Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

BUILDING A NEW PRISON Two months after the burning down of the Camp Street prison, the government has one again gone silent on the issue as it did last year after the worst prison riot in the country and in the Caribbean. That event claimed seventeen lives. The insurrections at the Camp Street prison last year and this year should send a strong message to the authority that all is not well with the prisoners and that leaving them to rot in jail is not an option. It has also clearly demonstrated that the prison system needs urgent reform. There is an urgent need for a new prison to house the increasing number of inmates. There is no point at this stage for anyone to lecture the public about crime and criminality or prison reform when authority continues to ignore reality. Truth be told, Guyana needs two new state-of-the-art prisons to house its male and female prisoners. The living conditions at the existing facilities have been described as deplorable. Several recommendations to build a new prison have been ignored by governments. The idea of building a new prison on the outskirts of Georgetown to replace the almost two centuries’ old Camp Street prison has been bandied about for decades but the political will remains lacking. The Camp Street prison has been deemed outdated by local and international standards. The harsh conditions under which the inmates are forced to live have turned many into rabid animals. Some ex-convicts have admitted that they have become hardened criminals by being incarcerated in an overcrowded prison environment. The Camp street prison was built to accommodate fewer than half of those it held when it went up in flames. Not only is a new prison needed, but the government must implement serious reforms to make it more humane for prisoners, despite the fact that most of the citizens do have very little sympathy for criminals. As things stand, the government is now constructing modern prison facilities at Mazaruni, the best possible location for a prison in Guyana. Mazaruni has the space. Studies have shown that a key element of an effective crime-reduction strategy is a prison system that focuses on reform rather than solely incarceration. Prison reform could help to maintain social stability and enhance human development growth, but it would require fundamental changes to the prison system. Included in the programmes should be life training skills, job training, entrepreneurship, goal setting, conflict resolution, anger management and education, among others. Providing a safe prison environment and proper health care to prisoners should be a priority for the authority. Incarceration should not only be to deny prisoners of their freedom or restrict their movement, it should also afford them the opportunity to study, work or learn a trade in order to make it easier for them to re-adjust to society upon their release. Incarceration should not mean prisoners are absolved from social responsibilities either. They should be allowed to work in order to take care of their existence and thus free the state from granting public assistance to them. Incarceration should not be only about retribution and revenge; it should be about helping those who have transgressed to change and to accept societal norms and values. Therefore building a new prison with modern, high-tech crime-fighting equipment and a rehabilitation centre would help to make prisoners become productive. All able-bodied men and women, even though confined, should have the opportunity to contribute to society. This is what Guyana is seeking to at Mazaruni—build a modern prison.

Thursday September 07, 2017

Editor’s Note; If your sent letter was not published and you felt its contents were valid and devoid of libel or personal attacks, please contact us by phone or email

AMERINDIANS PLAYING THEIR ROLE IN DEVELOPING REGION 2 DEAR EDITOR, As we collectively celebrate the month of September in Guyana which is designated in recognition of the contribution of Amerindians; I feel compelled to acknowledge their continuing accomplishments, particularly in Region 2. The indigenous communities across the Region have produced some outstanding personalities in the field of education, health, sports, administration, politics and social activism. The Assistant Regional Executive Officer (AREO) of Region 2 Ms. Yvette Hastings-Tfarres is of Amerindian descent. Her responsibilities are wide ranging including the administration of the local authorities which comprise of the five Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC). She has also championed the welfare and advancement of Amerindians and who would frequently seek her intervention on a number of social, cultural, domestic and economic issues. She is the

first top level Manager of Amerindian heritage to hold the post. The Region has also done well at the national heritage sports event and is both the male and female cricket champions previously. The female won the title in 2015 while the male are the defending champions. Ms. Hastings’ office has been quite instrumental in organizing and selecting the best athletes to compete at the games. The Region has also produced the head of the National Toshoas Council Mr. Joel Fredericks who hails from the village of Mainstay. His activism has been well documented as a leader of the Amerindian community. Calypsonian, the Mighty Chief who hails from the Pomeroon River remains the Region’s most gifted performer of the art. In fact, he has represented the Region in a number of national competitions and is known nationally. His children have continued the tradition and have since formed the Calibro band

which is now a household name in Essequibo and perhaps beyond the shores as well. There are also a few Amerindian Councilors on the RDC including former parliamentarian Lloyd Perreira and Doreen Jacobus who was a former Toshoa too. Their input in representing their constituents have resulted in significant progress in various communities including having access to cleaner water, transportation, rehabilitation of roads, dams, schools and health centers. Providing social services to such communities are often quite challenging especially for the provision of pension and having the requisite documentation to access same. In this regard, Councilors and village Captains pays a pivotal role in determining the fate of many residents, particularly from the upper and lower pomeroon river. In the Region as well, the presence of Amerindians in positions of influence include young Doctors who recently graduated from Cuba and are stationed at the

Public Hospital in Suddie and Charity. There are also trained teachers, more of whom are now being exposed and encouraged to upgrade themselves including at the University of Guyana and the Cyril Potter College of Education. Previously, Headmasters and Mistresses from the Coastland had to manage the schools in the interior due to the inexperience and limited qualification of Amerindian teachers. This scenario has now significantly changed and more teachers of Amerindian descent are now Managers of schools and the list is beginning to lengthen by the day. Indeed Amerindians are beginning to occupy their rightful places in every endeavor having had the opportunity to express themselves gain exposure and having equal access to the numerous opportunities that are being offered including scholarships and jobs. In this regard, they have been placing their shoulders to the wheel and continue to positively contribute towards the development of Region 2. Elroy Stephney

The life of the Patamona people in region 8 is hard and an arduous one

DEAR EDITOR, It’s with much admiration and sadness I am writing this letter about the Patamona people of Region 8. Their lives are wonderful but yet a hard one. With no access to effective communication and accessibility into the area, it is a very costly place to live. I’ve had the opportunity to be in Paramakatoi doing research and taking part in their tradition of fishing. The area is land locked, located in a mountainous area with no proper roads. For the Patamona people of Paramakatoi and other villages in Region 8, fish is very difficult to obtain. One would have to travel along Asanda (trails) through mountains to the Siparuni River. The journey takes 2 days from Paramakatoi with brisk walking and 3 days at a much slower pace. For one to take the journey, he or she has to walk with enough supplies to last the journey. The average weight that a person carries is about 4060 lbs. This includes their hammocks, cooking pot, sugar, farine, cassava bread and whatever supplies they

need for the journey. In most cases, entire families take the trip to catch fishes (on the trip we went to catch the Kulak (fine fish) which was poisoned with Hairi). Each family member would have his own load to carry, from the smallest child to the eldest person. I’ve seen mothers, infants, toddlers, teenagers, adults and elders all taking the trip.

The journey is not for the faint-hearted. Any coastlander will definitely give up after the first climb up a mountain, and there are many mountains to climb on the way to Siparuni River. Along the Asanda you will be able to see jaguar markings; if you are unlucky a snake may be in your pathway. If you slip, climbing up or down the mountain, you can easily sprain your ankle or even break it. If you got bit-

ten by a snake, persons will have to carry you out to the nearest airstrip to be flown to Georgetown. If you fall to your death, no one will know instantly about it since communication is none existent. These are the journey that all Patamona go on a daily basis. It’s a dangerous way to live but it is their way of life and must be respected. This journey to Siparuni River is not something that Continued on page 6

Amerindians are complaining of discrimination against Lady Northcote ferry DEAR EDITOR, The Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure recently boasted in the media about the Lady Northcote ferry which transports passengers and cargo to the North West District (Barima- Waini). But while the North West steamer may have adopted a level of reliability in the transportation of North West (NWD) passengers and their cargo to Mabaruma and Port Kaituma, the poor residents of these two sub-regions are currently crying out against the demonstration of favouritism by the Transport

and Harbours Department (T&HD) of which Minister David Patterson is in charge. The NWD residents are claiming that their cargo which would consist of about one to three boxes are not allowed to be shipped to Mabaruma and Port Kaituma including Morowhanna. In other words the NWD residents are claiming that political discrimination and bribery are being practiced by the NWD steamer authorities since it is only the tons of cargo belonging to the big businessmen who are affiliated to the APNUAFC political parties are al-

lowed to be shipped to the NWD while theirs are refused. The NWD steamer leaves port Georgeto w n in Kingston for the NWD every two weeks and residents would like the media to witness the pains and harassment they go through at the T&HD Kingston wharf in getting their small cargo to their home. NWD residents are also claiming that previously this never happen and the new development by the T&HD administration is presently affecting their livelihood. Peter Persaud

Thursday September 07, 2017

Guyana needs a spiritual revival to save it DEAR EDITOR, There are many sad stories daily in our country. First I start with the rise in crime daily. A few days ago a young man was shot dead by a security guard that tried to rob a woman, and one of the prison escapees was shot dead both of whom were former policemen or attached to the police force. I also recalled the recent bank robbery executed by a young agronomist that was also shot and killed, the rest of his young educated col-

leagues are now in prison. I wish to appeal to our young men and women of this country to work hard to achieve their goals and do not follow a life of crime; life is about choices and many of our young Guyanese young men are following a life of crime to get rich quick they do not wish to work hard to earn a living; they blame government, they make bad choices to get easy money by robbing people that bring them to their deaths at a very young age by the police and security men.

It’s very sad when these very young-educated and talented men are cut off very early in life because they made bad choices in life. Our bad economy and unemployment is another significant factor of crimes and social problems. The foundation of crime begins with bad parents and family background. Too much live home life styles and child mother and child father business but NO MARRIAGE where mother and father will be responsible to grow up their children in the fear of God. In Guyana today most Continued on page 6

The City Council is extraordinarily overstaffed DEAR EDITOR, The recent comment by the Town Clerk of Georgetown in the media that City Hall is not overstaffed but under resourced is preposterous, pathetic and a poor attempt at being clever. The definition of overstaffing is having more employees than are needed. Simply put, if the Vector Control staff are without spray cans and without insecticide for years now, then they are under resourced and overstaffed as they have no work to do, yet have to be paid for doing nothing. If the mechanics are not issued tools or provided with mechanical spares for eons then they can’t provide maintenance and repairs to municipal vehicles and are rendered impotent and therefore the workshop must be considered under resourced and overstaffed, unless they bring their own tools to work and procure the necessary spares out of their own pockets. And such an extrapolation can be done in each section and department of the Council, are the nurses not having vaccines, carpenters and masons without tools and building materials to fix bridges etc. But an even more glaring refutation of the Town Clerk’s

endeavor at a nifty rejoinder to the reporter’s question about overstaffing at the Council, was his failure to explain how the willy-nilly contracting out of municipal services to their friends for activities such as weeding of parapets and drains whilst maintaining their own gang, cleaning of the cemetery, whilst maintaining their own cemetery workers , running of electrical wiring in the City Constabulary Training Center by their special contractor whilst maintaining their own Electricians does not lead to redundancy and overstaffing? But finally, could the Town Clerk explain how it is possible for a city as poorly run as Georgetown, to have so many departments, so many managers and so many support staff? There are cities much larger than

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Georgetown and municipalities that provide a much better quality and greater amount of municipal services to the citizenry in the Caribbean that don’t have three Assistant and Deputy Town Clerks, that don’t have seven Engineers, an entire public relations department with a ton of staffers, that don’t have their senior officials protected by bodyguards, and attended to by personal assistants, chauffeurs and a retinue of other attendants. But the question I had really wanted the Journalist to ask the Town Clerk, was how many friends, relatives and church pals of senior municipal officials are currently weighing down Council’s payroll. Under resourcing is not the real problem at the Council, it is nepotism cronyism and favouritism. Sambu Jacobus

Guyana’s future must be based on an paper articles. Values are agricultural economy performative, that is, they can DEAR EDITOR, Guyana is poised to make further advances into its history of being a prime producer of food in quality, quantity and variety, to meet the needs of its citizens, and to be able to export a significant volume of these agricultural products, not only rice and sugar, etc. Our farmers have proven their worth, who operating under some may say primitive conditions, have displayed extraordinary abilities to place Guyana among food exporting countries. There is more to agriculture than cultivating crops and rearing of livestock. As the basic industry, agriculture being the mainstay of employment in Guyana, we must ensure that it maintains its hegemony. This paper seeks to point out that we are lucky in that our Guyana is poised for greatness, to which some of us will have to bear the burden; which burdens have already been exhibited by our pioneer farmers who journeyed up the far reaches of the Mahaicony, Mahaica, Abary, Berbice, Pomeroon Rivers, ( the floods of 1968 put an end to the Pomeroon’s role as a major fruit producer, and further the demise of carambola processing completed Pomeroon’s chances of recovery.) Not to leave out those in the hinterland, such as the Northwest Districts where nascent tree crop farms produced abundant supplies of avocados, citrus, coffee and

other fruits. The migration from the Northwest to Venezuela, witnessed the end of yams on a large scale, and by the same token tree crops, peanuts, oil palm etc. How do we assure the descendants of those early settlers that their parents’ sacrifices to dwell and produce food in god-forsaken places were worth the effort? We venture to suggest to them that they have been making valuable contributions to the nation’s economy, that they must hold the fort. Government of Guyana and we the people are mindful of their sacrifice. Though isolated in the Canje, Bonasika and other ukhu -aha places, they are always in our thoughts. We have to insist to them that Guyana would do all in our power to up- hold their industry, by providing the goods and services they need to stay in place. Our farmers on the Coast—lands, better days are ahead. Government must comfort our noble farmers, that naturally, agriculture is the main pillar of the economy and, having been mainstay for decades, would be so for the foreseeable future, not just to reduce and restrict the food import bill, but to continue creating jobs, as this paper will reveal. Agriculture is the main engine of growth for all times. We are charged to initiate change and development by starting with ourselves. Values cannot be imparted through nice speeches, news-

only find and offer meaning through action. We who want to change the decadent morality of our society will need to practice the values we preach. Live and work among the ordinary folks, who are the organic intellectuals, who know about the hardships faced in their daily experiences, who are the salt of the Earth, who do not possess the luxury to plan and express ideas. Their insights are seen to be inferior by those who think they are superior in intelligence, education, job position or social status. Guyana has a rich history and experience with land development and land settlement; commencing from before independence, when sugar workers were recruited to become farmers on these land settlement schemes, be it Anna Regina, Cane Grove, Vergenoegen, to name the better acquainted ones. Then to larger operations such as Bonasika-Boeraserie, Black Bush, Tapacuma, Garden of Eden, Kent Dam, Mahaica - Mahaicony Abary, Branwak-Sai, Mara etc. These land development facilities have contributed magnificently to our Agri and rural development; and significantly to our knowledge on how to manage them. There have been complaints as to their maintenance and upkeep. It must be appreciated that maintenance of drainage and Continued on page 6

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This man is peddling half truths about the sugar industry and GuySuCo DEAR EDITOR, Having read an opinion piece from Mr. Gobin Harbhajan (APNU+AFC Regional Democratic Councillor & Former SEI Board Director) in a letter to the press, I am compelled to offer some comments using verifiable facts on the subjects articulated to support privatization of the industry. 1. If Mr. Harbhajan is au fait with recent history or lived in Guyana during the period 2009-2015, he ought to know that the present IMC

members of GuySuCo (Mr. Hanoman & Mr. Bhim) functioned as Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of GuySuCo consecutively in the periods 2009 to mid-2010 and mid-2010 to mid-2014. In the period mid2014 to mid-2015, Mr. Raj Singh was the CEO. Using Mr. Harbhajan’s rationale for decline of GuySuCo, it follows that theft, squandermania, mismanagement, cronyism, poor investment decisions, etc. are synonymous with Mr. Hanoman and Mr. Bhim.

Incidentally, these persons are managing the industry since mid-2015. It is therefore logical to surmise that the decline will continue as evident in performances since mid-2015. 2. The RDC Councillor concludes that “nothing ever worked” at Skeldon. Editor, it is Mr. Harbhajan who hosted the press at Skeldon in December 2016 to address the issue power for Christmas season. In that press outing, he is quoted as saying in KN edi-

tion of 12/04/17: “the Wartsila engines are capable enough and will be able to supply ten megawatts of power to the national grid”. “We want to make it clear that there is no problem at the co-gen plant; it is 100 per cent operational”. Now, can this elected official explain how nothing ever worked at Skeldon, yet the engines can supply10 megawatts power and cogeneration plant is 100 percent operational? 3. Mr. Harbhajan attributes the downfall of Wales

Guyana needs a spiritual revival to save it From page 5 criminals never knew their parents they grew up with grandparents, aunts, uncles and even in the streets and many ghetto areas most of these young candidates of heinous crimes lack parental guidance and love thus they barely attend school or are completely illiterate. The educated criminals may come from good family backgrounds but made bad choices to get rich quick and they learn about crime by associating with street criminals and lived away from their families. Drugs and alcohol abuse and dance hall music are also contributing factors to crime. I made a call on our Government once to ban all Dance Hall immoral music for example, Alkaline sing songs where he smokes dope and has lots of nude women dancing around him; our young men wants to emulate that same life style from these evil, and

wicked singers thus follow a path of easy money. I am calling again on our Government our President the Hon.David Granger to ban all lkaline, Mavado,Vibez Kartel, Konshens, Popcaan, Lady Saw etc. all these guys songs are loaded with cuss words and pornography that is destroying our young people here in Guyana. I read of a young couple who slammed i n t o a c a r with their motor bike and died, an 18-month-old girl was flung out of a window and then buried alive by her ex-convict uncle, who then covered the shallow grave with several pieces of wood to hide his tracks early yesterday. Then a few weeks ago a house fell on a 12 year girl and killed her. A few days later, a 15 year old boy who was in love with her committed suicide. Next, a seven year old girl child went missing in the Atlantic ocean while her dad was fishing, she is yet to be found. Many of our young people are dying and I call on all parents to be more careful with their children. These are very sad stories today in our country.

A lot of young people are dying by road accidents and it seems like it doesn’t bother anyone in authority. Then we have the deaths of you n g p i l o t s f l y i n g defective planes or t h e y h a r d l y c a n fly these planes that crashed killing them. I ask a question here, why these planes don’t have parachutes to save the lives of these pilots and passengers in a time of difficulty? I believe the pilots should be prepared at all times for these emergencies. Suicide have now become a way of life for young people so this tells me that religious education should be taught in our schools and University, to let young people know that God created them with a plan and purpose. In this life we must have dreams, goals and visions. All of this evil comes from a great family breakdown in our nation. All this evil I see here is also a spiritual, moral, and demonic problem. We need a spiritual revival

in this Nation where our citizens will have the fear of God in their hearts and love for our fellow brothers and sisters. People can go party late at nights and go back home drunk that cost them their lives but refused to attend a church service that will last for two hours. Human selfishness caused so many innocent young women to be killed the love of God died long ago from our hearts. Jesus said: ‘’And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.’‘Matthew 24:12. This simply means because of our increased wickedness the love of God in our hearts for each other will become cold. It’s time all our Political Leaders come together for a month of fasting and prayer and introduce religious studies into all our academic institutions. We are a Nation too young to die from lawlessness and immorality WE NEED TO ARREST IT NOW. Rev.Gideon Cecil

estate to “voodoo crop husbandry”. I urge Mr. Harbhajan to speak with IMC members (Mr. Hanoman & Mr. Bhim) as they approved this voodoo crop husbandry policy. I hope that Mr. Harbhajan is also fully aware that voodoo crop husbandry policy is in full force causing Blairmont and Uitvlugt cultivations to be destroyed by rodents over the last 1 ½ years. 4. We are now advised by Mr. Harbhajan that Skeldon should be the model for privatization. Before moving to Skeldon, this nation was lectured by GuySuCo and Government about the Wales model for diversification. Can Mr. Harbhajan present this nation with a progress report on Wales diversification?

Show us the diversification plan and its achievements along with income and expenditure at Wales since closure of sugar operations in December 2016. Once there is hard evidence to convince the citizenry that Wales diversification model is yielding profits and jobs, then, consideration can be given to any other model.I urge Mr. Harbhajan to respect the intellect of Guyanese and desist from spewing lies and half-truths on subjects he is not competent in. While Mr. Harbhajan is from a different era, he must appreciate a fact that the technological age allows citizens to access information via a few clicks. Sookram Persaud

Guyana’s future must be based on... From page 6 irrigation, fair weather roads/ dams, and other access road/ dams are costly; .it is imperative then, that each acre in these land development areas be productive. Nevertheless there has never been talk of the uselessness of the land development/ settlement scheme, just criticisms of their management. Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The present diversification from sugar must give birth to a new term, which is transition; for we are to use the first phase of this transition as a model of 21st century agriculture and a post

sugar economy. The 21st century economy for Guyana has been decided by policy and fate, to be one which will be based on both a green and agricultural economy. We have the resources: land, water, sunshine and skilled farmers and - farmers in waiting — who have displayed great acumen towards their industry. To achieve our prosperity, we have to appreciate that this phase of Guyana’s economic development has to entertain the utilization of modern technologies that, devolved to household level but correlated to community level, can ensure efficiencies in production, processing logistics and marketing. Hafiz Rahaman Rural People Organization

The life of the Patamona people in region 8 is hard and an... From page 4 has been happening recently but has been happening for time immemorial. The Patamona people have a name for each creek, rivers, mountains, rocks and hills in Region 8. They know the territory quite well. What I admire most about the Patamona people is that everyone speaks their language. My people’s language

(Lokono) was killed by Catholic missions quite a long time ago. Your language is your identity; it’s your code, it is part of your culture. I felt cultureless when I heard everyone speaking their language and I will make every effort to learn my language as much as I can. When I heard the ramblings of Eric Phillips and a Government Minister calling the Indigenous people

land hungry, it got me really upset because they have no idea about our way of life. While I do agree and wholeheartedly support the fight of the Africans in Guyana to access land, I believe that their fight for reparation and land rights is different than t h e f i g h t o f t h e indigenous peoples for their ancestral lands. Therefore, the present Commission will not serve the

interest of Indigenous Land Rights. I have lots more to write on this issue but this will be all for now since it is very costly to use wifi service here in Paramakatoi and I just returned from a 10 day journey from the Siparuni River (Sunday). As I gather my thoughts, more will be written about the Patamona people and their way of life. Andrew Campbell

Thursday September 07, 2017

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Poor security pushes doctors, nurses Missing New Road labourer’s to ‘down tools’ at Diamond Hospital body found in Charity Canal Poor security and the deplorable state of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, yesterday, forced doctors and nurses to stage a sit-in after several of their complaints were ignored by the officials at the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH). Kaieteur News understands that whenever it rains, some sections of the hospital are flooded and the staffers have no choice but to work in the water. Most of the air conditioning units at the facility are said to be out of order. This issue was raised with officials of the Ministry and several letters were written and sent to the Minister of MOPH, Volda Lawrence, but all were ignored. Additionally, the workers have expressed concern over the security system at the hospital. They claimed that sometimes there are two women guarding the entire compound. “These two people can’t

do anything. I don’t know what they expect a woman to do at 11 o’clock in the night when angry family members come in and try to harass the staff,” one employee at the hospital said yesterday. The woman explained that all the employees made a decision to stage a sit-in after they realized that they were being treated unfairly. Making matters worse was an incident which occurred on August 28, last, when the relatives of a patient who was pronounced dead became aggressive and threatened to return to the health institute with a gun. A man, who was identified as an ex-cop, reportedly grabbed one of the doctors and braced him to a wall in the Accident and Emergency Room, causing the other employees to run for cover. The individual also threatened to return with a gun. The matter was reported to the ranks at the Diamond Police Station and statements

were taken from the ex-cop and the staffers, but to date no action has been taken. In addition, the employees came together and penned a second letter to the health ministry addressing the need for proper security, and like the first time, the letter was again ignored. Apart from the security concerns, this newspaper has been informed that the hospital has a shortage of staff. Nurses and security guards have to assist in fetching injured persons into the facility due to a shortage of attendants. There is also a need for more doctors and nurses at the hospital to effectively handle the daily work load. As news of the employees’ sit-in spread, a number of officials from the Ministry visited the hospital and spoke with employees. Work commenced shortly after, but the staffers have threatened to protest if no action is taken.

Open Consultations on solid waste management strategy unveiled The Ministry of Communities has updated its solid waste management strategy to manage the country’s solid waste. This draft was open for discussions to various stakeholders on Wednesday, at the Regency Hotel on Hadfield Street. The updated strategy has three main components. These are - sustainable waste reduction and management strategy, operational standard procedures and background information and analysis of Guyana’s solid waste sector. A consultant, Samuel Wright, has planned waste management updated strategy for all the regions to begin before the end of the year. The objectives of the updated strategy are a cleaner environment, better public health protection and enhanced economic opportunity. Some of the goals include a cessation in littering and illegal dumping, increasing the numbers of stiff penalties and identifying and monitoring dumping hot spots among others. Mr Samuels said that the enactment of the solid waste management draft bill which was developed in 2014 but was not approved by Cabinet. He also said, “There is a space between Cabinet’s decision and the Ministry’s re-

sponse which would come after consultations. But solid waste management is crucial and must be addressed now… We do have a 2017 2030 solid waste management strategy under the theme “Putting waste in its place” in Guyana, but there is progressive implementation of the strategy”. He also stressed the need for consultation. Head of the Sanitation Management Unit, Ministry of Communities, Gordon Gilkes, stated the loss of control of solid waste is dangerous to public health and the environment. He also stated that it would be irresponsible of the government not to improve its policy for solid waste management. Gilkes explained that poor waste handling together with uncontrolled waste dumping can pollute water, attract rodents and insects, increase greenhouse gas and increase floods due to blocked drains. “The strategy proposes an integrated approach to addressing the solid waste management crisis countywide. It is intended as a call to action and provides a road map for the institutional support, regulatory framework, appropriate technologies community awareness and involvement, financing,

management indicators etcetera. That will aid in the integration of a sustainable waste management system towards a circular economy,” Gilkes explained. Stakeholders included the Mayor and City Council, National Parks Commissions, Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana Tourism Authority, National Task Force-Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Puran Brothers, Central Housing and Planning Authority and among several others. The Ministry has held over 30 consultations to date in all ten administrative regions and hopes to finalise the strategy before the end of 2017.

Investigators on scene yesterday where Terrence Ramcharran (inset) was found Police of G Division are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, of a 34-year-old labourer of New Road, Essequibo Coast. The body was discovered yesterday and identified as Terrence Ramcharran of lot 26 New Road. Ramcharran went missing Tuesday afternoon. The discovery was made yesterday around 11:00 hrs in a nearby Canal in Charity. The deceased who was the sole breadwinner of his family leaves to mourn his wife, Shelana Ramcharran and his three young children. Reports are that prior to him going missing, Ramcharran was last seen drinking with friends from his community. Sources claim that the deceased later went swimming with the friends in a Ca-

nal in Charity, where he is believed to have subsequently drowned. The dead man’s wife, Shelana Ramcharran, told this publication that she received the tragic message of her husband’s death just one hour after his disappearance. “I got a call [Tuesday] afternoon around 17:00 hrs, saying my husband drowned. Right away I went down the road and start looking for him, but I didn’t find him. My sister in law went to the scene where he de drinking, but she just found his footwear. The two guys that he de drinking with, lef he in the canal and gone. They said when they left he de still swimming.” The afternoon search proved futile as Terrence neither showed up home on Tuesday night. Shelana then

reported her husband missing at the Charity Police Station. Hours later the tragedy intensified. The worst scenario quickly came to life. Shelana explained, “After I made the report this morning, somebody told me he drowned because the place smelling rank. The koker man then asked if anybody come to look fo me husband. Me tell him nobody ain’t come yet. So the man decide to go in the canal to feel for him. The first feel he feel he find me husband!” The discovery shook all; Ramcharran’s face was completely eaten by piranhas. The friends are expected to be detained by police to assist in investigations. The body is currently at the Suddie Hospital awaiting a postmortem examination.

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Procurement procedures must benefit locals in oil and gas sector – Energy specialist

Anthony Paul In order to ensure that Guyanese contractors and entrepreneurs benefit from the procurement of works and services that will flow from the emerging oil and gas sector in Guyana, it is recommended that procurement procedures must be instituted in this regard. This recommendation came yesterday from the Principal Consultant of the Energy and Strategy Association of Caribbean Energy Specialists Ltd., Anthony Paul. The expert, a Trinidadian, was at the time making a presentation on Guyana’s Draft Local Content Policy Framework to a gathering of stakeholders yesterday at the Marriott Hotel. With the new industry gradually coming on stream, it is expected that there will be procurement opportunities for goods and services to support sector operations. According to Paul, Guyana needs to ensure that

the procurement procedures enable its locals to participate in the procurement process. Giving a practical example, Paul said that the process can be manipulated to suit particular contractors. “Similarly with services and equipment, I can say I need a table and there is a guy up the street who is making tables, but I want my friend to give me that table, so I say I need tables, chairs and doors. The guy up the street does not make chairs, so he is disqualified. So you have to make sure that the procurement procedures enable the locals to participate.” He said that what needs to occur is that there are proper procurement regulations. “You cannot close all loopholes. That is the essence of this policy, trying to get the pieces in place to ensure you get what you want. The policy is saying that

to get there, let us have some groundwork, let us have some policies to work with. What the policy is saying is first, give preference to Guyanese.” Despite there being the need for proper procurement measures, Paul said that this is still not enough. He said that there must be ways that Guyanese can expand their competencies so that the calibre of persons and services offered can be enhanced. Further, he said that one of the challenges countries like Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago face is that the legislature inherited would have been conditioned to place on the law books in the 1960s

and 1970s, laws providing that for local goods and services to be used, the cost and quality should be the same as being imported. In addition, he said that locals never having worked in the industry will never have the competencies of the competitors. “So what needs to change is not that you will use what you have, that you will build what you have to become competitive.” Giving another practical example, Paul said that if a service is for 20 years, and the first contract is up at five years, the local contractor that is incompetent will not get the contract. “Five years later, he has

not practiced, still is not competent. So one, we have to make sure that what you have is improved in quality, and two, we ensure that what we have can be expanded.” He explained that there are things that Guyanese cannot do and there is need to build capacity, train people and improve the quality of certification of people. Meanwhile, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman delivering brief remarks at the event explained that following the first announcement of oil being found in 2015, the government worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to have

Paul come to Guyana. Trotman said that Paul would have given the Guyana government an assessment that was concluded in December 2016. He said that with that document, government sought to put a framework in place as well as the various parts of what the petroleum sector should look like and how it should be developed. Trotman explained that earlier in the year the policy was sent out. He reminded that it is only a draft and that comments and critiques are being sought. “It was never meant to be a final draft or final document, Continued on page 23

Local investors in oil and gas sector will get incentives – Go-Invest CEO Local entrepreneurs who want to invest in the developing oil and gas sector will have access to concessions and incentives provided for in the laws of Guyana. Giving this assurance was the Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Owen Verwey. The CEO was at the time responding to a question posed at the Local Content Policy Stakeholder Engagement yesterday at the Marriott Hotel. The event was organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The question was what additional incentives local investors will enjoy if they want to participate in the oil and gas sector.

According to Verwey, the incentives are covered under the Investment Act. Specifically, this is dealt with under Section 36 of the Act which states “Investment priority categories shall be detailed in Priority Lists as set out in Section 2 of the Income Tax (in Aid of Industry) Act.” Verwey said that the petrochemical sector is a special section that covers investment incentives in that sector. “To a large extent it may be covered under pioneering activities that could be eligible for the best of the incentives which is a corporate income tax holiday but below that, the incentives are the exemptions on duties and taxes on the importation of capital equipment and machinery to be used in the production of whatever activities it is.” Further, the CEO said that incentives vary for those operations that might be located in the economically and socially challenged locations of Guyana. He said that these areas have been identified to be Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. The Income Tax (in Aid of

Go-Invest CEO, Owen Verwey Industry) Act, Section 2 gives the Minister the power to grant an exemption from corporation tax with respect to income from new economic activity of a developmental and risk-bearing and qualifying under a number of circumstances. These circumstances include the creation of employment in the above

mentioned administrative regions or creating employment in a number of fields including the petroleum exploration, extraction and refining sector. As it relates to additional incentives, Verwey said that accessing incentives would depend on an investor ’s downstream activities. “If your downstream activities are in manufacturing, most of what I said earlier covers that. If it’s pioneering then you will be entitled to a lot of those items. If it’s the case of importing and supplying, then we get into a very tricky area whereby you are talking about the importing and supplying for the oil and gas industry which everyone else including Exxon might do.” According to Verwey, Exxon has already received some exemptions. However, he said that these are only limited to capital equipment and machinery that is used directly in the operations of ExxonMobil.

Thursday September 07, 2017

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Kaieteur News

Begging is not the route to political empowerment The parties of the coalition government are imbalanced in terms of national support. The AFC is a 10% party; the APNU is a 40% party, judging from the elections of 2011. The remainder of the parties will struggle to gain one per cent of the votes of the electorate. The WPA likes to present itself as bringing intellectual capital to the government. But that does not count for fart in the practical world of politics. What matters are votes and support and the WPA has nothing of significance to show in either of these two areas. It was the AFC’s electoral strength which allowed it to sign an agreement which was lopsided in favoring the AFC, with the APNU. If the AFC did not go it alone in the 2011 elections and if it did not hold the balance of power in parliament as a result of its showing in those

elections, it would not have been able to command the respect that allowed it to sign the Cummingsburg Accord in 2015. The AFC is now being sidelined. But it does not care. It committed its own political suicide when the changes in its leadership this year, undermined its role within the coalition government. But the fact that it has electoral appeal means that it cannot be jettisoned from the coalition. Not that that matters because the AFC is also allowing itself to be used as a doormat within the ruling administration. It did not demand that the APNU fully comply with the terms of the Cummingsburg Agreement. It has not negotiated new terms. It has allowed important portfolios which it holds to be undermined within the government. It has not publicly called the government to account over excesses.

And its role in investigation of the Sussex Street Bond contract has led to a loss of credibility. The AFC is however surviving on the strength of its electoral appeal which for a third party is significant. The WPA has never been able to command that sort of support. It was a victim of the return to ethnic politics in the free and fair elections in 1992. All the small parties suffered. However, the WPA’s decline began much earlier. It began with the retreat to geographic fatalism of 1983 following the Grenada invasion. The actions by the Americans convinced the WPA that Uncle Sam would not allow a left-wing government within the region. The WPA which was a Marxist party – Rodney was a Marxist- retreated to a vague programme known as Rodneyism, not recognizing the contradiction because Rodney did not retreat from

Dem boys seh...

Another Fip scandal in de making A lot of things beginning to resemble de PPP, especially when Jagdeo, that scamp, and his kavakamites been in office Dem had Fip Motielall who had a shop in Miami selling salt fish and pooja items. He never build a piece of pavement anywhere in the world, not even in he backyard in Florida. Yet he get a US$30M road contract in Guyana. He walk away smiling with about US$10M and all Guyana know what happen to the road. Five years later de price gone up and it still ain’t finish. If wasn’t fuh de exposure by de Waterfalls paper, de SOB woulda get de billion dollar hydro project contract. That woulda lef every man in Guyana, including Soulja Bai, wid hydro seed. De same Fip print contract document stating that he office situated in a suite in a building. In fact, de suite was a dutty bedroom above he pooja store. Well dem hear about a threesome from Canada who want pull a Fip pun Guyana again. De only difference is that this set going through Soulja Bai and his kavakmites. This threesome claim pun a website how

dem providing infrastructure and energy solutions to Guyana, de rest of South America and the Caribbean. When dem boys did ask Fip if he ever build a road and wha experience he gat in building roads he run and hide. This set look like dem ain’t no different than Fip. De website look like if them mek it up last month because dem boys ain’t see dem post no job they did anywhere in the world. The only thing dem boys see is a photo with some people stand up next to one of GWI water pump wah Bee Kay built last week. And another picture got three men in the energy authority office in Guyana with a man who looks like Sharma son. Dem boys ain’t check out de address yet to see if another suite like Fip own and if it situated in the CN tower. Remember the parking meter people did seh dem office is in 5th Ave Manhattan and when dem boys check was li’l PO Box them had next to de security guard hut in the building. Talk half and wait fuh more about de threesome.

principles and he was a Marxist. This ideological retreat made it easier for the police state to smother the WPA. The evidence led in the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Walter Rodney exposed how far the police state was prepared to go to destroy the WPA and Rodney. It exposed the key role of former Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis, who even when the PPPC was in power secretly ordered immigration authorities to issue a renewal of the passport of fugitive Gregory Smith. It shows that he was still doing the PNC’s dirty work behind the scenes under the PPPC government. The pressure which was brought to bear under the WPA would have neutralized most political parties. The WPA’s impatient and impetuous radicals had no outlet following the 1980 as-

sassination of Rodney and the subsequent ideological backpedaling by the party. They went into political abeyance. The WPA was still managing to draw huge crowds at public meetings three years after Rodney’s death but the onslaught by security services on its membership had severely weakened the party; the struggle which it had waged lost steam. The party, after its boycott of the 1980 elections, switched to parliamentary politics in 1985. It secured 1.4% of the votes but those elections could never be treated as a true assessment of the electoral support of the various political parties. They were more crooked than barbed wire. The military and the police were part of the subversion of those elections. The WPA became a victim of the ethnic politics when

it contested the 1992 elections. It got one seat based on the highest leftovers. It has never enjoyed strong popular support ever since. It will not dispute that. Numbers are therefore not in WPA’s favour when it calls for the coalition parties to be empowered. It knows, as one of its comrades admitted recently, that the party has to go out into the communities to reestablish its support. Unless it does this, unless it can pull a meeting of about 5,000 persons; unless it significantly increases its membership, it can call all it wants for empowerment, all it will get from the APNU is disregard. Ask Rupert!

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Kaieteur News

=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

The GECOM media scandal and the future of democracy I have consistently polemicize in these columns that it would be misleading to think that the stumbling block to a modern, free Guyana is the political directorship from both the PNC and PPP and ruling politicians in general whether from AFC, WPA and others. If we were to solve our ethnic dilemma and there is no more ethnically determined infusion in how our government make decisions, Guyana’s politics would still be extremely backward and primitive. This is because the social composition of the society, apart from the political leadership, would still be visionless people. It is my opinion, that sections of the following have

important people who are without progressive, modern, transformational ideas; the judiciary, security establishment (traffic leadership in this country is the most unthinking set of people you can find in the Caribbean), the professional classes without exception (we have some of the rudest doctors anywhere in the world), the media, the business community, the senior public sector bosses, sports leadership, churches of all denominations; the one I left for last is the worst one – the academic community. My point is, we are going nowhere in this land even if we ship out all of our politicians; every one of them. Let me emphasize my point. By now readers would know I disagree with the

policy directions of the new Vice Chancellor of the university. But he may be far more of a thinking person with ideas that those who are his bosses in the Council of the University. We had general elections, the PPP lost and thus PPP persons that dominated the UG Council have been replaced. But we may have got a Council whose membership is equally sycophantic, mediocre and visionless as when UG had PPP-dominated Councils. I spent 26 years at UG, and I have seen where Council members stood up and spoke their minds even though they were affiliated to the ruling PPP. In the present council, mediocrity has become morbid.

Before I come to the essential point of this column, let me reiterate – my theory is that Guyana’s endemic stultification is a psychic one, not only a political one, and it afflicts the social leadership of the country, not just our politicians. We now come to the caption of this article. The restricted placing of advertisement in the Kaieteur News of GECOM business in favour of other newspapers is confirmation of my theory above. There are six GECOM commissioners with a definite political flavor. The political parties nominate them and all six have strong connections to the major political parties. There is no GECOM Chairman for a long while now. It meant therefore there was no political conspiracy to deny Kaieteur News GECOM advertisements. That was a decision of a person or persons who are supposed to be neutral professionals in the GECOM establishment. What this advertisement scandal reveals is that the society, if left to itself without the presence of the politicians from political parties of

all types, would still be meanspirited, vindictive and undemocratic. This is what is frightening about this county and the GECOM scandal has graphically put it on display.

Frederick Kissoon Kaieteur News in getting fewer advertisements from GECOM in comparison to other media houses and that decision is not a malicious one that was hatched by the corridors of power to spite Kaieteur News. This unprofessional descent into malice has occurred inside an independent body. You don’t expect this from this section of society. The egregious dimension of this unprofessional decline is that it involves public money designated to do pub-

lic service to the nation. For example, if GECOM is conducting an Identification Card replacement exercise and it puts that notice in only two newspapers and leaves out the newspaper with the largest circulation, then large sections of the society will not know because they may not have read the other newspapers. There is another dimension of this scandal that needs to be analyzed – the future of democracy. With each passing day, we are seeing the withering away of democracy. In a forthcoming column, I will look at the failure of all of us to preserve the little gains we made in fighting the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabals. Could anyone have imagined a group picketing the Kaieteur News because it wrote about secret trips of an APNU+AFC minister? But it happened. Could anyone have imagined the Office of the President in the new government issuing a press release accusing this columnist of antigovernment mischief? But it happened. Could anyone have imagined withdrawal of ads from Kaieteur News after the PPP lost power? But it happened.

Thursday September 07, 2017

Final consultations held on draft Solid Waste Bill The Ministry of Communities yesterday held what is expected to be the final in a series of consultations on the draft National Solid Waste Management Bill. The consultation held at the Regency Suites, Hadfield Street, saw a number of stakeholders in attendance including representatives from the Environment Protection Agency, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Exxon Mobil, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, PURAN Brothers, Cevons Waste Management, Department of Environment, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Tourism Hospitality Association of Guyana, Department of Public Information, Tiger Tanks Guyana, Mayor&City Council, Ministry of Education, Chief Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Guyana Tourism Authority, Merundoi, Ministry of Public Health and the National Parks Commission. The programme was chaired by Engineer attached to the Sanitation Management Unit, Amrita Haricharan. Head of the Sanitation Management Unit, Gordon Gilkes, noted that improper solid waste management can also result in the escalation of greenhouse gas emissions, thus contributing to climate change. “With rapid population expansion into urban areas and increased economic development, waste generation in developing countries continues to increase quickly, placing a huge burden on society’s ability to process and dispose of unwanted materials.” “Improper management of solid waste streams can pose a significant risk to human health and the environment. A combination of poor waste

Head of the Sanitation Management Unit, Mr Gordon Gilkes management and uncontrolled dumping can cause a wide range of problems, including polluted waterway, a multiplication of the insect and rodent population, as well as increase risk of flooding due to weed-choked canals and drains.” Gilkes urged institutions responsible for solid waste management must be equipped to manage this increased amount of waste in a sustainable manner to avoid the potential risk to human health and the environment. He stressed that it is therefore the mandate of the Ministry of Communities, to build the capacity to provide waste management services that are affordable and adequate in an efficient and effective manner. He said that building the capacity of service providers to operate to efficiency is an all-encompassing approach. As such the Ministry of Communities requires stakeholders and collaborative partners to get on board.

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“Municipal Institutions require enhanced capacity to deliver improved solid waste management. These capacities must include meeting the needs of increasing population, providing service coverage to all areas, especially low income areas, manage increased waste quantities, dealing with changing waste types, such as increasing packaging and electronic waste (e-waste), developing partnerships, especially with the private sector, meeting citizens expectations of a cleaner environment, improving working conditions of workforce involve in the delivery of solid waste management services,” Also, he reminded that Guyana must be mindful of the Sustainable Development Goals which embrace the concept of sustainable waste management in several of its goals, and which are also linked to Global Waste Management Goals, which are set out to be achieved by the year 2030. “The Global Waste Management Goals to ensure by 2030 access for all to adequate, safe and affordable solid waste collection services, a halt to uncontrolled dumping and open burning, substantially reducing waste generation through prevention and the 3Rs, and thereby creating green jobs, cut global per capita food waste by half at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food loses in the supply chain.” To this end, the Head of the Sanitation Management Unit noted that stakeholders must not fail to ensure these goals are achieved and therefore the Ministry of Communities is pleased to facilitate this workshop for the various stakeholders.

Police security promised for Diamond Hospital

Following complaints by staffers, Diamond Hospital will soon have a cop stationed there. A meeting with the staff of the East Bank Demerara Regional hospital, commonly known as the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, will see issues faced by the staff to be addressed shortly. Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, spoke with the Department of Public Information (DPI) outlining some resolutions that were agreed upon following a meeting on Wednesday with hospital staff The Region Four Executive Officer, Pauline Lucas, and other representatives from the Regional Health Services department of Ministry of Public Health were appraised of the many issues that affect daily operations of the health facility. Issues raised related to security, a non-functioning sewerage system and electrical issues. The team that met with the staff agreed that the regional administration will liaise with

the commander of the ‘A’ Division of the Guyana Police Force to provide an on-duty officer at nights. This is to ensure a greater level of security for the staff working the night shift. With regards to the nonfunctional sewerage system, the region will contract a waste management firm to conduct an analysis of the system and seek to rectify all faults. Additionally, Minister Cummings said that electrical issues persisted because the initial installation of electrical wiring was poorly done. This resulted in a poor electrical supply to various sections of the facility. The entire building is to undergo rewiring to provide a more efficient electricity supply. The minister added that with these resolutions, a follow up is expected conducted by October 6, 2017. It is hoped that these and other minor issues which have been occur-

ring at the Diamond Hospital are addressed. Minister Cummings further explained that although maintenance of the health facility falls under Region Four’s RDC budget, her Ministry will most likely play a significant role in ensuring these issues are addressed. According to Minister Cummings, “These issues are low hanging fruits and could be dealt with as soon as possible.” Based on the minister’s explanation, the staff of the Diamond hospital wanted to “down tools” since they have been voicing their concerns for some time now. The main concern of the Ministry of Public Health is to ensure that patients and staff are treated with care and respect at all health facilities throughout Guyana. Therefore, the necessary systems should be in place to ensure that health services are provided in an unhindered manner.

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Trans Guyana approved to restart shuttle operations

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also considering other measures to enhance safety for flight operations within the hinterland region. The GCAA reiterated that the actions taken were necessary to enhance safety of the travelling public and aviation personnel. “The Authority will continue its increased surveillance of air operators.” The GCAA’s suspension of shuttling operations from local plane operators came last month after two deadly, separate crashes involving aircraft belonging to separate companies. Two pilots were killed. Before that, there were a number of other incidents, which led to injuries. Late last month, the administration ordered increased checks and monitoring with GCAA halting all shuttle flights. With some places inaccessible, the shuttling of food, parts and supplies to remote hinterland areas have been increasing in recent years, especially with the rapid development of mining areas.

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Two granted $300,000 bail on separate causing death charges

CHARGED: Ryan Seecharran (left and Tarrachandran Persaud A 24-year-old tailor and graduate of the Government Technical Institute has been released on $300,000 bail over a fatal accident in which he allegedly drove over the head of a drunken man, who was lying on the road. Ryan Seecharran, of Lot 361 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on June 24, at Third Street, Herstelling, he drove motorcar PVV 4911, in a manner dangerous to the public causing the death of Kalicharran Goordial. The 49-year-old victim was said to have been intoxicated and was lying on the roadway when he met his demise. Reports are that after killing Goordial, the driver drove to a wash bay. It was when he was returning home that an eyewitness pointed him out to traffic ranks at the scene. He was nabbed and taken to the Providence Police Station where his vehicle was impounded. The Guyana Police Force in a release said that Goordial, of Creek Dam, Herstelling, was heavily under the influence of alcohol and was lying in the centre of a cross street with his head about five feet from the edge of the road.

An eyewitness reported that the driver was proceeding east along the centre of the street when he suddenly turned left (north) and drove over the man’s head. When the driver observed what had happened, he reportedly reversed on the victim’s head and fled the scene. In addition, Seecharran denied that on the same day, he was the driver of the motorcar when an accident occurred whereby injuries were caused to Goordial, and that he failed to stop the vehicle. Seecharran also denied that on the same day having been involved in an accident whereby injuries were caused to Goordial, he failed to render assistance by taking the injured to a registered medical practitioner. He was released on $5,000 bail on each of the latter matters which were transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court for September 11. In relation to the causing death by dangerous driving matter, Seecharran was instructed to return before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on September 13. Attorney-at-Law Glenn

Hanoman who represented Seecharran disclosed that he was released on $100,000 station bail pending investigations in the matter. According to Hanoman, his client has reported in excess of 20 times to the Providence Police Station. Meanwhile, in another matter, a 48-year-old businessman was also released on $300,000 bail on a causing death by dangerous driving charge. Tarrachandran Persaud, a rice famer, of Republic Park, East Bank Demerara pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on June 1, at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, he drove motorcar PVV 6494, in a manner dangerous to the public causing the death of Junior Lakeram. Attorney-at-Law George Thomas, who represented Persaud, petitioned for him to be released on reasonable bail since he was released on station bail pending investigations in the matter. Thomas reassured the court that his client will return for trial. Persaud has to make another court appearance on September 18. Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore made no objections to bail for Seecharran and Persaud.

Procurement procedures must benefit... From page 8 it was meant to be a working draft which Mr. Paul had developed with his expertise in Trinidad and Tobago, his experiences elsewhere, and his advice to us as to how he believes this should be shaped.” The Minister said that one of the critiques of the policy is that it lacks specificity as it relates to corruption.

However, he said that the local content policy is interested in getting people into business rather than to be addressing issues of corruption. “We have the Integrity Commission Laws for that; we have the EITI procedure which we are bringing into place. So I wish to underscore, that what we have until now is a working draft and over the

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next few weeks we will be going throughout Guyana, meeting with the Chambers of Commerce and meeting with other entities for views and opinions on how we can have what is truly a national policy for local content.” Trotman said that his government is hoping that the local content policy can become a national model for other industries and not just the petroleum sector.

Mother of two gets bail after dousing ex-lover with acid

A mother of two was yesterday released on $150,000 bail for allegedly dousing the father of her two children with acid after she caught him with another woman. Twenty-six-year-old Lisa Fraser, a Security guard of Lot 241 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts where she was not required to plead to the charge which read that on September 2, last, at Ruimveldt, Georgetown, she unlawfully and maliciously wounded Kellon King with intent to murder him. The woman was represented by Attorney-at-law Lyndon Amsterdam who asked that his client be released on reasonable bail. The lawyer told the court that his client and the victim once shared a common-law relationship which ended recently due to relationship problems. The lawyer added that after the separation his client moved out of the home she once shared with her spouse and two children to live with her mother who is a corporal in the Guyana Police Force at her Lot 241 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown home. Amsterdam went on to tell the court that on the day in question his client returned to her ex-lover’s home to collect a few books for her children when the victim approached her and dealt her a cuff to her mouth, splitting her lips in the process. The lawyer added that according to his client, her former spouse then told him that the victim then armed himself with a corrosive substance (acid).

Released on bail Lisa Fraser The court heard that after the victim armed himself with the acid the two got into a scuffle which ended with the victim receiving burns about his body and his client receiving few minor burns to her face. However Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore objected to bail being granted to the accused citing the serious nature of the offence, the penalty the charge attracts and the fact that the victim is still hospitalized in a serious condition. The prosecutor also outlined the fact that his facts are totally different from that of the defence counsel. Facts presented by the prosecutor stated that on the day in question the accused visited her ex-lover’s home and on arrival there she saw him with another woman. Prosecutor Moore added that as a result of the accused seeing the two together she dealt the victim several slaps.

The court heard that the victim after receiving the slaps moved away to avoid any further problem. Prosecutor Moore added that the accused then went into a room and returned with a bottle of acid which she threw into a container before dousing the victim’s head, face and hands. He said that the victim cried out for help and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where he is currently a patient. Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan then granted bail to the defendant in the sum of $150,000. Conditions of the bail are that the accused must not go within 50 feet of the victim. She must also not make contact with the victim or the witnesses in the matter until the completion of the trial. She will make her next court appearance on September 19.

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Barbuda is “practically uninhabitable” - PM (NY Post) The tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda is “practically uninhabitable” after it was steamrolled by Hurricane Irma. Barbuda and Antigua Prime Minister Gaston

Browne reported that upwards of 90 percent of the structures on Barbuda were destroyed by the hurricane, which was packing sustained 185-mph winds when it made landfall at 1:47 a.m.

“As it stands, Barbuda is practically uninhabitable,” Browne told Antigua/ Barbuda Broadcasting Services, adding that destruction on the island home to nearly 1,700 people was “heart-

wrenching.” “A significant number of the houses have been totally destroyed,” his chief of staff Lionel Hurst said. One person has been confirmed dead there.

Browne released an optimistic statement early yesterday from lesser-hit Antigua, which is home to about 80,000. “It is clear that Antigua and Barbuda has stood up to a mighty test,” he wrote in the statement posted to Facebook. But he revised his opinion after taking a helicopter ride to survey the damage to Barbuda, which is just 30 miles north of Antigua. “I never contemplated any possibility that you could have such a contrast,” he said of the relative destruction. Browne said he would order both islands evacuated should Hurricane Jose, which is brewing out in the Atlantic, head their way. The massive weather system claimed two lives on the nearby islands of St. Barts and St. Martin too, though officials are expecting that toll to rise as rescue and recovery work begins. “At the present moment, there are reports of two dead and two seriously injured,”

the French minister for overseas affairs, Annick Girardin said according to Agence France Presse. “But obviously, the situation can change very, very quickly.” St. Barts is a French territory, and St. Martin is split by France and the Netherlands. “I am shocked by the monster that covers us, the island is devastated, it is apocalyptic, a lot of damage, many roofs destroyed,” St. Barts senator Michel Magras told the UK’s Daily Express. The hurricane — which set a record as the Atlantic Ocean’s strongest-ever for 185-mph sustained winds before entering the Caribbean sea — slammed into the tiny holiday enclave with such force that it destroyed the weather station there, according to The Independent. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the country would set up a relief fund for the battered island and said “A national reconstruction plan will be implemented as soon as possible.”

Thursday September 07, 2017

Kaieteur News

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Thursday September 07, 2017

U.N. mulls oil embargo on North Korea, textile export ban UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States wants the United Nations Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban the country’s exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters yesterday. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said she wants the 15member council to vote on Monday on the draft resolution to impose new sanctions over North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test. However, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has said a Monday vote may be “a little premature. ” It was not immediately clear if the draft resolution had the support of North Korean ally China. Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Wednesday that resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis was impossible with sanctions and pressure alone. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to be adopted. Since 2006, the Security Council has unanimously adopted eight resolutions ratcheting up sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Haley said the incremental approach had not worked and a diplomatic solution could only be reached by imposing the strongest sanctions. The new draft U.N. resolution would ban exports to North Korea of crude oil, condensate, refined petroleum

products, and natural gas liquids. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude. According to South Korean data, Beijing supplies roughly 500,000 tonnes of crude oil annually. It also exports 200,000 tonnes of oil products, according to U.N. data. Russia’s exports of crude oil to North Korea are about 40,000 tonnes a year. BAN ON NORTH KOREAN WORKERS The Security Council last month imposed new sanctions over North Korea’s two long-range missile launches in July. The Aug. 5 resolution aimed to slash by a third Pyongyang’s $3 billion annual export revenue by banning coal, iron, lead and seafood. The new draft resolution would remove an exception for transshipments of Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rajin. In 2013 Russia reopened a railway link with North Korea, from the Russian eastern border town of Khasan to Rajin, to export coal and import goods from South Korea and elsewhere. The Aug. 5 resolution capped the number of North Koreans working abroad at the current level. The new draft resolution would impose a complete ban on the hiring and payment of North Korean laborers abroad. Some diplomats estimate that between 60,000 and 100,000 North Koreans work abroad. A U.N. human rights investigator said in 2015 that North Korea was forcing more than 50,000 people to work abroad, mainly in Russia and China, earning between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year. TEXTILE BAN

The draft resolution would ban textiles, which were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Nearly 80 percent of the textile exports went to China. The assets of military-controlled airline, Air Koryo, would be frozen if the draft resolution is adopted. It flies to Beijing and a few other cities in China, including Dandong, the main transit point for trade between the two countries. It also flies to Vladivostok in Russia. Along with blacklisting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the draft resolution would also impose a travel ban and asset freeze on four other senior North Korean officials. The Worker’s Party of Korea and the government of North Korea would also be subjected to an asset freeze. The draft resolution would allow states to intercept and inspect on the high seas vessels that have been blacklisted by the Security Council. Currently nearly two dozen vessels are listed and the new draft text would add another nine ships. The draft resolution does not contain any new language on the political track. It again reaffirms council support and calls for a resumption of talks between North Korea, the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. China and Russia have been pushing their proposal to kick-start talks with a joint suspension of North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the military exercises by the United States and South Korea. Haley has dismissed the suggestion as “insulting.”

Ex-minister accuses former Brazil president Lula of accepting bribes BRASILIA (Reuters) - The former finance minister under Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday accused the ex-president of receiving bribes from c o n t r a c t o r Odebrecht, adding to a list of corruption accusations that threaten Lula’s ability to run in 2018. Lawyers for former Finance Minister Antonio Palocci said he told prosecutors that Lula accepted Odebrecht’s purchase of land for an institute in his name, a country house in Sao Paulo state and 300 million reais ($97 million) to be used after he left office. A representative for Lula

said in a statement that Palocci, who was arrested a year ago in a corruption investigation, was lying and making accusations without evidence to secure a favorable deal with prosecutors to reduce his sentence. Such testimony from a close confidant could be damning for Lula, who intends to run for president again next year if he can successfully appeal a conviction that would bar him from standing. Lula faces four additional trials. Palocci testified for two hours as part of a probe into allegations Lula ac-

cepted the land for the institute. “It was a blood pact and a package of bribes that included payment for a property, an estate ranch and 300 million reais that gradually were made available according to a spreadsheet delivered by the contractor,” said Adriano Bretas, one of Palocci’s lawyers. Tracy Reinaldet, another of Palocci’s lawyers, said the agreement was made during the transition from Lula into former President Dilma Rousseff’s first term. Palocci also served as Rousseff’s chief of staff initially but was forced to resign due to corruption allegations.

Thursday September 07, 2017

Kaieteur News

U.N. expects up to 300,000 Rohingya could flee Myanmar violence to Bangladesh

Rohingya refugees wait for food near Kutupalong refugee camp after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Ukhia, Bangladesh, yesterday. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui COX‘S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters-Exclusive) - Up to 300,000 Rohingya Muslims could flee violence in northwestern Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh, a U.N. agency official said yesterday, warning of a funding shortfall for emergency food supplies for the refugees. According to estimates issued by United Nations workers in Bangladesh’s border region of Cox’s Bazar, arrivals since the latest bloodshed started 12 days ago have already reached 146,000. Numbers are difficult to establish with any certainty due to the turmoil as Rohingya escape operations by Myanmar’s military. However, the U.N. offi-

cials have raised their estimate of the total expected refugees from 120,000 to 300,000, said Dipayan Bhattacharyya, who is Bangladesh spokesman for the World Food Programme. “They are coming in nutritionally deprived, they have been cut off from a normal flow of food for possibly more than a month,” he told Reuters. “They were definitely visibly hungry, traumatized.” The surge of refugees, many sick or wounded, has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities which are already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous waves of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agen-

cies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food. Bhattacharyya said the refugees were now arriving by boat as well as crossing the land border at numerous points. Another U.N. worker in the area cautioned that the estimates were not “hard science”, given the chaos and lack of access to the area on the Myanmar side where the military is still conducting its ‘clearance operation’. The source added that the 300,000 number was probably toward the worst-case scenario. The latest violence began when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base.

Syrian govt. forces used chemical weapons more than two dozen times: U.N. GENEVA (Reuters) - Government forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during Syria’s civil war, including in April’s deadly attack on Khan Sheikhoun, U.N. war crimes investigators said yesterday. A government warplane dropped sarin on the town in Idlib province, killing more than 80 civilians, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said, in the most conclusive findings to date from investigations into that chemical weapon attack. The panel also said U.S. air strikes on a mosque in Al-Jina in rural Aleppo in March that killed 38 people, including children, failed to take precautions in violation of international law, but did not constitute a war

crime. The weapons used on Khan Sheikhoun were previously identified as containing sarin, an odorless nerve agent. But that conclusion, reached by a fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), did not say who was responsible. “Government forces continued the pattern of using chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas. In the gravest incident, the Syrian air force used sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, killing dozens, the majority of whom were women and children,” the U.N. report said, declaring the attack a war crime. Commission chairman Paulo Pinheiro told a news conference: “Not having

access did not prevent us from establishing facts or reasonable grounds to believe what happened during the attack and establishing who is responsible.” In their 14th report since 2011, U.N. investigators said they had in all documented 33 chemical weapons attacks to date. Twenty-seven were by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, including seven between March 1 to July 7. Perpetrators had not been identified yet in six attacks, they said. The Assad government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. It said its strikes in Khan Sheikhoun hit a weapons depot belonging to rebel forces, a claim “excluded” by Pinheiro. That attack led U.S. President Donald Trump to launch the first U.S. air strikes on a Syrian air base.

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Irma leaves a trail of death and destruction as another hurricane on it’s way BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in recorded history, was churning its way across the Caribbean after battering the Leeward Islands yesterday, leaving at least one person dead and millions of dollars in damage. But as the storm moved towards St. Thomas and Puerto Rico, residents in the chain of islands were eyeing Hurricane Jose that the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that at 5.00 pm (local time) yesterday, had become a hurricane with winds of 75 miles per hour (mph) and was located 1040 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. There was at least one death – a two-year-old child in Barbuda - in the Englishspeaking Caribbean countries, although there have been unconfirmed reports that at least two people died in the French island of St. Martin as Hurricane Irma made its way across the region. Irma, packing winds of 185 miles per hour (mph) first hit

Antigua and Barbuda before embarking upon its path of destruction. The executive director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, said the focus now is turning to Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. “We don’t have all the full details from the British Virgin Islands at the moment but given that the eye passed directly over Tortola given the physical geographical conditions…we anticipate there should be significant needs being generated by the impact of the most severe aspects of the storm,” he told a news conference. “We expect to see significant damage as a result,” he said, adding that CDEMA is now working to deploy teams into Antigua, hopefully by today “mindful that our plans may be varied somewhat by the fast advancing storm Jose, which is moving within the wake of Irma and showing some signs that it could move along a similar path. “This means that there is

a potential for secondary impacts for the north Leeward Islands (and) that is being factored into our plans for the moment, but for now we are hoping to deploy into Antigua as our focal point to serve the needs of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands from that point”. He said even as the teams are being deployed “we are turning our attention, positioning teams to respond to potential impacts in Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas. ‘Already we have on standby military engineers and doctors to respond to the needs of Turks and Caicos and Bahamas,” he said, adding that relief supplies are also being mobilised. The NHC said that Irma was closing in on St. Thomas in the United States Virgin islands and Puerto Rico and this general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days. “On the forecast track, the extremely dangerous core of Irma will continue to move over portions of the Virgin Islands during the next couple of hours,

pass near or just north of Puerto Rico Wednesday afternoon or night, pass near or just north of the coast of the Dominican Republic Thursday, and be near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas late Thursday,” it said. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he was thankful that Antigua had been spared any massive destruction as a result, but officials were expected to fly to the sister isle of Barbuda where the eye of the Category 5 storm came ashore. But he confirmed that one death had occurred on Barbuda and described the housing stock as having been “decimated”. Browne, who flew over the island yesterday afternoon and reported that not only was the housing and businesses destroyed but vehicles and other infrastructure destroyed. Browne accompanied by medical personnel and at least one police officer, used a satellite phone to call into the state-owned ABS television and radio stations, to provide the very first reliable news about the impact of Irma overnight. The French government said it was worried that thousands of people had refused to seek shelters on the islands of Saint Martin a n d S a i n t B a r t h é l e m y, where Irma left a trail of devastation as homes, hotels and government build-

ings were reduced to rubble. There was no immediate news of casualties. France sent emergency food and water rations to the affected islands, where Irma ripped off roofs and knocked out all electricity. St. Maarten’s world famous airport has been devastated, with television footage showing the storm ripping through Princess Juliana International Airport, destroying safety fences and battering nearby Maho beach. Sand was flung onto the runway and huge rocks smashed into planes as the storm swept over the tiny Caribbean island. Huge chunks of the building had also been strewn across the runway and a jet bridge snapped in half. Dutch marines who flew to three Dutch islands hammered by Irma reported extensive damage but no deaths or injuries. St. Kitts-Nevis’ Prime Minister, Dr. Timothy Harris, who toured some of the areas affected by the storm, said he was relieved and thankful there was no report of loss of life or significant injury to anyone. “My view is that St. Kitts and Nevis has been spared the ravages of what could have been total devastation given the magnitude of the hurricane—the size and expanse of it as it approached St. Kitts and Nevis. “A category five hurri-

cane is the most dangerous of hurricanes, and yet today we can come to film, to video and to speak about the sparing of our lives, which is of critical importance because with spared lives we can now move on to pick up the pieces, as several families within my constituency, and I suspect throughout the country, would have to be doing,” Prime Minister Harris said. “”We will help our people to rebuild individual by individual, household by household and community by community. So far the efforts that I’ve seen give me the courage to continue to render good service to the country because our people are determined to take matters into their own hands, as we have seen reflected in several of the communities, where people were out early and doing their very best to restore their communities to normalcy and I want to commend that patriotism.” Bahamas Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said his government was evacuating six islands because authorities would not be able to help anyone caught in the “potentially catastrophic” wind, flooding and storm surge. People there would be flown to Nassau in what he called the largest storm evacuation in the country’s history. Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, said while there were “one or two little landslides and some fallen trees and so forth” on the island, “I think we were spared the ravages”.

Thursday September 07, 2017

Opener Brathwaite joins Yorkshire ... From page 28 staff,” Brathwaite said. “After the game he came back to me telling me he was getting some quality feedback. They really wanted me and I was very happy because Yorkshire is a very big club in England and I’m very happy and proud to have been selected by them.” He added: “Playing county cricket was always one of my goals and com-

ing over here to play against England for the West Indies was going to get me one step closer, if I did well.” Moxon said there was a possibility Brathwaite could see an extended contract for next season but it depended on his returns in the two games. ”If he gets a lot of runs for us he’s going to stake a big claim, so it’s certainly a possibility going for-

ward,” Moxon pointed out. “We’ll just take one step at a time and see how these two games go. If he goes well and enjoys his time here, it could be something we do going forward.” Brathwaite, currently preparing for the final Test at Lord’s starting Thursday, will link up with Yorkshire ahead of their last home fixture against Warwickshire on September 19.

Thursday September 07, 2017 ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) Use your innovative mind to surprise youngsters. You will have the ability to capture the interest of others. Think twice before eating spicy foods; you may have problems with your stomach. TAURUS (Apr. 21- may 21) The battle continues. You may be in love today, but who knows what tomorrow may bring. You can make changes to your domestic scene that will benefit all who reside there. GEMINI (May 22-June 21) Today is not the day to try to comer people by giving them ultimatums. Set a limit, or you'll wind up on a tight budget. You will communicate easily and should be able to accomplish all that you set out to do. CANCER (June 22-July 22) This could be the cause of a dispute that may result in estrangement. Go out with friends who are positive and supportive. LEO (July 23-Aug 22) Emotional situations could bring out your stubborn nature. Romantic opportunities will develop through friends or relatives. Get involved in sports groups or hobbies that attract you. VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) You can make career changes that may put you in a much higher earning bracket. You need to keep busy doing things that you both enjoy.

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LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) You will find that joint ventures could easily turn out to be dead end projects. Read between the lines when signing contracts. It's time to get yourself back on track. SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) Home improvement projects will run smoothly. Your ability to work with detail could help you achieve your goals. Dazzle them with your intellectual conversation. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Be careful of the groups you join or the people you associate with. Travel for business will be advantageous. Travel will be favorable. CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) You should be able to get a lot done. Be careful; your ideas are good but make sure that you're realistic and start off on solid ground. Communication will be your strong point and you should be able to persuade others to see things your way. AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19) A long discussion is in order if you wish to clear the air. You will be a real chatterbox today. Outbursts of passion may cause arguments with your mate. PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) Your sensitive nature will allow others to read you well. Nagging has never been something that you could tolerate, and it's once again driving you into a lonely state of affairs.

World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal to be replayed A World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal will be replayed after the match referee was banned for life by FIFA. Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey was banned for “match manipulation”. He awarded a penalty to South Africa in their 2-1 win in November last year for handball but replays showed the ball hit Senegal’s Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly on the knee. The match is due to be replayed in the November 2017 international window. Lamptey was initially banned for life in March but on Wednesday the decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Lamptey, who also officiated at the Rio Olympics last year, declined BBC Sport’s invitation to comment at the time of his original ban, which came about after a complaint from the Senegal Football Federation. Senegal and South Africa are currently third and fourth respectively in Africa’s Group D behind Burkina Faso and Cape Verde Islands. Only the top team qualify for next year’s finals in Russia. (BBCSport)

Windies eye history at... From page 29 said that, if we can dismiss Cook and Root early and put pressure on those inexperienced players to get runs it would put us in a very good position as well.” He added: “Cricket must be played the way it is supposed to be played and that’s going out with the new ball, taking new ball wickets and getting into England’s middle order.” ENGLAND – Joe Root (captain), Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Tom Westley, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Toby RolandJones, Stuart Broad, James Anderson. WEST INDIES – Jason Holder (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach.

Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey has been banned for life by FIFA

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Coco Vandeweghe beats Karolina Pliskova to make semi-finals Coco Va n d e w e g h e ended Karolina Pliskova’s reign as world number one and made it three American women in the US Open semi-finals with a straightset win. The 20th seed won 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in the last eight at Flushing Meadows. Vandeweghe, 25, goes on to face compatriot Madison Keys or Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi in the last four. A Keys victory would create the first all-American semifinal line-up at the US Open since 1981. Two-time champion Venus Wi l l i a m s and unseeded Sloane Stephens are already through on the other side of the draw. “I watched the match last night with Venus,” said

Vandeweghe. ”She said it best, we have to admire Serena. They all inspire me to be the next best American, and let’s make it four for four.” Pliskova, 25, needed to reach the final to hang on to the number one ranking, but defeat means she will b e r e p l a c e d b y S p a i n ’s Garbine Muguruza in the new standings next week. “I mean, I don’t care,” she said afterwards. ”I don’t think something is going to change if you are number two. Like, I don’t see any difference between this. So for me, no changes.” Vandeweghe had said beforehand that it would be a match of “first-strike” tennis between two of the

best servers and biggest hitters in the game, and the American proved the more clinical. She won 56% of the rallies under four strokes, which accounted for the vast majority as both women looked to back up heavy serves with quick winners. Vandeweghe capitalised on a poor service game from Pliskova with a fizzing forehand return to break for 2-1, but her early calm ended abruptly in game eight. Two double faults in succession prompted an angry racquet smash from the American and moments later Pliskova swung a forehand winner into the corner to break back. There were signs that the Vandeweghe backhand

Nadal schools young Russian, awaits Federer New York (Reuters) Rafa Nadal gave Russian teenager Andrey Rublev a tennis lesson yesterday, racing into the semi-finals of the U.S. Open with a ruthless 6-1 6-2 6-2 win that cleared the path for a possible showdown with rival Roger Federer. It was the result that tennis fans had been wishing for as it set up a potential mouth-watering firstever U.S. Open meeting between Nadal and the 19times grand slam champion Swiss. One of the great rivalries in all of sport, Federer and Nadal, who have won seven U.S. Open titles between them, have clashed 37 times over the years but have never stood across from each other on Flushing Meadows’ famed hardcourts. Federer and Nadal have been within one match of a New York meeting five times before only to have one or both lose and there is one more hurdle to be cleared again with the Swiss needing to get past towering Argentine Juan Martin del Potro last night. ”If it’s Roger Federer, of course I am excited to play that match, and of course it is special to play against him here in New

Coco Vandeweghe’s first-serve percentage was 64% and she won 81% of those points. was beginning to falter but another heavy forehand return gave her a break at the start of the tie-break, and she served it out clinically from there. Pliskova had come into the match with a tournament-leading 31 aces, but the Czech would add only two more as she struggled

to establish control. Vandeweghe got the better of three successive breaks in the second set and, urged on by coach Pat Cash in the stands, served her way to victory in one hour and 35 minutes. ”Even though we’re out here individually, it’s

really a team sport,” Va n d e w e g h e t o l d t h e crowd. “The team work as hard as I do. When I won this event as junior at 16 I always dreamed of being on the main stage. It is a process and here I am. I couldn’t wish for anything better.” (BBCsport)

Sparta, Leopold Street ‘Gold is... Rafa Nadal York for the first time in our career,” said Nadal. “That’s something that didn’t happen before and is something strange, because we have played a couple of times in all the important events of the world. ”Of course, we can talk about things, but what really makes this match special is we have been competing for the most important events for, I don’t know, 10, 12 years, and we have been solid there, fighting for these things.” Nadal’s quarter-final had much less drama. Rublev, who grew up idolizing Nadal and had the Spaniard’s poster pinned up on his bedroom wall was smiling from ear-to-ear as he posed for pre-match photos on Arthur Ashe Stadium court with his hero.

That would be the highlight of an eye-opening afternoon for the 19-year-old Russian as Nadal showed no mercy during a one hour, 37 minute thrashing. ”It was a good match a n d obviously it was Andrey’s first quarter-finals and of course he played with some more mistakes than usual but for me it was an important victory winning the last two matches in straight sets,” said Nadal, after clinching his spot in his 26th grand slam semi-final. Once the match started it did not take long for Rublev’s grin to disappear. It was replaced by scowls and frustration as the 53rdranked Russian angrily yelled at himself for missed shots and occasionally slapped at his leg with a clenched fist. Nadal, still stinging from a third-round upset by 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov in Montreal in August and with a spot in the semi-finals on the line, was fully focused on the task at hand. Nadal had Rublev under almost constant pressure breaking him eight times, with the flustered Russian committing 43 unforced errors.

From page 31 Recreational Sports Club, National Sports Commission, Windjammer International Hotel & Cuisine, Woodpecker Trophies & Sport, Y.K Investments & Pawn Shop, Henry Chase, Jai Signs, Trophy Stall of Bourda Market, John Fernandes Ltd and E-Networks Inc. Game-1 - Hustlers’-1 vs. Mocha-1: Mocha won 2-1 on penalty kicks. Mocha Scorer, Amos Ramsay-13th. Hustlers Scorer, Anthony Sancho-10th. Game-2 - Pike Street-1 vs AlbouystownA-2. Albouystown-A Scorers, Shaka Jones13th, Renault Fraser-14th. Pike Street Scorer, Kelville Frank-4th. Game-3 - North Ruimveldt1 vs Ol Skool Ballers-0. Kacy John-7th. Game-4 - Gold is Money-1 vs Tiger Bay-1, Gold is Money won 3-1 on penalty kicks. Gold is Money Scorer, Michael Pedro-5th, Tiger Bay Scorer, Keoma Gravesande-14th. Game-5 - MBK All-Stars-3 vs Champion

Boys-2. MBK Scorers, Peter George-16th and 17th, Nevon Haynes-14th. Champion Scorers, Lloyd Matthews-3rd, Mervin Squires-5th. Game-6 - Future Stars-2 vs Showstoppers0. Jermaine Beckles-12th, Jamal Cozier-13th. Game-7 - Back Circle-0 vs Leopold Street1. Okanie Fraser-12th. Game-8 - Sparta-2 vs Albouystown-B-1. Sparta Scorers, Gregory Richardson-12th, Solomon Austin-16th. Albouystown-B Scorer, Mickel Brandt-15th. Tonight’s fixtures are as follows: Pike Street vs Showstoppers-19:00hrs, Tiger Bay vs Mocha-19:30hrs, Albouystown-B vs Ol Skool Ballers-20:00hrs, Leopold Street vs Champion Boys-20:30hrs, Gold is Money vs Hustlers-21:00hrs, Back Circle vs MBK AllStars-21:30hrs, Future Stars vs AlbouystownA-22:00hrs, Sparta vs North Ruimveldt-B22:30hrs. Current Point Standings

Thursday September 07, 2017

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Kaieteur News

Hero CPL T20 - Eliminator 1

Khan’s hat-trick, Ronchi’s masterful 70 power Warriors to win over Tallawahs By Sean Devers in Trinidad in association with Noble House Seafoods, Elegance Jewellery & Pawn Shop & Vnet Communications Guyana Amazon Warriors moved one step closer to their first Hero CPL T20 title after trouncing the Jamaica Tallawahs by five wickets at the Brian Lara Academy early this morning. Thirty-nineyear-old Kumar Sangakkara, fashioned another high class unbeaten 57 from 38 balls with seven boundaries to spearhead the Tallawahs to 168-8. Lendl Simmons with 34 from 25 balls with five fours and Guyanese Trevon Griffith (20) offered support as 18-yearold Rashid Khan captured the first hat-trick in Hero CPL history to finish with 3-32. Off-Spinner Steven Jacobs had 2-33 for the Warriors which galloped to 169-5 with 13 balls to spare to seal another memorable win. The win was crafted by a brutal 70 off 33 balls with five fours and five sixes from man-of-the-match Luke Ronchi and a shotfilled 23-ball 39 with five fours and two sixes from the tournament’s leading run scorer Jamaican Chadwick Walton as they guided the Warriors home with a blistering 67-run second wicket

stand. Assad Fudadin chipped in with an unbeaten 29 from 24 balls with two fours and two sixes as Mahmudulla took 325. The small crowd on hand saw the Warriors inserting the Tallawahs to bat on a well-manicured ground and good pitch at a venue about an hour’s drive from PortSpain. Simmons began with an edge for four off Tanvir and swept Veerasammy Permaul for four when he strayed on leg-stump before flicking Tanvir for another boundary. The Tallawahs began like a house on fire; with Simmons smashing Permaul for four off the first ball off his second over while Kennar Lewis took two more boundaries in an expensive over from the leftas Tallawahs devoured the bowlers before Emrit got rid of Lewis for 15 with three fours at 40-1 in 4.4 overs. Simmons continued his shots while new batsman Griffith opened his account with a delightful pull off Emrit also joining the boundary spree. Simmons latched onto Khan and dumped him for six over mid-wicket and punched him majestically for four past mid off to post the 50 in the first six overs before Jacobs removed him in the seventh

over at 55-2. Jacobs struck again in the same over when he removed Mahmudulla (3) four runs later before Griffith who soon skied a catch off Roshon Primus for wicket keeper Luke Ronchi to leave Tallawahs on 98-4 after 12 overs. Andre McCarty (14) did not last long as Khan bowled him with a perfectly pitched delivery while Guyanese Jonathon Foo (0) and Rovman Powell (0) were bowled in similar fashion off successive balls to leave Tallawahs on 116-7 in 15 overs. Khan is the second bowler for Guyana to claim a hat-trick in this format following Lennox Cush who achieved this twice during the Standford tournament. Santokie and his Skipper brought up the 150 in the 17th over before Santokie (12) was castled by a Yorker from Sohail Tanvir at 151-8 with 12 legal balls left. Emrit bowled an excellent penultimate over which cost just five and Tanvir was tasked with bowling the final over. Sangakkara stroked him back past him for four to bring up his 39th T20 fifty and fourth in this year’s CPL before scooping him for four more to take his team to a chal-

Fourth Elizabeth Styles/ECCB 40-Over Tourney launched $500,000 in cash up for grabs US based company, Elizabeth Styles has continued its partnership with the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) and has dolled out $500,000 for a 40-overs round-robin competition which was unveiled on Sunday last at the Better Hope Community Centre. Among the officials attending the launch were Marketing Director of Elizabeth Styles Mr. Kevin Thomas and ECCB President Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, among others which also included a number of Club Captains. Thomas commented: “While this is the fourth consecutive year that we are sponsoring cricket on the East Coast of Demerara, we have also in the past sponsored Under17, 19 and development programmes in the County of Berbice and it gives us great pleasure to be associated with the game in Guyana. We believe that the ECCB is doing a great job and are quite satisfied with the way they have

been administering these competitions and as such we wish them well.” The winner of the competition will pocket $375,000 along with a trophy; second place attracts $75,000 and a trophy, while the best player in the final will also receive a trophy. The ECCB has disclosed that this year there will be no zoning of teams since the sponsor had requested that every team on the East Coast be allowed to face each other. The competition is expected to bowl off on Sunday. ECCB Vice-President and Competitions Committee Chairman Raymond Barton, speaking at the launch explained that numerous teams have entered the competition and he is excited because this year teams as far as Abary will be clashing with teams from the lower East Coast and they are anticipating some thrilling and competitive cricket. President of the ECCB

Bissoondyal Singh in his presentation noted that while the board is facing challenging times as it relates to receiving subventions and financing from what is given to Guyana by Cricket West Indies, they have managed to maintain a high level of cricket activities. “Had it not been for businesses and companies like Elizabeth Styles it would have been a monumental task and so on behalf of the ECCB, the clubs and teams, I would like to express sincere gratitude to the management and staff of Elizabeth Styles for their generosity.” The recently appointed Competitions Committee headed by Mr. Raymond Barton is requesting that clubs make contact with the committee in relation to participating in the tournament. Contact can be made on telephone number 626 0223 on or before tomorrow. Elizabeth Styles, a company that produces hair care, baby care and a wide range of cosmetics and operates in 97 countries.

Chadwick Walton muscles one down the ground ©Randy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty lenging total and move to 375 runs and second behind Walton. Walton began the run chase for the Warriors with a six off Santokie before smashing him for four as the first over cost 11 runs while Tanvir, again used as a pinch-hitter banged Santokie for four but was soon dismissed for seven by the left-arm pacer at 231 in three overs. Ronchi blasted Mahmudulla for six while t h e p u g n a c i o u s Wa l t o n clobbered Santokie for a

couple of boundaries before Ronchi clipped him for four more and the Warriors fans were waving the Golden Arrow Head lustily as the 50 came up in the sixth over with a clip off his hip by Ronchi off Mohammed Sami. Kesrick Williams was introduced and seemed still shell shocked from the pounding in Jamaica and was pulled for consecutive boundaries by Walton and again by Ronchi who joined in the runs spree as the over cost 18. Powell was flicked for consecutive boundaries by

Ronchi before being cut magnificently to the point boundary to finish an over which cost 19 before Walton fell to Mahmudulla at 90-2 in 8.1 overs. Ronchi lofted Williams into the sparsely populated stand at extra cover before slapping him over point a murderous four to reach his second consecutive fifty from just 20 balls before Jason Mohammed (7) was caught and bowled by Mahmudulla at 112-3 off 11 overs. Ronchi kept going and smashed Foo for a four and a six as Sangakkara seemed to be running out of ideas to stem the onslaught. Gajanand Singh sweep Mahmudulla for four but was by the off-spinner in the same over at 134-4 and Fudadin joined the well set Ronchi who played for both Australia and New Zealand. The bearded Fudadin lofted the expensive Williams over mid-wicket for six before bring up the 150 with a glorious straight drive for four before Ronchi was LBW to Sami but by then 15 were required from 24 balls. Fudadin square drove Sami for four and finished the contest emphatically with a six. The Warriors face Knight Riders tonight in the second Eliminator with the winner advancing to Saturday’s final. Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 169 for 5 (Ronchi 70, Mahmudullah 3-25) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 168 for 8 (Sangakkara 57*, Rashid 332) by five wickets.

Russia dream ends for T&T with Panama loss Panama City, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s bid to reach the 2018 World Cup in Rus s i a e n d e d i n disappointment here Tuesday night when they crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Panama at the Estadio Rommel Fernandes. The Caribbean side fell behind to Gabriel To r r e s ’s 3 9 t h m i n u t e strike to be 1-0 down at half-time and a 58th minute own goal from Carlyle Mitchell and A b d i e l A r r o y o ’s s t r i k e seven minutes from time, sealed the heavy loss. For T&T, it was their seventh straight defeat in the tournament, leaving them rock bottom of the CONCACAF final round standings on three points with two games left in the campaign. Powerhouses Mexico topped the standings on 18

points and have already secured qualification to n e x t y e a r ’s s h o w p i e c e while Costa Rica lie second on 15 and Panama, third on 10. T&T Head Coach Dennis Lawrence said afterwards the entire side was disappointed by the outcome of the campaign. ”Obviously we knew coming into the game it would have been very difficult because Panama are a well organised team,” Lawrence said. “I thought the game was very tight until [we conceded the first two goals] and then from there w a s d i f f i c u l t because Panama showed a good drive and determination to try and get a victory which I congratulate them on.” He added: “Of course it’s very disappointing. We knew what was at stake tonight. If we could have

managed to get a positive result [it would have] still kept us in it so we are very, very disappointed.” T&T opened strongly but had their spirits dampened six minutes from the break when a counter-attacking move ended when To r r e s b e a t g o a l k e e p e r Marvin Phillip with a clinical finish. Four minutes following the restart, Nathan Lewis forced a save out of Jose Calderon as T&T came close an equaliser. Once again, however, T&T ruined all their positive work when Alberto Quintero sent in a cross from the right side and defender Mitchell headed an attempted clearance into his own nets. With virtually no way back for T&T, Panama put the final in the visitors’ coffin when Arroyo struck in the 83rd minute.

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Kaieteur News

Bad Boys win 175th Anniversary Dominoes Competition

Rose Hall Town East cops Football title

Essequibo in pole position as GCB Jaguars 3-Day League continues The second round of matches in GCB Jaguars 3-Day League starts tomorrow and will see Upper Corentyne facing East Coast at Port Mourant, Georgetown come up against Lower Corentyne at Lusignan, West Berbice take on Essequibo at Bush Lot and East Bank go up against West Demerara at Police Sports Club ground. All matches will bowl off at 09 30hrs. Following the first round of play,

Essequibo lead the points standing on 17.2 points, closely followed by Upper Demerara/ East Bank with 16.5 and Upper Corentyne on 15.8. Competition is expected be keen as players from the eight Franchise teams continue to vie for places on the national team for the upcoming 2017/2018 CWI Regional 4-Day PCL which will commence on October 26, next. Following the Points Table after Round One:

Some of the Bad Boys Dominoes Team The 175th Anniversary Celebrations of the purchase of Rose Hall by 57 free slaves on the 20th August, 1842 continued last weekend with a three team dominoes competition and 5-a-side football tournament that attracted four teams. Organised by the Anniversary Committee of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and its eight cricket teams, Bad Boys under the captaincy of Michael Roach won the dominoes competition in exciting fashion, edging out Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club Under-35s by a single game with a winning score of 75. Enterprise brought up the rear with 70 games. The competition was sponsored by National Television Network. Enterprise had bolted into the lead by the third round with 41 games to Bad Boys 38 and Rose Hall Town U-35s on 35. But consistent team work from Bad Boys saw them taking over the lead going into the final round on 63 games one more than RHTYSC 62 and Enterprise on 61. Ken

Kedwaroo of the RHTYSC dominoes team was named Player of the Tournament and received a Special Hamper from the organisers. Players from the three teams received individual trophies compliments of NTN, while the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club distributed copies of its Rose Hall Town Information Booklet and Tourist Posters to all participants. Meanwhile, the football tournament which was sponsored by the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sport Club, Guyana Football Federation and Balram Shane General Store Rose Hall Town East emerging as champs on penalties 32 against their counterparts from South after the two sides had battled to a 0-0 stalemate in regulation time. The other two teams participating were Rose Hall Town North and West. In the semi-finals, North defeated South 2-1 on penalties while East squeezed past West 1-0. The winning team received cash along with the 175th Anniversary Trophy while footballs donated by the

Guyana Football Federation were handed over to the Rose Hall Town Football Team towards the development of the game in Guyana’s smallest township. Secretary/CEO of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS, Hilbert Foster at the presentation ceremony for both competition expressed the club’s passion for the development of all sports noting that they were pleased to promote sports as a safe avenue for all. He disclosed that while the Club is widely known for its exploits in cricket, it hosts or sponsors a wide range of sports events including Volleyball, Chess, Scrabble, Dominoes, Circle Tennis, Table Tennis, Football, Athletics and Basketball. The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club would continue to do so in the future as part of its Say No/Say Yes Campaign. Foster extended gratitude to Roy Albert of NTN, Wayne Forde of the Guyana Football Federation and Deonarine Shane of Balram Shane General Store for their sponsorship.

Well Teen U-13 25/25 Cricket

Matches continue this weekend; DCC beat GYO in latest match Competition in the Well Teen/Trophy Stall/Tropical Springs/Nauth Motor Spares Under-13 25/25 cricket competition will continue today at the Demerara Cricket Club ground with a clash between the home team and Transport Sports Club from 18:00hrs. On Saturday at the same venue and time, GCC will engage Transport Sports Club while on Sunday from the same time and at the same

place, Everest will take on Blairmont. In latest play, DCC, led by man-of-the-match Ezekiel Wilson hammered Ghandi Youth Organisation (GYO) by 10wickets. After winning the toss and bating, GYO made 72-10 off 21.4 overs with Mavindra Dindyal making 23. Romeo Deonarine with 3-2 and Ezekiel Wilson 3-6 were the main wicket takers for DCC which responded with 73-0

off 11.3 overs. Wilson returned with the bat to hit an unbeaten 24 but the top scorer was Inderjeet Nanan with an undefeated 28. The other match between GYO and Everest which had commenced at Everest was rained out with the home team on 19-1 off 5-overs replaying to GYO’s total of 87-10 in 19.3 overs. Krishna Singh made 22 with Anthony Khan snaring 4-12 and Raynaldo Mohamed 3-17 for Everest.

Opener Brathwaite joins Yorkshire for last two matches London, CMC – Prolific West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite has been signed by English County Yorkshire for the last two games of the County Championship. The 24-year-old opener, who has played 39 Tests, replaces Australian batsman Shaun Marsh, who is returning home to represent Western Australia in the Matador Cup. ”When we found out that Shaun wasn’t going to be available for the last two games, we looked at options to replace him,” said Yorkshire’s Director of Cricket, Martyn Moxon. “At such a late stage and with Kraigg getting the runs he did at Headingley, it all came at the right time. We e n q u i r e d a b o u t h i s availability and it was pleasing he was keen to play and the West Indies

Carlos Brathwaite cricket board is keen for him to get more experience playing in England, so it fits well for both parties. ”Importantly for us he’s currently playing in English conditions at Headingley, which is obviously one of our games,

and was important for us with regards to anybody we brought in.” Brathwaite was outstanding in the second Test of the ongoing three-Test series at Headingley last week, scoring 134 and 95 as West Indies rebounded to beat England by five wickets on the final day. The Barbadian has been one of the mainstays of the Caribbean side’s batting in recent years and currently averages 37 and 41 in first class cricket. He said one of his dreams was to play County cricket and was glad to be doing so at a prestigious club such as Yorkshire. ”Before the second Test I was speaking to my agent and he was telling me that he was talking to Yorkshire’s coaching (Continued on page 25)

Thursday September 07, 2017

Kaieteur News

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GABA/Banks DIH 2nd Div. League

Eagles extend win streak; Colts embarrass Sonics When the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), Banks DIH/Malta Supreme, Powerade and Rainforest Wa t e r s p o n s o r e d 2 n d division basketball league continued on Tuesday night last at Burnham Hard Court, Eagles bounced past Pacesetters 79-71 to extend their win streak to four games, while Bounty Colts humiliated Sonics 71-29. The woeful Pepsi Sonics club lost yet again to the powerful, defending 2nd division champions, Colts in the feature match of the evening by an embarrassing 42 points. Terrence Odin (17) and Jack Vincente (9) combined for 26 of the 29 points that the losers put on the board. For the bolting Colts, Jonathan Mangra (16) and Timothy Thompson (14) were the stand out players once again in a game that was no test for the champions. Quincy Lindo (12) and Jamal Weekes (10) chipped admirably. Meanwhile, Eagles bounced to their fourth consecutive win after

Eagles’ Shemar Huntley drives into the paint during Tuesday’s encounter against Pacesetters. defeating Pacesetters 79-71 following a third quarter blitz. The match was close up to the second quarter with the losers leading marginally,

30-29. However, Eagles flew into another gear to outscore Pacesetters 24-6 in the third quarter thus taking a 17-point lead into the fourth

q u a r t e r. P a c e s e t t e r s outscored eagles 32-24 in the final quarter but the damage was already done in the previous quarter as Eagles

celebrated an 8-point triumph. Travis Belgrave (16 points) continues to be the main man for the Eagles while Kevin Higgins and

Kwesi Thompson sunk 15 points apiece to support Belgrave. Games continued last evening at the same venue.

Windies eye history at Lord’s London – An upbeat West Indies will look to make history at a venue synonymous with memorable achievement when they take on England in the decisive third Test starting today at Lord’s. Having already broken a 17-year winless streak in England by winning the second Test at Headingley last week, the Caribbean side now find themselves on the brink of their first series victory in England in nearly three decades. In fact, the last West Indies series win came in 1988 when Sir Vivian Richards spearheaded a 4-0 success in a five-match rubber and while the accomplishment remains at the forefront of current captain Jason Holder’s mind, he said more important to his young side was execution of the basics and their team plans. ”It would be great to win a series in England but there’s a process towards going about that and we can’t focus on the end result – our focus is our process,” he told reporters here yesterday.

”I’ve spoken about consistency a lot on this tour so far and that’s the main objective for me. Once we are consistent and we do the small things well, that end result should be more or less in our favour.” He continued: “As a team we always set out our team plans and I always urge the guys to stick to the team plans. Once we stick to the team plans, individuals tend to blossom – that’s the mindset we try to go into games with.” That West Indies find themselves level in the series is a miracle in itself. They were written off – and justifiably so – after an amateurish performance in the first Test at Edgbaston which saw them lose 19 wickets on the third day to plunge to an innings and 209-run defeat. However, they somehow mustered the courage to rebound, stunning England by five wickets at Headingley after chasing down 322 on the final day. At the centre of the revival was a nonchalant 23-year-old, Shai Hope, who stroked

Brian Lara (right) chats with Shai Hope during training at Lord’s yesterday. Photo courtesy CWI Media majestic hundreds in either innings to become the first player to do so at the venue in 127 years of first class cricket there. Holder said, however, that the focus over the next few days would be executing as a team and not necessarily depending on one individual. “I try not to let the guys focus too much on

themselves and most of the guys are not like that anyway,” he stressed. ”I think we are a closeknit unit, we’ve been building a great camaraderie in the dressing room and players are happy for each other’s success but the successes come from everybody buying into the team plan and so far on this

tour we’ve been doing a hell of a job with that. ”And I mean as far back as the practice games, we’ve had really good preparation coming into this Test series. We didn’t have the best Test match at Edgbaston but we really rallied back at Headingley and showed a lot more consistency there and at the end of it all we won the

Test match so coming into this game I don’t think the game plan will change.” And West Indies will have a realistic chance of victory against an England side which displayed vulnerabilities at Headingley. They were rolled over for 258 in their first innings and despite an improved showing in the second innings, their attack proved ineffective when West Indies chased on the final day. Holder told reporters it was important the Windies put pressure on the inexperienced batsmen in the England line-up. “One thing I spoke about at the beginning of this series was the inexperience of their top order. Obviously (Mark) Stoneman is now coming in, Dawid Malan is pretty fresh a n d o b v i o u s l y To m Westley,” the all-rounder noted. ”I think the more we can exploit them and put pressure on (Alastair) Cook and (Joe) Root and (Ben) Stokes and these guys to make the bulk of the runs, the better off for us. “Having (Continued on page 25)

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Thursday September 07, 2017

Fifth International Nereid’s Yacht Rally; arriving in the Essequibo River this weekend

The Nereid’s Rally Inter Agency Organising Committee from left, Ronald Smith (GTA), Whitney Bacchus (GPF), Shevon Cobis (District Development Officer Reg#7); Kit and Gem Nascimento (Hurakabra River Resort), Godfrey Babb (MARAD), Satesh Basdeo (GRA), Lieut. Adrian McLean (GDF Coast Guard), Annarie Seecharan (GTA) and Obena Anderson (MOH). This weekend some 12 or more cruise yachts will begin arriving in Guyana’s Essequibo River, sailing south from Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and up Guyana’s coastline from Saint Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana for the 5th International Nereid’s Rally. The Cruisers, originating from the USA, Canada and Europe are expected to begin clearing Customs and Immigration tomorrow at Bartica and drop anchor to spend the next 10 days offshore from Hurakabra River Resort in the Essequibo River. The Rally will be hosted to an Official Luncheon welcome by Minister of Business with responsibility for Tourism, Hon. Dominic Gaskin next Thursday. Bartica’s Regional Chairman, Gordon Bradford, on

Tuesday next will host the yacht crews to a day visit to Bartica and a tour of Baracara Falls. The visit to Bartica will feature an exhibition and performance of our indigenous culture in recognition of Amerindian Heritage Month. During their stay in Guyana, the visiting yacht crews will be given the opportunity to visit Guyana’s Kaieteur Falls and other hinterland tourism attractions, as well as a day in Georgetown. Hurakabra River Resort is organising three Day Trips to the Essequibo River on Sunday, Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th to the Resort during the Rally via Fort Island to visit the Dutch Heritage Museum and including lunch and games at the Resort. The exciting Day Tour offers a great opportunity for a guided tour of one of the

yachts at anchor. (Bookings through Old Fort Tours: 260-4536 and 662-5502). The Nereid’s Rally was born as an idea of Italian sailor, David Matelicani, who had retired from business in Australia. In sailing up the Essequibo River in 2011, he met with Kit Nascimento, joint owner of Hurakabra River Resort with his wife Gem, who, over many years, has been actively involved in working with the government to promote Guyana as a hurricane free international yachting destination. Matelicani, who had already started a Marina in Saint Laurent, immediately saw the potential for developing a Marina in the Essequibo River. Guyana was first featured in the Doyle Cruising Guide, the bible for cruising yachts in the Caribbean in 2006, as

an attractive destination. In the meantime, Matelicani, with the full support of the Ministry of Tourism in Guyana and the Mayor of Saint Laurent in French Guiana, launched the first Rally sailing from Trinidad & Tobago in September 2013 and the rallies have successfully grown each year to become a feature on Guyana’s Tourism Calendar. The Rally will depart Guyana on Friday 22nd to its final destination, via Suriname, at Saint Laurent on the Maroni River in French Guiana for an elaborate welcome by the Mayor of the town, complete with Trinidad & Tobago steel band. An Inter Agency Rally Organising Committee was established under the Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh.

GuyanaNRA stalwart, Richard Berkeley Fields laid to rest Former Guyana National Rifle Association (GuyanaNRA) Captain and Vice President Richard Berkeley Fields was yesterday laid to rest following a church Service at the century old Christ Church, Waterloo Street, C u m m i n g s b u rg , Georgetown. One of the best marksmen for Guyana in his heyday as well as trusted Coach, the late Fields who was also a Senior Counsel was eulogized by another legal luminary, Attorney-AtLaw, Nigel Hughes, who reminded the packed church which included His Excellency President David Granger and a number of l e a d i n g S p o r t s Administrators of the illustrious legal and sporting career of F ields aka, ‘Dickie’.

Fields represented Guyana with excellence in a shooting career spanning over four decades winning many a Caribbean championships at the Long and Short Range levels. His contributions would have allowed Guyana to dominate for many years. The disciplined, yet affable Fields was the Runner-up Sportsman of the Year in 1999. Such was the fierce and competitive nature of the man that he attended one of the most prestigious shooting competitions in the world, Bisley in England almost every year from 1979 to 2014 and would have won many medals at those championships. The late Richard Fields remains were interred at the St. James the Less Cemetery, David Street, Kitty.

The casket bearing the remains of Richard Berkeley Fields is taken from the Church to the hearse by members of the GuyanaNRA yesterday.

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GFF/FIFA Goalkeeping Coaches’ Course officially opened yesterday The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is hosting a FIFA-facilitated, Goalkeeping Coaches’ course to build capacity among the national coaches. FIFA Goalkeeper Instructor Claine Plummer is conducting the five-day programme which began on Monday last but was officially opened at the course’s venue, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) Training Center, Leonora, West Coast Demerara, yesterday. A total of 19 coaches including at least one from each of the GFF’s member associations will benefit from this course. President (ag) of the GFF, Brigadier (Ret.) Bruce Lovell was at the opening yesterday and shared his view on the 5-day programme, “This training is very important because it aligns with our vision of building capacity in all areas of football From left, Brigadier (Ret.) Bruce Lovell, Lady Jags Coach Akilah Castello in Guyana.” and FIFA GK Instructor Claine Plummer with the participating coaches. Claine Plummer who is also a Goalkeeper Coach with the Youth Team of Major and give better understanding of what it is to team Goalkeeper, expressed satisfaction League Soccer team, coach modern day goalkeepers, because as with the increased amount of coaches that are LA Galaxy explained the need for the game has progressed, so has the part of this course, compared the amount that goalkeeper coaching in today’s game, “I goalkeeping department.” participated, he conducted in October last. think it’s very important to bring awareness Plummer, a former Costa Rica national He explained that,

“It shows that there is a huge interest and enthusiasm to coach goalkeepers in Guyana and I’m pleased with that.” The FIFA-facilitated course will conclude tomorrow.

Guinness Cage/Three Peat Promotions Indoor C/ship

Sparta, Leopold Street ‘Gold is Money’ live to fight another day; MBK All Stars, Mocha, N/Riumveldt extend form Sparta Boss, Leopold Street and West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ responded with urgency after winning their respective encounters when play in the exciting inaugural Guinness Cage/Three Peat Promotions Indoor Championship continued on Tuesday night, at the National Gymnasium. However, they both have negative goal differences and will need to win their respective matchups tonight to guarantee a place in the quarter-finals set for Saturday, at the same venue. The Bosses play group A’ leaders North Ruimveldt in the final game of the night, while West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ takes on second placed Group ‘B’ team Hustlers, who also have to register a victory to secure a last eight berth. Another big team that will have to win this evening to advance is Back Circle, who could not reproduce their form and went down to Leopold Street that needed to

prevail to put them in a position to progress to the quarter-finals. Mocha, MBK All Stars, Albouystown ‘A’ and North Ruimveldt continued their good form by winning their games to remain unbeaten and will no doubt be aiming to stay on that course heading into the business end of the championship. Some of the teams to exit the championship are Albouystown ‘B’, Pike Street, Sophia, Tiger Bay, Champion Boys and Showstoppers. Over $800,000 in prize monies and trophies will be up for grabs with the winner set to receive $400,000 and the championship trophy, while second, third and fourth placed finishers will take home $200,000, $100,000 and $50,000 along with trophies respectively. Meanwhile, among the other sponsors on board are Star Party Rentals, Faye Joseph, Claude Geddes (Continued on page 26)

Part of the action in one of the matches on Tuesday night in the Guinness Cage/Three Peat Promotions Indoor Championship.

t r o Sp Hero CPL T20 - Eliminator 1

Khan’s hat-trick, Ronchi’s masterful 70 power Warriors to win over Tallawahs Luke Ronchi ©Randy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty

Rashid Khan ©Randy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty

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Fourth Elizabeth Styles/ECCB 40-Over Tourney launched $500,000 in cash up for grabs P.27

Marketing Manager Suresh Boodoo (right) hands over winning trophy to Competitions Committee Chairman, Raymond Barton in the presence of ECCB President Bissoondyal Singh (left) and club officials. Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd., 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Tel: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/226-8210.