Kaieteur News

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October 28, 2012

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

New GPC received - Auditor 80% of drugs General contracts in 2011 Moses Josiah

Guyanese saw-playing musician entertaining subway riders in NY

Auditor who recommends sacking of two Govt. officers sent on leave

Separation of casino, nightclub, restaurant at Marriott Hotel… n Rave a Athen

A financial scheme to steal Guyanese money - APNU, Taxpayers will own the unprofitable portion - AFC

Amputee held for

murder of Patentia man

Consummate, gifted teacher Marcia Smith is a 'Special Person’

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Sunday October 28, 2012

Sunday October 28, 2012

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New GPC received 80% of drugs contracts in 2011 - Auditor General The 2011 Report of the Auditor General (AG) is out and its makes for some interesting reading.

The report concentrated on the accounts of the government Ministries including the Ministry of Health. Specifically, the report raised issue over the government’s purchase of medical drugs and supplies.

According to the report, one of two local companies pre-qualified by the government to supply pharmaceuticals and medical items are New GPC and Medpharm. New GPC received a whopping 80 per cent of the contracts to supply while Medpharm received one per cent.

In total, the Ministry of Health expended US$13.3 million for pharmaceuticals and other purchases.

New GPC received contracts to the tune of

Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop

Auditor General (ag), Deodat Sharma

US$10.6 million which was equivalent to 80 per cent.

The other company, MedPharm, received just under US$40,000 worth in contracts.

In recent times, bids by New GPC have come under more scrutiny because of its high price tag submitted to the

Tender Board when compared to other bidders.

This was very glaring two weeks ago when two lone tenders were opened for the supply of anti-malaria drugs.

New GPC submitted a bid for $261 million while IPA, another supplier, submitted a bid for $32M, a vast difference of more than $228M. The issue has seen government saying it is too early to pronounce, as the tenders are still in the process of being evaluated.

It was only recently that the opening of bids at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board

ONE HOUR OF TIME A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door. “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”

“That’s none of your business. What makes you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.

“If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour.”

“Oh,” the little boy replied, head bowed.

Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I borrow $10.00 please?”

The father was furious. “If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you’re being so selfish. I work long, hard hours everyday and don’t have time for such childish games.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even madder about the little boy’s questioning. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“Are you asleep son?” he asked.

“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.

“I’ve been thinking, may be I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man.

“It’s been a long day and I took my aggravation out on you. Here’s that $10.00 you asked for.”

“The little boy sat straight up, beaming. “Oh, thank you daddy” he yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at the man. “Why did you want more money if you already had some? “ the father grumbled.

“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.

“Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?”

(NPTAB) were allowed to be reported in the press.

New GPC has been the main supplier of drugs and other supplies to government since the late 90s.

In recent months, New GPC has filed several court actions following reports of the drugs purchases.

Kaieteur News, the Stabroek News and the opposition

parties in the National Assembly have come under heavy criticism from New GPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.

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

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial Investing in Excellence We are extremely pleased with the announcement by President Ramotar that from this year, the top performers at CSEC and CAPE would be awarded scholarships abroad and at UG’. This newspaper has long advocated the resuscitation of the “Guyana Scholarship” programme which had produced so many distinguished Guyanese who went on to serve this country with great distinction.

In September 2007 we wrote, “We ought to take the lead from Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yu’s book when he set out in the 1960’s to chart and lead Singapore on the path to First World status. In addition to soliciting and receiving all the grants and aid that have been pouring in from the Cuba and the developed countries, let us in a structured manner negotiate a number of scholarships to the latter’s elite universities especially in the subject areas that would assist in our development thrust.

“As we have advocated in the past, let us resuscitate the Guyana Scholarships and award the scholarships obtained to the top Upper Sixth Form performers on condition that they return to serve the Government for five years after completion of their studies. This would provide, in our estimation, the requisite incentive for some of our best and brightest to return and serve our country.”

It appears that the government has eschewed the suggestion to negotiate scholarships with friendly governments and opted to pay for the scholarships. We hope that this policy is not carved in stone on the presumption that the universities in the US and UK are all ‘private’ and therefore not under the auspices of their governments. We are sure that the said governments extend a wide array of services to their universities, which give them some influence in awarding scholarships – once the awardees have satisfied the admission criteria.

But we also pointed out in 2007: “Today it is not just the UK that has a monopoly of the top universities – nor even the US, for that matter: India, China, Japan and a host of other countries can hold their own with the best in the world.

In fact the top Indian colleges in science, engineering and business produce students who are in such demand that head hunters from the west snap them up like hotcakes.

“While we are on the subject, we ought to mention that the latter institutions were able to catch up with and even surpass the older ones in the developed countries by sticking to rigorous and rigid admission and retention standards.

As such, we believe that our Ministry and Minister of Education (MoE) are on the right track to insist that any student who wishes to proceed on to the Sixth Forms ought to have passes in English and Mathematics at CSEC. Sixth Form work is for those who intend to do serious University work and there ought to a solid initial screening process.”

We note that the government has offered scholarships to CSEC top students also, but we caution that if we expect these young students (generally sixteen years old) to enter the top foreign universities, they will have to complete their CAPE. And this brings us to the promise by the MoE that they will establish specialised Sixth Form School(s).

The recent CSEC results demonstrate that even though Queens College received the “cream of the crop” at the NGSA, they were unable to translate that into commensurately high results. We hope they had a ‘wakeup call” this year.

Something is amiss at what is supposed to be our ‘premier high school” – more so in light of interviews that revealed the Queens high flyers - at CSEC and CAPE attributing their success to ‘lessons’. Many Guyanese do not remember that at present, all science students proceeding from CSEC to CAPE must transfer to Queen’s, which then somewhat undeservedly receives credit for their success.

The removal of their Sixth Forms to the specialised school might lessen whatever challenges the present Queens’ administration faces; and simultaneously better prepare scholarship winners, and other graduates, for the rigours of competitive university life.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

Protest Action, the Police and Criminals DEAR EDITOR, Recently many persons including men, women and children have been robbed, beaten, and generally demoralized on their way home. There is no justification for these barbarous acts. It must be condemned by all. Think of the hurt, loss and disillusion that those persons experienced. Think of the mindset that those children involved will grow up with.

This is a national disgrace that has been happening for many years now. Guyana is no war zone. So how do these situations continue to happen? So far and I may be wrong, there was only one

religious group condemning these heinous acts. Where are all the religious groups and the NGOs that are supposed to promote decent, civil society? This situation must be divorced from politics, isolated, and prevented by those in authority. It is a sickness in our society. It must be nationally condemned by all good and respectable persons.

Of primary importance is the nurturing of those that were humiliated. What programs are in place for conciliation? Are those persons that were beaten and robbed just to be forgotten and left to live with

the sting of humiliation forever? This can do nothing else than breed ill-will and resentment for others. What recourse is there for these persons, especially the children, with disoriented minds? There needs to be a healing process. There must be the satisfaction of knowing that steps are taken to prevent such shameful acts in the future.

But the reality here is different. It seems that we are faced with a situation that equals to or surpasses the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. The authorities seem at a loss to figure out how to prevent this atrocity.

Maybe the authorities do not

care enough about the victims to seek a resolution .There may be persons who take evil delight in the robbing, beating and humiliation of others for their own selfish purposes but those persons are the few. I believe in the goodness of human nature. I believe we all want these acts to stop.

Guyana is a beautiful place with a reputation of having gracious, friendly people.

The facts are simple and there for all to see. During protest action of which is expected in any democratic country such as ours, criminals infiltrate the crowd.

This benefit no one as the Continued on page 7

Sunday October 28, 2012

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Apology to Freddie Kissoon’s historical revisionism on the PNC/APNU is wrong Mr. Carl Greenidge DEAR EDITOR, The PNC/APNU has nothing to offer Africans except political wilderness.

Kissoon does not appear to grasp this reality in his letter titled “The PNC is desperately trying to survive” (KN, October 24, 2012). Contrary to Kissoon’s panegyric masturbation about “the great and historic role in this country’s evolution of the People’s National Congress,” I see the PNC/APNU as a tragic and sordid tale of race politics, marginalising, economic despair, dismal leadership, failing AfricanGuyanese, profound laziness and elitism. This has been the PNC’s legacy just as it has been the PPP’s. There is nothing great about the PNC’s role in Guyana’s history.

The PNC was formed out of one man’s sick quest for power at all costs, built entirely on racial antagonism and political strife and played willing lackey to a foreign ideology and outside puppeteers. The PNC is the only main party in Guyana’s history formed entirely and completely as a race party.

The PPP was formed as a multiracial communist party in 1950 and eventually became a race party. Strong African support for the Jagan-led PPP

over the Burnham-led version of the PPP in the 1957 election confirmed the early multiracial appeal of the original PPP. By contrast, the PNC was formed from day one by Burnham to pursue destructive race politics with the aim of securing power.

The politics of the PNC from 1957 onwards and in the sixties was one of ethnic segregation and necessary violence in pursuit of it. The same applied to the PPP although the violence was a lesser feature. This country still suffers from it.

Kissoon exclaims “As someone who practises revisionist history, I believe historical evidence exists to justify the PNC’s politics of the sixties that brought it to power in 1964.”

Kissoon then renders the following explanation for his theory “When historians look back at the true nature of the Jagans and their organization and the people they nurtured in their party, but most of all the morally bankrupt and truly sickening nature of the PPP’s rule since the death of Cheddi Jagan, the people who embrace and support the PNC have nothing to be ashamed of.”

That is an abjectly shallow and intellectually nefarious statement. I frankly cannot

see where in the historical tableau Kissoon can extract justification for the PNC’s politics of the sixties based on those considerations.

Kissoon cannot be justifying the race-actuated and violence-ridden political stratagem of the PNC of the sixties because to do so would logically endorse the same strategy employed by the PPP as a counter to the PNC. Kissoon’s contention is undermined by the fact that Guyanese history has revealed to us since 1957 that the PPP and the PNC were not two extremes but similar entities in structure, orientation, philosophy and leadership structure.

The major difference between the two parties is the PPP’s rabid pursuit of communism, which appalled the West, which in turn engineered events to alter the political landscape. However, history has proven from 1964 to 1985 the PNC pursued a socialist agenda with distinctly potent features of communism such as nationalization.

The authoritarianism of the PNC was very communist. The true nature of the Jagans and their fixation on power and ideology is no different from the true nature of Burnham,

his megalomania and his quest to impose a radical and authoritarian form of socialism on Guyana.

The PNC and PPP organizations were never widely dissimilar. They are both decrepit cesspits stocked with the same character-less men. Kissoon has to be deluded to believe that the PNC/APNU would not be morally bankrupt, incompetent and obscenely corrupt if they regain power.

There is nothing in the PNC/ APNU to suggest otherwise.

While Burnham may have attracted more intellect into the PNC, he crushed and suffocated them to his own power drunk authoritarianism.

The Jagans did not seek cerebral types because they believed oxen minds were more pliable. The PNC and the PPP have delivered the same level of corruption, indecency and venality to this country.

It is just that the opportunities to rape and pillage are far greater under the PPP today.

The PPP and PNC are two sides of the same coin. For every Burnham there is a Jagdeo, for every Hamilton Greene there is a Leslie Ramsammy, etc. Therefore, Kissoon’s support for his thesis is flawed. There can be Continued on page 7

DEAR EDITOR, Mr. Carl Greenidge has written to me to inform me that at no time did he take advice from Ms. Gail Texieira in the vote in the PAC that saw the reappointment Mrs. Ashni Singh to the Auditor General’s Office. In the light of his statement, I offer an apology to him.

Frederick Kissoon

I never sought or took advice from Ms. Teixeira DEAR EDITOR, In yesterday’s (October 25th) Kaieteur News Mr. Freddie Kissoon twice mentions my name in a piece on page 10 entitled, the ‘Tenth Parliament or the Failed Parliament?’.

In the first of the two references that purported to show why there is great public disappointment over the Opposition’s performance he alleged that, ‘in a vote that saw APNU’s Carl Greenidge taking advice from Gail Teixeira that he, Greenidge as chairman of the Committee could not vote’ .

In addition to the events being erroneous the article only mention’s two Opposition MPs by name, one in passing and the other, myself, apparently in dereliction of duty. These unequivocal assertions are utterly erroneous and have been repeated in spite of this fact being drawn to the

editor’s attention in relation to a similar piece by Mr. Maxwell published on June 8th 2012.

To date neither has Mr. Maxwell’s assertions been retracted nor a satisfactory answer provided for the inaction.

Please be informed that nowhere do the records of the PAC proceedings show that I either received or sought advice from Ms Teixeira.

In view of these facts I should be grateful if you would draw the matter to Mr. Kissoon’s attention with a view to a having him publish a retraction of the allegation as a matter of urgency and no later than Monday next since you would already have had time to consider the issue.

The matter of Maxwell will be pursued by the lawyer who wrote the Editor on July 31st, if I do not have a similar resolution within a few days.

Carl B. Greenidge

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FREDDIE KISSOON IS DELUSIONAL AT BEST

DEAR EDITOR, After reading Freddie Kissoon’s column: “President Ramotar’s Logic” (Kaieteur News, Oct. 26), I must conclude that this character is delusional at best.

Kissoon’s rants are getting worst by the day, and it’s only a matter of time before his publisher puts an end to this personal outrage and vendetta against the PPP/C, that threatens to endanger the credibility of his publication.

In his attempt to rationalize his belief that the Executive Branch of government must make concessions with the opposition in drafting the national budget, he painted this dumb, childish scenario: “Your only access to the road is via a waterway. But the waterway is privatelyowned. Sailing then is your main method of transport.

You bought a boat. You took the boat into the water to get to your destination.

The owner of the waterway asked you to take his son to school every day when you go on the water.

You refused. He refused

you permission to use his passage. Who is the foolish one? You are. Your access to your work is the man’s river.

You automatically have to enter into some form of concession with him and his concession is that you take his kid to school. The simple fact of life in your world is that you have to negotiate if you want access to the road. It is the same with the national budget.”

To put it mildly, Freddie Kissoon is a pathetic, dishonest peddler of misinformation, and needs to apologize to His Excellency, Donald Ramotar for trying to discredit and intimidate him. I vividly recall the consultations that took place between Government and leaders of the opposition, at the invitation of President Ramotar immediately after his victory, despite the busy Christmas holidays.

President Ramotar met with members of the opposition, and agreed to consult with them on the budget while it was being drafted.

He set up a bipartisan team of professionals that included Cyril Solomon,

Clifford Reis and Ronald Alli to review the tax system and policies.

Kissoon is as delusional as his fictional character who buys a boat before securing an agreement to use someone else’s waterway. How dumb was that? And Kissoon must be conveniently suffering from amnesia by his failure to recall and recognize how willing President Ramotar was, to embrace the opposition in meaningful dialogue at the beginning of his term. But what resulted can best be described in my letter published in Kaieteur News on December 29, 2011.

I w r o t e , “ H o w e v e r, d e s p i t e t h e P r e s i d e n t ’s willingness to work with the opposition, David Granger ’s APNU seems determined to continue the chaos, vowing to intensify protest action next year (2012) and to give government a number of deadlines to make key decisions.

According to PNC/ APNU spokeswoman Lurlene Nestor, she wants H o m e A ff a i r s M i n i s t e r Clement Rohee to resign

by the end of March 2012; she wants Guyana to have a government of national unity, and the elections commission and Chief Elections Officer to be replaced in six months.”

Editor, it is important to note that these threats of creating chaos by intensifying protest action, and the demands by the PNC/APNU mouthpiece, L u r l e n e N e s t o r, w h i c h specified the resignation of the Home Affairs Minister, were made and documented last December... Long before the violence and lawlessness that culminated in the protests in Linden and Agricola; and long before the unfortunate shooting deaths of the socalled “peaceful protestors”. But as part of their devious plan, the opposition used those events to intensified calls for the resignation of Rohee, as Lurlene Nestor demanded since December of last year.

This is clear and convincing evident that the leaders of PNC/ APNU, in collaboration

with their new partner, the Alliance For Change, deliberately exploited the loyalty and willingness of their supporters to provoke civil unrest in a well e x e c u t e d , w e l l planned strategy, and to blame Rohee for any action taken by the police.

They instigated and financed the havoc, and abandoned their misguided followers to fend for themselves, in order to avoid being labelled as organizers.

The drafting of the national budget is the responsibility of the Executive.

By their confrontational actions and denying critical support for projects, pivotal to job creation and growth, both the PNC/APNU and the AFC have demonstrated their willingness to oversee the destruction of all the progress made over the years by the PPP/C Administration.

They have not yet demonstrated political maturity, vision, nor the

willingness to compromise in the national interest. As such, President Ramotar will not be railroaded into handing over his responsibility to a bunch of losers who are determined to bring down his administration at any cost.

Freddie Kissoon just don’t get it... Neither the AFC nor PNC/APNU are in any position to issue demands and ultimatums.

They contested the election and lost. As I’ve said before, it would be a mistake for the opposition to take President Ramotar’s willingness to cooperate with them as a sign of weakness.

For as the Kaieteur News editorial of December 23, 2011 so eloquently stated, “We hope that the opposition does not demand a mile now that they have been given a fathom. Consultation does not mean capitulation.”

Freddie Kissoon would do well to listen to his boss.

Maybe he will learn a thing or two about civility.

Harry Gill

Sunday October 28, 2012

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The Acting appointment of the Freddie Kissoon’s historical...

Chancellor and the Chief Justice DEAR EDITOR, I refer to the concern expressed by Attorney-atLaw, Mr. Nigel Hughes and reported in your newspaper over the prolonged acting appointments of their Honours Justices Carl Singh and Ian Chang in the judicial offices of Chancellor and Chief Justice, respectively.

Mr. Hughes’ comment echoed a similar concern by Mr. Teni Housty, a former President of the Guyana Bar Association.

I consider that it might be useful if I made a contribution on this matter. In the Constitutions of most of the CARICOM States and in some other Commonwealth countries, the Head of the Judiciary is appointed by the Head of State after consultation with the leader of the Opposition.

This is the procedure specified in the Constitution of Guyana for the appointment of the Chancellor as the Head of the Judiciary in Guyana, and the Chief Justice as the most senior Judge of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature.

During Mr. Burnham’s

tenure of office as Head of State, the legal personalities appointed to the Office of Chancellor and Head of the Judiciary, and the Office of Chief Justice as nominees of the Prime Minister (and later President) were acknowledged legal luminaries, in first Chancellor and President of the Court of Appeal being Sir Kenneth Stoby, and Sir Harold Bollers as the Chief Justice of the High Court.

During the Constitutional review process which commenced after the PPP/C assumed office after the general elections in 1992, the proposal was made by the PNC/R (now in opposition) for a change in the procedure for the appointment of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice, respectively the requirement of agreement (not merely consultation) between the Head of State and the Leader of the Opposition was proposed by Mr. Robert Corbin the leader of the Opposition and was agreed by the National Assembly which had t u r n e d itself into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of reforming the

Protest Action, the...

From page 4 protest action is disrupted and become discredited and citizens suffer at the hands of criminals. Innocent citizens are violated and criminals move one step further into destroying their own lives and disgracing their families.

The distressing thing is why, after so many instances of this happening, over so many years, there is no solution to this scenario.

Why are there no countrywide community meetings to discuss this problem?

Many persons have been affected over the years and live with the bitterness of being desecrated. Are these persons of no significance?

Any legitimate protest action will dissociate itself from criminals. In order for the protest action to be effective it must confirm with the established standards of the rule of law.

This is no ‘cowboy’ country although criminals would like to make it so.

The police can and should be asked by those ‘voicing their rights’ to assist in

ensuring the deterrence of criminals. I am sure that the police will be glad to cooperate and assist.

Even if the protest is against the police themselves why are innocent school children, pregnant women and other citizens, beaten, robbed and prevented from going about their daily business until late into the night. This is ruthless lawlessness that has been allowed to go on for some mysterious reason.

This is no time to be quibbling over whom or what caused this situation to happen or who organized it.

If it was organized at all we all know who did it – persons with evil intent.

The criminals do not care about politics or protest action, this is clearly just plain hooliganism. People continue to be hurt and traumatized.

What we want to know is what steps are taken to prevent this abominable situation from happening again when we have another protest action.

B. Shivdas

We cannot determine our destiny, but we do have a choice of a philosophy that will influence the direction of our life.

Constitution.

I am on record of having warned against the change in the procedure for the appointment of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice. I contended that if the requirement was agreement for the appointment of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice, the Constitution must contain provision for resolving the matter in the event of this being unattainable. I proposed that there should be a reference to the National Assembly and a decision being made by not less than a two-thirds majority vote.

This proposal was not favoured the argument advanced being that it might not be possible to obtain a 2/ 3 majority vote in the National Assembly. In the end, the existing (revised) Constitution adopted in 2002 requires agreement to be reached by the President and the Leader of the Opposition for the substantive appointment of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice, respectively.

It is to be noted that the revised Constitution of Guyana includes a provision (Article 232) which actually defines what is meant by “consultation” or “meaningful consultation”.

This may have been inspired by the Constitution of Belize which contains a similar provision.

Brynmor T.I. Pollard, C.C.H.; S.C.

From page 5 no justification from a nation building and a future-focused perspective for the PNC or PPP’s racially divisive and graphically violent politics of the sixties. That said, historical evidence reveals there was justification from a geopolitical axis for the Western powers (British and Americans) to encourage race politics in Guyana for their own aims.

The West recognized it had a power-crazed politician in Burnham who was willing to do anything to secure power, even wreck the mood of national unity and racial tolerance that underlined the 1953 and to a lesser extent the 1957 elections.

The heart of Guyana’s problems is Forbes Burnham and his power-drunk ways and Jagan and his ideological rigidity.

A proper revisionist could argue that if Burnham remained in the PPP and restrained his megalomania, his charisma would have led to a different type of change that avoided the racial cleavage in Guyana.

Burnham’s arrogance, impatience and ignorance caused him to attempt to hijack the PPP shortly after the successful 1953 election where national and racial unity was at its highest ever in Guyana’s history.

This was a profound tactical blunder that exposed Burnham’s error and egomania in the 1957 election when Africans utterly rejected him and his party. My theory is that if Burnham remained in the

PPP and fought the Jagans ideologically from within the party, the Jagans would have cracked by the early sixties under the crescendo of American interference and pressure.

The Jagans would have yielded and Burnham’s internal pressure and his sway could have forced the PPP to become more socialist and less communist on most of its positions.

If that did not work and there was a split in the PPP at a later time such as the early to mid sixties, it would have occurred primarily on lines of ideology and not starkly on race as happened in the midfifties.

A split on ideology would have seen substantial African and Indian voters breaking into two ideological camps supporting communism or proper socialism. What makes Burnham’s decision to pursue racial intolerance as a political strategy even more reprehensible is not only the fact that it evaporated the racial unity in Guyana up to 1957 but also the fact that Burnham adopted some of Jag a n ’s m o s t b i z a r r e communist policies like nationalization during his dictatorship.

This begs the question why did Burnham go on a racial politics spree to oppose the PPP when he ruled in a manner the PPP would have generally ruled Guyana from 1964 to 1985? It was all about self and power for Burnham and the PNC was a mere accessory to his selfworship. Burnham was

blinded by his raw hunger for power and even worse, his instant gratification mentality. Jagan was blinded by ideology and power to feed that ideology. If Burnham, Jagan, the PPP and the PNC cared about nation, they would not have pursued the politics they did in the sixties.

There is no justification from the PNC or PPP perspective for their politics of the sixties. No leader or party can justify fracturing and separating a nation and sending it to violent and murderous ethnic reprisals.

Burnham knew the West was ultimately going to dictate the outcome in Guyana.

He decided to position himself to gain power from that geopolitical chess move by going racial with his politics. Jagan’s head was in a cloud misguidedly believing from his communist baloney that power was going to be delivered by the people, not the West.

Burnham read the end game far better than the Jagans because he was not ideologically blinded to reality.

The PNC started on a road to race and remains on that road to race. The PPP started on the road of multiracialism and ended up on the road of race and remains there. There is nothing great or historic about the PNC or the PPP. Historical evidence and the power of nation-building do not justify the racial or the violent racial politics of the PNC. M. Maxwell

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Scouting can be greatest unifying force for youths across Guyana – GSA President As the Scouts Association of Guyana (SAG) celebrates its 103rd anniversary, the body is looking to significantly increase its membership over the next five years, particularly among young people across Guyana.

President of the association, Ramsay Ali, said that one of the key objectives of SAG over the next five years is to increase membership by 30 percent each year.

“We are the oldest scouting organisation in the Caribbean, and the second oldest in South America. We are very proud of this heritage and the positive impact scouting continues to have on young people in our society. It transcends race, ethnicity, religion and class, and can be a true unifying force for all Guyanese who come on board,” Ali said.

Instilling a sense of purpose and independence in young people, he pointed out, is one of the key roles of scouting, which has served to produce Guyanese who went on to hold important positions across the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the three-day celebrations on Friday, October 26, Vice President of the association, Ron

Robinson, said SAG has been pivotal in building character and shaping the minds of young people.

“As the youths grow in scouting they will learn to become good leaders as well as followers. I want to encourage them to respect at all times, the leadership of the association as well as each other, and be proud of the rich history of scouting, the oldest organisation of its kind in the world,” Robinson said.

In his address to the more than 200 scouts gathered at SAG headquarters, the Vice President lauded former Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, for his integral role in boosting the association’s membership over the years.

“Over the past several years scouting has expanded in Guyana, particularly due to the extensive input of former scout and Police Commissioner, Henry Greene.

Mr. Greene was personally and directly involved in the development of scouting and due to his influence, a significant number of youths became involved, some of whom went on to join the Guyana Police Force,” Robinson stated.

In her remarks to the scouts, Chief Commissioner, Zaida Joaquin, reminded them that they were tasked

Acknowledging the March Past are President of SAG, Ramsay Ali, Chief Commissioner, Zaida Joaquin and District Commissioner, Domo.

with carrying out traditions that date back to more than a century.

“For over 105 years, Scouts have set a high standard of service and duty to God and country. Our Commissioners and Leaders devoted long hours to building the knowledge and

integrity of our Scouts. It is not an easy Job. I want to thank the Commissioners and the Scout Leaders for taking the time to care. I want to thank you for your leadership and thank you for setting such a good example for a new generation of Scouts,” Joaquin said.

She pointed out that wearing the scout’s uniform is a privilege, equivalent to making a statement. “Your uniform is a sign that you are a certain kind of citizen— trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, brave, clean and reverent. These are

the values of Scouting and they are important values for Guyana. By working to live up to them, you are bringing great credit to yourself and to our nation,” the Chief Commissioner said.

The Scouts Association of Guyana is the only Organization in Guyana that has dedicated almost 103 years to the development of participating young people and young adults through its non-formal educational program of activities. It belongs to the largest youth organization in the world.

Scouting came to Guyana just two years after it was founded in England. The Scouts Association of Guyana was founded in 1909 in what was then British Guiana under the leadership of Sergeant Major GeorgeManly who was a member of the British Regiment stationed there.

The first Scouts Troop was formed at Queen’s College. The Association is the oldest Youth movement in the Caribbean, the 2nd oldest in South America and the 9th oldest in the world.

In August, 1969 Guyana hosted the Fourth Caribbean Jamboree. “Not only Scouts from the Caribbean attended that Jamboree, we had Scouts from the U.K., Canada, France, U.S.A. and Australia.

The venue for that great event was the National Park.

“The memory of that event still lingers in the minds of those who participated.

Again, in 2009 when the Association celebrated its Centenary year of Scouting, it hosted the 14th Caribbean Jamboree which was held at the Sophia Exhibition Site.”

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

PNCR Column The Agricola riot of 11th October was a direct result of the People’s Progressive Party’s sectarian social and security policies over the past 20 years. The PPPC administration, more than all other Guyanese, is aware of Agricola’s agony and anger.

The proximate cause of the recent trouble was the murder of an Agricola teenager, Shaquille Grant, by the Police on 11th September. There were some small, subsequent displays of anger in the neighbourhood but it was not until 11thOctober that chaos erupted at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Grant’s mother, relatives and friends expressed their dismay at what they perceived to be the preferential manner with which Grant’s accused killer, Police Constable Terrence Wallace, was treated by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Wallace and two other policemen were charged with his murder.

The crowd chanted: “We want justice” and “How many more”, as they stood on the road.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Secretary to the Cabinet, Dr. Roger Luncheon, to make matters worse, gave a flippant and unfunny response to questions about the possibility of mass protest for the removal of Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee following an upsurge in police killings. Luncheon laughingly said: “I look forward to the fight... As Muhammad Ali said, ‘Let’s get ready for the rumble.’”

Some Agricola residents participating in the protest at the Magistrates’ Court were heard to express anger and astonishment at the remarks attributed to Dr. Roger Luncheon. Disorder broke out soon afterwards. A large number of persons gathered on the roadway about 13:00h on Thursday 11th October.

They threw tyres and other obstacles across onto the East Bank Demerara roadway at Agricola and set them on fire, bringing traffic to a standstill. Several persons caught in the ensuing traffic jam were robbed.

The Agricola riot was the most serious in Georgetown for over 14 years and, on the surface, seemed out of proportion to the proximate causes. It is evident that there was deep underlying anger against the PPPC administration. Constable Wallace’s treatment and Dr. Luncheon’s remarks were only the sparks which ignited the time bomb that Agricola had become.

Villagers, first of all, have been angry at the police for several years, throughout the period of the ‘Troubles’ when there was widespread criminal violence on the East Coast and East Bank Demerara. Much of the

Page 9

Don’t cry for me Agricola

trouble was caused by the Police who were involved in killing several so-called suspects.

The US Department of State’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices has often warned that: “The most significant reported abuses included potentially unlawful killings by police [and] mistreatment of suspects and detainees by the security forces.”

In one case of political and Police harassment during this period, armed special squad policemen in dark uniforms without required regulation identifying numbers swarmed five East Bank Demerara villages – Agricola, Bagotstown, Eccles, Houston and McDoom – and started a systematic round up of nearly six dozen young persons daily from 30th July to 2nd August 2008. Most victims were minors and all were male.

As Emancipation Day [2008] dawned in Georgetown, several innocent adolescents celebrated the anniversary with shouts of “We want freedom” because they were still locked up in the Police Force detention centre in Brickdam.

The reason for this unwarranted detention of youths was, simply, that the ruling People’s Progressive Party was preparing for its two-day 29th Congress which was due to begin on Saturday 2nd August at the Diamond Secondary School, a mere eight kilometres from the Agricola-BagotstownEccles-Houston-McDoom village complex.

There were numerous other incidents of harassment and humiliation. Police would drive into the community and arrest young persons without explanation.

Police on 2nd March 2008, for example, took eight youths from Agricola, into custody, after firing at shots in the air.

The Police Public Relations Department said that the youths were taken into custody to “assist with investigations in relation to break and enter.”

Police at 05:00 h on 30th May 2008 arrested another dozen youths in Agricola during a raid described as “a routine exercise.” Angry residents told reporters that most of the youths were arrested at their homes while others were stopped and searched on their way to work and later bundled into a police vehicle.

A group of young men were playing football on the street, on yet another occasion, when policemen in a car pulled up and fired three shots in the air while ordering everyone to stay still. An eyewitness said: “I just standing here and all I hear is pow, pow pow…everybody running and ducking. “The police ordered another group

of youths and children sitting under a tree: “nobody don’t move” and placed them to lay face-down on the ground.

The police radioed for back-up and a van with three other policemen arrived and the eight youths were placed inside and whisked away.

Police, on 28th April this year, simply ordered three youths off the streets claiming that there was a “curfew’ in force.

The rage against the Police had its roots in these repeated acts of humiliation over a long period.

Agricola also became a bloody victim of the ‘Troubles.’ Dr. Luncheon, who is also Chairman of the Central Intelligence Committee, first described the outbreak of criminal violence ten years ago as the result of ‘drug gang warfare.” Many failed to comprehend how correct Luncheon was. Many failed to see how violent the drug war had become.

Agricola became a community of interest during the ‘Troubles’ for several reasons but mainly because of the introduction of drugtrafficking. It was penetrated

by Guyana’s most notorious narco-trafficker, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan. It was also the hometown of two fugitives Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles. The village is located on the East Bank corridor which leads to the country’s only international airport and to the hinterland roads network and on the Demerara River – all important drug routes. It also adjoins the capital, Georgetown, a major marketplace.

The community suffers, however, from a high rate of poverty, a high rate of school dropouts and high rate of youth unemployment. These factors attracted narcotraffickers in search of recruits and who could supply the

guns and violence that accompany that trade.

The murder of Harold Duncan, a CANU counternarcotics officer in January 2003 and Donald Allison in September 2005 were related to the ensuing bloody druggang war. The most gruesome drug-related executions were the beheading of David ‘Gurple’ Barrow and the killing of his girlfriend in March 2005. The village also remembers the February 2006 massacre at Eccles and Agricola in which eight persons were killed.

Six months later, in August, an armed gang invaded the press of a newspaper at Eccles and killed five workers.

The PPPC administration, despite this record of police harassment and drug-related violence, has been reluctant to address causes of the problems affecting residents of Agricola. The Ministry of Home Affairs is at the centre of Agricola’s anguish. It has made no attempt to correct the provocative behaviour of the Police Force by implementing a Security Sector Reform Plan or to curtail drug trafficking by implementing its own National Drug Strategy master Plan.

The PPPC administration, even now, has evinced no interest in conducting independent inquiries, inquests and investigations into these crimes. Youth unemployment and police harassment remain the most serious problems for Agricola residents. The community has been stigmatised by the police and the government who seem content with aggravating, rather than alleviating, Agricola’s problems. And so the story goes.

Pastor Ivan John of the

Open Door Bible Way Church, in a newspaper interview some time ago said: “What we find when these young people come and ask for a recommendation is that they literally beg you not to put their addresses as Agricola…As if this is not enough for our youths to deal with, those who have decent jobs for one reason or the other are picked up, photographed and thrown into the lockups for days and have to be missing out days on their jobs.”

According to John, as a result of the treatment meted out to the young men in Agricola, many have

expressed the view “is best we just join de criminals because we getting lock up fuh nothing at all”.

The recent riot, certainly, was a violent expression of anger against years of mistreatment by the administration and misconduct by the police. It was not planned or directed by Opposition political parties – A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change.

Agricola’s problems – especially those concerning brute-force policing, poverty and youth employment – are at the heart of the People’s Progressive Party’s policy towards this poor village.

Dem boys seh

PPP coming to an end Honesty is de best policy. That is wha dem boys learn since dem li’l. Dem go to Sunday school and dem hear bout de Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not steal is one of dem.

But if you live in Guyana you would believe that thiefing is de way to go.

Jagdeo never lock up nobody and is anybody’s guess ‘Why”. Is it a case of being in de same boat? Donald doing de same thing which suggest that he jump in de same boat.

Because nuff thiefing happening all over. De auditor fuh Hen See Hen find nuff flaws and nobody ain’t get jail, yet although Donald get de report. De NDIA Auditor find out some more thiefing and he recommend that two senior officer get send home.

He send de report to Donald thinking that Donald gun send home de thieves. Instead, he get a letter fuh go home.

Is a case of beating de messenger instead of de thief. Is like if a policeman arrest a thief. Instead of charging de thief dem charge de policeman.

Imagine de magistrate telling de police that he like see too much. Next time see and shut you mouth. That is wha happen to de auditor. Guyana reach de stage wheh people got to see and shut dem mouth.

Wid wha a happen under Jagdeo leadership and now de Donald sponsorship it look like you can thief wholesale and nutten would happen to you. That is wha de PPP come to; dem boys seh suh. Now de PPP coming to an end and is not dem boys seh suh, is Khurshid. And he learn that through de licence office wheh de licence number is now PPP 9900.

That mean that PPP coming to an end. Dem boys wonder if dem got room fuh dem in de PPP. Talk half wait fuh see de end of thiefing—hopefully.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Gunmen attack Kaneville grocery shop The grocery store which the gunmen robbed on Friday evening.

The spent shell which was left behind after the gunmen shot at the owner of the grocery shop.

A Kaneville businesswoman is grateful for being spared after a gunman shot at her on Friday evening during a robbery at her business place. Bib Mohamed, called Ms. Lynette, of 50 First Phase, Kaneville, said that she was sitting outside of her shop

chatting with a customer when she noticed two men approaching. It was around 20:35 hours.

The woman said that her daughter was in the shop and the men purchased a roll of toilet tissue and left. However a few minutes later they

returned and one of them went again to the shop counter to purchase a mint.

“While my daughter gone to get the mint the other one come up to me and fired a shot but I bend and it miss me and he grab me then they carry we in the shop”. The woman said

they men held her at gunpoint and began demanding cash.

“Them ask ‘when de money; we know you got money. If we int get it we gone kill you”.

According to Mohamed

she immediately instructed her daughter to hand over the money.

Not satisfied with what they received Mohamed said that the men took them into the house and demanded more cash. Again the woman instructed her daughter to hand over whatever cash was in the house.

Before leaving the men grabbed a gold chain which Mohamed was wearing at the time and demanded that she take off her wedding ring and give it to them, the woman complied.

Wi t h t h a t t h e m e n ordered the woman and her daughter to lay on the floor and then made good their escape.

Mohamed said that she quickly shouted for help

and neighbors ran to their rescue. The police were called mere minutes after the robbery but at the time when this publication visited the woman’s home yesterday at 14:00 hours, no police rank had responded to the report.

A spent shell was still at the scene where the woman was sitting when the men first attacked.

Mohamed said this is not the first time that her business was attacked but it was her first encounter with gun-toting bandits.

She recalled that last November was the last attack on her business but she was attacked several times during the 17 years she has been operating her business there.

ImmigrationTALK

Understanding “Deferred Action” for Young Immigrants in U.S.

By Attorney Gail S. Seeram It has been over four months since U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and President Obama announced that certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, who do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key criteria will be considered for the relief of deferred action for two years and will be eligible for work authorization.

Under this directive, now termed DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) individuals who demonstrate that they meet the following criteria will be eligible for deferred action, on a case-by-case basis AND can apply for work authorization in the U.S. if they meet the following criteria: 1. Were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012; 2. Arrived in the United States before turning 16; 3. Continuously resided in the United States from June 15, 2007, to the present; 4. Were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, as well as at the time of requesting

Gail S. Seeram deferred action from USCIS; 5. Entered without inspection before June 15, 2012, or any lawful immigration status expired on or before June 15, 2012; 6. On the date of the request, are in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) On August 15, 2012, the forms were released to apply for this benefit for young immigrants. The forms are I821D, I-765 and I-765WS and the filing fees are $465.00.

Applicants were cautioned to attach the required documentation to prove eligibility for this temporary benefit.

If your application is denied, then you will be placed in removal

proceedings.

It is important to understand that deferred action is not a legal immigration status. Deferred action is a discretionary decision by DHS (Department of Homeland Security) not to pursue enforcement against a person for a specific period.

A grant of deferred action does not alter an individual’s existing immigration status or provide a path to citizenship.

Thus, deferred action cannot be used to establish eligibility for an immigration status that requires maintenance of lawful status.

Deferred action, however, may allow a person to qualify for certain state benefits, such as driver license, though state requirements vary.

While deferred action does not cure any prior or subsequent period of unlawful presence, time in deferred action status is considered a period of stay authorized by the Secretary of DHS. An individual does not accrue unlawful presence while in deferred action status or while a DACA request is pending if the individual filed a request before reaching age 18. DHS can renew or terminate a grant of deferred action at any time.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Amputee held for murder of Patentia man Victim was charged with murdering brother A Patentia man charged with murdering his brother 13 years ago was himself a victim Friday night.

Dead is Yusuf Shaddick, called ‘Smith’ and ‘Disco’ of East Patentia Squatting Area, West Bank Demerara.

A one-legged man, said to have been living with him in the house which has fallen into disrepair, has since been held. Neighbours said that Shaddick, an unemployed man who was a hard drinker, was last seen alive around 21:00 hrs Friday.

The home which had many broken windows and tall grass in the yard was a regular hangout for drug addicts and alcoholics in the area, the newspaper was told.

Shaddick, who was separated from his wife and who has one daughter, was discovered dead by neighbours after the amputee told them that bandits had attacked them Friday night and that he believed that ‘Disco’ was dead.

Shaddick was stabbed multiple times and was seen with wounds to his head also.

Neighbours said they did not hear any sounds of struggle as there was music playing late into the night.

One villager said that the other occupant of the home went to a nearby shop early yesterday, had two “shots” of rum and then reported the killing.

“Something na right heh…Nobody na hear nuttin and is till dis morning around 5 o’clock that we hear,” one neighbour said.

Still, other neighbours said that the issue may have

Undertakers from Ezekiel Funeral Home removing the body of Yusuf Shaddick from the Patentia home yesterday.

Dead: Yusuf Shaddick been over some money that the amputee lost.

Police removed a prosthetic leg from the home but it was unclear whether a murder weapon had been found.

The body was removed around 10:00 hrs.

According to a police statement, they are investigating the murder of “Yusuf Shaddick”, 52 years, of Patentia, West Bank Demerara, which occurred about 00:05hrs yesterday.

Police said that investigations have revealed that Yusuf Shaddick and another man were imbibing, when an argument ensued during which he was stabbed to his chest. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

Police also said that a suspect has been arrested and is in police custody assisting with the investigations.”

Shaddick was placed before the courts in June 1999 charged with murdering his brother. According to reports, he had stabbed his brother to death following an altercation at their home in Patentia.

(Leonard Gildarie)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Husband and wife team’s daily devotion to stray dogs

The stray dogs gather around Mr. Shangur, patiently awaiting their promised meal.

Guyanese are becoming more and more concerned about their pets, particularly their dogs. They buy the fanciest of dog treats, provide them with the most comfortable sleeping area and even take them to the most trusted veterinarians.

But still many do not stop to think that their dogs could have been one on the streets; one of those that sleep in the

rain on a cold night; one of those that eat out of garbage piles; and even one of those that are being brutally injured by some of us humans.

Debbie and Alvin Shangur, on the other hand, spend all of their time and money catering for these stray dogs.

Every morning, the couple would wake up and start preparing for the dogs.

Mrs. Shangur would boil about 10 gallons of rice, while Mr. Shangur leaves to go purchase a few bags of Bakewell bread. They then turn large pounds of chicken heads into a thick stew which is then mixed with the rice and the minced bread.

The food is then put into a few large “basins” and placed into the back of the couple’s car, along with

several gallons of water and medicine. The couple would then take their fully loaded car to the streets.

As they honk their horns, dozens of stray dogs would gather around. Each village has a particular “eating spot” where the dogs would meet and wait for the green car to come to a halt, and for Debbie and Alvin to begin sharing the food.

The couple is well-known to dogs in East Coast Demerara areas such as Better Hope, Strathspey, Enterprise Gardens, as well as a few areas in Georgetown.

The couple would tend to over 200 dogs per day.

They have been involved in caring for dogs for about six years now and when asked how he affords to do so much on a daily basis, Mr. Shangur explained that he and his wife do not have bank accounts, but that they believe in living for each day.

Mr. Shangur’s salary as a Travel Agent at University Travel Agency, pays his bills, buys groceries for him and his wife, and the rest of his money goes to caring for the dogs; providing medicines, food, water, and anything that the couple finds necessary.

The couple uses a 25 pound gas cylinder per week for cooking.

Alvin and Debbie Shangur having fun with some of the dogs.

They have been doing this every day for about six years now, and plan to continue for many years to come. Mr. Shangur said that he and his wife have always been criticized for caring for stray animals.

“People does always be telling us to feed children instead. We aren’t saying that we don’t want to, and that it is not extremely good, but

there are many organizations that care for children, but where can you go and see people caring for stray animals? Ours and theirs are all lives.” He also pointed out that many of the strays have been maimed and tortured.

“This is our passion,” Mr. Alvin Shangur said.

He is also urging other animal lovers to volunteer in this venture.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Ravi Dev Column

Another view of politics (Excerpts from speech delivered to Caribbean Hindu Conference NYC July 7th, 2012) I’ve been asked to say a few words about “Raj Neeti translated by the organizers as “politics” – and its adaptability to today’s society. I assume that it was intended that we discuss our Hindu view of ‘politics’ and how it may possibly be adapted to the exigencies of the present.

And this is as it should be because, since we do not have an absolutist position on rules and regulations (whether on governance or otherwise) in Hinduism.

Rather we believe that there

are the eternal principles of Dharma that that have to be applied the institution or situation we’re considering.

But always taking into cognizance the particular desh, kaal and paristhiti – place, time and circumstances.

So we have to first answer the question, “What is ‘dharma’?” before we can get to its application to governance or politics. We Hindus do not like to define things – this always limits and circumscribes – we prefer to enumerate their lakshanas or attributes. In the Shanti parva of the Mahabharata (109: 10-12) there is a very succinct summation of the

lakshanas of Dharma: All the sayings of dharma are with a view to nurturing, cherishing, providing more amply, endowing more richly, prospering, increasing, enhancing, all living beings: in a word, securing their PRABHAVA… All the sayings of dharma are with a view of supporting, sustaining, bringing together, upholding all living beings – in a word their DHAARANA...

All the sayings of dharma are with a view to securing for all living beings freedom from violence. In a word, AHIMSA. It is because of these characteristics of dharma – prabhava, dhaarana and ahimsaa – that we therefore

THE BACCOO SPEAKS There is going to be yet another murder because humankind in this place is crazy. A simple argument is going to end in death because one of the people involved is going to be egged on by those around him. The weapon would be a sizable piece of wood.

After the crime the victim is going to run, like so many others who do the act but cannot stand the music.

As the year ends there are many more who would

not see the dawn of the New Year and all because of stupidity. ** At this time of the year the

waterways tend to take on added dimensions. They always seek to claim human life. A boat travelling from a border community is going to encounter difficulties after it collides with a foreign object. The people would be heading home after a stint at making money because there is precious little to be made where they live.

Once more community spirit is going to save some of the travellers, but the losses would be horrendous.

speak of Raj Neeti. For while “Raj” may be substituted for what we call today, the state, neeti is more properly translated political ethics rather than ‘politics.’ ‘Neeti” connotes: conduct; propriety; policy; a plan; politics; righteousness; morality. The ethical element of Dharma is always present in the Hindu practice of politics.

If the politics we practice is bereft of these three attributes then we are practicing adharma and in this instance, tyranny, injustice or anarchy.

DANDA: Now how does the State achieve all these noble ends?

Our shaastras advise that the ruler/executive must possess DANDA. Meaning a “staff”, it signifies punishment, chastisement, subjection, control, restrain. In a word, the State must have possess BALA - “power,” “strength,” or “coercive force” to ensure the law of the fish, matsya nyaya (big fish eating little fishes), does not prevail.

While there was a brief period of Raam Raajya, when everyone observed Dharma and there was no need for danda, those days are long gone. As was stated in MhBrt Shanti parva 68:8 There is no other justification for the king to

exist than to protect in every way, the people. For protection if the first foundation of all social order.

It is from the fear of danda that people do not consume each other: it is upon danda that all order is based.

Our task in the present is to therefore insist that our political leaders create the conditions to secure our ‘protectedness’. It is for this reason that over twenty years ago, a group of us right here in NY identified the Physical Security Dilemma of Africans and Indians in Guyana. Indians might take political office because of their numbers in a Guyanese democratic system, but unless the leaders possessed the bala to enforce the danda, they would always be at risk because of the matsya nyaya.

We recommended that they make the Disciplined Forces – the repository of bala representative of the country’s population and the state be federalised. To no avail. So today in Guyana, Indians have become a minority in population and without protection, once again.

AAPAD DHARMA: IN TIMES OF EMERGENCY It must not be thought that the principles of dharma, are so straight laced that the forces of darkness, might be

Ravi Dev

allowed prevail over its practitioners. The exigencies of circumstances altering the application of Dharmic principles to Raj Niti is most graphically illustrated during catastrophic ‘emergencies’.

When political, social and economic conditions become such that life, or the state itself, is threatened with destruction – in such an abnormal time or emergency, aapad kaal – then all must be done for self preservation.

“It is better to be alive than dead; alive a person can order his life again.” Shanti parva 141:65 “The king and the people should, in times of distress, protect each other: this is the abiding dharma of all times.”

SP 130:30 During Aapad Kaal, therefore, the state must take whatever steps that are necessary for the survival of the society. After the emergency is over however, the principles of Dharma must be reasserted. Or the state itself will fall victim to adharma. It’s a fine line to tread.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Book Review: We Cannot Forget AFRICA’S WORST GENOCIDE RELIVED

By Dr Glenville Ashby glenvilleashby@gmail.com History is living, breathing, and has always been played out in the present. The daily atrocities in Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are reminders of past human depravities – none as haunting as the1994 holocaust in Rwanda – arguably the most gruesome chapter in African history. In a mere one hundred days, Rwanda, a small landlocked country of 9.2 million, reverberated with an orgy of bloodletting that eviscerated ten percent of its population.

It was a genocide that targeted the Tutsi peoples at the hands of the Hutus; a genocide incomparable in its intensity and raw violence.

“We Cannot Forget” is a scholarly narrative that adopts qualitative research methodologies to chronicle a period when humanity was turned on its head. Samuel Totten and Rafiki Ubaldo interview eleven survivors of varying ages, gender, and economic background – skillfully avoiding similitude,

duplication and literary ennui.

That the 1994 genocide could have been avoided is posited by Totten and Ubaldo. Maybe Rwanda was just another African country, or, as one survivor intoned: “People in the US and Europe were watching World Cup, and if they only could have taken a minute and really thought about the fact that Rwandans were being killed, then they could have influenced their governments to take some action.”

“We Cannot Forget” offers key historical data on the socio-political imbroglio that led to 1994. During the colonial period of the 19th century, Tutsi’s leadership and administrative prowess were lauded by the Belgians and Germans. The Hutus were the underclass, disempowered. The Tutsis were called Semites, not Black Africans – if only for their lighter complexion and aquiline features. They were promoted as cerebral, born leaders.

By the turn of the 20th century, power shifted. It was a move supported by Europe and the Catholic Church. And

revenge loomed. There were anti-Tutsis pogroms in 1956, 1963 and 1973. Tutsis were ordered to carry identification cards, reminiscent of Nazi policy against the Jews before the campaign of extermination. Tutsis were called inzoka (snake) and inyenzi (cockroach).

Radio Rwanda and a private radio network - RadioTelevision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), blared vile anti-Tutsi propaganda.

In response, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, a Tutsi resistance movement was formed. The downing of a plane carrying President Habyarimana, the Hutu president on April 6, 1994, supposedly by Tutsi fighters, set the stage for the perfect storm.

And this is where the crux of “We Cannot Forget” begins. The survivors’ accounts are riveting and excruciatingly vivid. Detailed and revolting. Interviewee after interviewee recalls the immeasurable loss of family members.

Emmanuel Murangira puts his personal loss at forty three, including all five of his children and wife. Another interviewee

(anonymous for fear of retribution), lost her father, mother, one sister, and more than two hundred relatives.

There was no place of refuge, not even churches.

Hutus priests and bishops were also complicit in the annihilation of defenseless Tutsis. Testimonials ooze blood and destruction.

One interviewee painfully remembers:”When the attack began, they (the killers) began to shoot at the windows of the church. They were using SMGs, grenades, and pistols...

The Interahamwe (youth militia) began to check on the ground to make sure all the people had died. One person they found who had not been killed was a woman who was pregnant...and they pulled her clothes off and said they wanted to see how Tutsi children looked when they are in their mother. They took the mother and sliced her open...”

There are accounts of rape perpetrated by individuals against acquaintances. And in one of the most intriguing cases, children of a Tutsi and Hutu inter-marriage were refused shelter by Hutu relatives.

By early July, the guns fell silent, and machetes and impiris (spiked clubs) were tossed.

There were tens of thousands of orphans, thousands of women infected with the HIV virus, and a society riddled with the psychological trauma of a

living hell.

Truth and reconciliation committees were formed, and prison sentences were meted out to perpetrators.

Of these village courts, one interviewee states: “In some gacaca, there are even judges who are genocidaires…so you have killers “judging” killers. There are many Hutus and few Tutsis in gacaca, and that is bad,” states one interviewee.

“We Cannot Forget” is wrenchingly compelling - a lesson in humankind’s murderous potential when mired in phobia, distrust, and insecurity. Eighteen years after the Rwanda genocide,

the editor writes: “We can only hope that we truly understand what it means to be, or, fail to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.” With daily atrocities in various parts of the world, such noble words may have regrettably fallen on deaf ears.

We Cannot Forget: Interviews with Survivors of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda Edited by Samuel Totten and Rafiki Ubaldo Rutgers, The State University, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-8135-4969-9 Available: Barnes and Noble.com/Amazon.com Ratings: ****: Highly Recommended

New private school makes noteworthy impression As a fledgling primary institution, the Academy of Excellence is already proving to be a force to be reckoned with, having produced seven pupils worthy of attending Queen’s College at this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). In fact, the pupil who placed ninth in the country at the examination was Atiqua Roshandin of the new primary school.

Another 10 of the school’s pupils were awarded senior secondary schools and a total of 25 were able to secure places at junior secondary schools in Region Three, with significantly high marks.

Headed by awardw i n n i n g t e a c h e r, M r s Latchmin Gopal, the Academy of Excellence officially opened its doors to the delivery of education on September 5 l a s t y e a r. T h e p r i v a t e institution, situated at 263 Block X Cornelia Ida, West

Coast Demerara, became Gopal (a former Grade Six t e a c h e r o f t h e Leonora Primary School)’s project, after serving the public education system for 37 years.

While at Leonora Primary, her expert teaching capability was instrumental in helping a number of her pupils ascend to top secondary schools, an undertaking she intends to see remain constant at her new school.

“I still feel that I have the ability to make each child succeed to secondary education level, and to see that each child above average becomes an intellectual,” said Mrs Gopal.

She is driven by a passion to see the performance of rural children be on par with that of their Georgetown counterparts. She has observed that the children of the capital city have traditionally been r e c o g n i z e d as the ones

producing the top performances, a state of affairs that has impelled her to continue her proficient teachings in her own school, which already attracts children throughout Region Three and a few from the East Bank of Demerara.

Recounting how well the school was able to perform despite opening its doors during the latter part of last year, Mrs Gopal said the NGSA application forms were due on September 30, 2011.

Forty-two pupils were entered for the examination with a mere seven months to meet the deadline of completing the syllabus.

However, Mrs Gopal worked persistently to prepare her pupils and after the stipulated period had expired “the pupils’ hard work, dedication and commitment to their studies eventually allowed them to (Continued on page 37)

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Overseas-based group seeks to help reduce kidney failure with outreach mission

I

ndicating that he has several ambitious plans on the horizon to further aid the advancement of health and education in Guyana, USbased business tycoon, George Subraj, on Friday, last, expanded his philanthropic portfolio when he, backed by a competent medical team, descended on the West Coast Demerara, Cornelia Ida area, with a plan to arrest the prevalence of a number of diseases spurred by lifestyle choices.

Through a movement called the Sevak Zara Health Project, which commenced in India some two-and-ahalf years ago, Subraj, with help from Kidney Specialist, Dr. Thakor Patel, and Kidney Surgeon, Dr. Rahul Jindal, spearheaded the introduction of a massive screening venture.

It is expected to cater to Cornelia Ida and its environs.

It is intended to detect cases of diabetes, hypertension and chronic diseases, and also to educate

Dr. Jindal addresses a gathering at the SVN school on Friday

people about the importance of sanitation and lifestyle modification.

The expert team is expected to depart Guyana today, after training six individuals who will ensure that the project is sustained.

According to Dr. Patel,

the six trained individuals are teachers and students of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) School at Cornelia Ida, which had been collaborating with Mr. Subraj to ensure that the project came to fruition.

Those trained had

volunteered to be a part of an intense two-month training programme inclusive of anatomy and physiology lessons that were passed on

by Dr. Patel himself.

Aside from being provided with a basic clinical understanding, those

trained are also expected to conduct a survey of the foods that are consumed by residents and examine the water condition they are exposed to.

This information, according to Dr. Patel, will be passed on to the

government so that any necessary intervention can be swiftly introduced.

Dr. Patel said that over 18,000 persons have been screened for varying forms of health issues.

According to him, there (continued on page 17)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Guyana-born international artiste releases new single Be sure to check out the hot new tune “Mop it up” from Guyana-born, international recording artiste Jhayee. Born Jerry Elicock, the musician is from Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo and has been residing in the United States for most his life.

He has been a musician all his life, starting off his music career in the area of Jazz, Pop and R &B. The new single from the album “Premonition” which is due out next year has four

mixes; the original version, the European mix, the Soca mix and Fambo's feature.

Collaborating with Jamaicaborn dancehall artiste, Fambo, the single has been heating up the airways in Jamaica and is quickly drifting across the rest of the Caribbean.

To accompany the new track, Jhayee has put out an energetic music video displaying the cultural diversities of the Caribbean.

The artiste said that he specifically chose the

Caribbean image to showcase the energy and vibrancies of the people and their art forms.

Jhayee is no stranger to the big scene, having performed numerous times at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. The artiste's first big gig was a tour of Japan after releasing his second album. While there, Jhayee hooked up with the music group “After 7” which was a collaboration of Baby Face and his two brothers.

Jhayee also worked with big names such as Ray Goodman & Brown, LoriAnn Velez, famed Mexican artist Betsy Pecanins, Brian McKnight, popular saxophonist Najee and LL Scratch for background vocals.

Jhayee co-produces and co-writes his own music. He is musically influenced by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Jeffrey Osbourne and has no problem connecting to music of the soul. After International Artiste Jhayee

leaving Guyana, Jhayee settled in Queens NY and swooped onto the music scene performing for a variety of bands, at clubs and wherever he had an opportunity.

When Jhayee is not being a musician, you can find the father, singer and song writer running his successful construction business in New York. The

artiste said that music is a passion and much time must be dedicated to it.

He advised young and upcoming artistes, especially in Guyana, to stay true to their passion. He said, “Do not be down pressed if your music career seems not to be working out. Having a job other than music is always a plus for added growth in the industry.”

Berbice man burnt during freak accident Sherwin Hinckson of L i v e r p o o l Vi l l a g e Corentyne, Berbice is now a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) nursing third degree burns on 90 per cent of his body.

This is a result of an incident which occurred on Tuesday last in Suriname which relatives say can only be described as a freak accident.

According relatives the 23-year-old employee of a Banana company in Suriname was cooking on a gas stove when it exploded.

The man related the occurrence to this newspaper.

“I come from work and I was going and cook. I ask me friend to fix the cylinder properly…I cook porridge and bake but when I go to turn up the stove it blow up in my face. I run out the house. I couldn't see nothing; me neighbours dem had to out de fire” Hinckson sustained burns to his face, arms legs, chest, back and other parts of his body. He was rushed to a

Suriname Hospital where he received medical attention.

The man who considers himself lucky to be alive, told Kaieteur News that he was unable to get adequate medical attention in Suriname because it is extremely expensive.

Hinckson was subsequently brought to Guyana where he was hospitalised at the New Amsterdam Public Health facility and thereafter transferred to GPHC. He is currently a patient of the Burn's Care Unit at GPHC. The patient's aunt, Cynthia Isaacs, said that young man's mother was left with no other alternative but to travel to Dutch-speaking country to bring her son home after receiving the dreadful news.

She however noted her nephew's condition is improving. “He talking and eating and so on. We are grateful that he is alive and he looks like he's coming around”. Isaacs said that it is consistent prayers that brought her nephew through the horrific experience.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Overseas-based group seeks to help reduce ...

From page 15 is currently at least one trainer in each of the 26 districts of the state of Gujarat in India.

The local project will be closely monitored by the SVN teachers who will be required to keep the overseas experts updated on their findings. They (experts) in turn will pass the information on to the government.

“My hope is if the prevalence of hypertension is high that people who have businesses in Guyana will step up and have an automatic machine in their shops or stores for people to come and check their blood pressure.

“And we are hoping that the Government will also create more screening programmes for diabetes anywhere and everywhere in the country to help address this problem.”

According to Dr. Jindal, while he has over the years been offering the high-end treatment of kidney failure through transplant operations, a critical portion of dealing with this health challenge is prevention.

He noted that the most common reasons for kidney failure are diabetes and hypertension, adding that if

Dr. Thakor Patel, at centre, interacts with students of SVN. To his left is Mr. George Subraj, while to his right is another member of the outreach team.

efforts are made to prevent or treat these factors at an early stage, maybe some patients would not have to suffer kidney failure, as well as undergo dialysis and transplantation.

With prevention as the main focus, Subraj is optimistic that the problem

of kidney failure in Guyana could be significantly reduced.

He lamented the fact that there are already too many young people who are inflicted with ailments such as diabetes and high blood pressure, suggesting that the vicious cycle is already set to

continue if intervening measures are not introduced.

Although the programme has been introduced in Region Three, Subraj is hopeful that it will soon be extended to Georgetown as well as the East Coast and even Berbice in the near future, to help quell the

burden on the local health system.

Subraj, a former member of the Guyana Watch team, was the major financial player behind the introduction of kidney transplants in Guyana, an undertaking that was done in collaboration with the Government.

This most recent venture has also received endorsement from the Government, through the Ministry of Health, and will certainly not be the last of things to be done to help improve the health situation in Guyana, according to Subraj.

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Consummate, gifted teacher Marcia Smith is a 'Special Person’

By Sharmain Grainger Perhaps one of the hardest things for parents to mentally digest is being told that their child 'is not normal'. It was exactly this disclosure that tormented Marcia Smith for a number of years before she found the ultimate solution that helped to not only give her new perspective to life, but also provide her with an enduring passion to help children who are differently-able lead a near-normal life.

Through the introduction of Gifted Hands, a school especially designed for children with varying forms of disability, she is not only able to perform the role of a consummate teacher, but to live up to her motto “character is doing for others what they cannot do for themselves when no one is around, because God is watching, not man”. She has over the years learnt to live by this belief since according to her “I know God is watching and that is where my character comes in and

he will judge me for what I've done over the course of my life.”

Although equipped with the relevant knowledge and the skills to care for persons who were born into the world with varying forms of disabilities, ranging from Down Syndrome to autism,

learning, which often starts with sitting and develops into paying attention, though their ages range from nine to 44.

Marcia's classroom understandably does not mirror the mainstream school system, but it does incorporate teaching

“I know God is watching and that is where my character comes in and he will judge me for what I've done over the course of my life.”

Marcia was only, on April 16 of this year, able to secure a location and establish a school of her own. She had for over three years previously offered her services to two separate entities.

Though to the normal person her school is made up of a single room located within a bigger educational institution (Chase Academy) situated at 120 Parade Street, Georgetown, to the children she attends to five days a week, it is the beginning of

guidelines from the Ministry of Education, governed by a daily timetable.

She confided during an interview that “it is not the easiest task to teach a child who gives you no eye contact and has an attention span of zero, but there is no way that I am going to give up on any of them. They are all special in their own way and they are unique gifts, and as we all know, a lot of times we have to open a gift before we can really see its beauty.

So I will keep working with

them until they find their purpose in this life, and I know there is a purpose for each of them,” said a smiling Marcia as she fondly overlooked her small classroom.

A typical school week begins with the reciting of the National Pledge and then the National Anthem and sometimes her classroom is flooded with singing voices, though not all in harmony.

Reciting of the days of the week is also a major part of classroom sessions, as is awareness of various holidays and other significant days and weeks of the year. However the high point of most of her students' day is colouring time, which often sees them devoting much care and attention to their colouring piece of choice.

However, Marcia has learnt that nothing surpasses oral teaching backed by rewards, which often comes

Marcia Smith

in the form of something eatable.

Though her voice is sometimes drowned out by uncontrollable wails and mild tantrums, Marcia, by a mere glance, is able to discern her students' needs and appease their concerns with absolute certainty.

There are times that their needs are met by a simple hug from their ever-so

attentive teacher, who revealed that each child is treated with the love and compassion that she demonstrates to her own children, since she learnt just under a decade ago “to do for others what you would like them to do for you”.

Despite the fact that compassion is an absolute necessity in the classroom, a (continued on page 48) Sharing a special hug with son Jared

Giving her undivided attention to a student as another waits his turn

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Country profile: OVERVIEW Tuvalu is a group of nine tiny islands in the South Pacific which won independence from the United Kingdom in 1978. Five of the islands are coral atolls, the other four consist of land rising from the sea bed.

All are low-lying, with no point on Tuvalu being higher than 4.5 metres above sea level. Local politicians have campaigned against global warming, arguing that climate change could see the islands swamped by rising sea levels.

Life on the islands is simple and often harsh. There are no streams or rivers, so the collection of rain is

Prime Minister Willy Telavi essential.

Coconut palms cover most of the islands, and copra

Sunday October 28, 2012

TUVALU - dried coconut kernel - is practically the only export commodity. Increasing salination of the soil threatens traditional subsistence farming.

Tuvalu depends on foreign aid, the income from the sale of tuna fishing licences and the interest from a trust fund set up in 1987.

The sale of postage stamps also brings in revenues.

It is one of a handful of countries to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which has funded the construction of Tuvalu’s largest building a three-storey administrative headquarters.

Tuvalu has shown ingenuity by exploiting

another source of income. It has sold its internet suffix .tv - to a Californian company for several million dollars a year in continuing revenue.

The company sells the suffix on to television broadcasters.

Some of the money has been used to pave roads which were formerly made of crushed coral - and to build schools.

FACTS Full name: Tuvalu Population: 11,200 (UN, 2011) Capital: Funafuti Area: 26 sq km (10 sq miles)

Major language: Tuvaluan, English Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 62 years (men), 65 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Tuvaluan dollar, or 1 Australian dollar = 100 cents Main exports: Copra, handicrafts GNI per capita: $5,010 (World Bank, 2011) Internet domain: .tv International dialling code: +688 LEADERS Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor Prime Minister: Willy Telavi Willy Telavi was elected prime minister in December 2010, replacing Maatia Toafa, who had been ousted by noconfidence vote after only three months in power.

Mr Telavi’s government faced an early challenge when protests were held demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Lotoala Metia.

It responded with a temporary ban on public gatherings.

Maatia Toafa had become PM after general elections in September, succeeding Apisai Ielemia, but lost his majority when Mr Telavi, then home affairs minister, and two

other MPs withdrew their support and joined the opposition.

The move was reportedly prompted by dissatisfaction with the government’s budget, especially plans to stop funding the medical costs of patients seeking treatment abroad.

Hailing from Nanumea, the northwesternmost of Tuvalu’s islands, Mr Telavi is a career policeman, and served as Tuvalu’s police commissioner from 1993-2009.

He was elected to parliament and appointed home affairs minister in Apisai Ielemia’s new government in 2006, retaining the position under Maatia Toafa.

Tuvalu has no political parties. Allegiances revolve around personalities and geography. The 15-member parliament is popularly elected every four years. The prime minister is chosen by MPs. MEDIA Media freedom is respected in Tuvalu but the market is very small. The government operates Radio Tuvalu. Many islanders use satellite dishes to watch foreign TV stations.

The government publishes the fortnightly newspaper Tuvalu Echoes in the Tuvalu language and in English.

There were around 4,300 internet users by June 2010 (InternetWorldStats.com).

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Born Loser

UGLY SUIT When the store manager returned from lunch, he noticed his clerk’s hand was bandaged, but before he could ask about the bandage, the clerk had some very good news for him.

“Guess what, sir?” the clerk said. “I finally sold that terrible, ugly suit we’ve had so long!”

“Do you mean that repulsive pink-and-blue doublebreasted thing?!” the manager asked.

“That’s the one!”

“That’s great!” the manager cried, “I thought we’d never get rid of that monstrosity! That had to be the ugliest suit we’ve ever had! But tell me, why is your hand bandaged?” “Oh,” the clerk replied, “after I sold the guy that suit, his seeing-eye dog bit me.” ************ CAR CRASH I rear-ended a car a few days ago....... I tell you, It was a REALLY bad day!

The driver got out of the other car, and he was a friggin’ DWARF!! He looked up at me and said “I am NOT happy!”

So I said, “well, which one are you then?” ************ SINKINGTITANIC Titanic was about to sink. People on the ship were shouting, crying, running and praying to God - just then a passenger had the following conversation with the captain.

Passenger: How far is land, from here?

Captain: Two miles...

Passenger: Only two miles, then why these fools are making noise. I have the experience of swimming even more. Captain: .....????

Passenger: Just tell me in which direction, land is two miles from here?

Captain: Downward... ************ THE LEXUS A lady walked into a Lexus dealership just to browse.

Suddenly, she spotted the most beautiful car that she had ever seen, and walked over to inspect it. As she bent forward to feel the fine leather upholstery, an unexpected little fart escaped.

Embarrassed, she anxiously looked around to see if anyone had noticed and hoped a sales person didn’t pop up right now. But, as she turned back, there, standing next to her, was a salesman.

With a pleasant smile he greeted her, “Good day, Madame. How may we help you today?”

Trying to maintain an air of sophistication and acting as though nothing had happened, she smiled back and asked, “Sir, what is the price of this lovely vehicle?”

Still smiling pleasantly, he replied, “Madame, I’m very sorry to say that if you farted simply from touching it, you are going to soiled yourself when you hear the price.” ************ SUPERMARKET A new supermarket opened near my house. It has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you approach the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and experience the scent of fresh hay.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The veggie department features the smell of fresh buttered corn. I don’t buy toilet paper there any more. ************ THE ETERNAL OPTIMIST Three friends had a good friend named Joe and he was, naturally, an eternal optimist. At every bad situation he would always say ‘’It could have been worse.’’ His friends hated that quality about him, so they came up with a story so horrible that not even Joe could come up with a bright side. So the next day, only two of his friends showed up for a golf date.

Joe asked, ‘’Where’s Gary?’’

And one of his friends said, ‘’Didn’t you hear?

Yesterday, Gary found his wife in bed with another man, shot them both, and then turned the gun on himself.’’

Joe says,’’Well it could have been worse.’’

Both his friends said, ‘’How in hell could it be worse?

Your best friend just killed himself!’’

Joe says, ‘’If it had happened two days ago, I’d be dead now!’’

Garfield

Non Sequitur

Peanuts

Shoe

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Defence files challenge in Berbice murder PI...

Judge orders Magistrate to make statements available to Defence Lawyer A landmark decision has been made in a preliminary inquiry into a murder at the Reliance Magistrate’s Court.

Attorney at Law Mursaline Bacchus successfully petitioned the High Court for an order nisi to compel Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo and the prosecution to make certain statements available to the Defence in the Ramdhani Persaud murder trial.

The lawyer moved to the High Court after requesting the statements of the Prosecution star witness Ravindra Persaud in the preliminary inquiry in the Murder Trial of US citizen Ramdhani Persaud called ‘Prakash’ or ‘Prak’, 47, of 1071 New Area Canefield, East

Canje.

Persaud is accused of killing his wife Bibi Shameena Deen on March 20, last at their Canefield home. Persaud is alleged to have shot the woman during a dispute at around 23:00hrs.

It is the first time such an order nisi has been granted in the country compelling the prosecution to make statements of a witness available to the defence for inspection and cross examination on the basis that the witness had refreshed his memory from those statements.

The lawyer moved to the High Court on the 24th of October before Chief Justice Ian Chang, after his request to have the statements of star

witness Ravindra Persaud made available t o t h e defence. That was after the witness had admitted under oath during his evidence in chief on September 19, that before he entered the witness box to commence his evidence he refreshed his memory from his statements.

D e f e n c e c o unsel had then made an application that since the witness had the opportunity to refresh his memory from the statements, the said statements or a copy should be made available to him, so that he can cross examine the witness.

This was denied by the Magistrate on a ruling made on October 15.

The lawyer then moved to the High to challenge the Magistrate’s ruling. Chief Justice Ian Chang who granted the order nisi also ordered that the Magistrate cease hearing on the matter until the determination of the application unless sufficient cause can be shown.

The matter has been adjourned to November 5, before Chief Justice Ian Chang.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Police to charge pig farmer’s killer Police say they intend to institute murder charges against one of the two suspects now in custody for the murder of Herman Ramnarine, a pensioner, of Lima, Essequibo Coast.

A senior commander explained that the suspect was on Thursday afternoon identified by Ramnarine’s wife, Haimwantie Ramnarine, during an identification parade. Both men currently in custody and who are reportedly from Lima are said to be unemployed.

None of the items which were stolen, including jewellery, phone cards and

$250,000 in cash, has been recovered.

Police on Wednesday night arrested the two suspects, hours after Herman Ramnarine was strangled in front of his yard.

According to initial reports, Ramnarine, 66, on Wednesday night last, was strangled shortly before midnight. Ramnarine’s wife, 61-year-old,Haimwantie Ramnarine, was beaten.

Ramnarine, a pensioner, who also reared pigs, was struck thrice in the right side of his head before he was discovered by his wife with his two hands bound behind

his back and a piece of cloth tied around his neck and mouth. After murdering Ramnarine, the bandits went into the couple’s two-flat house in search of Haimwantie. The traumatized woman had reported that she was asleep in the upper flat when the bandits awoke her and demanded jewellery and cash. “We done kill your husband, we come for the jewellery and money.”

A post mortem examination performed on Ramnarine’s remains on Thursday by Dr. Nehaul Singh concluded that he died from strangulation.

A 56-year-old businessman was undergoing surgery around 17:00hours yesterday, to remove a bullet that shattered bones in his left leg after he was shot during a mid afternoon robbery. The man, Albert Ramkarran of 60 Somerset Court, East Bank Demerara was reportedly attacked by two armed bandits as he closed up his hardware store.

Reports are that Ramkarran was robbed of his jewelry valued close to $400,000. The man was also

relieved of his handgun and an undisclosed sum of money. According to Salina Boodram, daughter of the victim, she received a call a short time after three and was informed of the incident involving her father. The woman said that she understands that around 14:00hours yesterday afternoon, her father was closing up his business place; A and C Ramkarran, located at 41 Harold Street, Werk-enRust. He had just bent over to lock the gate to the establishment when two men

came up and shot her father in the leg. She said he was relieved of a gold chain, gold band, his firearm and some cash. The bandits then ran away while her father was assisted by persons who took him for medical attention.

When Kaieteur News visited the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Ramkarran was at the time undergoing surgery. This publication understands that the man is in stable condition.

Doctors are working to remove the bullet from the man’s leg.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Page 24

A petition presented on behalf of at least 6000 citizens by the People’s Parliament is expected to be heard at the next sitting of the National Assembly on November 9.

The members of People’s Parliament handed over the petition last Monday at the re-opening of Parliament.

The document which is calling for fundamental changes in certain crucial sectors of the country’s social infrastructure was handed over to Speaker of the Assembly, Raphael Trotman.

The Speaker accepted the document, and distributed copies to the 65-member Parliament with a promise of having the contents of the document endorsed by an excess of 6000 citizens, heard.

Several social activists including Red Thread’s Karen De Souza and other members of the People’s Parliament were present at the handing over.

The petition is calling for several changes such as local government elections, changes in the tax system to make taxes more equitable in its application; lowering of VAT; investigation into NICIL, NCN and NIS. Immediate reconstitution of the Integrity Commission;

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

People’s Parliament

anti-corruption legislation; establishment of the constitutional commissions like the Human Rights Commission, Procurement Commission, the Ombudsman etc.; repeal of the Broadcasting Act; and establishment of a national living income, among other things.

The People’s Parliament attributed the collection of the citizen’s signatures to its purpose as a whole. Sherlina Nagar said that the group members wanted to make inputs in solving various issues like corruption, police brutality, lack of freedom of

speech, poverty and violence of all forms. It was those issues she said, that sparked the need for the petition.

Nagar had also explained that the People’s Parliament is gathering the signatures of concerned individuals from different social, ethnic and financial backgrounds. They hold a range of knowledge, beliefs and opinions and are working to create change in Guyana in spite of fear and state repression.

The group has however had its share of challenges with the most recent being the Ministry of Housing and Water ’s act to have the

members removed from their current location. The Ministry had sent a letter to the group informing them that they had no right to congregate at the Parliament Square.

The members were given 72 hours but were defiant.

They have argued and had also presented to Chief Justice Ian Chang an injunction against their removal. Minister Ifraan Ali had argued that those congregated at the Parliament Square were prohibiting the completion of the beautification works being done to the park. He also said that the park was being

destroyed by those occupying the park space and impeding the rights of others wanting to use the square.

According to the group members, the Chief Justice had indicated to them their right to freedom of expression and their freedom to congregate.

Most significantly the Ministry’s letter had argued for the People’s Parliament to remove the banners, placards and other display items that were being used.

Last Wednesday at an emergency press conference, the People’s Parliament

alleged that employees of the Housing Ministry had raided the group’s location, destroying and removing items belonging to the group.

According to the members, they were targeted by the Housing Ministry.

On Friday, the People’s Parliament staged a protest outside the Housing Ministry.

Leonard Craig, another member of the organization, said that they will not be moved by the Minister’s bullying, since they will continue to advocate in the interest of the people of Guyana.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 25

Health Minister dismisses call for expansion of nursing schools libraries

Although there has been a call for the expansion of the library at the Georgetown School of Nursing, such a move is certainly not on the horizon. At least this is according to Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran who said that his Ministry is in fact leaning towards virtual libraries thereby making the call for an expansion irrelevant.

Mrs. Valerie GarridoLowe, Executive Member of the Alliance for Change (AFC), on Monday raised the issue during the most recent sitting of the National Assembly.

She queried from the Health Minister whether there are plans to provide a larger library at the city nursing school to facilitate the approximately 500 students who are currently enrolled at the institution.

She also interrogated the Minister about a shortage of up-to-date text books at the nursing school even as she pointed that there is urgent

need for text books including: Anatomy and Physiology, Fundamentals of Nursing, Medical Surgical Nursing, Emergency Nursing, Nutrition, Path Physiology, Sociology for Nursing Pharmacology for Nursing, Drug Guide for Nursing, Myles Midwifery Text Book, Maye’s Midwifery Text Book and Anatomy and Physiology for Midwives.

However, Minister Ramsaran said, “We are making a big push in our nursing school to give them access to virtual libraries. We have in fact started to dismantle the concept of the normal library and are promoting the concept of a resource centre.”

Access to some of the already available virtual libraries is being provided with support from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), according to the Health Minister.

However, despite the move towards the modern

Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran facility, he cautioned that the Ministry will not simply discard the textbooks, some as old as 30 years, accommodated at the country’s nursing schools, particularly at the Georgetown facility.

According to the Minister, the concept of distance learning education

Sisters get challenge for land they occupied for over 50 years Justice Dawn Gregory last week granted an ex-parte injunction in favour of two sisters for a property located East Half of Lot 4 Uitvlugt Front, West Coast Demerara, against a man holding a transport in the name of George Benjamin.

The Injunctions were granted on October 19, 2012 on an application by Jennel Jansen and Marilyn Jansen.

The two sisters alleged that the land on which they are residing was previously owned by their great grandfather, John Phero McPherson, who obtained his transport on April 8, 1893.

John Phero McPherson subsequently died and the plaintiffs’ grandmother and mother occupied a house on the land until they both passed away.

The sisters claimed that the two of them along with their nine other siblings were born in the house on the property and have lived there all their lives until their siblings acquired their own properties and left.

Jennel Jansen also claimed that she subsequently constructed a flat concrete house on a part of the land and in which she now lives with her five children. Her sister Marilyn still lives in the family home along with her three children.

The sisters are contending that they have

acquired rights over the property as a result of their possession of the land, and therefore the transport obtained by George Benjamin is not valid. Additionally, they are also contending that Benjamin obtained the transport by fraud.

The sisters have since discovered that Benjamin produced an Agreement of Sale, he claimed he entered into with the Executor for the Estate of John McPherson who died on 13th April, 1963 at age 76 years old, but they are contending that this John McPherson is not the same John Phero McPherson who previously owned the land.

He was the brother of their grandmother.

Apparently two persons in their family were given the name John McPherson, but the younger John McPherson could not be the owner of the property, since in 1893 he was only six years old.

Additionally, the Executor Royston Avid McPherson who purportedly sold the land to George Benjamin was blind since 1994 and began using his thumb print but Mr. Benjamin produced an Agreement which was signed on September 3, 1999 and which had the signature of Royston Avid McPherson in perfect handwriting.

After Royston Avid McPherson died in 2005,

Benjamin through his lawyer Mr. Benjamin Gibson obtained an Order from Justice Winston Patterson on December 13, 2006 under Section 35 of Deeds Registry Act Cap 5:01.

However, from all appearances the Applicant did not provide the judge with all the facts surrounding his Application. Subsequently, Benjamin used the Order of Justice Patterson to obtain Transport from the Registrar of Deeds on April 25, 2007.

On September 14, 2012, George Benjamin obtained a Writ of Possession from the Chief Justice against another sister Diana Howell and proceeded to try to evict the two sisters and their children off the land but when the facts were brought to the attention of the Chief Justice, he stopped the Marshal from evicting the sisters from the land.

The sisters then retained Mr. Lyndon Amsterdam, Attorney-at-Law, who obtained the Injunctive Order stopping Mr. Benjamin from interfering with the sisters’ occupation of the land and another Order preventing him from selling, mortgaging or in any way disposing or alienating the land.

Justice Gregory also ordered that all the parties should appear in her Chambers on November 20, on the adjourned date.

and upgrading of one’s self outside of a formal classroom is gaining ground and Guyana is certainly not far behind.

“So the noise in some quarters asking why aren’t there books in the library sometimes makes me chuckle because we know that shortly there will be no more hard copies in our libraries...For now we are keeping them for our environment to look good,” the Minister mused.

The AFC Executive Member also put to the Minister on Monday the need for additional computers at the Georgetown Nursing School which according to her is only furnished with a mere five computers.

In fact she lobbied for the provision of at least 20 more computers to facilitate the research work of nursing

students.

Minister Ramsaran said that with the introduction of the learning resource centre notion there will be an inevitable flow of computers.

However instead of bolstering the number of computers at the nursing school, the Minister spoke of adding to the medical sciences library at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, which already offers a fair level of computer access to students.

“The computers there, I understand, are all functional and the Ministry will be soon adding to that and at the same time we will be seeking to introduce hot spots,” said the Minister.

Dr. Ramsaran said that students are being urged to utilise their laptops since

Member of Parliament, Valerie Garrido-Lowe according to him, “laptops are features of the modern age and should no longer be considered a luxury today.”

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Auditor who recommended sacking of two Govt. officers sent on leave The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority has commenced strong action against its internal auditor who recommended the dismissal of its Chief Executive Officer Lionel Wordsworth and a Senior Section Engineer in a damning audit report.

The auditor was sent on administrative leave as the entity probes what it described as a breach of protocol and procedure.

The auditor in a report, which alleged procurement fraud on the part of NDIA Chief Executive Officer, Lionel Wordsworth, in collusion with Senior Section Engineer, Aneel Chowbay, and a conflict of interest involving Chowbay, was sent on administrative leave last Thursday.

The auditor in an unprecedented move had forwarded his report to President Donald Ramotar, a

move that was criticised by the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and more recently by Chairman of the Region Four Democratic Council, Clement Corlette.

Only recently, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NDIA, Dharmkumar Seeraj to whom the initial audit report was addressed, had told this newspaper that he is still awaiting a final report after the CEO and the Engineer would have

responded to the allegations made against them.

While the move to send the auditor on leave is being viewed as retaliation to his audit report, informed sources at the Ministry of Agriculture have informed this newspaper that the action taken was in response to the auditor’s walking out of a meeting that was chaired by the Permanent Secretary.

The meeting was reportedly dealing with the

leakage of the report to the media.

The move against the auditor is also being seen as dealing with the messenger rather than the message.

It certainly will not surprise Alliance For Change Leader Khemraj Ramjattan who had predicted it a few weeks ago when excerpts of the leaked audit report were published.

Ramjattan, in a recent interview, had expressed pessimism that anything would be done to the CEO, since that he deemed him (Wordsworth) a favourite of President Ramotar.

He opined that the auditors who dare to reveal the corruption may have their contracts terminated.

Many internal audits are conducted and their findings are kept from the public. This should not be the norm, Ramjattan said. He suggested that these reports should be presented to Parliament and given to the media for dissemination to the public.

Unless the culture of transparency and accountability is cultivated, auditors will be unable to bring to the public’s attention corruption, Ramjattan said. “It will also have a serious effect on a number of auditors not wanting to do anything,” he added.

“Instead of sending Wordsworth and the Engineer on leave to facilitate an investigation, they have decided that the auditor must go,” said a source at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The audit on the NDIA’s fuel consumption and equipment operations and maintenance, was conducted between May and September.

It was completed and submitted to the Chairman of the NDIA Board of Directors on September 26.

The report concluded that fraudulent acts were committed by NDIA Chief Executive officer Lionel

NDIA CEO Lionel Wordsworth Wordsworth and Senior Section Engineer (SSE) Mr. Aneel Chowbay, in breach of the Procurement Act 2003.

It speaks of conflict of interest and sole sourcing of services such as the supply of fuel and the awarding of contracts to relations of senior NDIA operatives, in breach of national procurement procedures.

Since the publication, the Ministry of Agriculture has sought to discredit the author of the audit report and there are reports that the Auditor is under tremendous pressure to retain his job.

The Ministry had described the report as unsubstantiated by a person who has a personal agenda.

The Internal Auditor is the Head of the Inspectorate Department of the NDIA which was set up in following a meeting of the Board earlier this year.

This body which is up and running is to provide oversight of the management of the D&I infrastructure.

In 2011, the NDIA was allotted a whopping $1.495B, out of which $1.228B was expended on the payment of contracts amounting to $1.227B, and for the purchase of office furniture to the tune of $1.128M.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Moses, the Guyanese saw-playing musician with an Honorary Doctorate

By Lin-Jay HarryVoglezon (American Int’l News Correspondent) He was at 14th StreetTimes Square, a major hub of New York’s extensive subway. On any day, that and other underground hubs would be spiced with artistic performances from able and disabled artistes, seeking recognition and income, if permitted by the New York Audition Board.

“You are Guyanese, right?” I asked. His eyes twinkled.

His voice buoyantly replied, “Yes, I am”. “And you are Moses?”

I enquired. “I’m Moses Josiah, called ‘The Maestro’.”

While attracting his attention, a team of media men were engaging him too, exploring their curiosities, recording every answer, the glissando or portamento as the cello bow travelled along the non-serrated edge of the baritone saw. They captured too, the bouncing, twitching rhythm of his right leg which adds vibrato to the ethereal hymns and national songs of Guyana. And as we listened, passersby stopped to purchase his albums, have a chat, take photographs, and drop dollars in his box.

Later he said to me, “This is the only instrument of music that sounds like the human voice…listen.” That’s true. It’s akin to Acappella.

Jokingly, he remarked, “we can call this music Sawcappella.”

So he is a ‘Sawcappellist’.

But universally, a saw musician is called a Sawyer; in some quarters a Sawist, and the saw, a friction idiophone.

Dr. Moses Josiah might just have to ignore this new

appellation though. For ever since 1987, the Sawyers Association Worldwide recognizes him as a Master Sawyer for “possessing the indispensable qualities of technical ability, musical artistry and wisdom required to uphold the dignified and honorable tradition of musical sawing.”

This recognition came in the 17th year of his permanent residency in the US and 40 years after his first public appearance in 1947 at the corner of Barr and Alexander Streets in Kitty, Georgetown.

Now at 83, Moses remembers himself in 1947 as a shy and simple 17-year-old, exploring saw music due to his reading about its origin in Africa. Africans used the saw as a musical instrument at their ceremonies. He credited a Mr. Skeete from Kitty, who placed him at the corner, and urged him to perform. He played the hymn “Hark, My Soul! It Is The Lord,” percussion-style, with a felt hammer. People quickly gathered, encouraged him, and kept throwing money on the white cloth spread by Mr. Skeete. That was his beginning.

Later in 1947 he entered the Semco Amateur Talent Contest and got the 3rd prize, a gold medal. It hurts him still, that this, his very first prize from his first contest, he lost when he had to pawn it.

After that contest, he played for Radio Demerara, and with Dutch magician Henry De Barros, performed at approximately 200 schools in Guyana, from Crabwood Creek to 111Miles, Potaro. He remembers riding a bicycle to and from the East Bank and East Coast Demerara schools to make bookings, as there

were no telephones. De Hoop, Mahaica School was his first.

His first plane ride was in 1948 on his way back from Potaro with British Guiana Airways. That was cheaper than the overland fare. And to travel by plane at that time was highly prestigious.

Moses’ first overseas trip followed. In 1949 he went to Suriname, where he played for schools, churches and Radio Avros.

Later, in 1955, at age 25, well known businessman John Fernandes, who was impressed by his performances at the Leprosy Asylum, offered him a trip to the Caribbean. He spent one month in Barbados playing at Codrington College, the Coconut Creek Club of St. James, Road Night Club, Raisen Night Club, churches and schools. Then he went to St. Vincent, Grenada, and finally Trinidad and Tobago, where he played at the Arima concert in Trinidad, which earned him headlines in the media as the ‘Moses who conquered’. He played for Radio Trinidad on the “Sunday Serenade” programme, while Mr. Sam Ghani was General Manager; the Queen’s Park Hotel, and night clubs, where he met the Mighty Sparrow.

He remarked, “We used permits then, no passports” and “we travelled by schooner.”

He returned to Guyana later that year, but to unemployment, since for his tour, he had resigned as delivery man at Bookers’ Universal Store.

As a family man with a wife and five children, he tried upholstery, and concrete work until the Employment Exchange in Regent Street recruited him in 1956 for the Georgetown Hospital as an

These media operatives (at left) are fascinated by the exploits of the ‘saw man’, Moses Josiah. attendant. Six years later, he was promoted to Ward Orderly, the equivalent to a Nurse’s Aide.

After six years in this position, he accepted a job offer in the US, as an Orthopedic Technician at Cumberland Hospital, which later merged into the

Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Centre.

Around 1969-1970, as a certified Orthopedic Technician, he trained the hospital’s first batch of Physical Aids in casting applications. He retired in 1991 to a grand farewell. “I enjoyed my job”, he said, “it’s

a nice feeling to see people back on their feet, correcting bow foot/ club foot, seeing thousands of people with all kinds of injuries back on their feet.”

Before his retirement, music was a weekend activity. Now he is fully (Continued on page 29)

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

From the Can New Amsterdam be restored to its golden years?

Diaspora...

By Ralph Seeram New Amsterdam used to be the Capital of the Colony of Berbice. Yes Berbice was a Colony, so were Essequibo and Demerara. The seat of the Berbice Government was in New Amsterdam until the three counties merged sometime around 1831 to become one Colony.

All goods and services for Berbice flowed through New Amsterdam, the seat of Local Government, High Court, central Police Station, merchants and distributors and the main hospital.

The Town Week celebration winds down today. I am wondering if the week’s celebrations included cleaning up the town of all the garbage, bush, unsightly weeds and tall grass that have invaded the drains and trenches in the town.

As I was reading about the week of activities I did not see anything about cleaning up the town. This weighed heavily on my mind. Readers may wonder why this bothered me; you see I “born and grew up in New Amsterdam” so even though I reside in Orlando, Florida,

my heart is always in New Amsterdam. After all “me navel string buried deh”.

I made a telephone call to the Co-ordinator of the week’s event, Norma Chesney, to obtain some more information. The week’s activity also marks the 121 Anniversary since New Amsterdam became a Municipality. The town has a rich history which goes back to since it was relocated to its present site around 1785. One may recall that the town was formerly located up the Berbice River.

In essence, this town has

been in existence for over 227 years, a very long time. But back to Ms. Chesney; she allayed my fears by informing me that the town did undergo a clean up and that her committee which also includes popular business woman and owner of the Penguin Hotel, Mavis Sukhraj La Bennett, has a plan for continuing efforts to restore the town to its former grandeur.

Plans include forming committees for various sections of the town, Queenstown, Smythtown (which is central New

Amsterdam) and Stanleytown. Volunteers will be drawn for the various streets to help co-ordinate efforts to keep the town clean.

Efforts are also being made to do free voluntary collection of garbage from residents.

While these efforts are laudable, the larger efforts have to be made by the Mayor and Town Councilors of New Amsterdam who have allowed the Town to deteriorate to its present condition. The Central Government has to take some heat also, for not giving enough financial assistance to the town.

Residents also have to take some blame. It would seem that most of the current residents do not take pride in their surroundings.

There was a time when residents used to weed the grass in front of their homes bordering the roads and kept their drains clean. The Town Council had a crew that was dedicated to cleaning the drains and weeding grass along the streets and drains.

This used to be a beautiful town. People used to go to the Esplanade for a stroll with their families or take a walk to the New Amsterdam stelling to take in some of the breeze from the Berbice River. The Republic Road (Backdam Road) used to be a safe and clean road for an evening walk, which also was a lover’s lane under darkness. On my last visit to New Amsterdam I spoke to an elderly vendor selling Kaieteur News.

I reminded her of how the area where she was selling was back in the 60sand 70s.

“Dem days duh can’t come back,” she replied. That’s the challenge Ms. Norma Chesney and Ms. Mavis La Bennett have, to restore New Amsterdam to its former grandeur - maybe a campaign reminding citizens of their civic responsibilities to keeping their environment clean.

There may be a need to bring back the Burnham era of self help spirit to the citizens of New Amsterdam, success depends largely on the cooperation of residents.

While we are on the subject of cleaning your environment, where I live in Orlando if my grass grows to

18 inches the City Code Enforcement orders me to cut the grass not only in my yard but also along the road in front of my home. If I refuse this is what happens, the City imposes a fine.

If I don’t pay the fine which accumulates with a daily penalty, the City will then place a Lien on my property, If I still do not pay they seize the property, it as simple as that. You see a USD $250 fine per day in three months becomes USD$22,000. That’s a great incentive to keep your yard clean.

Ms. Chesney mentioned plans for next year, which includes inviting former N/A and other Berbicians living in the Diaspora to come down to Guyana for the celebration of the town’s 122nd Anniversary. This is a great idea and I think they should try to attach a reunion theme to it to attract more Berbicians from the Diaspora.

It would be an opportunity for us in the Diaspora to re-acquaint ourselves with old friends and to bring our children and grandchildren born in North America to see their roots.

One quick suggestion, August might be more convenient for the kids. With the full use of Social Media this could be a successful exercise.

The question however goes back to what are they coming to see. Along with the festivities I would like to see a tourist package develop, to visit historical places with background historical information, places like the Mission Chapel Church, the Town Hall (still historic even though we lost the tower), Government House, Ituni Lodge, All Saint Scotts Church, visits to agricultural areas like Black Bush, a tour of the Skeldon Sugar Factory and a few more places that the committee can develop.

Give us in the Diaspora an incentive to bring the family.

I have visited places in the U S, so called historic places that have far less historic value that those I mention, yet people pay to go to those places.

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph 365@hotmail.com

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Separation of casino, nightclub, restaurant at Marriott Hotel…

A financial scheme to steal Guyanese money - APNU APNU’s Parliamentarian, Joe Harmon, has blasted the government’s decision to separate Marriott Hotel from its main revenue earners.

Last week, in a notice in the Guyana Chronicle, Head of Atlantic Hotel Incorporated (AHI), Winston Brassington, advertised for expressions of interest to run a planned casino, night club and restaurant at the Marriott Hotel, which is planned for the Kingston, Georgetown area.

The move by AHI, the company handling the project on behalf of Government, has raised questions as the three are considered to be the money spinners of any hotels.

Government did not immediately offer any explanations why it took the decision.

The project has been objected to by local hotel operators who are arguing that it will close them down and that there is no justification for adding more rooms when there are not enough visitors to Guyana.

Harmon yesterday lashed out at the decision, saying

…taxpayers will own the unprofitable portion - AFC

AHI’s Winston Brassington that the money being invested in the hotel should have been spent on something else that can benefit the public.

“Instead of investing into the Marriott, the government should have built a new harbour bridge which is very critical,” Harmon stated.

Harmon believed that the move is in keeping with a “bigger and grander” financial scheme to steal the public’s money.

He said that the move will

take the project into a deeper financial maze. “To further divide the sectors of the hotel would make it more difficult to trace the financial aspect of the project,” Harmon said.

The most unprofitable part with low occupancy will be funded with taxpayers’ money, Head of the Alliance For Change, Khemraj Ramjattan said.

The component part that is akin to the goose that lays the golden egg, will go to certain friends, family and cronies, he added.

That is corruption, Ramjattan said.

Publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, expressed disgust at the move.

According to Lall, the money which is being placed into the project is taxpayers’ money.

He said that in the first place the Marriott venture is impractical when one considers the low occupancy rate in the hotel industry.

Moses, the Guyanese saw...

(From page 27) involved in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for concerts, banquets, weddings, recordings, television etc. His playing at the subway stations not only fulfills his gospel ministry, soothing the emotions of people, hearing them say “you have made my day” and even discussing their problems, but is an advertisement for bookings.

It is in recognition of his “level of attainment in Theological Learning, demonstrated by Meritorious evidence of Theological Experience”, as inscribed on his citation that he was conferred a Doctorate on 1st February this year.

But before Moses arrived permanently in the US in 1968 he visited in January 1961, at age 31, and auditioned for the Ted Mack show on CBS, an equivalent to America’s Got Talent. His renditions were “Mack the Knife” and “O Sole Mio”. The audition was aired on March 5th in the USA and Canada. But Moses had to return to Guyana on March 4th. The public voted him winner. But Moses could not have continued in the competition.

He was not just the only black in the contest but the first Guyanese artiste to be televised. At the Guiana Music Festival in 1967, in the Miscellaneous Class of

various instruments, he captured the first prize as a solo instrumentalist.

The Guiana Music Festival was an affiliate of the British Federation of Music Festival. Its patrons were Her Majesty the Queen; His Excellency, Governor General Sir David Rose, GCMG, CVO, MBE, vice patron, and The Right Worshipful, The Lord Mayor, Mrs. Dorothy Bayley, MBE. In 1967 too, he began teaching guitar music to a class of 15 girls, at The Bishops’ High School, who subsequently placed third at another music festival. In the US he taught the basics of saw music in California and New York. He remarked that his learning of music helped his quality of playing.

But at Guyana’s Independence Celebrations in 1966 he, his son and another accompanist were relegated to play on the grass instead of the stage where all other artistes performed and were filmed. But Queen Elizabeth and the Duke who enjoyed his music went to and chatted with him. At other times, Professor Keith Proctor and Max Sergeant were his accompanists.

To his invitation of the Guyana Consulate in New York at his graduation ceremony in May this year, no one from Guyana attended, but there were dignitaries from the US and other places

who were there.

Moses has many certificates and awards, including citations from the New York City Council, New York State Assembly on his 80th birthday, Martin Luther King (jnr.) Centre, and jointly from Dr. Monica Sanchez of Miss CARICOM, and Danny Glover, Hollywood Actor and Humanitarian, UNDP/ UNICEF. Moses, now a father of eight, in pure sentimentality states, “People don’t understand what it is to lose my wife, to have that one woman for 60 years. It’s not easy to live without a wife. I ask the Lord for divine guidance to send me a companion. I’m 83, but I am a young man. I’m good.”

His wife was very supportive. His parents too.

Currently two companies are doing documentaries on him.

To be in a Guyanese Hall of Fame during his lifetime would be a great joy.

Now as a retired Orthopedic Technician from Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Centre, recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the International Theological Seminary of California, and an 18-month widower, playing his carpenter’s saw is a means of living, fulfillment of his gospel ministry, discharging of his grief and engagement of his cognitive abilities.

Mr. Lall said that he is commenting on this issue because he is a taxpayer and the investment is largely taxpayers’ money and he therefore has money in this project.

Lall said that one should not invest so much money in a hotel. It is impossible to recover that money in the near future. Further, the decision to separate the casino, the restaurant and the night club is to add insult to injury.

This is a case of siphoning off the cream of the business even before the project is launched, Lall said.

According to the advertisement last week, Brassington said that the casino, night club and specialty restaurant that would exist within the Marriott Hotel complex will not be included in the hotel management.

AHI wanted “expressions of interest from reputable organizations to outfit, operate and maintain” the three, including the casino, night club and restaurant.

The advertisement stipulated that each may be operated individually or

AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan

APNU’s Joseph Harmon

collectively, and that the first preference would be individuals or organizations already involved in the business.

AHI said that it was “looking for operators who have already established themselves as a brand, regionally or internationally and can demonstrate extensive knowledge of the particular field of operation.”

The casino would be built on 1,372 square metres with more space on offer for the restaurant and nightclub.

The advertisement brings more questions to the fore about the entire Marriott deal.

Some observers have said that the separation of the

three is like giving away the goose that lays the golden egg, since the main revenue earners of the project, the casino, the night club and restaurant, will now be outsourced.

According to the current laws, no facility with less than 200 rooms can operate a casino. The Marriott is projected to have less than 200 rooms, but the government has already signaled intentions to grant permission for a casino.

Even more interesting, the hotel has not yet been constructed, and the main revenue earners are being divested ahead of construction.

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Two dead as police clash with protesters in Peru’s capital LIMA (Reuters) - Two people died and 21 others were injured in Peru’s capital yesterday as protesters clashed with police trying to shut down a sprawling wholesale market, raising the death toll to four since street battles erupted at the site on Thursday.

The unrest in Lima’s downtown has stunned residents and could hurt

Mayor Susana Villaran’s chances of winning a recall election in the chaotic city of 8 million. The date of the vote has not been set, but must occur within 40 days.

The skirmishes have also prompted criticism of President Ollanta Humala’s interior minister, who is in charge of the police force that was caught off guard when protests broke out on

Thursday. Two people were killed and dozens injured in those clashes.

Humala campaigned on promises to use mediation to defuse widespread social conflicts, but 23 people have died in confrontations with police since he took office in July 2011 - mostly in remote provinces.

Villaran, a reformer, wants to move the wholesale market - known as an easy place to buy contraband and stolen merchandise - to a modern facility she has built just a few blocks away. She accused merchants opposed to the move of hiring criminals to brawl with police, paying them just 30 soles ($11.50) a day to throw rocks and clubs at riot police, who responded with tear gas, batons and pistols.

“Today, all the real merchants who don’t rely on criminals have said they want to move to the new market,” Villaran said on RPP radio.

“We are regaining order and security in an area that has only been one of disorder, chaos, insecurity and filth.”

Sunday October 28, 2012

DLP rallies its troops to “answer the call”

BLP supporters gathered in large numbers at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed yesterday. (Rawle Culbard)

Barbados Nation - The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) yesterday rallied its troops to “answer the call” by Barbadians for leadership, good governance and

programmes to put people back to work.

Gathering in large numbers at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed on the second day of their 74th annual

conference which climaxes tomorrow, party faithful were told by an upbeat chairman Dr Jerome Walcott that they were on the path to victory and change in Barbados.

Noting that the attendance at nominations had seemed more like public meetings and had been “attracting the sort of crowds and interest never before seen outside of an election”, Walcott urged his comrades to answer the people’s call.

“Let us answer the call of history, to once again provide leadership, good governance and programmes to put Barbadians back to work, to put money back in their pockets, to put back our country in its rightful place far removed from junk status.

And let us again make it possible for Barbadians to dream, aspire and achieve beyond the circumstances in which they were born. We are ready, united and strong!” he said to rousing applause from members who created a sea of red in their t-shirts.

Cubans start cleanup of Hurricane Sandy destruction SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (Reuters) - A day after Hurricane Sandy shattered Santiago de Cuba, retiree Rosa Maria remembered the sound of the storm as it battered her home in the city centre.

“The noise of the winds was like the roar of lions,” she said on Friday. “It was terrifying.”

After the storm passed, Maria, 71, realised she was luckier than many.

The 498-year-old city that has played a major role in Cuban history was littered with fallen trees, broken buildings and downed power poles, but her colonial-era home suffered only minor damage.

Elsewhere, there was no electricity or water in the city of 500,000. The government said it would ship in soap and candles.

As Maria and others recovered from the shock of Sandy, they set about on Friday cleaning up the devastation left by the storm, which struck early on Thursday with 110-mile-perhour winds and much higher gusts.

They joined soldiers and work brigades shipped in by the Cuban government to clear the streets, distribute water and maintain order in a concerted effort to regain a semblance of normality as quickly as possible.

Bulldozers and other heavy equipment worked around the city to move fallen bricks, knocked down signs

and ripped off roof tiles.

“The city looks like a big ant’s nest, but organized,” said Eduardo Gonzalez as he walked through the city to see the damage.

The burst of activity was the beginning of what will likely be a long road to recovery in southeastern Cuba after Sandy cut a swath of death and destruction through the region on its way north.

Its powerful winds and rains were blamed for 41 deaths in several Caribbean countries, including 11 in Cuba. Most were killed by falling trees and in building collapses. The storm is on course to hit large parts of Eastern United States next week.

The Cuban fatalities were unusual for the communistruled country that has long prided itself on protecting its people from storms by ordering mass evacuations.

The government was still assessing the situation, but the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported that “the damages to homes, the electrical system and communications are substantial.”

Cuban television reports showed swollen rivers, damaged homes and flattened banana plantations.

“We have 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of bananas in this municipality. Today, more than 90 percent of the bananas are on the ground,” said a local official in hard-hit Holguin

province.

Officials said other crops, including sugar cane and Cuban staples such as beans and yucca, were damaged by the storm. Fast-growing crops will be planted to provide food if needed, they said.

Heavy rains forced the closure in two places of the central highway that spans the island, a Cuban news service said. The province of Sancti Spiritus received 9 inches (230 mm) of rain in 12 hours, according to Cuban television.

In Santiago de Cuba, people lined up at stores to get bread and other foods.

Convoys of trucks bringing cable and other supplies for the electrical system rolled into city, which is 470 miles southeast of Havana.

They were accompanied by utility workers from other parts of the country.

At the Hotel Melia Santiago de Cuba, hundreds of tourists waited in the lobby for buses to take them away.

Transportation worker Alexis Martinez said Sandy had blown off the roof of his house, but that his family felt it was more important to help the city than worry about their own problems.

“My wife is mobilized for public health and me for the rubble brigade.

Our son is with his grandmother, and the roof we’ll see about later. Right now there are things more urgent to do,” he said.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Health officials worried about spread of HIV during festive season Dominica News Online The HIV Prevention Unit in Dominica says it is concerned about transactional sex, which is usually on the rise during the festive season.

Julie Frampton, head of the HIV Prevention Unit, says those who will be engaging in sex for “tickets, outfits to go to the shows, for the hair, for the nails” must remember that they would have to live with the possible consequences.

“HIV is real. It’s with us in Dominica. People are sexually active.

We are sexual beings and people will continue to have sex but we need to be responsible for our actions,” she said.

Frampton also expressed concerns over what she says is the rampant use of alcohol among Dominica’s youth.

“I notice that a lot of alcohol is being sold and if people are not in control, they cannot make informed decisions.

We as a society have a role to play in terms of who we sell alcohol too. If a minor comes

to a bar, they should not be sold to. We have seen over the past two weeks, the young people have been drinking a lot,” she added.

She says the way that some young people and even adults dress, is also very worrying.

“What people wear may not be a reflection of who they are, however that is what is perceived by the public. Hence people must be mindful of what they wear. People already think that if you dress in a p r o v o c a t i v e m a n n e r, i t gives light to a certain type of personality,” Frampton pointed out.

Respect for one self is also important, she added.

“Please be appropriately clad, respect yourself, you may say that it’s not anybody business how you dress but people see it differently, she added.

Members of the Drug Abuse Prevention Unit have also expressed concern about a new “under the table” drink spiked with marijuana.

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Jamaica seeking investments from Asia

G. Anthony Hylton

Jamaica Information Service - Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, G. Anthony Hylton, has led a high-level mission to China and Singapore from last Thursday that ends November 7, with the primary goal of promoting investment opportunities in logistics and other priority sectors in the Jamaican economy, and gleaning valuable insight and new perspectives to drive the development of Jamaica’s logistics industry.

The delegation, which includes Clive Fagan, Chairman, Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ); Sancia Bennett Templer, President, JAMPRO; Reginald Nugent, Senior Advisor in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC), and Eric Deans, Chairman of the Jamaica Logistics Task Force, will engage targeted potential investors in China from October 27 – November 4.

The discussions will explore collaborative and partnership possibilities for the development and operation of discrete aspects of Jamaica’s logistics hub project, as well as specific opportunities for investing in key sectors.

The Jamaican delegation will also be working to advance existing investment leads that have been facilitated by the Embassy of Jamaica in China.

While in China, Minister Hylton will be engaging with his ministerial counterparts with a view to deepening the commercial and industrial relations between both countries.

Specifically, in an effort to

support increased investment from China, he will be pursuing discussions on the possible enhancement of the 1994 Bilateral Investment Treaty between Jamaica and China.

For the Singapore leg of the mission, which will run from November 4 – 7, Minister Hylton and his team will also seek to understand the physical and virtual infrastructure used to support the development of the local logistics sector in Singapore, which has contributed to the country b e c o m i n g t h e w o r l d ’s leading logistics centre. In addition to this, they will focus on exploring avenues of collaboration and technical assistance for e s t a b l i s h i n g J a m a i c a ’s logistics hub project.

Singapore and Panama have been identified as the two countries that possess sufficiently developed logistics industries and similar geo-economic status as Jamaica.

In late September 2012, Minister Hylton led a delegation to Panama to both benchmark Jamaica against their proposed

developments in the logistics sphere and to pursue potential partnerships with investors in the logistics area.

The upcoming visit to Singapore represents the second segment of the international benchmarking exercise, which seeks to assess the approach taken by that country over the past few decades towards positioning themselves as a premier logistics hub globally and to explore potential investment partnerships.

This mission to Asia is being coordinated by JAMPRO, with significant support from Jamaica’s Embassy in Beijing, and is in keeping with the a g e n c y ’s m a n d a t e t o attract productive investment to the island in key competitive sectors and within the context of a challenging global economic landscape.

Additionally, JAMPRO has been the leading agency in the concept development stage of the logistics hub and will be a key stakeholder of the Logistics Investment Task Force.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Consultant at CLICO/HCU Enquiry: Restructuring conglomerate was a most complex project Trinidad Guardian Management consultant Osborne Nurse rated the restructuring of the CL Financial (CLF) conglomerate at ten on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most complex. Appearing Friday before the enquiry into the collapse of CLICO, CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) and British American and the Hindu Credit Union, Nurse said the Government had determined that CLICO should be injected with $5 billion in capital, which included equity capital.

“Given the nature of the problem, certainly with CLICO, which is what I have focused on, the company was not in a financial position to borrow, because borrowing is an increase in liability, so borrowing would not have helped the problem,” he said.

Nurse, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was the managing director of Workers’ Bank after it was restructured and returned it to profitability.

He was also the first general manager at First Citizens Bank,

into which the restructured Workers Bank, Co-operative Bank and National Commercial Bank were entrusted.

At the time of CLF’s approach to the Government in January 2009 for an injection of funds, Nurse said he was working as an adviser to the Central Bank from February to June 2009 and then to the Ministry of Finance, so he was familiar with the bailout of CLICO and CIB. Nurse outlined to the enquiry how the bailout was handled. He said CLF initially asked for $1.4 billion, which would have satisfied its liquidity needs for about three weeks.

“Bearing in mind the extent of the interconnection between the financial institutions and the entire (CLF) Group, it was considered important that some form of support or assistance be made available, certainly in respect of financial institutions,” said Nurse, whose evidence was supported by a PowerPoint presentation.

Nurse said Section 44 (d)

of the Central Bank Act gave it the power to exercise a necessary level of control over CIB, but the Central Bank had no such emergency provision regarding insurance companies or what he described as “lender of last resort for securities companies.”

“It was also determined that the public was best served if shareholders of financial institutions led by CLF were made to be financially accountable for the demise of problems facing CIB and British American, but no compulsory means by which shareholders could be held accountable,” he said.

Nurse, a trained economist, said there were legal, economic and financial justifications for the intervention in CLF’s financial entities. He said in the case of CLICO and British American, they were to be recapitalised, restructured and returned to financial solvency and run as going concerns, with a new board, new management and the Government’s support.

Nurse said it needed to be

borne in mind that the Central Bank had the capacity to lend support to financial institutions, but not insurance companies.

Lone commissioner Sir Anthony Colman said, “CIB seemed to be a completely lost cause,” to which Nurse agreed.

Nurse said Section 44 (d) of the Central Bank Act did not make provision for the restructuring of securities company, Caribbean Money Market Brokers, the CLF subsidiary. He said it was determined that no form of financial assistance be given to the parent and other entities other than financial institutions.

“The regulators had no authority to intervene in the parent. It was a concern that the parent not dismantle or sell off assets at fire-sale rates.

That was the general principle of funding,” Nurse said. He said those deemed responsible for the crisis were not considered eligible for any government support, including repayment of any policy, receipt of dividends for the intervened entities.

Nurse said third-party deposits from CIB were transferred to First Citizens Bank for payout. “That means that third-party deposits had to be backed by an equivalent value of assets, which would either come from CIB assets or would have to come from the Central Bank.

“The CIB assets were considered to be, by and large, not in good quality condition.

In any event, the liquidation of CIB would raise issues about how those assets were being disposed of, and

therefore it was done with the advance by the Central Bank of an instrument adequate to cover the value of the deposits.”

Nurse said CMMB had assets under management of $6.2 billion in the repo market.

“They were the leading institution in the sale and repurchase of financial assets.” Related party assets in it were about $1.7 billion.

And third-party assets for the rest of the market was about $4.5 billion. He said the $6.2 billion represented about 75 per cent of the then ongoing trade in repurchase agreements in T&T. Nurse said it was felt if CMMB collapsed into liquidation, the investment community and not just the banking sector would be affected.

Govt. defeats motion of censure against Attorney General PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - CMC - The coalition People’s Partnership government closed ranks during the early hours yesterday morning and voted against an opposition inspired motion of censure in the embattled Attorney General Anand Ramlogan as the controversy continues over the early proclamation of Section 34 of the controversial Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act. By a vote of 25-11, the motion filed by Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley was defeated at the end of a marathon debate that lasted 15 hours and which Ramlogan described as a “personal vendetta”.

Parliament last month repealed the controversial clause that had the effect of allowing people, whose trials have not started after a 10-year period to walk free and a verdict of not guilty entered against them.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley Critics, including the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), say that it was aimed at supporting businessmen Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, who have been described as financiers of the ruling United National Congress (UNC), the biggest partner in the four-member coalition People’s Partnership government.

The two are facing fraud and laundering charges relating to the re-development of the Piarco International Airport in 2001. They are also wanted in the United States on a number of related charges.

Washington, which had sought the extradition of the two men, has already expressed its “concerns” over the legislation.

The Bahamas delegation for talks on illegal fishing in the Dominica Republic NASSAU, Bahamas - The problem of illegal fishing by Dominican nationals in Bahamian waters has been an ongoing and historical challenge to The Bahamas and is an issue that encompasses increasing economic, security, environmental and resource costs for The Bahamas.

With a view to ameliorating the issue and advancing discussions on other issues of mutual benefit, there has been agreement by

both countries to hold Bilateral Talks in the Dominican Republic from yesterday to 1st November, 2012.

The Bahamian Delegation will be headed by Hon. Frederick A. Mitchell, M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, along with Hon. V. Alfred Gray, M.P., Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government, Hon. Bernard J. Nottage, M.P., Minister of National Security and Hon. Ryan

Pinder, M.P., Minister of Financial Services. The Delegation will also comprise technical officers from the Ministries along with relevant private sector stake-holders.

The Talks will involve the discussion of issues such as illegal fishing by Dominican fishermen, illegal migration and trade relations, particularly in the area of agricultural imports, medical products and investment in the tourism sector.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Syria bombards major cities, weakening truce

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, greets U.N. and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi prior to their closed-door meeting in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

BEIRUT (Reuters) Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad renewed their bombardment of major cities yesterday and rebels launched several attacks, further undermining a truce meant to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha religious holiday.

The violence, reported by residents, opposition supporters and Syria’s government, came on the second day of the ceasefire called by international peace

envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who had hoped to use it to build momentum to end the 19month-old conflict in which an estimated 32,000 people have been killed.

Syrian state news SANA reported dozens of “ceasefire violations” by rebel groups including a car bomb in front of a Christian church in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor. Activists in Deir al-Zor and in Aleppo, which is Syria’s most populous city and about half controlled by

rebels, said mortar bombs were being fired into residential areas.

Residents in Damascus posted internet footage of fighter jets they said bombed the suburbs of Erbin and Harasta. Eight people were killed, according to the residents and to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition organisation with a network of sources within Syria.

It was not possible to

U.S. officials pull Imran Khan off plane

(Reuters) - Pakistani politician Imran Khan, a vocal critic of U.S. drone strikes, was briefly delayed and questioned

by U.S. immigration officials in Toronto before being allowed to board a flight to New York, prompting his party to demand an apology from Washington.

Khan told his followers on Twitter that he was detained and interrogated Friday about his views on drones.

A State Department official confirmed Khan had been briefly detained, but said the former Pakistani cricket star was later released to go the United States.

“The issue was resolved and Mr. Khan is welcome in the United States,” the official said.

Ali Zaidi, senior vice president of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, demanded an apology from U.S. authorities for their two-hour questioning of Khan and his travelling companions, as well as a thorough investigation.

The State Department gave no details about why Khan was detained. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it was prohibited from discussing specific cases.

Khan, who led a protest march to northern Pakistan this month to protest U.S. drone strikes, vowed to continue opposing the deadly attacks.

“Nothing will change my

Imran Khan stance,” he said.

“I was taken off from plane and interrogated by U.S. Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop,” Khan tweeted on Friday afternoon.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf party said the politician arrived safely in New York on Friday, the first day of the Muslim Eid-al-Adha holiday, after the delay at the Toronto airport and went directly to a fundraising lunch.

Zaidi, of the party, said the incident violated ethical and diplomatic norms and the Pakistani government should complain to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad.

Calling Khan “a celebrated national hero” and a “global icon

of colossal stature,” Zaidi wrote on the party’s website that to “subject him to such clumsy and vicious treatment speaks volumes about the exasperation induced in the American ranks by his heroic and patriotic-minded opposition to the drone program.”

In an email, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency declined to comment on the case, but said travellers who wanted to enter the United States bore the burden of proof to establish that they were eligible for admission, and that included overcoming “ALL grounds of inadmissibility.”

Pakistani authorities earlier this month stopped a protest led

by Khan from entering the troubled region of South Waziristan, a tribal area frequently hit by drone strikes.

Khan blames the Pakistan government for allowing the United States to operate in the country, and has said he will order the Pakistani air force to shoot the unmanned planes down if he wins next year’s elections in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Khan led a march to northern Pakistan to protest the drone strikes, which have killed between 2,600 and 3,400 Pakistanis, according to the independent London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

verify events due to Syria’s restrictions on media access.

The army has said it agreed to the ceasefire but that it has a duty to respond to rebel attacks.

A commander from the rebel Free Syrian Army said his force would honour the truce but demanded Assad meet opposition demands for the release of thousands of detainees. Some Islamist militants, including the Nusra Front, said they would keep on fighting.

More than 150 people were killed on Friday, including 43 soldiers, said the Observatory for Human Rights. Most were shot by sniper fire or in combat, the Observatory said.

The conflict pits Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is distantly related to Shi’ite Islam, against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels. Recent attacks, such as Saturday’s bomb by a Syriac church, point to an increasingly sectarian conflict.

The Observatory released a statement yesterday condemning a clash on Friday in the Aleppo district of Ashrafieh between rebels and

an armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which left 30 dead. “(The fight) threatens dire consequences. It will work in the interests of the regime, which is working hard to incite national sedition and sectarianism,” said Observatory head Rami Abdelrahman.

Syrian state TV said two people were killed in Ashrafieh, after “terrorists” opened fire on a demonstration calling for them to leave the area.

Syrian Kurds have long faced discrimination, a lack of full citizenship rights and forced displacements. But Assad sought to dissuade them from joining the uprising against him that erupted elsewhere in March 2011 by promising citizenship.

About 10 percent of the population, Kurds have been able to exploit an uneasy vacuum left by Assad’s retreating forces to set up their own militia, some with ties to the government.

Rebels in Azaz, a northern Syrian town, reported on their Facebook page that they have detained Lebanese journalist

Fidaa Itani. They said Itani, who works for LBCI television, was put under house arrest as his work was “incompatible with the course of the Syrian revolution.”

A Reuters cameraman in the Turkish border village of Besaslan in southern Hatay province said he could hear a helicopter circling on the Syrian side of the border, as well as gunfire and explosions.

Turkish ambulances were ferrying wounded people from an unofficial border crossing for treatment in Turkey.

Brahimi’s ceasefire appeal won widespread international support, including from Russia, China and Iran, Assad’s main foreign allies.

The peace envoy’s predecessor, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, declared a ceasefire in Syria on April 12, but it soon fell apart, along with the rest of his six-point peace plan.

Divided international powers have been unable to stop the violence, with the West condemning Assad but blaming Russia, Iran and China for supporting Damascus.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy looms over 10-day sprint to U.S. election NASHUA, N.H./ PENSACOLA, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney campaigned feverishly in closely contested battleground states yesterday but changed travel plans to avoid Hurricane Sandy, the massive storm approaching the U.S. East Coast.

With just 10 days before Election Day and polls showing the national race a dead heat, Romney was holding three rallies in Florida, whose 29 electoral votes are the biggest prize among states considered too close to call.

He told supporters that Obama was focusing his campaign on small things, and swore he would win the election, to chants of “Ten more days, 10 more days.”

“Look into the future and see the debt that’s being amassed and say, ‘What is right for America?’ This is a time of big choices, of big consequence. It’s a big election,” Romney said.

Obama spent yesterday in New Hampshire, whose handful of just four electoral votes could play a crucial difference in the tight race.

“Ten days, New Hampshire, 10 days and you’ll be stepping into a voting booth and making a defining choice about the future of our country,” the Democratic president told about 8,500 people, in a speech criticizing Romney’s record on taxes and fees as governor of Massachusetts.

New Hampshire is known for its low taxes, and many of its residents moved away from Massachusetts to cut their tax bills.

Both campaigns were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Sandy, which threatened to slam into the eastern third of the country tomorrow or Tuesday with torrential rains, high winds, major flooding and power outages.

Romney canceled a trip to Virginia scheduled for today, when the state is expected to begin feeling the impact of the approaching storm. The candidates are also running neck and neck there.

He will go instead to Ohio for appearances with P a u l Ry a n , h i s v i c e presidential running mate.

Most polls give Obama a

Barack Obama slim lead in Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes.

Obama rescheduled his departure for campaign dates in Florida to Sunday night from Monday because of the storm. His campaign has not yet said whether it would cancel or postpone an appearance with former President Bill Clinton on Monday in Virginia. “ We ’ r e closely monitoring the storm and will take all necessary precautions to make sure our volunteers and staff are safe,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “We can’t predict,

just as no one can predict, how the storm will impact local communities.”

Wi t h widespread concern that power blackouts in Sandy’s wake could interfere with early balloting, lines at early voting stations stretched for blocks at some polling stations in Maryland, which began early voting yesterday.

Eager to avoid any complaints that campaigning distracts from handling a potential natural disaster, the White House pointed out that Obama was briefed about Hurricane Sandy on board Air Force One as he traveled to New Hampshire.

“This is an example yet again of the president having to put his responsibilities as commander in chief and as leader of the country first while at the same time he pursues his responsibilities as candidate for election,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

In such a close election, Obama does not want to be seen mishandling Sandy.

White House officials are

keenly aware of the severe criticism that President George W. Bush received for failing to react quickly to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The two election contenders are in a late sprint to ensure their supporters get out to the polls and to win over the dwindling pool of undecided voters in the eight or so battleground states where the election will be decided.

Obama and Romney remained in a statistical dead heat yesterday in the daily Reuters/Ipsos online tracking poll. Obama led Romney by 47 percent to 45 percent, within the s u r v e y ’s credibility interval.

The poll also showed that support for the candidates was solidifying. Almost nine out of 10 of registered voters now say they will definitely vote for their candidate, leaving just 12 percent who say they could change their minds.

In contrast, an average of about 15 percent last week said they might still switch.

But more and more voters

have already taken advantage of early voting programmes and cast their ballots, despite the time remaining before Election Day. Eighteen percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said their votes were in.

The U.S. election is not a true national poll, but a stateby-state contest in which 538 electoral votes are divided among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., roughly according to population.

With the majority of states firmly Republican or Democratic, the fight for the “swing states” not firmly tied to either party is hugely important.

This year, there is a possibility one candidate could take enough states to win the electoral vote - and thus the White House while trailing in the nationwide popular vote.

That last happened in the bitterly contested election of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore won half a million more votes nationally than Bush, but the Republican won the presidency because he ended up with more electoral votes.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Berlusconi threatens to bring down Monti govt.

Indonesia arrests 11 suspected militants over U.S. embassy plot

ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday his centre-right bloc may withdraw its support from the government of Mario Monti, a move that could throw Italy into political chaos ahead of next April’s national elections.

“We have to recognize the fact that the initiative of this government is a continuation of a spiral of recession for our economy,” Berlusconi told a news conference in northern Italy a day after he was convicted and sentenced to four years for tax fraud related to his Mediaset media empire.

“Together with my collaborators we will decide in the next few days whether it is better to immediately withdraw our confidence in this government or keep it, given the elections that are scheduled,” he said.

The Monti government of non-elected technocrats is supported by the centre-left, the centre-right and the centre. It would lose its majority and have to resign if the entire centre-right, including Berlusconi’s PDL party, withdrew support.

Monti took office as prime minister last November when Italy’s bond yields were soaring. He has pushed through tax hikes, spending cuts and a pension overhaul to cut public debt which is running at 126 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Unemployment in Italy has risen to 10.7 percent, its highest level since monthly records began in 2004, and unions are locked in disputes with companies over plant closures and layoffs.

Berlusconi, a 76-year-old

Silvio Berlusconi billionaire media magnate, gave no precise timing for when the decision on whether to keep supporting Monti or not would be made.

An indication of the centre-right’s strength will come on Sunday when Sicilians go to the polls to elect a new regional government.

Berlusconi also condemned the Monti government for following what he called the “hegemonistic” economic policies of Germany and accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy of “trying to assassinate my international political credibility” when he was prime minister.

Berlusconi was convicted on Friday of inflating prices paid for television rights via offshore companies and skimming off money to create illegal slush funds.

The court imposed a fiveyear ban on running for political office but since the sentence does not come into effect until all appeals are exhausted, Berlusconi can run for parliament in the next national elections in April.

In an interview earlier on Saturday he had suggested that he might not leave frontline politics as expected, although he later confirmed that he would not be a candidate for prime minister.

He did not rule out running for parliament.

The former prime minister, who was convicted three times during the 1990s in the first degree before being cleared by higher courts, has the right to appeal the ruling two more times before the sentence becomes definitive.

He has often accused magistrates of waging a political war against him.

“Ours is not a democracy but a dictatorship of the magistrature,” he said, listing the amount of time and money he has had to spend to defend himself in trials he says are all based on unfounded accusations.

The court ruling said that between 2000 and 2003 there had been “a very significant amount of tax evasion” and “an incredible mechanism of fraud” in place around the buying and selling of broadcast rights by Mediaset.

Berlusconi, whose “bunga bunga” parties with aspiring starlets won worldwide notoriety, has taken a largely backseat role in politics since he was forced to step down, but he remains the dominant figure within the PDL. His standing with the general public has fallen sharply after the array of sexual and political scandals and an opinion poll last month gave him just 18 percent support, well behind Angelino Alfano, the PDL’s 42-yearold secretary.

Russia activists detained after opposition council meets (Reuters) - Three prominent opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin were briefly detained at a protest in central Moscow yesterday that followed the first meeting of a new opposition body elected in an online vote.

Police arrested politicians Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Sergei Udaltsov as they tried to take part in a march of several dozen opposition supporters after the inaugural session of the newly-formed Coordination Council.

The opposition group, which met in a Moscow cafe, is tasked with trying to mount a structured challenge to Putin, who assumed the presidency in May for a six-

year term. “They gave us the mandate of trust and made us responsible for coordinating efforts of dozens, hundreds, thousands and millions of people who want positive changes in our country,” said Navalny, a popular blogger who collected most of the votes.

While Putin has faced spirited dissent since returning to the presidency for his third term, his critics have so far failed to make significant inroads into his grip on power.

More than 81,000 people took part in the vote, underscoring the scale of the challenge the opposition faces in a country with a population of 142 million

people.

After some bickering on Saturday, the new group of 45 leaders agreed to hold the next rally in December to mark the anniversary of the first antiPutin protests.

Opposition supporters shouted “Shame!” as police ushered Navalny, Yashin and Udaltsov into police vans.

The three were released after several hours at the police station and face fines of up to 30,000 roubles (621 pounds) or up to 50 hours of community work for violating public order.

Their arrests followed the detention this month of activist Leonid Razvozzhayev who said he was abducted in Ukraine and tortured.

JAKARTA (Reuters) Indonesia’s anti-terrorist squad arrested 11 suspected Islamic militants it said planned to attack the U.S. embassy, a plaza near Australia’s embassy and the offices of FreeportMcMoRan Copper & Gold, a police spokesman said yesterday.

The Detachment 88 squad seized bomb-making equipment and one bomb ready to be used by a new militant group called Harakah Sunni for the Indonesian Society (HASMI), said National Police spokesman Suhardi Alius in a statement.

The arrests by the elite police squad on the island of Java were the latest step in a crackdown by authorities against militants during which dozens have been arrested and at least seven killed.

They come 10 years this month after a bomb attack on Bali killed 202 people, most of whom foreign tourists.

“The first piece of evidence was found at a

housing complex in Madiun (Java), a bomb ready to detonate, as well as raw materials for bomb making and instruction books on how to make bombs,” Alius said, before listing other evidence of explosives.

He gave no further details about the group’s identity.

He listed targets as the U.S. consulate in Surabaya, East Java, its embassy in Jakarta, Plaza 89 in Jakarta, which is in front of the Australian embassy, and the offices of mining company Freeport.

HASMI also planned to attack the Mobile Police Brigade in the central Java city of Srondol, he said.

“We h a v e s e e n t h e reports, but cannot comment as this is an ongoing Indonesian security investigation,” a State Department spokeswoman in Wa s h i n g t o n s a i d i n a n emailed statement to Reuters.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department said she was unaware of

any request by the State Department to increase security at its embassy in Jakarta in response to the reported arrests.

The Bali bombings, which in turn came just over a year after the September 11 attacks on the United States, were a watershed for Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest population of Muslims.

They forced the secular state to confront the presence of a small but dedicated group of followers of Osama bin Laden bent on attacking Western targets.

After 2002, Indonesian forces worked with Australia and other countries to crack down on the al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian militant group Jemiah Islamiah that was behind the bombs.

The hunt led to the arrest of hundreds of militants. Many were killed in shootouts and the three main perpetrators of the bombings were convicted and executed by firing squad in 2008.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Denying Opposition its ‘Right of Reply’ will be a development down a slippery slope

By Khemraj Ramjattan AFC Leader Over the past few weeks the viewing public of the National Communications Network (NCN) has been bombarded with lengthy discourses from members of the minority PPP/C Government attacking the Alliance For Change. Often those attacks are intentionally personal and a direct assault on the leadership of the AFC. On October 12, 2012, the AFC wrote NCN asking that standard principles of journalism be applied and that the Party be given the right of reply. This is standard among media houses in democratic states and conforms to good ethics of journalism.

While it is obviously an alien concept to NCN, the ‘right of reply’ is observed in all democratic societies and by media houses that see themselves as an indispensable pillar of free and balanced speech, with an

underlying principle of responsibility to safeguard the interest of the people and the nation and not be subservient to a single political party. At a time when media is moving beyond being the fourth estate and now sees itself as a motivator and leader, NCN still struggles to implement good journalistic ethics.

The right of reply, in the context of the present circumstances, has two principal justifications: 1. The protection and enjoyment of the rights of the AFC as a parliamentary political party and its leaders who were the subject of the attacks to deny and explain the merits and demerits of the PPP Government’s onslaught.

2. The right of the Guyanese public to receive these denials or explanations.

This is a component part of freedom of speech which this PPP Government completely blacks out from the public.

The public is entitled to a

diversity of information on matters of national importance and which can affect their lives.

A right of reply is also consistent with democratic participation, in that it ensures that on matters relevant to democratic decision-making, the public is more accurately informed about specific matters. Any media house worthy of being described as balanced or democratic would abide by self-governing regulations or a code of conduct that allows an agency or a person the subject of adverse reporting to put its or his/her side of the story.

This right was hard fought for by men and women all over the world, and even here in Guyana especially by the Jagans in the PPP. The Mirror newsprint case resulted in the PPP managing to procure the material to print so that essentially it could rebut the lies and slanders of the PNC. This PPP today, on the issue of freedom to reply, must

undoubtedly be equated with the PNC of yesteryear. To a certain extent, what it is shamelessly committing today makes the PNC look like altar-boys.

In 1948, the United Nations made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, laying down certain freedoms for all mankind. Article 19 of the Declaration enunciates the most basic of these freedoms, thus: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek and receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.

This we have almost verbatim in our Constitution in article 146. But this Government’s behaviour has made it patently clear that such a quality freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution is not even worth the paper it is written on.

The primary objective of NCN should be to serve the people in Guyana with news, views, comments and information on matters of public interest, in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner and using decent language.

What we have coming out from NCN, especially in the attacks against the AFC, is the Government exercising its power and control over an agency that has benefited from tax dollars accumulated from a diverse range of taxpayers, not limited to PPP supporters.

The PPP’s control over

NCN and the suppression of good journalistic ethics have led some reporters of that entity to a self-imposed restriction that debars them from seeking the other side of the story or airing the opposing view. Others have subjected themselves to the role of being servile PPP mouth-pieces. On both counts, this is making the majority of Guyanese angry, very angry.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “The sole aim of journalism should be service.

The press is a great power.

But just as an unchained torrent of water submerges the whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from within”.

The AFC asks of reporters in State media… at NCN and Chronicle and the radio station, listen to Gandhi.

But then in its programming and news reporting, too, NCN hides the abominations of its principals and the PPP Government’s chief actors. Nothing was said about Harry Parmessar’s investigation into corruption at NCN. The AFC’s random survey, especially in Berbice and Essequibo, reveals that many of the citizens of these Regions know nothing of this NCN fraud.

Similarly, NCN never carried any news about Gail Teixeira spewing her venom and hatred against a generous Englishman who came at her Government’s

request to advise us on Parliamentary reforms. When this expert’s two most important recommendations were being moved in the National Assembly by the AFC to be implemented, she outrageously and most notoriously remarked : “Sir Michael Davies could go to hell!” This statement alone in any other Caribbean democracy would have demanded her resignation or dismissal.

Neither did the public see carried on NCN TV or radio or even in the Chronicle, Teixeira’s venom against the Opposition when she said with utter arrogance: “We gun mek alyuh eat craw”! It is the local equivalent of making the Opposition grovel, for those who don’t know. And just to remind her, it was directed to an Opposition which is in the majority! This is not good for this country. This is wholly repugnant conduct from this Government which seems to be running amok.

The AFC will welcome a more friendly and courteous Government engagement with the joint Parliamentary Opposition. A continuance of the Government’s ragingbull, ready-to-rumble approach as against the exercise of Executive diplomacy, will see lots more rancour and dog-fights in the Assembly.

All the AFC demands is respect and we will, with the support of the business community, workers organizations, professional bodies and the public at large, ensure that it is given to us!

We want an end to this eye-pass!

GABA to present comprehensive plan on ‘Road to 2016’ to Minister this week The Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) is the first association to jump on challenges made by several government sports officials to produce a comprehensive plan on the Road to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil and will present same to Minister of Sport Frank Anthony this week.

Speaking with GABA President Steve Ninvalle, he indicated that the document was completed and it was a very thorough one that touched on every aspect of a team of boxers’ preparations over the next four years in the lead up to the mega event. Guyana’s lone Olympic medal, a bronze, came in boxing in 1980 when Michael Parris clamed same.

Ninvalle is of the view that Guyana stands its best bet in securing another medal in boxing at the 2016 Games.

He noted that GABA realised the need for long term and proper preparation of it fighters if they are to either equal or surpass Parris’ feat. He informed, without going into full

details, that the document, which will be handed to Minister Anthony sometime this week, touches on everything necessary for the adequate preparation of the local pugilists.

It encompasses key tournaments to be attended in the lead up to the games, training, finances etc.

Ninvalle noted that the document was very comprehensive and he gave full credit to GABA Secretary Sean Richmond who was instrumental in its compilation. He indicated that it could be used as a future blue print for preparation of athletes for similar high level events.

The GABA Head promised to make copies of the document available to the media so they can assess their plan.

Once the document is in government’s hands then it’s up to them to follow through and offer tangible assistance to GABA to ensure that Guyana have every chance of medaling in the sport in Brazil in 2016.

Sunday October 28, 2012

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== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

The worst infamy ever uttered in Guyana’s parliamentary history Mark Benschop has a tape of an interview with Donald Ramotar a year before he became the President.

Benschop sought Ramotar’s views on a traffic incident involving Ramotar’s son, Alexei, and my nephew. In the conversation, Ramotar said he believes in moral politics.

Ramotar did not elaborate, but with some of the leftovers from the Jagdeo dispensation that he has inherited, Mr. Ramotar needs to be pressed on what he understands by moral politics. It is for the media to ask Benschop to make the tape available. This columnist heard it.

Against his background

of moral politics, one wonders if Ramotar is going to retain Neil Kumar as a PPP Parliamentarian and as the country’s (my God, the country not a part of) director of sports.

During the exchange on Agricola, Kumar uttered some words against Moses Nagamootoo that showed that everything is wrong about the PPP, that the PPP is an organization beyond redemption, and that the longer the PPP remains in charge of the administration of Guyana, this country is going to reach quickly the bottom of a chasm.

It is not possible at all to repeat here what Kumar said.

I first knew about his utterances when one of the members of the People’s Parliament told me she heard it for herself as she was part of a delegation to hand in to Speaker Trotman, the petition of the People’s Parliament.

Then I stood numb and cold when I saw on television the words coming out of the mouth of Kumar. I couldn’t understand why one of the private television newscasts broadcast it. I wanted to call up the editor, but then I figured that it was the right thing the newscast did since such a politician and his party should be exposed. I guess the editor wanted Guyanese

New private school makes...

From page 14 reap the fruits of their labour.”

She proudly recalled that it was heartening when the results of the examination were unveiled through the media and one of the two children who secured the ninth position in the country was one of her pupils.

“Excitement created restlessness among the other children since the details of the results were to follow the next day. They all waited with bated breath to hear the good news of their success,” Gopal informed.

According to the teacher, it was with limited resources at hand that she was able to introduce remedial techniques to her pupils. She revealed too how she planned different methods to help the weaknesses of each pupil.

Support was also forthcoming from a former pupil whom she taught at the Leonora Primary School, Nirvani Thumbasamy, who later passed to attend Queen’s College.

“Her greatly appreciated assistance in the Grade Six class has added to the school’s results,” said Mrs Gopal.

Inspired by the results that were obtained this year, she has plans to challenge her pupils to churn out even greater performances with the use of high tech equipment.

“For instance, most of the teaching will be done through a power point system and a

projector, with the Grade Five and Six classes…A separate movie theatre room has been set up, where the presentations on a big screen will be viewed,” she related.

Her renewed efforts will be coupled by her staff of 13 young and vibrant teachers who have been displaying “a high degree of commitment to the job. They need minimum supervision with regards to subject matters and are always punctual and only absent themselves in situations that warrant urgent attention”.

Wi t h i n t e n s e s u p e r v i s i o n o f t h e curriculum by Mrs Gopal, staff member ‘Sir’ Ravi Tulkan has been able to mould the minds of a batch of pupils who currently make up the Grade Six class which will participate in the NGSA next year.

With a homely and comfortable environment, the school is outfitted with libraries in each section, since according to Mrs Gopal “reading is the key to learning.”

Additionally, there are 12 internet-ready computers that both Grade Five and Six pupils can access to do research for assignments.

Besides academics, the school affords allround development to each child by facilitating educational tours, cultural programmes, sports and other recreational activities.

to see what characterless traits some of the people in the PPP have.

In a column earlier this year, I called on President Ramotar to dismiss Kumar from his National Sports Director job when, in defending the policy of not opening up Guyana’s three public swimming pools to the Guyanese people, he said that you just can’t let people into a pool to swim because you have to bathe before you enter the pool.

It was the most idiotic thing to say and my column was titled, “The most asinine politician in the world.” Now Kumar has gone beyond that.

No country in the entire world except Guyana, would allow Kumar to get away with those remarks against Nagamootoo.

Every day as I live in my country and I watch the depravities, immoralities, tyrannies, debaucheries that characterize the exercise of power by the PPP, I wish that I was old enough to see what the PPP rule was like in the early sixties when Cheddi Jagan described his party s a

school of angels tormented by the politics of Forbes Burnham and Peter D’Aguiar.

It was a flotilla of deceptions, deceits and fiction. The real culprit in the sixties was the PPP. Look at the real culprits today; the very PPP who accused others of being demons in the sixties. These are the people that go to bottom-house meetings and tell their rural constituencies what the PNC did to them in the past, what the PNC is doing now, and if they vote for the opposition what the PNC will do to them.

I lived under the PNC in government, I live under the PNC in opposition now and I say most unambiguously, that no PNC parliamentarian in the sixties and in the present context would ever say the things that came out of Kumar ’s mouth last Monday. No one from Peter D’Aguiar’s party would have descended to that base level. It had to be someone from the PPP. The leadership of the PPP will laugh along with Kumar when they discuss Kumar’s infamy. Kumar will be praised

Frederick Kissoon for his sickening theatrics.

This is what Independence has produced. Over sixty percent of Jamaicans in a survey said that Jamaica should have remained under British rule. If a similar poll is done here, perhaps the percentage will be close to the 100 percent mark.

No colonial official would have told our local anticolonial politician what Kumar said to Nagamootoo, and in all places, Parliament.

I honestly believe in my mind that the longer the PPP stays in power, the deeper the mental rut will get and Guyana will endure horrible consequences. There seems to be an evil aura that has come over the PPP. It has taken over its collective leadership and it will destroy the PPP sooner than later.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

operated individually or collectively, and that the first preference would be individuals or organizations already involved in the business. Atlantic Hotel Inc., the company spearheading the Marriott Hotel project, said that it was “looking for operators who have already established themselves as a brand, regionally or internationally and can demonstrate extensive knowledge of the particular field of operation.” They must also have knowledge of local laws and regulations.

AHI has invited expressions of interest for the building of the casino at the proposed Marriott Hotel site.

Minister Clement Rohee reacts as the opposition chants “Rohee must go”

SUNDAY SPECIAL ANTI-MALARIA DRUGS TENDER…INVESTIGATION SHOWS DRUGS WORTH SIGNIFICANTLY LESS Government’s purchases of drugs in recent years have come under growing fire, with questions of transparency and whether Guyana was getting value for its precious dollars. Not only has the state auditors criticized the process of procurement, but the opposition parties in Parliament have expressed alarm and have crossed swords with Government.

Every year, billions of dollars are handed out in lucrative contracts to especially New GPC, which has been at the centre of the controversy.

A little less than two weeks ago, in the latest of such, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), which is the body tasked with assessing bids for government contracts, handled the opening of tenders for the supply of a quantity of 10 anti-malaria drugs. Two lone bids were submitted, one was from the International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) for $32.7M and the other for $261.5M from New GPC – a difference of more than $228M. Kaieteur News is in possession of the list of anti-malaria drugs that Government needed.

That list includes Artemether/Lumefantrine; Primaquine; Chloroquine; Artesunate; Mefloquine and Quinine.

There are a number of websites easily available which give the prices of drugs.

One of them is http://

erc.msh.org. According to the site, a popular one used by suppliers, the cost per tablet or capsules and injections for the listed anti-malaria drugs range from one US cent to the most expensive being about forty-eight US cents.

at the junction of Irving and Lamaha Streets. De Abreu’s car, PHH 9488, collided with a fire tender that was reportedly responding to a grass fire in Non-Pariel, East Coast Demerara. The accident occurred around 9:30hrs.

ALMOST 15 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION DEPRESSED – HEALTH MINISTER As much as 15 per cent of the population is affected by mental health issues, primarily in the form of depression, a state of affairs that has caused the Ministry of Health to review its approach to deal with such ailments.

This assertion was made

by Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran, who revealed during an interview that the Ministry is now seeking to include mental health treatment at the primary health care level. His remarks were forthcoming as he responded to concerns about the recent incident at the West Demerara Regional Hospital which saw a 35-yearold man plunging to his death from the Male Medical Ward of the medical facilities Friday October 12, 2012.

ALLEGED MASTERMIND IN MINING CAMP ROBBERIES MURDERED

MONDAY EDITION DESINCO BOSS CRITICAL, FIREMEN INJUREDAFTER COLLISION Doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) were up to late Sunday night working feverishly to save the life of prominent businessman Frank De Abreu, Managing Director of Desinco Trading and Home Décor, whose car was involved in an accident

Dead: Deon Monderson Deon Monderson, the alleged mastermind behind a spate of robberies at Piari Landing, Puruni last year, was slain early Sunday morning in East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme during a confrontation with an old enemy.

Monderson, also known as known as ‘Yellowman’ and ‘Shabine,’ of North Road, Georgetown, was wounded in the chest during a confrontation with another man at around 01:30 hrs in the East Ruimveldt ‘Back Circle’ area. Some reports state that the 30-year-old was stabbed twice in the chest.

Initial reports had indicated that he was shot. He was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The killer fled

the scene. Close associates of Monderson said that the suspect is an East Ruimveldt resident and that the two had an old dispute which originated in French Guiana.

According to reports, Monderson and some friends were at a Bar-B-Que when the suspect, known as ‘Dukas,’ walked up to the group and stabbed Monderson before fleeing. The wounded man was rushed to the GPHC where he succumbed.

It is alleged that in October 2011, Monderson and eight other men carried out a spate of daring robberies at Puruni Landing and Looking Glass Falls, netting some $30M in cash, raw gold and other valuables.

TUESDAY EDITION OPPOSITION DROWNS OUT ROHEE Chants of “Rohee must go” by the opposition-led National Assembly Monday evening drowned out Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, from getting involved in the business of the House, when sittings of the House re-commenced after a two-month break.

Rohee was listed to present for a first reading of the Firearms (Amendment) Bill 2012, but the opposition slammed the government for continuing to employ Rohee even though the National Assembly has passed a “no confidence” motion against him.

The government remains defiant, with President Donald Ramotar not acting on the “no confidence” motion that called for the dismissal of Rohee. After lengthy arguments by both sides of the House, the Speaker said he was not clear on whether he could prevent or encourage a Member of the House from presenting a Bill.

With no agreement on both sides, Minister Rohee rose to present the Bill, but he was drowned out by the

chants of “Rohee must go.”

The Clerk then rose to read the Bill, as is customary once it is presented, but the opposition Parliamentarians sought clarity on whether the Bill was read as being presented by Rohee, since they did not hear him reading it. The Speaker clarified that he had instructed the Clerk to present the Bill, because the rule allows the Clerk to present a Bill on behalf of the government. The Speaker said he had sought legal advice on what powers he has in such cases.

WEDNESDAY EDITION MARRIOTT PROJECT…BRASSINGTON SEEKS TO OUTSOURCE CASINO, RESTAURANT AND NIGHT CLUB

Winston Brassington Head of Atlantic Hotel Incorporated (AHI) Winston Brassington, has formally indicated that the casino, night club and specialty restaurant that would exist within the Marriott Hotel complex will not be included in the hotel’s management.

By way of an advertisement in the Tuesday, October 23, 2012 issue of the Guyana Chronicle (p.14), Atlantic Hotel Inc., said that it was seeking “expressions of interest from reputable organizations to outfit, operate and maintain” the three entities.

The advertisement stipulated that each may be

SARAH HAKH IS REGION’S MOST OUTSTANDING CSEC CANDIDATE Guyana’s Sarah Hakh of Abram Zuil Secondary School has been declared the Most Outstanding Candidate Overall in the Region for the 2012 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examination.

The 16-year-old has been added to a long list of Guyanese candidates who have copped Regional Top Awards for outstanding performances at CSEC. According to a release issued by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the awards were ratified at the meeting of the Sub-Committee of Schools Examinations Committee (SUBSEC) held on Thursday October 18, 2012.

Hakh wrote 16 subjects and achieved all Grade Ones with all A’s on the Profile grades. The 16 subjects are: Agricultural Science (Single Award), Biology, Economics, English A, Food and Nutrition, Home Economics Management, Integrated Science, Mathematics, Office Administration, Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, Social Studies, Spanish, Electronic Document Preparation and Management, Physical Education and Sport and Human and Social Biology.

As a result of Hakh’s performance, Abram Zuil (Continued on page 40)

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

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MY COLUMN

That Commission of Inquiry has exposed many shortcomings On July 18 three people were shot and killed in Linden.

Immediately, President Donald Ramotar announced that he was going to launch an independent investigation into the shooting. The result is a Commission of Inquiry that features jurists from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and our own Guyana.

This Commission has been grabbing national attention, not because of the fact that some interesting revelations have been made, but because of the shortcomings of the Guyana Police Force. Indeed it has been some time that the force has been in decline, and this is causing me to wonder whether the replacements for those who actually set the high standards that the force once had actually passed on the tradition.

For example, I heard out of the Commission that recordkeeping was at the whim and fancy of the person responsible for the records.

There was this policeman who uplifted a shotgun and kept it for six days. However, the records revealed that he had returned the weapon when he still had it in his possession.

The policeman was honest, but one can imagine the implications. That could have been one more weapon that would have disappeared from the armoury and when it was discovered, the police would have been looking at some innocent people.

The logical thing to do would be to prosecute the rank who lied about the entry, either departmentally or criminally, but this is not going to be done. That is going to be swept under the rug. Then we hear conflicting testimony from police ranks—who spoke with whom and said he did not.

Then we are hearing evidence that suggests that people other than police shot and killed those men.

That is most interesting, because it suggests that the

police had in their ranks people who were not policemen but who could have worked with policemen, although I do not believe that is what happened.

I happened to talk to an old policeman who worked at a time when there were real riots in Guyana, when the entire country was under siege. We recalled the day leading up Black Friday 1962.

It was February 12 and the waterfront workers were beginning to really protest.

The police were called out from the Tactical Services Unit.

Men who were heading to breakfast forgot their meals when they were asked to replace those who were on the streets. As they left barracks there was an officer who handed out equipment and made notes. Such was the situation that within a minute an entire unit would be rolling out of Eve Leary.

Strange though it may seem, not once did the police have to shoot anyone of the protestors. Even when small arm fire was directed at the police they did not shoot at the crowd because they quickly realized where the fire was coming from. Even when the senior officers were hit— James Phoenix, Balram Raghubir, James McLeod— the ranks did not shoot.

In Linden there was no shooting but three people died. Something must be wrong with the manual. And talking about rogue cops; there was this police recruit who stole a tin of shoe polish.

He was jailed for three months and no one ever wanted to commit a crime in the force.

The sight of this recruit being hauled off to the brig so stunned all those other ranks that they did not want to ever contemplate anything criminal.

I heard testimonies coming out of the commission that would make people wonder whether there is any truth in anything people say.

People testified to seeing police shooting when I am certain that they could not, except when the police were

GCA\Queensway 50-over final on today at DCC Georgetown Cricket Club and Demerara Cricket Club will renew their rivalry when they clash in what in expected to be an exiting final of the Georgetown Cricket Association\ Queensway Cup 50-over competition today at the Demerara Cricket Club ground in Queenstown.

The visitors will look to the likes of Ramnaresh

Sarwan, Vishal Singh, Robin Bacchus, Jitendra Sookdeo and Devon Lord to take them through, while the home team will depend on Christopher Barnwell, Andrew Lyght jnr, Jamal Hinckson and Andrew Gibson to give them glory.

Action gets underway at 09:30hrs under the watchful eyes of Nigel Dugid and Shannon Crawford.

shooting tear smoke.

I also noted the attempt to suggest that Clement Rohee, the Home Affairs ordered the shooting. Fortunately, the phone records suggested otherwise. In 1962, when the police commissioner Puttock called James Phoenix and ordered him to shoot into the crowd, Phoenix, who later became a priest, simply informed the commissioner that he was the officer on the ground and that he would decide when

shots would be fired.

This is what the force was.

There was no contact between the politicians and the police ranks. Times have changed, and certainly not for the better.

But the commission has done a lot of good. For one, it has allowed for catharsis.

People who were affected got a chance to bare their souls, and this is for the good. The commission has also exposed shortcomings in many areas.

It exposed the level of communication within the force; the way the chain of command is by-passed; and the knowledge of the senior ranks about what is in the armoury.

To my mind, it has also placed a blanket over Linden.

The people are now less likely to protest, because they themselves have seen how the situation actually was through the eyes of their colleagues.

Adam Harris Many of them must be asking themselves whether they did the right thing. The questions about the right to block the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge have not been answered and will never be.

Page 40

Promise Healthcare and 11 of its hospitals have sued Sonny Ramdeo, PayServ Tax and Ez-Jet for a US$5.4M embezzlement.

Kaieteur News

From page 38 Secondary will receive the CSEC School of the Year award for 2012.

THURSDAY EDITION CADET OFFICER FLEES SCENEAFTER KNOCKING DOWN US SENIOR CITIZEN An American-based Guyanese senior citizen is demanding an apology from a Police Officer Cadet, who struck her down with his car and drove away. The accident occurred on the Anna Catherina Public Road, West Coast Demerara, around 19:00hrs on Monday, resulting in injury to 64-year old Bibi Hashna Khan.

Khan, who is currently recuperating at home after spending a night at a private

hospital, told this newspaper that she is angry at the fact that a policeman of that rank could have struck her down and driven away without rendering some assistance to her. She recalled that she was riding a motorcycle from Tuschen heading to Vreeden-Hoop when the Officer Cadet who drove out from a cross street at Anna Catherina, and without looking, slammed his car into her bike. The woman and the damaged motorcycle were hurled to the ground a few yards away. But instead of rendering assistance to the stricken female, the policeman reversed his car and sped away in the direction of Parika.

“He reversed and stopped for a few seconds then sped off,” Khan told Kaieteur News. She said that several persons who saw what had happened came to her assistance.

Even another policeman in uniform turned up at the scene. But Khan is not pleased with the way he too handled her situation.

FRIDAY EZ JET BOSS ACCUSED OF STEALING US$5.4M WEST PALM BEACH (Court House News Service) – A hospital chain claims in court that its payroll manager and his two companies embezzled US$5.4 million from it. Promise Healthcare and 11 of its hospitals sued Sonny Ramdeo, PayServ Tax and Ez-Jet GT, in Palm Beach County Court.

It claims it hired Ramdeo eight years ago to manage payroll for its 3,500 employees in its hospitals nationwide.

Promise accuses, “Sonny Ramdeo, and his companies (of) stealing over five million dollars from Promise through a sophisticated scheme of fraud and deception.

Specifically, Ramdeo incorporated a company called ‘PayServ Tax Inc.’ and deceived Promise’s senior management into believing that PayServ was a legitimate payroll tax processing company affiliated with the nationally known payroll processing company, Ceridian. “Based on this lie, he deceived Promise into transferring millions of dollars to PayServ Tax Inc. and diverted over five million dollars of Promise’s money to himself and his companies,” the complaint states.

Ceridian is not a party to the complaint. “Around October 2010, Ramdeo incorporated PayServ,” the complaint states.

“Thereafter, through a sophisticated fraud including false representations, fabricated documents and e-mails, and a fictitious website, Ramdeo deceived Promise’s senior management into believing that

Sunday October 28, 2012

Promise’s payroll taxes were being received, processed, and paid by Ceridian (a global payroll services company that Promise had used for years).

AUTOMATIC SCHOLARSHIPS FOR TOP TWO CSEC AND CAPE PERFORMERS – PRESIDENT RAMOTAR The two top performers at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) Examination and the two top performers at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) are now eligible for scholarships to attend institutions of higher learning.

This offer, which comes compliments of the Guyana Government, was announced Thursday by President Donald Ramotar, as he delivered the feature address at the Ministry of Education’s 16th National Awards Ceremony to honour and duly award top performers of the various 2012 examinations.

According to the President, “We are giving more scholarships than ever to students of this country to attend institutions of higher learning in Guyana and abroad. I have instructed our colleagues in the Cabinet to see that the top two students from CSEC and CAPE be given scholarships automatically to study here (Guyana) or overseas.” T he President premised his decision on his recognition of the important role that education plays in the area of national development.

He pointed to the fact that Guyana has directed some $30 billion to the social sector of which the education system is a major part even as he added that “investing in our country is investing in our future.”

The ceremony, which was staged at the National Cultural Centre, saw top performing candidates of CSEC, CAPE, the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) as well as those from the Cyril Potter College of Education, the Guyana Technical Institute and the Carnegie School of Home Economics being presented with awards.

SATURDAY EDITION EZJET SAYS RAMDEO IS NOT SOLE INVESTOR Low-cost carrier, EZjet Airlines, on Friday admitted that there are other investors in the company and vowed to continue flying despite its founder being accused of stealing US$5.4M from a US hospital chain.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sonny Ramdeo, announced Friday that he has stepped down to clear his

name, one day after news broke that he allegedly siphoned off US$5.4M from Promise Healthcare and diverted it to EZjet and his payroll company, ‘PayServ Tax Inc’.

Promise Healthcare reportedly said that monies were allegedly embezzled in the last two months, bringing worries over the future of EZjet which is operating charter flights to New York and Canada. On Friday, Rosalinda Rasul, who has been appointed acting CEO in place of Ramdeo, insisted that it is business as usual with no immediate drop in bookings. She denied reports that the chartered aircraft has been seized or moved by the army to another section of the CJIA, in light of the US court proceedings. She also denied that the company owed suppliers and other creditors.

Speaking with the media at EZjet’s Brickdam office Friday, Rasul, in responding to the question on who owns EZjet, directed the newspaper to Ramdeo.

SHOT CANADIAN IN RICARDO RODRIGUES’ EXECUTION DIES Canadian Jean Le Blanc, who was shot during the execution-style killing of Ricardo Rodrigues on October 15, died Friday at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Le Blanc was being treated for a gunshot injury to the buttocks. A medical source at the hospital had told this publication that the bullet was lodged near to his spine.

However from all indications the man was well on the road to recovery.

Le Blanc died around 11:00 hours Friday while receiving treatment at the hospital’s High Dependency Unit. Meanwhile, several persons who became familiar with Le Blanc during his period of hospitalization said they were shocked at his sudden death as mere hours before nothing seemed wrong. “Early this (Friday) morning we took stuff upstairs for him like normal because he didn’t have anybody in Guyana so we took water and he drink and was talking like normal. He even tell we that he want go back home, but the police hold on to he documents,” this publication was told.

Le Blanc was expected to leave Guyana on Tuesday having been promised the return of his passport by Monday. In an earlier interview, Le Blanc said he was holidaying in Guyana and ‘was in the wrong place at the wrong time’. He had told this publication that he arrived in Guyana on October 13 and was expected to leave three days later.

Sunday October 28, 2012

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Too much dairy, carbs Beans a Boon for people might harm men’s sperm with diabetes, Study Finds (HealthDay News) — Diet can have a notable impact on reproductive health, a group of new studies suggests.

One set of findings: The more carbohydrates or diary a man eats, the poorer the quality of his sperm.

Similarly, two other studies focused on in vitro fertilization (IVF), and found that women who lowered their carb intake while upping their protein consumption stood better chances of becoming pregnant.

While the studies showed an association between diet and fertility, they did not prove any cause-and-effect links.

The research was scheduled for presentation this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting, in San Diego.

The pair of IVF studies was led by J. B. Russell, of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Christiana Care Health Systems in Newark, Del. The two sperm studies were led, respectively, by Dr. Jorge Chavarro, an assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology, and research fellow Myriam Afeiche, both with the Harvard School of Public Health. “[Recent] studies have found that there appears to be a downward trend in sperm counts throughout the world that spanned the entire 20th century, and more recent studies suggest that it may have continued into the early 21st century,” Chavarro said.

“While this is still highly controversial, if a downward trend in sperm counts is indeed taking place, the determinants of these decline are not clear at all.”

“One of the proposed hypotheses,” he said, “is that exposure to environmental

factors, particularly environmental estrogens, [namely] ‘female’ hormones, may be the culprit. In addition, this downward trend has also coincided with a large number of changes in the population, some of which are known to affect sperm counts, most notably obesity.”

The Harvard team launched two investigations exploring the impact of nutrition on sperm quality.

One focused on dairy intake and the other on carb consumption.

The carb study involved just under 200 “highly physical active” healthy men between the ages of 18 and 22, most of whom were white.

A dietary analysis revealed that carbs accounted for roughly half of all calories consumed among the participants. The team found that carb intake did not appear to have any impact on sperm mobility or shape.

However, it did find that the more carbs consumed, the lower the man’s overall sperm count.

On the dairy front, the Harvard group found that sperm shape was less likely to be “normal” as men’s dairy intake went up. This connection was particularly strong when full-fat dairy products — such as whole milk, cheese and cream — were consumed.

Neither sperm count nor sperm movement seemed to be affected by this relationship.

Chavarro said that the results of both studies held up even after accounting for a number of possibly influencing factors, such as body weight, smoking history, and alcohol and caffeine consumption habits.

Two other studies focused on women

undergoing in vitro fertilization.

In the first instance, 120 women filled out a three-day dietary diary before ever having IVF. The team found that those with a high protein/ low carb intake had a better chance of having their fertilized eggs survive to the so-called blastocyst stage of development and becoming pregnant.

A smaller study involved 12 women who had already tried IVF and failed to become pregnant.

A similar food diary analysis was conducted before a second round of IVF. The women were counseled to up their protein intake and lower their carb consumption.

The result: Successful blastocyst formation jumped from just 19 percent on the first try at IVF to 45 percent following dietary counseling.

What’s more, pregnancy rates similarly shot up, from 17 percent to 83 percent.

Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Dallas, said the findings “make a lot of sense.”

“First of all, you would of course expect that something produced by the body would be affected by the quality of nutrition put into it,” Sandon said.

“For one thing, we’ve known for years, from the female perspective, that the quality of nutrition that a woman takes in at the time of conception or even before conception has an influence on that child’s health long-term in all sorts of ways. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that nutrition would have an impact on men and the quality of their sperm, which is basically made by protein, or on in vitro pregnancy rates.”

(HealthDay News) People suffering from type 2 diabetes can see an improvement in both their blood sugar levels and blood pressure if they add beans and other legumes to their diet, Canadian researchers report.

Chickpeas, lentils and beans are rich in protein and fiber, and these may improve heart health. Because they are low on the glycemic index, a measure of sugar in foods, they may also help control diabetes, the researchers explained.

“Legumes, which we always thought were good for the heart, actually are good for the heart in ways we didn’t expect,” said lead researcher Dr. David Jenkins, the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Toronto.

Among diabetics, “not only did their glucose control become better, but — and this surprised us — it had a significant effect on blood pressure,” he said.

Exactly why legumes have this effect on blood sugar and blood pressure isn’t known, Jenkins said. The effect is most likely due to the protein, fiber and minerals they include, he noted.

Jenkins recommends adding more legumes to the diet. “They will do well for you,” he said. “They will help you keep your blood pressure down and your blood glucose under control, and help you keep your cholesterol down.”

The report was published online Oct. 22 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, Jenkins’s team randomly assigned 121 patients with type 2 diabetes to eat one cup of legumes a day or whole-wheat products.

Over three months, the researchers found that those

eating legumes saw an improvement in their blood sugar of 0.5 compared with 0.3 for those eating whole-wheat products. In addition, those eating legumes saw a reduction in blood pressure of 4.5 mm Hg, compared with a reduction of 2.1 mm Hg among those eating wholewheat products, they found.

These improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar add up to better diabetes control and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, the researchers said.

The study was funded in part by the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, a nonprofit organization representing pulse-crop farmers in Saskatchewan. Pulse crops include chickpeas, lentils, fava beans and soybeans.

Marion Franz, from Nutrition Concepts by Franz Inc., in Minneapolis, and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said “the study clearly shows that legumes are part of a healthy eating pattern.”

Franz noted that patients were able to control blood sugar as well with whole wheat as they did with beans, and it may be easier for people to eat three servings of whole wheat a day rather than a cup of beans a day.

“What’s really important for people with type 2 diabetes is not really what they eat, but how much they eat,” Franz said. “You can overeat on healthy foods too.”

Samantha Heller, an exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., agreed.

“For people with type 2 diabetes, beans as part of an overall healthy diet are a great addition,” Heller said. “Not

only do legumes have a relatively low glycemic index, they are loaded with fiber, antioxidants, protein, vitamins and minerals.”

Beans provide a hearthealthy, nutritious and affordable alternative to less healthy red and processed meats, Heller said. Several studies suggest a link between eating legumes and lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancers, along with better weight management, she said.

“While people may not eat a full cup of beans daily, as they did in this small study, including beans in a healthy diet will still provide many health benefits,” Heller said.

“Beans are great to use in dips, pasta sauce, salads, burritos, soups, stews and even brownies.”

Another expert, who does believe in a low glycemic diet, said patients still need individualized eating plans.

“There is no standard recommendation with a low glycemic diet,” said Dr. Minisha Sood, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “It is more beneficial to my patients to tailor diet recommendations.”

Sood said she looks for specific problem areas, such as portion control or snacking. No single diet or food fits all patients. “ D i e t a r y recommendations should be based on a patient’s lifestyle, food likes and dislikes,” she noted.

“It really requires in-depth nutritional counseling.”

Although the study found an association between eating legumes and decreased blood sugar and blood pressure, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 45

No right to pass by on the other side: Kofi Annan and the UN

By Sir Ronald Sanders “The Security Council took no responsibility for the situation in Rwanda and the growing number of lives lost, and its key members flatly denied the notion that a genocide was taking place.”

That is how Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary-General, summed up the attitude of the UN Security Council – the world's most important security body – as over 200,000 people were killed in Rwanda by April 1994 in a violent, brutal and bitter tribal war.

This observation by Annan is one of a number that damn the behaviour of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council who declined to take action, because of their own national interests, even as hundreds of thousands of people were killed in civil wars within countries.

Annan recounts these events in his book, “Interventions: A Life in Peace and War”, published by the Penguin Press. It is a surprisingly frank account by a man who was often criticised for taking the side of the Americans in international conflicts. He served as UN SecretaryGeneral from 1997 to 2006 at a time that civil war and genocide raged not only in Rwanda where eventually over 800,000 were murdered, but Bosnia, Kosovo, the Congo, Iraq, Darfur, Sierra Leone and East Timor.

His narration of the Security Council's attitude is most chilling in relation to its lack of unanimity to intervene in States where a line had been crossed in the brutalisation of people and governments had lost any legitimate right to continue to govern.

Often national interest positions of the vetoempowered nations, particularly the US and Russia, delayed action until world-wide television coverage of atrocities forced them to do something.

But, even when the Security Council did agree to take action, Annan chronicles how difficult it was to get them to commit troops for peacekeeping exercises, and how much more difficult operations become because the governments that commit the troops want to maintain control over them, rather than relinquish authority to a UNappointed commander.

This is a situation which, while improved under Annan's watch as Secretary-

General, still remains problematic in relation to the UN actually intervening in States to protect human life.

As he put it: “When people are in danger, everyone has a duty to speak out. No one has a right to pass by on the other side.”

Governments did “pass by on the other side”. They did so for years on the argument over whether large scale killings could legally be defined as “genocide”.

As Annan put it, there was a mistaken assumption that this question was effectively synonymous with “Should the world take action?” He argued with Jack Straw, then Foreign Secretary of Britain, over Darfur in 2004, that “whatever we call it, there are clearly gross and systematic violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law happening in Darfur and the situation is the largest humanitarian catastrophe in the world”.

As it turned out, it was almost four years of mass rape, mutilation, slaughter and the deaths of hundreds of thousands from exposure, disease and malnutrition as well as the displacement of millions before the Security Council acted in 2007, and even then, the “peacekeeping” mission that it deployed could not protect the people of Darfur from gross violations of human rights.

Annan was a proponent of the “Responsibility to Protect” as a standard by which governments should be held to account. As he says: “We have told the dictators that sovereignty is no longer a shield behind which gross violations of human rights can be committed. You are responsible and you are accountable.”

In a persuasive passage in his book, Annan argues: “We needed to convince the broader global community that sovereignty had to be understood as contingent and conditional on states' taking responsibility for the security of their own people's human rights and for this to be taken as seriously as the states' expectation of noninterference in their internal affairs.”

This notion is still being resisted in particular by some developing countries that continue to assert that the non-interference in their internal affairs is sacred. Of course, when their states are rent asunder, their economies ruined and many of their young able-bodied people are dead or maimed, it is the rest

of the world that has to pay the costs of rebuilding.

These are two issues that remain relevant in the working of the UN, and in particular, the Security Council: the “Responsibility to Protect” and the role of UN forces once they are deployed in a country. In the latter case, if the mandate and strength of the forces are not credible, in that they are given authority and resources to enforce an end to war, they will be standing-by while atrocities continue. In the former case, the issue of

“Responsibility to Protect” has to be embraced by States the world over or gross human rights violations will continue under the shield of sovereignty.

On these matters, Kofi Annan's memoir is a very important contribution to the welfare of all mankind. It is a text that should be widely read and not only by practitioners or students of international affairs. His book deals with many other complex issues that still bedevil the world and – while we have all come to live with

them – are serious threats to international peace. Among these are the Middle-East, and in particular Israel and Palestine.

The invasion of Iraq by the US and UK on the fig leaf of Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction is also referenced in the book, although not in sufficient detail. However, Annan does make a solid observation: “Despite the singular contribution of the United States to the UN's founding and its mission in the

Sir Ronald Sanders decades that followed, after Iraq, America was too often unwilling to listen, and the world unable to speak its true mind.”

(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat) Responses and previous c o m m e n t a r i e s : www.sirronaldsanders.com

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Interesting Creatures...

The Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) T

he Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones.

It is the only member of the monotypic genus Bubulcus, although some authorities regard its two subspecies as full species, the Western Cattle Egret and the Eastern Cattle Egret.

Despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it is more closely related to the herons of Ardea.

Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world.

It is a white bird adorned with buff plumes in the

breeding season. It nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs.

Cattle Egrets exploit drier and open habitats more than other heron species.

Their feeding habitats include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands and rice paddies.

They often accompany

cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals.

Some populations of the Cattle Egret are migratory and others show postbreeding dispersal.

The adult Cattle Egret has few predators, but birds or mammals may raid its nests, and chicks may be lost to starvation, calcium deficiency or disturbance from other large birds.

This species maintains a special relationship with cattle, which extends to other large grazing mammals. The Cattle Egret removes ticks and flies from cattle and consumes them.

This benefits both species, but it has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal diseases.

The Cattle Egret is a stocky heron with an 88–96 cm (35–38 in) wingspan; it is 46–56 centimetres (18–22 in) long and weighs 270–512 grams (9.5–18.1 oz). It has a relatively short thick neck, sturdy bill, and a hunched posture.

The non-breeding adult has mainly white plumage, a yellow bill and greyishyellow legs.

During the breeding season, adults of the nominate western subspecies develop orangebuff plumes on the back, breast and crown, and the bill, legs and irises become bright red for a brief period prior to pairing.

The sexes are similar, but the male is marginally larger and has slightly longer breeding plumes than the female; juvenile birds lack coloured plumes and have a black bill.

The positioning of the egret's eyes allows for binocular vision during feeding, and physiological studies suggest that the species may be capable of crepuscular or nocturnal activity.

Adapted to foraging on land, they have lost the ability possessed by their wetland relatives to accurately correct for light refraction by water.

This species gives a quiet, throaty "rick-rack" call at the breeding colony, but is otherwise largely silent.

The Cattle Egret feeds on a wide range of prey, particularly insects,

especially grasshoppers, crickets, flies (adults and maggots), and moths, as well as spiders, frogs, and earthworms. In a rare instance they have been observed foraging along the branches of a Banyan tree for ripe figs.

The species is usually found with cattle and other large grazing and browsing animals, and catches small creatures disturbed by the mammals.

Studies have shown that Cattle Egret foraging success is much higher when foraging near a large animal than when feeding singly.

When foraging with cattle, it has been shown to be 3.6 times more successful in capturing prey than when foraging alone.

Its performance is similar when it follows farm machinery, but it is forced to move more.

In urban situations, Cattle Egrets have also been observed foraging in peculiar situations like railway lines.

A Cattle Egret will weakly defend the area around a grazing animal against others of the same species, but if the area is swamped by Egrets it will give up and continue foraging elsewhere.

Where numerous large animals are present, Cattle Egrets selectively forage around species that move at around 5–15 steps per minute, avoiding faster and slower moving herds.

The Cattle Egret may also show versatility in its diet. On islands with seabird colonies, it will prey on the eggs and chicks of terns and other seabirds. During migration it has also been reported to eat exhausted migrating land birds.

(Source: Wikipedia – The Free Online Encyclopedia)

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Consummate, gifted teacher Marcia Smith ...

From page 18 smile from Marcia is not always guaranteed, since according to her “as special as they are, they are smart enough to take my smile for granted.” In a single word, Marcia sums up her teaching c a r e e r, i n s i s t i n g w i t h conviction that it is “satisfying”.

“At the end of the school day I can laugh because even though the day might be stressful there is something that I would've done that, even in some small way, helped to make a child's life a little better; they gain a little bit more understanding and can do something more for themselves…”

Although she has benefited from formal teachings and much reading on her own, it was the handson experience with her own son Jared, who is currently seven years old, that gave her the extra vigour and resilience to cope with her needy students.

At 33, Marcia was already the mother of three wonderful children, Delicia, Jewel and Joshua, trying her best to overcome the everyday challenges of life, when she discovered that she was pregnant with a fourth child. Although she was fully aware by then that with each pregnancy various issues could surface, she was certainly not prepared for the tumultuous experiences that would come with her latest pregnancy.

Without revealing too much detail, Marcia recalled that that time of her life was pretty much traumatic, so much so that it not only affected her, but unexpectedly, her unborn child.

Flung deep into the depths of despair, overburdened by anguish and left to suffer in silence, aptly describes the journey that Marcia was forced to trod.

The experiences that she endured are enough to leave many daunted for eternity

but in fact, served to furnish her with unbelievable understanding, while at the same time propelling her to compassionate heights that differently-able children so need and deserve.

Her experiences caused her to channel her energies towards ultimate upliftment, which has not only helped to transform the life of her son, who medical officials had given-up on, but today has allowed her to embrace her calling to help bring new meaning to the term differently-able.

Although, her last son's entry into the world was relatively normal, it was not until he was around two years old that she recognised that something was drastically wrong. Having raised three children before him, she soon realised that he was not developing in a way that incorporated the normal childish language. In fact, she recalled he spoke nothing, but would merely point to things that he wanted.

“I took Jared to regular clinics as he got older but he still was not saying anything, and all this time I'm thinking to myself 'just now he would be ready for nursery (school) how in the world is he going to cope?”

In the face of her concerns, Marcia optimistically placed her young son into the Cherish Lambs Play Group, believing that interaction with other children would stimulate his speech. Her expectation was soon dashed, paving the way for her to confront her worse fears during a routine clinic visit.

By this time she was beyond the level of frustration, even battling sleepless nights in her quest to figure out what was wrong with her son. She made the bold move to disclose her son's situation to a medical professional, who in turn, invited her to attend a

Time out for a group photo.

Marcia's daughter, Jewel, stands behind her. workshop at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre.

The workshop was spearheaded by the British High Commission and was facilitated by a psychologist whose revelations helped to confirm her fears.

She would soon come to terms with the fact that her son was autistic. “I was given a list that showed the normal development of a child and the signs of autism and when I matched the two that was when 'the rubber hit the road'.”

She recalled that her son attended the East Street Nursery School, without saying a single word, as autism restricted his ability to process even the simplest of words, rendering him incapable of constructing sentences.

She remembers feeling financially restrained and overwhelmed by information that there was no cure for her son's disability. According to Marcia, she was on the verge

of surrendering to her fears when a massive force erupted within her very being, encouraging her to go the extra mile for Jared's sake.

That was the turning point in her life, which saw her shedding all uncertainties and confronting her fears with education coupled with intense prayers.

Her first move was to enrol at the Adult Education Association where she undertook programmes dealing with Child Care and Care for the Elderly, which she recalled were facilitated

by Christine King whom she dubbed “the best lecturer ever”.

“I was curious, I wanted to know what could have caused this problem in my child,” Marcia recounted.

She would learn that, not only after birth, but during the early developmental stages of the fetus bonding on the part of both parents is important.

Based on her teaching,

she was able to ascertain that although the lack of bonding may not affect all children, there is a small percentage that requires that extra bit of attention to develop ideally.

“I wish that both men and w o men b ef o r e h av in g children would do a crash course in Child Care to see the importance of being with that child from conception and not only from birth. That fetus hears from the time it starts to develop and that fetus knows rejection…I learnt so much during that course and I just wanted to learn even more.”

Marcia's newfound knowledge saw her endeavouring to defy the odds, by convincing herself that Jared would overcome his disability. She learnt, and in some cases invented, ways of demanding his attention and was soon able to communicate with him through gestures.

To the astonishment of many, by the time her son

was prepared to enter nursery school he would speak for the first time, and has never stopped embracing his sense of speech.

“I often say to his brother and sisters, 'don't ever let me hear you telling Jared to shut up'. In fact, shut up is not to be in any of their vocabulary.

The most we say to him is to slow down.”

Thanks to her intervention, today her son is an average Grade Two pupil at Winfer Gardens Primary, and she continues to direct vigilant attention to him as she seeks to replicate her success story with her 14 students enrolled at Gifted Hands.

Marcia is convinced that “if every parent of any child could devote five undivided minutes out of their busy schedule, that child could be anything he or she wants to be…even president.”

The resident of Hadfield Street, Georgetown, is convinced that her quest to ensure that differently-able children are able to find their rightful place in the society is currently being fully supported by the Ministry of Education, which has sought to amplify their importance in its Education Month theme.

The Ministry of Education celebrated a month of activities commencing September 1, last, under the theme “transforming the nation through inclusive education”, a notion which Marcia Smith has been driven by for the past few years, understandably making her a very special person.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Mass on board ship - a blessing for crew members

By Leon Suseran

L

ast Sunday many were treated to an 'out-of-thisworld' experience; at least I was. It was Mass on board a ship; my first Mass on water and was it an experience!

The Missionaries of Charity Sisters in New Amsterdam had invited me for Mass on board the MT Tradewind Adventure, an 'oil ship', moored along the banks of Heathburn, a village on East Bank Berbice.

Catholic priests, Fathers Joachim DeMello, Joseph Mohan and Justin Prabhu were on board, along with some other parishioners and persons from around that area.

So, we arrived and there

she stood, one giant ship.

Boarding her was next and that was half as entertaining.

We had to climb up a gang plank that was so steep that the MC Sisters held on for dear life.

We were welcomed on the deck by the sailors and the friendly Captain. He is Indian.

Some of the sailors and mates were from India and the Philippines. We were allowed to photograph the so beautiful and heavenly East Bank Berbice sunset as our backdrop. The moment was tranquil.

We were given a short tour and then it was time for Mass. We went indoors and climbed several flights of stairs until we reached the chapel. It was a small room

but dedicated to the worship of God. It was amazing to see the dedication that the sailors and crew put into creating t h i s m i n i - s a n c t u a r y.

Everyone somehow fit themselves into the small room.

Fr. Mohan said Mass.

Cameras were busy flashing as many sought to capture the good moments during the Eucharistic Celebration.

Sister Sharon Harris sang lustily for the Mass on t h e R i v e r. A f t e r t h e celebration, crew members took the opportunity to speak on camera for Fr. Prabhu who was filming for the 'Catholic Magazine'.

Afterwards, we were invited up in the control room upstairs where Fr.

Mohan was asked to bless the equipment. We were shown the ship's radar which is a very important piece of equipment for guiding the ship's direction and which also displays weather

readings.

Later, we were invited to the mess hall for a scrumptious buffet dinner.

The ship's crew sang karaoke melodiously and Sister Harris even joined in.

You could have seen how happy they were to have us that evening and to have Mass celebrated on board the ship.

They give us a warm Catholic welcome.

Page 50

Kaieteur News

India expo to end in one week

Sunday October 28, 2012

Some of the items on display at the India Expo

- Patrons advised to shop early for Diwali outfits

A

s the Diwali festival draws near, a wide range of Indian-made garments and products at affordable and high end prices are available at the “India Expo” on Saffon Street in the vicinity of East La Penitence Market.

The India Expo will be leaving Guyana on November, 4, 2012 before the Diwali festivals and according to the organizer of the expo, Indian National, Manprwet (M.P) Singh, patrons should catch the deals early before the entity packs up and leaves for India.

Some of the items at the expo include exquisite attires, accessories, antique furniture and Murtis.

“Some of the items include Shalwar, Lehenga, Sari and Bindis. It is very difficult in South America to find a seamstress who would sew a very good Sari, blouse and tops. The readymade Saris being sold are of very

good and prices range within everyone's budget to the very elite branded for the customer without a budget.”

Singh explained.

“We have all the types of Saris and other Indian garments seen on the Zee TV and other Indian series shown in Guyana…we are spreading the Indian culture,

through trade and exchange between the two countries.”

Indian National, Manprwet (M.P) Singh said that the entity is open seven days a week and patrons can have items that are for the budgets of all shoppers directly from India. Prices range from $3,000 to $200,000 for various Indian

garments and a variety of accessories.

This is the first time India Expo has visited Guyana and it is anticipated to be an annual event. “All these prices come with a guarantee from the India Expo that you will not find anywhere else in Guyana. So that is why we have had a tremendous

response and we are hoping to return to Guyana next year during Diwali.”

Adding that the love and support received from Guyanese was tremendous; Singh said, “We (organizers) will return to India with our hearts contented and happy with the kind of welcome we received in this country. Our

bodies might go back home but our hearts will remain in Guyana.” Noting that there may be couples who would like exceptional wear for Indian weddings, Singh said that some of the outfits are of the ultimate quality.

“Some of the garments are fitted with real gems sewn into the fabric.”

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 51

The Abigail Column 17-year-old needs to get away from boyfriend DEARABIGAIL, I’m a 17-year-old girl, dating an 18-year-old boy.

We’ve been together for eight months, and at first, it was great. Then, as our relationship progressed, he started getting really jealous.

He made me delete all the boys from my Facebook page. At first it was a big deal, but now I’m used to it. He’s kind of controlling in all situations, everything has to go his way, and he makes me feel bad all the time.

He tells me most of my physical features are

unattractive and constantly disrespects me. He makes me stop speaking to anyone who doesn’t like him. As you can tell, this isn’t a very healthy relationship, but I love him with all my heart. I’ve broken up with him so many times, hoping he would change. I feel as though he has stopped caring about me. What should I do?

Heartbroken Dear Heartbroken, Get out immediately. Your boyfriend has all the earmarks of an abuser. He controls everything about you, finds ways to isolate you from friends, and will continue to demean and insult you until

you feel worthless — and grateful that he still wants to be with you. The next step is physical harm. And he’ll make you believe you deserve it.

He doesn’t take your breakups seriously because you always come back for more. If he thought you would truly move on, he might beg you to come back — and the cycle would start all over.

You are smart to see that this isn’t a healthy relationship, but you cannot make it better. Talk to your parents about him. And please get away from this manipulative man while you still can.

Sunday October 28, 2012 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): In order to encourage your ambitions to grow, you have to stop setting yourself so many impossible goals! It's not aiming high that gives you a hunger for success -- it's getting a taste of it. ****************** TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): The rush of energy you get early today may be stimulating and seductive, but try not to let it accelerate the pace of your day. There is no reason to be in a hurry, especially when this day brings so many nice things to savor. ******************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): A friend or family member who's been going through a rough time could use a kind word from you -- it means more to them than you might realize. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): You need to stand tall against whatever -- or whoever -- intimidates you today. Despite the way in which they might act from time to time, your boss (or some other authority figure in your life) isn't any better than you. ******************** LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Some less-than-thrilling news could be waiting for you in your mailbox today, so it's not a very good time for shopping or other kinds of money-draining activities! ********************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): You can share your feelings and opinions today, but don't share your resources. If a friend forgot their wallet, offer them some of your lunch -but don't offer to buy them their own.

********************** LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Just like you can have too many cooks in the kitchen, you can have too many friends at the party. It's time to push your social style into a more sedate phase. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): You will start to see someone you have known very well for a very long time in a whole new light, today -- and believe it or not, they're starting to see you in a new light, too! ********************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Today, in a social or professional group setting, you should just play along with everyone else -- sure, it might be boring to play those games that people play, but it is a lot easier than trying to re-invent the wheel. ***************** CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): It's going to be critical that you stay on your toes today -- you've got to be ready to move in any direction quickly, as situations might change with no notice. *********************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18): An upcoming family gathering offers you a great opportunity to reconnect with someone who can give you a fresh perspective on where you want to take your life -so make every effort to go! *************** PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20): Wrangling together all of the different details of your day won't be a chore for you, right now -- it will be a delightful puzzle that you will take great pleasure in solving!

DTV CHANNEL 8 09:25hrs. Sign On 09:30hrs. Turning Point 10:00hrs. Kickin’ It 10:30hrs. Lab Rats 11:00hrs. The Ultimate SpiderMan 12:00hrs. Movie: The Alphabet Killer 14:00hrs. Movie: The Bad Son 16:00hrs. Movie: Shadow of Feat 18:00hrs. Catholic Magazine (Faith in Action) 18:30hrs. Know Your Bible 19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00hrs. Once Upon a Time (New Episode) 21:00hrs. The Good Wife (New Episode) 22:00hrs. The Mentalist (New Episode) 23:00hrs. Sign Off NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00h – Inspiration 05:30h – Newtown Gospel 06:00h – NCN Late Edition News(R/B) 06:30h – Tomorrow’s World 07:00h – Voice of Victory 07:30h – Voice of Islam 08:00h – Lifting Guyana to Greatness 08:30h – President’s Diary 09:00h – Ravi D Show 10:00h – Homestrech Magazine 10:30h – Weekly Digest 11:00h – Round Table 12:30h – GRA in Focus 13:00h – Dharma Vani 14:00h– GINA Prog 14:30h– Catholic Magazine 15:00h – The Naked Truth 15:30h - Feature 16:00h – Family Forum

16:30h – Shape 17:00h – Farmers Connection 18:00h – NCN Week in Review 18:30h – Guysuco Roundup 19:00h – Reflections 20:00h – Feature 20:30h – Kala Milan 21:00h – African Moves 22:00h – Movie MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 06:30h Prayag Vanie 07:00h MTV Bhajans 7:30h CNN News 08:00h Christ for the Nation 08:30h Puran Brothers: Shiva Bhajans 09:00h Muslim Melodies with Al Madina Exclusive 09:30h Teleview Kutbah 10:00h DJ Stress Indian Movie

13:00h Garam Geet 14:00h Sitcom 14:30h El Dorado Shines 15:00h The Variety Show with WR Reaz 16:00h Bollywood Sensation with Kavita 17:00h Birthdays & Other greetings 17:15h Death Announcements/ In memoriam 17:30h BBC World News 18:00h Entertainment Buzz with Shivanie 18:30h Wendy Khan and Dheeraj Show 19:30h Focus on GRA 20:00h Sangeet Mehfil 21:00h Indian Movie: Ek Deewana Tha

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Saturday October 27, 2012

Kaieteur News

2012 Digicel Golf Classic...

Moore, Bacchus joint leaders heading into final day today

R

awle Moore and Kishan Bacchus each with a net 67 led after the first day of this year’s Digicel Golf Classic which opened yesterday, at the Lusignan Club. Moore playing off a 13 handicap ended the day with a gross 80, while Bacchus starting with a 14 handicap closed with a gross 81.

Also in contention was Carlos Adams with a handicap of 26 and a gross 95 to end with a net 69, while Fazil Haniff with a handicap of 10 and a gross 79 closed with a similar net of 69.

Canada-based Salim Rashid playing off a 5 handicap and a gross of 75 ended with a net 70, the same as Orlando Deo and Christine Sukhram.

Last year’s champion Canada-based Roger Rajkumar had a tough day, closing with a net 78 playing off a 7 handicap and a gross 85 Sukhram, the defending Ladies champion looks poised to retain her title, but Joann Deo, who closed with a net 72 playing off an 11 handicap and a gross 92 is lurking in her shadows.

The final day today should be an interesting battle and golf fans are being urged to come out and witness what is anticipated to be a showdown.

Courts Pee Wee Inter-Schools Football Competition...

Goals galore continues

I

t was goals galore when the Courts Pee Wee InterSchools Football Competition organsied by Petra Organisation continued yesterday with 28 goals being recorded in the eighth matches that were played, at the Thirst Park ground.

The day had seven teams emerging victorious; Tucville defeated Sophia 3 -0, St. Gabriel’s trounced Green Acres 5 – 0, West Ruimveldt edged F.E. Pollard 2 – 1, Enterprise blanked South Ruimveldt 3 – 0, Marian Academy won 3 – 0 against Ketley, St. Pius defeat St. Sidwells 4 – 1 and St. Margret defeated Success Academy 4 – 0.

Redeemer Primary drew with North Georgetown 1 – 1 in the final game of the day.

In the St. Gabriel’s victory, Teon Forde was the architect who set it up with a helmet-trick against Green Acres. He scored in the 11th, 27th, 39th and 40th minutes while his team mate Raymond Bandhu accounted for the other goal in the 23rd minute. Tucville’s Simeon Hackett scored a hat-trick against the Sophia team which could not find the back of the opposition’s net. Goals from Michael Oie (12th) and Bryan Singh (32nd) for West Ruimveldt, was enough to overpower the lone goal from F.E. Pollard that was scored by Tiray McCah in the sixth minute. A double from Enterprise’s Jermaine Garrett (18th, 39th) and an own goal from South Ruimveldt secured a comfortable victory for Enterprise.

Beveney McGarrell scored in the 19th, 30th and 34th minutes for St. Pius while his teammate Marcus Wilson supported with a 38th minute goal against St. Sidwells.

Samuel Devonshire scored the latter’s lone goal in the second minute. Marian Academy was able to get past Ketley with goals from Shemroy Holder (5th) and Dominic Roberts (12th) and a gifted own goal in the 27th minute.

In the penultimate game of the day St. Margret’s was led

by Andrew Harrison who scored a double and was supported

by Stephen Chapman (17th) and Dieago Britton (38th).

Redeemer’s Shemar Dover scored in the fourth minute against North Georgetown, but they equalized in the 34th minute through Tyrese Prescot and eventually secured a 1-1 draw.

Canada-based Salim Raschid attempts a putt during the Digicel Golf Classic yesterday.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

Rent-A-Tent offering special VIP Packages for patrons

By Rawle Welch Rent-A-Tent, best known for its high standard in the delivery of hospitality, catering and entertainment services will once again be offering Special VIP packages for the final leg of the Caribbean ‘Race of Champions’ Meet which is scheduled to be staged on November 11, at the South Dakota Circuit .

Because of the large influx of overseas-based fans that are expected in for the event and with motor racing fans calling for more comfort and style while viewing the races from the best vantage point at the facility, the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC) have decided to pull out all the stops by drafting in reputable hospitality and catering services provider Rent-a-Tent to supply patrons with a luxurious atmosphere where they are guaranteed a high level of service within the 5,000 sq ft VIP Pavilion at an affordable price of $20,000 per person, while a child under16 is $8,000 and those below the age of six free.

Caribbean ‘Race of Champions’ Meet...

This is what the atmosphere in the VIP Pavilion looked like during last year’s Caribbean Motor Racing Championship Meet at the South Dakota Circuit.

The services on offer are hot breakfast, buffet lunch and snacks all day and that includes tea, coffee, juices and premium beverages, mist cooled viewing gallery, local and international cocktail bar,

supervised children’s Play Park, secure parking lot and air conditioned washroom facilities.

According to Rent-aTent’s Ray Rahaman this is not the first time that the

Changes made to Ryan Crawford Turf Club Horserace meet on November 18 Changes have been made with more money added and a number of major sponsors jumping on board as preparations heighten for the annual Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sports Facilities (RCMTC&SF) one day horserace meet which is slated for Sunday, November 18 at the Club’s track, Alness Corentyne, Berbice.

With the horses having a little break after a hectic two months, all the big names in the horseracing arena is expected to converge on the arena for their return to the track, for what is expected to be one of the biggest race meet for the last quarter.

Some of the major sponsors in the horseracing circle have already inked their names to the big meet. On board so far are Banks DIH Limited, Jumbo Jet Auto Sales and Stables, Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall, Bourda Market, City Mall and Digicel with a number of others expected shortly.

Eight races have been carded for the day and already over 30 horses have been entered. As such the organisers have added a substantial amount of cash and other attractions to the prize monies to cater for the

More money added, Banks DIH, Jumbo Jet, Trophy Stall and Digicel on board influx of horses and patrons that are expected to throng the venue. The prizes money which includes cash and trophies has jumped to over $7M. The winning tag for the feature B class event has now increased to $1M and trophy compliments of Banks DIH Limited with a total purse of close to $2M over 1700M. The prize money for the 3yrs old race for West Indies Bred horses has also increased with the winners set to run away with $400,000 and trophy with the distance now being 1600M. The E and lower race winning prize is $350,000 and trophy over 1500M. The winning take for the Two Year old race for West Indies Bred horse has also being increased to $350,000 and trophy over 1200M. The other events are the G and lower matchup for a pole position reward of $250,000 and trophy also over 1200M. The H and Lower gallop will see the animals competing over

1100M for a winning take of $200,000.

The winner of the ‘I2’ event has a chance to take home $150,000 and trophy in the 1200M race.

The final race for the day is for animals classified J&K (Division 1 and 2,) over 1200M with the winner also set to collect $150,000.

Race time is 13:00 hrs.

Outstanding individual performers including top Jockey, trainer and stable will be presented with accolades compliments of the Trophy Stall, Bourda Market and the Ry a n Crawford Memorial Turf Club.

Entries close on Sunday November 11 and interested persons and horse owners can make contact with the club’s office at Number 13 Hermitage, East Coast Berbice (19 Road).

Bobby Vaughn can be contacted on telephone number 624-6788 or Larissa Mohabir on numbers 3330290 or 333-0301. Doctor Dwight Walrond on Telephone numbers 623-0100 or 220-6557. (Samuel Whyte)

entity has been involved in such activity, citing last year’s VIP Pavilion as an example of the top class services that were on display and commended by all who enjoyed the facility.

He said that last year’s effort which was an overwhelming success served as the litmus test and they are ever more determined this year to surpass the previous one through the provision of services that will be second to none, informing that it is all about showcasing Guyanese

standards, facilities and hospitality.

Asked to comment on what are some of the special qualities that will guarantee patronage, Rahaman spoke of a comfortable ambience, the luxury of witnessing the races from the best vantage point, a fully supervised entertainment centre for the children, an all-inclusive food and beverage facility and free transportation to VIP ticket holders staying at the Princess Hotel.

He also revealed that

priority will be given to families, while urging local patrons to snap up tickets early avoiding the disappointment of being left without, as the huge overseas contingent will be here by Thursday. Only 300 patrons will be accommodated in the Pavilion and only tickets sold prior to race day are assured of entry. Persons wishing more information or to purchase tickets should make contact with Rent-a-Tent on 225-7063, 650-4510, 609-4067, 225-0241 or 662-1010.

Casey Stoner on Australia pole despite crash BBC Sport - Casey Stoner overcame an early crash in qualifying to take pole position for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

The Australian, 27, lost control of his Repsol Honda 20 minutes into the session, but recovered to post the fastest time of one minute 29.623 seconds. Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest at Phillip Island.

Fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa will line up third on the grid, with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow fourth.

Lorenzo, the 2010 world champion, will win a second title if he finishes in the top three of the race ahead of Pedrosa, while Stoner is chasing a sixth successive win in his home GP. Stoner has only recently returned from surgery on torn ligaments and fractures to his ankle, tibia and fibula suffered in a crash during qualifying in Indianapolis in mid-August.

He admitted he was lucky not to cause further injury when he crashed on Saturday.

“I was on my ‘out’ lap on a hard tyre and the thing just decided to flick me,” said Stoner after claiming the 39th MotoGP pole of his career. “I was very fortunate it didn’t come down on my foot.”

The two-time champion, who is retiring at the end of the season, added: “I’m just very happy to be in pole in my home grand prix and hopefully have something to celebrate tomorrow for everybody.”

Lorenzo, who leads Pedrosa by 23 points

Casey Stoner

in the championship standings, said: “Casey is unbeatable this weekend, if nothing strange happens. “It’s everybody else’s target to be as close as possible to him. I’ll mainly try to win second place. We’ll try to keep calm and not make any mistakes.”

MotoGP standings Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) - 330 points Dani Pedrosa (Spa) - 307 points Casey Stoner (Aus) - 213 points Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) - 195 points Alvaro Bautista (Spa) - 154 points

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Vettel on India pole as Red Bull dominate GREATER NOIDA, India - (Reuters) - Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel roared to pole position at the Indian Grand Prix yesterday as Red Bull flexed their muscles with a third successive one-two sweep in qualifying for today’s race.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Vettel’s closest challenger and six points behind the 25-year-old German with four races remaining including today’s, starts fifth at the Buddh International Circuit.

“All in all it was a great weekend so far. No problems with the car. The boys have been pushing extremely hard,” grinned Vettel, his title momentum seemingly unstoppable, after beating Webber by 0.044 seconds.

“You know the races these days, you know that a lot of things can happen, I don’t think that means a lot,” he cautioned of his advantage over Alonso.

Vettel won from pole in the inaugural Indian race last year and looked comfortable again on a hot and hazy afternoon at the track south of Delhi, chalking up his fifth pole of the season and 35th of his career.

The double champion completed just 13 laps to Alonso’s 21 and Hamilton’s 23 and, unless some misfortune halts him in his tracks, can be expected to run away with a fourth successive win today.

He was joined on the front row

by Australian team mate Mark Webber, who might have snatched pole for the second race in a row but for a mistake on turn three. It was the first time Red Bull have managed a hat-trick of front row sweeps.

“On the last corner, I got a little on the Astroturf on the exit and didn’t have the cleanest run to the line, but I’m driving the car,” Webber said. “I was surprised to end up second, to be honest.”

TWO BY TWO

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, their championship hopes all but over already, qualified third and fourth respectively with the top three teams lining up in pairs.

“We weren’t quick enough to be ahead of these guys. But we can definitely challenge them in the race. Our race pace is just as good as theirs,” Hamilton said.

Alonso will line up alongside Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa on the third row.

The Spaniard, a double champion like Vettel, refused to be downcast about his place on the grid or concede that his title hopes were ebbing away after he ceded the lead at the previous race in South Korea.

“I think it’s more challenging for us now but I remain 100 percent confident that we will fight for this championship and we will win it,” he told reporters in the Ferrari hospitality area.

“I still think that we can take some good points tomorrow and hopefully more points than Sebastian and in the next races hopefully be a little bit more competitive.

“The first target is to finish in front of them (Red Bull) tomorrow and I think we have chances to do it.”

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, who is third overall but 48 points adrift of Vettel, qualified seventh for Lotus at a circuit the 2007 champion has yet to race on having been absent for the past two years.

Mexican Sergio Perez qualified eighth for Sauber, a boost for Indian-born team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado ninth for Williams after being fastest in the first phase of qualifying.

Narain Karthikeyan, the only Indian in the race, will start on the back row for strugglers HRT. His time was just 0.001 slower than Spanish team mate Pedro de la Rosa, however.

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany drives during the third practice session of the Indian F1 Grand Prix.

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Page 57

Busta on board for Enterprise T20 KO tourney

Guyana Beverage Inc. Managing Director Robert Selman hands over the cheque to the club Secretary Jitlall Jowharrilall. Sharing the moment are GBI staff members and Club officials.

The Guyana Beverage Inc. has once again given their support to Enterprise Sports Club by sponsoring their Twenty20 knock-out competition which is expected to get cracking from November 4.

Among the teams slated to take part in the East Coast Demerara competition are

Enterprise Busta Sports Club, Lusignan, Better Hope, Enmore, Buxton and Ogle.

At a simple ceremony last week at the Company’s Head Office at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, Managing Director Robert Selman said his entity is elated to sponsor the tournament since it has been

successful over the years noting that they will maintain support. Selman said that they will look at the possibilities of sponsoring evening games in 2013.

Club Secretary Jitlall Jowharrilall expressed appreciation to Selman and the Company for their

commitment and partnership over the years promising that this year’s competition would be successful.

Fans on the East Coast were also encouraged to come out in their numbers to support the respective teams when c o m p e t i t i o n g e t s underway.

Late Arteta goal gives Arsenal win over QPR LONDON - (Reuters) - A late Mikel Arteta goal ended some determined resistance from Queens Park Rangers as Arsenal beat the Premier League’s bottom club 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Arteta struck from close range after 84 minutes soon after Rangers’ Stephane Mbia had been sent off.

The win halted Arsenal’s

run of two successive defeats to Norwich City in the Premier League and Schalke 04 in the Champions League over the last seven days. Arsenal moved into fourth place while QPR are still without a win in their opening nine league games. Reading and Fulham shared the points in a six-goal thriller at the Madejski Stadium which left the home

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta (left) scores against Queens Park Rangers during their English Premier League soccer match at Emirates Stadium in London October 27, 2012. REUTERS/ Toby Melville

side still looking for their first win of the season. Dimitar Berbatov looked to have scored Fulham’s winner two minutes from time before Hal Robson-Kanu earned Reading a point. Wigan Athletic beat West Ham United 2-1 with Ivan Ramis and James McArthur scoring for the home side before James Tomkins scored a late

consolation for the Hammers.

Aston Villa drew 1-1 with Norwich City at Villa Park where Villa were reduced to 10 men when Joe Bennett was sent off early in the second half. Stoke City and Sunderland dew 0-0.

Champions Manchester City edged Swansea City at the Etihad off of a Carlos Tevez strike.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

“In sports and politics, so much money for none of the above!”

Colin E. H. Croft Sometimes, like Haiti’s huge 2010 earthquake, events take precedent over normal sporting menus. Since this pending USA 2012 election could affect us all logistically, it deserves special mention!

Starting this weekend, US citizens; indigenous or adopted; the latter of whom I am one, could cast early votes for November 6’s General Election, be they Democrat of Republican.

For me, that is actually the easy part, as, for whatever reasons, I have never voted in USA previously. Indeed, to this day, nearly 60, I have never actually entered a polling booth anywhere!

I had planned to change that this time, so I went to all possible lengths to have myself fully registered to vote this year, as an ‘Independent.’

Now, I am not so sure at all!

Overall, I imagined that I had voted for the rest of my life already anyway, when, somehow, I managed to vote 24 times (fact!) in Guyana’s due 1978 election which was only eventually held on December 15, 1980!

Unbelievably, by then, I was actually in Pakistan, playing for West Indies! Only in Guyana!

But, after seeing three truly strange and funny debates between incumbent

Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, reminding me much of those similar Looney Tunes arch-enemies, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, I am of the true belief now that the best vote could probably be; “None of the above!”

This whole façade is so distasteful, even disgraceful, that one wonders where all this is leading to!

People of that certain age might remember the late, great comedian Richard Pryor acting as Montgomery Brewster in 1985’s “Brewster’s Millions”, a brilliant film about comedy, stupidity, confusion and fun.

In it, Pryor, who was of course black, had to properly, industriously, dispose of US$30 million in thirty days, without giving any away or gaining assets, to be totally penniless at that month’s end, if he wanted to inherit, from his great-uncle who incidentally was white, a princely sum of US$300 million! Hilarious!

Brewster eventually decided to use some of the US$30 million to run for Mayor of New York. On finding out how sleazy that situation can become, he decided to run on a motto that stated that none of the candidates was good enough for the position - “None of the above!” Not surprisingly, that motto won!

Allen Stanford and Travis Dowlin, who took the man of the match award Now, according to all facts that I can glean, POTUS – President of the United States of America – has an overall annual salary of US$400,000.

By simply mathematics, if he or, (not yet), she is in office for the maximum allowed eight years, then that person would be paid a maximum US$3.2 million gross. Easy enough; adequate enough!

How come, then, can these candidates justify spending, between them, as openly told by the Federal Election Commission, (FEC),

Shuffler to meet with FIVB President and CSV executive in Rio next month President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) Lenox Shuffler has been invited to meet with new FIVB President Dr Ary Graca and the executive of the South American Volleyball Federation (CSV) in Rio, Brazil on November 12 and 13.

According to a release from the Federation, the visit is a follow up to his continued request that Brazil become “BIG BROTHER” to GVF and that a South American Volleyball Association be formed with the Federation of Amapa (Brazil), Cayenne, Suriname, Guyana and Rorima (Brazil) in the first instance for the development of volleyball in this part of South America with increased activity at affordablecost.

Shuffler, who started this process in 2001when he presented his Block Development Plan and which was approved by FIVB and CSV in 2004 also included

Lenox Shuffler Venezuela and Trinidad for the same purpose.

A South American Zonal Association which could be the first in South America could see more financial and administrative support from FIVB and CSV. With FIVB’s new direction of greater support to developing federations, Dr Graca sees this as a positive step in the right direction for CSV to adopt.

Already, an International

Invitational Club tournament is planned for November 1519 involving teams from Suriname, Trinidad, Rorima (Brazil) and Guyana and which will be played at the National Gymnasium on the new Taraflex floor that was donated to the GVF from FIVB on the recommendation on CSV. Several other associations are also benefiting from the use of this world class indoor floor which can last a long time with proper care and which Shuffler and the National Sports Commission are asking associations that request the use of the facility.

With the Inter-Guianas Goodwill Games set for Guyana on November 3, FIVB and CSV Meetings, an International Invitational tournament scheduled and the School Programme set to restart, Volleyball in Guyana seems to be enjoying a shift in fortune.

who oversees such things, the almost unimaginable sum of nearly US$3 Billion already, for November 06’s election?

Considering that minimum wage in Florida is a measly US$7.75 per hour, this is truly scandalous!

However, “Brewster’s Millions”, President Obama and Governor Romney are not the only ones that I thought about recently.

Relevantly, late cricket entrepreneur R Allen Stanford should be remembered now too. Ironically, two weeks ago, CNBC, business arm of National Broadcasting

Corporation, aired an episode of ‘American Greed’, No. 67, featuring R. Allen Stanford “The Dark Knight”!

Comparing Stanford to that other “Dark Knight”, Bruce Wayne – Batman – is not altogether incorrect.

They both were, partly fictionally, seriously rich!

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggested, eventually proved, I suppose, that Stanford led a US$7 Billion Ponzi scheme, using garnered investor funds on a very lavish life-style. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to 110 years in jail. Talk about big figures!

You really had to see that programme to fully believe it!

It is thought that R Allen came to SEC’s notice during USA’s 2000, 2004, even 2008 General Elections, when SEC suggested that he somehow concocted to donate massive financial sums to candidates of both political parties, perhaps trying to hedge his bets either way for the future!

That seems smart, but it is no wonder SEC came down so hard on him! Only in the USA! Strangely, this very week, some very prominent politicians who Stanford had financed have been courtordered to return the millions they got from him!

Also relevantly, West

Colin E. H. Croft Indies recent ICC World T-20 2012 success should have brought Stanford to mind.

They, indeed International Cricket Council too, have a bit to thank R. Allen Stanford for, regardless!

In one game, v New Zealand, West Indies were down and nearly out. They had a one-over eliminator, the scores having been tied at 139. West Indies won that, thanks to Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle.

However, it must be remembered that it was indeed Stanford, in his 2nd Caribbean series, 2009, who first instituted that “Super Over” stuff anywhere, allowing Guyana to win, courtesy of Narsingh Deonarine’s six from the final delivery of the “new” oneover eliminator, after original scores were also tied!

For once, money and common sense just about came together intelligently. If only the politics can do the same. Enjoy!

F & H Printing Countrywide Million dollar Plus Competition...

Organisers give update and outlines preparations for Playoffs The F& H Million Dollars plus Competition is now in its 5th week and matches are currently being played in every region. However, due to some logistical issues the coordinators have still not been able to get matches started in Mabaruma, Port Kiatuma and Kwakwani/Ituni areas; efforts are continuing to get matches played in these areas.

A meeting was held with representatives of the East Coast of Demerara teams to iron out some previous issues that are not related to this competition, but have affected their participation to date. After the discussions, the Organisers have requested up to this weekend to inform on their participation.

The traditional teams in Georgetown are about to complete the 6 of 7 intended zones.

The 7th and final zone is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

The Ministries/Corporations/Business Entity Teams have commenced. The Organizing Committee have delivered official invitations to approximately 70 teams which fall into this category. Some corporations have commenced playing and more matches were to be played.

Mr. Lyall Gittens, who has vast experiencing in running corporation competitions has been

drafted into the team of organizers to assist with this aspect. The Organisers also intend to brief teams reaching the playoffs on two issues that have plagued dominoes in Guyana; Punctuality and the ‘draws”.

The scheduled time for activities and matches during the playoffs will be ‘strictly’ adhered to, teams arriving late will be disqualified. Timely arrivals by teams have always been a bug-bear in the system and the organizers of this particular competition is committed to getting it right. Each individual team making the playoffs will receive information to this effect.

Also during the playoffs the organizers as far as possible will implement a drawing system which will see each match comprising a Georgetown team, a out of town team and a corporation team.

This competition will culminate on November 18 with the finals slated for the National Gymnasium.

Any teams interested in playing in the competition whom we have not contacted the organisers are asked to Contact: Mr. Colin McEwan (Turning Point) on 687-2074/6427502.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

15th Troy Humphrey Mem. Cycle Meet...

Page 59

Rastaff O’Selmo is tops in feature 25-lap race

(ABOVE) Members of the Humhrey’s family pose with the winners and top performers following yesterday’s annual memorial race meet at the National Park. (RIGHT) Rastaff O’Selmo is a comfortable winner of the feature race. He is followed to the line by Eric Sankar and Paul Choo-wee-nam. (Franklin Wilson photo)

By Franklin Wilson Linden’s Rastaff O’Selmo of the Bauxite Flyers Cycle Club rode off with the feature 25-lap contest when the 15th annual Troy Humphrey Memorial Cycle Meet was held yesterday at the Inner Circuit of the National Park.

Sponsored by Humphrey’s Bakery & Farm Products and Friends, yesterday’s event attracted 74 cyclists overall and the day’s activities were exciting as usual with the top finishers receiving attractive cash prizes.

O’Selmo completed the race with an entertaining sprint home that saw him out pedaling Eric Sankar, Paul Choo-wee-nam, Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton and Orville Hinds in that order. Warren Mc Kay completed the top six.

The top five riders broke away from the main bunch around the eight (8) lap and

never looked back. Hinds captured three of the eight prime prizes with two each to Sankar and Choo-wee-nam with O’Selmo taking the other.

The host club, Roraima Bikers Cycle Club won the team time trials, the team of Mc Kay, Newton, Alonzo Greaves and Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams clocking a time of 5 Minutes 46.28 Seconds.

Second was Linden’s O’Selmo, Hinds, Delroy Hinds and Akeem Arthur who stopped the clock at 5 Minutes 52.02 Seconds.

Team Coco’s – Michael Anthony, Paul DeNobrega, Raynauth Jeffrey and Raul L e a l c o p p e d third in 6 Minutes 03.66 Seconds.

Continental Cycle Club’s quartet of Enzo Matthews, Geron Williams, Kestor Croal and Andre Abdool came next in 6 Minutes 04.03 Seconds.

Berbician Marica Dick won the female contest from

Toshanna Doris.

Jeffrey was unstoppable in the Junior/Juvenile 20-lap match-up also taking the 5primes on offer. Anthony was next in ahead of Leal.

In the veteran Under-50 race, Junior Niles proved the better of the lot with victory over Ian Jackson and Kennard Lovell in that order while in the Over-50 contest; Virgil Jones prevailed ahead of Kenneth M e i j e a n d Walter Isaacs.

The top Mountain bike rider was Keon Thomas who crossed the line followed by Nigel Jacobs and Julio Melville.

In the BMX races, the winner of the 6 – 11 1-lap clash was Keon Harris who won from Rashidi Ceres and Tyrone Gharbarran in that order. Adrian Sharma won the 12-14 2-lap encounter from Jamal John and Raphael Leung.

RBC presented special prizes to their riders that

GCA\Noble House Seafoods 2 day second division tourney...

Grovensor hits century in latest action Jermin Grovesnor smashed a stroked filled century as GNIC took first innings points from Vikings when play in the Georgetown Cricket Association\Noble House 2 day second division competition continued yesterday in the city.

At YMCA, Vikings were bowled out for 137 after batting first, Brian Haynes top scored with 40 (3x4,3x6), Damien Ross made 25, and R. Sumair chipped in with 20.

Premchan Sookdeo grabbed 7-47, while L. B i s s e s s a r t o o k 2-44.

Grovesnor then slammed fifteen fours and six sixes in a well played 147 and got

support from Tevin Collins 47 (5x4,2x6) as GNIC closed day one on 291-7 off 49 overs.

At GYO, DCC and the host were locked in a keen battle; DCC batted first and scored 245 all out in 55 overs.

Opener Kemol Savory was their leading run getter with 58 (5x4,1x6), while Leroy Primo 37, Ronaldo Renee 36, Jahron Byron 25, and Cletus Johnson 23 supported well.

Pravindralall Persaud captured 5-49.

GYO closed day on one 139-4 in 28 overs with Shivnandan Roopnarine unbeaten on 78 (11x4, 1x6), and with him was Wazeer Mohamed not out on 18.

Persaud had earlier made 27.

At MYO, GCC grabbed

first innings points from the home team.

The visitors took first strike and scored 215 before being bowled out in 45.3 overs. Fadil Umrow led with 56 (5x4), while Alex Ramalho contributed 39, Almando Doman 22 and Shamar Graham 22. Imtiaz Pooran and Parmanand Parsram claimed 3 wickets each for MYO who in reply were bowled out on the stroke of time for 181 in 33.2 overs. Mohamed Wazidally with 48(10x4,1x6), Saheed Gittens 34, and Abrahim Wazidally 24 were their principal scorers as Devon Lord bagged 6-31 and Kevin Plants 2-6. The competition continues tomorrow.

(Zaheer Mohamed)

participated yesterday; Warren Mc Kay (Club Captain), Raymond Newton, Marlon Williams, Alonzo Greaves, Alex Mendes, Mario King, Virgil Jones, Mark Harris and Bochel Samaroo.

The club has expressed thanks to all the riders who came out and competed to

ensure that the day’s activities were successful.

Troy Humphrey, one of Guyana’s star riders died tragically by accident 15 years ago and ever since the Humphrey’s family has been keeping his name alive by hosting this event that is ranked as the most lucrative

cycling Meet in Guyana.

Troy’s dad, George also expressed sincere thanks to all present for the support noting that the family and Troy’s five children are very grateful for the high level of support that continues for the event yearly.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

NA Multi win in NA Canje Branch Inter Secondary School Athletics Sports NewAmsterdam Multilateral Secondary School (NAMS) defied the odds to stage what can be termed a major upset to come out on top when the New Amsterdam/Canje District (15) of the Ministry OF Education / Guyana Teachers Union held their Annual Track, Field and Cycling Championships on Friday at the Edinburgh Ground East Bank, Berbice.

NAMS, who has not being in winner’s row for quite

some time, showed grit and determination as their athletes stuck to the task to come out the winners at the end of two keenly contested days of events. The school moved from fourth place last year to top of the podium in the ten school competition.

At the end of the competition NAMS with 731 points was declared winner.

They were followed closely

by Berbice Educational

Institute (BEI) with 721 points, who finished second again. Third was last year’s defending champion Tutorial Academy Secondary (TASS) with 708 points as they lost out in a close three way fight.

Berbice High School occupied the fourth spot with 370 points followed by School of the Nations (SON) with 265 fifth, New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) sixth with

261, Canje Secondary School (CSS) seventh 211, Vryman’s Erven Secondary School (VESS) was next in eight spot with 208 points. Tied for joint ninth and last position was Overwinning and Annex on 50 points each.

The top athletes on show were in the U14 category – the top female was Annola Bowman of NAMS, while the top male was Tyrell Peters of Overwinning. In the U16 National junior female athlete Melissa Byass is all alone as she gaps her competitors in two of her races.

Action in the teachers 200M event. category the outstanding performers were Eon Williams of TASS in the male category with school mate Danella Joe doing likewise for the females. National Junior Athlete Melissa Byass running for BHS dominated proceedings among the U18 females with Floyd Fullerton of VESS and Shrimron Hetmyer of BHS taking top honours among the males.

The U20 outstanding performers were Eon Hinds of SON and A. Wade of NAMS, while on the distaff side Whitney Hooper of NAMS had things her way.

The top teacher athletes on show were Anis Ade Thomas and Ayeni Craig.

With the completion of both the Inter Primary and Inter Secondary school competitions the District is now preparing its athletes for

the National school Athletics, Swimming and Cycling Championships slated for November in Georgetown.

National junior cricketer Shimron Hetmyer wins the 200M Boys U18 event in style.

GCC Men and Women...

From page 63 GCC in the sole men’s first division matchup of the evening. Although the match proved to be another cliffhanger which was held in the balance until the very end, the depth of the GCC bench seemed to give them the edge to hold out for the 5-4 victory.

Captain Devin Hooper led the GCC score sheet with a double including a brilliant solo run six minutes into the second half, while Trevon Smith, Peter DeGroot and Stuart Gonsalves added one each to the tally. Old Fort’s

John Abrahams was on fire with a hat-trick and has proven so far to be one of the most lethal strikers in the competition, while top defender Aderemi Simon managed to add one more for Old Fort from a penalty corner set piece. This was not enough however for Old Fort to secure points from the match as GCC finished on top by the one goal margin.

Matches continued last evening at the same venue, while the finals in the different categories will be played today from 16:00hrs.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

GFF Super League commences today with four games Play in the 2012 / 2013 Season of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Super League is set to kick off today with four matches at venues around the country.

At the Blairmont Ground, commencing at 15:30hrs, home team Rosignol United will come up against Milerock of Linden in a game that is expected to be highly competitive.

With the two teams being considered the best in their respective locations, the Berbice spectators are in for a treat. Milerock is coached

by National Under-20 Coach Bryan “Joe Boy” Joseph, while Rosignol United is led by Keith O’Jeer, who also an Assistant National Coach.

Both are shrewd technicians of the game hence the game is expected to be very tactical.

At BV Ground commencing at 15:30 hrs, Newcomers BV/Triumph United will engage Amelia’s Ward of Linden in a match which is anticipated to create some amount of excitement.

BV, are the East Demerara / Stag Beer League leaders and their opponent, Amelia’s Ward placed fourth in the last Super League tournament, their debut season. The boys

from the Bauxite Mining town boys will look to continue in that same vein.

BV/Triumph, who will be playing at home, are expected to use the home turf advantage to full advantage backed up by their many passionate and vocal supporters, the Lindeners will have it rough.

Over at the Uitvlugt Ground, West Coast Demerara starting at 15:30hrs, last year’s newcomers Den Amstel will host Buxton United of East Demerara in what is expected to be another interesting match-up.

Buxton United, under the tutelage of GFF Technical Development Officer, Lyndon France and coached by Herbert McPherson will not be intimated by the boys from the West Side although the Den Amstel boys finished higher than them in the last tournament.

Coach Bilal Nantambu has been taking them through

their paces and it will be a battle of who delivers on the day; both teams will have a number of promising young players on their slate which can bolster their chances for a win to get their campaign off to a solid start.

And at the GFC in the City, the lone Super League game will feature BK Int. Western Tigers against the other West Demerara side, Uitvlugt Warriors. That encounter will start at 19:00hrs.

However there will be a bonus game that starts at 17:00hrs when a Barbados Masters team comes up against Hearts of Oak of Berbice in a Goodwill clash.

The Tigers are just off winning the Karibee Rice knock-out tournament and will still be brimming with confidence as they take on the once mighty Uitvlugt Warriors which has produced a number of former National including current sensation Trayon Bobb.

This is Uitvlugt’s debut year in the Super League and Western Tigers, first runnerup last year will have their work cut out. The Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United / Pele GFC match which was also slated for today has been shifted to Wednesday October 31.

Table Tennis set to return to Berbice with a bang Racquet wielders in Berbice are set to return to the table when the Berbice Table Tennis Sub Association in collaboration with overseas based Guyanese, Berbician Souvenir Ramdyal, 2009 Hall of Fame Realtor of Queens NY have organised a grand one day Knock out table Tennis Table competition for Berbicians. The tournament which is named “the Berbice Table Tennis Championship” is scheduled to be played on Saturday, November 10 at the Berbice High School Auditorium beginning at 09:00 hrs. The tournament, which has the blessing of the Guyana Table Tennis Association, is expected to see the best Berbice racquet wielders in action.

A number of categories will be contested including U13, U15, U18 and open. Play is expected to be in both the male and female categories.

The organisers have sent invitations and are inviting all clubs, schools and persons interested to make contact as early as possible.

Incentives will be available for the top three performers in each category. Incentives will also be awarded to the most outstanding player, most promising, most improved among others to be decided.

The competition is open to Berbicians only and those who would have been living and working in the county for the past three years.

Players are expected from all over the ancient county including Skeldon, Rose Hall, New Amsterdam, Berbice River, Canje and West Berbice. While a number of institutions and school are expected to send their players

to participate including Guysuco Training Centre, University Of Guyana, The Guyana Police Force among others. Refreshments will be provided and the Sponsor is expected to be on hand to meet the players, declare the competition open and distribute the prizes at the end of the competition. Mr Ramdyal has planned to make the competition an annual one.

Officials from The Guyana table Tennis Association are expected to be on hand to help oversee the proceedings and help with the distribution of the prizes.

Interested persons can make contact with any of the following persons - Floyd Conway in New Amsterdam/ Canje on telephone No 623-8481,Gibran Hussein in Skeldon 628-4248, Richard Bacchus 673-9112, Johnny Persaud 333-2869, Stanley 6866431,Levi Nedd on number 641-9592 and J. Murray on 619-2107.

Berbice has a rich history in the table Tennis arena with the likes of former Caribbean champions Anand Sookram and Doreen Chow Wah. Former national Female Table Tennis Queen and nine times champion, Desiree Lancaster, who is the only female to have won the tournament on five consecutive occasions, former national champions Donna Sue and Vida Moore.

While former national junior player Petal Bennet also won the Caribbean junior doubles title in the 90s. Isaac Sewnarine, the late Roy Fredericks, Leslie Amsterdam, Alvin Kallicharran, Clairmont Saul, the Duff siblings, the Alphonsos and Floyd Conway among others have all excelled. (Samuel Whyte)

Page 61

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 28, 2012

SHAWN ‘PUTTY’ WILLIAMS - former Guyana International - a utility player - 1985 to 1987 (deceased) Statistician Charwayne Walker continues his series of features on Guyana’s World Cup players, today we are pleased to feature the late Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams, former Guyana International from 1995 – 1987.

The only position Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams never played for the National Team was goalkeeper. Inspired by big brother Anthony Williams’ inclusion in 1983 to the Senior National Team, Shawn’s only ambition was to emulate his elder sibling by wearing National colours and the Conquerors FC utility maestro scored in his first outing in National wear, 1984 against Trinidad and Tobago at GFC. It was the Caribbean Football Union Under-19 eliminator which the visiting team won 3-1. ‘Putty’ Williams’ first overseas tour was to the Twin Island Republic where the host eliminated Guyana from the 1984 CFU Under-19 championship.

He returned to Trinidad in August of 1984 for the CONCACAF Under-19 Championship.

Guyana, led by Paul Ferrell Forde humbled host Trinidad 2-1 and the player of the match was Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams.

He was also the MVP in Guyana’s next win by a 2-1 margin against the Netherland Antilles and was spectacular when Guyana went down 1-2 to El Salvador.

In the next round of the competition, Shawn Williams and company give CONCACAF giants Mexico a rough time before losing 0-2.

Although Guyana suffered 2-0 defeats to Canada and Honduras and exited the tournament, the player every Coach was talking about was Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams.

After the CONCACAF series, Shawn was called to senior trials in November 1984 for two friendly matches against Suriname but he did not make the final squad. The following year Coach Lennox Arthur gave Shawn Williams his first senior National cap against the mighty Cubans.

Buoyed by playing alongside big brother Anthony, Shawn was the man that brought the energy at both ends of the field for Guyana as they won the opening match 2-1 and drew the series finale 1-1 to win the series on goal difference; Shawn was given the name ‘Horseman’.

His next International was 1-0 win over French Guiana in Cayenne, his elder brother Anthony was the goal scorer. That CFU Senior eliminator was Shawn’s first senior tour overseas and his next was senior game ended up as a loss to Suriname at Camp Ayanganna, Guyana being needled and was sent packing from the 1985 CFU tournament.

Next up was an international assignment in 1985 that took him to Toronto Canada for the Robbies International Under-19 tournament and again his performance was second to none, Following that tournament, Shawn played an integral part of Mervyn ‘Pug’ Wilson’s National Under-21 team that toured Suriname and contested matches against the host and French Guiana.

Shawn’s international outing in 1985 concluded with two friendly matches against French Guiana at Camp Ayanganna under flood lights. The young Guyana side led by Trevor Maxwell won the first match 2-1 and drew the series decider 1-1 to lift the then Prime Minister Hamilton Greene trophy.

His seventh senior International cap was a 2-0 loss to Barbados in July 1986 at the GCC Ground. In his next game he scored his first senior goal and along with Adrian Forde’ classic strike, they led Guyana to a series

leveling victory at GCC Bourda.

Shawn played his next two internationals under the Captaincy of big brother Anthony in matches against Venezuela at Camp Ayanganna; Guyana won both encounters by 7-0 and 6-0 margins; the ensuing celebrations ended up being the biggest of the brother’s career.

Strange enough, those were the last Internationals the Anthony and Shawn played together. Shawn’s next senior cap saw Guyana thumping Bahamas 3-1 in Nassau, 1987.

Anthony, who was appointed Captain for that Olympic qualifier disappeared from Shawn and the rest of the National Squad while in transit in Miami.

His 12th match was a 3-1 win for Guyana over St. Lucia in Castries. He was superb in his next game for the Guyanese as they earned a 2-2 draw against Barbados in Bridgetown.

In game number 14, Shawn was named the player-of-the-match when Guyana defeated the Bahamas 4-0 in a return Olympic qualifier at GCC, Bourda.

The Conquerors Maestros 15th game as a senior ended with Guyana whipping the Dominican Republic 4-0 at GCC in an Olympic qualifier. The return game saw the utility stalwart scoring a classic which silenced the Santo Domingo crowd.

His 17th match was for the National Under23 team that humbled Grenada’s Senior National side 1-0 at GCC. In his next game he scored the equaliser that produced a 1-1 result for the senior side against Grenada at the GCC in an international friendly.

The Mackenzie Sports Club Ground was the venue where Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams played his 19th game and that result read, Guyana 3 Grenada 0, Guyana winning the three match series.

This game was followed by a 1-2 loss to Trinidad and Tobago at Camp Ayanganna; matches against Guatemala in Guatemala City where the National team lost Olympic qualifiers 6-0 and 3-0; versus Mexico at the Municipal Stadium in Santa Rosa California where Guyana was whipped 9-0 on December 3, 1987 in another Olympic qualifier.

After the Mexico thrashing, Shawn ‘Putty’ Williams and several other players disappeared from the Guyana Camp. At age 22, Shawn was the only National player that was never dropped after making his senior debut; his 23 matches were played consecutively. He passed away in the USA in 1989.

SHAWN ‘PUTTY’ WILLIAMS’ INTERNATIONAL TOURS 1984 Trinidad and Tobago CFU U-19 eliminator 1984 Trinidad and Tobago CONCACAF U-19 championship 1985 French Guiana CFU Senior eliminator 1985 Toronto Canada Robbies International U-19 tournament 1985 Suriname with National U-21 team 1987 Bahamas Olympic Qualifier 1987 St. Lucia International friendly 1987 Barbados International friendly 1987 Dominica Republic Olympic Qualifier 1987 Guatemala Olympic Qualifiers 1987 Los Angeles Olympic Qualifier Shawn Williams was also the brother of former National and Caricom Basketball player, Kathy Williams.

Sunday October 28, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 63

GT&T National Indoor Hockey Championships...

GCC Men and Women secure final berths in respective categories The second night of action in the GT&T National Indoor Hockey Championships being played at the National Gymnasium saw the GCC Tigers take control of the women’s competition with another unbeaten run, while the men’s first division competition remains deadlocked between Hikers and Old Fort for a place in the final against the GCC men.

Saints chalked up their first competition win against Old Fort in the men’s second division competition, while favourites Hikers seem destined for a place in the final.

The most entertaining match of the evening ended as evenly as the flow of play as Hikers and GCC, both winners in the recent past, showed moments of brilliance to slot in a total of 6 goals in their 3-3 draw. GCC’s Eric Hing raised the hype just two minutes into the match with a nippy tip in shot.

Reginald Harper’s response for the Hikers just two minutes later signalled the tone of the match as the lead see-sawed between the two with the crowd at the edge of their seats down to the very end. An Aroydy Branford double for the Hikers and a second from Hing with one more for GCC, the match ended in the 3-3 stalemate setting up a possible replay in the finals.

Sean Sookhai scored a double for Saints in their

victory over Old Fort in the other men’s second division tie with teammates Yonnick Peters and Leroy Jack adding one each. Old Fort’s goals came off the sticks of Dwight McCalman and Onassis Fraser in their 2-4 loss to Saints.

The GCC Veterans made light work of Old Fort with a 10-1 drubbing.

Philip Fernandes led the scorer’s table with a hatrick supported by doubles from his brother Alan and Rawl Davson.

Damon Woodroffe, Marcus Fiedtkou and Devin Hooper rounded out the scoring for GCC. Old Fort’s lone goal came from striker John Abrahams.

The Hikers Divas put up a fierce battle against pretournament favourites, the GCC Tigers, in the ladies competition as the Tigers managed to scrape through with a 4-3 victory.

Although the Tigers seemed to dominate the possession of the game, the Hikers quick outlets always proved a threat to the GCC goal. The GCC Tigers goals were shared among Carol Caine, Sonia Jardine, Kerensa Fernandes and national sweeper Ulrica Sutherland, while Cora Towler, Tremayne Junor and Maria Munroe scored one each for the Hikers.

The final game of the night pitted last year’s international champions, Old Fort against (Continued on page 60)

Annual Lester Peters U-15 Mem. Launched - 12 teams to compete The second annual Lester ‘Puppy’ Peters Memorial Under-15 football competition was launched at the Tucville Playfield, organised by the Fruta conquerors Football Club to commemorate the death anniversary of one of the stalwarts and dedicated players of the club. Peters died on October 5, 2011.

Some twelve (12) teams have been invited to participate in this year’s competition and all have indicated a willingness to compete.

Also in Peters’ memory, one of the club’s dressing

rooms was renamed the Lester “Puppy” Peters Dressing Room.

A large framed portrait was handed over to the club by Peter’s family that will be hung in the dressing room.

In matches played to date, Fruta Conquerors demolished Renaissance 9 – 2 while Fruta Conquerors ‘B’ lost to Camptown 3– 4. South Georgetown defeated GFC 4 - 3, Northern Rangers got past Santos 4 – 2, Flamingo FC blanked Black Pearl 5 – 2 and while Grass Roots gained a walk over from Riddim Squad.

The tournament is continuing.

Action in the clash between GCC Tigers and Hikers Divas.

t r o Sp Lucrative prizes, top football action promised rd as K&S launches its 23 edition S Most Valuable Player drives off with Luxury vehicle

ixteen teams comprising the n a t i o n ’s b e s t footballers will face the starting lineup, all optimistic of adding their name to the ‘Holy Grail,’ when activities in the 23rd edition of the Kashif and Shanghai football extravaganza gets underway from December 16 to January 1 next at venues countrywide.

The organizers of K&S have gone one step further and will also host an U-13 tournament adjacent to the above mentioned one.

Details pertaining to this tournament are forthcoming.

Those participating in the K&S extravaganza will be vying for a top prize of four million dollars while the team finishing second receives one million dollars.

P. 59

K&S Directors, Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Major (3 & 4 left) join (from left) Nigel Worrell, Franklin Wilson, Alexis Langhorne and John Maikoo at yesterday’s press brief. rd

The third and fourth places will cart off $750,000 and $500,000 respectively.

Additionally, the Most Valuable Player will win a luxury motor car while coaches will be

compensated for their hard work when the best among the lot receives one motorcycle.

Activities got off to a start when the two Directors of K&S Football

th

Organization, Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major joined President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), F r a n k l i n Wi l s o n a n d personnel from several corporate entities sponsoring the competition, at the Princes Hotel International, Providence EBD, to give updates of this year’s tournament and what the fans could expect. Also in attendance were Demerara Distillers Ltd Marketing Executive, Alexis Crawford, Ansa McAl Brand Manager (Stag), John Maikoo and Ansa McAl Marketing Executive, Nigel Worrell.

Mr. Muhammad said that his group will seek to interact with its traditional supporters by staging matches in those communities. He mentioned such villages as Uitvlugt, Beterverwagting and Buxton. He admitted that the organizers were forced to omit the Buxton Community Centre Ground from its itinerary for a few tournaments through circumstances beyond their control. “We are pleased to reinstate that community into our fold,” said Mr. Muhammad. The finals will be held at the National Stadium, Providence.

Mr. Muhammad further reminded of the historic contribution of the event to the growth and development of the game locally, topped by the visit of the world football icon, Brazilian, Edison Arantes do Nascimento, AKA King P e l e . M r. M u h a m m a d

lamented the misfortunes experienced by his entity in the 22nd edition that instigated a massive boycott of the tournament. He remains adamant that such an eventuality gravely affected the development of the sport and by extension hindered the advancement of local ball weavers. He was loud in praise for the corporate entities that ignored the detractors and continued to invest in the tournament.

Beverage giants, Ansa McAl was among those that remained committed and that company had launched a tournament where the community purchasing the most Stag Beers, identifiable by the number of crowns deposited in a box at fixtures, would have received some three million dollars towards the development of the sports infrastructure of that community. Linden was last y e a r ’s w i n n e r s a n d rehabilitative works have started towards the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground. Mr. Worrell said that works have been ongoing at the facility and should be completed within the next two weeks.

Mr. Worrell said that his company will be joining forces with the K&S group and he suspects that the prize money allocated to the ‘Under the Crown’ promotion would be substantially increased.

Ms Langhorne reminded that DDL has come on board three years ago and her executives are pleased with the returns. She reiterated

her company’s support even as she urged the Guyanese to support the venture.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wilson admitted that the sport has been experiencing turbulent times after one of their affiliates, the Georgetown Football Association (GFA), approached the courts to address issues pertaining to football. Such action has created a division in the fraternity with some of the clubs opting out of the K&S tournament in preference to one organized by the GFA. He bemoaned this development even as he congratulated the K&S organizers for their demonstration of zest and vitality in their efforts to maintain the high quality of football their fans have grown accustomed to.

Quizzed on the effects on the sport Wilson declared, “No one could foresee what lies ahead but I think it is a senseless ramble that could see the game falling into disrepute and the footballers suffering.” Mr. Muhammad acknowledged the input of several companies that, despite the turbulent times, refused to abandon ship.

Mohamed’s Enterprise of Lombard Street was singled out as one of these entities.

The K&S Director further revealed that they are currently engaged in discussions with other business entities concerning their input into the tournament.

“Whichever way it goes, football fans are assured of a highly qualitative tournament,” Mr. Muhammad declared.

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