Monday October 14, 2013
Kaieteur News
NDIA alleged fraud...
CEO approves millions in illegal spending An audit report for April 5 to September 30, 2012 has fingered National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA)’s Chief Executive Officer in a scheme involving the approval of millions in illegal payments. The report, which was prepared by the then Field Auditor, Pablo Singh, stated that funds, released under the Community Drainage and Improvement Project (CDIP), were misappropriated by the Chief Executive Officer, Lionel Wordsworth, and that even the Minister of Agriculture benefited from the fraud. CDIP was established in 2006 by the Caribbean Development Bank to the tune of US$5.050M ($1billion). The programme was funded in 2007 directly through the Ministry of Finance, with a sum of $800M and shifted to the Ministry of Agriculture under NDIA. According to the report, which was seen by Kaieteur News, no financials for NDIA was prepared reflecting the expenditure of the project. NIDA is required to maintain its own accounting records and is subject to separate reporting and audit. It was recommended that financial statements for NDIA should be immediately prepared monthly, including CDIP’s releases and expenditure and supporting systems put in place so that the NIDA Act of 2004 is complied with. Singh, who was dismissed last year from NDIA for breaching protocol by sending the damning audit report to President Donald Ramotar, discovered a series of financial irregularities in the operations of the entity. Singh had recommended the dismissal of Wordsworth and a Senior Engineer Aneel Chowbay. Besides the nonrenewal of Chowbay’s contract, no other action was taken at the entity. PAYMENT TO MMA The report stated on May 28, 2012, $2M requested by the Accountant was approved by the CEO and paid to Mahaica/Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA), Region Five, without any documented reason, appropriation or a request from the Region. It was noted that a CDIP staff and the Accountant signed an MMA-ADA receipt as receiving the $2M cheque, instead of a designated MMA-ADA staff on June 1, 2012. The report stated the Accountant and an individual, who was
Minister Leslie Ramsammy
Lionel Wordsworth, CEO
identified, confirmed no works were done, but MMA-ADA claimed $7.8M on February 24, 2013 and March 29, 2012 for the month of February 2012. The Region was asked by Wordsworth to suspend works for the month of February due to cash flow problems. “It is audit’s opinion that this disbursement by CDIP approved by the CEO-NDIA was illegal since no work was done,” the report stated. BREACH OF PROCUREMENTACT Singh reported that the procurement process was breached by NDIA deliberately sole-sourcing Phoenix payroll application from Phoenix Software for $825,000 on January 19, 2012, instead of utilizing the open tendering process. “It must be noted that there are other providers of payroll applications available at the time,” the report said. Though there should be no negotiations between the procuring entity and bidders, NDIA re-negotiated with Phoenix Software, resulting in the procurement of the application for $799,000. “It is audit’s opinion that the breach of the Procurement Act 2003 and findings under this section were fraudulent by manipulating the open tendering/quotation procurement process avoiding the review and approval of NPTAB,” the report stated. MINISTER ALI BAKSH According to the report, $10,000 of the CDIP funds was used to cover transportation costs for two truck-loads of items from Food for the Poor to Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Ali Baksh’s residence in Campbellville. The request for payment was done by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, George Jervis and approved by Wordsworth. MINISTER DR. LESLIE RAMSAMMY The report revealed that office furniture for Dr.
Ramsammy’s office, costing $402,000 was illegally paid to Starcomm using CDIP funds. The CEO who approved the payment explained that the Permanent Secretary submitted the request. PAYMENTS TO NEW THRIVING RESTAURANT Singh’s audit unearthed that a sum of money, reportedly spent on a technical meeting under the CDIP, was actually spent for a farewell function and personal use. The report revealed that payment of $70,000 was incorrectly made using a quotation for dinner to New Thriving Restaurant via cheque dated August 14, 2012. The dinner was for participants attending a meeting with technical staff and overseas visitors on the said date. The Company Secretary, who was responsible for the payment of the bill, allegedly made an additional claim of $36,618 and deliberately stated the expenses were for the technical meeting. The report said a breakdown of the total cost of $106,618 revealed that $45,702 was spent on August 14 and $2,538 and $58,378 were spent on August 17 and 24. It was noted that upon inquiry on September 9, the Company Secretary admitted that the monies were utilized for an attachment staff ’s farewell and $2,538 was used for his personal expense and proceeded to refund the money the next day. “It is audit’s opinion that (name given) Company Secretary made an attempt to pay his personal bill using CDIP’s fund and misrepresented the additional costs by stating the monies were for the technical meeting. Singh had recommended, “Disciplinary action should be taken against the Company Secretary for his initial misrepresentation of expenses subsequently corrected upon audit’s intervention.”
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Airport expansion project… Ramsammy promises probe on alleged destruction of Timehri farms
One of the destroyed farms
Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy yesterday expressed dismay at reports that several acres of farm land at Timehri were destroyed by Chinese workers doing soil testing for the airport expansion project. Ramsammy told Kaieteur News that he would conduct further investigations and also needed to speak to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn. On Friday, just one day after Caribbean Ministers of Agriculture all agreed that the region needed to expand on farming, Chinese workers on the airport project destroyed several acres of crops belonging to farmers at Timehri. This newspaper was told that the workers came on Thursday morning with excavators to level the land, but residents protested. The workers eventually called in the police who instructed the residents to remove. The workers returned Friday morning and began excavating the area. Steven Edwards, a father of five, was in tears when he said that he had been farming at the location for more than 18 years. Edwards said that several other elders from the community who had cleared away the forest areas, had
begun farming there. The man said that his entire eight acres of crops that included eddoes, sweet potatoes, pears, bananas and coconuts were all destroyed. Edwards told Kaieteur News that while he’s not against development in the country, the government should have thought about the problems which would have been associated with the project. “The government just come and decides that we have to move…move and go where? I farming here for 18 years…working hard to maintain my family and just like that everything is destroyed.” Another farmer, Royston Holder, told Kaieteur News that he has been in the area for almost 16 years. Holder plants eddoes, coconuts and other “cash crops”. He too was in tears as he spoke to Kaieteur News. Holder said that since the government is insisting that they move they should make preparations for them to farm elsewhere. “They want us to move but them not saying where we going to go…I’m a Guyanese and I can’t go to China and do what these Chinese people doing to we,” Holder said. This new development would
definitely send a distasteful message to the Caribbean States which participated in the recent week-long activities at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture. Recently Public Works Minister Robeson Benn said that some 70 house lots are being sought for Timehri North residents, who are in the immediate path of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) extension project. Benn had stated that the housing process is being facilitated by the CJIA. He said that airport officials and the Public Works Ministry have already written to the Housing Ministry for 70 house lots which would be given to those persons immediately affected by the airport’s extension. Back in April the authorities at the country’s only International Airport were stymied by the decision of the National Assembly to cut funding for its extension plan by $5.3 billion and were uncertain about the status of the project. The Opposition, in effecting the budget cut, had argued that the government has been less than transparent on the extension plan for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
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Kaieteur News
KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
Editorial
The days of the young criminals Two nights ago the police shot and killed two young men who according to reports were planning a robbery. How the police got wind that a robbery was planned is anybody’s guess because the police are not clairvoyant. It could be that someone heard the boys and tipped off the police. If that is the case then the police are beginning to have a working relationship with the society. Further, it nails that belief that when one passes information to the police the information reaches the criminal planners. That apart, one is left to wonder at the age of the young men shot. They had barely seen daylight but they had already chalked up a criminal record. The records show one of them, as a seventeen-year-old had actually clashed with the police who were moving to arrest him. He reportedly got into a fight with one of the ranks and actually took away his weapon. This is not unusual for a seventeen year old who needs guidance but one is left to wonder at the action of the parents because this young man was shot. A normal family would have grabbed the boy and tried their utmost to see that he goes straight. Some families would have moved him out of the environment. In rural Guyana errant children are sent far away to live with relatives. Perhaps the changing situation and the absence of the nuclear family would mean that this cannot happen as readily. The other boy actually perpetrated a robbery and ended up in police custody. He was later placed on bail but then something not unusual happened in Guyana. The case was never again called or if it did and the magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest the warrant was not served. It is not a surprise that these boys came from a depressed part of the city where many families have little or no moral values. People are either illiterate or semiliterate so one can imagine what the conversation is like. At the same time the parents do not even consider creating conditions so that their children could break the cycle of poverty. Indeed, for many people in a depressed community all that matters is the money to put food on the table and to allow for some entertainment. That may be why the two people killed came to such a violent end so early in their life. They will not be the last of the young men to die violently because those who know them will not use the deaths as a wakeup call. The other young men would lapse into the mode that they would not experience such a fate because they are smarter. Of interest are the reports of execution by the police. There was a time when the society would have been up in arms against the police. The Guyana Human Rights Association would have penned a series of correspondence and some social organisations would have mounted protests. This time around the police actually earned kudos. There are those who say that it is time the young criminals be removed from the streets at any cost. That is because too many people have made life a misery for the few law abiding people in the society. The view is that more of this would happen because the society has failed its young people. For one, the society does not intercede when school children do anti-social things. They say that they are not prepared to be abused by parents. At the same time the Education Ministry has an interesting policy that limits the schools in the area of punishment. Schools cannot expel regardless of what the child does. For example, one city school has to cope with a few young men who have raging hormones and who are finding willing females in the school. But then again teachers need to do more. They cannot abandon their wards because they have to save their energy for their own children. If they continue more young men would be shot dead in the streets.
Monday October 14, 2013
Letters... Where your views make the news
Kaieteur News photo of Amaila Falls is very revealing DEAR EDITOR, It is with no surprise that I read in the Kaieteur News of 12th October 2013 that the water flow of the Amaila falls is almost non-existent and is therefore probably not a reliable place to put a hydroelectric dam. I say this since that most disturbing photo on the front page of the Kaieteur News of 12th October was not unexpected, since it substantiates the observations made in a letter by one Delgado5 [name and address given] dated August 8th 2013 and published in Kaieteur News, captioned “What the public should know about the Amaila project”. Delgado5 is clearly a qualified engineer who is very knowledgeable about what is planned for Amaila and went to some pains to point out that the design of the Amelia hydro project visualized a catchment of only 90 sq kilometers. Other studies inform us that this catchment is too small given the expected output of Amaila, and its functioning would be seriously compromised after a routine period of only 26 days if no rainfall! Why is it that the public is only now awakening to these facts through the excellent coverage of the matter with that one photograph? I don’t know who Delgado5 is but his letter was
a gold mine of information. He tells us this “Harza Engineering and Synergy along with Kaehne Consulting Limited of Canada were the entities that designed the civil works of the project. Sithe Global group of the United States is an international energy company. The company’s presence in Guyana is for the sole purpose of developing, owning and operating the Amaila Hydro Project. The company has already spent millions on the project and intends to spend more during the construction period. Sithe Global will supervise and manage the construction. The construction would be done by China Railway, a world famous infrastructure builder. Northwest Hydro Consulting Engineers (NHCE) of Xian, China would work along with China Railway. The project’s working drawings come in the English language, so NHCE’s task would be to interpret and translate the language to Chinese. Both companies have many workers. They plan to bring them along to do the work. There would not be any need for locals to be employed. In his letter, Delgado5 pointed out that it is a mystery to him that our hydro project is located at Amaila when it would in fact be located at Tumatumari. He
tells us this: “The rivers, Kuribrong and Amaila, continue beyond the hydro site to about fifty miles until they reach the foot of the Ayanganna mountain where they were born. Both rivers beyond the site have no creeks or swamps emptying into them. They depend entirely on the natural springs at the base of Raleigh and Ayanganna mountains as sources of water in the absence of rainfall. The reservoirs would contain 30 days of reserved water. If there is no rain in the catchment area for a little over one month, electricity could be produced for about 26 days on reserved water. Should the dry weather continue beyond this time, the reservoir becomes dried out and the turbines starve”, this makes the observations of our not so honourable Minister Benn nonsense, when he says that when there is a catchment, this situation of no water would not be a cause for concern. Delgado5 also told us that “The project is located only about 52 miles from where the two rivers were born at the foot of the Ayangana Mountain, and so only 9% of all the water contained in the whole of the Kuribrong River would be dispensable to it. The bulk of the water of the Kuribrong would run off to merge with the waters of the full length of the Potaro River
to form real rugged rapids at the Tumatumari, where indeed the project should have happened in the first place.” Delgado 5 was telling us that this hydro project should be better located at Tumatumari and not Amaila. He also informed us that “Weight for weight, the civil works when completed on the Amaila Hydro Project would be equal to nearly half the size of the engineering works done on the Guri Hydro Dam in Venezuela. The Guri Hydro Dam, the third largest in the world, produces 10,500MW from 20 large Frances turbines with just about double the size of civil works to be done at Amaila. The Amaila would produce only 100MW from four 25MW Frances miniturbines. Much too low compared to the size of civil works to be done!” Mr. Editor, Delgado5 is saying that we will be constructing a dam which entails civil engineering works which will be nearly 50% of what the Guri dam took to construct, but will only produce less than 1 percent of the power Guri does!! Delgado5 continues “The power weight ratio of the Amaila project is daunting, since the annual tariff paid by GPL for the capacity provided by the project increases as the capital cost increases with dam length and dam Continued on page 6
Come on Ms. Manickchand!! DEAR EDITOR, I have read snippets of Priya Manickchand’s piece regarding Geetanjali Singh’s employment within the Audit Department and cannot believe that a serving Minister of Government is so oblivious to the obvious consequential conflict of interest situation resulting from this appointment. I was so appalled at Ms. Manickchand’s defense of what would be abhorrent in any other democratic society that I was forced to stop reading and will only return to it when my blood pressure has returned to normal. No one is disputing the points raised about Ms. Singh’s domestic motherly and wifely attributes. In fact, they are irrelevant to the matter at hand. What is frightening is that a serving Minister of Government in the PPP administration, in the year 2013, sees no wrong in having the wife of the Minister of Finance audit his work. Even more frightening is the fact that the Minister
attempts to parallel this situation with the wife of an army officer’s wife working in a similar position. How could someone, entrusted with the administration and/or management of a country’s affairs, even attempt to suggest that there is any similarity between the two situations? For starters, the army officer is not the Chief of Staff. But even if this were so, he does not hold the purse strings of Guyana. That aside, he is a mere cog in the wheel of the nation’s military/defense machinery and not the chief cook and bottle-washer of finance as Dr. Ashini Singh is. It is precisely because of the Minister’s observation that Ms. Singh “is the kind of woman where her husband will take centre stage in her life and where her role is to look after him” that makes her ineligible for the job. Such a wife would not wish her husband to be subjected to odium and ridicule (and possible incarceration) should it be discovered that
not all the cookies he had been removing from the cookie jar were used in the national interest. It is therefore quite natural and not inconceivable that Mrs. Singh may tend to look the other way if she discovered some sort of malfeasance on the part of her husband. If Mrs. Singh is as good an Accountant as we are led to believe, then she should have no difficulty finding suitable employment within the burgeoning private sector of which her husband’s government boasts daily. Why does she have to be placed in a position that gives rise to speculation about her professional integrity when she has alternatives? Guyana today is faced with a serious problem where its leaders do not care about integrity in public office. It cannot have escaped Ms. Manickchand’s notice that the public purse has become a trough from which friends, supporters, hangers-on and cronies sup at will. It is this inconvenient truth that makes right-thinking people
like Messers Goolsaran and Greenidge nervous that Mrs. Singh, by virtue of her position, is now the designated feline to arbitrate on whether or not her husband has been nibbling on the national cheese. Does anyone believe she will judge him harshly? I think not! We all know that sometimes, perception is greater than reality. Why would Mrs. Singh, someone who is being portrayed as the consummate professional, jeopardize her professionalism and any modicum of integrity she may have, by maintaining her position within the Audit Department? Why hasn’t Mr. Singh been losing sleep at night over the fact that there is the appearance that his wife was put in that position for a particular and sinister reason? What is it that they both have to lose by removing her and erasing any doubt that be in the minds of an understandably suspicious public? There are more questions than answers. Michael Persaud
Monday October 14, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
I am indifferent as to which government is in office DEAR EDITOR, I refer to a letter written by Ms. Priya Manickchand under the heading “The Dangerous Consequences of the Geetanjali Singh story” and appearing in the 13 October 2013 issue of the Kaieteur News. I wish to comment on parts of the letter that specifically refer to me. Transparency Institute (Guyana) Inc. may wish to offer its own comments in so far as the letter impinges on the work of the Institute. I did not work 10 years under the PNC regime in the Audit Office before “accepting” promotion as Auditor General. I joined the Audit Office on 1 December 1987 as Deputy Auditor General. Upon the retirement of Mr. Farnum, the then Auditor General, on 17 September 1990, I was appointed to act as Auditor General. The acting arrangement ceased on 31 December 1990 when I was substantively appointed Auditor General. I therefore served three years before becoming Auditor General, and not 10 years. It is not true that I “remained unethically silent regarding the PNC
administration’s failure to be accountable and transparent by having updated audited accounts for government offices.” I was not the Auditor General during the period 1987 to 1990, but on several occasions I raised the matter with the then Auditor General to the point where on one occasion he became very angry with me. If Ms. Manickchand is referring to the period 1 January 1991 to 5 October 1992, the records will show the efforts I made during that period to get the Government to produce accounts for audit. I have copies of every press clipping – the Chronicle, the Stabroek News, the Catholic Standard and the Mirror – attesting to my efforts. I refer Ms. Manickchand to my book “IMPROVING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY: The Guyana Experience 1985 to 2007” for a detailed treatment of my efforts to restore public accountability in Guyana. It is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. I also refer her to my column of 10 December 2012 in the Stabroek News entitled “The Truth about the restoration of public accountability in Guyana”, a copy of which is
attached with a request that Kaieteur News forward it to Ms. Manickchand for her consideration. In addition, she may wish to be enlightened by the relevant sections of the late Tyron Ferguson’s book, “Structural Adjustment and Good Governance: The Guyana Experience”. It has never been my intention “to embarrass the Government and the governing party, to paint them as corrupt and lawless and hopefully by doing so weaken the Government with the ultimate aim of removing it from office”. Based on my own training and experience, I speak out on issues relating to good governance, transparency and greater public accountability and, as the records will show, I am indifferent as to which government is in office. As regards Ms. Geetanjali Singh, readers may know by now that I recruited her in the early 1990s. She served as my Personal Assistant until the date of her marriage to Ashni Singh whom I also recruited and made my Deputy without one day’s auditing experience. One colleague of mine once
remarked that I fathered both of them into the accounting profession. In fact, they were so closely attached to me that I considered them my own children. But principles are principles and I cannot compromise on principles. Ms. Manickchand quoted the definition of conflict of interest from Business Dictionary.com as “a situation in which a party’s responsibility to a second party limits its ability towards discharge its responsibility to a third-party”. This is too simplistic a definition. I have written three articles so far on the subject. Here is what I said on the issue of conflict of interest: … a conflict of interest occurs in a situation where
a public official’s decisions are influenced by his or her personal interest. It has the potential to undermine the impartiality and objectivity of the official because of the possibility of a clash between the official’s self-interest and his or her professional or public interest. A conflict of interest exists whether or not that influence actually takes place, once there is a reasonable belief that there is a risk that decisions may be unduly influenced by secondary interests. It can also exist even if there are no improper acts since differing roles are likely to provide an incentive for improper acts in certain situations. We then proceeded to consider conflict of interest
from an accountant’s perspective, particularly as it relates to rendering audit services. We noted that the bar is significantly higher compared with other professions since independence from those whose work the auditor has to evaluate is the cornerstone, indeed the foundation pillar, of the auditing profession. A leading authority in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, Emile Woolf once wrote that the concept of an audit and concept of independence are the twin sides of the same coin and that a dependent auditor has lost his/her raison d’être and is a contradiction in terms. Continued on page 6
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Kaieteur News
Monday October 14, 2013
Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
I am indifferent as to... Kaieteur News photo... From page 5 The Institute of Internal Auditors considers that competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill the internal auditor’s duties impartially and could impair the individual’s ability to perform his or her duties and responsibilities objectively. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) asserts that certain professional engagements, such as audits, reviews, and other attest services, require independence, and that independence impairments cannot be eliminated by disclosure and consent. The ACCA Code of Ethics and Conduct considers conflict of interest and ethics to be inter-related. Ethics is concerned with what society considers to be right or wrong, and therefore relates to standards of behavior. Objectivity has been identified as a key ethical principle, and members should not accept engagements in which conflicts arise, even if there is a possibility of such conflicts arising. Where threats relating to conflict of interest cannot be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level, either because appropriate safeguards are not available or cannot be applied, the professional accountant must decline or discontinue the specific professional service involved or, where necessary, resign from the engagement or the employing organization. It is true that Khemraj Ramjattan is a friend of mine, just like Neil Kumar and Navin Chandrapaul. Our friendship dates back to the days when we were at the Gandhi Youth Organisation. Yes, he has formed a political party. Should I abandon him for that? The Speaker of the National Assembly had
arranged for a symposium for parliamentarians on the budget process. I was asked to make a presentation, which I did. Does the fact that the Government side boycotted the event make me an AFC person? This year, I made a similar presentation, this time at the invitation of the AFC. I was reluctant to go but Khemraj was upset with me since I had given an earlier commitment to attend. He also stated that “they” have already labeled me AFC. I made the point at both forums that I am not a member of the AFC and if Freedom House or Congress Place were to invite me to make a presentation based on my area of technical competence, I would willingly go. Finally, the AFC’s nomination of me as a member of the Public Procurement Commission has nothing to do with politics and is purely on the basis of my professional and technical competence and years of experience at both national and international levels. I am on record as having stated that the appointment of members of the Commission should be depoliticized. In this regard, I had recommended that the Public Accounts Committee advertise locally and internationally for suitably qualified and trained Guyanese to express an interest in serving on the Commission. I am indifferent as to whether I become a member and if my name poses a difficulty for policy-makers, I am willing to ask that it be withdrawn. I have other fields of endeavour that I can hopefully make a contribution. My ultimate concern, however, is to have the Public Procurement Commission up and running. Anand Goolsaran
From page 4 height/reserve size and installed turbine capacity. The contractor needs to be cautious, because the general idea of hydro dam installations is to locate a site where there is less demand for too big and costly civil works and an abundance of water. The power/weight ratio must always be 80% to 90% ratings so that in the end, the general public could enjoy cheap and reliable electricity. The high cost of electricity would also chase away investors. The engineering world today tends to produce products much smaller but with more performance and capacity. It’s a trend. About Tumatumari, Delgado5 tells us this: “The question is why the only possible site for a hydro dam installation in the Potaro area has been more than once neglected – the Tumatumari Falls. British Consolidated Gold mining company installed two small Kaplan turbines at the Tumatumari Falls. The facility produced more than enough to power the company’s two giant bucket dredges plus provided energy for the camp sites at Tumatumari and Konawaruk, nine miles away. With only servicing those two turbines, folks at Mahdia, just 9 miles away could have enjoyed 24-hour electricity
supply. Instead, two fuelguzzling diesels were installed to provide electricity only at nights. A reverse process indeed. It would be very inaccurate to say that the Tumatumari Falls was not chosen for the project because of fear of flooding the area. The Tumatumari Falls has a catchment area of nearly 680 square miles, compared to the meagre 90 square miles of the Amaila Falls. It is sufficient to erect a 40-feet high dam to maintain a reservoir of only 35 feet deep. All the water flow of the entire length of the Amaila River plus the water flow of the entire length of the Potaro River merge into one powerful flow before reaching the Tumatumari Falls. A regular and steady supply of water is guaranteed to maintain the level of the reservoir even through the dry period. So there is no necessity to have an oversized reservoir.” I am forced to ask the question again, can’t the PPP get anything right? Is their only talent to thief? Delgado 5 tells us that a hydro project at Tumatumari would be far more economical to build and operate with a much larger catchment [more than 680 sq kilometres] fed by more reliable sources of water and would therefore be more effective and can be built for
less than the price of Amaila. And will disturb no Amerindian settlements. We need the Brazilians! They want to build a hydroelectric project at Tortuba for Manaus and Guyana. if they were in partnership with us, the Venezuelans will have to crawl back into the woodwork from whence they came, since Brazil spends 31 billion on its military annually whilst Venezuela spends only 2.8 billion annually. If we built the road to Brazil, the deep water harbour and the hydropower in the Essequibo, Venezuela would not be able to say a word. Right now with this incompetent, ridiculous government, what do we have to defend us against Venezuela? The PPP has not only destroyed the sugar industry, the bauxite industry, the NIS, the agricultural industry, the police force, the national medical system [public hospital et al] and many of our social organisations, their foreign affairs incompetence may cause us to lose our territory to Venezuela or plunge us into a border war with that country. I have been speaking about the far reaching danger of this incompetence for over a decade, now it has come home to roost. Tony Vieira
Monday October 14, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
Guyana is not just the PPP and its supporters DEAR EDITOR, The PPP celebrations of its 21st year in power were made more remarkable by the charge of former President Jagdeo to the admirers and others at their 6th October Lusignan rally. The former President, as reported in the Guyana Chronicle said, “While people lament about the small things which affect them such as pot holes and drains in front of their yards, which are genuine concerns, they should also be reminded that the PPP/C during its 21 years in government has been ensuring bigger problems are solved.” He also implied in his charge that the younger generation who are dissatisfied did not know how bad things were really before 1992, and therefore they need to be educated by older folks about a pre 1992 and post 1992. During those dark days of the pre 1992 era, some of us were fortunate to study George Orwell’s Animal Farm for CXC Literature. There is something Napoleonic about the charge… “forget the ‘small things’ which hinder your lives.. look at bigger pictures.” We should forgive those who drive in heavily tinted SUVs for not knowing or remembering what pot holed roads feel like, or for those who live in well drained areas or in houses with foundations and internal drainage systems higher than the roads to know the havoc wreaked, when it rain. Younger people as well, who have to negotiate the pot holes and bad drainage and the other ‘little things’ are supposed to compare this to a time when it seems the older folks had to negotiate pot
holes and bad drainage and different other kinds of ‘little things’. There is a certain strangeness in how the vision is being marketed for the future. Fifty years ago, Cheddi Jagan, in his belief in the Guyanese people, sought to build a University. The University at fifty, languishes. Instead of Jagan’s vision though as a way for young people to achieve dreams, we are told we must look up from the potholes and bad drains and believe instead in the Marriot and other troublesome projects. We are threatened with national elections again before the full term. Many of our older folks remember when Village Councils and others were responsible and did their jobs well in dealing with pot holes, drains and the little things which mattered. Unfortunately, the 21 years of democracy did not include much development of local government and governance. We have to forgive ourselves. Most of our politicians of all the parties never really lived or participated in functioning democracies. Most of us as citizens were not taught about participating in democracy. Some of the young professionals who are not targeted by the opposition have felt the pressure from the leaders in this new democratic era. The young professionals who grew up in this 21 years, tried to assert their democratic right to freedom of expression and association which they might have mistakenly assumed they had in this new era of freedom. Similar pressure was exerted during the dark days on some of their parents. Jagdeo also spoke about
Our farmers must be commended DEAR EDITOR, Agriculture is still the backbone of the Guyana economy. It is the largest employer of labour and the largest source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. While it is true that within recent years the contribution of the mining industry has been substantial, agriculture is still the dominant sector in terms of employment opportunities and foreign exchange earnings. Guyana has a comparative advantage when it comes to agricultural production with its large expanse of fertile land and a hard working contingent of farmers. Indeed we are well positioned to meet the food needs of the entire region, including the large
North American market. The importance of agriculture to regional economies was highlighted during the Agriculture Week observances in Guyana which was attended by high level personnel from Guyana and other countries. With a growing population globally, the demand for food is sure to increase, which provides agro-based economies like ours to pick up the slack. Our farmers must be commended for rising to the challenge to meet the food demands of the country and for satisfying a fair share of the regional market. The supporting role played by NARI and the Agriculture Ministry is also commendable. Hydar Ally
the need for conversations among the PPP and it supporters about where we were, where we are and where we want to go. The thing is, Guyana is not just the PPP and its supporters. We have very little experience in Guyana in meaningful dialogue and consensus building. It is a tall order then to expect the leaders of the last 21 years to expand their reach beyond their party horizons. But that is the price of democracy and freedom. Unfortunately, leaders have to be accountable to the people in new ways which they themselves never experienced. And yes, unfortunately, the transformational leadership requires that those who want to celebrate democracy have to be accountable to people who when they were in power, never bothered
themselves much with accountability and transparency. One of the tragedies about Guyana is the whole saints and sinners approach to the dialogue and conversation. The flour and dhal bans of the 1980s probably made criminals and crooks out of a lot of us, including the police and customs officers who took bribes from the smugglers. Many persons did then, as they do now, shut up when bad deeds are happening because they need to survive and the alternatives are really dire for them. If we are to have the conversations, do we all need to prove our sainthood first before talking? Does it mean that crooks (Jagdeo’s talked about those at Lusignan) from the pre 1992 era cannot engage with the crooks of the post 1992 era? What does
redemption look like for all the crooks? While there is this thing about those living in glass houses should not throw stones, do we all shut up then unless we have some certificate of redemption and sainthood from those who we wish would also transform their behaviour? Should Carl Greenidge shut up now because he never submitted audited accounts when he was a Finance Minister even though, in this new era of democracy, a significant part of the people voted for him knowing his record? How can we find solutions for a country to utilise the skills of a woman most qualified for a much needed job in the Auditor General’s office so that there can be no conflict of interest for her since her also much qualified husband has chosen a political career?
What other conflicts of interests have happened in our society? Are we allowed to talk about mistakes without ending up being branded as sinners if we did not resolve them properly? Do the leaders and celebrants of this new era of democracy realise that when they cuss up and buse out the elected officials they do not like, that they are alienating sections of the population? What happens if sections of the population do not require that the persons who are protesting the nonfunctioning democracy do not have to redeem themselves? Is it the nature of Jagdeo’s visionary politics and governance in Guyana that we all vote for the PPP/ C, stumble in pot holes while believing in the Marriot, and shut up afterwards? Vidyaratha Kissoon
The PPP was always only interested in power for power sake DEAR EDITOR, Former longstanding senior PPP executive member Mr. Ralph Ramkarran in his column, “ The PNC, APNU and national unity,” (SN 1013-13), in criticising Brig. Granger’s use of some 1977 Burnham quotes when he rejected Jagan’s call for a National Front Government, wrote that in 1977 the PPP had conceded the Executive Presidency to the PNC. In 1977, we still had the Westminster constitution in effect with Burnham as Prime Minister. It was not until 1980 that the Executive Presidency came into being with the new socialist constitution after the rigged 1978 Referendum and 1980 elections. How then could the PPP concede such presidency to the PNC in 1977 after constantly screaming about rigged elections since 1968. It meant that the PPP was privy to the PNC’s drafting of the socialist constitution in 1977. It just goes to show that the PPP did not care for democracy and free and fair elections but always had Stalin style communism as its objective. Kicked out of power in 1964 by the USA, the party in 1969 formally declared itself a disciplined Marxist Leninist party affiliated to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and called on the PNC to nationalize the “commanding heights of the economy.” The PNC nationalised the bauxite industry in 1970 and declared itself “cooperative socialist” in 1974. The PPP scoffed at the PNC saying that was not “true scientific
socialism.” However, the Communist Party of Cuba felt otherwise and ordered Jagan to join with the PNC to build socialism. The PPP could not merge with the PNC as it had spent years demonizing Burnham and the PNC along racist lines. So Jagan instead declared “critical support” for the PNC. The ideologues of the PPP disagreed with Jagan, and led by Ranji Chandisingh, defected to the PNC. The cream of the PPP leadership obeyed the Cuban Communist Party. Jagan was in a quandary. How could he could join with Burnham without been seen to betray his supporters and be deemed a traitor? Jagan could not afford to lose his Indian base by just joining the PNC, so he sought to do so under the guise of national unity by proposing a National Front Government in 1977 and a National Patriotic Front Government in 1979. That at a time when Afro Guyanese led by the WPA were waging street protests to remove the PNC from power. The PPP ordered its base not to support the WPA. Whilst the PNC state was gunning down African opponents, the PPP all along was trying to find a face saving way to join the PNC socialist dictatorship under the guise of national unity. Jagan believed that world capitalism would collapse and that communism led by the Soviet Union would triumph. He believed that political unity of the PNC and PPP would deter US
pressures. Burnham was not ideologically rigid like Jagan and he knew that the US would not tolerate Jagan in power so he could not agree to Jagan’s demands. Jagan’s proposals were flawed because of their ideological and class basis. He further felt that a mere unity of himself and Burnham would unite the races. Hence Brig. Granger’s quote of Burnham : “…an understanding or compromise between leaders is no guarantee of unity amongst the rank and file unless there is a serious and honest attempt to spread the message of unity further down…” is absolutely in order. Proof of Jagan’s flawed proposals was evident by the fact that Afro Guyanese, led by the WPA, were more interested in democracy than in PPP and PNC socialist dictatorship. Ralph Ramkarran wants
APNU to promote the need for a political solution to free us from the current gridlock in parliament. How about the PPP making the same National Front Government proposals it made in 1977; after all that party has been in power for 21 years now. It just goes to show that the PPP was always only interested in power for power sake. Ralph Ramkarran omitted to say that Brig. Granger acknowledged that there was racial hatred in the past and that he was prepared to work with all other parties to achieve national unity. The first step is national reconciliation. However, one leader alone cannot engage in national reconciliation. Brig. Granger and the PNC have indicated their willingness to start the process. What about the remainder of Guyanese society. Malcolm Harripaul
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Monday October 14, 2013
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A FIRE AND A ROBBERY This week, a recent fire at a business bond spread beyond the boundaries of the bond and engulfed a private residence. This week also, a businessman was gunned down at his shop in Hampshire, Corentyne which is also a predominantly business community. These two incidents raise questions- once again and for the umpteenth time- about the need for effective zoning. In the case of the fire, questions were raised about the response of the fire service and the suitability of locating a large bond in a residential area. In respect to the robbery, questions were raised about the response from the police outpost located half a mile away. Apart from Georgetown,
the bulk of Guyana’s population is spread thinly along a lengthy and narrow coastal belt. It is impossible for both the police and the fire service to have a presence in every single village in the country. Thus in the suburban and rural areas, the police stations or outposts can be located miles away from some village or community. This means that the response time is always going to be slow. It is the same with the fire service. The main fire stations are located within the towns with the sugar company having its own fire tenders. Anytime there is a major fire on the outskirts of the towns it is going to take some time for the fire tenders to get to the scene of the fire
because it is impractical to have a fire station in every village for the reason that there is not a critical mass of people or for that matter a high risk of fires to justify having fire tenders in every area. In order to compensate for this deficiency, social engineering has allowed for lots in sub urban and rural areas to be large with a fair distance separating adjoining houses. This means if a fire occurs in a sub-urban or rural area, it is difficult for that fire to spread to the neighboring building because of space separating the two buildings. What has caused a great deal of problems for the fire service is that these regulations relating to the distance that should exist
Dem boys seh
Dem scamp playing de disappearing trick Everybody think dem is a magician. Magicians does mek things disappear. Well dem have some people from Windsor Forest who does mek people money disappear. De last one name he place Windsor Estates. He plan to build house but it look like if dem house like de king new suit. One man who come from Windsor Forest did bring an airplane and that disappear already. De man disappear too. People can’t see he. He did like things fuh disappear and Bharrat did like de man. That man mek some people money disappear and now Uncle Sam mek he disappear. Another man who come from Windsor Forest does
mek drugs fuh de Ministry of Health disappear and when people talk he get vex. This man does disappear too and is only by chance that people actually spot he before he disappear. He was at a rally wheh Bharrat deliver a cuss out speech. Donald look like if he want disappear too. De water disappear from Amaila and is only Robeson trying fuh give some excuse. Dem boys want to know how come Brazzy who been talking so much bout de project disappear too. Fip Motilall come from Windsor Forest. He did de biggest disappearing trick. He tek millions fuh build a road to de same Amaila and then he disappear in Florida. Now
how come all de people who come from Windsor Forest know fuh mek people money disappear and then dem does disappear. Suh dem boys come back to Windsor Estates. De drawing fuh dem house look nice but dem boys want to know wheh de real house deh. De Waterfalls boss man did see de drawing and he get ketch. He promise fuh give de Windsor man some publicity but de man dodge and disappear. He mek dem boys wonder why he refuse de free publicity. But then again, is only smart man does operate suh. Talk half and keep an eye open fuh anything that come from Windsor Forest.
between buildings is being compromised. As a result if you live in a rural community and the rules regulating both the distance between buildings and zoning are not being enforced, then should there be a fire at one location, the risk of collateral damage increases. It is the same things with shops. A number of shops and businesses are being erected in residential areas and as a result there is a breakdown of social controls. A suspicious character is observed walking through a residential area. That person can always claim that they are passing through to go to the shop or to a business within the area. If, however, there were no shops in that area then that character would be under constant observation by residents and this would help to prevent crimes. Social engineering is therefore absolutely necessary if both crimes and the disastrous effects of fires are to be reduced. If special business zones were created outside of residential areas, then those zones would be better equipped to develop their own private security measures to protect the businesses from robberies and fires. It would also make the work of the police easier, since they would be able to concentrate their patrols around these areas. The problem in Guyana is that all kinds and numbers of businesses are allowed within housing areas and this presents a logistical nightmare for the cops because it means that since
businesses are the prime targets by bandits and since businesses are located in almost every village, ward or community, then the police are unable to patrol all these areas that are at risk. Social engineering has to therefore be strictly reintroduced and enforced. There is a practice in Guyana that once there is a property on a public road then that property is somehow entitled to a business license. The public roads in Guyana stretch for miles. Therefore businesses are located on large stretches that can run into miles. The police cannot be reasonably expected to patrol all these areas simultaneously. If therefore crimes and the destructive effects of fires are to be reduced, there has to be return to zoning. It does not mean that existing businesses should be delicensed. All it means is that
there should be a regularization exercise in which owners of business premises in residential areas should be given fifteen years to relocate. Special business zones and industrial sites should be created for shops, bonds and depots and these should be encouraged to employ their own security and firefighting measures with support and backup from the law enforcement and fire fighting agencies. Governments cannot be expected to totally eradicate crime or fires but once situations such as what arose this past week, they should take steps immediately to find practical solutions such as the strict reintroduction of zoning.
GRA seizes boat with 12,000 pounds chicken, outboard engines The law enforcement arm of the Guyana Revenue Authority busted a 36-foot boat loaded with uncustomed goods early yesterday morning just off the Beterverwagting foreshore. One of the agents said the boat contained more than 300 boxes of chicken with more than 12,000 pounds of the product. Each box contained 40 pounds of chicken which had been smuggled from neighbouring Suriname. The duty on imported chicken is 100 per cent so the smuggler was trying to evade paying millions of dollars in duty. The boat also contained two smuggled outboard engines and an unlicenced shotgun with ammunition. All day yesterday, those arrested were said to be cooperating with the law enforcement officers.
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South Road shooting deaths…
Cops say youths shot at them, were planning robbery - Brumell asks witnesses to come forward Police and civilians yesterday continued to give conflicting versions of Saturday night’s shooting of three Albouystown youths, with police claiming that the trio were planning a robbery and shot at them, and eyewitnesses claiming that the youths were unarmed. Responding to the conflicting reports, Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell yesterday said that persons claiming to have witnessed the shooting may provide the police with this information. “As long as they have eyewitnesses let them come…all I can say is that when they see people committing crimes let them come forward (too),” the Commissioner told Kaieteur News. Jermaine Canterbury, 21, called “Chow”, of Hogg Street, Albouystown and Mark Anthony Joseph, 19, called “Two Grand”, also of Hogg Street, Albouystown, were shot dead during the confrontation while Mario Gouveia, 19, of James Street, Albouystown, was shot in the face. He was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation under police guard.
In a statement yesterday, police said that acting on information about a planned robbery on an occupant of the K&VC Hotel, South Road, Georgetown, police ranks staked out the building last Saturday night. Police stated that at around 20:30hrs the police observed the occupants of a car, bearing registration number PPP 8539, drive up and stop in Alexander Street. According to the statement, three men exited the vehicle and proceeded towards the K&VC Hotel. “The police challenged the men who opened fire on them, and the ranks returned fire. During the exchange of gunfire Jermaine Canterbury called “Chow”, 21, of Hogg Street, Albouystown and Mark Anthony Joseph called “Two Grand”, 19, also of Hogg Street, Albouystown, were fatally shot. Mario Gouveia, 19, of James Street, Albouystown, was shot and injured to his face and is a patient under guard at the GPHC,” the statement added. “The police recovered an unlicensed .32 revolver with two live rounds and one spent shell, and an unlicensed .38 snub-nose
Dead: Jermaine Canterbury revolver with three live rounds and three spent shells. A photograph released to the media also showed a wig, which police said they recovered from one of the suspects. “The car that the three men arrived in was driven away by a suspected accomplice and has not yet been located,” the statement from the Police Public Relations Department said. Police revealed that Jermaine Canterbury was released from prison on $100,000 bail on March 27, 2012, after being charged with
robbery under arms committed on Rajendra Singh of First Choice Jewellery Store and Pawn Shop during May 2010. Mark Anthony Joseph was released from prison on January 22, 2013, on $150,000. bail after being charged with robbery under arms committed on Andrew Yaw in December 2012. Mario Gouveia was released from prison on May 06, 2013, on $200,000 bail, after being charged with robbery under arms committed on Cecil Gajadhar on March 25, 2013. ‘EYEWITNESS’ Yesterday, a man claiming to be an eyewitness recalled seeing a “van load” of police ranks speeding along South Road. The ‘eyewitness’ said he did not sense anything amiss, since because the ranks often patrolled the dark area. “Nuff people get clip (rob) pon duh corner because it dark and by is a weekend night nobody don’t walk deh. So I didn’t tek it fuh nothing at first,” he said. The man alleged that he was with a friend near the K&VC Hotel when they saw two young men on a bicycle speeding up South Road. He said that ranks in a police van intercepted the youths. “Three a dem come out de van and tell dem man ‘don’t run, empty y’all (expletive) pockets, where de gun deh’, but the boy dem put up they hands and tell dem that them aint got none, and the police start beat dem up,” he alleged. The man said that during the scuffle, the two youths fell into a nearby trench. It is alleged that the police then brought a third youth to the scene. He was reportedly also apprehended in South Road, some distance away from the two the ranks had arrested. They beat them boys bad because one a dem de bleeding from he mouth and nose and the other one beg dem don’t shoot he. What get me vex is that the police dem deh stand up at both corners with the gun in the hand and looking out,” he said. The man alleged that he
Wounded bandit: Romario Gouveia
then heard three gunshots and then saw the two youths lying face-down and motionless. “I ask me friend ‘is kill them kill them fightin banna dem?’ But then I see they put another one fuh lay down and pop a shot in he, so when we go up close we see dem man lie down in a set a blood but the police man tell me we gaffa push off, is a crime scene,” the eyewitness alleged. As the two blood stained bodies were placed into the back of the police van, chaos erupted as persons at the scene yelled “murderers” before the vehicle sped off up Camp Street. Another eyewitness told Kaieteur News that two officers with flashlights then searched the area, apparently in an effort to recover spent shells. Under police guard at the GPHC yesterday, the wounded Mario Gouveia told Kaieteur News that he left his home around 17:00 hrs on Saturday to meet a female. “We were at the park and when the place started to get dark she said she going home.” Gouveia added that after his girlfriend left, he decided to purchase icecream from Demico House on Camp Street but claimed that he had forgotten that the fast food entity had been
relocated to another area several months ago. Gouveia also claimed that he was standing on Camp Street, waiting on a car, but then said he was waiting on a bus. “I was waiting on a bus and then I hear gunshots and everyone started to run so I run too.” “After I started running, four police run and grabbed me and one of them took my gold chain. One of them told me to cuff he and run and when I refuse he put me to lie down and started to kick me.” Gouveia explained that the police shot at him but missed the first shot. “They miss the first time and then they fire another shot and I can’t remember anything that happened after that.” “Them other guys (Canterbury and Joseph) are not my friend. They lived in the same street with me,” he claimed. Meanwhile, Jermaine Canterbury’s mother said that a neighbor informed her of her son’s death at around 20:00 hrs on Saturday. “A neighbour dem shout out and seh ‘Two Grand’ get shoot and he dead,” Cox said. Cox added that she contacted her other son and daughters to find out if indeed her son was killed and they confirmed the news. Relatives of the slain youths alleged that police would regularly arrest them. Another family member alleged that the youths, who are reportedly cousins, recently came from the interior after they contracted malaria. But relatives of the two men confirmed that they were previously arrested for robbery.
Monday October 14, 2013
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Jack and the psyche-magnetron Two years ago some scientists found that a record-setting heat wave plaguing much of the United States may have been due to radiation emitted from an enormous star located in the center of the solar system. They believed that the star, which they named G2V65, may be the same bright yellow orb seen arcing over the sky day after day, and given its extreme heat and proximity to Earth, it is likely not only to have caused the heat wave, but to be responsible for every warm day in human history. “Our measurements indicate the massive amount of energy this thing gives off is able to travel 93 million miles and reach our planet in as little as eight and a half minutes,” said Professor Mitch Kivens, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology. “While we can’t see them, we’re fairly certain these infrared rays strike Earth’s surface, become trapped by the atmosphere, and just heat everything up like a great big oven.” The star seems to have finally hit Trinidad and settled on it. Now, even though
Carnival is behind us, there is still considerable heat in the place as the Soca season has given way to the silly season caused by a three-party battle for the control of fourteen Local Government municipalities and a Constituency. So far the battle has generated more heat than light and more controversies than factual content. At the centre of the rising temperature is Jack Warner, the former Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) VicePresident whose antics and semantics have caused the organization and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to drop him like a hot potato and other persons to pick him up like Macdonald’s French fries or like the Indian potato dish called “fry alloo” (Hindi for “potato”). Since he is known to be more than slightly slippery, a lot of people treat him like “ochro” (or okra) and avoid him like a banana skin on wet porcelain tiles. Yet Jack’s political star is growing faster than G2V65 and while many people consider him more like a black hole who, having sucked up
the resources of FIFA now has his sights set on swallowing up Trinidad and Tobago, a lot of voters are gravitating to him as if he is the Psyche-Magnetron of the Kree or Ruul people of the fictional Marvel Comics universe. What few of them seem to appreciate is that the Magnetron was extremely radioactive. According to WIKIPEDIA, “Once outside of the box, it immediately changed its form to a bigger, starred polyhedron. It then emitted the same radiation emitted as the PsycheMagnetron when it bathed a subject, but in such a high quantities as to burn, blind, and totally annihilate the senses instantly…Through its rays, the user gained greater matter-shaping powers, that, unfortunately, were very d i f f i c u l t t o control. The radiations covered all the known spectrums and they were strong enough to transform an area as wide as, say, Northern Florida, into a radioactive wasteland.” Trinidad and Tobago is much smaller than Northern Florida and can go even quicker. So what is the appeal?
One of the things I have learnt in my more than twenty-two years of moving around the Caribbean as a communications and sometimes political consultant is that nobody ever lost an election for “thiefing”, robbing, stealing, ripping-off, larceny, fraud or related offences. Trinidad is probably more tolerant and much more forgiving than the other countries so that what might be a crime in another country could very well end up being a misdemeanor here. I am not saying that Jack has done any of these things but in the twilight zone of shady dealings all shadows lengthen. What I can say is that if Sir Allen Stanford had chosen Trinidad for setting up his now-fallen Empire, he would not have been in jail now and his empire might have even grown in size as he grew in stature. The first prime qualification for political prominence is what we call the gift of the gab. Even though Jack always had a speech defect, as people say admiringly, “He can talk!” He is a natural platform speaker
and so, lost in the flow of words, wrapped up in the semi-staccato, slightly stuttering outpouring of revelation after revelation, fact and fiction are as inseparable as Siamese twins. People lap it up like hot porridge on a cold morning. Some never question and others say, “So what? Everybody doing it.” The second qualification is to make everything sound true whether it is or not. Jack, even when caught in contrarieties and contradictions, immediately finds an explanation that is either plausible or palatable. The third and most important asset is to have a short memory or none at all as well as the ability to create a convenient diversion if you are put under pressure. When pestered by a journalist and cornered, Jack replied, “Ask youh mudder.” According to Wikipedia, “In February 2012 the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) claimed
that funds for Haiti donated following the 2010 earthquake were paid into a bank account controlled by Warner. FIFA subsequently froze funding to the TTFF until it received an explanation. FIFA is also withholding Warner’s pension. Warner later suggested that the allegations were a conspiracy, saying that ‘I have nothing to answer to anybody. Who wants to make allegations, make allegations. Ask yourselves, as objective members of the media: ‘Why now...?’ And after you get why now, just join the dots and see.” There are a lot of people who are not joining the dots but joining Jack’s political party. It is something that makes me feel like the Silver Surfer and I, too, Marvel. *Tony Deyal was last seen saying Jack Warner reminds him of former US Vice President, Spiro Agnew, except that Agnew was actually jailed.
Office of Opposition Leader still Man said to be GGMC starved of adequate state funds official missing after - not even a bicycle to Pomeroon boat collision deliver mail, says Granger
Roberts’ body being transported to the Bartica mortuary A 49-year-old man is missing and feared dead after the balahoo in which he was traveling collided with an unlit fishing vessel at around 21:50 hrs on Saturday in the Lower Pomeroon River. The missing man was identified as Patrick Kellowan, and is said to be a senior official from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. According to a statement from the local Maritime Administration (Marad) passengers Elroy Gill, 22, Marlon Chappelle, 66, and Patrick Kellowan 49, left a cricket match under the
influence of alcohol and boarded “a balahoo.” While proceeding up the river, the balahoo collided with a fishing vessel which had no lights. The collision caused Kellowan to be tossed in the river, where he immediately sank. A search for Kellowan’s body is continuing and police have launched an investigation into the incident. Kaieteur News understands that none of the passengers in the balahoo was wearing lifejackets. Meanwhile, a 37 year old gold miner was killed
yesterday after colliding with a truck on the Karrau Trail, four miles opposite the Bartica/Potaro district. Albert Roberts, who is said to be the General Manager of a mining operation, was riding an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and heading out to the Karrau Landing when he collided a with a “bush truck” after slamming into a tree at a turn on the trail. The victim, of One Mile Bartica/Potaro Road, was transported to the Bartica Public Hospital at around 4:15pm, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) leader, David Granger, has indicated that the office of the Leader of the Opposition is still being starved of adequate state funding. Ever since the last general elections, the main opposition party has been constantly trying to get what is constitutionally stipulated for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. But even though talks on this issue have been ongoing, Granger said that the problem is still staring him right in the face. Granger voiced his dissatisfaction during an interview with Kaieteur News as he noted that “the Office of the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t even have a bicycle to deliver mail; it is that bad.” The Opposition Leader lamented on how long his office has been existing without the necessaries. However, when asked why the problem can’t be amicably sorted out on to now, the politician advised that that question be directed to President Donald Ramotar. “You need to address that question to the President, because there is an Act of Parliament which set up this office and the Act is very clear as to what this office should enjoy.” “I am not speaking about
me personally, but this office must be attended to… it is a matter of the government fulfilling its obligation.” The party leader pointed out, “the chairs you see were supplied last year and the tables came sometime after the budget…this should be a government office and a government office should have a vehicle, we don’t.” The Act of Parliamentary referred to by Granger provides for an Office of the Leader of the Opposition to be funded through the national coffers. The Act mandates the government to provide a “rent free office” for the Opposition Leader, and security for both the provided office and the home of the Opposition Leader. Nevertheless, there have been previous issues with payment for security, rent and even simple office supplies and many members of the party had voiced that the government is intentionally seeking to stifle the office. Granger himself had dubbed this year’s budgetary allocation of $14.8M for the Office of the Opposition Leader “wholly inadequate”. He had made no qualms
to express that exact concern in the National Assembly, when it passed an $8.1M allocation for his office to carry out its functions and a further $6.7M for the procurement of furniture and office supplies. Granger had told Kaieteur News back then that the $6M allocated for furniture– that should have been there from the inception– is not being deemed a luxury by his party. “So basically, we have been granted $8.1M to carry out the functions of a shadow cabinet, an amount which is way less than that allocated for the Office of the First Lady.” Some roles of the main Opposition Leader include holding the executive accountable, preparing the opposition to become an ‘alternative government’; scrutinizing and ensuring that proposed legislations are in the best interest of the people engaging the government, as specified by the Constitution, in meaningful consultations on important appointments such as Chief Justice; and adequately representing, in the National Assembly and generally, the interests and concerns of citizens.
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Govt., Luncheon undermine NIS Board of Directors …it seems clear they have no idea or respect for their fiduciary duties - Ram Continuing to do nothing is not an option at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), according to Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, who has accused the directors, headed by Dr Roger Luncheon, of ignoring years of professional advice on resuscitating the 44 year old institution. Ram in his latest piece posted on chrisram.net says that the current Board has clearly run out of ideas and should be replaced and the administrative structure of the Scheme has to be modernised. Ram says too that indecision is not the only bugbear facing the Scheme and that bad decisions just happen to be the flip side of the same coin. He said that for years now, the Scheme has lost income on a deposit investment of some $6B in the failed CLICO. “Almost as a set-off it was given the CLICO building bringing the investment and accrued income down to around $5.2B.” According to Ram, “neither the Chairman nor the Minister of Finance under whose portfolio the Scheme falls has said anything about the recovery of this sum…If that sum has to be written off the Scheme’s reserves would
take a huge dent.” Ram urges that a decision be taken on the CLICO receivable, since keeping it on the books seems increasingly meaningless. September last marked 44 years since the NIS was launched by Prime Minister Forbes Burnham’s Government, “It also marked twenty-one years of the control of the NIS by the PPP/ C Government and the Chairmanship of another Forbes, this time bearing the surname Luncheon.” Ram says that Luncheon has led the NIS into a state where the Pension Reserves are now being used up by about two billion dollars per year. According to Ram, NIS was a scheme that seeks to balance out its long-term liabilities against its assets and revenues. The way this is achieved is by way of periodic evaluations carried out by external independent actuaries. The process, he said, is very scientific and involves a review of all the data on active and past contributors, past and projected future income and expenses – of which pension benefits are always the more significant item – leading to recommendations generally
Chairman of the Board of Directors of NIS, Dr. Roger Luncheon
Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram
designed to maintain/restore the actuarial balance of the Scheme. The last three such reports and recommendations by the independent actuaries were done at December 31, 2001, 2006 and 2011. “The recommendations were largely ignored or worse treated by Roger Luncheon and his directors with such disdain that it seems clear that they have no idea or respect for their fiduciary duties and were just there for the ride.” Ram said too that apart from Luncheon himself, there are three other directors who have been on the Board since 1992 namely Paul Cheong and trade unionists Komal Chand and Earl Welch. “Their contribution is hard to measure,” said Ram. He said that “They and their fellow directors have
largely sat back and allowed Luncheon and the Government acting as the shadow director to make – or not make – the important policy decisions, including those on the recommendations of the actuary.” He said that even as the Scheme started to show signs of strain, the Government undermined the board and the viability of the Scheme by straight political considerations. According to Ram, It is not as if Burnham treated the Scheme more seriously than the PPP/C “but wrong as he was, he had the luxury of time on his hand.” He explained that any Scheme takes years to mature and no one qualified for a pension until s/he has made 750 equivalent weekly contributions or about fifteen years.
Monday October 14, 2013
Venezuela lodges protest with Guyana Govt. - insists detained vessel and crew were in its territory Upon the directive of President Donald Ramotar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, made contact on Friday with the Minister of External Relations of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Elías Jaua, to discuss the matter of the arrest of the RV Teknik Perdana by a Venezuelan naval vessel the previous day. The Ministers have agreed that dialogue was essential in an effort to find a peaceful solution to this matter and to preserve the relations which had developed between the two countries in recent years. In this regard, they agreed to meet in the coming week. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan authorities are insisting that the vessel it seized and detained along with its crew was in fact in that country’s territory. The Foreign Ministry yesterday issued a note of protest to Guyana for oil exploration work. According to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, “Trooper Bolivarian Navy Ocean Surveillance ‘Yekuana’ (PO-13) on Thursday at 17:00hrs detected and intercepted the vessel, which was, “in maritime space corresponding to our Exclusive Economic Zone.” The Venezuelan authorities said that they were of the opinion that the vessel which left Port Georgetown two days earlier was illegally operating in its territory. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said that the vessel was carrying out scientific research with the support of sensors (sonar), without
authorization from the Venezuelan authorities As a result the vessel was directed to discontinue the research work and was asked to accompany the Venezuelan authorities to dock Morro Valdez, located on Isla Margarita, Nueva Esparta State. The vessel, according to the Venezuelan authorities, arrived at the dock yesterday morning at 06:00 hours. They said that this was done in order to make appropriate inquiries under the International Maritime Law (DIM). It was further stated that “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its deep concern about the way in which foreign vessels authorized by the Government of Guyana burst without due authority in the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of Venezuela”. “The Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela invites the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guyana to provide a satisfactory explanation for this disturbing fact,” says the note that was dispatched. The Foreign Ministry said that “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterates its commitment to peace and will not return to past situations of confrontation with the sister Republic of Guyana, as well as continue to persevere in the path opened by Commander Hugo Chavez to promote relations cooperation among peoples and strengthen the Latin American and Caribbean integration.”
Monday October 14, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 17
CASSAVA beer anyone….? The region could be figuratively sitting on a pot of gold if it moves swiftly to transform its cassava industry as a major income earner. Cassava is well on its way to turning around investment opportunities for the better in some Africa countries, participants of workshop on Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition heard last Thursday. Vassel Stewart of the Caribbean Agriculture Business Association believes that cassava can replace several imports that cost the Caribbean more than $3 billion annually. These include wheat, potatoes and corn. “When Columbus came
to the Region it is a fact that the Amerindians in Jamaica were already producing and consuming cassava, so why is it taking us almost 400 years to see this as an industry for development?” he queried. “It’s traditional, it grows well here, and cassava is one of those crops that has the potential to produce a wide range of value added products.” Those products can range from flour and starch. But one of the major transformative investments lies in the brewing of beer from cassava. Stewart said that Red Stripe, the beer manufacturing company out of Jamaica is looking to produce beer from Cassava, a model being used
in some African countries already. “The potential for the brewing industry has become
Monday October 14, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): A new person in your life is sparking some questions in your own mind -where are you going -- how soon do you need to get there? Answers won't come easy, and they shouldn't. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Plans are shifting out of place today -- but don't waste time trying to figure out why. Instead, you should direct your energy toward formulating the most effective reaction to the new situation. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): When you aim at your target today, switch off your emotions. Doubt, fear -- even confidence -- must get pushed aside or else you may miss your mark. Approach everything with an analytical eye and there will be no doubts you can't explain away. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): The rat race is getting especially rough right now, and not for the right reasons. If you're getting overwhelmed by the crowds, step out -- you won't miss out on any big opportunities, despite what others may say. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Everywhere you go will be crowded and active today, so get ready for some sensory overload. To some extent, you'll get a rush from the crowds. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): Everyone is taking their own journey through life, and that's liberating -- but it can also be isolating, because no one else can truly understand
what you are experiencing. ********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): If social juggling were an Olympic sport, you'd snag the gold for sure. Finalize tentative plans with a friend today. This marathon-length game of phone tag needs to come to an end. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): Memories of an awkward moment still hang in the air -- don't you think it's time one of you reached out and made an effort to reconnect? ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Whether you realize it or not, you're in the midst of some amazing changes right now. Trouble is that the most productive ones usually take the longest to complete. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Sharing your life can be tricky, but you're handling the balancing act quite well -especially now. The only thing you may want to watch out for is spreading yourself too thin. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18): You're not weak if you ask for help. Before things get to the panic phase, seek the assistance you know you need. Friends who have been there before are waiting for you to ask -- they have some wise advice you need to hear. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): If you reach too high for your goals, you may end up disappointing yourself. You hold yourself to exceptionally high standards, and it's been working for you -- to a certain extent.
one of international focus, in fact, Sam Miller which is the second largest brewing company in the world, a UK based company, has been producing beer from cassava since 2011. They started in Mozambique, they have moved to Ghana, and they have a plan by 2015 to be producing beer from cassava in six African countries… what we seeking to do in the Caribbean now, there is a learning potential, in fact the International Centre for Brewery and Distillery did a lot of work in developing beer from cassava.” But investing in such a venture is not as clear-cut as
it sounds. In fact, Stewart pointed out that it will need a higher level of commitment from government and the private sector as well. “What happened in Mozambique and Ghana is that the government took a serious policy decision, the duty on alcohol beverages and beer is 40%, to get the private sector to invest, they dropped the duty for cassava beer to 10%” . The cassava industry will also have to be able to sustain itself while churning out enough yield to keep up with demands. Stewart explained that in some parts of the region cassava is being
produced at ten tonnes per acre, but to keep up with a beer production market as well and food market, production will have to stand strongly at more than 45 tonnes per acre. Among the other goals to be met would be maintaining a price that would pay those in production as Stewart said “to avoid out pricing yourself out of the industry… you need ten cents US per pound before we can talk about an industry.” Stewart represents the Caribbean Agri Business Association, CABA which is based in Trinidad and has been promoting locally grown cassava and sweet potato as healthy foods.
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SERVICES For a free Gospel package text your name and address to 675-7292
Kaieteur News
Monday October 14, 2013
PROPERTY FOR SALE
FOR RENT
VEHICLE FOR SALE
We repair LCD, Plasma, LED TV, Microwave, Washer & Dryer, Amp etc. Call:6472677/693-3277
VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, g e n e r a t o r, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call: 592-6248704/ 592-684-9203
To rent 2 Bedrooms fully furnished Short term apartment- Call:222-7891/ 609-9202
1 White AT170 Toyota Carina, in excellent condition, $680,000 negotiable – Call: 264-2454, 613-4596, 618-8537.
Apartment to rent & houses for sale- Call:687-3017
Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Profressional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115
‘BB’ Eccles- Concrete house 3 bedrooms upstairs, downstairs 2 self contained apartments, 2 bedrooms each toilet & bath $28MCall:227-8409/660-4764
Ford F150, Extra Cab with back cover automatic – Contact: 645-5596. Crash 2005 Vitz - $850,000 “as is” negotiable – Call:617-7113
Professional and affordable landscaping and tree trimming services. Budram’s Landscaping ServicesCall:656-1326/678-0058
Prime Property for sale – Light Street, Alberttown – Contact:639-3619, 619-7299
Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call:2259032,647-2943
One –Two storey business property (transported) @ Brickery public road, E.B.DCall: 660-8128
Gold Dust Agency: Miners do you need workers for the interior? Then call us nowTel:671-5149 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick) We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699 Need your house and carpet wash-Call Dorian ParrisCall:672-7759/661-5324 CEI Travel & Tourism Services 33 Co-op Crescent Shopping Mall Mackenzie, Linden-Phone:444-2430,6814350caribeuropean @gmail.com A licensed driver is seeking employment – Call: 672-8137. Upholstery, recovering of sofas chairs, recliner, couches and more- Call:6135132 Computer Technician: Home and office visits at your comfort!! Brian Moe@6423543/ FB:Brian.Moe.165 For a free Gospel package text your name and address to 675-7292 TO LET
Property for sale- Call: 627-5416
La Penitence $7.5M, Kitty $30M, ‘AA’ Eccles $60M, Water street (commercial properties) US$26M- Call Diana 227-2256/626-9382 Newly painted 6 bedrooms house, concrete fence and garage $15.5M negotiableCall:604-4174/619-5332 2 Storey business premises: 94 Campbell Avenue, C/VilleCall:680-8857/647-300-4294 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content Mahaicony, E.C.D: US$175,000: Call:813-3194219: rpooran@ tampabay.rr.com Two storey house, six bedrooms & two kitchen @ block ‘8’ Tushen, E.B.ECall:650-2982 VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592-6248704/592-684-9203 Property for saleContact:699-9926 FOR SALE/RENT
2 bedroom house, Diamond New Scheme; $60,000 per month - Call:618-8655/ 2161836 PRIME BUSINESS SPOT LOCATED AT 251 THOMAS STREET LOTS OF LAND SPACE PLUS BUILDING THEREON. TEL: 683-4803.
CAR RENTAL Fab’s Rental: Cars to RentCall:671-6051/609-6890 Dolly’s Car Rental- Call: 225-7126/ 226-3693dollysautorental@yahoo.com/ www.dollysautorental.com
1 Toyota- IST, Fun Cargo, AT212, AT192, AT170, Ceres, G-Touring Wagon & TundraCall:644-5096 or 697-1453
Aidan’s Car Rental & PickupCall: 645-7981/ 698-7807 First Choice Car Rental: Cars as low as $5,000 per day- Call:668-0306/6947817/225-6337 Wings Car Rental- Call:6431131 FOR HIRE
Nissan Pathfinder – PEE series; owner driven; in excellent condition. For Inspection and further information – Call:654-0533 or 678-3073 Crash 2005 Vitz - $850,000 “as is” negotiable – Call:6177113
VEHICLE FOR SALE (1) One Mazda Axela sports PRR series, 4 wheel disc brakes, silver $2M negotiable- Call:600-8516/ 644-8516 2007 Toyota ‘BB’ $2.5M, 2007 Rav4 $6.4M, Spacio $2.1M, Premio $2.5M. vehicles fully loaded- Call: 617-2891 2- 2007 Toyota AvensisCall:698-0674 One RZ minibus and one two door car- Call:616-2409 1 Toyota Hilux single cab. Excellent condition, first owner- Call:657-3707 1 Toyota Fielder 2005 model (colour silver). Excellent condition, fully loaded. Late PMM series $2M NegCall:266-5282/602-6518 Quicky’s Auto Sale: just arrived 2006 Premio, mirror caps door handles etc. wholesale and retail- Call:6772482 We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses- Call:6803154 AT192, 212, Allion, Premio, Audi, BNN RZ mini buses, AT170, Marino. Cash or terms- Call:680-3154 One Toyota Pitbull minibus, late BPP series $3.5M negCall:675-5165/672-2212
Truck for hire to the interior etc- Call:602-5755
WANTED
Designing and sewing classes @ Schoon-Ord, W.B.D - Call Sharmela 6262629/676-6312 Designing and sewing classes @ Schoon-Ord, W.B.D- Call Sharmela 6262629/676-6312
Baking & sewing courses @ W.C.D- Call:276-4018/6936335
One Bedford model M lorry with winch installed (unused). New reg $6M negotiable- Call Selwyn 625-9263
Premio, vitz call: 679-7139
Santa Misson Capoey Lake 16th October – Call - Joy: 2181285/649-9059 Suriname Diwali Tour 2nd – 5th November and 28th – 1st December –Tel: 644-0185, 639-2663, 665-5171, 2278290.
CAKES & PASTRIES
Nissan Pathfinder – PEE series; owner driven; in excellent condition. For inspection and further information – Call:654-0533 or 678-3073.
One AT192 Carina, HB-5151, excellent condition; price negotiable – Tel:687-4154
TOUR
American Pool Table - Call: 277-0578
Toyota Premio $2.5M negotiable; Toyota Carina AT212, 2M negotiable, both fully loaded and unregistered – Tel:226-5473 (Must see!)
One Toyota G/Wagon – Call:622-7831 (excellent condition).
EDUCATIONAL A P / S AT / C X C / I G C S E : English classes, personalized tutoringCall:612-4821 (after 4pm)/ 274-0437 (after 7pm) Earn a certificate in foundation of Home nursing, child care, Geriatric nursingCall:692-2063/613-0803/2260763 Private tutor – teaching, reading, writing, grammar at home – Tel:696-7467 DRESSMAKING
Furnished Single studio apartment, 3rd floor- Tel:2332770
SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773 Nail Technology & Cosmetology courseCall:604-3002/629-3497
Liquor Restaurant; 107 Middle Rd Lapenitence – Tel:225-7796.
(From page 19)
1 Electrician to do domestic work and some industrial ideas- Call:692-5175 1 Handyman to work in yardcall:692-5175 Salesgirl required for Indian Shop Sheriff Street. High salary. Any age- Call:6042164 Lady tailor required for Indian Garie store, Sheriff Street. GY$25,000 per week salary- call:604-2164 Salesgirl required for Indian clothes store, late shift 3pm to 9pm. Must live around Sheriff Street- Call:604-2164 (1) One Mazda Axela sports PRR series, 4 wheel disc brakes, silver $2M negotiableCall:600-8516/644-8516 Skilled carpenters – Contact:668-9863, 615-7526
One customized 3 tons canter truck and on bush truck capable for interior transportCall:231-6560/672-5281/6437666 Hilux D4D pick up extra cab, GPP series- Call:644-5096/ 697-1453 One Bedford model M lorry with winch installed (unused). New reg $6M negotiable- Call Selwyn 6259263 Fully reconditioned stick gear and automatic pitbull and 1RZ Mini-buses. Tel: 6418647 19 Seater Pitbull. Bargain Price. Tel:641-8647 Driven Auto Sales – new arrivals sale – Unregistered; fully loaded Toyota Sienta$2,275,000 & Madza Axela $2,375,000 – Tel: 643-6565,2269931 2004 Audi A4, 4WD, sunroof, PRR & 2003 Allion, Alarm, Music, 16" Chrome-rims, PNN – Tel: 669-7298, 662-6775
VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 Leyland DAF GNN 2131. Price $3.8M negotiableCall:259-1370/650-3447 2008 White Tacoma 4x4 automatic, 32,000 miles, 4" lift kit with big rims & tyres. Excellent condition - Call: 610-5370 Hilux D4D pick up extra cab, GPP series- Call:644-5096/ 697-1453 1 Leyland DAF 60 single axle & dump - Call: 216-1315/ 613-6615 Glanza V, Turbo, HKS super flow exhaust PPP series, manual – Contact: 638-8599. One white Toyota Tundra $2.5M, good condition- Call Suresh 225-6455/603-8045 Green Toyota Allion, PNN series $1.9M- Call:669-2650/ 677-5559 Mitsubishi Galant $1.1MCall:645-3605 Smart Choice Auto: Premio, Allion, IST, Runx, FielderCall:652-3820/665-4529 Best 2007 Nissan Titan flair, trunk cover, 22" mags, air brush $3.5M- call:674-9593 Suzuki Escudo (Vitara): White, 2000cc, gas, engine, full- featured SUV in excellent condition-Call:629-2404/6238172 2 Toyota Tundra F150, Suzuki sports car, Chevy express van- Call:227-8519/653-4287 (owner leaving) ALYEA’S AUTO SALE: PREMIO 2004/2003. ALL PRICES ARE NEG. 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK- TEL:2317284/622-3823 1 RZ minibus fully loaded, crash bar. Excellent working condition $1.6M negotiableCall:675-3773 1 Toyota- IST, Fun Cargo, AT212, AT192, AT170, Ceres, G-Touring Wagon & TundraCall: 644-5096 or 697-1453 One Toyota minibus BJJ series-Call:678-5887, 6507354, 619-0007 New 2013 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabsCall:691-0234 1 NZE Toyota Corolla PRR 2700, 55KM- Call:684-4627 1-2005 Toyota Avensis $2.2M. Looks and runs good- Call:686-4020 New ATVs: Introductory price $1,199,000 (Duty Free)Call:691-0234
Monday October 14, 2013
FOR SALE Ford F150 spare parts, new and used- Call:685-2584 Airless paint sprayer, generators, welding sets, air compressors, wet & dry vacuum, Robin grasscutterCall:227-8519/653-4287 Pitbull pups fully vaccinated - Call Johnny: 628-9884 2 power washers, tools, electric guitars, music sets & speakers (lots more items)Call:227-8519/653-4287 Pork wholesale only $300 per LB- Call:266-2711/6094594 WHOLE SALE PLUCK CHICKEN- CALL:6760931 1 ATV 500 Honda, 2 Shocks – 2010 model going cheap. Duties already paid Call:642-1537 Pure bred German Shepherd puppies, fully vaccinated and de-wormed- Call:6822148/655-8674 Honda welders; 270 amps – 15,000 watts generator – Tel:611-5114/220-4495 1 Pool table cloth, ball , cue stick, pokets, rubber , coins, shoot, chalk, springs, rocks call:669-9927 One complete Sawmill operation with large spaceContact Swamee 614-1466 One 8000 Ford tractor & one Ford 450 2005 Towing truck – Call: 689-1864 (Guru) / 6945599 (Floyd). 1 Toyota Carina 212 excellent condition- Call:629-9511 or 625-9511 Wages envelopes $7- Call: 671-0601 Live/pluck chicken-Call:6504421/220-9203 Diving Suits- Call:265-3449/ 613-5158 One AT192 Toyota Carina. Price negotiable- Call:6841512/614-2477 Games PS2 $900, PSP $900, X-Box 360 $2600 & PS3 $2600- Call:672-2566 Original Games- Call:6722566 Energy saver bulbs/ power tools- Call:680-6374 New 06 Tacoma lights front/ rear- Call:641-1127
Kaieteur News
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
VACANCY
LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.
Tundra ‘Woman Driven’ Tel:627-1983 New Kenmore stainless steel French-door-bottom refrigerator 25cuft and 30" Gas stove- Call:629-2404/ 623-8172
One professional seamstress & one frame builder- Call: 610-7005/ 219-1342 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistantCall: 663-1751/684-2838
Tierier pups and dogs for sale - Tel:649-4247 One trawler for sale with engine and gear box. Going cheap!- Contact:642-6780
Fabric World – 140 Regent & Light St. for experienced cashier & salesgirls, apply in person with written application.
Flood light, diesel 6.5 KVA – Call: 696-9962
One general domestic. Must be able to prepare vegetarian meals. Apply @ Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling
Spare for washing machine, microwaves,fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call:225-9032,647-2943 Potting Soil and quality cow mould- Call: 656-1326/678-0058 1 German Roller & 1 Hauler Truck (Low bed)Contact:681-2995 1 Honda ATV 450 bikeCall:626-3817 Video recording spy pen $6,500- Call:671-6177 Attention Miners!! On sale: Insect treated mosquito nettings for hammockCall:690-5461 Pitbull pups- Call:683-6674 Blackberry cell phone model (9650). Excellent condition (like brand new)- Call Keith 624-6464 1 Gold land @ PotaroCall:628-7605 Redge Vac 6.5 16gals elet, carpet steamer, cleaner & steamer, tile cutter, air conditioners and 3 computerCall:686-5625
40 KVA Diesel generator; 3 phase – Call:696-9962
1 CBR 600cc 2004 model, excellent condition- Call:2663966/669-5401 Engine for sale 6.9 Cummings for truck or other needsCall:615-3023 10 acres land next to creek @ Splashmins, Linden Highway. 2002 Toyota Allion carCall:687-1392 9 weeks old pitbull pups. Ideal for breeding, security and show purposes- Call:648-9770 Clean Garden Earth & builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating, clearing & leveling done- Call:616-0617 or 663-3285 Massey, Yanmar Ford 5000 Logging/ Agriculture Tractors, parts, Loader & Ford Truck- Call:615-1578/ 694-3595: Tools & Chainsaw668-2831
“Duties already paid” - Call: 642-1537
WANTED Salesgirl required for Indian clothes store, late shift 3pm to 9pm. Must live around Sheriff Street- Call:604-2164 One three bedrooms house to rent- Call:617-4055 Porters to work in Grocery stall, Stabroek marketTel:226-9800/683-9500
5705 John Deere tractor, 1Rome plough 20 dish, 1- 1630 Bedford truck articulated with 2 trailer- Call:693-4596
Vacancy exists for security. Apply at Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling
Lady tailor required for Indian Garie store, Sheriff Street. GY$25,000 per week salarycall:604-2164
2- M132 Lavarda Combine, 122RB Dragline, 3- Pressure pump 4x3 for gold field, 12640MF tractor 4WD, 1385MF tractor- Call:627-0447
Vacancy exists: Two sales representatives (male or female) & one driver. Must complete secondary schoolCall:227-1042
1 Handyman, 1 watchman, 2 labourers, 1 clerk and workers to work on farm (must be 30 years and over)- Call:265-3586 One experience mechanic to work in interior must know to repair minibus & solid DEF vehicle- Call:681-6044
1 CAT standby 3306, 194 KVA 3 phase 60 cycleCall:641-8472 LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964
Office Clerk: CXC English/ Mathematics- Call:225-0188/ 225-6070 TO LET Latchman Racktoo Office Complex: 43 Croal street Stabroek- Call:225-3269/6219741
One trawler for sale with engine and gear box. Going cheap!- Contact:642-6780
2010 4-KTA, 35-G4, 1000 KW60HZ, 480V- 1.800 RPM- Cheap earth delivery to spot E.C.D and E.B.D- Call:627Call:609-8989 9977 or 698-0182 Honda Foreman; ATV Double Kobelco Excavator; Lc-300 – Shocks – Call:696-9962 Call:696-9962 Flood light, diesel 6.5 KVA – Honda Foreman; ATV Double Call:696-9962 Shocks – Call:696-9962 40 KVA Diesel generator; 3 1 ATV 500 Honda, Shocks – phase – Call:696-9962 2010 model going cheap. Kobelco Excavator; LC-300 – Call:696-9962
Page 19
One bedroom apartment at ‘B’ field Sophia at $40,000 per month- Call:661-3801 LAND FOR SALE 50 Acres estate land at Grant Belfield lower Pomeroon river- Call:771-5403 or 6718100 D.D’Oliveira Waiakabra, Linden Highway: 1,409’x403’ or 13.73 acres. Concrete house thereon. 1,100 feet from HighwayCall:619-4152 At Blankenburg public road, W.C.D. 38x150 & 39x150 $16M each- Call: 666-3619 Double lots located at 5 Rosetta, Canal #2, W.B.D. Price $10M neg- Call: 689-3413 132X48 Land for sale @ 80 Garnett Street, Campbellville by owner- Call:680-0072/6195267 Parfaite Harmonie with foundation $1.3M- Call:6757292 Transported house and cultivated lots (3 acres) at lot 3D Ledesir Canal #1 Polder, W.B.D. Owner migratingCall:664-9923 Urgently needed 1 plot of land to buy in Parfaite Harmony, Eccles & Herstelling- Call:675-7295/ 218-5591
Furnished Apartment to rent @ ‘AA’ Eccles- Call:686-5625 Harmony Inn: Apartments fully furnished, airconditioned apartments: As low as $5000 per night- Call: 668-0306/ 602-8769/694-7817 Business place to rent @ Charlotte Street- Call:691-1198 Fully secured concrete bond 87x31ft (private compound) @ Mc Doom public road back of Police OutpostCall:233-0570 Furnished executive one or two bedroom suite in Diamond. Ideal for foreigners. Call: 609-2466 Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 679-7139 Campbellville $90,000$140,000, Atlantic Gardens US$900, Lamaha Gardens US$1200, Kingston US$900Call Diana 227-2256/626-9382 2 bedrooms bottom flat apartment for rent @ 4th St. Diamond N/Scheme, E.B.DCall:615-3023 Business spot at 14 Peter’s Hall public road, E.B.DCall:233-5110/668-0309
One experience driver to work in interior age 25 and up- Call:681-6044 Contract cars- Contact City Taxi Service- 660-1100/2267150 Live in waitress- Call:643-9007/ 697-2978 One live in maid age 24-45Call:697-2129
WANTED 2 Persons to work in kitchen- Please call 2336765 between 18hr-19hr One domestic, live in & live out babysitter from 12pm8pm- Call:225-4492 Experience Jetmen, marakmen, operators & cooks for interior- Call:6715149 Security guards to work with mining firm- Call:642-7963/ 226-9768 1 Electrician to do domestic work and some industrial ideas- Call:692-5175 1 Handyman to work in yardcall:692-5175 Bouncers and bartenders (2yrs experience) apply in person between TuesdaySaturday 4pm-6pm @El Club Latino- Call:616-2902 One hire car driver from West Bank or West Coast Demerara- Call:616-0111 Boat captain & partner to live in and work in Essequibo River Resort-Tel:226-0240 One female general worker for shift system (8hrs)- Call:2286337
Salesgirl required for Indian Shop Sheriff Street. High salary. Any age- Call:604-2164
Receptionist/cleaner; attractive wages offered; shift work – Call: 225-5640 (Between 8:00am & 5:00pm; Mon-Sat).
Urgently needed 1 plot of land to buy in Parfaite Harmonie, Eccles & Herstelling- Call:6757295/218-5591
One Mechanic must know to repair Cummings and Perkins engine – Contact: 681-6044
Painters/Carpenters Work with Limited Supervision with own tools Tel: 225-0188/2256070
One experienced welder Contact: 681-6044
One handy man for shop in the Interior, age 20-25 $80,000Call:642-0176 One cook for the interior, age 20-35 $80,000- Call:642-0176 Experienced dispatchers & drivers @ Princess HotelCall:265-7076/616-5419 Attractive live in waitressCall:327-0252/674-4665
One gasoline mechanic must know to fix Rz Hilux, etc – Contact: 681-6044 Skilled carpenters – Contact:668-9863, 615-7526 Motorcycle with tools apply; Guyana Variety Store & Nut Centre; Cummings & Light Streets – Call:227-3939 Body work man to spray motorcycle: Cummings & Middle Streets – Call:2273939 One domestic help needed to work in the East Bank Demerara area – Please contact:681-6185
MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse available- Call:657-5979
Waitress and night cook to work at bar in town – Call:223-4778 or 626-0189 (Continued on page 18)
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Monday October 14, 2013
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Kaieteur News
Monday October 14, 2013
Mayor of big Venezuelan city CARICOM deeply concerned about arrested in corruption probe political crisis in Turks and Caicos Islands CARACAS (Reuters) State security agents have arrested the mayor of Venezuela’s third-largest city for alleged corruption after President Nicolas Maduro asked lawmakers to grant him decree powers he says he needs to fight graft. Valencia mayor Edgardo Parra, a member of the ruling Socialist Party, was picked up at his home late Saturday by the national intelligence agency Sebin, the attorney general’s office said. It was the most high profile arrest so far in the president’s anticorruption campaign. Venezuela’s opposition says Maduro’s request last week for fast-track powers is aimed at targeting them under the guise of battling graft. The government denies this, and says Parra’s arrest proves it will go after corruption wherever it exists. “We will not protect anyone who commits a crime involving public funds, which are sacred because it’s
Edgardo Parra the people’s money. There are no untouchables here,” said Francisco Ameliach, the governor of Carabobo state and another member of the ruling party, told state media. Valencia, a city of about two million people, is the capital of Carabobo. A statement from the attorneygeneral’s office said Sebin agents had found “criminal items of interest” during the
raid to arrest the mayor. It said two other people were detained and accused of running “a sort of parallel office” that managed more than a dozen cooperatives and companies with the mayor’s office. The move against Parra came as the National Assembly is expected to approve Maduro’s request he be given decree powers for 12 months in a process last used during the 14-year rule of his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. Maduro says fasttrack decree powers are essential so he can step up an anti-graft campaign which has included the arrest of the boss of a big state mining firm, and uncovered the theft of $84 million from a fund partially financed by China. Most of the 278 people who the government says have been rounded up so far are less well-connected, prompting critics to complain that Maduro is ignoring graft closer to home.
UNITED NATIONS CMC – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has reiterated its deep concern about the political crisis in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Speaking on behalf of CARICOM, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Rodney Charles, told the UN’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) annual debate that the political crisis, precipitated by the three-year suspension of elected governments in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009, has been the subject of “particular concern at the highest political level of CARICOM. “A fact-finding mission sent to the Islands has found that the conduct of a referendum was vital,” he said. “The report of the factfinding mission has affirmed that it was the responsibility of the administering Power to
provide the means for full selfdetermination and to ensure that the same standards of democracy that prevail in the United Kingdom should be extended to the Territory,” he added. Charles noted that the Committee heard petitioners every year about democratic deficiencies in the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, adding that the resumption of formal cooperation between the administering Powers and the Fourth Committee was “crucial to achieving the goal of decolonization.” Concerning the situation in the Western Sahara, the Trinidad and Tobago diplomat said CARICOM maintains its principal support for the people and commended the efforts undertaken by the UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon’s envoy. He said decades of colonization point to “irrefutable lessons,” urging
Trinidad Guardian - A high-ranking member of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) has been named as the critical link in an ongoing United Kingdom police investigation into stolen luxury vehicles. Deputy political leader of the ILP, Anna DeonarineRampersad stands as the key figure to help police, both local and abroad, unlock a multi-million dollar luxury car racket. However, although she has been closely linked to the international broker at the centre of the investigation, to date Deonarine-Rampersad has failed to provide police with the relevant information and this has stalled the investigative process. This
latest information comes just days before the heavily contested local government elections and just days after one ILP local government candidate, Kerwin Bucchan, was granted $.25 million bail for a gun-related charge. According to a police file seen by the Sunday Guardian, investigators have tried unsuccessfully for the past two years to get DeonarineRampersad to provide transaction details from when she purchased a vehicle from the UK-based broker. The police file contains an invoice between the UK-based broker and a company where Deonarine-Rampersad is listed as a director for the purchase of a black Range Rover Sport.
Rodney Charles the United Nations to “refine approaches and facilitate supportive mechanisms to minimize the legacies of colonialism, such as ethnic tensions and economic exploitation. “Adequate follow-up by the United Nations is necessary, as are more interactive dialogue and requisite political analysis,” he said.
Nurses to press govt. ILP official in Luxury car racket for housing benefits
Jamaica Gleaner - The island’s nurses are to press government to provide to provide them with housing benefits in light of the large numbers of them who are living without a home. A resolution was passed at the just concluded 67th annual general meeting and 43rd island conference of the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica (NAJ) in Runaway Bay, St Ann for the nursing group to seek assistance from the government to secure housing solutions for the membership. “It is the view of general membership that government has the responsibility to assist the nurses in securing housing solutions,” Anthonette PattersonBartley told The Gleaner, prior
to her being installed for another term as president Saturday evening. “The general membership asserted that housing is a basic commodity for all nurses. As a result of that a resolution was passed by the general membership to be sent to the ministry of finance and the ministry of health seeking assistance in providing housing solutions for nurses,” she added. Nurses have been clamouring for housing assistance for over a decade. In October 2003, the then newly installed NAJ president, Valda LawrenceCampbell, raised the topic. She noted, then, that the 2003-2006 wage proposal for nurses that went before the Permanent Salaries Review
Anthonette Patterson-Bartley Board (PSRB) included a request for improved access to housing for nurses. “What you find is that nurses have worked long and hard for years and have not even been able to achieve a house through the National Housing Trust,” LawrenceCampbell told The Gleaner in a report published on October 11, 2003. But On Saturday, almost 10 years to the day, PattersonBartley revealed that the NAJ has recognised still “that over 95 per cent of nurses live in rented apartment or family dwelling”. Another issue which was a major concern for the nurses was the long delay to act on instructions to make salary deductions to financial institutions to honour various obligations.
Anna DeonarineRampersad Police said DeonarineRampersad failed to provide any documents either prove ownership of the vehicle or to assist with the investigation.
British navy stages US$92m drug bust in Caribbean LONDON - CMC – The British Royal Navy says a warship deployed in the Caribbean seized marijuana and cocaine with a street value of £58 million (US$92 million) in two busts just days apart. On Saturday, the Royal Navy said in the most recent bust, the HMS Lancaster intercepted £55 million (one pound = US$1.60) of cocaine and £3 million of
marijuana – one bust took place in the middle of a thunderstorm, while the second saw Lancaster’s Royal Marines sniper “shoot out the engine of a speedboat.” The Navy said Lancaster’s “double whammy” is the fifth and sixth busts in a couple of months – bringing her tally to over £160 million. The cocaine seizure
began when the frigate responded to a call from a Canadian tanker, which spotted a speedboat dashing across the Western Caribbean. Tests confirmed the 400kg drugs were pure cocaine, worth about £17 million – but cut several times over for sale on the streets, its value would be £55 million.
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Prime Minister calls for implementation of growth and transformation agenda WASHINGTON USA — The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Friday received the prime minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell, in a protocolary meeting in which he who spoke about his country’s efforts to strengthen its economy and promote an agenda for recovery, growth and transformation. Mitchell was welcomed by the OAS secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, the chair of the Permanent Council, Ambassador Walter Alban, and the OAS assistant secretary general, Albert Ramdin. Mitchell, who is visiting Washington as part of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said that in the nearly 40 years since his country became
independent, important lessons have been learned. “During the darkest hours it was not enough for us to focus only on our challenges, we needed to also focus on the opportunities. Hope is an immeasurable source of energy that can help convene people, forge consensus and deal with the challenges of the day while seizing opportunities for a better tomorrow,” he said. With respect to the challenges, the prime minister of Grenada mentioned the initiatives undertaken to rebuild the country, to promote a clean and green economy disconnected from energy production monopolies, and to promote a health and wellness industry based on education. He also spoke of efforts to promote tourism, trade and agriculture in Grenada and the
idea of a constitutional reform with the support and assistance of regional partners such as the OAS. In analyzing the renewal agenda, Mitchell alluded to the transformation of the OAS and the importance of considering the new communication technologies and social media that have transformed security, democracy and human rights, and placed special emphasis on the need to provide opportunities for innovation, competitiveness and investment for new generations. In his speech, the Grenada leader reiterated his country’s active commitment to dialogue within the OAS, which is built around the idea of forging a “renewed and revitalized Organization.” “We do not believe that it is enough for this body to
Colombian peace talks stall, tension mounts HAVANA (Reuters) - The Colombian government and left-wing FARC rebels ended a 15th round of peace negotiations yesterday trading accusation over responsibility for the slow pace of the talks and for the first time failing to issue a joint statement on their progress. Polls in Colombia show the population is tiring of the talks, which have dragged on for 11 months with only a partial accord on agrarian reform, the first point of a sixpoint agenda. The parties currently are negotiating on the rebels’ future political participation and still have before them the issues of reparations to war victims, the narcotics trade, ceasing hostilities and implementing the agreement. The Colombian government wants a peace accord by the November start of a national electoral cycle, a deadline both parties and observers now say will not be met and may complicate the talks. That process concludes with a presidential vote in May. President Juan Manuel Santos, who is expected to run for a second term, has staked his legacy on bringing an end to the conflict, and both sides have now floated the idea of a pause in negotiations until the elections are over. The government issued a
statement on Saturday, for the first time a day before the round of negotiations ended, accusing rebel negotiators of deliberately stalling the deliberations by bringing up issues not on the agenda and using the talks for propaganda purposes. “Since these conversations began it has been the government delegation that has insisted that these talks advance more quickly toward an agreement,” the statement, read by lead negotiator and former Colombian Vice President Humberto de la Calle, said. The government views “with concern” the slow pace of negotiations and has “communicated this to the guerillas and public,” it said. Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) accused the government on Sunday of not taking seriously 100 proposals it had offered on the second point of the agenda, which includes rights and guarantees for the exercise of political opposition after a peace is signed. “It makes no sense to try to paint the insurgency as the side of the dialogue that is holding back the pace of the (peace) process,” the statement said, threatening to break an agreement not to make the details of negotiations public, calling the agreement “absurd.”
At issue for the rebels is a government initiative approved by the Colombian Constitutional Court in August that would allow for the prosecution of FARC leaders and a proposed referendum, currently before lawmakers, that would make any peace deal conditional on a popular vote set to occur during national elections next year. “It’s not realistic to think we would allow … unilateralism over (such) crucial issues,” the statement said. The FARC, the larger of two guerrilla groups, with some 8,000 troops, repeatedly has stated that an agreement cannot include prison time for any of its leaders. The war, which has raged for 50 years and is the last major guerilla conflict in Latin America, has killed more than 200,000 Colombians, mostly civilians, displaced millions and weighed down the fourth-largest economy in the region. The government has been working toward negotiations with the second group, the Colombian National Liberation Army, with about 3,000 members. The talks recess every few weeks with the next round set to begin October 23. They are being facilitated by Cuba and Norway and hosted in Havana even as fighting continues in Colombia.
focus only on our fears, in defining a new OAS we must give hope to the youth, hope to the private sector and hope to governments like mine that are seeking a deeper engagement with the region and seeking new sources of competitiveness and growth,” he said. In his welcoming remarks, the OAS secretary general said the presence of the prime minister of Grenada at the OAS “is confirmation of your commitment to the InterAmerican system and Grenada’s strong support for regional integration, a support that goes beyond the OAS and is reflected in the country’s activism and leadership within the Americas.” He also stressed the commitment of Mitchell to the promotion of science and technology innovation as tools for the advancement of the region’s development and his leadership in the formulation and development of the Caribbean Knowledge Learning Network. “Grenada is a valued member of the OAS and a country with which we have had a long and close partnership. It was the first of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries to join the OAS in 1975 and also the first CARICOM country to host a Regular Meeting of our General Assembly in 1977. This partnership has grown and now successfully
embraces activities and initiatives within the four main pillars of the OAS- democracy, development, security and human rights,” he said. The leader of the hemispheric Organization recalled that the OAS has supported the government of Grenada in the strengthening its electoral institutions and processes, with Electoral Observation Missions dating back to 1984, and also mentioned initiatives related to trade, tourism, sustainable development and security. “Our work to modernize the country’s civil registry system has been successful, with 100 per cent of birth records now digitized,” he said, and added that he expected this progress “would help strengthen governance, especially the delivery of services to citizens.” Insulza recognized the many challenges that Grenada has faced in recent years, including the devastating effects of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and the impact of the recent global economic recession. In this regard he highlighted the leadership of Mitchell in the efforts to rebuild the country, as well as the determination and commitment of the governments and people of Grenada. “I want to assure you that the OAS will continue to accompany Grenada as it seeks solutions to these and other problems,” he said, and
Dr Keith Mitchell cited as an example the regional conference on debt management in the Caribbean that will be organized jointly by the OAS, the government of Grenada and the Bertelsmann Foundation in November. The chair of the Permanent Council and Representative of Peru to the OAS, Ambassador Walter Alban, introduced Mitchell, alluding to his “enviable and long trajectory” in the service of his country and his people. “You represent a country in which the different cultures are the most important component of its human potential. The condition of a pluralistic and harmonious culture of your country enriches the gathering of the member states, and the considerations and deliberations of this Organization,” he concluded.
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MASS EVACUATION SAVES INDIAN LIVES AS CYCLONE LEAVES TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION G A N J A M / BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - A mass evacuation saved thousands of people from India’s fiercest cyclone in 14 years, but aid workers warned a million would need help after their homes and livelihoods were destroyed. Cyclone Phailin was expected to dissipate within 36 hours, losing momentum yesterday as it headed inland after making landfall from the Bay of Bengal, bringing winds of more than 200 kph (125 mph) that ripped apart tens of thousands of thatched huts, mangled power lines and tore down trees. Authorities in the eastern state of Odisha said the death toll stood at 15 people, all killed as the storm slammed in from the ocean. Most died under falling trees and one was crushed when the walls of her mud hut fell in. The low number of casualties stands in contrast to the 10,000 killed by Odisha’s last big cyclone in 1999.
The building of hundreds of shelters since, warnings which started five days before the storm and mass evacuations - often by force minimized loss of life, aid officials said. Almost a million people in Odisha (formerly Orissa) state and adjacent Andhra Pradesh spent the night in shelters, some after wading though surging rivers to higher ground. Others sought safety in schools or temples. “The loss of life has been contained this time with early information and speedy action of government,” said Sandeep Chachra, executive director of ActionAid India. Indian media commentators were effusive in praise for the evacuation operation and for accurate forecasting by India’s Met office. Before the storm, some foreign forecasters had warned that India was underestimating its strength. Authorities cancelled the holidays of civil servants during the popular Hindu Dussehra festival, deployed
disaster response teams with heavy equipment as well as helicopters and boats for rescue and relief operations. Over the years, organizations like the Red Cross have mobilized thousands of volunteers across the cyclone-prone region, who are not only trained in basic first aid but also help with evacuations and relief distribution. Drills are organized so people know what to do when an alert is issued, locking up their homes, leaving cattle in safe places and taking only a few clothes and important documents with them. “The 1999 cyclone was a real wake-up call for India. It was at a time when economic growth was high and India was seen as developing rapidly. It was embarrassing to be seen to be not taking care of their people, even with all this development,” said Unni Krishnan, head of disaster response for children’s charity Plan International.
Waves crash onto the shore at a fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. REUTERS/R Narendra The death of at least 89 worshippers at a temple celebrating Dussehra in central India yesterday was a reminder that disasters with many casualties remain common. In July floods and landslides killed nearly 6,000 people in India’s Himalayan foothills. Phailin left a trail of destruction along the coast, overturning cars and large trucks. Storm surges from the sea submerged farmland near the coast, while heavy rain flooded towns inland. Along the highway through Ganjam district in Odisha, the countryside was ravaged. An electricity tower lay in a mangled heap, poles were dislodged, lines tangled and power was out in much of the state. In villages, cranes lifted trees off crushed houses. A barber shop was tilted
to one side. The students’ common room at Berhampur University was a gaping hole, its facade knocked out by the cyclone. “The wind was so strong I couldn’t get out of here,” Gandhi Behera, a cook in a nearby snack shop said. The Indian Red Cross said its initial assessments showed that over 235,000 mud-and-thatch homes owned by poor fishing and farming communities had been destroyed in Ganjam district alone. It expects thousands of people to need help in coming days. Plan International said it was concerned about the health and sanitation needs of close to a million people and the impact of the storm on people’s livelihoods. “They cannot stay in the shelters for long as they are
overcrowded and sanitation issues will crop up with the spread of diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery, especially amongst young children,” Mangla Mohanty, head of the Indian Red Cross in Odisha, said by phone from Ganjam district. In some parts of the state, people were making their way through destroyed farmland toward their broken homes. Dozens crammed onto minitrucks and others trudged with sacks of belongings. Mothers carried babies in their arms. “There are no farms left. Everything has disappeared into the water,” said S. Dillirao, a paddy farmer, as he stood on his inundated land. Seawater had swept into his fields. “There’s no way a single crop will grow here now,” he said.
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Iran rejects West’s demand to ship out uranium stockpiles (Reuters) - Iran yesterday rejected the West’s demand to send sensitive nuclear material out of the country but signalled flexibility on other aspects of its atomic activities that worry world powers, ahead of renewed negotiations this week. Talks about Iran’s nuclear programme, due to start in Geneva tomorrow, will be the first since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has tried to improve relations with the West to pave a way for lifting economic sanctions. Rouhani’s election in June to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised hopes of a negotiated solution to a decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme that could otherwise trigger a new war in the volatile Middle East. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s
comments yesterday may disappoin t We s t e r n officials, who want Iran to ship out uranium enriched to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, a short technical step away from weaponsgrade material. However, Araqchi, who will join the talks in Switzerland, was less hardline about other areas of uranium enrichment, which Tehran says is for peaceful nuclear fuel purposes but the West fears may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability. “Of course we will negotiate regarding the form, amount, and various levels of (uranium) enrichment, but the shipping of materials out of the country is our red line,” he was quoted as saying on state television’s website. In negotiations since early 2012, world powers have demanded that Iran suspend
Abbas Araqchi 20-percent enrichment, send some of its existing uranium stockpiles abroad and shutter the Fordow underground site, where most higher-grade enrichment is done. In return, they offered to lift sanctions on trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemicals but Iran, which wants oil and banking restrictions to be removed,
France will increase troops in Central African Republic – Fabius (Reuters) - France will boost its troops presence in the Central African Republic by the year end under a forthcoming U.N. resolution to help prevent the country from spiralling out of control, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said yesterday. Fabius and European Union’s aid chief, Kristalina Georgieva, are in the country to drum up support and international interest for a largely forgotten crisis. The Central African Republic has descended into chaos since mostly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in March, the latest coup in the country that remains one of the world’s poorest despite resources ranging from gold to uranium. Geographically at the centre of what some strategists have called an “arc of insecurity” involving Islamist fighters from Kenya and Somalia in east Africa to Mauritania in the west, a power vacuum could pave the way for militants to seize control. France has urged world and regional powers not to ignore the conflict that has already seen more than 400,000 people driven from their homes by acts of violence such as murder and rape. However, Paris is reluctant to be left to deal with another African hotspot after it felt allies such as the United States were hesitant to help it halt a rebel advance by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Mali earlier this year. The African Union has
Laurent Fabius deployed about 2,500 troops. But its resources are limited, prompting Paris to seek a U.N. Security Council mandate that would turn the operation into a U.N. peacekeeping force ultimately supported by French troops. “We will increase our support, especially in the logistics domain, after United Nations resolutions (are approved). We will also increase troops, a little at first. This will be done before the end of the year,” Fabius said. Fabius said the resolution was expected around December. France currently has about 400 troops in Bangui, protecting the airport and French interests. Fabius did not say how many troops will be added, but sources have told Reuters the numbers could be increased to about 700-750. Fabius said the dissolution of Seleka, a grouping of five northern rebel movements, must be real and concrete. “We
cannot have armed bands roaming the country,” Fabius told a news conference in the riverside capital. “We will not let you down.” The French minister and EU’s aid chief, who were greeted by crowds in Bangui, some holding banners urging France to not to abandon the former colony, met transitional leader Michel Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye. Djotodia, who was formally sworn in as the transitional president in August, has an 18month deadline, set by central African heads of state, to organise elections. He has said he will not run in the election. A senior Central African Republic military official said the country was counting on France because the regional peacekeeping force was not visible on the ground and the population was losing faith in them. “What we need is more French troops with a clear mandate,” the official said, requesting not to be identified. However, while the leaders work out how to secure the country enough to hold an election, the situation on the ground continues to get worse, with malnutrition and tuberculosis taking hold and a lack of resources to help patients in need. “We need a massive plan on health and education, but most important, something must be done about insecurity. Outside the capital it is a cancer,” a surgeon at the only paediatric hospital in Bangui - protected by French troops to stop looting - told the delegation.
has dismissed that offer. It says it needs 20-percent uranium for a medical research reactor. However, Araqchi’s statement may be “the usual pre-negotiation posturing”, said Middle East specialist Shashank Joshi at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. “It is easy to imagine a compromise whereby Iran would ship out only some of its uranium, allowing the negotiating team to claim a victory. There are many potential compromises that will be explored,” Joshi told Reuters. Cliff Kupchan, a director and Middle East analyst at risk consultancy Eurasia Group, took a similar line, saying Iran was seeking to gain leverage ahead of negotiations. “Still, it is sobering that a lead Iranian negotiator is setting red lines so early. These are going to be tough talks.” Since the Islamic Republic started making 20-percent uranium gas in 2010 it has produced more than the 240-
250 kg (530-550 pounds) needed for one atomic bomb, which Israel has suggested may provoke it to take military action against Iran. Iran has kept its stockpile below this figure by converting some of it into oxide powder for reactor fuel, potentially buying more time for diplomacy, U.N. watchdog reports show. But it has also amassed stocks of low-enriched uranium gas that experts say would be enough for several bombs if processed much further to weaponsgrade material. It has also sharply expanded its enrichment capacity in recent years. Israel, which has threatened preemptive military action if it deems diplomacy a dead end, demands the total removal of Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpiles along with a dismantling of its enrichment facilities. Iran says it will never give up its “right” to refine uranium and Western experts acknowledge it may no longer be realistic to expect Iran to
suspend all such work, as demanded by a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions since 2006. Instead, they say, Iran’s enrichment capacity should be scaled back in order to make it more difficult for the country to launch any weapons bid without being detected in time. R. Scott Kemp, an assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that merely capping Iran’s nuclear programme was unlikely to provide enough confidence in the West. “Some rollback of the programme ... is really the only path to confidence and stability,” Kemp wrote in a blog last week. David Albright, of the Institute for Science and International Security thinktank, told a U.S. Senate committee in early October, referring to machines used to refine uranium: “Any future nuclear agreement must include a limit on the number and type of centrifuges Iran can install.”
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U.S. Senate leader ‘confident’ fiscal crisis can be averted (Reuters) - Senate Majority Harry Reid said yesterday that he was engaged in negotiations with Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and was “confident” they could resolve the fiscal crisis confronting Washington. “We’re in conversation today,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “I’m confident that Republicans will allow the government to open and extend the ability of this country to pay its bills. And I’m going to do everything that I can throughout the day to accomplish just this.” Reid offered no specifics however and McConnell remained out of sight. “It’s moving. Not sure in what direction,” said Reid of the discussions as he walked into the U.S. Capitol building on Sunday morning and was asked how negotiations were progressing. While both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, and now the U.S. House of Representatives, appear in agreement that the debt ceiling should be raised and the government reopen, they
remained at loggerheads over the terms for doing so, including the duration of the debt ceiling increase and levels of funding for the government. The U.S. government has been partially shut down since Oct 1, following the refusal by Republicans to approve a funding measure unless President Barack Obama and his Democrats agreed to defund or delay Obamacare, the president’s signature healthcare law. That conflict has since merged with the Thursday deadline for Congress to increase the government’s borrowing authority or risk default. Investors around the world are watching the drama unfold and while U.S. stocks rose late last week on hopes for a possible deal this weekend, analysts predicted the mood could turn bearish without signs of progress. While other U.S. lawmakers also expressed optimism Sunday that they could avoid a possible default, efforts to do so appeared to be moving slowly and headed down to the wire. The Republican-
Harry Reid controlled U.S. House, where one of Washington’s most bitter conflicts in years began in early September, was out of the picture entirely yesterday, by design. Obama as well as the Senate gave up on the House Saturday, after Democrats and Republicans alike concluded that the demands coming from conservatives who dominate the Republican caucus and general disunity offered little grounds for ending the crisis. “They’re not part of this at this point,” Durbin said. “They can’t agree among themselves about what they
want to have done in this negotiation.” They remained acutely aware, however, that any solution developed in the Senate will have to be approved by the House and probably very quickly. “Here’s what I’m worried about,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told ABC’s “This Week,” “a deal coming out of the Senate that a majority of Republicans can’t vote for in the House.” “I’m hopeful that the House can get their act together,” Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” House leaders spoke bitterly Saturday of the prospect of being “jammed” later in the week: put in a situation by the Senate and possibly by market turmoil of having to rush something through at the last minute, probably with the votes of Democrats as well as the Republican majority.
Reid and Durbin suggested Saturday that it might take pressure from the markets to bring the disagreement to an end. Financial market analysts said they also saw turmoil ahead if U.S. politicians failed to reach a deal. “This continual breakdown in talks likely won’t have a positive effect on the markets,” said Bonnie Baha, senior portfolio manager at DoubleLine Capital in Los Angeles. “There will probably be a negative reaction in the stock market but I think the pressure is really shifting to Washington now,” said William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts. With the government shutdown set to enter its third week, U.S. stock investors are seen as likely to turn bearish amid concerns no resolution to the crisis will emerge until Thursday.
The S&P 500 stock index generated two days of strong gains in advance of the weekend on hopes that an agreement to raise the $16.7 trillion federal borrowing limit was near. Washington’s debt ceiling drama played out as anxious global financial leaders gathered in the U.S. capital for annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 major industrialized and emerging economies. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Saturday warned the United States was just “five days away from a very dangerous moment” unless politicians produce a plan to avoid default. “If this comes to pass, it could be a disastrous event for the developing world, and that will in turn greatly hurt developed economies as well,” he told reporters after a meeting of the bank’s Development Committee.
Chinese group in $1.2 bn British airport development deal Beijing (AFP) - Chinese construction giant Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) has signed a deal with British firms to develop a business district around Manchester airport, the companies involved in the project announced yesterday. The development of Britain’s third busiest airport — described as one of the largest construction projects in the United Kingdom since the 2012 London Olympics — will cost £800 million ($1.27 billion). MAG, the operator of Manchester airport; GMPF, a pension fund based in the city; and the British construction group Carillion will work alongside BCEG in the joint project, a statement released by the companies said. A breakdown of each company’s investment in the business district, dubbed “Airport City”, was not given in the statement. British finance minister George Osborne, who is currently on a trip to China hoping to boost trade ties between the two nations, wrote on his verified Twitter account that the development is “one of the largest” in Britain since the Olympics, and would eventually create 16,000 jobs for the region. The deal comes at a time when Britain is seeking to bolster trade with the world’s second largest economy, with both nations agreeing in 2010
George Osborne to double their trade to $100 billion by 2015. London mayor Boris Johnson was also in Beijing yesterday in what Chinese state media said was a “campaign to lure Chinese sovereign funds, banks and developers to fund an overhaul of the British capital in the years to come”. “Our mayor’s interest is about new infrastructure,” a member of the delegation was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying. “The mayor identified 33 areas across the city where we will be intensifying the density of (housing) and putting in new infrastructure.” Kit Malthouse, the London deputy mayor for business, told Xinhua that London officials were hoping to attract “lots and lots of capital” to help the city deal with population growth. Chinese investment in Britain rose to $4 billion in 2012, up 80 percent from a year
ago, Xinhua reported. Deals such as that struck over Manchester’s Airport City are seen as “an extension of the memorandum of understanding between China and the UK, where we have been looking to further explore joint infrastructure opportunities for some time,” Xing Yan, Managing Director of BCEG, said in the statement announcing the agreement. Charlie Cornish, Chief Executive of MAG, added: “The inclusion of BCEG is significant because as a Group, we have been keen to forge greater links with the Far East and this gives us an opportunity to strengthen vital business links with China.” Once built, “Airport City” will take up five million square feet (460,000 square metres) and will boast a mix of offices, hotels, advanced manufacturing firms, logistics and warehousing, the companies’ statement said. Manchester Airport is currently used by over 20 million passengers annually. The city and surrounding northwest region contains 6.5 million people, eight percent of the UK’s population. Earlier this month, a Chinese investment firm announced plans to resurrect London’s Crystal Palace, once the largest glass structure in the world and the venue for the 1851 Great Exhibition, in a deal worth $800 million.
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Red Cross Syria kidnap underscores risks in war zones
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian women and children arriving to be evacuated by Syria’s Red Crescent. (AFP Photo) Geneva (AFP) - The kidnapping in Syria of seven aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent yesterday underscores the stark daily risks faced by those helping victims of the conflict. “Six ICRC staff members and one member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been abducted in Idlib in northwestern Syria,” ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson told AFP at the organisation’s Geneva base. “We don’t know who took them. It was unidentified armed men,” he added, when pressed on whether the kidnappers were thought to be from Syria’s rebel side or militias loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. “We’re calling for their
immediate, unconditional and safe release,” he said. ICRC and Red Crescent staff in Idlib and the city of Aleppo were scrambling to locate the aid workers and secure their release. Earlier Sunday, Syrian state television reported that “armed terrorist gangs” attacked the ICRC convoy and kidnapped its members. Large parts of Idlib province are under the control of rebel groups, including jihadists, who are fighting to oust Assad’s regime. The conflict has killed more than 115,000 people in two and a half years, driven more than two million out of Syria and left millions more inside the country reliant on aid to survive. The Swiss-based ICRC
strives not to be drawn into the politics of conflict zones where its staff serve. “That’s the whole point about being neutral and impartial. It ensures us access,” said Watson. Aid is a sharply political issue in Syria, where United Nations investigators have accused both sides of a range of war crimes, including targeting ambulances, and blamed government forces for denying medical care to opposition-held areas. The ICRC has some 30 expatriates and 120 Syrian aid workers deployed in the country. Like UN agencies, it works hand in hand with volunteers from the local Red Crescent, one of the few aid bodies able to operate nationwide. Twenty-two Syrian Red
Crescent volunteers have been killed since the war began in March 2011. The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, and perhaps best known for visiting prisoners of war.
But much of its work revolves around helping civilians swept up in conflicts, with its staff all too aware of the risks they face. “Difficult security conditions are very much part of life at the ICRC. There’s no such thing as easy access to a conflict zone. By definition they are dangerous,” said Watson. ‘Isn’t going to stop us’ The seven aid workers were abducted near the community of Sareqeb after setting off back to the Syrian capital Damascus. Watson said he could not confirm their names and nationalities, in part to be sure their families were informed first. They had travelled northwest on Thursday to deliver supplies to hospitals in Idlib city and neighbouring Sarmin, and to carry out an assessment of health needs in the area. The convoy was clearly marked with the ICRC emblem, which although it includes a cross is not meant as a religious symbol — it is a reverse-colour version of
neutral Switzerland’s flag, chosen by its 19th century founding fathers. Security is a constant concern for aid workers, notably in wars such as Syria’s where front lines can be fluid and convoys have to criss-cross checkpoints manned by different groups within each camp. “It’s a continual, evolving negotiation, in a sense, to ensure that we can get to where we need to be. We’re dealing with different security incidents all the time, of all shapes and sizes,” said Watson. Despite the kidnapping, ICRC staff were continuing operations Sunday, notably by helping 3,500 civilians allowed by government forces to leave the besieged town of Moaddamiyah near Damascus. “We are committed to helping the Syrian people, and that’s not going to go away because of this incident. Incidents like this do make us take stock. But the fact that’s dangerous isn’t going to stop us,” said Watson.
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Kaieteur News
Monday October 14, 2013
2nd Kadir Mohamed Mem. Ounce of Gold 80 Mile Cycle Road Race
Paul De Nobrega solid in victory; Alanzo Ambrose is junior winner
Top junior Alanzo Ambrose receives his prize. By Franklin Wilson Former Caribbean Junior Champion (2012) Paul De Nobrega added yet another significant victory to his career when he became the first cyclist to win an Ounce of Gold, the first prize for the 2nd annual Kadir Mohamed Memorial 80-mile Cycle Road Race, held yesterday from the City to the Linden Soesdyke Highway and back. The Junior Sportsman of the year (2012) rode a classic race to out maneuver Paul Choo-Wee-Nam who pocketed $50,000 and Robin Persaud ($40,000) to win in Three Hours 12 Minutes 37 Seconds; he also won three of the ten prime prizes on offer while pocketing the biggest first prize the sport has attracted to date. This event, which attracted 48-starters, saw the first 10 in the senior category being rewarded financially. Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams (25,000), Albert Philander (20,000), Orville Hinds (15,000), Warren Mc Kay (10,000), Alanzo Ambrose (8,000), Christopher Holder (7,000) and Eric Sankar (6,000)
closed out the top ten positions. Following the conclusion of the race which was sponsored by Kadir ’s Enterprise of Bartica in memory of the late Kadir Mohamed, an avid Sports Enthusiast, De Nobrega stated that he was confident of bettering his counterparts having rested all week after he over trained last week. The race was tactical in nature with the lead changing at various points along the upward and downward journey. However, the top three riders broke away from the pack at Princess Hotel on the East Bank and were never challenged thereafter. Of the ten prime prizes on offer, De Nobrega took three, Alonzo Greaves and Rastaff O’Selmo won two each, while there was one apiece for Godfrey Pollydore, Michael Anthony and Orville Hinds. Alonzo Ambrose emerged as the top junior and along with Hamza Eastman, Mario King and Anthony, who placed second to fourth, were all rewarded by the sponsors.
Latiff stars as Regal... From page 33 Regal Masters went down to Savage XI by 17 runs. Savage XI led by Yunnis Yusuf 51 (6x4,2x6), Talesh Ramoutar 48 ( 4x4,1x6), Rama Malone 37 and Fallim Mohamed 26 rattled up 215-5 in 20 overs batting first. Mahendra Chunilall took 2-37. Regal Masters responded with 198-5 in 20 overs. Mahendra Arjune stroked 75 not out (7x4,4x6) while Eric Thomas scored 37 ( 1x4,3x6) before he was needlessly run out and Raymond Harper made 26.
Naiomi Singh was the lone female to finish the event. Junior Niles was triumphant in the veterans’ Under-45 division winning in Two Hours 24 Minutes 15 Seconds and was rewarded with $15,000. Ralph Williams was the runner-up and took home $12,000 while third placed Syborne Fernandes received $10,000 for his third place. Taking the top place in the veterans’ Over-45 class was Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson in Two Hours 28 Minutes 40 Seconds ahead of Shameer Baksh and Kennard Lovell in that order. William Howard, Treasurer of the organising Club, Flying Stars Cycle Club, thanked the sponsor, Kadir’s Enterprise for partnering with them to bring off the event for the second year and increasing the prizes from one ounce of gold to two this year. Howard indicated that the company has agreed to maintain their sponsorship of the event and that next year will be even bigger. Ms. Bibi Mohamed along with family members were on hand to witness the race and also assist with the distribution of prizes. Guyana Cycling Federation President Ms. Cheryl Thompson and Flying Stars CC President, Ms. Carmen Pertab were also present for yesterday’s event. They both complimented the sponsor and cyclists for making the activity a success.
Monday October 14, 2013
Kaieteur News
THREE OF THE BEST
ready for Kensington Barbados Advocate Bridgetown, Barbados Three of the world’s best women’s cricket teams will take to the field at Kensington Oval over the next two weeks for the region’s first ever international women’s trination series. The West Indies Women will take on their counterparts from England and New Zealand in a Women’s T20 International Series from today to Saturday October 26. All of the matches will be played under lights and live television coverage will be made available throughout the Caribbean. West Indies Women’s Captain Merissa Aguillera is very happy with the decision to air the matches live throughout the region, noting that it will only help to further develop women’s cricket. She made the point that fans have heard about the success of the women’s team, but unfortunately have never seen them in action. “Women’s cricket has been developing rapidly and I think the more matches we get on television the better for us. I think this is a good opportunity for people to see us showcase our talents,” said Aguillera. The West Indies are upbeat following its recent
ODI series win against New Zealand just last week but Aguillera noted that they are not complacent heading into the Tri-Nations competition. “We are pretty much confident going in and hopefully we can carry the momentum. This is going to be an incredible series, playing against the top two teams in the world and we know that we are going to deliver as well. In order to be the best you have to beat the best and these girls are the best so we know what we have to do to stay focused. There is a lot of room for improvement especially in our consistency and our batting, we have to pick up the slack in certain areas,” said Aguillera. Staci-Ann King, Julianna Nero and Shanel Henry have been drafted into the team for the series and Aguilera hopes they will be able to showcase their talents. New Zealand Captain Susie Bates noted that despite losing their last two matches against the West Indies, she was confident with the lineup they have. The New Zealand team that played in the ODI series against the West Indies will contest in the Tri-Nations T20 Series. “I know some of our girls especially with the bat can really stand up and perform,”
said Bates. England Captain Charlotte Edwards noted that every tournament they come into there is pressure on them as a team, but they are looking forward to playing in the West Indies. “We relish the opportunity of playing out here in the West Indies, none of us have every played in Barbados, it looks like a fantastic ground and we are really looking forward to getting underway next Wednesday against New Zealand,” said Edwards. England may have just arrived in the Caribbean but they have been playing a lot of cricket in the lead-up to the tournament. Edwards made the point that their season only ended a little over two weeks ago and doesn’t think that not having played in the Caribbean recently will be a hindrance. “We have a warm-up game tomorrow [yesterday], the girls are ready. I think it may have been a problem if it was maybe December, but this has worked really well coming at the end of our season,” said Edwards. The first match in the series will feature host West Indies coming up against New Zealand from 7:00 pm tonight.
GCA\NBS Second Division 40-over tourney
Police, UG record victories in latest action Police and University of Guyana (UG) recorded victories when play in the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)\New Building Society (NBS) second division 40over competition continued over the weekend. Police defeated Sophia by 9 wickets yesterday at the Muslim Youth Organization ground. Sophia batted first and were skittled for 118 in 20.5 overs. Garth Allen and Ronald Hercules were their leading batsmen with 20 each. D. La Rose and Kevin Leitch grabbed 4 wickets apiece. Troy Benn then slammed eleven fours in a top score of 55 as Police replied with 119-1 in 12.1 overs. Shameer Fazal supported with 31 (7x4) not out, while S. Bacchus chipped in with 22 (3x4,1x6); Leon Griffin was the lone wicket taker for Sophia. On Saturday, University of Guyana (UG) defeated Sophia by 27 runs. UG batted first after winning the toss and posted 252 before they were bowled out in 32.2 overs at Gandhi Youth Organization ground. Melroy Stephenson top scored with 55 (6x4,2x6), Omesh Danram stroked 54 (6x4,3x6), Leon Williams supported with 42 (4x4,2x6) while Ritesh Bridgelall and Clive Grimmond chipped in with 26 and 24 respectively. Carl Padmore grabbed 3-36, while Glenford Stephenson captured 3-58 and Leon Griffin 238. Sophia showed fight before they were all
Miguel Vaughn
out for 225 in 27.5 overs in reply. Miguel Vaughn was their leading batsman with 56 (9x4, 1x6) not out, while Glenford Stephenson cracked 42 (5x4,3x6), Griffin supported with 41 (9x4) and Zalim Rasheed contributed 40 (6x4,1x6). Darnell Douglas bagged 3-8 while Danram claimed 2-40 and Reynold Cameron 2-53 for the winners.
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Shanella Webster wins 2nd Annual President Cup Golf Tournament
Shanella Webster (centre) is flanked by other top finishers and club officials at Saturday’s event. Shanella Webster, a newcomer to the sport, became the first female to win the prestigious 2nd Annual President’s Cup Golf Tournament on Saturday at the Lusignan Golf course. She compiled a handicap of 36, net 78 and gross 62 to claim the victory. In second place was Chatterpaul Deo with scores of 15, 81, 66, third was Andre Cummings with 17, 83, 67, fourth Vijay Deo with a handicap 9, net 77 and gross 68 and the fifth was William Walker with scores of 7, 76, 69. Walker also won the Best gross prize along with M. Dinanauth taking the Longest Drive and Patrick Prashad winning the Nearest to the Pin. Over 45 players, included five females took part in the tournament. Minister of Culture, Youth & Sports Dr. Frank Anthony representing His Excellency
President Donald Ramotar, who was unavailable to attend, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority Mr. Indranauth Haroldsingh, Vice President of the Lusignan Golf Club Mr. David Mohammed and public Relations Officer of the club Mr. Mark Bradford along with other members of the media were present at the opening of proceedings. Mr. Haroldsingh in his briefed remarks apologized for the absence of the Minister of tourism Mr. Irfaan Ali and expressed thanks to the Lusignan Golf Club for again having this tournament on their calendar of events. He noted that the club over the past year has hosted some 34 tournaments and this he noted is a significant achievement for the sport. Adding that the club has seen an improvement in membership with another
achievement being more females has now been added to the membership. Hon. Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport Dr. Frank Anthony also echoed the significant increase in tournaments and sought for the partnership of the club and ministry to work in rehabilitating the access road to make the venue more accessible. He noted that the club should now advertise their calendar of events to the major hotels since the sport now attracts businessmen and women on holiday and vacation here in Guyana. Mr. David Mohammed Vice President of the Lusignan Golf Club expressed thanks to the ministry and H.E. President Ramotar in their second sponsorship of this tournament. The traditional tee off was done by Dr. Anthony.
India succumb to Australia.. From page 32 even as wickets fell around him, and his lower order finished strongly. Overwhelmingly favouring the on side, Bailey was always on the lookout for singles and twos and also quick to pull, sweep and cut, especially against the spinners. He held the innings together, but became the seventh man to fall with the score on 264 in the 47th over. Just when it seemed Australia had lost all their steam, the lower order looted 38 off India’s seamers in the last three overs to push their side over the 300-mark. Before their captain, Aaron Finch and Hughes took their time to get in and then accelerated to leave
India looking flat. Finch, after his 89 in Rajkot, was looking in control with another powerful half-century before he mishit Yuvraj to long-off. Finch played the cut intelligently given the lack of pace, preferring placement over power and often punishing Ishant Sharma either side of point. Hughes crunched several fours through the covers. Australia were galloping now but the breakthrough came for India immediately after the first drinks break, when Hughes nudged Jadeja to leg slip to fall for 47. Watson strode in and mishit his fourth delivery straight to long-on, but Bailey took over, providing his fast bowlers enough margin to do their job.
James Faulkner picked up three wickets (BCCI) Scores: Australia 304 for 8 (Bailey 85, Finch 72) beat India 232 (Kohli 61, Faulkner 3-47) by 72 runs.
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Kaieteur News
Timothy Bradley beats Juan Manuel Marquez to retain title
Marquez’s hair goes flying as he can’t avoid Bradley’s vicious hands. (AP) BBC Sport - American Timothy Bradley retained his WBO welterweight title with a split-decision victory over Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas. Two judges gave Bradley, 30, victory - 116-112 and 115113 - while the other scored it 115-113 for Marquez, 40. In a tactical bout, a late left hook from Bradley was one of few big shots. On the undercard, Orlando Cruz failed in his bid to become the first openly gay world champion as he was stopped by Orlando Salido in the seventh round.
Salido, 32, regained the vacant WBO featherweight title after improving his career record to 40 wins (28 knockouts), 12 defeats and two losses, while Cruz slipped to 20-3-1, with 10 wins inside the distance. Cruz, also 32, said: “I went into the corner and he hit me with a good shot. The fight was close until then.” Marquez, who had two narrow defeats and a draw against Filipino great Manny Pacquiao before a sixth-round knockout victory in their fourth fight in December, rocked Bradley in the ninth and felt he had done enough to win.
“I know I did my job and I’m happy with what I’ve done,” he said, after his seventh defeat in 63 fights. “I landed the best shots... to win a fight it’s not always necessary to win by KO.” Marquez, bidding to become the first Mexican to win world titles in five weight classes, added: “I’ve been robbed six times in my career. I clearly won the fight.” But Bradley, who beat Pacquiao - also on a split decision - in June 2012, said: “He couldn’t touch me. I gave him a boxing lesson.” Unbeaten Bradley, who took his career record to 31(12)-0, could now face another match with 34-year-old Pacquiao, who fights American Brandon Rios in Macau on 24 November. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine made an impressive professional debut with a fourth-round knock-out of Mexican featherweight Jose Ramirez in a scheduled 10-round bout. Lomachenko, who won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, is contractually guaranteed a 126-pound world-title shot in his second fight which could be against Salido or WBA champion Nicholas Walters in the new year.
India succumb to Australia pace, batting power
ESPNcricinfo - Australia showed just why they have been so successful in ODIs in India, and just why India’s usual template of chasing anything their profligate bowlers concede often comes short against the visitors. Their batsmen powered their side over 300 on a slow and, at times, uneven pitch. Their fast bowlers then extracted appreciable bite from the same pitch and used the short ball intelligently to finish the contest by the end of the batting Powerplay. Tellingly, India have never successfully chased 300plus against Australia, and this was their 11th failed attempt, this time against a side lacking several first-choice players. The only time India looked relatively comfortable was during the 71-run thirdwicket partnership between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, who was promoted to No 4 ahead of Yuvraj Singh. Shikhar Dhawan had gone early and Rohit Sharma had given away yet another start. The asking-rate was above seven an over, but the duo was keeping up with it. Raina has never hidden his ambition of batting up the order, but that will have to be backed by a curbing of his urge to go for the glory swipe over midwicket, a stroke that serves him well while finishing an innings. He’d seemed to have weathered the inevitable early short-ball test to motor to 39 before he tried the shot against James Faulkner and mishit to third man. India were 137 for 2 when Raina fell; they would crumble to 232. Mitchell Johnson hadn’t played the Rajkot T20 in which India chased 200-plus.
He took the first new ball tonight and delivered a searing spell of extreme pace, hitting speeds over 150kph regularly. He also took the key wicket of Yuvraj, the architect of the Rajkot win who came in at Raina’s fall, setting him up with a couple of full deliveries before squaring him up with a shortish one and inducing a poke to the wicketkeeper. Kohli looked the most solid of the India batsmen and made the most runs for his side, playing with his usual limited-overs solidity. As he went past fifty, Kohli seemed to be hitting the cruise mode that he gets in during big chases. His defence was as sure as his driving, but even he was set up smartly, this time by Shane Watson. Three successive short balls - the last of which Kohli went to pull and missed - were followed by a good length delivery. Kohli played across the line and was trapped in front. Ravindra Jadeja had raced through his overs to deliver a miserly analysis of 10-0-351, but faced with varied fast bowling under pressure, he again came across as a limited batsman. A mistimed slog to mid-on ended his misery. MS Dhoni, who had hung on grimly for a while, got the ball of the match from Clint McKay that pitched on good length and straightened past his defensive jab to uproot off stump. India were 196 for 7, and the Pune crowd had started exiting the stadium. They had come to see their batsmen dominate, but it was the opposition’s that had set the tone in the afternoon. Australia captain George Bailey built on a century opening stand Continued on page 31
Monday October 14, 2013
GFF /Banks Beer 2013/14 Premier League
VISITING TEAMS DOMINATE AGAIN By Rawle Welch The trend of visiting teams going into their opponents’ backyard and coming out victorious seems to be the recurring feature in the early stages of the Guyana Football Federation / Banks Beer 2013/14 Premier League which continued yesterday with a double header, at the Den Amstel Community Centre ground, West Coast Demerara. In the opening fixture, West Berbice-based Mahaica Determinators edged West Demerara’s Young Achievers 2-1 thanks to goals from Sherwin Hermonstine, who netted in the 6th minute of play and Quincy Holder’s strike in the 19th. Young Achievers’ lone response came from Dexroy Adams, who fired in his goal in the 52nd minute of play. The feature clash between hosts Den Amstel and visiting Grove Hi Tech was a scorching affair that ended 42 in favour of the visitors leaving the large turnout of home supporters disappointed. After dominating the early exchanges, Den Amstel fell behind in the 32nd minute of play when a poor attempt to clear the ball from the goal area by one of their defenders off a from the left flank saw the ball deflect off his boots and sail past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Ryan Hunte, who through no fault of his was diving to his right to make the save. Den Amstel had a clear chance to net the equaliser when a headed cross from just inside the penalty area eluded goalkeeper Seon Simpson and a host of defenders, but the opposing striker’s sidefooted effort landed over the crossbar much to the dismay of teammates and supporters. The half came with no addition to the score and Grove Hi Tech enjoying a slim 1-0 lead. Two minutes after the resumption of the second period, Den Amstel was subjected to more misery when goalkeeper Hunte in an effort to gather a dangerous looking cross parried the ball into the path of a lurking Domini Garnette, who made no mistake lashing home from close range to give his team a 2-0 cushion. Orson Francios’s strike three minutes later put a real dagger into the hearts of the Den Amstel supporters as they witnessed their team fall
MAHAICA DETERMINATORS GOALSCORERS - Quincy Holder (left) and Sherwin Hermonstine pose for a photo op yesterday. three goals behind and showing no urgency to reduce the deficit. Once again they missed another good opportunity to pull one back even though the entire Grove Hi Tech goal was to their mercy with the player hitting wide. As if things could not get even worse, a quickly taken free kick from about 35 metres out which was awarded for an infringement surprised both defence and goalkeeper to end up in the back of the net and the visitors coasting to a comfortable 4-0 ascendancy. However, Grove Hi Tech seemed to ease on the gas and Den Amstel playing more for pride than anything else managed to salvage some with two quick goals before full time. The first came from a
goalmouth scrimmage with Delon Lanferman bundling the ball over the goal-line in the 63rd minute to reinvigorate some amount of interest in the game and six minutes later Jeffrey Perreira crashed a powerful shot past Simpson after receiving a touch pass off a free kick. With time running out, both teams made several substitutions with Den Amstel producing a ferocious assault in search of goals, while Grove Hi Tech was content on defending their lead and the strategy worked until the final whistle sounded to evoke celebrations among the small band of their supporters. The results of the two other double headers will be made available in our next issue. Play in the League resumes next Sunday.
Guyanese boxers in action Thursday at World Championships Guyanese boxers will get into action on Thursday as they seek glory for themselves and country at the World Championships being contested in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Imran Khan and Dennis Thomas are the two Guyanese boxers battling in opening competition at these games on Thursday. Khan will battle Nauid Fernandes of the Philippines in the Bantamweight division, while Thomas tackles Artem Chebotarev of Russia in a middleweight scrap. According to Guyana Boxing Association president Steve Ninvalle, the boxers had been in training in Kazakhstan for the past two weeks and have been building in confidence and looking for good results. They are accompanied by Trainer Terrence Poole, who made the trip to guide them compliments of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport.