Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Road Safety Assoc. President urges reintroduction of “big buses”

A member of the Enterprise Road Safety Association repaints the pedestrian crossing outside the Enterprise Primary School. President of one of Guyana’s oldest road safety bodies, the Enterprise Road Safety Association, is appealing to minibus drivers not to leave school children stranded on the roads before or after classes. Chandrapaul Persaud, himself a taxi driver, has seen the suffering of schoolchildren who are left on the road hours after classes commence and end, as a result of some bus operators, who blatantly refuse to pick them up. Persaud was speaking last Sunday on the eve of the reopening of school, even as he and other members of his association repainted the pedestrian crossing outside the Enterprise Primary School on the East Coast of Demerara. According to Persaud, with the situation as it is, it would be useful for the government to vigorously pursue the re-introduction of “big buses” to cater specifically for schoolchildren. “ Sometimes the children will be on the road in Georgetown until seven o’clock in the night, still stranded for transportation. I think if the government brings in the school bus for the children, they will be very happy to use it. And it will be much safer for the schoolchildren,” Persaud stated. This year marks the seventh year that the Enterprise Road Safety Association has been repainting the road signs and pedestrian crossings on a major section of the East Coast Demerara roads. And every year Persaud takes the opportunity to appeal to road users to exercise care, courtesy, caution, commonsense and consideration, especially when approaching school

zones. “Now that schools have been reopened, I am calling on all the drivers to be extra careful on the road, and the pedestrians too, they must also be careful. We also want the lawlessness, with regards to the drinking and driving to stop,” he said, adding that his association wants to see fatal accidents stamped out. He also appealed to other organizations to come out with similar initiatives like the one his association is

involved in, so that the roads can be safer. “As the President of the Enterprise Road Safety Association, I am calling on all the traffic police to be very vigilant on the road to make sure that the roads are safer,” Persaud said. His association, in collaboration with the police, also plans to visit schools on the East Coast of Demerara with the aim of resuscitating Road Safety Patrols at the various learning institutions.

Rachpaul drug store murder…

Cops capture ‘Dahl Belly’

After two years on the run, the prime suspect in the August 2011 murder of drug store proprietor Harold Rachpaul has been captured. A senior police official confirmed last night that Ryan Kissoon, called ‘Dahl Belly’, was captured yesterday in Berbice. He has been transported to Georgetown. Rachpaul, 84, was found bound and strangled in his apartment, located behind his Robb Street, Lacytown drug store he had operated for close to 50 years. Police had received reports that Kissoon, who worked as a security at a nearby business premises, was seen leaving the slain man’s yard on the night that Rachpaul was believed to have been slain.

Page 3

Medical Council balks at accrediting recent Cuban-trained doctors Several Cuban-trained doctors who returned to Guyana are still to receive their certificates and transcripts and therefore cannot be registered to practice by the Guyana Medical Council. Chairperson of the Guyana Medical Council, Dr. Vivienne Mitchell, made the disclosure yesterday, and said that the Council will be meeting with the Public Service Ministry again to sort out the problem. “We have not got any documentation, and we are not sure why,” Dr. Mitchell said. She said that the Cubantrained Guyanese usually receive their certificates and transcripts before leaving Cuba. “We believe that the university in Cuba prepared the documents. We are not sure where the documents are right now and which arm of the Government will provide them. She was unable to say whether any of the graduates were working but stressed that this should not be the case, since they are still to be registered. “To be recognised as a doctor you (have to ) come with certificates from your medical school; if you are a recent graduate, we ask for a transcript, or if you practicing for a number of years we ask for a certificate of good standing from the Medical Council of the country in which you last practiced, and we want to know that you are not a criminal or of good character, so we ask for letters of reference and curriculum vitae so we can know what you been doing over the last six years.” On Monday, Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran, announced that 70 of the latest Cuban trained doctors have commenced the documentation and orientation process of deployment to the regional

public health facilities. Of the recent graduates, Ramsaran said that a batch of 30 doctors will be employed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, (GPHC), while 14 doctors will work at the New Amsterdam Hospital facility; eight were distributed to Suddie Hospital in Region Two, and an additional eight will work at the Linden Hospital Complex in Region Ten, while West Demerara Regional Hospital will receive 10 new doctors. The Guyana Medical Council has been seeking the assistance of the Foreign Ministry and the Public Service Ministry. Recently, by way of letter the Public Service Ministry provided a list of the students. But the medical council said that from the list it could not determine the successful students. She said that no medical school has ever generated 100 per cent passes and those in Cuba will be no different. But Dr. Mitchell said that the Council has been more rigid in its scrutiny of medical practitioners, since “there have been one or two instances of people being registered who should not

have been.” She said that the Council is moving to employ a Registrar whose sole function will be to do due diligence on medical practitioners who want to work in Guyana. She said that at present the Council’s Disciplinary Committee is not fully functional because of some legal loopholes. The Council is seeking to have this addressed to prevent its decisions being overturned. “There are some cases pending (against medical practitioners) since last year; there is no point making a decision and saying that this person should be disciplined and they take us to court.” Dr. Mitchell estimates that there are about 400 doctors, included about 100 foreign volunteers and a number of foreign nationals in the system. She said that the majority are junior doctors with less than five years’ experience. At present the Council is involved in countrywide visits to hospitals to ensure that there is appropriate training for the most junior doctors and that they are under adequate supervision.

Page 4

Kaieteur News

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

EDITORIAL

Teaching: Vocation or Trade? September, the beginning of a new school year, is also designated as “Education Month”. From the very start of our education system following the abolition of slavery in our country, education was seen as providing the wherewithal to secure real freedom. Not only would it provide the training necessary for securing a job but also the values and world view for living a “cultured” life. Education was the passport from a world in which life was “nasty, brutish and short”. But it was soon realized that education was more than a matter of constructing schools: mortar and bricks or boards and beams do not educate. The foundation of all education is teachers. Because of their key role in liberating the population, teachers quickly acquired an elevated status in our post-slave societies. They held in their hands the key to the good life. The status of teachers did not depend on their salaries: in fact the other professions were always more lucrative. Their status depended on the seriousness with which they viewed their task: theirs was a vocation and not a trade. Teachers must have a passion of teaching and those early teachers certainly had that passion. That passion was not confined to the classroom, for learning did not end at the doors of the school. Teachers were very active in the affairs of their community and were crucial in the creation and maintenance of local democratic institutions. Today as we look at the hundreds of new schools that have been built on the coastland and in the interior but recoil at the terrible results exposed by the latest CSEC examinations, we must re-examine the role our teachers in this sorry situation. Are our teachers, by and large, imbued with the urge of changing the lives of their charges by opening up their minds? Sadly, we have to answer in the negative. Only a small minority of teachers see their profession as a vocation. Larger salaries are only part of the answer: in Trinidad and many of the CariCom countries, the salaries of teachers are almost on par with those in the developed counties but their results at CSEC are not noticeably better than ours. Unquestionably, teacher salaries will have to continue rising, as they have been doing since 1992, but their attitude will also have to change. At present, most teachers have a view of teaching as a “can’t do better” way-station, in which they have become, or may become, stuck. This attitude is transmitted to students in numerous ways, not the least being a reluctance to be creative in the classroom. For many students, teaching means a teacher reading from a textbook at the front of the class. This cynicism is reinforced by the “lessons” maneuver practiced by many teachers: the curriculum is not completed in the classroom but at “lessons” for which the same teachers charge a princely sum. This is the quintessence of treating their profession as a “trade”. Teachers will never regain the status they once had even though they complain of its loss, until they conduct themselves as professionals. Respect, which is the basis of status, cannot be demanded: it must be earned. And it will never be earned by gouging students for knowledge that should have been delivered in the classroom in the first place. Just as critical as the substantive aspect of the knowledge transmitted by the teachers of the past was the manner in which they practiced their vocation. There was a dignity and gravitas in which they comported themselves in and out of the classroom. Education is not only about the “3R’s”: it is even more about values that will guide the learner in his conduct with others in society. As the first President of independent India, and a great teacher in his own right, said: “Teachers need to be leaders in their own right, capable of proactive thinking, open to changes and challenges, able to inspire, motivate, demonstrate by example and finally with a realisation that they have a huge responsibility of nation-building.”

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

AFC condemns attempts to discredit the Party DEAR EDITOR, The Alliance for Change considers the recent character assassination of two of its leaders a feeble attempt to destroy the party’s credibility. As such, we assure our constituents, the Guyanese people, of our deep regard and unshakeable commitment to equal rights and justice for all. In light of this, we will be presenting our Guidelines for the Conduct of Leaders to inform on the requisite attributes we feel must be demonstrated by all who commit to the process of providing leadership for our fledgling democracy. It is our position that integral to the need for quality leadership is the idea of individual freedom and respect for the right to work and association. The AFC unreservedly supports the right to work of its leaders, which is a constitutional right which is also a right to life. In attempting to discredit the integrity of these two stalwarts of people’s rights and good governance, we are again seeing how a deficient administration is clutching at straws to blind us to its own flaws and the misuse of power by a few. In 2010, long before she was elected an AFC Member of Parliament, Cathy Hughes was contracted to provide professional support services to Sithe Global, an American company that was involved in the failed Amaila Hydro Project. Mrs. Hughes has never hidden her association with Sithe Global, and the AFC saw no conflict of interest in her association as she was required to carry her party’s position on any and all issues relating to Sithe Global and the

Amaila Hydro project, which she did with honour and conviction. The sanction for not doing so would be severe. In fact she purposefully recused herself from all inter-party discussions on the Sithe Global project. Mr. Nigel Hughes, one of Guyana’s foremost lawyers, has endeared himself to a wide cross-section of the Guyanese society, making himself accessible, over some three decades, to all types of clients in a legal system that assumes that a person is “innocent until proven guilty” in a court of law. The AFC is well aware that Mr. Hughes has tirelessly represented thousands, the high and mighty as well as the down-trodden and oppressed, including mothers who mourned the loss of their loved ones at the hands of bandits or the security forces alike. The AFC respects confidentiality as the foundation of client relationship, and would never have required its leaders to breach this sacred convention. Mr. Hughes has been maligned for being the lawyer and Secretary of AFHI, the company that was to operate the Amaila Hydro plant. In 2009, it was the government of Guyana that wanted the American investors to establish a local company and Mr. Hughes incorporated Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. with the full knowledge and participation of both Sithe Global and the Government of Guyana. Neither party raised any conflict of interest concerns over the role of Mr. Hughes in the formation of the company. At that time, too,

Mr. Hughes was neither a member nor official of AFC. Because of the flurry of mis-information and inaccuracies being peddled here and abroad to tarnish the character of Mr. Hughes and the image of AFC, we are at pains to point out that most foreign companies when coming to invest here do not have offices in Guyana and are not sure how their investments are likely to develop. Under our law, they are required to establish a registered office at an address in Guyana and identify a person to act as Company Secretary. Invariably the address of the Attorney’s office becomes the registered address and an officer in the law firm would provide serves as Company secretary. Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. was the investment entity incorporated in Guyana for the purposes of the hydro project. The principal participants in the discussions about the project were the Government of Guyana, Sithe Global, China Development Bank and China Railway – the contractor. Mr. Hughes was not an officer of any of those companies and could not have been privy to any of those discussions, agreements, technical studies and/or project costs or rate of returns. However, when it was alleged that a conflict of interest might have arisen, Mr. Hughes immediately offered his resignation as AFC Chairman, not wanting to embroil the movement in any controversy. For the AFC, the professional services of both Ms. Catherine Hughes and Mr. Nigel Hughes were not deemed by the movement to be a conflict of interest, as

both individuals recused themselves from all discussions this party had with the Government of Guyana and Sithe Global on the hydropower project. What we take full responsibility for is the absence of full disclosure in a timely manner of the role of these leaders, and we apologise for this critical lapse in duty. But the AFC has learned from this experience and has taken an important decision to approve guidelines for the Conduct of Leaders, to avoid perception of conflict of interest that could in the future compromise the integrity of the movement. Our commitment to the people of Guyana and our unshakeable belief in the rightness of things mean that we will not sit quietly by and let those who try to destroy the credibility of the AFC succeed. Leadership and the world of politics are fraught with half-truths that are peddled as credible, which is the reason that the AFC must respond. The party reiterates that the Hughes’ at no time used their positions in the party to further their personal agendas and we wish to assure this nation that we stand in their defence against any such groundless assertion. In fact, we will in the next few weeks continue to provide you with clear evidence of what indeed transpired. And this is integral to the way we will always operate as a party. The people of Guyana must always be well informed about the processes and programmes that are initiated on your behalf and your well being will always be our foremost priority. Alliance For Change

Education is not all about CSEC Results DEAR EDITOR, In Kaieteur News’ August 21 editorial entitled, “Education Crisis”, there were some very valid points. As I read the article, I nodded my head in agreement at each paragraph. We are definitely living in the midst of an education crisis, and I sincerely hope that our teachers are cognizant of this fact. In Guyana, the unfortunate fact is that a child’s individual performance at the CSEC examinations is used as a rule-of-thumb measurement of their intellect. Alarming, but inarguably true. Secondary schools place such unreasonable emphasis

on “getting good grades.” The reality is that education is not, and should not be viewed as, all about attaining X amount of Grade Ones at the CSEC examinations. While academics remain very important, it is imperative to realize that not every child was born to be the next Albert Einstein. Having a fervent interest in our nation’s education system, I call upon all schools to realize every student’s potential. I cannot help but notice that during the exam period, students neglect everything - including their own health - sever all relationships, and dedicate their entire life to cramming past CSEC papers, and

nothing else. I cannot help but question:what are these students learning? They are learning nothing, really, to put it simply. Perhaps that is why English and Math historically, and continue to, share the lowest pass rates for our students. English and Math cannot be “crammed”. Both of these subjects require knowledge gained from a variety of sources which must be applied to situations. Some institutions are so caught up in the whole “competition” that we ourselves have created. They insist on teaching students exactly what is in the subjects’ syllabus - and discourage students from watching

television or having any hobbies. I read a certain private school’s analysis of its CSEC results, and I must admit, the school performed exceptionally well in terms of grades. The analysis was very detailed, talking about the excellent performances to the poor performances. As I neared the end of the report, I came across a statement that I found to be irrelevant and offensive: “we are very sorry to report that one student, being severely mentally challenged, did not pass any subject at all.” I was rendered speechless after reading that statement. There is literally a Continued on page 6

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Letters... Where your views make the news

Mr. Brassington continues to create his own realities and enemies DEAR EDITOR, I had hoped, vainly it seems, that the Government and the hydroelectric power team led by Mr. Winston Brassington would take the necessary steps to address the country’s energy situation and GPL’s losses following Sithe’s withdrawal from the Amaila Falls project. Instead Mr. Brassington continues to create his own realities and enemies. The latest case of this is his response, through NICIL, to public concerns over the findings of the recently released 2009/2010 Economic and Financial Evaluation Study done by Mercados Energeticos of Argentina in connection with the water flows at Amaila. Mercados reported on the possibility of low or no power from Amaila during the eight months dry spell each year. NICIL responded that: i) “A multiplicity of comprehensive and extensive evaluations of the hydrological conditions of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project site has been carried out by a number of international engineering firms”; and ii) “All the findings create a sound basis for the hydropower potential of the Project and reaffirms the Project’s acceptable hydrology risk to the Government of Guyana, thus, setting the stage for the outlook of reliable, stable and a dependable energy source for the people of Guyana”. These can hardly be described as even half-true. Let us examine the “multiplicity of comprehensive and extensive evaluations” and pose some questions to Mr. Brassington. 1. That Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH) did an analysis in 2001 of historical rainfall and river-flow measurements from several locations in the region of the Project. Questions: (a) Would Brassington

confirm or deny that one year following MWH, Kaehne Consulting Limited, the Canadian consultants contracted by the Government of Guyana, raised concerns that “the developers have based the project viability mostly on data collected in an adjacent water shed (Kaieteur) and the Amaila/Kuribrong River basin hydrology has been inferred from this. At no stage have concurrent hydrological data been collected to verify the relationship between the two water basins.” (b) Is Mr. Brassington suggesting that the Government did not advise Kaehne of the MWH report, even after the serious and emphatic statement by Kaehne in the preceding paragraph? (c) Was Kaehne’s recommendation that a “permanent station be set up at the base of Amaila Falls and should record daily stream flow volumes from now until such time as flow is curtailed as reservoir filling occurs” acted upon? (d) If this was done, was it done by Synergy, the licencee, and are the findings available? (e) Could Mr. Brassington confirm that Mercados in their 2009/2010 Study reported that the hydrology study done by

MWH encountered some difficulties due to lack of direct hydrological data at the project site? 2. That in 2008, “an update review of the hydrological study review done by HWH was completed to assess the validity of the monthly flow estimation for the project site.” Question (a) In view of the intended or accidental ambiguity of this language would Mr. Brassington provide the name of the consultant who did the update review. 3. The Mercados Report of 2009/2010 Questions (a) Can Mr. Brassington state why NICIL’s statement was silent on the Mercados study which was commissioned by the Government and Sithe? (b) Is it because Mercados found that the design of Amaila Falls Project encountered several problems arising from the lack of hydrologic data including: • uncertainty regarding the expected power generation? • uncertainty as regards the maximum flow adopted for the design? (c) Or that Mercados recommended that in order to obtain more accurate Continued on page 6

Page 5

Page 6

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Education is not all about... From page 4 reason why the words “severely mentally challenged” were in a clause: it is not necessary. While I do not personally know who that particular “severely mentally challenged student” was, I found it completely philistine to call out that student on their performance. That is humiliating and degrading, to say the least. Whether or not that student was indeed “severely mentally challenged”, I feel the school had no right to single out the student for being so. I got the impression that the school wanted to cite the student’s alleged mental incapacities as the reason for the poor performance, and to void themselves of any sign of “failure” on their part. Real champions do not put down their team members for their failure to be up to par. The obsession with being the “top school” or “top student” creates further problems. Teachers help students with their School Based Assessments (SBAs) more than they ought to, and students plagiarize ideas and even entire essays from the internet, which is increasing in accessibility. Some students may unintentionally commit plagiarism by improperly citing their sources. SBA

citations, from what I have seen, tend to be abysmal, with students failing to use a n M L A / A PA / C h i c a g o format. Teachers need to teach students how to make proper footnotes and bibliographies. Just because it is not included on the syllabus does not mean you will not teach it. It is a life skill that will greatly help students in their post-secondary pursuits when they have to write research papers. Why does an aspiring doctor write Clothing and Textiles, or even Office Administration? As the Kaieteur News editorial pointed out, what does it mean for a student to successfully complete 20 subjects at CSEC? Does it mean that the student has a creative, intellectual mind, and is able to function and contribute competently to society? Or does it mean that that child was a mindless robot, pressured to cram notes and past papers for subjects that they just wrote for the sake of writing, soon to forget that knowledge? It varies from student to student. It is all about how that student was taught. I know of some students who gained 8-9 grade ones at the CSEC level, but their spelling and grammar leave much to be desired. It has been said so many times, but it still remains as

true as ever. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said it, and even Whitney Houston said it, albeit using different words: the children are our future. The combined brain power, morals and values of our present youth dictate what the future of our country holds. As a society, this bit of food for thought holds great importance. It is the duty of adults, as parents, teachers, and role models, to provide children with the tools that they need today so that they become independent and competent leaders tomorrow. Let’s encourage our children to play, study and explore their horizons. Let their lives not be controlled by a single set of examinations. Adolescence is a time to be enjoyed, not overly stressed by avoidable circumstances. Study hard - but within your limits and what you can handle. Students should not be spoon-fed by teachers. They need to take some responsibility and be in control of their own lives. I would like to take this opportunity once again to commend Kaieteur News for its very insightful and brilliant editorial. I feel it’s about time something was said on the matter. Tanuja G. Persaud

From page 5 information, it would be desirable to install a hydrometeorological station in a section of the river that is

representative of the Project? (d) Or that it concluded that in wet months (June to September), more power can be generated and demand is covered. And in months with low hydraulicity, there is a deficit in power generation and demand is only partially covered? While it is not unusual for public servants to spin data from time to time, it is unacceptable when that

spinning involves a project costing at least US$900 million and affecting the entire economy and consumers and taxpayers. Mr. Brassington ought not to be allowed to continue getting away with this pattern of behaviour. I have privately and regularly pleaded with him to concentrate on his chairmanship and responsibilities at the GPL. Billions of dollars in fuel savings and the reduction of subsidies did not have to wait on Amaila, but are within the grasp of the board and management of GPL. Christopher Ram

Mr. Brassington continues to create...

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Senior UG staffers sacked Azad ‘AK 47’ Bacchus’s inquest Following the “controversial” dismissal of two senior University of Guyana (UG) staffers, members of the University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) are set to meet today to discuss the way forward. John Seeram and Hazel Bentinck, who, before being sacked, worked as Bursar and Chief Accountant respectively, and were both sent on leave in early April to facilitate a Special Audit carried out by the University of the West Indies (UWI). UG ran into financial problems and a special audit was commissioned into the institution’s accounts. After the audit was completed and the report was handed to the UG Council, the body, by way of majority, voted for the dismissal of the two longstanding employees. Kaieteur News understands that a decision was made by the council to have the two senior officials dismissed since the audit revealed improprieties that occurred under their supervision. Some of the improprieties listed in the report were “The Bursarial functions are being supported by IT systems that do not function in accordance with best practices that included the absence of a unique password to access data or ability to make changes to prior period data.” The report further stated that “the significant number of manual processes which impact on the level of accuracy and efficiency and operate without the evidence

UGWU to meet today on the way forward

Dr. Patsy Francis of sufficient checks and balances. And “improper segregation of duties and user access and improper reconciliation in regard to the payroll function.” These were among some of the findings that were unearthed from the special audit. However, some officials attached to UG said that the decision to have the two employees dismissed was uncalled f o r. According to the sources the audit report stated implicitly that “no acts of malfeasance were identified.” “In essence, the dismissal was unjustified since the report itself showed that there was nothing substantial to have the long-serving employees dismissed.” Kaieteur News understands as well that apart from the decision being unwarranted, it was also done hastily and without any due process.

Senior UG officials said that neither Seeram nor Bentinck was given the opportunity to be heard by the council with respect to the findings made by the special audit. Seeram and Bentick had responded to the council; however their reports were not laid before the council. The head of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) Dr. Patsy Francis in an invited comment said that she did not find any wrongdoing with respect to Seeram and Bentinck in the performance of their duties. “What was found was a system not tight enough but lent itself to the possibility.” “What was found puzzling is that the university operated at deficit, so the bills had to be paid in some way, there was no money to steal, the union has a particular difficulty with the dismissal in general” she further stated that “UG has had audits by the Auditor General’s office for many years, this very council (UG) accepted the auditor’s report up to the end of 2012.” She said that the auditors looked into the accounts not knowing of the financial constraints and deficits and the compounding need to pay staff salaries, “hence, they will obviously find discrepancies. “We believe that Bentinck and Seeram were treated most unfairly; they were not culpable in any way,” Dr. Francis alluded.

put back to October

An inquest which should have started by Coroner Magistrate Roby Benn on August 26, last, at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court has been pushed back to October 18 because the Coroner is on leave. The inquest is to determine when, how, where and in what manner or whether anyone is responsible for the death of the five people who died during the BASS shooting incident in 2001. The persons who died were Janet Bess, Valarie Alves, Stephen Angel, Mahendra Samsundar and Saif Ghani. Saif Ghani,18, and Steven Angel ,42, were both hit by live rounds fired at protestors. Janet Best, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was exercising on the foreshore behind the BASS headquarters when he was shot (and eventually died in a subsequent ambulance accident en route to the New Amsterdam Hospital). Alves was the nurse accompanying the injured in the ambulance. Both Angel and Ghani were alleged to be observing the protest from a distance when they were shot. The persons died on August 17, 2001 at Skeldon, Corriverton outside and surrounding the BASS office. Some three dozen persons are down to give evidence, including some 11 BASS officers. Hundreds of persons were protesting the alleged killings of Azad ‘AK 47’ Bacchus, 41, his son Shazad Bacchus, 18, of Kim Jong IL Street, Race Course, Corriverton and his nephew Fadil Ally, 15, of Crabwood Creek, Skeldon at the hands of BASS members. The men were allegedly shot dead by members of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) at Corriverton following a dramatic sequence of events, including a raid on the Skeldon hospital. A police press release at the time stated that the three men were shot dead at

Scotsburg, Upper Corentyne, Berbice during an armed confrontation with BASS. The incident at the time stemmed from the Shazad Bacchus’s arrest by ranks of BASS. Bacchus had 26 bales of plastic bags. BASS ranks were on patrol at 23:30hrs. During the arrest, Shazad Bacchus reportedly attempted to escape and sustained injuries. Shazad Bacchus was reportedly taken to the Skeldon Hospital with an injury to his forehead and was being guarded by a senior member of BASS. The BASS operative subsequently received a radio message that Azad Bacchus was on his way there. The building was secured but the nephew Fadil Ally reportedly gained access by climbing through a window and opened the main door to allow Azad Bacchus to enter. Shazad Bacchus was then taken from the hospital. About 02:00 hrs, shots were fired. Azad Bacchus, though apparently injured made his escape in his minibus BEE 443. Bacchus had alerted relatives that he was shot. He, his son and nephew were subsequently cornered by members of BASS around 02:30 hrs. Bacchus, a father of nine was apparently shot in the abdomen. The men were shot while in the minibus which was subsequently lodged at the Springlands Police Station. A medical source had revealed that the nephew was shot at close range with a bullet to the forehead, while Shazad’s face was battered. The release had stated that the men had engaged law enforcement in gunfire and when the exchange of gunfire ceased a search of the minibus revealed the three men shot. They were pronounced dead at the Skeldon Hospital. It also revealed that A .32 pistol, seven live rounds of 9 mm Luger ammunition, four 7.62 live rounds, eight .67 SMC rounds, one .22 pistol with

five live rounds and a quantity of spent shells were discovered in the bus at the time. A resident of the area had reported that Bacchus and his relatives were taken to the Scottsburg foreshore, where they received the fatal shots. Azad Bacchus was previously found guilty in March 2000 of five charges. He was sentenced to ten years in prison on the charge of wounding with intent and seven years each on charges of discharging a loaded firearm, and possession of ammunition and explosives without the relevant licences. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The charges against the man had stated that he had two hand grenades, an AK47 rifle and a self-loading rifle in an arsenal unearthed by the police after a shooting exchange with him on November 17, 1992. Bacchus through his lawyer had filed an appeal of the conviction on March 16, 2001. The appeal was heard at the conviction was set aside and a retrial was ordered. On June 21, 2001, Bacchus had moved to the High Court and applied for bail, which was granted in the sum of $300,000, with the condition that he report to the Springlands Police Station every Saturday morning. He had previously skipped a $100,000 bail on December 31, 1992 which was granted for an attempted murder of a policeman and possession of arms and ammunition charges during a gun battle with law enforcement. He was captured in April 1998 by the Surinamese police during a police dragnet in the capital Paramaribo. Attorney at law Ramesh Rajkumar is representing GRA/BASS in the matter.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. - Jim Rohn

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Businesswoman’s body in Diamond house… Detectives have taken DNA samples from the reputed husband of Sirmattie Ramnaress and some of her close associates, in the hope of finding the perpetrators behind her well-planned murder. Kaieteur News understands that Crime Scene ranks also took DNA samples from a few beverage bottles that were on a table in the slain woman’s Diamond New Scheme, East Bank Demerara house. A source said that the beverage in one unopened bottle was still cold when the detectives visited the scene after the murdered woman was found. A source said that investigators are not focusing on one individual and suggested that the identity of

Kaieteur News

Page 9

Cops take reputed husband’s DNA samples as victim’s overseas-based ‘fiancé’ surfaces the woman’s killers may come as a surprise to some if the case is solved. A senior police official expressed optimism last night that investigators were making progress. “We are at a delicate stage; we will have to hold confrontations; we are coming around nicely.” ‘FIANCE’SURFACES Meanwhile, the case has taken a bizarre turn with an overseas-based man indicating to police that he is 46-year-old Ramnaress’s fiancé. Kaieteur News understands that the man has told police that the two were planning to marry next month. He would reportedly come to Guyana four times a year. According to a senior official, Ramneress’s home contained a secret room in which gold and cash were

found. Some of Ramneress’s relatives are upset that Police Sergeant Colin Bailey is being described as her reputed husband, and insist that they separated about ten years ago. However, Sergeant Bailey told Kaieteur News that he and Ramnaress were still together. He said that he had slept at her home last week Monday, and that she had visited his home at Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara to have a truck loaded with goods last Wednesday. He said that he had extra keys to Ramnaress’s home and he gave the relatives these keys because the ones Ramnaress had could not be found. Bailey said that he became aware recently that his ‘reputed wife’ had a fiancé.

Dem boys seh...

Brazzy squeezing and Ash Knee picking When it come to spending taxpayers money de government ain’t got no problem. De same government decide that it would pay through its nose fuh money from China and de IDB. But when it come to using li’l ink is a big problem. Dem boys had to smile when de opposition, especially David and Prakash— de same Prakash who sit down wid Donald at cricket and drink whisky, now asking Donald to sign some Bills that de Opposition pass in parliament. Dem had a problem wid Donald over de withholding of his ink from before. De Opposition didn’t like to be a rubber stamp suh dem refuse to vote in favour of some Bill that Donald had in parliament. Well Donald seh that he believe in do fuh do but really, is just that ink short and de government can’t waste money to buy ink to sign opposition Bills. Clement got one solution. He tell David and Prakash that dem should go to court. He know that de court can’t dictate to de President. De other day Bencock Mark decide to protest the fact that Donald withholding

de ink. But de boy got sense. He ain’t go to Ohh Pee. He go to de A G Chambers. He remember that de last time he been outside Ohh Pee he end up in jail fuh five years, and it coulda been longer. But people should really be in jail deh walking de streets and trying to mek de whole country look foolish. Chris Ram talk how Brazzy sign some agreement with Sithe Global fuh pay de American company 19 per cent pun de money it invest. After bout two week Brazzy tek out a whole page advertisement fuh show how Chris Ram wrang. But he ain’t talk about de 8.5 per cent interest that Guyana agree to pay China; he ain’t talk bout de money that he give way to Fip; he ain’t talk bout de Rat getting a loan from IDB higher that any country ever pay and fuh sure he ain’t talk how de Rat tell he wha fuh write. That is why he and Ash Knee got to squeeze dem bowels when more and more things coming out of de Amaila project. Talk half and watch how Brazzy planning fuh fool de people.

expected to be performed today. Bloodstains on the floor seemed to indicate that she was attacked in her living room and was then dragged by her feet to the garage. A stacked storage bond at the back of the property was torched, while the house was doused with diesel fuel but not set alight. Investigators seem to believe that Ms. Ramnaress was murdered during the early hours of Saturday. According to a source,

Sirmattie Ramnaress According to him, she had always insisted that the man, whom he described as a retired policeman, was merely a business partner. Sirmattie Ramnaress, also known as ‘Pavita’, of 21st Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, was found lying face down in her garage around 08:30 hours on Saturday, by a handyman who went to her residence. Singh’s body bore two stab wounds to the neck and hip and she also had a head injury. A post mortem is

some detectives believe that the crime scene was staged, down to the ransacking of the home, the dousing of the property with fuel, and the placing of three bottles of beverages on a table to imply that three intruders had entered the house. The fact that the surveillance tapes from the victim’s house were missing has also led some to suggest that someone who was familiar with the premises is the perpetrator.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Is there a constitutional crisis? Mr. Clement Rohee is quoted in the press as saying that the opposition should seek redress in the court for Bills that have not been assented to. This is unheard of in contemporary global politics. In going to court the legislature can be interpreted as surrendering its power to make laws. It is in very few circumstances, the judiciary can stop the implementation of a law. And it always occur if it violates the constitution The Republican Party took Obama’s health care legislation to the Supreme Court. The arguments were constitutional ones. The health care Bill was upheld. If all the legislation passed so far are in violation of the Constitution then surely the opposition is wasting precious time and money that Guyana cannot afford. This is a scenario that is hard to accept. Surely, the opposition has lawyers who must have learnt the Guyana Constitution by heart by now. It is hard to accept that each time they pass a Bill or motion, the Constitution is ignored. It does not take the qualifications of a lawyer to

understand if a Bill is in conflict with the Constitution. For example the Benefits Bill can easily be read by any educated person and the only conclusion can be that no Constitution will allow for presidential benefits to be open-ended, meaning there are no limits to how much resources he can access in the spheres of research assistants, medical bills, insurance etc. If the Government refuses to offer presidential assent to Bills passed by the National Assembly, then there is a constitutional crisis and constitutional crises are political processes that are caused by political complexities and are always handled throughout the world by mediation from international experts. The history of the modern Third World is replete with examples. If there is a constitutional crisis in Guyana, one would expect APNU and AFC to sit down and strategize. One of the reasons for pessimism among the voters who gave the combined opposition a legislative majority is that there seems to be no harmony between APNU and AFC.

People ask this columnist all the time if the two parties exchange strategy papers. I honestly cannot answer that question because I never asked the friends I have in both organizations. But I believe there have been no sustained dialogues between APNU and the AFC since the 2011 elections. Both parties should know that this sends wrong signals to their supporters. From the time the Government invited the combined opposition to what was known as tripartite talks, the AFC and APNU should have established a formal channel for statutory meetings among themselves. Really, it is unacceptable that APNU and AFC leaders can accuse the party in power of not establishing avenues of dialogue with them when

the two opposition parties have no enduring conversation among themselves. The two entities are different in styles, political strategies and even personnel. But their overall goal is to help bring about changes for the better of the Guyanese people therefore it is only natural that there be a constant exchange of ideas. They must agree to disagree but they must always be in discussion because both parties have declared that Guyana has no future without good governance. This column is suggesting that both APNU and AFC learn from the rich lessons of Guyanese history when the PNC was in power. The PPP and WPA were constantly engaging international figures and

foreign governments to mediate the conflict back then. The obvious reaction from sections of both parties will be why involve foreigners, why Guyanese cannot settle their own problems. There are many good answers to that question and the first one that comes to mind is; engage the people on what they think. Go to your supporters and ground with them on seeking outside help for the constitutional and political crises that Guyana is now in. Ask them if their leaders should return to Jimmy Carter, to former CARICOM Prime Ministers, to leading international personalities like Jesse Jackson. If they say yes, then do it. Others answers are equally plausible. There is the

Frederick Kissoon infamous saying that while Rome was burning, Nero was playing with his musical instrument. Young people and even those in their thirties and forties are not going to wait forever for a political solution to come from their Guyanese adversaries. They will leave and they are leaving. Perhaps the most powerful example is that the PPP acquired power, because the opposition at that time got Jimmy Carter to come to Guyana. The rest is now history.

Enraged Good Hope man stabs wife A mother of six is now nursing stab wounds to her head and shoulder after her husband of 17 years stabbed her while she was seeking refuge at her sister’s residence in Good Hope yesterday. The injured woman was identified as 30-year-old Yankumarie Kissoon of lot 3 Phase Two Good Hope, East Coast Demerara. According to reports, about 1:00 pm yesterday, Kissoon was at her sister’s home when her enraged husband arrived armed with a knife. Seema Singh, Kissoon’s sister, said, “He walk in the

house just suh and he turn to meh sister and ask she ‘why you go to police’ then he pull out the knife and start jook her in her head. I start look for me husband cutlass.” The woman added that her brother-in-law then ran after her sister but she managed to jump a neighbour’s fence and sought refuge. After the vicious attack, Singh said that the assailant then picked up his toddler son and exited the yard. Singh said that family members rushed Kissoon who was bleeding heavily from the head to the Georgetown Public Hospital. A relative of the attacker told this publication that the couple had a few violent issues. The relative added that about two months ago the assailant was sentenced to one month imprisonment for abusing his wife. Kissoon’s sister

explained that after the man was released from prison, both individuals decided to work things out and move on with their lives in the best interest of their children. The man’s relative said that the day prior to the attack, the aggressor had a few friends over for drinks when Kissoon came from the house to use the latrine. “She go in the latrine but she didn’t lock the door so the men them see her private parts. He walk up to her after the men start laughing and he ask she why she couldn’t lock the door behind her and she turn and tell he so what”, the relative said.. The family member added that after the statement the man then became annoyed and began to slap the victims face before pushing her head into the latrine. “He start behave at a rate so we hold him and tell he calm down he self because he

Yankumarie Kissoon go fuh pick up ah wood fuh lash she.” Kissoon made a report to the police and patrols were on a look out for him. When Kaieteur News visited the home of the couple, the children were at home but there was no sign of the attacker. Neighbours related that the man escaped (Continued on page 14)

The house where the stabbing occurred

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 11

636 lots distributed in first half

Government, for the first half of this year, spent almost $650M to develop over 2,250 house lots. The recently released M i d Ye a r R e p o r t b y Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, also disclosed that while Government budgeted $3.1B for the housing sector this year, only $1.1 billion was expended so far to improve the living conditions of citizens by providing access to affordable housing, upgrading infrastructure in housing schemes and the regularisation of squatter settlements. During the first six months, some 636 house lots were distributed with 1,540 titles processed. Additionally, two community development plans have been finalised for Tuschen and Ordnance FortLands along with a One Stop Shop outreach exercise completed at Enmore, East Coast Demerara. Another One Stop Shop exercise will be carried out in the second half of the year, for the areas of Providence, Farm, Prospect, Covent

- $1.1B spent to develop schemes Garden, Onderneeming, Zeelugt, Lust-en-Rust, Zeeburg/ De Willem, and Hope/ Experiment the report disclosed. Under the Low Income Settlement Two programmes, $370.7M was disbursed. Regarding the 210 core houses targeted for construction this year, 67 were completed, while another 59 are in progress. In the area of ‘Home Improvement Subsidies’, of the 200 subsidies targeted for distribution for this year, 52 were disbursed to eligible families in areas including Lusignan, Block ‘D’ Bath, Eliza and Mary and Ankerville, benefitting more than 234 persons. The report said that the Housing Ministry expects that the remainder will be disbursed by year end. In the Hinterland Housing Pilot, 34 subsidies were disbursed, while another 36 homes have been selected for complete replacement, in areas including Manawarin,

Massara, Kwatamang, Annai, Whitewater, Oronoque and Katoka, benefitting approximately 490 persons directly. Regarding the “turnkey housing initiative”, 48 houses for young professionals were constructed. Meanwhile, in the water sector, of a total of $2.7B budgeted for the year, $455.5M has been expended in the first six months towards increasing access to quality water supply. According to the Mid Year Report, a major component of the programme is the reduction of nonrevenue water losses by improvement of collection, metering of customers, reducing leakage in the network and increasing access to treated water. “To this end, works have commenced on service connections upgrades in Linden, in areas such as Kara Kara, Noitgedacht, Nottinghamshire, Amelia’s Ward, One Mile, Half Mile,

West Demerara stray bullet killing…

Police hope to recover bullet from dead teen’s body Police investigating the shooting death of 14-year-old Ryan Persaud are pinning their hopes of solving the mysterious incident on the bullet which they hope to retrieve from the body. A post mortem examination is to be performed on the teenager’s body today and investigators are hoping that the expected retrieval of the fatal bullet could be matched to a particular weapon, significantly narrowing down their investigations. “The warhead will definitely provide us with something to go on,” a source close to the investigation told this newspaper. The teenager, a student of the Patentia Secondary School, who lived at Vive la Force on West Bank Demerara, was shot in his back on Monday afternoon when a stray bullet from what is suspected to be a rifle fired from across the Demerara River in the vicinity of Friendship. He died on his way to the West Demerara Regional Hospital. Police had detained several persons on the day of the shooting, even swabbing their hands for gunpowder residue. However they were subsequently released. Kaieteur News

Dead: Ryan Persaud understands that Police had also carried out investigations and have established that the teenager was some 20 rods from the river’s edge. “We are checking every possible angle in this case,” the source said. Immediately after the shooting, angry residents blamed the police at the Wales Police Station who they said failed to act after several reports were made about stray bullets coming into the community for the past several weeks. The dead teen’s father related that his son’s killing could have been prevented if

the police had acted on the previous reports about stray bullets. “This thing happening long now and we reporting this matter over and over but the police are not doing anything. The other day a bullet pass through-andthrough my house and it pass through other people house too,” the dead teen’s father said. A resident in the area, James Munroe explained that the gunshots started about three weeks ago and he, as well as other residents, reported the matter to the police. “The bullet hitting people house and the police tell we when the shooting start back, we should call them.” Munroe added that when he returned home from work on Monday he called the police and made a report. “I call them and tell them that the shooting start again. Five minutes after I call again and I tell them that somebody gun dead and then they will come.” “I call back again while riding out from the village and I report it again and the police ask me what I want he to do, so I tell he to call the people from Grove and let them check it out. When I hang up, my wife called me and tell me that Vishnu son get shoot and he die,” Munroe stated.

Some 636 house lots were distributed in the first half of this year, the government’s mid-year report says. Christianburg, Canvas City, West Watooka and Richmond Hill.” Works being done on wells at Cotton Tree and Hope are substantially completed. Construction of wells, service connections upgrades, trestles and upgrading of water treatment plants in areas such as Better Hope - Mon Repos in Region 4 and Port Mourant in Region 6 will be completed by the end of the year. Plans are also underway to provide potable water supply to hinterland communities, which will see

upgrades in areas such as Matthews Ridge, Paruima, Akawini, Bamboo Creek, Rupertee and Port Kaituma. In the area of sanitation, the Mid Year Report said that for 2013, a total of $600M was budgeted for the year. Of this, $238.6M was expended to continue rehabilitation of sewerage stations in Georgetown, four of which were completed including at Saffon and Sussex Streets, Russell and Princess Streets, Hadfield and Camp Streets, and Light and Fifth Streets. Works have commenced at another four locations.

“The energy efficiency pilot project aimed at reducing energy consumption at pumping stations has advanced with the procurement of equipment and commencement of a study.” For the first six months of the year, around 730,000 tablets have been distributed to treat filaria and other neglected tropical diseases. Another $161.2M was expended to facilitate the procurement of two collection trucks, 825 bins and continue infrastructural works on the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

High winds hit New Amaila Falls project could Amsterdam Town Hall address unemployment - PPP

The suspended zinc sheets Around 13:00 hrs on Monday high winds blew off some zinc sheets from the roof of the Town Hall sending patrons scurrying for cover as the sheets blew into the path of the passing traffic and pedestrians alike. Some of the sheets landed on the electric

wire and remained suspended, causing an instant power outage. Units of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) were summoned and arrived to remove the zinc sheet thus thwarting a dangerous situation.

By Abena Rockcliffe The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has dubbed as incredulous, utterances by leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), David Granger about youth unemployment in Guyana. The Party is saying that if APNU is truly concerned about youth unemployment, it would support the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. However, Granger is saying that the “Amaila twist” on the youth unemployment crisis is quite inadequate since his call is for the core of the issue to be dealt with. He told Kaieteur News that the government’s promises for Amaila are like “telling you to buy a car but only showing the wheels.” That comment was when Granger referred to the shortage of details about the Amaila project. Just last week, Granger told the Media that the Government is sitting on a time bomb of youth unemployment and that that bomb needed to be defused. PPP’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee, said yesterday that the Amaila Falls Project is imperative for national development and job opportunities for all Guyanese. Rohee said that he found it perplexing that a few short weeks ago; APNU voted against crucial pieces of legislations in the National Assembly for the realization of the Amaila Falls hydro project, yet speak out about lack of employment. Rohee said, “It is a common understanding,

APNU leader, David Granger

PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee

globally, that cheap and reliable energy is a cornerstone for the economic development of any nation. It fuels particularly the expansion of the manufacturing sector, attracts both foreign and local investments and as a result creates numerous job opportunities in various fields and sectors for the skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled labor force. This is the vision behind the efforts to realize the Amaila Falls hydro project.” Rohee asserted that Granger and his party cannot, on one hand, sabotage efforts which will lead to the creation of jobs for Guyanese, particularly youths, then on the other hand, gripe about youth unemployment being a ‘ticking time bomb.’ APNU’s general position is that it is not sure that Guyanese will be provided jobs on the actual construction of the hydro plant. The opposition has

pointed, too, the case of the Marriott’s construction, which saw no Guyanese labourer. The only Guyanese employed on the Marriott construction site is the guard. When contacted yesterday, Granger said that Rohee failed to address the essential issues raised. Rohee did not deny that youth employment is high and that that is the state of affairs largely because of the economy and the failure of the educational system, Granger said. The APNU Leader said that this marked the first time that the government is dubbing Amaila a major contribution to employment. Granger said that all is still not known about the Amaila Falls project and that the government promising all these things “is like telling you to buy a car but only showing the wheels.” Guyanese weren’t hired on the Marriott’s construction site because the government said that Guyanese aren’t skilled enough, so the Chinese take over. APNU is saying that the Party would hate to have a repeat. President of Sithe Global, Brian Kubeck, indicated during a stakeholders’ forum, that the construction site will attract just about 1,500 persons, 20 percent of whom will be Guyanese. Kubeck said that the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with China Railway ensures that the conditions are made, so that Guyanese workers will have work “opportunities.” Some of the phrases used to “secure” jobs for Guyanese include phrases such as, “reasonable efforts”, “where possible”, “asneeded”, “reasonable provisions” and “adequate.” A P N U ’s Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs and Labour, Basil Williams, told Kaieteur News that discretionary language is not advisable in contracts since the clauses0020aren’t really enforceable in a court of law.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Historic Grade one and two passes cause celebrations at Vryman’s Erven Secondary By Leon Suseran Two students of the Vryman’s Erven Secondary School (VESS) in New Amsterdam recently gained numerous passes in Grades One and Two at the last CSEC Exams, taking the school to levels it never enjoyed over the past years. It was great news for the teachers and students of the school. Grade One passes have been extremely rare. Even Grade Two passes have been rare. However Collis Griffith and Shabina Bakker have done this junior secondary school very proud. And they seized every opportunity to boast about their achievements. Griffith, a resident of Angoy’s Avenue, wrote eight subjects and gained two Grade One passes (in Social

Studies and Office Administration), two Grade Twos (in Integrated Science and English A) and 3 Grade Threes! It was the first time in a very, very long time that the school had such results. Grades Five and Six were the norm, for much, if not all of the students. The young lady stated that “at times it was very difficult and she became frustrated because from time, to time, things in the syllabus… I didn’t have the chance to do at school.” When asked if she needed to attend extra lessons, the aspiring nurse stated that she did. Her plans for the future includes going back to school and re- writing a few subjects to get better grades after which she plans to enroll at the N/A School of Nursing. Her advice to students

Enraged Good... (From page 10) on foot towards the seawalls and was never seen. The assailant was later seen by this publication being towed by another man before he entered the house. Dressed in a red jersey and a white cap the man waited at the gate for about five minutes. This caused residents to come out in their numbers to plead with him to surrender. Seconds after, two officers on motorcycles came around the corner and the assailant escaped yet again on foot. Up to press time, the assailant was still on the run while the victim has since been admitted to the Georgetown Hospital.

writing next year’s exams is, “to give it their best; study hard; break a leg; as they say, your aptitude determines your altitude and must be confident; but don’t be too over confident.” “It all depends on how the students apply themselves, because teachers here really try hard with us.” She thanked her teachers, especially Ms. Shepherd, Ms. Best and Ms. Bess, as well as her special friends “who encouraged me a lot.” Meanwhile, the other student, Shabina Bakker, of Betsy Ground, East Canje wrote eight subjects and got Six Grade Threes, One Grade Two and One Grade Four. She plans to go back to school and study for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams (CAPE). She thanked her teachers, friends and family for her success and had similar advice for the upcoming batch of SCEC Students. Ms. Bernadette Shepherd, Head of Department of English at the schools, while she lauded the students’ successes noted that punctuality and attendance issues were prevalent with the students, “and when they do not come to school, it just creates a lot of difficulties because you know, we have to build on

Teachers and the successful students share this photographic moment prerequisite knowledge and when they don’t come, there is a gap.” Another successful teacher, Ms. Tonya Best, was elated that after many years, the school finally secured a Grade 2 in English B. English B proved to be a real challenge over the years at the school because of the reading levels of the children. Best stated that the students were very dedicated “and I encouraged them that they must work really hard. Collis is a very, very dedicated student and she

would come to me for help with Social Studies and I would help her.” Ms. Jemima Best stated that it feels great “because this is our first Grade One in Office Administration (OA) and I am very proud of Collis.” She stated that one major challenge was the time to cover the syllabus. Extra lessons were mandatory to supplement what went on in the classroom. It was the only way, she added, that the work could have been completed.

Marlon Daniels, Head of Department of Business, was very proud and shared his sentiments. He noted that Griffith achieved the first ever Grade One in OA “and apart from that, we achieved 66 per cent passes in the Business Subjects and in OA achieved 80 per cent passes…We also have a few passes in the Principles of Accounts, so I think we did well despite the challenges the students went through and in 2014, we are looking forward to doing better.”

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

‘Cousin Olga’, 100, gets huge centenary bash By Leon Suseran Guyana has its newest centenarian. Olga Bernice Elgin nee Profitt, popularly known as ‘Cousin Olga’ of Fyrish, Corentyne, turned 100 over the weekend and the ‘old gyal’ had an extra ordinary birthday celebration, attended by hundreds from near and far. Her daughter, Joycelyn Elgin, who came especially from Canada to Guyana to plan the big celebration for her mother, said that her mother was very quiet on the night of the party. Visitors from as far as New York and North Carolina attended the birthday celebrations. “She was just praising God for all the love that surrounded her,” Elgin added. “She didn’t say much but [Monday] morning, she said, ‘I really got a grip of what went on last night.’ Those were her words and she asked for everybody; she remembered the people that were there and she asked about some people whom she did not see there. She was saying how blessed she is to have all these people around.” Born at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, Cousin Olga “was a housewife and

seamstress. She made a lot of baked goods—she was very good at that.” Her main dishes were ‘metem’ and soups of all sorts as well as cook up rice. Joycelyn Elgin noted that her mother enjoyed cooking in those days. She recalled that her mom was “a very kind, gentle, loving person and very consistent with her discipline” who brought up four children: Ansee, Pearl, Joycelyn and Avril. She met Frederick Lewis Johnson Elgin, while vacationing at Fyrish, Corentyne. The couple got married in 1945. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 78. Elgin said that her mother “didn’t tell you one thing today and changed her mind about it tomorrow.” At the grand celebration last Saturday were Region Six Chairman, David Armogan who represented President Donald Ramotar; Leader of the Opposition, Ret’d Brig. David Granger, and hundreds of family, friends, children and well- wishers. Chairman Armogan presented the centenarian with a bouquet while Mr. Granger presented her with a large fruit basket. The Office of the President presented Elgin with a food hamper as

‘Cousin Olga’ surrounded by her immediate family and friends during the special birthday celebrations last weekend well. Today, she is being cared for by her other daughter, Ancee. She would awake her mother around 06:00 hrs and make for her a cup of coffee after which she would give her a bath followed by breakfast. Later in the day, “she would rest.”

At 100 years, Cousin Olga’s favourite dishes include pepper pot, metagee, ice-cream and cakes. Her hobbies include singing, listening to the radio and reading the scriptures, especially the Psalms. An injury to her knees a few weeks ago resulted in ‘Cousin Olga’ being confined to a wheel- chair. Her granddaughter, Shannon Elgin, said that her ‘grandma’ was very mobile up to a few years ago, very busy and

always cooking something in the kitchen “and was even helping herself…In her 90s she was moving around and doing practically everything—she loved to cook—she did gardening also in her younger years…She used to rear poultry and baked a lot of bread and cakes which she distributed to neighbours .” The staunch Presbyterian would have her minister and church members visiting the home at Fyrish and having

Holy Communion, Her sight seems to be failing “but her hearing is good.” A loving and supporting husband and family, good food, friends and always reading her Bible and reciting the Psalms and Biblical passages are what her daughter credits for her mom’s longevity. “My mom is a remarkable lady; very kind…that’s where I learned so many lessons.” May God continue to bless ‘Cousin Olga’.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 21

QC welcomes new school year with overgrown weeds… “It will be cleaned” – Works Services Group, Public Works Ministry

Trimming of the parapet on Monday Given the unwelcoming state of the Queen’s College (QC) outer yards at the beginning of the new school year, Social Activist, Mark Benschop, has taken up the task of making the entrance to the senior secondary school more inviting to its students. Benschop, who also has an interest in running for Mayor of Georgetown, informed Kaieteur News that upon arriving at the school early on Monday to drop his son off, he was greeted by overgrown weeds which were crowding the parapet and

blanketing the trench encircling the compound. He added that when he pointed out the distasteful appearance of the school’s surrounding areas to one of its senior representatives, especially with regard to the overgrown weeds, he was met with a response that “there is nothing much they (the school) can do about it.” Benschop concluded then that “if the school cannot do it; and the Mayor and City Council is not doing it then it is incumbent on parents to get the work done.” At around 09:00 hours on

Kevin Charles of Lot 96 Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, appeared before the court yesterday charged with assaulting four police officers and behaving disorderly. Charles, a machine operator at BK International allegedly assaulted police constables Jermaine Brown, Tellon Wilson, Joel Benjamin and Deochand Sukdeo, who were on duty on August 23, last. He also reportedly behaved disorderly while at the Brickdam Police Station. Charles pleaded not guilty before Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine - Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

According to Police Prosecutor Bharrat Mangru, on the day of the incident, the defendant was identified for a search by the police ranks but refused. Charles allegedly shouted that “he did not want to get lock up” and he physically retaliated attracting the attention of others. He was arrested and taken to the Brickdam Police Station where he continued to behave disorderly; hence he was charged and placed before the court. The Chief Magistrate sent Charles on his own recognizance and ordered him to keep the peace pending the outcome of the matter.

Machine operator allegedly assaults cops, granted self bail

Cadet Officer on bail for theft A 24-year-old Cadet Officer from the Guyana Police Force was yesterday released on $100,000 bail on allegations of theft. Sherwin Kilkin, of Lot 193 Triumph Road, Ogle E a s t Bank Demerara, is accused of stealing a $500,000 gold and diamond ring, and $15,000 from to his colleague, Ganesh Puran, on August 29,

2013. The matter came up before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine Beharry, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court, Kilkin denied the charge. He was represented by Attorney- at- Law, Patrice Henry who made a successful application for bail.

Monday morning, works began with the trimming of the parapet at the Camp Street entrance and continued yesterday with the clearing of the weeds in the trench running along Camp Street. The works are expected to be completed tomorrow when the Benschop Foundation intends to replace the garbage bins in and around the compound. Benschop added that he hopes the works will send a direct message to those responsible to “get their act together and stop playing the blame game and put students first”. He spoke of other “questionable school conditions” that would impact the turnout of students at school, particularly “furniture issues”. “Children

The section of the cleared trench at the Camp Street entrance of the school. cannot go to school in that condition.” “You cannot wait until the beginning of a new school year then look to correct certain school issues,” the social activist stressed. “It is Education Month and politicians need to stop playing politics and move on with education our children.” Commenting on the issue yesterday was Mayor Hamilton Green, who noted that it is not the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) that is responsible for the maintenance of the school compound. The Mayor explained that since the roads that run alongside the school are declared public roads, the maintenance of the parapet and trench surrounding Queen’s College would fall

under the Ministry of Public Works. When contacted, Coordinator of the Ministry of Works Services Group, Geoffrey Vaughn, told Kaieteur News that one should not conclude that the area in question is not being maintained, since the Ministry concentrates a lot on those areas. He said that the trench surrounding Queen’s College was cleared recently; however, it appears under maintained due to the fast growth of the weeds. Vaughn added that projects that fall under the Ministry are not prioritized according to events such as the opening of schools. He said that the project would remain under whatever priority it falls since the works of the Ministry are

undertaken in a rotational manner. “We cannot shift another programme to deal with that. The area will be cleaned but other programmes have to move on.” The Works Coordinator noted that currently, maintenance works are being carried out in other school areas.

Page 22

SERVICES Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool. Call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Laptop & desktop repairs in Homes- Call:675-7292 Refilling of Ink $1,500Call:675-7292 TransponderTV: No Monthly Fees, No Hidden Fees, No Additional Charges: 250 Channels + 50 HD Channels- Call: 675-3201 We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Profressional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call:225-6496,6626045,223-8115 House Plans, estimates and constructionContact T.Boodhoo 625-9883/ 6759296 Providing Financing & debt write off etc & counseling. Theophilus M.F Ferguson Maraj building 185 Charlotte & King St. G/T- Call:6802198/625-4282 Pandit Chrishna Persaud Justice of the Peace, Commissioner of Oaths to Affidavits & Marriage Officer- Call:225-6344/6425165 Landscape gardening/ lawns- Call Evergreen Services 664-5947/227-8259 HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick)

Kaieteur News

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

VEHICLE FOR SALE

500 Ton Cargo Ship with Contract- call: 687-6174

LARGE QUANTITIES O F H IGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICKSILVER) 99.99995% PURITY $15,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754. Pure Breed Rottweiler: All breeding lines imported, adults and pups with full pedigree for sale- Call:6852584

ALYEA’S AUTO SALE: PREMIO 2002/2003, AXIO 2008. ALL PRICES ARE NEG. 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK- TEL:2317284/622-3823

House & Land situated at lot 95 La Penitence Street, Albouystown. Land 7,933 Sq.Ft- Call:687-5851/1-604589-1852 Electric Guitars, keyboards, speakers, 1 LCD 53 inch Phillips TV & antique brassCall:227-8519/616-5784 Ducklings and PigletsCall:688-7291/618-2708 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Windows, sinks, toilet bowls, table saws, grass, cutters, welders setsCall:227-8519/616-5784 Construction materials: Ply, Tee Shores. Used. CheapCall:227-1830 Mix breed puppies for sales plus one nine month femaleContact:253-3114 or 692-0126 Honda welder 270 amp with 15,000 watts generator, 1 Mig Welder & 02 Tundra- Call: 220-4495/ 611-5114 Pluck chicken- Call:676-0931/ 686-7180 Playstation2 systems + 8 games + Hacked memory card $40,000- Call:644-6012 Fluffy Dashund pups- Call: 226-9548/ 670-2653 Pure Rottweiler- Call:2206879 Used 1220 truck tyres, Kawasaki 600, GSX/R Susuki 750, 2 model ‘M’ foreign trucks used, heavy duty dryer- Call:662-6045 Pure bred American Akita puppies for sale $200,000Call:639-8924 or 227-4674

Original Games for PS3Call:625-6070

6 Weeks course starting September 16th: facial, pedicure, manicure, basic make-up. Certificate @ the end of course- Call:6188536/696-2295 Natural beauty salon & spa: Grove Market Street EBD tele:265-4138,652-5800 specialized in everything for women & children

192 Drum RZ rotor- call:6546394

Toyota Altezza, PNN, tiptronic- Call:622-0108

Video recording Spy Pen $6,500- Call:671-6177

Ford F150 Spare Parts: 2004-2010 models: Breaks Pads, spark plugs, mirrors, doors, deff etc- Call:685-2584

24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl & office assistant- Call:663-1751/6842838

Two Tundra, F150 truck, Suzuki sports car and one Chevrolet cargo van (2500cc)- Call: 227-8519/ 616-5784

Stores Supervisor: Maths & English Grade 1-3 CXC: F & H Printing Establishment 9092 John street, Campbellville Georgetown

New 2013 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabsCall:691-0234

Driver: License for motor vehicles (car, truck & forklifts) F & H Printing Establishment 90-92 John st, Campbellville Georgetown

Pitbull Pups- Call:683-6674 15-15-15 Fertilizer in damaged bags- Call:266-2711/609-4594 1 BAMBOZZIALTERNATOR self-regulated 110-220v 3KVA. 60hz. Only 100 hours. Reasonable offer acceptedTel Wendy 225- 0723/ 667- 5581 100 Watts Blitz amplifier and subwoofer- Call:622-0108 Playstation3 games, PSP games and Playstation2 games- Call:644-6012

Leyland DAF 150-45 21ft tray length. GNN seriesCall:673-9996/255-0618 (first owner)

Excellent Gold land priced to sell owner leaving country, lucrative investmentCall:682-0365/614-1669

New RX8 (red) rotary 7 speed engine: new rims, tyres, music (kickers), lambo doors- Call:627-8786

(1) One 320CL excavator excellent working condition, located in Mahaica. Owner leaving country- Call:6820365/614-1669

2008 Tacoma 4x4 automatic, excellent condition. Off road tyres with lift kit & access cab- Call: 610-5370

73" 3D Mitsubishi television in excellent condition $695,000 cash- Call:621-4000

FOR SALE/RENT American Pool Table - Call: 277-0578

FOR RENT

Live/pluck chicken-Call:6504421/220-9203

VEHICLE FOR SALE Nissan Maxima fully powered, needs some repairs $600,000- Call:621-4000

Generator 28KVA diesel silent needs parts sold as is $400,000- Call:621-4000

SONY PLAYSTATION 2&3 gamediscs. Fifa 2013, Godof-War 4 etc. Best pricesCall:609-8132/672-8569 (Max)

New ATVs: Introductory price $1,450,000 (Duty Free)Call:691-0234 2- 2007 Toyota AvensisCall:698-0674 Female driven Honda CRV 2003: Leather seats, Tv/Nav Immaculate condition $3.1M - Call:622-4107

PUBLIC ROAD BUSINESS PROPERTY, W.C.D, suitable for food/ liquor restaurant, supermarket etc. Call:609-8132/672-8569 (Max)

Cam AM style bike 200cc new unregistered $350,000 cash- Call:621-4000

One Mitsubishi Canter; late GPP series – Call:662-8743

VACANCY Vacancy exists for driver, carpenter and porter. Apply at Alabama Trading G/Town Ferry Stelling

1 Leyland DAF 60 single axle & dump- Call:216-1315/6136615

Generac Generator 15000 watts $600,000. Lister 3 cylinder with exhaust & tank $650,000- Call:621-4000

Chicken Hatchery 26,000 eggs capacity, selling complete with all racks etc$7M Neg-Call:621-4000

1 Honda CRV 4x4, excellent condition $1.7M- Call: 6397551/220-6380

Dell laptops & desktops complete computers from $55,000 Futuretech call: 2312206

One flock of black belly sheep with flock RamCall:617-6348

SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 647-1773, 660-5257

Wednesday September 04, 2013

MASSAGE The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful sophisticated masseuse pamper you: New masseuse available- Call:657-5979

Vacancy exists for Experienced Accounts Clerk. Apply at Alabama Trading G/ Town Ferry Stelling Stabroek

Tractor from Canada: 285MF $2.5M, 265MF $2M, 165MF $1.8M, 135MF $1.3M, Ford Ranger pickup $1.5MCall:682-5230/628-9596

Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call:6797139 1 two bedrooms apartment at Samantha Point, Grove $40,000- Call:613-7596 Diamond $35,000, Paradise $40,000, Kingston US$900, Kitty$65,000- Call Diana @227-2256/626-9382 Two bedrooms furnished apartment- Call:665-2548 3 Furnished apartments located in Industry, E.C.DCall:222-6001 Short term apartment available- Call:687-3017

Male sales person for Plant Shop 18yrs-25yrs, must have secondary education- call 648-1821 (between 8:00am4:00pm) One operator to work at Ice factory in Meadow Bank. Training provided- Call:6429191 1 Maid – must be good in Indian cooking & experienced in housekeeping – Call:223-5451/227-4799 Cashier, porter, sales clerks: Apply with written application @ 2J’s General Store 148-149 Regent road Bourda, G/ Town- Call: 225-2350

A.V.S Auto Sale: 2009 Ford F150 newly registered $6.6M negotiable, like brand newCall:688-9078/227-3728 Toyota Spacio PMM series: Music, rims etc. excellent condition- Call:604-0000

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

VEHICLE FOR SALE Mitsubishi 3000GT in excellent condition, CD player, 18" rims and more $1.950M cash- Call:621-4000 Trident car 250cc, new, power window, CD player $495,000 cash- Call:621-4000

Hilux Surf 4 doors, automatic, 4 wheel drive, needs minor repairs $995,000- Call:6214000

Stretch limousine for sale, seats 10 persons, fully powered, excellent condition $8M neg- Call:621-4000

Hilux Surf 2 doors, automatic, 4 wheel drive, needs minor repairs $900,000- Call:621-4000

Toyota Camry SV40, crash can be fixed. Sold with documents $400,000Call:621-4000

One L-Touring $1.1M & one G-Touring Wagon $1M. One Hire & one private. Excellent condition- Call:622-7831/6134383

2006 BMW 320i unregistered- Call:660-6799 2008 Toyota Premio- call:6154114

LAND FOR SALE Wa i a k a b r a , Linden Highway: 1,409’ x 403’ or 13.73 acres. Concrete house thereon. West of Highway- Call:619-4152 House lot E.B.D 100’x50’ $4M- Call:610-0051 House lot for sale: Friendship, Diamond EBD & drafting of house plans call:223-0733, 223-0730, 692-8513 41 Acres at Silver Hill/ Moblissa Linden Highway $18M Neg- Call:223-7181/ 627-4900 At Parfaite Hamonie Call:660-0251 100’x120’ land on E.C.D @ Bachelor’s Aventure $7.5M negotiable- Call:680-5944 One land for sale at Parfaite Harmonie price: $800,000Call:662-9785 Diamond $2M- Call:675-7292 Parfaite Harmony: $700,000, $1M, $1.2M, $1.6MCall:675-7292 HOUSE LOT 100’x50’ Tuschen, W.C.D, (near to main road) $3.1M- Call:6098132/672-8132 (no agents) (Continued on page 23)

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

AG office attracts one-man protest over unassented Bills

Mark Benschop in protest With his vested interest in the four stalled Local Government Bills, necessary for the holding of Local Government elections; Social Activist Mark Benschop yesterday mounted a oneman protest demonstration outside the offices of the Attorney General. Benschop erected one placard carrying the words “Release the Bills, Mr. AG.” Nineteen years after the last Local Government Elections were held in Guyana, the National Assembly unanimously approved a suite of legislation to pave the way for a fresh round of elections. However, it has been 27 days since the four Local Government Bills were passed, yet they have not been assented to. The House approved the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the

Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill. This was after a 12-year period of attempting to reform the process. The Constitution has provided the president with a 21 days period for his assent to a Bill. The President has to act on or before those allotted days have elapsed and has the right to withhold his assent and return it to the National Assembly. If a Bill is not assented to, it remains ineffective. Both parliamentary oppositional parties have expressed concern about the status of the Bills and have questioned the legitimacy of the hold up. Benschop yesterday called for the government to

stop the “questionable delays” to have the Bills assented to. He said that he was made to understand that the Bills “are just sitting on the AGs desk’ and that there is no interest to have them assented and eventually come in to effect. Benschop said that in his view, this move by the government is a clear and classic display of its arrogance and disrespect to the Guyanese people. The activist said that he finds it hard to understand, why after having the Bills passed through parliament, they are now held up at the AG’s chamber for correction. He pointed out that the National Assembly is the sole entity that can, by law, correct any Bill that has been passed and said that what the government is bordering on

is illegality. Benschop said that the government is sending a clear signal that it is not interested in the holding of Local Government elections. Benschop said that his simple call is for the Bills to be removed from the A G ’s d e s k , s e n t t o t h e Office of the President and “let Ramotar announce the date for Local Government elections…let’s restore democracy and power to the citizens of Guyana.” The Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman had signaled his intention to write the President on the pending pieces of legislations. He told Kaieteur News that he has to first consult with the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, and will then proceed with his endeavor. (From page 22)

VACANCY 1 Administrative Assistant: Experience with Word, Excel, QuickBooks & Typing. Send resume @ Unit#7, 162-163 Lamaha St Cummingsburg, G/T. before 13/09/2013

PROPERTY FOR SALE ‘BB’ Eccles- Concrete house 3 bedrooms upstairs, downstairs 2 self contained apartments, 2 bedrooms each toilet & bath $28M- Call:2278409/660-4764 Property for sale in Enterprise E. C. Demerara - Call: 6275416/611-7437 Furnished building in the interior, fully equipped along with six rooms- Call:604-6999 West Ruimveldt $5M, Eccles $6M-$60M, Diamond $35M, Section ‘K’ $40M- Call Diana @227-2256/626-9382 VERSAILLES: Furnished 5 bedrooms, self-contained rooms, modern facilities, generator, beautiful landscape, gated community- Call:592-6248704/ 592-684-9203 One two storey concrete building & land 48 x 500ft @ La Jalousie public road, W.C.D- Call:269-0778 serious inquires 1 Large 5 bedrooms house with Business @ DiamondCall:627-3902

2 Receptionists, 1 Salesgirl & 1 Cashier. 4 CXC subjects required for cashier: Apply with application @ 27 Norton & Creen streetsCall:225-5501 PROPERTY FOR SALE Republic Park 2 storey 4 bedrooms, including masterCall:609-6516

CAR RENTAL A i d a n ’s C a r R e n t a l & Pickup- Call: 645-7981/ 698-7807 Premio, vitz call: 679-7139

LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 644-5166, 622-2872, 615-0964

EDUCATIONAL Electronic CoursePractical, 12 persons per c l a s s . R e g i s t e r early. Beginning 4th September @ Abdul Electronics - Call: 226-6551 or 225-0391

WANTED Live in domestic & waitress, living accommodation free, salary $50,000 monthlyCall:610-5043 Dish washer, apply to Shanta’s 225 Camp and New market street Georgetown CONTRACT CARS @ CITY TAXI SERVICE CALL: 660-1100 Widowed/divorced live in domestic, labourer, car/van driver- Call:610-2978 Boys to work in kitchen, puri cooks, pastry makers & servers @ Hack’s Halaal Restaurant 5 Commerce Street, G/Town One attractive waitressCall:678-1481 Two men to manage wash bay ages 20-25. Must be able to work without supervision- Call:227-5169 Law Tutor wanted- Call:6840347 Cleaner- Call:225-3234 One live in maid must know to cook & clean, preferably from country side or interiorCall:666-6836 One experienced driver to work in interior to drive bus & lorry- Call:666-6836 TV technician must be able to repair projection & regular TVs. Full time/ part time @ Cummings & MiddleCall:225-5239 Male & female to work in Electronic store: Guyana Variety store & Nut Centre 38 Cummings street, Alberttown Live in attractive waitress, boarding and lodging free $50,000 monthly- Call:6105043

Lessons Classes: Phonics, Reading (A Beka System), Language & Mathematics (412 years) @ 197 Roxanne Burnham Gardens- Call: 6194355/218-2076

One live-in or live out maidcall:668-3985/264-3355/6837936

Institute of Academic Supremacy: Form 1-5 CXC adults/ lesson classes. CXC Maths, Engilsh, HSB & Business- Call:690-5008

Security Guard With Police Clearance For Night, Truck Driver And Sales Person With CarCall:231-8529

I.A.E (Camp street): Forms 15, lessons & adult CXC classes: Maths, English, Business & ScienceCall:223-0604/683-5742

Workers wanted for wash bay, male & female- Call:6694676

Wr i t i n g C X C M a t h s / English, Business subjects, Social-St/HSB, Biology. Jan/June, 2014. Forms 1-2 inclusive- Call Mr. Lee 231-2076

Skilled carpenters. Must be able to work with limited supervision- Call:602-9469/ 615-7526 One live in domestic to work in Mahicony River. Serious inquiry- Call:225-6571

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 25

Simona Broomes’s arrest suggests vindictiveness - GHRA

The recent arrest of Simona Broomes over assault and robbery allegations leveled against her by a businesswoman remanded for human trafficking, suggests that the police force is now available to perpetrate acts of vindictiveness to disrupt the course of justice. This is according to the Executive Committee of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in a press statement yesterday. Broomes is Guyana’s international Trafficking In Persons (TIP) hero. The Committee, in a statement, questioned whether the arrest is harassment reflective of an industry beyond the reach of law. Last month, a woman remanded for human trafficking, accused Broomes, President of Guyana Women Miners’ Organization (GWMO), of assaulting her and stealing a six-ounce gold chain. The assault and robbery allegedly took place in April at Puruni, where the businesswoman and her husband intercepted Broomes, members of GWMO and four TIP victims, who were rescued about one hour earlier from the businesswoman’s shop at Tiger Creek. Broomes, who was assaulted in that incident, subsequently reported the matter to Georgetown police. The businesswoman did not report the matter until months after. And, on August 26, Broomes, was detained for about four hours before being released on $10,000 station bail and was instructed to return to Eve Leary on September 6. According to the Committee, “The GHRA is very alarmed by the implications of this new incident against Ms. Broomes, particularly the extent to which it suggests that the GPF (Guyana Police Force) is now available to perpetrate acts of vindictiveness to disrupt the course of justice”. The Committee said, “The absurd defence of police actions by the Head of CID, Mr. Seelall Persaud, as reported in the Stabroek News, only serves to reinforce the perception of a Police Force deeply confused about professional standards, penetrated by the politically and financially wellconnected and adrift with respect to leadership”. On Monday, Broomes accompanied by Attorney-atLaw, Raphael Trotman, submitted a formal complaint

- Trotman does not expect client to be charged

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack. This course of action was taken at the invitation contained in the DPP’s article in the media for Broomes to submit a formal statement to her office. Apparently, the DPP was responding to a letter written by a Non-Governmental Organization calling for the DPP chamber and police to investigate the matter. The DPP had pointed out that her chamber does not investigate but she would request the file and review the matter. According to the DPP office, following the submission of the complaint by Broomes the DPP requested the file from the police. The file has not yet reached the DPP chamber since there is a process to follow. Trotman does not expect Broomes to be charged for assault and robbery. However, if Broomes were charged Trotman is prepared to defend her innocence. He said that this matter is very straightforward and shows the anger of a woman remanded for human trafficking. He added that the police did not follow correct procedures when they arrested his client. Trotman explained that reading Broomes her rights and detaining her on the prisoner’s bench was inappropriate. Such actions are done at the end of investigations and not at the beginning, he added. Trotman said one could only conclude that the motive was to intimidate Broomes. Trotman said that the police should be thankful to Broomes and members of GWMO for their efforts to protect women and children and should offer protection in light of the risks involved, particularly in Guyana’s hinterland where security is limited. GHRA made reference to several criminal activities and

malpractices that occur in mining districts, where GWMO is working to expand opportunities for women and rescuing persons from the sex trade. The Committee said, “Accustomed to ‘fixing’ everyone in authority, operators in the industry would have taken for granted that the court cases brought mainly against shopkeepers for trafficking would have been quietly forgotten.” The body said that the recent sentencing of two interior shopkeepers each to five years for human trafficking seems to have disturbed the marabunta nest and spurred the action against Broomes. In August, a husband and wife, who trafficked four teenage girls in Oko Backdam, Region Seven, were found guilty. Broomes was instrumental in rescuing the teenagers in April 2012. According to the Committee, “This particular incident provides a glimpse of the impunity and lawlessness that permeate the mining industry from top to bottom. Mining circles are rife with stories of bribes demanded and paid to secure licences, permits, exemptions, circumventing laws, regulations and routine requirements of any description.” The jaw-dropping size of the sums allegedly changing hands at the upper-reaches only underlines the extent of the hopelessness of the task facing the rank-and-file police and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) enforcement officers.” According to the GPF in a press release yesterday, “The incident is alleged to have occurred on April 21, 2013, at Puruni. However the victim of the alleged assault, Ms. Ann Marie Carter, had been evading the police since then until her arrest in August, 2013, because of her involvement in the trafficking in person matter.” Apparently, upon being arrested Carter alleged that she was brutally assaulted by Broomes and other persons in her company. Carter’s allegations were supported by a medical report and by eyewitnesses, the police said. According to the police, Broomes was subsequently interviewed by the police and

placed on bail. The investigations are continuing as the police are making efforts to contact the other persons who were with Broomes on the day in question. The police said that reports in the media including the statement made by the GHRA display a lot of reckless and unsubstantiated pronouncements being made that seek to vilify the police without knowledge of the facts. “The Guyana Police Force wishes to state that its approach in meeting its responsibilities to the people of Guyana is to take a professional stance. In such an approach, it is required to investigate all complaints

President of GWMO, Simona Broomes

Attorney-at-Law, Raphael Trotman

made by all persons”, the release said. The police stated, “In keeping with this, false allegations have also been investigated and at the conclusion, in cases where sufficient evidence was gathered, persons making the false allegations were charged

criminally for doing so”. The police said that its actions have been in keeping with professionalism and are not bent on intimidation or intended to place any blemish on Broomes’s record and her reputation, as is being peddled in some sections of the media.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Obama wins backing for Syria strike from key figures in Congress

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), (L), makes remarks to the media as U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) listens, after meeting with US President Barack Obama at the white house, on possible military action against Syria. REUTERS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama won the backing of key figures in the U.S. Congress, including Republicans, in his call for limited U.S. strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar alAssad for his suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians. Speaking after the United Nations said two million Syrians had fled a conflict that posed the greatest threat to world peace since the Vietnam war, Obama said the United States also has a broader plan to help rebels defeat Assad’s forces. In remarks that appeared to question the legality of U.S. plans to strike Syria without U.N. backing, SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said the use of force is only legal when it is in self-defence or with Security Council authorization. If U.N. inspectors confirm the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the Security Council,

which has been deadlocked on the 2-1/2-year Syrian civil war, should overcome its differences and take action, Ban said. Having startled friends and foes alike by delaying a punitive attack on Assad until Congress reconvenes and agrees, Obama met congressional leaders at the White House to urge a prompt decision and assure them it did not mean another long war like Iraq or Afghanistan. John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor both pledged their support for military action after the meeting. Votes are expected to be held in the Senate and House next week, with the Republican-led House presenting the tougher challenge for Obama. The House leadership has indicated the votes will be “conscience votes,” meaning they will not seek to influence members’ votes on party lines. All the same, it would have been a blow to Obama if he had not secured the backing of the top two

Republicans. “I believe that my colleagues should support this call for action,” Boehner told reporters. The president said strikes aimed at punishing the use of chemical weapons would hurt Assad’s forces while other U.S. action would bolster his opponents - though the White House has insisted it is not seeking “regime change.” “What we are envisioning is something limited. It is something proportional. It will degrade Assad’s capabilities,” Obama said. “At the same time we have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition.” Assad denies deploying poison gas that killed hundreds of civilians last month. The Syrian opposition, which said a forensic scientist had defected to the rebel side bringing evidence of the Assad forces’ use of sarin gas in March, has appealed to Western allies to send them weapons and use their air power to end a war that has killed more than 100,000 and made millions homeless. The presence in rebel ranks of Islamist militants, some of them close to al Qaeda, has made Western leaders wary, while at the same time the undoubted and apparently accelerating human cost of the conflict has brought pressure to intervene. Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi also voiced support for military strikes after meeting Obama, but he will still have to persuade some lawmakers, including Democrats, who have said they are concerned the president’s draft resolution could be too openended.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Bagotstown man killed execution-style A 31-year-old Eccles, East Bank Demerara resident was gunned down around 21:45 hrs yesterday, reportedly by a man who called him out of his home. Kurt David, of Seventh Street, Eccles, was shot at least eleven times at close range in the chest and back while standing near his front door. The police said that the victim was found inside his home. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Kaieteur News understands that a male relative of the slain man was at the premises at the time, but him and other relatives who rushed to the

hospital declined to comment. One relative would only say that the slain man was self-employed and the father of one. A resident told Kaieteur News that she was at home when she heard several gunshots. When people dared to emerge from their homes they saw David’s bullet-riddled body outside his house, disputing the version offered by the police about the position of the body. Police were unable to give a motive for the executionstyle killing. David’s death comes after a lull in execution-style killings this year.

…shot 11 times

Kurt David

Suriname leader says son’s arrest timed to shame him (Reuters) - Suriname’s president said yesterday the arrest of his son in Panama on charges of smuggling cocaine into the United States was timed to embarrass him as he hosted a regional summit. President Desi Bouterse’s son Dino, 40, was arraigned on Friday in a New York federal court accused of cocaine trafficking and being armed during a drug-related crime, in this case allegedly with an anti-tank rocket launcher. Also on Friday, Bouterse was welcoming Latin American leaders to Paramaribo for a summit to mark Suriname taking the temporary leadership of the UNASUR regional trade bloc. “It was perfect timing ... I almost want to say that I could have organized it myself,” the president told reporters on Monday, when asked about the arrest. “Luckily it did not achieve its goal” of disrupting the summit, Bouterse said, adding that other heads of state had offered him their sympathy and in some cases

Desi Bouterse the services of their lawyers too, should his son need them. “You have to put aside the issues that affect you personally, emotionally, and say, ‘What is the most important thing?’ The most important thing was the UNASUR meeting.” Dino Bouterse faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of either of the two charges, which relate to events between

December 2011 and August 2013. He was convicted in Suriname in 2005 for trafficking drugs, illegal weapons and stolen luxury cars, but was later given a senior role in the g o v e r n m e n t ’ s counterterrorism unit. He was also convicted in absentia in the Netherlands in 1999 for smuggling more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine to that country. The elder Bouterse is a former military dictator accused of human rights violations, including the killings of 15 political opponents in December 1982. He ruled tiny Suriname from 1980 to 1987, and reclaimed power in 2010. Since being elected in 2010, Bouterse has obtained diplomatic immunity against the charges and Interpol dropped its arrest warrant for him. “Dino has 13 children,” the president said yesterday. “Of course, I’m still a father, but I don’t interfere in his private life. He is a big, grownup man.”

Strike starts in South Africa’s gold mines JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A strike in South Africa’s gold mines began yesterday with some workers failing to go underground for the evening shift, despite an appeal by President Jacob Zuma for a solution to avert a stoppage that will hurt Africa’s largest economy. “It has officially started. There are people who have not gone underground,” Charmane Russell, a spokeswoman for gold producers grouped in the Chamber of Mines, told Reuters. She said it was too early to give details of how many workers were supporting the

strike over wages called by the country’s main mining union, NUM, or which specific mines were affected. The stoppage was called by the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents two thirds of the workers in South Africa’s gold mines, after weeks of talks between unions and companies broke down last week. Labour unrest since last year has left more than 50 people dead and put renewed pressure on Zuma ahead of elections next year. The rand last week slid to a four-year low. With stoppages in auto and building sectors already

hitting an economy suffering from slow growth and unemployment at 25 percent, strikes could cripple an industry that has produced a third of the world’s bullion but is now in rapid decline. “A strike hurts both sides. They must find a solution,” Zuma said at a briefing with reporters in Pretoria. His comments were echoed by Mining Minister Susan Shabangu, who said the government was willing to intervene to help both sides “find each other soon”. “If there is a need for government to intervene, we will engage the parties,” she told Reuters.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Brazil, Mexico ask U.S. to explain LIAT denies newspaper if NSA spied on presidents article regarding CPL BRASILIA (Reuters) Brazil assailed the United States on Monday after new allegations that Washington spied on President Dilma Rousseff, complaining that its sovereignty may have been violated and suggesting that it could call off Rousseff’s planned state visit to the White House next month. A Brazilian news program reported on Sunday that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on emails, phone calls and text messages of Rousseff and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, a disclosure that could strain Washington’s relations with Latin America’s two biggest nations. Mexico asked the United States to investigate the allegations, saying they would be a serious violation

of its sovereignty if proven true. Brazil’s government, already smarting from earlier reports that the NSA spied on the emails and phone calls of Brazilians, called in U.S. ambassador Thomas Shannon and gave the U.S. government until the end of the week to provide a written explanation of the new spying disclosures based on documents leaked by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. “I expressed to (Shannon) the Brazilian government’s indignation over the facts revealed in the documents,” Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo said at a news conference. “From our point of view, this is an inadmissible and unacceptable violation of Brazilian sovereignty,” he

said. Figueiredo declined to explicitly say whether the allegations could lead Rousseff to call off her visit to Washington, the only state visit offered by President Barack Obama this year. The trip had been intended to highlight improving U.S.Brazil ties since Rousseff took office in 2011. But, in response to a question from reporters about the visit, he said that Brazil’s response to the allegations “will depend” on the U.S. explanation. The report by Globo’s news program “Fantastico” was based on documents obtained from Snowden by journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Rio de Janeiro and was listed as a cocontributor to the report.

Colombia’s FARC talks at ‘critical’ stage, government negotiator says

Colombia’s lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle (C) walks next to security advisor Sergio Jamarillo (L) as they arrive for talks in Havana. REUTERS/Enrique DE La Osa BOGOTA (Reuters) Colombia’s peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels have reached a “critical” stage, with discussions over the next couple of months a key gauge of whether an end to five decades of war is likely or not, government negotiator Sergio Jaramillo said yesterday. The government has spent almost 10 months working through a difficult peace agenda in Cuba with representatives of the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed

Forces of Colombia. While some progress has been made, talks have been painstakingly slow and most now see the hoped-for yearend deadline as unlikely. “We are currently in a critical moment of negotiations, I think that in the next months we will know if this is going to work or not because we are beginning on essential issues,” Jaramillo, one of the six-man government negotiating team, said during an address in congress.

President Juan Manuel Santos said from the very beginning he did not want the talks to drag on indefinitely, putting a November limit on completion. He has since loosened the target date to year-end or some months later. Unused to seeing rebel leaders taking center stage and making televised political statements and demands on the government, Colombians have grown impatient over the last few months at the pace of talks.

Blackouts hit nearly half of Venezuela CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A power outage has hit nearly half of Venezuela, including much of Caracas, which normally escapes blackouts. Deputy Energy Minister Franco Silva says failures on several transmission lines are to blame.

He told state TV that nine of Venezuela’s 23 states were affected. Venezuelans have been struggling with worsening blackouts but the capital is almost always spared. Opposition politicians complain that the government hasn’t invested enough in the

electrical grid and generating plants to keep up with growing demand. Authorities say delays in several initiatives designed to boost electricity output are partly to blame. But they also have suggested that government foes have sabotaged the grid.

The Antigua-based regional airline, yesterday denied a regional newspaper that the founder of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) lost millions of dollars as a result of the operations of the airline during the competition last month. The Barbados Sunday Sun newspaper quoted businessman Ajmal Khan as describing the airline service as a “travesty” and that the cash-strapped airline had cost tournament organizers “millions of dollars” in additional expenses because of air travel woes. “It had a big impact and the travesty of what we had to deal with in the transportation of players and equipment showing up 30 minutes before the game starts. It was disgraceful,” he said. But in a statement, LIAT said it was first contacted by CPL concerning the logistics of transporting teams and crew in late July and a meeting was held on July 25 “a mere five days before the official start of the tournament”. LIAT said that during the meeting, CPL representatives indicated that they were seeking guarantees from the airline “for timely transportation of players, crew and baggage. “As this request came at the 11th hour and at a time when we were experiencing several challenges with delays and cancellations, LIAT made it clear to the CPL representatives that while it

would do its best to transport the teams and crews on time, no guarantees could be offered since many of the challenges that were being experienced were beyond the airline’s control. “LIAT’s representatives also noted that the only way to offer the guarantees that were being requested was to charter several aircraft and at the time LIAT was unable to offer these services as all aircraft were currently being utilized,” the airline said. LIAT, which flies to more than 20 destinations in the region, said CPL had also been informed that “with an event the size and magnitude of the CPL, contact should have been made with the airline several months in advance in order set the necessary mechanisms in place for the management of the event”. The airline said it made reference to the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the Caribbean with the International Cricket Council contacting airlines at an early stage and established an air transportation committee comprising LIAT and other carriers. “Separate and special arrangements were made to transport cricketers and baggage. At the end of that tournament not a single cricketer was left behind and not one bag lost. In the case of the CPL event, cricketers were booked in the same manner as members of the travelling public and contact

with LIAT was made only when there was a problem.” LIAT said that the newspaper article quoted Khan as referring to the service as a “travesty” but failed to acknowledge that “CPL chartered the services of another airline to transport players between Trinidad and Antigua. “It is that flight which arrived 30 minutes before the commencement of the match on August 12, 2013. LIAT transported cricketers for all matches held in its network and they arrived well in advance of the planned start time. LIAT had indicated to CPL beforehand its limitations in transporting bags for the players. “It is grossly unfair that neither the CPL official nor the Barbados Nation reporter has specified how “LIAT cost tournament organizers millions of dollars in additional expenses”. LIAT said it was now looking forward to the CPL becoming a permanent fixture on the West Indies cricket scene, and would be privileged to be part of a transportation solution. “However, it is naïve and unreasonable to expect the airline to take on the full responsibility, given such late notice, even under the best of circumstances.” As a part of the changes LIAT’s third ATR 72 aircraft arrived at the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua at 1:50pm Monday. (CBC)

Page 28

Kaieteur News

US law governs Amaila Hydro Project Agreement …Guyana agreed to have any arbitration in Washington DC The Agreement that was entered into between Government and Sithe Global for the development of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, “shall be construed and governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflict of laws.” This has been expressly stated in the leaked confidential project document for the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. The document further states that any arbitration to be had, resulting from any disputes between the parties involved, shall be conducted in Washington DC, in the United States of America. According to the leaked confidential project document, should a dispute arise between the parties in the agreement, they would have 30 days within which to attempt to settle in good faith. In the event that this fails, it would be determined in the US through arbitration. According to the project document, should a dispute reach to arbitration the parties will have to apply the substantive laws of New York. The agreement also says that any ruling handed down by the arbitration panel in the US, using US laws, would be binding and enforceable in any of the countries involved. The deal signed onto by Guyana also said “all arbitration awards shall be payable in US dollars…However, amounts due with respect to any local

Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram Guyanese costs shall be calculated and payable in Guyana dollars only.” The agreement says that each party shall bear the cost of the arbitration, including the remuneration of the arbitrator. In recent weeks the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project has been coming under intense scrutiny particularly over the cost, the financing structure and repayment arrangements. This past week one critic of the project, Ramon Gaskin, had opined that were it not for the insistence of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) that Government obtain parliamentary approval for two peripheral pieces of legislation relating to Amaila, no information would have been made available to the parliamentary parties.”

He said that had the information not come out, the project would have gone the route of the Marriott. Gaskin said that like the Marriott, Amaila would have been “burdening consumers and taxpayers with a flawed project costing.” The financing arrangement for the project, saw more than US$1B being committed for the development and construction of the project, leading Gaskin to call the project a “gigantic rip off.” Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, accused Guyana’s lead negotiator on the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, Winston Brassington, of being embarrassed by the revelation of the amateurism he and his team displayed in negotiations with Sithe Global. Under the arrangement to bring the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project into being, Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL), had committed to spend some US$90M in Capital Works in order to prepare itself for the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project. This money was to be in addition to the US$36M that it would have deposited in an account to service its ‘Senior Debt’ to the Amaila Project for the purchase of electricity. This would also be in addition to the US$157.2M that Government had committed to Hydro Project. This brought the total financial commitments on the part of GPL and Government to a whopping US$1,041M or just over US$1B. A month ago the government had maintained that the overall cost of the Amaila Hydro Project would be US$858M.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kwakwani/Ituni protest…

16 persons arrested during early morning raid

Despite efforts to remove the protestors yesterday, some of them continued to protest in the presence of officers. As protestors vow to continue blocking the Kwakwani/Ituni access road due to its deplorable state for the past 40 years, 16 persons have been arrested. A source from the area told Kaieteur News, yesterday, that about 4:00 am, a truck filled with police ranks arrived at the camp site which was set up at the side of the road during the protest. “I was asleep when all of a sudden I hear a woman scream. When I get up I see these police dragging people out and beating them because they refuse to go,” the man said. The source further noted that ranks who were armed with cutlasses and guns began to dismantle the camp; and throwing away food items in the process. The protestor added that food items, tents and other articles were thrown in the van with the arrested persons.

“Commander Owen Trotz telling we that if we come back out here and set up tent again he gon throw we in the van and charge we for loitering. It reach the stage where we don’t have a right to protest,” the source said. Another protestor said that the Commander Owen Trotz of the ‘E’ division last Friday held a meeting with the residents and threatened that if they didn’t remove the blockage and allow traffic to move along they were going to be put before the court. “He told us that if we didn’t stop protesting on the road that we would be sent arrest warrants and brought before the court. We want this road do properly; no more patches. It get overbearing now man,” the resident said. The residents said that during the arrests, ranks told them that trucks sent to repair the road were denied access by them and as such they were ordered to remove the protestors. The source added that when they visited the Ituni Police Station where the 16 persons were being held, they were not allowed access and were again threatened with arrest if they returned. A source close to the investigation said that Commander Trotz and some ranks went to the camp site to arrest a man who allegedly assaulted a policeman. While the officers attempted to apprehend the suspect, a number of women then attacked the policemen, including Trotz, who suffered injuries. The source however said that the road has been cleared and traffic is back to normal. Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, said that a team of regional councillors and a few members of parliament travelled to the

area on Monday and held an emergency meeting with the affected residents. He added that persons from neighbouring communities also attended the meeting. The Regional Chairman noted that since the protest began almost a week ago, a letter was written to the Government of Guyana explaining the present state of the road and residents were made aware of this at the meeting. Solomon said that on July 10 at a bilateral meeting with the government, the issue of the road was raised with the representatives but since then nothing has been done. Meanwhile, a release from the police stated that ten men and four women were arrested for being involved in the blocking of the roadway at Ituni, and with the support of machinery from the Ministry of Works the logs used to create the blockage were removed. The police further alleged that a Police Constable was assaulted during efforts to arrest another man. It was also stated that a number of persons used several coconut tree trunks to block the roadway at the Kwakwani Waterfront, but they were subsequently removed. “The Guyana Police Force has shown considerable restraint in this matter and wishes to reiterate its respect for the rights of all citizens to protest peacefully on issues of concern to them. The Force has no objection to persons conducting peaceful protests, but when protests degenerate into unlawful acts infringing on the rights of other citizens, the police will as a consequence have to take the appropriate action”.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Thousands of Islamists take to Egypt’s streets CAIRO (Reuters) Thousands of supporters of overthrown Islamist president Mohamed Mursi took to the streets in towns and cities across Egypt yesterday evening to denounce Egypt’s new military-backed rulers their second show of mass support in four days. Marking exactly two months since Egypt’s first democratically elected leader was ousted by the army after big protests, marchers turned out in cities in the Nile Delta, in Upper Egypt and on the Suez Canal, as well as the capital, Cairo. The army-led government has launched a furious crackdown on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood since toppling him on July 3, arresting its top leaders and killing hundreds of his supporters. But after a brief lull, and despite a heavy security presence, Islamist groups brought thousands onto the streets again after last Friday’s prayers. There were sporadic clashes with security forces, notably in Cairo, and at least seven people died. There were no immediate reports of violence at Tuesday’s marches, held under the slogan “The Coup is Terrorism” - a reference to the government’s portrayal of its campaign to crush the Brotherhood as a fight against Islamist terrorism. In Cairo’s Nasr City, near the presidential palace, hundreds of Brotherhood supporters waving Brotherhood flags chanted “Revolution, revolution, the revolution will continue!” and

“Down, down with military rule!”. Some carried pictures of “martyrs” killed in the government’s crackdown, while others stood chanting next to an armored vehicle, one of many deployed in the capital. Many of the Brotherhood’s leaders including Mursi have already been sent to trial accused of inciting violence, but the movement says it is committed to peaceful protest, and that the accusations are a pretext for the crackdown by a “putschist regime”. A military court sentenced pro-Mursi protesters to long jail terms on Tuesday on charges of attacking soldiers in the city of Suez, a military

statement said. The violence in Suez broke out after security forces on August 14 crushed Cairo protest camps demanding Mursi’s reinstatement. More than 600 Brotherhood supporters were killed, along with dozens of policemen, in the dawn operation, which triggered clashes across the country. The statement said one person had been sentenced to life in prison for the Suez clashes, three people to 15 years in jail, and 45 others to five years. TV channels run by the Muslim Brotherhood or sympathetic to it have already fallen victim to the government crackdown. Yesterday a Cairo court ordered the closure of the

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital yesterday, killing nearly 60 people in predominantly Shi’ite districts, police and medics said. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attacks, which appeared coordinated, but Sunni Islamist militants, including an al Qaeda affiliate, have been striking with a ferocity not seen in years. More than two years of civil war in neighboring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq, fraying an uneasy government coalition of Shi’ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish factions. Yesterday’s deadliest single blast took place in Baghdad’s northern Talbiya

neighborhood, where a car bomb in a busy street killed nine people. In the Hussainiya district on the northern outskirts of the capital, two car bombs exploded in quick succession, killing ten. “I saw a fireball and a huge cloud of smoke. We couldn’t approach immediately fearing a second bomb, but we could hear the screams of people asking for help,” said Ali Jameel, a policeman in a patrol stationed in Hussainiya. “A minute later a s e c o n d blast happened nearby. Bodies were lying on the ground and some of the wounded were crawling to distance themselves from the blaze, leaving a trail of blood behind them”. About 800 Iraqis were

killed in August, according to the United Nations, with more than a third of the deadly attacks happening in Baghdad. The bloodshed, 18 months after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, has stirred concerns about a return to the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes topped 3,000. Earlier yesterday, gunmen stormed the house of a Sunni, pro-government militia member in southern Baghdad and beheaded him, along with his wife and three children, police and medics said. Separately, four unidentified bodies were found in different places in Baghdad. All of the victims had been handcuffed, blindfolded and killed.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi protest against the military and interior ministry, as they show the “Rabaa” of “Four” gesture, of Rabaa al-Adawiya. REUTERS

Car bombs across Iraqi capital kill nearly 60 people

Egyptian news channel belonging to Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab broadcaster financed by Qatar, a supporter of the Brotherhood, along with three other stations run by or sympathetic to the Brotherhood.

Al Jazeera’s offices in Cairo have been closed since July 3, when they were raided by security forces hours after Mursi was toppled, although its channels, broadcast from Qatar, can still be seen in Egypt. Last week, Al Jazeera aired statements from two Brotherhood leaders that included a call to join protests. On Sunday, three journalists working for Al Jazeera’s main, pan-Arab channel were deported from Egypt. Separately, state-run Nile TV said 15 people had been killed in the Sinai Peninsula by rocket fire, after witnesses said army helicopters had attacked militant strongholds near Sheikh Zuweid, close to the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip. Security sources said government helicopter strikes had killed at least eight armed men and wounded 15, and had been aimed at stores of arms and explosives. Militant attacks on security forces in the lawless North Sinai region have

grown since Mursi was ousted. The army has accused Palestinians in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, a Brotherhood offshoot, of supporting the militants. Mursi’s government had made it easier for people and goods to travel between Egypt and Gaza. But Cairo’s new rulers have tightened controls once more, and have been closing smuggling tunnels that the army believes have been used to move weapons and gunmen across the border. Local residents said on Tuesday that Egyptian security forces had destroyed some 20 houses along the border, apparently suspecting them of being used to hide tunnel entrances or provide cover for other militant activity. Hamas said it feared Egypt was installing a buffer zone to isolate Gaza. An Egyptian army source confirmed the military had intensified its campaign to close tunnels but said he knew of no instructions to put a buffer zone in place.

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kirsten signs up as Delhi Daredevils coach From page 34 decision to make because of Simons’ recommendation, though he did state that he was entering a format where he did not have much experience. “It is a massive privilege and honour to be involved in franchise cricket. It is a first of its kind for me, having done two international stints,” Kirsten said at the media conference. “I am very excited and I am looking forward to the challenge. I am looking forward to adding value and hopefully bringing something to the franchise and help them perform as well as they can.” According to Kirsten his past success as an international coach did not guarantee that he could make Delhi the best IPL team overnight. He also admitted that franchise cricket was a “new space” for him.

“There is no silver bullet. It is a process that needs to unfold. I am relishing that challenge that sits in front (of me),” Kirsten said. “A whole lot of things have to work out right. We have an auction process in the IPL. It is a critical process, in terms of getting the type of players that you want that fit into strategies. “There is no guarantee to performance. All I can I offer is the best of my thinking. Delhi Daredevils, from what I have seen have had some success, and good success, too. So we need to learn from the success that they have had, as well as learn from where it has been tough, from where the team hasn’t done well.” Having not had much experience in the T20 format, Kirsten said he would rely on “lieutenants” like Simons and Sekar to help him out. “Your

working closely with, are going to be very important in that space,” Kirsten said. According to Kirsten, a coach could play a significant role in the team’s success: “From a coaching perspective, it is even more exciting because there is a lot happening very quickly. And you are making a lot of changes and shifts in a short space of time. I am looking forward to that constant movement and the coach can play a significant role.”

Gary Kirsten basic philosophy doesn’t change. My challenge will be that I haven’t had a huge amount of experience at T20 cricket and no experience in the IPL. So my lieutenants, and the people that I am

Wednesday September 04, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Things are apt to remain quite orderly for you, Aries. Even though your heart may want to soar into the clouds, you'll find that there's a stable side to the equation that's working to keep things in perspective. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): The engagements in your social calendar are likely stacking up to the point of absurdity, Taurus. Make sure you schedule some time for yourself somewhere in there. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20):Just because your heart is feeling extra generous now doesn't mean that you need to send flowers to everyone you know, Gemini. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): You may be confused by your heart, Cancer. It may be extremely frustrating when you can't keep a tight rein on your emotions. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Your mind gives you a great deal of security, Leo, which allows you to explore other worlds. You have your satellite outpost operating smoothly, and you can now take trips into the frontier knowing that you have a secure facility to fall back on. Find new ways to bring love into your life. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): This is a good time to get more serious about your art, Virgo. You were probably born with talent, but perhaps you don't treat it with as much re-

spect as someone endowed with only a fraction of your natural ability. LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Don't assume that the person you're trying to reach is getting your messages, Libra. Perhaps you've been waiting for a reply, thinking that this person has blown you off. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): You feel reprimanded because of the way you reacted to a situation that came out differently than you'd hoped. Trust that you acted in the best, calmest, and most understanding way possible. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Something unusual could put a smile on your face today, Sagittarius. Look for beauty and love in the simplest things. If you can't see it, then work on adjusting your attitude. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): It's time to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the things you want to have happen, Capricorn. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18):The warm, loving feeling that you've been happily nurturing is calling for a bit of practicality in order to make your romantic life work out the way you want it to. Remember that less is more, Aquarius. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): You might feel a bit reserved when it comes to issues of love and romance, Pisces. Other people might

Sekar stressed that Kirsten’s strength as a leader also played an equally important role his appointment. Kirsten is the Daredevils’ third overseas coach after Australian Greg Shipperd and Simons. “[He is] a good leader, good communicator, good man-manager and he has very good track record. IPL is a tournament where both Indians and overseas players play together and Gary relates to both sets of players well,” Sekar said. Kirsten, 45, had stepped

down as South Africa’s coach, stating that he needed to be with his young family. However, Sekar said Kirsten would not face a similar issue during his IPL stint, because he would need to be away for a short term annually: “Though he takes over immediately in terms of strategising the team plans, he will be in India for two months and they [Kirsten’s family] might come for a month.” (ESPN Cricinfo)

Football Associations of Israel and Palestine to sign historical... From page 32 analysed different bilateral matters including facilitating the movement of players, coaches, referees, officials and equipment in and out of and within Palestine. Several proposals were made including: - applications for entry permits, as well as for the import of sports equipment, to be sent to the Israeli authorities within a given deadline (number of days to be determined), with a copy of these applications to be sent to the Israel Football Association. - a liaison officer to be appointed in each association, the IFA and the PFA, to handle these matters,

with FIFA monitoring this process. FIFA confirmed that it will act as the intermediary body between the PFA and the IFA in any future challenges facing Palestinian football, in close cooperation with the AFC and UEFA. Furthermore, it was decided that the IFA and the PFA will meet to agree on a memorandum of understanding between both associations to facilitate the movement of persons and goods for football purposes in and out of and within Palestine. This meeting will be staged in Jordan. A first report will be presented to the FIFA Executive Committee at its next meeting (October 3-4,

2013), with the process to be completed by the end of this year. “The fact that both parties, from Israel and Palestine, agreed to participate in such a Task Force was already a sign of goodwill,” said President Blatter. “This stance was confirmed. I’m very happy that this meeting could lead to a concrete proposal aimed at enhancing the development of football in Palestine in accordance with the FIFA Statutes. Furthermore, it is my and FIFA’s hope that football will contribute to connecting people from both countries.” The establishment of the Task Force, created with the goal of improving the situation of football in Palestine, was announced by the FIFA President in early July, following the mandate he received during the 63rd FIFA Congress and his subsequent trip to the Middle East.

Red Force looking to... From page 36 grow from strength to strength. “I think it will attract more international players as well as sponsors, it will take a different structure and will also be of more benefit to the organisers and the Caribbean”. When quizzed about the fast bowling department in the West Indies Khan believes it is in good hands. “It’s good to see Fidel Edwards back, Santokie did well, Sheldon Cotterrell is talented, Ronsford Beaton was injured and did not get to take part in the LCPL, but he is one for the future, they just have to continue working hard and focus on their fitness”, he lamented. Khan also paid tribute to Nicholas Pooran, Chadwick Walton and Orlando Peters for their performances.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 31

Guyana Cup Organisers attempt to clear misconceptions Organisers of the recently held Seventh Guyana Cup Horserace event, which was successfully held on Sunday 25th August 2013 at the Port Mourant Turf Club, has set about to clear the air and make the record straight in relation to the non-participation of leading racehorse Score’s Even of the Dennis De Roop Simple Royal Stable. Score’s Even, the only A class horse in Guyana, is definitely one of the top horses in the country at the moment. However the animal did not compete in the recently held Guyana Cup activity. Controversy had erupted as to why the animal did not participate with a few letters appearing in the press with various reasons being stated including that the organisers did not want the horse to run. The organisers including

the Port Mourant Turf Club have come out emphatically to debunk such claims. When the Guyana Cup was planned and almost finalized there were no A class animals in Guyana. The highest class being Score’s Even at B1. Thus races were set for class B and lower going downwards. A number of entries including Score’s Even were received for the B and Lower event which was touted as the feature event on the day. Subsequently, Score’s Even won an event a few weeks before the Guyana Cup, thus taking it t o ‘ A’ c l a s s s t a t u s a n d immediately ruling it out of participating in the feature B class feature event at the Guyana Cup. The owner made inquiries as to the position with his horse being an ‘A’ class animal and there is no

Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara give England win over Ireland

Eion Morgan Unbeaten centuries from Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara took England to a six-wicket win over Ireland in the oneday international in Dublin. Chasing 270 to win, England slipped to 48-4 as Tim Murtagh (3-33) ran through the top order. But captain Morgan (124) combined with Bopara (101) for a world record fifth-wicket stand of 226 to see England home with seven overs remaining. Skipper William Porterfield earlier made 112 as Ireland posted 269-7. That total always seemed likely to challenge a youthful England side on a slow Malahide pitch, and so it proved as the accurate Murtagh got to work. But England rebuilt when London-born Murtagh went out of the attack, with Bopara going on to complete a

maiden ODI century and Morgan his first for three years. They accelerated towards a victory that gives England some momentum going into the five-match one-day series against Australia, which begins at Headingley on Friday. England, though, must improve before taking on an Australia side that recorded a crushing 200-run win over Scotland. Handing debuts to Michael Carberry, Gary Ballance and Boyd Rankin the pace bowler who played 37 ODIs for Ireland - England were guilty of dropped catches, sloppy ground fielding and undisciplined bowling. They were not helped by what seemed to be an imbalanced attack, with Rankin, James Tredwell and

A class event. The Guyana Horse Racing Authority got involved and discussions were held between the relevant parties including other horse owners. Other owners decided that it was too late to change the class of the race from B to A; since they had prepared their animals, structuring their training programme for a B class event. They subsequently d e c i d e d t h a t i f S c o r e ’s Even is to participate it must carry a top weight to make up for its advantage. However there were some disagreements. The Executives of the Port Mourant Turf Club (PMTC) subsequently held a meeting and decided that the horse being Guyana’s top animal must be able to run. They decided that they will make an ‘A’ class race to facilitate Score’s Even. On August 15, 2013 Mr. DeRoop paid $100,000 to enter his ‘A’ class horse -

Scores Even. On August 23, Mr. DeRoop contacted the Secretary of the PMTC, Mr. Chattergoon Ramnauth to cancel his entry and requested a refund of his entry fees. O n A u g u s t 2 4 , M r. DeRoop again made contact with Secretary Ramnauth and collected his entries. He did not give any reason for withdrawing his horse from the event. One of the stipulations for the A class race is that there must be five or more horses entered before the event could start. Contrary to what is being stated, a number of horses had entered to compete in the A class event which was more that the stipulated amount. Those entered by the August 19 event were: S c o r e ’s E v e n , P r i n c e Charming, Ellie’s Vision, Settle in Seattle, Double my Fortune, Zee Bomb, The Message, California strike, Force Entry, Swing Easy, Blame the Jockey and Who

is on the Case. Most of the horses entered in the A class race were also entered for the B class event, which is a normal feature; an animal entering more than one event. At no time did the organisers inform Dennis DeRoop that the race was cancelled. With the withdrawal of Score’s Event from the A class race and there being no A class horse running, the event was reclassified as a D class race with the same distance and winnings. The organisers regret that the connection (Owner/ Handler) of Score’s Even chose not to allow the animal to participate in the day’s event when every effort was made to facilitate its participation thus robbing turfites the opportunity to see Score’s Even in action. It is hoped that any misconception about the matter has been cleared and that in the future all can be on board and work together for the improvement of horseracing in Guyana.

Champion racehorse Score’s Even

Australia crush Scotland in Edinburgh ODI Centuries from Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh helped Australia claim an emphatic 200-run win over Scotland in their one-day international. The tourists showed little mercy to the mostly-amateur Scots as they smashed their way to 362 for three. Scotland could only muster 162 all out in reply at the Grange in Edinburgh as Matt Machan top-scored with 39. Darren Lehmann’s Australians start a five-match series with England on Friday at Headingley. Having failed to regain the Ashes with a 3-0 Test series defeat before sharing the two Twenty20 clashes that followed, the Aussies were looking f o r a m o r a l e boosting victory. And the s i d e c u r r e n t l y ranked second in the ICC’s one-day rankings were never in danger of losing as their top-order batsmen secured an easy win that Marsh suggested had still been a useful trip north. “It wasn’t easy out there,” he said. “It was a tricky wicket, they bowled well and I had to work hard. “It was definitely a worthwhile exercise - 100%. The boys got time out in the middle, the bowlers bowled well and it was a great spectacle. It’s great to come up to a lovely place like Edinburgh.” Finch had continued on from his record-breaking

Shaun Marsh

Aaron Finch

Twenty20 knock of 156 against England last week by grabbing his maiden 50-over century. The Victoria batsman struck 14 sixes in his worldrecord score against England on Thursday in Southampton and this time hit 148 from only 116 balls before being caught in the deep by Freddie Coleman off Majid Haq. He and March had put on 246 for the opening wicket an Australia record - and the latter then took up the

scoring responsibilities by pushing beyond Finch’s figure to end on 151 as Iain Wardlaw tempted him to slog into Gordon Goudie’s grasp. The same combination

accounted for Shane Watson on 37 as the Scots claimed their second wicket in as many balls, but the Australians already had 347 on the board. Michael Clarke (four) and George Bailey (10) batted out the final two overs to set up an improbable run chase. Coleman fell for a duck early before Hamish Gardiner went for a single, while Watson ran out Scotland skipper Preston Mommsen for eight. Machan and Calum MacLeod (24) helped add a touch of respectability to the score before Haq (25) eventually prodded Scotland into three figures. With little to lose, Scotland continued to let their shots go and Goudie (23) raised a couple of cheers with two huge sixes. However, Mitchell Johnson (four for 36) cleaned bowled Gordon Drummond for eight to claim his fourth wicket and end a painful day for the hosts. Scores - Australia 362-3 (50.0 overs) beat Scotland 162 all out (43.5 overs) by 200 runs

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Suarez goals lift Comunicaciones past Caledonia Paolo Suarez scored three goals and Comunicaciones defeated host Caledonia AIA, 3-0, in a CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) game on Thursday at Hasely Crawford Stadium. The victory gave the Guatemalans their first three points of the competition and sliced in half Toluca’s lead at the summit of the Group 6 table. Caledonia has never won a game in the competition after six tries. A brilliant individual effort by CCL veteran Paolo Suarez gave Comunicaciones a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. The Uruguayan, brother of Liverpool star Luis Suarez, started a run down the left wing nearly 35 yards from the goal. Dribbling past defenders with a mixture of skill and change of speed, he glided into the box and fired a right-footed shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel. It was Suarez’s first CCL goal for the Cremas after scoring five during an accomplished career with El Salvador‘s Isidro Metapan. Noel Williams had Caledonia’s first chance in the 27th minute, latching onto a ball headed near Comunicaciones’ left post. Goalkeeper Juan Paredes, though, reacted with sharp technique to block the

Paolo Suarez left-footed shot from inside the six-yard box for a corner kick. Three minutes later, the host could have equalized, but Jamal Gay’s close-range header from the left flashed just inches beyond the far post. Comunicaciones had an opportunity to punish the home side for those misses in the 36th minute, when Carlos Figueroa found in the box an unmarked Carlos Ramirez with a precise cross from the right side. The 26-year-old Uruguayan could not locate the net with a header of his own. The visitors had another chance to double their lead only three minutes into the second half. Once again, it was Suarez in the middle of the action as he dribbled into

the Caledonia box before being taken down by a combination of Kareem Joseph and Muhammad Nuru Abdullah. Jean Marquez took the ensuing penalty, striking it down the middle and straight into Samuel. The rebound came back to the midfielder and he blasted an effort off the post. Suarez, though, would make his immense presence felt again in the 61st minute. After receiving the ball in the middle, he turned and unleashed a shot from 28 yards that found the back of the net. The Uruguayan completed his hat-trick in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Samuel appeared to have injured himself in the run up to a goal kick. The ball fell short to the quick-reacting Suarez, who only had to roll it unchallenged into the back of the empty net from 18 yards, while the goalkeeper remained down on the ground. Next up for Comunicaciones, which snapped a four-game CCL away losing streak, is a rematch against Caledonia on September 25. Before then, the Trinidadians will try to avoid elimination, when they travel to Toluca for a September 18 tilt.

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Trinidad roster for OSN Cup unveiled

Kenwayne Jones

Stoke City’s Kenwyne Jones and Khlaeem Hyland of Racing Genk were among 21 players called up to Trinidad & Tobago for the OSN Cup, September 5-9, in Saudi Arabia. Head coach Stephen Hart made the announcement during a press conference at Hasely Crawford Stadium’s VIP Lounge. Even though the Soca Warriors had a successful run to the quarterfinals of July’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, the former Canada c hief is bringing in nine players who were not on the roster for that competition. “I felt it was extremely important with this squad to look at players that I didn’t get the opportunity to see or work with at the Gold Cup,” said Hart. “I tried to make selections that were based on areas in the squad I think we need to create competition for places in.”

The panel also includes five players from Trinidad’s representatives – Caledonia AIA and DIRECTV W Connection — in this season’s CONCACAF Champions League, led by 95time capped midfielder Densill Theobald. In its first game at the fournation OSN Cup on September 5, Trinidad will face the United Arab Emirates. Depending on results, the eight-time Caribbean champion will meet either New Zealand or Saudi Arabia four days later in either the final or the match for third place. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ROSTER (OSN Cup – September 59, 2013 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) GOALKEEPERS: Jan Michael Williams (Central FC), Marvin Phillip (Point Fortin Civic Centre), Glenroy Samuel (Caledonia AIA)

DEFENDERS: Sheldon Bateau (KV Mechelen/ Belgium), Justin Hoyte (Middlesbrough/England), Robert Primus (FC Aktobe, Kazakhstan), Mekeil Williams (DIRECTV W Connection), Aubrey David (Caledonia AIA), Radanfah Abu Bakr (FC Vostok/Kazakhstan), Daneil Cyrus (DIRECTV W Connection), Curtis Gonzales (Defence Force) MIDFIELDERS: Khaleem Hyland (Racing Genk/ Belgium), Kevan George (Columbus Crew), Kevin Molino (Orlando City/USA), Densill Theobald (Caledonia AIA), Marcus Joseph (Point Fortin Civic Centre), Ataullah Guerra (RoPS/Finland), Andre Boucaud (Notts County/ England) FORWARDS: Kenwyne Jones (Stoke City/England), Lester Peltier (Slovan Bratislava/Slovakia), Willis Plaza (Song Lam Nghe/ Vietnam)

Football Associations of Israel and Palestine to sign historical memorandum of understanding BCB seeks two-week extension for Cox’s Bazar facility

President Blatter with the Israel and Palestine representatives at FIDFA House The FIFA Task Force Israel-Palestine, comprising representatives from FIFA, the Israel Football Association (IFA) and the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) as well as

the respective confederations of both associations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the European Football Confederation (UEFA), held its first meeting

yesterday (Tuesday) at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, under the chairmanship of FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. The Task Force (Continued on page 30)

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has sought two extra weeks from the ICC to complete the stadium at Cox’s Bazar, one of the venues for the World Twenty20 matches next year. On Tuesday, the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the venue which has been named after her brother Sheikh Kamal. BCB President Nazmul Hassan, who accompanied the Prime Minister during the ceremony, later said that the board had written to the ICC for more time. “We are scheduled to hand over the stadium to the ICC on September 30. The way work is progressing, I think it will take another fifteen days from the deadline to finish the work,” Hassan said. “So we have

asked for some additional time from the ICC and sent a letter. I hope the work will be completed in time.” The stadium has been named the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium and Complex, but the board’s ambition to set up a sports complex alongside the stadium is still uncertain. I n J u l y, t h e c i v i l aviation and tourism minister Faruk Khan had said that the stadium would be a temporary structure and the ground which was located near the beach, would be converted into five-star hotel. But Hassan, who is also a member of parliament, said that the board was working to resolve the issue with the tourism ministry. “If we continue to

argue about the land right now, the stadium’s work will not be finished in time,” Hassan said. “It is of utmost importance that we complete the stadium first, and then go into discussion about this venue. I think we will have an amicable solution.” Since it was the prime minister who had directed the civil aviation authority back in February this year to hand over the land to the BCB, Hassan expects to stay out of the tug-of-war. “The prime minister will discuss the matter with the tourism authorities,” Hassan said. “We don’t need to be involved in this. We are just trying to complete all preparations for the Women’s World Twenty20s.” (ESPN Cricinfo)

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

King, Humphrey want Brave rally but JamRockerZ fall to favourites Puerto Rico past buried and forgotten Jamaica Observer CARACAS, Venezuela — Jamaica rattled Puerto Rico with a sterling third quarter comeback, but soft turnovers down the final stretch condemned the Englishspeaking Caribbean men to an 82-88 defeat in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship game at the Poliedro de Caracas, Monday. It was the Jamaicans’ best showing of the basketball competition, but a third successive loss — after previous defeats to Canada and Uruguay — put them on the brink of going out. Puerto Rico, Group A’s top outfit and the form team of the tournament, have won all four matches. Jamaica ended the preliminary round against Brazil yesterday. The four top teams in each of the two groups will advance to the second round, which starts on September 5 (tomorrow). Depending on Jamaica’s fortunes in the encounter and the results in other games, the Sam Vincent-coached team could still advance. The six-foot-nine inches forward Samardo Samuels, who was at the heart of an impressive Jamaica comeback in the third quarter, led the

scoring yesterday with 24 points from 9/16 shooting. His deft skill and raw power also yielded him six rebounds in 29 minutes on the court. Shooting guard Weyinmi Rose had 18 points, four rebounds and two steals, while centre Jerome Jordan returned 10 points to go with nine boards. Lightning-fast point guard Jose Barea, a former NBA winner with the Dallas Mavericks, led Puerto Rico with 24 points. Vincent, who made proactive substitutions to help haul in the Puerto Ricans after they sped off to a 48-33 lead at the half-time break, rued the late blunders, but felt his team showed plenty of improvement. He added that continued “growth” could bring them the much-needed victory over the Brazilians. “The team continues to play better and better as we get more experience in this tournament. Down towards the end we didn’t execute and it cost us the game, [but] we are still happy with our progress. “We want to carry over this growth into the Brazil game. We want to keep competing and we know that once we beat Brazil tomorrow [today] we could be right back

into this tournament,” Vincent said. Jamaica, making their novel appearance at this level, were pushed back by Puerto Rico in the early exchanges and went behind 13-25 at the end of the first quarter. The one-sided affair continued into the second period, but Samuels, Rose, Durand Scott, Dylan Ennis and Akeem Scott ran Puerto Rico ragged with intelligent basketball mixed with sheer athleticism to bring Jamaica to 62-63 at the end of the third. The JamRockerZ, who had the neutral spectators including scores of Dominican Republic supporters behind them, stayed in touch and even temporarily took the lead in the final quarter. The introduction of forward Patrick Ewing Jr — his first of the tournament due to a right shoulder sprain — in the third quarter also boosted the Jamaican effort. However, a series of missed shots and turnovers late in the game allowed the vastly more seasoned Puerto Rico team to secure the win. The semi-finalists at this Championship all qualify for the basketball World Cup next year in Spain.

VCB hearing hits snag Jamaica Observer – Montego Bay, St James — The hearing into the positive drug test returned by multiple global gold medallist Ve r o n i c a Campbell Brown continued on yesterday at a private property on Balmoral Avenue in Kingston. The hearing, which is being held away from the media and public, was expected to get under way Monday, but was adjourned after a few hours when it emerged that the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) was not prepared to proceed. Hearings into doping allegations are usually held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, but Monday’s, which has attracted international attention, was moved to the private location. However, Dr Warren Blake, president of the JAAA, said that having hearings at private locations were not unusual. Dr Blake was quoted by The Associated Press as saying he had no idea how long the hearing would take

games,” he reiterated. “I was asked to come out of retirement and it’s a new set-up now and we are trying to move forward and have a chance to qualify for the World Cup in 2014,” King added. The striker, who was on

the books of Birmingham City, is currently without a club, but said that problem will be solved soon and he is fit enough to represent Jamaica. “I am fine. I have been training pre-season, it is just that the financial situation at my club is in dire straits and they needed me to come off the wage book as one of the top earners. “But I have things lined up and it’s in my contract that I can sign by the second of September, but I have been called up so when I get back I will sign for my new club,” King revealed. Humphrey, too, has indicated that the focus is the job at hand and the future of the World Cup qualifying campaign. “We served that time... the last time we got sent home and that was put to bed last year. So I am just trying to move on from that now,” said Humphrey on his arrival in the island Monday. “At the time it was disappointing but at the end of the day, rules are rules and if they are broken that’s what happens,” he noted. In the interim, the winger who has also changed clubs moving from Scottish outfit Motherwell to Preston North End, is hoping to help his team gain promotion this season. “They are a team on the up and hopefully t h e y c a n get into the Championship this season,” Humphrey noted.

New York (AP) - From an ace on the first point to a stinging r e t u r n o n t h e last, Serena Williams was close to perfect in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. The score said it all: 6-0, 6-0. Ye s , W i l l i a m s i s looking better and better

with each match at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. With two more wins - no matter the exact scores - she’ll earn a fifth title at Flushing Meadows and 17th major championship overall. The No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Williams shut out 18th-seeded Carla Suarez

Navarro of Spain, winning 53 of 71 points and dominating pretty much every statistical category Tuesday night. The first set took all of 19 minutes. The second was slower, lasting 33 minutes, but no less lopsided. In Friday’s semifinals, Williams will play Li Na.

Jamaica striker Marlon King as he arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport Monday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Serena Williams wins US Open quarterfinal 6-0, 6-0

Veronica Campbell Brown

and promised that a release would be sent out at the end of the proceedings. The 31-year-old Campbell Brown failed a drug test at the May 4 Jamaica International Invitational, an IAAF World Challenge meet held at the National Stadium, and subsequent to that was suspended from all athletics competition.

Jamaica Observer REGGAE Boyz Marlon King and Chris Humphrey have returned from their exile eager to help Jamaica reach the 2014 World Cup after missing all of six qualifying matches. Both King, 33, and Humphrey, 25, were banned by Theodore Whitmore for alleged breaches of the team’s disciplinary code of conduct last year May. Both were roommates in Panama and were deemed to have broken curfew rules the night of a friendly game against the host. King, upon his arrival on Jamaican soil with several English-based players Monday, was clearly upset when quizzed about the incident. “What has gone on in the past is in the past and there is no point discussing what has gone on. It’s time to move forward now because negativity just takes up too much time and energy and I think we need to be positive and try and move forward,” said King. King, who was also banned for two years by the Crenston Boxhill-led JFF administration for another curfew-related incident in London, 2006, was visibly uncomfortable when asked if he was a changed person. “I don’t know what kind of question (is that) and I don’t know how you expect me to answer that. As I said, it’s all about the World Cup and the two important

Sources close to the proceedings said that expert witnesses are expected to be called soon, maybe as early as yesterday. She is being represented by a powerful team of lawyers, including former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, and high-profile American attorney Howard L Jacobs of California in the United States.

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Djokovic cruises into By Royal appointment! Queen gives US Open quarter-finals green light for FA to host first ever World number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia breezed into the US Open quarterfinals Tuesday by beating Spain’s 43rd-ranked Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in just 79 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The six-time Grand Slam champion, who won the 2011 US Open title, will next face Russian 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny, a two-time US Open semi-finalist who ousted Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in five sets, for a berth in the last four. Djokovic won the first 25 points on his serve in the match, won the final 15 games of the match and faced his only break point in the last game on the way to his 18th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final appearance. Djokovic, seeking his

Novak Djokovic fourth consecutive trip to the US Open final, said that he had never dominated anyone so completely with his serve as he did in overwhelming Granollers at the start of the match. It was the first time Granollers, who has never

reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, had played against a player ranked number one in the world. Djokovic did not mind Youzhny going the distance with Hewitt either, but made it clear he will not be overconfident because he was able to leave the court after comparatively barely breaking a sweat. Djokovic, 26, has not dropped a set on the New York hardcourts as he booked a date in the US Open last eight for the seventh year in a row. In his other Grand Slams this year, Djokovic captured his fourth career Australian Open title, lost to Britain’s Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final and fell to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in a French Open semifinal.

Azarenka defeats Ivanovic to make US Open quarters New York (AP) - Victoria Azarenka refused to complain about playing her fourthround U.S. Open match a day later than the rest of her half of the draw. She won’t wallow in misfortune, and that’s why Azarenka is still alive in the quarterfinals after dropping the first set in two straight matches. The second-seeded Belarusian rallied to beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champ, was whipping forehand winners in the first set. But then her serve deserted her, as it has before, and the 13th-seeded Serb was broken in nine of her last 11 service games. Indeed, Azarenka wasn’t much better, with nine doublefaults of her own. Unable to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third set, Azarenka finally clinched the victory on her fourth match point. On Wednesday, she’ll face unseeded Daniela Hantuchova, who played her fourth-round match Monday. The meeting between Azarenka and Ivanovic was the only one of four women’s matches that day to be postponed to Tuesday because of rain. Asked if anything could have been done differently to keep everybody on the same schedule, Azarenka wouldn’t bite. She just smiled and said, ‘’Mother Nature could have done something.’’ A few hours after Azarenka made the quarterfinals, the first woman reached the semis. Fifthseeded Li Na beat No. 24seeded Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in 2 hours, 20

Victoria Azarenka

minutes. Li, the 2011 French Open champ, was up a break three times in the second set, then led 3-0 in the tiebreaker, but couldn’t close the victory. From 2-2 in the third, though, she won four straight games to reach her first U.S. Open semifinal. Li joked that she’d lie down with a bag of chips to watch the night match that will determine her next opponent. No. 1 Serena Williams takes on 18th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro. Another Grand Slam champion couldn’t win a match that went the distance. Lleyton Hewitt, making a rousing run at age 32, was two points from victory but fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 64, 7-5 to Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round. Hewitt won the 2001 U.S. Open title but is currently 66th after a series of foot and hip injuries. The 21st-seeded Youzhny is a two-time semifinalist at Flushing Meadows. The 31-year-old Russian will face the winner of

Tuesday’s match between No. 1 Novak Djokovic and 43rd-ranked Marcel Granollers. Defending U.S. Open champ Andy Murray also plays Tuesday night, against unseeded Denis Istomin. Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open champ, insisted she’s not concerned by two straight slow starts. She also lost the first set in the third round to 26th-seeded Alize Cornet before rallying for a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2 win. She’s gotten into it with the chair umpire in two straight matches as well. On Tuesday, it was over Ivanovic being awarded a winner, instead of the two replaying the point, after a delayed out call was overturned in the first set. Azarenka looked sluggish after a late-morning start and didn’t make her first winner until the sixth game. But Ivanovic has often wilted under pressure since her lone Grand Slam title more than five years ago; she hasn’t been back to a major semifinal since.

game at Buckingham Palace as part of 150th anniversary celebrations

Buckingham Palace is to host its first ever official football match as part of the Football Association’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The Duke of Cambridge, President of the FA, helped arrange the game between two of England’s oldest amateur clubs in the gardens of the famous landmark. Civil Service FC and Polytechnic FC, both based in Chiswick, west London, are preparing to go head to head in the unique Southern Amateur League fixture at the palace on Monday, October 7. The Queen gave her permission for the match and Wembley groundsman Tony Stones will work with the royal household gardeners to create a pitch in the 40-acre garden. William will host the event and also present medals to 150 grassroots volunteers in recognition of their dedication to the sport. The match is being held in tribute to their commitment. The recipients were chosen for their outstanding contribution to football including helping to develop the women’s game, providing opportunities for disabled players and refereeing. William praised the 400,000 volunteers every year who help run local matches. The Duke said: “In our 150th

year, it is hugely important for the FA to honour the efforts of the many thousands of volunteers who week in, week out, help to provide the opportunity for millions more people to enjoy football at grassroots level. ‘Inviting 150 of these volunteers to Buckingham Palace provides a fitting way for the FA to pay tribute and give thanks.’ Greg Dyke, chairman of the FA, said: ‘These volunteers are the heartbeat of football. Without them, the game simply wouldn’t function at a grassroots level and it is only right that the FA honours their

tireless and selfless work. ‘We are delighted that, in his role as president of the FA, HRH The Duke of Cambridge has given his support to this initiative - even going as far as arranging for the first-ever game of football to be played at Buckingham Palace in honour of our grassroots heroes.’ Civil Service FC is the sole surviving club from the 11 clubs who founded the FA in the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street in London in 1863 and later drafted the 13 original laws of association football. Polytechnic FC was formed in 1875.

Gary Kirsten, the former South Africa batsman and exIndia coach, has been appointed as head coach of Delhi Daredevils from 2014. The franchise announced its association with Kirsten, who has signed a three-year contract, on Tuesday in Hyderabad, the city were Daredevils’ owners, GMR Holdings are based. TA Sekar, the Daredevils team mentor, said that Kirsten’s name was “suggested” by Eric Simons, who was named the franchise’s head coach in 2012. Simons was the bowling coach when Kirsten was India’s head coach and the pair had played a crucial role in India’s climb up the Test rankings and their 2011 World Cup win. Simons will continue to work with the team, assisting Kirsten. Kirsten played 101 Tests

in an 11-year South Africa career and then, after retirement in 2004, he moved on to coaching, working with the Titans franchise as a batting consultant. In December 2007, he was named India coach. After the team’s success in the Test arena, his threeand-a-half-year stint with India ended with the 2011 World Cup win. He then returned home and took up the South Africa job. In August 2012, South Africa beat England in England to displace them as the No. 1 ranked Test team, and later in the year they beat Australia in Australia to firmly establish themselves at the top of the rankings. He stepped down as South Africa coach at the end of July this year, saying he would like to spend more time with his family than working

year-round with an international team allowed. According to Sekar, Kirsten’s proven credentials and his familiarity with the Indian players made the decision to appoint him easier. Delhi’s poor run in IPL 2013, when they finished last in the league stage, was also an important factor when the management sat down to work out their plans for the future. “After the last IPL, we sat down to work out what we needed to do to bounce back, considering we did not have a good season in 2013. Eric himself suggested that now that Gary wasn’t South Africa coach, why don’t we consider him (for the head coach). We approached him and he finally agreed,” Sekar said. Kirsten said it was a “relatively easy” (Continued on page 30)

The Queen has allowed the FA to host a football match inside Buckingham Palace. Here is how the pitch might look in the grounds.

Kirsten signs up as Delhi Daredevils coach

Wednesday September 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Munroe trudges through Greene’s smokescreen By Edison Jefford Former Commissioner of Police, the late Henry Greene, had undoubtedly set an infallible but yet sketchy financial precedence as President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), in so much so, that pundits had committed the incumbent, Godfrey Munroe to ineptitude; this is before giving the long-standing General Secretary a chance in office. Munroe knew he was up against a smokescreen of success; one that was premised on a few great handouts, but one that lacked any real substance. In fact, when Greene died, all, but a few donors died with him, which authenticated the established financial façade. In simple terms, Munroe had to re-establish a base that had shifted under a shrewd disguise. He is only about ten months into his term as the GTTA President, but with little or no resources, Munroe is already changing the perceptions of the previously skeptical table tennis fraternity that unfairly compared him to the enigma of the late Police Commissioner. Munroe successfully hosted the Caribbean and Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) Cadet Championships in Guyana last month, and against all odds, sent full-fledged teams to the senior version in St. Lucia with immense success for the Women’s team. Below is an interview with Munroe, following the

CRTTF Senior Championships in St. Lucia at which Guyana had mixed fortunes with the Women’s team proving to be on par with the regional counterparts and the Men’s team travelling for developmental purposes. EJ: How would you rate Guyana’s performance overall at the CRTTF Senior Championships? GM: I think the Women’s performance was fantastic, awesome and great; I am truly heartened with their performance. (Guyana’s Women’s team won a silver medal, losing in the final against Trinidad and Tobago. On their way to the final, they had brushed aside, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados and table tennis powerhouse, Dominican Republic). EJ: Can you talk about the male and female performances separately? GM: The female performance was very heartening; when one considers the average age of our team with Chelsea Edghill being 15 years old, Trenace Lowe, 22 years, Natalie Cummings 24 years and Akecia Nedd 18 years old, it’s an indication of the growth, potential and scope of our team to reach higher levels. They narrowly missed out on winning it all when one evaluates the scores, you would see how close it was. Their performance more than ever emphasized that this team has the ingredients, and is on par with the power houses of regional table tennis and needs to truly be embraced and given the kind of support that they need to

- hails local women’s CRTTF success

Godfrey Munroe reach the next level. GM: On the Men’s team side, we did indicate that this team was a developmental one given that it did not represent our best players, but players who have potential; players who have been showing the inclination to succeed and players who have been playing in domestic tournaments and represent the next generation of players and require nurturing. So, the expectations have to be measured against the initially set objectives. I am a bit disappointed, since I must say, honestly that we were expecting a bit more from them; I say this in the context of Guyana’s table tennis tradition of pass Men’s teams performances where the junior players would defeat players from the OECS countries; I didn’t expect them to beat Trinidad and Tobago and Dominican Republic, but to be above and on par with the likes of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Fernando Alonso: Ferrari F1 driver to buy Spanish cycling team Former Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso has agreed to buy the Euskaltel Euskadi cycling team. The Spaniard, 32, who drives for Ferrari, announced on his website that he had “reached an initial agreement to buy the team and so avoid its demise”. The team, based in the Basque Country, was due to fold at the end of the season after losing its sponsors. Alonso said “transparency and ‘zero tolerance’ [on doping] would be the fundamental pillars” of the new team. Euskaltel Euskadi, currently competing in the Vuelta a Espana, Spain’s

Fernando Alonso Grand Tour, are one of the oldest teams in the peloton and Alonso’s statement said the new outfit would honour the contract of current riders for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

The team said in a statement that it wanted to “emphasise the respect, understanding and love Alonso has shown for the team, its professionals, its historical legacy and his hobby”. According to the Spanish newspaper El Periodico, Alonso and his backers have bought the team’s licence for £5.1m (6m euros) and plan to build the team around Samuel Sanchez, who won the men’s road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The team would be based in Alonso’s home region of Asturias. The 2005 and 2006 world champion said on Twitter: “A good day.” (BBC Sport)

EJ: Amid the Women’s team success, did you recognise any limitation? (Apart from their silver medal team performance, Trenace Lowe and Chelsea Edghill won the Doubles gold medal which placed Guyana in most major title contests). GM: I said I was heartened in view of the adversity this team had to overcome with limitations in exposure and funding as compared to our regional counterparts, which is always a bugbear to truly making the required inputs into the players; When the feat is measured against the best in the region, limited training time available to our players and the unavailability of a Coach to this engagement due to funding, I think they did well. EJ: Based on the Women’s performance, how would you assess the local base of the sport? GM: The domestic base of the sport is the heart of the sport truly. While we have been making some inroads into spreading the base, we are no way close to achieving maximum participation; there is loads of work required to get there. But it is something we will accomplish; the pool of talent is tremendous and the potential and growth for the sport is great. We have lots of work to do as outlined in my answers to your questions. EJ: Are you satisfied with your 2013 performance thus far? GM: While I am pleased, satisfied would never be the word I would use to describe the female team’s performance, since we did not

achieve the ultimate. I say pleased and heartened in the context and because of the tremendous scope this team has for the future, within the region and on the world stage. EJ: If no state dissatisfaction; if yes identify areas of satisfaction… GM: We still have to get the next generation of male players up to par. EJ: What about the Decentralisation Programme and its effects on Table Tennis development? GM: The Decentralisation programme of the GTTA is very critical and central to developing table tennis in Guyana. The Model of Mass Participation where a large nucleus of players are being nurtured and incubated with good tournament and coaching structures would ultimately lead to a higher peak and more popularity of the sport. This would improve the publicity, profitability and marketability in this ITTF outlined model, which has been highly successful over the world. For this programme, we will be placing special emphasis on Primary Schools Development as a basis to capture players at a much younger age as a means to staying competitive and surpassing or aligning it with the ITTF World Hopes Programmes. We have been making inputs in Buxton where young Aneka Philips was recently selected to the 2013 Pre-Cadet Championships team, in Diamond where we will be establishing a training programme at the Community Centre; Albouystown is another community we are targeting for development and the decentralisation programmes; Berbice has

been making its impact under the stewardship and guidance of Floyd Conway; Bartica has been active; Region Two has recently reformulated its Steering Committee and we will be engaging them. EJ: Where does the GTTA go from here? GM: The GTTA would be generally moving in the direction of growing the sport, making it accessible to more persons and developing those structures to improve its management; the National Schools and Communities Programme with an emphasis on Primary Schools. This will be taking full effect by October where we are following a model of training teachers in the schools to become supervisory level coaches, we would be having after school and weekend type training programmes in clusters of schools. Improving our National Training System to ensure that knowledge transfer takes place between our young players and senior players; improving tournament structures with more regular tournaments; improving Coaching Structures; more female participation; improving our human resource capacity and improving the Revenue Generation Capacity. With the Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport and Director of Sport, Neil Kumar’s announcement at the recently held Caribbean Pre-Cadet Championships that budgetary allocations for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence and Home for Table Tennis is being recommended in the 2014 budget, I view this as a step in the right direction.

GTTA donates Table Tennis equipment to Masjid An-Najm The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) yesterday presented one Tennis Table and a set of balls and rockets to the Masjid AnNajm of Albouystown. GTTA President Godfrey Monroe said that the association is planning to hold a structured coaching programme for the youths in the community. He stated that this venture is part of the GTTA’s schools and community development project and they are grateful to the Masjid for accommodating them. Naeem Muhammad, the Imam/Director of the Masjid thanked the association and

said their input will enhance the sport in Albouystown which has produced national players Paul David and Salim Alim. Muhammad informed that

it will give the youths an opportunity move up to a higher level and is part of the Masjid’s social objective to promote sports and education in the area.

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Wednesday September 04, 2013

West Indies likely to play two Goed Fortuin Achievers One, Smithers Tests, three ODIs in India win Payless volleyball titles A day after BCCI announced a proposal to host West Indies in November for a series that had never been mentioned in the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, it appears that West Indies will play two Tests and three one-dayers in India. A BCCI official confirmed with ESPNcricinfo that West Indies are set to play “two Tests and three ODIs starting in the first week of November”. The final decision will be made once the tour, programme and fixtures committee finalises the dates in consultation with the West Indies Cricket Board. The itinerary of the tour is expected to be announced mid-September. If West Indies are to play two Tests and three ODIs after India’s home ODI series against Australia, which concludes on November 2, it would mean India cannot reach South Africa before

November 30, for a series that was originally scheduled to begin on November 18 with a T20 against South African Invitation XI. Add to that the commencement of India’s tour to New Zealand on January 19, which was originally supposed to be the last day of the South Africa tour, which gets trimmed further. However, the official, who has been involved in negotiations with Cricket South Africa ever since BCCI objected to the itinerary eight weeks ago, reiterated that the South Africa tour was not put off. “We understand we have a commitment and we want to tour South Africa, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t safeguard our players’ and board’s interests,” he said. With the BCCI adhering to the players’ demand of having “at least a week’s break” between the South African and New Zealand tours, it appears that India’s

original South Africa tour of three Tests, seven ODIs and two Twenty20s will be pruned to two Tests, three ODIs and a solitary T20 and CSA may have no choice but to accept whatever BCCI offers. Players’ demands aside, the official also indicated that the ego problem that the BCCI representatives have had with their South African counterparts has been one of the hurdles while finalising the tour schedule. “Just because an FTP was announced many years ago doesn’t mean you should announce the tour itinerary without even consulting us,” the official said. With time running out for CSA to finalise their domestic season’s fixtures, it appears that the South Africa tour itinerary won’t be sealed till the CSA officials bow down to the pressure exerted by the most influential body in world cricket. (ESPN Cricinfo)

Leon Moore, Elton Dharry, Jermaine King prepare for month end engagements in New York Less than two months after stopping Errol Trotman in the 2nd round at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore is set to resume his career when he fights Rafael Vazquez for the vacant USA New York State super bantamweight title at the Resorts World Casino, Queens, New York, USA, Saturday September 21 next. Two other Guyanese pugilists, Elton Dharry and Jermine King, have also found favour with the promoters and are tentatively set to fight soon. However, while King’s opponent has been identified, Dharry’s is still to be named. Vazquez sports an 8(6)-10 record while Moore has lost twice after fighting 32 times. He has also won multiple titles in various parts of the world including the PABA Super/ Bantamweight title which he won from Marangin Marbun in Singapore in 2010. He was also the North American Boxing Association (NABA) Bantamweight champion, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter Continental Bantamweight champion and the local bantamweight champion among others. The Guyanese pugilist also suffered a controversial loss to Columbian, Irene Pacheco for

Members of the victorious Goed Fortuin Achievers One volleyball team display their prizes in the presence of representatives from the sponsor. Goed Fortuin Achievers One and Smithers won the male and female Payless Variety Store Volleyball titles respectively last Sunday at the National Gymnasium. Goed Fortuin Achievers One overcame Guyana Defence Force 25-19, 25-16 in the male final, while Smithers beat Rowers 30-19 in the female segment. In preliminary action,

Achievers One got the better of Achievers Two 30-16, GDF defeated Park Rangers 30-25, GDF hammered Achievers Two 30-23, Achievers One trounced Park Rangers 3019, Achievers 1 got pass GDF 30-26 and Achievers 2 triumphed over Park Rangers 30-26 in the male and Smithers beat Rowers 25-12, 25-19 in the female first round games.

The winning and runner up teams received trophies and medals, while Bunny Grimes of GDF took the best setter award, Creston Rodney of Achievers One grabbed the Most Outstanding Spiker prize, Mikey Adolph of Achievers One collected the best blocker trophy and Krysty Amy Yan of Smithers was given the Most Valuable Female Player crown.

-Warriors did not put enough runs on the tins in LCPL final

Tallawahs. “The runs were not enough playing against a side that includes Chris Gayle, we were hoping to get 150 odd runs to give our bowlers a chance”, he said. Many felt that the promotion of Sunil Narine ahead of James Franklin and Chris Barnwell in the batting order was responsible for their below par total since they allowed 62 dot balls, but Khan stated that all the players were capable and ready to play their role. “We had the best team and our players were good enough to hold their own in any given situation”, stated Khan. Nevertheless Khan was satisfied with the players’ overall performance. “It was an excellent tournament for the Warriors, the team spirit was high and the guys played well throughout but the one match we really fell in caused us the tournament that was the final”, he argued. Khan feels the LCPL allowed the younger players a chance to showcase their talent and brought back the fans to the game. He thinks the tournament will (Continued on page 30)

Red Force looking to go all the way in Champions League - Manager Khan By Zaheer Mohamed

Moore strikes a pose with Marangin Marbun who he defeated for the PABA Super/bantamweight title in Singapore WBO Inter Continental title, a decision that was widely condemned by the ruling body and resulted in the two judges being sanctioned. Prior to the Trotman bout, Moore also won by 5th round technical knockout over Ramon Emilio Cedano in the Dominican Republic but prior to those bouts had been inactive since April 2011 when he defeated Felipe Almanza on points. Meanwhile, King has recently migrated to the USA and is scheduled to resume his career against Valdrin Muriqi. Kaieteur Sport spoke

with King and he said that his opponent is still to register a win after fighting three times. He was also knocked out once. King said that he will fight on September 25, four days after Moore’s engagement. Elton Dharry was listed to fight two days ago but apparently that bout has been aborted. He is also listed to fight on the Moore/ Vazquez card but so far an opponent has not been identified while a post on Boxrec.com indicates that the bouts are subject to change and the commission’s approval.

Manager of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force Omar Khan said that they will be looking to make the Region proud when they travel to India for the Champions League Twenty20 later this month. He was speaking with Kaieteur Sport last Saturday evening at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence during the Red Force final warm-up match against the Guyana Warriors. This will be the last time Trinidad and Tobago will represent the Region as a country since the Caribbean’s next representative to the Champions League will be the victorious LCPL franchise team (Jamaica) and Khan said they want to make the people proud, “We will use this as a motivational factor to make the Caribbean people proud. This is the first time the team is coming together since the LCPL; we have a well balanced team with the likes of Sunil Narine, Samuel

Omar Khan Badree, Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath, Ravi Rampaul, Rayad Emrit, Shannon Gabriel and young Nicholas Pooran included and i am confident the guys will give a good account of themselves”, added Khan. Khan, who was also the Manager of the LCPL runnerup, the Guyana Amazon Warriors feels the Warriors were the most balanced side in the league but they did not put enough runs on the board in the final against the Jamaica