tradition that the ruling party should control the parliamentary select committees. This did not happen; there were changes, so the first brick was falling off the wall of protection. Then there were the votes in parliament, one of which put paid to the Amaila Falls project. There was another vote that stalled the Specialty Hospital project. Jagdeo’s dreams were not materializing. And all this time the CFATF warning rested on the president’s desk. It might have remained there had the CFATF not sent another and more chilling warning early this year. Then it was that the government attempted to pass the legislation. And so it went to the National Assembly and to the Parliamentary Select Committee.
The haste to get the Bill into law did not pass unnoticed, but the opposition must have learnt by now that there should not have been this rush. The result is that they dug in their heels and stalled the vote. Had there been the PPP majority, there would have been so many things happening and the nation would have been helpless to ensure that the right thing was done. There would have been the media headlines criticizing the decisions and there would have been the retort from the government that there were anti-national elements who wanted to prevent Guyana from making its march toward destiny. Guyana has suffered because of a young man’s penchant for tempting fate and for walking close to the edge. Indeed, he did some good; he made Guyana earn almost US$250 million from Norway. He made Guyana gain recognition as an environmentally conscious nation, although it has one of
Adam Harris the dirtiest capitals in the world. These lessons should make the politicians recognize that they are all important in the scheme of things; that they should now sit and talk, that they should plan together. Instead, I get the distinct impression that there is still this quest for uninhibited power. Meanwhile, Guyana is blacklisted as a result of Jagdeo’s dice with fate, the decision to wait until there was a parliamentary majority in favour of the ruling PPP.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
Community Support Officers and their significant roles By Valerie Garrido-Lowe MP Every year hundreds of students graduate from hinterland secondary schools and very few of them get the opportunity to further their education or acquire jobs. The bulk of them, especially the young men, enter the mining industry while most of the young ladies, except for a few who dare to venture into the mining fields also, simply settle down and start a family. The mining industry is the only option that offers money for survival and development but chasing the yellow metal has always been a dangerous occupation which seems to be getting worse. Fathers and sons are murdered; some disappear without a trace while others succumb to horrific accidents and malaria. Trafficking in persons, which is an old “bush business”, is well and alive and where men were the culprits in the past, it would seem that the women have decided to join them in the business and are taking brutish advantage of their own women kind. The “bush” is indeed a frightening place, especially for the young and inexperienced. Hence, Minister Sukhai’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Apprenticeship Programme
for hinterland youths must have excited them and given them some hope - which is a good thing - and I must applaud her for that. Two hundred million dollars ($200M) was approved by the National Assembly in the 2013 National Budget for this programme which targets 2,500 hinterland youths under the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, however, after many questions, reports and comments from some of the youths themselves from various villages, I have come to the conclusion that a lot more thought should have been put into this project. There is no quick fix to any hinterland problem and this should be kept in mind when attempting to find solutions. The Terms of Reference of the Youth Entrepreneurship and Apprenticeship Programme indicate that the programme caters for students/youths within the age bracket of 18 years to 40 years to be attached to health, education, community development, agriculture, infrastructure, general maintenance, sports, culture, tourism, community welfare, community relations and governance - all areas that need to be strengthened within Amerindian communities for which they each will be receiving a stipend of $30,000 per month
for six months. From all indications, the programme started off with lots of energy and enthusiasm, with youths taking a census of their communities, spending some time in the village office, attending meetings and seminars and helping out in the health and education sectors on given days. But then the steam ran out, and the weaknesses of the programme began to reveal themselves. For instance, Community Support Officers (CSOs) are required to write monthly reports and the majority of them were not shown how to do so. With the exception of the health and education sectors, these youths are also not fully aware of what they have to do. Apparently, the programme was not properly explained to them. In some villages there are as many as thirteen CSOs, or more, and the majority of them have nothing to do. In some cases, youths were told to come up with tourism proposals for their villages and they did not have the faintest idea how to go about doing that. So, it is little wonder why they gave up eventually and decided to be grateful for a much needed $30,000. But, are these the kinds of values we want to instill in our indigenous youths? That
they can do nothing and yet get paid? That kind of living is for our businessmen and women who have worked hard to build successful businesses and in later years can afford to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labour. Very few are taking the time to teach or train these youths in their chosen areas. And whom does the Ministry expect to take on that responsibility? Is it the Toshaos or councilors? I am sure these important persons are willing to perform that task, but they too have to take some time to earn a living for themselves, since in many instances, the councilor’s monthly stipend is only half the amount of that of the CSOs and merely quarter or nothing in other villages. It is quite understandable then why most councilors feel insulted. While some village leaders make sure that the CSOs earn their money, there is the feeling in some villages that there are too many CSOs. And while the Minister anticipates that “at the end of the six-month attachment the participants would have enough skills to set up their own business, secure a job, or even pursue higher education”, somehow I fail to see how this can happen after six months, except in the education and health sectors.
Valerie Garrido-Lowe Two hundred million dollars is a lot of money to spend on quick fixes; instead, a plan for long term investment in the future of our indigenous youth should be devised as early as possible. A way to start is by equipping all hinterland secondary schools with science labs - physics and chemistry, IT labs and home economics departments - one school at a time. Technical Institutes where youths can learn carpentry and joinery, motor and electrical mechanics, metal work, masonry and other craft skills are necessary for the development of indigenous communities and the entire hinterland, and one should be built in each hinterland region. Business studies should also be pursued. Competence in computer programmes like Adobe Photoshop and In design,
Corel draw, Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point could allow them to secure online jobs; photography is another online money earner, and this is where the much-touted fibre optic cable can come in useful – providing internet services to hinterland communities as promised by the Government. The recently opened Mining School should have been placed in one of the mining and lumber producing regions of the hinterland. These are long term plans that could be pursued by any government and which will give the youths a fighting chance to fulfill their dreams, uplift their standard of living, contribute meaningfully to their communities and help build this country at the same time. Just recently, at the Toshaos Conference held at the National Conference Centre, CSOs were told that the programme will be extended for another six months, and many of them are saying that they were told by PPP representatives within their communities that they have to join the PYO, the youth arm of the PPP. If this has any truth to it, then the programme is no genuine quick fix, but a campaign strategy for the next general elections. I personally voted for a programme that I thought was born out of genuine concern for the plight of my indigenous brothers and sisters, and I am not saying that it was not, but somehow it has gotten tainted by over enthusiastic PPP activists in the regions. Still, I stand willing, along with my Party, the AFC, to support long term investments in the future of not only hinterland youth, but all the youth of this country. We stand ready and willing to work with our youth to build a healthy, clean, beautiful, prosperous and peaceful Guyana for all.
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
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SUNDAY SPECIAL EX-ARMY OFFICER RIDDLED WITH BULLETS -FRIEND SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES Scores of partygoers were last week Saturday sent scampering for cover after gunmen opened fire on a 21year-old former army officer just as he was about to leave a city night club. Dead is 21year-old Denzil Mingo of Lot 39 Third Street, Alberttown. Mingo had just stepped into his car with two of his friends, Joseph Barker and Earlson Murray, after walking out of the Edge Night Club on Main Street, Georgetown. Barker was shot multiple times about his body and was hospitalised at a private hospital, while Murray managed to escape with a bullet graze to his neck. Police in a press release said that around 04:30hrs, two men armed with firearms opened fire on Mingo and his friends while they were in a motor vehicle on Main Street. The release further added that Mingo was hit several times about the body and was pronounced dead on arrival at the GPHC. An eyewitness said that a little after 04:00hrs, Mingo and his friends had just stepped into his white Toyota Allion PPP 6164 when one of the gunmen proceeded towards the car and an argument ensued between the gunman and Mingo. Eyewitnesses at the scene said that although they could not hear what the argument was about, it seemed as if Mingo and the man he was arguing with might have had some connection. MONDAY EDITION COPS WOUND SUSPECT IN SHOOTOUT NEAR PRISON There was drama outside the Georgetown Prison at around 21:00 hrs last Sunday, after police exchanged gunfire with suspected bandits in a car, wounding one man and causing his alleged accomplices to flee after crashing. The wounded suspect, identified as Silk Mc Lean, 25, of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) with gunshot wounds to the head, side and leg. Police sources told Kaieteur News that ranks had received information that bandits in a dark coloured car had robbed four people, including a police rank, at Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara earlier in the evening. A vehicle fitting the description of the getaway car was subsequently seen
Dead: Denzil Mingo traversing Camp Street, near the prison. Police ranks were in the process of trailing the vehicle when the occupants opened fire. The ranks returned fire, wounding Mc Clean. The occupants then headed towards Leopold Streets, where they crashed into a building. Some of the occupants then exited the vehicle and reportedly fled into the same building, while Mc Lean caught a taxi which took him to the GPHC. JOINT SERVICES LOCK DOWN CAMP STREET PRISON FOLLOWING MINI PROTEST Last Sunday night members of the Joint Services were locked in a standoff with inmates at the Camp Street prison who were demanding the removal of a controversial warden who was recently placed in charge of the facility. The prisoners claim that they are very uncomfortable with Officer Gladwin Samuels being at the helm of the Camp Street Jail, since he was implicated in the murder of an inmate in 2008. Their protest actions saw mostly inmates of the capital sections of the facility chanting slogans through barriers overlooking the prison’s perimeter walls, calling for Samuels’s removal. Kaieteur News understands that a section of the Capital division which houses remand prisoners was breached. As the chanting grew louder and efforts to silence the prisoners failed, the police were summoned and several patrol units responded. They were followed by other ranks from the Tactical Services Unit. Even the fire brigade was on standby inside the prison. This, however, seemed to incense the inmates further. The prisoners accused officer Samuels of inhumane treatment and of terrorising prisoners. Samuels, along with officer Kurt Corbin, in 2008 was charged with
manslaughter in connection with the death of inmate Edwin Niles. TUESDAY EDITION HEIST OF THE TELECOMS, MEDIA SECTOR…AFC LOOKING TO STRIKE OUT MANDATORY LICENCES FOR JAGDEO’S FRIENDS - WE WILL MOVE TO CHANGE THIS CRIMINAL NONSENSE – RAMJATTAN Legislators studying measures that will allow new operators to enter the local telecommunications market, have vowed to make critical changes before new proposed changes are voted on. This is following shocking revelations over the weekend that Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Licences will be handed to four companies - three of which share close ties to former President Bharrat Jagdeo. The three companies, Quark Communications Inc., Global Technology’s i-Net Communications and ENetworks, armed with such a licence, would be able to compete directly with Digicel and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), once the laws are passed in the National Assembly and assented to by President Donald Ramotar. More glaring is that the three companies would have been rapidly expanding their distribution network knowing that the proposed changes in the law mandate that they would be given a licence while others interested in the market would have been restricted. Following complaints that telecoms players were kept in the dark about the proposed licences, Kaieteur News in its investigations and subsequent exposure over the past few weeks made some startling revelations.
CIA SAID TO BE COLLECTING DATA ON MONEY TRANSFERS TO THE CARIBBEAN The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been accused of secretly collecting bulk records of money transfers to the Caribbean and other places handled by companies like Western Union and MoneyGram. Government officials said the transfers include transactions into and out of the United States under the same law that the US National Security Agency (NSA) uses for its huge database of Americans’ phone records. The New York Times, quoting several current and former government officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is classified, said the programme is authorised by provisions in the Patriot Act and overseen by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. “The intelligence community collects bulk data in a number of different ways under multiple authorities,” one intelligence official told the paper. Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the CIA, declined to confirm whether such a programme exists, but said that the agency conducts lawful intelligence collection aimed at foreign “not domestic” activities and that it is subject to extensive
oversight. WEDNESDAY EDITION CHRISTOPHER RAM SUES GUYANATIMES FOR $100M Prominent accountant Christopher Ram has sued the Guyana Times newspapers for $100M, claiming that the outfit published a series of untruths about him last month during a relentless attack on his character. Ram, a business columnist and a practicing lawyer, was on Monday granted a temporary injunction barring the newspaper from repeating the alleged libel until the court case is completed. The lawsuit was filed on November 13th through Ram’s lawyers – Rex Mc Kay, Neil Boston, Bettina Glasford and Brenden Glasford. Both Guyana Times Inc. and its editor, Nigel Williams, were named as the defendants. According to Ram, he is a chartered accountant and managing partner of Ram and Mc Rae. In his court documents, he claimed that in October, Guyana Times, a newspaper with close ties to former President Bharrat Jagdeo, published nine articles describing him as Guyana’s leading bookkeeper and at the same time linking him with Guyana Stores, saying he was non-compliant with his taxes to the tune of millions. Over a number of days,
between October 8th and 16th, the newspaper kept on publishing articles, accusing Ram of being greedy and helping to bankrupt Guyana Stores Limited, a company that is currently involved in a court battle with Government regarding alleged outstanding payments pertaining to its privatization. THURSDAY EDITION MEDIAREVELATIONS FORCE GOVT. TO ABANDON MOU WITH ‘GHOST COMPANY’ Following days of explosive revelations regarding Natural Globe Inc, a company that inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government to pursue the setting up of a US$30M recycling plant, Cabinet has decided to abandon the pact. Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, confirmed this Wednesday during his weekly press engagement at Office of the President. This latest development came days after Government would have stoutly defended the company and the MoU. Minister Ganga Persaud had even accused the media of seeking to scare away investors, such as Mohamed Osman, the Chief Executive Officer of Natural Globe Inc. The Minister of Local (Continued on page 37)
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Sleepwalking into another Venezuelan economic blockade The nightmarish maritime relations between Guyana and Venezuela that have been unfolding since 10th October were long in the making. The frigate – PC 23 Yekuana – of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela entered Guyana’s exclusive economic zone around 16:00 h on Thursday 10th October and, under the threat of force, prevented the unarmed vessel –Teknik Perdana– from conducting seismic surveys. The Yekuana incident was not the most extreme use of armed force, but it was merely a continuation of a policy of economic blockade of the Essequibo. The Venezuelan government, under President Raúl Leoni Otero (1964-69), placed an advertisement in the Times newspaper of London on 15th June 1968 to
the effect that the Essequibo belonged to Venezuela and that it would not recognize economic concessions granted there by the Guyana Government. President Leoni then issued Decreto No. 1152 of 9th July 1968, purporting to annex a nine-mile wide belt of sea-space along Guyana’s entire Essequibo coast and requiring various agencies, including the Defence Ministry, to impose Venezuelan sovereignty over it. President Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodriguez (1969-74) blocked Guyana’s attempt to allow petroleum exploration rights in the Essequibo by DEMITEX, a German company. President Luis Herrera Campins (1979-83) reinforced the blockade by obstructing the development of the Upper Mazaruni Hydro-power
Project. He issued a communiqué in April 1981 stating that because of “Venezuela’s claim on the Essequibo territory” it “asserted the rejection of Venezuela to the hydroelectric project of the upper Mazaruni.” Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, José Alberto Zambrano Velasco, wrote a letter giving the President of the World Bank an ultimatum to refrain from financing the Upper Mazaruni HydroElectric Project. Venezuela’s President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias (1998-2013), issued a July 2000 declaration to prevent the Beal Aerospace Corporation from establishing a satellite station in the Barima-Waini Region and opposed the issuance of petroleum exploration licences to American companies off the Essequibo coast. Guyanese must not be mesmerized by the mirage of Venezuelan magnanimity. Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro Moros have not brought about a miraculous change in Venezuela’s attitude towards its claim to Guyana’s territory. President Carlos Andrés Pérez, forty years ago, signalled a similar ‘shift’ from confrontation to cooperation. Fortified by the tripling of petroleum revenues in 197374 as a result of the international oil crisis, Venezuela offered, in 1974, a large interest-free loan and to purchase sugar from Guyana. Prime Minister Forbes
Burnham paid his first visit to Venezuela in 1975 and reached agreements for the formation of a mixed company for the exploitation of bauxite resources and other fields of functional cooperation. President Andrés Pérez paid a visit to Guyana in 1978, during which he indicated Venezuela’s willingness to help finance the hydroelectric power project in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region of the Essequibo. Behind the apparent friendliness, however, the realpolitik of Venezuela’s geo-political interests remained unchanged. Perez frankly expressed Venezuela’s geopolitical interest in gaining a Salida al Atlantico– access to the Atlantic – from the Orinoco delta by offering to reduce the territorial claim to about 31,000 km2 in return for the Essequibo coast. President Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (1984-89) embarked on a ‘new’ programme of technical co-operation and assistance with Guyana. This continued when Carlos Andrés Pérez returned to the Presidency of Venezuela in 1989, forming yet another ‘new’ relationship with a visit to Georgetown in 1991. Guyana’s President Desmond Hoyte paid a visit to Caracas on 24-27 March 1987 and Venezuela expanded its development assistance. Agreements were concluded on the concessionary sale of petroleum, bauxite mining, preparing a feasibility study for supplying electric power
from the Guri scheme in Bolivar State, financing the construction of the Health Sciences Faculty building at the University of Guyana and a gymnasium and sports hall in Georgetown. Venezuela, despite its apparent economic generosity, has never altered its maritime strategy. Its ambition – nurtured over the past seventy years – derives from its possession of a 2,718 km Caribbean coastline, the longest of any state; a sizeable continental shelf which is rich in petroleum and other mineral resources; numerous natural harbours; extensive maritime transport and transnational economic activity and its strategic location as a link between the North and South American continental landmasses. Guyana sought the shelter of international law. The Maritime Boundaries Act 1977 determined that sovereignty “has always extended to the territorial sea and to the seabed and subsoil underlying and the airspace over such sea.” Guyana asserted that it had always had “full and exclusive sovereign rights in respect of the continental shelf”. The President made Order No. 19 of 1991 under the Act on 23 February 1991 declaring a specific area an exclusive economic zone. The Act established a fishery zone beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea with an outer limit of 200 miles from the baseline of the
territorial sea. This area coincides with that of the EEZ and serves to ensure Guyana’s sovereignty over its living marine resources. Guyana took another step towards the consolidation of sovereignty over its marine resources with the introduction of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1986 which became law on 14th June 1986. President Carlos Andrés Pérez, despite his bonhomie, was the one to sign the Treaty between the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Republic of Venezuela on the Delimitation of Marine and Sub-Marine Areas on 18th April 1990 with Prime Minister Arthur Robinson. Both states sought to project their own economic interests without resorting to a more appropriate multilateral mechanism by consulting Barbados, Grenada and Guyana, which that particular situation warranted. Venezuela sought a strategic salida al Atlántico and Trinidad and Tobago sought access to new areas of potential hydrocarbon resources. Venezuela’s quest for a salida is critical to understanding the Yekuana incident in October. Venezuela’s maritime strategy has remained unchanged over the past 50 years. Guyana’s diplomats need to be wide awake and well informed so as not to sleepwalk into another economic blockade.
Sunday November 24, 2013
From page 27 Govt. claimed that he was “satisfied that there is credible evidence with regards to Mr Osman (sic) experience, involvement, and expertise in the business of recycling and his initial commitment to invest approximately US$30M in this particular project. “The standard operating procedures were followed in identifying Natural Globe Guyana Inc.” Dr Luncheon on Wednesday took an aboutturn and said that the media exposure prompted the review and eventual abandonment of the MoU. GPHC BOARD FAILS IN BID TO REMOVE CEO …145 PROFESSIONALS ALREADY QUIT MINISTRY Reports out of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation state that Minister Bheri Ramsaran is on a clean sweep campaign designed to rid the facility of staff members whom he does not appreciate. The most recent target was Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan. Using Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nirmal Rekha, Ramsaran sent Khan home ostensibly on his annual leave. However this decision was reversed by Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford, who is currently performing the duties as Health Minister. When contacted, Minister Westford said that no organization can send someone home on his vacation leave. And if Rekha wanted to send Khan off on administrative leave, then he would have had to seek a reason. Rekha did try to offer the reason that a fraud enquiry
Kaieteur News
Bharrat Jagdeo was underway and that Khan had not informed the Board about the fraud. But it transpired that Khan was not on duty at the time. Rekha did not attempt to discipline the person who was acting for Khan at the time. FRIDAY EDITION NOANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING BILL…GUYANA BLACKLISTED …CFATF WARNS ITS MEMBERSAGAINST FINANCIAL DEALS WITH THIS COUNTRY In November 2011, international regulators told the Bharrat Jagdeo administration that the country needed to take steps to ensure that the nation had strong financial regulations. Two years later, the country is still to comply with the necessary measures and as such the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) has essentially blacklisted Guyana. It has also notified its member countries to put counter measures in place when dealing with Guyana’s finances given the risks involved. The issue centred on the passage of amendments to the Anti-
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President Donald Ramotar
Attorney General Anil Nandlall
Prime Minister Sam Hinds
Opposition Leader, David Granger
Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act. CFATF then said that these measures should be in place by May 2013.
acquire wiring to power their homes. Some households pooled money in sums of $40,000-$50,000 to get GPL external contractors to run wiring to power their homes. Many residents were of the impression that they were actually making legal transactions with GPL officials. Some of the wiring was 15 feet above the ground which is very dangerous, while in other situations, illegal meters were also installed on substandard poles. “We thought these people were genuinely giving us original GPL connections,” one resident noted. However, when GPL Field Services Manager Looknauth Singh was contacted for a comment, he emphasised that residents should source power the legal way and visit GPL offices to seek advice on how they could do so.
leading auditor has warned against alarm and panic. “We do not anticipate that countries will stop doing business with Guyana. We believe, however, that there will be consequences for businesses and individuals alike as other countries review the framework within which transactions are carried on with Guyana,” said Christopher Ram, a partner in Ram and McRae. Ram, also a business analyst, believes that the most significant impact will be on time sensitive transactions as more questions are raised about the source and destination of funds and the purpose and validity of transactions which could ultimately translate into increased costs and possibly lost business opportunities. Businesses and persons with overseas deals must now expect delays in the processing of both inbound and outbound transactions. He called for proper records keeping. “We further recommend that an additional period of
one week be allowed for any enquiries and investigations. In particular, businesses and individuals must maintain adequate records and a reliable paper trail of their transactions.” The auditor also called on the country’s political leaders, both inside and outside of the National Assembly, to address the money-laundering and related systemic issues that continue to undermine the integrity of Guyana’s financial system, fair trading and public trust and international confidence. Ram explained that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), an organisation of states and territories of the Caribbean Basin established in 1990 to implement common counter-measures against money laundering, has identified the legislative and other measures taken by Guyana to deal with money laundering and the financing of terrorism as deficient.
GPL RAID FINDS ENTIRE COMMUNITYILLEGALLY POWERED Millions of dollars in Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) wiring were removed from “Dr Charles Scheme” Coverden, East Bank Demerara (EBD) Thursday, after GPL operatives ‘raided’ the area and found that the entire community was illegally powered. This was so because most, if not all of the residents were squatting and the community was not regularized, so GPL did not have the district as being part of its network. The village of Sarah Johanna, EBD, was also tackled. In the Coverden Scheme, there was a combination of makeshift poles and even meters. Sources disclosed that such wires could have only been sourced from GPL’s Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Department, which has poor accountability, as residents of the village disclosed that they paid large sums of money to
SATURDAY EDITION IS GUYANAA DIRTY MONEY HAVEN? - CHRIS RAM WARNS OF TRANSACTION DELAYS As Guyana begins to assess the likely impact from the region over a failure to pass critical anti-money laundering legislation, a
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Anti Money Laundering Impasse… Pirates strike in the Pomeroon FORMER CANADIAN DEPUTY
JUDGE WILLING TO HELP
Ransomed boat Today at 14:53 hours, ranks of the Coast Guard conducting duties off the Pomeroon River were placed on high alert after a Lima fisherman and his crew of two were attacked and robbed, in the vicinity of the Pomeroon River mouth, Friday night around 22:00 hours. Owner of the fishing vessel, Sham Narine, said his captain “Lemo” (only named given) called and reported the incident to him. Narine said that the attackers, who were said to be armed with guns, attacked the Captain, relieving him of a generator and a brand new
engine worth $760,000 before fleeing. The captain and his crew were returning to shore after making their second trip Friday night. Narine said his Captain had left on Tuesday and was destined to return Saturday evening. The fishermen, Narine added, were unable to identify the pirates since the place was dark but they however managed to recognise the boat which they said had red, white and blue stripes. Narine, who was attacked previously, has rated this as the most serious attack.
A Canadian former deputy Judge Oudit N. Rai (B.A.,M.A.,LL.B), has expressed his willingness to help Guyana draft its AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation that would see consensus between the Government and Opposition, while complying with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. The former deputy Judge in providing his credentials, said that he studied AML/ Anti-Terrorist Financing legislation worldwide. He added that he is currently completing an LLM (Masters in Law) in this field. He also wrote that he has analyzed the structure and function of the FINRA, the US Financial Intelligence Unit. Rai, in a letter published in yesterday’s edition of Kaieteur News, said that he has been following Guyana’s
AML closely and is aware of the “political hysteria” and “blame game” surrounding Guyana’s non compliance with the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) recommendations. There are also the allegations of “potential negative economic and financial impact that may result from being blacklisted.” According to Rai the insinuations that there will be negative financial implications should Guyana be non compliant are not as “severe as it is being suggested.” He wrote, “Instead, external financial institutions handling funds originating from Guyana may require additional verification of those funds. This extra scrutiny in itself is not a bad thing, considering the lack of domestic enforcement of the existing anti-money laundering (AML) legislation in Guyana, a non-functional
Financial Intelligence Unit improperly placed within the Ministry of Finance, and Guyana’s reputations as a nacro-transshipment state. “If Guyana fails to eventually get its act together, then it runs the risk of being listed by FATF as a high risk non compliant country and will join the following high risk jurisdictions: North Korea, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, North Korea and Yemen.” The former deputy Canadian Judge elucidated that “FATF recommendations are not unique to Guyana. Deficient countries are routinely provided with recommendations from their respective regional groups, such as CFATF, to bring their AML legislation to international standards along the FATF recommendations. “As a result of the
The critical importance of estimates (From page 48) agreement on the table leaves especially the home builder exposed. While one can argue that the home is being built in stages and thus the potential losses can be limited, again it must be stressed that the investment to build a home strikes close to the heart. It should therefore be viewed in the light that it is strictly a business transaction that should be protected as such. You can email any questions or send comments on how we can improve on the articles to gildarie@yahoo.com.
How Guyana’s economy... From page 11 and commodities. 5. Local businesses may experience delays in the shipment of goods as additional paperwork will be required to prove that a business is legitimate and not a shell company laundering monies or financing terrorism. 6. Enhanced scrutiny will be implemented to verify the source and destination of all monies. 7. Persons who shop online and use debit and credit cards to conduct such transactions may find their transactions are denied or delayed.
8. Insurance services (fire, life, mortgage etc), most of which depend on reinsurance from abroad, are also expected to experience delays, additional filing of paperwork and possibly increased fees. Despite numerous warnings, multiple engagements, calls from the private sector, manufacturing industry, banking and insurance sectors and the diplomatic community, it is most unfortunate that Guyana’s development has received such a striking blow due to non- cooperation at the parliamentary level.
Guyana’s ‘blacklist’... From page 11 financing offences, addressing all the requirements on beneficial ownership, strengthening the requirements for suspicious transaction reporting, international co-operation, the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets, and fully implementing the UN conventions. Failure will see the regional body referring the Guyana case to its head, FATF, and its International Corporation Review Group (ICRG). FATF will have its next plenary meeting in February 2014, and at that meeting, on its own accord and independent of CFATF, can select Guyana for its own review.
standardization of AML legislation, I am doubtful that the political opposition could find much to argue with the CFATF recommendations” said Rai. He mentioned that “tactics” of the political opposition has to be viewed in the larger scheme of things that being the “President’s non assent of previously passed opposition-piloted bills and the government’s insistence in maintaining a final say in proposed procurement legislation.” Rai said he has been following the events leading up to the defeat of the AML legislation in the National Assembly and “has noted the opposition’s complaint.” Be that as it may Rai established that he is yet to see any substantive proposals from the opposition “as to what it wants to add or remove from the now defeated draft bill.”
A copy of NBS’s Summary of Estimates
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WHY DO WE REALLY CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS, WHO STARTED THIS TREND? By Ralph Seeram The world was reminded this week that it was 50 years ago that the late President John F Kennedy was assassinated. The 50th anniversary of his death dominated the news last
Friday. For me it was no news. I was reminded every year for the last 50 years that Kennedy was killed on my birthday. So it was last Friday November 22, when I added another year to my thankful life on earth, that I wondered why is it important to be
reminded of your birthday; why is it important to observe or celebrate birthdays; why do we do it, where did it start and when did the gift part become part of the celebration? Personally, I think it was a moment to reflect on your life, reflect on the past year, on what have I achieved or not
achieved. Did I move forward? Did I reach any of my goals? And the list can go on. But I do think it should be a symbolic passing of time. It also makes me sad. I realize that there are some who celebrated with me in the past but are not around anymore. There is always the uncertainty of whether you will be around to celebrate another year; you cannot help thinking of that. But did it really start that way, where and when did the candle and the cake became part of the celebration? The tradition probably goes back to the ancient Egyptians who celebrated their Pharaoh’s “birth”. It was not their actual birthday but the day they were crowned as Pharaoh, which was regarded as their “birth as a god”. The Greek is said to have taken it a little further as celebration to their “gods” that round birthday cake is said to have emanated from them, they offer a round cake in the shape of a moon to their lunar goddess, Artemis, and to reflect her beauty they added lighted candles, so you can see her beauty. So far we have the observance, the cake and the candle, but you will notice it was only for the “gods” not humans. So when did humans become part of the celebrations? It is believed that the trend started with ancient Romans,
who not only started to celebrate birthdays of popular public figures but also the common man, with emphasis on Man (Sorry ladies, the ancients did not think you existed until about a thousand years ago when ladies were allowed to celebrate their birthdays.) For the church these celebrations did not go down well with them. The churches regarded the celebrations as a pagan ritual until around the 4th century when they started celebrating the birthday of Christ as a holiday for Christmas. Mind you, the church by accepting the birthday ritual, hoped to boost its “flocks” with these “pagans” It was probably the Germans in the late 18th century who kind of formalized the birthday party for kids starting age one, a candle was placed on the cake for each year of the child plus a symbolic one of hope for the coming year. The hope is that the child lived to the next birthday. But there was a little problem for the masses, especially those down the economic ladder. That birthday cake was expensive for the ordinary man and I should say, woman. So how did the common folk get to join in the celebration? Well the industrial revolution changed that. Mass production of
cakes brought down the prices and made it available to the “common man”. For Guyana we know it was done from scratch. How many of you recall beating the eggs and sugar for mom, so you can get the scrapings from the bowl? I really can’t say when the gift giving came into the celebration, but I rather believe that was engineered by stores to drum up business. The way it is now, you feel guilty if you do not buy a gift or card. It’s a must, not to mention the gift bags and wrappings to go with it, which really adds up to a good “small piece” I must admit I take the coward’s way out of giving gifts; I just give cash so the person can do their own shopping. Recently in the Diaspora and even in Guyana (among the new rich) they have been adopting what is essentially a Spanish tradition of celebrating sweet fifteen or sixteen birthdays as if their daughter was getting married. I am not sure what the significance of this is “sweet sixteen” birthday party. Is it a coming off of age? Is it a signal that she can officially date and have boyfriends? Is it an indirect message that she can now officially start having sex, I really don’t know, maybe someone of my readers knows (continued on page 53)
Minibus driver killed Safraz Rahim, 26, died before he could access medical attention at the Oscar Joseph Hospital, Charity, Friday night, after the minibus he was driving, BRR7926, slammed into a culvert, uprooting a tree on the eastern half of the Maria’s Delight Public Road, around 10:00pm. Rahim sustained a deep cut to the back of his head and a blow to his stomach after the minibus crashed into a culvert before ending up in a trench. Ricardo Fiedtkou, 17, and Gobin Balkiahun, 26, were the other two occupants in the minibus. Fiedtkou sustained a deep cut to his right hand. He remains a patient at the Oscar Joseph Hospital, along with Balkiahun, who has minor cuts about his body. Balkiahun recalled sitting at the back of the bus. Rahim’s death came 18 days after 61-year-old Bhagwanden Persaud, a newspaper vendor and 74-year-old,Narine Singh, a Hindu Priest formerly of Riverstown, Essequibo Coast, were killed. Rahim, who received his driver’s licence almost three
Safraz Rahim months ago, was the conductor on his father’s minibus BRR7926, which plys the Anna Regina/Charity Route. Additionally, earlier on Friday, he had finished cleaning his father’s minibus with the assistance of his friends and was said to be imbibing alcohol at his Perth residence. Later Friday he received a call from another relative informing him to travel to Charity to collect his uncle who had ventured out of the interior.
While Rahim’s relatives were reluctant to speak, reports have suggested that the unmarried conductor was said to be speeding on the Essequibo Public road when he crashed. And on Wednesday, bail was initially denied to Delney Gonsalves by Magistrate Sunil Scarce. Gonsalves, who was charged with causing the death of 74-year-old, Narine Singh, was slapped with four indictable charges – related to dangerous driving, failing to render assistance, failing to report an accident and fleeing from the scene. The accident occurred on November 6, last. Bail was however granted in the sum of $120,000 on charges of failing to report an accident, fleeing the scene and failing to render assistance to Singh. Gonsalves will return to court on November 17. His colleague, 21-year-old Sohshanmn Sancharran, of Lot19, Charity, Essequibo Coast was released on $100,000 station bail. A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for advice.
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Younger children being targeted for sexual abuse By Tiffanne Ramphal As a result of the realization that recently, much younger children are targets of sexual abuse, Director of Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) Ann Greene is urging parents to step up the supervision of their children. Greene, during a recent interview with Kaieteur News, said that while the agency is now readily able to deal with the increase of abuse cases being reported, the type of abuse that is being encountered has changed drastically. She said that it has become evident from the complaints received, that victims of child abuse are much younger, compared to previous statistics. The CCPA head made reference to the case of two-year-old
abuser… They cannot point their finger. These are children literally without a voice. They have no voice to say that somebody has done something,” Greene underscored. Against this backdrop she pointed out that the truth of the matter may often times escape notice. And, even if
“It is of concern because the victims are so young; they really can’t accuse their abuser… They have no voice… We have to empower our children at a very early age” - Ann Greene Kimanie Watson of South Haslington, East Coast Demerara who was allegedly sodomized by her 15-year-old uncle, resulting in her death. On the morning of October 21 last, the two-year-old, along with her six-month-old sibling was reportedly left in the care of their grandmother after their mother, who works as a security guard, left for work. The grandmother subsequently went out “to collect some money from Western Union”, taking the six-month-old baby but leaving the two-year-old in the care of her 15-year-old son. Instances such as these and their outcomes, Greene said, is certainly a cause for concern since the younger the child, the less capable they are of protecting themselves. “It is of concern because the victims are so young; they really can’t accuse their
WHY DO WE REALLY CELEBRATE ... From page 52 the answer. And oh that Happy Birthday Song! It did not start out that way at all. It was written around 1893, as a children song named “Good Morning to All’ and was sung in schools in the US before classes started. In the 1920’s a Mr. Robert Coleman is said to have made some changes in the lyrics to what we all sing today Happy Birthday. So if your birthdays is today a Happy Birthday to you and please ask yourself what this milestone is all about. Ralph Seeram can be reach at email: ralph365@hotmail.com
or when the truth emerges, what is known may not be enough to incriminate the abuser. “What we may know may just be the tip of the iceberg. There may be a lot of children who are being abused and nobody is aware of them because the victims are so young,” Greene noted. Speaking to the need to eliminate these instances of abuse, the CCPA Head said that the agency is appealing to parents to be much more vigilant in caring for their children. The agency, she said, is constantly engaged in programmes and awareness sessions to “let parents understand how serious it is to parent, monitor and supervise their children.” “Be more careful;
supervise your children a little more; know who you are leaving your children in care of; know who they are playing with in the next yard,” she advised. She added that the agency acknowledges that parenting comes with great financial responsibility and as such parents would need to work to provide household and educational necessities. However, according to Greene, the responsibility of a secular job should not encroach upon their duty of providing proper care to children. “Yes parents have to work, but they must leave their children in the hands of someone who is responsible and capable of properly supervising and caring for their children. Parents need to know who they are leaving their children in care of.” “Do not put them in these vulnerable situations. If parents take a little more time caring for their children, they can avoid all these tragedies.” Greene said that in addition to improving parenting skills and upping levels of supervision and monitoring, parents need to teach young children to protect themselves. “We have to empower children at a very early age. Let them know of their private parts as soon as they are able to understand. Let them know that no one is supposed to touch them there; if somebody does they should tell someone, particularly the mother. It is empowering children to say ‘No!’ to protect themselves.” Greene said that both girls and boys should be part of these engagements as male children are not exempted from sexual abuse.
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Guyanese Santa lookalike questioned after elderly man falls onto subway tracks US (NY Post) -A drunken Guyanese man who distinctly resembles Santa Claus was being grilled by investigators Saturday after he may have pushed an elderly man onto the tracks in a Harlem subway station, putting him in a coma with a fractured skull, police sources said. The 72-year-old victim was standing with his wife on the northbound platform of the A and C line at W. 145 St. and St. Nicholas Avenue around 4:30 p.m. Friday, when the wasted man “with a full head of white hair and a white beard” approached and the victim tumbled to the track bed, one law enforcement source said. Good Samaritans jumped onto the tracks and lifted the man to safety before emergency responders arrived, cops said. Officers who were doing bag checks in the station quickly took the suspect into custody, sources said. The victim’s wife initially told police, “push, push, push,” and fingered the Clauslookalike as the culprit, the source said. Later on, at the 30th Precinct stationhouse, the wife changed her tune and told detectives through a Mandarin interpreter that she saw the suspect standing in the same spot as her husband with his arms outstretched, the source said. The alleged perpetrator told investigators that he thought he was in the 59th Street Station at Lexington Avenue and was rushing to change trains, a source said. He said he waded through the crowded
A Guyanese man is being questioned by US police after an elderly man was reportedly pushed unto a subway track. platform until he came upon the victim and said, “Excuse me,” the source said. He said the victim then fell to the tracks, but was not pushed, according to the source. The NYPD is consulting with the Manhattan District
Attorney’s Office on possible criminal charges. The victim, who suffered a fractured skull and broken collar bone, was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he slipped into a coma, sources said.
Page 54
WANTED Contract cars- Contact City Taxi Service- 660-1100 / 2267150 Experienced driver & dispatcher @ Princess hotel – Tel:265-7075; 265-7076; 616-5419 One salesgirl to work in Gent’s store – Age 17-24. Must live on ECD – Text or call:615-8121 One live in domestic Contact: 658-9495; 6272550 Husband / wife live in caretaking duties. Drivers: Car/Van licensed 30-45yrs. Live in domestic – Tel:2271830; 613-3091 Wanted Vendors - To sell locally produced products Call 267-2355 or 622-2290 Handyboys to work – 16yrs and over. Live-in accommodation and meal free! Telephone:228-5655; 628-1756 One person to look after layer birds in interior- Tel: 681-6044 Office Clerk: CXC English/ Mathematics- Call:225-0188/ 225-6070 Space for gym in Georgetown or immediate environment – Tel: 615-5315, 647-4587. One domestic, live in & live out babysitter from 12pm8pm- Call:225-4492 Honest live in domestic (single or widowed) - Call: 646-1758, 646-9574. Between: 9am – 4:00pm, attractive salary offered One male for 11pm to 7am shift – Tel:650-0104 Live in domestic. Must know to cook Indian dishes, live in waitress, salary $50,000 Tel: 610-3974 Labourers for wood concession. Accommodation Provided, $5,000 per day Tel: 618-0487 Salesgirls & porters: Apply with written application @ Best Buy Food Supplies: Lot 1E Middleton & Dennis Street Campbleville One experienced Nail technician, specialized nail art design, air brush and hair extension – Tel:231-6000 Furniture store wanted one experienced production manager are one Auto cad / draft person - Contact: 6571414 One cook for the interior to cook in a home- Tel:6816044;666-6836 Need 1 plot of Land to buy in Parfaite Harmonie Tel:6757292
Kaieteur News
VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 Toyota Double cab pickup (4door) manual (5l- Diesel) 4x4 -$3.5M Contact Rocky: 6215902/225-1400
VEHICLE FOR SALE Buy vehicles direct from Japan authentically – Call:660-5257 (Before 9am & after 5:pm)
Leroy Trident car 250CC, 4 doors, power window, $495,000 cash or credit Tel 227-3939, 621-4000
Dump Canters, Long & Short Canters, Pitbull & RZ minibuses, Sienta, Voxy, Liteace Tel: 257-3178; 650-5657
Hilux Surf 4 Doors, minor parts needed, sold as is $750,000 Tel: 227-3939, 6214000
17ft fiberglass boat with 175 Yamaha Seadoo jet ski - Tel: 651-8870
Nissan Maxima, fully powered needs repairs sold as is $300,000 cash 227-3939, 621-4000 Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car, fully powered, $1.7 cash or credit available Tel: 227-3939, 621-4000 Stretch limousine, Lincoln Town car, fully powered $6.5 million or credit available Tel 227-3939, 621-4000 Trike Can- Am style motorcycle, 200cc new, unregistered $450,000 neg or credit Tel 227-3939, 621-4000
First Class Auto: Premio, Axio, Passo, Runx, Allex, IST, Fielder, Raum - Call: 609-8188; 602-6307 2 - 2007 Toyota Avensis - Tel: 698-0674 ALYEA’S AUTO SALE: PREMIO 2003/2004. ALL PRICES ARE NEG. 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK- TEL: 2317284/ 622-3823 Must See!!! 2002&2003 Premio - $2.5M, 2001 Carina 212 - $2.1M. All cars fully loaded & clean. Tel: 226-5473 Mitsubishi Galant Car, fully loaded – Tel: 227-7544; 6122542, 614-6011. 1.5 & 2 Tonne open back canter, power gate $2.4M, unregistered - Tel: 617-2891 2005 Tacoma 1995 V6 4x4 Tacoma – Tel: 651-8870
WANTED Scrap metal – Tel:658-9045; 658-9044 Chain saw operator with own saw – Tel: 618-0487. Barbers – Tel:683-1534; 6094983 Driver wanted urgently for ice-cream van between ages 40-45yrs – Tel:218-3021 1 Live-in maid to work in Diamond – Tel:664-5199 Looking for 1 female to work in the interior in a shop – Tel:664-5199
2008 Fielder – $2.7M, Premio$2.5M, Spacio $2.1M, Unregistered – Tel: 617-2891 1 Datsun Pick-up with Canopey. As is where is! – Tel: 226-5199; 628-8553 White 2008 Tacoma 4x4 lift kit, off road tyres. Excellent condition- Call: 610-5370 1 Toyota 212, 1-Toyota AT212, 1- 91 Corrola, 1 Corrola Axio 4WD (new model) never registered call: 259-0836, 621-7838
House lot wanted to buy – no agents –Call:647-0271
One Toyota Tacoma Extra Cab GMM Series - $1.2M & One AT192 Toyota Carina PLL Series - $1M –Tel: 678-2298 1 Toyota Allion – PNN 736 Series – Tel: 225-0709; 6828876
CHICKEN FARMWORKER NEEDED IN TRINIDAD, FREE HOUSING , SALARY TT$800 WEEKLY. CALL KELVIN: 868-318-1748 / 868-373-0877 / 718-6411252
110 Corrola, Toyota Vitz – Tel: 679-7139 One good Toyota RZ mini– bus, good condition $650,000 – Tel: 265-4164 AE100 Corrola @ $975,000, 212 Carina @ $975,000 – Tel: 611-6632
Bodywork man, handyman, apply Guyana Variety Store Tel 227-3939 Domestic to clean only go and come under 30 years Guyana Variety Store Tel: 227-393
2002 Rav 4. In excellent condition. $3.2M Neg. Serious enquiries only. Call 6236868 6809981 One Toyota Tercel car PHH series in very good condition - Tel: 667-1444
1 land to buy in Linden – Tel: 697-0054; 686-2201. Preferably Amelia’s Ward
FOR HIRE Enclose truck secure your goods – Tel:694-5460; 2665771 – Perfect for moving.
Corrola Axio -$2,850,000 , Spacio PRR Series -$2.1M, CRVPJJ - $1.7M – Tel: 697-0294
Sunday November 24, 2013
VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 2006 Toyota BB PPP Registration - Tel: 650-3099 Toyota Tundra, Tacoma, Nissan Tittan, Ford F150 Parts in a hurry! - Tel:226-5473 Toyota Fortuna for sale. Excellent condition, very low mileage – Contact:600-3320 1 Toyota Caldina & Fielder Wagon, IST, NZE Corolla, Fun Cargo, AT212, AT192, Hilux pick up 4x4- Tel: 6445096, 697-1453 1 Suzuki 600 GS X – R , 1 Toyota RAW- 4 & CERESTel: 644-5096, 697-1453 5L Toyota Hilux (Winch, mud grip tyres) Interior Ready - In Excellent Condition - Tel: 667-2703 or 662-5570 Unregistered Toyota Spacio 2003 model & Toyota Sienta 2004 - Tel: 617-5536 One registered NZE Corolla - Call: 652-3820; 665-4529 HILUX SOLID AXLE PICKUPS, unregistered, in excellent condition – Call:691-2077 AE100 Toyota Corolla $610,000, Price negotiable – Tel:677-4558 BUY/SELL VEHICLES OR PROPERTY; SAVE TIME + MONEY USING PHOTO ADS – WWW.GYTRADER.COM ; TEL: 651-4300, 670-4300 Driven Auto Blowout Sale! Unregistered Mazda Axela $2,350,000 – Pioneer CD, Crystal lights, remote start alarm. Tel:643-6565; 2269931 Mitsubishi Pajero (Immaculate condition); automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $2.8M- Contact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 AT212 Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, A/ C, CD player, price $1.350Mcontact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky 621-5902/2251400 Toyota Tacoma (2006 model)VVTI engine, automatic, fully loaded, 22" chrome rims $4.1M- Contact Rocky 6215902/ 225-1400 Honda CRV 2002 model, automatic, fully loaded alarm. Price $3.2M- Contact Rocky 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota RZ bus - $1.6M. Immaculate condition – Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota extra cab pick-up automatic (3RZ) 4x4 $3.7M – Contact Rocky: 621-5902/ 2251400.
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
5 acre fruit bearing organic farm with small cottage to lease or purchase. Leases $120,000; purchase US $ 145,000 – Call 261-2988
Cheapest Online Vehicles!!! – Tel:626-2771 5 Head & 7 Head Moulders, 150Kw Genset, CC Saw, Resaw – Tel:626-0024; 6165595; 665-3676 NISSAN WINGROAD PRR SERIES - TEL: 695-4785 1-320 Cl excavator excellent condition – Tel:699-3992 1 New ASCO automatic change over switch, 200 amps Tel: 694-7817; 612-1351
Potting soil, top soil and quality cow mould - Call: 656-1326; 678-0058 Laptops, 4GB from $85,000Tel: 611-3038 Spare for washing machine, microwaves,fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call:225-9032,647-2943 Almost new Honda 6500 watts generator on wheels only 18 hours $ 445,000 – Call: 261-2988
WHOLESALE PLUCK CHICKEN AND PARTS – TEL:676-0931
1 New Model Tacoma, 1 12" Aluminum Boat, 1 14" Aluminum Boat. Contact:220-1981; 690-1945
1 Samsung Galaxy S3 - Tel: 673-9501; 691-9844
Live and pluck chicken - Tel: 220-9203; 650-4421
Massey, Yanmar Ford 5000 Logging/ Agriculture Tractors, parts, Loader & Ford Truck- Call:615-1578/ 694-3595: Tools & Chainsaw668-2831
Sears 42" riding mower excellent condition. Kholer engine $280,000, 1- double door refrigerator (large) – Call: 261-2988
Closing Down Sale! Imported antique furniture, bed sets & centre table & consoles – Tel:622-3587 XP1500,1500 Watts, Sell$40,000 (Neg.) Contact: GlobeSpan Technology Tel: 269-0140 or 269-0141 or 2690142 Xantrex Trace Inverter/ Charger TR3624 3600 Watts Sell- $250,000 (Neg.) Contact: GlobeSpan Technology 269-0140, 269014, 269-0142 RABBITS @ $2000 EACH TELEPHONE:600-0814 1 Raum PMM - $1.4M, 2006 Hyundai Tuscon Jeep $2.9M, negotiable – Tel:6716051
Available - Fresh Coconut Biscuits - Call to Order/ Inquire 267-2355 or 622-2290 Barber shop blow out sale: 3 chairs, mirrors, Tv, air condition, one hair brush & one hair skink - Tel:609-6952 One pure bred female Rottweiler pup - Call: 2206879 600 Yamaha FZR bike $450,000 - Tel: 647-0271 Live/pluck chicken call:6504421, 220-9203 Curtains and carpet for sale - Call: 219-3732 after 6PM Games PS2 $900, PSP $900, X-Box 360 $2600 & PS3 $2600- Call:672-2566 Original Games- Call:6722566
Hi / low HID kits (crystal lights) cheapest in GT – Call: 601-4640; 216-3214
Fluffy Dachshund pups – Tel: 642-6664
270 Amps, portable welders - Telephone: 611-5114
1 Nissan Canter, need repair - Tel: 228-5655;628-1756
One pools table - Tel: 686-7180
Dog Food! 13lbs &50lbs bags wholesale & retail – Tel: 222-7891; 609-9202
1 Circular sofa (suite), 1 recliner, 1- Toilet bowl set, one wash basin & Indian/ Western wear – Tel:613-0836 between 9am-7pm Pit-bull - 18months red nose male. Impressive structure with 22" head and growing. Excellent Quality - Call: 6769101
Heavy duty concrete drill, Air less paint sprayer (for houses), Industrial vacuum cleaners (wet & dry)- Tel: 227-8519 1 set size 15 Hilux Steel rims – Tel:645-0240; 685-0942 (Continued on page 56)
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 55
City Councilor Desmond Moses dies
The Abigail Column Can she trust newly drug-free husband? DEARABIGAIL, I have known my husband for five years, and we’ve been married for the past three. Unfortunately, it has not been a stellar relationship. My husband has a problem he was a drug user, which resulted in physical, emotional, mental and financial abuse toward me. We are now separated. To his credit, my husband is receiving counseling. He is no longer abusing drugs. I am
also in therapy to deal with the trauma and hurt. My husband would like to work things out, but I don’t know if I can ever trust him again, let alone go back to someone who caused me so much pain. My question is, would it be safe, after receiving proper help, to return to him? If so, how do I get over the past? It’s only been six weeks since we separated, and healing doesn’t seem possible. I still love my husband, but I don’t think that’s enough. I’ve brought this up in therapy, but have not come to any conclusions. Have
others been in similar situations, and has it worked out for them? Confused Dear Confused, If your marital problems stemmed from your husband’s drug abuse, and if the underlying causes have been addressed and drugs are no longer an issue, there is hope for your relationship. Naturally, you cannot simply assume he’s better. You will have to see him in action over a longer period of time, so please don’t rush into any decisions. Get to know him again, and take your time.
Sunday November 24, 2013 ARIES (MARCH 21 APRIL 19): You may be feeling rather day-dreamy or a bit irritable without really knowing why. Don't be discouraged, just take everything more easily. ***************************** TAURUS (APRIL 20 MAY 20): Don't try and cut corners. Sometimes you can deceive yourself into thinking that it's just as well to avoid confrontations. But if you do anything in an even vaguely underhand way, it very often comes out into the open rather awkwardly. ***************************** GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 20): There are very good influences around prompting you to be charitable and selfless. When the mood is there, why not? Your energy will not be limitless so work out a way of being helpful without doing anything too physically strenuous. ***************************** CANCER (JUNE 21 JULY 22): It depends how you handle the influences around now, which way they work out. Influences are present that can be undermining and make you feel you don't have the energy to do things. ***************************** LEO (JULY 23 - AUG. 22): Maybe you want to just retreat into peace and quiet, retire, meditate, wind yourself down a little bit. You don't really feel any huge need to leap out into getting too many things done. ***************************** VIRGO (AUG. 23 - SEPT. 22): You certainly want a bit more glamour or fun. There may even be a hint of publicity around with Mars in aspect to Neptune. You want to bring a little bit more spice into life without too much extra effort.
council, Moses worked with civilians and the business community in many areas of city development; he implemented measures to attack both drainage and garbage control. A member of the council mused over the Councilor’s unforgettable personality.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23 - OCT. 22): An unusual planetary influence purveys today which is delightful but is a slightly strange mix of energies. One one hand you may find yourself saying, "I want, I am and I demand," and on the other, "I don't really matter, you're the important one." ***************************** SCORPIO (OCT. 23 NOV. 21): Try to be as straightforward, firm and tactful as you possibly can. This is not the day to take the long way round. Maybe you have been deceiving yourself or letting other people pull the wool over your eyes. ***************************** SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 - DEC. 21): This is a great day to pamper your body. You will not want to be leaping into activity at absolutely top speed so use the time wisely for a little tender loving care, and you will bounce back revitalised in two or three days' time. ***************************** CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 JAN. 19): If you are interested in rather mystical or psychic things, this is a good day to listen to your intuition and explore below the surface. You do want to find a new meaning in life, and these influences around now in a subtle way can be extremely helpful. ***************************** AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 FEB. 18): You may not be as active as you normally would be today. Certainly you won't want to confront other people or to be assertive. ***************************** PISCES (FEB. 19 MARCH 20): There are rather deceptive influences around which can end up in muddle or situations not turning out to be quite what was expected.
City Councilor Moses City Councilor, AFC member and former longstanding PNC member, Desmond Moses, was found dead yesterday in his Robb Street residence, after a period of illness. City Mayor Hamilton Green expressed sadness at his passing. He said that Moses was an enthusiastic member of the Council and an exceptional community activist. “Moses was always active in the community; in fact many on the council staff remember him as one of the most passionate advocates for the establishment of the Bourda Mall. My colleague was an outspoken person who was fearless in his advocacy for community development work.” Moses functioned as an insurance agent and later joined the Council in 1994. Many remember him as a gentleman who was always keenly interested in community development who had never failed to project the interest of citizens particularly those in the Bourda area. During his years in the
“Moses will be remembered for his emotional outbursts on matters that he believed important that the council was not giving adequate attention.” Moses is survived by a daughter said to be institutionalized in the United States of America.
Page 56
Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
(From page 54) SERVICES
VACANCY
Professional and affordable landscaping and tree trimming services. BUDRAM’S LANDSCAPING SERVICES Call: 656-1326; 678-0058
24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant- Call: 691-0894/6842838
We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar
Vacancy exists for experienced cooks and counter clerks - Tel: 696-9999
Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115
GME real estate seeks an agent paid only by commission: 231-2199, Text: 618-7483
Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call:225-9032,647-2943 We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick) HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000- CALL: 694-9843/227-2766 Text your name & Address for a Gospel Package - Tel: 675-7292 Technicians available for appliance repairs – washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves, deep fryers, etc – Tel:6190793; 218-0050 Brian Moe @642-3543: Computer Technician: FB/ Brian.Moe.165: Home and Office visits at your comfort!! All industrial work, generator repairs and domestic house wiring – Tel:644-9084; 664-9635 Children’s Party Service: Let’s make it fun – Call:6471773
EDUCATIONAL Nehemiah Comprehensive School; evening classes: Integrated Science, Human and Social Biology - Call:2260847 for more details. CXC/CAPE classes for students and adults. Highly qualified teachers & CXC examiners – Call:683-3887
For the BEST RATES, call us on telephones numbers: 2258458, 225-8465, 225-8491.
Vacancy exists for experienced cashier & salesgirls. Apply in person @ Fabric World, 140 Regent & Light Street.
SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 6471773 Enroll today @ Nalini’s School of Cosmetology. Classes starting January 2014. Full course only - $80,000 - Call: 614-6655; 226-6705 Professional & affordable salon service: Hair care, nail & skin care – Contact Amrita: 680-2609
An Industrial Electrician with qualification & Experienced. Apply to Technical Services Inc 18-23 Industrial Site, Eccles, E.B.D. NY business needs hard worker immediately. Smart, assertive business person needed. Email: edu-help@ usa.com Salesman for Cooking Gas in Georgetown store, physically fit, completed high school. 676-6700.
LAND FOR SALE House lot for sale on the West Bank of Demerara Harbour bridge in Harbourville contact # 6500402 Non- Pariel, Eccles, Herstelling 100ftX60Ft $4M-$5M – Tel: 218-5591; 675-7592 Promising Gold and Diamond mining lands in various areas – Tel:6993992 Parafaite Harmonie - $1.2M & $1.5M – Tel:675-7292 110 Acres @ Mahaicony Tel: 225-3070; 686-4994 10 Acres land at Long Creek - Tel: 699-3723
FOR RENT Furnished top flat house, Queenstown, generator, A/ C, Grille & parking -Tel:2271218 or kpthomas7@gmail. com Ground Floor Office space, Queenstown, generator, A/ C, grille & parking - Tel:2271218 or kpthomas7@gmail.com
VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592-6248704/592-684-9203 Eccles 3 bedroom (one master) House - $25M Call Diana:227-2256; 626-9382 Property for sale- Call:6275416 House & land @ Lot 35 Middle St. Mc Doom; minor repairs. $8.5m negotiableTel: 601-0803, 664-5985 Durban Backlands: Squatting houses. Selling price $1M – Tel:231-2199; 618-7483
Vacancy exist for one experienced gas/diesel mechanic - Tel: 225-6158 or 223-6055 Night Security. Apply: Avinash, Water Street - Tel: 226-3361; 227-7828
PROPERTY FOR SALE
Exclusive residential land (105Ft X 57FT) $3M - Tel: 675-7292 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content Mahaicony, E.C.D: US$175,000: Call:813-3194219: rpooran@ tampabay.rr.com Lot 349 located in Craig Public Road EBD with river view – Price negotiable – Call: 690-9763; 695-6641; 602-0287.
Prime 2- storey concrete building dimensions 80x23, 6 bedrooms, 2 master bedrooms @ Leonora opposite to Primary School – Tel:652-0709; 268-3572 House & Land for sale W.C.B - Contact:698-3703; 689-2973 House and land price $10M @ Grove H/Scheme 4th bridge- Contact 677-4404 Meadowbrook - $9.5M, East Coast – $11M , Alberttown $31M, Highway (28acres) @400,000 per acres – Call Diana - 227-2256; 626-9382 Are you selling your house/ land? Call Ron’s Real Estate:675-7292 2 Storey business premises: 94 Campbell Avenue, C/VilleCall:680-8857/647-300-4294 Prime commerical property, Albertown, 3 lots with business, (Nut Centre) price neg. Tel 621-4000,227-3939 FOR SALE / FOR RENT American pool table – Tel: 277-0578
Furnished apartments $70,000 monthly - Tel: 687-3017
CAR RENTAL
One barber station / hair station / one nail station in Kitty area – Contact: 6227031 or 670-4270
First Choice Car Rental: Cars as low as $5,000 per dayCall: 668-0306 / 694-7817/ 225-6337
Place to rent @ 92 Nismes Public Road prime business spot - $140,000 monthly – Tel:644-9084; 664-9635 One two storeys newly built house situated at Section a Diamond, Price $70,000 & $60,000 – Contact Numbers: 223-4281; 678-4072.
2 6-Clyndinder Cummings Engine, Dwalt miter saw, Dwalt Circle saw, pressure wash, home lite, Honda engine 2700Psi - Tel: 691-9844 Pure bred german shepherd pups & 1 female Rottweiler (5months old) – Contact:2202277; 220-8904; 626-0910 F150, Chevy Cargo Van, Suzuki Sports, Tundra- Tel: 227-8519 350 Diesel (fully loaded, excellent)- Tel: 227-8519 Stereo set (LG speakers)- Tel: 227-8519 3 Pcs living room suite – Tel: 645-0240; 685-0942 1 Used 3304 Caterpillar engine, diesel injecter tester – Call:645-0279; 624-2561 Cummings fuel pump PC type for logging truck and injectors – Call:645-02-79; 624-2561 Clean Garden Earth & builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating, clearing and leveling done- Call:6160617 or 663-3285 Cheap earth delivery to spot E.C.D and E.B.D- Call:6279977, 698-0182 Panel Doors & Arch Frame as low as $19,995 – Tel:6641109;626-8141 Dirt Devil – Powerful vacuum cleaner with attachments. Bought recently from Kannavs. Never used! – Tel:692-5373 Chicken Hatchery (Robbins), 28,000 eggs capacity fully ready, $ 5.5 million or credit available Tel: 227-3939 6214000 Diesel Generator, 3 cylinder Lister pitter (England) key start, 15 kva, $650,000 cash or credit 227-3939, 621-4000
TO LET Furnished 2-bedrooms top flat & 2 bedroom bottom flat apartment for overseas guests @ Bent St, Wortmanville - Phone: 2222778/ 640-4130/ 226-3309 Harmony Inn: Apartments fully furnished, airconditioned apartments: As low as $5000 per night- Call: 668-0306/6028769/ 694-7817 Short term rental (fully furnished 2 bedroom apartments - Tel: 222-7891; 609-9202. 1 Bedroom apartment @ Uitvlugt Housing Scheme West Coast Demerara – Tel: 680-4990 Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call:6797139 Kitty - $65,000, Atlanic Gardens - US900, Providence - US1250- Call Diana: 2272256; 626-9382 One bedroom unfurnished apartment -$35,0000, Grove New Housing Scheme, EBD - Call: 642-1956 House to rent in Friendship EBD – Tel:266-0163 Place to rent at Leonora next to the Primary School – Contact:625-9743
MASSAGE T h e G e n t ’s S p a : L e t beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse availableCall: 657-5979
Generac Generator 15kva, portable, $500,000 cash or credit available Tel 227-3939, 621-4000
2 flat new building (down town) suitable for business or offices- Tel: 227-8519
One bedroom apartment @ Soesdyke – Phone:604-7022
FOR SALE
PENPAL Businessman in Trinidad seeks Guyanese woman for friendship & marriage between ages 30-40; email:ramphal mahadeo@ live.com – Tel:0011-868-7243155; 0011-868-4681075 Meet your match! Lifelong partners, confidential: Rules Apply Tel:592-2238237; 592-648-6098 (8:30am-5:00pm), (both phones same time)
Wings Car Rental- Call: 643-1131 A i d a n ’s C a r R e n t a l & Pickup- Call: 645-7981/ 698-7807 Dolly’s Car Rental- Call: 2257126/226-3693- dollysauto rental@yahoo.com/ www.dollysautorental.com Premio, Vitz call:679-7139
Clarke forklifts 2000, 3000, 4000 Lb, lifting capacity $450,000 and up Tel: 227-3939, 621-4000 Diesel Generator silent 28kva SDMO John Deere engine, missing Fuel Pump, Panel, Avr $900,000 227-3939, 621-4000 TV sale 27" to 73" some working and some not sold as is Tel621-4000, 227-3939 60FT Antenna (Mass) for Radio, TV, Cellular, with cables, brackets, sky light $500,000 227-3939, 621-4000
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Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
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LINDEN TOWN COUNCIL WORKERS GET PAY HIKE …still working for minimum wage Chairman of the Linden Interim Management Committee, Orrin Gordon, has called the $9.2M approved by Cabinet to help the local municipality pay workers’ wages up to the end of the year ‘a temporary plaster without a solution’. He said that the move was ‘disingenuous’, as there had been no prior consultation with Council on the matter. Gordon said that because the move was just a temporary ‘fix’ the problem will recur. He expressed concern as to where Council will find the money to pay salaries come 2014, given the fact that one of its main sources of revenue- the toll booth - has been cut off. Gordon acknowledged Minister within the Ministry of Local Government Norman Whittaker’s suggestion that the Council has to garner more revenues from rates and taxes, but said that this has been a huge bugbear for the Council over the years. The Linden toll booth was ordered closed recently by the Minister after being in operation for about 16 years. Its closure has put the financially strapped municipality under even more pressure, and has resulted in widespread disillusionment amongst workers despite the recent pay increase. Workers who were paid a paltry $24,000 per month now receive $35,000, the minimum wage level. Gordon said that there
might be some restructuring, but that the Council is not interested in sending anybody home, under the ‘prevailing circumstances’. He said that the municipality has survived because of its ingenuity, but that there is a limit to what can be done. Minister within the M i n i s try of Local Government, Norman Whittaker, had on Friday met with members of the Linden Interim Management Committee, headed by
Chairman Orrin Gordon, and several heads of department of the municipality. The forum addressed the toll booth closure and the rationale behind its closure by Government, among other issues. Whittaker had asked the media to leave, promising to hold a press conference, after the meeting. They had been told by the IMC Chairman that they had been invited. A visibly upset Gordon reminded the Minister that it
Manslaughter convict dies in Camp Street Prison An inmate of the Georgetown Prison was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital after falling gravely ill in his cell a few days ago. Kassim Mohamed, 62, who was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter, was suffering from acute diabetes. He took a turn for the worse three weeks ago and could not physically help himself. He had to be assisted by fellow inmates and prison authorities. Reliable sources in the
Camp Street Prison said that on Friday Mohamed was seen lying motionless in his cell but at the time prison officials thought that he was asleep. But when efforts to awake him yesterday failed, prison authorities realized that he was dead. They quickly hired a taxi and rushed Mohamed’s body to the hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. “Three prison officers brought him to the hospital but de man was already dead,” a source at the GPHC told this newspaper.
was not the first time that the media was present at such meetings. In the media briefing following the meeting, Whittaker said that the toll booth was ordered closed, because ‘concerned citizens’ had been complaining, and in any case its operation was illegal as it had not been gazetted. He also spoke about the $9.2 M that was approved by Cabinet and which should be available to the council by next week, to take care of workers’ wages up to the end of 2013.
The Minister said that the money would assist the Council to bring workers salaries to the minimum wage of $35,000 per month. He called the increase significant, more than forty percent, and as such, there would be no more increases for the workers in 2014. The issue of workers retiring and not being able to receive their NIS benefits and gratuity were other areas for concern, the Minister said, noting that while all the money was being garnered from the toll booth at Kara Kara, NIS payments were still
not being made. Meanwhile in alluding to the ‘no increase in 2014’, because of the ‘significant’ increase in the workers’ salaries the IMC Chairman said that the increase had to be significant because the workers’ salaries were way below the minimum, and that there had not been any increase in the recent past.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
Just under 2,000 Jamaicans denied Prime Minister to lead entry to T&T over 4-year period a delegation to Taiwan PORT OF SPAIN - CMC – More than a thousand (1,962) Jamaican nationals were denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago during the period 2010 to 2013, but Port of Spain maintains that immigration authorities have the right to refuse entry to any person who is unable to satisfy the criteria for entering the oil-rich twin island Republic. Both Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries say they are aware of media reports that 13 Jamaicans were denied entry into Port of Spain, on Tuesday night and deported to their homeland the following day after being detained. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs here said it “has been advised by the Chief
Immigration Officer and has contacted Her Excellency Sharon Saunders, High Commissioner for Jamaica, who has been provided with information regarding the matter”. Jamaica has since said it is “concerned at this development and continues to interface with the relevant authorities in Trinidad and Tobago on the matter” particularly in light of the Shanique Myrie ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice”. The CCJ earlier this year ruled that Barbados had breached the right of Myrie when she sought entry into the country in 2011, but stopped short of awarding the one million Barbados dollars in compensation she
Paulwell eyes 30% cut in energy rate by 2016 Jamaica Gleaner - The Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell said the Government is determined to cut electricity rates by at least 30 per cent by 2016. According to Paulwell, if Jamaica is to remain competitive, it must reduce electricity cost from 40 US cents per kilowatt hour to between 18 and 15 US cents. In the meantime, Paulwell said citizens should try to be efficient in consuming electricity by using energysaving devices, including incandescent bulbs. Paulwell was addressing the lighting ceremony for the Brinkley-
Phillip Paulwell Links Hill area of south east St Elizabeth where more than 25 households received electricity for the first time.
Barbados, China sign trade MOU Barbados Nation - The Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at promoting trade and economic cooperation between the two entities. CCPIT was established in 1952 and is described as the most prestigious and largest of China’s many foreign traderelated bodies operating in the People’s Republic of China. The national organization serves as a combination of a chamber of commerce and an investment and export promotion agency, with a vast national and provincial network and representation from every major economic sector. BCCI president Lalu Vaswani and vice president of
CCPIT Song Chijun signed on behalf of their respective organizations. Vaswani added that the MOU was the fruit of the BCCI’s attempt to build international bridges. Executive director of the BCCI, Lisa Gale, said the MOU was geared towards building an economic cooperative where BCCI and CCPIT members could trade with each other, share information on local economic investments, develop market access and foster stronger business relations between Barbados and China. “This is a great opportunity for Barbados and an unprecedented move for BCCI members, as local companies now have the facility for direct contact with companies in China, which is a huge market,” Gale explained.
had sought. Myrie, 25, had been granted leave by the CCJ to file the action, alleged that when she travelled to Barbados on March 14, 2011 she was discriminated against because of her nationality, subjected to a body cavity search, detained overnight in a cell, and deported to Jamaica the following day. Jamaica said it was urging nationals who believe their rights under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) regime have been breached, to make a report to the nearest Jamaican High Commission or the Ministry. In a statement, the Ministry of National Security here said that the perception being propagated was that immigration officers acted in an arbitrary and inappropriate manner. It said immigration officers were staff of the National Security Ministry as the first point of contact at the country’s borders, and “must act with integrity, fairness and within the ambit of the Immigration Act. “Therefore, if based on statistics from the Division’s Investigations and Extensions sections and records of the Immigration Detention Centre, there is a likelihood that a passenger, based on past behaviour, for example, is unable to satisfy the interviewing officer that he or she will comply with regulations under which they were admitted, then the officer must be guided by these facts in making his deliberation.” The Ministry of National Security said that during the period 2010 to 2013, an estimated 54,362 Jamaican nationals had been admitted to this country with 1,962 Jamaicans being denied entry for various reasons. It said that this meant 96 per cent of Jamaicans seeking entry into Trinid-ad and Tobago over that four-year period were given admittance. As a member state of CARICOM, we as a country agreed that while there should be no unreasonable restrictions on the movement of CARICOM nationals within our region, we must be concerned with the protection of public morals and the maintenance of public order and safety,” the Ministry of National Security said. “It must be established that the passenger either has sufficiency of funds, has a private person with whom they will stay or proof that they have an established place of residence for their period of stay,” it said.
Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony has accepted an invitation from His Excellency Ma Ying Jeou, president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), to lead an eight member delegation on a visit to Taiwan from November 26-29. The delegation includes: -Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister & Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs,Planning & Social Security; - Emma Hippolyte, Minister for Commerce, Business Development, Investment & Consumer Affairs; - Shanta King, Consultant, St Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Planning & National Development; - Martin Satney, Consultant, Black Sigatoka Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food & Rural Development; - Calixte George, Administrative Attaché to the Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister; - Jadia Jn Pierre-Emmanuel, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister;
- Cuthbert Didier,Yachting Sector Consultant, Ministry of Tourism, Heritage & Creative Industries; and - Rostan Taylor, Private Sector Representative & Chair of the Free Zone Authority. During the visit, the team will pay a courtesy visit to President Ma, as well as H.E. David Y.L. Lin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, where Dr Anthony will be briefed on current developments in the Republic of China (Taiwan), and other matters of mutual interest. This trip is Dr Anthony’s first visit to Taiwan and will present an opportunity for the formation of strategic alliances in the yachting sector, agriculture, as well as business development. Dr. Anthony hopes to seek further assistance from the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for the completion of the St. Jude’s Hospital and ýto explore the possibility of securing funds for the design and construction of a National Theatre Complex.
Venezuela’s opposition leader says aide arrested before marches CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuela’s opposition leader said state agents arrested one of his aides yesterday before planned marches across the country to pressure President Nicolas Maduro’s government in the run-up to December 8 municipal elections. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Twitter that his national tours coordinator, Alejandro Silva, was forcibly taken from a Caracas hotel room by military intelligence agents. “@NicolasMaduro I hold you responsible for what happens! Be a man and stop persecuting my team, coward!” Capriles said. There was no immediate official comment from the security forces, but a senior government minister, Andres Izarra, tweeted that “one of Capriles’ fascist henchmen” had been detained. Late on Friday, Maduro said he had ordered the arrest of two opposition officials whom he accused of trying to pay individuals to disguise themselves as government supporters and attack yesterday’s opposition rallies, with the goal of blaming his administration for any bloodshed. “They’re looking for a death in order to try to light a fuse. We won’t allow it,” Maduro said in a televised speech. He did not name the two opposition officials. The opposition called for supporters to protest yesterday ahead of next month’s vote for control of 335 municipalities, which will be the first major test of Maduro’s political strength
Henrique Capriles after he narrowly won a presidential election in April. With Venezuelans frustrated over surging inflation and product shortages, a major part of the government’s strategy has been a theatrical confrontation with business leaders that echoes the style of Maduro’s late mentor, Hugo Chavez. The authorities have ordered businesses to slash prices and people have flooded shops to take advantage of discounted items ranging from car parts to electronics and sports shoes. Competing with the opposition rallies for local media headlines over the weekend will be the latest move in what Maduro calls an “economic offensive,” with ministers leading inspection teams to check shopping malls nationwide. The government charges that anyone who marches with the opposition will be showing support for corrupt “speculators” who it blames
for an annual inflation rate that neared 55 percent last month and a black market rate for dollars that has risen to some nine times the official level of 6.3 bolivars. “It’s class warfare ... we love the homeland and happiness, and others want to concentrate power and riches in a few hands and exploit the people,” said Vice President Jorge Arreaza. The opposition counters that Maduro’s socialist policies are the problem, and says his “offensive” - which began with the military occupation of an electronics chain - amounts to state-led looting that punishes businesses and makes things worse. They were angered further last week when the “Chavista”-dominated National Assembly granted Maduro decree powers which he has vowed to use first to cap retailers’ profits and reorganize the distribution of foreign currency. Venezuelan politics is deeply polarized after 14 years of rule by Chavez, who died from cancer in March. As local elections approach, both sides have leveled aggressive, personal barbs at their opponents. On Friday, Maduro accused the opposition of wanting to cause chaos and deaths with their marches on Saturday, in part because it is his 51st birthday. “Maduro says there’ll be violence because we hate that it’s his birthday,” one opposition leader, Julio Borges, said on Twitter. “Have you heard anything more stupid than that?”
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Obama insists US economy ‘headed in right direction’ Washington (AFP) Barack Obama, amid the lowest poll numbers of his presidency and a barrage of bad headlines, accentuated the positive yesterday, telling Americans that the US economy is headed “in the right direction.” “Over the past couple months, most of the political headlines you’ve read have probably been about the government shutdown and the launch of the Affordable Care Act,” the president said in his weekly media address referring to the new health care law informally known as Obamacare. “But if you look beyond those headlines, there are
some good things happening in our economy,” he said. Obama said 7.8 million new jobs have been created in the private sector in the past 44 months. He said that the US auto industry is resurgent and America is on the path to reversing its “addiction to foreign oil.” And although he felt compelled to apologize last week for mistakes in the rollout of his signature health reform legislation, he said the program would do good for the nation. Some 500,000 Americans “are poised to gain health coverage starting January 1,” Obama said.
“Imagine how much farther along we could be if both parties were working together.” The president’s approval ratings, battered by slow economic growth, the October partial government shutdown, and the clumsy health care law rollout, have sunk to around 40 percent, according to several recent polls. A November 13 Quinnipiac University had him at 39 percent, a new low. Obama’s polling track at this point of his presidency are similar to that of George W. Bush, who left Washington with a paltry 34 percent approval.
Iran nuclear talks in uncertainty as Kerry to leave Geneva (AFP) Negotiations between world powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were thrown into uncertainty yesterday after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced his imminent departure and Iran’s chief negotiator expressed doubts a deal would be reached. Amid signs that the talks in Geneva were proving difficult, Kerry’s spokesman said the US’s top diplomat would leave for London today for meetings with British counterpart William Hague and the Libyan prime minister. At the same time, Iranian chief negotiator Abbas Araqchi said he doubted that Tehran and the P5+1 world powers — comprising the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany — could reach an accord by the end of the day. “Intense and difficult negotiations are under way and it is not clear whether we reach an agreement tonight,” Fars news agency quoted Araqchi as saying. “The dispute is over the wording.” The talks are aimed at securing a freeze on parts of Iran’s nuclear programme in order to ease fears that Tehran will develop atomic weapons, in return for modest sanctions relief. The arrival of foreign ministers including Kerry on Saturday had raised hopes, after three days of intense negotiations among lowerlevel officials, that a breakthrough was in sight. Kerry had decided to join the talks “with the hope that an agreement will be reached,” the State Department said on Friday. Since their arrival
however, officials from both sides have indicated that there are still considerable differences to be bridged. “We have now entered a very difficult stage,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state television, saying he would not bow to “excessive demands”. “In any agreement, (uranium) enrichment in Iran will not be suspended,” Zarif said, adding that “a very difficult task” still lay ahead in clinching a deal. Hague was also cautious on Saturday morning, saying in Geneva: “They remain very difficult negotiations. I think it is important to stress that we are not here because things are necessarily finished.” “It’s not a done deal,”
said his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle. “We think there’s a realistic chance but there is still a lot of work to do.” Mark Hibbs from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Kerry’s imminent departure might “set a deadline and focus people’s minds”. Just two weeks ago, the ministers had jetted in seeking to sign on the dotted line, only to fail as cracks appeared among the powers — fissures that officials say are now repaired. Since being elected in June, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has raised big hopes that after a decade of rising tensions over Te h r a n ’s nuclear programme, a solution might be within reach.
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Sunday November 24, 2013
China’s Xi fails to earn stripes as anti-graft ‘tiger’ hunt underwhelms (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised expectations he will tackle corruption much more forcefully than his predecessors, but official data on investigations suggests the crackdown so far is little different to previous years. Authorities have opened a similar number of corruption probes in 2013 to last year, data from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), which oversees criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide, shows. According to a Reuters analysis of the data, authorities have prosecuted far fewer people this year compared to the past five years, while the number of senior officials being investigated is on track to match those in prior periods. Such statistics are at odds with the frequent trumpeting of Xi’s anti-graft campaign by Chinese state media. Since he took over the ruling Communist Party a year ago, Xi has vowed to root out endemic corruption by catching “tigers”, or senior officials, and not just lowly “flies”. Xi might be treading carefully since putting too many officials behind bars could paralyse decisionmaking across the government and the party, experts said. “They don’t want everybody worried about being arrested. That would be a disaster for the party,” said
Yuhua Wang, a China corruption expert at the University of Pennsylvania. A remarkably similar number of corruption investigations each year over the past decade suggests authorities might even have minimum targets to meet, some experts said. Xi could surprise, as he did earlier this month with farreaching economic and social reforms announced at the end of a conclave of senior leaders, if his crackdown gathers steam in the coming year and prosecutions jump. For now, experts said authorities had yet to demonstrate the campaign was anything other than business as usual. “Anti-corruption campaigns are in large part exercises in pure public relations,” said Andrew Wedeman, a professor at Georgia State University who has written a book on corruption in China. “You need a few pelts.” Graft oils the wheels of the government and party at almost every level in China, which ranked 80th out of 176 countries and territories on Transparency International’s 2012 corruption perceptions index, where a higher ranking means a cleaner public sector. Like almost all his predecessors, Xi has said corruption threatens the party’s very existence. Spearheading his crackdown is Wang Qishan, head of the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Wang
warned party investigators last month that their jobs were on the line if they failed to root out corruption, telling them to use “shock and awe” on their targets. The party said this month it plans to set up a database to record information on the income and property of party officials. It has said nothing about making the income database public. The central discipline commission, however, did hold its first news conference ever in January and launched a website in September that allows the public to report alleged misbehaviour. Some analysts expect further reforms to the commission could be in the works, which might affect its approach to fighting corruption. Neither the government nor the commission responded to queries about the anti-corruption campaign or the SPP data. “I think they genuinely want to fight corruption,” said Zhu Jiangnan at the University of Hong Kong, who researches corruption in China. “There’s certainly been an increase in transparency.” Last year, government authorities investigated 35,648 people for corruption, based on data in publicly available SPP work reports that covered the 2008-2012 period. As of the end of August, 30,938 investigations have been opened. That was up 4 percent compared to the same period last year, the SPP said in its official newspaper last month. And from 2011 to 2012, the number of investigations rose 6 percent, suggesting marginal growth in the number of probes is likely for all of 2013.
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
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“Clive Lloyd was right! West Indies needs some good fast bowlers!” What about this resurgence of real faster bowlers, not pretenders, in that real cricket game called “Tests”? After West Indies had been embarrassingly destroyed by India; Test No. 2, Mumbai; former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd suggested two things; the first was quite funny, the second very poignant. “West Indies looked drunk on T-20s” suggested Lloyd, which must have brought tears, of laughter or desperate despair, to eyes of those really listening. Lloyd was not wrong! For batsmen to be slogging; out caught in the outfield; early in a Test innings, is sacrilege, displaying disregard and misunderstanding of Test cricket itself! Lloyd, and another West Indian fast bowling legend, Michael Holding, also suggested that West Indies needs real fast bowling fire power, not powder puffs who push out their chests like former Mr. Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger, but unlike Arnold, have nothing behind those chests but vast empty spaces. Viewing England’s Stuart Broad decimate Australia’s 1st innings for 295; Broad 681; reminds us of what good, aggressive fast bowling represents in Test cricket, despite gross misunderstanding of such powerful, purposeful bowling and strange insipid
Stuart Broad knocked out Ryan Harris’ leg stump, England v Australia, 5th Investec Test, The Oval, 5th day, August 25, 2013. (Getty Images)
Colin E. H. Croft says:
Clive Lloyd dependence on spin. Had it not been for veteran wicket-keeper Brad Haddin’s 94 and swinging fast bowler, Mitchell Johnson, reliable at the tail, making 64, the pair putting on 114 for the 7th wicket after Australia had been precariously positioned at 132-6, it could have been worse for the Antipodeans. Johnson, the bowler, was not done. He turned the screws on England’s much vaunted batting line-up, destroying them with superlative slinging, swinging left-arm pace that left England battered, confused, panting for breath and hoping for a redemptive miracle! England was progressing nicely at 82-2 before Johnson, abetted by improved Ryan Harris and probing Peter Siddle, bowling fast and accurately, undermined and destroyed England’s hopes, its last eight 1st innings
wickets falling in only 21 overs; for only additional 54 runs. As George Dobell, ‘CricInfo - the cricket web-site’ wrote; “It was a familiar tale from shell-shocked England!” Australia has a substantial lead of over 200 runs at time of writing, with all 2nd innings wickets in hand, so the writing is already on the wall for England. Even if they dismiss Australia under 300 runs, 2nd innings; very unlikely; England will still have to make about 400 runs to win Test No. 1 at the Gabba! In Test No. 1 v India; Kolkata; the hosts wobbled at 156-6, 1st innings, after West Indies had meandered to a paltry 234, destroyed by
Albion, Courtland clash in Raffik and Sons Construction 20-over final today at Chesney Cricket fans in the Lower/ Central Corentyne area will be in for a treat today when, after nearly a year of intense battle involving cricket teams from that area spanning from Courtland to Yakusari in Black Bush, the top two teams that have emerged. Albion Community Centre and Courtland All Stars will battle it out in the final of the Raffik and Sons Construction Services Second Division 20overs Knock Out Competition at the recently refurbished Chesney Cricket Ground, located at Chesney Back in the Lower Corentyne area where the likes of Narsingh Deonarine, Sudesh and Sunil Dhaniram as well as Fazil and Rafik Sattaur were born and raised, where their cricketing career began. Albion Community Centre, with this competition only allowing one first
division player per team, would not have their big name players. However, former Guyana under-19 batsman Kandasammy Surujnarine will be one of note. The rest is made up of under-15 and some under-17 cricketers, some of whom have represented Berbice and in a few cases Guyana, at the youth level. Surujnarine’s batting will be backed up by Berbice under-17 batsman Balhand Baldeo and two others who represented Guyana at the under-15 level this year, Adrian Sukhwa and Matthew Hardyal, the very capable Surij Dookna and Berbice under 17 all-rounder Navendra Permaul. The bowling will be led by offspinners Baldeo and Asif Ali, who played the under-15 inter-county this year for the President’s eleven
and Dookna. Left-arm spinner Joshua Harrichand and medium pacer Permaul will also play. Courtland All Star on the other hand is a team of seasoned all-rounders led by former Berbice pacer Eon Gibson, Troy Matteson, Travis Williams, Keon Sinclair and John Percival who can all lend support to former Berbice under-15 batsman Dwayne Crandon, Michael Cummings and Jamal Cort. Gibson will spearhead the pace attack with Sinclair, Percival and Cummings while Matheson and Williams have done well with their offspin recently. The final is scheduled to start at 1p.m. Meanwhile, the third and fourth play off between the two losing semifinalists, Port Mourant and Fyrish is fixed for 9.00a.m. today at the same venue.
tall marauding new-comer Mohammed Shami, whose fast, swinging deliveries, ala Broad, put paid to any hopes of resistance that West Indies had. Off-spinner Shane Shillingford got four of those six wickets, with the others going to fast bowlers Tino Best and Sheldon Cottrel, who, like Australia’s Johnson, is also left-handed. Then everything changed! Thanks to no fire power whatsoever from debutant Cottrel, and always overexuberant but very poorly producing Best, and seemingly a very sudden abhorrence to bowling from captain Darren Sammy, who only bowled twelve overs in India’s 1st innings that lasted 129.4 overs, India eventually mustered 453. Clive Lloyd, who instituted the fabled fourpronged fast bowling attack for West Indies after leading
a team which was absolutely destroyed in Australia, 19756, by speedsters Dennis Lillee, Jeffrey Thomson, Gary Gilmour and Max Walker, experiencing first-hand what real fast bowler could do, was not wrong! Had West Indies one, not even three or four, of Ian Bishop, Joel Garner, Curtley Ambrose, even yours truly, any such productive fast bowler, India’s lower order would have been cleaned up. Of that I am very sure. Instead, India managed to not only allow its brilliant batting debutant Rohit Sharma and off-break bowling all-rounder Ravinchandran Aswin to both make centuries, but the Indian lead, 219 runs, was so overpowering that West Indies simply capitulated for 168, thus losing by an innings and 51 runs. Kemar Roach is injured, but West Indies cricket must be in real dire straight for that
fantastically enterprising and exciting art of good fast bowling to be so poorly represented in the Test team, especially with no changes for the series in New Zealand. They will depend much on the spin of Shillingford, whose action has again been questioned, Marlon Samuels, another spinner with questionable action, according to ICC, and two further spinners Veerasammy Permaul and Narsingh Deonarine, to get New Zealand out six times in three Tests. But what of West Indies present fast bowlers? Best has 22 Tests, only 49 wickets, just over two wickets per Test, at the unbelievably poor, nearly 40 runs per Test wicket average. Shannon Gabriel, who had been injured, and whose early promise seems stagnated, has four Tests, eleven wickets, at 23.18. Cottrell has one Test; 1-72. Captain Sammy has 35 Tests, 77 wickets, and like Best, just over two wickets per Test, at an unacceptable 35.66 runs per wicket. His batting has been below par too, 1189 runs, 21.23 runs per innings. New Zealand will not be quaking in their boots at that fast bowling attack! Clive Lloyd was right! West Indies needs real fast bowlers, now! Enjoy!
Simmons and Scott set... From page 62 100m free in the girls and boys 11-12 age group respectively yesterday, while Leon Seaton and Riley Nurse toped the filed for 8 and under boys and girls respectively. Josiah King and Naomi King were the leading boy and girl in the 9-10 category in the 100m free with King also taking the 50m breaststroke. Sarah King won the 50m breaststroke in the 11-12 age group. On day two, Leon Seaton, representing Silver Sharks Aquatic Swim Club set new records in the 200m freestyle as well as the 50m backstroke, while Hannibal Gaskin accomplished a similar feat in the 800m freestyle.
Seaton erased the old 200m free mark of 3:17.54 set by Daniel Scott on June 3, 2009, setting a new record of 3:07.91. His new 50m backstroke record of 45.51 erased the 45.64 time that was set by Stephen King on July 11, 2008. Gaskin was in a no nonsense mood when he accomplished a new record of 9:21.44 in the 800m free, replacing Henk Lowe’s 9:45.95 achieved on October 31, 2009. On day one, the only competitors that participated in the 1500m freestyle were Godfrey Norton and Andrew Simmons who both represented District 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) in the just
concluded Ministry of Education/Guyana Teachers Union National Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships. Norton won the marathon event in 24:31.69 followed by Simmons in 26:44.84. The duo also competed in the 800m freestyle. Their performances were highly commended by the GASA Executive. Today’s final day starts at 12:00hrs with the athletes warming up and competition one hour later, will see the swimmers contesting the 400m Individual Medley; 200m Breaststroke; 50m Butterfly; 100m Backstroke; 200m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle.
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Sunday November 24, 2013
Bangladesh was a unique experience for DCB cricket trial ends in a... the touring West Indies Under-19 in (1995)
From page 65 over long-off before edging a cut to Barnwell at slip at 1145 as off-spinner Yatesh Dhanpaul got rid of the righthander who made 40 and also hit three fours in his 63-ball and 68 minute innings. It was soon 143-6 when Johnson, dropped at slip off the second ball he faced from Dhanpaul, was pushed on the back foot by a quicker delivery from off-spinner Steven Jacobs and lost his off stump after hitting two fours and a six in 21. Shaquille Williams (11) then fell to Khan at 164-7 leaving Vishal Singh not out on 19 when the match ended. Khan finished with 2-30 and Barnwell 2-12.
In addition to the Demerara versus the President’s X1 match at Enmore, Berbice and Essequibo will also do battle from Thursday at DCC in the first round. Berbice face the President’s X1 at Everest and Demerara play Essequibo at Wales in the second round from December 5-8, while the final round will be contested from December 12-15 when Demerara come up against Berbice at Enmore and Essequibo oppose the President’s X1 at the Police ground Eve Leary. Photo: Ronnie Sarwan walks back to the pavilion after falling 10 short of his fifty at Everest yesterday.
Matthias not being intimidated by those... From page 66 that can be traced to show their development and progression. To move to this level, Matthias informed, will require clubs to have the requisite skilled personnel to record that history, while the GFF must also move in that direction whether it is to retain such individuals or facilitate such training for the clubs and associations and that will take substantial funding. Coaches will also be required to attain a certain level of competency and qualification and according to Matthias, one of the current challenges is getting the clubs to sign on to these new arrangements. The only way for development is to get them structured and he gave as an example, that out of the 108 clubs that are registered, only five ‘B’ Licenced coaches are available. Another challenge is the fact that many children in schools have a thirst to play the game, but not many teachers are qualified to impart the knowledge to them. All these things the GFF is
expected to address so right there is another challenge. However, the President informed that the executive is keen to address those issues and to find remedy for them so the sharing of information, which he deemed crucial for the further development of the sport, will continue at every level. He also pointed to the training of over 30 new coaches for the ‘B’ Licence and at least three for the ‘A’ Licence between next year and 2015 as priorities for the administration. The importance of coaches’ education is paramount and to this end, the GFF will be sending Technical Development Officer Lyndon France to Mexico shortly to enhance his proficiency to impart on his return. Other personnel will leave early next year to attend a Coaches Workshop in the USA, while member associations have been asked to submit information about an elite coach and referee to attend the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The second part of the interview will be published shortly.
Gareth Breese
Mahendra Nagamootoo
Wavell Hinds
Reon King
Statistician Charwayne Walker looks this week at the Windies Under-19 tour to Bangladesh in 1995, even as the current U-19 side head to Bangladesh for their return fixture, he reflects on the performances during that tour. The first time the West Indies under-19 played under lights was 18 years ago, November 1995, when the Gareth Breese led side toured Bangladesh. Playing in front of (30,000) fans at the National Stadium in the Capitol Dhaka, the Regional youngsters lost to the Bangladesh under-23 side by six wickets. The Augustine Logie coached team also suffered losses to the Bangladesh under-19 and the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI. Please note, the West Indies tour management had to register its disapproval with the Bangladesh Cricket Board about facing senior players o n t h e t o u r. The arrangement was for an under-19 series. It should be noted that Barbadian All Rounder,
Ryan Hurley, who scored two centuries on the Pakistan leg of the tour, was sent home from Karachi for discipline and fitness reasons. Summary of matches played in Bangladesh: West Indies under-19 vs Bangladesh under-23; West Indies lost by six wickets – match played at National Stadium, Crowd (30,000). West Indies under19 - 185 for 9 in 50 overs; Wavell Hinds 44, Shirley Clarke 39, Adrian Murphy 32; Bowling for Bangladesh under-23: Salim Shahed took 2 for 26 from 7 overs. Bangladesh under-23 in reply -187 for 4; Javed Omar Belim 79, Salim Shahed 29 Not out; Bowling for West Indies under-19 - Mahendra Nagamootoo took 1 for 14 from 10 overs, Reon King 1 for 27 from 9.4 overs Denville McKenzie 1 for 31 from 10 overs. Match two vs Bangladesh under-19: crowd (30,000): Bangladesh under19 won by two wickets. West Indies under-19 - 196 for 8 in 50 overs; Mahendra Nagamootoo 36, Vishal Nagamootoo 31 not out,
Wavell Hinds 28, Nicholas DeGroot 27, Shirley Clark 24. Bowling for Bangladesh under-19 - N. Rahman Durjoy took 3 for 18. Bangladesh under-19 in reply: 198 for 8; Mustadir Litu 45, Al Shahbriar 40, N. Rahman Durjoy 29 Not out. Bowling for West Indies under-19: Reon King took 3 for 40, Mahendra Nagamootoo 2 for 27 from 9 overs. Match three vs Bangladesh Cricket Board X1 at national Stadium Dhaka: West Indies under-19 - 181 for 9 in 50 overs; Adrian Murphy 51, Nicholas DeGroot 43, Shirley Clarke 24. Bowling for Bangladesh Cricket Board XI; Naimur Rahman took four for 26 from 10 overs, Salim Shahed 3 for 25. Bangladesh Cricket Board in reply - 182 for 6, winning with four balls to spare. Kaled Mahmud top scored with 48, Naimur Rahman supported with 32. Bowling for West Indies under-19; Mahendra Nagamootoo took 1 for 24 from 10 overs Reon King 1 for 32 (10 overs), O’Neil Richard 1 for 37 (9 overs). The historic West Indies
under-19 team that toured Bangladesh in 1995: Gareth Breese Captain Jamaica Wavell Hinds – Jamaica Denville McKenzie – Jamaica O’Neil Richards – Jamaica Nicholas DeGroot – Vice Captain Guyana Reon King – Guyana Vishal Nagamootoo – Guyana Mahendra Nagamootoo – Guyana, Amarnath Basdeo – Trinidad Ray Cashmere- Windwards Sylvester Joseph – Leewards Tyrone Greenaway – Leewards Adrian Murphy – Barbados Shirley Clarke – Barbados Augustine Logie – Coach Although the circumstances are different 18 years later, the million dollar question regional cricket fans is asking, is whether Coach Roderick Estwick’s squad is ready to conquer mission Dhaka. Only time will tell if his troops are ready for next year’s ICC Youth World Cup war in Dubai.
GASA Short Course Nationals
Simmons and Scott set new records on day three; today is final day By Franklin Wilson Sorroya Simmons (15-17 age group) and Daniel Scott (11-12 age group) set new records in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly respectively when competition in the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) National Championships continued on the penultimate day, yesterday at the Castellani Pool, Homestretch Avenue. The 16 year-old Simmons of Dorado Speed Swim Club (DSSC) erased her own record (2:50.31) set on October 27, 2012 with a new standard of 2:44.46. Her club mate Scott swam
excellently in the 100m butterfly to set a new record of 1:03.84, brushing aside the old mark of 1:17.34 that was achieved by Errol van Lange on August 20, 2005. Over the past three day’s some exciting performances would have been recorded by the local swimmers as they seek to outdo each other in GASA’s year end meet. Hannibal Gaskin (15-17 boys) won the 100m free and butterfly, Dylan Nurse (13-14 boys) took the 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, Accalia Khan won the 100m free in the same category. Amy Grant and Daniel Scott were the winners of the (Continued on page 61)
Godfrey Norton (left) and Andrew Simmons
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 63
Kashif and Shanghai Inaugural Secondary School Tournament….
Participating teams collect playing kits The 24 teams taking part in next month Kashif and Shanghai Inaugural Secondary Schools football tournament yesterday received their playing kits, consisting of hoses, trunks, jerseys and other equipment at the Ministry of Education ground. Officials of the teams were then briefed on the rules and other subjects relevant to their participation and the smooth running of the tournament. The teams, which are being drawn from across Guyana, will battle in the “knockout” tournament that kicks off on December 8 and concludes on January 1 at the Guyana National Stadium. The schools were selected based on their
performance in the annual Digicel Schools Football tournament and the prizes will emulate that of the previous senior Kashif and Shanghai competitions. Co-Director Kashif Muhammad informed that the winning school will receive $1.2M, 75% of which must go towards a sports oriented project identified by the school. The runner-up will collect $750,000, third place $500,000 and fourth place $250,000; 25% of it will go to the players in the form of gift vouchers to purchase school supplies or sports gear. The Most Valuable player (MVP) will take home a Laptop and will also get the opportunity to have a one month stint with a team in the Trinidad and Tobago
Representatives from 18 of the 24 teams taking part in the tournament display their uniforms with the championship trophy. Professional League. The participating teams
are: Linden - Christianburg Wismar Secondary, Wisburg
2nd edition of the DDL/Guyana Boxing Association U-16 Boxing Championship
Isaiah Moore highlights tournament with Twenty seconds knockout
WINNERS’ ROW: the victorious boxers pose for a photo op shortly after the end of their respective bouts L-R Odeni Moore, Roy Samuels, Delroy Allicock, Shaquille Wright and Kevon Mullin Isaiah Moore (HEBG) was in a devastating mood and needed just 20 seconds to dispose of Emmanuel King in their 75-79lbs affair when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) staged the 2nd edition of the DDL Gatorade/Pepsi/ Diamond Mineral Water, U-16 Boxing Championship at the Andrew Lewis Boxing Gym, Independence Boulevard yesterday morning. The chimes of the bell were still resonating when Moore rushed over to his opponent’s corner and dealt him several clouts to his temple. He blocked up in an attempt to stave off the onslaught but two hands were just not enough and after he had caught several more wicked blows, the referee swiftly jumped in and called a halt.
Fresh from his recent Bartica sojourn where he copped the best boxer award, Kevon Mullin continued his good showing, forcing the referee to call a premature halt to his 75-79lbs bout against Rayon Archer. Representing the Harpy Eagles Boxing Gym (HEBG), Mullin took charge from the first gong with several right crosses. He was also very elusive and had his opponent missing most of his punches. There was a bit of confusion midway into the second round after Mullin connected with several crunching punches. Archer’s handlers decided to throw in the towel but the referee failed to observe the act. So instead of waving the bout off, he directed the hurt boxer into his corner upon the bell. The laxness of the referee
might have been fatal as Mullin resumed the fight in the second round with several wicked punches to his opponent’s head and this time the referee was on cue, waving off the one sided contest in 54 seconds of the second round. Odeny Moore (EBG) also scored a technical knockout victory over Young Achiever’s (YA) representative, Melchizedek Hinds. The latter boxer managed to hold on for the duration of the first stanza but his body language never suggested permanence. Forty nine seconds into the second round he received a wallop which forced the referee to institute the mandatory eight count and subsequently wave the bout off. Roy Samuels (HEBG)
suffered mixed fortunes, defeating Jonathon Nichols (YA) in the 80-84lbs class but lost on points in a later bout to Shaquille Wright. The later boxer employed a two fisted attack that had the former on the back foot for most of the bout and eventually won a lopsided verdict. Darrel Ishmael (YA) found the experience of Delroy Allicock too much with the latter pugilist delivering crisp blows, while his opponent lashed out with unorthodox punches that mostly landed in thin air. It was really an introduction to the sport for Ishmael who would have had his first outing in the ring. Activities continue this morning when the champions of the various divisions will be established after several potentially thrilling bouts.
Secondary, New Silver City and McKenzie High School. West Demerara – Leonora, Stewartville, Uitvlugt and Patentia Secondary. Georgetown – St George’s, Lodge, East Ruimveldt, North Georgetown, Queens College, Dolphin, Christ Church and
Queenstown Secondary. East Coast – Bladen Hall, President College, Ann’s Grove and Annandale Secondary. Berbice – Ash Education Trust. East Bank – Covent Garden and Friendship Secondary. Region#7 – Waramadong Secondary.
Seasoned track... From page 65 Shaquille Smartt’s 51.3 seconds last year for new record; his third of the 2013 competition. Upper Demerara’s, Smartt (51.5) was second and East Bank’s, Kwesi Blair (52.1) third. The seasoned junior stars continued to exhort their dominance when Ornesto Thomas won the Boys’ Open 5000m in16:35.8 for East Coast. Corentyne’s, Denzil Leitch was second in 16:42.4 while West Coast Berbice’s, Marlon Nicholson (16:53.3) trailed in third. Upper Demerara/ Kwakwani, Jomal Johnson won the Boys U-16 3000 in 9:54.3 with Rupununi’s, Cleveland Pugsley (9:57.3) second and East Coast’s, Joshua Walcott (10.00.9) third. Upper Demerara’s, Cassey George then showed Guyanese why she won two CARIFTA gold medals with a blistering 3000m U-16 race.
SUBLIME! Cassey George finishes more than 50metres ahead in the 3000m Girls’ U-16 Final Friday evening at the National Stadium. George set the pace early and never looked back for a an 11:06.5 win; West Coast Berbice’s, Delicia Harper (11:18.9) was second while North West’s, Sharmin Worrick (12:08.7) finished third in the distance event.
Bannas Foundation to stage Dominoes tomorrow Bannas Foundation will stage a dominoes competition tomorrow at Smash Hide out C Field Sophia. Among the six teams that are slated to take part are; Cobra, Sophia and C Field. Trophies donated by Bannas Foundation, Sons Variety Store, Trophy Stall Bourda Market and Akim and Otto Barnwell are on offer.
The competition is being organized by Kevin Walcott, Johnny Barnwell and Chetwin Douglas. Action gets underway at 19:00hrs. Meanwhile, Rest Team with 65 games won the previous tournament organized by Bannas Foundation. Combined took the runner up spot with 55 games and North Sophia placed third with 50.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
England in disarray against Australia BBC Sport - Blistering centuries from Captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner punished England’s weary bowlers on day three as Australia moved to within touching distance of winning the first Test. Warner’s 124 off 154 balls - his first ton in Ashes cricket - and Clarke’s 113 off 130 allowed the home side to declare after tea on 401-7 and set England a monstrous 561 to win. Given an hour to survive, England lost Michael Carberry for a duck and Jonathan Trott for a tortured nine as they slumped to 24-2 by the close. No side in history have scored more than 418 in the fourth innings to win a Test, and with the forecast good for the remaining t w o d a y s Alastair Cook’s men will have to bat out a nearimpossible 183 overs to save the match. And the manner in which they batted against Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris on Saturday evening suggested they will be fortunate to take it into a fifth day. Carberry was a little
David Warner completes his first Ashes hundred. (PA Photos)
unlucky to play on to Harris. But Trott looked utterly hapless against the predictable barrage of deliveries aimed at his body, his dismissal pulling Johnson straight to deep square leg as humiliating as it was inevitable. Warner and Clarke had earlier put on 158 runs for the third wicket, with Graeme Swann (2-135)
coming in for particularly chastening punishment. Clarke’s century was his 25th in Test cricket and his 11th as captain, and means that he now averages more than Sir Don Bradman at this ground. England had given themselves brief hope by dismissing both Chris Rogers and Shane Watson in the first 35 minutes after
GVF 2nd Int. Invitational Club Festival
Big Sepos, Yelyco, PMTC, Young Achievers into semis; Yelyco females trounce Vanguard
yet again, 25-11 25-17 having lost on the opening night, Friday, 25-17, 25-16. The third and final game will be played today and the local side would be aiming to salvage some pride by turning the tables on the visitors. Yet again, the locals were embarrassed when the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) delivered a double dose of black out during the game between Yelyco and Young Achievers with the score at 19-9 in favour of Yelyco. When power was restored, Yelyco went on to win the set 25-12 as well as the second but not before an epic fight by Achievers, it ended 29-27 in favour of the Suriname side.
Australia resumed on 65-0, both men caught playing ambitious back-foot shots. They then tried to rough up Clarke with the same short, fast stuff that accounted for him in the first innings. But neither Stuart Broad nor particularly the pedestrian Chris Tremlett could match the pace and aggression shown by Johnson and Harris on the second day, and the Australian skipper settled in by pulling away two fours. It was the start of a sustained assault that picked up pace before lunch and then accelerated after as the heat built and England’s bowlers tired. Warner led the way, piling first into Tremlett and then attacking Swann with lusty relish to race into the 90s. He was fortunate to escape on two occasions against James Anderson while on 99, but went to his century in the next over when he cover-drove Joe Root away to deafening appreciation from the Gabba
crowd. Warner ripped off his helmet and leapt in the air to celebrate, and when Swann was recalled to the attack from the Vulture St End went after him again. Clarke joined the assault, with brutal force to flay a six over long-on and with delicate panache to cut him behind point for more. In three overs in the middle of the afternoon, Swann went for 38 runs, the 150 partnership coming up at almost a run a ball. When first-innings destroyer Broad came back, Warner clouted him back over his head for another six, only to snick one behind to Matt Prior three balls later to fall for 124 and give Broad his 50th Ashes wicket. The damage had been done. While Tremlett had Steve Smith caught behind for a duck, Clarke continued to use his feet beautifully to Swann and went to his own 100 with a controlled drive as the Gabba once again rose. He celebrated with relish, kissing the badge on his
National Darts Championships…
Female action between Vanguard of Guyana (left) and Suriname's Yelyco Action in the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) Second International Invitational Club Festival will hit the home straight today when the semi finals and final are contested at the National Gymnasium. Following two days of preliminary action, Trinidad and Tobago’s Big Sepos, Suriname’s Yelyco along w i t h l o c a l s c l u b ’s P o r t Mourant Training Centre ( P M T C ) a n d Yo u n g Achievers have advanced to the semi finals, game one will serve off from 11:00hrs today. The second game of the three game female Goodwill series between Suriname’s Yelyco and Guyana Vanguard saw the local side going down
Michael Clarke celebrates his sixth Ashes hundred. (Getty Images)
helmet and pointing his bat at the home dressing-room, knowing that his innings had almost certainly crushed any faint hopes England had of saving the game. Swann had posted his own unwanted century before he finally had any success, Clarke bowled as he went down the track once again, and although George Bailey’s scalp then gave him his 250th Test wicket there were few smiles. Brad Haddin and Johnson continued the cruel massacre against the second new ball and took the lead past the 517 that England famously made to save the corresponding Test three years ago. Johnson heaved Tremlett for a straight six over long on before Haddin went to his second half-century of the game with a single off the 49th ball he faced. Clarke declared as the score passed 400, knowing England’s chances of batting out the 198 overs left in the match were remote. Sure enough, both Carberry and Trott fell before Cook (11) and Kevin Pietersen (three) clung on to the close. Even then it took fortune to see them survive, Pietersen calling his captain through for an insane single that would have seen him run out had Warner taken the ball cleanly by the stumps. It summed up the horrors of the day for the tourists, second best by a distance throughout to a team they beat 3-0 only three months ago. Scores: England 136 and 2 for 24 (Cook 11*, Pietersen 3*) need another 537 runs to beat Australia 295 and 7 for 401 dec (Warner 124, Clarke 113, Haddin 53).
GPL also visited the venue on the opening night (Friday) much to the disgust of the visiting teams and even the locals. The officials are hoping that there will not be any more power outages on today’s final day. Other results from yesterday saw Big Sepos beating the Guyana Defence Force 25-16, 25-11; PMTC after losing the first set to Young Achievers 18-25, clawed their way back to beat Achievers 25-19, 15-9. Yelyco took care of GDF 25-10, 25-12; Big Sepos defeated Young Achievers 2523, 25-11 and Yelyco got past PMTC 25-16, 25-16. The presentation of prizes will also be held this evening from 19:00hrs.
All Stars team win Trophy Stall Cup
The National Darts Cchampionships got off to a good start last Friday night at the CCWU on Quamina Street, Georgetown, with teams competing for this year’s title. In the end, the All Stars team, captained by the defending national singles champion Sudesh Fitzgerald, trounced the Bank of Guyana team, c a p t a i n e d b y M elissa Smartt, 7 points to nil in the final. The Format played was: 10014 players -1 game, 501 doubles -2 games, cricket-2 games-1 player, 501 singles-2 games. The surprise of the night was the performance of the Bank of Guyana team competing at this level for the
first time. Bank of Guyana defeated the favoured Rangers team, captained by Colin France, in the semifinals by 4 points to 3 points. The teams were locked at 3 points and in the decider 501 games, the Bank’s Leonardo Butcher got the better of Anil Lachman, one of the leading players in the country, beating him in 2 games straight. In the playoff for third place between the two losing semi-finalists, Rangers got the better of the Family Squad team, 5 points to 2 points. The Mixed Triples competition was also played, up to the semi-finals round. The results of that round, the best of 3 games (501) are as follows:
1. Melissa Smartt/ Marvin Yaw/Adrian Damon defeated Nicholas Seetaram/ Francis Correia/Jean DeSouza – 2 nil (upset) 2. Sherwyn Greene/ Lallchand Rambharose/ Rosetta Hiralall defeated Sudesh Fitzgerald/Andrew Balchand/Hemwattie Amyan – 2 nil (upset) The only maximum 180 thrown for the night was by Nicholas Seetaram. There is an incentive prize for the player throwing the most 180s throughout the competitions. Action was to continue yesterday at Malteenoes Sports Club, from 19:00 hours, with the Mixed Triples final and Mixed Doubles, Women Doubles, Men Doubles.
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
Jamaica anti-doping board resigns over drug-testing crisis
Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson returned positive tests. (Getty Images) BBC Sport - The Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission’s (Jadco) board has resigned in the wake of a drug-testing crisis. Concerns that Jamaica’s athletes have not been tested rigorously enough led to an emergency visit from the World AntiDoping Agency (Wada) this month. The Caribbean island’s sports minister Natalie Neita-Headley said the government “respected” the decision of 11 Jadco commissioners to resign. Six Jamaican athletes have tested positive for banned substances in 2013. They include former 100m world-record holder Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, an Olympic relay gold medallist at the 2004 Athens Games. In a statement, NeitaHeadley said: “Quite recently, Jadco’s commissioners met and acknowledged that there is a public perception of the existence of conflicts of interests among some of the members of the commission. “The commissioners have taken a decision, in the national interest and in order to facilitate the re-structuring
of Jadco, to tender their resignations which will take effect on 31 December 2013. The Prime Minister respects the decision of the commissioners and has accepted their resignations.” Following the positive tests, former Jadco executive director Renee Anne Shirley revealed that the agency conducted just one out-ofcompetition test in the six months leading up to last year’s Olympics. Dr Paul Wright, the country’s most senior drug tester, subsequently told the BBC recently that Jamaica’s rash of failed tests might be the “tip of an iceberg”. That angered Jamaica’s double Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who said that those comments “hurt” and that the athletics authorities needed to “stand by” their athletes. She threatened to refuse to run in major events unless the authorities gave greater help to athletes. Fraser-Pryce added that she was in advanced talks to set up a union in Jamaica to give athletes a voice and to offer support and education from
2014. Her comments were backed by incoming Wada president Sir Craig Reedie, who said that a boycott would be “welcome” if it helped to clean up Jamaican athletics. Jamaica’s six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has also spoken out over the crisis, claiming it could cost him a lucrative sponsorship deal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Wada has the option to declare Jadco “noncompliant” if it fails to resolve its problems, but NeitaHeadley pointed out that such a sanction has not been taken. She said: “At no time has Wada ever deemed Jamaica or Jadco to be noncompliant. At no time has Wada threatened to bar Jamaica or Jamaican athletes from participating in any international event - Olympic Games, World Championship or the like. “As we continue to build on this rich sporting legacy, the Government of Jamaica will continue to do whatever it can to protect our good name and reputation and in the maintenance of a dopingfree sporting environment.”
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Jamaican speed ace, Doug Gore, powers to pole in today’s CMRC feature Jamaica’s Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore threw down the gauntlet to his Guyanese and other challengers, capturing pole position in the Group 4 contest, setting the stage for an exciting battle in today’s final leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships (CMRC) at the South Dakota Circuit. Gore, piloting one of the fastest cars in the region, an Audi TT, flew to the fastest lap time of 33.5 seconds. However, to win he will have to turn in the performance of his life as the Guyanese pair of Mark Vieira and Kevin Jeffrey were ‘breathing fire’ on his back, with 33.9 and 34.0 seconds respectively. The experienced Andrew King and the promising
Danny Persaud, both representing team Guyana, are also in striking distance behind Vieira and Jeffrey and this group is set to put the South Dakota Circuit on fire and bring fans on their feet. Action starts at 08:00 hours, and the Guyanese drivers, riders and go-karters will be up against competitors from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, United States of America, Canada and Suriname and the large turnout of fans will be entertained. Among the races carded; Group 1, Group 2A and 2B, Group 3, Group 4, Go-Karts, 125cc Bikes and Superbikes A and B in the total 24 events listed. Admission to the venue is $2,000 for adults and $1,000
for children. Among the list of sponsors supporting the event are: Seaboard Marine, Banks DIH Limited, GT&T, Rent-A-Tent, Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, CCS, Prem’s Electrical, King’s Jewellery World, Valvoline, Nabi, Marsha Mining, John Fernandes, E.C. Vieira Investments, Mohamed Roshandin, NTN, New Thriving, Versus Auto Sales, TVG, Bounty Farm, Castrol, Hilton Quan, Trophy Stall, Readymix Concrete Limited, Extreme Motorsports, GTM, Ricks and Sari, Friendship Oxygen Limited, Automotive Arts, Hand-in-Hand Insurance, Beharry Group of Companies, Kaylees Service Station and Jiffi Lubes among others.
Seasoned track stars shine at Nationals
National schools cycling C\ships
Eastman, Doris star on final day, De Nobrega, Dick capture Devil takes the hindmost By Zaheer Mohamed Hamza Eastman and Toshawanna Doris of District 11 North Georgetown turned in commendable performances to take the 1500m Boys and Girls open races respectively when the National Schools Cycling Championships concluded on Friday evening at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. Eastman, who also won the 40 Km road race on Tuesday, overpowered Elijah Brijadder of District 6 Corentyne and Daniel Vossey of District 4 East Coast Demerara in that order enroute to yet another achievement at this level. Doris overcame Jenecia Stanley of District 6, who claimed second and third place Malika Herbert of
District 4. Romello Crawford of District 6 another stand out at the championships carted off the Boys U-16 1500m ahead of Shemar Sears of District 13 South Georgetown and Antonio Sanichar of District 4 respectively. Denecia Sarmento of District 6 captured the Girls U-16 1500m, while Sonia Campbell of District 15 New Amsterdam took the second podium spot and Jasmin Louisy of District 10 placed third. Carim Chase of District 7 Bartica copped Boys U-14 1500m title, Rashidi Ceres of District 13 South Georgetown grabbed silver and Kareem Wong of District 15 took silver. The Girls U-14 1500m was taken by Destheney Lewis of District 15 while
Tiana Barker of District 12 placed second and Anya Mc Lean of District 7 third. Marica Dick of District 15 out sprinted Crystal Lambert of District 6 Corentyne and Naomi Alsop of District 10 Upper Demerara\ Kwakwani in that order to take gold in the Girls 400m open. Sheriah Melville of District 13 took the honours in the Girls 400m U16 event, Okel Samuels of District 4 placed second and Miah Mc Pherson of District 10 took third spot. Teneisha London of District 4 won the Girls U-14 400m, Kenacia Marc of District 12 was second and Deancae Welch of District 6 finished third. Paul De Nobrega won the devil takes the hindmost in the boys open, while Marcia Dick captured the female segment.
DOMINANCE! Jevina Sampson completes her sprint treble with a comfortable win in the U16 Girls 400m Friday at the National Stadium. By Edison Jefford Seasoned junior track and field athletes made a strong claim for more national recognition Friday night at the National Stadium when they clearly separated their crafts, some with record-breaking performances, from others at the National Schools’ Championships. North Georgetown’s, Jevina Sampson continued her dominance at this level with a sprint treble after she romped yet to another victory in the 400m Girls’ Under-16 race in 59.7 seconds. East Georgetown’s, Natricia Hooper (1:02.0) was third, while Corentyne’s, Dennlie
Gray (1:02.1) was third. In the boys’ race, Upper Demerara’s, Compton Caesar, who was one of the rising stars in the competition, won in 54.5 seconds while New Amsterdam’s, Ryan Bramble finished second in 54.9 seconds and East Coast’s, Lennox Douglas (55.1) ended third. North Georgetown’s, Shomane Daniels won the U20 Girls 400m in 1:02.3, while Upper Dem’s Shenika Chapman (1:06.1) and Corentyne’s Funeta Crandon (1:08.7) finished second and third respectively. After playing second fiddle for quite some time,
South Georgetown’s, Selwin Foster won the Boys’ U-20 race in 50.7 seconds, leaving North Georgetown’s, Quacy Simpson (51.2) and East Georgetown’s, Janno Jacobs with 51.4 second and third. North Georgetown’s, Avon Samuels then ran 1:00.2 erasing Melissa Byass’ 1:00.4 mark done last year at the same venue to win the U-18 Girls 400m. New Amsterdam’s, Byass (1:02.1) and East Georgetown’s, Mearisha Carter (1:02.5) finished in that order. East Coast’s, Jason Yaw blistered the field in 49.9 seconds that also erased (Continued on page 63)
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Kaieteur News
Sunday November 24, 2013
Sixth Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ launched
Reigning champions Leopold Street pose with Banks DIH officials after winning the Georgetown competition last year. After what could be described as a humble start in Tiger Bay, a small neighbourhood situated in South Cummingsburg, the street football phenomenon has taken roots in almost every community in Georgetown and praises must be give to the Petra Organisation and Banks DIH through its Guinness brand. The eagerly anticipated Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ segment which is in its sixth year in Georgetown was launched on Friday in the foyer of the Banks DIH Sports Club and in attendance were Guinness Brand Executive Lee Baptiste, Petra Organisation Co-Director Troy Mendonca, Banks Beer
Brand Executive Brian ChooHen, Outdoor Events Manager Mortimer Stewart, Communications Manager Troy Peters and Referees Co-ordinator Wa y n e Griffith. Baptiste, who was the first to give remarks, spoke of the Company and by extension Guinness International commitment to the exciting format of the game, adding that it has now evolved into an Annual Caribbean Tournament that involves seven other regional territories including next year ’s host Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia and
Grenada. The Guinness Brand Executive complimented Petra Organisation for being the pioneer of organised street football informing that the Company is indeed happy to be collaborating with the Group to stage another edition of the tournament. Mendonca in his presentation gave a brief outline of the tournament which he said will involve 32 teams divided into eight groups of four and will be played over nine days at five venues. The dates that matches will be played according to Mendonca are November 26 and 28 and December 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 17 and 21 with the
DCB cricket trial ends in a draw Demerara team to be announced today By Sean Devers Former West Indies Captain Ramnaresh ‘Ronnie’ Sarwan fell 10 short of his fifty as Leon Johnson’s X1 reached 164- 4 in reply the 369 all out made by Chris Barnwell’s X1 when the rainhit Demerara three-day trial match ended at Everest yesterday. According to President of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Raj Singh, the Demerara team for their opening Four-Day InterCounty game at Enmore against the President’s X1 from Thursday will be announced today. Resuming on their first day score of 358-9 when play finally resumed at 11:45hrs yesterday after the entire second day was washed out, Barnwell took his overnight 105 to 116 before he was removed by left-arm pacer
Andre Stoll in the day’s second over. Left-arm spinner Totaram Bishun (3-94) and rookie Police pacer Randy Knights (2-38) were the most successful bowlers for Johnson’ X1 who reached 593 from 24 overs when a late Lunch was taken at 14:00hrs. Unlike the second day when it rained consistently all morning, the sun was out in all its glory yesterday. Shemroy Barrington (3) played around a ball from medium pacer Kelon Carmichael and was LBW at 7-1 on a sluggish track which kept low at times and a heavy outfield which made runs scoring a tedious task. Test player Ryan Ramdass, looking to resuscitate his career, was now beginning to settle when he pushed at a ball which left him from Barnwell
and edged a catch to the Keeper after making 23 to leave the score on 50-2. West Indies youth batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul stayed around for 71 minutes for his carefully constructed 20 before he played too early and was caught and bowled by Barnwell at 51-3. After the interval, Robin Bacchus and Sarwan, who started slowly but gained momentum as his innings progressed, took the score to 103 with a 52-run fourth wicket stand before Bacchus (12) fell to leg-spinner Amir Khan. Sarwan, who looked set for a big score in only his second match since leading Guyana to the CPL final, struck left-arm spinner Denis Legay for an effortless six over extra-cover. He then thumped Khan for another six (Continued on page
Guinness Brand Executive Lee Baptiste (3rd left) hands over the winning trophy to Petra Organisation’s Troy Mendonca in the presence of tournament officials on Friday. winners set to receive $500,000, runners-up $300,000, 3rd place $200,000 and 4th place $100,00, while all four teams will collect trophies. Mendonca also stated that all participating teams will receive a minimum of $10,000 which could increase as they progress
further into the competition. Meanwhile, Lee disclosed that Guyana will have to send a player to participate in the Skills Competition and therefore each team is required to submit a player to exhibit skills with the winner to receive a monetary prize and a chance to represent this
country at the Caribbean segment. The defending national champion is Back Circle who have been the country’s sole representative at both Caribbean tournaments to date. Leopold Street is the reigning Georgetown champions.
Matthias not being intimidated by those with hidden agendas - Intends to forge ahead with development plans By Rawle Welch President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Christopher Matthias in an exclusive interview with kaieteur Sport recently revealed that he was undaunted by some of comments emanating in the dailes about the new management structure that is taking shape within the local landscape. Matthias, who took over the reins of office in March this year, in keeping with his earlier pronouncements to chart a new course which would require the GFF to lead the way in good governance, transparency and accountability, said he was remaining resolutely on course in changing the way the sport and its management was being percieved by both internal and external stakeholders and assured that he will not be intimidated by those who are still motivated by self-interest, greed and hidden agendas. “To date we’ve been able to set up most of the committees that are required to achieve the goals that we had set out to attain, while we’ve been able to start the Premier League much to the
Christopher Matthias puzzlement of the cynics who felt that no one would come to our rescue, but as you can see, we’ve already had some amount of success and the member associations and clubs could attest to this fact,” Matthias stated. He pointed to the establishment of the Technical and Tactical Committee which is headed by Vice-President Ivan Persaud, the Competitions Committee led by VicePresident Collie Hercules and the Infrastructural Committee of which Committee member Keith O’Jeer is responsible, as ample evidence of the new dispensation. The GFF President added that only recently they were
able to form a Grassroots Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport (MCYS) to develop programmes and teach persons to go back to their communities and run the programmes. This he said will be done nationwide. GOAL ProjectMatthias said that discussions on the agreement for resiting the Project to Leonora where the synthetic track is being laid is progressing with the Ministry of Sport, while Minister Dr. Frank Anthony has proposed that the Government maintain the facility and negotiations are ongoing in relation to that proposal. He disclosed that among the facilities that will be built are a Technical Centre that will house at least 80 persons and large and mini pitches and these will be constructed outside of the Track. ChallengesFIFA and CONCACAF have mandated that football must be co-ordinated and governed in a structured form and by 2015 every player must become part of a database which will include their history (Continued on page 62)
Sunday November 24, 2013
Kaieteur News
CMRC Race Meet
Miami Subs & Grill supports Carey Griffith
Superbiker Carey Griffith receives the sponsorship cheque from Miami Subs & Grill Representative Dustanni Barrow at the entity’s location yesterday. His progression in the sport in a short space of time has been phenomenal and is now considered a legitimate threat to the supremacy of his more established counterparts and when the s t a r t e r ’s f l a g d r o p s , Superbiker Carey Griffith intends to be in the reckoning for top honours. Griffith, who will be riding a Suzuki GSXR at the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship, at the South Dakota Circuit today, y e s t e r d a y, r e c e i v e d sponsorship from newlyopened Miami Subs & Grill representative Dustanni Barrow, during a simple ceremony that was conducted at the entity’s location on Albert and Lamaha Streets.
According to Griffith, the Management has been supporting him for the past three years under the Dixie Lee brand and he is extremely grateful for the partnership which has enabled him to produce some outstanding performances during the period. Griffith said he will be going all out to give his fans a real treat and cautioned his rivals that “the game is on when the race starts.” He added that he will be going all out to put on a good show, but the real aim is to win races because that will propel him into the conversation going forward. Among the seasoned campaigners he will be going up against are Stephen Vieira, Carlos Rodrigues,
Joel Neblett, while the upstarted Nikhil Seereeram and Matthew Vieira are the new ones knocking at the door. Griffith also recognised the support offered by Banks DIH, Industrial Services and Supplies, El Dorado Mining and Windjammer International Cuisine. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism which has been on board for the past three years will once again partner the GMR&SC in an event that has evolved into a major sport tourism attraction. G T & T, S e a b o a r d Marine, Valvoline, Banks Beer and King’s Jewellery World, Fly Jamaica, Rent-ATent and American Stores are among the sponsors for this event.
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Mayor Green Inter-Ward/Village Football finals set for Dec 1 The finals of the Mayor Hamilton Green 79th Birth Anniversary 7-a-side InterWa r d / Vi l l a g e F o o t b a l l tournament will be played on December 1 at the Den Amstel ground from 14:00hrs with Eight teams from Georgetown and West Demerara battling for supremacy. In the quarter-finals action, Sarah Lodge will face North Sophia from 14:00hrs, Pouderoyen will play North La Penitance at 14:30 hrs, Uitvlugt will take
on Kitty at 15:00hrs and Den Amstel will challenge South Sophia at 15:30 hrs. The top four teams will then battle for a place in the final the said evening. Several corporate entities and persons have lent their support to the event so far. Among them are GT&T, MACORP, Chris Fernandes, Ricks and Sari, who will give hampers of their products to members of the winners and runner-up, Tr o p h y S t a l l , G u y a n a Lottery Company, New Thriving Restaurant, Eddie
Grant and Giftland Office Max. The winner will collect $100,000 and a Trophy donated by Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall Bourda Market, with the runner-up claiming $50,000 and the Ricks and Sari Trophy. The 7-a-side games are of 20 minutes duration, that’s two halves of 10 minutes, being contested. Three substitutions will be allowed per team during matches with penalties determining a winner in the event of a stalemate.
t r o Sp
Jamaican speed ace, Doug Gore, powers to pole in today’s CMRC feature P.65
Jamaica’s Doug Gore will be a ‘marked man’ today after capturing Pole in the ‘Big Boys’ race (Group 4) during yesterday’s qualifying.
National schools track , field & cycling C\ships
Seasoned track stars shine at Nationals P.65
DOMINANCE! Jevina Sampson completes her sprint treble with a comfortable win in the U-16 Girls 400m Friday at the National Stadium.
Eastman, Doris star on final day, De Nobrega, Dick capture Devil P.65 takes the hindmost
Hamza Eastman is all alone as he crosses the finish line in the 1500m Boys open.
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