Kaieteur News

Thursday Edition

Online readership yesterday 121,845

Price $80 September 12, 2013 - Vol. 6 No. 37 (VAT Inclusive) Online: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com

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

AFC wants GEA thoroughly … Ram should be awarded the investigated Order of Excellence - Ramjattan Tragedy strikes Sophia family as toddler drowns in drain The dead child's grandmother points to the drain, where the child's body was discovered floating

Dead: Dequan Harris

GPL loses $600M every month in line losses Slain Corentyne rice miller ...

Attack was carried out by known individuals

Dead: Lallapersaud 'Lall' Juggerdeo

Fly Jamaica to Man drinks start operations poison after to Guyana attempting to September 26 kill girlfriend

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Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

Birds threaten safe air traffic at CJIA

Cheddi Jagan International Airport

I

ndiscriminate dumping of dead poultry within the five-mile radius of Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA)'s aerodrome, poses a threat to air traffic. As such, CJIA is executing an awareness campaign to prevent a disastrous outcome.

This is according to Andre Kellman, Deputy Manager of Airport Operations, Tuesday.

He said that in the Linden/Soesdyke/Timehri

area about 70 percent of the poultry consumed in Guyana is reared. While, this contributes to the economy m a n y f a r m e r s indiscriminately dispose of garbage and practice poor bird husbandry, he added.

Kellman said that Bounty Farm, which has a large poultry operation along that stretch, demonstrates some interest in keeping its activities clean. Others should try to emulate these practices.

According to Kellman,

poor practices encourage crows that feed on the dead flesh.

These birds can soar at high altitude and could be a threat to the safe flight of aircrafts. He recalled that in April 2011 a bird came into contact with a Caribbean Airlines aircraft forcing the machine to land 10 minutes after takeoff.

According to reports, officials had discovered illegal dumping grounds, off the Soesdyke/Linden h i g h w a y, c o m p r i s i n g

feathers and other waste from the chicken and pig farms. The wastes were burned. It is estimated that around 14 chicken and pig farms had existed in the area.

While, no lives were loss, a committee comprising representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana Livestock Development Authority, Guyana Amazon Tropical Bird Society, Veterinary Public Health, Public Works Ministry and CJIA, was formed to find

solutions to this problem.

He noted that poultry and cash crop farmers who were operating within a one-mile radius of the aerodrome have relocated. And, the committee has been actively pursuing several initiatives including a public awareness campaign to combat the indiscriminate dumping.

Kellman said that CJIA has been researching this matter to find a favourable solution for all parties involved. He said that the safety of aircraft and

passengers cannot and should not be compromised at any time.

He added that efforts are being made to educate farmers and students of the i m p e n d i n g d a n g e r. I n addition, inside the Ministry of Agriculture there is an office that informs farmers about safe practices.

He said if better farming practices are incorporated the mortality rates of poultries would reduce resulting in fewer waste disposal.

Thursday September 12, 2013

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Kaieteur News

AFC wants GEA thoroughly investigated …Ram should be awarded the Order of Excellence - Ramjattan

A

cknowledging that the National Assembly has not been focusing on state entities with the thoroughness that is required, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has announced plans to move a motion in the National Assembly for an inquiry into the operations of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).

This is according to Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, who said that he is disgusted by improprieties and illegalities of the governance of GEA unearthed by Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram on his website, chrisram.net.

Ram highlighted that with poor accounting practices and no word on who are members of the Board of Directors, the GEA headed by Mahender Sharma, was last year responsible for a whopping US$350M of the nation's transactions related to fuel purchases from Venezuela.

Ram stated that while the GEA came into existence in late 1997 and commenced operations in 1998, it was more than 12 years before any accounts were tabled in the National Assembly. The records indicate that audited financial statements and not annual reports were tabled in the National Assembly for years up to 2009.

And, according to the GEA 2012 activities, the audits for the years 2010 and 2011 have been completed, but these have not been tabled.

According to Ramjattan, “I want to concede that indeed our National Assembly has not been dealing with these issues in the thorough manner that we ought to and that is a function of certain incapacities we have in the field of auditing and accounting.”

Ramjattan admitted, yesterday, that he did not realize in all his years in Parliament that GEA as a corporate state entity was

Christopher Ram

Mahender Sharma, Head of GEA

Winston Brassington

Marcia Nadir-Sharma

AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan

expected to present its annual report to the National Assembly.

“Quite frankly I didn't realize the reports were not forthcoming…I am not sharp with accounts, although I did recall before the passing of former head of GEA, Joseph O'Lall, that he had promised to bring some documents to blow the whistle on how the PetroCaribe money was being misappropriated…I didn't get to see those documents because he died shortly after,” he said.

Ramjattan stressed that this experience justifies why Parliament must have support staff of certain expertise to guide Parliamentarians into understanding these corporate entities in relation to governance and manner in which they conduct businesses.

He accepted that sometimes certain technicalities are beyond Parliamentarians. However, with this unearthing by Ram, an inquiry into the operations of GEA is necessary, particularly to educate Parliamentarians of the business of these corporate entities.

Ramjattan, who smiled when asked whether Sharma should be subjected to a polygraph test like other former employees of GEA, said an inquiry would cross examine Sharma and ascertain how he is managing the affairs of GEA. Ramjattan, an Attorneya t - L a w, s a i d t h a t t h e governance of GEA acted improperly and illegally by not submitting the annual reports.

“It is highly improper for Sharma to be the sole person

placing signatures on these financial documents,” said Ramjattan. “They ought to be regarded very suspiciously… No one person should be the scrutineer of himself,” he said.

According to Ramjattan, there is literally a sultanate that dominates the governance of these institutions that control these major bucks (cash).

“They have total control without any checks and balances from independent scrutineers and I want to suspect that is the motivation behind the government not wanting to name the directors of the Board of GEA,” he added.

Ramjattan explained that a Board of Directors is useful for overseeing and speaking out as to the nature of transactions being

conducted. The members would be exposed to information on moneys earned and spent. In addition, the members would be answerable to both Parliamentarians and the media. “ To a v o i d n a m i n g members of the board and in that vacuum having the Brassington and others who literally are in an incestuous relationship with each other, create the conditions for a lot of secrecy and it avoids transparency…There will be no sunshine filtering into these current bodies,” he said.

The 'incestuous relationship' Ramjattan speaks of, is that Sharma being married to Marcia Nadir-Sharma, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of National Industrial and Commercial Investments

Ltd (NICIL), who is second in command to Winston Brassington.

Sharma is also himself on the Board of Directors of the Guyana Power and Light which is also headed by Brassington.

NICIL is the holder of government properties and is not subjected to scrutiny by the National Assembly.

Parliamentarians have been trying to change this in order to have Parliament in control over NICIL's spending.

According to Ramjattan, “We must commend the almost singlehanded effort of Christopher Ram in delving into these issues and u n e a r t h i n g t h e malgovernance of these institutions and the potential for corruption.”

He believes that Ram should be awarded the Order of Excellence.

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Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

Questionable importation policy The government's importation policy came under scrutiny this week when one stone producer claimed that the country had more stone than it needed for any number of works that it may be pursuing. However, as was revealed, the government granted a licence to Gafsons to import stone to complement the volume of stone available in Guyana.

There is nothing wrong in importing commodities when such imports are needed. For example, just this past week the Ministry of Trade granted eighteen import licences for chicken, one of the most common sources of protein in the country. Two years ago local poultry producers, in the face of chicken imports, cried foul. At the time there was a chicken shortage too.

After a while the local producers said that they had everything under control and that there was no need for any more imported chicken. Consumers were worried, however, because they feared that the local producers would hike the price in the face of the monopoly that they would enjoy. Of course the producers, to a man said that this was out of the question. It wasn't.

Now we have imported stone although there are four quarries in the country and seemingly, not enough work to use all that stone. As one spokesman for contractor BK International said, the President was misguided. That apart, it turned out that the quality of the stone imported was such that it use would entail even more foreign currency. For one, engineers now say that should the imported stone be used on road projects the contractor would have to use twenty per cent more asphalt. This is an imported commodity. The engineers also say that the load bearing capacity of the stone is far less that the stone produced in Guyana so that roads, when constructed, would be destroyed long before the known life of roads in Guyana. And the stone is more expensive than the locally produced stone.

One question being asked is why would Guyana import inferior stone? An example of the extent to which professional contractors would go to avoid using the stone can be found in the Marriott hotel being constructed on Georgetown's Atlantic coast.

The work is being supervised by people from Marriott International. These people are looking at every step of the construction. Just recently the consultants for the Marriott project instructed that the imported stone must never be used on the hotel. Certainly the government would not use this stone on its projects.

Imports are one sure way of denting the foreign reserves.

Guyana does not make cars so it must import cars. Sadly, most of the imported cars are junk because the importers know that there is a limit to how much they can charge for a vehicle. Similarly, every commodity item is imported. Fortunately, food is not a part of this although Guyana's imported food bill is higher than it should have been, and all because of the taste of the wealthy. The economist would certainly prefer to see the country saving money but even here we see the economist encouraging the importation of material that is substandard. This can only happen in a country here there is no communication between the professionals and those who administer the national coffers.

There are other things that should attract governmental attention. One of them is the duration of contracts. At present, every contract is facing cost over runs because of the length of time the contractors take to complete them. We now understand that one set of projects is hindered by utilities planted along the contract site before the contract was ever conceived.

The government is doing nothing to help the contractors who fear legal action from the owners of the utilities. What seems to be clear is that the various Ministers of Government have self interest and therefore cannot find the time to pay heed to the things that affect the smooth operations of the many contractors.

Recently, the Junior Finance Minister went to West Berbice to monitor the [projects there. He left with the impression that the contracts were laggards.

He may not be wrong but then again it may be a question of the release of funds by the government for job done.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Our Leaders must on important occasions choose their words with great care DEAR EDITOR, We certainly can be deemed the greatest - Why? Let us examine the recent visit to Guyana by the President of our neighbour Venezuela and statements made by our own Head of State.

First when President Hugo Chavez visited, in 2004 - the M&CC was asked as is the tradition, and proudly hosted a civic reception, which allowed President Chavez, to interact with a large appreciative audience which included Government Ministers.

It was great, Hugo Chavez was so energized by the environment at the Promenade Gardens that he spoke much longer than determined by the Programme.

He dealt with the situation in the wider world of economics and politics; it was good, even to those who may not have shared all of his analysis.

On this visit the City was literally by-passed, except for the sirens along Mandela Avenue. But the things we heard from our President are a bit troubling, and I refer to just one which is an embarrassment to all of us.

Our Head of State delivered with gusto his usual verbal salvos.

Likely, I hope, outside of a brief from his Minister of Foreign Affairs, President Ramotar referred to a border dispute - The matter of the claim to most of our Essequibo in the late 19th Century, was settled in 1899, how therefore, according to Mr. Ramotar, is it a relic of the Cold War. Those of us in politics

regard the Cold War as an international tension which started immediately after the end of World War II and ended in 1991.

I believe the term was coined by the English writer George Orwell – H.G Wells may have inspired an idea in 1945 after the two atomic bombs were dropped on the two Japanese Cities.

So how is this border matter a relic of the Cold War – a total non sequitur?

This border matter was settled by a globally recognized Tribunal Award in 1899, long before the term Cold War was even in our lexicon, certainly a term not used in the 18th-19th Century.

But beyond the faux pas, for us this is an issue that is settled, as the boys say ‘a done deal’. Mr. Ramotar to the best of my memory is the only President to refer to this Venezuela Claim as a ‘dispute’; we have no dispute, all of the territory we received from the British on May 26, 1966 is ours, end of story.

On these matters our Head of State need be the super patriot with no tincture of compromise.

It is this sort of thing that can see the lowering of national morale, and who knows, allow the visit this week of a Venezuela military outfit to Eteringbang.

The Eteringbang Falls being just one mile below Ankoko. Did they lose their way?

Our Leaders must on important occasions choose their words with great care.

Mr. Burnham was once referred to by a high British Official as the ‘ambiguous

Mr. Burnham’.

In a delicate situation or when you are the host, it is better to be so accused (but this calls for skills in the use of English) than what we heard.

Some of us have had cause to remind our friends from Venezuela that it was only when Independence was in the offing that, like Rip Van Winkle, they made a claim and, therefore the tacit acceptance for all these years that the 83,000 square miles we know as Guyana was all ours.

In November 1966, as we were enjoying the early days of Independence, Venezuela took over the whole of the Island of Ankoko. Ankoko is an Island in the Cuyuni River opposite the mouth of the Wenamu Creek.

It is legally divided in two portions as a result of the settled British Guiana (UK) Venezuela boundary award of 1899, the Eastern half being the territory of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

The late Lloyd Barker, then a young Police Officer, was sent to certify our ownership, we know the rest.

Guyana is not for sale or short term lease by no set of persons – we must resist this insinuation.

We need to know some things which will be part of my writing later. We see evidence of this selling off of parts of Guyana, to dispossess our descendants of their patrimony. This is unacceptable.

When war drums were beating on our Western Border - the late Mr. Jai Narine Singh who was highly regarded by

Venezuela, offered through me, to visit Caracas to talk President Burnham facilitated, because at the end of the day, peace is the better option. But the reality is, when we talk it must be with some ‘backings’… look at world history.

Only four persons knew that while we talked, with the help of certain friends from faraway places, we had solid military support mobilized and ready for action in an area of the North West.

Latin from Epitoma Rei Militaris by Vegetius says ‘If you want peace prepare for War’ – sad, but that is a reality.

Guyana was clear about our position, I recall thanks to the urgings of the late Pat Cameron our renowned great Guyanese, Dave Martins, influenced by conversations with an Amerindian Captain who fully supported our stance by saying “we must not give up anything that belongs to we”.

Mr. President, this was between 1964 and 1992 that an Amerindian patriot expressed those views.

Dave locked himself away in his hotel room and after some hours produced the fantastic and beautiful; ‘not a blade of grass’, in the late 1970s.

This became a sort of an Anthem. What the statecontrolled Radio may have done for all of this period was to air ‘not a blade of grass’.

Softened by Hilton Hemerding’s – Beautiful Guyana, and Song of the Republic, words which remind us to cherish and defend forever the State that give them (us) birth.

Hamilton Green, J.P,

Clueless about the importance of reading in schools DEAR EDITOR, On Monday 9th September, 2013, one of the greatest ‘eye-pass’ was perpetrated by the Ministry of Education of this country. In an effort to generate interest in reading, the Ministry of Education had a ‘Give a Book’ day and at 11 hours commanded that everyone ‘Drop everything and Read for 15 minutes.’

This is downright ‘eye-pass’. It is this Ministry which stopped employing librarians in schools. Here is the Ministry of Education campaigning for students to read for 15 minutes of one day of the year and at the same time destroy the reading culture in schools by not hiring librarians in schools. What is even more absurd is that the Ministry of Education continues to build schools with library rooms even though librarians are never hired and books are

never provided for the library. In many schools, these future libraries are sealed. There is an aspect of inequality present here as well. Schools controlled by a Board can hire a librarian. As such, Queen’s College, The Bishops’ High School, St. Stanislaus College, etc, can have a librarian, but schools under the mercy of the Ministry of Education must read for 15 minutes of one day of the year. The geniuses at the Ministry of Education have not yet realized that there is positive correlation between the absence of a reading culture and the miserable CSEC English results.

The Ministry of Education is clueless when it comes to the importance of reading in schools. This Ministry makes a big fuss when it uses taxpayers’ money to photocopy textbooks and share to students.

It would be nice to know how many

non-textbooks have been distributed to libraries and how many libraries have been refurbished.

Here is another example of the Ministry’s oblivious approach when it comes to reading.

The 2015 syllabus for English B has started in Grades 9 and 10 around the country.

No school has received the textbooks on the syllabus to start teaching as yet. No teacher received copies in July to prepare to teach in September.

Quite recently, some Departments of Education distributed A Midsummer’s Night Dream which is on the old syllabus that comes to an end this year. It would be nice if the Ministry of Education can ‘Give the books on the 2015 syllabus’.

Mohammed S. Hussain

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news

It is time for the decent people in this country to step forward DEAR EDITOR, If one is to listen to the overwhelming majority of the well-connected materially wealthy in Guyana, one will find that they are against the position taken by those who opposed the flawed Amalia Falls Hydro project.

The PPP-controlled media houses continue to spread propaganda in favour of the flawed, corrupt deal with no

respect for the taxpayers.

The haughty so-called intellectuals who feed from the PPP, continue to support Amaila despite the overwhelming evidence of the prohibitive cost to the nation.

If one is to listen to the cocktail circuit at the embassies and at the social clubs in Georgetown, it seems like most of the elites are against the sober, well-

informed financial analysts, experts and economists. The majority of us are the opposite. We know that their revelations are spot-on.

The latest polls at the end of August 2013 revealed that the PPP is not in any favourable position to call elections. If they were, we are certain that Ramotar would have done so. In fact, the PPP knows that it has lost the

WE NEED TO DIVERSIFY OUR ENERGY SOURCES DEAR EDITOR, Aside from providing Guyana with a cheap, clean source of electricity, the question on everyone’s mind seems to be is the Amaila Falls Hydroelectricity Project viable? There are two camps.

The pros say it is and the cons say it is not. It all depends on your point of view.

Let’s face it. Amaila Falls is about saving hard-earned foreign currency which is being spent on imported oil and about reducing the price of electricity in Guyana so that manufacturing can take off creating thousands of jobs. But, at what cost ask the cons?

The pros seem to be focusing on the savings that they envisage the Amaila project would make over time and about the number of jobs the manufacturing industry would create which is looking to the future.

Whereas, the cons seem to be focused on the actual cost and the amount the investors make.

Who cares how much the investors (IDB and Sithe Global) make? They are the investors, they are taking the risk. So, they should be rewarded for their efforts.

What Guyanese care about is the actual amount it saves them in their electricity bills (reported to be in the region of 40%). And, how much foreign currency it saves Guyana over the life of

the hydroelectric dam (around 75 years).

One can argue that the assumption the cons make is that the price of oil will remain static, when in fact it is likely to rise because India, Africa and China are becoming more developed. The pros and cons need to understand that no matter how much planning you do, nothing in life is certain.

Certainly in the business world nothing is certain. We could build the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project only to find out that it does not live up to expectations or we may not build it, only to find that the oil price continues to rise leaving us with huge oil import bills.

On the other hand, the effect of shale oil (which America is pursuing to become less dependent on the Middle East) may cause a collapse in the oil price. This is what the pros ignore in their arguments.

So, the question remains whether the Amaila project is viable. I suggest that we have another feasibility study done by a company that has actually built a hydroelectric project to get a better understanding of cost.

Preferably not the Chinese.

Then, build Amaila.

This is because the electricity consumption in Guyana is rising so we will

need more electricity anyway.

We need to diversify our energy sources, so we are not reliant on just oil for electricity. We are really asking for trouble by just relying on oil.

I find David Granger’s response to the Americans when he said he was a patriot and the Americans just had their own interest at heart as an excuse for not supporting the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project, because if this were the case then they would never have given us a huge debt reduction when we were a HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country).

Then there is the argument that APNU was not properly consulted by the governing PPP/C. Another excuse. APNU was consulted with regard to the phased increase in electricity prices in Linden and what happened? An agreement was reached, then APNU/PNC backpedalled on the agreement. So you see, consultation does not necessarily mean agreement.

Sean McLean

support of the majority and would get a sound thrashing from the voters if they decide to call local government elections. The masses, including several staunch PPP supporters, have had enough of this greedy, crooked and corrupt regime.

Even some of their leaders have secretly called on Ramotar to take decisive action to end the corrupt practices. It seems as though that may never happen.

The people are fully aware that the cabal’s support for Amaila and Sithe Global to earn over US$500 million on its investment of just over US$100 million is because of the hundreds of millions in kickbacks to them.

Those benefiting are more interested in filling their pockets than in protecting the interests of Guyanese in these huge contracts. If their intent is to protect the people’s interests, then why have they allowed a foreign contractor to build the Marriott Hotel without Guyanese workers?

It is one thing to say that there is a language barrier, but it is a colossal insult to say that Guyanese workers do not have the skills required to work on the hotel. The window of opportunity to

stop the kleptocrats from retarding the nation’s development is swiftly closing, as the PPP has now indicated that it is prepared to ignore Parliament and continue with the Airport Expansion Project and the Specialty Hospital, when they cannot even provide adequate care to the patients at the Georgetown Hospital.

As one singer rightly said “If you go to the hospital with a gum boil, you will end up six feet in the soil.”

It is “penny wise and pound foolish” for this reckless administration to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new airport that caters to about four to six flights daily, while allowing the nation’s public schools and its only university to collapse. We are convinced

that these projects are money laundering schemes to enrich the politically connected. If they really want to develop Guyana then they should stop shedding false tears over Amalia which is already dead and turn to other forms of low cost energy such as gas, wind and a reformulated hydro plan.

They must also stop taking kickbacks from contractors when awarding contracts and end all corrupt practices.

This nonsense has to stop and the sooner the decent people in this country step forward and put an end to it, the better, even if it means massive, peaceful street protests. It is time for the people to stop living on their knees and stand firmly on their feet.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

AN APOLOGY TO MR. CARL GREENIDGE DEAR EDITOR, Mr. Carl Greenidge has written to me to inform me that at no time did he take advice from Ms. Gail Teixeira in the vote in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that saw the reappointment of Mrs. Ashni Singh to the Auditor General’s Office. In the light of his statement, I offer an apology to him Frederick Kissoon

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Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

Meten-Meer-Zorg robbery victim was shot while warning of gunmen In the course of raising an alarm when six armed bandits stormed the 76 Third Street Meten–Meer–Zorg home and business place of the Namdar family, 27-year-old Zulficar ‘Vicky’ Namdar was shot once to his upper body.

To ensure that he would not be a problem, another gunshot aimed at him, missed.

That is the bullet Stephen Mohamed, believes struck him in the left thigh and exited.

The 17-year-old student, who has been working parttime for only a week in Namdar’s grocery shop, is still shaken by Tuesday night’s robbery. He told Kaieteur News that his employer was shot just as he was about to warn him about the gunman pointing the gun in their direction.

He said that Namdar was getting change for a customer when the gunmen shouted, “Nobody don’t move.” That was before ordering Namdar’s two friends who were seated on a bench outside the shop to go on the ground and hand over their cell phones. Namdar was still in front of the money drawer Mohamed said.

“When ‘Vicky’ was handling de change, he push he hand to put back de money and de bandit see that, and

...bandits make off with charity and orphan money fire a shot through the mesh.”

The gunshot, Mohamed stated, came just as Namdar was about to say ‘duck.’ “His body dropped in front of me, and I began leaning on the wall cause I get shot.”

While two of the gunmen manned the narrow street in front of the Namdar’s, two remained in the shop area with Namdar’s friends still face down on the ground. Two more entered the yard, where they met Namdar’s mother, 48year-old Fazila Namdar and Carlo Ussuf, another one of the family’s employees.

All the while, the bandits were discharging shots in front of the premises, Ussuf said. He said he was in the backyard eating at a table and thought that youngsters were letting off fire crackers.

That soon changed when the masked men came towards him. “Dem thought I was de boss man cause dem keep asking me wheh de money deh. I tell he I ain’t know; I don’t live hay.”

The gunmen were not convinced, Ussuf told

Fly Jamaica to start operations to Guyana September 26 The long wait is over for Jamaican carrier, Fly Jamaica, which will start operations to Guyana on September 26.

Airline officials have confirmed that the partnership carrier will on that date land at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport before making its way to the United States via Kingston, Jamaica.

Fly Jamaica will be operating direct flights

between Toronto and Georgetown; TorontoKingston; GeorgetownKingston-New York; and one non-stop flight from Georgetown to Toronto.

The airline is operating a 757 Boeing until the acquisition of a 767 in November. Local staff are already in place, while on-theground operates are also ready. Tickets are on sale for the respective destinations.

Kaieteur News, because one of them cocked the handgun and placed it behind Ussuf’s head. He said that he is positive he would have been dead if Mrs. Namdar did not say, “No no, nah shoot um; Is me get de money. Me gun give you everything.”

Mrs. Namdar told Kaieteur News that she only realized it was a robbery when they started to ‘ruff up’ Ussuf.

She said that she had the money in the lower flat of the building. “Me go to get de key but me nah know if is fright, but de key fall out me hand and when me bend down to pick it up dem lash me behind me head and seh hurry up; time going.” Not even the passports did they leave behind the woman said.

Fifty-year old Goolza Namdar, a popular Commissioner of Oaths in West Demerara area and the Regional Vice President of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) said that the bandits made off with more than $1M in charity and orphan money. They also took jewelry and important documents.

The senior Namdar said that he was preparing for the last prayer of the day according to his Muslim customs when he heard the commotion in the yard.

He said he remained calm and did not give away his position, but was gravely concerned about his grandson who was running around asking for him.

Senior Namdar was still unaware that his son was shot. He told Kaieteur News that he is a licensed firearm holder, but that weapon was in the upper flat.

Fighting to hold back tears, Namdar said he was speechless because he heard the gunshots but never

Zulficar Namdar and wife in happier times

Family and friends pray at the Namdar premises

thought they had killed someone. “I thought it was just warning shots.”

“There is no untimely death. We believe that what is ordain for you, you will surely have it. “ He is however distraught at the increase of criminal activities taking place. For him, security will now be a major issue for his

family. “When we go any part of this world, in the US, Suriname, Trinidad, we always love Guyana. Guyana has a lot of potential but why is it so, when you cannot live happily, you always wonder because security is very poor.”

“Police vehicles breakdown or something happen that prevents us from getting security.” Namdar said he is not contemplating packing up and leaving, but the situation is forcing many Guyanese to leave the country.

“Do the politicians know that our lives are important?”

We could give everything we

have but leave our children, leave our mothers and our grandchildren.”

Some residents told Kaieteur News that they do not feel safe in their homes.

One of Namdar’s neighbours said, when he heard the gunshots, he immediately closed his shop door. One of his relatives spoke about the bushy areas and called for increased police presence.

She said that it was the same way gunmen gunned down her uncle in the same street in 2002.

Since then, the community was cleared of tall bushes and never again, she said.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

Delay in marking exam papers “incomprehensible” Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, is perturbed by the fact that lecturers continued to “footdrag” on the marking of examination papers. He regarded the state of affairs as “incomprehensible” when he hosted a press conference at the University’s Education Lecture Theatre on Tuesday.

“We cannot understand why a lecturer will not be able to mark a script within two months...up to now we have not received all the marks for the second semester and the classes have started, and students want their grades to move on to other programmes or to move unto other things,” said Professor Opadeyi.

He said that because there was a delay in the availability of Biology grades some students were told that they were unable to enter the Medicine Programme.

According to the Vice Chancellor, a number of students were desirous of entering the latter mentioned programme but were unable to do so because of the “footdragging” nature of some lecturers in terms of the marking of exam papers.

The students, according to the Vice Chancellor, were found to have good performances in Biology thus their intended move to migrate to the new

- says Vice Chancellor programme.

“I had to step in and ask the students to sit down and create space for those persons who did well...This is an unjust action and we should not be treating our students, who have worked very hard to get into the programme of choice like this because of delay in submitting marks.”

During an earlier interview, the Vice Chancellor said that he was proud that almost 95 per cent of all results were available but had envisioned that all 100 per cent would have been released by the start of the new academic year.

He had however mentioned that there are yet some among the staff of the University who still appeared bent on embracing “the old mode of ‘I don’t have to meet deadlines’...But I’ll tell you this, I do believe I have the support of all my colleagues.”

He said that many of the daunting issues that have been highlighted in the newspapers are in fact being used as stepping stones at the University. “It has really helped us because I am reading the newspaper and I am cutting out these (newspaper) clippings about

UG not doing this and that, and we are confronting these issues...”

Recently the University completed a special audit into the financial affairs of the institution but according to the Vice Chancellor this will certainly not be the end to the action being taken.

He said that the University is already working on some other initiatives which will include a management audit to ascertain whether the University is following its Admissions and Human Resources Regulations properly.

“We have to see if we are doing what we are suppose to do or if all of our regulations are just ignored and we are just doing what we want to as in the case of the Bursary,” said Professor Opadeyi.

He said that the University is currently reviewing its Sexual Harassment Policy and Regulations. In fact he disclosed that on Monday a staff member was sent home because of sexual harassment issues. “I am sending a signal that this Vice Chancellor will not tolerate any form of Sexual Harassment at this University,” said the Vice Chancellor.

Barbados to begin striking off court cases The Barbados judiciary will soon strike off cases from its list of pending matters, in a move that may hold an example of a way forward for Guyana in addressing the problem of a backlog in issues for the court.

As it is now in Guyana, Barbados has a high number of matters waiting years for a court decision. The island’s judiciary early this year decided upon a Backlog Reduction Project (BRP) to oversee whether some matters from as far back as 1990 remain applicable now.

In the first indication that this review is yielding benefits, Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson, has announced that over three dozen cases filed in 1990 are on the chopping block.

“There are now some 29 orders of dismissal which are being prepared for my signature, and another 11 orders for cases which will be calendared for status hearings before me shortly,” he said Monday at the opening of the 2013-2014

assizes. These cases were forwarded to the Chief Justice by a BRP committee, which is now set to turn its attention to matters filed in 1991, and Sir Marston expressed satisfaction that within months of the programme results are forthcoming.

“I feel very positive about the work of the committee and the fact that we have had some measure of success, however limited,” he said.

The 40 cases that will ultimately be thrown out unless concerned parties file a legal objection, represent part of the 79 outstanding matters for 1990.

The Chief Justice described work on erosion of the backlog as limited so far, because the case-load builds up annually.

The Guyana numbers far exceed the civil cases filed in the Barbados High court; but more matters get to hearing on that island than here.

Recognising that despite the work of eradicating matters at the back end of the pile-up, they would always be

out-numbered by new grievances filed by persons, the Barbados judiciary will soon introduce another system to steer some matters away, or take them out, from the courts - the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism.

“As indicated last year, we need to change the way we do business in the courts if we are going to be ever able to get ahead of the curve, or at least keep up with the annual filings,” Sir Marston said.

Practiced in many developed countries, this mechanism for mediation and arbitration outside of the courts is said to be less adversarial and is recommended by judges as a recourse in situations where the matter can be settled without court intervention.

“There are cases that require a judge’s attention and cases which do not; and there are cases, especially commercial cases which need to be brought to finality quickly,” Sir Marston said.

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ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY If an agency is an Authority or a corporation, then its accounting requirements are totally different from that of a government department. In fact, the mere production of financial statements while being sufficient for the purposes of public accounting is never going to be ideal when dealing with agencies that are supposed to enjoy some degree of financial autonomy from Central Government.

The statutory requirements for such bodies demand only that the audited accounts be laid in parliament but best practices would dictate that the public should be entitled to much more, say a detailed annual report outlining the achievements and challenges that the agency faced during each accounting year.

This is all the more imperative if the agency handles a great deal of money. At least the public would be more satisfied if instead of merely accounting for each dollar and cent and having such accounts certified by the Auditor General as accurately reflecting the finances of the entity concerned, the stewardship exercised by the

management itself is made more transparent through the publication of an annual report.

While it is true that an annual report more or less replicates the audited financial statements of the agency concerned, it also allows for the public to have a greater understanding of what the agency did over the accounting period and what challenges it faces.

The degree of transparency represented by the publication of annual reports would be enhanced by the publication of annual reports regardless if whether such reports are a statutory requirement.

One of the problems that Guyana experienced was that, after the wave of privatization that took place following the economic liberalization of the State sector was that a great many of the oversight bodies for public corporations and authority were removed.

These oversight and holding bodies represented a huge drain on the limited financial resources and staffing these bodies with competent personnel would have represented something of a challenge at a time when the economy was virtually on its knees and in rebuilding

Dem boys seh...

Parliament driving Sherlock mad Sherlock in a bad way and nobody don’t care. De poor man feel like he running mad and all Donald do is tell he to go back to wuk because de parliament need he right deh.

Things wouldn’t have been so bad if de parliamentarians dem use to behave demself.

De other day dem pass four Bills but to this day none of dem same Bills ain’t reach Donald. Well dem boys seh that is that put pressure pun poor Sherlock. Granger calling pun he fuh send de Bills to Donald and Ah Kneel telling he to send de Bills to de AG Chambers.

As soon as one call Sherlock wid he instructions de other one calling wid de other instructions. Sherlock holler at de top of he voice. Then he tell dem reporters that if he stay one more week pub de job he gun get a stroke.

De man ain’t stop deh. He claim that this is de wuss parliament he ever wuk in. And he right. He never see a parliament wheh people fighting every session. He never go to a session wheh dem vote fuh cut de budget and is like if nutten ain’t happen because de government spending de same money that get cut.

Sherlock, wid tears in he eye, seh that he willing to call it a day if only he can get he pension.

He got four more years fuh reach retirement age but ever since he meet de age fuh collect he public service pension he been asking Donald fuh a chance. He seh that Donald ignore he. Then Granger giving he instructions.

Well that was de last straw.

Sherlock get mad. He tell Granger that he ain’t got authority to give he instructions and if he think he powerful leh he go and give Donald instruction. Clement watching de situation and Ah Kneel done know that nutten Granger do can mek he get dem Bills.

But dem boys seh that talk fuh rain, talk fuh sun de man who checking de Bills did want to go home fuh a long time too but de same Donald telling he that dem ain’t got no replacement. So Sherlock and de man in Ah Kneel office got to unite to deal wid Granger.

mode. As such there has been limited oversight of public corporations Authorities and agencies that enjoy relative autonomy, from central government control.

As a result concerns, some of them misplaced have been raised about the level of transparency that exists.

Donald Ramotar is someone who has demonstrated a higher commitment to public transparency and accountability and therefore he should continue in this vein by strengthening the oversight mechanism that exists in relation of these autonomous and semiautonomous bodies.

For one he should insist, as was done in the case of the University of Guyana, that

despite there being no proven malfeasance, if accounting systems are flawed or there are problems with accounts that those responsible be so held and be replaced.

It is important however, that first, all semi autonomous and autonomous agencies, including corporations and any public Authority be asked to produce annual reports of other reports aimed at providing enhanced accountability and transparency.

Thus, it is not sufficient to know the financial state of any such entity. What is required is for the agency to report on what were its objectives at the start of the year and the extent to which these were achieved.

This would be a useful

starting point for a review of both the performance of the management as well as for those agencies that have Boards. There should be no holy cows operating in any government agency and if having set out new requirements as to what is expected there is a deviation from these new standards, then the President should intervene and appoint new personnel to take over.

There are many competent persons out there who can be suitable replacements for some public officials who may be inclined to feel that there are permanent fixtures.

The President therefore needs to ensure that there is review of the existing oversight mechanisms and to

also ensure that there is the required capacity to undertake the reviews that are necessary.

The oversight body should establish new standards of reporting, accountability and transparency and should monitor the agencies that are required to comply with these new standards.

Where any agency fails to do so then the axe must fall on those responsible, regardless of the connections of that individual.

Guyana records 30 murders in 70 days Going into the last quarter of the year, the Guyana Police Force is facing a worrying increase in criminal activity.

Recent figures released by the police Criminal Investigations Department show that at the end of August, there was a six percent increase in serious crimes in comparison with the corresponding period last year.

The serious crimes include murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping.

Up to the period in question, January 1 to

August 31 there were 155 more reports of serious crimes than for the same period last year.

If this trend continues, the figures could rival those of the crime wave years, the police said.

Already there are close to 92 murders recorded so far for the year.

The police figures show that at the end of August, 85 murders were committed, a four percent increase on the 2012 figure.

And with six more murders so far for this month, the situation is a bit worrying.

The figures revealed that there were 31 murders between the beginning of July

and present.

Of the 85 murders at the end of August, 35 were of the disorderly type, 14 were committed during armed robberies; 13 were domestic related, while the other 22 are so far undetermined.

Execution style remained static at one up to August month end but this figure has increased with two more such killings within the past 10 days.

Georgetown and its environs continue to lead with the most murders, 27, at the end of August (now 31), followed closely by the Interior, which has recorded 26 murders so far.

Essequibo remains the

“safest” region in Guyana in terms of murder, with one recorded so far.

Linden and the surrounding districts are also relatively quiet in terms of murders.

In the area of robbery under arms; at the end of August, there was a three percent increase, with 692 reports compared to 672 for the same period in 2012.

The statistics indicate an increase of 10% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; and a seven percent decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.

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“Well dressed” bandits GPL line loss $600M per month …a costly factor strike Montrose family again Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) spends in the vicinity of $700M every 10 days to purchase fuel but with its technical and commercial losses at 31 per cent, this would mean every ten days the company loses at least $217M of that money.

GPL’s gets its money from its customers who pay for electricity each month, and grants from central Government.

This past week, the Chief Executive Officer of the power company, Bharat Dindyal, along with the company’s top brass, had met with members of the public to discuss the performance of the power company.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the power company, Aeshwar Deonarine, lamenting the critical nature of the fuel bill, disclosed that the company would have to find between $600M and $700M to buy fuel every ten days.

It was pointed out during that meeting also that the US$42M upgrade to the transmission and distribution network currently underway would only reduce the system losses by two per cent.

The power company has been experiencing losses at an average of 31 per cent in the past three years, despite putting several measures in place to address the challenge.

During the

meeting it was disclosed that almost 4000 specialized (iTRON) meters would have been installed, almost 30,000 defective meters replaced, 61,000 illegal connections removed and another 47,000 investigations among other initiatives.

Dindyal told members of the public that now that the power company has addressed in a great deal, power generation, “our major focus has to be loss reduction.”

In firing back at critics who have argued that the power company should not be receiving any government subsidy until it reduced its losses, asked “how are we going to reduce the losses.”

He said that talking to people and appealing will not work and that the power company will have to adopt a technological approach to curb with the losses.

“We have designs now for our distribution network which is considered fool proof…we have designs for a metering system which is the most advanced in the world.”

He said by the end of the year the power company would be in possession of the first 2,000 meters and they will be deployed.

“It’s not that we don’t know what to do, it’s not that we not doing anything about it…there is a solution, there’s

a technological solution and what we need is money in large quantities.”

According to Dindyal curbing losses needs money “in the tens of millions of US dollars.”

Dindyal said that in a few short years the power company would not be in the same state that it is now.

“From a political standpoint we could be criticized to hell, people could call us anything, you know why, we are on our knees, we are in a hole,” said Dindyal.

Deonarine in weighing in on the state of the art meters that the power company is looking to launch said that to equip the entire country the power company would require about US$48M. “It’s not like you can say take a US$2M and start this…it doesn’t work because the infrastructure we have to put in place is about US$10M,” said Deonarine.

He said that the cost of the actual meter is comparable with similar types across the world but the infrastructure to get the programme up and running is costly.

He said that the two factors currently crippling the power company is extremely high fuel price and “losses must be reduced…Yes the will is there, the technology is there, we know what to do but one thing is missing, cash.”

Red Dragon owner freed of human trafficking charge The case against Raymond “Clement” Ali, owner of the popular night spot, Red Dragon on Robb Street, Georgetown, was dismissed yesterday after a weak case was put forward by the prosecution.

The prosecution case was hinged on only one witness.

When the case was first brought before Magistrate Sueanna Lovell at the Georgetown Magistrates’

court, on April 5, Selwyn “Selly” Lewis of Nutmeg Street, Festival City did not appear before the court with co-accused, Red Dragon owner, Raymond “Clement” Ali of 15 Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar.

On that occasion, Magistrate Lovell read the charge to the 61-year-old businessman, the particulars of which stated that from June 1, 2012, to June 30, 2012, the two accused held hostage a

Raymond “Clement” Ali female Brazilian under the age of 15, at the Red Dragon Hotel, for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Ali was not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge. When Lewis was finally arrested and brought before Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry on May 21, he too was not required to plead to the allegations.

Representing Ali was Attorney at Law Kim KyteJohn and for the other accused was Defense Attorney, Peter Hugh. It was concluded that the trial was a waste of the court’s time.

The house in which the robbery took place By: Javone Vickerie Six months after bandits attempted to enter the home of East Coast Demerara taxi service owner, Babita Narine, three men on Tuesday night carted off more than $500,000 in cash and jewellery leaving an entire family traumatized.

According to the police, about 20:15hrs three men, one of whom was armed with a firearm, invaded Shamo’s Taxi Service located at Montrose, Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara.

The police further stated that the gunmen then held up two taxi-drivers and the two daughters of the business owner and escaped with over $500,000, a quantity of jewellery and three cell phones.

Neighbours alerted ranks who responded promptly.

“Upon arrival at the scene the police were informed that the perpetrators were still in the building and holding one of the women hostages.

The police proceeded to tactically cordon and enter the building, but found that the men had already fled the scene,” the release stated.

Yesterday, a still visibly shaken Babita Narine told Kaieteur News that she and husband were not at home at the time of robbery. “We went to buy gas at Guyoil on Sheriff Street because we had a long line of cars this week at the gas station and meh lef home meh two daughters with the driver them,” Narine said.

Narine said that her eldest daughter was left in the taxi service performing the duties of a dispatcher. Narine said that while returning home with her husband they received a frantic call from one of the taxi drivers.

“The man call me husband and tell he that bandit in the house with we two girls dem and he nah see the other two drivers in the yard, just the car them park outside,” the woman said.

She added that the taxi

driver then ran out to the road, trying to alert other motorist that bandits were holding five persons hostage within the house.

Narine said that when she and husband arrived at the home, scores of persons including police officers were gathered outside of the home.

Narine explained that as she watched the entire ordeal, she prayed for the safe return of her daughters and driver who were held captive by the bandits.

One of the daughters who hid said, “I was outside sitting in the sofa and I saw one of the men enter the yard with a gun first and walk straight up to one of the drivers who sitting under the house. I realize that something wasn’t right”, the young woman said.

The young woman said that more men came into the yard and she became scared after the intruders became aggressive with the taxi drivers. “They turn and tell we shut up and go inside and they put them on the ground to lie down so I ran and hide before they could see me,” the shaken woman said.

According to the victim she became more scared after one of the bandits said, “Wheh she deh? Y’all find she and bring she.” But she remained in her dark corner praying not to be found.

She said that while one of the bandits monitored the hostages on the bottom flat, the other two found their way upstairs, ransacked the bedrooms and collected jewelry, cash and three cellular phones.

During the 30-minute ordeal, the other sister who was upstairs was then brought down by one of the armed men with a gun to her head, before she was joined by the others on the living room floor.

“I heard a car approaching so I thought it was my dad and then I started to scream

for help telling them that they got bandits in the house and then I overheard the men saying that she still inside and they were going to look for me,” the woman said.

She said that at that moment she became confused after thinking what could have happened to her if the men would have discovered her in the hiding place.

Luckily, the woman said that police officers then swarmed the house looking for bandits.

She said that after the police came in the yard the men then ran upstairs and escaped from upstairs. She however told this publication that the three men were well dressed. They were not masked but all wore toques on their heads.

Meanwhile, Narine believed that the men ran up the stairs and escaped through a slide, before walking on the roof and exiting by way of the back alley.

Narine also explained that this was not the first time that bandits invaded her home.

“We had a wedding on March 2 and some men came in and tried to go inside but we were not sleeping so they didn’t get to take anything and they escaped,” Narine said.

Apart from the cash and jewelry, $180,000 was stolen from one of the daughters who is a Secretary at the Better Hope Mandir youth group. The cash belonged to the said youth group.

Narine said that since the last robbery security has not been a major issue.

“This is a taxi service and people always walking in and out of the yard. I never expected this to happen again,” Narine said.

Contrary to reports carried in the media the police in a statement said that it did not discharge any warning shots nor was there any exchange of gunfire with the perpetrators.

The men still remain on the run while investigations are in progress.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Family of slain rice miller believes attack BK embroiled was carried out by known individuals with GGMC over

By Leon Suseran The family of the 74-yearold Corentyne rice- miller who was gunned down at his residence on Tuesday night believes that the gruesome attack was carried out by individuals who were wellknown. Lallapersaud ‘Lall’ Juggerdeo of Lot 34, Number Nought Village was shot in the left side chest and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Skeldon Hospital.

Juggerdeo, a rice miller for over 15 years, came from a family of rice millers—his father being involved in the business for over 30 years.

As newer details are coming to light on the attack, Basant Lallapersaud, the man’s son, stated that the four bandits were armed with two guns, one of which was a pump-action rifle. And they went all out to conceal their appearances since their heads were wrapped in black cloth; they wore sunglasses; were attired in all over black and had their faces covered in black handkerchiefs.

He had just left his parents and cousins downstairs chatting around 19:30hrs, something they regularly did at the end of the day. His cousins had just arrived from overseas as well.

“My dad left them and went upstairs to sleep,” he stated.

The man’s wife, Sheila, continued that her husband left them downstairs around 20:30 hrs and shortly after, she saw a shady individual, dressed in all over black crawling and entering the yard. She called out to the person and questioned who they were. There was no answer, except that the person continued to advance to the family downstairs.

She then realized it was an intruder, “and he wore dark, dark clothes and put a dark kerchief and dark sunshade.”

The woman added that the intruder grabbed on to her neighbour ’s hair. The neighbour was also sitting with them “and he cuffed her on her back and she fight back.” Meantime, the other three intruders were encroaching. They all invaded the bottom house and kitchen downstairs during which Juggerdeo, who was sleeping upstairs, awoke to the noise and rushed downstairs, demanding the intruders leave the compound.

She added, too, that one of the bandits accosted her and demanded that she take him upstairs. “My husband run down the step and pelted the bandits with the pineapples that were on the table and my husband took all of them to the street.” It could very well be that her

....police recover live rounds at crime scene

Juggerdeo’s house

husband diverted the bandits and thwarted their attempts to get further into the home and execute their robbery. He led them out to the roadway and there is where they started to fire shots, killing him in the process.

“I think known people did this-from not far from hereand it is not the big banditsyoung guys; now training on this job because if it was professionals, they would have killed all of us but they were scared,” Basant said.

He also stated that he was in his house in the front of the yard and heard a loud bang. When he arrived, he witnessed “my dad pelting them with a piece of stick, so they must have decided to shoot him and they fired the shot.” He stated, too, that he and the others started to pelt the bandits with any object they could have found, and it seemed as if the men got scared and discontinued their quest to carry out the robbery in the house and ran away.

Sadly, though, his father got shot while the bandits were fleeing the scene. They

SHOT DEAD: Lallapersaud ‘Lall’ Juggerdeo shot their way out. He picked up his father, quickly put him in a vehicle, and rushed him to Skeldon Hospital.

Basant believes the motive of the men seemed very clear—”to rob— because we sell rice yesterday [Tuesday] but the people didn’t pay us…They [the bandits] could have got to go in the house, but they didn’t get to go in.”

Police arrived at the scene shortly after “with pen and paper—I don’t know if pen

and paper can find the bandits.” Kaieteur News was also told that the Commander of ‘B’ Division, Mr. Clifton Hicken also visited with other senior ranks yesterday.

The police recovered three live rounds and two spent shells at the crime scene.

“Our life ain’t safe in this country—the bandits them and dope people tracing you…Criminals must serve their time because they don’t deserve to be out here and destroy an honest person. I don’t think it’s right.”

He described his father as an “honest and hardworking” person. “He didn’t fight with anybodyhe is home, had some fun at times but no fighting with neighbours-everybody can talk about him.”

Juggerdeo also leaves to mourn his children: Basant, Sisto, Gaitree, Shashtree and Vijai. A post- mortem is due to be performed on the body but no resident Pathologist is available since Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan is on leave.

Convict gets additional year for smoking utensil A convict, who is currently serving a one-year prison sentence for attempting to smuggle 99 grams of cannabis, was on Tuesday sentenced to serve an additional year in jail for a similar crime.

Keith Tuesday, a married father of four, begged the court “to finish de story,” when he faced Georgetown Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The man stressed that he cannot afford to be imprisoned because his wife is pregnant with their fifth child. He had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Law enforcement officers say that on August 8, 2013, Tuesday had in his

possession a utensil used for smoking cocaine at his Lot 2112 Alexander Street residence. The improvised pen cover used in connection with smoking cocaine was found in a room occupied by the defendant.

The defendant was taken into police custody and an examination conducted by narcotics analysts revealed that the instrument tested positive for cocaine.

Magistrate Latchman inquired whether the defendant has other criminal antecedents, prior to her ruling. Police Prosecutor Sergeant Vishnu Hunte, detailed the defendant’s criminal background.

Hunte told the court that Tuesday received a one-year sentence in absentia for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

When he was arrested for the current offence and placed before the court on August 9, he began to serve his sentence.

Tuesday, then informed the court that “de sentence pass behind me back cause I been in jail serving another small sentence.” He explained that he served a two-month prison sentence for assault.

The Magistrate took all the factors into consideration, before informing the defendant that he will be jailed for an additional 12 months.

License expansion BK International is accusing the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for delaying the growth and expansion of the company by not responding to its application for a license to increase its Quarry reserve.

BK’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Tiwarie, on Tuesday said, “We have applied to expand our quarry operations at the GGMC since last year; we have not even got a response from GGMC to date. Whether they would do it, whether they would need a new quarry, whether they would allow us to expand…

We are still waiting. We have the financial resources; we have the capacity to expand our business.”

He then released the letter his company penned to the GGMC. In the said document BK stated, “The increasing demand for massive infrastructural development in the country, sharp increase in housing and commercial construction and export demand for crushed aggregates from Guyana are the factors attributed to the increasing demand for stone and hence the need for expansion.

“It is in the light of this impending situation that BK Quarries Inc. is hereby seeking to secure a new license so that reserves may be established and production ensured.”

According to Tiwarie, “We are trying to do everything possible that we could do with stone but we need the support from GGMC so that we can expand our business.”

Rickford Vieira, the Commissioner of GGMC, said that the licence was issued to BK International since 2007, but with respect to the granting of expansions, that would be impossible since the lands that would have to be allocated for expansions are being leased to another entity. “As such we (GGMC) never got clearance from Guyana Lands and Survey Commission to grant an

expansion for the licence.”

Vieira added that a meeting was held with BK International explaining why the expansion was not given.

However, Tiwarie denied that there was any meeting.

Further. He produced a copy of the document that seemed to suggest that the lease to the other entity was granted in 2010 but there was a flaw.

The document appeared to seek to make the licence retroactive to 2003, which is highly irregular.

The Flip Side BK’s contention comes at the time when the company is not getting enough local sales for ‘granite stones, even though the general consensus among some contractors is that there seems to be an apparent lack of stone available for purchase.

But those making the claim could not name one contractor who sought to acquire stone from BK International who did not secure supplies according to his request.

With the limited market avenues being presented to BK for crushed granite the company is contemplating the option to have their granite stones exported to clear off the stock pile that it has accumulated.

However the company reported that it is giving preference to the local market and as such has not taken a decision to export stones.

“We are giving up to this month end. If by this month end we see that they are not taking off the stone, then we will ship it out because we have an order for 50,000 tons per month to head to Trinidad where a Brazilian company is doing a huge highway in Trinidad. “We are now signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to have the 50,000 tons delivered with our ships.”

This also comes in the wake of the market currently being supplied with slate stones by Gafsons Industry, a type of stone that BK has quantified as being inferior.

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Thursday September 12, 2013

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

THE TRAGIC STORY IN AND OF GUYANA’S PARLIAMENT The fear of falling seriously ill over the stress of his job as the Clerk of the National Assembly must have touched the heart of everyone who read about it in this newspaper yesterday.

Here is a long-serving public servant openly telling the nation that his job in the 10th Parliament is so stressful that he feels if he does not leave he will fall ill and die.

Should the Guyanese people raise their voices about the plight of Mr. Sherlock Isaacs? If we do not

intervene and we hear about his collapse then what happens after?

How do we feel as humans if something terrible should happen to Mr. Isaacs’s health and we had the power to help him and we didn’t?

From what was spoken

by Mr. Isaacs, it seems that h e wants to vacate his position but is concerned about his benefits. Who in Guyana has the authority to help Mr. Isaacs?

It would seem that it would be the President but

this in itself raises an anomaly in Guyanese politics that does not obtain elsewhere. It appears more than inelegant that it is only the President that has the power to grant Mr. Isaacs his request.

Surely that is a situation that ought to be changed. It ought to be the Speaker or some select committee that should have the authority to discuss Mr. Isaacs’ contract.

As it turns out, the President did not approve Mr. Isaacs’s request to retire with his pension. It would be wise for the President to reconsider his decision given Mr. Isaacs’s fear about his health.

While addressing a gathering in Region Five, the President in reference to the resignation of the Director of the UG campus at Berbice said that no one is indispensable. Mr. Ramotar cannot be that shortsighted to think that there can be no replacement for Mr. Isaacs.

More importantly, President Ramotar should

give deep consideration to the health fears of Mr. Isaacs The plight of Mr. Isaacs tells a tragic tale of the life and nature of this country. The Clerk of the National Assembly who has a long record of service to the House has publicly exclaimed that the 10th Parliament is the worst of all the previous sessions that he has experienced and he certainly has been around a long time.

This certainly tells a sad story of our Parliament. The 10th Parliament should have been the most fruitful in Mr. Isaacs’s career. It should have been the Parliament where he would have seen the evolution of bipartisanship that Guyana has not witnessed since selfgovernment more than fiftyfive years ago.

Isn’t it ironic that what should have been his finest moment turned out to be Mr. Isaacs’s worst moment? And the reason for that is the rejection of the PPP of the parliamentary majority of the opposition. Herein lies the

heart of Mr. Isaacs’s predicament (no pun intended).

The PPP has not publicly said it but all Guyanese know it – the PPP will not accept its parliamentary minority status.

It is not going to accept legislation that originates from the AFC or APNU or both.

If the nation sides with Mr. Isaacs and call upon the President to pay him his benefits and let him enjoy his health, his successor will not be given an easy task.

Once the PPP repudiates the opposition’s control of Parliament the succeeding Clerk of the House will have to face the fire of bitter divisions The other side of the coin is Mr. Isaacs’s crusade to help his country when his country may feel that he is offering nationalism that derecognizes certain laws of the land and the Constitution itself.

His country may also feel that his nationalism is being exploited for narrow political reasons. In this regard one

Frederick Kissoon cannot help but feel for Mr. Isaacs but the Clerk knows that he has to play it as stipulated by the law.

Conventions are not laws.

Conventions have no legal standing in the eyes of the Constitution.

If it is a convention for a new Commissioner of Police to present his appointment to the army chief that does not mean the convention cannot be broken if the Commissioner says there is no law that says he has to go to the army chief and show him his instrument.

In the same vein there is no law and there is nothing in the Constitution that allows the Clerk to forward Bills to the AG’s chambers.

Despite his good intentions, Mr. Isaacs should play it safe and send the Bills directly to the President.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Page 13

Kaieteur News

rd

Rose Hall Town celebrates 43 anniversary The Rose Hall Town Anniversary and Development Organization (RHTADO) in collaboration with the Rose Hall Town C o u n c i l To w n D a y Committee, The Jammers Boxing Gym and other stakeholders have planned a series of activities to celebrate the town's 43rd anniversary.

The theme of the celebrations is 'Keeping Our Community Clean in 2013.'

The activities will be held from September 20 and will culminate on September 28.

According to coordinator Andrew Griffith, a number of initiatives have been planned for the period. A grand opening ceremony is planned while there will be a number of sporting events that would include boxing, cycling, athletics and other outdoor events.

The celebrations will be highlighted by a grand Street Fair and Exhibition. Other activities on the programme include Spelling B competition, Senior Citizens Day, and Kids Day. There is the opening ceremony on Friday at the Rose Hall Town Arch beginning at 16:00 hrs. On Saturday the big street fair and exhibition is planned

…organizers plan two weeks of activities from 12:00 hrs, until 21:00 hrs. This will roll into the grand Stag Beer Fete and after party which will be held from 20:00 hrs at the Area H Municipal Ground, Rose Hall Town. Music will be supplied by Slingers International Sounds.

On the morning of September 22, there will be a Beach Bash at the Rose Hall Town Beach, before persons head to a Church Service at 17:00 hrs at the Rose Hall Town Arch.

The next activity is set for September 24, which is the annual Spelling B Competition involving schools in the catchment area at the Rose Hall Town Primary School.

September 25 is Senior Citizens Day which will see the senior citizens in the town being pampered, treated and feted. September 26 will be the Service and Awards Ceremony, where a number of outstanding residents including the 10th Mayor William Hendrax and former Town Clerk Jenny Allicock will be honoured.

September 27 is reserved for lecture on Domestic

Violence at the Port Mourant Rehabilitation Centre. The activities are expected to culminate on Saturday with a night of Boxing and other

sporting activities which will feature pugilists from Berbice and Georgetown.

A n u m b e r o f organisations have so far

indicated their willingness to be a part of the activities including Lucky Dollar, Home Line Furnishing, Stag Beer and Wynettes Beauty Salon among others.

Patrons are reminded that the official Store for

Rose Hall Town Week 2013 is Lucky Dollar Rose Hall Branch. According to Griffith this year initiative plans to be bigger and better than before.Rose Hall town was founded on September 20, 1970.

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

Thursday September 12, 2013

Page 15

Kaieteur News

New Amsterdam celebrates nd 122 Anniversary The New Amsterdam Town Council is presently celebrating 122 years of existence as a municipality.

The Council which is headed

by Mayor Claude Henry observed the occasion on Tuesday with a simple cake cutting ceremony.

The cake was made in the shape of the town hall. The municipality is 122 yearsold while the town is 222 years old.

Speaking at a simple ceremony to observe the occasion, town clerk Sharron Alexander, said that the municipality over the years has grown despite its fair share of challenges. One of the main challenges is the disposal of solid waste, which she said has been a bugbear over the years.

However, the council is trying to get on top of the situation.

She called on the residents to continue to support the municipality.

The council has acquired some machines to help beautify the town, These include a Grader, a Backhoe, and a compactor truck. Most of the landmarks and assets are old. Some are in need of urgent repairs.

A cleanup campaign is slated for tomorrow from Vryheid Street and will

encompass the entire town.

On Saturday a cake sale has been planned for in front of the market.

New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam as it is known in Dutch) is located in East Berbice-Corentyne Region, 62 miles east of the capital, Georgetown. It is the oldest municipalities in Guyana and one of the largest towns in the country. It is located on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, immediately south of the Canje River.? ?

New Amsterdam has its origins in a village which grew up alongside Fort Nassau in the 1730s and 1740s. The first New Amsterdam, as it was called then, was situated about 56 miles up the Berbice River on the right bank.

Before the 1763 uprising, it comprised a Court of Policy building, a warehouse, an inn, two s m i t h i e s , a b a k e r y, a Lutheran church and a number of houses, among other buildings.

Built in 1740 by the Dutch New Amsterdam was first named Fort Saint Andries, before being taken over by the British in 1803.

In March 1763, Cuffy had made the Court of Policy building his headquarters.

When the revolutionaries

were forced to retreat upriver in 1764, New Amsterdam was torched under the supervision of Prins, and only the brick Lutheran church Survived.

Around 1784, as a result of the fluctuating fortunes of Fort Nassau, the Dutch relocated the town to its

present site at the confluence of the Berbice and Canje Rivers.

The name New Amsterdam was chosen because most of the colonists originated from the province of Amsterdam in Holland.

New Amsterdam was established as the seat of

Government for Berbice between 1785 and 1790.

In May 1825 an Ordinance to establish a Board of Management for the town was passed. In 1844 a Board of Superintendence was established and Mr. Neil Ross McKinnon who was

president of that Board was appointed as the Town's first Mayor .The town consists of three main roads with many cross streets. The present mayor is Claude Henry.

From New Amsterdam one can get to Crabwood Creek (about 45 miles away) (continued on page 19)

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

CAL fuel subsidy removal could see Lightning strikes competition on the GT/NY route? speedboat operator The pull out and failure of airlines on the Guyana/ New York route has been blamed partially on the unfair advantage Trinidadian air carrier, Caribbean Airlines enjoyed as a result of an annual multi-million dollar fuel subsidy from its government.

American based carrier, Delta Airlines and Caribbean carrier, LIAT, among others, had argued about the difficulty they faced as a result of the subsidy, even calling the advantage unlawful. Recently, Airlines for America (A4A) which bears concerns for American based airlines, expressed worry over CAL operating the Georgetown/New York

route; asking the US D e p a r t m e n t o f Transportation (DOT) not to grant permission for CAL to operate directly out of Guyana.

Now that this subsidy will be removed by October 1, as the Trinidad Government announced during its budget presentation Monday, the big question is, what does the future hold for Guyana without CAL's fuel subsidy?

Aviation veterans say that several changes may occur. Some view a level playfield in terms of fuel acquisition, while others say that airlines such as new comer Fly Jamaica, would have a better shot competing

on the GT/NY route, with space being left for other airlines to enter the very lucrative CAL dominated route.

It was even stated that this move by the Trinidad Government could give A4A one less contention about direct flights out of Guyana. On the other hand, worry is increasing over a possible hike in ticket prices; “a reality that Guyanese know all too well.”

Retired Director of Civil Av i a t i o n ( a g ) A u b r e y Alexander, told Kaieteur News yesterday that the removal of CAL's fuel subsidy could mean several things, but one which is clear is that the A4A will have one

Omar Persaud

less thing to complain about.

The representative for American based airlines was concerned about the unfair advantage CAL would have on the route as a result of the fuel subsidy.

With this gone, Alexander said A4A is left to argue about registered carriers operating direct flights out of other CARICOM nations; and this is the main hindrance for Fly Jamaica.

According to a consensus tabled by Jamaican ICAO Council Geoff Morris, during the International Civil Aviation 23rd General Assembly in Montreal 1979, Alexander said it was endorsed that the exercise of route and air transport in developing states having a community of interest allowed for carriers registered in a developing nation to operate directly out of another developing nation as a means of promoting regional development.

As it relates to increased ticket prices, Alexander said it might not be that alarming since other carriers are operating without fuel subsidies. He noted that the airline's profit margin could decline, but “yield management' which is commonly practised by other airlines would aid in optimizing profitability.

Active aviation officials say it is too early to say before an analysis, what the (continued on page 21)

O

mar Persaud, 26, a speedboat operator who usually plies the Supenaam/Parika route, is lucky to be alive since he was struck by lightning on Tuesday while awaiting passengers to return to Supenaam Stelling.

He sustained severe burns to both feet.

The speedboat was destroyed. Singh however managed to salvage his engine which was also badly burnt.

Recalling the incident, Singh who has been plying the river for the past six-years said he initially heard a loud noise after which he felt a burning sensation on both of his feet.

Singh said that he was forced to jump overboard before his colleagues recognized that something was wrong.

Singh is currently recuperating at his Supenaam home. His mangled boat is moored at the Parika Stelling, where the incident occurred.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Page 19

Kaieteur News

AFC calls on ruling party to desist from scaremongering “As Leader of the Alliance For Change, in the interest of working for unity, harmony and consensual political leadership in our beloved nation, I hereby call on the ruling Party, the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), to desist from its divisive, acrimonious and strifer i d d e n p u b l i c pronouncements it persists in recently about the leadership of the AFC.” Alliance For Change (AFC) Party Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, speaking at a press conference yesterday at Sidewalk Cafe, Middle Street, said that it is with consternation and utter dismay that the ruling Party issues grossly irresponsible statements, thus fuelling a national atmosphere of distrust, disharmony and lack of consensual political leadership.

“This sort of public behaviour only serves to widen the divisions and

Khemraj Ramjattan discord that stifled our development for so many decades, and continues to do so,” Ramjattan said.

“I, like my fellow leaders in the AFC, until we assume the role of Government, or attain high public office, remain private citizens. In pursuit of our livelihoods we will be guided by our own moral standards and the dictates of our professions, not by the cheap posturing of a corrupt

New Amsterdam ...

From page 15 via the Corentyne or to the East Canje area of Berbice. A road also leads up the Berbice River bank to Mara about 25 miles south.

The New Amsterdam Town Hall which has since been pulled down was erected in 1868 after the establishment of the Board of Superintendents in 1844.

The tower which was encircled by a 'widow's walk is one of the main architectural features of this edifice. There are a number of primary, secondary and tertiary schools in the town.

Other important lawn marks are All Saints Scots Church, Mission Chapel Congregational Church: The All Saint Anglican Church, the New Amsterdam Public Hospital: The Ituni Temple, the population of New A m s t e r d a m i s approximately 50,000.

The inhabitants of the town were required to pay a fixed sum annually to the Dutch Reformed Church and the Hospital, and were required to keep the public paths and the dividing land between their lots free of bushes and grass.

After the residents were given land, each resident had to provide drainage and anyone who had not built a house within six months was to lose his lot.

In 1812 a special Department of Works, the Winkel Department, was set up to deal with all repair works required by the

residents. The workmen were originally slaves who were housed in one of the older parts of New Amsterdam. They were given their freedom in 1831, three years before slavery was abolished throughout the British West Indies.

The newly freed slaves were allowed to keep their houses in Winkel Village and in 1890 their descendants petitioned the Combined Court of British Guiana for the land which was later granted.

Winkel still remains a ward in the town.

The committee which is made up of Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association (BCCDA), the Regional Administration, the Private S e c t o r, o t h e r p r i v a t e Business Community and other interesting individuals known as the New A m s t e r d a m To w e r Restoration Committee, was set up to oversee the restoration of the tower, but not much has been done since. The committee is chaired by Imran Saccoor Republic Bank New Amsterdam Branch Manager. An estimated cost of repairing the structure then was given as $10.5M. At the time the general consensus was that residents , stakeholders and those in the wider Diaspora, were that they would not want to see another master piece go by the way side (like the New Amsterdam hospital) and some other historical sites.

government...Those of us in the AFC who serve as Members of Parliament uphold every tenet of Parliamentary ethic and Code of Conduct.

“This surely cannot be said of a number of PPP/C Parliamentarians. We serve in the political arena purely out of our deep sense of justice, good conscience and desire to contribute our skills and resources to the development of our nation.”

The recent Code of Conduct that the AFC drafted and released to the public is a matter entirely born out of our sense of decency and moral

and ethical public behaviour, Ramjattan said the party simply chose to do the decent thing.

“As to the choice of our Party's members to be involved in projects, associations, companies or private partnerships, and so on, this is entirely up to our Party members' individual discretion, within the parameters of the Party's founding principles and ethical guidelines and its recent Code of Conduct. We are here to serve, not to p l u n d e r, ” R a m j a t t a n declared.

“The AFC exists to bring

a new political discourse, leadership culture, national conversation and a spirit of cooperation, consensus and harmony to our nation. We recognize the immense difficulty of taking this stand to inculcate a new political culture in this country, especially given the ruling Party's tradition of divisive politics, whether same be subtle or deliberate, going back a long time.”

Urging that the leaders of the PPP/C should breathe new life into their political discourse by extending and embracing cooperation, harmony and consensus all

a c r o s s t h i s c o u n t r y, Ramjattan said everyone must think about the future of the country, and work hard to see that the next generation escapes from the nasty political climate.

“We must bring a new level of refinement, nobility, common sense and goodwill to prevail in the words we utter to the ears of the Guyanese people. Our citizens expect us to lift this nation to higher levels, and it starts with how we talk to each other, how we shape the public space with the language we employ in our discourse.”

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Bel Air shooting …

Several days after police officers opened fire on a Bel Air man who was killed during a confrontation at his home on Sunday, the squad leader in charge of the ranks is now under close arrest.

According to a source, the officer identified as Corporal Ramdat will remain under close arrest pending the outcome of the

Thursday September 12, 2013

Squad leader under close arrest

matter.

Meanwhile, residents of the Bel Air area said that the now dead man Krishna Persaud was sitting at the front on his veranda when the ranks arrived at the home and called out for him.

“Well he would always sit on his veranda before he goes in but Sunday I see the policemen come with the

The house in which Persaud was killed

loud siren and park outside of the house, so he come out and been talking to them for a lil while,” the source said.

The source added that a few minutes after the conversation the man then went inside and about four gunshots were heard. The man was then brought out by the officers who sped off in the vehicle.

The source could not say however if Persaud approached the men with a cutlass. “The place was dark.

His yard has no lights, or the house, so I don't know why they would shoot after a man in the dark,” the source said.

When Kaieteur News visited the now abandoned house yesterday, both the gate and door were wide open. A dog had taken up residence there.

One marking at the front of the house scribbled “2013-09-09” identified a small hole which might have suggested a gunshot entry.

Two other markings were seen inside the house.

Calls to Persaud's family

for a comment were however futile.

Khrishna Persaud sustained a bullet to the back of his head from a police rifle after the ranks opened fire in an attempt to arrest him on Sunday. Persaud died five minutes after arriving at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation around 20:30 hours.

Police on that occasion claimed that the man had earlier attacked one of the ranks, chopping him on his hand with a cutlass.

According to the police,

a few warning shots were fired in an attempt to get Persaud to surrender and when he did not, the ranks fired a round which pierced the wooden wall of the house and struck the victim at the back of his head.

The ranks then entered the house and found Persaud lying in a pool of blood almost dead.

Evidence in the house revealed that the badly wounded man was dragged out of his house and placed into the police vehicle and taken to the hospital.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Father and son being tried for 2002 Breezy Point murder A father, Roy Pestano Snr, and his son Raymond Pestano, of Number 41 Village, West Coast Berbice who are accused of murdering fellow villager, Davanand Ramlagan, 25, on October 19, 2002 are to know their fate today.

They are appearing before Justice Navendra Singh and a mixed Jury in the Berbice High Court.

The incident is alleged to have been committed at the Breezy Point shop, Number 41 Village, West Coast Berbice.

Justice Navindra Singh is expected to sum up the evidence to the jury after both the defence attorney Senior Counsel, Bernard De Santos and Prosecutor, Judith Gildharie-Mursalin would have addressed the jury.

Earlier prosecutor Gildharie-Mursalin recounted the October 19, 2002, incident in which she stated that around 21.30 hours, Kenrick Ramlagan and his cousin, Goel Ross, were at the Breezy Point shop in the said village when the two accused along with another person drove up in a white car.

An altercation took place and Davanand Ramlagan was injured and

To know fate today

Father, Roy Pestano Snr, and his son Raymond Pestano being escorted by the police. A relative is in the background left lying in a pool of blood.

Following investigations, Roy Pestano and his son Raymond were charged with the capital offence.

A number of witnesses were called, including Goel Richard Ross, a cousin of the deceased who said that on the night in question he was eating a box of food outside

the shop when the car pulled up with Roy Pestano Sr, and his two sons Roy Pestano Jr and Raymond. The men came out of the car and Roy Jnr went up to Kenrick Ramlagan and start beating him.

The father, he said, was using a set of expletives all the time, threatening to juck and shoot- up and kill.

Ramlagan managed to escape. The men re-entered the car and left.

Kenrick Ramlagan, brother of the deceased, in his testimony stated that after he was assaulted by the accused, he ran away. He then saw the car following him. He met his brother who was on the road and saw when the

men ran the car on him. He escaped into his uncle’s yard and saw when the men attacked his brother.

The father, he said, held his brother’s hand behind his back while the two sons stabbed him.

They then returned to their car and drove away. The injured man was picked up and rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Also testifying was Floyd Ross who identified the body.

Also giving evidence were Police Detective Corporals Juke Jacques who witnessed the Post Mortem and burial of the deceased, and Dharmendra Indarpaul who took pictures of the alleged murder scene, and visited the home of the accused where he arrested them.

Government Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh who performed the Post Mortem stated that there were four wounds on the body, two stabs and two slashes. The throat was almost severed.

Defence attorney Senior

Counsel, Bernard De Santos, made no case submissions which were overruled by Justice Singh who called on the two accused to lead a defence.

The men then chose to give unsworn statements from the dock. Raymond stated that he did not injure Ramlagan; that he had no reason to do so since they were on speaking terms. He stated that he is innocent of the charge. He was never in any car at Breezy Point on the night in question.

He said that Kenrick must have made a mistake since he drinks a lot. “Me and my wife separated in 2007 and divorced in 2009. I have the children.”

Roy Senior stated that he knew nothing about the death of Ramlagan. He was not in any white car that day. He had no reason to injure or kill Ramlagan since they were all on speaking terms. “This is a made up story. I am innocent in this matter. This matter was discharged. I was charged one month after Raymond.”

Page 22

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Thursday September 12, 2013

FOR RENT One Business spot ideal for Pharmacy etc. also one upper flat three bedrooms- Call:2239727/673-0373/650-0077

46 House lots residential area between Charles & Peter Sts. Parika, E.B.ECall:622-6971

2-3 Bedroom Property SemiFurnished VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758 1-10 Bedroom Property VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758 Warehouse - divided 2000,4000/ 8000 sq.ft for rental VERSRealty223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758

LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School @First Federation Building- Call:225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964

1-Store Front & Office Brickdam G/Town VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758 Top and Bottom Flat Louisa Rowe Wortmanville G/Town VERS Realty 223-1217, 6002041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 6005758 1-200sq ft. Business/ Office Space Sendall Place G/Town VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758 Rooms- Call:225-9223 Top and Bottom Flat Norton St, VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758

MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse available- Call:657-5979 NOTICE URGENTLY REQUIRED removal of 3 stands at the GCC Ground, BourdaCall:226-3130 for more information (Continued on page 23)

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

(From page 22)

TO LET Fully furnished Vacation home with all amenitiesCall during working hours227-1218

TO LET Harmony Inn: Apartments fully furnished, airconditioned apartments: $5000 per night- Call:6680306/602-8769/694-7817

Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 6797139

Small cottage at lot 36 Kuru Kuru Linden HighwayCall:697-8315/226-2196

3 Furnished apartments located in Industry, E.C.DCall:222-6001

10 Acres farm land @ Lot 31 Kururu Linden SoesdykeCall:697-8315/226-2196

Short term apartment available- Call:687-3017

Campbellville $100,00, Kingston US$900, Queenstown US$1500, BelAir US$950- Call Diana 2272256/626-9382

Apartment/houses for rent from US$400 and commercial rentals. Phone: 621-6888, 652-4492 Two bedrooms furnished apartment- Call:665-2548 Secret Villa apartment, fully furnished apartments Landof-Canaan E.B.D- Call:2665243/266-5245 WANTED One night guard; one cashier; one cook.

Attractive salary. Call 2237165; 2258645; 627-0799

Fully furnished short rentals one (two) bedroom apartment @ lot 721 West Minister Parfaite HarmonieCall:697-8315/226-2196

PROPERTY FOR SALE ‘BB’ Eccles- Concrete house 3 bedrooms upstairs, downstairs 2 self contained apartments, 2 bedrooms each toilet & bath $28M- Call:2278409/660-4764

Painted 2 storey concrete building 53x26, transported property at 69 Jackson street, Daniels Town, Essequibo Coast- Call:618-2517/6606739 Durban Street Near Mandela Ave. 55ftx85ft with Wooden Building VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758 Golden Fleece E/Bo- 18 Acres VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758 Diamond Middle Income Houselot VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758 Stanleytown B/bce WaterFront Land 1 Acre VERS Realty 223-1217,6002041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758 46 Houselots in Canje VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041 ,686-1853,693-5085, 600-5758 Canje Bridge Junction & 19 Road 55x750 Approx 1 Acre VERS Realty 223-1217,6002041,686-1853,693-5085, 6005758 LBI 2 Storey Concrete Corner Lot Property Newly built with 3 Bedrooms VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853,693-5085, 600-5758 Fenced Community near Canje Bridge Lot- 50x100 VERS Realty 223-1217,6002041,686-1853,693-5085, 6005758 62 Acre Riceland Highbury VERS Realty 223-1217,6002041,686-1853,693-5085, 6005758

1 Bedroom bottom flat for couple $28,000 monthly, water & light includedCall:223-3958 or 660-9463

2 storey concrete 3 bedrooms at Somerset Court- Call:2657223/662-4540 VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592624-8704/ 592-684-9203 Large plot of land with 20x30 house on it @ #2 Canal.

Must sell, owner leaving country- Call:697-8058/6708612 For sale by owner: House and Land @ D’Edward, W.C.B.- Call: 689-2973/6983703 One 2 storey building with 8ft drive way with two apartments bottom flat in KittyContact Ameer 695-5815

PROPERTY FOR SALE

TO LET One- two bedrooms apartment - Call: 653-4074

WANTED CONTRACT CARS @ CITY TAXI SERVICE CALL: 660-1100 One live in & one live out babysitter from 12-8pm- Call: 225-6070 TOUR Suriname return trip 12-16 October. Shopping siteseeing lots of fun- Call: 6440185/ 639-2663/ 227-8290/ 665-5171 To Suriname: Leaves 23rd return 26th September.

Sightseeing & shopping.

Hotel inclusive in packageCall:444-5148 KAIETEUR FALLS Day Tour US$150. Manaus-Brazil US$800- Call:231-6663

Do you have a property to let or sell? Then call Diana 227-2256/626-9382 West Ruimveldt $5M, Section ‘K’ $40M, East bank $10M-$15M, Prashad Nagar $40M- Call Diana 227-2256/ 626-9382 Wharf 62ftx300ft Prime Location G/Town- VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853,693-5085, 600-5758 Lombard St. Land 60ftx100ft VERS Realty 223-1217,6002041,686-1853,693-5085, 6005758 Symth St. 86ftx101ft. Corner Property Ideal for Residential, Business/ Warehousing VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041,6861853,693-5085, 600-5758 Symth St, 87ftx105ft Ideal for Residential, Business/ Warehousing VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041,6861853,693-5085, 600-5758 Friendship 150ftx450ft with Steel Building Frame 100ftx300ft- VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758

Caledonia 350ft. Road Frontage- 86 Acres VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853,693-5085, 600-5758 Friendship River View Appox. 40ftx600ft VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041, 686-1853, 693-5085, 600-5758

One experienced person to look after layer birds in the Interior- Contact:666-6836 Experienced Dispatcher, contract cars & driversCall:613-0419/600-4066 Spaces to rent in La Grange, Vreed-En-Hoop, Tuschen & Diamond (for lessons).

Preferably by main roadCall:684-7403 Tutor needed at E.B.DCall:657-8732 Female for live in domestic duties, salary $55,000.

Small family. Care taking duties. Driver- Call:610-2978

VACANCY Jump Start your Career!!!

Phone: 220-0401-3 or 2203488 to schedule your Interview Or Email: recruitment_guyana@ qualfon.com Live-in housekeeper 30-45 years.

Long term employment. Location: Kuru Kururu- Call:697-8797 1 Driver to work in the Interior location. Valid drivers license- Call:223-0595 1 Mechanic to work in the Interior location. 5 years working experiencedCall:223-0595 1 Security Guard to work in the Interior location. Valid police clearance- Call:2230595

Attractive live in waitressCall:327-0252/674-4665 One live-in or live out maidcall:668-3985/264-3355/6837936 General domestic maid on E.B.D; 1 Handy Man, 1 Small Engine Mechanic 3 yrs experience- call:233-2408 One Welder must know to do grill work- Call:613-3879 Attractive live in WaitressCall:228-5129 Attractive live-in waitress to work in bar, attractive salaryCall:686-4818/699-6994 1 General domestic. Must be able to prepare vegetarian meals. Apply @ Alabama Trading G/Town Ferry stelling Stabroek 2 Carpenters with own tools & 2 mason with own toolsPlease call:265-3586 1 Whole day maid for East Bank area- Call:614-4358

Friendship Wharf 950ft River Front-5 Acres VERS Realty 223-1217,600-2041,6861853,693-5085, 600-5758 Caledonia 350ft River Front5 Acres VERS Realty 2231217,600-2041,686-1853,6935085, 600-5758

Workers to work on farm at Yarrowkabra- Call:265-3586

3 Wash Bay attendants to work- Call:227-5169

WANTED Ark-settling welder for vehicle- Call:228-5655/6281756 One (1) Able bodied ClerkCall:231-2029/616-5954/6244953 Yellow hire car drivers wanted at 007 Taxi ServiceCall:223-5615

Moulder operators, wood mizer operators and portersCall Richard: 609-7675/2332614 Experienced taxi drivers- Bus drivers. Apply with written application- Call:265-7076/ 616-5419 Skilled & unskilled male & female workers for window & door factory on E.B.D- Call Mr.M.Beepat 600-5253- for telephone interview

VACANCY Male bond attendants/ porters & cashiers. Send in application & passport size photograph @ Survival Shopping Complex 173 Sheriff St. Call:227-5286-89 MedexPharmacy Assistant, 5-8yrs experienced in Pharmacy or medical field. Full time basisCall:660-3766/658-3882 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant- Call:663-1751/6842838 2 Receptionists, 1 Salesgirl & 1 Cashier. 4 CXC subjects required for cashier: Apply with application @ 27 Norton & Creen streetsCall:225-5501 Data Entry Clerk: CXC, Acounts, QuickBooksEmail application to gjphonecardinvestment @gmail.com 1 Security Guard to work in Georgetown. Valid Police clearance- Call:223-0595 Night Dispatcher for a Foreign Trucking Company: UG Graduate, 7 days a week 12 midnight to 8am. $120,000 monthly- Contact:673-5475/ 624-0001 Industrial Electrician, Welders, Fabricators, Skilled Machinist & Trainees: Technical Services Inc. 1823 Eccles Industrial Site, E.B.D (1) Male Accounts Clerk.

Experience in preparing VAT, NIS & P.A.Y.E, must be computer literate- Call:6144358 for more info Cashier: Apply to Marcos Trading, experience would be an asset. Address:11 North road LacytownCall:225-9445 Pump Attendant @ Shell Service Station Providence, E.B.D: Must be able to work shift (5am-3pm & 3pm12pm)-Tel:265-7305 Cashier/Sales order Clerk: CXC, Experience- Email application to gjphonecardinvestments @gmail.com Vacancy exists for Carpenters, Welder and Porter: Apply at Alabama Trading G/Town Ferry Stelling Hire Car drivers from E.C.D @ A1 Taxi- Call:220-1000

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Kaieteur News

Thursday September 12, 2013

GEA agents being investigated Man drinks poison after for $1.5M bribe allegation attempting to kill girlfriend

Four employees of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) were released on bail by the police following their arrest for allegedly fleecing a whopping $1.5M out of truck owners on the West Demerara Monday afternoon.

The GEA employees had intercepted three trucks laden with suspected smuggled fuel in the canal number two area.

After cautioning the truck owners about their suspicions, the GEA employees threatened them with seizure of the trucks and fuel and demanded the cash to turn a blind eye.

Kaieteur News was told that the truck owners paid the money but immediately reported the matter to the police when they became

suspicious that the men may not be GEA employees.

The police armed with a description of the men and the vehicle they were travelling in, subsequently intercepted them in the vicinity of Wales.

The police were soon able to ascertain that the men were indeed GEA workers, but the men denied that they had collected any money from the truck owners. In fact there was no trace of the cash, although the truck owners who turned up at the station insisted that they had paid the money.

A GEA source indicated that there was a strong possibility that “money pass” because the GEA officials did not take possession of the truck or the suspected smuggled fuel.

“If they suspected that the fuel was smuggled, they were supposed to escort the truck to the nearest police station or GEA office. All they did was to seal the tanks that the fuel was in and left,” the source explained.

The truckers, who claimed that the fuel was destined for interior operations, insisted that they obtained the fuel legally from regular suppliers.

Police are conducting further investigations into the matter.

Monday’s incident sheds more light on the perceived corruption within the agency.

Earlier this year, the Guyana Energy Agency fired several employees who declined to take lie detector tests.

Digicel gives $1M to Amerindian Heritage Sports

During the ceremonial handing over (From left) Egbert Mayers, Gavin Hope, Shonnette Moore, Nigel Dharamlall, Pauline Sukhai, and Yvonne Pearson Representatives of telecommunication company, Digicel, has once again signaled to Amerindian Affairs Ministry the company’s interest in sponsoring this year’s sporting activities held in commemoration of Amerindian Heritage Month.

This was done during a simple ceremony, yesterday, at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, where Digicel’s Public Relations Manager handed over a cheque marking $1M to the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.

The ceremony was attended by the Amerindian Affairs Permanent Secretary, Nigel Dharamlall; Advisor to the Minister, Yvonne Pearson; the Ministry’s Sports Coordinator Egbert Mayers and Digicel’s Marketing Manager, Gavin

Hope.

This year ’s sponsorship marks eight years of the company’s support to Heritage Month activities since its establishment.

She said that the support comes as a result of the recognition of the need to preserve Amerindian Heritage.

The Minister, in accepting the offer of sponsorship, expressed their appreciation for the promotion and support of sports has been receiving over the years from Digicel.

She also made reference to the company’s support to Amerindians in the area of its corporate mandate, which is to expand the telecommunication barrier.

She said that as a result of Digicel’s cellular network reaching hinterland

communities, villagers are now being given an open window outside of the interior.

Due to circumstances, Ministry officials were forced to shift the venue of the sporting events from the GDF Ground to the Everest Cricket Ground, Carifesta Avenue.

Apart from this slight change however, preparations for the sporting events, to be held on September 21 and September 22, appear to be moving in the right direction.

According to the Sports Coordinator, the prizes and trophies for the high achievers have already been acquired.

He said that among the games, much focus will be placed on football and track and field; while other games of cricket and volleyball, will be played.

The hotel where the suicide and attempted murder occurred

The staff of the Shack Inn and Bar located on Norton Street between George and Camp Street, Georgetown, were yesterday in a state of shock when they got embroiled in a confrontation with a customer who allegedly wanted to kill his girlfriend then poison himself, but was only successful with the latter.

Dead is 38-year-old Wilbert E. Grant, a sign artist from Linden who poisoned himself after allegedly trying to kill his younger girlfriend, Sherry John (also from Linden). She was currently staying in town with family members.

Kaieteur News understands that around 09:00 am yesterday, Grant entered the lobby of the Shack Hotel and made a phone call to his girlfriend enquiring if she would be coming. Upon confirming that she was coming to the hotel he booked a room for 24 hours and paid for it.

The man then left the premises and came back with his girlfriend and was escorted to Room 12 on the third floor of the building where persons paying for a whole day would be housed.

Simone Johnson, the room attendant, relating what transpired said that about 15 minutes after she left the couple in their room, she heard rumbling sounds coming from upstairs and when she went to enquire what was happening, she saw the woman screaming and sprinting down the stairs.

The hysterical woman then said to the attendant that the “man was choking her and wanted to kill her.” She luckily was able to escape by punching the man in the groin. “She cuff the man in he balls and when he released his grip on her she quickly fled from the room,” Johnson

related. The woman who was gasping for breath while holding her throat said the man told her he was coming after her. The attendant and the woman now fearful of what might transpire went and secured themselves along with the proprietor and other staff members in a locked room. They were not certain what the man (Grant) might do to them, or even if he was armed and so they called the cops.

The proprietor of the establishment said that the police were called multiple times and after an hour and a half they came and went upstairs to confront the man only to find the door locked.

Johnson, the room attendant, who went up with the police said that after the door was locked the police then kicked the door open and were

Grant‘s body being removed by undertakers

confronted with putrid smell of rat poison and the body of Grant who was frothing at the mouth. It was then that it was discovered that the man had committed suicide by ingesting poison.

The situation apparently occurred because the man was rejected by his girlfriend who was no longer interested in continuing their relationship.

He had arranged the hotel meeting to try and reconcile his relationship with her but in what seems to be a premeditated act the man was prepared to kill her and consume poison in the event that they did not resolve their relationship.

He however was unsuccessful in trying to kill her but continued with his apparent plan to kill himself.

Thursday September 12, 2013

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Kaieteur News

Tragedy strikes Sophia family as toddler drowns in drain

By Romila Boodram

R

esidents of 'D' Field Sophia were thrown into deep mourning yesterday upon hearing the news that one of their youngest members had drowned.

The victim was 14month-old Dequan Harris who drowned while attempting to cross a plank that serves as a bridge across the drain in front of his home.

The child's mother, Juana Harris, discovered him floating in the shallow drain one hour after she left him unattended at home, to collect her four-year-old daughter from the 'C' Field

Sophia Nursery school.

At the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday, the older Harris was so devastated that at one stage she forgot her dead child's name.

According to the mother of five, her son was sleeping and she asked her brother (who was getting ready to go out) to look at him while she stepped out for a couple of minutes. She however claims that her brother apparently did not hear her request.

“Like he didn't hear and when he left home, he just pushed in the door and when Dequan wake up, he walked out the door and tried to cross the bridge and that's when he

Dequan Harris and his mother in happier times

The dead child's grandmother points to the drain, where the child's body was discovered floating fell in,” the mother said, in tears.

She explained that while she was walking towards her house with her daughter, she saw her 14-month-old baby floating in the trench. “I pulled my baby out with my own hands,” the woman told this newspaper.

When Kaieteur News visited the area yesterday, neighbours said they heard the woman crying loudly and when they went to enquire, they saw her sitting in her living room with the child lying on the floor in front of

her.

“Like she didn't know what to do and she just sit on the floor with the child in front of her and we had to tell her to take him to the hospital. I don't know if he was already dead or what but he was not responding,” the neighbour told this publication.

Harris's mother, Vanessa, who is ill, was inconsolable yesterday.

She said that the last time she saw her grandson alive was before she left for the hospital early in the

morning. “I was playing with him this morning (yesterday) and he was happy and then I left to go to the hospital because I am sick.”

The elderly woman added that while at the hospital she received a call from one of her neighbours, informing her that her

grandson fell into the drain, but she thought it was something minor until she saw his lifeless body at the hospital yesterday.

Meanwhile, a source from the Child Protection Agency said that an investigation will be launched into the child's death.

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Thursday September 12, 2013

Haslington man stabbed Trial date set for accused during row with girlfriend in GPOC cocaine bust The trial against the woman arraigned on charges of attempting to mail cocaine to Canada is scheduled to commence today.

The new date was provided by Georgetown Magistrate Judy Latchman on Tuesday, when the matter was called.

Oneka Tomika Neils, 20, of Lot 612 Half Mile Wismar Linden is accused of attempting to ship a box containing 1.1 kilograms of cocaine to Canada via the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) on August 9, last.

She was charged for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, just hours after her arrest.

Lewis being taken in for medical attention.

A heated argument between a young couple resulted in a 24-year-old man being rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Sunday morning after he was stabbed multiple times to his chest in Haslington.

The injured man was identified as Simeon Lewis, of Haslington North, East Coast Demerara.

According to initial reports, around 11:00 am yesterday, the man was at home with his girlfriend when an argument erupted between the two which resulted in the assailant picking up a knife

and stabbing Lewis.

“I was at home when all of a sudden I hear a set of things breaking up in the house and the two of them carrying on so I thought that it was a usual fight they had but after the boy holler for help me say it got more to this,” an eyewitness said.

The eyewitness said that a few minutes after the couple finished arguing Lewis then emerged from the house holding his chest. Residents rushed to his aid.

The source further stated that the injured man was then placed in a taxi

and rushed to the hospital where he was later admitted.

At the hospital on Sunday, the injured man’s mother said that she was unaware of what happened.

“I got a call from someone stating that my son was in hospital so I came down here,” the mother said.

H o w e v e r, w h e n t h i s publication visited the i n j u r e d m a n y e s t e r d a y, Lewis said that he was not in a position to say what happened on the day he was stabbed.

The woman is now in police custody.

Neils, a sales representative vehemently denied the allegations at the initial hearing.

She told the court that she had no knowledge of the contents of the box. She claimed that it was given to her by a male companion to post.

Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that the defendant and a male companion had travelled from her hometown in Linden to post the box containing food items.

Massiah told the court that during the processing of the package for shipment CANU officers attached to GPOC’s main office were

Oneka Tomika Neils asked to check the contents, and this led to the discovery of cocaine concealed in chunks packaged in transparent plastic bags.

CAL fuel subsidy removal...

From page 18 future holds for Guyana following the fuel subsidy removal. It was however stated that the prospects of increased competition in Guyana are looking up and this would give Guyanese travelers better flying options.

Delta had stated before its pull out earlier this year that it was losing revenue and some contended that it was a result of the fuel subsidy that several other airlines had been complaining about. Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Chair of LIAT's shareholder governments, told reporters in Kingstown in July that he was bent on resolving the subsidy issue as it related to LIAT. LIAT had argued that CAL's subsidy was illegal and during talks between LIAT and CAL, neither side budged in its positions. Gonsalves

was even quoted as saying in the Jamaican media that “I am of this view that this matter (CAL fuel subsidy) is going to be resolved only through arbitration and or the Caribbean Court of Justice. I don't think that Trinidad and Tobago would want to settle this matter.”

Gonsalves had dubbed as unacceptable, wrongful and unlawful, LIAT paying $130 to $150 U.S. a barrel for fuel and CAL paying between $50 to $60 US a barrel while working same routes. Trinidad Finance Minister Larry Howai has stated however that there will be no impact on ticket prices.

He added, “The debt-ridden State airline must move towards the adoption of a financially-sound business model for positioning the airline in targeted segments of the global tourism market.”

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Thursday September 12, 2013

U.S., Russia, other big powers to meet on Syria in NY UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Envoys from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member states will meet in New York today to discuss plans to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, U.N. diplomats said.

U.S., French and British diplomats were meeting

before then to continue discussions on a possible draft U.N. Security Council resolution. An initial French draft called for giving the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an ultimatum to give up its chemical arsenal or face punitive measures, a text that Russia has said is

unacceptable.

Diplomats said there have been other drafts under discussion and an attempt was being made to come up with common language agreeable to all three Western powers.

“I think we’ll come to an agreement,” a diplomat from one of the three told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Later, the French, Americans and British envoys will join Russian and Chinese diplomats for a meeting of all five vetowielding council members.

“I understand they will be discussing general principles of plans to deal with Syria’s chemical weapons,” a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “They (the full five) won’t really be discussing draft resolutions yet.”

The meeting comes a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meet in Geneva to discuss ways of breaking the deadlock on the 15-nation Security Council over Syria.

Russia, backed by China, has vetoed three resolutions condemning Assad’s government and threatening it with sanctions.

Syria yesterday accepted a Russian proposal to surrender its chemical weapons in order to win a possible reprieve from U.S. military strikes that U.S. President Barack Obama has floated as a way of preventing a repeat of a chemical weapon attack on August 21 that killed more than 1,400 people.

Washington and other Western powers blame Assad’s forces for the attack. Damascus blames it on the rebels.

Bashar al-Assad

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Sparrow has died Trinidad Express - The Mighty Sparrow, who was taken to hospital in Queen’s, New York, last week, died yesterday.

All day Tuesday, rumours were flying around the world that the Calypso King of the World (Slinger Francisco) had passed away, beginning with a news report on a local radio station yesterday morning that he had died.

Later in the evening, someone posted a message on Facebook that he had passed on during the afternoon, which was also untrue.

At 5:34 p.m., Sparrow’s close friend Calypso Rose made a statement on a radio station saying that he was “very much alive. He is in a coma, but he is not brain dead, so he can hear”.

It is expected that either Sparrow’s wife, Margaret, or his son, Richard Tony Francisco, issued a statement yesterday morning.

At around seven o’clock last night, there was word that Sparrow began to “respond to whatever pain his body was experiencing”, which can be an indication that he may be coming out of the coma.

Facebook messages from people worldwide continue to

Mighty Sparrow

extend prayers and express hope that he will recover.

Earlier yesterday, Sparow’s wife, Margaret Francisco had issued a statement, addressing the rumours.

The legend passed away shortly after 5 p.m.

On its Facebook page, the Trinbago Unified

Calypsinians Association (TUCO) profiled the master MIGHTY SPARROW REAL NAME: Slinger Francisco DATE OF BIRTH: July 9, 1935 PLACE OF BIRTH: Gran Roi, Grenada EDUCATION: Newtown Boys’ RC, Newtown, Port-of-Spain

Police said beheading is warning from gang members PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - CMC – Trinidad and Tobago police say the recent beheading of a man represents a warning from warring gang leaders who are copying the South American style of warfare An autopsy conducted on the body of Michael Leinberg Piper, whose severed head was found on a street in the capital on Monday, showed there were no bullet or stab wounds and that the cause of death was decapitation.

Piper’s hand and feet were tied when the body was found.

The Police Social and Welfare Association (PSWA) said the killing was a gang’s attempt to flex its muscle in a terrible way and gangs in the country were becoming copycats.

“If you look at most of the high intensity drug related countries like Colombia and not too far from us, Venezuela, you will realise that most of the time persons are beheaded. It is a message that is sent from one gang or group to another,” said PSWA vice president, Inspector Roger Alexander. “It shows what we are capable of doing, so it is a message. They would also

take a person from the opposite side of the fence and drop him in enemy territory or just his head.

“A lot of the times when drug transactions go round in these countries every effort is made to satisfy the drug lord and have the (head) of the person who robbed him... brought back,” Alexander said.

The senior police officer said that the killing of Piper could become a worrying trend and appealed to the authorities to pay more attention to protecting the maritime boundaries.

“We need to reconsider our approach to having any and every person enter Trinidad and Tobago. They are bringing their attitude and their criminal ways and teaching the ones that are presently here. We need to protect our border lines from

guns coming in and we need laws that would be implemented and have an effect in the shortest of time,” he added.

Meanwhile, Piper’s relatives, who are based in Canada, have denounced the killing saying the father of three did not deserve to die this way.

“Michael was a victim, but more important, Michael was a son, brother to eight siblings, a father of three, grandfather to seven children and an uncle to 22 nieces and nephews. No matter what hand he was dealt, he kept his sense of humour. He was humble, loving, caring and patient. He loved Trinidad...so much in fact he chose to stay there while the majority of his family was in Canada,” his sister Sharon Piper wrote in an email.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Government condemns “brutal rape” of 15-year-old KINGSTON, Jamaica – CMC – The Jamaica government has condemned the “brutal rape and attack” on a 15-year-old girl by her father, and says it is planning to conduct child abuse sensitization sessions in the community where the gruesome incident took place.

The Ministry of Youth and Culture said the sessions, designed to educate residents about the signs of child abuse and how to prevent as well as report child abuse, will involve various government agencies including the Office of the Children’s Registry and the Child Development Agency.

The government statement gave no further details on the incident involving the 15-year-old child, but Youth and Culture Minister Lisa Hanna said the abuse of children is destroying future generations and was a blot on the psyche of the entire nation.

She said the harming of children and the violation of their right to protection and

Lisa Hanna

care should not be condoned by the society and called on Jamaicans to send a strong signal that child abuse would not be tolerated in any shape or form.

Hanna said parents needed to create loving and kind environments that would allow for the safety and wholesome development of their children and not environments that foster fear, anger and hatred.

“Parents should be protectors not abusers.

When you find that the place that should be safest for a

child – the arms of their parents – becomes the scariest, the entire society is in trouble,” Hanna said, urging people to be proactive in reporting suspected cases of child abuse pointing out that the prevention of child abuse should be everybody’s business.

Failure to report child abuse can result in person being charged and face a fine of J$500,000 (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) or six months in prison as stipulated by the Child Care and Protection Act.

Don’t bash Chinese - PM - Warns that criticism could deter investors The Gleaner - The Government has issued a stern warning to Jamaicans not to engage in xenophobic discussions, which could affect the decision by the Chinese to invest in the country.

Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said the tone of the discussion surrounding Chinese investment was less than desirable.

“If we continue to have the discussion this way, the question I want to ask is whether we want to say to the Chinese, do not invest in Jamaica,” the prime minister said.

Her statement comes against the background of criticism that Chinese nationals are being brought to the island by their employers to take jobs that can be performed by Jamaicans.

Opposition Member of Parliament Pearnel Charles

Portia Simpson Miller had questioned whether the Government had negotiated with the Chinese for a percentage of the jobs on certain projects to be done by the Chinese.

Simpson Miller denied knowledge of such agreements, saying “if that existed, it would not have been negotiated under my administration”.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, responding to Simpson Miller, said Chinese investment in Jamaica was extremely important.

“However, foreign direct investment comes with some conditions. Some of them are known upfront and some of them are discovered as you go along,” Holness noted.

He said it was the duty of the Opposition to ensure that as “investments come in, it is the people who benefit and that the conditions are known upfront”.

The Government has been courting Chinese investment, which, it says, is critical to stimulating economic growth and development. However, segments of the population have been viewing the Chinese investments with scepticism, with some persons suggesting that the Chinese investment is a purely geo-political strategy.

Announcement for Venezuelan clinker deal postponed Jamaica Gleaner - The formal announcement of a deal for Jamaica to export clinker to Venezuela was cancelled yesterday.

The deal that would see the Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL)

supplying clinker to Corporación Socialista del Cemento in Venezuela was to be announced by Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining at a press conference in New Kingston.

Late Tuesday evening, however, the event was postponed “due to u n f o r e s e e n circumstances,” according to a news release from CCCL. Clinker is an intermediate stage of

cement production, which accounts for about 95 per cent of the material used for ordinary Portland Cement.

Under the Trade Compensation Mechanism of the PetroCaribe energy cooperation agreement

between the government of Jamaica and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jamaica is allowed to settle a portion of its oil debt to Ve n e z u e l a t h r o u g h t h e export of goods and/or services.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 31

WACA stripped of Test in ... Track and field elite juniors...

From page 33 talks with CA and will be seeking an understanding from them of all the elements behind the decision.”

Apart from Adelaide and Brisbane, the other party most likely to be pleased by the decision are India’s cricketers. Save for a victory on an uncharacteristic WACA ground surface in 2008, India have struggled in Perth, and the green-tinged 2012 pitch is known to have been chief among the motivators for the retaliatory

dustbowls prepared for Australia’s visit to India earlier this year.

“One goes back to the Perth Test where the wicket was green and we played to our strengths and won the Test in two and a half days,” Australia’s former coach Mickey Arthur said last month. “They clearly wanted retribution for that and produced some of the toughest conditions I’d ever seen. They went out of their way to prepare those conditions and I can’t argue with that.”

Thursday September 12, 2012 ARIES (MAR 21 - APR 19): Today's a good day to work toward the goals you've set, Aries. The aspect of the day influences your ability to focus on the necessary steps to achieve what you want. No goal is too big! *************************** TAURUS (APR 20 - MAY 20): You may watch the clock today, Taurus. It can be hard to focus on tasks when you're thinking about relaxing, but do your best. You won't get through your tasks any faster if you're unfocused. *************************** GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUN 20): If someone you know is going through a rough time, Gemini, they could come to you for support or advice.

People see you as genuinely concerned and a good friend, especially when times are tough. *************************** CANCER (JUN 21 - JUL 22): With some leisure time on your hands, you'll find an opportunity to start fresh in some area that has challenged you, Cancer. Find the courage to examine your attitudes toward adverse situations. *************************** LEO (JUL 23 - AUG 22): Today you might want to try something completely new, Leo. If you've never done this before, why not try expressing yourself through dance? Even if you're convinced you have two left feet, you might be surprised. ************************ VIRGO (AUG 23 - SEP 22): If you're not already so inclined, Virgo, why not try expressing yourself through song? Even if you're convinced you have a tin ear, you might be surprised at what happens if you just let yourself go. Do you feel silly singing out loud? Then be silly.

LIBRA (SEP 23 - OCT 22): Libra, you may discover today that you have a talent for something you've never even thought about before. If you always stick to what you know, how will you ever experience anything new? Trying this unexplored area doesn't mean you have to excel in it. *************************** SCORPIO (OCT 23 - NOV 21): It's a new day, Scorpio, a good day to let your caring side show. Take the time to smile and chat with as many people as you can. *************************** SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 DEC 21): Today brings the opportunity to see things as they are and not as you'd like them to be. It's easy to fool yourself sometimes, but you can only get away with that for so long before the truth comes out. *************************** CAPRICORN (DEC 22 JAN 19): Today your creativity might be stimulated by some free time, Capricorn.

You can try and save it for later, but you may not feel the same way then. *************************** AQUARIUS (JAN 20 - FEB 18): You probably have a knack for listening to other people and noticing when they need help or a shoulder to cry on, Aquarius.

Today may be excellent for you to help another person out.

Consider going the extra mile by lending a hand to those around you who are in need. *************************** PISCES (FEB 19 - MAR 20): It's possible that someone will question your motives or wonder whether or not you're genuine, Pisces. Don't take it the wrong way. You don't take everything at face value either.

Show your sincerity by following through and sticking by your word.

The 2013-2014 UWI Sports Scholarship awardees pose with faculty members during Tuesday’s function.

From page 33 and field, so that I can make a living from doing what I love.”

Director of sports at UWI, Mona, Dalton Myers, highlighted the fact that the

university has made constant improvement over the years, remaining one of the top options for study. “UWI Mona has focused and will always focus on developing

our facilities and programmes. In this way we make available local opportunities and offerings comparable to those available at institutions outside of Jamaica, as more and more students realise the benefits of studying at home,” Myers said.

Other track and field athletes who will be traversing the corridors of the UWI, Mona Campus are Deandra Whitehorne, Matthew Campbell, Opal James, Rhajel Brown, Jodean Williams, Mellisa Williams, top female junior sprinter Shenell Francis, as well as high jumpers John Phillips, Jelani Bogle and long distance runner Martin Kennedy.

Ten sports scholarships were also awarded to footballers, with former Wolmer’s Boys’ goalkeeper Amal Knight leading a contingent which also includes Taniel McKenzie, Davian Montaque, Shamal Thomas, Mitch Wright, Jerondy Henry, Daryl Denny, and females Samantha Watson, Alicia Richard, and Trudi-Ann Young.

The UWI netball programme will also be strengthened with the acquisition of Terry Ann Jones and national Under-21 Sunshine girl Antoinette Stone.

Basketballers Kedar Clarke and Damion Johnson will also take up sports scholarships, along with volleyballers Solene Walker and Wolmer’s Girls stand-out Vanessa Jones. Rounding out the 31 student scholars are cricketers O’shane Walters, former Jamaican Under-19 representative, James McDonald and Amanjah Morris.

Myers is expecting another great year for sports at the university, and spoke highly of the variety of sporting disciplines being attended to. “Our recruitment has realised outstanding talent in these new scholars.

This year’s sports scholarship programme includes a wider pool of recipients as it relates to the six sporting disciplines, netball, track and field, football, volleyball, basketball and cricket,” Myers said.

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Thursday September 12, 2013

Raikkonen to partner England v Australia: Rain ends third one-day international Alonso at Ferrari LONDON (Reuters) - Kimi Raikkonen will race for Ferrari next season in a two-year deal that takes the 2007 world champion back to the glamour team he left in 2009 and creates the strongest pairing in Formula One. Ferrari said in a statement on Wednesday that the 33year-old ‘Iceman’, currently with Lotus, will replace Brazilian Felipe Massa alongside Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso.

“Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has reached an agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn will join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons,” the statement said.

The famously taciturn Finn told the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com) that he was happy to be returning to Maranello.

“I can’t wait to be driving a Prancing Horse car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves,” he added.

Alonso, who has a contract to the end of 2016, had left little doubt that he would have been happy to continue with Massa and thanked the Brazilian for his support in their four years together.

“Come the end of the season, it will not be easy to say goodbye to a team mate like him,” said the Spaniard.

“He has always been truly professional and loyal to the team.”

Alonso did not mention Raikkonen by name, welcoming instead his “new travelling companion.”

Massa, championship runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, had already announced on social media that he would not be driving for the Italian team in 2014.

Ferrari last had two world champions in their lineup in

Lotus F1 Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland is pictured during the third practice session of the Italian F1 Grand Prix at the Monza circuit September 7, 2013. REUTERS/Max Rossi 1953, when Italians Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina were together.

Raikkonen and Alonso should be a force to be reckoned with, although there could also be fireworks.

In contrast, other top teams have opted to pair a champion with a driver whose resume is less glittering.

Red Bull have a new face in Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who has yet to stand on the podium, as team mate to triple champion Sebastian Vettel while 2009 winner Jenson Button has Sergio Perez alongside him at McLaren but the Mexican is not yet a race winner.

Germany’s Nico Rosberg, who partners Hamilton at Mercedes, has been on the top step of the podium twice this season but only three times in his career.

TWO ROOSTERS Since the arrival in 1996 of Michael Schumacher, the seven times-world champion Raikkonen replaced at the end of 2006, Ferrari have preferred to have one clearly dominant driver in their lineup. That was not the case in 2008, when Massa almost won the title, but Alonso wasted no time in stamping his authority on the team when he replaced Raikkonen.

Massa started 2010 still

recovering from near-fatal head injuries sustained at the previous year’s Hungarian Grand Prix and the Brazilian never regained his previous level of performance.

Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo has said in the past, reacting to speculation that Vettel could partner Alonso, that he did not want “two roosters in the same henhouse”.

Ferrari decided, however, that Raikkonen - who won this year’s Australian seasonopener and recently ended a record 27 race scoring run was a better bet than Massa.

Red Bull and Vettel have a firm grip on both of this year’s championships and Ferrari are already focusing much of their attention on next year, when the rules go through significant change and a new V6 power unit is introduced.

The team, winners of a record 16 constructors’ and 15 drivers’ championships but without a title since 2008, are not in the habit of resigning their ex-drivers although Austrian Gerhard Berger had two separate three-year stints at Maranello in the 1980s and 1990s.

Raikkonen should have no problems fitting in at Maranello, with Pat Fry and James Allison - his former technical directors at McLaren and Lotus (formerly Renault) - now with Ferrari.

Both men also worked with Alonso, who won his two titles with Renault, at those teams. The Finn won nine races for Ferrari between 2007 and 2009. “I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible,” said team principal Stefano Domenicali.

Edgbaston under covers after the rain. (Getty Images) BBC Sport - Rain ended the third one-day international between England and Australia after 15.1 overs at Edgbaston.

In the play that was possible, England slipped to 59-3, with Michael Carberry, Kevin Pietersen and Joe Root dismissed. Australia lead the five-match series 1-0 after victory at Old Trafford on Sunday. The fourth match takes place at Cardiff on Saturday, with the series concluding in Southampton on Monday.

England had opted to field an unchanged side from the XI that lost by 88 runs at Old

Trafford, a team that included only three frontline bowlers in Steven Finn, Boyd Rankin and James Tredwell.

However, it was the home batsmen that came under pressure when Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to field in grey, wet conditions.

With rain having delayed the start for 20 minutes, England lost opener Carberry in the first over, run out in a mix-up with Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen set off after the ball hit his thigh and trickled into the leg side for a single that may not have been on.

Carberry hesitated and, by

the time he jogged through, bowler Clint McKay had gathered the ball and broken the stumps at the striker’s end.

Pietersen had already hit his first ball for four, but the dismissal of Carberry prompted some uncertain strokes. Scoring only two runs from his next 16 deliveries, he was caught at square leg off the extra pace of Mitchell Johnson.

Jonathan Trott had an lbw decision from the same bowler overturned on review as he compiled an unbeaten 28, but Joe Root offered a return catch to left-arm spinner Adam Voges before the rain came.

2013 Berbice River Bridge Company First Division 50-Over Knock-out Cricket in Berbice

Lyte’s 78 in vain as Ramdeen’s 60 see Young Warriors Universal DVD to final Young Warriors Universal DVD are through to the final of 2013 Berbice Bridge 50Over Knock-out Cricket Competition in Berbice after they defied the odds to defeat Port Mourant Karibee rice by 1 wicket in their semi-final on Sunday.

In the match which as played at the Cumberland ground, Port Mourant Karibee Rice won the toss, took first strike and found themselves struggling at 22 for 2 in the 10th over with Berbice Under-17 pacer Kassim Khan picking up all two wickets.

However Andrew Lyte Jnr of DCC, representing Port Mourant in this competition, joined Joshua Ramsammy and together they added 111 runs in 20 Overs before Ramsammy went for 43. Lyte continued and eventually fell to offspinner Kevin Ramdeen for 78 made in52 balls, with four fours and four sixes.

After he departed, the lower order led by Manoj Looknauth with 35 and

Yudendra Harrinarine and Gregory Crandon with 17 each saw Port Mourant to 244 all out in exactly 50 Overs.

Bowling for Young Warriors, Kassim Khan took 3 for 38, left arm spinner Karamchand Ramnarine 2 for 41, offspinner Hubern Evans 2 for 42 and Kevin Ramdeen 2 for 50.

With the odds in favour of Port Mourant, Young Warriors Universal DVD started their response with Guyana Under-19 batsman Shimron Hetmyer and Khemraj Sumair opening the batting. Sumair had to retire hurt with the score on 20 in the 3rd over.

Hetmyer was joined by his brother Seon and they took the score to 63 in the 10th over at which point Seon fell for 12. Kevin Ramdeen came in and he and Hetmyer put on 24 runs in the next 3 overs before the latter went for 42 off 24 balls.

After Sumair came back in and was bowled very q u i c k l y, Ramdeen

continued, putting on 47 for the 4th wicket in 8 overs with Lindon Austin 23 and 39 in 8 overs for the 5th wicket with Ishwar Singh before Ramdeen went via the run out route for 66 made off 50 balls and which included 4 fours and 4 sixes.

Singh went on to make 42, but Young Warriors still slipped to 208 for 7 and 228 for 9 still needing 17 in 5 overs. Hubern Evans (7 N.O) and Kassim Khan (15 N.O) however saw them safely through to 249 for 9 in 48.4 overs. Bowling for Port Karibee Rice offspinner Devendra Thakurdeen took 2 for 34 from 10 overs, pacer Yudendra Harrinarine 2 for 45 from 10 overs and offspinner Manoj Looknauth 2 for 49 from 10.

Yo u n g Wa r r i o r s Universal DVD will therefore clash the winner of the other semi-finalist Albion Community Centre in the final fixed for Sunday at the Cumberland ground.

Thursday September 12, 2013

Kaieteur News

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U.S. seal World Cup berth with win over Mexico COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - The United States qualified for the World Cup finals in Brazil after second half goals from Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan gave them a 2-0 home win over Mexico on Tuesday.

With Honduras drawing 22 with Panama and Costa Rica held to a 1-1 draw in Jamaica, the Americans stand on top of the CONCACAF standings on 16 points with two games remaining.

Costa Rica, who also qualified on Tuesday, are on 15 points with Honduras on 11 points still fighting for the third automatic qualification spot.

The defeat leaves Mexico deep in trouble though - they are in fifth place, level on eight points with fourthplaced Panama and with only a slim chance of making third place.

‘El Tri’, who started qualification as clear favorites to top the group, still have plenty of work ahead to even get the fourth spot and get a shot at Brazil via a playoff with Oceania winners New Zealand.

The Americans had to wait for almost an hour after the game to know their spot in Brazil was secure - needing Honduras to pick up at least a point. While players sat in the changing room watching the late game on television, hundreds of fans stayed in the stadium hoping to celebrate qualification and were rewarded with the U.S. team returning to the field to complete a lap of honour.

“This is a huge achievement for all of us,” coach Juergen Klinsmann told reporters.

“We can all be extremely proud of this team who gave everything. It’s a huge milestone whenever you make it to the World Cup, the biggest competition in this sport, especially hosted in Brazil, one of the biggest

soccer nations.

“It means a lot to all of us.

To our fans and to this country as well,” said the German, who took charge of the team in 2011.

For Mexico, the defeat to their biggest rival was a painful one on several levels.

“I don’t know what to tell you, we’re in debt with the people and very ashamed,” midfielder Christian Gimenez told Mexico’s TV Azteca.

MEXICO FADE Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena, taking charge for the first time following the firing of Jose Manuel de la Torre on Saturday, recalled Andres Guardado and Javier Hernandez to the starting line-up and their impact was felt early.

With Giovani dos Santos and Guardado stretching the U.S. defense, Argentine-born playmaker Gimenez found plenty of space and forced

Tim Howard into a fine diving save in the 19th minute.

Moments later, Gimenez fired a free-kick just over the bar as Mexico took the game to the Americans. Mexico keeper Jose Corona did well to block a diving header from Johnson from a rare U.S. attack but the danger was still coming from the visitors. Dos Santos dribbled in the box and tested Howard with a stinging drive and then on the stroke of half-time, the home keeper’s reflexes were alert enough to keep out a header from Diego Reyes. It was goalless at the break but Mexico had been superior in all departments with the Americans sorely missing the presence of the injured Michael Bradley in central midfield and the attacking threat of the suspended Jozy Altidore.

However, four minutes after the interval, the U.S. grabbed the lead when

Donovan swung in a corner and Johnson broke free of his marker to power in a header past Corona who was caught in no-man’s land.

The noisy 24,584 capacity crowd at the compact Crew stadium sensed victory was within reach and that confidence appeared shared by their team, who began to dominate the midfield.

Mexico, by contrast, looked utterly crestfallen by the goal, their belief faded dramatically and there was no way back for them after substitute Mix Diskerud slipped the ball across the box for Donovan to make it 20 in the 78th minute.

Clint Dempsey’s awful penalty in the final seconds, after he had been fouled in the box, barely went noticed by the celebrating fans, who can now start planning their trips to Brazil.

Jamaica Observer - SOME of the island’s brightest young stars in sports will soon be wearing the vibrant red colour of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, as the institution has released the names of the over 30 students who have been awarded sports scholarships for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Jamaica’s first World Junior and World Youth discus champion Frederick Dacres joins the UWI Pelicans, along with national junior sprinter Odail Todd, formerly of Green Island High School in Hanover.

The former Calabar standout Dacres, who won two gold medals at the World Junior Championships in

2012 and 2011, explained his reason for selecting UWI, Mona, despite having received a number of invitations from other institutions.

“I got a lot of offers from a number of North American colleges, but I chose UWI, Mona, because I don’t really plan on leaving Jamaica. I was supposed to leave but

decided to stay. I have grown and developed my skills here and I think it is the best option for me,” Dacres said.

He went on to add that he was eager to take advantage of the educational aspect of the scholarship immensely. “I am really looking forward to both getting a degree and making my name in track (Continued on page 31)

WACA stripped of Test in 2014-15

India have struggled in Perth, and the green-tinged 2012 pitch is known to have been chief among the motivators for the retaliatory dustbowls prepared for Australia’s visit to India earlier this year. © ESPNcricinfo Ltd

United States’ Clint Dempsey (8) passes the ball under pressure from Mexico’s Jesus Zavala (17) during the first half of their 2014 World Cup qualifying soccer match in Columbus, Ohio September 10, 2013. REUTERS/Matt Sullivan

Track and field elite juniors among UWI scholarship recipients

ESPNcricinfo - Perth is the major casualty of Australia’s truncated 2014-15 Test summer, stripped of its annual match for the first time since the WACA ground made its debut as a five-day venue in 1970. Only four Tests are scheduled for a season in which India will visit, due mainly to the fixturing squeeze created by the 2015 World Cup, and the nation’s two smallest and youngest major grounds in Perth and Hobart have been left off the Test calendar.

The decision has provoked an outraged response from the Western Australia Cricket Association, while the host broadcaster Channel Nine is also likely to be nonplussed about losing the one Test match of the summer it can screen in prime time to the populous eastern states, due to Perth’s more westerly time zone. However it was always likely that Perth would miss out on the match due to concerns about the ground’s facilities and size relative to its main rivals Brisbane and Adelaide.

While Bellerive Oval has never been a nailed-on venue, the WACA ground has invariably provided blood and thunder Test cricket, due to its uniquely fast and bouncy pitch. India were rounded up by an innings and 37 runs well inside three days in Perth in January 2012. Other considerations outlined by the CA chief executive James Sutherland included the strong claims of other grounds. Adelaide Oval’s $535 million redevelopment will be complete in time for the series, while the Gabba has traditionally been host to the first Test of the summer and has consistently drawn larger crowds to its matches than Perth.

The WACA’s size, a history of spotty attendances and facilities lagging behind other grounds have detracted from its standing among international venues, despite its lively pitch and a time zone more favourable to television audiences both in India and on the east coast of Australia.

CA’s verdict also maintains a longstanding tradition of “last in, first out” among venues - Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane all boasting of longer Test traditions than Perth.

“Though a traditional Test match venue with a proud history, the WACA ground has the smallest capacity of the five mainland Test venues and has historically attracted lower attendances,” Sutherland said. “The WACA has been working hard to improve the facilities for its fans but it still requires significant improvements.

“Although the WACA has missed out on a Test match, they will play host to up to four limited-overs matches in the 2014-15 season that will see South Africa tour in a limited-overs series in November, as well as India and England competing in a tri-series in January prior to the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.” Christina Matthews, the WACA chief executive, expressed her deep disappointment at the WACA’s reduced allocation for 2014-15. “Whilst CA will provide additional limitedovers matches to replace the Test match, there is no compensation for losing a Test,” she said. “The ongoing effect this loss will have on the WACA and cricket in Western Australia will be devastating. We will continue (Continued on page 31)

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Thursday September 12, 2013

Nyad defends record-breaking Cuba-U.S. swim against doubters NEW YORK (Reuters) U.S. long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad vigorously defended on Tuesday her record-breaking, 110-mile (177-km) swim from Cuba to southern Florida after skeptics raised questions about the grueling trek.

“I swam ... in squeakyclean, ethical fashion,” Nyad told a conference call late on Tuesday that included journalists and fellow marathon swimmers, some of whom have publicly questioned aspects of her challenging journey. “I honored the rules,” Nyad said at the start of the conference call. “I was an ethical swimmer.”

A triumphant Nyad, 64, staggered ashore in Key West, Florida, on September 2, after having swum about 53 hours, to become the first person to complete the treacherous crossing without a shark cage.

Nyad’s swim was her fifth attempt and only successful one. The highly publicized crossing sparked a social media debate about whether her journey meets the requirements to break the world record.

Some have questioned how Nyad was able to more than double her pace about halfway to Florida, and have

wondered whether she was towed at any points by tracking boats.

Marathon swimmer Evan Morrison was among a number of members of the long-distance swimming community who publicly questioned Nyad’s feat on social media.

“In reading through Diana’s crew’s live-blog, trying to suss out how this incredible swim happened, I was struck by how little information there actually was,” Morrison wrote on the online Marathon Swimmers Forum.

“These details matter because Ms. Nyad is claiming - and the media reporting without fact-checking - a new world record for longestdistance nonstop, unassisted ocean swim,” he said.

Nyad’s pace quickened significantly about halfway through the swim - from her average 1.5 miles per hour to nearly four miles per hour - a swift pace that continued for about six hours.

She and her supporters have said that she got a significant boost from a favorable Gulf stream current - a contention that independent experts who study the ocean currents in the region agreed with on Tuesday.

SWIFT CURRENT Mitchell Roffer, who runs a Melbourne, Florida-based ocean fishing forecasting service, said Nyad caught a swift, north-moving current, and then turned east out of the current at precisely the

Jamaica Observer - AS Jamaica’s World Cup dream suffered a potentially fatal body blow with a 1-1 draw against Costa Rica in their match at the National Stadium Tuesday night, crowd favourite Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson had his moment of redemption.

The Waterhouse striker, who was kept out of the team by the previous coaching team, gave Jamaicans something to cheer about in the dying moments when he scored to give the Reggae Boyz hopes of a comeback having entered the field of play in the 68th minute.

But Costa Rica, who scored in the 74th minute through another substitute, Randall Brenes, moved to 15 points in the CONCACAF hexagonal play-offs, and secured qualification along with the USA, who defeated Mexico 2-0 at home to boost their points tally to 16, for a safe passage to the Brazil 2014 World Cup Finals.

Honduras followed up their 2-1 victory over Mexico at the

Azteca last Friday with a 2-2 result against Panama at home to move to 11 points, while Panama inched up a place to fourth on eight points, the same as Mexico. Jamaica advanced to four points, but remained firmly rooted at the bottom of the sixnation group, but having failed to gather maximum points and with nearest rivals Mexico and Panama doing likewise, the Reggae Boyz were kept on life support, as they still have a mathematical chance of stealing fourth place, should they register maximum points from their two remaining games, and neither Mexico nor Panama score a win in either of their games.

The team that finishes in fourth place will earn another chance at qualification when they engage the winner of the Oceania region, New Zealand, in a home-and-away play-off series in mid November.

Jamaica will oppose the USA on October 11 in Kansas City, and then Honduras at home four days later, while Mexico welcome

Panama to the Azteca on October 11, before travelling to the already qualified Costa Rica on October 15, as Panama entertain the US on the same day.

Jamaica made their first purposeful move on goal in the fifth minute when Marlon King volleyed from the back post from a floated corner in by Shaun Cummings.

Costa Rica responded a minute later through captain Bryan Ruiz, who rifled goalward, but stand-in goalkeeper Richard McCallum had to fist away the ball.

In minute 13, Ruiz was at it again with another shot from distance, and again McCallum had to mop up.

Jamaica made a breakaway down the right side in the 17th minute with skipper Luton Shelton, but his low cross inside could not find Jobi McAnuff, who had sprinted up field to lend support.

The Boyz had another chance courtesy of Shelton,

U.S. long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad finishes a conference call with a group of fellow endurance swimmers to answer skeptics about her recordbreaking crossing of the Florida Straits last week, in Huntington Beach, California September 10, 2013. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo right moment.

“To me, it was an oceanographic lotto that she hit,” Roffer told Reuters. “You can’t get much luckier than she did.”

“The current, which was pulling her in north-

northwestern flow, was as perfect as you could get,” Roffer said. “It would explain why her speed was faster during that period.”

John Bartlett, one of Nyad’s navigators, said on the call that Nyad’s speed for nearly six hours - beginning about halfway through the trek - averaged 3.97 miles per hour.

Nyad, who was patient and in good spirits while answering numerous detailed questions from colleagues and reporters, said that during “this record-breaking swim I never touched the boat, not even an inadvertent touch.”

But after more than two hours she grew briefly exasperated with her inquisitors. She said that in the eight days since the race, she has had little time to review all the media coverage.

“First of all I was trying to feel some joy,” she said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do all my life. Most of that joy stopped when, you know ... you always expect some questioning but my own peer group, instead of coming to me and asking me questions went to the media.”

Asked why she didn’t better prepare to document the 53-hour swim with more video cameras that could have answered skeptics’

questions, she said that after four failed attempts, most of the world had given up on her. “My own family were like, ‘Please Diana, just give this up,’” she told reporters.

“Nobody wanted to be out there with us.”

She said she wished some of those now requesting so much documentation to prove she broke a record were there before she left Cuba.

At the start of her most recent attempt, she said mockingly to skeptical journalists, “I didn’t get any emails from any of you ... saying, you know, you really should have someone from the Obama administration” trailing to document the journey.

The comment drew laughter, but Nyad then grew more serious, and it became clear she was hurt by the skepticism of colleagues in the tiny global community of marathon swimmers.

“I never ever knew that we would not be trusted,” she said.

The previous record was held by Australian Penny Palfrey, who attempted the same crossing without a shark cage in 2012. Palfrey swam about 80 miles in 41 hours before adverse currents forced an end to the attempt.

Boyz clinch draw just before whistle - World Cup dream hangs by thread

Jamaica’s captain Luton Shelton (left) competes with Yeltsin Tejeda of Costa Rica during their World Cup Qualifier at the National Stadium last night. (PHOTO: JOSEPH WELLINGTON) whose right-footed free kick from 25 yards was held by Costa Rican custodian Patrick Pemberton, even as it took a slight deflection.

Garath McCleary re-ignited the Jamaican offensive thrust in the 64th when he dribbled across the field and got himself into a shooting position, but his final right-footed effort from 20 yards, went wide.

At the other end, something was going terribly wrong when goalkeeper McCallum’s poor pass out of his area lacked logic and conviction and rolled nicely for an alert Brenes. The Costa Rican substitute licked his finger at the generous gift from the goalkeeper to beat the Jamaican at his near post.

But after some probing, Jamaica’s goal came from

hometown hero Anderson, who drifted wide for a gentle tap in after a long lofted ball from defender Jermaine Taylor found its mark.

But as it turned out, and sadly, the Waterhouse man’s goal was a piece of magic too little, too late in front of about 7,000 spectators, nearly half of which we clad in Costa Rica’s red and white.