Kaieteur News

K

Business Saturday Edition NEWS community wants code of AIETEUR

November 30, 2019 - Vol. 13 No. 47

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

Price $80

ethics for elections

Online readership yesterday 101,359

Former Jamaican PM tells Guyanese leaders…

As economy improves, it is vital local businesses are not disadvantaged Govt. to sub-contract electrical GuyOil inspections of properties slashes p.

8

prices on gas, diesel, kero

Sections of Leguan stelling collapse p.

8

Ex-supervisor accused of plucking $19M from Royal Castle

Suriname Military Court GRA, UK team to sentences President audit US$900M Bouterse to 20 years pre-contract … for 1982 murders of 15 political opponents

costs next year

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 30, 2019

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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GRA, UK team to begin audit of US$900M pre-contract costs next year K

By Kiana Wilburg

aieteur News was able to c o n f i r m , y e s t e r d a y, t h a t t h e government has officially completed all the necessary paperwork for IHS Markit Limited, a London-based firm, to start the audit of the US$900M pre-contract costs Guyana is expected to pay ExxonMobil.

But the entity would not be working in isolation.

Kaieteur News was informed that a team from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) would be working alongside the London-based firm.

When contacted for a comment in this regard, GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia, confirmed that indeed, a team from the revenue

GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia authority would receive training from IHS as it pursues the audit of the precontract costs.

He also confirmed that the firm's database of benchmark prices which is used as a guide to identify

inflated costs would also be shared with GRA. “...Anything they have would be shared with us is so that we can be able to do it on our own going forward,� the Commissioner General added.

This publication understands that the IHS will begin the audit of the costs within the first two weeks of January 2020.

It was in September that this news agency reported that IHS Markit was recruited to audit billions of dollars ExxonMobil and its partners said they invested in the Stabroek Block.

In its Expression of Interest (EOI), the Londonbased firm stated that it has the deepest source of information, analytics and solutions for the major industries such as oil, while noting that it has provided its

expertise to clients in over 165 countries for more than 50 years.

The company further stated that it understands the holistic impact of costs on upstream operations.

In terms of what it is bringing to the table for Guyana, IHS said that it has a comprehensive global database of exploration and production costs. It said that this data includes local and regional costs at the

component level so as to allow for detailed comparisons.

IHS also said that it has developed proprietary software solutions and tools to gain insights into costs faced in the exploration and production sector. It said that it uses cost estimation tools such as Que$tor and Vantage paired with its rich databases to provide industry leading cost analysis.

Earlier this year as well,

Petroleum Advisor to the Government, Matthew Wilks, categorically stated that if oil companies rack up costs which are exorbitant and unjustifiable, Guyana will not be paying, while noting that the power of the government is in cost recovery audits.

He had said that this is the case whether it is for the controversial US$960M precontract costs and any costs (continued on page 10)

Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

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

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

That narco-submarine

O

nce again, Guyana captures the spotlight for less than commendable reasons. It is what adds to the growing disrepute of this country before a vigilant world that snared the narco-submarine. That same world wonders what next this little place could conjure up in its clever laboratories dedicated to operating on the dark side of the tracks.

We have progressed from a familiar urging; that is, to buy local. Nowadays, we export and sell local everywhere, which is an indication of how astute local thinkers, innovators, manufacturers, and marketers have become.

For the initial evidence of that captured narcosubmarine, points to being made in Guyana, heralding the now proven skills of Guyanese.

This is how creative Guyanese are, with a narcosubmarine of all things. A nuclear powered one could be next, and a full-fledged aircraft carrier on the drawing board, too.

At this rate, ExxonMobil had better be careful, for Guyana could get ideas and construct its own oil rigs, complete with the necessary cutting edge technology to tap into its petroleum treasure. Because to configure first in the mind, and then to construct any such submersible vehicle requires ingenuity, versatility, and heavy industry.

It called for manpower, money power, and the staying power that moves mountains. That underwater contraption was not constructed on treetops, or in deep underground caverns. It was put together by local hands at the behest of foreign minds (most likely) and at somewhere resembling ground level, which is a problem.

The problem is like that butterfly whirring its wings way over there in the Orient and generating the initial wisps of energy for a hurricane to rage in the Caribbean Sea. To put differently, and more pointedly, there are few, if any, actions in this secretive society that do not breach existing codes of silence.

As an example, a leaf begins its descent in the hinterlands, and people in the know, in the city, know. They know by that peculiar and unique delivery system that is the invisible people’s express that gallops breathlessly across the vast, uninhabited spaces of this land. Loose lips sink ships, save for this one sub, of which there could be several.

To make that narco-submarine thus stands as an achievement in physical adaptability, cultural credibility, and engineering ability, which calls for a doffing of the cap and much deep bowing.

But to make men hold their tongue, relative to its existence in this radio station of a nation is an altogether, even more spectacular, achievement.

That calls for more than the money power; it demands the most disciplined kind of willpower.

Men who should know, and always know everything, suddenly knew nothing—absolutely nothing about the creation and customisation of that craft for a plague of a purpose, a daringly dangerous, but profitable, purpose.

As has been our forlorn experience, one government after another has struggled with an airport project, elevator operation, road robustness and the litany of propositions that made losers out of the Guyanese taxpayers.

Yet here it is, through this innovation of innovations, Guyana is now suspected of being the proud builders narcosubmarines, as is now showcased before a bewildered world.

The plural of submarines was employed, as there may be more than one of the creatures navigating the oceans of the world, like Jules Verne of schoolboy fame.

It must be admitted, reluctantly, that in a depraved way, it is a beautiful thing and a tragic one, too. It could be splendid and spiraling, if only there could be rechanneling those same creative mentalities and energies toward prioritising and truly starting the work of nation building, to arrive at some fragment of a place.

Editor’s Note; If your sent letter was not published and you felt its contents were valid and devoid of libel or personal attacks, please contact us by phone or email.

The failure to engage balance and discretion is evident in our society today DEAR EDITOR, Last week we celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention Rights of the Child. When Guyana ratified the Convention in 1989, I was in active service to the nation.

The principles adumbrated in the articles of the Convention as contained in the article by Ms. Thomas are perfect.

At the latter part of her letter, she stressed the importance of Educational Institutions having enough space for recreation and outdoor activities for students. Unhappily, some of our Planners, including the Municipalities, seem to be unaware of this important requirement, evident in sections of our Capital.

But there is a more important matter that needs to be discussed.

Some of us emerged out of a generation where we

were taught the wisdom of not ‘Sparing the Rod and Spoil the Child.’

Everything requires discretion and balance in its application.

The failure to engage balance and discretion is evident in our society today.

In some of our schools, we see where our children see nothing wrong in boldly and openly ignoring teachers, parents and defying elders.

I say two things, first, mankind’s history, whether we like it or not is full of examples, where the rod is used against those who break the rules.

Of course, there is the difficult question of who has the right to make the rules.

As we discuss the Convention, in our Schools, Churches, Mosques, Temples and the Community, we must, of course emphasise the Rights

of the Child with equal fervour.

You must, from the time of understanding, know that there are rules that need to be respected, in other words, from the cradle.

We m u s t i n s e r t t h e watchword that children and adults, every hour of the day, and every day of the year, have a responsibility to be good citizens and to know the vast difference between right and wrong, poor performance and excellence.

Around Guyana today, there is abundant evidence that we seem to know all of our rights, oblivious of rules and our responsibility.

The next decade must correct some of the flaws noticeable since we signed on to the Convention thirty years ago.

In case, someone accuses me of supporting violence against children. This is not the case. If you step out of

line, there must be some punishment that need not follow the path of so-called civilised Nations. Our civilisation is the result of the several wars, conflict, and inquisitions. But whether we like it or not, this is the reality.

Remember the days in every yard, in every c o m m u n i t y, Te a c h e r s , Pastors and Elders were held in awe and respect by children.

This letter ends without giving the examples here and elsewhere of young men and women, who enjoyed these rights, ignoring or perhaps not knowing their responsibility and committing all sorts of crime, including patricide and matricide - an age of spoilt brats.

Our watchword must be discipline and lofty principles.

Hamilton Green

Queen Victoria and the Emancipation of Slaves DEAR EDITOR, A letter in yesterday’s (29 November) KN from Mr. Rooplall Dudhnath is a sad e x a m p l e o f t h e lack/inadequate teaching of our history.

Mr. Dudhnath wants us to keep Queen Victoria’s statue in the compound of the Law Courts because “It was during her reign as Queen of England that she abolished slavery and put an end to the undignified slave trade that some governments and monarchs started and enriched themselves with the exploits”.

Now, first of all Victoria did not end either the slave trade or slavery itself. By the time of Victoria’s reign, it was Parliament which made the laws. There is a saying, “The Queen reigns but does not rule” which expresses the role of the British Monarch.

Parliament passes legislation, the Monarch signs each piece of legislation. He/she cannot refuse to sign legislation passed by the Houses of Parliament.

Even more incorrectly, Victoria did not even sign the legislation abolishing the slave trade and slavery. The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed by Parliament in 1807. Victoria was born in 1819.

The Emancipation Act

was passed in 1834 - again, before Victoria ascended to the throne. That Act specified that the slaves under the age of 6 would immediately be free, but older slaves had to serve a period of “apprenticeship” to prepare them for freedom.

Originally that was supposed to be seven years, but following various protest incidents in the West Indian and Guyanese colonies,

apprenticeship was ended after four years - by which time Victoria was Queen, following the death of her Uncle, William IV. The people who were the real emancipators of slaves were those like Wilberforce, Buxton, Sharpe and other members of the anti-slavery movement, and rising capitalist merchants in both the UK and Europe, who could not see why they had to

pay wages to workers while slave owners could pay a one-time payment to own the slave for life, as well as the slave’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

And do not forget that the only way that the Emancipation Bill was passed was by Parliament agreeing to include payment to slave owners to (Continued on page 6)

Maybe this individual does not understand “symbolism” DEAR EDITOR, I use this opportunity to respond to one of your readers in relation to a letter I wrote questioning the prominent display of the Queen Victoria statue on the lawn of our High Court.

This person’s gross lack of history and historic fact is painful that one can only feel pity for his obvious ignorance as it relates to the subject matter.

First of all, Victoria had nothing whatsoever to do with the abolition of slavery. She ascended to the throne in 1837; slavery was abolished in 1834 but continued unofficially until 1838 under the guise of “Apprenticeship.”

If this person had given props to such English persons as William Wilberforce, Joseph Sturge, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Fowler Buxton, Elizabeth Peace, Ann Knight and others, all members of the anti-slavery movement in Britain, then maybe, we could at least try to come to some meeting of the mind.

In fact, when asked to open the first Anti-

Slavery Convention, Victoria politely declined, stating that as a Sovereign she could not.

It is so very sad that we cannot or would not even try to empathise or appreciate the struggles our various groups waged in order to become one people, a still distant goal in our beloved Guyana.

This person does not even seem to have an understanding of the horrors of “Indentureship” endured by his ancestors under Victoria’s rule, as if he did, he would not be as quick to jump to her defence. It was due to the concerted and persistent efforts of the aforementioned persons and others - both African and English - that my ancestors were able to throw off the physical chains of Enslavement. Now psychologically, that’s a whole new story.

There is no way that after 1834 to 2019, and particularly after 1966, we should be so honouring a symbol of our shame. Maybe this individual does not understand “symbolism.”

Respectfully, Claudeston G. Massiah

Saturday November 30, 2019

Guyana, Stop! Look where we are rassing, especially when that are given guns by secuGuyana is becoming popular rity firms for people’s protecheading with the oil discoveries and tion. Are they capable of hanDEAR EDITOR, During this week, a series of events took place that raised many people’s eyebrows. There were several deadly accidents in a matter of days. Is there a rush or are the drivers just careless?

Even though there is police presence all over, the mayhem still continues. Careless accidents and causing death by dangerous driving attract some serious jail time, and despite that, drivers are still killing people on the road. Are they just desperate to go to jail?

They could go there without killing innocent people, especially children.

Videos and allegations of school bullying have been circulating on social media for quite a while. The latest video circulating was that of a male student physically assaulting a female student.

Now our Education Minister makes a statement that has many people peeved at her. While I was attending school, there were many fights - I was even involved in a few; but none was with females or I never witnessed a boy assaulting a girl in that manner.

Well, her statement has me scared for my children going to school.

For a Minister to make a statement like that which has been reported is very embar-

everyone has an interest.

Another video is circulating of females ‘busing’ down one another and eventually, a fight breaks out which manifests into a group fight. Sadly, mostly males could be heard in the background either encouraging or saying what they would do sexually to certain females in the scene.

What is really sad to see, is that one of the females is seemingly pregnant. And between the crowd and fights, small children/child could be seen. The fight escalates to a point where two of the females ended up in what looks like a middle walk or small trench and one of the fighters was attempting to drown the other, until another went to the rescue. The situation could have ended up worse and I am wondering if those involved would have been prepared to face the consequences?

Then there was the firing of the gun by the security guard at Movie Towne. The quick dismissal of the guard is highly commendable, but then we have to question the judgment of these young men

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dling themselves properly should an event occur and there are patrons/shoppers around, especially if it’s a crime?

Speaking to a few persons a couple of days ago on Regent Street, they informed me that they would be glad if someone or a set of bandits, decided to try robbing any of the establishments around where we were standing.

Their exact words were ‘They would make them a strainer’.

Even though that might sound comforting to hear, it is also very scary, because criminals have no particular time when they commit a crime, and should they decide to do so when the place is crowded, then we all would have to pray.

Finally, Editor, we would see many videos from other countries that show similar to what is now flooding social media and quite frankly, I am under the impression that the overseas videos are motivating our locals to do the same.

It’s as if they are competing, (Continued on page 6)

It seems the Ministry of Education thinks this is all ‘normal’…

Apologise to the girl now, Minister DEAR EDITOR, The media has reported that Minister of Education Dr. Nicolette Henry went to Richard Ishmael Secondary School to respond to a boy’s attack on a girl. It is reported that she met with the boy and the girl he attacked and they “were made to apologise to each other”.

The first response to the outrageous attack from the Ministry indicated a dismissal of the seriousness of the violence in our schools.

The Ministry is yet to indicate what interventions are being made to support Richard Boodram, the young student from Mon Repos Primary School, who was beaten by other students and is in hospital.

There were previous reports of bullying at the school. There are no reports of any sustained interventions at Mon Repos or any other school to respond to the intense violence which children are witnessing and experiencing.

It seems the Ministry of Education thinks this is all ‘normal’.

The Minister of Education, it seems, made the girl do something to the boy who attacked her. She required this girl to take responsibil-

ity for the violence meted out against her, like so many other girls and women have experienced violence from men and boys. So, the Minister made the girl apologise to the boy who attacked her.

There was no mention of any interventions with the students who were bystanders and who did nothing more than video and share the video of the attack.

Those bystanders were acting as “their brother’s keepers” while no one seemed to be their sister’s keeper.

We call on the Minister to apologise to the girl now, to let her know that she did not deserve any violence.

We call on the Ministry of Education and its officials to explore their ignorance of the dynamics of gender-based violence, to realise how that ignorance perpetuates gender-based violence in Guyana and to take action to be relevantly informed.

Yours sincerely Karen DeSouza, Janice Jackson, Josephine Whitehead, Sherlina Nageer, Vidyaratha Kissoon

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Government really hasn’t any concern for the travesty unfolding in the sugar belt DEAR EDITOR, The struggles of sugar workers to receive a rise in pay have continued to attract the attention of the nation and must have tugged at a few hearts as they become aware of the painful situation that exists. Our union has with regularity pointed out that the workers’ wages have not been improved since 2014 as the ‘Good Life’ bunch has not seen it in their hearts to grant them any increase in pay.

The GAWU has recognised and appreciates that there is some amount of sympathy for the workers to benefit from increased ratesof-pay noting that the injustice that has been meted out to the workers has upset very many.

The situation has seen several officials of the Government and the governing parties making statements recently to defend a situation, which clearly cannot be convincingly defended.

We saw the AFC Treasurer and Mr. Granger’s sonin-law, Dominic Gaskin, in a news report on November 16 seeking to distance the Government by saying: “I don’t think you can blame the government if the Board of Directors does not see it fit to give their workers a raise…”

We also saw on the same day, the PNCR Chairperson, Volda Lawrence saying that “…that the workers’ unions and GuySuCo would have to iron out any change in wages amongst themselves.”

Again, seeking to distance the Government from the issue.

The distancing act continued, when we saw Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, according to a November 20 article, reportedly saying, “Any possibility of a pay increase for sugar workers, who have not seen an increase since the current Government came into office, must be dealt with the board of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)”.

But the Agriculture Minister took the cake. Mr. Noel Holder is quoted on a November 21 report as saying “we would like GuySuCo to be able to benefit from the bonus public servants are benefitting from now, in terms of increases. But where will the funds come from?”

Holder, whose days are numbered as his party has given up his Ministry, has effectively contradicted what his three colleagues told the media.

In effect, Holder is saying that Board is straightjacketed.

We hasten to remind that the Board was appointed by the Government and, therefore, must be guided by the administration’s policy.

But so far, the Government has remained essentially unmoved and stoic.

Of course, their actions cannot be delinked from what was printed in the, so far, unreleased White Paper on the Future of the Sugar Industry in Guyana, which is dated

March 16, 2017.

That paper which was, apparently, authored by the Ministry of Agriculture and on page 4 says “most of the employees of GuySuCo are supporters of the Opposition political party, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).”

The sentence is a clear and profound explanation of why the sugar workers are maligned and discriminated against by the Granger clan.

The Government has one sole consideration- that is whether you are deemed a supporter or not. Remember, Mr Granger said in his interview with Kaieteur Radio recently that “[t]he population of Guyana is not only confined to the sugar estates…”

It is yet another clear indicator that the Government really hasn’t any compassion, care, or even concern for the travesty unfolding in the sugar belt.

Seepaul Narine General Secretary of GAWU

Saturday November 30, 2019

A divisive political trend DEAR EDITOR, It is common in the expression of free speech that misinformed or intended to misinform definitions and accusations are thrown out into the public opinion pool.

I wish to refer to Hydar Ally’s letter: “An injustice is being inflicted on the memory of Walter Rodney” in the Wednesday November 27 edition of the Kaieteur News.

The intention is to accuse the Government of disrespect and spite for removing the Walter Rodney name poster from the National Archives.

I attended two days of a very meaningful, three-day UNESCO conference on National Cultural Policy Consultations, some two months ago, with representatives from the Culture Ministry, National Archives, National Trust and artists from every discipline.

The question of the National Archives versus the Walter Rodney name presence came up in deliberations

by UNESCOs Cultural Heri-

Queen Victoria and... from page 4 compensate them for the loss of their “property” (i.e. their slaves). That money came from a loan from bankers and took over a century to be repaid. The ex-slaves were paid nothing for their years of labour.

If anyone wants to find out the payments made to individual slave-owners, there is a website set up following a detailed analysis of all those payments (information stored in the UK Archives). The research was done by a team from University College, London. The title is “Legacies of British Slave Ownership” and can be found at https:// www.ucl.ac.uk>lbs You can enter the name of a plantation and the colony, or the name of a slave owner and see how many slaves were claimed and the amount of compensation paid.

And as for Queen Victoria, she may have reigned for a long time, but she had nothing to do with the actual Emancipation of slaves in the British Empire. She may, for all I know, have approved that Emancipation, but she signed neither the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act nor the Emancipation Act, since she was not Queen when those Acts were passed; and in any case, her approval or disapproval had no bearing on the passage of either of those Acts. Parliament passed them.

Patricia Robinson Commissiong

tage Policy presenter, Mr. Sydney Bartley, on the ad hoc naming of places that are not then gazetted.

I learnt like everyone else that this was the situation between Walter Rodney’s name and the National Archives.

As all the facts determine, this was as much hypocritical propaganda as the PPP’s inquiry into Walter’s death.

There was never an attempt to truly honour his heritage to this country, but as usual to make a political masquerade of everything through cluelessness, insincerity or as a political plaything. Without the legal framework, no legitimate transfer of finances via a grant, licence or sponsorship towards any expression that includes Walter Rodney is safe and accountable; if not Gazetted it is a meaningless poster, an act of disrespect.

I also wish to comment on Claudeston Massiah’s letter in the same edition of Kaieteur News on the presence of Britain’s Queen Victoria’s statue.

The statue is a part of our history, regardless of how painful it is, ours was not the same history of the southern pre-civil war America.

As an illustrator, I have had difficult times connecting the imagery of our timelines, we are not good keepers of our own significance.

Victoria will be a milestone until we fit the other pieces together, and relate our history to our presence, build a new High Court in Bartica or Linden, erect a new towering sculptured edifice, with relevance to our timeline and to the future.

I would not support removing any historical statue, as I have told my brethren neither do I support the lazy act of renaming streets rather than building new ones/ I will always shout Respect Due to Benji, the late porridge man and those West brethren who created the community of RasVille.

They commenced a process that was commendable for its day, and its necessary philosophy is still relevant.

Barry Braithwaite

Guyana, Stop! Look where we are heading From page 5 which is very dangerous, and they have no regard for anything at the said time. Some could clearly be seen looking to see if they are being filmed and then started acting up more.

Then we have cases abroad, where people are filming the police when they are executing their duties. Some have some serious attitudes towards lawmen, and that has started here too. The sad thing about it here is that many of those acting up do not know the law, but they are trying to intimidate or provoke the police to do something drastic.

What these people fail to understand, is that things could get out of hand and they would not be given any satisfaction.

In developed countries, justice might be served, but in Guyana, it’s a different situation. Guyana, Stop! Look where we are heading. All of this is arising because of our careless actions, and it is nothing to be proud of. We are going too fast. It cannot be that we are frustrated; I am wondering if the oil is already flying towards our heads.

Sahadeo Bates

Saturday November 30, 2019

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Quick response by Fire Dept saves Business community TH&D headquarters from arson wants code of ethics for elections

The window through which the Molotov cocktail was thrown at the TH&D headquarters

A major disaster was averted at the Transport and Harbors Department on Friday after someone hurled a ‘Molotov cocktail’ at the headquarters located in Barack Street, Kingston.

Kaieteur News understands that the incident occurred at approximately 1:44am. According to reports, an unknown person hurled the flammable cocktail through a window on the northern side of the building.

Fire tenders were immediately called on the scene and managed to out the blaze. Thankfully, the fire only damaged a carpet and a nearby door.

Officials remained tight-lipped about the incident.

Sources said that the suspected arsonist

escaped on foot. Kaieteur News learnt that this was the second attack on the TH&D headquarters in a week.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, disclosed to Kaieteur News that the first attempt was of the same nature. That time; the cocktail was thrown at the Chief Accountant’s office.

He stated that police have obtained CCTV footage from the nearby cameras and are combing them to pinpoint a suspect in both arson attempts. But still questions remain as to who would want to torch the building.

Since the first attempt, security at the headquarters was beefed up and according to Minister Patterson; police will also be assisting in this area. Investigations are ongoing.

The Georgetown Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Guyana’s oldest Business Support Organisation has called for the establishment of a code of ethics to be adopted by parties contesting the upcoming Regional and General Elections.

The GCCI position was voiced by President Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer during the organisation’s gala business award ceremony Thursday evening at the Georgetown Marriott Hotel.

“We are encouraging a code of ethics for parties contesting the elections in March…We feel that this is necessary given the contentious nature of our elections and the history of appealing to ethno-security fears that has gone on in past elections,” said Deygoo-Boyer.

“The GCCI feels that elections in the future of Guyana should be about principles and visions for developing our country.”

He reminded of the African proverb, “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

According to DeygooBoyer, “We must push past suffering as the grass in the fight amongst elephants”.

He said, “We see elections as a chance to have national conversations about who will have the best leadership and policies.”

The business leader, speaking to a different structure in the system of governance, advocated “more diversity and technocrats at the operations level of Government, leaning towards more professional management of our government institutions and agencies; as well as less of the retribution for supporters of the losing side.

“The party that wins our winner takes all elections governs all Guyanese not just its supporters.”

GCCI believes, according

to Deygoo-Boyer, that “in order to prepare our country for a new era in its history, we need to have a single all encompassing, nationally bought into development plan, not a plan that will be thrown out at successive elections.”He said, “This transformative plan must address the structural issues in our economy that will allow us to be a shining example for our region and for the world in the case of how small states deal with windfall natural resource exploitation.”

According to DeygooBoyer, the Business community would like to see greater focus on the part of the administration in areas of Energy, Local Content Legislation and Sovereign Wealth Fund, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Governance, Security, Trade and Taxation, Diversified and value added Economy and Labour.

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Nandlall attends PPP pre-manifesto launch over court case Yet another adjournment was granted to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, as he skipped his court hearing yesterday to attend the launch of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) pre-manifesto.

Nandlall was supposed to report on his application to the Appeal Court for him to not lead a defence in his matters.

He is on trial in the Georgetown Magistrates Courts before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore for the alleged theft of Law Reports from the State.

In the absence of the defendant, attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes apologised for Nandlall and stated that he was not present at court based on the fact that he was attending to a matter of national significance and personal importance.

As a result, he asked for an adjournment in the matters and this was granted by the magistrate. The case will be recalled on January 10, 2020.

Previously, Nandlall had asked for an adjournment in his matters as his application to the Appeal Court for him to not lead a defence in his matters is still with that court.

He had said that on Octo-

ber 1, last, the Court of Appeal heard arguments from the defendant as to why he should not lead a defence.

However, a date was not set for ruling in relation to the arguments that were heard.

Nandlall added that an extension of stay in the Magistrates Court matter was not sought nevertheless; he was willing to get that done.

According to the defendant, it will be on the better side for the magistrate to grant an adjournment rather than to proceed with the matter and the Court of Appeal rules in his favour, which will quash the proceedings in the lower court. To this, the magistrate had agreed and adjourned the matter.

It is alleged that Nandlall, between May 18 and May 29, 2015, in the then capacity of Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, fraudulently converted 14 Commonwealth Law Reports, property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, to his own use and benefit.

Nandlall has pleaded not guilty to the allegation and is out on self-bail, pending the outcome and determination of the trial.

Late last year, Magistrate Azore ruled that Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Prosecutor, Patrice Henry, was able to prove every element of the offence. In the circumstances, Nandlall was called upon to lead a defence.

Nandlalls lawyers then approached the High Court for

Anil Nandlall a stay to be granted in the matter, but Chief Justice Roxane George, dismissed the appeal against a no-case submission that was overruled

by Magistrate Fabayo Azore in the trial.

Attorney-at-law Glenn Hanoman is representing the defendant in the matter.

Nandlall was previously reported as saying that when he took up the post of Attorney General, he did so at a loss, and it was for that reason, he agitated for the State to pay for the Law Reports.

He had said that the arrangement received the blessings of then Head of State Donald Ramotar. However, investigators are contending that because the books were bought with State funds, they cannot be the property of Nandlall, and in fact, the State should not have entered into such an arrangement in the first place.

Saturday November 30, 2019

Govt. to sub-contract electrical inspections of properties The Government Electrical Inspectorate (GEI) is seriously looking at sub-contracting the inspection and certification of homes and other properties.

The disclosures were made Tuesday evening by Chief Inspector, Roland Barclay, who was a guest on ‘The Legal Mind’, hosted by Senior Reporter, Leonard Gildarie on Kaieteur Radio.

Currently, the inspection of homes and properties by inspectors of GEI after being wired, is a major challenge to an understaffed entity.

It currently falls under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and has less than 20 staff members who are supposed to serve 83,000 square miles.

Going forward, the idea is to establish a company and hire a staff complement that will involve 80 persons.

GEI’s role in ensuring that thousands of homes and properties across the country are wired in keeping with established regulations, would take more importance as Guyana enters oil and gas production.

The demand for internationally accepted standards has several Government entities scrambling to up their game.Several large buildings are being constructed across the country to cater for oil and gas.On Tuesday, Barclay acknowledged that the unit is badly understaffed but there are several initiatives to ensure that it moves to expand

Government is looking at options of sub-contracting electrical inspections of properties as part of the modernisation of the Government Electrical Inspectorate. and modernize its services.

For a new home or property to receive electricity from the state-owned Guyana Power and Light Inc., there must be a certificate of inspection of the wiring, which in essence says that the property is safe to take power.Each outlet and light fixture must adhere to the electricity codes.

Here is where the GEI’s inspectors are supposed to come after the electrician would have done his work, and to verify that the wiring meets the requirements.

With regards to outsourcing the work, Barclay explained that that inspectorate has been mulling a number of options.

These include sub-contracting the inspections to a company or companies.

In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness

Chief Electrical Inspector, Roland Barclay that state regulators and other revenue-earning entities for the state should and must make enough revenues to sustain itself and pay the balance to the national treasury.

Sections of Leguan Stelling collapse Works to repair the dilapidated stelling at Leguan, Essequibo River, are expected to start soon with materials on site.

The assurance was given yesterday by Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, after news came that sections of the stelling were collapsing.The stelling, deteriorating after years of neglect, is the key entry and exit point to the island for citizens and goods.

The ferries have been finding difficulties docking there in recent days because of the conditions.According to Patterson, a team from his Ministry was there recently to inspect how the project was progressing.

Hans Buer, apparently a resident, in Facebook posts in recent days, disclosed that parts of the stelling have been collapsing.“The time is now coming that the responsible authorities wake up finally. The Leguan Stelling will collapse in a very short time. Rotten piles brought T&HD labourers into danger today, as this part of the stelling collapsed,” he wrote.In fact, he said the ferry had a hard time mooring on Thursday.Since September last year, a contract was awarded to S. Maraj Contracting Services for $413M. It was recently that more 100 piles were taken to the location, Patterson said yesterday.The stelling has been a sore point especially for Leguan farmers.In January, the Ministry announced that piles from the Leguan Stelling low ramp had broke. A team of Transport and Harbour Department engineers had been dispatched to the location to assess the damage incurred.

Saturday November 30, 2019

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

Who was the Big Stick?

This government behaves as if the public is dumb and would swallow their hollow and contrived excuses.

People are much smarter and savvier than our ruling politicians assume.

The government says there is no disrespect for Walter Rodney. This is their way of saying that replacing an elegant wooden sign engraved with the name “Walter Rodney Archives” was not intended as a slight against the late historian.

So what could have motivated the removal of that beautiful piece of artwork which indicated the name of the archives and replacing it with a new sign which would have cost at least one hundred thousand dollars?

It should have been obvious to the government by now that this was a penny wise and pound foolish decision – an economically unwise decision. Someone had to have made that decision and the government is not keen on saying who it is and whether that person is a politician or a bureaucrat.

Either way it was costly mistake, financial and political. Yet, the government will not reveal who was the mastermind behind the signage change and whether that person will be surcharged for incurring an unnecessary cost

to the treasury – the difference between the cost of erecting the new signboard and the cost of having to gazette the name change.

No one is yet to produce the authority which requires having to gazette a name change. They continue to peddle this nonsense about this having to be done.

What are the legal implications of the failure to gazette the name change? Does it alter the legal standing of the institution? The Ministry of Finance has continued to make allocations in its capital programme to the institution, under the heading National Archives.

If a court action was filed against the Walter Rodney Archives would the court strike it out on the basis that no such institution exists?

Not likely at all!

If the decision to change the signage was an administrative one, is the government not concerned that it was not consulted on this issue or that it was financially costly decision. But if it was a political decision from a ‘big stick’, then it smacks of not only disrespect for Walter Rodney but also contempt. So who was the ‘big stick’ involved and what was that person’s motivation?

No local bureaucrat is going to remove the signage

bearing the name Walter Rodney and replace it with another signboard without the consent of the political directorate. Bureaucrats are well aware of the implications of them doing something like that without approval from the higher up the political chain.

The decision to remove the signboard bearing the name of Walter Rodney could only therefore have been ordered by a political person, one with clout and influence.

And as for the motivation, it can have wider implications than merely erasing the memory of Rodney.

There are political forces at work seeking to erase aspects of national history and to cleanse institutions of any reference to persons connected to parties which were once or still are in opposition to the PNCR. The removal of the signage bearing the name Walter Rodney may have been the first salvo in this campaign of historical revisionism.

There are forces at work seeking to remove vestiges of the nation’s colonial history.

The statue of Queen Victoria was recently splashed with red paint in front of the Victoria Law Courts which still bear her name. Voices have been vociferous calling for the statue to be removed from

Traffic Chief discovers unreported accidents on hospital visit Traffic Chief, Linden Isles, was forced to take statements on Thursday after a few unreported accidents were discovered during his visit to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The visit was intended to allow the police to meet and distribute hampers to a number of accident victims who remain hospitalised.

However, it was found that there are a few victims who have been severely injured as a result of road accidents but never had the opportunity to lodge a report or to tell their story.

One man, Maxwell McLean Ogle, told the senior ranks that he slammed into a minibus transporting schoolchildren at the intersection of Saffon and Sussex Streets on Friday.

The man said that he can only recall being approached by the minibus driver “to see if he was ok” and “the blue and white colour of the bus”.

Another man said that he was standing on the “parapet” with his bicycle on the Lusignan Public Road, East Coast Demerara when a truck ran over his foot.

The man claimed that for three months he had been in and out of hospital for mul-

Traffic Chief granting assurance to an accident victim whose case was unreported

its present location. The bugle has also been sounded for a name change for the village of Victoria.

This is just a prelude, a warm-up, to the launching of much larger agenda: the erasing of aspects of Guyana’s history. The ultimate objec-

tive though is not erasure of the long dead Regents but of a selected number of dead heroes – Walter Rodney and Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Remember the attempt to repossess Red House!

(The views expressed in this article are those of the

author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

New GGDMA President begins elections campaign

New Executive Board of Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) Newly-elected President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) Andron Alphonso, has called for unity in the industry to project a single front to promote mining interests in Guyana.

Alphonso also took note of general elections, which are due next year. He urged his membership to vote for the political leadership that represents mining interests.

He stated that a study done by the Association has shown that some 100,000 Guyanese adults are involved either directly or indirectly in the local mining industry and that could be a source of significant political influence.

“Now, if you’re looking at 100,000 people and let’s say the voting population is ap-

proximately 400,000 or thereabouts.

We represent, you could say 25 to 30 percent of the voting population. That equates, I think it’s 5,000 a seat that is about 20 seats in parliament. Our miners and everyone who work in our support industries represent that. We are the swing vote.”

“This Association is an independent Association; we’ve always been and we will maintain that. However, one thing we can agree on is that we want our membership to vote on a mining agenda and think about the future of mining, which party is going to ensure that you could continue to ply your trade, maintain your independence in this oil economy.

“Mining has to continue

to be an economically feasible activity period. I’m not saying there aren’t things we need to improve on; there’s always room for improvement.

Miners need to obey laws, be more responsible, but this Association would never endorse any policy that we know would bring an end to our industry in no way, shape, or form,” Alphonso declared.

He made the call on Wednesday at the GGDMA’s Annual General Meeting where he was elected, unopposed, to succeed Terrence Adams as president.

Noting that he needed to meet with the new executive to chart the way forward, Alphonso outlined in the meantime a number of areas he said he would be putting (Continued on page 224)

Dem boys seh

A chicken house get pluck tiple operations.

He said that efforts were made to locate the truck driver who is a resident of Bath Settlement, Berbice but the man cannot be found.

After taking the necessary statements and contact information of the victims, the Traffic Chief promised that investigations will be carried out and justice will be served.

He even requested from the relevant authorities of the hospital that permission be granted to his ranks to make timely visits in order to obtain such key information and also to do follow-ups.

Thursdays visit saw nine victims receiving hampers

from the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Monetary donations from the treasurer of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC), Shahab Hack.

Among those who received hampers and monetary donations were eightyear-old Asiya Nizamdeen and her mother Amina Diaram, who are left severely injured after a driver ploughed into a number of pedestrians along the Bush Lot Public Road, West Coast Berbice (WCB) on Wednesday afternoon.

Diarams seven year-old son was killed as result of the accident.

De more you live, de more you see. Shoemakers don’t thief clothes; barbers can only thief wig so if somebody wukking at a chicken place you would expect she to thief chicken.

Dem boys pass by de court yesterday and a strange case come up. Some supervisor was wukking wid a chicken place but she ain’t get charge fuh thiefing chicken. Dat mek dem boys sit up because is only chicken and chips does deh round dem place.

Of course dem have money but de clothes de workers does wear don’t have pocket. Dat is why dem boys was surprise when dem hear de woman get charge

fuh thiefing from de chicken place. It tun out dat de chicken place claim how dis woman disappear would couple million dollar.

Dat is how dem boys know dat fry chicken does mek money. And is de lawyer claim how de place lose $91 million but dem only charge de woman fuh $19 million.

When dem boys lef de court, all dem could talk about was how de woman pluck de chicken place. If indeed she tek de money is a proppa plucking. Dem boys hope dat she build at least two houses because she can live in one and rent de odda one. And if things get tight she can sell de second one because de price gon go up.

Some wuk place does really mek dem staff feel nice and like how Christmas coming is nuff nice things gon happen. When dem boys go to a night club de barmen does mix de drinks wid water. Dat is how dem does mek dem money.If de bottle suppose to have forty shots and $2,000 a shot, when dem mix a double shot wid water it mean dem mekking at least $800 pon every shot. Then dem ain’t satisfied. Dem does put in additional drinks pon de bill.

Of course, if you drinking an expensive rum, dem does try to pass off de cheap rum.

Well dem boys ain’t tekking plucking dis season.

Talk half and watch out fuh some good robbing.

PAGE 10

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

I know of no reporter victimised by Kaieteur News The hypocrisy of Dr. Troy Thomas is virtually over-bearing. And he gets away with it because this country throughout the world is known as the dead zone. Read all the newspapers and Guyanese newsrooms on the internet and you will not see any UG academic writing on the pressing problems on Guyana.

This is an anomaly perhaps unheard of in every other country that has a university.

The most tragic forms of exploitation, victimisation and Guyanese’s inhumanity to the fellow humans are on display in this country and 99.99 percent of this nation is silent and couldn’t be bothered. It is because we are a wasteland (Clifford Krauss of the New York Times on his visit here almost referred to us in those terms) that people like Troy Thomas can get away with his glaring double standards and continue to do so.

Let me confront two points raised in his missive in yesterday’s edition of KN that was condemnatory of me.

The first is I was reticent on an action the Kaieteur News took in stopping a journalist from probing corruption of a minister of government.

Anyone who is familiar with what goes on in this country would know that I had a tempestuous rift with KN’s management over intervention on a column that I

believed I was justified in writing.

My presence in the newspaper was removed. Subsequently, there was an amicable resolution. That was a long time ago. Since then, only one column was not published. I made an enquiry, which was obligatory of me. I was told that the piece was not carried in the interest of my protection and that of the newspaper because the central figure written about has enormous power and a vindictive hand could be expected.

I am not referring to the President or Cabinet members.

I hardly see the publisher and the senior management. I do not go to Kaieteur News at all, only early in the mornings to collect my pay each month. I know of no reporter being victimised over a probe into corruption.

No one in the media fraternity, political circles and the wider country informed me of such an irregularity. No one sought to confront me on the absence of my pen in such a situation. I am only hearing about this now from the TIGI president, Dr. Troy Thomas.

That journalist never made contact with me, assuming that such an incident occurred.

The second issue is Thomas’s deliberate and unacceptable reticence on what took place at UG during the tenure of Vice-Chancellor,

Ivelaw Griffith. Let me record for posterity my belief on what happened during that time.

I spent four years as a UG student and 26 years as a lecturer. I have criticised the UG administration under the presidencies of Burnham, Hoyte, Jagan, Jagdeo and Ramotar. But never have I seen such terrible governance, financial recklessness and lack of transparency as what took place between June 2016 and June 2019. It was truly shocking.

During that questionable period, Thomas was president of TIGI. He and his organisation were completely silent on maladministration at UG. When I asked him to account for such shocking invisibility, his response was extremely banal. He wrote that to have him speak about UG could jeopardise the credibility of TIGI. He repeats that banality in his letter yesterday. I quote him; “I will not rehash it here but I wish to clarify that my role as the President of TIGI is to act on behalf of the organisation and not myself and I will not dare to drag TIGI into matters of personal benefit to me.”

This is manifest nonsense and Thomas deliberately confuses concepts. I think he knows better. I hope so. Thomas heads a body that exposes bad governance, lack

GuyOil slashes prices for gas, diesel, kero The Guyana Oil Company Limited (GuyOil) yesterday announced that it has reduced the prices of their Super 95 (gas), ULSD (diesel) and kerosene.

The reduction took effect yesterday from 10:00hrs.

GuyOil explained that the decreases were possible from lower acquisition costs the company received from their supplier.

The new prices are as follows:

GuyOil has slashed prices on gas, diesel and kero, it was announced yesterday.

of accountability, lack of transparency and the ultimate objective is to rid society of these social maladies.

What personal angle is involved if his eyes gaze on these very acts of egregiousness at his own work place?

Thomas has badly exposed himself. For years, he has used his jejune excuse that he is head of TIGI and because he works at UG, he cannot focus TIGI’s lenses at that institution. But he wants

me to put my torch light at my workplace – Kaieteur News.

So the methodology applies only to me and not Thomas.

Finally, yes I did in these pages of mine publish words of praise for Thomas for critical words on the UG administration on a television programme. That is my job to criticise when necessary and to recognise laudable deeds when they are done.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the

Frederick Kissoon author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

Public Health Sector gets new batch of Patient Care Assistants

A section of the graduates at the ceremony Seventy-eight more individuals will gain employment in the Public Health Sector given their successful completion of a Patient Care Assistant, (PCA) programme sponsored by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, (GPHC).

Chairman of the GPHC Board of Directors, Kesaundra Alves, said the programme is one which will help boost the capacity and output of the Public Health Sector.

According to Alves, the PCAs are expected to help provide basic patient care. PCAs are tasked with consistently tending to the needs of patients regularly. They are also responsible for helping patients with basic hygiene tasks.

This includes bathing and dressing patients, helping

them use the toilet if needed and feeding them.

Alves congratulated the batch of graduates on their successful entry and completion of the programme.

“This is a very competitive programme; we get hundreds of applications each year but you were the chosen ones; you got in.”

“I hope that these smiling faces I see here today continue to be smiling faces once they gain employment.

“You have done us proud and I hope you continue to do us proud. You must not forget your goal in the public health system is to serve the people.

“You must therefore ensure that you work diligently to help provide good healthcare for all our citizens, migrants and those seeking the service.”

”You are not going to be serving only our hospitals but you will be serving our communities and the nation.

“Because we could have the best mechanisms, the best hospitals, the best diagnostics, the best health insurances but if we don’t have health workers to deliver safe, effective healthcare these would all be in vain.”

Alves urged further that the health providers serve the patients as their families and provide equal health care regardless of ethnicity and other values.

GPHC has undertaken to help train a batch of PCAs annually.

Last year, 58 persons graduated from the PCA Programme under GPHC. They were later dispersed to work at facilities across the nation.

GRA, UK team to begin audit of ...

“The new prices represent a six dollars decrease for Super 95 gasolene, a seven dollar decrease for ULSD and a ten dollar decrease for kerosene respectively and it is applicable to all GuyOil service stations nationwide.

“The reduction demonstrates GuyOils commitment to their customers.”

The state-owned GuyOil also said it is happy for the opportunity to pass this reduction unto to customers.

“They are reminding their customers and the public that GuyOil is Guyanese-owned and operated and will continue to be the leading company delivering premium value to all stakeholders and offer excellence in service.”

From page 3 going forward.

US$960M PRE-CONTRACT COSTS International lawyer, Melinda Janki, was one of the first persons to note that the country is neck-deep in US$960M worth of pre-contract costs.

During a panel discussion that was held on Guyana's oil contract with ExxonMobil at Moray House, Janki reminded that the country has to pay US$460M in pre-contract

costs. This covers the period 1999 to 2015. But there is a second lot.

Janki noted that the contract specifically states that Guyana is to pay contract costs from January 2016 to when the deal was signed on October 7, 2016.

The international lawyer had said, “The costs for the whole of 2016 were about US$583M and if you apportion it to October, you get roughly US$400M. Again, Minister of Natural Re-

sources, Raphael Trotman has agreed for Guyana to pay this.

“As at October 7, 2016, Government's attempt to sell our oil costs us US$960M. I have found no law which gives the Minister the authority to burden the nation with this, so it is quite possible that he acted illegally.”

(See link for more details: https://www.facebook.com/ jerome.edwards.925/videos/ 2144978259094356/)

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

Chief Justice to rule in case of Demerara Harbour Bridge seeking to recover over $90M from tug and barge owners

Repair works being carried out on the Demerara Harbour Bridge following the collision Acting Chief Justice Roxane George has fixed Monday, January 7, 2020 for ruling/clarifications in a case in which the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) is seeking to recover in excess of $90M from the owners of a tug and barge which slammed into its structure back in September.

The millions of dollars reflect monies spent to repair the floating Demerara Harbour Bridge which serves as the main transportation link between Regions Three and Four.

The DHBC, through its lawyer, Everton Singh Lammy, recently secured orders to have the vessel arrested and not released until the monies are paid out. However, the owners of the tug and barge, through lawyers attached to Cameron and Shepherd Law Firm, said they are willing to pay just over $40M. Singh-Lammy had previ-

ously told this publication that the owners want a limit to their liabilities. The Chief Justice has been served with written submission from both parties. On Monday, September 2, last, a tug, Marina Oceanic, and a barge, manned by Cubans, and registered in Panama, rammed into the Demerara Harbour Bridge, badly damaging the 40-yearold structure and leaving hundreds of commuters stranded for several hours.

The bridge had remained inoperable for almost 36 hours, after being twisted out of line.

Initial reports had suggested that the vessels had drifted and slammed into the bridge after the crew experienced mechanical problems while anchoring in the Grove/ Diamond area of the river. But sources close to the investigation said that it appeared that the individuals operating the tug had shut the engine off, and anchored the vessel

“out of the anchorage point” (in an area where vessels are prohibited from anchoring), somewhere around the Craig area, East Bank Demerara.

It is believed that the crew wanted to be among the first to pass when the bridge was opened for vessels to traverse. However, they apparently didnt reckon with the strong tides.

“They may have wanted to be first when the bridge opens, (but) the current and the force of the water pushed them into the bridge and they lost control of the tug,” a source had related.

Following the incident, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said that the Panama-registered barge remains impounded in Guyana. He had also indicated that the owners would be billed for revenue lost when the bridge was out of operation, and for damage to a womans car.

Fmr J’can PM tells Guyanese leaders…

As economy improves, it is vital local businesses are not disadvantaged

By Gary Eleazar The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday evening hosted regional and domestic business captains, politicians and members of the diplomatic corps. At the function, it doubled down on its call for a restructured approach to fiscal and other investment incentives afforded to the local private sector and a more ‘codified’ level, playing field.

This must happen in light of the emerging oil and gas industry and with the proliferation of foreign companies, which have been brought under the microscope. There is also the

domestic inability to compete.

The growing chorus by sections of the Guyanese business community was echoed by former Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller—guest speaker at this year’s GCCI’s annual Gala and Business Awards Ceremony.

Venued in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott International Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown, Simpson-Miller, in her keynote address to the business leaders congratulated the 130-yearold organisation for its “role as a pioneering business and commercial development” during that time.

Reforms The former Jamaican Prime Minister in acknowledging the emerging oil and gas industry in Guyana warned of the need for structural changes in the manner the economy is managed.

“Today, the people of Guyana are again beaming with confidence about the future…

I am told that your country appears poised to embark on an exciting path to higher development growth and human development.”

This development, she noted, was in part due to foreign and global (Continued on page

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 30, 2019

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

Rice farmer dies after slamming into minibuses A rice farmer is now dead after he slammed into two minibuses on the Devonshire Castle Public Road, on the Essequibo Coast.

Based on information reaching this publication, the now dead man has been identified as Bissonauth Ramnarine, a farmer of Devonshire Castle.

Kaieteur News understands that the incident occurred around 15:45 hrs, yesterday. According to reports, the man was proceeding north along the Devonshire

Castle Public Road at the time of the incident.

Minibus BTT 9575 was proceeding in the said direction, ahead of the motorcyclist. While attempting to overtake the minibus, Ramnarine, who is in his late 50s, lost control, and collided with its right tail light.

The man then found himself in the middle of the road, when he collided with an approaching minibus, which bore licence number BTT 9094.

The man was picked up

and rushed to the Suddie Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to witnesses, most of Ramnarine’s limbs appeared to have been broken.

Information reaching Kaieteur News also suggests that at the time of the incident, Ramnarine may have been under the influence of alcohol.

His body is at the Onderneeming morgue awaiting a postmortem examination.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 30, 2019

Midwife, 36, critical after being struck down by hire car A midwife, Darcia Bissoon, a 36-year - o l d woman from Bartica is battling for her life after she was struck down by a motorcar, whilst crossing the Queenstown Public road

yesterday morning.

According to reports, at the time of the incident, the woman was making her way to a doctor who was on the opposite end of the road.

As Bissoon made way to her to her colleague, she was struck down by a speeding taxi, which was heading south along the Essequibo Coast road.

The woman was picked

up and rushed to the Suddie Public Hospital in a disoriented state, before being air dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital some two hours later.

Reports reaching

Kaieteur News indicated that the woman may have suffered injuries to the head, since her face was badly swollen.

Kaieteur News understands that the woman has

been in the region for the past four years, and has been serving at the Suddie Health Centre during that time.

The driver is in police custody assisting with investigations.

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

Doctor testifies in murder trial of accused wife killer

W

Randolph Tahal

hen the trial of 62-year-old Randolph Tahal, who is accused of murdering his wife, continued in the Berbice High Court, the doctor that conducted the post mortem examination was called to the witness stand.

Tahal is on trial before Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed jury for the murder of his wife, Janet Tahal.

He allegedly killed the woman between September 17 and September 19, 2017, at their Lot 95 Smythfield, New Amsterdam, Berbice home.

Attorney-at-law Seeta

Bishundial is presenting the state's case.

The accused, a former driver, is being represented by state appointed attorney Siand Dhurjon.

Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan took to the witness and was led in his evidence by State Prosecutor Bishundial. He gave the cause of death as a result of perforation of the lungs, compounded by blunt trauma to the head.

He was subsequently cross-examined by defence attorney Dhurjon.

Giving evidence earlier was Police Crime Scene Detective Inspector Curtis

Cort. He visited the premises during his investigation.

There were two cars in the yard PFF 3024 and PEE 6921.

Among the things he noticed in the yard was a blood stained pillow case in one of the cars.

A blood stained pillow and a piece of wood with what appears to be blood on it were also found.

Further, there was the presence of what appears to be blood, which was found inside the house.

Also testifying were Police Detective Corporal Roland Beharry and Lance Corporal Emanuel Davidson, Police Constable Lorna Grant who is

stationed at the Alberttown Police Station and attached to the Georgetown Hospital Outpost.

She arrested the accused at the Accident and Emergency Department at the Georgetown Hospital, daughter of the accused and the deceased, Jennifer Khan, a neighbour, Colin Wilson, who was with the couple during the day.

They were said to be drinking.

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

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Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

LEGAL NOTICE

SERVICES

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1 bedroom apartment for working couple/single person $35,000 monthly, light & water included. 2 months security.

Tel#623-0076

Parfaite Harmonie $1.8M, Zeelugt $2M neg Tel# 6976311

1 Double Steel wheel roller, 19 Wheel Pneumatic roller, 2 Bitumen kettle. Tel# 275-0367/ 683-7225 German Shepherd pups.

Riumzeight Gardens, WCD #269-0671/688-1656 Copra Meal for sale. Tel# 2235273/223-5274

Installation, Repairs and parts for AC, Fridge, Washing Machine, Stove etc. Call Nick 630-1600, 6273206

Transported land for sale in Rose Hall Town.Call#6031441.

Repairs at affordable prices: fridge, air conditioner, washing machines, dryers, TV, microwaves & freezer-Call: 610-5846 or 661-8158 PEN PAL Overseas Base Male Indian seek female.Age 30-33.Must be Educated.Call#602-9975.

VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 Honda CRV. includes TV, music system, alarm, reverse camera, sproiler, crash bar, Low mileage. PTT Series (First Owner) Contact #6490956 Allion, Premio, Fieldwagon, Raum, Bluebird, Sienta, Spacio, Rz, 212 Carina, Pitbull bus. #650-7501

(1) Sales girl. Tel# 602-3673 VACANCY For experienced carpenter.

Apply in person at Alabama Trading 65 Robb St Driver/Expediter.

Contact#223-5273/223-5274 For one experienced teacher who will read love to read and teach a 4 yr old boy. Call: 6231615

We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer-Call: 231-0655; 683-8734. Omar Tow Truck Services- Tow truck. #677-0917

Minibus driver to work with company #646-8748, Driver for route 42 minibus #6640802

CAR RENTAL PROGRESSIVE CAR RENTAL: CARS FROM $4000 & UP, SUV’S PER DAY- CALL: 656-0087 / 6435122 ,EMAIL:PRO_ A U T O R E N T A L @YAHOO.COM DOLLYS AUTO RENTAL CALL: 225-7126 & 2263693 -DOLLYS AUTO RENTAL @ YAHOO.COM/ W W W . D O L L Y SAUTORENTAL.COM AIDAN’S CAR RENTAL:PICKUP,9-11 SEAT MINI BUS, GOOD FOR AIRPORT & FAMILY OUTINGS, CHEAPEST RATE . Call: 698-7807 PROPERTY FOR SALE Property for sale at 15A Craig Village EBD, house 3 bedroom (1) self contain house #6177691/718-213-6496

EDUCATION Care for elderly, care for children. First Aid & CPR. #227-4881 WANTED 1 male sales clerk, 21 - 40 yr, must be living on WBD/WCD Call: 264-2524 8am to 4:30 pm Labourer to work on cash crop farm. Tel# 695-6139/6387420/679-7552 Labourers for wood concession - $5000 per day Call: 630-1831 (2) Waitress & (1) Professional cook, preferably from WCD, to work flexible hours, attrative salary.

Tel#689-7481 Live in Couple, Separate Apartment.Husband-Driver/ Mechanic/Welding, Wife-Office duties etc.Tel#227-1813/ 227-1830.

1 Maid to cook and clean for East Bank area.Call:615-9132.

2 Vacancies- Clerk & Domestic, live-in facilities for Berbicians and Essequibians #219-5354 Experienced cook from the vicinity of ogle, live in female shop attendant (18-25yrs) (Salary starts @ $25,000) #648-7866 Driver, must have sound secondary education, for more information, please call: 223-0090 Accounts Clerk, General Labourers, Security Guards, Handyman. Preferably from EBD. Tel#647-4427 Female Cleaner office & home.Call#642-9823.

1 Live-in Nanny/Female kitchen assistant with experience in creole foods and meat preparation #675-2550/6569313 One (1) Clerk for TSI Eccles Industrial Site Office. English -1, Mathematics-2, Quickbooks. Call: 615-9132

LEARN TO DRIVE

Lot 89 Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown. Next door to Mike’s Pharmacy.Land size3431.25 Sq.ft. Phone: 617-5323, 666-8052

Admin/Accounts Clerk, Cashier,Cook, Counter Server, Driver, must be able to work shift. Call: 225-6255/226-9000

Desk Staff, Room Attendant 25-45 yrs, 233 South Road Lacytown/225-2304

N. Outar Driving School, Learn to Drive the right way @ Cuffy Square. Affordable package.

Call: 644-5166/691-2561/6812808

3 bedroom flat house at Cornelia Ida, Tiled, Grill, Big Shed - Side & Back $11M #671-2474/661-3659

Wanted land to buy anywhere on the East Bank, Parfaite Harmonie or on the West Coast #642-1252

Cashiers/Supermarket helpers at Nirva Superstore.Apply with written application 49 Sherrif Str.Tel#227-5771.

Immediate vacancy exists for male workers to work shift @ Del Ice Co. Call: 231-1408/6429191 Plumber, must have certificates & handyman/ security guard, fit & healthy, willing to gardening & others.

Tel# 223-4159 LEGALNOTICE 2019-HC-DEM-CIV-FD1233 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE FAMILY, DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL JURISDICTION FAMILY DIVISION Application No. FD-1233 BETWEEN : (JOSEPH) RYAN DEXTER Petitioner v. (JOSEPH) DIANA nee BOODHOO Respondent TO: DIANA JOSEPH nee BOODHOO Last Known Address 113 Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke, Linden Highway TAKE NOTICE that on the 7th day of October,2019 a Petition for Divorce was filed against you by RYAN DEXTER JOSEPH, the Petitioner in the Family Division of the High Court in Georgetown, Demerara AND FURTHER TAKE NOTICE that as part of an Order made on the 12th day of November ,2019 the Petitioner was directed to effect service of her Petition on you by publication of this Notice in two (2) consecutive Saturday issue of a daily Newspaper of general circulation in and around Guyana.

AND FURTHER TAKE NOTICE that if you desire you may appear or attend in person or by your duly authorized agent or Attorneyat-Law at the Registry of Family Division of the High Court at Georgetown, Demerara where you will be issued with a certified copy of the Petition together with related documents.

AND FUTHER TAKE NOTICE that if you desire to Defend this Divorce, then upon receipt of the certified copy of the Petition, you must file an Acknowledgement of Service, Notice of Intention to Defend (Forms are available at the Registry) Answer and/ or Cross Petition in the Registry of the Family Division of the High Court at

Georgetown, Demerara within 28(twenty-eight) days after the date of the second and final publication of this Notice TAKE NOTICE that the matter is fixed for Directions Hearing on Tuesday the 28th day January 2020 at 9:30 am before the Honourable Madam Chief Justice Roxanne George in the Family Court of the High Court at Georgetown.

IN DEFAULT of your filing an Acknowledgement of Service/Notice of Intention to Defend Answer and/or Cross Petition the Court may proceed in your absence and may make any Order it considers appropriate, including granting the Divorce.

The Registry of the Family Division of the High Court is located at the Law Courts, [Georgetown, Demerara].

The office is open to the public between 8:00am and 3:30pm Mondays to Thursdays and 8:00am to 2:30pm on Fridays except on public holidays and on such other days as the Registry is closed.

Dated the 15th day of November, 2019

Saturday November 30, 2019

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Guyana says farewell to a centenarian Suriname Military Court sentences President Bouterse to 20 years …as Sister Helena McAllister is laid to rest Sister Helena at her 104th birthday with her children

Yesterday, Guyana said farewell to one of its centenarians as Sister Helena Maud McAllister, a beacon of light in the Christian world was laid to rest.

Her service of thanksgiving, as her loved ones called the ceremony, was held at the Bethel Gospel Hall, Camp Street, Georgetown.

It included much singing as this was one of her favourite past times. The centenarians loved ones urged those gathered, not to mourn, but to celebrate the legacy of Sister McAllister who devoted her life to serving others.

As her casket flooded with purple and blue wreaths stood at the side of the podium, a large framed photograph of her was mounted on the stage. Tributes poured in; there was not a teary eye as persons reminisced on how she lived life her way.

Among those paying tribute to her was Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence, who delivered condolences from President David Granger.

Minister Lawrence said that she knew Sister McAllister personally. The Minister particularly noted that McAllister was her tower of strength during her battle with cancer.

A eulogy was delivered by her son, Godfrey McAllister. It was a unique one as it detailed his memories of his beloved mother.

Godfrey described his mother as a woman of strength; a woman who played the lead role in their family.

“Only if I had more time,” Godfrey repeated as he encouraged those gathered to make it a priority to spend time with their loved ones. Like his mother who recently published her biography, he also urged persons to record the events of their lives.

The life of sister McAllister Sister McAllister will forever be remembered as a woman who strived to bring every person closer to God. A vibrant Helena, née Yard, was born on April 16, 1914 in

British Guiana, to James Yard, a carpenter and native of Barbados, and Albertha Bunyan, a housewife.

The woman closed the final chapter in her life at 105years-old on November 13, 2019. She mothered three biological children Ruth Cumberbatch, Hilton McAllister Jr., Dr. Godfrey McAllister- and opened her home to many other foster children.She spent the last days of her life at her Lot 208 Duncan Street, Georgetown home, successfully running a business and a Bible class.

Following the death of her husband, Hilton McAllister, she was left to run the family business Macs Housing and Facilitiesan apartment rental company.To mark her 102nd birthday, she chronicled and published her biographyA Century with Jesus. She was the only survivor of four siblings. She was the grandmother of two and great grandmother of one. Helena was overseen by her daughter Ruth who occupies one of the apartments.

EARLY LIFE Helena spent her early life with her mother, whom she adored. Growing up, her life revolved around school, home and church. Her father was an elder at the Collier Brethren Church at Camp Street and South Road, Georgetown. In her school life, she was taught all the primary school subjects. After

completing Sixth Standard, she left the Freeburg School and attended sewing classes at the Carnegie School of Home Economics. Later she made artificial flowers for sale.

Her husband was the founder of Macs Secretarial School. The educational institution for which her husband was the headmaster churned out well-rounded students for decades.

The late Desmond Hoyte was Assistant Principal at the school before he became the countrys President. Both Helena and her husband held posts at separate medical institutions before joining the teaching profession. Their children later joined the teaching staff.

Due to various reasons, the family was forced to close the school in 2001.

Helena was featured in the Guinness Book of Records at age 102, for being the worlds oldest managing director.

And whether for business or pleasure, she remained in touch with her contacts around the world via Skype, email and occasionally from her Android phone after mastering this technology aspect at the age of 90.

Known for countless journeys everywhere to take the word of God through tracts, yesterdays offerings would be donated to the Source of Light, Guyanaan organisation through which her tracts are sourced.

A section of the gathering at the service yesterday

… for 1982 murders of 15 political opponents PARAMAIRBO, Surname (CMC) – A Military Court yesterday sentenced President Desi Bouterse to 20 years in jail for his involvement in the 1982 murders of 15 political opponents of his then military government.

The trial has been going on for several years and in a lengthy verdict the Court did not order his detention.

Bouterse is now on an official visit to China.

The prosecution had asked for a 20-year jail term and the court ruling took over four hours to deliver.

In an immediate statement following the verdict, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States said they had closely monitored the progress of the trial over the years.

“We appreciate the challenging circumstances under which the Military Court operates and commend the Court on reaching a verdict in the cases before the Civilian Chamber,” the Heads of Mission of the Western countries said in their joint statement.

Last year, the lawyer for President Bouterse, had asked the Military Court to acquit his client after brandishing the victims as “traitors”.

In 2017, Bouterse along with 23 co-defendants appeared in the Military Court after the Court of Justice had earlier rejected a motion to stop the trial. The former military officers and civilians had been charged with the December 8, 1982 murders of the 15 men that included journalists, military officers, union leaders, lawyers, businessmen and university lecturers.

The prosecution had alleged that the men were ar-

Suriname President Desi Bouterse (CMC File Photo) rested on the night of December 7 and 8 of that year and transferred to Fort Zeelandia, then the headquarters of the Surinamese National Army.

They said the men were tortured that night and summarily executed.

The Court of Justice ruled that the criminal case should be continued by the Military Court since the prosecutors’ request to end the trial wasn’t based on any provision in the Surinamese criminal law.

In June 2016, the Military Court ruled that the Amnesty Law, which was criticised by human rights groups as an attempt to shield Bouterse, was unlawful.

Several years ago, the former army commander claimed political responsibility for the murders since he was head of government at the time of the massacre, but has denied any personal involvement in the killings.

The military government claimed that the men had conspired to stage a coup.

Bouterse later became president of Suriname through democratic elections in May 2010 and won re-election in May 2015.

In December 2017, Ruben

Rozendaal, one of the co-defendants in the mass murder trial involving Bouterse, died, after allegedly committing suicide by bleeding to death following a cut on his left arm.

The Military Court convicted Bouterse on the charges of murder and provocation to murder. The other criminal offenses, such as deprivation of liberty and torture, are time-barred.

In their statement, the Western countries said that the trials have been instrumental in reconstructing the events and political context of December 8, 1982.“The integrity and independence of the Judiciary is a pillar in Suriname society. It is critical that the final verdicts in the killing of 15 innocent citizens — whatever those verdicts may be after the appeals process is complete — are implemented and upheld in accordance with the rule of law.

“Lastly, our thoughts go out to all of the families and loved ones of those who have been a part of this tragedy.

The verdict will undoubtedly prove instrumental in helping the nation move towards reconciliation,” the heads of the missions said.

As economy improves, it is vital local ...

From page 12 investments in the economy.

Relying on her experience leading Jamaica through its own economic reforms, Simpson-Miller told those in attendance that pursuing the promised oil and gas growth and its promise of development will require major adjustments as a nation.

One such component of change required, according to Simpson-Miller, is that of implementing changes to Government procurement legislation to enable local companies, “in particular small business to successfully participate” in bidding for contracts.

“As your economy improves, it is vital that local businesses are not disadvantaged by in participating and prospering.”

Codified Approach GCCI President, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, in his address to the business leaders gathered for the gala affair, said that while the business support organisation welcomes “companies who invest into our country; GCCI believes that investment incentives should be expanded and codified as well as be accessible to both foreign and local companies in the various sectors.”

Addressing the growing debate over the issue of

incentives, the GCCI President said based on “much of what we have heard complaints about can be traced back to a need to codify the incentives so that they are transparent and available to all investors, both local and foreign.”According to Deygoo-Boyer, “We have seen some significant investments recently by local companies that should be commended, despite their challenges in accessing investment incentives commensurate to the level of investment.”

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17 incomplete projects in Berbice -meet specification or we terminate- MPI warns On Wednesday, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Kenneth Jordan, his Permanent Secretary; Ron Rahoman, Chief Roads and Bridges Officer; Kim Stevens, Region Six Regional Executive Officer (REO); Denita Crandon, Senior Engineer; Lloyda Amsterdam, Senior Labs Manager (MoPI); and Narima Rodricks, Procurement Officer; along with the region’s engineer and Clerk of Works met with the contractors executing works.

The meeting was to discuss the problems of the Ministry’s work programme for 2019 in Region Six. According to the Ministry, the meeting was arranged by Patterson to get an idea about the challenges of contractors in executing their projects.

Patterson noted during the meeting that Region Six has 17 projects and to date all are still to be completed.

“The contractors were encouraged by Minister Patterson to adhere to the building specifications outlined by the Ministry, if not, the Ministry and by extension the Government of Guyana, will have no other alternative than to terminate their contracts.”

The Ministry’s Material Laboratory Manager, Ms. Lloyda Amsterdam, urged the contractors to provide their sampling materials weeks in advance before beginning road constructions, so as to alleviate the delay of the testing period, which will allow works to commence promptly as stated in the terms of reference of the contract.

Further Amsterdam noted: “Contractors must give the laboratory 48 hours’ notice for field testing instead of contacting the Ministry’s technician one or two days before - because we have standards to follow and contractors are not doing so and we wish to revert this, since these standards must be adhered to.”Senior Engineer Denita Crandon cautioned, “Contractors must conduct proper compaction and use proper equipment to get the job done in a timely fashion.”

Crandon stressed that the Ministry expects all contractors to follow the projects guidelines given by the Ministry, so as to have the road infrastructure lasting for 10 years and beyond.

She added that the community must get the best

Prison officer nabbed smuggling ganja into Lusignan holding centre A prison officer who chose the wrong way to make an extra dollar for the Christmas holidays is now likely to spend this season with inmates instead.

Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, confirmed that a rank was nabbed yesterday while attempting to smuggle a quantity of marijuana into the Lusignan Prison.

Samuels said that the officer is in police

custody but was unable to provide further details.There are reports that the rank had about one pound of the narcotic, which would have netted him some $40,000 had he been successful.

He is just one of several prison officers who have been apprehended while trying to bring drugs and other prohibited items to prisoners.

Appeal Court halts payout of US$13M by CLICO (Guyana) to Trinidad companies The Court of Appeal has halted the payout of US$13M (approximately GYD$2.795 billion) to three Trinidad and Tobago companies, namely CL Financial Limited, First Citizen Bank and CLICO Investment Bank Limited (CIB).

Last June, High Court Judge Navindra Singh ordered Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobin Ganga, in his capacity as Liquidator of CLICO Life and General Insurance Company (South America) Limited, to transfer the cash which is being held by the Registrar of Deeds pursuant to a court order made back in 2009 by the late Chief Justice Ian Chang.

Following Justice Singhs order, Dr. Ganga through lawyers, Senior Counsel Ashton Chase and Pauline Chase, lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal where they also petitioned for a stay of execution to be granted against the judges order.

Kaieteur News understands that the stay of execution which was recently granted is in effect for three months.

In a Writ of Summons, the lawyers had asked the Court of Appeal to stay Justice Singhs order until the hear-

ing and determination of the appeal. CLICO had also sought an injunction restraining the Respondents, their servants and/or agents from uplifting from the Registrar of Deeds the sums held pursuant to an order made by the late Chief Justice Chang on March 24, 2009, and such further and other order as the court deems fit.

CLICO also wanted another injunction restraining the Registrar of Deeds from disbursing and/or transferring and/or paying the sum to the three companies.

CL Financial Limited was the largest privately owned conglomerate in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest privately held corporations in the entire Caribbean, before the company encountered a major liquidity crisis and subsequent bailout in 2009, says Wikipedia. As it is, CL Financial Limited owes CLICO (South America) US$34M pursuant to a court order handed down by Justice Gino Persaud.

CLICO suffered loss and damages to the tune of US$34M after CL Financial Limited unlawful directions and instructions to transfer

the said sum to CLICO (Bahamas), which collapsed in 2009, along with CLICO and CL Financial Limited. Based on information, CL Financial Limited instructed that the millions of US dollars be transferred from CLICO (South America) to CLICO (Bahamas).

According to court documents seen by Kaieteur News, the over US$13M was due under certain debentures.

CLICO laid claim to the monies following the collapse of CL Financial Limited and resulting crisis. However, Justice Singh struck out the Writ and Statement of Claim of CLICO, laying claim to the aforementioned sum.

The judge also discharged the injunction under which the US$13 was being held. CL Financial Limited is also under liquidation.

As a result, Dr. Ganga argues that this represents a greater danger in the circumstances that the sums would be irrecoverable should they be dissipated prior to the hearing and determination of the appeal as CL Financial Limited has not honoured its financial obligations to (CLICO South America).

Minister of Public Infrastructure and his officials meeting with Berbice contractors on Wednesday. roads for the enhancement of their community.

Lloyda Amsterdam was advised by Min. Patterson to host regular workshops with current and new contractors to keep them up to date with the Ministry’s stipulations

and best practices for the construction of the road ways as it relates to grading, compaction and even physical demonstrations to ensure our roads are at all times up-to-date.“The meeting was successful and

contractors left the meeting assuring Minister Patterson that they will execute their respective projects before year end.” Patterson also took the opportunity to visit a number of the project sites in Region Six.

Ratty committed to stand trial for bus driver’s murder during robbery Orwin Peters, also known as Ratty, a mechanic of Lot 48 Norton Street, Bagotstown, was committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of a bus driver, yesterday, at the Georgetown Magistrates Courts.

Peters was not allowed to plead to the indictable charge, which alleged that on July 11, 2017 at Georgetown, he murdered Tedroy James, called Six Head, during a robbery.

The matter which was being heard by Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore has been prolonging for some time. The magistrate ruled that the matter should not proceed any longer in the Magistrates Courts.

As such, she ruled that the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) was concluded and ordered Peters to face a trial at the High Court.

The magistrate concluded that the evidence provided by the prosecutor was sufficient against Peters. The witnesses whom Peters called to testify in his defence made a no-show.

Committed to the High Court: The 27-year-old Peters was also not represented by an attorney. However, his mother attended the court hearing and was overwhelmed in tears upon the decision made by the court.

On the day in question, reports revealed that 38-yearold Tedroy Neil James of Suddie, Essequibo Coast who was a Route-32 (Parika/ Georgetown) minibus driver was shot in the bid to save his passengers from bandits.

According to reports,

James was driving minibus BTT 976 north along the East Bank Demerara Public Road presumably heading to Georgetown when he was instructed by a male passenger whom he had picked up on West Coast Demerara, to stop at Middle Street, Mc Doom.

James noticed that as the male passenger was about to disembark the vehicle, two male suspects, one armed with a handgun, pounced on the unsuspecting passengers and began to rob them.

Consequently, he attempted to drive away to halt the attack on his passengers and ended up being shot by one of the men.

The suspects then made good their escape by running into a nearby street.

James was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where he was pronounced dead.The police in a press release stated that James was shot in the back.The defendant was then arrested and charged for the offence.

New GGDMA President begins...

From page 9 to the body.These included a continuation of the fight to ensure that policies detrimental to the industry were not adopted.

“As your new President, I will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure that there’s no policy or any agendas that will result in the desolation of our industry. We fought many dragons over the years and the reality with this industry is that even six presidents ahead of me will still have fights to fight.”

Alphonso stated that the Association will continue to lobby for the entire sector. He added that another area of focus for him will be to build

consensus with sister organisations and secure a unified mining industry to boost those lobbying efforts.

He also pledged to work for more mining incentives, including recouping some of those they had previously enjoyed. Alphonso also noted that he has been the youngest member on the Association’s executive for years and said he will be working to bring more youth into the organisation.

“We need new blood; we need the next generation to step up and come to these meetings, have meaningful participation in the direction in which this Association is going. That is something that

we’re definitely going to be working on, to bring that younger element into the Association.”

He urged the members to put the needs of their families, the industry, and Guyana above any international agenda.

The other members elected on Wednesday to the 2019-2021 executive management committee are Vice President Hilbert Shields; Immediate Past President Adams; Secretary Azeem Baksh; Treasurer Patrick Harding; Organising Secretary Alfro Alphonso; and Committee Members Terry Singh, David Bacchus, Dabria Marcus, and Charles DaSilva.

Saturday November 30, 2019

Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

Saturday November 30, 2019

Ex-supervisor accused of plucking $19M from Royal Castle

Candacy Stuart A former supervisor of Royal Castle Guyana Inc. is now facing three charges after she allegedly stole $19M from that establishment over a one year period.

Candacy Stuart was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates Courts to have the charges read to her and she denied all.

The first charge alleged that between January 2, 2018 and September 29, 2018, at Sherriff Street, Georgetown, while she was a clerk or servant of Royal Castle Guyana Inc., she stole $8,740,695 from the entity.

Also, it was alleged that between October 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018, at Diamond East Bank Demerara, while she was a clerk or servant of Royal Castle Guyana Inc., she stole $5, 975,209 from her work place.

The third charge read that

she stole $4,640,409 from Royal Castle Guyana Inc. between January 2, 2019 and February 27, 2019; at Diamond East Bank Demerara, while she was a clerk or servant of the business establishment.

The woman was represented by attorney-at-law Dexter Todd who asked for bail to be given to his client in the most reasonable sum.

He told the court that Stuart is a 33-year-old mother of three from 40 Princes Street, Lodge. He added that the woman is gainfully self-employed as a food vendor.

According to the lawyer, up to February of this year, the defendant was an acting supervisor of Royal Castle after serving the entity for seven years. Todd stated that this matter was under investigation since February 2019 and Stuart, along with a few others, was being investigated.The attorney said that initially the police were investigating these persons in relation to $91M in losses from the entity over a period of time and his client received charges for $19M. Moreover, Todd is arguing that more than one person was responsible for accessing and checking money for the company and this would prove that others may have committed the acts leaving his client to be blamed as the supervisor.

Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield stated that during the period mentioned in the charges an internal audit was conducted and it was revealed that several millions of

dollars were missing.

He said investigations were carried out by the police which led to the discovery that the defendant exploited a point of sale software of the company in order to allegedly steal the monies.

Following the investigations, the defendant was arrested and the charges were put to her. Later the charges were instituted against her.

In regards to the exploitation of the financial software, the lawyer claimed that his client has no training in computer software and therefore there was no way she could tamper with the system.

In fact, the lawyer said, “Your worship, my client could barely operate her cell phone, much less to tamper with the software of a computer.”

Prosecutor Mansfield had no objections to bail, however. He asked that the same should be granted in a substantial amount based on the seriousness of the allegation.

He also asked for further conditions to be attached to the bail.After listening to both sides, Magistrate McLennan granted bail in the sum of $100,000 for each charge under the condition that the defendant report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters fraud squad every Friday.

She is to also lodge her passport with the clerk of court. All this should be done pending the outcome of the matter. The case was then adjourned to December 5, 2019.

Cops taking second look at female taxi driver’s murder Detectives are taking a fresh look at the unsolved killing of taxi driver, Jennifer Bipat, who was beaten, strangled and dumped in a ditch at La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara last May. Acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston indicated that other investigators are looking at the case, in the hope that they spot details that may have originally have been missed.

Police have also checked telephone records relating to calls that Mrs. Bipat might have received shortly before she was slain.

The 48-year-old taxi driver had reportedly received a call on her cell phone from someone who wished to hire her.

Bipat, of Samaroo Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, was employed with a Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara taxi service.

On Saturday, May 18, around 16:30 hrs, Mrs. Bipat received the fateful call. She allegedly told the dispatcher

Murdered: Jennifer Bipat

that she would not be returning to the base for the rest of the night.

She then left in her vehicle, Toyota Premio PXX 4114.

When she failed to return home that night, her daughter, her brother, an aunt and grandmother visited the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station to report her missing.

The following day, Mrs. Bispats body was found in a ditch at the back of Dairy, a section of La Parfaite Harmonie.

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A post mortem revealed that she was strangled and struck on the head. Her vehicle was missing, and is still to be found.

Tharisma Samaroo, her daughter, recently expressed frustration that they had received no update on the investigation since her mother’s death. “So many months pass and you can’t tell we nothing. You can’t even find my mother’s car…I’m the victim here; you’re supposed to be coming to me so I can get comfort.”

PPP/C social contract promises greater accountability Irfaan at The People’s Progressive Party launched its pre-manifesto “Our Plan for Prosperity”, yesterday, under the theme “Stronger Together” at Freedom House, Robb Street, Robbstown.

The event highlighted excerpts from the manifesto itself, mainly focusing on key goals of accountability that were outlined by the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Dr. Irfaan Ali. This event chaired by Ms. Gail Teixeira MP, attracted scores of PPP/C supporters.

Dr. Irfaan Ali, who was the first to address the gathering, said the PPP/C intends to govern Guyana in the interest of all Guyanese. He spoke on “a plan that is holistic, people centered and people driven.”

Ali said that the party’s comprehensive plans are based on numerous principles including equity, fairness, transparency and accountability.

He stated that the manifesto presented “brings a sense of purpose” since it expresses bold ideas and clarity on where Guyana will be moving forward to. Additionally, he encouraged all other parties to be open to scrutiny.

Dr. Ali told those present “that some political parties are accustomed to presenting their manifesto’s or excerpts from their manifesto’s a week before elections, but we believe we have a moral responsibility to every single

yesterday’s pre-launch

Guyanese to demonstrate to them an agenda, a vision, a plan through which we seek their support in taking our country forward.”

Dr. Ali explained that the plan highlights specific targets that they intend to be held accountable for.

According to him, the manifesto details and justifies the creation of 50,000 jobs, 50,000 house lots, education, rescuing the production sector, securing the benefit of Oil & Gas for all Guyanese, improvements to infrastructure, cheaper electricity and proper management of economic resources all backed by sound analysis and an understanding of what our economy can afford and sustain now and in the future.

The party hinted at embarking on major Information and Communication Technology (ICT) avenues to pro-

mote the economy and support national development.

General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo asserted that the ideas expressed in the manifesto are not only implementable but they are realistic and “have been costed” since technical work has been done to support these ideas.

He ensured those present that the promises are not for the purpose of garnering votes. He stressed the vital role of inclusion. He stated that a youth sector will be attached directly to the Presidential candidate responsible for the implementation of youth centered initiatives and development.

Dr. Jagdeo underscored the fact that education, health, and the inclusion of various civil institutions and other social sectors will see greater advances in governmental decision making.

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Bottas best in 2nd practice for Abu Dhabi GP Warner and Labuschagne... then crashes ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was fastest in the second practice for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and was also involved in a crash yesterday.

The Finnish driver swerved into the side of Romain Grosjean’s car as the Frenchman was passing Bottas down the right, sending both spinning across the track and causing the session to be halted for a few minutes to clear debris.

Bottas, who was quickest in the first practice earlier,

appeared to be most at fault.

The accident prompted Grosjean to let out a loud expletive over the team radio, but Bottas was quick to shift the blame onto the French driver. ‘’He turned in on me and didn’t leave any space,’’ Bottas said. ‘’There was nowhere for me to disappear ... I thought he was aware I was there. Maybe he didn’t look at the mirror before turning in.’’

Race stewards investigating it saw things differently and gave Bottas his first reprimand of the season.

Bottas had already done

enough to post the leading time, finishing .310 ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and .386 clear of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc under the floodlights at the Yas Marina circuit. ‘’Very good day on track,’’ said Bottas, who was racing with a new engine. ‘’The first few runs were good. I had a positive feeling in the car.’’

Hamilton, who has won 10 of 20 races this season, felt he was somewhat short of his best. ‘’Just getting into the rhythm wasn’t possible for me,’’ Hamilton said. ‘’I’ll make sure I get that straight for tomorrow.’’

Saturday November 30, 2019 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Juggling work and home may seem difficult today, Aries. Work responsibilities may weigh on your mind to the point where they interfere with the harmony of your home life. This can cause some inner conflict.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Today you might decide to sequester yourself at home, catch your breath, get your thoughts together, and recall the events of the past several days.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You may be worried about your financial situation today, Gemini. You might feel a tug at your purse strings. If you've experienced a delay in receiving some funds you were expecting, this may add to your concern.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) An unexpected event might cause you to be temporarily separated from your partner today, Cancer. Confusion about the incident and your mate's role in it might plague you. You might doubt his or her motives.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) - You may want to take a day off from your obligations, Libra, perhaps to take care of unfinished creative projects.

Chances are this may not be possible.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You may reminisce today, Scorpio. Perhaps you're thinking about friends and family who live far away. You could feel a bit nostalgic, not to mention blue, thinking about times long past.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Money matters might be a bit tangled today. There may be an unexpected delay in receiving funds due you.

Your bank statement may have you confused.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) You may need reassurance today. Trouble with friends or a romantic partner may have you feeling unloved, insecure, and emotionally blocked.

You may see the situation as more serious than others do.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) You might have a sore throat and mild cold symptoms today.

It may affect your ability to work.

Chances are that you're an active person. Having to slow down to tend to your health may frustrate you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) You may feel a little under the weather today, Aquarius.

You may even develop sniffles or a sore throat. If so, consider going to the doctor.

This can be an especially unwelcome development, as it keeps you from certain activities.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Spend some quality time with your partner today. Perhaps he or she is a little jealous of your friends or feeling left out. Perhaps you've received invitations lately that are just for you. It might be a good idea to turn one down in favor of being with your partner.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You might feel lonely and insecure due to lack of contact with a close friend or romantic partner, Pisces. You might wonder if the person has forgotten you or simply doesn't care anymore. Take the time to try to connect with this person.

Leclerc improved his speed after clipping the barriers coming out of Turn 19, in the same place where teammate Sebastian Vettel crashed during the first practice.

Turn 19 proved to be problematic, with Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi narrowly avoiding a similar crash in the evening.

In the first practice, Bottas finished .535 seconds ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and .634 ahead of Hamilton.

Verstappen won the Brazilian GP two weeks ago for his third win of the season, and the Dutch driver is cautiously optimistic about Red Bull’s chances of taking pole position on Saturday on a track where the German manufacturer has won the past five races. ‘’Overall I’m pretty pleased,’’ said Verstappen, who has taken pole twice this season. ‘’Mercedes look very strong here again, and will be hard to beat, but I still think it will be close tomorrow.’’

Hamilton clinched his sixth world title two races ago, and the veteran British driver celebrated by briefly swapping the No. 44 on his car bonnet for No. 1.

Just before the end of the first session, Vettel misjudged the entry into Turn 19 and needed a gearbox change.

Earlier, Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo stalled with an engine failure, causing oil to leak onto the track.

There is a third practice yesterday before qualifying starts at 5 p.m. local time, matching the conditions for tomorrow’s race.

From page 226 able to target the stumps which is when he’s at his best; his entire 18-over workload saw just two deliveries projected to disturb the timber.

Muhammad Musa was quick but much too predictable with his length, far too eager to bang the ball in short. It allowed Warner to carve him through the offside repeatedly, and if Plan B had been discussed in the changing rooms beforehand, that’s where it stayed.

Labuschagne averaged 34 in first-class cricket before he made his Test debut but, of late, he’s batted like a Steven Smith clone - not surprising given the amount of time he has spent with him.

Surviving an initial Afridi spell fraught with danger was as much a test of maturity as batting skill; for the first couple of hours he was out there, runs were hard to come by. He would battle, refusing to give his wicket away by forcing the issue, biding his time until he found his touch. His first 96 deliveries yielded just 37 runs but by the end his strike rate was up to 62.

Rain tore out a large chunk of the middle session, but once the pair settled after the break, it looked like carelessness would be the only thing that would break the partnership.

The pressure began to lift, the field began to spread, the bowlers began to tire, and Ahmed and Azhar began to warm up. The pair brought up their half-centuries, then their hundreds.

Warner would ease to 150 with consecutive boundaries off Yasir Shah, who had as horrific a time as he did last time Pakistan toured, going at 6.21.

Afridi was the only bowler who threatened on occasions every time he was brought back on, but it never really appeared enough to draw another wicket.

Pakistan’s thoughts, meanwhile, may already have turned to the heavens, and whether they can unleash enough rain to prevent them heading back from Australia on the back of a fifth consecutive clean sweep.

Scores: Australia 1 for 302 (Warner 166*, Labuschagne 126*) v Pakistan.

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Kaieteur News

Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers Football League

Lodge Secondary continue purple patch Lodge Secondary put Charlestown Secondary deeper under the weather with a ramping 6-1 victory at the Ministry of Education (MOE) ground on Thursday afternoon to maintain their perfect record in the second annual Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers Schools’ Football League that is also supported

by Ansa McAl Trading.

Skipper and target man Dorwin George was on target thrice in the big win and his hat-trick performance was assisted with solitary strikes from Colin McBean and Nicholas Trotman, while the sixth goal was on account of an own goal. Tarique Pryce scored the consolation for Charlestown.

In the opening match,

See points standing so far below.

Teams GP W Lodge Secondary 7 7 Annandale 7 6 President College 6 3 Bishops 6 4 Charlestown 7 2 Marian Academy 5 2 Queens College 7 3 Cummings Lodge 7 1 St John’s 7 1 St Stanislaus 7 0

D 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 2 1 0

L 0 0 2 2 3 2 4 4 5 7

Bishops’ High School ease past St. John’s College 4-0 courtesy of one goal each from Romeo Bradford, Anthone Herod and Malachi Richards, while the fourth was an own goal.

The tournament continues today from 16:00hrs with the commencement of round eight play.

GF 26 36 15 14 9 6 5 11 3 2

GA 3 11 12 8 17 9 14 18 42 16

GD Points 23 21 25 19 3 10 6 12 -8 8 -3 7 -9 9 -7 5 -39 4 -14 0

Smalta girls’ peewee football tourney - Finalist to be decided today This afternoon will be the penultimate day of play in the 2019 edition of the Smalta girls’ peewee football tournament that is being promoted by Petra Organisation. Following some exciting matches, both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be contested today at the Ministry of Education (MOE) ground on Carifesta Avenue from 13:00hrs.

In the first last eight game, North Georgetown will face Smith Memorial while Tucville will clash with South Ruimveldt in other game that will be played concurrently.

The second pair of quarterfinals kicks off at 13:50hrs with Timehri matching skills with West Ruimveldt while Redeemer will play St. Stephen’s in the other game.

Please see list of full fixtures below.

1/30/2019 Quarter finals MOE Ground Match # 13:00 hrs North Georgetownvs Smith Memorial 19 13:00 hrs Tucville vs South Ruimveldt 20 13:50 hrs Timerhi vs West Ruimveldt 21 13:50 hrs Redeemer vs St Stephens 22 11/30/2019 Semi Finals MOE Ground Match # 14:40 hrs Loser of 19 vs Loser of 20 23 5 to 8 14:40 hrs Loser of 21 vs Loser of 22 24 5 to 8 15:30 hrs Winner of 19 vs Winner of 20 25 Semi Finals 15:30 hrs Winner of 21 vs Winner of 22 26 Semi Finals

Warner and Labuschagne flay woeful Pakistan with twin hundreds ESPNcricinfo - Even by the miserable standards of the past quarter century, this was a wretched day for Pakistan down under.

Centuries from the resurgent David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, a man who’s batsmanship has scaled heights he never appeared equipped for, had almost certainly already batted Pakistan out of the game on a rain-curtailed opening day.

Unbroken on 294, it was the highest partnership in day-night Tests, setting a record Australia will look to extend on the second afternoon when the pair return to pile more misery on their dispirited visitors. By the end of the day, Australia had amassed 1 for 302 at over four runs per over, and Pakistan were already down to the part-time spin of Iftikhar Ahmed and Azhar Ali to protect an ineffectual threeman pace attack.

Warner’s was the performance of the day, the memories of that torrid Ashes summer well and truly distant now. Pakistan, for a change, decided to come around the wicket to him with the new ball at last, and in Mohammad Abbas, they had someone with the ability to make sure the ball held its line outside the left-hander’s off stump.

He looked sharp for the first

Marnus Labuschagne embraces with David Warner after his hundred.

(Getty Images and Cricket Australia) three overs, but Warner’s intensity was unmatched, and once he had timed his first couple of drives either side of the wicket, he appeared as if carrying on from his 154 in Brisbane.

And yet, the mood music around the start of play was completely different to Brisbane, where Pakistan had never looked like taking 20

David Warner punches through the off side.

(Getty Images and Cricket Australia)

wickets. Under overcast skies, Tim Paine chose, rather bravely, to have a bat, with the start delayed by rain. The clouds hovered above as Shaheen Afridi - Pakistan’s best bowler by a stretch troubled Joe Burns outside off stump, needing just nine balls to draw the edge and take the wicket.

It seemed a hazy dream by the end of the day, but Labuschagne, who faced 205 deliveries by the end of the day, was a whisker away from making his way back after just one. A huge appeal ensued after his first ball whizzed past his bat, a wooden sound audible as they crossed paths. Pakistan, wisely, chose not to review; the bat had hit the ground.

With two batsmen in form and the pink ball giving up swing somewhat earlier than Pakistan would have hoped, the partnership began to flow.

It wasn’t helped by Pakistan’s ordinariness with the ball. Even Abbas wasn’t (Continued on page 225)

Trophy Stall four-team Softball on tomorrow at MSC The finalists of the 2019 Smalta girls’ peewee football tournament will be decided today.

The Malteenoes Sports Club will be the venue for the Trophy Stall four-team 20 overs Softball competition which will be contested tomorrow starting at 10:00hrs.

Wellman Masters, Fisherman, Success Masters and Park Rangers will battle for supremacy. The winning and runner up teams and man-of-the-match in the final will received trophies.

Wellman will be led by Wayne Jones, the tournament organiser, with support coming from Mike Singh, Sheldon Perch, Eon Lovell, Nandram Samlall, Suresh Persaud, Lloyd Ruplall and Seeraj Bhimsain.

Fisherman will be spearheaded by Pooran Singh and include Robert Mohan and Troy Ramsaywack, while Success Masters will look to

Seekumar Budram, Rafman Ali and Hackim Majeed for glory.

Park Rangers challenges will be led by Mohamed Rafeek, Oslyn Batson, Clyde Hoyte and Rudy Meyers.

Jones expressed gratitude to Trophy Stall Proprietor Ramesh Sunich for coming on board, while Sunich wished the teams well.

Saturday November 30, 2019

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Round of 16 starts in Rio Indoor Streetball Championship Following the conclusion of the exciting group stage, the round of 16 section in the inaugural Rio Indoor Streetball Championship kicks-off tonight at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

The opening game will pit the pride of the West Demerara region, Showstoppers, against the lone remaining East Coast Demerara outfit, BV, from 19:00hrs.

This will be followed by Future Stars against surprise package Kingston at 19:30hrs, while newcomer and dark-horses Rio All-Stars take aim at Tiger Bay from 20:00hrs. In the fourth match, at 20:30hrs, the always dangerous Leopold Street battle the experienced Alexander Village.

Traditional giants Broad Street and Back Circle will then take center stage at 21:00hrs in the fifth affair, with perennial contender Gold is Money tackling Albouystown from 21:30hrs.

National heavyweight Sparta Boss will go to battle against Avocado Ballers from 22:00hrs, while tournament favorite Bent Street matches skills with Sophia at 22:30hrs.

According to an official release from the tournament coordinators, Three Peat Promotions, “We are now at the business end of the tournament where the Final Point Standings Group-A Team P Rio All-Stars [Q] 3 Back Circle [q] 3 Spot-7 3 Group-B Team P Leopold [Q] 3 Tiger Bay [q] 3 Broad St [t] 3 Ol Skool 3 Group-C Team P Sparta [Q] 3 Kingston [q] 3 Alex Village [t] 3 Melanie 3 Group-D Team P Bent St [Q] 3 BV [q] 3 Avocado [t] 3 LA Ballers 3 Group-E Team P Showstoppers [Q 3 Future [q] 3 Albouystown [t] 3 Stabroek 3 Group-F Team P G/Money [Q] 3 Sophia [q] 3 Island 3 Gaza Squad 3 Legend [Q]-Group Winner [q]-Group Runner-up [t]-Third Place

objective is simple, win and progress or lose and go home. The tournament has witnessed quality and entertaining football from the start and the knockout round promises to be even more exciting and competitive as the best teams have advanced and will face-off.

The battle lines have been drawn, the fans have selected their favorite and we expect a wonderful night of action. It’s D-Day in the National Gymnasium.”

The correspondence further said, “We would also like to thank the fans for their support during this inaugural venture as well as the lawmen who have carried out their duties with aplomb. The officers have ensured that a safe environment is realized and created every evening, much to the satisfaction and appreciation of the fans and players who have witnessed and experienced an incident free championship.”

Meanwhile on Thursday in the final group round, Bent Street, Showstoppers and BV were amongst the wins.

In other results, Leopold Street and Tiger Bay battled to a scoreless draw, while Broad Street and Ol Skool contested an identical result.

Also, Future Stars and Albouystown played to a 0-0 scoreline. Below lists the complete knockout fixtures, the results from the last match

day and the final point standings.

Complete Knockout Fixtures Section-A (1)Leopold St vs Alexander Village (3)Gold is Money vs Albouystown (5)Sparta vs Avocado Ballers (7)Showstoppers vs BV Section-B (2)Bent St vs Sophia (4)Back Circle vs Broad St (6)Future Stars vs Kingston (8)Rio All-Stars vs Tiger Bay Round of 16 Showstoppers vs BV19:00hrs Future Stars vs Kingston19:30hrs Rio All-Stars vs Tiger Bay-20:00hrs Leopold St vs Alexander Village-20:30hrs Back Circle vs Broad St21:00hrs Gold is Money vs Albouystown-21:30hrs Sparta vs Avocado Ballers-22:00hrs Bent St vs Sophia22:30hrs Quarterfinal (9)Winner of (1) vs Winner (3) (10)Winner of (5) vs Winner (7) (11)Winner (2) vs Winner (4) (12)Winner (6) vs Winner (8)

W 3 2 1

L 0 1 2

D 0 0 0

GF 10 6 2

GA 0 3 9

GD +10 +3 -7

Pts. 9 6 3

W 2 1 1 0

L 0 1 1 2

D 1 1 1 1

GF 8 4 3 3

GA 2 4 4 8

GD +6 0 -1 -5

Pts. 7 4 4 1

W 3 1 1 0

L 0 1 1 3

D 0 1 1 0

GF 13 5 3 0

GA 1 6 4 10

GD +12 -1 -1 -10

Pts. 9 4 4 0

W 3 2 1 0

L 0 1 2 3

D 0 0 0 0

GF 13 8 3 3

GA 3 6 8 10

GD +10 +2 -5 -7

Pts. 9 6 3 0

W 3 1 1 0

L 0 1 1 3

D 0 1 1 0

GF 15 7 6 4

GA 5 7 7 13

GD +10 0 -1 -9

Pts. 9 4 4 0

W 3 2 0 0

L 0 1 2 2

D 0 0 1 1

GF 12 5 5 1

GA 3 2 10 8

GD +9 +3 -5 -7

Pts. 9 6 1 1

Action in the Rio Indoor Streetball Championship being contested at the National Gymnasium.

Semifinal (13)Winner of (9) vs Winner (10) (14)Winner of (11) vs Winner (12) 3rd Place (15)Loser of (13) vs Loser (14) Final (16)Winner of (13) vs Winner (14) Complete Results Game-1 Broad St-0 vs Ol Skool-0 Game-2

Showstoppers-4 vs Stabroek Ballers-1 Showstoppers Scorers Stephon Jupiter-5th and 14th Delon Lanferman-3rd Keanu Lawrence-7th Stabroek Scorer Seon Taylor-4th Game-3 Avocado Ballers-0 vs BV4 Akin Curry-4th, 6th and 9th Shemar Fraser-18th

Game-4 Albouystown-0 vs Future Stars-0 Game-5 Bent St-4 vs LA Ballers-2 Bent Scorers Colin Nelson-6th and 14th Daniel Wilson-17th Adrian Aaron-19th LA Scorer Simeon Moore-12th and 16th Game-6 Leopold St-0 vs Tiger Bay-0

GFF ‘Super 16’ yearend football tournament launched - Games slated for Bartica and Essequibo Coast venues

Player representatives from the teams that will be participating in this year’s GFF Super 16 Cup pose for a photo last night.

The Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) ‘Super 16’ yearend football tournament was launched last evening at the Pegasus Hotel where the details of this 2019-2020 event was shared.

Dem Amstel FC, the defending champions, lifted the trophy in the last tournament after defeating Buxton United 2-0 at their home venue, the Buxton Community Center ground.

Den Amstel will be looking to emulate their efforts again in this edition with $2million up for grabs for the champions.

During the launch, the President of the GFF, Wayne Forde, noted in his remarks that Region 7; Bartica along with the Essequibo Coast will be host venues for the first

time in the history of the tournament.

“It is our goal to make this tournament a genuine national event. We know that year-end football tournaments usually stimulate economic activity for many persons including small vendors, taxi drivers and ticket touts,” Forde shared.

He further posited that, “I would like to wish good luck to all the teams and may the best team win.”

The runners up of the tournament will pocket $1million, while third place will cart off $500,000 and the fourth place finishers will receive $250,000 in the straight knockout tournament that begins on December 15 at Eve Leary and concludes

on January 1st at the National Stadium, Providence.

The teams in the tournament are Milerock, Pele FC, Police, Timehri Panthers, Fruta Conquerors, Buxton Stars, GDF, Rivers View, Western Tigers, Santos FC, Eagles, Riddim Squad and Den Amstel. The remaining two teams will come from the Champions of the Berbice and Essequibo qualifiers, respectively.

Forde expressed heartfelt thanks to the various sponsors for the event which include Pegasus Hotel that presented the GFF with a cheque of $1million towards the event, MACORP, BACIF, THAG, MVP Sports, E.C. Vieira Investments, HJ Entertainment, Impressions and NAMILCO.

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Windies sweep aside Afghans to win one-off Test LUCKNOW, India, CMC – West Indies required just over an hour to thrash Afghanistan by nine wickets here early yesterday, and post an emphatic victory in the oneoff Test at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Stadium.

The Caribbean side nabbed the last three Afghan wickets for 11 runs with fastbowling captain Jason Holder accounting for all, as the home side’s second innings folded for 120.

Set 31 for victory, West Indies lost out-of-fo r m opener Kraigg Brathwaite cheaply for eight before overhauling their target off 38 deliveries.

Left-handed opener John Campbell finished on a 16-ball unbeaten 19 which included four fours – the last of which was a belligerent punch over midoff, off left-arm spinner Amir Hamza to end the contest. “ We p l a y e d a r e a l l y good cricket game, and we were clinical. I asked the guys to make sure we don’t leave any stones unturned,” Holder said afterwards.

“Probably would have liked a little bit more in our first innings in terms of our batting, but we had a lead of 90. I think leads win

games. Once you have a hefty lead, it puts pressure on the opposition.”

Off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, who on Thursday became the first We s t I n d i e s s p i n n e r t o claim a 10-wicket match haul on the subcontinent, was voted Man-of-theMatch.

Playing in only his second Test, he snatched seven wickets in the first innings to rout Afghanistan for 187 and then picked up another three wickets in the second innings to wipe out the hosts’ top order.

“Great credit to Rahkeem, he was outstanding throughout the match and did everything we asked of him,” Holder noted.

“He’s new to Test cricket, this is just his second match and first away from home, and bowled an exceptional spell in the first innings and then backed it up really well in the second innings, supported by the other bowlers.”

Resuming on 109 for seven – a lead of 19 runs – Afghanistan lost captain Rashid Khan in the second over of the day when he edged a defensive stroke at Holder’s first ball of the morning, and was caught at the wicket.

Fast bowler Jason Holder sends down another delivery during his three-wicket haul.

Wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai (7) and tail-ender Yamin Ahmadzai (1) resisted briefly before Holder (3-20) knocked them over in successive overs. First, he removed Ahmadzai’s off stump and then found Zazai’s outside edge for wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to complete formalities.

Brathwaite’s slump in international form then continued when he gloved Hamza through to Zazai in the fifth over. The right-hander has scored only 67 runs from his last eight Test innings at an average of eight.

Campbell endured no such horrors and finished the game quickly for the Windies.

Colonial Medical Super50 Cup- Semi-final 2

Hamilton’s destructive unbeaten 78 powers L/Wards to final - Red Force lose by four wickets

By Sean Devers in Trinidad A destructive unbeaten 78 from Jahmar Hamilton powers Leewards Hurricanes to a four-wicket win against T&T’ Red Force in the second semi-final of the Colonial Medical Super50 Cup at the Queen’s Park Oval last night to book their place into tomorrow’s finals when they face the West Indies Emerging Players.

Hurricanes made 269-6 off with three balls to spare in reply to Red Force’s 268-8 in 50 overs.

Jahmar Hamilton hit an unbeaten 78 from just 34 balls with three fours and eight sixes. Kieran Powell scored 48 from 50 balls with five fours and a six, while Devon Thomas made 28 from 51 balls with one four and Kacey Carty 53 from 69 balls with four fours and a six.

There were two wickets each for Jaggesar and Khan.

The win overshadowed brilliant batting from Tion Webster who hit seven fours and four sixes in his 121-ball 91 and shared in 99-run first wicket with Jeremy Solozano

who 30 from 50 with two boundaries.

Jason Mohammed 59 with six fours and a six from 55 balls and Darren Bravo, who scored 34 from 32 balls with two fours and a six and added 59 for the fourth wicket, also contributed as the Red Force reached 268-8 in 50 overs.

Pacer Sheeno Berridge had 4-58 and Quinton Boatswain 2-69 were expensive but were the leading wickettakers for the Leewards.

A small group of fans in the Stands with two huge T&T flags watched as Webster went after the pacers and a majestic back cut, the shot of the day; was followed up by dismissive drive over mid-off for four off the next ball when pitched up.

The left-handed Solozano played the supporting role before Webster, who was dropped on 42 off Terrance Ward, brought up his 50 from 61 balls with five fours and a six.

The run rate dropped rapidly when spin was introduced on the slow surface before Solozano departed in the 22nd over off of Jason Campbell.

Keagan Simmons, watched

by his family, was on 14 when he was run out in a mix-up with Webster at 133-2.

Webster freed the shackles with six to post the 150 tried to hit his way out a trouble and only succeeded hitting Berridge to deep mid-wicket where Amir Jangoo held a good low catch with nine short of his of his maiden century as Red Force slipped to 150-3 after 37 overs.

The left-handed Bravo again looked good and along with Mohammed featured in well compiled partnership which saw the 100 being posted in 41st over.

But with the score on 209, Bravo was removed by Berridge and when Mohammed was removed by Quinton Boatswain at 251-7 in the penultimate over, Anderson Phillip clobbered two sixes to finish unbeaten 14 from three balls to give the Red force a good score in the end.

When the Hurricanes began Montcin Hodge (15) and Powell added 33 in 8.3 overs before Hodge edged Phillip to Wicket-Keeper Stephen Katwaroo.

Amir Jangoo (14) and

Powell, who played several attractive shots, added 42 runs before Jangoo fell to JonRuss Jaggesar to leave the Hurricanes on 72-2.

Powell departed off leftarm spinner Akeal Hosein at 93-3 in the 19th over to become the first batsman to reach 500 runs in the tournament.

Devon Thomas and Kacey Carty then put together 41 before Thomas was bowled by Imran Khan at 134-4 in 30 overs, Khan removed Akeem Saunders (11) and Jaggesar broke the half-century stand between Carty and Jahmar Hamilton to leave the score on 219-6.

With 20 to win from three overs, Hamilton hit a couple of massive sixes as he and Ward (11) took their team to victory.

Scores: RED FORCE 268 for eight off 50 overs (Tion Webster 91, Jason Mohammed 59, Darren Bravo 34, Jeremy Solozano 30; Sheeno Berridge 4-58).

HURRICANES 269-6 off 49.3 overs (Jahmar Hamilton 78 not out, Keiran Powell 48, Kacey Carty 53, Devon Thomas 28).

Tion Webster pulls during his 91 at the Oval last night.

Saturday November 30, 2019

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BCB 80th Anniversary Celebration 1939-2019

Ebini CC defeat Sandhills CC in historic 20/20 match under lights - Samuel Seegolam elected President of Berbice River Cricket Association President of the Berbice Cricket Board, Hilbert Foster MS in late September had committed himself to organizing a special cricket match under lights for players associated with the Berbice River Cricket Board.

On Sunday last, Foster fulfilled his promise, with Ebini and arch rivals Sandhills clashing in a 20/20 match at the historic Albion Cricket Ground.

The match attracted a sizeable crowd including residents from both riverain communities, who travelled hours on the Berbice River to be part of the game. It was the first-time experience for Sandhills Friends who lost by two wickets in a thrilling match, which had the crowd on its feet throughout the combined 40 overs.

Sandhills Friendship batted first after winning the toss and reached 110 for 5 from their allotted 20 overs with Leon Swammy 33 not out and Ryan De Nobrega and Michael Caple 10 added 42 for the first wicket before Caple was bowled by Peter Grant in the 8th over.

Bowling for Ebini, Totaram Sooknanan 3 for 12 and Peter Grant 2 for 14 were the best bowlers.

Needing to score 111 from 20 overs to defeat Sandhills for the first time in over 15 matches, Ebini reached 112 for 8 in 17.5 overs to spark wild celebrations from their loyal and passionate fans.

They were on the ropes at 90 for 8 but the 9th wicket pair of Peter Grant and Kempton Richards added 22 runs, with extras contributing 12. Grant ended on 04, while Richards was on 07.

E a r l i e r, To t a r a m Sooknanan contributed 22 and Keron Kertzious 14.

Ryan De Nobrega completed a fine all-round match by taking 3 for 12 from 4 overs.

BCB President Hilbert Foster committed himself to o rg a n i s e a t l e a s t t w o tournaments in 2020 for the riverain teams and several similar matches on the coastland, once he gets reelected. Meanwhile, the three active clubs in the area Ebini, Sandhills and Wiruni met on Thursday 31st of October and held long overdue elections for the Berbice River Cricket Associations. The election was held at Wiruni and was well attended by members of the clubs.

Businessman Samuel Seegolam was elected President, while others elected were Cliff LindieVice President, Curtis Moore- Secretary, Ulrick Joseph- Treasurer and Shamar Lindie- Asst Secretary/ Treasurer. The committee members elected were Leton Grimmon, Garfield Leacock, Deon Da Silva and Johnny Sinclair.

BRCA President Samuel Seegolam stated that his elected executives were committed to working along with the BCB, so that cricket in the Sub Association can be developed. He praised Foster ’s Leadership of Berbice Cricket and noted that players from his area were finally getting the recognition they deserve.

Foster, urged the executives of the BRCA to commit themselves to the development of the game, to always strive for excellence and to be the best role model, they can be.

BRCA President Samuel Seegolam hands over the Championship trophy to Irwin Lyte Captain of Ebini.

The winning Ebini team pose with BCB President Hilbert Foster and BRCA President Samuel Seegolam.

Kaieteur News

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Saturday November 30, 2019

Trophy Stall and Upper Corentyne U-19 50 overs cricket tournament in Berbice

Zameer Shaw’s brilliant 147 for No72 Cut and Load highlights round

Zameer Shaw made 147.

A brilliant 147 by Zameer Shaw was the highlight of the second round of matches of the Trophy Stall and Upper Corentyne Cricket Association (UCCA) Under-19 Inter club cricket Tournament was played over the weekend.

Tw o m a t c h e s w e r e played in the competition which is in its second year as one team was disqualified for playing unregistered

players. The games are being played on a one day 50 overs format.

Shaw was in brilliant form as he slammed 147 playing for No72 Cut and Load as they crushed NO52 Cricket Club by 359 Runs in their game played at the No72 ground.

No72 batted first and amassed 390 in 39.5 overs with Shaw 147 (22x4, 1x6) was supported by Chet Singh

73 (10x4, 2x6), Mukesh Edwards 34 and Somdat Chhatarghum 25.

Bowling for No52 there were three wickets for A. Ahamad, while C. Goolcharran and O. Campbell took two wickets each.

No52 in reply were bundled out for 31 in 11.2 overs. Bowling for No72 Cut and Load, Seeraj Chatterpaul picked up three wickets with

Mukesh Edwards and Rasheed Ali picking up two each.

The other game was won

by No43 Scorpions by 42 runs, but they were disqualified for playing unregistered players against No73 Mandir at No 73 ground.

No43 made 135 with M. Kisten 23, N. Drepaul 19 and B. Utom 14.

In bowling, J. Doobay with three wickets, T. Singh and V. Kumar with 2 wickets each lead the way for No73 Mandir, who was dismissed for 93 in 14.3 overs with K. Ramdass making 20, K. Heera 16 and Paul Sampat 15. The wicket takers for 43 Scorpions were N. Drepaul 4, N. Kerstin and I. Khemraj

2 each.

The fixtures for today, Saturday, will see Scottsburg being at home to No72 Cut and Load and No73 Young Warriors hosting No43 Scorpions.

The teams not playing are No73 Mandir and NO52 cricket Club.

The tournament is being sponsored by the Trophy Stall, Port Mourant Branch through its General Manager Ramesh Sunich.

The top teams at the end of the preliminary matches will advance to the semifinals with the winners clashing in the final.

The competition is being coordinated by former National Wicketkeeper batsman Sydney Jackman.

Kwakwani out of this year’s LABA/YBG U-19 Club basketball tourney Kwakwani are unable to c o n t e s t t h i s y e a r ’s LABA/YBG Under-19 Club basketball championship due to unforeseen circumstances.

As such the tournament will now be a four way affair involving Victory Valley Royals, Kings, Retrieve Raiders and Amelia’s Ward

Jets.

The tournament organised by the Linden Amateur Basketball Association bounces off tonight and at 18:00hrs Retrieve Raiders collide with Amelia’s Ward Jets and at 20.00hrs Victory Valley Royals clash with Kings.

Systems in place for Brian Tiwari birthday football finale at Leonora tomorrow All systems are in place for scheduled play in the Brian Tiwari birth anniversary 9-a-side InterWard football Tournament, which is set to conclude tomorrow at the Leonora ground.

Competition starts at 4:00pm with six games to determine the teams advancing to the money round.

The action is set to be explosive with the West Demerara teams gunning to keep the prize money on the Westside.

The tournament has been organized by former national coach Lennox Arthur in recognition of Tiwari’s birthday.

The first prize is $200,000 and the Bradley G a b r i e l t r o p h y, w h i l e second, third and fourth place finishers will take home $100,000 and the Kane Gabriel trophy, $60,000 and $40,000 respectively.

Brian Tiwari The winners of the opening salvo of games starting at 4:00pm tomorrow will advance to the respective quarters and semis then the final and third place playoff.

Tomorrow’s fixtures are as follows: Sunday December 1 Wales vs. Soesdyke Gaza vs. Plaisance Pouderoyen vs. Hurry Ate Den Amstel Kings vs.

Timehri Den Amstel vs. Crane West Side Spartans vs.

Casa Coima

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 30, 2019

DMW Hockey Festival

Old Fort’s Aderemi Simon makes a reverse attempt at goal against Queens Park.

Queen’s Park off to great start Trinidadian hockey side, Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) started the Diamond Mineral Water (DMW) International Hockey Festival in enterprising fashion on Thursday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) with wins in t h e L u c o z a d e o v e r- 3 5 division and the Diamond open’s men division.

QPCC, last year’s losing finalist and the 2017 men’s champions, got past Bounty GCC 5-3 in the feature match of the night with five different players etching their names on the scoresheet. Arrielle Bowen and Dominic Young both converted on penalty corner (PC) each, while Marcus Pascal, Jerazeno Bell and Shawn Lee Quay each scored one field goal (FG) in the good showing by the Trinidadians.

For Bounty GCC, former national player Dwayne Scott banged in two penalty corners, while Kareem McKenzie slotted home a FG. The TTDF (Trinidad & Tobago Defence Force) verses YMCA Old Fort men’s matchup proved to be the most entertaining of the evening.

Christopher McKey was the lone scorer of the first quarter, slamming home a rebound for TTDF. With shots raining and some fine goalkeeping at both ends, Old Fort’s Theodore Thierens would draw the scores levelled at 1-1 just before the half.

Old Fort would go up by one in the third quarter

through an Aderemi Simon penalty corner but McKey scored his second for TTDF to keep it even. Old Fort would take the lead once more with 10 minutes remaining in the match but five minutes later, the persistent TTDF drew the scores and the match at 3-3 with a final penalty corner goal by Keshen Johnson.

The QPCC over-35 hockey side earlier in the evening made light work of defending champions YMCA Old Fort with 5-2 win in the division. Jerazeno Bell bagged a brace (PC & FG), while Rob Wyatt and Reaiza Hossein netted one FG each to go along with Skipper Azad Ali’s opening PC which was scored on the stroke of the first quarter of the match. Jason DeSantos and Aderemi Simon found the back of the net once each during disappointing performance for the defending champions.

Earlier in the night, defending men’s open champions, Pepsi Hikers mauled Saints 10-0, while GBTI GCC Tigers mauled Saints 4-1 in the first match of the evening that was contested in the women’s open division, while GBTI GCC Spartans edged Red Wyne (a combination of Hikers and Old Fort players) 2-1 in the same division.

The winners of the men’s and women’s championships will take home $1000USD each, while the runners up will pocket $500USD.The Veterans winner will also take home USD$500.

PAGE 237

GBTI GCC’s Ashley DeGroot (possession) drives out of her D against Saints.

GFF ‘Super 16’ yearend football - Games slated for t r o Essequibo tournament launched BarticaCoastandvenues Sp

Representatives of the Teams, sponsors and GFF led by its President Wayne Forde (seated centre) take time out for a photo at yesterday’s Super 16 Cup launch at the Pegasus Hotel.

Windies sweep aside Afghans to win one-off Test

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