Guyana Times 12-06-2017

Kaieteur National Park becoming a ‘militarised zone’ – residents P13 Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana

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Jagdeo to meet Granger today guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 3239

Monday, June 12, 2017

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Bartica man busted with 550g of P2 ganja

Page 3

– over rejected GECOM list

High-powered weapon recovered by cops Boat on fire sinks in Cuyuni River – Guyanese Captain, Venezuelan crew escape injury Page 2

– at Land of Canaan

PPP to reP12 submit nominees of LGC – Jagdeo

... as Govt yet to make any nominations

Decline in forestry production P11

Key players want more markets opened up

The boat engulfed in flames

Capitol News cameraman arrested Page 16

– in Kaieteur National Park

Fire guts Princes Street house Page 7

– 4 homeless

12-year-old P7 girl among several injured in minibus accident

Millers P3 still owe Wakenaam rice farmers millions

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MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Bartica man busted Boat on fire sinks with 550g of ganja in Cuyuni River P

olice in F Division (Interior Locations) have arrested a Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) resident after he was found with a quantity of marijuana.

According to Police reports, the discovery was made around 07:00h on Sunday. It was reported that the ranks received information, which led them to a house located at First Street, Bartica where the suspect was at the time.

The marijuana found in the suspect’s possession

While there, they conducted a search on the premises and found the narcotics in a haversack that was in the possession of the 30-year-old suspect. He was arrested and taken to the Bartica Police Station, where the marijuana was weighed and turned out to be 554 grams. The suspect, a resident of Three Miles, Potaro Road, Bartica, was subsequently processed for court. He is expected to be arraigned today.

— Guyanese Captain, Venezuelan crew escape injury

High-powered weapon recovered by cops – at Land of Canaan

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olice in A Division (Georgetown-East Bank) recovered a high-powered weapon during a patrol along the East Bank of Demerara late Saturday night.

According to Public Relations Officer (PRO), Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan, around 23:30h, a group of Police ranks were on patrol duty when they observed two males standing at a street corner at Land of Canaan. Upon observing the ranks approaching them, the men dropped a bag and

quickly made good their escape through a nearby unlit street. The ranks were able to retrieve the bag and upon examination, they found that it contained a sub-machine gun and a magazine with nine live 9mm rounds.

The ranks subsequently combed the area, but the two suspects were nowhere to be found. The gun and ammunition have since been lodged. A ballistics test is expected to be conducted on the weapon to ascertain whether it was used in the commission of any crime.

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The boat engulfed in flames

The sub-machine gun and ammunition found

ight persons on Friday morning managed to escape from a burning, sinking vessel on the Cuyuni River in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

The 40-foot iron vessel went up in flames as a result of gas emanating from a hose that slipped out of a stove aboard the boat.

According to reports reaching Guyana Times, the boat was at the time travelling along the Cuyuni River, carrying a crew of Venezuelans. Around 06:00h on the morning

in question, the cook was about to light the stove when the hose attached to the gas cylinder accidentally slipped out.

The Guyanese Captain, 26-year-old Paul Lewis, along with the members of his crew, was forced to jump into the river, leaving behind the engulfed vessel.

The occupants of the boat then managed to swim ashore where they sought assistance. No one was injured.

An investigation has been launched.

NEWS

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, June 12 – 05:00h-06:30h and Tuesday, June 13 – 05:00h-06:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, June 12 – 05:40h-07:10h and Tuesday, June 13 – 06:15h-07:45h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY

Sunny conditions followed by thundery to heavy rain showers can be expected, while light cloudy skies can be expected in the evening. Temperatures should range between 24 degrees Celsius and 28 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East South-easterly to East North-easterly between 1.34 metres and 3.12 metres.

High Tide: 05:55h and 18:22h reaching maximum heights of 2.61 metres and 2.47 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 11:56h reaching a minimum height of 0.61 metre.

SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2017

LOTTERY NUMBERS H

05 12 13

14 15 25

18 Bonus Ball

FREE TICKET

Jagdeo to meet Granger today – over rejected GECOM list

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eader of the Opposition, former President and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo has committed to meeting with Head of State, David Granger today over the brouhaha on the nominees for Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) with a second list rejected last week.

Jagdeo noted that despite his disagreement with the President’s decision, the offer to meet must be taken at face value as an attempt at a collaborative approach to solving the imbroglio.

The Opposition Leader, at a press conference last week, was quick to also reject recent speculation published in the public domain purportedly sourced to him as positions adopted in light of the President’s refusal of his nominees.

According to Jagdeo, “I do not conduct negotiations or discussion of a critical nature in the media…Nor will I telegraph my position.”

The former President prefaced his remarks to the media by openly rejecting the interpretation of Constitution with regard to GECOM offered by President Granger.

According to Jagdeo, “I totally disagree with the President’s interpretation.”

Granger, in his rejection of the list, said all of the persons did not meet the criteria as set out in the

LUCKY 3 2 8 7 Afternoon Draw

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Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

Constitution.

Those on the second list rejected by the Head of State are retired Justice of Appeal BS Roy; retired Justice William Ramlall; Attorney and former Magistrate, Oneidge Walrond-Allicock; Attorneys Kashir Khan and Nadia Sagar and businessman Gerald Gouveia.

Granger, in his rejection letter to Jagdeo, said: “I have examined the Curriculum Vitae of the six persons in light of the criteria defined in my letter to you dated 2017-03-14 … I have found the list to be unacceptable within the meaning of the Constitution and of those criteria.”

The Opposition Leader had met with media operatives earlier in the day and said, “If he (President Granger) moves outside of the list, he will have a fight.”

Retired Judges Desiree

Bernard, Claudette Singh, and Attorneys Ralph Ramkarran, SC, Timothy Jonas and Ronald BurchSmith turned down his requests to be nominated.

Meanwhile, Jagdeo did use the occasion to speculate on what the possible outcome of today’s meeting.

Jagdeo said the President could request a brand new list; a request with which he will have to comply.

He suggested too that the President could also decide to appoint a GECOM Chairman unilaterally and reminded that this course of action would be staunchly resisted.

The PPP General Secretary indicated the Party’s “big concerns, particularly given signals from the government that they may move to unilaterally, unconstitutionally, and unlawfully, appoint a Chairman of GECOM”.

He said should the President go down this route, he would be faced with “litigation and there are other actions that I will not speak about at this point in time”.

According to the former President, the PPP/Civic will be exercising extra-parliamentary and parliamentary actions.

Jagdeo suggested too that President Granger could very well suggest a completely different course of action in resolving the imbroglio – a suggestion that would have to be taken un-

President David Granger

der advisement.

Meanwhile, on the matter of the pending court case filed by a private citizen with a view to secure an interpretation of the constitutional provision for the appointment of the GECOM Chair; the former President said he would not be awaiting the determination of that case.

Jagdeo noted there was no assurance that the matter would be determined in finality at its next hearing and, in fact, it could very well be appealed all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

He suggested that the matter was of such nature that it would be imprudent for him to await its conclusion.

GECOM has been without a chairman since February 28, 2017, when Dr Steve Surujbally stepped down after 15 years at the helm.

Millers still owe Wakenaam rice farmers millions

By Shemuel Fanfair

DAILY MILLIONS 13 14 21 23 26

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MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

armers in Wakenaam, Region Three (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara), are still unsure about their future, as they have still not received any part of the millions of dollars millers owe them for the last crop of paddy produced.

This newspaper recently reported on the Wakenaam farmers’ situation in regard to payment for last year’s paddy production, and their

edly switched off his mobile phone, refusing to take farmers’ calls. Thus farmers are unable to get an update on the status of their payments or make a decision in regard to planting rice this year.

Guyana Times has also been informed that farmers in the neighbouring island of Leguan are faced with a similar plight and remain unpaid for their paddy. In has been months since farmers in Leguan and Wakenaam had sold tonnes of paddy to several millers, but despite their

pired.

According to the Rice Factories (Amendment) Act of 2009, the manufacturer -- the miller -- is required to pay the paddy producer –the farmers -- half the amount due them within two weeks of receiving the paddy, and the remainder within 42 days of the parties signing the agreement.

Another challenge farmers face is the cost to transport materials to and from Wakenaam.

Stakeholders have highlighted the re-

pleas, their payments have not been forthcoming.

An insider has disclosed that approximately “50 per cent” of the farmers who planted for last crop were not paid by millers, who bought significant amounts of paddy.

More alarmingly, the mandatory 42 days that farmers have to wait before being paid for their paddy have ex-

duced visits to the island made by operatives attached to sub-agencies of the Agriculture Ministry, including the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and NAREI (National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute). It has been alleged that the last time a GRDB representative visited the island was

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Rice fields

reluctance to engage in production this year, considering that they are owed for their produce. On Saturday, Guyana Times received word that the position remains unchanged, despite farmers making numerous efforts up to Friday evening to contact their respective millers. One miller who owes farmers millions of dollars has report-

approximately 4 months ago. Wakenaam rice farmer Takur Persaud told Guyana Times that farmers are currently receiving between $1800 and $2000 per bag of paddy. He explained that he sold his crop to three millers (names provided) and hasn’t been paid in almost three months. Meanwhile, farmers are now able to access fertiliser and repay the GRDB at the end of each crop through a credit system that came into being following farmers’ repeated calls for assistance.

Persaud told this publication that while this represents easier access to fertilisers, many farmers have opted against preparing their lands for cultivation because of the outstanding sums they are owed. He also explained that while one miller had paid farmers $2000 per bag for a previous crop of paddy, because farmers have not been given vouchers, they are not sure what they would be paid per bag for the paddy crop for which they are owed. He also claimed that while he had sold millers some 300 bags of paddy, he, like other farmers, is unsure how much he would be paid for the paddy.

Ever since the PetroCaribe (rice for oil) deal with neighbouring Venezuela -- crafted in 2015 -- was brought to an end, rice farmers have seen reduced earnings for their paddy; and now the situation is exacerbated by a declining rice market.

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Views High-tech farming Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Resource Curse and Dutch Disease

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rom the moment ExxonMobil announced it had struck a “significant” oil find off our coast -- on May 20, four days after the 2015 election results were announced -- analysts and observers have been sounding alarm bells that we should avoid what has been called the “Dutch Disease” or “Resource Curse”. While the terms are related, the first can be seen as a subset of the second.

To be educated on the pitfalls of an oil industry and not repeat those mistakes, a delegation from Guyana, headed by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, was sent to Uganda, which was at a similar stage in overall development and also in oil, to be “mentored”.

Having witnessed, in neighbours such as Sudan, the persistent poverty in the face of extraordinary levels of oil pumped in the previous decades, Ugandans discussed the issues of “Dutch Disease” and “Resource Curse” intensively, in an effort to avoid falling victim to these situations. Their efforts should be an object lesson to us, but it is obvious that the Government is ignoring their “mentors”. The following is excerpted from a Ugandan report of 2012: “The phrase ‘natural resource curse,’ also sometimes called ‘the paradox of plenty,’ was originally coined by economists who found that countries with a rich endowment of natural resources tended, in the long term, to record slower economic growth than countries with fewer natural resources. It has since come to be used more widely and generally to describe a situation where, rather than bringing widespread benefits, the extraction of a country’s mineral, oil or gas resources causes significant harm [as Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo noted here].

For the general problems of the resource curse, commentators often recommend an equally general list of ‘governance’ remedies: greater transparency; stronger and more accountable government institutions; curbing corruption; more equitable distribution of resources and social investments; making sure that there are tangible benefits for communities where the resource is found; etc. These, doubtless, are worthy recommendations, but they rarely come with suggestions as to the specific processes and mechanisms by which they can be achieved.

While ‘the natural resource curse’ is now used to describe a wide range of issues, ‘Dutch Disease’ remains a more specific and technical economic concept. It refers to a situation wherein growth in national income from natural resource extraction damages other sectors of a country’s economy. It is named after the experience of the Netherlands in the 1960s, when major gas finds brought a short-lived boom that created problems in other areas of the economy.

This happens because increased revenues from natural resource exports tend to increase the real value of the exporting nation’s currency. That makes the country’s other exports, such as agricultural products and manufactured goods, more expensive and therefore less competitive in world markets. Imports, meanwhile, become cheaper, and this can undermine local producers and manufacturers.

At the same time, demand also tends to rise for some service industries -- such as the construction industry -since resource booms often fuel a building boom. This tends to make those services more expensive, which can hurt poorer citizens. The economy as a whole becomes over-reliant on the natural resources that it is exporting, and this can be particularly damaging if, for any reason, there is a drop in world price for those natural resources.

The paper advises that some of the measures that can be taken are to form a “Sovereign Wealth Fund” that invests in international stocks and bonds. The Fund should not be used for budgetary support, as this Government has announced, but for strategic investments made at a measured pace into the economy so as to minimise the adverse effects mentioned above.

With our sugar industry facing challenges, one strategic decision that could be made at this time is to not shut down the four estates but to subsidise them as a holding operation until the oil funds can be injected to diversify the drained and irrigated lands into crops demanded by the burgeoning Chinese and Indian middle classes.

LED lights glow from a cluster of 10 hydroponic climate controlled farms housed in repurposed 320-square-foot metal shipping containers where entrepreneur farmers enrolled in the “Square Roots” farming programme are growing and selling a variety of organic greens in the parking lot of a former Pfizer factory in the Brooklyn Borough of New York City, on May 23, 2017 (Reuters/Mike Segar)

2 years later…

PTA stresses over closure of Christianburg Primary School

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pproximately two years later, the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) of the Christianburg Primary School in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) continues to make calls for the school to be rebuilt following its closure in March 2015.

The School, which was one of the first to be built in Linden, had begun to sink and structurally deteriorate, rendering it dangerous for the growing number of pupils to continue to be housed there.

Following its closure, students were housed at the St Aidan’s Primary at Blueberry Hill, Linden. The move has reportedly had some negative effects on the students and teachers, as outlined by members of the PTA, who stressed that the school was too far way, contributing to high transportation and extra meal costs, coupled with overcrowding among other negative issues. The members of the PTA during a meeting with Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland on Thursday continued to voice their concerns over the failure of the authorities to have the school rebuilt.

“When I spoke to REDO (Regional

The abandoned school

stroyed and we are not complaining to anybody, because the first thing is we don’t belong there,” an executive member of the PTA stressed.

Clearly frustrated, a resident lashed out at both past and present administrations over the issue.

“I believe that the previous and the present Government is totally disrespectful…If you have respect for the people of Linden, education is priority in any generation…is the people we put in charge of

Concerned parents at the PTA meeting

Education Officer) they said that it’s in the 2016 budget; when I spoke to them again, they said it’s in the 2017 budget.

Now you hearing that it’s not in the 2017 budget. We are being pushed around and tossed around…If we want the school, we have to get up and get…We are not comfortable. The children are being abused; our teachers are being abused; our teaching aids are being torn down and de-

us responsible for this and if they respect us, they’re going to respect that we’re supposed to get education. Education supposed to be priority and we gotta get the school,” he noted.

The PTA is presently weighing options in an effort to have the school rebuilt and, during the meeting, discussed doing so via self-help. Councillor and constituency representative Keeran Williams urged parents to get the mes-

sage out there via whatever means they could, noting that the ultimate goal was to have the school rebuilt. He also stressed the need to mobilise civil society support, and proposed a petition to have the school rebuilt which was agreed by members of the PTA. Williams said the Linden municipality has had meetings with the United States Embassy and a Canadian organisation which he believes are both interested in a project of such nature.

“This… has affected hundreds of families…hundreds of children and I believe it is something that will get the attention of all international agencies to support,” he said.

“We can start lobbying. Once we get clearance to rebuild, since we already got some assurance from the civil engineer that it’s ok to rebuild there and they also said they are ready to come and supervise … we as residents, once we get the clearance, let us start sending letters to everybody who can donate … I know we can get lots of support,” he said. Parents have also suggested rebuilding the school at the spot which housed the former Christianburg Magistrates’ Court as well as other areas, and have also expressed willingness to volunteer manual labour to support reconstruction.

Engineers who visited the abandoned school on Thursday noted that in its current state, it was a “hazard”, which could not be rebuilt with its present foundation. They noted that soil tests would have to be carried out and a proper foundation designed and the wooden school would most suitably be replaced by a concrete structure.

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

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News

Telecoms liberalisation imminent – Minister Hughes

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overnment is working feverishly to ensure the full liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Guyana, says Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes.

The Minister gave her assurance that Government was working towards a July deadline to have the country’s first Telecommunications Agency operationalised.

“We at the Ministry, we are working to create the new regulatory body…that will manage this new environment,” she stated.

Hughes said the most important step was to pass the

legislation that would allow for other parties to join the local telecommunications market and to increase competition, which would hopefully lead to lowered rates.

The Minister also disclosed that negotiations with both Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) and GTT on the matter were ongoing. “…We are working towards a July timeframe.

Even if we miss it, I am hoping that before we get into the final quarter, we would have created an environment where more players come into the market.” At least two verbal enquiries from two oth-

er companies who are seeking to set up business here have been made with the Public Telecommunications Ministry. The Minister did not disclose the names of the companies, because she said there was nothing concrete to report.

Hughes also used the opportunity to praise both GTT and Digicel, stating these companies have made huge contributions to mobile services in Guyana.

“We are very grateful that GTT and Digicel have both played an important role in the development of our telecommunications industry.

Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes

And we could not be doing what we are doing now without the groundwork they have done,” she added.

The Telecommunications Bill was first introduced in 2011.However, it was revised in 2013 before being sent to a Parliamentary Special Select Committee in the 10th Parliament, and was near conclusion when that Parliament was prorogued in 2014 by the then President, Donald Ramotar.

When the legislation was taken before the National Assembly by the Government, the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/

Civic (PPP/C) had called for the Bill to be sent to a Special Select Committee for further consideration, but Minister Hughes had argued that the Bill had been long promised and was overdue.

The sector, she emphasised, must be an open one, so that the country can progress and not lag behind its sister Caricom countries and the rest of the world. The legislation provides for the fostering of an open, competitive telecoms sector to which investors will be attracted, and in which a fair, competitive environment for sector participants is created.

Complaint of restriction on Indian wear at Customs Dear Editor, I recently passed through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and was pulled out for “hand” inspection. For some inexplicable reason, under this regime, every time I arrive in Guyana, I am harassed at immigration and/or at customs.

If the intention of the regime is for me to end my activism against racial discrimination and political persecution, it will fail. I spent my entire life championing free and fair elections and advocating for grass roots democracy in Guyana. I am accustomed to harassment, intimidation, and physical violence; these did not stop me from struggling against the dictatorship or speaking out against bad governance being practiced by the PNC and even during

the PPP Administration (although it did not directly harass me).

At CJIA, the Customs officer thoroughly went through all of my bags, and separated all of the Indian garb on one side and left the others in the luggage. She was not focused on a new pair of expensive boots, or the new sneakers, or refreshments or other items; she focused like a laser on the Indian wear. She ripped open the see-through plastic bags containing the Indian ethnic wear. These were brought to donate to the poor, as I would normally do whenever I come to Guyana.

The Customs officer said I had to pay duty on the Indian garb. She informed me that I’m allowed only three pieces of Indian wear. What?

Unheard of! How would she

determine cost to levy duty?

She said I had nine pieces; the truth is I had ten pieces with a total value of less than US$50, which I bought on a recent trip to India. Whenever I visit India, I bring back gifts for the less fortunate in Guyana.

If someone visits Guyana for an Indian cultural event, he or she can’t bring more than three ethnic wear is what the officer is saying. That is the instruction from Finance Minister Jordan and the Customs Department – not many Indian wear must be allowed in Guyana.

What next? Will there be restriction on consumption of alou, dhal, roti, channa, prasad, sirni, and other things? Do Indo-Guyanese have to go back to India? Are we going back to Burnhamism?

Have Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan and Charandass Persaud traded in the 11% Indians to go back to Burnhamism?

Does the restriction of three traditional garbs also apply to African wear? David Hinds, Kwayana, Ogunseye, Eric Phillips, Clive Thomas, etc. wear traditional African garbs. Are restrictions placed on how many pieces they can bring into Guyana? Do they support this restriction on Indian wear?

I do not know if it is now de facto government policy to restrict how much Indian clothing a person can have or

wear, but I call on Indian organisations to take note and voice their strong objection to this policy of three duty-free Indian wear.

Guyanese Customs Department and/or Government cannot impose a limit on people’s choice of ethnic clothing. Whites don’t do it in North America and Europe.

The PNC-led government must cease and desist from this policy. And the government also needs to stop giving instructions to harass political activists and having the special branch trail (and spy on) opposition figures.

Those were the hallmarks of

Burnhamism, and the evidence is very strong that we are returning to that period.

I should note, however, that not even during the height of the PNC ethnic dictatorship did Burnham put restrictions on Indian ethnic wear, although importation of Indian garb was almost impossible because he refused to authorize foreign exchange to bring in traditional Indian garments. But there were restrictions on food imports relating to the Indian cultural and religious diet.

Yours truly, Dr Vishnu Bisram

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Foundation Dad’s income, education, beliefs impact his parenting in different ways

By Traci Pedersen

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guyanatimesgy.com

n a new study, researchers examined how a father’s income and education levels, relationships at home, and views on parenting may relate to his involvement with his children. The findings, published in the Journal of Family Issues, reveal that a father’s resources, such as education and money, are tied to different ways of staying involved.

“We found a range of different characteristics influenced father involvement in unique ways, from caregiving to financial investment,” said Tamarie Macon, assistant professor of applied psychology at New York University (NYU) Steinhardt and the study’s lead author.

“For example, what predicted how often fathers read to their children was not only their level of education, but also their beliefs about gender roles in the family. The bottom line: Both structural circumstances and fathers’ personal beliefs matter.”

Participants for the study were drawn from the Early Head Start Father Involvement with Toddlers Study. A total of 478 ethnically and racially diverse low-income fathers were included.

Researchers visited dads in their homes when their children were two years old and gathered information on fathers’ demographic and personal characteristics, including age, race/ethnicity, and resources as measured by income and education levels.

Fathers reported how often they spent time with their children in 33 different activities, including play, caregiving activities like preparing meals, cognitive activities like reading stories to a child, and social activities like visiting friends and family.

With regard to their relationships, fathers were asked if they live at home, what their relationship is like with the child’s mother, and whether the couple is often in conflict.

Previous research shows that the quality of the father-mother relationship is tied to the father’s involvement with his kids, and conflict between parents can result in decreased involvement.

Finally, dads were asked about their feelings on whether men should be their family’s financial provider, the impor-

tance of investing in children to positively influence their development, and beliefs about traditional gender norms.

Analysis reveals that a father’s resources — education and money — were linked to different forms of involvement in different ways. More educated fathers spent more time with their children in caregiving and cognitive activities, but less time in social activities. Higher-income dads were more involved in taking their kids to religious services ,but less involved in “special” outings, such as the zoo or a museum.

While previous studies have shown a negative association between income and engagement, this study suggests that rather than overall father involvement decreasing with greater income, income may relate positively to some aspects of involvement and negatively to others.

“For instance, higher-income fathers may have more availability on the weekends versus the workweek and focus their involvement on weekend activities, such as attending religious services,” Macon said. “Separating education and income as two aspects of father resources, which are often combined into a single measure of socioeconomic status, revealed differential associations with father investment of time and finances.”

Not surprisingly, fathers who live with their children spent more time with them across several activities, and disagreements between fathers and mothers were negatively associated with fathers financially providing for their families.

A father’s beliefs about parenting affected his parenting behaviours. Fathers who considered their role as financial provider to be highly important reported more financial provision, whereas fathers who reported investment in their children’s development to be highly important were more involved in caregiving. Finally, dads who supported traditional gender roles participated in less caregiving and cognitive activities.

“Fathers’ views of their role related to specific aspects of their involvement beyond resources, relationships, and demographic characteristics,” said Macon. “Our results reaffirm the importance of designing parenting interventions that consider fathers’ beliefs and values, not solely their parenting knowledge and skills.” (Psychcentral.com)

Overcoming the principle of least effort – humans naturally try to get by with minimal work. Here are a few simple ways to push your students to think harder

By Todd Finley

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hallenging students to dig in and achieve their potential during instructional hours confronts a mighty obstacle: the principle of least effort, the idea that people apply nominal effort to achieve a basically acceptable result instead of pushing themselves in pursuit of greatness.

We might be tempted to conflate low effort with laziness, but that misses an important physiological point: To conserve finite attention funds, our brains are designed to avoid tasks that are cognitively demanding. Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes two modes of thinking. The efficient and fairly unconscious mode is System 1. Involuntarily reading a Wheaties box, scorning new “athleisure” clothes, and opening a combination lock are all System 1 mental events.

In contrast, System 2 mental activities are things like solving quadratic equations or summarising why the Kurdish people don’t occupy a permanent nation-state.

System 2 is attention-hungry and physically straining.

Your eyes dilate, your breath becomes shallow, your blood pressure quickens, and your muscles bunch.

We shouldn’t fault children for conserving mental energy (and even daydreaming in class enables information processing). However, when we reward Jane Doe for submitting all her classwork and ignore her minimal effort, we reinforce compliant mediocrity.

In order to rewrite the minimum standards in-class playbook, every classroom should include some System 1 work but also System 2, in the form of high-intensity in-class activities (HIICA) to encourage deep learning.

How to intensify inclass activities You needn’t invent brandnew activities to increase in-class challenges. Simply add the following elements to your regularly scheduled

assignments. The magic is in the setup.

For example, imagine a whole-class discussion of Henry James’s What Maisie Knew that begins with the question, “Who is the hero?” A studious extrovert will present her argument. If her claim sounds good, the rest of the class will nod their heads in agreement – simple concurrence aligns with the principle of least effort.

To alter this scenario in a way that fires up System 2 for the entire class, ask your students to free write an answer to the question before starting the discussion. That way, there is no way for students to escape the cognitive challenge.

7 more ways to integrate high-intensity in-class activities Writing: During in-class writing, direct students to experiment with the powerful sentence patterns of expert writers.

Randy Rambo’s collection has 16 diverse

examples, including this lilting one from essayist and science fiction author Scott Russell Sanders: “Unlike novelists and playwrights, who lurk behind the scenes while distracting our attention with the puppet show of imaginary characters, unlike scholars and journalists, who quote the opinions of others and shelter behind the hedges of neutrality, the essayist has nowhere to hide.”

Oral arguments: In addition to traditional speech expectations, ask presenters to emulate the five rhetorical tactics Elon Musk uses to make pitches magical and compelling. The point is to activate communication skills that can one day empower your graduates to transform the world.

Reading: Speed up students’ words-per-minute (WPM) reading rate. When learners paste content-related text into AccelaReader, the free online tool flashes the words at a user-identified pace.

After students determine their most comfortable reading speeds, have them increase the WPM by 25 each subsequent session?. (Excerpt from Edutopia.org) TO BE CONTINUED

NEWS

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Fire guts Princes Street house 12-year-old girl among several injured in Plaisance minibus accident

– 4 homeless

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anks of the Guyana Fire Service came in for high commendation after containing a blaze that gutted a Princes Street, Wortmanville Georgetown house mid-afternoon on Sunday, leaving its four occupants homeless.

The fire started just after 14:30h in the upper flat of the wooden and concrete house located at Lot 1515 Princes Street. Guyana Times understands that the blaze started in the back of the house, where the kitchen is located, and quickly spread through the house, destroying everything in the upstairs.

The house was occupied by sisters Onika Christine and Sandra, along with the latter’s two children, aged six and 13. They operated a hair salon in the bottom flat of the house, which belonged to their overseas-based aunt.

At the time when the fire broke out, no one was in the

The destroyed upper flat of the Princes Street house

plugged.

With the help of neighbours and public-spirited citizens, a few of their belongings in the salon downstairs were saved, while they were unable to salvage anything from the upper flat.

Meanwhile, her younger sister Onika Christine, who had left home shortly before, was distraught when she returned and saw nothing left of their living quarters. The sisters grew up in the house.

After the firemen were

A distraught Onika Christine, one of the now homeless four occupants

upper flat and Sandra was in the salon with some customers. Speaking with reporters, the traumatised woman recalled that she was chatting with some customers in the salon after doing their hair, when she heard the neighbours calling for her and shouting fire.

“I run upstairs and that’s when I see the fire… it went till in the back by the kitchen,” she related. The woman said at the time there was nothing on the stove nor did they hear any explosions that could have sparked the inferno. The only electrical appliance in the kitchen was a microwave, which was un-

able to put out the blaze, Divisional Officer of the Fire Service, Compton Sparman, told reporters at the scene that after receiving a call about the fire, two fire tenders were dispatched – one from the Central Station and the other from the West Ruimveldt Station.

“When we got here, the entire top floor of the building was engulfed in flames.

Immediately, we got into fire-fighting mode using water from our tank supply and subsequently, we used water from the canal which was very filled. And we successfully confined the fire to the top floor,” he reported.

Sparman added that be-

cause of the close proximity of the neighbouring buildings, the firemen had to adopt the defence mode of fire-fighting, to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings.

The Divisional Fire Officer pointed out that despite the two neighbouring buildings being wooden as well, they were only scorched by the flames. Nevertheless, Sparman noted that the Fire Service would continue investigations to determine the cause of the fire.

A next-door neighbour, who gave her name as Fay, indicated to reporters that her microwave, which she was using at the time, had sparked and the lights had dimmed a little shortly before they heard persons shouting fire.

The woman said that she and her husband, who, along with their daughter, occupy the lower flat of the eastern neighbouring house, were inside and after hearing the shouts, they rushed out and saw heavy smoke emanating from the upper flat of the building.

Her husband rushed back into the house and summoned the Fire Service, which arrived a few minutes later.

However, in the meantime, persons had begun soaking the two neighbouring homes to prevent the fire from spreading. The western building is a wooden apartment complex and luckily, there was no major damage to the building. In this regard, the neighbours commended the firemen for a job well done, noting that they only suffered water damage.

S

Family members of the injured at the Georgetown Public Hospital

everal persons received minor injuries on Sunday afternoon after the minibus they were travelling in crashed into a parked minibus on the Plaisance Public Road, East Coast Demerara.

Based on information received, around 15:30h, a packed route 44 minibus was travelling to Georgetown on the Plaisance Public Road.

According to Police C Division (East Coast Demerara) Commander

Calvin Brutus, the driver of the minibus reportedly “mis-averaged” and struck another minibus which was parked in front of the Plaisance Police Station.

A number of passengers, including a 12-yearold girl, were taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital and were reportedly treated for minor injuries.

At the medical facility, the relatives of 46-year-old Raymond Hendricks told Guyana Times that he was

being treated for head injuries and abrasions to his feet, while the family of the 12-year-old disclosed that she was being treated for head injuries. The young girl’s mother, who was also in the minibus at the time of the accident, reportedly fainted at the scene and was taken to the Hospital in an unconscious state.

The driver of the Route 44 minibus was taken into Police custody and his vehicle was impounded.

Investigations are ongoing.

8 news

monDAY, june 12, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Customs officers to receive training on CSME

C

Customs Officers attending the training

abinet has granted approval for a representative from the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Central Immigration Office to attend the Trainthe-Trainers Workshop for Immigration and Customs Officers, to be held by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in Barbados during the period June 13 - 14.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon made the announcement at the post-Cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday.

This workshop, which forms part of the Tenth European Development Fund/Caribbean Single

Market and Economy (CSME) Economic Integration Programme, seeks to clarify the roles and functions of border officers.

The training is also geared at ensuring that there is a common understanding of the CSME in general, and the free movement of persons (FMP) in particular, Minister Harmon explained.

In addition to further strengthening and building the capacity of these officials on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Free Movement regimes, it is expected that this intervention will enhance their ability to train their peers upon their return home. As such, the work-

shop would include a module on Customer Service and Effective Communication.

The ultimate goal of the CSME is to provide the foundation for growth and development through the creation of a single economic space for the production of competitive goods and services. The CSME has for years been touted as the most critical pillar in Caribbean regional integration. Yet, for years, the full implementation of the CSME has been stalled by several factors, including lack of knowledge of the programme, particularly by customs and immigration officers, who should be facilitating the process.

Cabinet has also grant-

ed its approval for Michael Brotherson, Head of the Diaspora Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to attend a meeting on Governance of Immigration, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland from July 18-19, 2017.

This second international dialogue on migration, organised by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), would assist participants to understand migrants’ vulnerabilities from a policy perspective, and ensure the protection of the rights and wellbeing of migrants.

According to a GINA report, Guyana will attend a meeting of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) officials on trade in services under the CARIFORUM-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement on June 22 in Kingston, Jamaica.

That meeting will consider the impact of the EU visa requirements on people and the ability of CARIFORUM’s service suppliers to enter and sustain their presence in the EU market. Sherwin Norton, Senior Foreign Service Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will attend this meeting.

Man in the Mirror…

I

…and the PM n charge of the State media, PM Nagamootoo awarded himself a column in this Sunday’s Chronic - “My Turn”. It’s a Freudian slip, since he promptly launched into an attack on his bete noir, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. One wonders whether he’ll allow Jagdeo “his turn”. Your Eyewitness doubts it, ‘cause everyone in this Government sees their stint at the wheel as “their turn” to commit all the things they described as “despicable” under the PPP. But your Eyewitness would like to offer some wise advice to the PM from an unlikely source -- Michael Jackson. But then a verse in the Book of Psalms in the Bible has this to say about God, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength”. In the “Man in the Mirror”, the lyricist (not Jackson, incidentally) says in the recurring chorus: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror/ I’m asking him to change his ways/ And no message could have been any clearer:/ If you wanna make the world a better place/ Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”

The verses each describe real-life dire situations in the world that scream for change, and maybe we can take the same examples Nagamootoo used to flay Jagdeo to show where Nagamootoo should change himself and do something, rather than just blame others. HE is in government, and is the PRIME MINISTER, no?

Nagamootoo criticises Jagdeo for saying there can be poverty in Guyana IN the midst of expected oil revenues.

If his govt destroys sugar, rice and forestry, aren’t they fulfilling Jagdeo’s prediction of a “Resource Curse”?

Nagamootoo brings up sugar, but wasn’t it he who had assured sugar workers they wouldn’t lose their jobs when Granger said the industry had to be closed down??

How can he now defend the arbitrary closure of three Estates with no alternative employment provided, or even in sight?? Has he gone to the hot and dusty streets of Wales and asked any of the men, women, or children -- who have no income now that 1700 of them have been fired? Is he not bothered? “This wind is blowin’ my mind:/ I see the kids in the street, with not enough to eat/ Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs/ A summer’s disregard, a broken bottle top/ And one man’s soul/ They follow each other on the wind ya know/ Cause they got nowhere to go/ That’s why I want you to know.”

Nagamootoo should realise, “I’ve been a victim of a selfish kinda love/ It’s time that I realize/ There are some with no home/ Not a nickel to loan/ “Could it be really me (Nagamootoo) pretending that they’re not alone?” …and forked tongue Nagamootoo boasts of being a writer, and he actually wrote a book. In “My Turn”, he confirms the book Henree’s curse was a piece of fiction. He opens thusly: “REACTING to a hurricane of negative statements being made by the Opposition, a coalition supporter advised: “Don’t worry wid dem, PM”. As I looked at her, she added: “They speaking wid forked tongue”!

Nagamootoo then goes into a long and laboured explanation of the phrase, “forked tongue”: “When a person is accused of speaking with a forked tongue, that person is said to be hypocritical, duplicitous and misleading. The statements by that person would be riddled with half-truths, falsehoods and distortions. It is hard to believe someone who speaks with a forked tongue.”

Now, let’s get real, dear readers: which person who speaks to a Prime Minister in the vernacular, “Don’t worry wid dem, PM”, segues into allusions to “forked tongue”? If that expression were that common, why the tortured (and tortuous) explanation? Clearly it’s another Freudian slip.

Nagamootoo knows HE cannot speak, but with a “forked tongue”.

…and broken dreams Poor Nagamootoo. All his angst is from not getting to be President. As Michael sang: “A willow deeply scarred, somebody’s broken heart… And a washed out dream.”

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

NEWS

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MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Consultation on Green State Development Strategy to begin soon T

he UN Environment is providing to the Government of Guyana technical support on the elaboration and development of the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).

At the inaugural Green Business Forum held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown on Friday last, Director of the Department of Environment, Ndibi Schwiers, noted that the GSDS seeks to fully maximise the “potential and promise” of Guyana be-

coming a green economy.

According to a GINA report, the 15-year strategy will guide Guyana’s economic and sociocultural development.

Adriana Zacarias, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency of UN Environment, said the next

President of GMSA, Shyam Nokta

Director of the Department of Environment, Ndibi Schwiers

Acting Executive Director of the EPA, Khemraj Parsram

step for the GSDS is another round of consultations.

Zacarias noted this is the third phase of the elaboration.

“There will be a series of

consultations in the country; not only in Georgetown, but around the country, in getting the input from the business sector,” Zacarias said.

The framework of the GSDS and financing mechanisms’ document was completed in March with financial and technical support from UN Environment.

Initial consultations in regard to the development of the framework document began last December between the Government and other key stakeholders. The GSDS does not seek to reinvent the

Some of the stakeholders at the Green Business Forum

wheel; rather, it builds on existing strategies in a more coherent manner.

Schwiers has said that the green growth pathway “will positively transform our economy” by helping to maximize our potential and develop adequate infrastructure to utilise energy resources. “It is also an advocate for green businesses…with consideration for sustainability and conservation,” Schwiers added.

“The private sector is

an important stakeholder group which is central to Guyana’s development and improving the lives of all Guyanese,” Schwiers has said.

Additionally, she said the GSDS will certify that “we can sustainably develop our economy through the protection and conservation of our biological resources” while safeguarding the country’s competitiveness on the international stage. A central theme of the Strategy is

“green and inclusive structural transformation” of the productive sector.

Schwiers explained that the strategy seeks to foster economic diversification, create jobs, and reduce poverty through the production of higher-value-added goods and services; greater resource productivity; improved environmental services;and minimisation of vulnerability to external shocks, such as climate change.

10 NEWS

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Overpaying teachers

Region 5 used as guinea pig to “control movement of people” – Opposition MP

People’s Progressive Party/Civic MP Harry Gill

Region Five REO Ovid Morrison

O

pposition Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill has claimed that the recent move by the Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) Administration to withhold the salaries of teachers was a deliberate attempt to control the movement of people in and out of Guyana, particularly those in the teaching profession.

Edghill told Guyana Times on Sunday that he strongly believed that Government was seeking to test out this new regulation using Region Five as a “guinea pig”, because there was some fear and need to control the travel of people allegedly coming from the Government.

“This would appear as something that is taking place at the level of Central Government and Region Five was being used as the experiment to test to see how this would go,” he explained.

The MP said the group of people most likely to be affected by this was teachers, because they travel for long periods during the August holidays because of the extended vacation leave they get.

“I don’t understand why there is that great need to control people,” he lamented, while explaining that hundreds of Guyanese continue to acquire United States visas for their vacation travel.

Shifting his attention to the issue of overpayment, where the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Five, Ovid Morrison claimed that this was costing the Region more than $80 million, Edghill told this publication that an overpayment could only occur when a payment is made after you were no longer legally employed.

“And if a teacher is on their vacation, they are legally employed. So, how could

Opposition MP and former Junior Finance Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill

there be an overpayment made on a salary, when you are legitimately employed,” the former Junior Finance Minister added.

Edghill also raised concerns over the statements made by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who he said seemed to be speaking on the issue, when the REO was really answerable to the Minister of Communities.

The former Minister also made reference to the Auditor General’s 2015 Report citing page 280, which highlights that in Region Five the net salary overpaid for the years 2012 to 2015 totalled $2.933 million.

However, this amount does not apply to teachers alone, but also includes amounts paid to the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Guyana National Insurance Scheme.

But after monies were recovered, the net salary and deductions outstanding totalled only $2.156 million over the same period.

“I am unaware that in Region Five there is an $80 million figure quoted in there for overpayment of salaries for teachers. Where the REO and Minister Harmon got that figure from is anybody’s guess. But it is not grounded in fact as reported by the Auditor General,” he asserted.

While the REO claimed that he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and was asked to give an explanation for the expenditure of about $80 million, in respect to the payment of teachers, Edghill, who is a member of that committee, said it was never a subject for discussions at the PAC. “For the REO to use the PAC and figure of $80 million as an excuse for his action, he is trying to find a fig leaf to cover under. It is not grounded in fact,” he stated.

Meanwhile, another PAC member, Harry Gill is questioning whether Morrison deliberately inflated the amount to justify the “draconian measures” he took against hardworking teachers.

“And did he also mislead the Government that caused the Minister of State to lie to the nation? This duplicity should not go unpunished,” Gill asserted.

In retaliation for the sudden imposition of this new policy decision, teachers and members of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) picketed outside the Regional Administration’s compound on Thursday.

The GTU has since written to the Permanent Secretary of the Communities Ministry, since the Ministry has responsibility for regional spending.

The Union said something was amiss with the decision of the REO and has expressed its preparedness to take legal action against the Region if this matter was not resolved soon.

NEWS

11

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Decline in forestry production

Key players want more markets opened up

By Samuel Sukhnandan

T

he local forestry sector has experienced some level of decline in production over the past few years, with production on track to be the lowest this year.

This is the result of many factors, including the non-renewal of Barama’s forest concessions and the repossession of BaiShanLin’s concessions.

However, local players in the industry believe that the fortunes of the sector could turn around with the opening up of new markets not only in the Far East, but in countries across Europe.

Head of the Guyana Forest Producers Association (FPA), Ricky Ramsaroop said if Guyana managed to get on to the European Union Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (EU/FLEGT) initiative, this could assist with boosting production in the local forestry sector.

Ramsaroop said it would result in Guyana having access to more lucrative markets in the EU for its timber products. It would also see improved governance at all levels, more revenues, capacity building, international recognition and reform policies and laws.

While Guyana had committed to signing the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU/FLEGT by the end of 2016, that deadline was pushed back to the end of

2017. This is the second time the timeline for signing the agreement has been pushed back.

Better marketing

However, besides this, Ramsaroop said in order for Guyana to see tangible improvements, it needed to improve its marketing in other countries and change the current procurement system.

In other words, builders should use only lumber that was recommended by the architect. This rule obtains in many developed countries, including the United States, where a designer recommends a specific lumber for construction use only.

He used the example of contracts being given to builders in Guyana who were then tasked with sourcing the lumber. This often results in them looking for the cheapest lumber to undertake the project. He used the D’Urban Park Project which cost Government millions of dollars, as an example.

“That is one of the ways of also improving equal utilisation of local lumber. Most contractors are going after greenheart which is causing low production,” Ramsaroop stressed.

Meanwhile, businessman and former Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) President Kim Kissoon told Guyana Times that while the reduced op-

Former GMSA President Kim Kissoon

erations of both Barama and BaiShanLin had indeed contributed to the decline in production, especially since they both were selling timber products to markets in the Far East, what Barama would have produced would not have necessarily translated into more sales.

“People won’t cut logs (remember it’s a perishable commodity)…they won’t unless there is already a market for it,” he said.

Kissoon claimed the overall decline did not happen overnight. In fact, he is convinced that it started in late 2014 and early 2015, but peaked in 2014 and then the sector started recording a decline. “At the same time, two of the logs that would have commanded a price in the Far East were wamara and purpleheart especially in the case of wamara, where there is an African equivalent.”

The former GMSA head said that African countries have been exploring their forests and one would expect that competition would be greater especially since Africa was closer to the Far East. “So, the transportation cost comes into effect and that would affect the price,” he explained.

In expressing total agreement with the Government’s current policy on the forestry sector, Kissoon said that work started with the previous Administration, noting

that things were headed in the right direction.

“The direction this country is moving is correct. It’s not going to happen overnight unfortunately; if we stay the path, we will get there in the end,” he added.

He said through FLEGT, Guyana would be allowed to sell not only logs but semi-finished timber products in Europe and, once accepted, the market for timber products would grow.

“The demand will grow and production will grow.

That is not going to happen overnight. That will probably take between two to three years. But once you get it up there, it will stay because tropical woods are always in demand,” he stressed.

Underutilisation

While the forestry sector has been on a decline, Kissoon told Guyana Times that the 1.2 million cubic metres that has been allotted to persons within the sector has been underutilised for many years.

As such, production in the forestry sector has

remained around 40-45 per cent – some 400,000450,000 cubic metres lumber, with 10,000 to 15,000 people directly involved in the sector.

Kissoon said based on recent discussions, he was convinced that Europe would be more interested in purchasing more of the semi-finished products and this could mean that Guyana would get better value for money, as rough sawn timber would give up to 300 per cent more than if Guyana were to sell logs.

However, he noted if Guyana was to move in that direction, we would need to take into account the fact that we would need a professionally trained workforce. In addition, there will be high demand for more state-of-the-art equipment.

Forestry production for February 2017 amounted to 21,900 cubic metres compared with 25,319 cubic metres in February 2016.

This resulted in production reaching 37,074 cubic metres, year-to-date, compared to 51,052 cubic metres in 2016.

12 NEWS

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

PPP to re-submit nominees of LGC – Jagdeo

…as Govt yet to make any nominations

T

o solve the impasse over the non-functioning Local Government Commission (LGC), the parliamentary Opposition has plans to convene a consultation with members of the coalition after the next sitting of Parliament.

This is according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, when asked about the fact that Government is yet to even submit a list of nominees. As there is no LGC in place, the Ministry of Communities exercises many of its functions in Local Authority Areas (LAA).

“The next sitting of Parliament we’re going to be convening a consultation on this issue. And once the consultation is done, then I will resubmit the nominees,” Jagdeo noted. “(Minister of Communities, Ronald) Bulkan had said we didn’t consult with all the parties in the Parliament. So, he is using that as an excuse not to appoint the Commission.”

According to Jagdeo, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) did not agree with there being a need to consult with all the parties in Parliament. Rather, he noted that this should apply to parties that are in the Opposition.

“Nevertheless, to take away the excuse from the Minister that we have to consult with all the parties in Parliament, we propose

to do so at the next sitting.

Immediately after those consultations, we’ll resubmit the nominees.”

The next sitting of Parliament is scheduled for Thursday, June 15.

Although the parliamentary Opposition named its nominees to the LGC since last year, the Government has so far failed to make any nominations. This has resulted in a deadlock.

In a recent interview, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall recalled that the coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), when trying to garner votes ahead of the General and Regional Elections, in its campaign, had advocated for the Commission to be established.

That was over two years ago and now, the establishment of the Commission was at a stalemate. Nandlall noted that the Commission was a fundamental part of the bills that APNU and the AFC, as Opposition parties in the House, had pushed through using their combined majority.

“Clearly, at the time, the APNU/AFC never thought that they would be in government,” Nandlall posited. “When they eventually got into government, they were thrashed at the Local Government Elections.

As a result, the PPP con-

“The Government obviously wants to continue to undermine the autonomy of these elected Organs by controlling them through ministerial dictate, thereby defeat-

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

trols a majority of the Local Government Organs throughout the country.”

Comparing the inordinate delay with the LGC to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) imbroglio, Nandlall suggested that the Government was simply stalling and buying itself time by not nominating the Commissioners. And he gave reasons why.

“The constituting of the Commission would result in the loss of power of Minister (of Communities, Ronald) Bulkan over these Local Government Organs,” Nandlall said. “This power would move to the Commission, which is supposed to be comprised of nominees of both the Leader of the Opposition and the Government.”

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan

ing the will and franchise of the electorate at the Local Government Elections and preventing the elected representatives from discharging their lawful and democratic mandate,” Nandlall had said.

Broken promises

Responding to challenges from the media last year, Minister Bulkan had, on several occasions, promised to have the Commission established within 2016. He even set deadlines.

One such deadline was March 2016. When asked during the latter part of that month for an explana-

tion on the further delay, the Minister had moved the deadline to the end of June.

Bulkan was quoted in sections of the media explaining that not only had Cabinet not considered candidates, but there was no accommodation for the body.

In the 2016 budget estimates, some $30 million was allocated by the Government to the non-functioning Commission. When asked, Bulkan had stated that this was to allow the Commission to operate independently of Central Government.

That was last year and in spite of these promises and protests from citizens against the delay, there was no functioning Local Government Commission.

There have been calls for Government to release the qualifications of all Regional Executive Officers, to ensure that their positions were secured through merit and not political allegiance.

This came in the wake of reports that in some Local Authority Areas, officials were being appointed without any vacancy being advertised. In addition, there have been reports that young, qualified applicants are being overlooked in favour of other, more elderly appointees with questionable qualifications.

Article 78 (a) of the Constitution of Guyana sets out that “Parliament shall establish a Local Government

Commission, the composition and rules of which empower the Commission to deal with as it deems fit, all matters related to the regulation and staffing of local government organs and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs.”

The Commission would, among other things, have control over who get appointed as officials in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and other local authorities. In addition, it would have to approve budgets for the NDCs. By law, the Commission is to be made up of eight members. These members will include four nominated by the Government, one from the unions and three nominees from the Leader of the Opposition.

Former acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba and former Local Government Ministers Norman Whittaker and Clinton Collymore were nominated as the PPP/C’s representatives on the Local Government Commission.

In addition, the Committee on Appointments had recommended that Andrew Garnett, of the Guyana Local Government Officers Union, be appointed as the union representative. This means that the Government is the only stakeholder yet to fulfil its responsibilities to nominate representatives to the Commission.

news

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monDAY, june 12, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Kaieteur National Park becoming a ‘militarised zone’ – residents

Chenapau Village Toshao Edward Mc Garrell at the Kaieteur Falls

The majestic Kaieteur Falls

R

The residents of Zone Two – Chenapau Village

The Guyana Defence Force helicopter – a regular sight at the Kaieteur National Park now that there is a heavy military presence in the area

The Kaieteur National Park Arrival Centre, which has been converted into a military base camp

Three generations paddling down the Potaro River

esidents of the Amerindian village of Chenapau in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) are calling on the relevant authorities to “demilitarise” the protected Kaieteur National Park (KNP).

The residents are alleging that the area has become militarised and they are also being prevented from going about their livelihoods.

This publication visited the area on Sunday and observed the heightened military presence. It was also noted that the Army has converted the Kaieteur National Park’s Arrival Centre into their base of operations.

Chenapau Village Toshao Edward Mc Garrell said the military presence in the area was uncalled for and as such, they were calling for them to retreat. “Kaieteur is our traditional land; it is the land of the Patamona people and they are telling us that we cannot use the trail that we have used for generations, to fish and hunt, and that is nonsense,” the Toshao said.

“We are calling on the President (David Granger) to remove these people from here, because they are harassing us. When tourists come here, they are greeted by soldiers with big AK-47s and that is not the welcome we want people to have,” he posited.

The heavy military presence in the area is due to allegations of illegal mining in the KNP. Army Chiefof-Staff, Brigadier Patrick West and a team visited the KNP on Thursday to “have a first-hand view of the extent of the illegal mining activities and the degree of environmental degradation it has caused the Kaieteur National Park.”

(More to follow in tomorrow’s edition of the Guyana Times)

Dexter Ceres Photos

Former Member of Parliament, Region Eight, Stanley Mc Garrell teaching his grandson a self-defence move

This youngster wading through “Frog Pond”

Traditional drying of cassava bread, an Amerindian staple

This youngster taking advantage of the high level of the Potaro River

14

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

Regional

Jamaican Puerto Rican vote leans heavily toward US statehood – Government Opposition calls on

A

n official count of votes for Puerto Rico's plebiscite on Sunday showed overwhelming support for US statehood, although adding another star to the US flag would likely face an uphill battle in Congress.

A government website for the status referendum, Puerto Rico's fifth since 1967, showed 97 per cent of roughly 485,000 votes counted so far in favour of becoming the 51st US state.

Votes were still being counted and the expected outcome is unlikely to change Puerto Rico's label as a US territory, a move that would require an act of the US Congress.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello campaigned for the island's 2.2 million eligible voters to select statehood as the best avenue to boost future growth for the struggling island.

The island has US$70 billion in debt, a 45-per cent poverty rate, woefully underperforming schools, and near-insolvent pension and health systems.

Puerto Rico's hazy political status, dating back to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain, has contributed to the economic crisis that pushed it last month into the biggest municipal bankruptcy in US history.

"I voted for statehood," Armando

Govt to immediately resolve pay dispute with Judiciary

O

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello (centre) and his wife Beatriz Rossello (right) greet voters [BBC News]

Abreu, a 74-year-old retiree, said after voting at the Escuela Gabriela Mistral.

"Even if it's still a long way off in the distance, it's our only hope."

Those in favour of statehood hope the new status would put the island on equal standing with the 50 US states, giving them more access to federal funds and the right to vote for the US

President.

The island's two main Opposition parties boycotted the vote, which gave Puerto Ricans three options: becoming a US state; remaining a territory; or becoming an independent nation, with or without some continuing political association with the United States.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

p p o s i t i o n Spokesperson on Justice and Governance, Senator Mark Golding, has called on the Government to “immediately to finalise the long outstanding package of pay and other benefits owing to the Judiciary”.

In a release Sunday, Golding said this was in keeping with the recommendations of a December 2015 report of an independent commission set up to review remuneration for Judges.

“The current impasse now sees the Judges, who have become frustrated to the breaking point from being ignored by the Government, publicly threatening to take the Government to court to

get what is due to them,” Golding said.

Meanwhile, the former Justice Minister said the situation was both unprecedented and constitutionally dangerous, as it was highly undesirable for the Judges to be forced to descend into a contentious public quarrel over their emoluments.

Golding said the situation has been allowed to fester for too long and the Government has failed to implement the package of emoluments recommended by the 2015 commission, falling into a situation which the Judiciary Act requirement for three-year review periods was enacted to prevent. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Mexican authorities LIAT, pilots back on track: Industrial find 112 migrants action ends with pay agreement huddled in back T of truck

M

exican authorities discovered 112 migrants, including four babies, huddled alive in the back of a truck that was travelling along a highway in the country’s south, the Attorney General’s office said on Sunday.

The truck, which officials said had ventilation and water for the passengers, was intercepted on a highway that connects the southern states of Chiapas and neighbouring Tabasco and the driver was arrested.

Every year, thousands of migrants, mostly Central Americans, escaping from poverty and violence, make their way north through Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States.

The Attorney General’s office said in a statement that 23 minors were among the immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador, found in the back of the truck.

The migrants were awaiting medical check-ups.

(Reuters)

ravel on regional airline LIAT is back to normal after management of the carrier struck a deal with pilots to end a three-day strike.

From last Wednesday to Friday, pilots represented by the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) refused to fly the company’s ATR 72 planes unless they were appropriately compensated in keeping with a pay increase agreed by the company in January for flying the larger planes.

But LIALPA President Captain Carl Burke said agreement was reached late Friday evening on the payment terms for the additional money to fly the ATR 72s, as well as retroactive pay. He said a Consent Order was signed in that regard.

The order was formalised Saturday at the Industrial Court, where LIAT had earlier filed an application for a

LIALPA President, Captain Carl Burke said agreement was reached late Friday evening

court injunction to force pilots back to work.

LIALPA had insisted that the pay rise agreed to in January had to be

honoured, as flying the ATR 72 aircraft was “increased responsibility in terms of passengers and payload”. (Excerpt from Caribbean360)

Trump expected to announce Cuba policy Friday Haiti: 11 killed, several others injured in accident U S President Donald Trump is expected to outline his new policy on Cuba next week, announcing steps that could reverse some of the changes made by former President Barack Obama to open commerce and travel after a half-century standoff with the communist island.

The Trump Administration has been discussing policy changes that include prohibiting business with the Cuban military while maintaining the full diplomatic relations restored

by Obama.

The White House has also been debating new restrictions on American leisure travel to Cuba, which has more than tripled since Obama's 2014 announcement.

Some of the changes made by former President Barack Obama in a breakthrough with Cuban President Raul Castro could be reversed

Trump is expected to announce the policy on Friday in Miami, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. The White

House said the timing of the announcement had not yet been finalised.

Obama's policy moves have led to extensive corporate investment on the island, including new, daily commer-

cial flights, licences for US hotel operators and agricultural investment by US companies.

Trump will be under pressure from lawmakers and corporate interests to continue the US engagement with Havana.

Tourism to Cuba remains illegal under US law, but has become allowable under many circumstances.

American travellers to the island must fall into one of 12 categories of justification for their travel, ranging from religious to educational activities meant to bring the traveller into contact with Cuban people. But Obama eliminated restrictions on “people to people” travel, opening the door for tens of thousands of travellers to book their own independent trips to Cuba.

(Excerpt from The Independent)

A

t least 11 people were killed and several others injured following a vehicular accident in the south of the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country on Saturday night, officials have confirmed.

The Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) said the accident occurred in Cavaillon, a department of the South, at around 21:30h (local time) and that at least 11 were killed and 15 wounded.

HaIt said those injured are being treated at the hospital in Les Cayes.

The DPC said that exact circumstances of the accident are unknown, but the Haitian National

Police (PNH), the National Ambulance Center (CAN), the DPC and the Haitian Red Cross (CRH) were at the scene.

It said rescue teams that were trying to clear the accident, also struck a wall, but gave no further details.

The Police also reported that on Saturday night, three boys aged between 12 and 14 were killed after they were struck by lightning while playing football. Four others were also wounded.

“The injured were taken care by the health centre nearby and one of them had to be transferred to the University Hospital of Mirebalais,” the authorities added. (CMC)

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

15

Around the World

Qatar willing to listen to Gulf France: Macron’s party set for big concerns, Kuwait says parliamentary win Q T atar is ready to listen to the concerns of Gulf Arab states that have cut diplomatic and economic ties, Kuwait said on Sunday, as it tried to mediate a solution to the worst regional crisis in years.

Saudi Arabia and allies Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed ties with Qatar last week, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and arch-foe Iran – charges Doha denies.

The rift has disrupted travel, separated families, severed commercial links and sown confusion among banks and businesses while deepening divisions between their respective allies fighting in wars and political struggles from Libya to Yemen. “(Kuwait) affirms the readiness of the brothers in Qatar to understand the reality of the qualms and concerns of their brothers and to heed the noble endeav-

A painting depicting Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani is seen on a bus during a demonstration in support of him in Doha, Qatar, June 11, 2017

ours to enhance security and stability,” Kuwait’s State news agency KUNA quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah as saying.

Kuwait, which has retained ties with Qatar and has often acted as a mediator in regional disputes, said

DR Congo: 11 dead and 900 escape in jail attack

E

leven people were killed and more than 900 inmates have escaped after unidentified assailants attacked a jail in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, an official said.

“The Kangwayi prison in Beni was attacked at 3:30 pm by assailants whose identity is not yet known,” Julien Paluku, Governor of North Kivu Province, told reporters on Sunday.

“In the exchange of fire between security forces and the attackers, authorities have [counted] 11 dead, including eight members of the security forces,” AFP

news agency quoted Paluku as saying.

“For the moment, out of 966 prisoners, there are only 30 left in the prison.”

The Beni area and the neighbouring town of Butembo had been put under curfew from 18:30h, according to Paluku.

“Only police officers and soldiers should be out from this time,” he said.

Located in the north of the troubled North Kivu Province, Beni has been the scene of a wave of violence since 2014 that has seen nearly 700 civilians killed, many of them hacked to death. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

it wanted to resolve the dispute “within the unified Gulf house”.

A previous mediation effort by Kuwait in which the Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah shuttled between Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha, failed to achieve an immediate break-

through.

“Is this the beginning of wisdom and reasonable thinking? I hope so,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter in reaction to Kuwait saying Qatar was ready to listen to the grievances. (Excerpt from Reuters)

he centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron looks on course to win a landslide victory following the first round of parliamentary elections.

As polls closed, projections showed La Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move) set to win more than 400 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. Macron’s party was established just over a year ago and many candidates have little or no political experience.

The second round of the vote is held next Sunday.

Forecasts by two polling organisations gave LREM well over 30 per cent of first round votes.

But turnout was low, around 49 per cent, which analysts said reflected a sense of resignation among Macron’s opponents.

François Baroin, head of the centre-right Republicans,

said it testified to the “deep divisions in French society”.

“In the first round of the presidential election, nearly one in two French people was ready to choose a radical solution,” he said.

“In the second round, 16 million voters refused to make a choice between Emmanuel Macron and the National Front by abstaining or returning a spoiled ballot. This time round the low turnout has been even more evident and that is extremely worrying.”

The BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris says everything suggests Macron has won another crushing victory with the only significant opposition coming from the Republicans. The Socialists, who were most recently in power, are facing a historic wipe-out and the far-right National Front (FN) has also underperformed, he says.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Gaddafi’s son freed in Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (pictured in 2011) was sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli in 2015

S

aif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of the late deposed Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has

been freed from jail under an amnesty law.

His father’s preferred successor, he

had been held by a militia in the town of Zintan for the past six years.

The Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion said he had been released on Friday, but he has not been seen in public.

It is feared the move could fuel further instability in Libya.

His lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, confirmed he had been released.

He declined to say which city Saif al-Islam had travelled to for security reasons. A source has told the BBC he is in the Tobruk area of eastern Libya.

The Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion said it was acting on a request from the “interim government” based in the east of the country.

However, al-Islam Gaddafi had been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Tripoli, in the west of the country, where control is in the hands of the rival, United Nations-backed Government of National Accord. (Excerpt

from Al Jazeera)

Britain, US deny that Trump In a ‘goodwill gesture’, India to release 11 Pakistani civil prisoners today State visit delayed

US President Donald Trump (left) and British Prime Minister Theresa May at the start of the NATO summit at their new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 25, 2017

B

ritish Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said on Sunday there had been no change to plans for US

President Donald Trump to come to Britain on a state visit, after the Guardian newspaper reported the trip had been postponed.

The paper, citing an unidentified adviser at May’s Downing Street office who was in the room at the time, reported Trump had told May by telephone in recent weeks that he did not want to come if there were likely to be large-scale protests.

“We aren’t going to comment on speculation about the contents of private phone conversations,” a spokeswoman for May’s office said. “The queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the UK and there is no change to those plans.”

The White House also denied the Guardian report, with an administration official telling Reuters, “The subject never came up on the call.” (Excerpt from Reuters)

D

ays after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s casual meeting with his Pakistan counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, India will today release 11 civil prisoners in what officials describe as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Pakistan had sought the release of these prisoners as they had all served their sentence. This is the first such gesture from Indian authorities since alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was served a death sentence by a Pakistan military court in April this year.

The release is significant as it also comes days after Modi’s “exchange of greetings” with Sharif in Astana on the margins of the SCO summit.

Only last week, India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart, Nawaz Sharif

had released two children, Ali Reza (11) and Babar (10), who had “accidentally” crossed the international border in Punjab along with their uncle Mohammed Shahzad who continues to

be in India’s custody.

The children were to be released in April, but Indian authorities had put it on hold after Pakistan announced the death sentence for Jadhav. (Excerpt from Times of India)

16 NEWS

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

$92.4M in upgrades for Amelia’s Capitol News cameraman arrested Ward roads – in Kaieteur National Park

A

fact-finding mission into the Joint Services Operation in the Kaieteur National Park (KNP) took a drastic turn when a cameraman from Capitol News and a Chenapau resident were arrested on Sunday.

Rudy Morris and Anthony Melville were both taken into custody at the Muri Muri Landing in Region Eight (PotaroSiparuni), and were expected to be brought to Georgetown later today.

According to ranks at the location, the men “will be prosecuted”.

Amerindian Peoples Affairs (APA) Executive Michael Mc Garrell travelled to the Potaro-Siparuni region to investigate the claim of illegal mining in the Kaieteur National Park. He took along some members of the media, including Morris.

A few weeks ago, some 21 residents of Chenapau Village, Region Eight, were arrested for allegedly mining in the KNP. They were brought to Georgetown and charged, but in an “act of goodwill” the charges were later dropped. However, the persons arrested vehemently denied mining in the KNP and provided documentation to show they were operating on legal mining claims.

Capitol News cameraman Rudy Morris

Some also said they were hunting and fishing when soldiers rounded them up.

The arrest and charging of the residents caused an uproar in the Amerindian village as residents protested within the village and at the Ministry of the Presidency.

Since the arrests of the residents, the military presence in the KNP has been amped up; hence, the APA decided to undertake a fact-finding mission.

Upon arriving at the KNP Arrival Centre, it was discovered that it has been converted into a base camp for the Joint Services operation. Mc Garrell said that this concretised the allegation of the KNP becoming a

militarised zone.

The officer in command also told Mc Garrell that no one would be allowed to traverse the trail traditionally used by the Chenapau villagers to hunt, fish, and access farms and mining claims.

However, Morris and Melville used a boat to go investigate the boundaries of the KNP and as they were returning, the men were arrested and told they would be charged. The two men were still detained at the Muri Muri Landing up to press time.

Mc Garrell said that he was concerned about the arrest of a member of the press corps for just executing one of his functions as a member of the fourth estate.

He posited that the officers, upon verifying Morris’ identity, should have just asked the men to leave the area.

“All we have to do now is to wait until they bring out these two men and see what they will do. I have no idea what they will charge them with, but I was informed by the Officer in Charge that they will be charged,” Mc Garrell related.

The arrest of the duo was criticised by members of the community and they are calling on the authorities to explain the arrests.

U

nder the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), rehabilitation and construction of roads at Phase Two, Amelia’s Ward, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) are set to commence.

On Thursday, engineers attached to the project, which is valued at approximately $92.4 million, conducted a site visit to pinpoint areas which will benefit. Among the team members were Anthony Ragnauth, Civil Engineer and Project Engineer, Junior Whittington of the CH&PA, Inspector of Works on the ground, Surveyor Xavier Alley and a contractor representative.

The project, which was awarded to S Jagmohan and Son Hardware and General Supplies, will entail upgrades to approximately 6.7 kilometres of existing roads in the area to an asphalt concrete surface and the construction of approximately 5.7 kilometres of new roads to be completed with a laterite surface.

The upgrades to the roads will also include the construction of curb walls and ‘soakways’ to deal with the issue of drainage in the area. The entire project, which will see all roads in the area benefiting, will last five months. Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland, who was on site to uplift the Procurement of Works document, noted how pleased the municipal administration was concerning the commencement of the project.

Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland

“I’m very much pleased that before Christmas, the people in Amelia’s Ward will be seeing some development— better infrastructure, better roadways. I’m happy that the Central Housing and Planning Authority would have seen it fit to push this work at this time.

It’s very timely and I’m also proud that the engineers would have seen it fit to ensure they come on the ground and have the respect for the municipality and the Region, to get everyone involved, so that we all are a part of the development that will be taking place in Linden”, the Mayor said.

He added that the administration is also looking forward to the contractor commencing work immediately since he would like to see improvements before the Christmas season.

“Also, we would be looking for quality work. We also have someone from the Council who will be coming to check to ensure that we’re getting quality work. We’re happy for this and we’re thankful to the Ministers of Government…and we’re very happy that this project has kick-started,” Holland said.

(Utamu Belle)

news

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monDAY, june 12, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

International Day of

(HINDUS for SELFLESS SERVICE) E-mail: hssguyana@gmail.com

Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation)

S

urya Namaskar means to bow down to the sun in the morning. The sun is the life source for this planet; in everything that you eat, drink and breathe, there is an element of the sun.

Only if you learn how to better “digest” the sun, internalize it, and make it a part of your system, do you truly benefit from this process.

The physical body is a fantastic stepping-stone for higher possibilities; but, for most people, it functions like a road block.

The compulsions of the body do not allow them to go forward. Being in sync with the solar cycle is an important part of balance and receptivity, a means of taking the body to the point where it is no longer a hurdle.

Sun Salutation is considered a complete body workout. Yoga experts say that doing 12 sets of Surya Namaskar translates into doing 288 powerful yoga poses in a span of 12 to 15 minutes.

A workout for ‘busy bees’ Facing a time crunch? Want to feel fit but don’t know how? Welcome to the world of Surya Namaskar. Literally translated as sun salutation, Surya Namaskar comprises a sequence of 12 yoga postures. The best part about Sun Salutation is that it works well for those ‘super busy’ people who often complain about not being able to do yoga because of a time crunch.

Doing at least 12 sets of Sun Salutation -- preferably at sunrise -- at a fast pace provides a good cardiovascular workout. If done at a slower pace, these postures help tone the muscles, and can be relaxing and meditative.

Moreover, it allows you to enjoy the stretch, and makes the body more flexible.

purifies the blood and improves blood circulation throughout the body, and ensures proper functioning of the stomach, bowel, and nerve centres. Practising Sun Salutation daily helps balance the three constitutions - Vata, Pitta and Kapha - that the body is made up of.

Let’s begin with these simple, yet effective, Sun Salutation steps on our way to good health. Here are the first two postures for this simple yoga routine.

Pranamasana (Prayer pose) Stand at the edge of your mat, keep your feet together, and balance your weight equally on both the feet. Expand your chest and relax your shoulders. As you breathe in, lift both arms up from the sides; and as you exhale, bring your palms together in front of the chest in prayer position.

An exercise in itself Sun Salutation forms an excellent link between warm-ups and intense yoga postures.

Start your early morning yoga routine with some warm-up stretches to ease out body stiffness. You can then do a few rounds of Sun Salutation, to help increase body flexibility and also prepare the body to stretch more during the intense yoga posture sequence.

Surya Namaskar is best done early morning on an empty stomach.

Why Sun Salutation is good for you?

But that’s not all. Regular practise of Sun Salutation offers a lot of interesting benefits for every part of the body. These powerful yoga poses have a great impact on the heart, liver, intestine, stomach, chest, throat, and legs – the whole body from top to bottom. It

Hastauttanasana (Raised Arms pose) Breathing in, lift the arms up and back, keeping the biceps close to the ears. In this pose, the effort is to stretch the whole body up from the heels to the tips of the fingers How to deepen this yoga stretch?

You may push the pelvis forward a little bit. Ensure you’re reaching up with the fingers, rather than trying to bend backwards.

Join us tomorrow as we show you the next two postures of this yoga routine. For now, we urge you to practise these two poses along with the other sets of yoga asanas that we have been bringing to you thus far.

We trust that you have been seriously practising these yoga postures, because we expect to see you doing them with us on June 25 at the National Stadium, Providence from 4pm to 5pm. Remember to wear loose clothing, and tell a friend to bring a friend to bring a friend.

HSS INVITES YOU TO OUR THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA CELEBRATIONS. IT WILL BE HELD AT THE GUYANA NATIONAL STADIUM, PROVIDENCE, EAST BANK DEMERARA, JUNE 25 FROM 4PM TO 5:30PM. LET US MAKE THOUGHTS BECOME A REALITY. LET US BE FIT. “TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES, EMPOWERING THE BODY, MIND AND SOUL”

Police Force gets Master Trace Kit donation – from Amalgamated Security Services

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he investigative capacity of the Guyana Police Force was given a boost with the donation of a Master Trace Kit, which is used to preserve evidence samples such as hair, blood, glass, etc, for a long period of time.

It is expected that the kit, which is valued at some US$500, will strengthen the capacity of the Crime Scene Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary.

The donation was made on Wednesday by Amalgamated Security Services Limited Guyana.

The firm is a private forensic laboratory that offers a number of security services to Caribbean countries, with its headquarters based in Trinidad and Tobago.

The simple presentation ceremony was held in the Commissioner’s Conference Room, at the Force’s Headquarters and saw in attendance: Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine, Crime Chief, Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum, and other Officers of the Force’s Performance Group.

Director and Chief Forensic and Criminalistics Officer of the security firm, Dr Maurice Aboud, handed over the kit. He was accompanied by Manager of Amalgamated Security Services Inc in Guyana, Wayne Clarke.

According to Dr Aboud, who is a forensic scientist, the donation is part of his company’s initiative with the Association of the Caribbean Commissioners of Police Programme. Through this programme, every year a forensic kit is handed over to a

Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud receiving the Master Trace Kit from Director of the donor firm, Dr Maurice Aboud

member country that needs it most and more importantly, he personally goes and makes the donation as he has done in Guyana’s case.

In addition, the forensic scientist used the opportu-

nity to also make a presentation on the wide range of security services his company offers which include DNA testing, mobile forensic, forensic toxicology and trace evidence.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

monDAY, june 12, 2017

ARCHIE

Putting pressure on someone or bending to accommo(March 21- date others should be avertApril 19) ed. You are best off working alone and avoiding interference. Appreciate who you are and what you can do.

ARIES

Put more effort into takTAURUS ing care of how you look and (April 20- fulfilling any responsibilities May 20) you are given. Keeping up appearances will determine the kinds of opportunities you are given by someone influential.

dilbert

An unexpected change will GEMINI (May 21- catch you off guard. Do your June 20) best to stabilize your position by minimizing your involvement in a potentially costly situation.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Peanuts

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Calvin and Hobbes

Take a different approach to the way you handle people, money and emotional issues.

If you look for creative solutions, you will make an impression on your peers and loved ones.

Put a halt on any decision that involves an emotional situation. You aren’t likely to make the best choice at this volatile time. A work matter will suffer if ego is involved.

Listen to others’ offers VIRGO (Aug. 23- or suggestions, but don’t Sept. 22) make any sudden changes.

Gathering information will help you make a move when the time is more appropriate.

Think twice before you LIBRA sign up to do something (Sept. 23Oct. 23) with a partner. The chance of clashing on several issues will make it difficult to get things done your way.

WORD GAME

SUDOKU

Choose a destination that SCORPIO you find inviting. Whether (Oct. 24it’s in your community, far Nov. 22) away, or even a place of peace and quiet in the confines of your home, the respite will do you good.

Be open to discussions.

SAGITTARIUS Resolving issues that can be (Nov. 23- damaging to your relationDec. 21) ship with a business or personal partner will encourage you to make decisions that will improve your life.

SATURDAY’S

solution for Last Published Puzzle

Keep it simple when dealCAPRICORN ing with any expenditures or (Dec. 22- business deals today. Be cauJan. 19) tious if someone tries to sell you something. Stick to your budget.

Put more energy into the AQUARIUS way you present who you are (Jan. 20and how you look. Make a Feb. 19) positive change at home that will help cut your costs.

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” is not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed. To contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe, write to Word Game, Kathleen Saxe, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Copyright 2015, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS

You should offer assisPISCES tance to those in need. Take (Feb. 20March 20) time to explain what you mean when dealing with young and old people alike in order to avoid a misunderstanding.

monDAY, june 12, 2017

Bolt finishes

Jamaican send-off in style

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he flash time said 9.65 but the 10.03 seconds with which Usain Bolt sauntered to a 100 metre victory in his final race in Kingston, Jamaica more in line with the nature of the race.

Bolt eased out of the blocks, and strided past Nickel Ashmeade, Daniel Bailey and Jevaughn Minzie, and as is usual, there was no doubt after that.

Minzie finished second in 10.15 and Ashmeade was third in 10.18.

Ramon Gittens of Barbados was fourth in 10.24, the same as Antigua and Barbuda’s Daniel Bailey.

St Kitts and Nevis’ jason Rodgers was sixth in 10.29 and Terrel Cotton was seventh in 10.31.

After the race, there was a victory lap, an interview, and an award for the win.

In that interview, Bolt spoke of how much he appreciated the support he had gotten over the last decade of his career.

Proving that support, nobody left the National Stadium in Kingston after the race and Bolt’s victory lap was to a full house, just as was the case when he did an interview and again, when he climbed into the stands to greet family and friends.

As for the race, Bolt said there were many things wrong with it but that he knew it would have been ragged and that there would be improvements before the World Championships. (Sportsmax)

FIFA President says Qatar World Cup not under threat

F

FIFA President Gianni Infantino

Bolt indisputably the greatest, claims IAAF President Coe

I

AAF president Lord Sebastian Coe has labelled Jamaican track star Usain Bolt as indisputably the greatest sprinter of all time.

Top and field’s track official was on hand to witness the double world record holder run what is expected to be his final race in Jamaica, ahead of retiring from the sport at this summer’s London World Championships.

The 30-year-old’s 10.03 time for victory was modest

IAAF President Lord Sebastian Coe

by his usual standards, but the significance of the event was not lost on any of the 30,000 spectators on hand at Jamaica’s National Stadium, Coe among them. Bolt, who holds both the 100m and 200m sprint records, has amassed an astounding 8 Olympic gold and 11 World Championship gold medals.

“When you’re sitting in the pub and you’re having the discussion: who is the greatest footballer? Nobody will agree on that,” Coe told Reuters in an interview. “If you have the same discussion around golf or tennis, everybody will have different views. It’s a slam dunk. (Bolt) is the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen.

“If you look at the records he set, if you look at the Olympic championships he’s had, three in a row, I’m not sure I’m ever going to see that in my lifetime. So it’s a massive legacy and the most important legacy is that he has connected our sport to people who weren’t traditional track and field fans, that’s the measure of the man.” (Sportsmax)

19

Salute to the legend! Usain Bolt ran his last competitive race in Jamaica on Sunday evening

IFA president Gianni Infantino does not believe that the diplomatic crisis which has embroiled 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar will threaten its staging of the tournament, he said on Sunday.

The global soccer body also confirmed that it had replaced a Qatari refereeing team who were due to officiate at a World Cup qualifying match involving the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

In an interview published in Swiss news- p a pers Le Matin Dimanche and Sonntagszeitung, Infantino said he expected the diplomatic situation to be back to normal by the time the tournament is played in five-and-a-half years’ time.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut links with Qatar last Monday, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. Qatar says the allegations are based on lies.

Asked if he believed that Qatar’s hosting was in danger, Infantino replied: “No. In any case, I am not in the habit of speculating and I’m not going to this time either.”

Infantino said that FIFA was watching the situation and was in regular

contact with the Qatari authorities.

“The essential role of FIFA, as I understand it, is to deal with football and not to interfere in geopolitics,” he said.

“We are indeed facing a diplomatic crisis.

“But on the other hand, I am confident that the region will return to a normalised situation. The World Cup is in 2022. In five years.

“Obviously, if football can make a small contribution, in any way, to an improvement, I will not hesitate to offer my help.” FIFA confirmed in an emailed statement to Reuters that the UAE’s match away to Thailand on Tuesday would no longer be refereed by Qatari officials.

“We can confirm that FIFA has replaced the match officials originally appointed for the... game,” it said. “The decision has been taken for sporting reasons and in view of the current geopolitical situation.”

FIFA added that it had changed the officials of its own accord and denied it had responded to a UAE request.

The UAE federation said on Twitter that the match referee would now be Muhammad Taqi from Singapore. (Reuters)

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monDAY, june 12, 2017

Champions Trophy, Group B…

Disciplined India run A

dysfunctional South Africa out

trio of run outs in the South Africa innings allowed India captain Virat Kohli to lead his side into the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored half-centuries as India took full advantage of a catastrophic South Africa collapse to cruise into the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

South Africa slumped to 191 all out in what was effectively a quarter-final at The Oval on Sunday and India’s progression to a likely last-four clash with Bangladesh was never in doubt, Kohli’s men winning by eight wickets with 12 overs to spare.

It was a startling collapse from the Proteas, whose demise from a position of strength at 140-2 featured three di-

That disintegration undermined the earlier good work of Quinton de Kock, who made 53, while Hashim Amla (35) and Faf du Plessis (36) were the only other contributors of note.

Their efforts were swiftly put into perspective by India’s top order, with Dhawan making 78 from 83 balls before Kohli guided his side home with a typically classy unbeaten 76 to set up a probable meeting with neighbours Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Having been put into bat by the defending champions, Amla looked set to kick on but he departed after feathering the returning Ravichandran Ashwin behind.

De Kock was bowled sweeping Ravindra Jadeja, bringing under-pres-

button.

De Villiers was left a yard short following great work from H a r d i k

Pandya a n d MS Dhoni, b e fore Miller exited in even more farcical fashion with he and Du Plessis running to the same end.

Du Plessis played on from Pandya, before Jasprit Bumrah accounted for Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo, Virat Kohli

AB de Villiers was run-out despite a desperate dive © AFP

sastrous run outs - the first two accounting for AB de Villiers and David Miller before the last, of Imran Tahir, wrapped up the innings in fittingly shambolic fashion.

sure De Villiers to the crease. The skipper had made only four runs from his two tournament innings and it was his dismissal for 16 that started the rot as South Africa hit the self-destruct

Bhuvneshwar Kumar finding the edge of Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel from successive balls as South Africa folded.

Tahir’s run out left JP Duminy stranded on 20 and in desperate need of early wickets, the Proteas got one in the sixth over of the reply as an aggressive Rohit edged Morkel behind.

Like De Villiers, Kohli had been dismissed for a duck in his previous Champions Trophy knock, but India’s

captain looked back to his supreme best here.

Dhawan lifted Morris over the top for four to reach his third Champions Trophy half-century in succession and Kohli soon

followed, although the opener missed his chance to hit a third century in three tournament games against South Africa by holing out off the bowling of Tahir.

But the result was far beyond doubt by that stage and Yuvraj Singh (23 not out) launched Duminy into the stands to send the holders into the semi-finals in fittingly dominant style. (Sportsmax)

SCOREBOARD South Africa innings (50 overs maximum) Q de Kock† b Jadeja 53 H Amla c †Dhoni b Ashwin 35 F du Plessis b Pandya 36 AB de Villiers* run out (Pandya/†Dhoni) 16 D Miller run out (Bumrah/Kohli) 1 J Duminy not out 20 C Morris c Kumar b Bumrah 4 A Phehlukwayo lbw b Bumrah 4 K Rabada c †Dhoni b Kumar 5 M Morkel c Kohli b Kumar 0 Imran Tahir run out 1 (Kohli/†Dhoni) Extras (lb 6, w 10) 16 Total (all out; 44.3 overs) 191 Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Amla, 17.3 ov), 2-116 (de Kock, 24.2 ov), 3-140 (de Villiers, 28.2 ov), 4-142 (Miller, 29.1 ov), 5-157 (du Plessis, 33.3 ov), 6-167 (Morris, 36.4 ov), 7-178 (Phehlukwayo, 40.1 ov), 8-184 (Rabada, 42.2 ov), 9-184 (Morkel, 42.3 ov), 10-

191 (Imran Tahir, 44.3 ov) Bowling: B Kumar 7.3-023-2 (2w), Bumrah 8-0-282 (2w), R Ashwin 9-0-431 (3w), H Pandya 10-0-52-1 (3w), Jadeja 10-0-39-1 India innings (target: 192 runs from 50 overs) R Sharma c †de Kock b Morkel 12 S Dhawan c du Plessis b Imran Tahir 78 76 V Kohli* not out Yuvraj Singh not out 23 Extras (lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 4 Total (2 wickets; 38 overs) 193 Did not bat: MS Dhoni†, HH Pandya, KM Jadhav, RA Jadeja, B Kumar, R Ashwin, JJ Bumrah Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Sharma, 5.3 ov), 2-151 (Dhawan, 30.1 ov) Bowling: Rabada 9-2-340, M Morkel 7-1-38-1 (1nb), Phehlukwayo 5-0-25-0, Morris 8-0-40-0 (1w), Imran Tahir 6-037-1, Duminy 3-0-17-0

England beat Venezuela Nadal beats Wawrinka to win to win U-20 World Cup French Open…

tournament for 10th time

E

England celebrate first U-20 World Cup win

C

laycourt king Rafa Nadal regained his Roland Garros throne after two years in exile with a brutal 6-2 6-3 6-1 mauling of Swiss Stan Wawrinka to complete ‘La Decima’ on Sunday.

Rewinding the clock to the days when he was untouchable on the crushed brick dust, the 31-year-old turned 2015 champion Wawrinka into a human punch bag, winning in just over two hours.

This title, a record 10th at a single grand slam in the professional era, was arguably the most impressive of his 15 majors, though, as it arrived three injury-plagued years after the last one when he beat Novak Djokovic here in 2014.

He also did it without dropping a set and

Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates with the trophy after winning the final

conceding only 35 games in seven matches. Only Bjorn Borg, who conceded 32 on his way to the 1978 title, has been a more ruthless champion.

Third seed Wawrinka, having beaten world number one Andy Murray with a majestic display of firepower in a gruelling semi-final, arrived full of hope as, at 32, he tried to become the oldest French Open winner since Andres Gimeno in 1972.

But the barrel-chested ‘Stanimal’ was powerless as Nadal turned the final into an exhibition of his claycourt supremacy -- taking his French Open record to an eye-watering 79-2.

As a weary Wawrinka sliced a volley into the net on match point Nadal collapsed on his back on the baseline. (Reuters)

ngland won their biggest international title since 1966 by beating Venezuela 1-0 in the Under-20 World Cup final.

It was England’s first appearance in the final of a global tournament since their World Cup victory 51 years ago.

Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first-half goal was enough for victory thanks to Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman’s second-half penalty save.

Woodman denied Adalberto Penaranda from the spot after the Malaga forward was fouled by Kyle Walker-Peters.

With 17 minutes to play,

the referee pointed to the spot to signal a penalty before immediately referring to the video assistant referee.

The decision stood - there was the slightest of contacts - but Newcastle keeper Woodman’s strong palm kept out Penaranda’s effort.

In the first half Ronaldo Lucena hit the post with an audacious long-range freekick that had Woodman well beaten, while Tottenham midfielder Josh Onomah saw a powerful effort strike the underside of the Venezuela bar after the break.

After the match, England forward Dominic Solanke, due to join Liverpool from Chelsea on 1 July, was

awarded the Golden Ball given to the player of the tournament. Previous winners of the award include Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Luis Figo, Paul Pogba and Sergio Aguero.

Woodman was awarded the Golden Glove, given to best goalkeeper of the tournament.

The last Under-20 World Cup in 2015 was won by Serbia, who beat a Brazil side containing Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus in the final. Six of Serbia’s 21man squad have since made a full international debut, including Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic. (BBC)

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21

GLTA/GBTI Tennis Open

Mixed fortunes for Kalekyezi R

ainfall has interrupted play for two days in the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry’s (GBTI’s) Open 2017 Tennis Tournament, but has been unable to diminish the gathering or depreciate the competitive spirit of the numerous rousing matches.

Thus a sizable crowd was on hand to witness the continuation of Joshua Kalekyezi’s so far dream run in this tournament, when he collaborated with Alana Chung to defeat Ariel Khan and Nathalie Ramdyhan to earn a spot in the semifinals.

Kalekyezi and Chung fought their way to a hard earned 6-3, 6-4 win against Khan and Ramdyhan, the latter continuing to show promise with great form and strong forehands.

However, the 13-year-old Kalekyezi, who had made light work of Surrendra Khayyam on the opening night of the tournament to win 6-0, 6-2 in two sets, and has already won two junior titles for the year, went down to men’s champion Anthony Downes, as he experienced mixed fortunes in the first week of the tournament. The talented player can take consolation in the fact that he had made it to the round of 16, and lost to the best local male player.

There was a lot of action during the week, and the following are the results, starting with play in the Men’s single Round 32.

Veteran and last year’s men’s doubles winner, Harry Panday, won against Dominic Fraser 6-4, 6-2, his consistency and training proving to be key factors in his win. Heimraj Resaul had a strong first set against Alexey DeAlmeida, but after the rain delay, DeAlmedia launched a come-

back. He, however, failed to deliver the final critical blow against the junior player, who eventually closed the match at 6-2, 6-4.

Philbert Clarke joined Murray and Kalekyezi in the double bagels fate. Viraj Sharma surprised the gathering as he played effortlessly against Clarke.

Mark McDonald took on his doubles partner Joseph DeJonge, the match ebbing and flowing for both contestants. McDonald was pegged as the favourite going into the match,

Mark McDonald

but DeJonge fought every point to acquire a match point. Nerves and tension at the prospect of dethroning the number two junior proved to be his undoing, as McDonald saved the match point and took the game in his advantage and won 5-7, 6-1, 7-5; his relived mother celebrating the victory.

Men’s Single Round 16 The level of competition at this year’s GBTI Open has exceeded what had obtained in previous years. The investment in this competition has aided in producing the

From left to right: Ariel Khan and Nathalie Ramdyhan lost to Alana Chung and Joshua Kalekyezi in their Mixed Doubles Quarterfinal match

quality of play and given a glimpse of the potential future of tennis in Guyana. Double bagels were severed up by Andre Erskine against Ronald Murray.

Benjettan Osborne was all business in his 6-1, 6-1 win against Oswin Coggins. Osborne was calm and relentless in his attack of Coggins, who was unable to match Osborne’s laser focus.

Viraj Sharma exemplified courage in his match against Coach Leyland Leacock. He handled the pressure well, and played decisive shots which gained him 5 games.

Leacock eventually turned the heat on and won 6-4, 6-1. Leacock faces Osborne in the quarterfinal of the men’s open single.

Jason Andrews booked his first GBTI singles quarterfinals after a battle of overcoming his nerves against Khawn Rodney. Rodney was anticipated to be a challenge, as he had the weapons to oppose the big serves of Andrews. He broke early and maintained a steady lead, but a shaky 8th game allowed Andrews to eventually regain his composure and close the contest with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

Jamal Goodluck managed to take two games off Nicholas Glasgow, but was not able to maintain his composure against the compactness of Glasgow’s game. He opened the floodgates of errors, and Glasgow won 6-0, 6-2 to set up a rematch against the number one seed, Anthony Downes. The level of his game should afford him the ability to poke some holes in the seemingly impervious game of Downes.

Men’s Double Round 16

Asif Subhan and Benjettan Osborne were eliminated from the men’s doubles draw by Heimraj Resaul/Jordan Beaton, who defeated them 6-2, 6-1.

Andre Erskine/Mark McDonald obtained a 6-0, 6-0 win against Shimron Lewis/Ravin Rampersaud.

Ladies Round Robin

The budding rivalry between Cristy Campbell and Afruica Gentle was again on display, and although Campbell was able to put up a stronger defence than what she had displayed in the previous meeting, she was unable to deny Gentle a 6-1, 6-3 win. Afruica Gentle faced Kalyca Fraser and defeated her 6-1, 6-3. Fraser, who had given Gentle a fierce fight in the Sheltez Home Safe Security Tournament, was outmatched by the aggression and placement of Gentle. Gentle was able to defeat Grace McCalman 6-0, 6-0 by immobilizing her at the baseline.

Men’s 45s Single Quarterfinals Rudy Grant claimed a 6-0, 6-3 win against Brazilian Ambassador Lineu Pupo DePaula. Harry Panday carved out a 6-1, 6-2 win against new player Colin France.

Mixed Doubles Quarterfinals Daniel Lopes/Sarah Klautky had a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 win against Tyrese Trim/Charlese Adams.

The tournament will continue throughout the week, with the final match predicted for Sunday, weather permitting.

GCB/Hand-In-Hand Insurance U-19 3-day Inter-County Cricket tournament

Demerara remain ahead on points ‒ entire 2nd round abandoned

R

eigning champions and title favourites, Demerara, will enter the final round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Hand-In-Hand Insurance InterCounty Under-19 Three-day tournament with a narrow lead of 2.5 points ahead of their closest rivals, Berbice.

The points were tallied after both second-round matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled at either the Everest Cricket Club ground or the Police Sports Club ground. Play was not allowed because of the persistent rainfall in the city over the three days.

Demerara have so far mustered 19.2 points (12 for a win; 4 for a draw; 3 gained from batting; .2 gained from bowling), while Berbice have 16.7 points (12-W; 4-D; .7bowling). The Select U-17 Team have 7.1 points (3 for a tie on first innings; 4 for a Draw; .1 for bowling), and the Essequibo Team have 4.2 points (4 for a Draw and .2 for bowling).

The final round of action is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday at 10:00h, when Demerara and Berbice will meet at Everest and the U-17s and Essequibo will be engaged at the Police Sports Club ground.

The teams are as follows: ESSEQUIBO: Mark Williams, Sachin Persaud, Kurt Lovell, Adrian Campbell, Mark Ramsammy, Joshua Jones, Quintin Sampson, Beesham Moses, Leslie Allen, Sheldon Charles, Mahindra Persaud, Chanderpaul Mohabir, Kellin Davis, Joel Fortune, Azeem Habib, Loaknauth Persaud (Manager) and Andy Ramnarine (Coach).

BERBICE: Adrian Sukwah, Kevin Sinclair, Sasenarine Sukhoo, Veramootoo Senwasane, Javid Karim, Matthew Hardyal, Daniel Samaroo, Emmanuel Seecharran, Karan Arjpaul, Keith Simpson, Deon Sinclair, Sylus Tyndall, Raymond Vankenic, Steve Deonarine, Michael Newland (Manager) and Adrian Amsterdam (Coach).

Bhaskar Yadram

DEMERARA: Bhaskar Yadram (Captain), Ronaldo Ali Mohamed (Vice Captain), Joshua Persaud,

Raymond Perez, Navendra Persaud, Ramnarine Chature, Richie Looknauth, Keshram Seyhodan, Stephon Wilson, Sagar Hatharamani, Dwayne Dick, Kishna Singh, Garvin Bodwah, Dambuka Nqgando, Darshan Persaud, Mark Jeffers, Kennard Moonsammy, Mark Ramsammy, Himanauth Dindyal and Omar Hussine (Manager), Rayon King (Coach) and Dhanpaul (Assistant Coach).

GUYANA UNDER-17s: Alex Alvin Algoo, Sachin Stefan Singh, Orlando Jailall, Junior Alvin Sinclair, Kevlon Alston Anderson, Kevin Imran Christian, Robin Williams, Lance Rusell Roberts, Alphius Malcolm Bookie, Rajendra Singh, Nigel Deodat, Ashmead Romanno Nedd, Pradesh Ballkishun, Kelvin Umrao, Mark Gary Rankin, Gevon Shemar Schultz, Reyaz Khan, Qumar Tychicus Torrington, Nazeer Mohamed (Manager) and Orin Bailey (Coach).

22

GUYANATIMESgy.COM

mondAY, june 12, 2017

Harmon positive Ramdhani siblings Trophy Stall Annual Independence Badminton…

Government will support rugby claim top honour A

By Akeem Greene

s the Green Machine locked horns in an engrossing encounter against Trinidad and Tobago’s Calypso Warriors at the St Stanislaus College ground on Carifesta Avenue on Saturday, media operatives asked Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, whether Government would assist the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) to acquire their own ground.

The affable minister responded that he is positive Government is willing to support the sport of rugby in Guyana.

“I’m positive that we [Government] can do something for rugby. I believe the (Guyana) team needs as much support as they can get; and you can see (from) my presence here (that) I believe they [Green Machine) will do well. The Government is fully supporting rugby,” the Minister of State declared.

This revelation means that the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) could finally have the breakthrough for which they have long been waiting and praying. The GRFU have, for years, been calling on Government and the private sector for support, given that this is one sport that can help the image of Guyana transcend international borders.

Minister Harmon said he has had discussions with the relevant stakeholders on how

Minster of State Joseph Harmon (centre) in discussion with Director of Sport Christopher Jones (Right) and Rugby patron Kit Nascimento

Government can support Guyana’s ruggers. “I have just had conversations with Director of Sport and the rugby officials, and I believe that we can do better -- much better -- with a little technical support; and I would really want to commit to that technical support for the team,” he disclosed.

Overcast conditions did not dampen national support for Guyana’s ruggers, as was evident by the sizable crowd and appreciable encouragement it shouted to the Guyana side; factors which had obviously enthused the State Minister.

“I’m happy with the turnout, too!” he declared. “(I had thought that) with this weather, you would have a problem with support; but you can see the people are out here.” He added, “It is good for Guyana.

Competition is always a good (thing). I think the team is doing well, and I want them to continue

The Green Machine’s speed and aggression are two key elements in their success over the years (Akeem Greene Photo)

doing so”. Factually, the reason for the game being moved to the St Stanislaus College ground on Georgetown’s Carifesta Avenue was because the current rainy season had left the National Park flooded during preparation stages. And although that situation is not new to the GRFU, it is understood that if the match had been played at the National Park, that occurrence could have caused the GRFU to be sanctioned by Rugby’s governing body.

The Green Machine went on to defeat the Soca Warriors 2417 to retain their Ruby Americas North (RAN) South Zone title.

With the win, Guyana will now travel to Mexico City for their July 1 clash with the Mexicans -their second in as many years – for the RAN overall title. The last time the two sides met, Mexico steamrolled the ‘Green Machine’ 32 – 3.

Historically, Guyana’s Green Machine has been one of the most consistent teams in the Caribbean, winning the Men’s Sevens Title eight times, which has seen the team recording a presence in the popular Hong Kong Sevens.

Moreover, in the 15s format, the Green Machine’s 30-27 victory against the USA (South) in 2014 -- when they won their maiden NACRA 15s (now known as RAN) title in Atlanta -arguably has to be their biggest achievement yet.

Top performers of the Trophy Stall Annual Independence Badminton Tournament 2017 with Director of Sport Christopher Jones standing at the centre in the back row

T

he Ramdhani siblings, Narayan and Priyanna won the major titles of the Trophy Stall Annual Independence Badminton Tournament on the final night of action in the two-day event at the National Gymnasium on Saturday.

Narayan claimed the Men’s title while his sister was triumphant in the Ladies category. Narayan who recently returned Canada owing to the first break of his scholarship there defeated Jonathan Mangra: 21-15, 21-14 while Priyanna won her match against Greer Jackson to claim the top accolade.

After the Finals the presentation was made by the Director of the National Sports Commission Christopher Jones subsequent to a few words from him and the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) President Gokarn Ramdhani.

Here is a list of the overall winners and top performers.

Under-11 boys singles: first place: Avinash Ramnarine, second place: Nikhil Sookraj and third place: Leron Ramascindo

Centrobasket U-17 Championships…

Alphonso headlines 16-man squad selected A

fter four gruelling sessions of trials on Saturday and Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall -- to select the Guyana National U-17 Team to represent Guyana at the Centrobasket Championships in the Dominican Republic -- sessions have concluded and the final 16-man squad has been selected.

The initial list of 28 players that had been shortlisted to participate in the trials has been whittled down to a 16-man squad, even though it had included some outstanding U-15 players. This new list includes four US-based players, among whom are last year’s U-16 captain Jordon

Head Coach Lugard Mohan

Alphonso and Kevon Wiggins.

A captain for the team is yet to be appointed, and Alphonso is a potential candidate in this respect.

Guyana qualified for participation in the Centrobasket

Championships last year by finishing second in the CBC tournament, behind The Bahamas. The Guyana contingent will travel to Santo Domingo on July 25.

Training sessions at the Sports Hall will continue with the final squad as follows: June 17 – 18, June 24 – 25, July 1 – 10, and July 14 – 24 (Encampment).

The 16 man squad reads: Kwesi Roberts, Andrew Johnson, Jermain King, Royden Glasgow, Kelmar Carmichael, Isaiah Hintzen, Shamar France, Akeem Crandon, Nigel Bowen, Kevon Higgins (US-based), Jether Harris, Jordon Alphonso (USbased), Denzil Ross, Darien Pringle (US-based)

Jordan Alphonso (in white) was outstanding at last year’s CBC tournament, and has made the final squad for Centrobasket

and Sherwin Prince (USbased).

The Coaches are as follows: Head Coach Lugard Mohan; with Kenny Avent (US-based) and Willon Cameron as Assistant Coaches; while Junior Andrew Hercules is the manager and leader of the Guyanese delegation.

Under-11 girls singles: first place: Amara Mohamed and 2nd place: Gianna Ramnarine.

Under-13 boys singles: 1st place: Jonathan Debidin, 2nd place: Abeva Jones and 3rd place: Manav Sharma.

Under-13 girls singles: 1st place: Lesha Singh, 2nd place: Elesa Sangster and 3rd place: Sasha Singh.

Under-15 boys singles: 1st place: Andrew Debidin, 2nd place: Vikash Mootoo and 3rd

Under-13 Boys Singles Round Robin: Jonathan Debidin defeated Manav Sharma: 217, 21-6, Abeva Jones defeated Manav Sharma: 21-7, 21-7 and Jonathan Debidin defeated Abeva Jones: 21-14, 21-9.

Under-13 Girls Singles Round Robin: Lesha Singh defeated Sacha Singh: 21-14, 21-3, Elesa Sangster defeated Sacha Singh: 22-20, 15-21, 1521 and Lesha Singh defeated Elesa Sangster: 21-8, 21-9.

Priyanna Ramdhani and Narayan Ramdhani

place: Omar Samad.

Under-15 girls singles: 1st place: jayde dasilva, 2nd place: sarah samad and 3rd place: sacha wang.

Open men singles: 1st place: Narayan Ramdhani, 2nd place: Jonathan Mangra and 3rd place: Marlon Chung.

Open ladies singles: 1st place: Priyanna Ramdhani, 2nd place: Greer Jackson and 3rd place: Shivannie Persaud.

Open men consolation round: 1st place: Tyrese Jeffrey and 2nd place: Dr. Nicholas Waldron.

Meanwhile the following are results from the action on the ultimate night of competition.

Under-11 Boys Singles Quarter-Finals: Alexander Singh defeated Adam Mohamed: 21-13, 21-10. Under-11 Boys Singles Semi-Finals: Nikhil Sookraj defeated Alexander Singh: 21-10, 21-18 and Avinash Ramnarine defeated Leron Ramascindo: 21-12, 2113. Under-11 Boys Singles Third Place: Leron Ramascindo defeated Alexander Singh: 2113, 21-10 Under-11 Girls Singles Finals: Amara Mohamed defeated Gianna Ramnarine: 21-13, 21-9

Under-15 Boys Singles Round Robin: Andrew Debidin defeated Omar Samad: 21-12, 21-4, Vikash Mootoo defeated Omar Samad: 21-8, 21-5 and Andrew Debidin defeated Vikash Mootoo: 21-18, 21-9.

Under-15 Girls Singles Quarter-Finals: Jayde DaSilva defeated Mahima Singh: 21-4, 21-1.

Under-15 Girls Singles SemiFinals: Jayde DaSilva defeated Reanna persaud: 22-20, 2118 and Sarah Samad defeated Sacha Wang: 21-17, 21-14.

Under-15 Girls Singles Finals: Jayde DaSilva defeated Sarah Samad: 21-18, 21-10.

Under-15 Girls Singles Third Place: Sacha Wang defeated Reanna Persaud: 21-17, 20-22, 23-21.

Open Men Singles SemiFinals: Narayan Ramdhani defeated Ronald Chang Yuen: 21-12, 21-11 and Jonathan Mangra defeated Marlon Chung: 21-16, 12-21, 12-21.

Open Men Singles Third Place Marlon Chung defeated Ronald Chang Yuen: 21-16, 1121, 14-21.

The GBA is grateful to all the players who took part and Ramesh Sunich from Trophy Stall for making this tournament a success.

guyanatimesgy.com

monDAY, june 12, 2017

23

Timid West Indies survive Rashid scare to level series S

tung by their 63-run defeat in the first ODI, West Indies hit back via their fast bowlers, who exposed Afghanistan’s frailties against the short ball as they slid to 135 all out. West Indies’ batting, though, isn’t without frailties of its own, and Rashid Khan, responsible for bowling them out for 149 on Friday, caused yet another serious wobble with his zippy, stump-to-stump legbreaks and googlies. Afghanistan’s total, though, proved a fair way short of matchwinning as Shai Hope held a shaky chase together and steered West Indies to a series-levelling six-wicket win.

Afghanistan could perhaps have pushed West Indies even closer with more aggressive tactics.

Asghar Stanikzai, their captain, only brought Rashid on in the seventh over, by which time Evin Lewis and Kieran Powell had already knocked 37 off the target. Rashid struck in his first over, getting Powell to nick a googly to slip, and went around the wicket in his third over to trap Lewis lbw with another perfectly pitched wrong ‘un. This was highquality bowling, and West Indies’ batsmen, unsure of which way the ball would turn, were stabbing

nervously at him with leaden feet. Stanikzai, though, took Rashid off the attack after only a fiveover spell.

Gulbadin Naib, who had already made a sizeable contribution by scoring his third ODI fifty, then brought Afghanistan more cheer with his medium-pace, dismissing Jonathan Carter - who showed poor judgment while cutting - and Jason Mohammed - who failed to keep a cut down - in his first three overs. With West Indies four down, Stanikzai brought Rashid back after only two overs from Amir Hamza. Shai Hope and Roston Chase played out the legspinner’s sixth and seventh overs, but he struck again with the last ball of his eighth, flighting it wide of off stump and inviting the drive.

Dip deceived Chase into reaching for the ball, turn made him miss it, and all of that unbalanced him enough to drag him out of his crease. Afsar Zazai’s lightning hands did the rest behind the stumps.

By then, though, West Indies only needed 38, and only needed one reasonable partnership.

Hope and Rovman Powell provided that, and Jason Holder applied the necessary touch of urgency at

Rashid Khan outfoxed Evin Lewis with a googly ©AFP

Grant-Stuart tops field at Albert Rose Memorial

Walter Grant Stuart captured the second edition of the Albert Rose Memorial Road Race in Linden

D

espite dreary weather conditions, Walter Grant Stuart bested a field of cyclists that included the likes of Paul DeNobrega, Warren McKay, Jamal John and Andrew Green to win overall in the second edition of the Albert Rose Memorial Road race in Linden.

In the seniors’ category, with a time of 2hrs22m13s Grant Stuart beat Andrew Green who came in second, Paul De Nobrega third, Curtis Dey fourth, Jamal

John fifth and Mario King sixth.

Over in the Veterans’ U-45, Warren McKay claimed top spot ahead of Junior Niles while in the Veterans’ Over-45 Ian Jackson came in first, Andy Spencer second and Oliver Young third.

In the juniors’ action, Curtis Dey claimed first prize while Christopher Cornelius was second and Briton John closed out the top three.

Jonathan Ramsuchit

claimed bragging rights over his fellow juvenile riders when he beat Jamar Heligar and Esau Lowden in that category, for the females Hazina Barrett claimed top spot ahead of Abigail Jeffrey.

The Guyana Cycling Federation will run off their championships on Saturday June 17 starting with an eight mile time trial which begins from Hairuni to Long Creek Primary School and then back to Hairuni.

On Sunday June 18, the Veterans, Juniors, Ladies and Juveniles will start their race at Home stretch Avenue then proceed to Camp Wesleyan on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and then back to Home Stretch.

As the championships continue on Sunday, June 25, the seniors, juniors and veterans will start their race on home Stretch Avenue, proceed to Timehri, double back to the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway head to Camp Seweyo and return to Home Stretch. The distances for the various categories are as follows; Ladies and Juveniles: 53 Miles, Juniors and Veterans: 70miles and Seniors: 103.4 miles.

SCOREBOARD

the finish.

6-0-15-2 (4w), Nurse 9.3-0Afghanistan innings (50 overs 3-1-15-1 33-2, Chase maximum) Apart from Naib’s 51, there Noor Ali Zadran c & b Holder 8 was little to cheer for Afghanistan West Indies innings (target: Javed Ahmadi run out (Lewis/ when they batted, and their 9 136 runs from 50 overs) Holder) batsmen played no role in West E Lewis lbw b Rashid Khan 33 Rahmat Shah c Indies’ only real moments of Mohammed b Gabriel 1 K Powell c Mohammad Nabi b concern, with Shannon Gabriel Rashid Khan 12 Samiullah Shenwari lbw b and Alzarri Joseph spending brief Gabriel 2 S Hope† not out 48 spells off the field nursing injuries.

Asghar Stanikzai* c †Hope b J Carter c †Afsar Zazai b Joseph 11 Gulbadin Naib Gabriel walked off four legal balls 2 Mohammad Nabi c Chase b into his sixth over, clutching his J Mohammed c Samiullah Joseph 13 Shenwari b Gulbadin Naib 2 left side, while Joseph hurt his Afsar Zazai† c Nurse b Chase 9 R Chase st †Afsar Zazai b ankle while stumbling over the Gulbadin Naib c Joseph b 9 Rashid Khan advertising hoardings in a failed 51 R Powell c Rahmat Shah b Nurse attempt to flick a hook from Rashid Khan c †Hope b Holder 7 Mohammad Nabi 17 Rashid Khan back into play.

Dawlat Zadran c Lewis b Nurse 9 J Holder* not out 11 Having chosen to bat once Amir Hamza not out 0 Extras (lb 2, w 2) 4 again, Afghanistan made a Extras (lb 1, w 13, nb 1) 15 Total (6 wickets; 39.2 overs) 138 cautious start - Noor Ali Zadran Total (all out; 37.3 overs) 135 Did not bat: AR Nurse, shouldered arms to every ball of AS Joseph, ST Gabriel Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Noor Ali the sixth over, bowled by Holder Zadran, 7.1 ov), 2-24 (Javed Fall of wickets: 1-40 (KOA Ahmadi, 7.6 ov), 3-25 (Rahmat - and moved to 21 for 0 in seven Powell, 6.5 ov), 2-55 (Lewis, Shah, 8.5 ov), 4-34 (Samiullah 10.4 ov), 3-62 (Carter, 13.3 overs before the short ball found Shenwari, 10.1 ov), 5-48 ov), 4-72 (Mohammed, 17.4 its first victim. Holder got one to (Asghar Stanikzai, 14.4 ov), 6-51 ov), 5-98 (Chase, 24.6 ov), lift towards Noor’s helmet, and (Mohammad Nabi, 16.3 ov), 6-123 (R Powell, 35.6 ov) 7-81 (Afsar Zazai, 27.2 ov), 8-96 the batsman, fending awkwardly, Bowling: Dawlat Zadran 7.2-1(Rashid Khan, 30.6 ov), 9-127 popped back a return catch.

47-0, Mohammad Nabi 10-0-33(Dawlat Zadran, 35.2 ov), 101 (1w), Rashid Khan 10-1-26-3, A mix-up at the end of the 135 (Gulbadin Naib, 37.3 ov) Gulbadin Naib 5-1-15-2 same over, which left Ahmadi Bowling: Gabriel 7.4-0-25-2 (1w), Amir Hamza 7-0-15-0 and Rahmat Shah stranded at the (1nb, 3w), Holder 9-1-38-2(6w), same end, was quickly followed R Powell 2.2-0-8-0, Joseph

by Rahmat top-edging a hook off Shannon Gabriel to the fielder at long leg. Afghanistan had lost three wickets Indies called upon the offspin of Ashley Nurse and in 11 balls. Gabriel struck again in his next over, the gentle medium-pace of Rovman Powell.

Naib grew comfortable enough to launch a rare this time with a fuller length, the umpire ruling full ball from Joseph over the long-on boundary, Samiullah Shenwari out lbw even though the ball but that aside, runs came in a trickle. Zazai crawled seemed to be slanting down the leg side. West to 9 off 33 before stepping out and nicking Roston Indies introduced Alzarri Joseph in the 13th over, Chase to slip.

Then Rashid Khan, having top-edged and he immediately set about peppering Stanikzai and Nabi with bouncers. Neither survived the test. a hook over deep backward square leg, fell trying Stanikzai was unlucky to receive the ball of the a similar shot next ball, only managing a nick innings, angled in wickedly and rising head-high to the keeper. Naib, looking to farm the strike, began finding the straight boundary with greater while giving him no time to react.

Naib, expecting another short ball first up, frequency, but couldn’t keep the tail away from ducked at what turned out to be a good-length the strike entirely. Dawlat Zadran slogged Nurse to delivery outside off. Exceedingly nervy at the start deep midwicket, and a couple of overs later Naib, of his innings, he calmed down as Joseph, bowling having just reached his fifty, gave Nurse his second a six-over spell, lost some of his sting, and West wicket, holing out to long-off. ( Cricinfo)

National Schools Basketball Festival…

President’s College Girls, Adult Education continue winning ways

T

he resurgent President’s College Girls Basketball Team registered another strong showing as first round action in the National Schools Basketball Festival continued on Saturday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), dominating the St Joseph’s Females by scoring 41 points to their paltry 2 points.

Saffiya Green was chief contributor to the President’s College cause with a game high 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Roshelle Campbell had 7 points and Analisa Barclay added another 5 points and 5 rebounds.

Shantel White was St Joseph’s lone scorer with 2 points.

The dominant Marian’s Academy ended the round robin stage of the female contest undefeated, humbling the Bishops’ High by scoring 26 points to their 8 points.

Jada Mohan led the Marian girls’ with 11 points,

Jada Mohan in action for the Marian’s Academy during their clash against the Bishops’ High School

5 rebounds and 5 steals, while Kelian Sauers had 6 points and Jahrier Young contributed with 3 points and 9 rebounds.

Demelza Nicholas, with 3 points and 7 rebounds, and Kesann Charles, with 4 points and 5 rebounds, were the main contributors for the Bishop’s High unit.

The Adult Education male side continued their late surge in the round robin by pulling off another upset win, upstaging the Bishops’

boys by scoring 36 points to their 18 points.

David Douglas was the top scorer with 12 points and 5 rebounds; while Terrence Adau’s 10 points and Graig Harlequin’s 7 points and 7 rebounds ensured that the Adult Education side got past the opposition.

Royden Glasgow’s 5 points and 5 rebounds and Quivon Pierre’s 4 points and 7 rebounds were not enough to save the Bishops’ boys.

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

Pg 22

Harmon positive Government will support rugby

Men of Success! The Green Machine added another Rugby Americas North South Zone title to their collection, and could now have Government’s support to catapult them to the next level in international rugby (Akeem Greene Photo)

Pg 23

Timid West Indies survive Rashid scare to level series West Indies managed to level the series and will now have all to play for come Tuesday

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