Guyana Times International April 13 2018

INTERNATIONAL THE BEACON OF TRUTH

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‘We have to win it for Guyana’, says Warriors’ Tanvir Page 50

You can also read Guyana Times daily edition online at www.guyanatimesgy.com ISSUE NO. 392

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018

‘Another spate of political witch-hunting’

See story on page 11

…Defence lawyer says in relation to SOCU filing charges against Brassington, Dr Singh

Engaging the Diaspora

Guyana begins Over 500 jobs global search under threat for oil experts in Guyana …in effort to build Guyana’s Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo was in Canada recently where he met with members of the Diaspora and other officials for a series of important meetings. (In photo Dr Jagdeo has the rapt attention of some of those who turned out to meet with him).

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…as US sanctions on Russia bite deeper world-class industry

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Guyana begins global search for oil experts …in effort to build world-class industry

G

overnment will be moving to hire overseas experts in the oil and gas industry to staff the department of energy, which falls under the Ministry of the Presidency, President David Granger has revealed.

While admitting that there might be some challenges in getting the right skillset of people, he thinks if Guyana attracts the best, then it stands to benefit tremendously from this sector.

“It is bound to be a challenge because this is an international industry and we are aiming at a world-class industry.

So, we are aiming to get the best persons,” he explained.

According to the Head of State, Guyana has no experience in the field and because there is only a small petroleum unit which is now in the Natural Resources Ministry, there is need for

expansion.

“And we obviously have to attract the best people from around the world. So we are not attempting to avoid that responsibility.

We will ensure that those things happen,” he added.

In providing an update on the setting up of this department, the Head of State said a road map is being developed so as to attract the best in the business to work for the local oil sector.

“We have to identify personnel, we have to identify buildings, and we have to start advertising to attract the quality personnel that can lead this important department into the future,” he explained.

The President said his Government is being very careful about its approach because it wants the best outcome for this new industry. He said by the end of May there will be some further announcements.

Cabinet in March officially approved the creation of an energy department that would now oversee Guyana’s oil and gas sector. Ministerial responsibility for the sector was stripped from Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman and given to Minister of State Joseph Harmon.

Government said the reason for this change was mainly to bring some organisational structure to the sector that will look at legislation to be introduced, negotiation with potential investors, exploration and production licences, public communication, and the engagement of experts, among others.

They also assured that energy-related responsibilities lying with Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson would remain untouched for now, especially responsibility for the Guyana Power and Light.

Trotman, and indeed the Government, has received much criticism for the way the budding oil sector is being handled.

There have, in the past, even been calls to have Trotman removed from his position.

The main reason for this was because of the discovery that Government had stashed in a private account in the Central Bank, US$18 million it had received from ExxonMobil as a signing bonus.

Though this discovery was made since last year, the Government has made no attempt to have the money placed into the Consolidated Fund.

Many have argued that Article 216 of the Guyana Constitution dictates that all public revenue be placed in the Consolidated Fund.

Trotman was also criticised for his handling of the oil contracts be-

President David Granger

tween Government and ExxonMobil. Even the Government’s own adviser on petroleum, Dr Jan Mangal, has been sceptical of Guyana’s two per cent royalty on earnings from oil sales, which he said is low compared to global standards.

While Dr Mangal has not objected to the 50 per cent profit share Guyana

will receive, he does believe that the generous tax concessions and two per cent royalty is nothing to boast about. Others have also come out criticising Trotman, including outspoken Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, who believes Trotman’s handling of the oil sector could lead to future disaster.

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EDITORIAL

Engendering trust

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t is not hard to discern that trust is a commodity that is in very short supply among our people, after almost three years under the PNC-led APNU/AFC coalition. While one could not speak of a “groundswell”, there was certainly enough trust engendered to have squeaked past the PPPC, even though the long incumbency of the latter might have been the overriding factor. However, since then, the trust has evaporated like fine mist exposed to sunshine, after a series of unfortunate actions, ranging from their immediate 50 per cent raise for ministers to the unilateral closure of half of the sugar industry, which threw 7000 workers onto the breadlines.

The lack of trust between the people and Government was most recently manifested when the long-feuding branches of the labour movement, FITUG and TUC, took a common position to resist hints that control of GuySuCo may revert to the Minister of Agriculture. With such personalisation of mistrust, we are in danger of it becoming ingrained in our national psyche after the dyspeptic and dystopian policies practised by the Government. But this eventuality does not bode well for the development of a more secure and harmonious society all Guyanese so strongly desire. Trust is the cement that holds together any agglomeration of humanity. The very notion of “social” implies a recognition of predictability in the actions of people that has to be undergirded by trust. Absent this crucial element, we revert to the law of the jungle.

The Swedish-born philosopher and ethicist Sissela Bok wrote, “Trust is a social good to be protected just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink. When it is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse.”

As far as the life of nations go, ours is still in its infancy.

But surely we must, as a people, recognise it is not only our interests, but our fates that are interwoven and intertwined.

Whatever we may value – be it material, cultural or spiritual goods – we inevitably have to fall back on others to secure it, or at least not to frustrate its acquisition. And this is where trust comes into the picture.

This is not to acknowledge there is a certain element of risk in the matter of trust, defined as: “an individual’s belief in, and willingness to act on the basis of, the words, actions, and decisions of another.”

As people go through life, a history of previous social interactions would have alerted them to the extent to which others can be relied on to keep their word, and which experience may guide them in new, ambiguous situations.

All of which leads to the formation of heuristics that facilitate dealing with the reality in front of us without having to go through convoluted analyses, which most of us are incapable of, to begin with. In Guyana today, the Government has eroded the “benefit of the doubt” given to them initially, and which is de rigueur in the realm of the public arena.

Today, a wide swathe of Guyanese automatically assume the Government is prevaricating. We expect the worst and take pre-emptive, “defensive” steps. Quite frequently, and not too surprisingly, our expectations have a self-fulfilling effect, as the others respond in kind. And the trust deficit increases.

What we are suggesting is that while this dour (and sour) attitude is certainly not good for our health – by making us more frustrated in the Hobbesian, dog-eat-dog world – it is up to the Government to change this condition by keeping its campaign promises. The PNC can begin by treating its coalition partners – first within APNU and then with the AFC — with greater fidelity to what was negotiated explicitly and implicitly. By now, most Guyanese accept that there has to be a rapprochement between the two major political forces, which can only become reality if greater trust is engendered first and foremost by the actions of the incumbent PNC.

The National School of Theatre Arts and Drama held its ninth production of short plays at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) on Tuesday evening under the name “Ahwe Cultcha”. The production comprised four plays namely “Ol’ Higue”, “Baccoo”, “Celebration of Life” and “Matacoor Night”; the performance was part of the practical requirements for students at the school (Carl Croker photo)

Winnie Mandela: One of the great personalities of our times

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n April 2, 2018, anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Mandela passed away, after a period of prolonged illness in South Africa.

Known for her fiery personality and courage, Mrs Mandela’s death has brought to a close a period in South Africa’s history defined by struggle, racism and ethnic insecurity, and inequality.

Side by side with her husband Nelson Mandela, Winnie struggled against discrimination, marginalization, and victimization of South Africa’s blacks by white minority oppressors. Even after her husband was imprisoned, she remained committed to the struggle for an end to the dastardly system of apartheid, even before she became the symbol of resistance and the face of hope for millions of black South Africans.

While it was true that Mrs Mandela was many different things to her family, to Africa and to the world, she was indeed a patriot and revolutionary woman, who did all that was necessary to support her husband’s vision and passion for equality and respect for all the races and people in South Africa.

In fact, CNN described her as an “anti-apartheid crusader.” The BBC called her an “anti-apartheid campaigner.”

Some newspapers described her merely as “controversial.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said she was the “face of hope and courage.” For years after her husband’s imprisonment, she was the unfortunate face of a just cause. The kindest description was “the former wife of Nelson Mandela.”

It is true that Mrs Mandela had a complex and unpredictable personality. After all, she had seen the world in her own colours. She did not forgive easily, and she was very

suspicious of whites. And the world saw how unforgiving she could be back in 1993 when she even scolded her ex- for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. De Klerk, who had overturned decades of apartheid and led the white National Party to seek a partnership for black-and-white peace. “I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel with his jailer de Klerk,” she said. “Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart? He had to. The times dictated it, the world had changed, and our struggle was not a flash in the pan, it was bloody to say at the least. We had given rivers of blood.

“Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much white. It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded.”

But at Mr. Mandela’s funeral in 2013, standing at the coffin, she imposed herself on the rites as the grieving widow, even though Mr. Mandela had married again.

Mrs Mandela did not believe that enough was done or accomplished over the past decades in dealing with South Africa’s race problem, but she was satisfied that progress was taking place and blacks were reasserting themselves as

dominant players in the country’s socio-economic politics . When she died, South Africa’s politics was reaching a precipice, with attacks on white farmers increasing and rumblings in the parliament about expropriating more whiteowned land.

Political events in South Africa are trending Winnie’s way.

But the moving finger writes, and history is not written in permanent ink.

That aside, She suffered greatly at the hands of the white minority Government, especially by the fact she was deliberately detained by the authorities every time her children, who were forced to live abroad, came home to visit her. But she met the brutality of racial segregation with fire.

Recall, too, that by the time her husband was set free, Mrs Mandela had been battered and bruised by the apartheid system, and its ugly scars etched deep. In later years, her reputation became tainted legally and politically, and few were surprised that their marriage did not survive.

But as anti-apartheid activist Mosioua Lekota noted in her defence: “Those who did nothing under apartheid never made mistakes.”

As put by retired archbishop and Nobel laureate Mr Desmond Tutu she remains the “defining symbol of the struggle against apartheid” and someone whose “courageous defiance was deeply inspirational…to generations of activists”.

Winnie Mandela will be remembered as one of the great personalities of our times. She was an inspiration to women of all racial backgrounds as an enduring example of resistance to tyranny. And also to men everywhere who fight against oppression of the weak by the strong.

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Govt slams Toshaos body for “disrespecting President’s Office” …says leaders are too demanding, confrontational

By Samuel Sukhnandan

T

he Government of Guyana on Wednesday accused the country’s independent National Toshaos Council (NTC) of disrespecting President David Granger as it launched a scathing attack on several vocal Indigenous representatives who were not towing the line but exposing serious malpractices of the current A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change Government.

In a scathing attack on the NTC and its Vice President, Lennox Shuman, the Indigenous People’s Affairs Ministry on Wednesday accused the Council of being confrontational, demanding and disrespectful in their writings to President David Granger.

The Ministry said it has observed a trend of public posturing by NTC executives and Shuman in particular, stating that the NTC executive has so far not distanced itself from what they described as rather divisive, disingenuous and sometimes

incoherent statements being made by these officials.

“Simultaneous with calls for meetings with His Excellency President David Granger, Lennox Shuman, and Vice Chairman of the NTC issued a call for mass public protest against the Government by our Indigenous citizenry. The Ministry will allow the Guyanese public to judge Shuman’s intentions,” a statement said.

Further to that, the Ministry said it is aware of countless complaints of alleged disrespectful and inhumane treatment of the residents of St Cuthbert’s Mission by Shuman.

“The horrifying stories told by residents of this 129-year-old village of proud, mostly Lokonos, range from threats of dispossessing them of lands for disobeying Shuman to referring to residents as “refugees” as well as forcibly expelling church leaders from the village,” it claimed.

According to the statement, residents paint a picture of Shuman be-

ing a “leviathan Toshoa.”

This, the Ministry said, is inconsistent with known and revered traditional leadership, love and respect for others. The Ministry described the NTC Vice Chairman as a “failed leader” who is now being rejected by his village.

“The Ministry of

Indigenous People’s Affairs rejects the Shuman-led attack against Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples. The Ministry believes that the upcoming village elections provide a vehicle for the resolution of all of these issues by the people themselves…,” it added.

Now that the current NTC executive is nearing the end of its threeyear term in office, the Ministry reminded that the Council is yet to explain to its membership and the Ministry why it continues to resist the legislative obligation of accounting for the finances placed at its disposal.

“This current NTC executive has never ceased to condemn the G$16 million subvention provided it by Government…

It is a statutory obligation of the NTC’s executive committee to prepare and present ‘annual reports’ of its financial operations, a requirement which it has never satisfied,” it explained.

Meanwhile, the Ministry also accused the Chairman and Vice Chairman for not addressing ‘opposition political interference’ into the affairs of the NTC. While claiming that it was not unexpected, the Ministry said it remains clear that the ill effects of political domination will take some more time to undo.

When contacted for a comment on Wednesday, Shuman said he was in his village and could not comment on the matter unless he reads the statement in its entirety. The NTC Vice Chairman said he would also like to be given sometime to ‘digest’ what was written about him. He said he may respond Friday.

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APNU/AFC corruption chants have suddenly died Dear Editor, Our Constitution makes it unambiguously clear that supreme power, or sovereignty, or authority to make decisions which affect their lives, belongs to the people, and the elected representatives exist to give effect to the will of the people.

As an RDC councillor, when I took the oath, I swore to discharge my duties without fear or favour, affection or illwill. I intended to do just that. In addition, at every RDC meeting, the prayer is read by the Clerk of Council, who exhorts everyone to invoke ‘divine guidance’ in all our deliberations, so that we could be able to serve our region.

I have never taken this prayer lightly as well.

I have written many missives on corruption with the intention of opening the ‘eyes’ of the relevant authorities, so that our citizens can have value for money. When in opposition, this Government made ‘corruption and transparency’ their mantra on the political platform. Now that they are in Government, the corruption chant suddenly died, and those who highlight corrupt practices are being attacked and threatened to keep their mouths shut.

I wish to make it clear that I was expelled from the AFC because I dared to expose corrup-

tion and cronyism within the AFC. Today the same evil practices are in existence, but have been multiplied exponentially.

In one of my letters, I wrote about corruption in Region 6, and I made reference to the ‘junk’ bulldozer issue.

The REO wrote a strong letter to the Chairman, which was circulated to all the RDC councilors, demanding that I recant what I had written.

She claimed that I implied that no bond was in existence when what I stated was that I queried the existence of the bond. In that letter, she claimed that a bond is in existence. However, at the last RDC statutory

Mental health issues should be taken seriously before further damage Dear Editor, The Caribbean Voice (TCV) has been in the forefront of calling for mental health training for all Police Officers which would not only make them better prepared to handle cases involving mental health issues such as child abuse, domestic violence and suicide, but will also make them more aware of mental health issues affecting their colleagues.

This issue was also raised in a recent meeting with the personal assistant to Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.

Also, TCV recalls being contacted by the GDF, a few years ago, to conduct suicide prevention workshops for members of the GDF. Our follow-up attempts

to finalise arrangements for the workshops elicited no responses from the source that had made initial contact with us.

However, the issue of mental health workshops for the GDF members was also raised with Minister Ramjattan’s personal assistant in that recent meeting.

In an article in 2016, the US magazine, “Psychology Today” pointed out that: “Almost a quarter of (US) military members have symptoms of at least one mental health condition.”

In fact, research indicates that soldiers and Police in general are more susceptible to mental health dysfunction than the general population. And Guyana would be no exception to this reality. Thus, whether through TCV, or any oth-

er entity or combination of entities, all members of the GPF and the GDF should be provided with urgent mental health training on the one hand and enough psychologists (one psychologist centrally located would be woefully inadequate) to ensure a proactive approach to diagnosing and addressing mental health issues.

Referencing Captain Orwain Sandy, one letter writer asked whether there are more ‘ticking time bombs’. The Caribbean Voice urges the establishment of a mechanism, in both the GPF and the GDF, to detect and defuse all such time bombs before further harm results.

Sincerely, The Caribbean Voice

meeting, it was discovered that no such bond was in existence. In fact, bond dated 13th March, 2018 was for an entirely new contract for the supply of a D3 angle blade bulldozer.

In another part of the said letter, I wrote what the fishermen at #43 Village told me with regards to the work which was done on the #43 Canal and the excavation work which was supposed to commence on the clearing and excavation of the channel.

What I did was to relate their grievance, so that it can be heard. I bore no malice towards anyone, especially the contractor, whom I did not name when I reported the fishermen’s

conversation with me.

I bear absolutely no illwill or malice, and I do unreservedly apologize if he feels that way!

It is my understanding that, as a councillor, I need to communicate and collaborate widely, and I need to engage citizens in my region, listen, and highlight their grievances and advocate for them. In the case of the #43 fishermen’s plight, the situation had reached crisis point with no resolution in sight.

They were losing money and they were frustrated. I had to make known their grievances, so that their lives can be returned to normal.

My intention is to represent those people, and to make a difference

to the quality of their lives, which have seen more than a month’s deterioration.

At the last RDC meeting, an APNU councillor took offence to the fact that I was highlighting alleged practices of cronyism and corruption.

Mr Fraser, in addressing the Council, demanded that I stop writing negative things in the press, and that I should highlight the progress. What progress he is referring to I am still in a quandary to fathom. He fully supported the REO, even though it was evidenced that no bond existed on the junk bulldozer.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

‘Boyish’ wrangling over sugar industry should stop Dear Editor, Reports in the media (7/4/18) about FITUG and GTUC wrangling over which minister (Agriculture or Finance) should have oversight responsibility for Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Guyana’s number one industry, is indeed a sad reflection of a major flaw in which this premier industry has been floundering for far too long.

There is no doubt that the sugar industry has had too long a spell of depressing performance, about which there has been a number of diagnoses and remedies proposed by numerous ‘politicians’, ‘pundits’, ‘professionals’ and ‘pragmatists’ among us.

‘Privatisation’ vs ‘Nationalisation’ vs ‘Outsourcing of the

Management’ of the industry have been among the several plasters prescribed for the sore and sorry plight of the industry, and these have all been given a fair chance to prove their worth (or worthlessness!). (In similar vein, the Governmentappointed CoI into the sugar industry has also made its recommendations, upon which we are still to see any action).

Now, out of the blue — as the saying goes — we have a debate about which ‘minister’, not which ‘ministry’, should take control of this industry. At this rate, we may soon have the Minister of Cohesion being proposed as the most appropriate person to oversee the industry, since it appears that ‘personal’ or ‘per-

sonality’ wrangling is at the core of this poor industry’s plight!

My good friend and professional colleague, Mr E.B. John, in another section of the media, identified the need for good old “team work” in the industry. It is now palpably clear that we also, or moreso, need a strong dose of decisive leadership from the very top.

Mr President, may I respectfully beg for your necessarily decisive intervention? I do not have to tell you, sir, that there is too much at stake at the national level to allow this apparently ‘boyish’ wrangling to go on and for the industry to continue in an apparently rudderless mode.

Sincerely, Nowrang Persaud

Our political system is aligned along racial lines Dear Editor, We have made a fateful and depressive decision to align our political system along racial lines, and we have seen its destruction unravel us like a tsunami from the beginning to now. I have always wondered why we must be in a situation like this and why is it we cannot separate politics and the development of Guyana from who we are as different races.

After learning more about our beloved brother Walter Rodney, I un-

derstood that race and politics have always been a tool of manipulation to control the people and keep them with just enough to survive, but not enough to thrive and have a voice for determination. When the slave masters left our country, our own brothers and sisters who had some position of control wanted to live like the slaves masters, so they continued the trend of the British to exploit their own.

As our leaders schemed and propagat-

ed the divide and conquer strategy by pitting Indians and Blacks against each other, it morphed into an uncontrollable beast that we now accept as normal. But we never took the time to see, that upper-class Blacks exploited other Blacks while upper-class Indians did the same to their own race. And sadly, all political campaigns in Guyana have always been about racial division and this never changed to this day.

The truth is that

there have always been only two choices in Guyana and that’s either the PPP or PNC, and if someone chooses to cross the line on the grounds of politics, they would immediately be branded a traitor on either side.

In effect, we have closed all possibility of hope to have a political system that supports objective thinking based on what Guyanese deserve and not what a politician or party wants.

Rodney was the only

leader that offered a way that was better for Guyana and that is why he was killed. But it is important that we do not forget what Rodney stood for, his dream must live on and grow so that we can find a way forward that gives us a better future. I chose to support the PPP in 2015 not because of race, but because I believe that they are more efficient and progressive than the PNC. As a mixed-race Guyanese coming from an Indian and

Amerindian mother and Black and White father, I have embraced my African, Amerindian and Indian roots because at a deeper level, there is not much difference between them.

We all need the same things: to provide for our families a better life for them that is not hard as we had it and that our politicians do not forget this simple need as they take control of our tax dollars.

Sincerely, Malcolm Watkins

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

LGE 2018: Consultations with Coalition partners have started, says Granger

AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan

C

hairman of the A Partnership for National Unity coalition (APNU), President David Granger, has confirmed that discussions are ongoing with coalition partners as they prepare to campaign and contest the constitutionally due Local Government Elections (LGE) which are slated for year-end.

The five parties include the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Justice For All Party (JFAP), Guyana Action Party (GAP), and the National Front Alliance (NFA).

“As you know, I belong to a five-party partnership. The (Alliance For Change) AFC is one party in the coalition but I have to consult with my five parties and that consultation process has started,” he said.

The Head of State explained that the APNU has not reengaged the AFC as yet but they are aware of the comments that are being made in the media of working together for the LGE. “And we are still consulting with our partners to ensure that we come up with a way forward.

“What I’m happy to say is all six partners are committed to coalition politics and this is the face we will present to the electorate at Local Government Elections later this year.

So that is our objective and it is just a matter of working out the modalities,” he added.

The President has also confirmed receiving a letter from the AFC, which speaks to the elections. This comes against the backdrop of recent comments made by AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan, who said on April 5 that the party has decided to contest the election under one ticket.

“We have made a decision that we are going as a coalition. We have to thrash out a number of issues preferably in relation to candidacy candidates, and number of other

things,” he told the press, while noting that the AFC has noticed some unfortunate development in the Georgetown municipality.

Ramjattan was referring to the attitude of APNU Councillors, including Town Clerk Royston King towards AFC members, which he claimed is “bothering us.”

The AFC Chairman indicated that statements in this regard have been made and will be officially raised through communication with APNU officials.

In mid-January, Trotman had announced the possibility of the party breaking away from the APNU for this year’s elections. The AFC leader went as far as to reveal that there was a strong body of opinion within the party that the AFC should go alone, which may have been prompted over delays with reviewing the Cummingsburg Accord.

The AFC has, of recent, come under fire for the perceived submissive role it played when it joined forces with APNU. In 2017 top leadership of the AFC had decided to revise its governing agreement with APNU. Days later, General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), the leading party in the APNU coalition, Amna Ally, said the APNU is prepared to contest the LGE without the AFC. However, the President had hinted that contesting LGE as a coalition would have been the best option.

Meanwhile, despite several infightings among coalition members, especially at the level of the City Council, Ramjattan sought to defend both parties when he was asked to comment on the issue.

He claimed that the relationship particularly at the Central Government level is cordial. “We have tremendously cordial relationship at that highest level.

I have a very good relationship with President Granger and his entire team and it’s not reflective of any kind of relationship at the bottom there as had happened in the municipality,” he explained to the media.

The Minister admitted that the AFC’s Opposition to the controversial parking meter project might have resulted in APNU controlling both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor positions.

Only recently, the PNCdominated Council voted to replace AFC member Lionel Jaikarran as Deputy Mayor.

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Jagdeo roasts Govt over ‘failed approach to national economic management’

B

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

orrowing from multi-national partners has been a way of strategic economic development in Guyana for quite some time. But previous loans pale in comparison to recent plans to borrow approximately US$900 million and observers are

worried.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday expressed much concern over the development. The trained economist and former President referred to the plan as a failed approach to national economic manage-

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

ment and pointed out that the sum is almost equivalent to Guyana’s total external debt of G$236 billion by 2015.

“The shocking revelation… is serious cause for concern,” he stated. “We had however predicted this. The massive growth in the size of the nation-

al budgets, primarily on consumption, could not be financed by the hefty increase in taxation; so this hopelessly misguided [A Partnership for National Unity] APNU Government had to resort to large-scale borrowing.”

He added that this

failed approach to national economic management was tried in the past and it led to a bankrupt country and resulted in devastating consequences for Guyanese.

“I am sure everyone would recall that the external debt was over 900 per cent of [Gross Domestic Product] GDP in 1992, which was reduced to 36 per cent of GDP in 2015. They plan to double it again within five years.”

According to Jagdeo, borrowing monies without feasibility studies, vision or plan will not solve Guyana’s economic woes.

Instead, however, he expressed fears that this will have a long-term effect on the wellbeing of current and future generations of Guyanese.

It was announced that the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has, for the period 2018 to 2020, committed to providing Guyana with financial and technical assistance to the tune of US$900 million. This, it was made known, would be directed into the country’s key development areas to assist with its plans for continued social and economic development.

This disclosure was made by Finance Minister Winston Jordan during his address at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the IsDB Group in Tunisia. According to the Minister, this money will aid Government’s plans in a meaningful way, as it would give direct support to several Government programmes in many developmental areas.

“The Bank fielded a programming mission in December 2017, where a work programme for the three-year period 20182020 was formalised.

Financing and technical assistance of about US$900 million will be directed to key development areas; including economic infrastructure, rural development, human development, and trade and competitiveness,” the Minister explained.

Jordan claimed that Government has been steadfast in its resolve to ensure growth in the economy. That resolve, according to him, resulted in economic growth averaging about three per cent between 2015 and 2017. The Finance Minister noted that this growth was achieved at a time when many of Guyana’s neighbours were facing low or negative growth rates and reduced standards of living.

“My Government has

and continues to concentrate on a number of key strategic approaches for the economic well-being of our country. These include: strengthening national planning; building a robust oil and gas industry; and consolidating the macroeconomic fundamentals,” he had said. “But importantly also, the aim is to foster economic diversification and strengthen Private Sector capacity, among other (things).

Backpedalling

Shortly after, the Opposition Leader slammed Government over excessive borrowing. The Finance Ministry, through its Public Relations Officer Wanita Huburn, said Government has actually not received a loan but rather is being given access to a fund through which they can access monies. According to Huburn, the sum of US$900 million is “potentially available”.

“The Ministry of Finance notes the conclusion reached by some media houses that Guyana is a recipient of a US$900 million loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and wishes to clarify that contrary to that conclusion, the IsDB has a resource envelope of US$900 million that is potentially available from which the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana can borrow,” she stated.

According to Huburn, during the period November 27-29, 2017, the IsDB mounted a mission to Guyana to develop a medium-term work plan for the period 20182022. That work plan outlines a pipeline of projects that the Bank can support over the next five years.”

She noted that the potential areas of collaboration between the Bank and the Government of Guyana include the agriculture, energy, banking and finance sectors. In addition, the monies can be used for human and rural development.

“The current package of potential projects, consisting of proposed grant and loan operations is valued at approximately US$900 million. The Government is currently in the process of designing projects to commence accessing some portions of the IsDB resources,” she stated.

However, in a previous interview with this publication, Huburn had stated that 99 per cent of the US$900 million would be in the form of loans.

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Over 500 jobs under threat in Guyana …as US sanctions on Russia bite deeper

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lthough the R u s s i a n Government has announced plans to provide Rusal with shortterm liquidity and other assistance owing to the US sanctions it is now faced with, several international financial groups have distanced themselves from the shares, bonds and metal of the aluminium giant.

Reuters has reported that shares of the company will be deleted from global equity and debt indexes while its metal will not be allowed on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the CME Group.

The company will also be deleted from FTSE Russell’s equity indexes effective from the open on April 13.

Rusal will also be excluded on April 30 from JPMorgan’s CEMBI index group of emerging market corporate bonds.

Also, Bloomberg users in Europe have stopped displaying share prices of Rusal, EN+ Group and Swiss pumpmaker Sulzer, all of which are subject to the sanctions, Reuters also reported.

Rusal’s shares on the Hong Kong index have

slumped by half since the sanctions were imposed on Friday and they gave up another 1.9 per cent on Wednesday.

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev claimed that the new sanctions were an attempt to capture global markets for US companies.

The Government of Guyana, however, said it was monitoring developments relating to the sanctions. Rusal is one of the largest aluminium producers in the world and has operations in Guyana in the form of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), employing over 500 persons, whose jobs could be in limbo as a result of the crash the company is facing on the international market.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge said on Wednesday that it would not be easy to give an immediate analysis of the situation, but the developments were being monitored. He said the Administration was concerned as to any adverse consequences the situation may have on employment of locals.

“But at this point in

time, I don’t think that either we or the company would be in a position to say ‘this is what will happen tomorrow’ as a consequence. It (the situation) will evolve,” the Minister stated.

Shocked

Guyana Times International spoke with a few of Rusal’s employees, who chose to remain anonymous, to see how they were affected by the issue of the sanctions.

An employee said ships could not enter at the moment, but operations were normal apart from the loading of the barges.

The employee said workers were shocked to learn of the issue as they thought the company would be shut down. However, it was explained that employees were told by management at a meeting on Wednesday that the company should not be affected by the sanctions, but was awaiting word from the parent company which should be forthcoming by April 15.

“They say is just some things got to put in

place and back, we back in operation (loading of barges). ]Everybody just working as per normal.

Ships can’t come in, so it ain’t make no sense loading the barges here…if they load the stuff and leave it there with stuff inside, the company that Rusal hire would have to pay more money. When the barge is empty, they pay less money. So they just cease the operations from loading barges. By the 15th, we’re supposed to get a word to start back the operation,” employees said.

They added that in the meantime, mining was still ongoing in Aroaima. “We still hoping that by the 15th we could start back in operation. If not, I think the whole country would suffer, because we have about 700 workers here and in the Berbice River, we don’t have anything else to do. Five hundred workers can’t do farming. It would be great pressure on us so we’re hoping, but in the meantime we could try to prepare.”

The employee said this should serve as an eye opener for the com-

Rusal’s operation at Aroaima

pany to ensure necessary plans were in place.

Another employee attached to the company explained that while workers were currently working as per normal with the 12-hour shift, the company that usually shipped bauxite from Rusal to New Amsterdam took back the barges so that aspect of work was presently at a standstill.

Workers further explained that suppliers were refusing to do business with the company at the moment owing to the sanctions. “Right now things ain’t looking too nice,” one employee said. The employee also complained about the working conditions

at the company, noting that local employees were still being ill-treated, especially those attached to the Union. “If they can pay us off and go back to wherever they come from, it would be good for me,” the worker said.

The US Treasury on April 6 announced sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, saying they were profiting from a Russian State engaged in “malign activities” around the world. These included Oleg Deripaska, Rusal, and his newly-created holding company EN+ Group.

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Guyana among several countries listed as “major money laundering jurisdiction” – US report

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he US Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) Volume Two of March 2018 has listed Guyana, among many other countries, as “major money laundering jurisdictions in 2017”.

The report declared that there was a lack of strong interagency cooperation among anti-money laundering (AML) and drug-fighting agencies, adding that these departments did not have adequate human resources and the necessary training for complete effectiveness.

The report called for more training, education, and resources to improve the fight against money laundering. In its 2018 overview of Guyana, the INCSR posited that “narcotics trafficking and government corruption are the primary sources of laundered funds”. Other issues outlined were human trafficking, illicit gold mining, contraband, and tax evasion.

The report reiterated that Guyana was a transit country for South American cocaine destined for Europe, the

Caribbean and North America, noting that traffickers were attracted to Guyana’s remote airstrips, porous land borders, and weak security infrastructure.

It was outlined that Guyana should continue to provide training to “increase awareness and understanding of AML laws within the judiciary and agencies. The major agencies involved in anti drug and money laundering efforts, such as the Guyana Police Force (GPF); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU); the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU) and the

Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) were observed as not being effective enough owing to “inadequate human resources, insufficient training, and a lack of strong interagency cooperation”.

Apart from Guyana, Brazil, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States itself were, among many others, listed as “Major Money Laundering Jurisdictions in 2017”.

Only last month former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall ac-

cused his successor, Basil Williams, of conveying the impression that the country was compliant with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism

(AML/CFT) requirements, based on statements he had made in the National Assembly.

He had pointed out that Williams admitted in Parliament he was informed by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) that amendments made to the AML/CFT Amendment Bill in 2015 were in violation of the international guidelines.

Williams, he had observed, told the House that he was also directed to remove them from the legislation.

Nandlall recalled that when the coalition took office in 2015, the first Bill it passed was the AML/CFT Amendment Bill, Number 1 of 2015.

It was tabled at the very first sitting of the 11th

Parliament.

“It contained all of the objectionable amendments. It was tabled by Williams. He was boastful that he was able to pass the Bills that the previous Government could not pass. It is obvious, therefore, that we were never compliant with the international requirements, as the AG (had) previously informed the nation,” he stressed last month The former AG had also noted that while in Opposition, the now Government caused Guyana to be blacklisted by the CFATF, and to be sanctioned internationally. “Now in Government, they have caused the very same thing to happen!” he posited in March.

Lawrence calls for more cooperation …to ensure regional excesses are addressed

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ublic Health Minister Volda Lawrence used her seat on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to call for collaboration to effect reform of the regional administrations as she noted that these matters were of national importance.

She made this call during Monday’s PAC sitting. At the time, the question on the floor was the staffing strength of regional administrations and how allocations for employment were being determined.

Lawrence, a former Chairperson of the PAC, urged that both sides collaborate and focus on the issues. According to Lawrence, there has never been a time when collaboration was not a feature of the Committee’s work.

“I have been the Chair of this Public Accounts Committee and there was never a time when the Public Accounts Committee has done its work without full collaboration with both sides of this House, and I say it without fear of contradiction.

“Because we focus on the issues, we saw it as a national issue, and we had to address it, so that we can make the accountability within every agency in this country done in accordance with the rules and regulations.”

PAC member Juan Edghill had been question-

Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence

ing Region Five (MahaicaBerbice) Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ovid Morrison on whose authority certain vacancies were being filled.

Morrison noted that the vacancies were filled by the public service ministry.

PAC Chairperson Irfaan Ali also questioned him on the number of staff actually required on the payroll.

Lawrence had noted that during the course of the year, priorities change and if more staff was needed, permission could be requested from the public service ministry.

Under questioning from Ali, Morrison confirmed that they did have approval for the 90 additional staff. Edghill questioned how many were new positions that were created. Morrison noted that there were no new positions.

Edghill pointed out

that at one time the authorised employment strength was declared.

He lamented that this has been discontinued and because the Regions have ceased presenting their authorised strength, Regions could employ staff in an ad-hoc manner.

Ali questioned how many contracted employees were in the Region.

However, when Morrison balked at the question, Ali upbraided him for his lack of preparation.

While Morrison admitted that there has been an increase in contracted employees, he promised to supply the actual figures at a later time.

The considerations concluded with the Chairman reminding the REO of the information he has to return to the Committee with.

Morrison gave a commitment to providing the information by the end of the week.

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‘Another spate of political witch-hunting’ …Defence lawyer says in relation to SOCU filing charges against Brassington, Dr Singh

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he Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) has instituted legal proceedings against Former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington for what it says is “misconduct in public office: contrary to common law” as it pertains to the sale of three plots of state land.

Scheduled to appear at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, the three charges advanced by SOCU were not read by Chief Magistrate, Ann Mc Lennan when the case was called since the men were not in the Jurisdiction.

Representing Dr Singh is Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall, while Attorney-atLaw, Stanley Moore appeared for Brassington.

The case was adjourned to May 7, 2018 to allow the defence lawyers to contact their clients concerning the charges.

In the three charges advanced by SOCU and seen by this publication, it was outlined that Singh being the Chairman of NICIL and Brassington being the CEO in December of 2008 by way of Agreement of Sale and Purchase sold to Scady Business Corporation a track of state land (4.7 acres) being a portion of Plantation Liliendaal, situated on the

East Coast of Demerara for the sum of G$150, 000, 000 “knowing that the said property was valued at G$340,000,000 by Rodrigues Architects Associate, a competent valuation officer.”

Similarly, the other charge outlined that Singh and Brassington sold to Multicinemas Guyana Inc a plot of state land (10 acres) at Turkeyen for the sum of G$185, 037, 000 “without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.”

Moreover, it was outlined that Singh and Brassington in 2009, by way of an agreement of sale and Purchase sold to the National Hardware Guyana Limited a track of state land (103 acres), being a portion of Plantation Liliendaal and Turkeyen for the sum of G$598, 659,398 (VAT exclusive) “without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.”

However, during an interview with this newspaper, Attorney for Singh and Opposition Parliamentarian Nandlall blasted SOCU on the fact that they had not, at any point, made contact with the individuals who were being investigated prior to the disclosure that charges will be laid.

“Last year, on behalf of Ashni Singh, I wrote to SOCU informing them that I am the lawyer for Dr Singh and that

File photo: From left, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington and former Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh

should they require him to assist in any investigations, that I am prepared to make contact with him and that he stands willing and able to assist and participate in any investigation…I received no response to that letter…They called me late yesterday evening to indicate to me that Dr Singh will be charged,” he explained.

Further, Nandlall asserted “since I sent that letter and during the [course] of whatever investigation they were conducting, no one attempted to make contact with Dr Singh.”

Nandlall, who also held the post of former Attorney General, also questioned why

a criminal investigation of this type would be conducted and no attempt would be made to seek an input from the person or persons who are the subject of the investigation.

“You don’t investigate people behind their backs in a cloak and dagger fashion. That is not fair investigation. That is not how a democratic society works,” he said.

Nandlall explained that under their posts at NICIL, the duo (Singh and Brassington) never acted on their own accord in any decisions regarding the sale of properties.

“NICIL is a cooperation in law, it is run by a Board.

Ashni Singh, as Minister of Finance was ex-officio chair of that board. Brassington was the CEO. That board is a Government cooperation.

That board does not act without the Government’s approval…Over the years, NICIL has sold dozens of properties and a particular methodology was always used. Brassington nor Ashni Singh ever acted on their own. They always acted upon the approval or direction of the Board that governed NICIL. That Board always received the support and approval of the Cabinet- which is the Government of Guyana,” he said.

According to Nandlall “all the procedures were complied with and three plots of land were sold… This is not a criminal offence. Where is the crime?”

Moreover, he posited that this action by SOCU is nothing short of a “witch hunt”, highlighting that he is positive that he will win this case, and as such, he hopes that the State is aware that civil suits will be filed for defamation of character.

“This is another spate of witch hunting that is taking place where the criminal justice system is being used as a political weapon by those in government to persecute … and damage the reputation of two young Guyanese professionals.”

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Guyana could fall prey to spin-off effects of US sanctions on Russia

– PPP advisor

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s Rusal’s shares continue to tumble following United States sanctions against one of the company’s co-owners, President David Granger and Finance Minister Winston Jordan are being heavily criticised for having been caught “sleeping at the economic wheel” as hundreds of jobs and the availability of foreign exchange are under threat.

This contention was made on Wednesday

by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) advisor, Dr Peter Ramsaroop, who, in a statement, observed that Guyana could fall prey to the spin-off effects of the sanctions by US President Donald Trump’s Administration.

“The move against Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to freeze all of its US assets will no doubt have crippling effect on Rusal and by implication, its Guyana operations,” Dr Ramsaroop noted.

Deripaska is the main owner of the EN+ conglomerate, which is the co-owner of Rusal. US special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US presidential election. The US Treasury Department, in a statement on Friday, announced the sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies they either owned

PPP advisor Dr Peter Ramsaroop

or controlled, and 17 senior Government officials – who Washington said were profiting from the Russian Government’s engagement in “a range of malign activities” around the world.

Hong Kong-listed Rusal is one of the world’s biggest aluminium producers and is a key player in Guyana’s bauxite industry. The company’s exports to the United States accounted for over 10 per cent of its output.

The company also owns assets in Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, and Guinea as well as a stake in Australian QAL, the world’s top alumina refinery.

Following the steep shares’ drop, Guyana’s Government has been called upon to state an official position on the matter. Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge said on Wednesday that the Administration was analysing the sit-

uation. However, in Dr Ramsaroop’s view, the reaction has “again exposed a weakness in the David Granger Administration to accurately forecast international developments and put in place mitigation strategies”.

“A bailout of Rusal and a Government takeover of the Berbice operations is not out of the question, but will no doubt become an additional strain on the economy,” the advisor observed.

He questioned if Government would really want to bail out the Guyana’s bauxite industry “traditionally seen as supportive of the PNC” or if the Administration would shut it down as with the downsizing of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

“Businesses in Guyana and no doubt the sugar workers will be critically looking to see

what action the David Granger Administration will take in the bauxite industry, if any,” he pointed out.

He used the opportunity to highlight Government imposing “200 new taxes” in addition to now contracting “massive loans” which he said would lead to debt and no revenues. He opined that this would cause the economy to “go into a tail spin” which could see exchange rates skyrocketing.

“Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has now gone to the Islamic Development Bank and

secured what he calls a resource envelope – tantamount to a loan – but in the absence of any specific plans by the administration, it is clear Government’s resorting to debt to run the country.

“Guyana’s foreign exchange earnings continue to give slimmer and slimmer returns each year; the foreign reserves are now being used/abused and now even more jobs [are] to be lost,” the Opposition advisor contended. His concern over the sanctions has followed that of President of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union

(GBGWU) Lincoln Lewis who said on Tuesday that the Union was in the process of analysing the possible effects on local workers. The Rusal subsidiary, Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) currently employs over 500 persons.

According to reports, the sanctions against Rusal caused aluminium prices to surge, since all of the company’s assets under US jurisdiction are frozen. In fact, Reuters reported that as of Monday Rusal’s shares plunged as much as 41.8 per cent.

Man found guilty of raping teen

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Trevon Giles

12-member jury at the Sexual Offences Court in Georgetown on Wednesday found Trevon Giles guilty on one count of raping a 15-year-old girl on January 14, 2016 in the county of Demerara. For a similarly matter that was allegedly committed some three days later on the same female, the jury foreman announced a not guilty verdict.

Both jury verdicts were unanimous

and returned after almost two hours of deliberation. The decisions were made after the 12-member jury heard evidence presented by a few witnesses that last several days. Prosecutors Abigail Gibbs and Tiffini Lyken appeared for the State.

Sentencing for Giles on the first count was delayed after his attorney, Clyde Forde requested a probation report to be prepared for his client. Forde said after this is prepared, he will offer a plea in mitigation. Giles, meanwhile, had little reaction after being found guilty. In fact, he walked out of court calmly accompanied by several Policemen who escorted him to the prisoner’s holding area.

Giles will know his fate on April 26 when a prison term is expected to be handed down by High Court Judge, Justice Jo Ann Barlow. Giles was indicted on two counts of rape of a child under 16. The Sexual Offences Court is a specialist court set aside in the Demerara district to hear cases that are listed in the Sexual Offences Act.

Guyana will move ahead in setting up its own law school – AG Williams

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law school will be established in Guyana, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams, has said. The Guyana Government plans to go ahead with its plans in this regard, despite several concerns having been raised relative to the process of establishing this law school. Government is now in the process of finalising a shareholders’ agreement in pursuance of this objective.

Government had, in January 2017, announced it would start a project to establish the JOF Haynes Law School of the Americas through a public-private partnership entered into between the Government, the Law School of the Americas (LCA), and the University College of the Caribbean (UCC).

Several burning concerns were brought to the fore, especially in relation to whether ap-

proval was granted by the Council for Legal Education (CLE), and whether the programme was accredited. Former Minister Anil Nandlall’s main concern is whether Guyanese would be able to practice law throughout the Caribbean.

According to Williams, a recently completed Canadianfunded study into legal education in the region has recommended the establishment of law schools in Guyana, Antigua and Jamaica. It also recommended that the CLE serve as a regulatory body, rather than one that manages the day to day affairs of law schools.

The minister said he supports these recommendations and it is now left up to the regional Governments to discuss and decide on this matter at the Caribbean Community (Caricom) level. He noted however that this

study only helps to bolster Guyana’s request to have a law school established.

“We are confident that we really need a law school,” Williams told the media as he explained the recent increased tuition fees at the Hugh Wooding Law School and the difficulty of having Guyanese students live and study in Trinidad and Tobago also support Guyana’s push in this direction.

To substantiate his point, the minister said, “Tuition fees this year have been increased at Hugh Wooding and are now TT$97,000…, well over $3 million (Guyana

dollars)…that’s only for tuition, they still have to live and exist in Trinidad.”

He also made the point that Trinidad and Barbados churn out at least 200 law graduates yearly, while Guyana is allowed to have only 25 or less lawyers trained on an annual basis.

Williams noted that with the impending oil and gas sector, Guyana would need more trained and competent lawyers. “…especially at this time, with how Guyana is poised…we would need lawyers to deal with oil and gas, we would need lawyers to deal with the green

state and economy. So we have a lot of capacity to build.”

Williams is adamant that Guyana has not been refused permission to set up a law school. As such, preparations are being made to advance this process with the identification of space at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen campus, where the proposed school would be built.

The AG has said, however, that while UG has identified 15 acres of the 150 acres that it has situated close to the area that houses the Forensic Laboratory, the amount would not be sufficient. While the CLE has agreed to establish a law school in Guyana, approval would be granted only after a feasibility study is conducted.

Williams had attacked CLE Chairman Reginald Armour for responding to the concerns

raised by former Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall without consulting with the current Government on the matter. He said this was one of the reasons why the establishment of this law school was delayed, and it had nothing to do with non-approval.

Williams maintains that a Review Committee could not overrule a decision taken by the Council in 2017 in regard to the issue of whether Guyana should be allowed to build a law school.

The AG had said members of Guyana’s committee included the Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Yonette CummingsEdwards; Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George; Retired Justices Duke Pollard, Claudette Singh and Rudolph James; Professor Harold Lutchman, and the Registrar of UG, Dr Nigel Gravesande.

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UK envoy calls for tough action against corruption in security agencies

UK High Commissioner Greg Quinn; Special advisor to SOCU, Sam Sittlington; along with two UK fraud experts who will be conducting the training

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two-week training exercise intended to assist investigators in the fight against bribery and corruption has been launched by the Public Security Ministry under the auspices of the United Kingdom High Commission.

UK High Commissioner Gregory Quinn stressed the need for persons to be held accountable for bribery and corruption. He made it clear thus: “There is no place for corruption within security agencies in

Guyana. If officials or individuals cannot work with honesty and integrity, then they should be…prosecuted and imprisoned as necessary,” Quinn stated.

“If people don’t like the sound of that, then frankly (that’s) tough.

Security agencies cannot expect respect and cooperation from the public if they themselves are not willing to operate within, and be subject to, the law. All of you can and must set the examples for everyone to follow,” he expanded.

In his address to the

participants, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, noted that the training was especially important with Guyana preparing for operation of the oil and gas sector.

“To successfully fight against corruption, there has to be effective detection, investigation, analysis of evidence, and prosecution of crime, ultimately leading to convictions. It is for this reason that this course is important,” Williams stressed.

The training is expected to be conducted by two UK experts who are experienced in anti-money laundering and white-collar crime investigations. It is understood that investigators from the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU), and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) are participating in the training.

Also present at the opening were Public

Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan; Acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine, and the UK’s Special Advisor attached to the Special Organised Crime Unit, Sam Sittlington.

There have been, for locals, several training

The training had covered three fundamental issues: overview of human trafficking, enhancing of interview skills when dealing with arriving passengers, and overall increased awareness of the latest trends and concerns in the wider

The investigators participating in the training

initiatives wherein UK specialists have been involved. Last year, local immigration officers underwent the Risk and Liaison Overseas Network (RALON) training conducted by the UK’s Immigration E n f o r c e m e n t International.

Caribbean.

The UK has done much of its security sector collaboration through the security reform project, which began in 2007 and was scrapped in 2009, after the British Government had requested to have oversight of the pro-

gramme to ensure that there was ‘value for money’.

The former Government had disagreed with the manner in which the British Government had wanted the programme to be run, claiming that Britain had sought to intrude upon Guyana’s sovereignty.

However, the British Government has said the Government of Guyana had submitted a different proposal, one which had focused on Police modernisation rather than a holistic approach to reform. The intention was to build a workable basis for improving national security while reducing crime in Guyana.

Government believes that, once implemented, Guyana’s security sector will be significantly strengthened, and hopefully, this will lead to a reduction in the number of illicit activities that take place.

President David Granger has also said there is need for a stronger Police Force, one that is better equipped with all tools necessary to function adequately.

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Talks between Guyana, Venezuela should continue on diplomatic level – former Foreign Minister

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enezuela has called for the Guyana Government to resume talks about the border controversy even though the Good Offices Process has expired, and former Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Henry Jeffrey is of the opinion that talks between the two countries should continue on a diplomatic level.

D e s c r i b i n g Venezuela’s proposal as bold, Dr. Jeffrey says that while he does not agree with the proposal, it would nevertheless be in the best interest of both countries to continue talks on a tactful lev-

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Henry Jeffrey

el. This, he said, does not necessarily have to be purely on the basis of addressing the controversy.

“Guyana can’t stop

talking to Venezuela, but what is it that they are talking about?” he asked rhetorically. “The Guyanese and Venezuelans will live together for the longest while, regardless (of) where the border is.

Guyana has a position on the border, so there will always be discourse,” he opined.

Dr. Jeffrey said he views Venezuela’s request, or proposal, as one that does not have any bearing, and one that shows “advantage to mess around and exercise unjust power.” But what Guyana is looking for, he said, is to bring a

peaceful resolution to the century-old border controversy.

Revisiting his suggestion that talks between Guyana and Venezuela continue, the former minister said talks should never cease, because Venezuela has already made its position clear that it will not accept the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the border controversy. Within that context, he said, Guyana must still find a way to continue to exist within the same space that borders the two countries.

Apart from that, he

said, both Guyana and Venezuela have embassies operating in each other’s country.

Dr. Jeffrey maintained that the credibility of the Nicolás Maduro Government of Venezuela will be tested now that a decision has been made to send the case to the ICJ. He believes the present Venezuela Government is too weak to carry the border controversy resolution decision to its people.

At present, Venezuela is facing several international sanctions over rights and corruption allegations. Support for the

Maduro Administration has declined sharply, and Venezuela’s economy has plunged deeper into a crisis that is marked by widespread shortages and a rise in inflation.

Some two months after the United Nations Secretary General had handed over the GuyanaVenezuela border controversy case to the ICJ for final settlement, formal proceedings were filed on June 30, asking the World Court to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award. turn to page 23

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64-yr-old remanded to prison for threatening to kill President

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Remanded: Motilall Balkarran

hief Magistrate Ann McLennan on Monday afternoon remanded a 64-yearold man who reportedly threatened President David Granger’s life.

Motilall Balkarran of Triumph, East Coast Demerara (ECD), appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and denied the charge.

The charge against him stated that on March 20, 2018, he made calls to the 911 emergency line at the Brickdam Police Station and threatened to kill President Granger.

It is further alleged that he made use of threatening language by

calling the 911 telephone line and threatening to kill the President.

Balkarran reportedly threatened to take a bomb to the Ministry of the Presidency.

In court on Monday, Balkarran was represented by Attorney-atLaw Tiffany Jeffrey, who made a bail application on the grounds that the call was placed from an address where several persons live.

Owing to the fact that there is no voice recognition system at the Brickdam Station, Jeffrey said in the bail application, it is not clear who made the call. turn to page 23

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Harmon says partnership between Mellon Bank, USA and Citizens Bank a sign of investors’ confidence

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Minister of State Joseph Harmon

he recent move by the Mellon National Bank in the United States of America (USA) to partner with the indigenous Citizens Bank is described by State Minister, Joseph Harmon as a sure sign of the confidence reposed in Guyana’s investment climate.

Minister Harmon speaking at the official opening of the Banks DIH new vehicle workshop, noted that this is happening at a time when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) are taking steps aimed at curbing and reducing relations between international banks and those in the region.

He noted further that “when out of all of that, we can actually step out of the black list, the grey list, the white list and whatever other list that exists, I believe Guyana is on the right path of development.”

The State Minister deemed this step as “a vote of confidence” since Mellon Bank is one of the largest banks operating in the United States and the fact that relations are established with Guyana demonstrates that the country is moving in the right direction.

It is this same confidence, Minister Harmon said has motivated American Airlines to announce the commencement of flights from the US to Guyana from December, 2018.

Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson noted that all measures will be in place to facilitate this.

“Guyana is the right place to invest and I am proud that the private sector is beginning to embrace that reality. I am proud that Banks DIH as a leading member of the private sector continues to invest in Guyana,” the minister pointed out.

Meantime, Minister Harmon said the invest-

ment by Banks DIH in the establishment of a waste water treatment plant and a waste plastic treatment facility at the new vehicle workshop, is another sign of its confidence in the investment climate of Guyana.

“While some sections of our population complain about this and complain about that, I am happy to know that the majority of our private sector is out there doing things and taking advantage of these glorious opportunities which now present themselves,” the minister said.

He expressed confidence that the collaboration between the private sector and the Government of Guyana will take the country further along its development trajectory.

Investment by the private sector now is also an investment for future generations in Guyana, the State Minister highlighted.

A call was made to the wider private sector, particularly those companies involved in commerce and manufacturing to “take a page out of Banks DIH’s book”, noting that investments similar to the one made

by Banks DIH is worthy of emulation.

Co-Managing Director, Banks DIH, George McDonald noted that the establishment of the waste water treatment plant is a requirement of the Coca Cola company, which stipulates that all waste water of manufacturers be treated before being released into the waterways so that there is no damage to the natural flora and fauna.

In proximity is a public waste plastic treatment facility, the collection and treatment point for the company’s waste plastic generated from PET containers and decommissioned beverage cases.

The plastics are chipped, crushed and

Citizens Bank Headquarters, Camp Street, Georgetown

shipped to recycling plants overseas and according to McDonald is an effort to prevent the

negative impacts of these products on the environment.

This is coming at a

time when the government continues to push for safer environmental practices, which is

one of the main focus areas of the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).

Record-breaking passenger movement at CJIA for first quarter of 2018

T

he first quarter of 2018 saw the highest ever recorded passenger movement through Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation (CJIAC).

According to a release from the CJIAC, for the month of March 2018, 52,729 passengers were pro-cessed as compared to 43,733 in March 2017.

Passenger movement for the period January

to March 2018 recorded 142,781 passengers being processed as compared to 126,340 for the same period in 2017.

Minster of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, attributed these marked increases to “Government’s sound economic policies and its unwavering advocacy for an enabling environment for investors.”

He added that other

factors which contributed to this achievement can be associated with increased business interest in Oil and Gas, Agriculture and tourists coming in large numbers for the Easter Festivities, Bartica Regatta, Rupununi Rodeo and Investment Forums.

The country’s main port of entry is currently being expanded to accommodate the addition-

al traffic anticipated in the coming years.

The US$150M project is moving apace and upon completion, with the inclusion of several state-of-the-art facilities and amenities, the airport’s capacity will be greatly enhanced and strengthened signifi-cantly impacting passengers’ experience.

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana’s private sector vows to resist parking meter project …until in-depth analysis is done

I

mplementation of the much planned parking meter project is imminent, but the private sector and civil society have indicated they would employ measures to resist the initiative.

This was on Sunday confirmed by recently elected President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Deodat Indar, who told Guyana Times International there must be in-depth analysis before such a project could be accepted.

“We are saying that the contract of this parking meter was not awarded properly. There were no studies done, no impact assessments…the entire thing should be wiped clean, and go back to the drawing board and make sure that they do proper analysis,” Indar observed.

His comments follow the action of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) last week, voting to adopt the amended by-laws for the controversial parking meter project, thereby signalling that Guyanese will soon have to contend with paid parking once again.

In its previous incar-

nation, the project was the subject of multiple court actions, including a case brought by the New Building Society (NBS) Limited and another by a private citizen against the legality of City Hall’s multiple-decade contract with Mexican company Smart City Solutions (SCS).

Guyana Times International on Sunday

questioned the GCCI President on possible legal action that could be taken to prevent the initiative from returning, and Indar stressed: “All options are on the table.” He, however, cautioned that the private sector would first have to assess the amended bylaws before measures in regard to blocking could

be initiated.

“We are against the parking meters, and we will be working with others, including the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) and other civil society groups to mount resistance towards the implementation of parking meters,” he noted.

This newspaper understands that opera-

tives within the private sector will be meeting this week to determine their options and craft plans for advocacy against parking meters.

When City Councillors had voted on the measure, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had restricted them from discussing the contract and concessionaire.

People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillor Bishram Kuppen had argued that since the bylaws are linked to the contract with Smart City Solutions, the council was attempting to move forward with a contract the legality of which was still under question.

Kuppen told all the councillors present that if they support the amended by-laws, they in essence were forcing the citizenry of Georgetown to accept an illegal 40year contract.

Additionally, Councillor Malcolm Ferreira had called for the decision to be put on hold until all court issues regarding the controversial project had been addressed.

People’s National Congress Councillors Akeem Peter, Winston Harding, Yvonne Ferguson, Welton Clarke, Oscar Clarke, Noelle Chow-Chee, Heston Bostwick, James Samuels, Trichria Richards, Lyndon Hilliman, Ivelaw Henry and Mayor ChaseGreen, along with Team Benschop’s Jameel Rasul, voted to adopt the By-laws.

Councillors Kuppen and Sharma voted against, and Ferreira

and the PNC’s Carlyle Goring abstained.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Mayors Lionel Jaikaran and Sherod Duncan – both of the Alliance For Change (AFC) — refused to participate in the process.

Following a 14-day public display, the adopted by-laws will be forwarded to Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan for his approval; and if given, the by-laws would be gazetted.

Under the new agreement, persons will be paying G$150 per hour, and G$800 for eight hours of parking in the city. Residents of the city would, however, be issued with a restricted residential pass for free parking from 17:00h-19:00h Monday to Friday, while parking will be free on Saturdays.

When the project was first implemented in 2017, it attracted sustained protests for several weeks, and was eventually suspended by the Communities Minister.

While it is expected that the Private Sector will receive support for their position on the Parking Meters Project, it is being argued that it is worrying the same type of support was not given to thousands of

GCCI President Deodat Indar

protesting sugar workers who were thrown on the breadline after Government’s decision to close three estates and dismiss over 5000 sugar workers.

One public commentator, in an invited comment, said that it was unfortunate that there were a few isolated groups championing the cause of the sugar workers from the business and Private Sector Commission (PSC) while countless others, who were not directly affected by the move to shut down the industry, stood and watched from the sidelines.

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25-yr-old mom to spend 98 years behind bars for poisoning children …Judge ignores her pleas for “second chance to make things right”

By Shemuel Fanfair

T

wenty-five-yearold Hofoswana A w e n a Rutherford, who was recently found guilty of killing her two children by poisoning them with carbon tablets, was on Monday sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh to 98 years’ imprisonment on two counts of manslaughter.

On the first count, killing of four-yearold Hodascia Codogan, Rutherford was sentenced to 45 years’ jail; while on the second count, killing of oneyear-old Jabari Codogan, she was ordered to serve 53 years’ jail time.

Rutherford had crashed to the floor when the 12-member jury unanimously found her guilty on both counts on March 15, 2018. The jury believed the State’s evidence that the mother had given each of her children half of a tablet of aluminium phosphide (rat poison) on March 27, 2014 at Supply Branch Road, Mahaicony, East

Coast Demerara.

During Monday’s sentencing, a probation report was admitted into evidence but was not read in court. Drawing from this document, Rutherford’s attorney, Adrian Thompson, in his plea of mitigation before a packed courtroom of relatives and several other onlookers, detailed that his client had a “hard life”.

Thompson stressed that Rutherford dropped out of school at 16, her mother died when she was young, and that she knew her father only later in life. The defence lawyer, pleading for the judge to temper justice with mercy, pointed out that his client was not in the best of mental health. However, Thompson admitted that he had no doctor’s report to attest to his client’s mental state.

In contrast to his calls, State Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs stressed that Rutherford knew exactly what she was doing. In her address to the

Twenty-five-year-old Hofoswana Awena Rutherford being escorted by prison officers from court on Monday after she was sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh

court, she told Justice Singh that a hard life and economic struggles can never justify taking the life of another, especially those of one’s own children.

“She was the one who needed to protect them, comfort them, and show them love. However, she failed them,” the Prosecutor pointedly

Talks between Guyana, Venezuela...

Guyana’s application was submitted to the ICJ

by Second Vice President and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge.

This application follows a decision by UN Secretary General António Guterres earlier this year to choose the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy, which arose as a result of Venezuela’s contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 in regard to the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela was null and void.

According to Guyana’s application to the World Court, Venezuela had, for more than 60 years, consistently recognised

and respected the validity of the binding force of the 1899 Award and the 1905 Map agreed by both sides in furtherance of the Award.

Guyana maintains that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that settled the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela was full and final, but Venezuela has, for several decades, registered its diplomatic and military objection to Guyana’s development of its natural resources onshore and offshore.

Venezuela, with almost 40 times the population of Guyana and a territory that is several times bigger, has purported to claim, in 1968,

the entire territorial sea of Guyana by means of the Leoni Decree, which has never been withdrawn.

Relations between Guyana and Venezuela have worsened ever since oil giant ExxonMobil announced in 2015 that it had found oil offshore Guyana.

Venezuela has staunchly been against oil exploration in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, where multiple oil deposits have been found

by ExxonMobil.

In fact, Venezuela’s National Assembly had approved an agreement to reject the oil exploration activities in March 2017.

64-yr-old remanded to prison...

Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield objected to bail being granted, noting the seriousness of the offence.

Chief Magistrate McLennan denied bail and remanded the 64-year-old to prison.

The case will continue on April 16.

The matter was transferred to the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court.

Two other men are also expected to be charged shortly for the same offence.

This is not the first instance persons have been charged for similar

offences. Back in 2016, 52-year-old Safoora Salim, of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), was charged for using Facebook to issue threatening and derogatory statements against the Head of State.

Acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine had confirmed last November that they were investigating reports of an inmate at the Lusignan Prison calling the 911 emergency line and threatening to kill President Granger along with officers of the Police

from page 18

from page 20

Force.

Back in March last year, reports surfaced of an alleged plot to assassinate the Head of State and some G$7 million was allegedly offered to carry out the act. After several weeks of Police investigations, President Granger ordered a Commission of Inquiry into the alleged assassination plot. The Commission found that while some aspects of the allegation have a “ring of truth, it was not confirmed during the inquiry”.

stated.

On those grounds, Gibbs called for the maximum penalty to be leveraged for the killings of Jabari and Hodacia Codogan. This prompted light gasps from some persons in the gallery, but the court marshall swiftly turned and ordered silence.

Rutherford, who stared at Justice Singh directly, begged him for mercy before later losing her composure with

streams of tears. Unlike the dramatic events when she hit her head by falling last month, she stood tall in her cries.

“No one in this world loves my children more than I do. I love them to my soul. I am sorry for my shortcomings and my faults,” she told the court.

She then turned to her family members in court and expressed hope that they would be able to overcome the pain of losing Jabari and Hodacia Codogan.

“Justice Singh, even God in Heaven above is merciful, and I am asking you to grant me a second chance so I can make things right,” Rutherford lamented.

Justice Singh seemed perplexed as to why the State had indicted the mother on manslaughter, contending that “everything points to murder”. On the first count, he started the sentence at a base of 30 years, added 10 years for the victim being a child, five years for the victim being her child, five years for her using a poisonous substance, and another 10 years for premeditation.

He, however, deducted eight years for what was listed in the probation report, and another seven years for Rutherford’s show of remorse. This computation resulted in a sentence of 45 years. Using similar facts, he calculated 53 years for count two, ordering that the sentences must be served consecutively.

This means that the court’s cumulative sentence is 98 years.

However, the Prison Service was ordered to deduct the time Rutherford had spent awaiting trial.

During her trial at the Demerara High Court, Rutherford’s initial story was that she had bought cold tablets from a man at the Plaisance Park, who sells rat poison. However, the logic behind this story was not accepted by the jury.

Rutherford had been hospitalised for seven days after the poisoning of her offsprings, and she had said she had drunk two tablets after giving same to them.

Prosecutor Shawnette Austin also appeared for the State.

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Media opposed to draft code of conduct for Parliamentary coverage T

he National Assembly’s proposed draft code of conduct for Journalists who cover matters related to parliamentary sittings is being staunchly opposed by members of the local media fraternity, as consultations proved over the weekend.

The consultations and media training workshop were facilitated by the Canadian High Commission, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), and the Guyana Press Association (GPA) in the parliamentary chambers on April 7 and 8.

At one point during the penultimate day of training, the attendees were separated into two groups. While one group was chaired by veteran Journalist and Editor-inChief of the Trinidadian newspaper Newsday, Judy Raymond, the other group was chaired by founding ACM President Wesley Gibbings.

It was subsequently revealed that the parliamentary chambers were formulating a draft code of conduct, as well as mulling the introduction of accreditation for parliamentary reporters.

Subsequent reports from

Some of the participants in the two-day GPA/ACM training programme on coverage of Parliament pose for the cameras on Sunday (Association of Caribbean Media Workers photo)

the chairpersons of these sub-meetings showed that the attending media personnel were unanimously against the measure.

During her presentation on her group’s discussions, Raymond related that the media personnel were opposed to the draft code on the grounds of its potential to be used punitively. She reported that it was felt that since Journalists were already guided by ethical principles from the profession and workplace, additional codes of practice would be wholly unnecessary.

“There was a concern,

with regard to both issues, that conditions or penalties might be imposed which could affect individual Journalists, to their detriment and possibly detract from the range and quality of coverage in Parliament,” Raymond reported.

Voicing similar views, GPA Executive Royden James reported that his group also felt that such measures should come from the media houses and not the National Assembly. Concerns were also raised about the purported security rationale behind accreditation.

Last year, the

National Assembly saw two breaches; one where a woman attired as Santa Claus gained access to the chambers during a presentation from Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

In another breach, a spectator began singing “God is watching you”, a line from a famous Nanci Griffith song, during a sitting of the National Assembly late last year.

Further, there was a case of undercover Police ranks posing as media operatives and sitting among media personnel…until they were exposed.

According to Public Relations Officer of the National Assembly, Yannick December, the need for accreditation of media personnel covering parliamentary matters is made greater by these instances.

“What you had there was a miscommunication,” December related, in brief comments on the undercover Police controversy. “They’re supposed to notify us in advance and we would know that these persons would be here.”

Far from the media having to be subjected to security measures,

former GPA President Dennis Chabrol stressed that it was the media who actually needed protection. Here, cases of the undercover ranks shadowing the media in the National Assembly were cited. Concerns were also raised by Guyana Times Journalist Jarryl Bryan about the National Assembly’s failure to aggressively update documents accessible online, such as its Hansards.

The latest Hansard dates from the 71st sitting of the Assembly in November 2017. While noting that hard copies of Hansards can be provided by the library, Assistant Clerk of the National Assembly Deslyn West promised to look into the matter.

The two-day media training had started on Saturday, with the aim to improve the media’s knowledge of parliamentary practices and procedures, improve the media’s understanding of its role in an evolving democracy and consider the tenets of journalistic ethics vis-à-vis parliamentary coverage.

At the end of the session, media operatives received a certificate of participation.

Guyana Learning Institute hosts suicide symposium

The Guyana Learning Institute (GLI) on Sunday hosted a suicide symposium, with scores of young people participating with the aim of influencing an immediate reduction in the scourge

T

he Guyana Leaning Institute (GLI) on Sunday hosted a one-day suicide symposium at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC) in Kingston, Georgetown.

Scores of mainly young participants attended, and at the end of proceedings received certificates for their participation in the event. The GLI Principal, Opposition Parliamentarian Ganga Persaud, called for more programmes to be implemented to tackle the scourge of suicide, as he observed that suicide is one of the leading causes of death in Guyana.

Jennifer Persaud

gave an overview of the various forms of suicide and their accompanying statistics. She noted the high numbers that relate to Guyana, with latest reports indicating that one person attempts suicide every 5 hours in Guyana.

It was also highlighted that between 1,500 and 2,000 persons attempt suicide each year in Guyana.

This country currently ranks fourth for highest suicide per capita, and has the highest rate among people in South America and the Caribbean. Persaud iterated that the male suicide rate is higher than that for female. She

highlighted that suicides are frequently attempted by age groups 12-18 and 9-25.

Other speakers underscored how suicide affects wide sections of the social classes.

The participants also gathered in four groups and engaged in spirited discussion, and two presentations on suicide-related issues were followed by a panel discussion facilitated by Sheila Veersammy. A representative of the Caribbean Voice was also present at Sunday’s symposium. A similar exercise was held in Berbice on Sunday.

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A local Exhibitor displaying her products

he much-anticipated Linden Expo 2018 is expected to be bigger this year. The Linden Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Development (LCICD) in collab-

oration the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC), the Small Business Bureau and other entities has begun preparations for the eighth Annual Trade Fair and Exposition, in antici-

Local products are showcased at the annual event

pation that it will be bigger and more attractive than before The Linden Expo 2018 will be staged from April 27th to April 29th in the mining town, Region Ten (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice) at the Linden Technical Institute Ground , as part of the Linden Town Week observance scheduled for the last week in April.

Participating companies spawning from wholesale, distribution, manufacturing, financial, business development, tourism and educational services and arts and craft, among others, are expected to take part in the three-day event which is except-

ed to attract a large number of visitors including foreigners.

During an interview with the Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, the Secretary of the LCICD, Mr. Staydon Payne expressed his optimism that this year’s event will see greater participation and turnout. He explained, “We are very encouraged by the number of exhibitors, so far we have 50 confirmed.” Among those businesses which have already signaled their participation are the American Embassy, Linden Technical Institute, Small

Leather craft on exhibition at a previous Expo

the event has been moved from the Egbert Benjamin Conference Centre to the Linden Technical Institute Ground , which is a more, central, open and outdoor venue.

The Linden Town Week will be staged under the theme “Celebrating our culture, talents, and creativity in a clean,

the town’.

There are plans to establish a ‘Visitors Park,’ at the KaraKara Dyke, which is to be completed with benches, pathway, and all the other recreational amenities, along with a three dimensional “I Love Linden” signboard to greet visitors. The latter is expected to be

One of the booths at the Linden Trade and Investment Fair and Exposition which was held in 2017

Business Bureau, GoInvest and Iwokrama among many others.

In addition, he also explained that

green 2018.”

This year, Linden will also be celebrating 48 years as a town and 22 years since the founding of Linden Town Week. At the annual event, patrons will be able to glimpse snippets of the town’s history and they will also learn about existing tourism and entrepreneurial opportunities in the mining town.

The week’s activities will include the return of the Miss Linden Pageant after a threeyear absence. It will also feature sports, essay writing and spelling bee competitions, a youth village, tours to Rockstone and Coomacka, among others.

M e a n w h i l e , the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC) has been moving ahead with their plans to make Linden Town Week 2018 an unprecedented event that would leave ‘a footprint on

a 3D structure hoisted on a solid concrete base. This is in keeping with a 2016 Local Government campaign promise by the Council, after recognizing the need to promote tourism locally as one of its initiatives.

The very first successful expo in 2010 attracted the participation of forty-eight companies, and there is currently increased interest by companies to exhibit at Linden Expo 2018 with expected participation of companies from diverse sectors.

Over the years, Linden has been viewed as a hub for a number of economic activities and businesses and residents have been encouraged to position themselves to capitalise on the existing opportunities; the exposition is seen an opportunity for them to catapult forward and realise their potential.

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W

a i n i Naturals is the name of the company that manufactures Waini Secrets products, soaps, oil and cream made mainly from crabwood oil and gradually finding its way on the local market. Gail-Ann Gouveia has been making the crabwood oil ever since she was a girl, gathering the crabwood seeds from the forest floor twice a year, cutting, then scooping the pulp and then mixing it with a base of coconut oil to produce the crabwood oil. As a healing agent Amerindians swear by the product.

The Crabwood Oil can be used as an insect repellent and the Crabwood Cream can be used to protect the skin from external damages.

The commercial venture really started in 2006. Gail-Ann, in a previous interview, recalls that she would make the Crabwood oil and set out for the Kumaka Market by boat to sell the product. She still journeys to the Kumaka Market to take her farm produce, coconuts and ground provision. In 2007 a building erected with the support of the German Development Bank was pressed into service as a factory. According to Ms. Gouveia, much of the project’ success is owed to the support of Mangrove Project Director Annette

Arjoon, Dr. Maxine Parris of IICA and the Voluntary Service Overseas. Her key diversification from oil to soap was facilitated by a visit here in 2006 by a technician from a UKbased hand-made soap company.

Additionally, the packaging and marketing of Waini Natural’s products is due to the support of Sterling Products Limited. The company has been instrumental in supporting the design of the packaging and labeling and has been key to the local distribution process.

When contacted by the Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, Agriculture Health Specialist at the Inter- American Institute for Cooperation (IICA), Dr Maxine Parris Aaron that explained that while there have been challenges in tapping into to International Market, Ms. Gouveia has managed to break into the regional sphere. She said, “She does have some access to overseas

Waini Secrets soap on sale in a Trinidadian Shop

markets, although not every m o n t h .

The product is sold in Trinidad and there is also marketing happening there.” Waini Naturals is a member of the Women’s Agro-Processors Development Network (WADN), of which IICA is a partner.

Alluding to the exist-

ing challenges, the IICA representative revealed that there are difficulties in accessing raw materials at the required quantities. “Her major challenge is to widen her scope and to have reliable sources of raw material. She only requires a small quantity of stabiliser which she has to purchase with foreign currency; that can be a challenge, as well as the fact the suppliers prefer to sell in bulk. ” she explained. Another chal-

lenge the Business hopes to overcome is the lack of local interest and support.

Nevertheless, she noted that these circumstances have not daunted the entrepreneur, who keeps forging ahead with the business. “She keeps on producing and working,” Ms. Aaron added.

Meanwhile, Dr Parris

A a r o n disclosed that they have attracted some interest from businesses in China, after a trip there.

The success of tapping into this market, she underscore, is the ability to ensure a sustainable supply. Waini Naturals products are produced in the Waini.

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Education sector requires improvement for oil industry – Deputy VC

T

eachers attached to the various institutions in Guyana, from the nursery to tertiary level, are advised to be transformational leaders to the students whom they educate.

These opinions were stated by the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Dr Paloma Mohamed, during her address at an educational leadership conference that was hosted by School of the Nations earlier this month.

This is amid the recent discovery, and creation of, the oil and gas sector, which is expected to provide employment for a substantial number of persons. However, she believes Guyana does not possess the calibre of human resources required

to work in those respective areas.

Furthermore, Dr Mohamed added that if there are opportunities for employment in Guyana in the future, persons from other countries who meet the qualification requirements will most likely be given the jobs.

“The oil and gas and all of the green technologies and energies that are likely to be unleashed in the country in the next two years. We will not have people at this point to really work in those areas. But in five years, 10 years we need to start thinking about how we teach people, what we are going to create them to do,” Mohamed stated.

Dr Mohammed noted that while there have been some fundamental shifts in the way educa-

Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana) Dr Paloma Mohamed

tion is conveyed in the changing world; educational leaders must embrace this change and modify their techniques used in the classrooms to achieve favourable results. As such, new ideas should be formulated to suit the country and its requirements.

“The things that we say and do and teach by modelling or by propagating ideas from elsewhere are not conducive to people living in peace and unity,” she stated.

She explained that Guyanese have a different interpretation of what is expected from

the oil industry. As such, Dr Mohamed stated that from this instance, the angle from which students are taught must be modified in order for people to acquire the wider picture as there are certain technicalities that students must be taught to handle.

While focusing on the oil and gas sector, a critical component in Guyana’s economy, Dr Mohamed requested the audiences of predominantly teachers, to question their role in the development of this component of the country and the type of citizens they intend to create.

“It is our job, I believe as a nation, to ensure that kind of education. What are we and who do we want to create? What kind of coun-

try do we want to live in?

Who are we creating for the next 20 years?” the Deputy Vice Chancellor questioned.

However, while Guyana may not possess the human resources needed right now, the Deputy Vice Chancellor noted that the country’s aspiration should be towards the fulfilment of this necessity for the future, adding, “It has to be our aspiration as teachers to try to create those people to take those jobs.”

To address the improvement of this issue, a similar conference was also hosted by the Education Ministry on Monday, which saw educational leaders from the various administrative regions gaining additional information on leadership qualities.

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Essequibo is blessed with rich Agriculture lands

W

ith the aim of promoting local businesses, attracting new investments and harnessing new technologies and skills, the Essequibo Chamber is preparing to host the second annual Agro Fair in the Region.

According to the Public Relation Officer Mr. Ravi D. Mohan, the Region has the potential to be self-sustainable and has the capacity to feed the Nation with surplus to export. “It’s like a sleeping giant, all we need to do is to wake him up,” he asserted.

The two day event will be held on the 20th and

re-

products, including rice and other agro-processed items produced in the region. The New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC) and the Guyana Office for Investment (GOInvest) were among the supporting Government agencies that set up stalls at the event.

According to the Exhibitors in the inaugural event, they participated with the aim of show-

he was pleased to present his project to the population. Newly-established business Barakat Timbers Ltd, located at Charity, Pomeroon River, was also on board. Other participating agencies included Sol, Comfort Sleep, University of Guyana, Big Birds, Natram Ramanand Juice Centre, Red Square Vodka, Travel Span, Amazon Coconut

casing their products to the Essequibo population. A farmer who was excited to showcase his shade house project said

Water, Roosters Coconut Water, Forestry, Massey Limited, Tom Misir, and Samaroo Investment, among others.

turning to their farms in the Pomeroon; the Chamber feels it can make a difference with the full cooperation of all stakeholders.”

Patrons at a previous event

21st of this month at the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground.

Mr. Mohan further explained that, this year, the Chamber is working assiduously to encourage more businesses to come on board. “Agriculture is the backbone of the Region, with cooperation and good planning we can do it,” he said. He also reminded that, at one time, the Pomeroon was considered the bread basket of the Caribbean, however, owing to poor management and lack of markets many farmers left to seek greener pastures.

Alluding to the success of this year’s activity, he said, “With the demand for water and dried coconuts farmers are now

During the inaugural event last year, the Head of State dubbed Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), as the most productive area in the country, and hailed its vast agricultural potential. This is even as the Region grappled with the deteriorating rice industry. President Granger also noted that the region contributes significantly to Guyana’s food security. He said that while the region is still beset with many challenges, there is great potential for economic development to take place there.

He maintained that the Region’s economic activities not only generate wealth, but create jobs for Guyanese. Noting that the region has his-

A variety of products on display

torically done well with the production of primary agricultural products, President Granger said the regional economy can be made more resilient

through diversification into areas such as agroprocessing and manufacturing.

The two-day event featured value-added

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Sonia Sears of the Society, holds an award which the group won in 2012. That year the group was awarded the Tourism Ministry award for most outstanding community project.

Cassavs Bread is also produced by the APFS

T

he Aranaputa Processors Friendly Society (APFS) is located in the North Rupununi ; the Aranaputa Processors Peanut Butter Factory makes the best all natural peanut butter in Guyana.

The factory buys the raw peanuts from the local farmers and roasting, shelling and processing are all done at the factory. Those at the factory are very enthusiastic to share with tourists the process and allow them to participate.

Fresh peanut butter on cassava bread is served daily to the school children in Aranaputa and across the North Rupununi as a snack. The peanut butter can be purchased directly from the factory Monday to Friday during their operating hours and in various stores in the North Rupununi.

Persons can also visit the various agriculture plots locals cultivate as part of their daily livelihood. They can also tour the experimental agroforestry plot in Aranaputa. It is a 20acre savannah land that has been in existence for the past eight years, and is used for experimenting growing various species of trees.

The Aranaputa Processors Friendly Society in the North Rupununi was established by a group

of women in 2005, when farmers in Aranaputa were struggling to find markets for purchase their peanuts.

In March 2010, residents participated in the formal opening of the modern peanut processing factory in the village. The project was successfully completed by the Government of Canada in collaboration with the Government of Guyana, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at the time.

At the time that the cultivation of peanuts was the main source of income in the village and that the electrically-driven factory served as a major asset for the economic development of the community.

The plant, capable of producing 100 pounds of peanut butter per day, has been managed by members of a Council under the umbrella of the Aranaputa Processors Friendly Society Peanut Butter Factory.

Since its establishment, the school-feeding programme in the Region was the main market for the peanut butter, and the Village Council had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education with respect to the quantities required and the price at the time.

After some difficulties with con-

Peanuts stored in the factory

tracts and non -payment The Aranaputa Processors Friendly Society have managed to clear their finances and are now running at optimum capabilities.

This is according to the Agriculture Health Specialist at the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation (IICA), Ms. Maxine Parris Aaron “Aranaputa is in full production and have been supplying markets in Georgetown,” she revealed.

She said too that all of the ladies who are part of the Women’s Agro-Processors Development Network

(WADN), of which IICA is a partner, have been experiencing increases in the market with the help from local groups.

“For Tapacuma the CDP Project there has been able to open up more markets and through the partici-

pation in Exhibitions, they have widened their market scope,” Ms. Parris Aaron said while she added that one of the challenges that remains is the lack of “local buy in” for the various products.

36 news

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

New Pakistan, Thailand diplomats accredited A

s Guyana continues to forge ahead with its Green State initiative, it is looking to capitalise on the strengthened diplomatic relations to tap into strategies adopted by its Asian counterparts, aimed at fighting the effects of climate change.

This was revealed by President David Granger on Wednesday morning as he accredited new diplomats from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Kingdom of Thailand, with the acceptance of their Letters of Credence at State House.

The new Pakistani High Commissioner, Najm Us Saqib, said his country is looking to deepening relations with South American and Caribbean nations including Guyana, which offer opportunities for both countries to explore and gain from each other’s best practices.

“Pakistan considers Guyana as an important country in the Region and

Guyana's new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand, Surasak Suparat, presenting his Letters of Credence to President David Granger as Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and the Ministry’s Director General Audrey Waddell look on

would wish to strengthen bilateral relations in our States. Pakistan and Guyana have friendly relations and it is our desire that these relations should be strengthened in all fields including trade, agriculture, health, IT (Information Technology), invest-

ments and joint ventures…

As High Commissioner of Pakistan (to Guyana), it would be my honest endeavour to work towards these objectives,” the Pakisanti Diplomat stated.

M e a n w h i l e , President Granger not-

ed that Guyana looks forward to strengthening its 50-year-old relations with Pakistan in the areas outlined by the new High Commissioner.

However, he posited that Guyana is particularly interested in working with the Asian country to advance policies which will arrest the adverse effects of climate change and promote green growth.

“Guyana is moving

towards the establishment of a Green State, one that would place emphasis on the protection of our environment, the preservation of our biodiversity, promotion of energy from renewable sources and the adoption of practical measures to ensure climate adaptation,” he outlined.

To this end, the Head of State noted that Guyana is happy to learn that the Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan has started a project with the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency titled ‘Geomatic Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Development.’

“That project encourages application of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Geographical Positioning System (GPS) technologies in environmental monitoring and decision-making. Guyana looks forward to learn about the application of these technologies from Pakistan,” he stated.

On the other hand,

the Head of State posited that Guyana is also looking forward to joining forces with the Kingdom of Thailand to tackle climate change.

“Guyana and Thailand both face the common threats of climate change. Both countries are taking actions to improve climate adaptation and mitigation. The agriculture and fisheries sectors of both countries are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. We could learn from each other’s experience in building climate resilience economies,” President Granger stated.

On this note, the newly accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand, Surasak Suparat, committed to deepen diplomatic ties between the two countries, which were first established some 31 years ago.

The two newly accredited diplomats are non-residence appointments and are both based in neighbouring Brazil.

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Looking back…

F

…at MLK and 1968

ifty years ago last week – April 4, 1968 – Martin Luther King was assassinated. In Guyana, Burnham had already told the Americans he was going to rig the upcoming elections. He’d met Dean Rusk, Secretary of State in Jan ‘68 and in the same month MLK had been assassinated, the “303 Committee” – constituted by the Americans to install and keep the PNC in power – reported: “[less than 1 line of source text not declassified] representatives met with Prime Minister Forbes Burnham in late April to discuss operational matters related to the electoral campaign. At this meeting Burnham stated unequivocally that he plans to conduct the registration and voting in such a manner that the PNC will emerge with an absolute majority in the Guyana National Assembly. Burnham said that he will never again allow the life of his government to depend upon his coalition partner Peter D’Aguiar … Burnham said that he plans to register 17, 18, 19 and 20-year-old PNC adherents (minimum voting age is 21 years) to make up part of the vote he needs…” He’d also arranged for the overseas vote which would prove to be his ace in the hole.

Over in the US, Lyndon Johnson, who’d fervently expanded JFK’s anti-communist crusade to add some machismo to their (suspect) domestic Liberal bent, had taken Burnham horseback riding at his ranch in Texas as a reward for the latter preventing “another Cuba in the hemisphere”. In Guyana, Burnham played that credential to the hilt and had the local US Ambassador, Delmar Carlson, jumping to the crack of his whip. For instance, he refused to even meet Jagan, upon instruction from Burnham!!

Ironically, in the US, MLK had become a fierce critic of Johnson’s expanded Vietnam War and also a staunch socialist in his economic thinking, who was hounded by the FBI. Today he’s become beatified for his position on non-violence – which he’d picked up from Gandhi over in India. But by the time of his assassination, he’d begun to question the efficacy of the strategy in light of the unchanging deep structural barriers to Black equality – even after Johnson had pushed through the 1965 Voting Rights Act to finally facilitate Black voting unimpeded.

In the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica would erupt in riots to protest their government’s ban of our own Walter Rodney – who had grounded there about Black Power of Stokely Carmichael rather than the non-violence of MLK. He moved to Tanzania because of the racial situation here.

The US approved Burnham’s rigged elections of December 1968 and the stage was set for Rodney’s rendezvous with assassination.

C’est la change…

…at anti-corruption promises

The US just released its “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report” (INSR) and it’s not too kind on this government. Which rode into power on the back of their fervent promises to clean up corruption, claiming it stemmed largely from the PPP’s alleged links to “drug elements”!! After three years at the helm, the report says, matters have gotten WORSE!!

This time the GOVERNMENT’s been named directly!!

Now this is nothing strange for the average Guyanese – as even a staunch PNC supporter Minette Bacchus wrote recently. But for the US to actually make the accusation in an official report, can we now expect them to do something about it? Not really. As we saw above, the US – like every other great power – will turn a Nelson’s Eye to a host of even more serious transgressions – once it serves their national interest.

And with Exxon’s mega oil strike off our coast, unfortunately, it serves their interest not to have new variables entering the equation.

So, like during the PNC years, expect corruption to increase!!

…at drugs

In the meantime, the local Drug Czar – Public Security Minister Ramjattan – continues with his hand-wringing! This time about drug usage increasing among youths.

So what’re you gonna DO about it, Minister??

After all, you’re responsible!!

37

40

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Who speaks for whom?

By Ravi Dev

R

ecently, Tacuma Ogunseye of ACDA and the WPA made a rather startling claim in his letter, “I concentrate on the African community, so it can develop progressive politics based on power-sharing” (SN 4-4-2018): “I recall in the runup to the historic 1992 General and Regional

Elections with the arrival of Ravi Dev and his ROAR party, Dev introduced the doctrine (sic) that Africans cannot speak for Indians and that the WPA was promoting political deception by making the claim that it is a multiracial party… The 1992 elections resulted in victory for the PPP/C and demonstrated that the Dev doctrine worked to the advantage of that

party.”

I recall the facts quite differently.

Firstly, Rise, Organise And Rally (ROAR) – against crime – was not even formed until January 17, 1999, following the brutal attacks on Indians in Georgetown on January 12, 1998. Secondly, Ogunseye is confusing the point we made to the political parties then about “what is”

and what they thought “ought to be” on voting preferences which came almost a decade before.

Since returning in 1989, I found the political parties making all sorts of claims about their political support.

The WPA had an inflated estimation of their support and this played a great part in the break-up of the “Patriotic Coalition for Democracy” (PCD).

This had been formed

by Opposition parties opposing the illegal PNC regime, and which most had hoped would contest the elections on a single slate.

In August 1991, some individuals, including Baytoram Ramharack, who was completing his PhD dissertation from NYU, and myself, conducted what we believe to be the first poll checking political preferences in Guyana. The poll, conducted under the name “Turkeyen Research and Polling Institute” (TRPI) was published in the SN. Expressed as a per cent of the total electorate of 384,000, and comparing the results to the 1992 elections shows: The WPA, however, were still convinced they could win the elec-

tions with their “real” multi-racial support.

A month after the poll, in an SN interview of 9-15-91, WPA’s presidential candidate, Dr Clive Thomas declared, “I really do feel that the WPA will do exceptionally well in this election…even me who is considered the most pessimistic of the leadership in the party about our prospects.” In a December 1991 SN article, a WPA executive on the PCD vehemently rejected the TRPI numbers. Speculating on the influence of race (declining), the youth factor (increasing), new Indian leaders, crowd attendance etc, he declared conclusively: “I would put the PNC a considerable distance behind the WPA…Frankly I believe it (PNC support) to be around 10-12 per cent.”

On September 30, 1992, five days before the elections, I repeated this point in a letter to SN and said, “October 5 will test our hypothesis” (not “doctrine) about voting preferences. The hypothesis was vindicated.

What brought about the colloquy between the WPA and myself and Baytoram

Ramharack was the publication of SN report on a September 15 WPA Kitty launch of its manifesto captioned, “WPA says PPP is predominantly an Indian racial party” where Clive Thomas was quoted as saying those words. I said (SN September 19, 1992) that “The WPA was playing a dangerous game” since, as the party claiming ownership of the “multi-racial” space, it chose to only attack the PPP for its Indian support base and not the PNC for its African support base.

I pointed out, “In their constant drumbeat of an “Indian party” winning political power; of Indians controlling economic power and having strong cultural institutions and Africans losing it all…they are repeating the campaign of New Nation 1960-61 which created a mindset in African Guyanese leading directly to the riots of 1962.”

44 travel and tourism

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Rewa River by Lesley de Souza

G

uyana’s fresh waters are bursting with fishes.

from late August till late November. During this time, the rains

was featured on river monsters with host Jeremy Wade ending

A Giant Catfish caught near King Williams Falls in the Essequibo River

Often called the “Land of Many Waters” or the “Big River Country”

would have stopped and the water receded from the savannas and for-

he caught (and subsequently released), the biggest fish of his South American fishing career!

Boasting nearly 2,000 species of fish in the Amazon River, Guyana is a paradise for incredible fishing.

Species include the Arapaima (not for trapping), Piraiba/Lau Lau, Peacock Bass (considered to be the most popular Fresh Water Game Fish in the world by professional anglers worldwide), Golden Dorado, Payara, Redtail Catfish, Jau Catfish, Flat Whisker Catfish, Surubim, Sunfish, Himara, Arawana, Sword Fish, to name a

Peacock Bass at Rewa

few.

Game fish species in Guyana

Guyana shares with the Amazon River over 1800 fish species.

Among those are several Game Fish Species such as the Payara, Arowana, Himara, and what is considered by professional anglers worldwide as the worlds most popular Fresh Water Game

Fish, the Peacock Bass (Lukanani). Can you reel a thirty pound bass?

Let’s find out next fish season! The country’s prime fishing locations are up the Essequibo River and along its tributaries below river rapids and water falls such as Rockstone and the Gluck Island, the New River Area, Kurupukari River and the Rupununi Burro Burro River.

season 4 in Guyana.

During that episode he called the Araparima

Most of Guyana’s rivers and ponds have remained unexplored. This is a staggering fact when you consider that 15% of the world’s fresh water comes from Guyana.

A giant fish caught in Guyana's waters

Guyana’s rivers are still unspoilt as it awaits your first cast. Sport Fishing is a new area of tourism attraction in Guyana with many unchartered river terrains virgin to man. There are essentially two fresh water fishing seasons in the country; the first fishing season starts from mid February to late April, while the second season begins

est floors. By the middle of the dry season, the rivers usually become narrow as the water recedes. This makes fishing more exciting as less water means less space per fish and more competition to feed and to survive predators of the river.

Rapidly becoming one of the hottest Sport Fishing Destination’s in South America, Guyana

Rockstone Fishing Grounds

46

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Writing college application essays

I

n everything we do, there’s a certain amount of risk. Some things have more risk than others: for example crossing the road without looking versus trying a new type of cheese. We, of course will evaluate the pros and cons of taking each risk and then decide if we want to proceed.

The biggest risk I have taken in a while is the way I chose to answer some of my essay questions. I chose to take the risk of answering my questions unconventionally because I felt as though I needed to do something to stand out. In a sea of about twenty to fifty thousand applicants, there are bound to be people with stellar grades and amazing extra-curricular activities. At selective schools, those are essentially prerequisite. The difference in decisions, therefore, comes down to the type of person that admission officers adjudge you to be. Essays are one of the few places in an application where you are able to make a personal appeal. You have the chance to present a little bit of yourself to the admissions committee. The problem is, the questions can seem extremely mundane. How do you provide a unique answer

to the question “Why Yale?” What can you say that fifty thousand people can’t? Of course, you could play it safe and talk about the academics, the extra curricular activities, the prestige and location, but who doesn’t know those things? How does that show the admissions officer the type of person you are?

Personally, I chose to write that essay in the form of

a letter, in which I proposed that I had applied to Yale because I felt like I was the type of student they needed. Another prompt from Yale asked me to discuss something that I love learning about.

I could have used that prompt as an opportunity to talk about my dedi-

Satiricus was livid. On one hand, his hard-working leader Nagga Man had returned from his medical sojourn in the States and from his vaunted position in the top echelons in Government was sure to bring Guyanese hospitals to First World standards.

Already the British had been so ashamed Nagga Man had to go to the Yanks for medical treatment, they’d already pumped in funds to boost four hospitals.

“But look at the way the Police treated my MP Chandra Rass!” he exploded to the fellas at the Back Street Bar, where he’d arrived.

“Tek am easy, Sato!” advised Cappo, pushing a beer towards Satiricus. “De Police only bin a do dem jaab!”

“Job!?! Job!?!” Satiricus almost screamed. “The man is a

cation to the sciences, but that was already reflected in my extra-curricular activities. Numerous science fairs, science club, volunteer work, and teaching – it was pretty clear that I loved the sciences. So how could I answer this question in an interesting way? I wrote about how I loved to buy gifts for people.

I described that for me, buying the perfect gift for someone meant that I had to learn about him or her inside and out.

I then explained that whilst at the moment I use my love for learning about people to buy gifts, in the future I hope to be able to apply this principle to seamlessly integrate new technology into society. And I’m not alone, a fellow student, also admitted to Yale, Deon Ababio, said in response to the prompt “Talk about something you haven’t mentioned on your application”, he replied with a spiel about his 17 hair brushes, all of which he names. At the

Paying… end of the essay, Ababio attached an image of his favourite brush, Diane, and signed his essay with best regards from the both of them.

Speaking to Fatima Karim (admitted to Princeton and Stanford), Karim expressed that her most unconventional essay was a letter to her future Stanford roommate, in which she decided to be true to herself (self-described as weird and quirky), and spoke about her love for Kpop, manga, and pizza. Making sure to make a big deal of asking if her roommate liked Hawaiian pizza, because as far as she’s concerned, pineapple on pizza is the devil’s doing. Karim mentioned that in all honesty, she didn’t believe that she was the best candidate in terms of grades, but that it was her personality that gave her an edge over forty-five thousand other applicants.

And where else can we show our personalities other than our essays? Obviously we have to strike a balance, and like everything writing an unconventional essay poses a risk, but it also presents an opportunity to transform your application into a memorable one; to make you more than just numbers; and possibly to get you admitted into top schools.

Policing SOPs

Member of Parliament!!”

“Budday!! Four big man a drive wan 4×4 middle a de nite,” Bungi said, “wha’ yuh waan de Police fuh t’ink?”

“That’s ‘profiling’!” said Satiricus exasperatedly. “They can’t do that!”

“But the Police told Charan Rass their vehicle was driving all over the road,” pointed out Hari mildly. “And we know they had come back from a Parika to Bartica excursion!!”

“An’ dem na tek dem wife!?” said Cappo. “Me know wha’ guh laang deh!!”

“Charan Rass only piss de Police aff w’en ‘e tell dem ‘da a wan ole Police line’!” advised Bungi solemnly. “’E shoulda aks fuh de rum-breat’ tes’,” “That’s the problem,” said Satiricus who was still up-

set. “They took him to the station because they didn’t have a breath-analyser with them!”

“You should complain to your leader Rum Jhaat,” said Hari.

“How he expect the Police to enforce his curfew?”

“An’ wha’ mek ‘e shout a de Police dat ‘e a wan MP?” asked Cappo. “Me wou’da t’row ‘e rass in jail!”

“Well, he did say he’ll complain to Public Security Minister Rum Jhaat and the Police Commish – and even Prezzie,” said Satiricus. “That’ll teach the Police to disrespect a KFC MP!!”

“My friend, the Police only following suit,” said Hari softly.

“The KFC disrespected themselves after they allowed the Pee-an’-See to treat them like doormats.”

C

…for slavery

ariCom will be writing Britain and the other European countries that conducted and benefited from the African Slave Trade and plantation slavery, to remind them about the claims for reparations it made against them back in 2013.

It’s a shame they’ve had to do this at a time when the UN’s pushing its entire collection of 196 countries to “do something” about the dread status of Africans in this “International Decade of People of African Descent” (IDPAD).

Since it would be racist that this is due to just “being African”, it conclusively shows the world’s only willing to engage in empty rhetoric when engaging with the crime against humanity that was African Slavery. But rather than looking at all the European nations, let’s just consider Britain – the colonial power that tried to convince us that, out of the goodness of its heart, it ‘freed” the 650,000 slaves it owned in the “British” West Indies; 82,000 here — and we should be eternally grateful for that act.

It’s like a criminal violently raping a woman and then telling her she should be grateful she could crawl away!! And slavery was rape lasting for centuries; it so corrupted the minds and bodies of the slaves that their descendants are still to recover fully. Not to mention that slavery provided the profits from the plantations to establish the foundations for the development of Britain and Europe, which they still are enjoying. And it is this anomaly that the 10-point Reparation Demand by CariCom is asking to be addressed – but it yet has still to get an answer even on the very first one, which simply calls for an apology!!

How do you enslave a people by announcing they don’t even have a soul – and as such aren’t “fully human” – and not apologise for it? Or not make reparations for the lingering effects still playing out in the racist premise that people of African descent can be discriminated against by whites as a matter of course? The closest Britain’s come to giving an official answer to CariCom’s demands is PM Cameron’s 2015 advice while visiting Jamaica: that slavery was in “the past” and the Caribbean should “move on”!! The irony of his making such a statement didn’t strike him, even though he was in Jamaica to help build a prison to deal with the high level of crime that became endemic to Jamaica in its post-slavery traumatic history.

But CariCom also asks for reparative justice for the Indigenous Peoples, who numbered 3,000,000 in 1700 but were reduced to 30,000 three centuries later – and are in even worse condition in every which way than the descendants of African slaves.

Your Eyewitness thinks CariCom should take Britain to the International Criminal Court for justice!!

…for validating the nouveau riche

Your Eyewitness is quite confused about the fallout from the decision of the owners of Mae’s to raise the tuition fees by 42% or so. The parents are going to picket the school!! In some cases, we’re talking about a base of G$60,000 per term, (Of course, they call it “semester”) so this merely confirms Mae’s claim that they’re an “elite” school. Now, how can you be “elite” if you don’t have a way of separating your kids from those from the hoi polloi?

Mae’s are simply raising the bar higher in preparation for the oil boom, which will dilute their present criteria. They should simply give the striking parents the advice of the world’s first billionaire — J. P. Morgan: “If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.”

…for being close

The Chronic, we know, is close to the Government.

Very close. So it can’t just be the printer’s devil that’s responsible for the clarification on the IsDB’s US$900M loan.

Said the Chronic: “THE Ministry of Finance has pointed out that the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has made available US$900M for Guyana to BURROW.” “Burrow”. You know…like in “hide underground”!!

news 47

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana Police Force seeking to establish inter-agency database

Money… A W …and principles?

ord is, Finance Minister Winston Jordan just signed on the dotted line for a US$900 million loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). If this manifests itself, that fella Raymond Chickerie, who’d been pushing the PPP Government for years to become a member of the Bank would be vindicated! This finally occurred two years ago to the day with the new PNC-led coalition Government which announced we’d be eligible for “access to concessionary resources, grants and interest free loans.”

While Guyana has a 10 per cent Muslim population, most of us don’t realise Islam has its own perspective on banking. One that’s quite different from what we’ve been used to, which is based totally on western, “Christian” principles. Right off the bat, we’ve got to understand that the money can only be used in consonance with Islamic law or “Sharia”. This means the Finance Ministry will have to be guided by a local Sharia Board that’s au fait with Islamic banking so it doesn’t violate the Sharia-based terms of the loan and forfeit the same. The strictness of the specific rules do vary from (Islamic) country to country.

Some of the rules we should already (hopefully) intuitively know because of our familiarity with local Islamic practices – for instance, the money can’t be used to buy or produce “haram products”. Thus, no funding of pig farms or producing molasses for distilleries!!

Other rules may be counterintuitive to us because of our total immersion in the western model. The most significant one is the prohibition of “riba” which literally means “excess or addition”, and in the context of money lending means “interest”, “usury”, “excess”, “increase”.

Now this sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Borrowing money without any interests? And that’s not all. There can be no charges for late payments or “murâba?ah”. Some countries have allowed late charges – but these must be donated to charities. Loans cannot also be used for “speculation” or “Maisir” sometimes called “gambling”. Investing in oil blocks hoping oil will be struck won’t cut it.

But even more radical is the prohibition of transactions that are “Gharar” or characterised by “uncertainty” or “ambiguity”. This of course rules out derivatives, options and futures – all schemes that provided most of the “wealth” in the West before it all came crashing down in 2008. Islamic banking institutions were spared.

So the question arises, as to how do Islamic banks support its activities? Well, the bank can act as the capital partner in “mudarabah” or musharaka accounts and share in the profits and loss.

Meaning, the Islamic Bank would be very heavily involved in execution of projects. Is the Government ready for these principles?

Not likely!!

…and health

Even before PM Nagamootoo touched down on his return from his overseas heart surgery, he precipitated a fierce debate in the local press between AFC supporters and a PNC partisan. The former wanted a mega welcome – 18 gun salute and hundreds of fawning big wigs? – at the airport while the latter questioned as to why this was necessary after the Government had already shelled out mega bucks for the American intervention? And – your Eyewitness suspects – why, Georgetown Hospital wasn’t good enough when it was good enough for the founder leader, Forbes Burnham. So what if he died on an operating theatre there? Things haven’t improved?

But your Eyewitness is glad Nagamootoo is back – if for no other reason than Ramjattan wasn’t doing too good handling the pressure with his “haul yuh ass” riposte. The Government announced that Nagamootoo jumped right into his job – which wasn’t surprising seeing as how he really does nothing but cutting ribbons and such like.

Ramjattan confessed how he’d missed Nagamootoo’s “words of wisdom” at Cabinet meetings.

Wished he’d mentioned even one!!

.…guns and corruption

Folks wondered about Zuma’s buying US$2.5 billion arms rather than dealing with South Africa’s social problems. It was a clear case of literally choosing guns over butter.

Sadly, it’s now clear it was all corruption. A lesson for the PNC?

s the Guyana Police Force (GPF) continues in its quest to improve its service to society, quite a number of advances are being made to ensure that the necessary background information of criminals is readily available to members of the Force countrywide.

One such initiative being undertaken by the GPF includes the development of a current upto-date digital database system, which would enable a rank in any part of the country to access the criminal history of a person.

Crime Chief Paul Williams on Wednesday told Guyana Times International that this update for the GPF is very important and will be useful to fight crime.

The database being established by the Force will seek to include all Government agencies, he said.

It was explained that, “If the Police have an arrest warrant for you…

Crime Chief Paul Williams

and you end up now at the GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority) to renew your driver’s licence, from the time they put in that [information], they would immediately be able to see that you are wanted by the Police”.

“Also if you have gone to the court and you have a criminal conviction, from the time the court makes the pronouncement and enters the information into the database, it will spread across all the relevant agencies.”

The new database being developed, he said, will also ensure that

the suspect can be identified using more than one method of identification. The new methods of identification the Force is striving to include into its database include the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) number, Tax Identification Number (TIN) and even a person’s passport number.

The current database system uses fingerprints, photographs and name recognition.

“If that person was never convicted or was never charged, we would have to get started, but

even if we bring you in now on an investigation and we find that the investigation doesn’t reveal any criminal charges that they are not any criminal charge on record, we can keep that information, we can keep that same photograph, so that is one way how we build our database,” Williams explained.

As it relates to the cost of the database, Williams explained that there is no specific figure as yet.

“The IT (Information Technology) Department is handling that, so they will get the figures and everything… as it is, they have various persons who will have their role to play and to comment on cost and equipment and materials and so,” he told this publication.

While giving a brief background on the project, he told this newspaper that when the programme was in its initial stage, the Police Force only used photographs and fingerprints to identify criminals.

Parking meter oversight committee appointed

…by-laws to be posted at public places

T

he controversial parking meter project on Monday received an oversight committee, which will act to supervise the proper functioning of the project.

The call for the appointment of the committee was made by Town Clerk Royston King, who is no stranger to advocacy for the project.

“Since we have accepted and approved the bylaws, I’m now asking the Councillors of this meeting to accept and approve the appointment of this committee,” King stated.

He went on to explain that the committee would bring a “local face and proper representation of this Council to the operational aspect of this project”. The Town Clerk in his bid for the appointment also cited the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01, Section 60 which regulates the appointment of standing or special committees.

The Act reads: “A council may appoint general or special committees for any such general or special purpose as in the opinion of the council would be better regulated or managed by means of a committee; and any such standing committees.

“A council may appoint councillors to be the chairman and vice chair-

Town Clerk Royston King

man of the committee.

A committee of a council may include persons who are not councillors, but who because of their special skill or experience will, in the opinion of the council, be able to assist in the consideration of the work of the committee.

Providing that (a) At least two thirds of the members of every committee shall be councillors, (b) no person other than a councillor shall be chairman or vice chairman of a committee.’

Under this premise, Councillor Oscar Clarke explained that the fivemember committee should have two councillors, two members from the project’s mother company and one independent member.

The floor was opened

subsequently and Councillors Noelle ChowChee, Akeem Peter and Bishram Kuppen were nominated.

However, Councillor Kuppen declined the position. As a result, the remaining two Councillors were appointed to the oversight committee with Peter taking up the position of Chairman and ChowChee Vice Chairman.

The Town Clerk also took the opportunity at Monday’s statutory meeting to announce that the municipality has taken the initiative to publicise the new parking meter by-laws by posting them at municipal buildings around the city, namely: Agricola Post Office, General Post Office, East Ruimveldt Market, Albouystown

Market, Bourda Market, Stabroek Market, Festival City Clinic, the Mayor’s Office, the Offices of the Town Clerk and Chief Constable, the City Treasurer’s Department and the Dorothy Bailey Health Centre.

“You can check at any of these locations, and you will find copies of the by-laws for the parking meter,” King affirmed.

However, when Guyana Times International visited a few of the named locations no copies of the by-laws could be found, nor were the City Constabulary departments aware of them being posted at their respective locations.

The recently revised by-laws were approved last Wednesday by the City Councillors with 13 Councillors in agreement, two against and two in abstention. The parking meter project was initially launched in January of 2017, but received high levels of rejection and retaliation from the public. The lop-sided contract was contested by drivers and even Councillors of the municipality; this led to the suspension of the by-laws by Central Government. The revised by-laws saw the fees being reduced to G$150 an hour and G$800 for eight hours of parking.

48 Bollywood

P

riyanka Chopra might be a global icon today, but her brush with pay disparity in two of the world’s biggest entertainment industries continues. In an interview with the international magazine InStyle, the Bollywood star, who is ruling American television with her hit ABC series Quantico, spoke about remuneration, the gender divide and how her skin colour cost her some meaty roles.

“I feel it every year, especially when you’re doing movies with really big actors, whether it’s in India or America.

If an actor is getting 100 bucks, the conversation will start with max, like, 8 bucks. The gap is that staggering,” the actor said in the interview.

“In America, we don’t talk about it as brashly,

B

ollywood actor Yami Gautam reportedly had a fallout with T-Series’ Divya Khosla Kumar during the release of 2016 film Sanam Re. However, it seems the filmmaker and actor have let bygones be bygones and a recent picture on their respective Instagram accounts is proof.

There are reports that Yami Gautam took the step solely because of her next project Batti

K

whereas in India the issue is not skirted around.

I’ve been told straight up if it’s a female role in a movie with big, male actors attached, your worth is not really considered as much,” she added.

Priyanka, who also owns a production banner Purple Pebble Pictures back in India, says that she is well aware of her worth and hence, negotiates depending on how much she can bring to the table.

“I’m a producer, so I understand how much of an asset, as an actor, I would be on a project… I don’t negotiate—I make my [agent] negotiate. That’s step one. But I think negotiating is important. I’m not someone who is demanding. I’m conversational. So, when I talk money, I’m not going to be asking for ri-

Gul Meter Chalu.

“Yami Gautam was afraid that she might end up losing out on Batti Gul Meter Chalu.

The actress visited Divya at her office recently and apologized profusely for the past. Divya graciously hugged Yami and decided to let bygones be bygones,” said a source.

Yami posted a happy selfie with the filmmaker calling her ‘one of the favorite directors’ and even Divya had a sweet

areena Kapoor Khan, who is a fourth generation actor from the Kapoor family, has said that she cannot imagine her life without acting. Kareena interacted with the media after she received the ‘Lokmat Maharashtrian Power Celebrity of the Year Award’ at the Lokmat Maharastrian Of The Year award ceremony on Tuesday in Mumbai.

Kareena is regarded as one of the topmost actresses of Hindi film industry over the years earning box-office success, critical acclaim and many awards.

However, when asked whether

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

diculous amounts that I might not be able to bring back. It starts with me being logical and saying, ‘I de-

serve that much in remuneration. These are the returns that I see myself bringing to the table.’

And, usually, most people come around when you place it like that,” the actor-singer told InStyle.

However, she still faces payment disparities. In the interview, she revealed how a studio in India cited gender

response.

Meanwhile, the actor is prepping up for the character of a lawyer in Batti Gul Meter Chalu. This would be the first time she would share screen space with Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. The first schedule of the film has wrapped up already but Yami is yet to join the sets.

Directed by Toilet Ek Prem Katha fame Shree Narayan Singh and bankrolled by Arjun N. Kapoor and Prernaa Arora‘s KriArj Entertainment, the film highlights the problem of high electricity bills despite long hours of power cuts.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu will be released on August 31, 2018. (Indian Express)

she thought of foraying into other fields apart from acting, she said: “After 18 years of working in this profession, I don’t think I can think about anything else because I always wanted to be an actor so, I can’t imagine life without acting.”

Sharing her feeling on receiving the award, she said, “Of course, each award is important. We always get awards for our work in films but when you get awarded by your own state as ‘Maharashtrian Of The Year’ with so many important dignitaries getting it, then, I think it becomes very special.

as the reason. She said despite h a v ing a

strong role, the lead actors take away a major share of the money. “A producer-director said to me, ‘Well, you know how it is in these big tentpole movies with the big boys.

This is the budget for the girl, and we can’t move beyond that,’ which was, like, a measly five percent of what [the male lead] was getting,” she said.

A

ctor Ayushmann Khurrana has said that Ranveer Singh is the most energetic performer.

Ayushmann on Tuesday graced the unveiling of ‘Man’s World’ magazine’s latest edition.

When asked about the most stylish and experimental actor in terms of fashion in Industry, Ayushmann said, “Ranveer Singh is the most energetic actor around. And that reflects in his clothes and styling as well, only he can carry that because of his energy.

“He wears his energy all the time. Of course, I am calmer version; my styling will be more calm

“I am very proud of my state and city. I am a true Mumbaikar and I feel very humble to receive this honour.” Kareena’s ‘Tashan’ co-star Akshay Kumar also received ‘Maharashtrian Of The Year’ award at the ceremony.

Speaking about him, Kareena said, “I think there is no one more deserving than him (Akshay) because his choices of films are so brave. He tries to do something different in films with relevant topics.”

Wellknown personalities from politics, corporate, sports, Hindi and Marathi film industry, including Chief Minister

Priyanka, however, asserted things were no different in a foreign land too. “It happens in both countries, it’s just that here, it’s hidden behind other things. In America, everyone is so worried about being liable that they don’t want to say anything wrong, but they end up doing it anyway.”

Priyanka also made a solid Hollywood debut last year with Baywatch, opposite Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

She revealed in the interview that a role which was written for a male actor ultimately landed in her lap. Hence, the Bond-ish villainous character of Victor became Victoria!

However, that hasn’t made things easy for her. PeeCee, as her fans in India like to call her, states that even after

and subtle. So I think it depends on your mood and personality,” he said.

A y u s h m a n n Khurrana looks dapper on the cover, which is his second spread with the magazine.

Speaking about the fashion the Vicky Donor actor said, “Fashion has become very flexible now.

You can make your own choices. You just need to be little more aware of international fashion scene also at the same time.”

After Bareilly Ki Barfi, Ayushmann Khurrana is paired with Dangal girl Sanya Malhotra for Badhaai Ho, helmed by Amit Sharma.

Devendra Fadnavis and his wife Amruta Fadnavis, attended the award ceremony.

Kareena will soon be seen in Shashanka Ghosh’s Veere Di Wedding which will be her first film post the birth of her son Taimur. The film also stars Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania. The film is slated to release on June 1. (Indian Express)

attaining big feats, she tends to lose out on films due to her skin colour.

She said, “It happened last year… I was out for a movie, and somebody [from the studio] called one of my agents and said, ‘She’s the wrong— what word did they used?—’physicality.’ So in my defense as an actor, I’m like, ‘Do I need to be skinnier? Do I need to get in shape? Do I need to have abs?’ Like, what does ‘wrong physicality’ mean? And then my agent broke it down for me. Like, ‘I think, Priy, they meant that they wanted someone who’s not brown.’ It affected me.”

Priyanka said the only way to change things is to trust women with stronger roles and bigger budgets. (Indian Express)

Talking about the film, Ayushmann said, “‘Badhaai Ho’ was an amazing experience.

Sanya Malhotra is a great performer. She is a great dancer as well.

Both of us are from Delhi and we were shooting for a film from Delhi. It was great fun.” (Indian Express)

Hollywood 49

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

A

ctor Nicolas Cage believes he would make a great joker if he got an opportunity to play the iconic comic book villain. The 54-year-old actor, who played the superhero character Ghost Rider in two films and voiced Superman in Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, said he has moved onto other things as his comic book days are behind him.

“I mean, I think my comic book days are kind of…I’m on to other things, but I always thought I’d make a great

A

Joker and I always thought that I would’ve been a good villain in one of the Marvel [movies] like Doctor Doom.

But, Doctor Doom you have to wear that mask, but I thought the story leading up to Doctor Doom could’ve been interesting. At this point if I was to go back into the format it would probably have to be as a villain,” Cage told Joblo.com.

On the idea, he adds, “It would be the perfect one for me to go even more off the rails than I’ve ever done before and, y’know, it’d be fun.”

ctor-filmmaker Angelina Jolie has praised Queen Elizabeth II as a “really lovely lady” who cares about the future. Jolie, 42, praised the Queen for her dedication to helping in planting trees in Africa to highlight the importance of forest conservation, saying she has been inspired by the 91-year-old royal to teach her own children – Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 9, about the cause, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

In a new documentary titled The Queen’s Green Planet, Jolie said: “For us to come here and say to the children, ‘This is why it’s important to plant a tree’, that’s the biggest message I can teach my kids, and it’s something that they’ve certainly learned from Her Majesty and her message.

“My kids ask me, ‘Why is it so important to her?’ You know when you sit up at night in a tent with your kids and they say,

A

ctor Naomie Harris says no one can escape her Rampage co-star Dwayne Johnson’s “incredible charisma”. “It was wonderful working with Dwayne because he has such incredible charisma. His million-watt smile lights up an entire room,” Harris said in a statement to IANS. “You can’t help but be charmed and moved by it. Dwayne brings such commitment to the set that it changes the energy there. Everybody’s spirit is lifted. That was delightful to see,” she added.

Based on the classic 1980s video game of

The actor is seen in the recent release, The Humanity Bureau. Talking about the film, the actor quipped that science-fiction is a genre “where you can do that and not be censored or be punished for it.”

“Well, as you know, science fiction is one of my favourite genres. I’ve always felt that with science fiction you can really exercise your right to freedom of speech and really speak to what’s happening currently that may or may not concern you, simply by virtue of the

‘Why does the Queen of England care about planting trees in Africa? What it comes down to is you say to the kids, ‘You know really, you don’t know her, you can’t understand all that it means to be a queen and all that.

“But you try to say, ‘You know she’s just this really lovely lady who really cares about people around the world, and she really cares about the future, and she wants your grandkids and her grandkids to be able to be running around, enjoying nature and other cultures, and the importance of other cultures.”

The Queen’s Green Planet highlights the environmental project, The Queen’s Canopy, which aims to unite all the countries of the commonwealth in conservation efforts.

On the work front, the actor wrote and produced First They Killed My Father for Netflix.

However, she has been away from the silver screen as an actor.

the same title, the film is about a gorilla (Jason Liles), a crocodile and a wolf that terrorise a city.

Johnson, who plays primatologist Davis Okoye, is the only one who can stop them.

The Warner Bros Pictures project will release in India on Friday in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Harris says she is not “used to working against green screen, so that was a huge challenge”.

“I’m grateful to have had Dwayne with me.

Dwayne is the best at that kind of thing, and he was an expert guide through that experience,” she added.

(Indian Express)

Dwayne Johnson recently made revelations about his personal and professional life.

He opened about his depression and the rumoured feud with his Fate Of The Furious co-

fact that with that particular genre you can put it in another planet or in the future and you can speak to what’s happening now, i.e. George Orwell “1984”…look at DISTRICT 9, to me was really kind of a movie about apartheid and with THE HUMANITY BUREAU I felt that it was an opportunity to not so much be a message movie, but perhaps reflect, hold a mirror to what I see could happen down the road in terms of industry and it’s effect on the Earth and global warming and of course

what’s happening with immigration. And so, it was a way to maybe speak to that a little bit, not in a message way, but more neutral in terms of what I see happening right now.

I’ve always felt that you could do that with science fiction and it’s something that I hope stays strong as a genre and stays very much in the forefront, because I think that it is one of the last places where you can do that and not be censored or be punished for it,” he said in the same interview. (With inputs of PTI)

T

he project that many thought would be abandoned, Batgirl,

by Warner Bros and DC is on once again. A script is being written

by Christina Hodson who is known for writing 2016 psychological thriller Shut In and also upcoming Transformer spinoff Bumblebee. Previously Batgirl was supposed to be written by Joss Whedon, who stepped down in February this year.

There have been many Batgirls, but the most famous is Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon. Whedon, a known feminist, who is known for creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer, had cited that he did not have a story for the character. “Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn’t have a story. I’m grateful to (DC president) Geoff (Johns) and (Warner Bros. Picture Group President) Toby (Emmerich) and everyone who was so welcoming when I arrived, and so understanding when I… uh, is there a sexier word for ‘failed’?” he had said.

Warner Bros and DC’s film universe lags behind Disney and Marvel’s cinematic universe in nearly all respects except having a solid, well-developed heroine, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.

star Vin Diesel. While talking about depression, Dwayne said, “Struggle and pain is real. I was devastated and depressed. I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go

Batgirl is another DC character that has oodles of potential for a good writer to jot down a good script. She could be an addition to the Justice League or a better sidekick to Batman than Robin.

Of course, DC films are in a flux right now, and nobody knows which way they are going to go. Aquaman scheduled for late this year and Shazam scheduled for next year are the only ready-to-release projects with several others like Flash movie and Wonder Woman 2 in development. But at least something seems to be happening. Ava DuVernay has been hired to direct the New Gods movie, which was a pretty bold move. Now let us see what happens with Batgirl.

The project is by no means confirmed, but this is a positive step. (Indian Express)

anywhere. I was crying constantly.” He further added, “Got tons of responses to this. Thank you. We all go thru the sludge/depression never discriminates. Took me a long time to realize it but

the key is to not be afraid to open up. Especially us dudes have a tendency to keep it in. You’re not alone.”

Confirming the reports of the tiff with Vin Diesel, Dwayne recently revealed, “Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer. And what I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach movie-making and collaborating. It took me some time, but I’m grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.”

(Indian Express with IANS inputs)

50 sport

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

HERO CPL 2018

‘We have to win it for Guyana’, says Warriors’ Tanvir L

eft-arm seamer Sohail Tanveer has been retained by the Guyana Amazon Warriors for this year’s He-ro Caribbean Premier League (CPL). This will be the Pakistan allrounder’s third season with the fran-chise after he was selected in the US$160,000 salary bracket. Tanveer, also an explosive batsman, says he is looking forward to his third year with the team.

“I played the last two seasons with them and I enjoyed my time with them,” he said. “We have got good communication and good relationships with the management and the owner. We don’t have big names in the team – even last year we didn’t have big names – but the reason we do well is that we jell very well and play as a team.”

The Amazon Warriors have come close to winning the Hero CPL, making the knockout stages in each of the previous five editions of the tournament, including three appearances in the final. Tanveer feels the team have not handled

pressure situations well enough in the last two years, which has prevented them from going all the way.

“My feeling is maybe we panic when it comes to crucial stages,” conceded the all-rounder.

“Maybe because we don’t have enough experience in our dugout in terms of our playing XI. Yes, we don’t have big names but we play as a team.

But on the other hand, with lack of experience, that’s what happens sometimes. Players get under pressure.

“I still remember a game against Trinidad [when] we dropped too many catches – otherwise we would have won that game. In 2016, we were cruising until the final. We were playing great cricket, but in the final again I think it was panic or a lack of experience. But I think we have the capability and we will try to win it this time somehow. We have to try to give something to Guyana.”

Tanveer finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2017 tournament, and his five wickets for

just three runs against Barbados was the best bowling performance of last year’s event. He says everything just clicked for him that night at the Kensington Oval.

“Well, to be honest, at the early part of the tournament I was struggling a bit with my back,” he re-called. “I didn’t do well in Florida and the first couple of games but I knew I had the abil-

ity. I have done it in the past many times, so I was waiting for my moment.

“As a bowler or a batsman, when you are out of form you only need one good innings or spell.

That’s what happened.

It was the game before, when we played against Barbados in Guyana – that was the turning moment when I got some confidence back. My back injury was sorted, I was running in well, got

out of five and we had to win the last four games out of five. “Coming back to the Barbados game, the day before I looked at the pitch and there was a greyish look. That means the moisture was there and I told my teammates that tomorrow is going to be my day. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be 5/3 but I knew the ball would do something. When it’s swinging I know I have

bowled this ball to any left-hand batsman you will get him out nine times out of ten. That was one of the days that comes hardly once or twice in your life – when everything goes well.”

A window for the sixth edition has been finalised, with the tournament to take place between August 8 and September 16.

The opening matches will take place in Guyana

Sohail Tanveer kisses the pitch after a devastating spell of 5-3 against Barbados Tridents in 2017

three or four wickets and I scored some runs [too]. I think that was the turning point for me and for my team because at that time we had only one win

that strength to do well against any batsman.

“I played alongside Eoin Morgan at the T10 tournament. He mentioned to me that if you

and Trinidad and Tobago.

Providence is also expected to host an additional two matches towards the back-end of the five-week tournament.

Rodney shows promise at GBA’s U-16 tournament

F

emale boxers rose to the occasion and did some serious damage when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) held its Michael Parris/Pepsi under-16 school boys and juniors tournament at the National Gymnasium on Sunday.

Several bouts were on show as the GBA continues to strengthen their pool of fighters from gyms across the country.

In the night’s lone female encounter Savannah Boxing Gym fighter Julicia Rodney took on forgotten Youth Foundation boxer Abiola Jackman in a highly entertaining matchup.

During the bout the two fighters stood toe to

toe exchanging heavy blows in the first two rounds of the fight.

However, with the two boxers visibly tired in the third round Rodney seemingly did enough to eventually being handed the win.

The evening’s best boxer recipient Travis Inverary defeated Francis Sukhu in their 100-104 weight class encounter while Dwayne Baptiste outlasted Malachi jones in their bout.

Travis Inverary punched his way to the best boxer award After clinching a victory against Francis Sukhu in their highly competitive, punchfilled bout.

Sport 51

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Young Nkosi Beaton Update: Commonwealth putting in the hard work …with the hope of making it to the national team Games 2018

– Doris qualifies for Triple Jump final

I

t was again joy and heart-break for some of members of the National Table Tennis team at the XXI Commonwealth Games being held in Australia.

The promising duo of Shemar Britton and Priscilla Greaves saw the pendulum swing both ways in the Mixed Doubles. They defeated Vanuatu’s Priscilla Tommy and Ham Lulu 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, & 11-6) in the round-of-64, however, in the roundof-32 they lost to Singapore’s Shao Poh and Lin Ye in straight sets (4-11, 2-11 & 5-11).

Trenace Lowe and Christopher Franklin went down to the host’s Trent Carter and Tracy Feng 4-11, 8-11 and 9-11 in the mixed doubles.

Today (Thursday), Lowe partners with Natalie Cummings to play Singapore’s Tianwei Feng / Mengyu Yu. Franklin partnering with Britton for their round-of-32 tie against India’s Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty 6-11, 5-11 & 7-11. Cummings and Nigel Bryan suffered a similar faith to Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheann Chung and Dexter St. Louis (10-12, 4-11 & 5-11).

Badminton

After steamrolling Saint Helena’s Vernon Smeed in the Round of 64 of the Men’s singles, Badminton star

Athletics

Olympian Troy Doris with a leap of 16.33m qualified for the Triple Jump final on Saturday after finishing second to Dominica’s Yordanys Garcia who leaped 16.75m on Wednesday evening. Heading into the event, Doris stood a strong chance of making the final cut and possibly medalling given he had a Season Best of 16.80m.

Rifle Shooting

In the sport of fullbore shooting even a flawless day can see you down the grid and this was exactly the scenario with Guyanese Lennox Braithwaite who did not drop a single point on day one of the Queen’s Prize Individual Finals.

The leading Caribbean marksman, shot possible at the 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges 35:2, 35:5, 35:3 for a to-

Y

oung and promising cricket talent continues to be in abundance in Guyana, and Nkosi Beaton is the latest to stake a claim for future National duties. If you are wondering why the burly batsman is a contender to be the ‘next best’, should he input the hard work, Sunday at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) was your opportunity to witness why.

With the home-side tottering at 48-6 in the eighth over against archr i v a l s

Shemar Britton

tal of 105:10 and even with such a performance ended the day in 8th place as seven other shooters also fired possible at each of the ranges but had more Vs. Braithwaite’s partner in the Pairs competition where Guyana ended 11th of the sixteen competing nations and the top Caribbean country, Ransford Goodluck dropped 4 points and will go into today’s (Thursday) second day in the 25th place.

At the three ranges, Goodluck post-

Lennox Braithwaite (right) and Ransford Goodluck getting ready for the 900 yards shoot on Tuesday in Australia

Narayan Ramdhani who is based in Canada on a scholarship lost to a Canadian.

Jason Ho-Shue won 2-0 as the games went 21-7 and 21-10 and lasted just ten minutes in the round-of-32 category.

By Akeem Greene

ed scores of 33:4, 34:0, 34:2 for a total of 101:6. In the top spot is Australia’s Jim Bailey (105:15) followed by New Zealand’s John Snowden (105:14) and Brian Carter (105:14) in 2nd and 3rd, David Luckman of England (105:13), Ben Emms of Australia (105:13), Jersey’s Barry Le Cheminant (105:12), Parag Patel of England (105:12) just ahead of Braithwaite.

Young Barbadian shooter Jason Wood is 23rd (102:4) two spots ahead of Goodluck. Jamaican Denis Nelson is 26th (99:6), Delborn Joseph of Trinidad and Tobago is next (98:7), Barbadian Richard Arthur (96:1) in 28th, Jamaican David Rickman (95:2) 30th, T&T’s Michael Perez (94:5) 31st with the Antigua and Barbuda duo of Desroy Maile (92:3) and Edworth Benjamin (85:4) in the 32nd and 33rd positions.

Braithwaite would be aiming to replicate Wednesday’s performance while Goodluck will seek to emulate his countryman when they aim from the same 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges. Tomorrow (Friday) would be a practice day and dress rehearsal for Saturday’s final two ranges, 900 and 1000.

Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), in the New York TriState/Georgetown Cricket Association Under–19 final, the right-hander forged a 122-run stand with Windies Youth player Ashmead Nedd, bailing his team out of trouble and the title into their hands.

He composed a scintillating 120 as his maiden century. Let’s talk about the hitting now.

Despite DCC arguably being one of the smaller venues, his three sixes were humongous, and added the icing on the cake to his immaculate stroke-play, which brought 17 fours.

And let’s not forget his off-spin accounted for 2-17 in five overs.

His three matches accumulated 149 runs and had five wickets.

“I would rate it as my best innings, since it was my maiden century under lots of pressure, with a noisy audience which included my mother”, the 16-year-old conveyed to Guyana Times International Sport after his innings on Sunday.

“While batting with Nedd, we were telling each other to keep going, play each ball on its merit, and simply stay focused”, he disclosed.

With a spot in Demerara Under-19 squad for the intercounty tournament which has already c o m -

on fitness concentration.

It’s very

menced, the player is conscious that the century is just the beginning of a long road ahead, and the h a r d w o r k starts now.

“As a batsman, I ’ m t r y ing to work m y and

important showing my coaches that I do have the ability to bat starting after my career as an offspinner,” he declared.

He reflected on his previous selection to represent Demerara at the under-15 level, when he got no chance to play a match; Beaton is now confident he has the goods to be a national player.

“Yes, I do have what it takes to make my first National step. I hope to someday represent the West Indies. I have been putting in the work, especially with my fitness.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been running a lot, because to play at the highest level you need to be fit,” he said.

Joining the Queenstown-based institution in 2014, he has been under the guidance of Coach Gavin Nedd, and looks to club mate Christopher Barnwell for inspiration.

“I look up to players like Shai Hope and Christopher Barnwell.

Chris always shows fight, even when his back is against the wall; and the way he goes about playing cricket is great,” he revealed.

Cricket is not the only aspect he is orchestrating to score high with, since the North Georgetown Secondary School student will be writing nine subjects at the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, laying the platform for his dream to become an Aeronautical Engineer.

52 sport

WEEK ENDING APRIL 15, 2018 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

GGRA/IPSC Level 2 Open Pistol Championships

Ban humbled me, says in-form Russell

“Topgun” cops C C-Class gold

G

uyana’s most active Smallbore shooter on the international stage Harold ‘Topgun’ Hopkinson has continued to fly the Golden Arrowhead with great success having won gold in the ‘C’ Class at the Gre-nada Gun and Rifle Association (GGRA), IPSC Level 2 Open Pistol Championship held in the Spice Isle on Sunday.

The 63 year-old Hopkinson who is also the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) Regional Director informed that the competition against younger shooters was intense but he was able to maintain accuracy during the seven stage shoot to come out with ‘C’ Class gold.

Hopkinson’s winning weapon was his 9mm/CZ Shadow 2 which was used for the first time in Grenada last year June when he won the ‘B’ Class of their Second Annual Six Stage, Level 2 IPSC competition.

“It was a very competitive shoot and despite a few blunders on my part I was able to prevail over the younger physical shooters. I relied on my accuracy, they were faster but I was more accurate.”

Competitors from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the host nation also participated. The Stages competed were Keep Moving, Rapid Fire, Reverse Classifier 41, Swing Meets Swinger, CLC 65, Cradle to Heaven and Forest Monkey 11.

Hopkinson who competed in March in the Open Division at the Amazon Level 3 Shoot held in

Harold ‘Top gun’ Hopkinson

Suriname will next compete at the Tobago IPSC All Steel competition.

He is extending gratitude to acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine DSM, Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia A.A and Tricia Fiedkou of Connections Travel.

HENNAI, India (CMC) — West Indies Twenty20 star Andre Russell says his time away from the sport serving a one-year anti-doping whereabout ban, had taught him humility, and stressed he was now fit and confident to continue his successful return.

The Jamaican failed to file his whereabouts on three separate occasions within a 12-month period, a violation that constitutes a positive drugs test, and was subsequently banned by anti-doping authorities from January last year.

However, Russell returned to action last February, slamming a hundred for his native Jamaica Scorpions in the West Indies domestic 50-overs competition before turning out in the Pakistan Super League and more recently, resuming his contract with Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

“I think the last one year has made me a different person. I have learnt how to be humble,” Russell was quoted as saying.

“I need to make sure that you stay on top of what you are doing as a professional and yet be humble. I just want to

Andre Russell

ensure that these things don't happen again.”

The 29-year-old seems to have lost little of his ability which made him one of the most soughtafter players on the international T20 circuit.

On Tuesday, he blasted an unbeaten 88 off 36 deliveries for KKR in only his second game back – the highest-ever score by a number seven batsman or lower in the league.

Russell said his fitness and state of mind had been key to his strong return.

“I think I am confident at the moment. In any sport you play, it is important to be confident,” he pointed out.

“I am in good condition and have worked hard on my game. I am happy with the way I am striking and the pace with which I am bowling.”

During Monday's in-

nings, Russell belted a four and 11 sixes – equalling the record for the most sixes in an individual innings of less than a hundred.

He also got stuck into Windies teammate Dwayne Bravo, lashing the right-arm seamer for 41 runs in three overs which leaked 50 runs overall.

Russell said all the Windies players campaigning in the IPL tended to target each other, though all were great friends.

“I think if I bowl to him, he would do the same thing. We are from West Indies and good friends,” he pointed out.

“If I am playing against Sunil Narine I will try to hit each ball out of the park. It is just that in a game we go hard against each other and once we are off the field, we are good friends.”

Bodybuilding sport has bright Everest Masters trounce prospects in Guyana – Marks touring Bajans

P

They were a lot of new faces walking away with prizes on Sunday at the National Cultural centre (Sean Devers Photo)

resident of the Guyana Amateur Body Building Federation (GABBF) in his reflection of the recent novices championships contended the sport has a bright future ahead.

Marks felt the growth though minimal still sends a strong signal the future is promising after witnessing the Championships on Sunday at the National Cultural centre.

“The patrons got their money’s worth. We had a limitation in athletes in the body building cate-

gories but we saw more men’s Physique and Ms Bikini which shows the direction where the sport is going but we certainly hit our mark in terms of patronage”, he told this publication on Tuesday.

The night saw Space Gym’s Tariq Dakhil claim the Mr Physique title while gym mate Diciula DeSouza was crowned Ms. Bikini.

From a competitor’s standpoint, Marks noted there was great improvement in some categories and hoped to see the continued growth of women in the sport.

“Ms Bikini and Men’s Physique are the more attainable body types and are more main stream. Our goals I this year is to draw more female participation”.

The next agenda for the federation will be their flagship seniors which will be held on July 15 at the Marriott Hotel and the President revealed they will work acidulously to improve incentives for athletes. Last year over G$1,000,000 was awarded to top performers.

Secretary of Everest Cricket Club, Satyendra Khemraj (standing on front at right) hands over the winning trophy to Rajesh Singh. Man of the Match Robert Perreira is second from right

T

he visiting Barbadian side, Maxwell Sports Club was completely outplayed when they ran into Everest Cricket Club Masters on Friday at the Everest ground.

The visitors won the toss in the feature 25-overs a side match and were kept at bay by steady Everest Masters bowling and fielding.

The pitch played in typical fashion but the Barbadian batsmen were unable to get the ball away on the slow track.

After the allotment of 25 overs, they were 60 for 7 with captain Glenfield Griffith (13) and loworder batsman Orville Riley (13 not out) were the only batsmen in double figures.

Everest Masters captain, Rajesh Singh was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 12 from five economical overs.

In reply, the hosts used just 10 of their overs to reach 65 for 3 to win by seven wickets with 15 overs to spare. Man of the Match,

Robert Perreira carried his bat for the top score of 22 (4×4) while Ramesh Narine made 11 and Ucil Armstrong, who finished the game with a huge six that landed close to the seawall, finished on eight not out. Off-spinner, Terry Odle grabbed 2 for 13 in a losing cause for Maxwell Sports Club who was on a week-long tour of Guyana.

Trophies for the match were donated by Ramesh Sunich of the Trophy Stall on South road, Bourda.