Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
Some in the regime do not deserve the title “Honorable” DEAR EDITOR, After a careful examination of the spate of armed robberies and murders that are occurring daily in Guyana, we think that it is time for the Minister of Home Affairs, the Honorable
Clement Rohee to resign. Rohee should do the right thing and resign because he has become a disgrace to the nation due to his inability and incompetence to solve crime. He is no longer held in high esteem because no one
Kudos for Brumell DEAR EDITOR, The Guyana United Sadr Islamic Anjuman, The Anna Catherina Islamic Complex and the Meten Meer Zorg (East) Masjid join other Muslim organizations in extending congratulations to Mr. Leroy Brumell on his confirmation to the post of Commissioner of Police for Guyana. The organizations are confident that the long-overdue confirmation will serve to strengthen his resolve in effectively leading the police Force at this critical period where the criminal elements in our country are bent on disrupting the country through robberies, murders, banditry, executions etc. Commissioner Brumell’s appointment has received the support of both the government and the
opposition and is seen as a positive move by the entire populace of our country. We commend him for his positive actions in the recent crime spree on West Coast Demerara, by meeting with the people of the area. We will like to see this outreach extended to other parts of Guyana, especially to the Berbice region where there is a similar upsurge in crime. We urge him to also urgently address and intensify efforts to stamp out corruption in the Police Force as this will regain the confidence of the population in the police officers. We call on all Guyanese to give full support to our police and especially our newly appointed Commissioner in the fight against crime. Reaz Hussein
in Guyana has any confidence in him except the President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Clinton Urling. Urling has said that Rohee should tenaciously hold on to the reins of power because his removal would not solve the crime issue. For Urling to make such reckl e s s a n d i d i o t i c statement shows that he is out of touch with reality and is therefore not honorable. Does he not realize that armed bandits are robbing and murdering i n n o c e n t , law abiding Guyanese every day. How many more physical assaults and abuse can the people take from these armed bandits before action is taken to protect the people? The formation of the SWAT team is a camouflage for the Minister and the PPP cabal to make it appear as though they are dealing with the prime problem. This is further from the truth because in essence the SWAT team is nothing more than a band aid solution to solving the high crime rate in the country. Like the rest of the police force, the SWAT
team will be told by the regime which crime to investigate or not investigate. Urling should have known that Rohee has been the Minister of Home Affairs for the past six years—a period in which the crime rate has reached its highest level throughout the country. With such poor statement, can someone tell us why Urling is allowed to lead such a prestigious organization like the GCCI? Did the GCCI members made a mistake by electing him as their president? After reading his ridiculous statement, they should ask him to resign. Like Rohee, Urling has lost whatever little credibility he had. One cannot help but conclude that the Minister of Home Affairs has on several occasions intervened into the internal daily running of the police force and it is this degree of political interference that forms the basis for the high number of unsolved crimes including the murder of Seema Mangar, ten-year-old Ricky Jainarine of Essequibo and several others whom space would not permit us to mention.
We call on the minister to come forward and state unequivocally what he knows about the Seema Mangar murder and the other unsolved crimes. It is time for him to redeem himself and tell the people the truth rather than apportion blame to other groups such as APNU which have no executive authority or control over the police. How can APNU which has zero authority or control over the police be held responsible for the crime
wave? Is the minister saying that APNU should be blamed for the lack of action, ineptness and incompetence of the police to solve crime? We issue a challenge to anyone in the regime to take a lie detector test to prove that they were not involved in any corrupt practices and had no intention to act in a corrupt manner and at no time did they derive any personal benefit or wealth from corruption. Dr. Asquith Rose and Chandra Deollal, Esq.
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
SOME ADVICE FOR KWAME
DEAR EDITOR, Please grant me space in your letter Colum to reply to the article written by Mr Kwame McCoy under the Caption ( Mayor Green Used a Funeral Service for his own political Objections ) in your newspaper dated Friday, October 4, 2013 I invite you the people of this nation to read into the article and see what rubbish he wrote therein. “Hamilton Green misused a funeral service for his own political objections in the
process he sought to mislead mourners on the vending situation in Georgetown under his stewardship it was quietly disgusting and inappropriate. He went on to say that the deceased was not a politician or had no interest in politics even though she played a role in addressing issues in the area in which she vend.” Now which brings me to another funeral service of our most and beloved politician Brother R.D. Persaud our beloved Pandit who all of his
life spoke of love and prayed for unity in this nation. He was a politician and not a racist. Yet at his funeral service the mourners were given a sermon which spat racism that Indians in Guyana were marginalized. That sermon
was given by a high ranking official of the Peoples Progressive Party. It was most disgusting, inappropriate and unbecoming. As for you my friend, Kwame, make friends not enemies; take an old man’s advice. David Noel
A writer’s concern DEAR EDITOR, You and I have come a long way and you know that that I have genuinely tried since the 90’s to try to improve the morality and good governance in our country, in which I have held no brief for anyone of any group. I am now very frustrated that the people and the newspaper who know me best simply neglect to publish my letters, the latest in which I tried to bring some sanity and impartiality into people’s submissions in your letters columns. Instead I am further peeved to see the same negativity being peddled day after day. This is simply not producing anything positive to our Guyanese situation. To add insult to injury, today I
see Freddie, who gets to spout his stuff daily gets space to write about the pizza he bought, while my letter may be languishing in some dustbin. I know that you have Guyana at heart like myself, but the line that the paper has pushed is not doing anything to contribute to our country’s progress. I have hesitated to resort to any other newspapers, but my concern for my country’s welfare is forcing me to go elsewhere and make my contribution. I yet expect a favourable response from you. Roy Paul EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first letter that I have actually received from, Mr Roy Paul.
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COMPROMISE IS NEEDED The announcement by the government that it will not give effect to the Procurement Commission without retaining government’s right to a noobjection should not necessarily lead to further political gridlock. Indeed, if there is a genuine understanding as to why the government insists on this right to object to awards made by the National Procurement Administration an executive body - and if in turn there is an equal understanding as to why the opposition wants Cabinet removed from the process of awarding contracts, it could lead to a rule-based political compromise in which both
sides get the guarantees that they want. But for this compromise to take place there needs to be some acknowledgment of the merits of each side’s case. The opposition wishes to remove government manipulation of the procurement process so as to avoid contracts being unfairly handed to friends and cronies. However, the opposition fails to recognize that the government itself still controls the nominees to the National Procurement Board that will have to make decisions concerning the evaluation of bids and the award of contracts, and even
though there is oversight from the Procurement Commission this is not a guarantee against manipulation at the level of evaluation and award of bids, decisions arising from which cannot be overturned by the Procurement Commission. In other words, even without a no-objection, the system can still be manipulated by the government. On the other hand, the government argues that its right to object is a safeguard mechanism to guard against possible bias and corruption within the National Procurement Administration. Thus it asserts that if in the
Dem boys seh
BRUMELL TALK AND DE CRIMINALS TALK BACK Every day people coming to think that when Bharrat tell de nation that Guyana needs more Glenn Lalls people think that he was just talking fuh talk sake. However, when dem boys pick up de Hard Times paper this week dem see how Bharrat and Barbie try to be Glenn Lall. Exactly wha Glenn doing in de Waterfalls paper that is wha Bharrat and Barbie do. Dem writing some column name did you know? That is wha de Waterfalls paper start. De only difference is that Bharrat and Barbie telling lie in dem column. Dem boys seh that is talk dem talking and that words come cheap. Brumell didn’t know that he was talking bull.
He get swear in and right away he talk how he gun tek back de streets from de criminals. Well dem boys seh that from de time he talk de criminals show he that dem ain’t only refusing to give back de streets dem keeping de pavements and de avenue and everything that got to do wid de road. If he want to tek back anything he should tek back de Sanata Complex from Barbie. De criminals show he that de street is dem own. Dem murder three people as soon as Brumell get swear in and injure bout four more. De next day dem kill two more. Before that dem kill people as if to show Brumell that he can talk
till he turn blue. Dem boys seh that de criminals gun mek Brumell cry again. Henry did promise to tek back de streets and he dead pun de streets. Brumell too young fuh that, but he got to watch how he talking. Brazzy don’t talk no more because he seh that every time he talk people does claim how he lying and he don’t lie because he does go to church every day and twice on Sundays. He claim how de money done fuh de Marriott yet people wukking pun de hotel. Dem boys want to know wheh de money come from. De investor ain’t sign yet. Talk half and watch how you talking.
opinion of the government there is blatant evidence of bias or favouritism by the National Procurement Administration, which is an arm of the government, then Cabinet has a right to intervene via a no-objection. The opposition on the other hand insists that the government should not have to sanction any award of contracts after a decision has been made by the National Procurement Administration. This is clearly an untenable position, because it would mean that the National Procurement Administration would be above scrutiny by the administration to which it is accountable. Beneath this criticism, however, is a deeper fear. The opposition feels that the government wishes to control the procurement process and to use it in a manner favourable to friends and cronies. The opposition wishes to remove this possibility by removing the right to a no-objection. The problem is that removing Cabinet no–objection does not necessarily achieve the goal of the opposition since, as mentioned before, the process can still be manipulated at the level of the National Procurement Administration even with oversight from the National Procurement Commission, which is substantially concerned with ensuring efficient systems and procedures. These systems
and procedures can be adhered to and yet the evaluation process can be predesigned to be in favour of a bidder, and there is nothing that the Commission can do about it. It is also known that there are certain international contracts that require noobjections not just from government, but from funding institutions such as the World Bank and the IDB. Is the opposition going to reserve for these institutions a right to object to an award by the National Procurement Administration but will be unwilling to grant the same prerogative to its own government? Is that not upturning the very idea of sovereignty? There is a way around this conundrum and it involves two things. The first is that there should be compromise between the government and the opposition, and secondly this compromise should entail a rule-based system. The right to an objection by the government should be preserved, but if the government objects, it should trigger certain rules. The Cabinet should first be required to submit to the National Procurement Commission, not the Board, reasons for any no-objection. If those reasons relate to possible discrepancies, oversight or bias in the award of the decision, then the Commission should resend
the matter to the National Procurement Administration for reconsideration. If the National Procurement Administration finds no basis to change its decision, then an administrative tribunal, comprising persons who were not part of the original evaluation, should be asked to reexamine the award. If this tribunal is satisfied with the award, then the no-objection should be overruled. If on the other hand the no-objection is based on the fact that the award will conflict with an international obligation of the government - there are some agreements which specify that the contractor should be from the country financing the project - then the no-objection should take precedence over any decision of the National Procurement Administration. There can be all manner of variations to the above formula which is merely illustrative of a rule-based system. The point is that if a rule-based approach is taken to this issue, then the difference between the government and the opposition can be narrowed and there would be no reason for political gridlock to cause the nonappointment of the National Procurement Commission.
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
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PSC, GTUC notable absentees Hatchery to be constructed at Mon Repos from OAS corruption review Under the Ministry of Agriculture the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) bids were opened yesterday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, Main Street, for the construction of hatchery at GLDA compound Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara region four.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education received bids for the construction of teaching block at St Agnes Primary School.
A lone bid was opened for the provision of security service for the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.
The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development received bids for the procurement of Agriculture, Transporting and Domestic Equipment.
The Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) opened two bids for the supply and delivery of timer control relays and 60 Watt Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) Street Lights.
The Office of the Elections Commission received bids for the procurement of office equipment and furniture.
The Audit Office of Guyana opened bids for the supply of computer hardware and related equipment.
The Organization of American States (OAS) yesterday commenced its fourth round of investigations into corruption in Guyana and met with civil society representatives. Notably absent from the ‘closed door’ discussions were the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC). The meeting was organized to review Guyana’s compliance with the InterAmerican Convention against corruption of which Guyana is a signatory. The visiting team includes a representative from Trinidad and Tobago, two from Haiti, and was led by Luiz Marcelo de Azevedo, a Legal Officer from OAS’s Secretary for Legal Affairs in Washington. Among the bodies that did represent civil society at yesterday’s discussion were the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL), Transparency Institute of Guyana, the Institute of Chartered Accounts, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry (CAGI). Each of the groups, with the exception of the Bar Association, made presentations to the visiting OAS team. The bodies made presentations and gave views on entities’ responsibility for the curbing of corruption in Guyana. These include the
Audit Office of Guyana, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, the Integrity Commission, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Judiciary. The group also held discussions on access to information in Guyana as well as the issue of conflict of interest. The group will continue its meetings today at the Cara Lodge, where it is expected to meet with the entities highlighted at yesterday’s meeting. The OAS team is also expected to meet with opposition Members of Parliament who will express
their views on corruption in Guyana. The meetings will also focus on areas such as the reporting of acts of corruption, and systems for registering income, assets and liabilities. To date, similar visits have been made by the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) to Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Panama, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Guatemala. Guyana for several years running has been labeled as one of the most corrupt countries in the hemisphere.
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Wednesday October 09, 2013
THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN
No one in Lusignan and Guyana can be that silly If you tell Americans that the Republican Party is more sympathetic to AfricanAmerican causes than the Democratic Party, no American would be that foolish to agree with you. If you tell the British public that their past Prime Minister, Tony Blair, did not conspire with President George Bush to invade Iraq, they would not believe you. If you tell Italians that their past Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi was a homosexual, they would laugh at and ridicule you. If you tell Trinidadians that Brian Lara cannot count among the great heroes of international cricket, they may get violent with you. If you tell a Guyanese that Georgetown is not as dirty and stink as other cities in the world they will call you a perfect donkey. Why? In all these examples cited
above, the absurdity in your proposition is so graphic and so conflicting with what people know and believe that no one will even dignify your argument by talking with you. All Americans know that the Republican Party is not open to acceptance of a multi-racial America the way the Democrats are. That is a known fact. All Italians know that Berlusconi is one of the most womanizing men on earth. The British people believe that Tony Blair lied about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Trinidadians worship Brian Lara. In Guyana, every citizen knows that our capital city is stink, rotting and horribly dirty to the point that no other government in the world would allow their capital to be so sickening and diseased. And there is no drainage, so little rains bring floods and
big rains bring total floods. If any Guyanese does not know what Georgetown looks like and what happens when heavy rains come that person is completely sick, indecent and hopeless. Why? Because they see it as they go to Georgetown and they see the effects of two hours of continuous thunderstorms. Here are the words of Bharrat Jagdeo who, when he was President of Guyana, was awarded the honour from the UN Environment Commission as Champion of the Earth. These words came out of his mouth last Sunday evening when he addressed a PPP rally in Lusignan to mark the PPP’s 21 years in government. To absorb the absurdity in the politics of Mr. Jagdeo, to understand the contempt the PPP has for the nation of Guyana, I would ask readers to read the quote again so it can soak into their
psychology of what Guyana is facing. “Do not become disillusioned with the party; do not lose hope because of a few potholes, bad roads and unkempt drains?’ Please read again and let your mind stick on the words, “a few unkempt drains.” This kind of contempt is what human beings get when they allow leaders to see them as fools. Once leaders see humans as beings that they can easily mislead, those humans become slaves, and slaves accept that the master can treat them with indignity. All of those persons who attended that rally cannot be that stupid and sick in their minds to think that Georgetown and Guyana have a few unkempt drains. This is terrible, horrible and sickening nonsense that any political party can say to any
citizen of this nation. No human in this land can be so imbalanced in their mind as to think that Guyana has a few unkempt drains. Georgetown does not have a civilized, modern, 21st century drainage system because most of the drains all over Guyana and all of them in Georgetown are clogged up so that in times of consistent rains, Georgetown is flooded. G e o r g e t o w n i s facing a major disaster from which it may not recover if rains come for several days in storm-like fashion on a 24-hour basis. It is not flooded streets you will have but flooded business places and flooded homes. The inundation will cover the inside of people’s homes. Mr. Jagdeo should be taken to task by the people of Guyana for this deception he threw on his listeners at
Frederick Kissoon Lusignan. The drains in Georgetown are clogged in horrible ways. Once rains come, the muddy drains put their water onto the streets. The streets put their water into your business places, your yards, and in many, many cases, into your homes. Local government elections are around the corner. I suggest that the o p position parties go to every street corner in Georgetown during the campaign and read what Mr. Jagdeo said last Sunday evening. Are PPP supporters that stupid?
Trust between police and community vital for development Building trust between neighbouring communities and the Golden Grove/ Diamond Police Station, East Bank Demerara is the primary task of the newly elected Executive Committee of the Station Management Committee. This is according to
- Golden Grove/Diamond Committee Seewchan, the first Chairman of the body, who said this could only be achieved if loyalty, integrity and confidentiality are of high standard within the station. He asserted that the body
will be serving in the interests of the management of the station whilst taking new approaches in addressing the challenges faced by the community through criminal and other unwanted
activities that can hinder development. “We should not see ourselves as only a body, but an executive body that will be proactive in the daily monitoring of the operation of the station, act in an advisory capacity, and report the discrepancies within the station,” he added. The members of the new Executive are Mark Agippa, Vice-Chairman; Beresford, Secretary; Fazal Ishak and Neetram Jadonandan, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer/ Secretary respectively; and Howard Samaroo, Public Relations Officer. The Committee’s work plan for the period 2013 to 2014 includes interfacing with the community, fund raising, quarterly inspection of the station, and honouring the elderly, children and less fortunate. Over the years the Committee has been able to achieve many developmental projects for the station such as building a shed in front of the structure, erecting an illuminated sign at the third bridge entrance to show directions to the station, as well as constructing a walkway around the building.
A mini health check is the first step to donating blood.
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Women in agriculture: the ‘new sexy’ in developmental circles – Minister Webster The contribution of women to agriculture and agribusiness, and by extension, to national and regional development was hailed yesterday as a Women’s Forum got underway at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) 2013 in Georgetown, Guyana. The one-day forum, part of a series of activities of the 12th CWA, provided a unique opportunity to raise the issue of the economic empowerment of women amongst policy-makers in the Region. The Forum was held under the theme ‘Expanding Economic Opportunities for Women in Agriculture in the Caribbean and the Pacific’. It was organized by the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the United States Department of State. Delivering the feature address at the opening of the Forum, Guyana’s Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Jennifer Webster, reiterated that the empowerment of women was a catalyst for development in every society, especially in the Caribbean. This was particularly so, she said, in the area of food and nutrition security. Highlighting examples of the impact women in Guyana are making in the agriculture sector, the Minister said that prospects for women in agribusiness in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, were promising. “The good news is that women in agribusiness are the `new sexy’ in developmental circles,” she
said. As she focused on efforts to empower women in this important sector, Minister Webster called for support for and protection of women’s right to securing food for their families, communities and countries, in light of natural disasters, social and economic challenges and other vulnerabilities. Innovative ways to create new opportunities and expand existing ones have to be found, she said, while pointing to the power of networking and the establishment of linkages between agriculture and other industries to motivate women’s involvement, increase economic gains and enjoy food and nutrition security. “There is also a greater need for financial support for women in agribusiness. Micro credit has made it possible for many women to do business. We need to make access to financing for projects to be undertaken by our women more accessible through more competitive rates which could be negotiated through incentive regimes with the commercial banks. It is therefore necessary to expand and reorient training programmes, which target skills training development in these and other new areas of agribusiness. Similarly, as a matter of urgency, we need to address the issue of packaging and labeling our products, as we seek to compete in t o d a y ’s globalised world and in a highly competitive market place,” the Minister told the well-attended Forum. The Forum’s objectives
Jennifer Webster, Minister of Human Services and Social Security are; discussion on economic opportunities for women in the Caribbean and Pacific; Development of an Inter-Regional Action Plan for Caribbean-Pacific c o l l a b o r a t i o n ; Development of a Caribbean Action Plan for Economic Empowerment of Women; and Sensitizing the Alliance of Ministers of Agriculture and Pacific Ministerial delegations present at the CWA on the specific support needed for women’s farmers and entrepreneurs. Sessions included those on strengthening the image of farmers and farming, focusing on success stories; building business relationships to link to greater markets and stakeholders in tourism, supermarket and distributive trade; and promoting capacity building, networking and knowledge sharing. Although activities began on 4 October, the C a r i b b e a n ’s premier agricultural event will be formally opened today. CWA concludes on Saturday.
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Wednesday October 09, 2013
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Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 23
UAE team explores business ties with Guyana
President Donald Ramotar greets Minister of Health in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Abdulrahman Alowais.
Guyana’s development dependent on UG’s output – Luncheon The University of Guyana (UG) was established in 1963 by the PPP Government with the aim of churning out quality human resources to advance the development of Guyana. Decades after, Government desires a better institution. This was the assertion by Dr. Roger Luncheon during his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing last week, while announcing the commencement of UG’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Assessing the university today, he believes Government needs to concentrate on its output and quality because these justify the political capital for the material investment that indeed the output warrants. He opined when the then Premier of British Guiana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, prior to 1963,
conceptualized the university, he saw the role of the institution as contributing to build the country. While there are arguments that the Private Sector should invest heavily in UG, Dr. Luncheon believes Central Government’s contribution would help the university achieve its goals. He deemed the creation of the university a record-breaking action by a British Colony, British Guiana. “Cabinet recognized the visionary leadership of the 1961-1964 PPP/C Government that established the institution. Cabinet recognized the valiant efforts of Dr. Jagan and his colleagues in the Government as they persevered in the activities to achieve their dreams of a university in Guyana,” Dr. Luncheon said.
Minister of Health in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Abdulrahman Alowais met President Donald Ramotar at his office for brief talks yesterday, focusing attention on cooperation in various fields. In the company of a small UAE delegation, the two officials pointed to opportunities for cooperation in the commercial sector. They recognised the importance of support at the top level to make these ideas a reality, a Government statement said. Joining the meeting were Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, and Head of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Mahender Sharma. The UAE is located southeast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. Its foreign relations are considered liberal and have encouraged diplomatic and commercial cooperation with other countries. The economy has been ranked favourably over the years. Guyana and the UAE are both members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an international organisation with permanent membership in the United Nations (UN) that advocates the interest of the Islamic world, and also peace and harmony. Guyana was first granted observer status within the Organisation on September 27, 1995, and became a member on October 1, 1998. Guyana and Suriname are the only two CARICOM countries which are members of the OIC.
(From page 22)
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Travelers to US safe as Govt. shutdown... (From page 3) USAID‘s foreign assistance programmes with Fiscal Year 2013 and prior-year funds available will continue, as will implementation of ongoing programmes. “However, we are not conducting business as usual. The Department and USAID will not hire any new personnel and we are severely constraining spending. An extended shutdown would force additional closures and furloughs. According to the website “ h t t p : / / w w w. u s a . g o v / shutdown.shtml” which speaks on the unavailability of services caused by the shutdown, social security beneficiaries will continue receiving checks; the U.S. Postal Service will keep delivering mail; air traffic controllers, prison guards, and border patrol agents will remain on the job. Unless Congress passes a
budget to fund the affected state operations, the website explained that vital services that ensure that seniors and young children have access to healthy food and meals may not have sufficient Federal funds to serve all beneficiaries in an extended lapse. Call centers, hotlines and regional offices that help veterans understand their benefits will close to the public. Veterans’ compensation, pension, education, and other benefits could be cut off in the case of an extended shutdown. Every one of America’s national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, are closed. New applications for small business loans and loan guarantees will be halted. Research into life-threatening diseases and other areas will stop, and new patients won’t be accepted into
clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health. Work to protect consumers, ranging from child product safety to financial security to the safety of hazardous waste facilities, will cease. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will halt non-essential inspections of chemical facilities and drinking water systems. Permits and reviews for planned energy and transportation projects will stop, preventing companies from working on these projects. Loans to rural communities will be halted. Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees including many charged with protecting from terrorist threats, defending our borders, inspecting our food, and keeping our skies safe will work without pay until the shutdown ends. Hundreds of thousands of additional federal workers will be immediately and indefi-
nitely furloughed without pay.” The US Government fell into deadlock two weeks ago, with the shutdown occurring at midnight September 30. Full support has not been reached for funding for the affected State Agencies.
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday October 09, 2013
“Govt. Ministers lack... Ailing policewoman needs (From page 20) want to get them out of there and education is the best way to get them out and get them employment. So we are dissatisfied… We don’t want to see slums, we want to see Guyanese moving out of that area and be educated. This will help us to not necessarily become a middle class nation; but an educated nation. That is how we are going to banish poverty. KN: During the election campaign, the youth gave a tremendous amount of support to APNU, do you think that after two years, the youth are satisfied with the work APNU has been doing and would still vote APNU come next election?
Granger: We are not satisfied we have done enough. We have designated 2013 ‘the year of the youth’ and we have moved to bring about change by embracing education at the University of Guyana. Education is most capable of transforming the lives of youths. We have not been able to provide sufficient jobs and that is because we are simply an opposition party; we don’t have the resources to do that. However, the task is not over; we are not resting. We are going to continue the struggle. We have taken a charge that every University student will be guaranteed a job within one year under
APNU… As it is now, people speak of an expanding economy, but whatever growth is taking place is jobless growth…I have seen qualified people working at restaurants - mopping floors and selling pizzas - and working as conductors. I’m not saying anything is wrong with it, but we need to train engineers and scientists … those young people instead of having low paying jobs, can be agents of developments in Guyana … I have big dreams for the Guyanese youth, but we have not been able to fulfill those dreams because the government doesn’t share that vision.
Coconut stakeholders... (From page 16) involved in the discussions as a critical step towards ownership of the needs assessment titled “Development of the Coconut Industry in the Caribbean” by Landell Mills Consultants. He said it was important to “come up with specific low cost building of national and regional networks and then look at a medium term approach and discuss the institutional mechanisms.” The workshop was co-hosted by CTA, CARDI and the University of the West Indies. This is the first time ministers and other officials from Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Dominican Republic and the European Union are attending the CWA. The 12th CWA activities take place at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Georgetown, Guyana, between 4 and 12 October 2013 with a theme “Linking the Caribbean for Regional Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development”.
financial assistance
Urgent financial help is needed to help save the life of ailing female police Corporal Brenda Wong. Relatives of the 43-yearold single mother of four, are seeking the assistance of the public to raise T&T $195,000 which is approximately GYD $5,775,000. The money represents an estimated cost for an emergency brain surgery in the twin-island republic. Local doctors detected a leaking aneurysm in Wong’s brain after a Computed Tomography (CT) scan was conducted last September. Wong’s daughter, Demi Austin explained that her mother had suffered from sudden onsets of severe headaches, episodes of vomiting and generalized weakness and dizziness. “My mother went to Woodlands after she felt
really sick, she always had headaches and so but it worsened, and she visited the private hospital and doctors diagnosed her with a leaking aneurysm of the brain. She was referred to the Caribbean Heart Institute of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) …. The doctors recommended that my mother travel to Trinidad for emergency surgery since there is no facility in Guyana equipped to carry out the needed intervention.” Austin explained that her mother is presently in Trinidad initiating the process. “My mother is currently undergoing initial tests at a medical institution in Trinidad and Tobago, but we haven’t acquired the money we need for her surgery,” Wong added. According to medical
Brenda Wong documents seen by this newspaper, doctors detected extensive blood density flooding the basal cisterns and several other sections of Wong’s brain. Members of the public can contribute to Wong’s surgery by making deposits to account number #2456200 at Republic Bank.
20 teachers receive tokens... (From page 15) Minister stressed too that teachers are currently “enjoying the best salary they have ever enjoyed” as over the past five years, teachers’ salaries were increased by as much as 25-33 per cent. “When I saw the call being made for more teachers and more trained teachers, I am very pleased. I think we are in a good place in the
world,” she said. The Minister took the opportunity to applaud the GTU, noting that they have always “batted” for teachers under the union, and acknowledged that they have worked together with the Government in a civilised fashion to arrive at benefits that these valued public servants have never before enjoyed. She also thanked GT&T
for its contributions over the years in supporting teachers and urged that this example be followed by other members of ‘corporate Guyana’ to assist teachers in whatever way they can. Also present at the award ceremony were Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, President of the GTU Colin Bynoe and GTU’s General Secretary Coretta Mc Donald.
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
Were father and son killed in Venezuela or Guyana? A major controversy is brewing over the jurisdiction of the murder of a Guyanese father and son last week. While Crime Chief Seelall Persaud has suggested that the murders of Orlando Fitzpatrick and his son Jesse occurred in Venezuela, residents of Wauna in Northern Guyana are insisting that the killings took place in Guyana’s territory. The two Guyanese were shot dead, reportedly by Venezuelan soldiers, while they were crossing the Kaurasima Creek last week Thursday. Their bodies were reportedly handed over to relatives last night. “It did not occur in Guyana, according to our information,” the Crime Chief told reporters on Monday. There are reports that police ranks from Mabaruma went to a community near the Venezuelan border but could not ascertain for sure where the incident actually took place. The Venezuelans are maintaining that the men were killed on their territory and have even performed a post mortem examination on the bodies. But residents of the Wauna area reported hearing heavy gunshots close to their community and they are convinced that Fitzpatrick and his son were shot while travelling in the Kaurasima Creek, which is located in Guyana. According to a resident who claims to have been traversing the Kaurasima area for the past 35 years, it is not unusual for Venezuelan soldiers to leave their base and venture into Guyana to
- Relatives want answers
SON: Jesse Fitzpatrick intercept Guyanese fuel smugglers, from whom they demand US$25 per barrel. “The Crime Chief has to understand that they have to protect our rights too, rather than just dismiss us. This is nothing new. Just now these people (Venezuelan soldiers) will come in our houses and we gon have to ask Interpol for help too,” an angry resident of the area told Kaieteur News. The resident explained that several Guyanese miners are working in neighbouring Venezuela under the unauthorized supervision of the military there, for a percentage of their “production”. According to relatives, Orlando Fitzpatrick was one of these Guyanese miners. They dismissed reports that he was the perpetrator of several robberies in the area, who was killed during a confrontation with the Venezuelan soldiers. “That is a lie from the pit
FATHER: Orlando Fitzpatrick of hell,” was how Fitzpatrick’s mother Gladys Seetahall described the reports. She said that she found it strange that her son and grandson who were working in the said mining district since last year were never previously accused of robbing anyone. “Pick sense outta nonsense, they woulda done shoot he and his son a long time ago. They are trying to frame him now that he is dead,” Seetahall declared. Crime Chief Persaud said he had no report that suggested that Fitzpatrick was a bandit. “I am not aware of that and we don’t have the official position of the Venezuelans, all that we have is information from relatives that they were shot,” the Crime Chief said. Kaieteur News understands that several persons are travelling to the northwest district for the men’s funeral. A relative, who lives in Georgetown and will be travelling today, said many persons who knew Fitzpatrick are shocked and saddened by the manner of his death. “Some people gone by boat already and there are two full planes leaving today,” the relative stated.
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Sparendaam shooting…
Mom says son threatened two months prior to death By Javone Vickerie As anguish continues to grip a Sparendaam family just 24 hours after the death of a 22-year-old man, his grieving mother says that if police had acted swifter to the reports she made, her son would have been alive today. Karen Hamilton told Kaieteur News that about two months ago, her son Michael Hamilton told her that his killer threatened to “done he dance” (kill him). “I went to a wake a night and meh son come and tell meh ‘Karen the same guy wuh put gun behind Stephon (Nephew) head, see me tonight and because I watch at him he threaten me and tell me if I watch he he gon done me dance,” Hamilton said. The mother added that the following day, while attending a funeral she received a frantic call from a f a m i l y m e m b e r, w h o informed her that her son’s killer was at his grandmother ’s residence discharging a number of rounds. “When I get the call that the boy shooting up at me mother house, I travel
Michael Hamilton down deh and then I hear that the boy come down the road on a bicycle with a gun in he hand,” Karen Hamilton said. The woman recounted that the assailant then went to her brother’s yard and asked him if he recognized a young woman that might have passed along the street. “Me brother tell he that he ain’t see no girl pass through the street. He seh that when he go pon de corner dem boys tell he is nah girl duh man looking fuh, is yuh son… because
ah some girl he deh wid,” Hamilton explicated. She added that when the gunman who police identified as “Oswald” returned to her mother ’s house, she overheard her nephew speaking and began another shooting spree. “Me daughter de coming behind and like when me nephew hear the shot dem he run out pon de road and me daughter hold on pon he. When me daughter hold on pon he, de boy still firing shots and me son deh over Goedverwagting weeding me yard and hear the shots too and run over here,” Karen Hamilton said. She recalled that when her son arrived in Sparendaam, he gave chase behind the gunman who fled on his bicycle. She added that during the chase the gunman started to fire shots at him. Luckily enough, her son was not injured, but Hamilton said that she walked right pass her son’s killer who stood with a gun in his hands at the street corner. The mother said that when she decided to report Continued on page 27
GPOC workers ‘still operating on Saturdays’ The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) will continue to operate on Saturdays from 07:00hrs to 11:00hrs. This is according to a GPOC press release issued yesterday which was contrary to what workers, and President of the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (GPTWU) Harold
Shepherd, had told this newspaper on Friday evening last. According to Shepherd, Saturday is not a normal working day, and the union had decided that GPOC workers will no longer work on Saturdays, in keeping with the labour law which states that persons are to work 40 hours a week. Shepherd had said that GPOC workers are usually paid overtime to work every Saturday. He noted that GPTWU found that if overtime payments continue to 400-plus workers, the corporation will go bankrupt in a year’s time. It was as a result of this that Shepherd said the union is doing the responsible thing by taking a stance, so as to ensure that GPOC employees not fall prey to a cashstrapped entity like those attached to the Mayor and City Council. The GPTWU President had pointed out that the corporation does not operate on government subvention, and that the continued issuing of the overtime payments can result in the corporation not being able to stand its own expenses;
including paying staff. He had said however that the workers would continue to work on Monday, and will be reporting to work for the regular working hours during the work days -Monday to Friday. Kaieteur News also spoke to a few workers who attested to the fact that the decision was indeed taken for them not to work. This newspaper was unable to make contact with Shepherd last evening. However, he had stated in a prior interview that heads of government were informed of the Union’s findings, and according to him, “they said that they cannot afford to have them (GPOC employees) not work on Saturdays.” The GPTWU president also noted that despite many requests, the corporation continues to operate at $40 per transaction, which is hardly lucrative. “The last time it was raised was in 2004. We have been lobbying for an increase for a while, because many things have changed from then to now.” Shepherd also mentioned that there are many dilapidated post offices countrywide that are yet to be fixed.
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
Deportee kills man who refuses him meal Police were last night hunting for a deportee who allegedly stabbed a 47-yearold man to death in Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara, after the victim had refused to give him a meal. Rajendra Persaud, of Lot 458 Church Street, Enterprise, was found dead at around 18:30 hrs on the eastern parapet of Marigold Street. Relatives alleged that Persaud, who is unemployed, was stabbed during a brief altercation with a deportee known only as ‘Ano Boy’. Kaieteur News was told that Persaud was walking through the street when he was attacked. The suspect fled the scene and is still to be arrested. A neighbour of the slain man told Kaieteur News that Persaud had known the deportee for years and that the victim would sometimes provide the
suspect with liquor, food and cigarettes. Persaud is constructing a small house in Enterprise and it is alleged that the deportee, who has no fixed place of abode, turned up at the house at around 14:00 hrs and asked for a meal. However, Persaud reportedly refused and chased the suspect. Relatives alleged that the man returned some time later and attempted to set the unfinished house alight and a quarrel ensued between the two men. It is alleged that Persaud was heading back to his property at around 16:30 hrs when the suspect attacked him. Someone later contacted Persaud’s wife to inform her that her husband was dead. The victim is survived by his wife and a 20-year-old daughter.
Page 27
Mom says son threatened two... From page 26 the matter to the Sparendaam Police Station, a whole series of events begun which forced her son to live in fear. Hamilton said that on four different occasions gunmen revisited the Sparendaam house and continuously sprayed bullets. She said that on one occasion, police arrived at the house and retrieved a bullet from a neighbour’s yard. “Police just come and ain’t had no time wid duh till duh come an afternoon and ask me son if he want to go wid dem and they gon give he bullet proof vest so he tell them he gon talk to dem later,” Hamilton reiterated. The woman told this publication that her son contacted her and told her “mommy me ain’t trust dem suh me ain’t going nowhere with them” thus he refused the officers’ offer. Hamilton said that while she and son attended a wake in Goedverwagting, Hamilton noticed a few young men “ganging up” so he decided
to go to a relative shop and a man began to trace him. “He seh he go in by me brother-in-law shop and he stay lil and he come out back believing that dey gone so he tek West Road on the line and go down, but like de boy call up de rest ah dem and tell dem weh he been,” The mother said. Hamilton said that according to one of the shop attendants, after her son exited the shop, a car suddenly pulled up behind him. “Me son tell me when he turn around the most he coulda do was duck he head down below the bicycle wheel and dart through some street corners and disappear,” Hamilton said. She added while at a fish shop she heard dozens of gunshots where she later heard that her son was shot in the buttocks. She said that she saw one of the gunmen while talking to her cousin on the phone. The woman further said that after he was shot on that occasion she took him to the
hospital where he was given a medical testimonial and returned to the police station. “They took reports and statements that night and the next day Oswald come to de house and call out for me son, but after he ain’t get no response he go away,” the visibly upset mother said. Hamilton added that the following night, the determined gunman returned with his weapon along with two of his friends and sat outside the yard. “Two walk pass the corner and Oswald go through the back street and then me mother dem seh is all dey here is gunshots fire and dey run after dem, but he run in he girlfriend yard.” She said that the police was summoned to search her mother’s house based on an allegation that the house had “more guns than the police force”.
The angry mother said that when she arrived at the home, dozens of officers were present carrying out searches in different areas of the residence. “I start buse dem and tell dem that’s why me son ain’t trust y’all. I tell dem that I gon go to the commissioner the next morning. The police words was ‘banna leh we go along, all we got to do is come back and pick dem up in body bags’,” the mother lamented. The woman further alleged that the same police arrived at the house on Tuesday night and said, “He get what he deserve”. “Every other day I been going to the police station because with all dem boys wuh been walking round here me son get frighten and go by he aunty because dey de targeting he,” the woman lamented.
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday October 09, 2013
West unlikely to offer immediate sanctions relief in Iran talks BRUSSELS (Reuters) With a week until negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program resume in Geneva, Western diplomats are playing down any suggestion that Iran’s new openness on the world stage will result in any immediate or broad loosening of sanctions. At the same time, they hope a new tone is being established and that the talks on October 15-16 will at last deliver an opportunity to make progress on ending the decade-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. Senior officials from the United States and Europe have said repeatedly they are not ready to offer any concessions until Iran takes concrete steps to allay their concerns that the program is ultimately designed to develop atomic weapons. Iran, meanwhile, has lost no opportunity under new President Hassan Rouhani to reiterate that it has only peaceful nuclear aims and to call for an end to sanctions on its oil and banking industries, which have caused a precipitous currency devaluation and cut
oil export revenue by billions of dollars. While the atmospherics may be improving, negotiators from Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and the United States will arrive in Geneva with little more than what they have put on the table in meetings over the past 19 months, diplomats familiar with the planning say. “There is a risk we get carried away by the positive atmosphere,” one Western diplomat with close knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’ve had our first ceremonial meeting. Now we will be holding one on substance and their ideas,” he said, referring to a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and international negotiators during last month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York. Negotiators from the six nations - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany - have in the past asked Iran to
address their most pressing concern, the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, as an initial step towards building confidence after decades of mistrust. In return they had offered relief from sanctions on trade in gold and petrochemicals, a proposal Iran rejected as too weak. A lack of new proposals would disappoint Iranian negotiators. Zarif made that clear on Sunday, telling Iranian state television the previous offer by the Western countries “belongs to history” and calling for fresh concessions. The West is mindful that standing down on economic pressure would likely anger Israel, which sees Iran as an existential threat and has said it will attack Tehran’s nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to rein in the nuclear program. But for all the tough language on what the West wants Iran to do, diplomats are also signaling some flexibility. The lead U.S. negotiator, Wendy Sherman, held out the possibility last week of giving Iran some short-term sanctions relief in return for
Hassan Rouhani concrete steps to slow uranium enrichment. There was no more detail, and she did say fundamental sanctions - which Iran considers to be those targeting its banking and oil sectors - will remain in place until all of Washington’s concerns have been addressed. Other Western diplomats say their previous offer to Iran should be seen as a basis for future discussions, but could be built on or “amplified”, in the words of one, depending on the extent to which Iran is willing to compromise. “The buzz word will be adaptability. We are not going in (to Geneva) with a revised confidence building
measure,” another Western diplomat said. “We are going in there looking to get a proper response from Iran on what was presented in the past.” “There needs to be flexibility and adaptability in the way we pursue it if they come with a credible response.” In a sign of improving relations, Britain said it and Iran had begun a process that could lead to the reopening of their embassies, which were closed after the British mission in Tehran was ransacked in 2011. But Britain said any move on sanctions would require substantive changes to Iran’s nuclear program. Over the past two years, Iran has been asked to stop production of 20-percent uranium, ship its existing stockpiles out of the country and shutter a facility buried deep underground where the enrichment work is done. The 20-percent threshold is a core concern because that level of fissile purity marks an important technological step on the way to producing the fuel needed for a bomb. Beyond that concern, Iran could also offer concessions related to its various nuclear or military facilities, such as the Parchin military base
where the West suspects Iran carried out nuclear-related explosives tests a decade ago. Also closely watched is the Arak nuclear reactor, which could yield plutonium for nuclear bombs once it comes on stream. And Iran’s stockpile and production of lower-level uranium, which can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants but also enriched further, may be capped to allay other concerns. Such steps could win it some sanctions relief, experts say. There is a good chance that the six powers will be prepared to consider lifting temporarily sanctions in other areas than they have previously done, said Jamie Ingram, Middle East analyst at IHS Global Insight, a consultancy. To achieve broader relief, Iran would likely have to abandon any enrichment to levels higher than 5 percent but could be allowed to keep some lower-level enrichment activity as part of a broader political settlement, as long as U.N. inspectors were allowed sufficient oversight powers. Such work is now prohibited under a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to suspend any enrichment.
Greek ex-minister jailed for 20 years for graft
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A former Greek defense minister was jailed for 20 years after being found guilty Monday of money laundering in the most prominent corruption case to date in the financially stricken country. After a five-month trial, an Athens court found Akis Tsochadzopoulos, a prominent figure in previous Socialist governments, guilty along with 16 of his 18 codefendants, including his wife, ex-wife and daughter. The 73-year-old former minister had denied all the charges against him and had accused the prosecution of conducting a politically motivated trial. Tsochadzopoulos’ wife and daughter both received 12year prison terms, and his exwife and cousin were ordered jailed for six years. The other defendants were handed 6- to 16-year sentences. Eleven of the defendants — but not Tsochadzopoulos, his wife or daughter — were released pending hearing of their appeals. In March, a court had sentenced Tsochadzopoulos to eight years in prison for
Akis Tsochadzopoulos submitting false income declarations. It also ordered the seizure of his home in central Athens and imposed a 520,000-euro ($706,800) fine. He had spent nearly a year and a half in pre-trial detention, as had his wife, daughter and other close associates. The corruption case stems from a scandal over a contract for the purchase of German submarines and for Russian anti-aircraft missiles. Tsochadzopoulos had been accused of accepting bribes between 1997-2001 to award the contracts. Although the bribery
charges are beyond the statute of limitations for a former minister, he was convicted of money laundering for using the proceeds of the alleged bribery. Tsochadzopoulos served as Greece’s defense minister from 1996 to 2001 and its development minister between 2001 and 2004. He was a prominent member of the Socialist PASOK party, which dominated Greek politics for much of the past three decades. The party saw its public support hammered after the financial crisis broke out in late 2009 after PASOK said the former conservative government had fudged the country’s financial figures. Greece then had to get international bailouts to avoid bankruptcy. In exchange for the rescue loans, it had to reduce its budget deficit through punishing spending cuts and tax hikes, which contributed to a sharp fall in output and record-high unemployment. PASOK is currently the junior partner in the conservative-led coalition government.
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Anti-army protests staged at Egyptian universities CAIRO (Reuters) Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters chanted “Down with the military government” outside Cairo University yesterday, defying Egypt’s army-backed authorities despite deadly clashes with security forces two days earlier. Supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi had urged university students to protest against the army following the violence on Sunday, one of Egypt’s bloodiest days since the military ousted the Islamist leader on July 3. The death toll from Sunday’s unrest rose to 57, state media said, with 391 people wounded. Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom the nowbanned Muslim Brotherhood accuses of staging a coup, kept Egyptians guessing about his political ambitions, declining to confirm or deny whether he would run for president. “I think the time is not suitable now to ask this question while the country is passing through challenges and dangers that require us to be focused,” he said in an interview on the website of
the Al Masry Al Youm daily. “God wills what will be,” he added. Sisi is the lead villain for Mursi supporters who accuse him of working with security forces to eliminate the group through violence and arrests, allegations the military denies. “We are here standing against the coup,” said Enas Madkour, a 19-year-old fine arts student at the march near Cairo University, where security forces had parked two tanks and blocked the main road with barbed wire. “I’m against Mursi but I’m not for people killing others and I’m not for the military government we have now,” said Madkour, who wore a headscarf, as most Muslim women do in Egypt. Some students dismissed those views. “Sisi is a hero and there’s no one like him,” said Rania Ibrahim, 18. “Mursi was a traitor and the Brotherhood are dogs!” her friend added. Small protests also occurred at Helwan University in southern Cairo, witnesses said. At Zagazig University, northeast of Cairo, pro-Brotherhood students clashed with residents and
Cairo University students and members of the Muslim Brotherhood shout slogans against the military and interior ministry inside Cairo University yesterday. REUTERS Brotherhood opponents with fists, sticks and stones, security sources said. Eight people were wounded. Security forces killed hundreds of pro-Mursi protesters in Cairo in August and then arrested many Brotherhood leaders. Yesterday, the government revoked the registration of a nongovernmental organization set up by the Brotherhood in March to enable it to operate legally.
Last month, a court banned the Brotherhood and froze its assets, pushing the group, which had dominated elections since Hosni Mubarak’s fall in 2011, further into the cold. A court is due to hear an appeal of that decision on October 22. The army has presented a political plan it promised would bring fair elections, but the Brotherhood has refused to take part in the transition,
Egypt Brotherhood leader warned of violence before Mursi’s overthrow CAIRO (Reuters) - The army chief behind the military takeover in Egypt said the Muslim Brotherhood had warned him of attacks if Islamist President Mohamed Mursi were removed from power, an Egyptian newspaper reported yesterday. In an interview with private daily Al Masry Al Youm, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was quoted as saying that had met Khairat al-Shater, deputy leader of Mursi’s Brotherhood, on June 25, five days before the mass protests that led to Mursi’s removal on July 3. “(Shater) threatened terrorist and violent attacks and killings by Islamist groups that neither he nor the Muslim Brotherhood could control,” the paper quoted Sisi as saying in the interview, published yesterday. “He said that if the president left his position, these groups would strike and kill, and nobody could control them,” Sisi said. The remark infuriated him, the general said. “I exploded and told him: ‘What do you want? You ruined the country. You either want to rule us or kill us,” Sisi recalled himself as saying at
Khairat al-Shater the meeting which also included Saad al-Katatni, leader of the Brotherhood’s political wing. It was not possible to get comment from the Brotherhood, as much of the senior leadership, including Shater, have been arrested in a crackdown. A court order has also banned the group. Since Mursi’s overthrow, Sinai-based Islamist militants have launched attacks almost daily on security forces in the area, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip one side and the strategic Suez Canal on the other. They are the most sustained since an Islamist
insurgency that was crushed by then President Hosni Mubarak in the 1990s. The Brotherhood denies allegations by the military that it has any links to the violence. There are fears an Islamist insurgency may take hold beyond the Sinai. On Monday suspected militants killed six Egyptian soldiers near the Suez Canal. Gunmen also killed a police officer and wounded another in the Suez Canal city of Port Said on Tuesday, security sources said. In a meeting with the interior minister yesterday,
Sisi said there needed to be more coordination between the army and police to preserve security. “It is necessary to pay attention to all the threats that target Egypt’s security and stability,” Sisi was reported as saying according to the state news agency. At least 57 people were killed on Sunday in clashes between pro-Brotherhood supporters with security forces and political opponents, in one of the bloodiest days since the military deposed Mursi.
saying that would legitimize a coup. Tamarud, the youth movement that had called for mass protests which pushed the army to depose Mursi, said in a statement it would run in parliamentary elections, expected to take place early next year. Along with political turmoil, a surge in militant attacks has hurt tourism, a main foreign currency earner, due to fears it is no longer safe to visit Egypt’s pyramids and beaches. Gunmen killed a police officer and wounded another in the city of Port Said yesterday, and the interior ministry said Egypt may install security cameras at tourist sites. “There’s a security plan in place in tourist areas that will maintain stability in these areas,” Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said. “We expected all these problems because we are in a war against terrorism.” Al Qaeda-inspired militants have attacked police and soldiers almost daily in the Sinai Peninsula since Mursi fell. The assaults are the most sustained since an Islamist
insurgency that was crushed by then-President Mubarak in the 1990s, when militants killed tourists, government officials and policemen. A total of about 1,200 people died on both sides. Attacks by militants in the Sinai have killed more than 100 soldiers and police since early July, the army said on September 15. Last month the interior minister survived an assassination attempt in Cairo. Security and judicial sources said yesterday that three Egyptians linked to al Qaeda, and two Palestinians, were behind the attack. A Sinai-based Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis had claimed responsibility. Though the Brotherhood, which renounced violence decades ago, has been weakened, Islamist groups that sympathize with it show no signs of giving up protests against Mursi’s overthrow. With Egypt’s oldest and best organized Islamist movement now effectively excluded from mainstream politics, the stage may be set for an insurgency to take hold beyond the Sinai, a stronghold for militants, near the border with Israel. On Monday, suspected militants killed six soldiers near the Suez Canal and fired rocket-propelled grenades at a state satellite station in Cairo. The al-Furqan group claimed responsibility in an Internet video whose authenticity could not immediately be verified.
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Republicans must end ‘threats’ on fiscal impasse – Obama (Reuters) - President Barack Obama refused to give ground in a fiscal confrontation with Republicans yesterday, saying he would negotiate on budget issues only if they agree to re-open the federal government and raise the debt limit with no conditions. At a news conference, an unbending Obama said he would not hold talks on ways to end the fiscal impasse while under threat from conservative Republicans, but agreed to discuss anything, including his health. “If reasonable Republicans want to talk about these things again, I’m ready to head up to the Hill and try,” Obama told reporters. “But I’m not gonna do it until the more extreme parts of the Republican Party stop forcing (House Speaker) John Boehner to issue threats about our economy. We can’t make extortion routine as part of our democracy.” Obama’s comments followed an earlier phone call to Boehner, who had adopted a slightly more conciliatory
tone in comments to reporters after a meeting with House of Representatives’ Republicans. Boehner had said there were “no boundaries” in potential talks, and made no mention of recent Republican demands to delay parts of Obama’s healthcare law in return for approving funds to end the government shutdown. But speaking to reporters after Obama’s news conference, Boehner said he was “disappointed” by the president’s approach. “What the president said today was ‘if there is unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk to us.’ That’s not the way our government works,” Boehner said. The public give-and-take between Obama and Boehner was the most direct exchange between the two leaders since a White House meeting last week, but neither side has come up with a path to resolving the bitter fiscal stalemate. The spending and budget impasse has shut down the federal government for eight
days and threatens to prevent the raising of the country’s $16.7 trillion (10.38 trillion pounds) borrowing limit before an October 17 deadline identified by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Investors are exhibiting increasing anxiety as the deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaches. Interest rates on onemonth U.S. government debt hit a 5-year peak on Tuesday and the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index closed down 1.23 percent. “Until you see some progress, things will likely get worse,” said Eric Green, global head of rates, currency and commodity research and strategy at TD Securities in New York. Yesterday, House Republicans proposed the creation of a bipartisan committee to work on the issue, which was rejected by Democrats. Senate Democrats also introduced a bill to raise the debt ceiling with no conditions through 2014, but included none of the deficit reductions that Republicans have demanded. House Republicans
President Barack Obama emerged from a morning meeting saying they would insist on deficit-reduction talks with Obama as a condition for raising the federal debt limit, but some signalled they might pass short-term legislation to avert a default in exchange for immediate talks. “If we have a negotiation and a framework set up, we can probably reach a way to raise the debt ceiling while the negotiation is in progress. But nobody is going to raise it before t h e r e i s a negotiation,” Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma said. The impasse sparked a rising tide of warnings about the potential global economic chaos of a U.S. default, with foreign creditors and the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist warning of the potential consequences. “I think what could be said is if there was a problem lifting the debt ceiling, it could well be that what is now a recovery would turn into a recession or even worse,” IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said. Japan’s finance minister
said a failure by the United States to quickly resolve its political deadlock over government finances could damage the global economy. “The U.S. must avoid a situation where it cannot pay (for its debt) and its triple-A ranking plunges all of a sudden,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting. “The U.S. must be fully aware that if that happens, the U.S. would fall into fiscal crisis,” he said in the latest sign that Japan and China, the biggest foreign creditors to the United States, are worried the impasse could harm their trillions of dollars of investments in U.S. Treasury bonds. Obama said he did not think the crisis would create lasting international damage, saying “folks around the world will attribute this to the usual messy process of American democracy.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional supporter of pro-business Republicans, also warned about further delays in reopening the federal government and raising the debt limit. “The debt ceiling specifically must pass on a timely basis to avoid inflicting substantial and enduring damage on the U.S. economy,” said Bruce Josten, the group’s executive vice president. Polls show growing public concern over the impasse, with Republicans getting slightly more of the blame. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday found the percentage of Americans concerned about the shutdown rose to 75 percent from 66 percent last week. Blame for Republicans grew
to 30 percent from 26 percent, with the level of blame for Obama and Democrats at 19 percent, up from 18 percent. Plenty of obstacles remain to settling the issue. In the Senate, Democrats introduced a bill yesterday to raise the government’s borrowing authority by enough to last through 2014. A Democratic aide said they were hopeful they could get the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the 100-member Senate and pass the debt ceiling bill with no strings attached, even though the measure includes no deficit reduction. But Republican Senator John McCain, who some Democrats had hoped might support getting the “clean” debt ceiling bill to a vote, declined to back it when asked by reporters. “The answer to this is negotiations,” said McCain from Arizona. In the House, Republican leaders unveiled a proposal for a 20-member committee to make recommendations on a debt limit increase and look at ways to rein in the country’s deficits, but Democrats quickly rejected the idea. Under the legislation, the Republican House would name 10 members to the panel while the Democratic-led Senate would name the other 10. The panel would also make recommendations on a measure to fund the government for the 2014 fiscal year, ending the shutdown. The plan is reminiscent of a failed 2011 “supercommittee” of Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate that was asked to find trillions of new budget savings. The White House said Obama would veto a bill for the new deficit-reduction panel if it reached his desk as it did nothing to solve the immediate obligation for Congress to open the government and pay its bills. Despite widespread warnings about failing to raise the debt limit, some House Republicans dismissed the prospect of a first-ever default. “There’s no way to default. There is enough money coming into the Treasury to pay interest and roll over principal,” said Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a favourite of the smaller-government Te a P a r t y wing of the Republican Party. Asked about warnings of catastrophic consequences if the debt limit is not increased, Amash told reporters: “I say it’s patently not true what they are saying.”
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Canadian PM says ‘very concerned’ by Brazil spying allegations (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed concern yesterday about allegations that a Canadian intelligence agency had targeted Brazil and said officials were reaching out to their Brazilian counterparts. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Monday demanded Canada explain a media report that said the Communications Security Establishment Canada (known as CSE or CSEC) - the equivalent of the top-secret U.S. National Security Agency - had spied on Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry. The affair is a potential embarrassment for Harper, who visited Brazil in 2011 and held talks with Rousseff in a bid to deepen ties with a regional power that is both a trading partner and a competitor. “Canadian officials are reaching out very
proactively to their counterparts ... I’m obviously very concerned about this story and some of the reports around it, very concerned,” Harper told reporters in Indonesia on the sidelines of an Asian summit. “That said, you know I cannot comment on national security operations.” Harper did not give details of which Brazilian officials had been approached about the situation. A spokesman for Foreign Minister John Baird said Canada’s ambassador to Brazil “speaks with the Foreign Ministry on a regular and ongoing basis” but declined to comment further. Defence Minister Rob Nicholson, who is ultimately responsible for CSE, declined to discuss the allegations when speaking to reporters on Monday. The spying allegations are not welcome news for
several Canadian mining companies with operations and exploration programs in Brazil, and at least one chief executive called on the Canadian government to straighten things out. “If allegations are true, I am flabbergasted, surprised and outraged,” said Buddy Doyle, CEO of Amarillo Gold Corp, a small Vancouverbased mining exploration company whose prime asset is the Mara Rosa gold project in central Brazil. He said it “would be nice of Ottawa to say that the Canadian mining industry had no role to play in this.” Doyle said the Canadian mining industry spends about $500 million a year in Brazil. Two of Canada’s largest gold miners, Kinross Gold Corp and Yamana Gold Inc have operations in Brazil. Kinross declined to comment and Yamana could not immediately be reached for comment.
Britain says in talks with Iran about reopening embassies (Reuters) - Britain and Iran have started talks aimed at restoring diplomatic relations two years after an angry mob ransacked the British embassy, Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday. The announcement reflects a significant thawing in Iran’s relations with the West which imposed tough economic sanctions on Tehran after the embassy storming. It may raise hopes of a breakthrough in talks with world powers about its disputed nuclear programme in Geneva next week. Hague said there had been a “marked change” for t h e b e t t e r i n I r a n ’s approach since Hassan Rouhani was election president in June, replacing hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “Both our countries will now appoint a non-resident charge d’affaires tasked with implementing the building of relations, including interim steps on the way towards (the) eventual reopening of both our embassies,” Hague told parliament. “It is clear that the new president and ministers in Iran are presenting themselves and their country in a much more positive way. We must test the Iranian government’s sincerity to the full.” Britain’s two diplomatic compounds in Tehran were overrun on an afternoon in November 2011 in what
William Hague London said was a coordinated attack, after a rally against British sanctions escalated into violence and protesters scaled the walls. As crowds smashed and burned buildings and documents, diplomats inside feared they would suffer a similar fate to U.S. staff who were held for 444 days after their embassy was seized in 1979. Although the protesters withdrew after a rampage lasting several hours, Britain immediately withdrew all staff, closed the embassy, and ejected Iranian diplomats from London. It was the worst crisis between Britain and Iran since full diplomatic relations were restored in 1999, a decade after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa that British author Salman Rushdie should be killed for writing
“The Satanic Verses”. Hague told parliament he had held two meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York in September and that junior officials from the two countries had met since. “It is understood on both sides that given this history, progress in our bilateral relationship needs to proceed on a step-by-step and reciprocal basis,” Hague told lawmakers. “The foreign minister and I agreed our officials would meet to discuss this. The first such meeting has already taken place, and will be followed by a further meeting in Geneva next week.” Officials will discuss the numbers of local staff to be allowed to work in the embassies in each country, he said. However, Hague said progress would depend on tangible changes rather than rhetoric and the West was unlikely to ease sanctions unless it saw real concessions on the nuclear issue. “Iran remains in defiance of six U.N. Security Council resolutions ... and it is installing more centrifuges in its nuclear facilities,” he said. “In the absence of substantial change to these policies, we will continue to maintain strong sanctions. A substantial change in British or Western policies requires a substantive change in that programme.”
Stephen Harper There could be worse to come for Ottawa. Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who broke the story with the aid of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp that he had evidence of more spying abroad by Canada. CSE is part of the socalled Five Eyes intelligencesharing network that also includes the United States,
Britain, New Zealand and Australia. Last month Rousseff cancelled a state visit to the United States in October over revelations the NSA had spied on her personal communications and those of other Brazilians. Wesley Wark, one of Canada’s leading intelligence experts, told Reuters he doubted CSE had planned to steal Brazilian commercial secrets and then pass them onto Canadian firms. “It was probably something assigned to them to work on by their Five Eyes partners, presumably the NSA, which of course has already been implicated in Brazilian intelligence gathering,” said Wark, a professor at the University of Ottawa. “I don’t think there’s much indication CSEC has been devoting resources particularly after 9/11 - to economic intelligence gathering,” he said, adding it was quite possible Harper did not know about the Brazil
operation. Bilateral relations have improved markedly from the period around 2001, when the two sides were involved in disputes over Brazilian beef exports and whether Canada was illegally subsidizing foreign sales of airliners. “Brazil is a priority market for Canada. It is a major economic player, not just in South America, but also globally, as our 11th largest trading partner globally,” Canada’s Foreign Trade Ministry said in a statement in July this year. Bilateral trade has grown by more than 25 percent in the past five years, reaching C$6.6 billion (3.9 billion pounds) in 2012. Wark said information gained by CSEC might have helped the Canadian government set its economic priorities. “I’m not sure that’s worth the price of a downturn in political relations between the two countries and someone should have calculated that,” he said.
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Court considers ending Chile poll puts Bachelet ahead, Stanford Ponzi scheme suits but suggests election run-off
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday debated whether to allow continued class-action lawsuits from investors who lost billions in former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford’s massive Ponzi scheme. Justices listened to lawyers argue over whether lawsuits should proceed against individuals, law firms and investment companies that allegedly aided Stanford’s fraud. Stanford was sent to prison for 110 years after being convicted of what prosecutors termed a $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme on investors. The fraud stemmed from the sale of certificates of deposits from the Stanford International Bank that supposedly were backed by safe investments in securities issued by governments, multinational companies and international banks. But those investments did not exist. At issue before the court is whether the federal Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, a federal law aimed at limiting private lawsuits that allege securities fraud, can be used to block the suits investors filed in Louisiana and Texas. The law says class-action suits related to securities fraud cannot be filed under state law, as these suits were. A federal judge initially threw them out, but the 5th
R. Allen Stanford U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the suits could go forward. The appeals court found that the investment scheme is not covered by SLUSA because the main part of the fraud involved the certificates of deposit, not stocks and other securities. “What has to be bought here is a stock, and instead, what was bought here was a CD,” lawyer Thomas Goldstein said. “This is a case of a massive fraud. He could well have said, this is a case of a massive securities fraud. But it was not a case of a covered securities fraud. The plaintiffs here bought something that Congress specifically excluded from preclusion under SLUSA.” A couple of the justices suggested that because there had been no actual purchase
or sale of a covered security — only promises — this case could not fall under the federal law. The law “could have read ‘in connection with the purchase or sale,’ or the ‘promised purchase or sale’, or the ‘contemplated purchase or sale,’ but it doesn’t. It says, ‘in connection with the purchase or sale,’” said Justice Antonin Scalia. “I don’t know how you can make that stick to a situation where there has been no purchase or sale.” “That’s true, your honor, but it also doesn’t say the consummated purchase or sale. And so I think the purported, intended, consummated, all those things are swept up in the text,” Justice Department lawyer Elaine J. Goldenberg said. Lawyer Paul Clement warned justices against creating an artificial line. “You don’t want to draw a line that basically says, look, if you buy different securities than you were supposed to or you sell fewer than you were supposed to, that’s covered, but if you’re a Madoff and you go all the way and simply lie about the whole thing and there never were any securities purchases at all, that that’s somehow better,” Clement said. Justices will make a ruling sometime next year.
SANTIAGO (Reuters) Center-left candidate Michelle Bachelet is the favorite to win Chile’s presidential election, but rivals gaining ground may push the vote into a run-off, according to an Ipsos poll on voting intentions. Bachelet, who was Chile’s first female president from 2006 to 2010, is seen garnering 33 percent of likely votes in the first round of the general election on November 17. Some 23 percent of probable voters said they would cast their ballot for the right wing’s candidate Evelyn Matthei, a fiery former labor minister. Independent candidate Franco Parisi, a maverick economist who criticizes the political establishment, polled 15 percent, backing up anecdotal evidence that he is gaining in popularity. Should Bachelet fail to seize over 50 percent of votes next month, the election would be pushed to a December 15 run-off. None of the other eight candidates is as seen standing much of a chance against pediatrician-turnedpolitician Bachelet, who has promised to combat steep inequality in the world’s No. 1 copper producer and is widely liked for her amiable style.
Michelle Bachelet Still, the Ipsos poll, published Monday night, injects a dose of uncertainty ahead of the vote. “Bachelet has an obvious electoral advantage,” said Guillermo Holzmann, a political analyst at the University of Valparaiso. “There remains uncertainty as to whether she can win or not in the first round,” he added, calling that difficult but not impossible. Analysts also doubt whether her Nueva Mayoria coalition will have a strong enough showing in Congress to push through her ambitious reforms. An unusual dearth of polls have made projections a trickier business than previously in stable Chile. Surveys have been struggling to adequately poll the Andean country, chiefly because this will be the first
time voting will be voluntary in a presidential election. It’s unclear how many Chileans will vote, so many pollsters want to avoid ending up redfaced the day after the election, analysts say. The costs of running polls and the fact the turmoilhit Right has essentially had three front-runners in six months are further deterrents. One of the most recent, established surveys by pollster CEP said around 44 percent of Chileans are rooting for a comeback by Bachelet, versus 12 percent in favor of Matthei and 4 percent for Parisi. But Matthei had only just been named the right-wing Alianza bloc’s candidate after the former front-runner dropped his bid, raising questions about whether she may have gained ground since the poll published in late August. The Ipsos poll reports 7 percent of likely voters plan to cast their ballot for leftleaning Marco EnriquezOminami, 5 percent for leftist economist Marcel Claude, and 10 percent say they don’t know. The poll, conducted between September 24 and October 4, included 985 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent. It gives voting intentions only for the 49 percent of interviewees deemed ‘likely voters’.
Jamaica facing possible currency crisis Jamaica Gleaner - A country enters a currency crisis if its exchange rate depreciates by more than 25 per cent in a given year. So far this year, the Jamaican dollar has depreciated approximately 12 per cent, moving from J$93 to US$1 in January to roughly J$104 to US$1 at the moment. The last time the Jamaican dollar had such a significant depreciation was in 2008, when the exchange rate fell by 11 per cent from $71.59 to US$1 in January to J$80.21 to US$1 in December. Last year, the dollar depreciated in total just over six per cent for the entire year, and 50 per cent of this depreciation came in the last quarter, from September to December. If the trend continues this year, we can expect the dollar to depreciate beyond $105 to US$1 by December. The increase in the Jamaican exchange rate since the start of the year is as a result of the high local demand for US dollars relative to the supply. As it approaches Christmas and our demand for goods and services increase, so will our demand for foreign goods. As a result, our demand for foreign currency will increase, which will put additional pressure on the value of the dollar. The Bank of Jamaica could defend Jamaica’s currency by selling foreign reserves (NIR) to cushion any increases in demand, which helps to keep the exchange rate stable. However, Jamaica is low on reserves, as such, it does not have the ability to sell as much reserves to meet the demand as it would like to. Furthermore, the limited foreign exchange support we receive from the IMF has to be budgeted over a period. If our import habits continue, we should expect the exchange to continue depreciating.
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Berbice Bridge Company makes Warm up pool under donation to Blairmont Cricket... construction at Liliendaal
From page 36 discharges its corporate responsibilities and more importantly plays an integral part in the development of education, sports, supports national events and make donations to charitable and non – charitable organizations in Region 5 and 6. The Company had also sponsored events in other counties as far as the hinterland. In the past the Company has sponsored many events that benefited the communities both on the eastern and western sides of the Berbice River Bridge. Now, for the year 2013 the Company has so far received 70 Public Relation requests and managed to approve 64, comprising of Mashramani 2013 Events, Emancipation 2013 events, sponsorship of
horse racing events, donations of trophies to various Non – profitable and Educational Institutions and donations towards the less fortunate for medical operation expenses. The Company has also, facilitated tours of various schools, sponsored cricket tournaments, supported religious organizations, donated hampers to senior citizens, gears to Sports Clubs and made financial donations to the Disabled People’s Network Region No. 5 and 6 for various events. The items that were given to the club are 7 - Pairs – Batting Gloves, 12 -balls, 20 – TShirts which will be used by the club’s U-17 team, 3 - GN Cricket Bats and 3 Pairs - Batting Pads.
Wednesday October 09, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Things are apt to remain quite orderly for you, Aries. Even though your heart may want to soar into the clouds, you'll find that there's a stable side to the equation that's working to keep things in perspective. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): The engagements in your social calendar are likely stacking up to the point of absurdity, Taurus. Make sure you schedule some time for yourself somewhere in there. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20):Just because your heart is feeling extra generous now doesn't mean that you need to send flowers to everyone you know, Gemini. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): You may be confused by your heart, Cancer. It may be extremely frustrating when you can't keep a tight rein on your emotions. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Your mind gives you a great deal of security, Leo, which allows you to explore other worlds. You have your satellite outpost operating smoothly, and you can now take trips into the frontier knowing that you have a secure facility to fall back on. Find new ways to bring love into your life. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): This is a good time to get more serious about your art, Virgo. You were probably born with talent, but perhaps you don't treat it with as much respect as someone endowed with only a fraction of your natural ability.
LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Don't assume that the person you're trying to reach is getting your messages, Libra. Perhaps you've been waiting for a reply, thinking that this person has blown you off. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): You feel reprimanded because of the way you reacted to a situation that came out differently than you'd hoped. Trust that you acted in the best, calmest, and most understanding way possible. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Something unusual could put a smile on your face today, Sagittarius. Look for beauty and love in the simplest things. If you can't see it, then work on adjusting your attitude. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): It's time to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the things you want to have happen, Capricorn. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18):The warm, loving feeling that you've been happily nurturing is calling for a bit of practicality in order to make your romantic life work out the way you want it to. Remember that less is more, Aquarius. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): You might feel a bit reserved when it comes to issues of love and romance, Pisces. Other people might consider this rather strange when they see that suddenly your courageous forward motion comes to a dramatic halt.
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCY&S) Dr. Frank Anthony indicated at the conclusion of the MCY&S\NSC summer swim programme which was held earlier in 2013 at the National Aquatic Centre Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, that a warm up pool will be installed at the said facility; that pool is currently under construction. The foundation work, which is ongoing, is being done by local company D and S Construction. A source close to the pool informed that as soon as the foundation is completed the Moitha Pool, a Company which is based in
Germany will lay the steps, basin, deck etc. Kaieteur Sport was told that the pool will be similar to the current one with its deepest part being 2 meters and the lowest 1\2 meters. The size of the pool will be 20’x25’ and it will be used by beginners as well as other swimmers for warming up and training. Kaieteur Sport was made to understand that swimmers who are currently preparing for the Inter Guiana Games were unable to train at Aquatic Centre recently and had to use the Colgrain Pool. But the usually reliable source indicated that it is not entirely safe to have
swimmers train at the Aquatic centre at the moment due to the ongoing works. The source indicated that they want to maximise the use of the Aquatic centre and are hoping that the foundation will be completed quickly so that the German-based company can commence their part. Meanwhile, one swimming enthusiast expressed concern over the construction so close to the foundation of the existing structure, but Kaieteur Sport was informed that they had to go close to the main structure due to the two pools will be closely linked. It was noted that no structural damage will be done to the existing pool.
Quintyne stars as Windies win big Kingston, Jamaica – Teenager Shaquana Quintyne starred for West Indies Women as they trounced New Zealand in the second One-Day International at Sabina Park yesterday. The West Indies won by 89 runs. The series is now level 1-1 with the decider to be played tomorrow at the same venue. The 17-year-old Quintyne topscored with 29 off 58 balls as the Windies recovered from 95-8 to post 148. She added a crucial partnership of 43 for the ninth wicket with Shakera Selman, who also played well to make 22 in her 50th ODI for the West Indies. The Leg-spinner then took 2 wickets for 9 runs off her four over as New Zealand were bowled out for a meagre 59. She was well assisted by off-spinner Stafanie Taylor (3-10) and left-arm spinner Shanel Daley, who took 2-14 with the new ball. There were also two run outs by the athletic Deandra Dottin.
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Letter to the Sports Editor
CRICKET BOARD MUST WAIT ACTING CHANCELLOR NOW ILL Dear Editor, The continuing saga of the cricket board persists whilst the convenient delays continue to keep track with the Guyana Cricket Administration Bill. Back in December 2012, the appellant had attempted to vent his frustration at the inordinate The CCJ in its directional Order had stated, “The seeking of such a public law remedy to prevent alleged unlawful abuse of public powers is of such significance in the l i g h t o f t h e G u y a n a ’s constitution that an appeal lies as of right to the Court of Appeal.” In addition, the team of esteemed jurists had further commented that this matter was an urgent one and had quoted in para. 41 of its Order dated June 15th 2012 “Due to the seriousness of the issues and the urgency of the matter this Court most exceptionally will exercise the powers of……….. ” This comment regarding the urgency of this matter seems to have been lost on our local court system and we are now left with a supposedly manufactured conundrum where the legislative body is poised to make a decision that will have a serious bearing on matter(s) pending in the judicial system. This is a serious test to the independence of our judicial and legislative systems. We were advised by the Court of Appeal this morning (Monday October 7) that the Acting Chancellor was sick and even though the decision was ready we would be advised in the future of the date that the decision was going to be delivered. This is downright outrageous! We view this as a severe breach of natural justice as justice delayed can
delays in this very simple matter but that has only served to prolong these delays further and these are now occurring in lockstep with the progress of the Cricket Administration Bill. More than 15 months has elapsed since the
Caribbean Court of Justice in June 2012 made certain Orders regarding the matter RAJENDRA SINGH & ROBIN SINGH v THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF GUYANA. This matter was challenging the Government of Guyana’s (GOG) authority
National Cycling Coach, Hassan Mohamed MS has organized the 9th Annual Hand-in- Hand Insurance Company L i m i t e d ( 1 1 ) Race Cycle Programme for S a t u r d a y, O c t o b e r 1 2 , 2013 at the National Park Circuit commencing at 09:00hrs. The programme is sponsored by Hand-inHand Insurance Limited and representatives of that company will be on hand to distribute the prizes to the winning participants. The defending champions from the 2012 event are: School Boys & Invitation 35 Laps - Michael Anthony - 1Hr/17Mins/22.05Secs. Juveniles - 10 Laps Michael Cummings 22Mins/02Secs. Veteran U–50 yrs - 5 Laps Shameer Baksh - 11Mins/ 57Secs. 12 to 14 yrs Boys &
Girls - 3 Laps - Alfie Soonaram - 07MIns The action is expected to be keen among the cyclists who have been turning in good performances of recent. The schedule of events on Saturday’s programme are: 12 to 14 yrs Boys & Girls 3 Laps Veteran U – 50 yrs - 5 Laps Veteran O – 50 yrs - 5 Laps Veteran O – 60 yrs - 5 Laps Juveniles - 10 Laps Mountain Bikers - 5 Laps BMX Boys 6 to 9 yrs 2 Laps BMX Boys 9 to 12 yrs - 3 Laps BMX Boys 12 to 14 yrs - 3 Laps BMX Open - 3 Laps School Boys & Invitation 35 Laps
Simpson leaves MVP for IMG Academy
SIMPSON…had a fallout with MVP head coach Stephen Francis. surely, in this case, be equated to justice denied. In the meantime, the GOG is rapidly moving ahead to ram through some form of legislation to control cricket administration in Guyana,
clearly attempting to subvert and/or override the judicial system, whilst cricket and cricket administration bleeds from these multiple and relentless onslaught against a legal body and its Officers that
Warner ordered to... From page 35 concerned, including NSW team management, Randwick Petersham officials and Warner’s manager Tony Connelly. While another episode in Warner’s year of misadventure, the meeting was an early test of Jones as the state’s new CEO, having replaced David Gilbert. “This has been an unfortunate episode,” Jones said. “Like most cricket fans, I and all at Cricket NSW would
and decision to unilaterally disband the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and install an Interim Management Committee (IMC). Hereunder is a brief summary of the various approaches to the Courts and the surrounding events over the past 2 years:
Hand-in-Hand cycle race programme set for National Park Saturday
like nothing more than to see David Warner achieve his potential on and off the field. However, in order to do this David needs to ensure that he is doing the right things and working closely with the organisation in all areas. We believe the suspended sentence demonstrates our good faith and gives David the opportunity to prove his commitment to NSW’s fans and stakeholders, including
the Grade clubs. We are hopeful that this is the last incident of this nature so that David and Cricket NSW can focus solely on cricket for the remainder of the season.” Irrespective of his disciplinary record, Warner’s most pressing concern now is finding a way to return to strong runmaking form, having recorded innings of four and a duck in the Blues’ two limited overs matches so far.
has been in existence for decades. We are now advised that Parliament will be reconvened on Thursday and the Cricket Bill is on the agenda. Should legislation be passed allowing control of cricket administration to be government controlled, Guyana risk being ostracized from being a shareholder of the WICB since the ICC holds a similar view as FIFA regarding government intervention in sports. This is clearly not the road that we need to pursue. Raj Singh - Appellant. Editor’s Note: We inadvertently left out a part of the summary of events relating to this letter so we are publishing this letter in its entirety.
Jamaica Observer JAMAICAN Sherone Simpson is now training in Florida, USA. The 2008 Olympic Games 100m silver medallist is now training with Loren Seagrave in Tampa, Florida. The three-time Olympian, who won individual silver medal at the 2008 Summer Games, left MVP for the Florida-based IMG Academy. She also won gold with Jamaica’s 4x100m team in London 2012. At the World Championships level, she helped Jamaica to silver medals in 2011 and 2005. Paul Doyle, Simpson’s manager, confirmed the change in camp. “Yes, she is now training with Loren Seagrave at the IMG Academy in Florida,”
said Doyle, who has managed Simpson during her entire professional career. Simpson, along with former training partner Asafa Powell tested positive at the Jamaica Trials in June, which led to a fallout with former coach Stephen Francis. Both Simpson and Powell started their professional career with Francis at MVP, but the coach in the last three months was quoted as saying he would not take back the athletes unless they parted company with manager Doyle. Asked the reason why Simpson left MVP, Doyle said: “Just a change she was looking to make.” Powell, according to Doyle, is still in Jamaica without a training group.
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Kaieteur News
Starlight Generation Entertainment Knockout football
Wilson brothers doubles assist Paradise Invaders 4-2 victory in opener Two goals each from Quacy and Aliester Wilson on Saturday last at the #5 Village ground helped their team, Paradise Invaders, drub New Amsterdam United 4-2 in the feature game of the opening of the Starlight Generation Entertainment, Berbice Cup Knockout Football tournament. In the first match, Rosignol United got a 2-1 win over a Monedderlust ‘A’ selection after Cougars FC refused to show up. The tournament organized by Starlight Entertainment and the Monedderslust FC in collaboration with the Berbice Football Association, will see eight clubs battling for a total prize package, inclusive of trophies, of G$400,000. Rosignol got their first goal in the 24th minute from Tyson Carmichael to command the first half lead 10. On resumption, homesters Monedderslust were forced
to response after creating a penalty some three minutes in the game to equalize off the booth of Jernel Watts. With the inclusion of Kevin Layne Snr. into the midfield during the second half, the home side managed to gain possession but failed to convert goal scoring opportunities as some 12 minutes later, a foul against Monedderlust resulted in a penalty which eventually cost them the game. Christopher Clarkson converted from the spot to send his team in the lead for the second time and the scores remained unchanged at the end of regulation time. The feature game of the evening saw a new look Paradise Invaders invading New Amsterdam United to win 4-2. The physically fit Invaders pressured the experienced NA United, forcing them in defence as they attacked restlessly. Quacy Wilson first converted
in the 36th minute to lead 1-0 at the end of the first half. On the resumption, Wilson got his second chance and made it right in the 56th minute as his side took a 2-0 lead. Former national youth forward Adrian Adams, took control of his side, and got a chance when he netted in the 67th minute to put the score at 2-1. Aliester Wilson then followed his brother with a double in the 56th and 89th minutes to put his team in command. Jamaal Butts contributed to the score sheet in the 72nd minute for New Amsterdam as the score ended 4-2 in the Invaders favour. The tournament will see another double header fixture this weekend when Mahaicony All Star face Frontline United and Monedderslust FC ‘B’ meet newcomers Pacesetter United at the same venue at 18:00hours.
Warner ordered to play grade cricket David Warner admits he should have played for his club on the weekend © Getty Images
ESPNcricinfo - David Warner has been handed a suspended one-match ban by New South Wales and ordered to play the next three grade matches for his club Randwick Petersham after skipping their most recent fixture for a private training session and an afternoon at the races. After meeting with the NSW chief executive Andrew Jones on Tuesday morning, Warner was informed that he had avoided the ignominy of another suspension - he was
ruled out of the first two Ashes Tests earlier this year for punching the England batsman Joe Root in a Birmingham bar - but was reminded of the importance of grade competition by the instruction that he must play in the next three games, the Blues’ domestic limited-overs schedule permitting. Warner must also visit two other Sydney clubs to promote the state association’s anti-drink driving sponsorship message. Following the
outcome of his meeting with Jones, Warner conceded he should not have defied NSW orders to play for his club. “I believed I was doing the right thing by focusing on my training and batting, but in hindsight I should have played,” Warner said. “I remain determined to score runs for NSW and Australia and am also looking forward to taking the field for RandyPetes this round.” Jones levied the penalty after speaking with all parties (Continued on page 34)
Page 35
Letter to the Sports Editor IS OUR JUDICIARY INDEPENDENT
OR COMPROMISED?
Dear Editor, The letter by the appellant, Raj Singh, is quite succinct and revealing and begs several questions concerning the branches of our government. For the records, under the principle of “separation of powers”, we are supposed to be governed by 3 separate and independent branches of government; the judiciary, the legislative & the executive arms with no branch having more power than the other. This is an important principle for the smooth and efficient functioning of any democracy. This case brought by the Guyana Cricket Board seeks to have the judiciary (one branch) make a pronouncement on the actions of the Executive (another branch) when the Minister of Sports unilaterally sought to disband the cricket board and install an IMC. This matter was filed since December 2011 and quickly reached all the way up to the CCJ in June 2012 when that court ordered that the Court of Appeal must hear this matter. 16 months have since expired for this matter with the Court of Appeal and we are forced to draw certain inferences from the chronological passage of this matter. In the first 6 months of this matter, it sailed swiftly through 4 different courts, namely, the High Court, the Full Court, The Court of Appeal and the CCJ. The first 3 courts threw out the matter without hearing it whilst the highest regional court, after conducting a full hearing of the matter handed down its written judgment in just about 2 months, basically ordering that the highest court of our land mus t h e a r t h e matter. It languished in our system for 7 months before it was first called up in January 2013 after the Minister of Sports had had an ample opportunity to table a Guyana Cricket Administrative Bill in Parliament with its first reading in December 2012. This matter was then further delayed by a frivolous motion, by the defence a t t o r n e y f o r t h e A t t o rney General, seeking to squash the matter. This motion took all of 4 months to be heard and, as expected, was eventually thrown out by the Court of Appeal. This court delay coin-
cided exactly with the appointment of the Select Committee of Parliament and lasted throughout the period that the Select Committee sat in deliberations of the Cricket Bill. After the Court of Appeal finished hearing the substantive matter on June 12th 2013, the Cricket Bill was expected to go through its final passage in July 2013 but was aborted since the Amaila Falls Bill took precedence and Parliament then proceeded into recess. It is no passing coincidence that the decision by the Court of Appeal was then slated to be delivered on October 7th 2013(3 days before Parliament reconvenes). This is amazing on 2 fronts, firstly, that it would take the Court of Appeal Judges 4 months to write a simple judgment and secondly, having the judgment available but the Chancellor is suddenly sick and the other Appeal Court judges cannot deliver the said judgment. Obviously, there seemed to have been a miscalculation of the dates and the passage of the Cricket Bill which should have taken place in July. We can only conclude that the medical emergency of the Acting Chancellor is another ploy to delay this judgment to allow the Cricket Bill to be passed. For its part, the Cricket Bill seeks to address or fix several matters which are currently pending before the judiciary, such as: · Raj Singh Vs Attorney General- Whether the actions of the Minister of Sport in disbanding the GCB and installing an IMC are legal or not. · K. Mangal Vs Bissoondyal Singh, Claude Raphael, Ronald Williams etal- Injunction preventing these persons from operating as the Demerara Cricket Board. · Attorney General Vs the GCB- Where the AG & the Sports Ministry had seized the assets of the cricket board on the principle of Bona Vacantia. The CJ has since thrown out this matter and ordered them to immediately return the assets to the rightful owners, the Guyana Cricket Board. Further, the Cricket Bill seeks to force illegal constitutions onto the GCB and the DCB with the hope that legislation will legal-
ize these. It also seeks to appoint an ombudsman for cricket but cannot appoint one for our country. There are so many other discrepancies, contradictions and controversies contained in that Bill that Parliament will only succeed in destroying the game of cricket in Guyana if that Bill is ever passed. If the Cricket Bill is allowed to pass, the above legal matters become moot, null and void. Several questions pop into my mind with these sinister developments:· Is our judiciary compromised? · Is the AG exerting any influence over the judiciary? · Why are the Chancellor and Chief Justice still in acting capacities? · Is the AG using his Office and the Executive branch to fix decisions made against him as the former attorney for Bissoondyal Singh and the others and also as the AG? · In view of the universal principle of “separation of powers”, can the legislative arm of our government correctly usurp/override the functions of the judicial branch of government when such matters are still pending decisions in that arm of the government? · Aren’t we heading for a constitutional crisis with such actions? · How can we allow constitutions to be changed without obtaining permission from the memberships of the entities? This document is so tainted and fraught with inaccuracies that only chaos can result from such an illconceived document. Perhaps the esteemed acting Chancellor may care to comment on these questions in view of the current state of affairs described above. Surely, he can be held responsible for the consequences of his actions or inactions. I guess he will announce the new date for his judgment delivery after Parliament is assured of their direction. That can only mean one thing…. That the Court of Appeal intends to rule against the Government and is giving them enough time to correct their errors and judgment. Where does that place the esteemed judges of the Court of Appeal? Intikhab Sankar
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Kaieteur News
Wednesday October 09, 2013
Supreme Court allows India invite CSA for tour talks Srinivasan to take charge ESPNcricinfo - The Supreme Court of India has ruled that N Srinivasan can resume his duties as BCCI president, so long as he doesn’t deal with any matters relating to the IPL. It also ruled that the new threemember panel that will conduct an independent investigation into the allegations of corruption in the IPL will comprise, as it had suggested on Monday, former High Court judge Mukul Mudgal, senior advocate and additional solicitor general L Nageshwar Rao and Assam Cricket Association member Nilay Dutta. The probe, the court said, should be concluded in four months’ time. It said the probe committee has been set up to “function independent of the BCCI and the president” and that the BCCI will pay “the expenses of travel, boarding and lodging” of the committee. “The BCCI or respondent No.2 (Srinivasan) will not in any manner interfere in the probe and co-operate with providing any documents and material required to the probe,” the order read. Srinivasan welcomed the court’s ruling. “I think the Supreme Court has said I can resume functioning and discharge my functions. So I am quite happy because BCCI needs somebody,” he said. “I have no comment on the new
N Srinivasan: “I am quite happy because BCCI needs somebody” © Hindustan Times committee, Supreme Court has directly formed it. I am not a part of it. I have nothing to do with it.” On the issue of allowing Srinivasan to return as president, Justice AK Patnaik said the court was concerned solely with the legality of the probe panel, and not with the BCCI’s day-to-day administration. “We don’t want to be accused to have committed judicial overreach,” Patnaik said. “This dispute relates to the probe and the more detached we are in this matter, the better it will be for the functioning of the probe.” On Monday, the court had ruled that a new three-member
probe panel be constituted to look into IPL 2013, and suggested the three names it eventually appointed. It had given the CAB and the BCCI until Tuesday to finalise their views on the proposed names. The court said the panel would conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations and submit its report to the Supreme Court. The court also heard a plea from the BCCI to allow Srinivasan to resume functioning as president because, it said, his absence was affecting cricket administration. Srinivasan had been allowed to contest the BCCI elections on September 29 by the Supreme Court, but with a rider which said that if he won, he could not take charge as president as long as it was hearing the case related to him and the board. The matter dates back to a plea that the CAB filed in June, raising charges of conflict of interest in the formation of the two-member panel set up to inquire into allegations of corruption in the IPL. A Bombay High Court ruling later termed the probe panel “illegal”. The BCCI and the CAB filed petitions in the Supreme Court against this order, with the CAB contending that the Bombay High Court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to look into the corruption allegations.
Pietersen accepts payout from Specsavers ESPNcricinfo - Kevin Pietersen has accepted substantial but undisclosed libel damages from optician services group Specsavers over an advert that implied Pietersen might have tampered with his bat to deceive Hot Spot during the Ashes. Pietersen did not attend the High Court in London for the settlement of what his solicitor, Louise Prince, described as a “serious and defamatory allegation”. The advert contained the statement “‘Bat tampering’ in the #Ashes? Apparently Hot Spot should’ve gone to Specsavers” alongside a photograph of Pietersen. The advert, part of the Should Have Gone to Specsavers campaign, was in reference to allegations made by Australian b r o a d c a s t e r Channel 9 during the third Ashes Test at Old Trafford that Pietersen and other batsmen attempted
Kevin Pietersen strongly denied the allegation that he used silicone tape to deceive Hot Spot © Getty Images to deceive Hot Spot by applying silicone tape to their
bats - to which Pietersen issued a strong denial. Prince told the court the allegation of bat tampering was completely untrue and without any foundation whatsoever. She said the advert was published on the company’s Twitter account and Facebook page in August, and also appeared in various newspapers and magazines. Specsavers O p t i c a l Group Ltd issued an apology to Pietersen on October 2 and in court accepted Pietersen did not behave in the manner suggested, agreeing to pay Pietersen substantial damages and his legal costs for the distress and embarrassment caused. The group’s solicitor, Niri Shan, said it did not intend to imply that Pietersen may have tampered with his bat and acknowledged the allegation was false.
ESPNcricinfo - The BCCI has invited Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani for discussions on the pro p o s e d b i l a t e r a l series, whose details are yet to be agreed upon and finalised. “I have formally invited Mr Nenzani to come down to India and discuss the nittygritty of the series,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. “The date and venue will be finalised once all his formalities are completed.” Patel, however, made it clear that the BCCI had not
2nd U-19 ODI Following their sixwicket defeat in the opening Under-19 ODI at Providence on Monday, Bangladesh will aim to rebound with an improved performance in today’s second ODI against the West Indies colts at the GCC ground Bourda. Today the action is scheduled to commence at 09:00hrs and like on Monday not many fans are expected to turn up at Bourda since it’s a working day in Guyana. The pitch should be on the slow side and the spinners are expected to prevail. Bangladesh would hope to better the 135 all out
invited CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat, whose appointment is believed to have led to the breakdown of relations between the two boards. Lorgat and Patel had met on the sidelines of the ICC chief executives’ committee meeting in Dubai last month but had failed to reach a consensus over itinerary. A CSA spokesman told ESPNcricinfo they had only just seen Patel’s statement and would revert with more information. CSA is holding its AGM this weekend so any meeting will likely be before or after.
Haroon Lorgat has not been invited by the BCCI © Getty Images
in 46 overs they made in the first match, while the home team will aim for better shot selection, since although they comfortably won with more than 15 overs to spare they lost three wickets with victory a few runs away, including top-scorer Leroy Lugg who threw his wicket away after making 69. Impetuous shots also accounted for classy left hander Jeremy Solozano who made 27 in an 80-run second wicket stand after Guyanese Tagenarine Chanderpaul fell for 10. Skipper Mehedi Miraj is a versatile 15-year-old who bats in the middle order and
bowls off-spin and will depend on his openers Emon Joyraj and Sadman Anik to build a solid foundation. Nazmul Shanto, Uddin Jashim and the inform Mossadek Saikat are expected to do the bulk of scoring for the visitors, while Vincentian Ray Jordan looks the quickest bowler in the first match and get support Marquino Mindley and Alzarri Joseph. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh MotieKanhai along with offspinners Skipper Ramaal Lewis and Tarryck Gabriel should most enjoy the conditions at Bourda.
Bangladesh aim to rebound today at Bourda
Berbice Bridge Company makes donation to Blairmont Cricket Club
Mrs. Bibi F. Alli, Administrative Assistant, BBCI handing Over Cricket Gears to Blairmont Cricket Club On October 04, 2013 The Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) on Friday last donated a quantity of cricket equipment to the Blairmont Cricket Club, West Bank Berbice. A release from the company stated that they decided to assist the club due to the fact that cricket standards in Berbice have improved tremendously thus
resulting in a number of young players representing Guyana and the West Indies at various levels; it also serves as a great attraction to Berbicians. It must be noted that the Blairmont Cricket Club has done outstanding works and still continue to do so by creating great opportunities for youths thereby keeping them away from drugs and crimes. The
club has produced a number talented cricketers and Berbice Bridge Company Inc is firmly of the view that they will continue to excel. The BBCI not only plays the role of collecting tolls and facilitating vehicles crossing the Bridge and vessels transiting through the Retractor opening and under the High Span but also, (Continued on page 33)