Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Stranded American woman admitted to GPHC Psychiatric Ward By Dale Andrews An American woman who had her newborn baby taken away by the Welfare Department of the Human Services Ministry is now in her third day of observation at the Psychiatric Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital. The woman, Delliccia Honore, 37, was admitted to the ward after the Welfare Department secured an order from a local magistrate committing her for psychiatric evaluation. This was because her behaviour had become erratic after she delivered her fifth child at the New Amsterdam hospital two weeks ago. The woman, who arrived in Guyana on September 27, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, and was allowed entry into the country after telling the immigration officer that she was re-migrating. At present, there is no evidence that she is a Guyanese as she has been claiming. In fact, investigations have revealed that she is a native of Louisiana, USA who was uprooted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and ended up in Colorado. A news item from Denver, Colorado, written by Bianca Prieto, Rocky Mountain News under the caption “… NEW ORLEANS WOMAN FINDS WARM WELCOME IN CASTLE ROCK HOME” reads “Delliccia Honore lost almost everything to Hurricane Katrina, but found a new family in Colorado. “There may be some connection to Guyana. I don’t know if it’s either through some one of her children’s
Man crushed by truck on Rupert Craig Highway The body of a man is now at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour after he was struck down on the Rupert Craig Highway by a truck just after noon yesterday. The man was identified by officials as Stanley Roach. According to an eyewitness, around 1:00 pm yesterday, Roach was walking on the right side of the highway when he was struck from behind by a truck. The source added that the man died on the spot. He was picked up by undertakers of the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour. Up to press time, no relative of the dead man had come forward to claim the body.
US citizen Delliccia Honore, explaining her plight to a welfare officer and a police corporal just before she was admitted to the GPHC’s Psychiatric Ward.
father or whether there is actually a relative or some exboyfriend from Guyana,” said social activist Mark Benschop who has been looking after Honore’s interests ever since her baby was taken away. The woman has been reluctant to speak to local social workers and has been only opening up to Benschop. According to Benschop, Honore claimed that she was born in Guyana but was abducted at the age of four and taken to the United States of America and kept captive until she was 12-years old. “All these stories, there is no evidence to substantiate what she is saying, no records as far as I am concerned. I’ve checked with the registrar, there’s no record under this name, no Birth Certificate, there is nothing. She has never been to Guyana as far as the record indicates,” Benschop stated. He could not ascertain for sure why the American woman came to Guyana in such a condition, although he admitted that there was a lot of speculation that she came here as a drug mule. “I don’t think that there is sufficient evidence to put her in that category. There is something that is definitely wrong with her and she needs help,” he said. Benschop disclosed that
from his interaction with the woman and his own investigation, Honore was previously receiving assistance from several organizations in the United States of America, including church groups. But somewhere along the line, that connection was severed and she is now stranded in Guyana, dead broke! After arriving in Guyana, the woman stayed at a hotel and it was reported that she ran out of money and could not pay her bill. She subsequently travelled to Berbice, later claiming that she was heading to neighbouring Suriname. It was while heading to Berbice that things started to unravel. According to a minibus driver, seeing the woman’s condition and coupled with the fact that she did not appear to know where she was going, he decided to take her to the Springlands Police Station. It was late at night and the woman was the last passenger in his bus. He asked the police to question the woman. However this newspaper learnt that the woman refused to cooperate with the police. She walked out of the bus into the dark Corentyne night, leaving her suitcase behind. “That was the last time we saw her,” a source at the Springlands Police Station told this newspaper.
Somehow, Honore ended up at the New Amsterdam Hospital where she delivered a healthy baby boy. Kaieteur News was unable to ascertain if she was discharged from the hospital but a few days later she returned to Georgetown and ended up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later she was transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital with her newborn baby. However she again refused to cooperate with officials there including social workers. It was then that the baby was forcibly taken from her amidst her protestations, after it was learnt that she needed psychiatric help. US court documents have established that Ms. Dellicia Sherrell Honore-Richardson was found to be ‘mentally incompetent.’ Prior to her being admitted to the Georgetown Hospital’s Psychiatric Ward, Honore was given documents to fill out by the US embassy in Georgetown in order to facilitate the process of obtaining an American passport for her baby. “Once the documents are filled out the baby officially becomes a US citizen. Once all those things are put in place and the doctors are of the view that the mother is okay to travel, she will be allowed to travel,” Benschop told Kaieteur News.
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Live An Exemplary Life Always keep the faith, have a sense of humor, and do good deeds at random in your life. The Creator always has your back, if only you’ll let Him. Don’t take everything so seriously. Keep levity in your daily life, as it really is the best medicine. Give aid to strangers, because the blessings will come back to you ten-fold, impacting their life and yours in a positive way. It might only be a smile, opening a door for someone, or giving guidance along the way but it will leave you with a positive affirmation for your good deeds. It’s a matter of validation of one person to another that we see them, that we care, and that they matter. We all need that sense of worth. Too often we fail in acknowledging one another as we should. Make a concerted effort to say “Hi, Hello, Howdy, and Thank You” whenever you can, because it’ll make a difference in keeping a positive attitude. You don’t need to worry about what others have or don’t have. You don’t need to keep up with the “Jones” or your friends, because you are living your life, not theirs. Be you. Do yourself. Find what you enjoy doing and be that in your living. Enjoy your work, for one-third of each day is spent in your labors. Find the right life partner, for your joy and happiness in life depends upon it. Live an exemplary life, for you are an influence to others who are looking for guidance in life. Don’t wait until you are on your death bed and talk about your coulda-woulda-shouldas and regret what you have or have not done. Be prepared to meet your Maker with a smile on your face, reflecting the accomplishments of your life. I’m thankful to have enjoyed what I always wanted—a fulfilled and joyful life. You can’t ask for any more than that.
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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
Kill them all? As the killing spree continues in Guyana, with the lives of one in every 8,000 citizens lost so far this year in violent crimes, there is no doubt that our people want an end to wanton criminal activities, by all means available. We have seen the return of two types of horrendous crimes - armed banditry and execution-style killings. Both methods of underworld operations complement each other, and have one thing in common – the ready access to and use of guns. It is for this reason that people want “to cut steel with steel”, and they applaud newly appointed Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell, for declaring that we must take back our streets from criminals. But “all means available” must in a law-governed State, be legal means. Not tit-for-tat, cold-blooded, extra-judicial killing for every felony-murder or execution. An eye for an eye, Mahatma Gandhi once warned, would lead the world into darkness. While we encourage our security forces to go after criminals, and to bring them to justice, we cannot condone police retaliation against suspected unarmed persons. It brings no relief or closure, when conflicting reports are made about how alleged bandits or would-be bandits met their death at the hands of armed crime fighters. Such conflict arose recently in the death of three youths -Jermaine Canterbury, Mark Anthony Joseph and Romario Gouveia - whom police alleged, were killed in a shootout as they were about to rob a patron of a Georgetown hotel. The last of the trio to die, 19-year-old Gouveia, was to disclose that he was shot after he was apprehended and made to lie down on his face, and that his two cousins were killed whilst they were in a police vehicle. Those matters were engaging the attention of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), and we are not aware that these investigations have been completed. It is in this context that we express abhorrence over what was allegedly said on Facebook, by Ms. Jaya Manickchand to whom these chilling words were ascribed: “I am happy they are dead and I don’t care about the details of a PM. In fact why is the State even wasting money on them. My sentiments would be the same for all murderers and thieves”. Now, Ms. Manickchand is a lawyer, and she ought to be learned about the presumption of innocence in our legal system. If caught, tried and convicted, a thief would get a prison term, not the death penalty. Only convicted murderers would die, but none on Death Row, has suffered death by hanging in the past two decades. We truly feel the loss of every life taken by bandits in the many episodes of armed intrusions into homes and business places. We condemn these senseless killings, and demand that the killers be brought to justice. We will defend the right of the accused persons to legal representation, and to a fair trial, just as we cherish the right to life of all peaceful and innocent citizens, who today live in constant fear. But we will not rejoice in the summary execution of suspects or of persons apprehended in connection with criminal activities. We must not condone vigilante or death squad killings. And whilst we cannot in good conscience put down our crime fighters who return fire in the line of duty, we caution against the use of excessive force in the apprehension of criminals. It is a folly that we could eradicate crime by killing all criminals. Ms. Manickchand’s reaction appears to be cold and insensitive. She should be mindful that she is the nominee of the ruling PPP/C on the Guyana Elections Commission, and was a quasi head of the Legal Aid Centre. Being happy over anyone’s death could send a wrong message that, in Guyana, the Rule of Law does not matter.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur M@ilbox Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com
We must as a matter of justice reply to Minister Manickchand DEAR EDITOR, I entered the supermarket with my wife on Friday, and a senior employee came up to me and in a tone of disbelief asked me if I read what was said about a leading media personality in a pro-PPP newspaper that I honestly do not read. I said no, and she went and got the newspaper for me When pro-government supporters pen their propaganda, we may think that Guyanese people will dismiss it knowing that it is the usual fluff from those who
benefit from the Government. That may be so but I have always pontificated on the need for decent and critically thinking Guyanese to reply because there are minds out there that do not have an alternative interpretation and may believe the relentless fictions that the PPP Government puts out. My personal take on the issue is I do not reply to anonymous writers and the likes of Bisram and those of his ilk. But there are circumstances when we should No better circumstance is
Minister Manickchand’s letter in both independent dailies last week accusing Mr. Anand Goosarran of trying to deny the wife of the Finance Minister her job at the Auditor-General’s Office. Four Red Thread activists – Dr. Alizza Trotz, Shirlena Najeer, Amndaiye and Karen De Souza –penned an appropriate reply and came up with a novel point – since the Minister’s wife is in a conflict of interest situation then the Minister himself should resign. What I thought was left out of the Red Thread
analysis and that others should take up is the fact that the Government in which Manickchand holds a senior position has dismissed many women without even the slightest touch of legality The latest was the case of young women (I think one was a single patent) fired from the Guyana Energy Authority for failing a lie detector test. There is no legal support for dismissing public sector employees for failing a polygraph. Manickchand’s voice was absent. Maybe Continued on page 6
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox Remembering Jessica Huntley DEAR EDITOR, This is our first, immediate response to the news of Jessica Huntley’s death. There is much more to be said. The late, but ever present Jessica Huntley, mother of Karl, Accabre and Chauncey, grandmother and greatgrandmother, life partner of Eric, celebrated pioneer publisher, tireless activist against injustice and for cultural affirmation and selfdetermination, has physically left a world she played a creative and significant role in helping to form, especially if we think of the world of the colonized.. It is our information that Jessica cut her political teeth in Buxton, Guyana, when her husband Eric came there as a postal worker and with three villagers they cofounded a political study group that met at their rented home at Buxton front. There, the late and loved Karl, the Huntley’s first offspring, was born. If Jessica Huntley was not present at the formal formation of the People’s Progressive Party at Mr. Leslie Davis’s High School in Georgetown, it would be owing to her husband’s work location. But they were part and parcel of that development. Leaving Guyana for the UK with no more formal education than the average person of those days, she became a part of movements for educational reform and a partner in some of the most critical developments of social thought at the time, concerned with the fate of peoples still oppressed or who had recently regained their independence without cultural sovereignty. Choosing the vocation of publisher and bookstore owner when she did, with the founding of Bogle L’Ouverture and the publication of Walter Rodney’.s path-breaking Groundings With My Brothers, she made a timely and indispensable
intervention in the spread of liberating ideas in a variety of fields of political, social, educational and c u l t u r a l urgency. The publication of Groundings With My Brothers by Bogle L’Ouverture carried forward the spirit of the revolutionaries of Haiti reflected in CLR James’ Black Jacobins. The Huntleys mobilised for Walter Rodney after his deportation from Jamaica and organised the Committee of Concerned West Indians in England to protest his banning from his academic post at the University of the West Indies. They were founders of the Committee against Repression in Guyana in 1979, changing the name of their London-based bookstore from Bogle-L’Ouverture to the Walter Rodney bookshop after Walter’s assassination on June 13th, 1980. Jessica and Eric were also in every major or minor protest in England whether against racism in Britain or acts of repression and exploitation in the Caribbean or North America. Some of us knew of Jessica’s concern for her relatives in Guyana and had
the honour of running errands on her behalf relating to an ailing brother on the East Bank of Demerara. Her life as an example for women speaks for itself. As mother she was co-head of a household in the midst of a challenged community. She did not play a gender subordinate role in her public activity. She was a favourite speaker on multiple occasions and more than heldher own with a large number of the critical thinkers of our time. It is the duty of the Caribbean region to commmemorate her in various appropriate ways. May her memory remain fresh! May her loved ones take comfort in the knowledge that many thousands in many countries across the globe share a sense of loss. Andaiye Moses Bhagwan Karen de Souza Jocelyn Dow David Hinds Eusi Kwayana Tchaiko Kwayana Tacuma Ogunseye Rupert Roopnaraine Clive Y. Thomas Rampersaud Tiwari Alissa Trotz Nigel Westmaass
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Priya, you will endear yourself to all women when you are consistent in your fight for them
The Police Commissioner has his work cut out with rogue elements in the Force
DEAR EDITOR, My good friend and colleague Minister Priya Manickchand has recently found tremendous form in writing in de fence of Ms Gitanjali Singh, our hardworking and most qualified Dep Auditor General, whilst in the process assailing myself and Anand Goolsarran. She, of course, simultaneously clouds the conflict of interest principle with what a number of women activists have legitimately described as sexist arguments. Writing, however, seemed to have abandoned her when another prominent woman,
Varshni Singh, was being humiliated by the then President. The then First Lady complained of ‘high tech domestic violence’, and had to suffer mosquito bites after being literally chased out of the Presidential bed Chambers into the vehicles under State House where she was forced to sleep. Ms Manickchand, then Minister of Human Services, never offered as much as a whisper. I suppose she recused herself from deciding to make a statement in the face of such despicable injustice because she felt she was in a conflict of interest position. This was not the only
instance where the Minister lost her pen and her voice. A similarly hard working woman and very qualified too, Ms Janette Bulkan, was denied a job simply because she was critical of the forestry sector in a number of well publicised articles. Again, not a single word then, from the now garrulous Minister. My dear Priya, you will endear yourself to all women when you are consistent in your fight for them..... all of them, not some. And stop throwing stones when you have such a fragile glass house. Khemraj Ramjattan
From page 4 these women were not middle class like Mrs. Singh, the Minister’s wife or Manickchand herself or maybe they do not belong to the same religious, ethnic and cultural background of Manickchand. Manickchand may be unsettled by the fact that she herself may be cited for conflict of interest in that she is the boss of her mother who is Assistant Education Officer for Secondary Schools. Manickchand replied to Goolsarran because she felt it was in the interest of her party’s image to do. We on the other hand who know better, have an obligation to expose the implausible and propagandistic contents in the commentaries of people like Manickchand What Minister Manickchand has done and believes she has gotten away with is that she extracted one dimension of the story of the Minister’s wife and made it into the main argument. This is not only silly but poor
reasoning. The core of the employment is a conflict of interest not gender bias. By extension, if an Amerindian does a wrong and we speak out, are we targeting the Amerindian people Ms. Manickchand hoped that by introducing male chauvinism into her attempt at being polemical, she saves the Minister’s wife and she completes a piece of competent PR for the authoritarian government she works for. In other words, she hopes to shut the mouth and break the pen of male critics by accusing us of picking on a woman. Justice and rights are not about race and gender. They are about just that –justice and rights. They are terrible Africans, Chinese, East Indians, priests, women in this world. What has that got to do with race and gender and religion? I will leave the Minister with a fine piece of journalistic investigation by the newest newspaper in the world – the International New York Times (INYT) which has replaced the iconic International Herald
Tribune. INYT found out that women comprise more than half of the membership of NeoNazi, far right groups in Germany. According to the gospel of Manickchand, we men should not adversely comment on that because we would be denying women their rightful place in politics. Never mind that such women kill innocent human beings and one of them, Beate Szchaepe, is currently on trial in Germany for multiple homicides in which the victims were non-white immigrants Finally, the Minister should be the last to talk about people trying to deny the Minister’s wife the right to employment. This Minister’s Government has a track record of such denial of employment than any since self-government began in the fifties. Maybe Ms Manickchand may want to comment on the Genieve Whyte-Nedd travesty at the Ministry of Education which I think she is head of unless I am wrong Frederick Kissoon
We must as a matter of justice reply to...
DEAR EDITOR, It is difficult that private individuals, including business persons, could collaborate a common view on a matter that involves a concluded criminal unit, active and dangerous to their own wellbeing, and operating in their vicinity, and relate in horror at what they concluded as Police actions retrogressive to another era, not too long ago. I spoke to some citizens on what occurred on Saturday night (October 12) on South Road, that was erroneously claimed to be a shootout between the GPF and Jermaine Canterbury, Mark Joseph and Romario Gouveia. In fact, witnesses establish a different scenario, a gruesome case of extrajudicial murder. As other sources were explored it would be fair to compliment the Police on having inside sources that led to the apprehending of a crime before it occurred. But what followed was reprehensible. One business person remarked “ Yuh want the Police fuh protect yuh, but how yuh gon call them, if deh gon murder people like that .” There must be lines drawn between Police behaviour and that of lawbreakers; in this case as with dozens of cases before, there is no distinction. This presents itself as an act between two criminal gangs. It is not difficult to realise that there are rogue and mentally displaced elements in the Police force, and the current Commissioner has his task well cut out. The distraction of calling for witnesses to come forward when an in-house enquiry would more than substantiate that these Police men murdered these suspects. We must remember that the youngsters
in Agricola were also planning a robbery? Even the Commissioner then acting went into the surreal implying that while the youngster was in his own yard, “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” when young Caesar was killed by a police man who had the possibility of inherited insanity, yet, he was deployed as O.C of his unit, to interact, armed, with the public. It is not the Defence Force that should post in the media, pages of applicants for public verification. This should be mandatory of the Police Force, this area of the joint services has demonstrated a larger component of misfits, that impede the safety of the public. The murder of the Linden ‘Three’ outlined that reality. The obvious Guilty was never punished, now an act of extra judicial killing has occurred on the West Coast of Demerara, this did not go unnoticed. The south road three should be a cut off point for what appears to be a quick retrogression into Police murder and fabrications. As for photographs taken to the media, as a media worker it was tragically amusing at the photos sent by the police to support their killing of suspects, it had reached the point where they didn’t even bother to take fresh shots, we mused that perhaps the suspects had given them the weapons to photograph a few years before, knowing that they would be killed. This South Road scenario repeats the fiasco of the Prashad Nagar ‘shoot out’ where in like fashion Leon Gittens, Quincy Alexander and Tony Ogle were lured and murdered. By now the Commissioner would know that there were eyewitnesses [not to the actual killing] to that engagement, and there was no shootout. When i was told a few days ago by one of the Southroad witnesses that “The boy in
hospital gon got a whole story fuh tell” I quickly responded enquiring which Hospital, when i was told Georgetown Hospital, I knew that he would most likely never tell his story like so many others who were patients at that Hospital who had crime solving stories to tell. I want to offer this insight. Randy Morris spoke to several people before his demise, he mentioned a macabre scenario of a specific Legal person, a few business men and specific Police who recruited, used persons to burn buildings, beat-up persons, including a manager at a public entity, and then conspire to dispose of them. That there are people who also use criminals as disposable income helps to define the labyrinth of wealthy monsters, some in uniform that have to be targeted, by the few Policemen left. Our unemployment and complacence with the criminal rich who pay their way out of murder has created dysfunctional social instincts. Recently the Head of the Child Care and Protection Agency voiced against sending young offenders to the former ‘Ranch’[New Opportunity Corps]. See Stabroek News September 23,2013. The age of most of the young men in the crisis of crime should have long prompted any administration with an enlightened social obligation to reconstitute the sentencing of such first offenders to a National Service Modelled facility, instead of support for publicly murdering them, and in so doing also damaging the young men who enter the Police force to be continuously trained as better persons, many of the killers developed by our Police force over the years haven’t socially done very well, i know many of them, as human beings they’re damaged goods. It will be interesting to witness how the Commissioner proceeds through his line of command. Barrington Braithwaite
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
JUST DOING MY DUTY - AG has no apologies for exposing Anna’s $13m CLICO land deal on campaign trail Trinidad Express Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is holding his ground that he has done no wrong. Dismissing objections of his critics who contend that his public posture on disclosures relating to Independent Liberal Party deputy political leader Anna Deonarine was inconsistent with his role as Attorney General, Ramlogan said yesterday: “I make no apologies for exposing what could possibly be a fraudulent land transaction involving the deputy political leader of the ILP, Ms Anna Deonarine.” The AG had revealed details of a $13 million land transaction involving the Deonarine family at a People’s Partnership public meeting on Tuesday night in Princes Town. The land, a 20-acre plot in Cunupia, had been purchased by the Deonarines for $225,000 in 1997 and sold by them to CLICO for $13 million in 2005. The money was placed in an Executive Flexible Annuity policy in the name of Anna Deonarine-Rampersad. The Attorney General has since referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
But he was taken to task by two of his predecessors, John Jeremie and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, as well as Law Association president Seenath Jairam, which resulted in yesterday’s Express front page headline: “AG wrong”. Ramlogan responded in kind with a heavy lash, as he defended his position. Stating that while he appreciated Jairam’s concerns about the public disclosure of a citizen’s wealth given the crime situation, Ramlogan said he had an overriding duty and responsibility to act in the public interest. He recalled that many ordinary, decent and hardworking men and women were forced to undergo unimaginable stress, frustration and depression because they were on the verge of losing their entire life savings, referring to the collapse of CLICO. “I am concerned about the hundreds of innocent citizens who had to undergo the private and public stress, humiliation and depression when they could not access their savings to have a medical operation, send their child to university, buy a car, or improve their home. Some of these persons have in fact died from the stress and depression. Others languish in perpetual pain and suffering as their lives have been completely ruined, devastated and destroyed,” he said.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Many LatAm leaders absent as foundering summit opens in Panama
Anand Ramlogan In an apparent dig at the Law Association president, the Attorney General added: “No one from the Law Association stepped forward to express any concern for their welfare at any time.” Ramlogan said former attorneys general Jeremie and Maharaj had no moral authority to comment on this matter. “Their attempt to say what is expected of a good Attorney General brings to mind the saying: ‘take my advice—I didn’t use it’,” Ramlogan stated. The Attorney General said it was public knowledge that Jeremie attempted to “unduly influence former DPP Geoffrey Henderson”. He said Jeremie also held secret meetings with former chief magistrate Sherman McNicolls during the trial of ex-prime minister Basdeo Panday (McNicolls presided over the Panday trial). Ramlogan said Jeremie was also the Attorney General when the attempt was made to remove former chief justice Sat Sharma from office. He added that Jeremie refused to present himself for cross-examination at the tribunal presided over by Lord Mustill. On Maharaj, Ramlogan recalled that former prime minister Patrick Manning publicly thanked Maharaj for his alleged assistance in the collapse of the UNC administration.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (L) speaks with his Panamanian counterpart Ricardo Martinelli at the Las Garzas in Panama AFP Panama City (AFP) Many Latin American leaders were no-shows at the opening of the 23rd Ibero-American summit in Panama, revealing the foundering direction of the annual forum. The event was to run through yesterday in Panama City, with a dozen or so leaders from Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in the Americas set to discuss major reforms to the organization. But among those missing were leaders from most of the more powerful countries in South America, including Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Chile’s Sebastian Pinera, and Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner. Also missing, for the first time since the group first met in 1991, was Spain’s King Juan Carlos, who is still recovering from hip surgery. Of the 22 heads of state or government that make up Iberoamerica — Latin America, Spain and Portugal — 11 confirmed they will attend Saturday, and only six were present as it opened Friday night. “This is the summit of
change and transformation,” Enrique Iglesias, secretary general of the forum’s permanent secretariat, said as he opened the meeting. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that after 22 years of summits the forum needed “a new direction and renewal to adapt to the changes that have taken place in our countries and on the international stage.” On Friday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto convened a meeting on the sidelines of the summit with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to celebrate what they say is the imminent signing of a Pacific Alliance free-trade agreement. The meeting was planned to include Ecuador and Peru’s presidents, but by midafternoon neither had arrived in Panama — they sent ministers in their stead. On Monday, Bolivian President Evo Morales who also unexpectedly cancelled his attendance at the last minute, said “times are changing. I don’t know if in the future this summit will continue to be important.” Morales’s communication minister said the president
couldn’t make it to Panama because of “his heavy work schedule.” Dubbed “The IberoAmerican community in the new Global Context,” the summit this year aims to reshape the group to a growing and increasingly independent Latin America, as Spain, in particular, grapples with financial woes. Panama Foreign Minister Fernando Nunez said it is necessary “to revitalize and change” the Ibero-American system. “Economic growth and investment opportunities are in Latin America, in IberoAmerican America, not in Europe. That’s in the past,” he said. In part, the initiative proposes to change the financing of the meeting so that Latin America pays 40 percent of the costs, up from 30 percent previously. The reforms also propose reducing the annual meeting to every two years, after next year’s summit in Veracruz, Mexico. “We must modernize, seek ways to simplify, become more agile, (and) to try to energize fields like education, microand small-businesses.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Dem boys seh Oil search in disputed Guyana/ Blood pressure facing Venezuela waters halted dem politicians
The hunt for oil by Guyana in the now disputed waters will have to halt until the maritime delimitation is formally settled with Venezuela, as there is no assurance that another vessel attempting to conduct a survey in that location will not meet the same fate. This was confirmed by Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn RodriguesBirkett, who in a telephone interview with this publication, said that there is no formal maritime border in place with Venezuela hence the recent incident involving the Teknik Perdana. Minister RodriguesBirkett explained that why Guyana maintains that the vessel was in Guyana’s Jurisdiction is through equidistance mapping. She said that under international maritime law, where there is no formal delimitation of the maritime border, a line can be drawn using equidistance. “We drew our line and they drew their line,” said Rodrigues-Birkett. She explained that where the confusion arises is that the border line drawn by Venezuela cuts across to Guyana’s coast. Both parties she said, starts the maritime border at the correct location but as the line is taken further out, the Venezuelan claim cuts across to Guyana’s coast. In explaining the need to have to find a mechanism to resolve the issue, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett said that the same route could not have been taken as had happened with the Suriname incident because Venezuela is not a party to that convention. She said that this is why the two countries have decided to have their technical people meet and explore what are the options available to resolving the maritime dispute such as International Court or Arbitration Tribunal. It is not a matter that can be settled at a bilateral level said Minister RodriguesBirkett, given that both countries are holding to their positions. Asked why the two countries did not opt to have the maritime dispute be settled through the Good Officer Process using Professor Norman Girvan, the Minister explained that he has a different mandate with different terms of reference. According to the Minister, the Good Officer Process is dealing with the resuscitated claim to the Essequibo. This, she said, was a
...no assurances another vessel will not meet same fate - Foreign Affairs Minister
matter that had already been settled through an 1899 ruling but was brought up again by Venezuela. According to Minister Rodrigues-Birkett, utilizing the Good Officer Process is not an option to be thrown out altogether, but to utilize that process would require a renewed mandate different to the one that was established in 1966. She said that the Essequibo claim is one that had been settled before, whereas the maritime delimitation was never formally addressed. The Minister explained that one good thing that has come out of the recent incident involving the seizure of the vessel is the fact that the maritime delimitation will formally be settled. Last week Thursday the Teknik Perdana was intercepted by an armed Venezuelan Navy Vessel and was taken to the Margarita Island in that country’s jurisdiction. The vessel has since been released and has made its way to Trinidad and Tobago. The Teknik Perdana was
Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett contracted by Texas based Andarko Petroleum Inc to search for oil off the Essequibo coast. Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen says five Americans and a number of Russians and Indonesians are among the 36 crew members aboard the Panamanianflagged Teknik Perdana, which departed Friday from its anchorage off Venezuela’s Margarita Island. The ship’s Ukrainian captain was charged with
violating Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone but allowed to leave with other crew members. This past week officials from Guyana and Venezuela met in Trinidad and Tobago in order to resolve the dispute. It was at that meeting that the teams agreed to explore mechanisms within the context of international law to address the issue of maritime delimitation. The Guyana delegation comprised Minister Rodrigues-Birkett; Robert Persaud, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment; Elizabeth Harper, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ambassador Rudolph Collins,Advisor; Keith George, Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname; Audrey Jardine Waddell, Guyana’s Ambassador to UNASUR; and Newell Dennison, Deputy Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission They also agreed that a technical team would meet within four months to exchange views on how such delimitation could proceed.
Rohee was de main man when de fire service hold its anniversary de other day. He had to tek de salute. Now Rohee is de man who controlling de Home Affairs Ministry. He responsible fuh security and not Homes. But a mad man friend tell he while gaffing about getting dem own home, that Rohee is de Home Affairs Minister and that he is de man he got fuh go to. De man been nuff times and de security—well you know de rest. He get chase out many times. People know that when a mad man hold on pun something nothing can’t loose he. He stake out Rohee and ketch up wid he when de fire service had de march past. Imagine de police block everybody, even reporters from going near Rohee. De mad man see all of that and he time de police and mek he move straight to Rohee. Dem boys want know who mek de man pass. Dem boys seh that de mad man got class. De man seh, “Mr Home Affairs, me friend tell me that you is de man I got to come to fuh me home. Find me a home, if not I coming and find you home.” Rohee shake he head and peep de man. If people think is lie, watch back de picture pun de front page. De mad man serious just like how Trinidad get serious wid Guyana. Everybody laughing and think this thing is joke but is a message to de Guyana government. Dem boys seh that de private sector finally wake up. Dem realize that Jagdeo and Ramotar can’t help dem and dem business wid this one. Dem run and tek out whole page ad begging politicians fuh settle differences. But dem boys never hear a word from dem bout de lawlessness on de Marriott. De Ramesh CooCoo and de Rum Webster silent wid Amaila and Marriott. But now dem a holler because dem can get cork off and that is wha dem can’t handle. Dem boys hear thru de grapevine dem foreign powahs planning more pressure and dem boys ain’t talking bout oil pressure or air pressure. Is pure blood pressure fuh de politicians. De Bees, including de Rat and Babby can’t do nutten fuh save dem soul. Talk half and dem better run fuh dem medication wha Babby ain’t bring in yet.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 11
Ashni Singh makes pitch for IFI’s to revise strategies
In photo (from left): Bahamas’ Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis, Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Trinidad and Tobago’s Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran, Guyana’s Finance Minister Ashni Singh, Jamaica’s Finance Minister Michael Phillips, and IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu. Minister of Finance Dr.Ashni Singh met recently with several key international financial institutions in Washington DC to discuss ways in which these institutions can better serve the needs of Guyana and its regional neighbours. The Minister returned earlier this week after representing Guyana at the 2013 annual meetings of the Boards of Governors of IMF, and the World Bank, at the
2013 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, and at the 5th Meeting of Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean. The meetings served as a platform for Minister Singh to draw attention to a number of critical issues that affect Guyana and the region. Among the issues raised are the special circumstances of the small states of the Caribbean and, in particular,
the peculiar development challenges faced by the Region. He called on the international community, especially development partners like the international financial institutions, to take account of these circumstances in devising strategies to support the Region in achieving sustainable growth and development. The Minister called for
the use of more innovative instruments to be designed and applied in support of the Region’s development efforts. During Minister Singh’s visit to the US capital, he met with several other key partners, including President of the Inter American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, and other prominent members of the international financial institutions based in that city.
463 rounds missing from GDF The Guyana Defence Force is searching for 463 rounds of 7.62X39 ammunition that went missing from the military training camp at Tacama in the Berbice River. The rounds were discovered missing on Thursday. Reports from the military camp stated that ranks from the Military Investigation Department have been flown in to the area to conduct further investigations. Their first mission is to ascertain how long the ammunition has been missing. At present Tacama is the location where the Junior Leadership Course and the Skills at Arms Course are conducted. Each of these involves the firing of live rounds. The procedure is for the rounds to be uplifted from the armoury either at Timehri or at Camp Ayanganna and transported to Tacama. A Sergeant Major would then sign and proceed to store the ammunition. When live rounds are to be used there is a Fire Point Officer who collects these rounds and who must account for them at the end of the exercise. Any unused rounds must be turned over to the Sergeant Major. Somewhere along the way the 463 rounds disappeared. The authorities say that the rounds have not left the camp because as soon as they were found to be missing nothing was allowed to leave. The 7.63X39 rounds are used in the AK47 weapon.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Guyana School of Agriculture turns 50
GSA Porridge produced at the Agro-Processing unit By Rehanna Ramsay In observance of its 50th anniversary, the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) has launched a magazine celebrating its numerous achievements and highlights the vision for propelling the institution in the next 50 years. Under the theme “Proud of our Past Preparing for our Future” the Magazine underscores the positive and significant contribution of the GSA to Guyana’s economy. GSA is Guyana’s premier institution in agricultural education. The school came into existence in September 9th 1963 under the command of then, Premier Dr. Cheddi
A mini health check is the first step to donating blood
Jagan and Minister of Forest and Lands, Brindley Benn, with the objective of satisfying a need for a national agricultural training institute. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS The Guyana School of Agriculture opened its doors at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara at the Central Agriculture Station (CAS) which supplied the dwelling houses to accommodate the first classes. Mr. Harry Mandramootoo, the school’s first Principal, crafted the original curriculum. Back then, GSA offered two programmes- two year certificate and diploma programmes- to its all male student body. “Throughout the years, more programmes have been added to the curriculum and the school has expanded. GSA has been established as the premier agricultural institution in Guyana and the Caribbean. Through our graduates, our work has been recognized locally, regionally
Recent Graduates of the Guyana School of Agriculture and in the wider world.” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the school Brian Greenidge stated. CONTRIBUTING TO GUYANA’S ECONOMY Over the years, the Guyana School of Agriculture has spearheaded training which has led to the development of the local economy. The school’s curriculum changes to suit the demands of the sector and challenges of climate change. The school has encouraged the involvement of students in agricultural research. GSA collaborates with NAREI and the Guyana Livestock Development Board (GLDA) for students to undergo practical work. “Students of GSA have for a number of years, been involved in research and agroprocessing, seed technology and aquaculture … in relation to agro -processing, we have produced a line of GSA branded products. These include GSA porridge, pepper sauce, green seasoning, chicken/ham and cheese all
made from scratch at the GSA base, some of which are supplied to the local market. We are currently working on producing a mauby drink from Plantain skin,” Greenidge said In addition, GSA has provided training for members of Community Based Organizations, (CBO) in the areas of food science and technology aimed at satisfying the requirements of the Agro- Processing sector. He explained that the proceeds from the sale of the products are utilized to facilitate the school. “Although GSA has a budget allocation of approximately GYD $160 million from the Central Government each year, we are a self sufficient unit, we teach our students the art of enterprise, we want to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship in our graduates that they will go out there and contribute to the generation of wealth in society.” INCORPORATINGTHE CARIBBEANAND THE
WIDER WORLD The Guyana School of Agriculture has produced more than 3000 graduates in a plethora of fields, from Agriculture to Forestry, who serve in various capacities locally, regionally and internationally. Since 1975 GSA has accepted over 100 students from across the Caribbean and subsequently extended its programme to students from Africa. “GSA has had graduates who came from the Bahamas, Barbados, St Vincent, Dominica, St Vincent, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Nigeria, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Angola. We will continue to support the development of the human capacity in advancing the sector ’s development in the region and worldwide,” Greenidge noted. GSA Mon Repos’ Campus currently facilitates a student body of 217 students, five of which are natives of St Vincent.
GSA TODAY It was not all smooth sailing for the institution, but Greenidge explains that despite the challenges, GSA has sufficed in achieving its mandate to provide quality agricultural education to the nation. “We have had our glitches but we stayed on course and today, we have much to celebrate.” Today GSA offers more than five diploma and certification courses and is currently negotiating with the University of Guyana to have a reduction in the degree programme from four to two years. GSA currently has two campuses, the main site at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara and another at Cotton Field Essequibo. The school at Mon Repos has five separate dormitories and several units including a pre-fab building, food processing unit, new canteen, plant science building and the National Agricultural Research Extension Institute, (NAREI).
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 13
Govt. deliberately not enforcing NIS Act - AFC Lax enforcement of penalties under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Act is a tactic being employed by Government to enrich their friends, who contribute significantly to the People’s Progressive Party Civic election campaigns and outreaches. This is according to Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), who believes that the NIS Act is relevant and has draconian penalties that once enforced, could force delinquent employers and self-employed persons to make their contributions. He said that if the records were to be checked and laws enforced, many friends of the Government would be prosecuted. Ramjattan added that many Government contractors and large businesses are stealing NIS contributions and directing the moneys to the PPP/C to fund their activities. He lamented, “Enforcement is affected by who the enforcers are going to catch.” Reasoning the situation, Ramjattan asked the rhetorical question why Government would want to stop enriching their friends when their friends help to enrich the PPP/C by contributing to their multimillion-dollar election campaigns. According to Roshan Khan, Chief Executive Officer of RK Security Services, “The teeth and claws of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) must have invasive and dynamic powers, and if it wishes it can borrow from the Private Security Act, whose
Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon laws on NIS are very powerful.” Khan said he has been calling on Government and NIS management for about 20 years to come to grips with the reality of the situation with the scheme. “Too many business people in various industries collect for decades and in the end declare bankruptcy. They collect PAYE for decades then they go bankrupt, or at least make it appear so. Having manipulated and saved the monies in foreign accounts or invested in gold or lands, they divest after the bankruptcy,” he added.
Khan stated that in the private security sector, some companies are known to have tendered for large government contracts, charging below costs, as they budget their annual leave, NIS and PAYE as a part of their profit making scheme. He said, “A year ago a company was terminated instantly by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, after workers staged protests against the theft of their NIS, and not getting paid for work done on numerous occasions.” “That company did similar acts in Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten, in the Government Regional Security Contract a few years ago, and they got away with it and still could win the largest block of the regional tender in this country, at this time, a most shameful thing.” “The same owner was involved in a now defunct security unit for about a decade, which stole tens of millions, maybe over a billion of NIS dollars from workers. Today, those workers can get no benefit, and no one does anything, especially the NIS and Government who are silent.” Khan said that scenarios
like these make the Government look bad with room for social chaos and widespread poverty. He said that Cabinet is subscribing to social chaos by giving no-objections to cheap contractors. These cheap contractors skirt their responsibility of making tax deductions and paying their employees’ contributions. “I blame Government, as much as I blame the dishonest employers. They failed to act soon, and they believe that by begging or appealing to the human conscience of the bloodsuckers, they will get them to pay or go into alliances, that they will pay,” he said. He said, “For Dr. Luncheon, the Cabinet and NIS management, bringing foreign consultants, when we created a mess is a waste of my tax dollars. I do not waste my money and the Government has no right to waste my money. Pay one of us 10 per cent of the consultant’s fee and we shall tell you what to do, or create a voluntary board of likeminded persons as this writer, and let us get to work, but we must have some power.”
However, management and the board of NIS had pledged more systematic and more aggressive efforts would be made from the 45th year onwards to collect the hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding contributions owed to the scheme. According to Dr. Roger Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary, the penalties under the Act are stringent and requests have been made to reduce the penalties and give amnesty. “The penalty is 45 percent. If you owe me a $100 you have to pay me $145 because of the penalty that is statutorily imposed. The penalty is hefty”, he said. Dr. Luncheon does not believe the stiffness of the penalties; enforcement is the issue. He will soon be producing a paper for public dissemination that identifies the growth in benefit expenditure.
AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan “Guyanese are living longer and more of them are now clamoring for their benefits. Before they didn’t worry; they want it now. So benefits are growing. Revenue, particularly contribution income, is not keeping pace. We are hardly registering the selfemployed,” he said.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Whopping $848M in coins ImmigrationINFO (Immigration News For Our Community) AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT – currently in circulation 2013 Poverty Guidelines
There is currently in excess of $56B in notes and coins in circulation around the country. This is according to the information gazzetted by the Bank of Guyana when it reported on the nation’s assets and liabilities. According to the Bank of Guyana there is $848M in coins. Coins in Guyana are denominated into $1, $5 and $10. When it comes to the paper notes in circulation that figure stands at a whopping $55.7B. Guyana utilizes bank notes denominated in $20, $100, $500 and $1,000 bills. According to the figures released by the Bank, Guyana’s total assets and
Attorney Gail Seeram, Gail@GailLaw.com
liabilities currently amount to $215B of which $135B is located overseas. The figures were recently published in the Official Gazette and in providing a breakdown of Guyana’s Foreign Assets it says that there is more than $11B as
balances in overseas banks. According to the figures released, there is also $1.8B in foreign notes in the process of redemption and another $107B in capital market securities. On the local front Guyana has a total of $30B.
Under the current immigration laws, every person who immigrates based on a family petition must have a financial sponsor. The law requires a sponsor to prove an income level at or above 125% (100% if active duty military personnel) of the federal poverty level. The 2013 poverty guidelines are listed below. If your income does not meet the requirement, your assets such as checking and savings accounts, stocks, bonds, or property may be considered in determining your financial ability; however these assets value must be shown in a greater ratio. Persons whom the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved as self-petitioning widows or widowers or battered spouses and children are exempt from this requirement. Orphans
adopted by American citizens abroad are also exempt from this requirement. What is the purpose of the affidavit of support? The affidavit of support helps ensure that new immigrants will not need to rely on public benefits such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. If a person for whom you file an affidavit of support becomes a permanent resident and is later given certain public benefits, the agency that gave the benefits can require that you repay that money. When does my financial responsibility end? An affidavit of support is enforceable against the sponsor until the person they sponsored either becomes a U.S. citizen, or is credited with 40 quarters of works in the U.S. (usually 10 years), or leaves the U.S. permanently,
Gail S. Seeram or passes away. Do I need to notify USCIS if I move? If you financially sponsor someone, you are legally required to keep USCIS informed of your address until your financial responsibility ends. If you change your address, you will need to file a Form I-865, Sponsor’s Notice of Change of Address, within 30 days after the date you move.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 21
Renal failure patient hopes to benefit from free transplant
By Sharman Grainger While many young men approaching adulthood are more focused on getting their “manly game on”, 18-year-old Carl Anthony Wilson is instead engaged in a fierce battle to save his life. Carl, a resident of 80 Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown, has been suffering from renal failure for the past two years, a condition that was first discovered by medical officials when he fell terribly ill. According to him, he cannot even recall what transpired that early morning, two years ago, but clearly remembers that he awoke a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). He was informed that his mother, Claudia Wither, was required to rush him to the hospital because of the illness he developed. “I don’t really know what happened because I was sleeping and nobody never really explain what happened to me to make her rush me to the hospital,” Carl recalled. And while there are instances where renal failure is proven to be hereditary, in Carl’s case there is no evidence to suggest this. In fact, he disclosed that he is not aware of anyone in his family, neither on his mother nor father’s side, who had the disease. Renal failure, which is also known as kidney failure, is a medical condition whereby the kidneys are unable to perform the crucial function of filtering waste products from the blood. The condition could lend to acute kidney injury, a state which is said to be reversible with adequate
-
aspires to eventually become a doctor
Renal failure patient, Carl Anthony Wilson interacts with a nurse during a dialysis session last week. treatment, or chronic kidney disease which, according to medical officials, is usually not reversible, but requires dialysis for the patient to remain healthy. Dialysis, which is regarded as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure, is characterised by a process where accumulated waste and excess water is removed from the blood. This process is often required throughout the lifetime of the patient unless the patient is able to undergo
The dry spell is not good for farmers nor is it good for homeowners. Fires are the common features and one such fire is going to raze a house because a homeowner is attempting to burn garbage. Once more the community would try with its limited resources to contain the blaze but to no avail. People are going to be rendered homeless having lost all their worldly possessions. ** The drug trade is alive but there is a shift. Of course the market is overseas but the law enforcement officials are up to the task. They keep making busts and with each bust the dealer is going to start looking at some of his friends. This would see some killings which
a kidney transplant. Carl, who went through his schooling without a single hint of renal failure, was at the age of 16 classified as a chronic case, a state of affairs which requires him to undergo dialysis at least twice weekly. According to the former Lodge Secondary School student, after initially being attended to at the GPHC, medical officials there informed his mother that he could be dialysed at the Doobay Renal Centre situated at 8-9 Courbane Park, Annandale, East Coast
would leave some people in shock. Prominent people would come under attack and this would lead to the belief that no one is outside the scope of the attacks. ** Another fraud is slowly being uncovered. A major bank will find that staff members invade people’s accounts with the belief that the customer would not notice. But one customer would actually notice and demand an explanation. The bank is going to ask that the matter not be made public, but this is like asking a dumb person to speak. The story is going to come out and other customers are going to descend on the bank for examinations.
Demerara. The facility, which opened its doors two years ago, perhaps in time to cater to the then 16-year-old’s condition, is today offering its services to about 40 renal failure patients, including Carl, at the subsidised cost of $9,000 per dialysis session.
And while Carl and his mother would like to classify the establishment of the facility as “divine intervention” as it was established just ahead of him being diagnosed, there are some medical officials who are convinced that dialysis alone may not be enough. In fact, there are some reports from medical officials that the young man may not be able to continue for much longer without a transplant. But although his mother is currently unable to finance a kidney transplant operation, she certainly is prepared to donate a kidney to the older of her two sons in hopes that he would be able to live a fulfilling. According to Carl, “my mother tell me sheself that she is going to give me a kidney...but the doctors and the nurses that does see me don’t really tell me about me condition...they rather talk to my mother and she does tell me after.” The young man who appears to be in no despair because of his condition, related that he is often comforted by the words of his mother “to believe in myself’.” Currently kidney transplants are being undertaken right here in Guyana at a private hospital at a reported cost of US$20,000 which by far exceeds the cost for the operation to be done overseas. But there may be some hope for Carl, and many other
patients like himself, since moves are apace by officials of the Doobay Renal Centre to collaborate with the GPHC to offer free kidney transplant operations in the near future. Carl’s name is certainly prominent on the waiting list of persons who are expected to take advantage of this crucial avenue in the making. Though anxious for the day that he will be able to get a transplant and hopefully have a better chance of living a normal life, free of weekly dialysis, the young man is at the moment “chilling out.” He has a love for basketball and though he does not have the stamina to play a full game, he sure takes the time out every now and then to “shoot a few hoops.” And, of course, like any other young man, Carl doesn’t fail to turn on his male charm on the ladies. In his case though, the ladies are usually the nurses who assiduously attend to him on a weekly basis. Carl says he is able to make light of his situation since he has come to realise that “this is not the end of the world for me...All you got to do is give thanks to God for each day and I believe everything will be alright.” He confidently disclosed that after getting a transplant he will seek to pursue studies in medicine to enable him to become a doctor so that he too could eventually be able to help persons with daunting health conditions.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
A strange killing in Stevedore Scheme By Michael Jordan It was just beginning to rain on the evening of Saturday, November 1, 2004, when five men entered Philip Bess’s yard in Stevedore Housing Scheme squatting area. Bess, a 41-year-old driver employed at City Hall, was inside with his wife, Cheryl, called ‘Vi’, and three of their children. The three little ones were asleep, but the couple’s 20year-old daughter was outside, so she saw when the men entered her parents’ yard. She assumed that they were just seeking shelter from the rain, but then she saw two of the men separate themselves from the group, and walk over to the section of the house that the family had converted into a small shop. Philip Bess’s daughter realised that it wasn’t the rain that had brought the men here. She saw that one of the strangers - a tall, thin man was packing a handgun, while his companion had an ice-
pick. Without thinking twice, the young woman darted out of the yard and fled to a neighbour’s residence. Meanwhile, inside the house, Philip Bess had just finished his dinner of fish and chips which his wife had prepared shortly after returning from church. At around 18:30hrs, Cheryl was in the bedroom shutting the windows when she heard Philip yell out from inside the shop: “Vi, bring the blade (cutlass.)” Cheryl went to the hallway to see what was amiss, in time to see her husband, with his vest badly torn, retreat from the shop into the house. The woman peered into the shop and saw a slim, brown-skinned man, with his cap pulled down low. He was carrying a handgun. The stranger was accompanied by a man of similar build and complexion, who was wearing a du-rag that partly covered his corn-row plaits. The gunman pointed his weapon at her husband, while his companion with the du-
Murdered: Philip Bess rag advanced menacingly to Cheryl Bess. “Wheh de money deh?”
he shouted at her. “We ain’ got money, we just hustling,” Cheryl pleaded. “Shut yuh mouth,” the bandit snapped. “Wheh de money deh?” With that, he grabbed Cheryl’s chain and she shifted away from her husband and the gunman who was guarding him. Despite her plight, she knew that Philip was in greater danger. “Doan shoot he,” she begged. The gunman slapped her, and Cheryl received further slaps as she continued to beg the men to spare her husband. And she soon realised that the gunmen had no intention of leaving eyewitnesses. “You got to shoot that man, buddy, you got to shoot, yuh can’t just lef’ he hay,” the man guarding Cheryl said. A loud explosion filed the house. Cheryl looked behind her and saw Philip lying on the floor with blood spurting from a hole in his chest. “Shoot she too,” the gunman’s companion said. Cheryl began to plead for her life. This appeared to appease the intruders, and the gunman’s companion dragged Cheryl to the dining room. He then stripped the distraught woman of her earrings and finger-rings. The man then demanded that she hand over the family’s cash. Cheryl knew that the couple had $60,000 stashed in their wardrobe. That money was to pay their monthly installment on a car that they had recently purchased. But fearing that the men would kill
her, the woman handed the money over to the gunmen, who also picked up a CD player before fleeing. By this time, the other Bess children had awakened. They became distraught on seeing their mortally wounded father on the floor. Cheryl ran outside to summon help, and a neighbour eventually took Philip Bess to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed. The initial suspicion that detectives had was that the Bess household were victims of a vicious robbery. But Cheryl Bess suspected that there was more to it than that. The couple had gone through some domestic problems after Cheryl found out that Philip was having an affair. Philip had admitted to the relationship, but reassured his wife that it had ended. Sometime in 2004, Cheryl was riding her scooter in the vicinity of the South Ruimveldt Shopping Plaza, when a woman had accosted and taunted her. According to Mrs. Bess, the woman had even spat on her from a minibus. Cheryl Bess said she reported the incident at the East La Penitence Police Station. She had then informed Philip, who allegedly then had an ugly confrontation with the woman. The woman allegedly informed one of her brothers, who was a policeman, and the brother and an acquaintance allegedly confronted Philip at his workplace. Cheryl Bess believes that Philip’s murder is linked to this confrontation. She alleged that one of the men who entered her home is related to the woman with whom her husband had the affair. She said that acting on this information, police arrested some of the woman’s
male relatives. She said that some of them were placed on an identification parade. According to Mrs. Bess, it turned out that one of the men was the same bandit who had slapped her and ordered his companion to shoot her husband. “But I was confused and nervous, so I failed to pick him out,” Mrs. Bess said. “I was looking for the shooter.” According to Cheryl Bess, she also learned that the gunman is related to her husband’s ex-girlfriend. She alleged that the police picked the man up, but never placed him on an identification parade. He was allegedly released before Cheryl Bess was even aware that he had been picked up. According to Mrs. Bess, she was informed by a man who was incarcerated at the same time that one of the suspects had admitted to being involved in her husband’s murder. The alleged killer had reportedly boasted that he had a ‘guard’ from Suriname and would never be caught. She said that the family suffered financially and emotionally from her husband’s murder. She was forced to close the shop and sell their car. Mrs. Bess says that she occasionally sees her husband’s killer, who trades in Georgetown. However, she has never been able to have him arrested, since he always makes himself scare when she is around. She says he’s about five feet nine inches tall, brown in complexion, sports shoulderlength dreadlocks, and had an ‘open-face’ gold tooth. She hopes that the police will reopen their investigations into this murder, which she is convinced was orchestrated by relatives of a scorned woman.
If you have any further information on this case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office or by telephone. We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: mjdragon@hotmail.com.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 23
== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==
At around 12:50 a.m, the phone rang. When that happens at that hour, you fear the worse. Obviously it awakened my wife. It was a call from someone who identified himself as being part of Occupy GT/People’s Parliament that was founded August last year by some brave women activists. The caller apologized for the time of the morning, but wanted to talk about a predicament. A Minister asked the police to arrest and detain him because he simply blurted out the words, “Ya’ll gun lose de next election,” while he was standing in a crowd that the Minister was addressing. Whether it is eight in the morning or ten in the evening, my phone would ring. A citizen would relate the usual tale of human rights violations. Whether it is police unfairness, ministerial arrogance, governmental
abuse or private sector exploitation, it is the ongoing story of a country reeling from human rights abuse. I would say that the minimum number of calls and contacts made would be five per week; sometimes less, at times more. I have no idea how many contacts people like Adam Harris, Glenn Lall, Nigel Hughes, opposition politicians, Red Thread get. But I guess they have their fill too. Last Tuesday night, I received a plea from a Parika market vendor. She received a letter from the market committee asking her to tear down her stall, because its height is in contravention of the regulation. She claimed others are allowed the same right. She was almost in tears. I called the Region Three Chairman. He invited me to visit the market to see that the vendor is in violation. Just minutes
before I spoke to her, someone from the Pomeroon rang to ask that I investigate a person who is openly selling fuel from Venezuela in Region Two, contrary to regulations, apparently competing unfairly with others. As usual, the accused is a political favourite. This is where my problem begins. My human rights activism is going to bankrupt me if I don’t curtail it sharply. I had to return the vendor’s call. I had to make telephone contact with the Region Three Chairman. I have to travel up to Parika. Take a simple example. If that vendor had called any of the media houses, the gas and the phone bill would have been sustained by the company. If that vendor had called a human rights organization, that entity would have used organizational funds. At the rate I go, my phone and gas bills are becoming
unbearable. Just as a profitlosing business reduces expenses and staff, I have to reduce my human rights activism. It breaks my heart. This is what I am made of. This is what makes me want to live. This is what drives me. But rights activism involves the use of resources. I am very weak in that respect. So what is my point? This is a country where a critic must be seen as exposing the State only. Once you go beyond your critiques of governmental behaviour and f o c u s o n wrongdoing in general, you become a pariah. I have written several times about the state of affairs of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). For my comments, I have earned the unceasing wrath o f t h a t o rg a n i z a t i o n ’s leadership. This is an entity that can make the work of many of
us more meaningful if it would come out of its dormancy. Hardly anyone in Guyana knows about this place. It has its own offices and no doubt gets funding. But aggrieved citizens don’t go to them. They go to Adam Harris, Red Thread, Channel 6, etc. It is my deeply held academic belief that Guyana has more human rights nightmares than most countries and an organization that functions in the human rights sphere would be welcomed by the poor and powerless. But where is the GHRA? Where is the Guyana Consumers Association (GCA)? This is a country where consumers have no rights and those who once headed the GCA owe it to the Guyanese people to at least make an effort to put it in the hands of those who
Frederick Kissoon care about justice for the Guyanese people. My friend Leonard Craig of the People’s Parliament suggested that we resuscitate the GCA. But the GCA is a body affiliated to and funded by the Ministry of Trade. It is in the interest of the Government that it remains so. One of the downtown stores where customers are treated flippantly is owned by a big friend of the big ones in Government. In the meantime, sadly I have to downsize my rights activities. My pocket made that choice for me.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Book Review...
A Timely Book on Health and Wellness
Book: An Ounce of Prevention – Especially for Women By Dr. Anthony Vendryes Review by Margaret Fechtmann Like many of us over 50, what I used to get away with in my 20’s and 30’s (healthwise), has now been swapped for good, or maybe, better habits. I am enlightened. I have organic eggs in my refrigerator, now readily available in supermarkets in the U.S. I try to buy my vegetables from organic markets. My family laughs at the assortment of prescriptions and supplements I take for the usual middle age conditions, such as high blood pressure and arthritis. And yet, I still learned, if not, RE-learned a lot from Dr. Vendryes’ book. Popular science tells us that habits are easier to make than they are to break. Breaking a habit is a lot more complicated, because while parts of those worn-in pathways can weaken without use, they never go away. I surmise that is why there are still so many smokers and why obesity is at epidemic proportions. We know why we shouldn’t smoke and why we should eat correctly and get plenty of exercise, but as humans, we still fall back into our old habits. The good news is that there is the belief that if you repeat a (new) behaviour often enough, those new, synaptic pathways are going to get worn in. New health and wellness habits can be formed and incorporated into our lifestyles. The secret is to form a new, parallel pattern, like exercising when you feel stress, rather than indulging in a cigarette. One of the principles I learned from Dr Vendryes’ book is how to incorporate news habits while eliminating old ones. An Ounce of Prevention is an easy read and almost more of a reference guide. Broken into Six Sections with sub-chapters within each, he covers the following topics: Wellness Concepts; Healthy Agents & Practices; General Problems; Female Issues; Danger Areas; and Weight Management. Not surprisingly, there is redundancy in the information gleaned in each section. That is because these are fundamental wellness habits Dr. Vendryes wants us to incorporate into our lives. Make these our good habits. I am reassured that the author has endorsed many of the supplements that I
already take daily, such as fish oil and multivitamins. I forgot the great benefits of green tea and started a new habit this week of drinking at least one cup each day. As a cancer survivor with a history of Alzheimer’s in my family, I read with great interest the benefit of exercise and diet relative to these two diseases. I now reflect on my late mother’s life and realized she had terrible eating habits caused by poor planning around a difficult work schedule, while never exercising. Perhaps she would be with us today if health and wellness knowledge were as readily available in her lifetime as it is today. Dr. Vendryes’ book explains the cause of many health problems while offering safer and more natural interventions. Additionally, he devotes a whole section to ‘Danger Areas,” such as the harmful effects of artificial sweeteners, cell phones, microwave ovens, MSG, mercury, sugar and trans-fats. And the final section is devoted to Weight Management. Here, he gives the reader a commercial for Herbalife because he believes in that program’s benefits. But I think that every reputable wellness program can improve weight management and overall good health. Dr Vendryes articulates that the foundation of health is rooted in four pillars: nutrition, exercise, detoxification and stress management. While these simple but
powerful processes form the basis for his approach to health and wellness, here are the key reminders that will go a long way to bolster one’s constitution : 1) Don’t smoke; 2) Have a balanced nutrition with an emphasis on natural high fiber. Eat more plants and less animal proteins. Avoid sugars and trans-fats; 3) Take more nutritional supplements (specifically fish oil, and the antioxidant ACES (Vitamins A, C and E, and Selenium); 4) Drink more water; 5) Go in the sun and get your Vitamin D; and 5) Lose the excess fat. Dr. Vendryes also adds quotes, proverbs and reflections that reinforce the invaluable and resounding message of his work. They are all very interesting, but the one axiom that italicizes An Ounce of Prevention is found on page 165. It states, “Knowledge is Power. Put this knowledge to work for you.” Now off to have a nice glass of water while I make myself a cup of green tea. New habit formed. Margaret Fechtmann for Glenville Ashby’s Literary Guild Feedback: glenvilleashby@ gmail.com An Ounce of Prevention: Especially for Women by Tony Vendryes Publisher: Tony Vendryes Enterprises Ltd., Jamaica WI ISBN: 878-976-610811-3 Available: Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble.com Rating: Highly recommended
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
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My column
Chat language will get us no jobs To listen to the talk around us, we would be left to believe that for all the development, nothing good is happening to the people. Hardly a day goes by without some person not trying to land a job. In fact, things have reached the stage where young people are trying to gain higher qualifications to land a job. There is no worry about overqualifying. Clerks are therefore turning up with first degrees. Young people with a ton of passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Council (CSEC) examinations are complaining that they cannot find jobs. Some of them are really no good, but at least one would expect them to be functional. Just the other day I heard a remarkable story. There was this clerk who was supposed to write a judge’s comment on a docket. At least she was ingenious. When she did not understand a word she simply wrote “something”. The result is that her comment read that the defendant should be made to ‘something’ which could see a ‘something’ and the rest goes on. It must be that not much is being taught in schools. People do not reason anymore. For the record, English is not taught anymore, so basic English words are not
recognized. Perhaps we could blame television and the social media. Television does not encourage reading and the social media does not fault bad grammar and poor spelling. The other day I was reading a text message and I could not understand from head to toe. There was ‘smh’ which I learnt meant shaking my head. The writer would have no problem here. There is no need to know to spell ‘shaking’. There are other abbreviations that represent sentences and this is what is fast replacing the English words that we use in conversation. As an editor, I have actually seen reporters write that someone said, “I told u to go back to the police.” A very long time ago, one lecturer once said to me that language is changing, and I am living through the change. However, those changes have not made their way into standard written communication. The people who wrote examinations and got those poor English grades must have been ardent followers of the social media. And the social media are not employing. Guyana, however, goes a step further. It is introducing Portuguese in schools. The aim is to have Portuguesespeaking people living in Guyana. I thought that with the influx of Brazilians
we would have had so many that by osmosis the entire nation would be speaking Portuguese. However, our educators want us to learn the language in the proper way. They want us to be able to spell and to write the language. I would have thought that the resources would have gone to ensure that we speak proper English and thus become employable. When I was at school, the focus was on French and Spanish. I thought that Spanish made sense, because we happen to live on a continent where the overwhelming majority of the people speak Spanish. But then again those Spanish-speaking people would always say that English should be taught as a second language. In Guyana, one school of thought is that English is indeed a second language, although with the preponderance of television and the like, one would have expected English to be the Mother language. This school of thought says that the dialect w e speak is the Mother language. If that is the case, how come many of us cannot read it? So it is back to the situation where our young people must be provided with jobs. They are for the
greater part very savvy when it comes to Information Technology. If they are, then they should know that they can use technology to enhance their learning, but they do not. Some Government Ministers say that the projects being pursued by the government were intended to create hundreds of jobs for the young people. The Amaila Falls project is on hold, so there are no jobs there. The Marriott is supposed to be under construction but there is still no job there for Guyanese. The airport expansion project should be creating jobs but it is not, at least not for young people who studied hard to write the
CSEC. So Guyana may be continuing on a downward spiral. Last week, a study found that it has the lowest per capita income in the Caricom region. Some countries once considered poorer than Guyana had such high per capita incomes that one can now understand why their people are not as preoccupied with migrating as Guyanese are. And the advantage of migrating may soon disappear. Guyana is heading for a blacklist that would see it having to keep its money, and those wishing to send money may find that they
Adam Harris cannot. Perhaps all this is the result of the calamitous education system which cannot be resurrected by the social media.
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By Rajendra Bisessar GuySuCo is in shambles. Production in 2013 is lowest in two decades. 1993 and 1999 production was 246,528 and 321,438 respectively. GuySuCo will not meet its target of 240,000 tonnes or the 190,000 tonnes intended for the European market. There is an information shutdown. A director of the corporation refused to disclose information saying GuySuCo took a decision not to, and so the situation seems ominous. Insider information indicates that production at present may be around 150,000 tonnes. If sugar falls under 200,000 tonnes its very existence is threatened. Despite Government’s injection of $5B last year, sugar recorded its lowest production of 218,069 tonnes in two decades, a consequence of neglect for the workers, incompetence of the Board, neglect of best practices, imposition of Jagdeo’s Chinese-built factory and refusal by the government to listen to the AFC and the sugar unions. The Skeldon factory was to solve the problems, however it is producing just 36% of rated capacity. The Indians, the Australians, the Americans,
Kaieteur News
the English, the South Africans and the Brazilians know about sugar, but China does not. The AFC insists that the GuySuCo Board did not carry out due diligence on the “Turnaround Plan” or the “Jagdeo white elephant”. No one, including President Ramotar, acted responsibly and sought to interrogate those plans carefully. So Guyana got shafted, thanks to the incompetence and cowardice of this GuySuCo Board. The AFC and the sugar unions warned GuySuCo, since 2009, of the imminent challenges facing the sugar industry. AFC pleaded with the Government to lessen the risks by investing more in the field infrastructure to enhance productivity. Best practice, now abandoned, allows for flooding and replanting to be every five years instead of the present 8-12 years, resulting in poorer canes for the factories. Consequently the industry moved from around 3.4 tonnes of sugar per acre to around 2.4. The spin-off effect was large quantities of fish let loose into the canals. What has caused this deterioration? The AFC is of the view that among the Board of Directors of GuySuCo, friends of the PPP, who want to live the high
life off the sweat of the workers, have abandoned the one thing that would turnaround GuySuCo… good quality cane. The AFC had called for redirecting resources from the “fat cats” to the field and factories to raise the cane/sugar ratio from 12.69 in 2012 to the pre-1999 levels of 10.88. Skeldon Factory is at 16.29 whileAlbion is just over 10. AFC notes that in 1990, when 129,722 tonnes were produced, factories were grinding for a mean of 44% of the in-crop season. In 2012, factories were grinding for a mean of 50% of the in-crop season while international standard, net grinding time is over 80%. Why such a low rate? It is due to poor and visionless leadership, which is whyAFC has called for the entire Board of Directors to be revamped. This brings us to the recent debate regarding the Chairman of the Board. Ashni Singh says that the Chairman Mr. Raj Singh is “eminently qualified, worked in sugar at a senior level, [and] has expertise in areas relevant to the management of organisations like the sugar company”. However, according to GuySuCo’s Newsletter of October 2007 – Mr. Singh “joined the Sugar Industry in 1975 as an Industrial Relations Officer and left the industry as a
Regional Industrial Relations Manager”. But never with a factory nor field team. In the USA, he was employed in the human resource field and is presently employed as a Head of a Division within the Human Resources Department. Mr. Raj Singh is definitely not qualified for the specialized task of rejuvenating sugar, Public service Minister, yes, if PPP wants to repay him for services rendered to the party. Raj Singh’s monthly emolument is excessive. “You cannot throw bacon for the boys and bones to the workers,” was the response of Alliance for Change (AFC) Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo. When Booker Tate took over in 1990, they recognized the most important input was the human resource. They increased the wages by over 200% between 1990 and 1992. Labour unrest reduced significantly and there was an influx of new labour into the industry. The AFC in its 2011 campaign demanded a 20% across the board increase in wages for all workers. The AFC has since amended its demand to 10% for those at the bottom of the wage scale to stimulate a repeat of the labour relations success achieved by Booker Tate. The PPP overlords refused to budge. Ashni Singh stated that sugar in Guyana has a comparative advantage, so it’s inexplicable that our citizens could have gone to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados and worked in the fields and sent back money to accomplish so much for their families, but the workers in
Sunday October 20, 2013
- Workers livelihood threatened sugar here are catching hell. Does the AFC have proposals? Yes it has and these among others were made public. DIVERSIFICATION Production of ethanol; the AFC Action Plan advocates a National E10 (10% blend of ethanol and gasoline) thus enhancing the cash-inflows, therefore guaranteeing Workers’ wages. The AFC would transform sugar from a subsistence level industry, with “slave-like” conditions of employment, to a value added industry that focuses on mechanised harvesting, ethanol production, packaged sugar, refined sugar and alcohol production. EMOLUMENT The AFC has mapped the funding for increased pay: charging NDIA a premium rate for technical assistance in times of flooding; renegotiating the shipping contracts to secure better value; negotiating a reduction in the interest rates with the banks; cutting administrative cost by weeding out multimillion-dollar perks for cronies; asking the Ministry of Commerce to foot the bill for Marketing and Distribution expenses; identifying more non-value added cost streams in the industry and weeding them out swiftly without political interference. The members of the new Board must have access to line managers to share ideas on a programme of rehabilitation and rationalization to enhance the efficiency on each estate by allowing them to contribute towards fixing the problem.
Such a plan will ensure GuySuCo’s Board, senior management and linemanagers have cash flow numbers per estate/cost centre on a weekly basis to make decision at different levels. INCREASE AND MECHANISE CANE CULTIVATION Private farmers at Skeldon are hesitant and uneasy about growing more cane because of the financial risks. The AFC suggests public/ private partnerships with the private planters to get all the new fields at Skeldon mechanised and planted within a defined time by using the billions from NICIL/ LOTTO funds finally for a national project that is beneficial to the nation. The AFC advocates the use of these funds to leverage more funds from the banking sector to accelerate the mechanisation and planting schedule CONSOLIDATION OF ESTATES The CEO needs full freedom to cap financial leaks and to consolidate the operations of more Estates – one Administrative Manager for West Demerara and one for East Demerara – and to sell some of the excess houses. FULLTRANSPARENCY Involve all stakeholders, the Unions, the Parliament and the Private Sector. GuySuCo’s books must be open for the key stakeholders. Minister Singh must lay the new three-year turnaround plan in Parliament and publish it in the national newspapers to build a winning coalition to save the industry.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
SUNDAY SPECIAL DRIED UPAMAILAFALLS VINDICATES OPPOSITION STANCE ON PROJECT – DAVID GRANGER The graphic image of a dried up Amaila Falls and Kuribrong River, vindicates the position held by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) that the proposed 165MW project was badly conceived in the first place. Leader of the political opposition party, David Granger, in an invited comment last week Saturday, said that the possibility of a dried up falls and river is the reason why APNU had called for a Potaro Basin Development Authority in the first place. He said that such a body would have been equipped with the necessary
WINDSOR ESTATES ADMITS…FLORIDASTYLE GATED COMMUNITY IS NOTA GUARANTEE A number of private developers are preparing to build homes in what are called gated communities. These are advertised promises of fenced, residential areas with security cameras and guard huts, pools, shopping areas and landscaping similar to projects in other countries, like the US, Canada and the UK. The idea is to provide a higher quality of living in an exclusive area. One such company is Windsor Estates, a company that has links with US-based Guyanese contractor, Danny Sawh. The entity unveiled ambitious plans to build a gated community behind
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just have to wait and see…what can we say to convince?” MONDAYEDITION NDIAALLEGED 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
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. TUESDAYEDITION AFC WANTS ANSWERS ON GUYSUCO LANDS GIVEN TO PRIVATE DEVELOPERS
skills that would have been able to properly analyze and predict weather patterns. Granger said that the major flaw in the project design was to single out the Amaila site and Kuribrong River as the only source of water for the hydro electric plant. According to Granger, there are a number of other sources of water in the Potaro basin that could have been diverted to the reservoir for the plant. This would have allowed for a more stable supply of water that could facilitate an even larger plant. He said, too, that a glaring example of the project being poorly conceived and implemented was the fact that at one point when the project was set to take off, there were still surveys being conducted. Granger was making reference to the plane that had crashed on a Plaisance home, and which had been contracted by Sithe Global.
Republic Park, East Bank Demerara, complete with closed circuit television (CCTV), pool, landscaping and homes constructed to US standards. The homes, ranging between 1,300 square feet to 3,550, will start from $24M and can go up to $46M. Potential homeowners will pay an advance and the rest over a period agreed on until the keys are handed over. Windsor Estates burst onto the housing scene earlier this year, in a media blitz during the regional T20 cricket, sponsoring prizes and TV coverage and even the Amazon Warriors. Last week, Kaieteur News caught up with Danny Sawh, Chief Executive Officer, who admitted that there is really no guarantee that Windsor Estates can deliver all that it is advertising. “I think there is no way really (to guarantee). I think you will
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 were 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
After a two-month break, the National Assembly is set to reconvene in a matter of days. According to Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, among some of the issues that his party wants some clarity on, is the current housing policy of Government. “We have been receiving a number of complaints about Government’s housing programme and they are worrying.” Among some of the questions to be tabled would involve Government’s arrangements with lands on East Bank Demerara. The area has been one of the most concentrated across the country in terms of housing. However, large tracts of lands have been placed in the hands of private developers under what Government has described as public/private partnerships.
There have been criticisms that these are prime lands while ordinary Guyanese are being pushed further into the back areas. “Our party is fully aware of the critical importance of housing to Guyana. But we are not aware how the lands on the East Bank of Demerara were given. It seems as if large plots went to some close friends and cohorts of the ruling party under unclear circumstances. Was the process advertised so that other interested persons could have had a chance to also have access to these prime lands?” The land that Ramjattan is referring to is located in Eccles, behind Republic Park and Nandy Park, in Providence. It has also been reported that land behind Herstelling, Covent Garden, Prospect and Diamond has also been given out for private development. DETAINED VESSEL…CASE TURNED OVER TO VENEZUELAN PROSECUTORS …36 CREWMEMBERS TO BE HELD ON BOARD AS INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE Five American citizens were among the crew of a U.S.chartered oil exploration ship
seized by the Venezuelan navy in Guyana waters two Thursdays ago. Authorities from Venezuela escorted the vessel into port at Venezuela’s Margarita Island last Sunday and said they would be held on board along with the other crewmembers while an investigation continued. Admiral Angel Belisario Martinez has told the Venezuelan media outfit, ‘Union Radio’ that the research ship was conducting “unauthorized scientific work” in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone. He said the case had been turned over to prosecutors. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry had said two Fridays ago that the ship and its crew would be subject to an “inquiry under the International Maritime Law and pursuant to the safeguarding of our sovereignty in maritime areas.” The 285-foot research vessel, Teknik Perdana, was detained by the Venezuelan Navy, in what Guyana maintains forms a part of its coastal Exclusive Economic Zone. Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and her Venezuelan counterparts agreed to meet and hold discussions on the impasse. Continued on page 37
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Government’s health care system is failing women, children and the aged The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)administered primary health care system is failing women, children and the aged. This failure has been most evident in hinterland and rural areas. The primary health care system is meant to promote equity and social justice. All Guyanese – whether they live on the coastland or in the hinterland, in town or village or whether they are poor or rich – should have access to good health care. Primary health care should be seen as an initiative to make health services more accessible. It should be seen as an investment in human development that avoids more expensive medical treatment at the secondary and tertiary stages. The PPPC administration, however, seems unable to solve the problems facing health administration. It is now freely admitted that Guyana’s targets to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development
Goals – MDGs – Four and Five, which concern the reduction of both maternal and infant mortality rates, are unlikely to be met by 2015. A plethora of problems plague the national primary health care system. Administrative incapacity is the severest systemic impediment to the delivery of health care. The Minister of Health lamented, “We are somewhat alarmed at the level of Cabinet about the maternal mortality deaths…” The Cabinet Secretary added cynically, “I think we will have to prepare ourselves to obtain a report from this expert group [on a recent maternal death] in an ‘untimely’ way. We won’t get it tomorrow or next week… That is where our dissatisfaction lies.” The PPPC’s clumsy treatment of nurses and its retarded attitude to their training is the second source of serious problems. Officials of the Guyana Nurses’ Association and Georgetown Hospital expressed alarm at
the high failure rate – about 85 per cent – of a recent batch of nurses from the Georgetown School of Nursing, Charles Roza Nursing School and the New Amsterdam Nursing School. The huge size of the classes of student nurses and staff shortages have contributed to the failures. The functioning of regional hospitals and community health centres has also weakened the national primary health care system. The Ministry of Health has had to react to what it calls “preventable difficulties” affecting nurses at the Linden Hospital Complex in the Upper Demerara-Berbice Region (No. 10) who went to the National Assembly in April to demand their gratuity payments. Problems also arose at the West Demerara Regional Hospital in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region (No. 3) where nurses and staff members threatened to strike in order to call
attention to the non-payment of allowances and to the security lapses at the hospital. The Parika Health Centre has to be closed every time the rain falls because the building floods. The Skeldon Health Centre was abandoned a few months after it was commissioned. And so the story goes. Health care delivery is erratic. The Minister of Health publicly lamented the “general dissatisfaction among Berbicians about health services being provided” in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region (No.6). He threatened that health care officials would be made to ‘face the music’ more often and to account to the public for their actions. Ministry of Health bureaucrats seem to have no notion of cost, distance and difficulty of transportation and communication in the hinterland. Staff at Imbaimadai Health Centre in the CuyuniMazaruni Region (No.7), for example, was simply instructed to send seriously ill patients to Kamarang – a long journey usually by costly, privately-owned boats. There have been unnecessary deaths from
snake bites and malaria owing to a lack of medication. St. Cuthbert’s Mission Health Centre turns away older patients owing to the lack of drugs. A child died last month as a result of a diarrhoea outbreak at Masakenari Village in the Rupununi Region (No.9). The Ministry seems to be incapable of preventing, or responding promptly, to the prevalence of preventable diseases. Data indicate that there were 144 deaths over a 12 yearperiod from 2001 to 2012 owing to Acute Gastroenteritis-Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases. 61 per cent of all deaths were children – five years or younger. Every year brings more deaths, most recently in the Barima-Waini Region (No.1). The high cost of medical evacuation has been a consequence of dysfunctional community health centres. The Ministry of Health spent more than $25M in 2011 to facilitate the medical evacuation of emergency cases from hinterland areas because patients cannot receive care at the regional hospitals.
The absence of a national ambulance service and a corps of emergency medical technicians is the source of yet another problem. The entire country has only about 25 ambulances. There are no dedicated air, road and river ambulances to deliver patients comfortably, cheaply and quickly to regional hospitals for treatment. The Ministry of Health has been confounded continuously by the costly challenge of wanton waste and disposal of expired drugs. The Auditor General’s report revealed that $49.498M worth of expired drugs was dumped by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation alone last year. The PPPC administration’s thrust to achieve universal health coverage through the primary health care system has not been a success. Its failure to prevent maternal deaths, to protect vulnerable children from deadly gastro-intestinal and other preventable diseases and to provide adequate care for the aged has lowered the quality of life for many Guyanese who depend on the flawed system.
Sunday October 20, 2013
From page 27 WEDNESDAYEDITION FOUR INJURED IN PORT KAITUMA SMASH-UP …AS TRUCK SLAMS CAR, MOTORCYCLE A couple, their daughter and a Brazilian national were injured at around 18:00 hrs Tuesday after a truck slammed into a car and a motorcycle at
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an occupied house without the knowledge of the occupant and other shady deals, is now wanted by lawmen across the country. Shilchand recently sold a rented Toyota IST (PRR 2622) to a South Sophia resident, Elvis Smith, on July 2, last for GY$1.5M. Smith paid the con artist $850,000 cash and was supposed to pay the balance
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POLITICAL PARTIES AGREE…LOCALGOVT. ELECTIONS WILL SOLVE CITY HALL’S PROBLEMS Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Ganga Persaud believes that Local Government Elections would be the solution to the troubling rift between the
The vessel moored at Parika
Port Kaituma, North West District. Three of the victims were air-dashed to the city with suspected spinal injuries and admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) shortly after midnight Wednesday. Those admitted to the hospital were Andrew Williams, 34, of Wauna; his wife, Juliet Seecharran, 42, and a Brazilian woman, whose name was given as Rayana Melonogueira. Mr. Williams’s 12-year-old step-daughter, Naomi Seecharran, was also injured but was not air-lifted to the city, apparently not having sustained an injury that required advanced facilities and/or treatment. Mr. Williams said that he was travelling in a car with his wife and daughter when a truck rammed into the car, causing it to topple at least three times. He said that the truck also hit a motorcycle on which the Brazilian national and her husband were travelling. . THURSDAY EDITION CON ARTIST WANTED BY POLICE FOR SELLING RENTED CARS Hemant Narine Shilchand known for selling rental cars,
in installments within four months. However, when the Sophia resident tried to call Shilchand a few days later, Shilchand’s cellular phone was turned off. After numerous failed attempts to call the confidence trickster, Smith realized that something was definitely wrong and decided to seek advice from his police friend, who after conducting an investigation, found out that Shilchand is wanted by the law for selling rented properties. He is wanted for selling two other rented cars to persons in the city. He has also sold the house owned jointly with his wife, without her permission- that matter is in court. He has not paid support for his three children for the past three years. Kaieteur News was also told that early this year, Shilchand sold a car to one of his relatives and then stole the registration papers along with the keys two days later and tried to sell the vehicle to someone else. Wednesday, Shilchand’s wife, Esther Persaud, said that the two were separated in 2010 after she found out that he was a confidence trickster.
elected representatives and the administration of City Hall. The holding of Local Government Elections is said to be dependent on President Donald Ramotar’s assent to the four Local Government Elections Bills that were passed in the National Assembly on August 7, last. On Wednesday, Persaud said that he spoke to Ramotar about the matter the previous Friday but is currently unaware of the status of the Bills. In the interim, remedying the rift at City Hall seems to be a large task if not impossible. Persaud said that the ongoing problems at City Hall are negatively impacting the day-to-day operations of Georgetown citizens. FRIDAYEDITION GUYANA,VENEZUELA MARITIME BOUNDARY ISSUE…TECHNICAL TEAM TO MEET WITHIN FOUR MONTHS Discussions between Guyana and Venezuela ended late Thursday night with an agreement that a technical team would meet within four months “to explore mechanisms within the context
of international law to address the issue of maritime delimitation.” The high level teams of both countries were forced to meet owing to an armed Venezuelan Navy vessel detaining the seismic research vessel, RV Teknik Perdana, which was in G u y a n a ’s w a t e r s , t w o Thursdays ago. The Guyana delegation comprised Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; Robert Persaud, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment; Mrs. Elizabeth Harper, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Aff a i r s ; Ambassador Rudolph C o l l i n s , Adviser; Keith George, Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname; Audrey Jardine Waddell, Guyana’s Ambassador to UNASUR; and Mr. Newell Dennison, Deputy Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. A joint statement released by the foreign ministers stated that both sides recognised that the delimitation of the maritime boundaries between their two States remains an outstanding issue. In this regard, Ministers RodriguesBirkett and Elias Jaua Milano agreed to explore mechanisms within the context of international law to address the issue of maritime delimitation, the statement said. WORKS MINISTRY RECEIVED PROPOSAL FOR SCRAPPED VESSEL – BENN Government has confirmed that it has received
a proposal to buy a Trinidadian-based vessel that was brought to Guyana by local business persons. The vessel, reportedly purchased in Trinidad for scrap, is currently anchored off Parika Beach, East Bank Essequibo, and has been raising eyebrows because of its presence there for several days now. On Thursday, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn disclosed that his office has received a proposal. He however declined to give details. The 1,400-tonne vessel was reportedly purchased for just over US$100,000 and was brought here to be chopped up for scrap and then to be exported. Kaieteur News has since learnt that moves were made to have it sold to Government for US$1M with the intention that the hull would be used on the MV Malali. The hull on that vessel is said to be in an appalling state and needs to be replaced.
SATURDAY EDITION FOUR KILLED IN BUS, TRUCK SMASH UP Four minibus passengers were killed Friday when a sand truck slammed into the route 72 bus which was heading to Mahdia. The truck, according to the police, was allegedly driven by a 19-year-old lad. The dead persons were identified as Felix Marc, 42 years, of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, Delroy Evans and Loretta Evans, and Pulmattie Samaroo. Marc and Evans were pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital, while Samaroo died at the same institution late Friday afternoon. Injured in the smash up was Evans’ two-year-old daughter Maya. The toddler, according to hospital sources, was treated and transferred to the paediatric ward of the GPHC. According to an eyewitness, the minibus was proceeding south along the Coverden Public Road when the truck, coming in the opposite direction, collided with the vehicle.
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Air pollution a leading cause of cancer - U.N. agency The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and is being officially classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency said on Thursday. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, and said there was also convincing evidence it increases the risk of bladder cancer. Depending on the level of exposure in different parts of the world, the risk was found to be similar to that of breathing in second-hand tobacco smoke, Kurt Straif, head of the agency’s section that ranks carcinogens, told reporters in Geneva. “Our task was to evaluate the air everyone breathes rather than focus on specific air pollutants , ” d e p u t y head Dana Loomis said in a statement. “The results from the reviewed studies point in the same direction: the risk of developing lung cancer is significantly i n c r e a s e d in people exposed to air pollution.” Air pollution, mostly caused by transport, power generation, industrial or agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking, is already known to raise risks for a wide range of illnesses including respiratory and heart diseases. Research suggests
that exposure levels have risen significantly in some parts of the wor l d , particularly countries with large populations going through rapid industrialization, such as China. IARC reviewed thousands of studies on air pollution tracking populations over decades and other research such as those in which mice exposed to polluted air experienced increased numbers of lung tumors. In a statement released after reviewing the literature, t h e Ly o n - b a s e d a g e n c y said both air pollution and “particulate matter” - a major component of it would now be classified among its Group 1 human carcinogens. That ranks them alongside more than 100 other known cancercausing substances in IARC’s Group 1, including asbestos, plutonium, silica dust, ultraviolet radiation and tobacco smoke. Loomis said there was relatively high exposure in Asia, South Asia, eastern North America, some places in Central America and Mexico, as well as North Africa. But although both the composition and levels of air pollution can vary dramatically from one location to the next, IARC said its conclusions applied to all regions of the world. “Our conclusion is that
this is a leading environmental cause of c a n c e r d e a t h s , ” D r. Christopher Wild, director of IARC, told the news briefing in Geneva. I A R C ’s ranking monographs program, sometimes known as the “encyclopedia of carcinogens”, aims to be an authoritative source of scientific evidence on c a n c e r - c a u s i n g substances. It has already classified many chemicals and mixtures that can be components of air pollution, including diesel engine exhaust, solvents, metals and dusts. But this is the first time that experts have classified air pollution as a cause of cancer. Wild said he hoped the comprehensive evidence would help the WHO, which is revising its global 2005 guidelines on air quality. The U.N. agency makes on recommendations on public health issues to its 193 member states. Asked why it had taken so long to reach the conclusion, he said that one problem was the time lag between exposure to polluted air and the onset of cancer. “Often we’re looking at two, three or four decades once an exposure is introduced before there is sufficient impact on the burden of cancer in the population to be able to study this type of question,” he said. (Reuters)
Sunday October 20, 2013
Low back pain tied to flat feet: study Women who walk with flat feet are 50 percent more likely than those with normal or high arches to have low back pain, a new study suggests. “The key takeaway from the study is that if women have low back pain, it may not be just the back,” said senior author Marian Hannan of the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston. “It turns out that feet are important for the back.” Past research has hinted that low back pain, which affects roughly one in five people worldwide, could be related to the shape of the foot’s arch in the standing position. This study, published in Rheumatology, focused on the arch while a person walked. Among 1,930 men and women recruited from Framingham, Massachusetts, pronated feet - which tend to roll inward as a person walks - were linked to lower back pain in women only. “There has been only weak correlation between pronated feet and low back pain so I was happy to see some evidence of this in the study,” said Christopher Kevin Wong. He is an associate professor of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at Columbia University in New York City and was not involved with the current study. For their study, Hannan and her colleagues measured each person’s arch in the standing posit i o n . T h e n participants walked across a mat with embedded sensors to measure pressure from the heel to the tip of the foot while walking. “ I t ’s a m e t h o d t h a t shows promise, and will need to be validated against other measures of motion analysis,” Wong told Reuters Health. For example, another method includes marking a person’s leg with ink at the joints in order to detect under- or over-pronation
movements. Women in the study were in their 60s, on average. About 38 percent overall reported having low back pain. Dr. Stephen Pinney, an orthopedic surgeon at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco, called the size of the study “impressive.” He told Reuters Health future studies should follow participants with different arches forward in time to confirm these findings. Researc h s h o u l d a l s o determine what effect, if any, interventions such as orthotics might have on who develops back pain. “ We ’ v e k n o w n that putting a patient in a foot cast after surgery, for example, can lead to lower back pain because this creates asymmetric forces on the back,” said Pinney, who didn’t participate in the new research. Hannan said the body may use other muscl e s t o help make up for flat feet when a person walks, which could explain the link to b a c k p a i n . Standing and walking use the foot in different ways. Both a flat foot in standing position and a pronated foot walking c o u l d b e s o m e t h i n g to consider during a doctor’s visit, Hannan said. She and her team
suggested reasons why women could be more affected by flat feet while walking than men. For example, women’s pelvic bones are wider and not as flexible as men’s. In general, women rotate their hips more than men while walking. Women also move their upper bodies more than men when they walk. “ Wo m e n probably don’t know if their foot function contributes to low back pain, but they can find out about it,” Hannan told Reuters Health. She suggested people with low back pain visit a doctor or physical therapist. One simple trick to strengthen muscles in the feet is to lay a towel on a flat surface and then scrunch the toes together in order to pick up the towel and lower it back down. Foot orthotics are another option. “Once you have back pain, you’ll want to do core muscle exercises and perhaps take antiinflammatory medication, but anything that is contributing to asymmetry - you will also want to address that,” Pinney said. “There are a bunch of different reasons for getting low back pain, and this adds another category for people to consider,” he said.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Glee ‘confirmed to end next series’
Glee creator Ryan Murphy has confirmed the musical show will end after the next series, it has been reported. Speaking at a media event in Los Angeles, Murphy said he had planned for the sixth season to revolve around the characters of Rachel and Finn. However, following the death of actor Cory Monteith, who played Finn, in July, he was forced to create a new ending, TV Line reported. He added he had penned a new finale that would be in Monteith’s honour.
“The final year of the show, which will be next year, was designed around Rachel and Cory/Finn’s story,” Murphy said. “I always knew that, I always knew how it would end. I knew what the last shot was - he was in it. I knew what the last line was - she said it to him. “So when a tragedy like that happens you sort of have to pause and figure out what you want to do, so we’re figuring that out now.” Murphy said he planned
to pitch his new ending for the show to US network Fox later this month. “I think it’s very satisfactory and kind of in [Monteith’s] honour, which I love,” he added. The show said goodbye to the actor in a special tribute episode broadcast in the US last week. In April this year, Fox renewed Glee for a fifth and sixth season as part of a twoseason deal. It had been hinted the sixth series could be the last, however it was not confirmed at the time.
Grand Theft Auto V leads video game industry to terrific September sales
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‘Bionic man’ makes debut at Washington’s Air and Space Museum A first-ever walking, talking “bionic man” built entirely out of synthetic body parts made his Washington debut on Thursday. The robot with a human face unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum was built by London’s Shadow Robot Co to showcase medical breakthroughs in bionic body parts and artificial organs. “This is not a gimmick. This is a real science development,” museum director John Dailey said. The 6-foot-tall (1.83 meter), 170-pound (77-kg) robot is the subject of a onehour Smithsonian Channel documentary, “The Incredible Bionic Man,” airing on Sunday. A “bionic man” was the material of science fiction in the 1970s when the television show “The Six Million Dollar Man” showed the adventures of a character named Steve Austin, a former astronaut whose body was rebuilt using synthetic parts after he nearly died. The robot on display at the museum cost $1 million and was made from 28 artificial body parts on loan from biomedical innovators. They include a pancreas, lungs, spleen and circulatory system, with most of the parts early prototypes. “The whole idea of the project is to get together all
of the spare parts that already exist for the human body today - one piece. If you did that, what would it look like?” said Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and host of the documentary. The robot was modeled after Meyer, who was born without a hand and relies on an artificial limb. He showed off the bionic man by having it take a few clumsy steps and by running artificial blood through its see-through circulatory system. “It, kind of, looks lifelike. Kind of creepy,” said Paul Arcand, a tourist who was visiting from Boston with his wife. The robot has a motionless face and virtually no skin. It was controlled remotely from a
computer, and Bluetooth wireless connections were used to operate its limbs. The bionic creation’s artificial intelligence is limited to a chatbot computer program, similar to the Siri application on the Apple iPhone, said R o b e r t Wa r b u r t o n , a design engineer for Shadow Robot. “The people who made it decided to program it with the personality of a 13year-old boy from the Ukraine,” he said. “So, he’s not really the most polite of people to have a conversation with.” Assembly began in August 2012 and took three months to finish. The robot made its U.S. debut last week at New York’s Comic Con convention. It will be on display at the museum throughout the fall.
Crazy like a fox: Norwegian comedy duo big on YouTube
Crime pays — and it pays well. The extraordinarily strong sales of Grand Theft Auto V drove the video game industry to a spectacular September. According to The NPD Group, combined physical sales of hardware and software were up 27 per cent, with $1.07 billion in revenue versus $848 million last year. Software sales, the most closely watched figure, were up a stunning 52 percent from a year ago to $754.3 million. That number does not include digital sales through services like Steam. Though the software sales are indeed impressive, the figures are nowhere near as high as analysts were hoping to see. Wedbush’s Michael Pachter
had forecast sales of $910 million. The shortfall in hitting expectations could be Madden’s fault. EA’s annual blockbuster hasn’t been selling as well this year, as gamers seem to be waiting for the next-generation version to hit shelves before deciding whether to buy a copy. Luckily, GTAV was there to more than make up for it. While NPD doesn’t reveal specific sales numbers publicly, TakeTwo announced worldwide retail sales of over $800 million for the game’s first day of release and over $1 billion for the first three days. Both of those were entertainment industry records. Hardware sales continues to slump as gamers wait for new systems to hit
stores in November. Sales of video game hardware were down 13 percent to $183.2 million, with Nintendo’s 3DS once again leading the pack overall. The Wii U also saw a big boost following its midSeptember price cut. Nintendo says sales of its flagship hardware increased by more than 200 percent over the August numbers. This is the second consecutive month and third month this year that sales have been above the 2012 numbers. Pachter notes that we could see another positive month in October if GTA V sales continue to be strong and Battlefield 4 doesn’t prove to be a disappointment at retail.
Norway has a population of 5 million, which perhaps explains why brothers Vegard and Baard Ylvisaaker are stunned that their joke video “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” has more than 130 million hits on YouTube. The catchy video (here), set partly at an animal costume party and partly in a forest, is in the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard Streaming Songs chart. The video starts with a question: “Dog goes woof, cat goes meow, bird goes tweet and mouse goes squeak...but there’s one sound that no one knows: what does the fox say?” It provides several possible, if improbable, answers: “ringding-ding-ding-dingeringedin”, “joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffotchoff” and “wa-pa-pa-pa-papa-pow”. The video hit 100 million views on Google’s YouTube quicker than it took Korean singer PSY’s “Gangnam Style”, the record holder with 1.8 billion, to reach the same mark. The brothers,
who host a talk show on a Norwegian television station, have just returned home from doing the rounds of U.S. talk shows, including “Today”, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”. “It’s embarrassing but every time we meet with somebody we get asked: ‘What do you want to do next?’ And we say we don’t know,” says Vegard, 34. “But the meetings opened doors.” Brother Baard, 31, joked to
Reuters that they may take over the world, or the International Space Station. “We’re planning a tour of Antarctica,” he threw in for good measure. “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” is one of several videos that the brothers make each year to promote their show “Tonight with Ylvis” on TV Norge which features routines like pranking hotel guests with a voice-activated elevator that sings and jokes or a song in homage to Norway’s top peacekeeper. The video was produced by New York-based Stargate, which works with stars like Beyoncé and Rihanna, and owed Ylvis a favor. Now the brothers get crazy requests, like to fly down to New Zealand for a five minute gig, and while they turned that down they are open to suggestions to stay ahead of competitors. “Any day a Danish wolf song can come and we’ll be so last month,” Vegard joked.
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Sunday October 20, 2013
National Quality Week 2013‌
Fifteen GNBS staffers awarded for long service
The GNBS awardees
As activities bring the curtain down on National Quality Week, 2013, fifteen staff members of Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) were awarded in the 16th long service award ceremony held Friday last. The activities also include Staff Appreciation where the Organization took time to recognize the contributions of staff members to the work of the GNBS during the last years and a Luncheon and time for interaction.
The fifteen Staff members who were awarded are: Ms. Debra Gill for twenty years of work with the GNBS, Ms. Sheron Daniel, Mr. Lloyd David, Mr. Jermaine Softley for 15 years, Ms. Tarla Parasram, Mr. Marvin Singh, Mr. Dillon Beckles, Mr. Ganesh Ramnaraine and Mr. Vishnu Matbadal for 10 years, and Mr. Narine Mohanlall, Ms. Andrea Mendonca, Mr. Al Donavon Fraser, Mr. Quincy Troyer, Mr. Rondell Henry and Ms. Nickasi Bollers for
five years. International Standards ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and are of acceptable quality. For business, they are strategic tools which reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increase productivity. They help companies to access new markets, level the playing field for developing countries and facilitate free and fair global trade.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Young Guyanese takes leadership message to the C’bean A single mention of the name Astell Collins and a number of appealing adjectives often follow, primarily among members of the young population whose life he has so skilfully touched with his words in recent months. Bestowed with the titles of Transformational Leader and Inspirational Speaker, among others, the 31-year-old Guyanese through his ‘Be the One (BD1)’ Leadership Development Initiative has travelled the length and breadth of Guyana seeking to create needful changes in the society. His strategic move, which entails him seeking to not only emphasise the importance of God in one’s existence, but also the methods that can be embraced to reverse offputting trends that have become a norm in the society, has gained tremendous support from those in authority. Among the entities that have been most instrumental in his travels across Guyana are the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the Guyana Defence Force. And there are plans for him to engage shortly the recently appointed Chief of Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips who has in the past had a keen interest in his (Collins’) presentations. But as if taking his message throughout the country is not enough, Collins has since been invited to take his leadership message throughout the Caribbean. And a tour has already commenced in this regard. In fact, just recently he concluded a trip to St Lucia where he was required to meet with students across the territory as well as host a men’s seminar. “I was able to cut across the barriers...it wasn’t about dealing with the best or only the worst, but I was able to reach a good cross-section of the people there,” said Collins during an interview with this publication. A typical leadership session with Collins is characterised by him seeking to vocally reach out to his target audience in a most dramatic and enlightening way. So captivating were his sessions in St Lucia that even students of a school that was known to be “rowdy” were willing to hear him deliver his leadership message, even following the chiming of the bell to signal the end of the period. “That was a school that was phenomenal...they were intrigued by what I had to say and even seemed inspired,” said Collins who noted that the responses from the Head teacher and other teachers in attendance were no less
Astell Collins during his recent visit to St. Lucia gratifying. “It was very encouraging, very warming, and I received so much love....this was even though I was told that these people do not like Guyanese...It was as if this country embraced me,” recalled Collins. His mission saw him being engaged in no less than three seminars per day during his week-long stay in St Lucia.
According to Collins, while it is expected that persons would be opposed to undertakings such as his, it has been incredible to see that persons, at all levels, are not only supportive but willing to absorb his every utterance. “The questions that were asked literally gave me the impression that what I was presenting was understood...” said Collins
who emphasised that his principle objective is to help foster change. Since concluding his St Lucia visit, Collins has started a similar journey to neighbouring territory, Suriname. As a part of his Caribbean tour, Collins has plans to travel to Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and Grenada, among other territories. Though he intends to cover some of the cost
himself, Collins has received sponsorship thus far from Ansa McAl Trading, and there is a possibility that Caribbean Airlines will soon come on board. According to Collins, who just last year returned from South Africa where he was engaged in his leadership mission, his role is to help empower Guyanese and others in the Caribbean, particularly the youths, to
discover their identity. He insisted, “We have to look at where we are in the grand scheme of things...how we become relevant; Can God look at us and feel proud when he looks at us? Can he see himself reflected?” This he hopes to achieve by disseminating what he has learnt over the years from persons the likes of Myles Munroe, his mentor, who continues to render support.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Guyana, 38 others achieve UN goal on extreme hunger …also attain universal primary education
One of the UN reps, with colleagues in the background, during a presentation. By Zena Henry Guyana is among 189 countries that adopted the United Nations’ Millennium Declaration which captures the agreement of eight internationally set goals on development to be attained
by 2015. Guyana has been recognized for attaining at least two of these goals; universal primary education and the eradication of extreme hunger. At a discussion seminar at the Georgetown Club on Thursday with
representatives of various UN organizations, media workers were called upon to aid in keeping the momentum towards the 2015 goals by reporting the path and progress of the action. With an 800-day deadline on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), Guyana on its own was encouraged to continue its strides towards 2015, while it was also praised for the efforts being put in by the government and civil society to attain the goals and to move closer to attaining the
Anti-money laundering bill
Trinidad implements measures against Guyana Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, said that Trinidad and Tobago has mistakenly sought to implement measures against Guyana thinking that the country has been blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). Nandlall opined that this reason caused that country to have its Central Bank send out an advisory informing the business sector that it should take the necessary counter measures against Guyana. He said that as a result of this development, for a few days now business transactions between the two countries were severely affected. Nandlall said that many transactions have also come to an abrupt halt, and that in some cases credit cards have been recalled. He explained that in countries that have been blacklisted, International banks that have had relationships with banks in the blacklisted country would terminate the relationship. The Minister also noted that bank to bank transfer of money either ceased or were subjected to intense scrutiny which took several days and sometimes weeks to be concluded. He said that transfer agencies such as Western Union and Money Gram have also been affected. The Legal Affairs Minister has accused the opposition of staying away from Select Committee
meetings and employing delay tactics as Government continues to push for the passage of the amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill. The Minister yesterday told Kaieteur News, that when the Select Committee meetings re-started the Alliance for Change (AFC) leader Khemraj Ramjattan was absent. Nandlall said that the APNU representatives who were present were engaged in a “host of filibustering” tactics to delay the work of the Committee. “I see the Leader of the Opposition David Granger saying that the APNU wants a good Bill but unfortunately after six months in Select Committee his party cannot put forward a single proposal in writing,” said Nandlall. The Minister further stressed that it appears that Granger is saying one thing in the press but nothing is followed up when they are in meetings. What is significant, the Minister said, was that it is the Select Committee that captures the recommendations which Guyana is expected to implement. He maintained that Government did not whimsically concoct the Bill and the provisions of the Bill have already been examined and approved by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
Nandlall noted that if the Bill is not passed then Guyana would be declared non compliant. Other countries would then be invited to impose counter measures against Guyana on transactions emanating from here to protect themselves and their businesses from the money laundering and terrorism risks which Guyana would be regarded as “opposing”. Meanwhile President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Clinton Urling, yesterday encouraged the Government and the Opposition to work together to get the Bill passed. Urling told Kaieteur News that the passage of the Bill should not be made to be look as though it is complex. It is an issue that should be dealt with speedily, he added. He said that the non passage of the Bill will have serious ramifications in the business sector. Some of the major sectors such as mining would feel the ‘squeeze” once the Bill is not passed, according to the GCCI President. Urling said that this could tarnish Guyana’s look on the International scene, by hesitating to pass this important Bill. Importantly Urling said that this Bill would add transparency, thus corruption would somewhat be reduced. He described the Bill as being a “win win” situation once it is passed. He also noted that the
GCCI has been having numerous meetings with Government along with the Opposition to quickly resolve the issue. On Friday APNU remained firm in its position not to make way for the passage of the Bill unless it is sure that Guyana is being given the best legislation, capable enough to deal with a range of white collar crimes. APNU Leader, Brigadier David Granger, had long held the position that this Bill “must” address all the inadequacies of the first piece of legislation and not be just another ornament “just to say we have it.” He reminded that while the Act had been in existence for the past four years, the amendments were only brought to the National Assembly in April 2013 and the Opposition was asked to approve certain amendments by May. Granger said that his party needs to “get a closer look at the Act and get advice from the stakeholders” and is not prepared to make any sudden moves. He said that the Opposition is specifically concerned about the circumstances leading to the appointment of the Head of the FIU, the body’s staffing and its ability to actually conduct investigations. He reminded that while the FIU was in place, it was the CFTAF that called the deficiencies of the Act to the Government’s attention.
others. UN representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Angela Alleyne, said, “Guyana has made significant progress in the attainment of MDG 1 (eradication of extreme hunger), particularly in the area of having the proportion of people suffering from hunger. Guyana is among 38 countries that have met the internationally established target in the fight against hunger; meeting the target well ahead of the 2015 target.” Alleyne said that the UN has been helping Guyana in its endeavours towards reaching this goal, but lauded the country for its initiatives and programmes towards food security and the fight against hunger. Marianne Flach of UNICEF, told the media workers that in the developed regions, 90 percent of the children go to school; the 10 percent of those out of school represent 61 million children. “This is just being put into perspective to the good achievements in Guyana, where we can say that all children in a certain point in their lives would go to school. “That means not all sixyear-old children will go at the moment to primary school. They enter later, but all children do at a certain moment go to school.” The UNICEF representative praised the efforts of the nation’s school feeding programme, the incentives to teachers in remote areas, teacher training programmes and the provision of textbooks. It was noted, however, that the quality of education generated is still a challenge. The performances in Mathematics and English were prime areas where improvement is needed, Flach mentioned. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, was the keynote speaker at Thursday’s seminar. He discussed the progress that Guyana is making and also highlighted the goals attained. He spoke about the necessity of attaining the 2015 goals and the global importance of this before directing the media to the Ministry’s website for the documented information on Guyana’s progress towards 2015. The Minister said that for
the last two years, information on the country’s progress has been available on the website. The media representatives were however curious about the validity and accuracy of the information since they would be the ones reporting on the matter. Finance Ministry Budget Director, Sonya Roopnauth, explained that the MDGs are often measured by formulas separated by a numerator and a denominator which can be verified. That is what makes the process open to whether a goal has been met or not. Kaieteur News was also told that the gathering of information is not only from the government but also from members of civil society. It was explained that, for example, in the study of Trafficking in Persons (TIP), organizations such as the Women Miners’ Association would also be called in and the information would be weighed and interpreted. UN workers present at the forum explained that micro information, which speaks about that which comes out of Guyana, is not obtained by one source. It was further explained that the information to the UN would not be the opinion or determination of any source. Ms. Khadija Musa, the UNDP Resident Representative, on the issue of transparency, said too that the information that is taken from Guyana is not accepted and taken as is. She explained to the media that the organization would conduct its own survey, research and verification on the ground. She added that for information dissemination, the need may exist for better production of facts and figures and quick summaries in the areas where attention is most needed. By 2015, the UN is hoping to achieve the eight international goals: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.
The Quest for Knowledge refreshes the mind, recreates the spirit, and motivates the body. It creates enthusiasm and desire to live an exciting and full day in spite of the routine.
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Sunday October 20, 2013
Amaila Falls: A picture indeed worth a thousand words By Ralph Seeram Just when you think the controversy over the Amaila Falls has died down, another round of doubts about the feasibility of this project has erupted, creating another Public Relations nightmare for the PPP government. The PPP spent the greater part of this week defending and justifying going forward with the project, in face of doubts created by that iconic picture published by Kaieteur News of a near dried up Amaila Falls— the same falls that the government planned to spend US$850M. When I saw that picture of a dried up falls, it created doubts in my mind about this project. My idea of a waterfall is water roaring ferociously over the precipice, cascading down to rocks below, in full
fury, certainly not one that flows less than I can urinate figuratively speaking. So here is the problem for the PPP government, how can you convince the public that it is still a good idea to go ahead with this location? How can you get that image out of peoples’ heads? How can you convince them that it is okay to spend US$850M on a falls that dries up at certain times of the year? You can’t. Let me use myself as an example. I am all for hydropower and like all Guyanese would like to see it come to fruition some day. But now I have my doubts about this location. I am reading about all these studies done. Suddenly Robeson Benn has studies; he has now become an expert on Hydro Falls. Then we have the Finance Minister producing more studies justifying the project.
The Finance Minister has also become an expert on Hydropower. I am told that this guy is so brilliant, but when you look at the little details they were forced to release to the public, the way these contracts are structured and financed to favour the contractors and literally screw the Guyanese taxpayers. I think Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran and others in the private sector have drawn to the attention of the public, the defects in those contracts. In some jurisdictions Ashni Singh’s actions would have been considered a dereliction of his fiduciary responsibilities and he would have faced possible prosecution. The way those contracts are structured gives one the impression that the resources of the country are being given away. The public and the opposition had to fight “tooth
and nail” to get information from the government on these contracts. One must remember that these contracts were done secretively by Bharrat Jagdeo and his administration, when he had control of Parliament. At that time they were accustomed to pushing and passing legislation in Parliament as if no opposition party existed. Jagdeo felt the public had no right to know of these projects. However, all that changed in the 2011 election, when the PPP lost control of Parliament. Now that the opposition is “in the driving seat” they are demanding accountability, something the PPP was not familiar or accustomed with. Only then did the public learn in “bits and drabs” some details of the financial structure of those secretive contracts. Some are in the open now because the government was forced to disclose them; one
could also argue that Donald Ramotar, to his credit, has been more open with information than his predecessor. Here is where the PPP created its own Public Relations nightmare. Had the PPP been more open from the inception of those contracts they would not have been in this situation today. Had they engaged the opposition parties, and other stakeholders earlier on, matters would have been in the open, thrashed out, and done with. The opposition could not say they did not know. The PPP has to realize that it’s a different ball game in Parliament. The opposition is not opposed to the projects but is asking to be engaged. Had that been done, the opposition would be hard pressed to oppose projects that benefit the country. Coming back to the Amaila Falls, we are suddenly hearing about all those studies that were done years ago, but are now coming to light. I have said it before in these columns, President Donald Ramotar inherited these problems; he has made efforts to correct some, but now has a great opportunity to show statesmanship and leadership to the nation, by engaging all stakeholders FULLY with full disclosures
in an effort to get the opposition behind the projects. All these arguments about how much reserve water is needed to continue operation of the turbines in the dry season would have been unnecessary. It would have been out in the open already. The PPP government has found itself on the defensive every time some negative disclosure surfaces. Instead of accepting that they made blunders they go blaming everyone but themselves. Kaieteur News published a picture of a dried up Amaila Falls, and from the government reaction you could think Kaieteur News is responsible for the falls being dried up. Kaieteur News exercised the taxpayers’ right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. It reminds me of the PNC era when if you oppose or questioned the Burnham government you were deemed an enemy of the state. The PPP is using this same strategy to those that criticize them. I am no more an expert on hydro falls than Benn and Singh but it would take more than a thousand words to convince me that a dried up waterfall is worth US$850M. Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 53
Private developers awarded lands before it was advertised ...Opposition says full blown probe needed The Opposition has expressed alarm over admissions earlier this week that Government gave out lands to private developers over a year ago but only opened the process publicly to other players. “Our party remains resolute in our statements that all is not well in the housing industry. We have been saying all along that the whole process stinks of nepotism. That is why we will be asking for Minister Irfaan Ali to come clean and tell us the details of the deals that have been worked out with these private developers. We believe that there is a coverup for what is clearly a giveaway of state lands.” Member of Parliament, Khemraj Ramjattan, is referring to investigations that his party, the Alliance For Change (AFC), and A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), are carrying out in relation to state lands that have been earmarked for housing, but large swaths have ended up in the hands of private developers. The lands are on East Bank Demerara and stretch from Eccles to Providence. Reportedly, tracts of lands being opened up for housing between Herstelling and Diamond, have also been granted to a number of unnamed private developers but there is little clarity what process was used to allocate these. Construction started over a year ago on some of the lands. Government has said that around 400 acres have been granted to private developers. Last week, both AFC and APNU, which make up the Opposition in the National Assembly, signaled intentions to table questions
Some of the lands being developed by private firms on the East Bank of Demerara. in the coming Parliamentary session. The Opposition wants to know which private developers have been allocated lands; the amount paid; when it was paid and whether the process was advertised. 14 DEVELOPERS Last week, Minister of Housing, Irfaan Ali, said that 14 developers responded and have submitted proposals following advertisement for “expressions of interest” for land on East Bank Demerara. The advertisements ran from June in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle, with a deadline for proposals on August 15. Those that submitted proposals, according to the Housing Ministry, were Windsor Tech. Inc, Navigant Builders Inc., Queensville Housing Development, A and R Jiwanram Printery Inc., Buddy’s Housing Development, Ray Dan Housing Enterprise, DC Construction/Comfort Sleep, Caricom General Insurance Inc., Romell Jagroop General Construction Services, Lakeville Executive Homes Inc., Mr. Gentle P Elias & Mr. Brian Chase, Chung’s Global Enterprise, Hi Tech Construction Inc., and Prembury Consultants T&T Ltd. It is this particular disclosure that has raised the eyebrows of the AFC and
APNU. “How are we advertising in June for proposals when several of these developers have been operating on lands for over a year now? Some of these firms have been selling lands and homes to people already. There seems to be something secret about this.” According to the AFC leader, the only other explanation for the startling admission by Minister Ali is that a mistake has been made. “We are not asking the Minister for new proposals that have been submitted. We are asking clearly for details of the lands already allocated to private developers.” Among the companies and persons granted lands for private development are Windsor Estates; Courtney Benn; Buddy’s; Caricom General Insurance and Odinga Lumumba. NEPOTISM According to the Member of Parliament (MP), the granting of major pieces of land to certain favoured businessmen, who then will “favour” the ruling PPP and its officials in return, is core policy under former President Bharrat Jagdeo which continues today. “This blatant nepotism fortifies the PPP in its capacity to pay and get things done and to reveal itself as so welloiled and organised, to the disadvantage of other social
Guyana gears for 8th Annual... From page 49 home to Guyana's National Flower- the Victoria Amazonia or the Victoria Regia. First staged in September 2006, the aim of the festival is to promote the location as a major tourist attraction, while generating income and other opportunities for the community. A two-hour trip will allow persons to experience what organizers hope to be massively memorable camping, fishing, bird-watching, or exploration of the Essequibo. During Friday's launch, officiated by the Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh, the Planning Committee outlined the progress of preparations to transform the community into
a hive of activities, ranging from the grand fishing competition to river expeditions. Haralsingh assured that the Ministry of Tourism and the GTA will remain supportive of the activity, now heralded as one of the biggest fish festivals in the Caribbean. He said that the Rockstone Fish Festival forms part of the Tourism Ministry's calendar of events, and is very integral to the development of tourism in Rockstone. President of the Rockstone Tourism Association (RTA), Ms. Lynette Benn said that the community is now gearing itself to be transformed into a hub of activities for the two-day event, among them being a fishing expedition, fish catching, deboning
and cooking competitions and guided river tours to nearby Golden Beach and Gluck Island. The surroundings offer possibilities for bird watching, river safaris, nature walks and sport fishing and as such, the Ministry has been working to develop the area as a major attraction for visitors. Benn added that key arrangements are being made to ensure that this activity remains fun, entertaining and, most importantly, safe. There will also be expanded parking facilities. Adult tickets cost $500, children $300 and vehicles range from $1000 for cars to $10,000 for trucks. As is customary, prizes will be offered for the biggest catch of the day in several categories.
and political groups. It is corrupt and corrupting. It is a sort of rigging.” Ramjattan said that AFC’s investigations are revealing that the “prime” lands were sold very cheaply by Government to their friends in 50 and 100 acres plots. “The conditions attached to ensure that these lands be prepared for becoming proper housing schemes are not being done. Preparation here included the provision of drains and canals, roads, potable water to each lot, and electricity poles. Rather than investing in these amenities, these favoured businessmen are reselling the lots to members of the public at extraordinary prices.” The AFC leader, a lawyer by profession, disclosed that he is aware that a number of purchasers have taken developers to court for breaching their obligations to provide the amenities. NOT PAYING “I have even advised
some not to pay the balance of purchase price to some of these Shylocks, and others out there should not, if indeed amenities have not been provided for. The amount these purchasers have paid for a house lot ranges from $10M to $18M. When compared to the prices paid to Government by these businessmen per house lot, it ranges between $1M to $2M. The profit is indeed astronomical. The fat cats get even fatter.” The downside of it is that potential homeowners have to pay high prices and not enjoy the intended amenities even when they manage to build. “The worst example of this nepotism, however, is what happened at Pradoville 2 where former President Jagdeo and a number of his officials became beneficiaries of one acre and half acre plots to build their fancy homes worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” Not only was the land not
even properly registered before distribution could occur, but over $200M in state resources was used to provide amenities. Lands on the West Coast and East Coast Demerara have also been granted out in unclear circumstances. Last week, APNU’s MP in charge of public infrastructure, Joseph Harmon, said that his faction was finalizing questions on housing issues for Minister Ali. “We have been receiving a number of complaints and of course, with housing being such a critical issue, we want to know details of how the lands were granted to these private developers. We are not against development but the process must be fair and transparent.” Government has admitted that it has very little land left for the thousands of applications it has on file and is now looking to the Soesdyke/Linden highway for new housing areas.
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Kaieteur News
SERVICES Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Profressional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115 Professional and affordable landscaping and tree trimming services. Budram’s Landscaping ServicesCall:656-1326/678-0058 Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call:2259032,647-2943 T-Shirt printing: need something printed on a tshirt? Well contact Custom Tees: 666-9107 or 2270557
VEHICLE FOR SALE Tractors Spare Parts From Uk – we can supply any spare parts & service. For orders Tel:44+1513290780 , tractorspareparts@mail.com Hilux Surf 4 DOORS, minor parts needed, sold as is $895,000 TEL: 227-3939, 6214000 Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car, leather interior, 18" rims, CD player, best offer accepted TEL: 227-3939, 621-4000 Trike Can- Am style 200cc brand new motorcycle with reverse gear, unregistered TEL 227-3939, 621-4000 For sale, 212 PMM – Tel: 6442489
Landscaping / lawns – Tel:664-5947/2278259; Evergreen Services For a free Gospel package text your complete name & address to 675-7292 We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar Christmas cleaning: Power washing for homes & commercial buildings – Tel: 648-1544 G I Joe – For if and when you need skill worker – for interior locations – Tel:6654603 Kashmir make-up studio & spa: Specialized airbrush artist/ esthetician for an exceptional lookContact:665-5979/698-0114 Computer Technician: Home and office visits at your comfort!! Brian Moe@6423543/ FB:Brian.Moe.165 Cyrex: Computer repairs, installation of software, security camera/ dvr broadcast, networking, cell phones unlocking – Tel: 2265017/677-9938/628-3045.
CAKES & PASTRIES Courses in cake decoration, pastry making & cookery, Call: 670-0798. Also Wedding dresses for sale
PROPERTY FOR SALE Kitty -$30M-$35M, Section K -$40M, Duncan Street $38M, AA Eccles - $60M Diana:227-2256/ 626-9382 Property for sale- Call:6275416 One –Two storey business property (transported) @ Brickery public road, E.B.DCall: 660-8128 VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592-6248704/592-684-9203 Best Village, V/E/Hoop, WCD – 3 bedroom 2 storey wooden/concrete house on 300’x43’ Ft transported land, $9.5M negotiable – Tel:6270289 Prime 2-storey concrete building 80x23, 6 bedrooms, 2 master bedrooms @ Leonora next to Primary School – call: 652-0709, 268-3572 Two storey building 172 Parafield Leonara WCD – Call:227-7675, 619-3503 1 New 20x40 2 storey 3 bedrooms concrete house in La Parfaite Harmonie WBD $8 Million - Tel:638-5778 Diamond: 2nd Avenue -$7M, Mainroad -US$1M, North Ruimveldt $7.7M, Mon-repos Ring:231-2199, 618-7483 FOR SALE/RENT
LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964
American Pool Table - Call: 277-0578 PENPAL Guyanese male 51yrs seeking female companion for serious relationship – Tel:665-8797/ 611-1172 (No Texting)
VEHICLE FOR SALE 19 Seater Pitbull. Bargain Price. Tel:641-8647 ALYEA’S AUTO SALE: PREMIO 2004/2003. ALL PRICES ARE NEG. 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK- TEL:2317284/622-3823 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 1 Leyland DAF 60 single axle & dump - Call: 216-1315/ 613-6615 1 AT192 - $650,000 – Tel:6897681 1 Toyota Hilux single cab. Excellent condition, first owner- Call:657-3707 Driven Auto Sales: New arrivals sale – unregistered, fully loaded Toyota Sienta $2,250,000 & Madza Axela $2,350,000 – Tel:643-6565; 226-9931 Mitsubishi Pajero (Immaculate condition); automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $2.8M- Contact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 AT212 Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, A/ C, CD player, price $1.350Mcontact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky 621-5902/2251400 1 Toyota Hilux extra cab (5LDiesel). Manual, fully loaded $3.1M- Contact Rocky 6215902 or 225-1400 1 Toyota Ceres (4 doors car). Automatic, fully powered, mags, alarm $775,000Contact Rocky 621-5902 or 225-1400 Toyota Tacoma (2006 model)VVTI engine, automatic, fully loaded, 22" chrome rims $4.3M- Contact Rocky 6215902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota Raum (PKK series) Auto, F/P, A/C, alarm. Price $1.350M- Call:621-5902/2251400 1 Honda CRV (PKK series) Auto, F/P, mags, A/C, crash bar. Price $1.9M- Call:6215902/225-1400 Honda CRV 2002 model, automatic, fully loaded alarm. Price $3.2M- Contact Rocky 621-5902/ 225-1400 1 Toyota Double cab pickup (4door) manual (5l- Diesel) 4x4 -$3.5M Contact Rocky: 6215902/225-1400 HILUX SOLID DEF PICKUPS, unregistered, in excellent condition – Call:6912077
VEHICLE FOR SALE Ford F150, Extra Cab with back cover automatic – Contact: 645-5596. Toyota Premio $2.5M negotiable; Toyota Carina AT212, 2M negotiable, both fully loaded and unregistered – Tel:226-5473 (Must see!) We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses- Call:680-3154 Fully reconditioned stick gear and automatic pitbull and 1RZ Mini-buses. Tel: 6418647 EUROLOXAUTOS: 2011 Mercedes C250 AMG, sport from UK, only $10,000 miles! Like new, $9M/ nearest offer – Call:604-7806 2 Toyota Tundra F150, Suzuki sports car, Chevy express van- Call:227-8519/653-4287 (owner leaving) One Toyota minibus BJJ series-Call:678-5887, 6507354, 619-0007 1-2005 Toyota Avensis $2.2M. Looks and runs good- Call:686-4020 Axio -$2.9M, Premio - $2.6M, Spacio registered PRR $2.2M; Trade- in available for Axio – Tel:697-0294 Glanza V, Turbo, HKS super flow exhaust PPP series, manual – Contact: 638-8599. AT192, 212, Allion, Premio, Audi, BNN RZ mini buses, AT170, Marino. Cash or terms- Call:680-3154 1 Leyland DAF GNN 2131. Price $3.8M negotiableCall:259-1370/650-3447 EUROLOXAUTOS: 2009 UK made Vauxhall 2 doors/ 2 seater sport convertible -13,000 Miles , $3.5M or nearest offer – call:604-7806 2002 Honda fit, 1 owner, pearl white, Areo, fogs, AC, CD, Remote Start - $1,950,000 – (negotiable) – Tel:613-4617 Smart Choice Auto: Premio, Allion, IST, Runx, FielderCall:652-3820/665-4529 One unregistered NZE Corolla – call:652-3820; 6654529 NXR 150cc Dirt Bike for parts – Tel:695-7595 1 Toyota – IST, Fun cargo, AT192, AT212 Ceres, Hilux D4D pick up, Tundra Tel:6445096,697-1453
Sunday October 20, 2013
FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754. 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 LG DP122 DVD player with USB recording $10,000 Call:600-3038, 611-3038 1 Gold land @ PotaroCall:628-7605 1 CBR 600cc 2004 model, excellent condition- Call:2663966/669-5401 Tundra ‘Woman Driven’ Tel:627-1983 Tierier pups and dogs for sale - Tel:649-4247 One circular sofa, one recliner, one toilet bowl, one fridge/freezer, one single metal bed frame – Call:6233231 Going Cheap! Amplifiers & Speakers – call: 658-1216 ( Ravi) Sorrels for sale; any quantity – Call:638-4879 753 Bobcat, cement mixer, 35KVA generator air compressor – Call:681-2761
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 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 Live/pluck chicken-Call:6504421/220-9203 Diving Suits- Call:265-3449/ 613-5158 Tibetian terrior pups. Tel: 619-6086/699-7077 One Ford 8210, Tractor $4M – Contact: 648-9940
Games PS2 $900, PSP $900, X-Box 360 $2600 & PS3 $2600- Call:672-2566
ONE KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-6-600 MOTORCYCLE - $700,000 NEGOTIABLE, ONE 9.9 YAMAHA FOUR STROKE OUT BOARD ENGINE CALL:699-1711
Original Games- Call:6722566
1 Isuza Canter truck – Tel: 666-7734; 611-2706
Energy saver bulbs/ power tools- Call:680-6374
1 – Lincon generator welder – 220 amps, 1- heavy duty drill press, 1 jack hammer, contact: 612-8879; 678-2918
New 06 Tacoma lights front/ rear- Call:641-1127 1 going sawmill with new equipment, customers, land space, ideal for exporting containers; side to Public Rd – Tel:624-8683 PS-2 gaming console and PS3 gaming console for sale – Tel: 644-6012
1- Spacio PPP series; reasonable price, excellent condition – Call:652-0709, 268-3572
Large Quantity of merchandise from 6 stalls in kitty market, plus some household furniture – Contact Rafman: 231-4678
1 Suzuki Vitara Jeep; immaculate condition; fully Powered- Tel:694-6027 ( Price negotiable)
One 8000 Ford tractor & one Ford 450 2005 Towing truck – Call: 689-1864 (Guru) / 6945599 (Floyd).
Houses and house lots starting from $10,000,000 upward – contact:223-8479, 647-3768 2 Ice machine, 1 smoothe machine, small fridges – Tel:231-0655, 683-8734. PS-2, PS-3 and PSP games for sale – Tel:644-6012 1 Pool table cloth, ball , cue stick, pokets, rubber , coins, shoot, chalk, springs, rocks call: 669-9927 8GB flash drives – wholesale $2,000 each – Call: 256-4001, 256-3464 – At Mohamed’s Internet Café Enmore. (Continued on page 56)
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 55
Strong winds blow over roof of Farm NDC The Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) of Farm East Bank Demerara is currently counting its losses after strong winds destroyed the roofs of two buildings and a pavilion housed in its compound. About 14:30 hours yesterday, during heavy rainfall and flashes of lightning, sections of the community’s NDC building roof were blown off. Zinc sheets from the Community Centre were not spared. However, the nearby pavilion sustained most of the damage as its entire roof was blown off and its frame partially torn down. Incidentally, no damage was done to the Providence Nursery School building which is also housed in the compound. Kaieteur News was told that at the time, the compound was undergoing rehabilitative works, including repairs to the pavilion. Luckily, the workers present in the compound escaped unharmed. Arjune Mohan, the
contractor in charge of the repairs informed that he had just finished “pressure washing” the pavilion and was making preparations to start painting it when the rain began. “The rain started to fall and lightning started to flash, so we decide to go in the building (NDC) to hide. And when we go in, a few seconds after I start hear some noise. When we look through the window, we see zinc flying all over the place,” Mohan recounted. It was observed that the strong winds not only resulted in damages to the buildings and the pavilion, but high power cables were torn down from their posts, resulting in power outages to a number of residents on the southern end of neighbouring Herstelling. Kaieteur News observed that the fallen power cables even landed in a nearby trench, causing serious concern among residents. “That power line got 11,000 Volts. We call GPL emergency
Uprooted zinc sheets from the NDC building being loaded into a Canter and them ain’t arrive yet,” one resident voiced while pointing out a section of the high
Sunday October 20, 2012 ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) Your mind will be wandering to exotic destinations. You can enjoy social events and meet new potential mates; however, avoid being lavish.
LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) Your versatile mind and common sense will allow you to come up with various solutions. Don't think the worst if you hear something negative about your partner.
TAURUS (Apr. 21- May 21) Take time to help a friend who hasn't been feeling well. Social activity should be on your agenda today. Major job changes or opportunities to get ahead professionally are apparent.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) You will find it easy finalizing personal papers if you make an effort. You can enjoy the company of others and come in contact with an ideal mate, if you get out and mingle.
GEMINI (May 22-June 21) When the work is done, they may serve you for a change. Take the initiative and go after your goals. Make sure that all your legal papers are in proper order.
SAGIT (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Your ability to converse with charm will entice someone you may have had an interest in for some time now. Look into attending seminars that can expand your perception.
CANCER (June 22-July 22) Avoid lovers who already have a relationship, even if it is a bad one. You can learn a great deal more if you listen rather than rant and rave. Someone may be trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
CAPRI (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) Spend some time on yourself. Your diplomatic approach and rather outgoing nature will enhance your reputation and bring you the support you need.
LEO (July 23-Aug 22) Your own small business on the side could ease your financial stress. Your high energy should be spent pleasing your mate. VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) Avoid joint ventures and steer clear of groups that want you to contribute financial assistance. You will be in a high cycle regarding work.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19) Older family members will make demands on your time. New friendships will develop through group events. PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) One-sided relationships are likely. You may have problems with those you live with. You can become obsessed with detail and must be sure to divide your time appropriately.
powered cable that fell. While unable to state the definitive steps that will be taken to address the immediate damages, Chairman Peter Abai informed that the
Councilors are seeking advice from the relevant authorities as it is the first time that the NDC is encountering such a situation. He said that currently, the
Council will be working to clear the damaged zinc sheets and wood from the area so as to ensure safety for the Providence Nursery School students who will return to school tomorrow. He said that the contractor advised that the entire pavilion be pulled down for fear it will fall. The Chairman estimated that losses are probably to be calculated in the millions of dollars, as some of the government-funded rehabilitative works were already completed.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
(From page 54) VACANCY 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistantCall: 663-1751/684-2838 Fabric World – 140 Regent & Light St. for experienced cashier & salesgirls, apply in person with written application. ACCOUNTS CLERK, DIPLOMA IN ACCOUNTS (ACCA), DACEASY EXPERIENCE AND RESIDING ON E.B.D. PREFERRED. Net Salary $60,000. Tel.: 602-0945 Vacancy for driver – apply to Alabama Trading Georgetown Ferry Stelling Stabroek. Sales girls: D. Singh and Son’s - Tel:226-0881, 2261316 Welders & fabricators , skilled machinists Apply: Technical Services Inc, 18-23 Eccles Industrial Site, Eccles, EBD. Cleaner’s, Diesel mechanics, Apply: Technical Services Inc, 18-23 Eccles Industrial Site Eccles, E.B.D. Vacancy exist for one experienced cosmetologist on the EBD ( Grove) Contact: Ms Rashrie call:652-5800 One internal auditor 30-40 years – CAT Level “11” – Apply to: 147 Durbana Square Lamaha Gardens.
TO LET 2 bedroom concrete bottom flat – $35,000 – excellent condition call: 660-1251, 2190310 One 3 bedroom house at West Ruimveldt - $70,000 monthly – Tel:672-7194 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:6911198 Fully secured concrete bond 87x31ft (private compound) @ Mc Doom public road back of Police OutpostCall:233-0570 Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 679-7139 Paradise -$45,000, Eccles $60,000, Atlantic Garden – US900, Providence – US1300; Diana:227-2256, 626-9382 A Self contain 1 bedroom apartment at New Road Vr e e d - e n - H o o p W.C.Demerara – Call:2540453 One upper flat 3 bedrooms house at First Avenue La Parfaite Harmonie - $48,000 – Call:688-7575 Business spot at 14 Peter’s Hall public road, E.B.DCall:233-5110/668-0309 Two bedrooms apartment in or around G/T- call:601-0582
Hire car driver – 611-1018, 2315554 Sales girls: Apply Avinash Complex; A&B Water Street Tel:226-3361/227-7828 NPIC now hiring Telemarketing Agents for full time & part time shifts – Tel:216-3295/6 (Diamond) LAND FOR SALE (Opposite Secondary Prime business land for sale School) by owner – 120x40 – Trainee refrigeration/Ac Contact:225-1831 technician – Tel:231-0655/683Double lots located at 5 8734 Rosetta, Canal #2, W.B.D. Cooks & servers to work in Price $10M neg- Call: 689-3413 G-Spot Lounge – Call Feaz on 610-8269/227-5857 ( from 12- Parfaite Harmonie - $1.2M – Call: 675-7292 6 on Monday – Saturday) Are you selling your land in Parfaite Harmonie? – Call:675-7292 1500 Acres of land – Contains rice & cane cultivation, machinery & a 4 storey house & cattle – Contact:223-8479; 647-3768; www.spaceseek.gy 32 Acres for sale, Lot 5 Content Mahaicony, E.C.D: US$175,000: Call:813-3194219: rpooran@ tampabay.rr.com Transported house and cultivated lots (3 acres) at lot 3D Ledesir Canal #1 Polder, W.B.D. Owner migratingCall:664-9923
SALON
WANTED
Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773
GREENHEART AND PURPLE HEART LUMBER – TEL: 653-9752 NPIC now hiring experienced Telemarketing Agents, for full time & part time shifts – Tel: 3295/6 (Diamond - opposite school).
Suriname Diwali Tour 2nd – 5th November and 28th – 1st December –Tel: 644-0185, 6392663, 665-5171, 227-8290. FOR RENT Liquor Restaurant; 107 Middle Rd Lapenitence – Tel:225-7796.
Learn any language fast – Tel: 695-7595
PRIME BUSINESS SPOT LOCATED AT 251 THOMAS STREET LOTS OF LAND SPACE PLUS BUILDINGTHEREON.TEL: 683-4803. House and shop to rent at 66 Broad Street Georgetown – Tel:225-8305,661-7527 Business spots to rent; Vr e e d - E n - H o o p P u b l i c Road – Tel:671-9035, 6701999 3 Hair station, 1 pedicure station, 1 nail station in fully furnished salon with AC @ Middle Rd La Penitence – call: 686-8223, 662-2938 Bouncy castles, inflatable pools, costume characters, gazebos, unbeatable prices – Tel:645-2580
FOR SALE
One three bedrooms house to rent- Call:617-4055 Porters to work in Grocery stall, Stabroek marketTel:226-9800/683-9500
TOUR
EDUCATIONAL Private tutor – teaching, reading, writing, grammar at home – Tel:696-7467 Institute Academic Supremacy; East Street, 4 building before Balwant Singh Hospital – Forms 1-5, CXC, adults/classes – Call:226-8468, 690-5008 Portuguese Language made simple – Tel:627-9285, 2278259.
WANTED
Commercial office space – Contact:223-8479, 647-3768; www.spaceseek.gy
Generac Generator 15KVA, portable, key start like new $550,000 cash Tel 227-3939, 621-4000 Clarke forklifts 2000lb, $300,000, 3000lb, $600,000, 4000lb $800,000 lifting capacity TEL: 227-3939, 6214000 73" 3D TV Mitsubishi Like new $500,000 cash 227-3939, 6214000 60FT Antenna (Mass) complete for Radio, TV, Cellular to removed $750,000 NEG. 227-3939, 621-4000 Clean Garden Earth & builders waste also Bobcat rental, excavating, clearing & leveling done- Call:616-0617 or 663-3285
Houses & apartments in Kitty, Ogle, Alberttown, Shamrock Gardens, Prashad Nagar, Queenstown etc – Contact:223-8479; 647-3768 www.spaceseek.gy
Cheap earth delivery to spot E.C.D and E.B.D- Call:6279977 or 698-0182 Massey, Yanmar Ford 5000 Logging/ Agriculture Tractors, parts, Loader & Ford Truck- Call:615-1578/ 694-3595: Tools & Chainsaw668-2831
Aidan’s Car Rental & PickupCall: 645-7981/ 698-7807
CAR RENTAL Premio, vitz call: 679-7139 Dolly’s Car Rental- Call: 2257126/ 226-3693dollysautorental@yahoo.com/ www.dollysautorental.com
First Choice Car Rental: Cars as low as $5,000 per day- Call:668-0306/6947817/225-6337 Wings Car Rental- Call: 6874116
1 Handy Man, 1 Small Engine Mechanic 3yrs experiencecall: 233-2408. Office Clerk: CXC English/ Mathematics- Call:225-0188/ 225-6070 Two guards for a marine company; one manager for a mining company. Attractive salaries. Call 223-7165; 2268645; 223-5180
WANTED One domestic, live in & live out babysitter from 12pm8pm- Call:225-4492 Security guards to work with mining firm- Call:642-7963/ 226-9768 1 Plot of land to buy in Parfaite Harmonie – call:6757292 1 Plot of land to buy in Eccles & Herstelling - $3M offer – Call:675-7292
One experienced attractive waitress – 18-25yrs. One experienced cook – 25-50yrs; boarding & lodging free, $50,000 monthly – Tel No :6105043
One domestic cleaner to work- 3 days a week call: 6130836; 10am-5pm, between Cove & John to Unity ECD. Hire car drivers to work in Gem’s Taxi Service Contact:627-9424/227-0638 One Mechanic must know to repair Cummings and Perkins engine – Contact: 681-6044 One experienced welder Contact: 681-6044
Experienced sales representatives: Wieting & Richter Ltd.
One gasoline mechanic must know to fix Rz Hilux, etc – Contact: 681-6044
One domestic to work in the East Bank Area – Tel:6144358
Labourers & Porters: Apply Wieting & Richter Ltd. One general domestic to work EBD area ( Must have a Christian background) – Tel:695-3951 One full time gardener – Monday – Friday – 8:00-4:00 PM, Saturday & Sunday – 8:00-12:00 PM Tel: 621-6006 A Cosmetologist/helper is required – call:223-5451, 2274799 “Apartment wanted to rent” – One or two bedroom apartment to rent for three months. Contact Alvin on – 645-2613
2- Waitresses & 2 – Bartenders – call:698-0977/ 679-5112
Female to assort goods, apply to Alabama Trading, Georgetown Ferry Stelling Stabroek. Experience hire car and minibus drivers, also contract vehicles – call:645-0025 Three Shop attendants; age18 to 30 (yrs) Phone:6984944 Live in waitress- Call:6439007/ 697-2978 Painters/Carpenters Work with Limited Supervision with own tools Tel: 225-0188/ 2 Night guards – Tel: 666- 225-6070 7734; 611-2706 Experienced dispatchers & General Domestic for East drivers @ Princess HotelBank Location to work 3 times Call:265-7076/616-5419 per week – Call:650-3680, 643Attractive live in waitress2090 Call:327-0252/674-4665 Cleaners, driver, canter, porter – must be from the West Contract cars- Contact City Coast Dem – Call: 684-8231 ( Taxi Service- 660-1100/2267150 Preferably from W.C.D) G I Joe – Jetmen, Marak men, 3 Barbers: Address: 1 Smyth operators and other skilled & Durban St, Werk-en-Rust: Call: 674-8555 men – Tel:665-7603 Skilled carpenters – SECURITY GUARD WITH POLICE CLEARANCE Contact:668-9863, 615-7526 AND EXPERIENCE WITH G e n e r a l L A B O U R E R , WEAPONS & C A R P E N T E R S , WATCHMAN FOR GARDENER, security NIGHTS. ALSO guards to CARE FOR E X P E R I E N C E D DOGS, Land of Canaan SALESGIRL – TEL:231location, 266-4427 8529
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DDL accuses GRA of falsifying its debt - calls the move “opposite of the truth” Demerara Distillers Limited has described the move by the Guyana Revenue Authority to state that the company owes GRA some $5.3 billion for the nonpayment of consumption tax as an attempt to give the impression that DDL owes the GRA. The GRA on October 10,
last, in a statement said that the Court Of Appeal had ruled in its favour that DDL owed it. According to DDL an amount of $1.1 billion was assessed by the GRA in respect of consumption tax owed by DDL. The company explained that it had filed an application
for judicial review of that assessment in the High Court and that the assessment was set aside on February 1, 2005 by Justice Dawn Gregory as not complying with the provision of the consumption tax. DDL noted that GRA appealed to the Court of Appeal against that decision and the Court of Appeal gave judgment on
July 31, 2008 unanimously upholding the decision of Justice Gregory. DDL said that the Court of Appeal as did the judge below found that the above assessment by the GRA did not comply with the provisions of the consumption Tax Act and was properly quashed by the Writ of Certiorari issued by Justice Gregory. Both courts found that the
A&E has become a ward, 25 people with nowhere to go The Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is crowded with nothing less than 25 persons waiting to be admitted to the health institution. This was revealed to the media by GPHC’s Dr. George Norton while at an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Press conference last Friday. Norton, APNU’s shadow Minister of Health, explained to the media that this has been the situation since Monday last. He came to bring up the fact when questioned about a predicament that victims of a recent accident found themselves in. A couple, their daughter and a Brazilian national were injured last Thursday after a truck slammed into a car and a motorcycle at Port Kaituma, North West District. Three of the victims were air-dashed to the city with
suspected spinal injuries and admitted to the GPHC shortly after midnight Wednesday. Those admitted to the GPHC were Andrew Williams, 34, of Wauna; his wife, Juliet Seecharran, 42; and a Brazilian woman, whose name was given as Rayana Melonogueira. The very Wednesday, Kaieteur News was contacted by relatives of the injured who voiced concerns that they could not have located the injured persons. The relatives said that they were searching since 7:00hrs the morning but only found the victims around 17:00hrs. Eventually, the family got to understand that the accident victims were not able to be placed in a ward because of the shortage of beds. Norton confirmed the shortage and even divulged an incident where a 6 month pregnant patient who ingested poison, had to be removed from a bed and be put semi permanently in a
Dr. George Norton wheel chair “because we needed that bed she was on, that is the state of affairs of GPHC.” Further the doctor sated that if a patients goes to GPHC with a surgical abdomen, “there is no bed for him or her to be examined on “that’s the sad reality.” A source at the GPHC admitted, “We, from time to time, are indeed crunched for beds this is sometimes because we are not getting
any help from the peripheral hospitals that should be picking up some of the slack, sometimes people leave a nearby hospital and come till to GPHC.” The source indicated that another issue facing the hospital is the “fact that we even have some live I patients…some of the wards actually have patients who were left there by their families—mostly elderly people—they just get basic home care because they have been discharged a long time. A hospital official told Kaieteur News that the institute is seeking legal advice on how to address the situation of those who have nowhere else to go. Norton’s contention at the press conference is that more money is being utilized out of the public coffers but for lesser health care. He said that the Minister of Health more prudent in the manner in which money is spent for improving health care.
GRA was entitled to try again to assess DDL consumption tax “on correct principles” under the Consumption Tax Act which had been repealed by both the present VAT Act as at January 1, 2007. DDL further stated that on January 16, 2009, the GRA again assessed DDL
and demanded the payment of consumption tax for the period of 2001 to 2006 in the sum of $5.4 billion. Acting on legal advice DDL filed a Prerogative Motion in the High Court seeking orders striking down that assessment. This motion is being heard in the High Court.
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Arab states urge Saudi to keep U.N. Security Council seat (Reuters) - The Arab Group at the United Nations urged Saudi Arabia yesterday to reconsider its decision to renounce a rotating seat on the Security Council to protest the 15-nation body’s failure to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues. “We hope that they (Saudi Arabia), which are amongst the blessed who represent the Arab and Islamic world at this important and historical stage, specifically for the Middle East region ... maintain their membership in the Security Council,” the Arab Group’s statement said. The group appealed to the kingdom to “continue their brave role in defending our issues specifically at the rostrum of the Security Council.” The Arab Group includes Arab U.N. member states with the exception of Syria, whose membership was suspended when it was frozen out of the Arab League. Diplomats said
Washington would like the Saudis to keep the council seat. No country has ever been elected to the Security Council and not taken the seat. As an incoming Security Council member, Saudi Arabia would have taken up its council seat on January 1 for a two-year term ending on December 31, 2015. When it announced its decision on Friday to refuse its newly won council seat, the Saudi kingdom condemned what it called international double standards on the Middle East and demanded reforms in the Security Council, which has been at odds on ways to end the fighting in Syria. Unlike in the past, when Riyadh’s frustration was mostly directed at Russia and China, it is now also aimed at Washington, its oldest international ally, which has pursued policies since the Arab Spring that Saudi rulers have bitterly opposed.
Citing the Security Council’s failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, take steps to end Syria’s civil war and stop nuclear proliferation in the region, Riyadh said the body had instead perpetuated conflicts and grievances. The Saudis have expressed disappointment at U.S. President Barack Obama’s failure to push Israel to end settlement building in the West Bank and agree to a Palestinian state. The Obama administration has blocked the Palestinians’ push for full U.N. membership and vetoed a resolution condemning settlements. Western U.N. diplomats, suggested, however, that Riyadh’s frustration with the United States had more to do with Syria and Iran than U.S. policy on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and peace process, which has been relatively consistent for decades. They said the recent U.S.-
Russian deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, which appeared to break a long-standing impasse on the council over Syria’s 2-1/2 year civil war, might have led the Saudis to conclude Washington is coming around to Russia’s position that it might be better to let Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remain in place. Blood-drenched images of Syria’s civil war, in which more than 100,000 have died and in which millions have been displaced, are aired daily on Saudi news and the kingdom has backed the rebels with arms and money. Assad’s ally Russia continues to support Assad’s government with weapons. Saudi anger boiled over after Assad escaped U.S.-led military strikes in response to an August 21 sarin gas attack near Damascus by agreeing to give up his chemical arsenal. Saudi concerns that the U.S. decision to avoid striking Syria demonstrated weakness
were underscored by signs of a tentative reconciliation between Washington and Tehran, something Riyadh fears may lead to a “grand bargain” on Iran’s nuclear program that leaves Gulf Arab states at a disadvantage. Earlier this week, the United States praised Iran’s approach to negotiations with six world powers on its nuclear program during twoday talks in Geneva. Last month, Obama spoke on the
telephone with Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, the first contact between U.S. and Iranian heads of government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. If the Saudis insist on giving up their seat, the Asia Group will likely find another Arab candidate from the Middle East to take it. Any replacement candidate would likely need to be elected with a two-thirds’ majority in the U.N. General Assembly.
Attorney urges JPs to be reliable when recommending people ST JAMES, Jamaica —President of the Cornwall Bar Association Michael Erskine has called on justices of the peace to be reliable when recommending persons who want to join the police force or obtain a licensed firearm. “Ladies and gentlemen I want to ask you to be brutally honest when being approached by persons asking you to recommend them to become police officers. Similarly, you ought to be brutally honest when asked to recommend someone wishing to obtain a licence firearm,” Erskine urged. He was speaking yesterday at the Annual General Meeting of the Lay Magistrates Association, held at the Family Church on the Rock, in Reading, St James.
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Italian anti-austerity protesters clash with police
A protester clashes with a Guardia di Finanza policeman in front of the Ministry of Finance building in downtown Rome yesterday. REUTERS ROME (Reuters) Demonstrators clashed with Italian police yesterday as tens of thousands marched through Rome to protest against unemployment, government cuts and big construction projects they say take money away from social services. Hooded protesters turned over garbage bins in front of the Economy Ministry and set several of them on fire. Using sticks and clubs, they attacked police in riot gear. The police charged and chased demonstrators up side streets. The hooded demonstrators, who infiltrated a mostly peaceful protest, threw smoke bombs, eggs and
bottles at the ministry and broke the window of a nearby bank. Police said 15 of the most violent protesters were arrested and two policemen were injured. In another area along the demonstration route, police defused a large firework with a bullet inside, which they said could have caused serious damage had it gone off. Protesters also set off smoke bombs and fireworks along the route and many planned to camp out during the night in front of the Infrastructure Ministry, the end of the demonstration. The protest comes as Prime Minister Enrico Letta is trying to hold together his
shaky left-right coalition government and struggling to lead Italy out of its worst postwar recession. Letta’s 2014 budget, unveiled on Tuesday, has become a focal point of discontent, with unions complaining about freezes on public sector salaries a n d what they say is an insufficient easing of the tax burden on workers. Youth unemployment is at an all time high at 40.1 percent. Organizers said at least 70,000 people joined the march that started in Piazza San Giovanni on the south side of the city and snaked its way through the city. Many shops along the route were closed as a precaution.
CONAKRY (Reuters) Guinea’s main opposition parties accused the ruling party yesterday of massive fraud in last month’s parliamentary election and said they would call on the Supreme Court to annul the vote. The statement was the first official reaction to the complete results issued on Friday, which showed the President Alpha Conde’s ruling party won 53 seats but fell just short of an absolute majority in parliament. The September 28 vote, which is meant to complete the return to civilian rule but was more than two years late, has been dogged by wrangling between parties, triggered deadly street protests and dented investor confidence in the iron and bauxite-rich state. “We have decided to file a complaint (at the Supreme Court), with all the necessary proof, calling for the complete annulment of the vote,” said
Aboubacar Sylla, a spokesman for the umbrella of opposition groups. The coalition includes Cellou Dalein Diallo’s UFDG, which came second with 37 seats, Sidya Toure’s UFR, which won 10 seats and two other minor parties that secured a pair of seats each. “What we are seeing a complete farce brought about by massive fraud organized by the ruling party,” Sylla added. Opposition parties had earlier called for the vote to be canceled during the counting process. They also threatened more protests. About 50 people were killed in demonstrations over election preparations earlier this year. Conde’s camp has already said it will challenge in the Supreme Court the results from some districts where it says the opposition rigged the outcome. Earlier this month,
observers from the United States, France, the European Union, the United Nations and West African regional bloc ECOWAS said they had identified problems with voting in a number of districts, potentially harming the credibility of these results. But diplomats, led by the United Nations, have sought to restore confidence in the process and, in particular, the election commission, which is deeply divided. Conde’s RPG party needs the backing of another four seats in parliament to secure a majority so a period of dealmaking is expected after results are confirmed. While an important last step in the tortuous return to civilian rule following a 2009, the vote is also seen by many politicians in Guinea as warm-up for the presidential election in 2015, when Conde’s first 5-year term comes to an end.
Guinea opposition to ask Supreme Court to annul parliamentary vote
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Italy court bans Berlusconi from public office for two years (Reuters) - A Milan court ruled yesterday that former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from holding public office for two years following a conviction for tax fraud. However, since Berlusconi is a senator, the court’s decision will have no immediate effect and his expulsion from the Senate will depend on a separate vote in the upper house of parliament, expected to take place next month. Yesterday’s ruling reflected the prosecution’s request for a two-year ban. Berlusconi’s lawyers, who said they would appeal the decision to the supreme court, had asked for a one-year ban, the minimum under the law being applied in the Milan case. The maximum would have been three years. Italy’s supreme court on August 1 definitively upheld a tax fraud conviction against the centre-right leader, rejecting his final appeal against an earlier four-year jail sentence. The four-year sentence was commuted to one year, and, if the Senate expels him, Berlusconi, 77, will spend the year either under house arrest or in community service.
Silvio Berluscon In the August 1 ruling, the supreme court confirmed the conviction but ordered a further judicial review of a ban on holding public office imposed for the same offence. The upper house’s vote next month will effectively supersede the Milan court’s decision because it will be based on a separate law, which, if he is expelled, would ban Berlusconi from public office for six years. Losing his seat in the Senate would deprive Berlusconi, who is fighting a conviction for paying for sex with a minor among other legal
cases, of his parliamentary immunity from arrest. A special Senate committee opened the way earlier this month for a motion to expel Berlusconi. The Senate is dominated by Berlusconi opponents from both the left and the antiestablishment 5-Star Movement and is expected to vote to strip him of his seat. The decision over Berlusconi’s future has been one of the most sensitive issues facing parliament. Centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s awkward coalition with Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party almost fell when Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the government last month. The stated reason for the break was a disagreement over tax policy, but the weeks of tension over his impending expulsion helped poison the climate in the broad left-right coalition. The August supreme court ruling involved inflated invoices at Berlusconi’s Mediaset broadcasting empire and was the first definitive sentence he had received after dozens of previous trials on charges ranging from tax to sex offences.
Suicide bomber kills 16 in Somali cafe attack aimed at foreign troops MOGADISHU (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people yesterday in an attack on a cafe in a Somali town close to the Ethiopian border frequented by local and foreign soldiers fighting al Qaeda-linked rebels. Al Shabaab said it had carried out the bombing, in the town of Baladweyne, targeting troops participating in an African Union peacekeeping force fighting the Somali Islamist group. “A man with an explosives jacket entered unexpectedly in the tea shop where soldiers and civilians sat ... and blew himself up,” said local elder Ahmed Nur, speaking from the scene of the blast. At least 16 people were killed and 33 wounded, local politician Dahir Amin Jesow told Reuters by telephone from Baladweyne. “The death toll may rise.” Somali and African forces pushed Al Shabaab out of Baladweyne, about 210 miles north of Mogadishu, more than a year ago. But while the territory that al Shabaab controls has greatly dwindled over the past two years, it continues to
control large rural areas and some towns and has ratcheted up guerrilla-style attacks. “Our main target was Ethiopian and Djibouti troops who invaded our country,” said Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab. He put the death toll at 25. There was no independent word on whether foreign soldiers were among the casualties. Horn of Africa analyst Rashid Abdi said: “Al Shabaab is sending a message that it has the will and the capacity to carry out these kinds of attacks. They are also sending a message that they have huge geographic reach.” Al Shabaab demonstrated the capacity to strike at far-away targets last month when its gunmen raided a shopping mall in Nairobi, hurling grenades and spraying bullets at shoppers as punishment for Kenya sending troops to Somalia. Uganda on Friday heightened its “terror” alert to maximum for the first time since bombings in 2010 that killed 79 people, citing
domestic and U.S. intelligence indications of a possibly imminent attack by al Shabaab. Abdirahman Omar Osman, spokesman for President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said yesterday’s b o m b i n g : “That suicide attack was deliberately aimed at destabilize the city and this is something we will not tolerate and it will not stop our plan to establish a local government in the region.” Straddling a major highway that links southwestern Somalia to southern and northern p a r t s o f t h e c o u n t r y, Baladweyne is the main gateway to the Ogaden region in Ethiopia and a strategically vital area that Addis Ababa has often controlled. Analyst Abdi said Baladweyne is now probably more secure than it was a year ago despite grenade attacks and targeted killings. “In a way this attack is also a message of weakness as al Shabaab are not able to carry out a conventional assault on the town in the way they use to two years ago,” he said.
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Car bomb, clashes kill over 30 near Syrian capital BEIRUT (Reuters) Syrian rebels blew up an army checkpoint outside Damascus yesterday and more than 30 combatants from both sides died in the blast and ensuing clashes, a monitoring group said. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 rebels and at least 16 soldiers were killed. The British-based Observatory said the checkpoint explosion, near the suburbs of Mleiha and Jaramana, was detonated by a suicide bomber from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Nusra supporters on Twitter, however, said the bomber had intended to blow himself up in the car, but instead got out before setting off the explosives inside. They said rebel forces had captured the checkpoint hit by the car bomb and were battling to take a second one nearby. Syrian state television
reported the blast but gave no death toll, saying only that several people had been killed or wounded in a “terrorist bombing”. The Observatory, which has a network of activists across Syria, said Syrian fighter jets retaliated by striking nearby oppositionheld areas such as Mleiha. Video uploaded by activists showed a huge column of smoke billowing up from the scene, and the sound of fighter jets streaking overhead could be heard. Rebels also fired rockets into Jaramana, a suburb held by the government, according to the Observatory. It said the air force carried out four strikes on adjacent rebel-held districts. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria’s 21/2-year-old conflict, which began with popular protests against President Bashar alAssad before degenerating into civil war. The war has pitched most of the country
militants, killing at least one Kurdish fighter, the Observatory said. Kurdish groups have been fighting for autonomy from both the rebels and the army. In Damascus, activists said Syrian forces also tried to storm the suburb of Mouadamiya, which the army has blockaded for months, leading to a rising death toll
from hunger and malnutrition. The army had advanced, but had yet to enter the suburb, said Qusair Zakariya, an activist there. “Our rebels are fighting hard to repel the regime ... We’ve been doing our best to try to evacuate civilians from the western front of the town because they’re now exposed to shelling and tank fire,” he said, speaking by Skype over audible bursts of rocket fire. Like most rebel enclaves in the suburbs that ring Damascus, Mouadamiya has been under an army-imposed siege for months, causing a particularly acute shortage of food and supplies. Doctors in the town have reported an increasing number of deaths from malnutrition, especially among children. The United States condemned the siege on Friday, saying the Assad government had only allowed a limited number of civilians to escape from Mouadamiya and that it must allow food, water and medicine to reach those still inside. “We also warn the regime ... not to use limited evacuations of civilians as an excuse to attack those
residents who remain behind,” it said. “The regime’s deliberate prevention of the delivery of life-saving humanitarian supplies to thousands of civilians is unconscionable.” The World Health Organization said on Saturday that two suspected cases of polio had been detected in the eastern province of Deir alZor, the first appearance of the incurable viral disease in Syria in 14 years.Western powers have mostly backed opposition forces trying to end four decades of Assad family rule, but have hesitated to supply military aid to the rebels, fearing the rising influence of al Qaeda. Russia and Iran have supported Assad unstintingly. International efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria have stuttered for months, but Russia and the United States are now planning to hold peace talks in Geneva next month. The deeply divided opposition remains reluctant to attend, however, and Assad’s government has already said it will not consider any deal that requires the president to step down.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A Jamaican in The Bahamas has been arrested and is being purported to be the “mastermind” behind a car stealing ring in the country, as police probe several Road Traffic Department employees and insurance companies. According to reports in The Bahamas media, the Jamaican was arrested on
Thursday afternoon following the seizure in Exuma of 20 cars, all Honda models that are believed to have been stolen from New Providence. The reports say that authorities are also looking at rental companies as well as possible links with other islands in The Bahamas. The vehicles seized were all licensed by the Road Traffic
Department according to the reports. Other people were also arrested along with the Jamaican and reports also say that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has since issued an advisory urging people to be cautious when answering ads and to call the police if approached with a deal “too good to be true”.
Bashar al-Assad into violence along sectarian and ethnic lines. In the northern province of Hassaka, a rebel suicide bomber blew himself up at a base belonging to Kurdish
Jamaican ‘mastermind’ nabbed in Bahamas car stealing ring
Sandals comes to Barbados BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – The Barbados Government has signed an agreement with Sandals Resorts International (SRI) paving the way for the Jamaica-based hotel chain to take control of the Almond Beach Village. The Freundel Stuart administration also announced that SRI has already purchased the Casuarina Hotel in the south of the island. “We are quite excited to have both of these properties coming to Barbados at this time. It is a tremendous boost for our tourism industry at this
time. It sends the right signal as far as confidence is concerned. It is going to be an investment north of BDS$500 million (One Barbados dollar = US$0.50 cents) over the next several years and it will see 1,500 people eventually employed over both hotels,” Tourism Minister Richard Sealy said. The two resorts would bring an additional 800 rooms to the island’s hotel stock and, according to Sealy, could result in 130,000 more visitors coming to the island. He said an additional benefit for Barbados as a
result of the agreements would be the amount of income generated on the local market. “In terms of the spend, these are high quality resorts and apart from the employment that I spoke of... the estimate is that BDS$22 million would be sourced in terms of local goods from Barbadian businesses,” he added. SRI founder, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, said he was pleased with the acquisition, noting “being in the Caribbean and not being prominent in Barbados is not good for my organisation”.
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Kaieteur M@ilbox Ms. Jaya Manickchand’s post also reveals a bigoted perception of crime DEAR EDITOR, “I am happy they [the three suspected bandits killed by the Police] are dead and I don’t care about the details of a post-mortem. In fact why is the state even wasting money on them? My sentiment would be the same for all murderers and thieves.” These are not the words of some uneducated idiot uttered in some late-night rum shop conversation. No, it is a direct quote from the Facebook page of Ms. Jaya Manickchand, an attorney-atlaw and Member of the Guyana Elections Commission. As an attorneyat-law Ms. Manickchand, on petitioning the court for admission as an attorney, pledged to serve the people of Guyana according to the law, including that special law called the constitution. Now that she believes that some classes of Guyanese are not
entitled to the constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence, the right to life and to due process, she is no longer fit to practise law in the Guyana courts, the watchdog of the Constitution. Equally it seems, Ms. Manickchand believes that the Guyana Police Force must have the same powers as say, the South African police of the Apartheid-era who were free to torture, incarcerate or kill at will, immune from the law, once the victim was a poor black person. She is clearly advocating a warped, dangerous and frightening sense of what the law should be. Ms. Manickchand’s post also reveals a bigoted perception of crime: one that does not consider corruption in its egregious forms such as Pradoville 2, or the appropriation of state resources by the political
class for its members, as crime. I doubt that she even thinks of a minister of government using a gun to inflict terror on another person as a crime, or the heist of Guyana for a few. For her, no doubt, crime is exclusive to a certain class, its perpetrators without rights, fit only as target practice for the police and vigilantes. It is frightening that a member of the ruling political class could be so lacking in ordinary human feeling as to have such a sentiment, and so arrogant as to express that feeling to th e w o r l d . B u t i t i s a measure of the depth to which Guyana and its institutions have sunk that she can brazenly display such tendencies and remain a member of the Bar and of the Guyana Elections Commission. Christopher Ram
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Kaieteur News
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“Sachin – A cricketer, not a politician, who ruled an entire nation!” Colin E. H. Croft The hubbub is slowly becoming a much louder din, which, in turn, will become an almighty explosion of grateful noises and credits, as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar prepares to play his final ever Test match, his 200th, against West Indies, at the historic Wankhede Stadium, in his beloved Mumbai; his home town! Anyone who is anyone in international cricket, and international sports, generally, should be there, in spirit, if not also possibly in person. One should really desire to boast, afterwards, that “I was there!” That other batting genius, Brain Charles Lara, would likely be there too, since these two, great friends and grudging foes all in one, have lit up the world batting firmament for just about a quarter of a century! What an event that promises to be, for this is, very much more likely than not, the end of that long line where such real cricketing longevity is concerned. This is one record that would be very difficult to eclipse! One could certainly believe that, with the transition of world cricket to more instant T-20’s, even with the massive fight to preserve Test cricket, that no-one in our life-time will ever again play
200 Test matches! Test No. 199 for “Tendya” will be at Kolkata, at the magnificent Eden Gardens, home of the Cricket Association of Bengal, which, officially, holds 90,000 attendees. Test No. 200 will be at the similarly appointed Wankhede, home of the Mumbai Cricket Association, which holds only 45,000, officially. With the importance of the city itself, commercially and politically, though, and being the home city of SRT, MCA gets the final greatest honor! Expect many, many more than capacity of these cricket grounds to be in attendance for these games! West Indies cricket fraternity, extremely quick on the uptake, should be especially proud and excited that its senior team has been, by some scheduling possibilities, allowed to partake in these farewell celebrations. India will be trying to win, as would West Indies, of course, but this is one time that the occasion would easily trump the final game itself. West Indies winning that game, though, would be a wonderful historic asterisk, one to remember for all time. All other twenty one players on the field should feel especially special to be involved in such history!
Sachin Tendulkar
To be honest, it is quite impossible, really, that “The Little Master” would ever go out of cricket quietly. While he only made 15 from 13 deliveries – strike rate 115.38 – he also recently ensured a great start to the farewell celebrations by being one of Mumbai Indians, the team that won the most recent stanza of the Champions League. His team celebrated that success by paying their own special public tribute, Sachin
Police Commander supports... From page 66 groups. Starting time is 10:00 hrs. Prizes will be given to the successful participants including, cash and trophies. A number of businesses have contributed towards the staging of the event. Among them are A. Ally’s and Sons, Hand in Hand, Berbice Bridge Company, Elwin Jones, Water Chris Hotel, Courts Guyana
Inc, GEB Security, Attorney at Law Mursaline Bacchus, Assistant Commissioner Brian Joseph, Ganesh Singh, Watterson Catering Services, Water Chris Hotel, Campton Sparman, Lloyd and Kim’s Fashions, Businessman John Lewis, Art Sawmill, Darry Tulsi Construction, Alphonso Business Establishment, Feroze Grocery, among others.
Commander Joseph among others, are expected to be on hand to help with the distribution of the prizes. Coordinator Randolph Roberts stated that the club over the years has noted the increase in the spread of the societal ills in the community and has decided to come forward to assist in the fight to help rid the society of this plague. (Samuel Whyte)
Guyana capture 8 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze... From page 68 for Guyana as Cassey George was close behind in 4m 55.59s. The male Triple Jump gold was taken by Parrish Cadogan, Joel Benjamin won bronze. Cadogan was a gold medalist again in the High Jump. This event was a total disappointment in both the male and female categories as only one athlete in each case made a successful jump. Suriname’s Deborah Galong won the female contest. Damon Williams won bronze in the Javelin with a
throw of 49.07; Tiffany Pilgrim was a bronze medalist on the distaff side attaining a throw of 21.46. Ornesto Thomas took the male 1500m silver (4m 27.27s) while Natricia Hooper took bronze in the female Triple Jump. Medal tally in athletics: 8 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze. The afternoon session proved to be a fine one for the Guyanese at the Oase Swimming Pool when Onika George and Soroya Simmons finished first and second in the 50m backstroke. Britany van Lange followed up her
gold medal performance in the 50m free achieved in the morning session with another gold this time she won the 100m free. Also in the morning, two silver medals were won in the male and female 400m Medley relays. Medal tally in the pool: 1 gold, 2 silver, 10 bronze. On today’s final day, Track and Field, Volleyball and Basketball will be contested. The Closing ceremony is also set for this evening. The Guyanese are expected back home tomorrow.
being chaired off the field on the shoulders of his teammates, having played in only his 96th T-20. Surprisingly, he had only played one solitary T-20 International, against South Africa, back in 2006. Sachin only made 10 then, but at least, India won! When Sachin started his international career in 1989, Test No. 1 against Pakistan, having just passed his 16th birthday, it is almost a certainty that even he would
not have thought that nearly 25 years afterwards, he would not only be playing cricket, but would have had such a presence and have achieved so much. The spectacular statistics, to date, of Sachin’s batting have been noted already, but reminders will not go amiss – 198 Tests; 15,837 runs, average 53.86, 51 centuries, 67 fifties, highest score 248 not out, plus, 463 One Day Internationals; 18,426 runs, average 44.83, 49 centuries, 96 fifties, highest score 200 not out. Just reading those stats is tiring, and even great cricketers world-wide have been calling him the greatest batsman ever, but it is Sachin’s influence on his entire country and countrymen that is more astounding! Whenever he goes to the crease, in any game whatsoever, wherever, it is very possible that about one fifth of the entire world’s population of about 7.5 billion, 1.5 billion in India and in its diaspora, cease all other activities just to watch the “Little Master” at the crease! No present politician anywhere can boast of such sense of presence or reverence! Indeed, the days are long gone, thanks to tremendous technological advances, international travel and
Colin E. H. Croft knowledgeable exchanges, those days of perhaps USA’s John F. Kennedy or USSR’s Joseph Stalin or even despots like Uganda’s Idi Amin, when any politician can boast of “being fully in control” of any country. The advent of cricketer Sachin also started an upward mobility of India that saw the country become No. 1 in the world, in Tests and ODI’s, and also winning ICC World Cup. These did not happen by accident, but by a team, a country even, quickly recognizing that they had something very special in this guy! No-one yet knows what Sachin has in his future. Who kn o w s , h e m a y even become a politician too, but he, as a cricketer, appreciates that he has been the brightest shining light for his country, and that his countrymen everywhere have always held him in very special, unique, esteem! Enjoy!
Trophy Stall final decided, Kings play Jets tonight Like they did last year, the reigning champions Kashif and Shanghai Kings and Amelia’s Ward Jets are to play for the rights to be called Trophy Stall Regulation Open basketball champions after both teams advanced through different routes to reach this year’s final when the semifinals were held on Wednesday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court. The Kings out played the Bankers Trust Falcons as they romped past them to win 78-62 as they were spearheaded by the experienced centre forward Omally Sampson with a game high 24 points, shooting guard Orin Rose shot in 19 inclusive of five from 3-point territory and their captain Steve Neils (Jr.) contributed 14 in a moral boosting win for the Kings who had struggled into the final four. The semifinals was marred by the decision of the
Omally Sampson Retrieve Raiders to have the suspended national centre Dwayne Roberts in their lineup even though officials from the Linden Amateur Basketball Association and pleaded with them to withdraw his name in their lineup. Raiders club had stated that the governing Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation had upturned the LABA six year ban on their dominant player and that is
why they included him on their roster. But the LABA responded that their suspension stands in light of the manner in which the federation has handled an appeal from Roberts in their absence and then the lifting of the ban and fine of $15,000 by the regional governing body. Secretary of the LABA Joseph Chapman said, that the association in an emergency meeting the night before decided that their ban of Roberts remains until such time that the federation meets with them to look at that appeal among others which they have raised with the national body. The final will go ahead tonight Chapman said and while the third place game is off, the Bankers Trust Falcons, who lost to Kings in their semifinal clash, will play Half Mile Bulls in a supporting game to the final at 7.30pm, while the Kings /Jets match is at 9.30pm.
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Kaieteur News
Letter to the Sports Editor
Re: GFA President’s resignation is the best option DEAR EDITOR, I hereby refer to the above caption as it relates to the publication of an article captioned “Kashif and Shanghai Court action threat without merit”- Says GFA President Vernon Burnett, S.N (10.10.13), wherein the President is quoted as saying, “The GFA has been given a mandate to plan, organise and develop football in Georgetown and by extension in Guyana”. Editor, while I cannot vouch for Guyana, what I do know the established fact is: Weak/Poor Clubs and Associations Structures automatically lead to a Weak/ Poor Federation Structure”! The GFA President is now in his third year at the helm of the once most powerful and vibrant association and with absolutely nothing tangible to show for proper planning, organising and developing the sport of association
football, in Burnett’s words” a mandate”. Editor, the next best option for the individual and the most practical solution is his immediate resignation. This comes against the backdrop of an ongoing absence of youth competitions at the Under-11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 levels. And there can be no excuses for this continuous failure over three years. That has deprived youths of being graduates i.e. U-11, 13 over two years, likewise the other divisions! It is beyond any stretch of imagination that youths are being deprived of developing their skills through competitive and organised football, coordinated by the GFA. The time is now ripe for the clubs to say “enough is enough” and institute the relevant constitutional clause, in convening an “Emergency General
Meeting”. Whereas the only item on the Agenda must be a “Vote of no Confidence” in the individual, due to his lack of foresight and vision for the sport’s development, and definitely not foregoing the entire executive en-bloc. There has been poor fixtures compilation; absence of quality competitions reports; poor marketing of football as a marketable product and most importantly neglect of the nursery. That within the corresponding period the administration of the sport has gotten from bad to worse! When all the factors are taken into consideration the reality of court action has merit, since the un-even playing field surface favours the ultimate destruction of 23 years of hard work and many sleepless nights, towards achieving meaningful success of a competition! Lester Sealey
Police Commander supports Flying Ace day of track racing against domestic violence The B Division police lead by Commander, Assistant Commissioner Brian Joseph, has thrown their full support behind the Flying Ace Cycle Club ‘Track Attack’ cycling event on today at the Blairmont Community Centre. Commander Joseph took time out of his busy schedule on Friday to present a cheque to coach of the FACC Randolph Roberts at a simple presentation ceremony held in his office at B Division Headquarters, New Amsterdam. Mr. Joseph in doing the presentation, stated that it is appropriate that the police join or support any fight that tackle the issue of Domestic Violence which is a serious issue and is eating away at society. The issue of Domestic Violence he said is getting out of hand and it is a good gesture on the part of the club to organise their event with the aim of tackling the issue of Domestic Violence. “The police has be involved in almost every aspect of activity that takes place, be it good or bad and although we have our ‘action plan’ the Guyana Police Force is willing to work along with any organisations to help solve societal ills such as Domestic Violence. That is why when I was approach by
Commander AC Brian Joseph (left) presents the cheque to Coach Randolph Roberts. Roberts for assistance I hadn’t much difficulty in giving my full support and that of the division,” He stated. Roberts in response thanked Mr. Joseph wholeheartedly for his willing response and pledged his and the club’s full support to the force wherever possible in the enhancement of their work. He also congratulated the commander for the good work that he has been doing so far against great odds in the division. Apart from cycling, the day is expected to feature a number of other events including athletics, football, cricket, volleyball and a several novelty events. The
event is expected to attract the cream of the county’s riders and runners most of whom are presently preparing for the National School Athletics and Cycling Championships. Participants are expected to trek from all over Berbice including New Amsterdam, Canje, West Berbice and Corentyne and a day of keen competition is anticipated. While there will be events for Open riders, juniors, juveniles, BMX, veterans, school boys, starters, females and school girls where the cyclist will compete against each other over various distances, there will also be flats races of various, categories, distances and age (Continued on page 65)
Sunday October 20, 2013
EclipAsing the bronze medal feat... From page 69 Steve Ninvalle assumed the reins of presidency of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), there has been a flurry of activities touted to be a progressive path to first, the 2012 Olympics in England and now, the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. He has placed much faith in bantamweight pugilist, Imran Khan and hundreds of thousands have been invested over the years specifically to give Khan the best chance of winning the coveted Olympic gold medal. Several years later, the stark reality is that the returns have been minimal yet officials are persisting with Khan (he has just lost in the World Youth Championships in Kazakhstan) and one wonders whether officials are rewarding these failures and when they would decide that they are just not getting their monies worth. In the meantime, Ron Smith, undoubtedly a talented boxer, has been sidelined due to the unavailability of adequate funding. Yes, Khan and Thomas has benefitted from the largess of the Guyana Police Force who paid for their recent sojourns but the bottom line is that irrespective of who pays, GBA selectors must have the final say in who represents this country. When Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Frank Anthony beseeched the heads of sports organizations to submit their plans and projections for the succeeding six years, one was of the impression that he was gauging the expenses with an aim of tangible assistance. We have been told that only officials of the Body Building Federation and the boxing association had complied. Since then, there have been several international boxing tournaments but the input from the Sports Ministry has left a lot to be desired. Several of the boxers shortlisted to travel to Cuba were bounced off of the team with the usual cry of
inadequate funding. Is this the way we intend to eclipse Parris feat? But let us, for one minute, ignore governmental input and examine whether the GBA administration is doing enough to enhance the fortunes of the boxers. One wonders whether the training applications are in keeping with the modern day strategies. Ever since I was an amateur boxer, eons ago, the training has been of a particular format. Today, despite distinct changes in the general applications, local coaches are still clinging to that format of training. I visit the gyms regularly and with the exception of Cuban coach, Francisco Hernandez Roldan, no other coach really discusses strategies with the boxers nor is there after training téte á téte to bring the boxers up to speed with a different dimension of the sport. How then can just inadequate funding to facilitate international engagements be the sole reason for the boxers’ failure? One also wonders whether the officiating capacity has broken new grounds; Mr. Ninvalle has invited Trinidadian, James Beckles, a highly trained IABA coach, to conduct a referees/judges seminar that lasted for about one week. The course dealt with the intricacies of the trade and the Trinidadian official even touched on the computer system which has posed numerous challenges to local officials. I am still to see the local officials subjected to a physical evaluation and it seems obvious that Mr. Ninvalle doesn’t put a premium in this department. Most of the officials (thankfully not all of them) appear unfit for the arduous rigors of refereeing and are not as nimble as they ought to be. Maybe they can take a page out of FIFA’s books where fitness is a key prerequisite to refereeing. Officials of IABA have constantly re-evaluated and changed the applicable rules
of the sport and one would have expected that the referees and judges would have convened frequently to examine and discuss their shortcomings and/or misinterpretation of the rules in an effort to make their work more qualitative. This is not the case and on many occasions I have heard referees openly disagreeing with each other on such issues. The aforementioned meetings could have dealt with these inconsistencies while improving their individual quality. The President must encourage his executives to think outside the box on the issue of fund raising activities for while Bar B Qs and raffles may accrue some funding, these ventures are so common place among all sectors and are not as lucrative as they used to be. Therefore, the GBA President should brainstorm the issue and come up with uncommon initiatives that will accrue much needed funds. Once again the brains within the fraternity (amateur and professional) can be sought to churn out suggestions; the hat in hand syndrome is certainly becoming unprofitable and extinct. Recently three boxers, jnr/ flyweight Tefon Greene, flyweight Michael April, bantamweight Joel Williamson and welterweight Travis Fraser returned to Guyana after varying successes at the inaugural South American Youth Games in Lima, Peru. Fraser won a silver medal w h i l e t h e others copped bronze medals. It is within those achievements that the truth is really being told; our boxers are of average bronze medal quality, concomitant with administrative input. Naturally, improvement in the latter department may foster an equivalent output from the pugilists. The time is long overdue when rhetoric is confined to the back burner and replaced with wellmeaning action or Guyanese must be content and stay resided in the bronze medal chamber.
Hikers, GCC teams... From page 70 confidence as the match progressed and defeated Old Fort 5-0. Aroydy Branford then helped the Hikers boys mirror their girls’ victory in defeating the Old Fort boys 5-0, with goals in the 5th, 9th, 12th and 13th minutes, while Andrew Stewart added the 5th in the 17th minute. GCC found it much tougher in their second match when they came up against the Hikers girls, a tight Hikers defense kept the formidable GCC striking line of Aliyah
Gordon and Ashley DeGroot at bay until five seconds before half time when Gordon netted. Gordon added her second in the opening minute of the second half after a neat exchange with DeGroot. She completed her hat trick in the 14th minute to seal the victory 3-0. The GCC and Hikers boys ended the night undefeated after completing 5-1 and 6-0 victories over Old Fort and Saints respectively. The under-13 category was expected to be played yesterday morning with
multiple teams from Marian Academy, Saints, Old Fort, GCC and Hikers competing for honors. Also slated was a Pee Wee exhibition match followed by the schools category which was expected to feature North Ruimveldt Multilateral, Christ Church, St. Stanislaus College, St. John’s College, Marian Academy and defending champions Queen’s College. Today, the under-16s will have a chance to showcase their skills before the under21 teams return to the court.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
6th ODI
Windies level series with last ODI remaining By Sean Devers A large and vocal crowd at Albion watched yesterday as Young West Indies defeated Bangladesh by 36 runs in the sixth and penultimate under-19 ODI to level the series 3-all and leave all to play for in tomorrow’s final ODI at the Everest ground. Half-centuries from Shemron Hetymer (65) and Fabian Allen (50*) rallied the home team to 240-8 when their 50 overs expired, while a fighting 78 from 105 balls with five fours from Emon Joyraj failed to prevent Bangladesh from falling for 204 from 46.4 overs as Skipper Ramaal Lewis grabbed 3-35 with his off-spin. West Indies, needing to win both remaining ODI to win the series, won the toss and elected to bat on a fast outfield and Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Leroy Lugg took the score to 14 on a flat track before Lugg, who has had string of low scores after his first match half-century, played an impetuous hook at Abu Rony and was taken at square-leg for six. Rony (2-30) struck again when he trapped Chanderpaul (8) LBW at 23-2 as Bangladesh struck two early blows. However, Berbician Hetymer and Jamaican Tristann Coleman batted superbly as they revived the damage with entertaining yet sensible stroke play in glorious sunshine. Hetymer used his feet nicely to the spinners and pounced on the bad balls with ferocious power while the right-handed Coleman was also dismissive of the
spinners on a track not offering as much turn as the pitches in Demerara did. A murderous pull for four was arguable his best shot as Hetymer batted in enterprising fashion and along with Coleman added 76 runs for the third wicket before Coleman was run out by a direct hit for 36 to leave the hosts on 99-3. Tarryck Gabriel joined the well entrenched Hetymer to take the home team, with five wins from 12 U-19 ODIs between the two teams, to 150 with a 51-run stand before Hetymer skied leg-spinner Likhon Zubair (3-56) after becoming only the third West Indian to score a fifty in the Series so far. The much touted Nicholas Pooran, who played for Trinidad and Tobago in the Champions League in India, joined Gabriel (28) who soon lofted Zubair to long-on. After coming off the mark with a boundary, Pooran (4) pushed forward to a perfect leg break from Zubair, the leading wicket taker for the visitors, and was comprehensively bowled at 157-6. Fabian Allen stuck around for an important late surge to push West Indies to their first 200-plus total of the series although he lost Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai (2) and Jofa Archer (13) along the way. Lewis and Allen, aided by positive running and confident hitting added 49 for the ninth wicket with Allen finishing off the innings with consecutive sixes off Zubair who ended with 3-56 to reach his unbeaten 50 from just 38 balls.
When Bangladesh began their reply they lost Numim Jummon (10) LBW to left arm spinner MotieKanhai at 24-1 before lefthander Anik and Joraj took their team to 55 when Anik was run out for 27. Bangladesh’s leading run scorer Uddin Jashim (6) did not last long and was taken at point cutting at off-spinner Allen as the Asians slipped to 75-3. Saikat (16) was run out at the non-striker’s end by a direct hit from Gabriel at 103-4. The pair of Joraj and Nazmul Shanto pushed to ball into the gaps and at times directly to the fielders and ran everything hard, a ploy which clearly unsettled the West Indian lads. However Shanto (16) tried to cut a ball from Lewis that was straight on his wicket and was bowled, while a run later a deflection off Lewis’ hand saw the ball hit the nonstriker’s wicket with Miraj (1) backing up too far to leave the score on 151-6. It was soon 157-7 when Saeed was caught and bowled by McSween for one as Joyraj seemed in danger of running out of partners as Javed Rahutul (1) was bowled by Lewis at 165-8. Joyraj eventually fell to a good running catch on the mid wicket boundary by McSween off Lewis at 172-9. An entertaining last wicket partnership gave Bangladesh brief hope but Rony (28) was run out to the delight of the colourful crowd.
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GAWA Nationals on next Sunday in Berbice - forms part of 2-day outreach to Ancient County The National Weightlifting championship is set to make a grand return next Sunday in the Ancient County of Berbice when the Guyana Amateur Weightlifting Association (GAWA) hosts their highest competition. Secretary of the association, Deion Nurse, informed Kaieteur Sport that the last time such a competition was held was back in 2011 when current Powerlifting standout Vijai Rahim won the overall crown. This time around, a new crop of lifters will take to the stage, many of them, young in the business, this Nurse explained is linked to the association forward thrust which is youth development. The championship will be held at the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, this entity is also partnering with the GAWA to ensure that their Outreach activity is also a success. On Saturday next, GAWA in an effort to revive the sport in Berbice which was once a thriving art for them, will host a Clinic from 10:00hrs (Saturday October 26) also at the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club. On Sunday morning next, a mini exhibition, which will feature the participants of the clinic, will take place and this will be followed by the National championship. Nurse informed that the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) has assisted in a huge way to ensure that this activity comes off with a bang and that the sport returns to a high level of consistency. The Trophy Stall of Bourda Market has also
Deion Nurse contributed towards the Nationals with a donation of trophies. Nurse conveyed gratitude to both the GOA and The Trophy Stall for their partnership.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 20, 2013
Quintyne destroys England’s Women BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – A destructive spell from Shaquana Quintyne bowled West Indies Women to an 11-run victory over England Women in their Women’s Twenty20 International Tri-Series on Friday here. Quintyne, playing before a vocal, if not sizeable home crowd that included her mother and twin sister, collected 5-16 from her allotted four overs to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, as the Windies Women fought back to restrict the English to 129 in 20 overs in the third match of the tournament at Kensington Oval. The 17-year-old Quintyne, the “baby” of the home team, bowled accurately while giving the ball generous flight to produce her best figures in her 14th T20I appearance. The result earned West Indies Women four points, taking them to the top of table with a maximum eight points, following their 23-run victory in the tournament opener against New Zealand Women last Monday, while England are second with four points from a five-wicket victory over the winless New Zealanders two days earlier. The Windies Women can confirm a place in the Grand
Final, when they face New Zealand Women again today at the same venue. Solid all-rounder batting from the Windies Women led by World Player-of-the-Year Stafanie Taylor’s top score of 40 propelled the hosts to 140 for six from their allocation of 20 overs. Talismanic batter Deandra Dottin supported with 32, Kyshona Knight made 28 and Stacy Ann King belted 24, defying Danielle Hazell’s 3-19 from four overs and Jenny Gunn’s 2-24 from four overs. But West Indies Women were put on their heels, when Edwards and Winfield languidly gave their side a solid platform, mixing aggression with sound defence and purposeful running between the wickets. The Windies Women also conceded a few chances in the field before Quintyne made the breakthrough in her first over, when Winfield misjudged the flight of her 25th delivery and was bowled. Catches win matches is a well-worn cliché associated with the game and a brilliant, one-handed grab from Juliana Nero at extra cover off Quintyne, sent Edwards packing in the 12th over. Shakera Selman, also playing on home soil, tightened the Caribbean side’s grip, when she bowled
Lydia Greenway for a duck next over. Quintyne swung the game decisively West Indies Women’s way, when she kept Merissa Aguilleira, the home team’s captain and wicketkeeper, busy with a catch to dismiss Natalie Sciver for one and a stumping to send back Sarah Taylor for seven in the space of five balls in the following over. Left-arm slow-medium bowler Shanel Daley bowled Tammi Beaumont for four and King’s athletic fielding led to the run out of Gunn for one before Quintyne capped a memorable night, when she bowled Danielle Wyatt for three in the 16th over. Towards the end, complacency appeared to creep into the Windies Women, as 15 came from the penultimate over from Taylor before Daley bowled a brilliant final over to formalise the victory. Earlier, Taylor anchored the West Indies Women’s batting, after a slow start to the innings. She put on 45 for the second wicket with Knight and 51 for the third wicket with Dottin. But every time the Windies Women appeared to be taking control, they gifted a wicket, losing three in the final two overs to stem their advance.
Inter Guiana Games
Guyana capture 8 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze in athletics; van Lange wins lone gold in the pool Guyana dominated the 100m and 400m on day two of the ongoing Inter Guiana Games currently taking place in Suriname featuring athletes from the two countries competing in Volleyball, Track & Field, Swimming and Basketball. Following losses on the Volleyball Court in both male and female encounters on the opening evening, Friday, the Guyanese sought to turn their fortunes around on day two, and that they were able to achieve especially on the track where competition took place at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium. Kevin Abbensetts sprinted to the 100m gold in 11.33s with his countrywoman Alita Moore leading a one/two finish for the Guyanese on the distaff side. Moore won in 12.39s with Onika Eastman clocking 12.70s. Leading junior sprinter, Jason Yaw who did well at the inaugural South American Youth Games held in Lima, Peru, last month, showed his class when he sprinted to 400m gold, leading another Guyanese one/two.
Marlon Samuels Tino Best show their support for cancer awareness with the pink ribbon as they prepare for the India, New Zealand tours. (WICB) Barbados Nation Bridgetown, Barbados - The West Indies’ tour of India is less than three weeks away and team coach Ottis Gibson is not letting an y distractions get in his way as he prepares the team for what is a short but potentially tough tour. Friday, Gibson, backed by his support team, supervised a fitness and medical camp for the 15member squad and prospective players at the 3Ws Oval of the University of the West Indies (UWI). Sessions have been intense with Gibson mindful that the players will be playing non-stop cricket away for the next three m o n t h s w i t h t h e We s t I n d i e s s p e n d i n g three weeks in India and then heading on to New Zealand right after where they will play three Tests and five one-day i n t e r n a t i o n a l s that will take them into mid-January. The West Indies have won their last six Tests but
have not beaten India in the five-day format for 11 years, not since Carl Hooper’s men prevailed 2-1 in the home series in 2002. Shiv Chanderpaul and Christopher Gayle are the only survivors of that series which the West Indies won 2-1. India have won the last four series between the two teams and will no doubt be keen to extend that sequence in what will be the great Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series. Sheldon Cottrell, the 25year-old Jamaican left-arm fast medium bowler, who has taken just one five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, is the only uncapped player in the squad which will sees the return of his compatriot C h a d w i c k Walton and Barbadian Kirk Edwards. Walton, 28, who played two tests in 2009 against Bangladesh, is the reserve ’keeper to Denesh Ramdin while Edwards who turns 29 three days before the opening Test, is back in the squad on the strength of a solid first-
class season and some good scores for the A team in India. Ramdin, 28, who has the experience of 51 Tests and three hundreds, has special reason for looking forward to this tour. He has never played a Test in India and will also want to a d d t o h i s 1 5 0 dismissals behind the stumps. Dwayne Bravo, the We s t I n d i e s ’ o n e - d a y captain, also took part in the camp. Bravo is expec t e d t o b e r e t a i n e d as leader for the forthcoming one-day series even though the West Indies have come up short in their last three one-day series, the last of which was a 3-1 defeat at home to Pakistan. Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will host the two Tests in India next month. While Eden Gardens will host the opening Test from November 6 to 10, Tendulkar’s farewell Test, his 200th will be played at his home ground from November 14 to 18.
Soca Warriors move ahead of Reggae Boyz in rankings
100m Free gold medalist Britany van Lange on the podium. Yaw stopped the clock at 50.47s; Quacy Simpson followed him to the line in 52.96s. The Guyanese again took the gold and silver in the 400m female contest, Javina Sampson won comfortable in 50.95s, countrywoman Mearisha Carter was timed at 1: 03.13s. The female 4x100 female team also won gold, their male
counterparts were on target to win gold also but were disqualified having passed the baton outside their zone on the hand over for the final leg. Javina Straker once again proved her superiority at this level by winning gold in the 1500m, she was timed at 4m 55.02s, and another one/two (Continued on page 65)
ZURICH, Switzerland (CMC) — Trinidad and Tobago have moved ahead of Caribbean rivals Jamaica in the latest official FIFA World rankings released on Thursday. The T&T Soca Warriors are now in 81st position, with Jamaica slipping four spots to 82nd. T & T ’s j u m p i s d u e largely to their performance at the OSN Cup in Saudi Arabia, which included a 3-3 regulation time draw with United Arab Emirates and a 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia. Tu e s d a y ’s 0 - 0 d r a w with New Zealand is likely to have a positive impact o n T & T ’s N o v e m b e r
ranking. “Rankings are not something I pay particular attention to, but yes it’s good when we can continue to make improvements as we are trying to do at the moment,” said T&T head coach Stephen Hart. “For the sake of t h e players who are trying to excel on the international club stage, this is always a plus when the country can improve in the ranking.” T&T are ranked ninth among CONCACAF nations, and fourth in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). United States head the CONCACAF rankings, followed by Mexico and
Costa Rica. “We have set ourselves some goals and making our rise to the top of the Caribbean again is one of those goals and of course improving the standard of our football and our national teams,” said president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, Raymond Tim Kee. “The process is an ongoing one and any improvement on our rankings is welcomed,” he added. Spain continue to lead the World ranking table, followed by Germany, Argentina, Colombia and Belgium. World Cup 2014 hosts Brazil, have dropped three places to 11th.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Kaieteur News
Dedicate the West Indies, Bangladesh Under-19 series to Dudnath Ramkessoon class of 1970
Dudnath Ramkessoon, left, Colin Murray, centre and international sporting icon, Brian Lara—three T&T players who captained the West Indies youth team. Ramkessoon, who led the first ever West Indies youth team and Murray were both products of the Wes Hall Youth league. (Trinidad Guardian) By Charwayne Walker (play 36 youth test) Forty three years ago the West Indies Cricket Board of control selected the first West Indies Under-19 team. The historic squad was selected after the 1970 B.A.T Championship in Guyana which was won by Trinidad and Tobago led by Dudnath Ramkessoon. Please note only host Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados participated, but Jamaicans Jeffrey Mordecai, Hubert Chang and St. Lucian Martial Francis were still included when the selecto r s announced the touring party for the United Kingdom, the legendary We s H a l l w a s n a m e d Manager. The historic 1970 squad: Dudnath Ramkessoon Captain Trinidad Richard Gabriel – Trinidad Nirmal Nanan – Trinidad Larry Gomes – Trinidad B. Sahadeo – Trinidad Kennedy Venkasammy – Guyana Sydney Matthews – Guyana Gopie Beasmonie – Guyana Jeffrey Mordecai – Jamaica Hubert Chang – Jamaica Martial Francis – St. Lucia Richard Straker – Barbados William Bourne – Barbados Winslow Ashby – Barbados David Murray wkt-vice Captain – Barbados Since that inaugural visit in July – August 1970 the West Indies Under-19Cricketteamplayeditsfirst youth test four years later in 1974, alsointheUnitedKingdomandwas again led by another Trinidadian, Colin Murray. Since then the West Indies babes toured the United Kingdom 1978, 1982, 1993, 2001. They also hosted their English counterparts in 1972, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1995. The West Indies Under-19 also toured Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1995 October/ November. Pakistan toured the Caribbean the following year
1996 and engaged the host in three test and O.D.Is. The first time the West Indies played Australia in an Under-19, Youth test, was 1988 down under when Brian Lara’s men won handsomely. The following year, 1989, after the Northern Telecoms championship in Guyana, the West Indies Under-19 made an historic tour to Canada. It should be noted that of recent the WICB focus is only on the ICC Youth World Cup from 1974 to 1996. The Regional Under-19 team contested 36 youth tests, it took the selectors five years 2001 before the Regional youngsters engaged in another Youth test series. Since the United Kingdom test series in 2001 the next youth test for the Regional babes was 2011 vs Australia in Dubai. So the Million dollar question being asked by Regional Cricket fans is; why abandon the programme started by the inaugural tour to the United Kingdom in 1970, is the ICC Youth World Cup the only solution? Lets salute the men that led the West Indies at the Under-19 level since 1970. Dudnath Ramkessoon (Trinidad) Hugh Gore – Leewards (1973) Colin Murray – Trinidad (1974) Timur Mohamed – Trinidad (1976) Austin Whyte – Leewards (1978) Marlon Tucker – Jamaica (1980) Roger Harper – Guyana (1982) Zoral Barthly – Leewards (1985) Brain Lara – Trinidad (1988) Sherwin Campbell – Barbados (1989) Sherwin Campbell – Barbados (1990) Ian Bradshaw – Barbados (1993) Andre Percival – Guyana
(1995) Gareth Breese – Jamaica (1995) Shirley Clarke – Barbados (1996) Sylvester Joseph – Leewards (1998) Ryan Hinds – Barbados (2000) Brenton Parchment – Jamaica (2001) Narsingh Deonarine – Guyana (2002) Denesh Ramdin – Trinidad (2003) Denesh Ramdin – Trinidad (2004) Leon Johnson – Guyana (2006) Sharmarh Brooks – Barbados (2007) Steven Jacobs – Guyana (2007) Sharmarh Brooks – Barbados (2008) Andre Creary – Jamaica (2009) Andre Creary – Jamaica (2010) Kraigg Braithwaite – Barbados (2011) Kraigg Braithwaite – Barbados (2012)
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The boxing administration dilemma
Eclipsing the bronze medal feat through gold medal inputs By Michael Benjamin In their many studies of order and success, sociologists have adumbrated that one cannot continue addressing problems the same old way and expect new results. This theory is apt in almost every sphere of life and the most successful people have employed it in their applications for changes to their businesses as well as organizations they lead. If one were to examine the local trend it would be observed that most of the affiliates of sports Associations/Federations operate on the notion that the most influential and well positioned persons in society are best suited to head sports organizations. It matters not that the individual in question may lack the requisite knowledge or even administrative savvy to properly conduct the business of the sports organization in question; all that seems to matter is the elite social standing of the individual, and in many cases, the ability to posture and generally bluff his/her way out of tight situations. This modus operandi may appear to be working and may even net a few successes but after a little while it ceases to be applicable and will be rendered redundant. The truth is, ever since the introduction of the internet, information has become easily accessible and the communication process has been made simpler. The world is now one large global village where the exchange of information and ideas is far easier than before.
Imran Khan
Steve Ninvalle
Naturally, there will be positives and negatives emanating from this phenomenon but it appears as though the advent of the internet has intensified competition and sports administrators worldwide are comparing strategies in an effort to enhance the fortunes of their charges in the various territories. While officials of local sports associations have dubbed the internet a useful tool in their daily administrative endeavours, it would seem somewhat obvious that some of the leaders of local sports bodies may still be stuck in a cocoon of the past, making it difficult, nay impossible, for their charges to make the transitional leap on the international platform. And so we examine the local scene and more particularly, the amateur boxing arena. Even before Michael Anthony Parris won a bronze medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, boxers were touted to be the most reliable ones to ‘bring home the bacon.’ That was 33 long years ago and while
Parris is still gloating over the achievement, and rightly so, sports administrators should be slinking away in embarrassment that after all those years, and after our Caricom neighbours continue to excel and have broken the Olympic gold medal jinx on numerous occasions, Parris’ bronze medal achievement is Guyana’s only claim to fame at this prestigious sports forum. Boxing buffs will experience fits of nostalgia when they reminisce on those glory days when the mere mention of the names of local pugilists drove fear into the hearts of Caribbean and other international counterparts. Those were the days when the mighty Cubans sent their elite boxers to Guyana in highly competitive affairs where both countries enjoyed some measure of success. Nowadays, one is tempted to ask what is going on and who is to be blamed for the obvious lackluster performances and consequent dip in achievements, even at the Caribbean level. Ever since (Continued on page 64)
Page 70
Kaieteur News
Horseracing legislation a work in progress - Minister Anthony By Samuel Whyte Amidst the prolonged back and forth about the absence of the appropriate horseracing legislation which is stalling the development of the sport in Guyana and the lack of action by the Minister of Sport in dealing with the matter, Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony has responded to the many criticisms being bandied about. In a short interview with Kaieteur News recently, the Minister stated that it was unfair to state that the draft legislation has been sitting on his desk without being attended to. He stated that any legislation is a tedious document that has to be keenly examined. It has to go through a rigid process which takes time. The legislation he said ‘is a work in progress.’ “I have been in constant contact with the GHRA especially the President Justice Kennard. Since the last meeting in May a lot of work has been done of late. The document was looked at and returned to the GHRA and was only returned to me a few weeks ago. The document has to be looked at thoroughly. Presently it is being studied by some legal minds, before it is returned to the Ministry where it will also have to be checked further and so on,” a calm Minister Anthony explained. He stated that the National Sports Commission is also involved. He said that he would be happy that things could be put in place right away, but things take time. He could not give a time frame when the process would be completed, but reiterated that the document ‘is a work in progress.’ However veteran horserace pioneer, Senior Council Marcel Crawford, maintains that the passage and necessary enactment of the document is taking too long and by the time it comes into fruition, plenty irreparable damage might be done to the sport. He stills feels that there is need for a proper constituted GHRA which should lay down rules and stick to them stringently. Crawford reiterated that there are certain prerequisites that have to be in place before a proper functioning body is established. The Jockeys, owners and trainers should all be properly registered, licensed and be in an association, which should be affiliated to the GHRA before they be allowed to participate in race meets sanctioned by the body. All
Dr. Frank Anthony
Marcel Crawford
the track clubs should be affiliated to the GHRA. He reemphasized that at the moment there are no Turf Clubs in Guyana, because a turf club must be administered by certain rules and regulations, which Guyana doesn’t have. Another recommendation is for Guyana to have its own breeding stocks, in that way more persons can get involved in the sport. A Stud Book with supporting records should also be introduced with urgency which is a necessary prerequisite for affiliation to the Jockey Club of UK and other countries. “Without a stud book our horses cannot race out of Guyana”. He reminded that he personally drafted the document and it was given to the Minister a long time ago and restated that it is taking too long. Mr. Crawford once again put forward some names of prominent independent individuals who can be a part of the GHRA including Bernard De Santos, Vic Oudit and John Quail among others. Another veteran horseracing official in President of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority, retired Chancellor of the Judiciary Cecil Kennard, stated that he has been in constant contact with the Minister on the issue. Although not entirely happy, he is pleased that some progress is being made. He said that the last word he got from Minister Anthony was that a three man committee headed by prominent personality Conrad Plummer
was put in place and is looking at the draft legislation in an effort to have it completed and tabled in Parliament and passed into law. He stated that it is known that there are many wrong doings in the sport, but mentioned that the legislation is urgently needed to put things in place and bring wrong-doers to books. The two prominent legal minds and veteran horse race official, though at odds with their opinions at times, has been in the forefront in advocating the passage of the necessary horse racing legislation, so that the sport could get back to some form of normalcy. In the meanwhile, the president took the opportunity to confirm some horseracing dates, which are as follows -Sunday 10th November the Bush Lot United Turf Club (BLUTC). The Budhan race track has a meet set for Sunday 17th November. The 24th of November which will see the Port Mourant Turf Club (PMTC) collaborating with the Shariff racing stable for a meet at the PMTC. Following that meet, turfites will return to the PMTC for the traditional meet set for the 15th December. The Kennard Memorial Turf Club (KMTC) will be the next stop on the 26th December for the annual Boxing Day meet. The 2013/2014 race season is expected to end on 5th January with the annual Rising Sun Turf Club (RSTC) meet.
Sunday October 20, 2013
Shaquana’s bounce back ability BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Leg-spinner Shaquana Quintyne’s turned in a career-best bowling display to help West Indies to a superb victory over England by 11 runs in the Women’s T20 International Tri-Series on Friday night. Backed by a large and colourful crowd – including her mother, father and twin sister – the 17-year-old ended with an impressive 5-16 off her four overs to spark celebrations on and off the field at Kensington Oval. England ended on their 20 overs 129-9 after West Indies made 140-6 off their 20 overs. West Indies now have two wins and lead the points table on eight points from two matches. England have one win on four points while New Zealand have lost both their matches. Quintyne was delighted with her bowling performance. In the opening match against New Zealand on Monday night she was below her best but bounced back in style on Friday night. “I had a bad game against New Zealand so I had to bounce back and that was my motivation to come out here and bowl the way I did. I knew I had to control the run rate and keep things tight. When the captain gave me the
Shaquanna and Sheniqua Quintyne. (WICB) ball she told me to be confident and do what I do best. I’m just happy I was able to do the job,” Quintyne said. West had moments of brilliance in the field. The highlight was a brilliant one-handed catch at extra cover by Juliana Nero off Quintyne to get the key wicket of Charlotte Edwards as the momentum shifted towards West Indies. “That was the catch! I’m speechless words can’t really explain what she did,” said Quintyne. “It was just what we needed at that stage in the match. We talked quite a lot about the key moments in the game and how
we just had to stage focussed and not panic. England got a good start but we did not panic. We kept our heads.” In the first half of the match the West Indies batters dominated and posted the high score of the tournament so far. Stafanie Taylor (40) provided the ideal platform as she added 50 for the second wicket with left-hander Kyshona Kinght (28). After that Stacy Ann King cracked 28 from 10 balls as she marked a successful return to international cricket, while Deandra Dottin blasted three sixes in 32 from 19 balls.
Defending champs crash out of contention - St. Pius, East La Penitence still to be beaten A25th minute strike from F.E. Pollard’s Makhaya Jarvis was enough to send defending champions Marian Academy crashing out of contention in this year’s Petra Organisation / Courts Pee Wee Schools Football Competition which continued yesterday, at the Thirst Park ground. The current title holders will now have to seek solace by vying for a top spot among the teams playing in the minor positions. In the day’s other results: St. Margaret’s disposed of South Ruimveldt 2-0 with Andrew Harrison opening the scoring in the 4th minute after lashing home a right footed shot
in the penalty box to the bottom right hand side courtesy of a clinical pass. Diego Britton sealed the win as he thumped home a powerful shot from the right side of the field to the top left hand side. St. Puis continued to show no mercy on opponents when they crushed Ketley 4-0 through goals from the prolific Bevney Mark, who netted in the fourth and 13th minutes, while Marcus Wilson bagged his brace in the eight and 12th minutes. East La Penitence squeezed past Redeemer Primary through a Fabian Boters 25th minute effort, while West Ruimveldt led by a Rayon Jones brace in the eighth and 20th minutes
trounced St. Ambrose 5-0. Scoring for the winners were Dante Sookram, Michael Oie and Justin Persaud in the 12th, 32nd and 37th minutes correspondingly. St. Gabriel’s registered what could be deemed an upset over North Georgetown after Teon Forde netted in the 14th minute, while Enterprise outlasted St. Stephen’s 3-2 on penalty kicks after regulation and normal time failed to determine a winner with the scores locked at 1-1. Avinash Peters had given St. Stephen’s the lead in the 10th minute, but Delon Harmon cancelled out that advantage when he netted in the 25th minute.
2013 Star Part Rentals National Junior Hockey C/ships
Hikers, GCC teams dominate opening day The 2013 Star Part Rentals National Junior Hockey Championships got off a resounding start on Friday evening, at the National Gymnasium Mandela Avenue, when the under-21
teams took to the court. First up, the Old Fort young ladies playing in only their second competition were no match for a GCC side which featured several senior national players; they went
down 19-0. The next match between GCC’s boys and the Saints Hockey Club was a more even contest with the two teams trading early blows. Steven Xavier scored in
the 4th minute to give GCC the early lead, before Kevin Edwards converted a well worked short corner to level the proceedings at 1-1, before half time. GCC dominated the
second half and sealed the victory 3-1 through goals from Michael Craig and Eric Hing. Hikers’ girls got off to a tentative start, but grew in (Continued on page 66)