Guyana Times Daily - August 15, 2015

SVN tops high flyers at CSEC – uses discipline and P13

love to achieve success THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana

Serious crime erupts by 10% guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 2586

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Page 9

– as Govt still “fine-tuning” anti crime strategy

Govt yanks fibre optic cable rehab from DAX Page 10

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Workers protest outside Social Protection Ministry P2 – after 17 sacked from SAJ rice mill

AG visits P2 Qualfon to discuss cybercrime issues

Charged P2 fraudsters get bail P8 Tucville murder duo appears in court

2 Guyanese P9 nabbed at JFK with cocaine Guyanese extradited from TT to US to face murder charges P11 This vehicle parked in Kitty was riddled with bullets which emanated from the GDF headquarters as officers were training within the shooting range (See story on page 8) (News Source photo)

PM says “sugar GPL left headless after will not sink” under new Govt CEO relieved Page 7

– promises to turn ailing industry around at Cane Farmers Conference

of duties

Page 3

P12 India celebrates 68th Independence Anniversary today

2 news

saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

AG visits Qualfon to discuss cybercrime issues L

egal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Basil Williams on Friday visited Qualfon’s Providence, East Bank Demerara location to discuss cybercrime and cybersecurity with top Qualfon officials, including Vice President and General Manager Scott Warner.

The company processes a large amount of transactions online or in the “cyber world”; as such, it reached out to the Minster hoping that he could devise anti-cybercrime legislation. This legislation is not only relevant to the operations of Qualfon but many other businesses will benefit including Teleperformance when it is finally opened for business.

The Minister and a team from the Attorney General’s Chambers have just returned from a CyberLegislation seminar in Miami, Florida. In the recent weeks, the Government has been paying more attention to cybercrime and cybersecurity.

“They brought several problems to us that are affecting their operations and there is no law in

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams (fourth from left) standing next to Qualfon’s General Manager Scott Warner (third from left). They are flanked by representatives of their entities

Guyana to deal with it and that is very relevant to potential investors,” the Minister said.

Williams also mentioned that Warner would be having more discussions with the Ministry so that

it would be able to present a very relevant piece of legislation when the time came. While there is no

deadline for the establishment of the legislation, Williams did say that it was a major priority for the Government.

Speaking to members of the media, Warner explained that although the legislation was a major priority, a final document should not be rushed into action since cybersecurity was a very complex issue.

He added, “The reason why this is important is that companies that want to invest and want to do business with us (Qualfon) are looking to ensure that their data and information is secure and safe.”

Warner further said that the legislation did not need to be done right away, it just needed to be done right.

“I don’t think that people should expect something to be coming up in the next couple of weeks; it has to take some time to ensure that the Government and Private Sector take the time to put together something that is very meaningful.”

Charged fraudsters get bail Workers protest outside

A

duo was arraigned on charges of embezzlement on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Matthew Famey, 22, of 583 Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara, and Munesh Sukhram, 20, of 460 Good Intent, West Bank Demerara are accused of two counts of fraudulent embezzlement.

The charges read that on August 12 in the county of Demerara while the duo was employed in a company located in Guyana, they fraudulently embezzled $1,700,000 and documented false information and giving

it to Police Officer Thomas 20411, knowing the information to be false. It is believed they had intention of causing harm to another person using the position of the Police Officer.

Both Famey and Sukhram pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their attorney, Clive Forde informed the court of their particulars, asking that his clients be released on reasonable bail. He stated that Famey and Sukhram have been gainfully employed at the company as a driver and porter respectively. He said they have had no previous brushes with the law and

the former has children.

Forde also told the court that his clients were willing to submit to any conditions if it meant they would be granted their pre-trial liberty.

Police Prosecutor, Corporal Deniro Jones had no objections to this as the money that was allegedly embezzled has been returned to the company.

Magistrate Ann McLennan allowed bail in the amount of $120,000. The men are expected to make their next appearance at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on August 24.

Social Protection Ministry – after 17 sacked from SAJ rice mill

T

he General Workers Union (GWU), along with 17 workers from SAJ Rice Company, on Friday took to the streets in front of the Social Protection Ministry (formerly the Labour Ministry) to protest against the wrongful and “unlawful” dismissal of the workers from the company’s Burma, Mahaicony location.

The 17 individuals ap-

proached the Union about two weeks ago to inquire about its operations. The GWU visited the work1site on July 31 and management responded on August 3 with their letters of termination.

The workers were dismissed on the grounds of redundancy which is in contravention of the Termination of Employment and Severance of Pay Act chapter 98:08.

The Act stipulates that employers must inform the Labour Ministry before they dismiss any unrepresented union worker.

The peaceful protest managed to gain the audience of Minister Volda Lawrence and Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle.

Minister Lawrence assured the workers that she will look into the matter before the end of the day. She said: “I was made to understand that there was a protest in front of the Ministry, so I stepped out to inquire… .I can assure you that before

the day is out that we will be addressing the matter in context of the law that was breached by the employer.”

The workers, who are extremely annoyed, promised to hold the Minister to her word. One of the workers, Terrence Prass, told this newspaper that he was employed as a tractor operator for well above seven years and was now unsure as to how he would go about providing for his family. The dismissal saw many breadwinners for families out of their jobs.

The Union representative, Norris Witter sent a stern message to other employers that may want to exploit their employees. He said that the GWU would not stand idly by on the sidelines but would intervene since the workers’ best interest was the Union’s top priority. Efforts made to contact SAJ Rice Inc for a comment proved futile.

news

saturday, august 15, 2015

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Saturday, August 15 – 05:00h-06:30h and Sunday, August 15 – 05:30h-07:00h The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Saturday, August 15 – 17:00h-18:30h and Sunday, August 15 – 05:00h-06:30h

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Thundery showers can expected throughout the morning, with heavy rainfall expected in the mid afternoon. Cloudy weather can be expected in the late afternoon and evening.

Temperatures are expected to range between 25 degrees and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East South-easterly between 3.12 metres and 4.02 metres per second.

High Tide: 04:45h and 17:05h reaching maximum heights of 2.62 metres and 2.58 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 10:41h and 22:55h reaching minimum heights of 0.60 metre and 0.61 metre respectively.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

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| guyanatimesGY.com

GPL left headless after CEO relieved of duties

By Kristen Macklingam

G

overnment on Friday took a unilateral decision to end its engagement with Bharat Dindyal who was serving as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company for a number of years, now leaving the entity headless.

Dindyal was notified on Friday that his engagement with GPL was concluded with effect on the said day at 16:00h.

In a phone interview with Guyana Times on Friday afternoon, he stated that his contract had officially ended on December 31 last year, but he continued to serve in the post of CEO as part of an ‘understanding’ between the then Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and himself.

He explained that he had relayed information to Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson that he still intended to part ways with GPL but was prepared to remain as CEO for an interim transition period.

However, calls and even emails went unanswered when Dindyal sought the direction and advice of Minister Patterson as to the way forward, the former CEO told this publication.

Therefore a letter with such short notice that he was being relieved of his duties without any direct dialogue between himself and the subject minister was nothing short of a surprise, he noted.

Guyana Times was told that in terms of a contract both parties are expected to show some level of decorum, with regard to giving notice, as to whether someone will leave a job or is being relieved of their duties.

“I would have thought to be given notice of such a development and decision that was made. The letter I received does not say who to hand over to and to operate GPL without a CEO or a head there is an astonishing reflection of what is happen-

Former GPL CEO Bharat Dindyal

ing and is to happen. There is presently no project manager, no operations manager, the Deputy CEO is on leave and I was functioning in these capacities until the positions became filled,” Dindyal explained.

“A lot left hanging”

He emphasised that there is “quite a lot left hanging” at GPL as there are a number of major projects/programmes ongoing at the power company and with this in mind he had emailed Minister Patterson in June reminding the Minister that he (Dindyal) was supposed to leave by the end of that month.

“I had emailed him then requesting information on the transition arrangement, but received no reply. There was no termination of my contract, if the Government didn’t change and it was still the PPP [People’s Progressive Party] Administration I would have already left in June. I had wanted to leave in June, but nobody told me anything,” the former CEO said.

He further explained that after serving at GPL for more than half his life even when it was called the Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC) he did not want to see the company in turmoil.

Hence, he stayed on as CEO for the interim transi-

tion until a suitable person could be found to head the power company.

“If the PPP were in Government I would have been able to leave because they would have found or have persons to suitably fill the post I held. I don’t know of anyone in this Government has the background in electricity to handle this position and I hope if there is none then Government will find someone soon. There is still a lot of work to be done at GPL and in my opinion when listening to the Budget presentation there are no plans for the electricity sector, no vision for its development and Government hasn’t come to the table with any plan.

This is heading for a standstill; this is serious trouble,” Dindyal further stated.

He also noted that as time progresses the demand for electricity in Guyana will rise and that the PPP/Civic administration had recognised this; hence, it pumped money into GPL via subventions to ensure the power company could function effectively.

There was cash flow for each year and capital was made available by the former Administration to ensure that GPL could execute its projects and implement plans to handle the demand for electricity throughout the country, he added.

Re-examined

Meanwhile, in a release from the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday, it was stated that Dindyal’s substantive contract came to an end on December 31, 2014 and there was no renewal of his contract.

“Mr Dindyal continued to serve as GPL CEO based on what was described as ‘an understanding’ between himself and the previous

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson

subject Minister, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds. No written documentation has been provided with regard to this ‘understanding’...

Mr Dindyal communicated to new subject Minister, the Minister of Public Infrastructure, Mr David Patterson that he intended to part ways with GPL, but was prepared to remain as CEO for an interim transition period,” the release said.

It was reported that according to Minister Patterson, he thoroughly examined these “pertinent facts” along with Dindyal’s intervention in matters relating to staff (some of which was video recorded and has been extensively viewed on social media). Minister Patterson also examined Dindyal’s own performance appraisal and other relevant information and on Thursday evening advised Cabinet of the decision to conclude Dindyal’s engagement with GPL. “A subsequent announcement will be made with regard to the plan relating to the administrative leadership of GPL,” the release added.

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guyanatimesgy.com

friday, august 14, 2015

Views Editor (Ag): Michael Younge Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134 Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

The Government’s green economy

F

inance Minister Jordan, in the speech he delivered announcing the 2015 budget, made reference to the Government’s willingness to promote a green and sustainable economy.

Exactly how and what measures would be employed to promote green policies weren’t explained. However, this has caused attention to be drawn to the LCDS and its implementation status to date, considering that some of the major projects which had begun receiving funds or were approved for funding through the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) were either discarded or halted.

The Amaila HydroElectric Project (AHEP) and the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) Project were perhaps the two most important initiatives funded by LCDS revenues considering the impact they would have had on the country’s economy and on indigenous peoples. While the Government has abandoned any intention of resuming the Amaila initiative in the near future, this may prejudice the country’s economy on the long term. Indeed, Guyana is one of the few countries where tackling climate change becomes an opportunity for investment rather than a cost to burden the economy, and Amaila is an opportunity birthed by the LCDS. However, from an economic perspective, if Guyana choses to change route and abandon the project, which may in turn negatively impact the Norway/Guyana Agreement, it will send a message to international investors that the country is not open for investment, that we represent a risky market and perhaps that we as a country, are back-peddling.

With regards to the Amerindian Land Titling Project which was able to deliver at least 6 land titles to Amerindian villages, some of which were awaiting title for more than five years, the question remains as to if or when operations would resume. At least 6 other communities await titles while 32 await extensions and 68 were scheduled for demarcation. The Amerindian Land Titling Project was designed to be implemented within a three year timeframe with specific annual targets in terms of those number of communities and villages that would have requested Absolute Grants as well as Certificates of Title upon completion of demarcation. Regardless of the importance of land for Amerindians and the obligation of the Government of Guyana to respect Amerindian land rights as entrenched in section 17 on the Guyana Independence Act Cap. 14, the Government has still decided to stall a project which was straightforward in its objective. Not only does seizing the project directly hamper Amerindian development, but it also sends a strong message that the Government is not results oriented, considering the timeframe and delivery rate assigned to the project. It indicates to investors, whether deliberately or not, that regardless of bilateral partnership and intense monitoring and evaluation, there’s a real risk that the Government will not respect future international Agreements. While this invokes negativity for our economy, it also jeopardises our foreign relations with neighbours and other actors in the international arena.

In the end, those who stand to suffer from the mismanagement of the LCDS funded projects are all Guyanese. Whether it’s cheaper electricity, funding micro and small enterprises, funding community development plans or titling Amerindian ancestral lands, all Guyanese are beneficiaries of a green economy. But the question is, how does the Government intend to pursue such a policy if the first initiative towards sustainable green development is being blundered at the expense of the reputation that this country has developed in recent years, in the domain of climate change? The LCDS as a premier undertaking towards a greener alternative may be considered a pilot in a sense, and subsequently leaves room for improvement in some areas. However, one of the principles of a stable and strong country is that there's a standard of continuity in Government, and that those perceived or real weaknesses discovered within national institutions should be acted upon. Not ignored nor rejected.

The recent actions of the Government in making stark moves to interrupt ongoing national policies among others, point in the direction that there's a strong possibility that this Government will not resume GRIF funded projects, despite the Norwegians' willingness previously expressed, to pursue an extension of the LCDS Agreement which came to an end in June of this year.

Subsequently, and due to the hesitation of the previous Opposition and now current Government, more than half of US$190 million released for GRIF projects remains untouched to date.

Should the LCDS fail, the fight for a green economy might be perceived in the future as a Guyanese rhetoric in any other attempt at investing in areas of climate change.

A selection of pictures from the annual Perseid meteor shower. The meteor shower can be seen all over the world and peaks every August – this year on the 11, 12 and 13. It is often the most dazzling meteor display of the year (BBC News)

Poll: Nation Losing Confidence in Constitutional Change, Agriculture and National Security Ministers Dear Editor, An opinion poll currently being conducted by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association on a host of current issues has found overwhelmingly support for constitutional reform.

However, the nation does not have much confidence there will be any significant change to the constitution believing politicians will not want to reduce their controlling power over the population.

Citizens view the present crime wave as the leading problem facing the nation and are losing confidence in the coalition government’s ability to rein it in. The nation is disenchanted with the performance of the Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan not only for failing to bring down the crime level, but seeming, what they say, clueless on how to proceed with concrete initiatives to tackle crime. They say the

broad strategic suggestions passed on to him by President Granger and his advisors are long term measures and people are looking for immediate relief from the spike in crime.

And although fully supportive of the Government’s position on the border conflict with Venezuela, respondents are dissatisfied with its handling of what many describe as the “rice crisis” with the neighboring country saying a lack of market for rice will drive rice farmers into bankruptcy and bring enormous hardship to the country.

They believe the Government might have been too intemperate with its response to President Maduro.

Just as significantly, farmers have virtually no confidence in Noel Holder as Minister of Agriculture viewing him as “unfit” for job, and they do not feel he will be able to transform the agricultural sector to boost economic

growth. His appointment came as a complete surprise to all and they note that he himself said he knows “nothing about rice except to consume it”.

Almost everyone interviewed in the latest NACTA poll says crime is the number one issue facing the country followed by the economy and unemployment.

Also, almost everyone supports constitutional reform and feels it should be urgently undertaken. However, they are not hopeful the constitution will be replaced or that there will be any meaningful changes to reduce the powers of the President or other officer holders or to institutionalise power sharing among the parties.

With regards to crime, respondents say although former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had/has low likeability rating and feel he did a very poor job on handling crime and overall, as

Home Affairs Minister, his performance in that Ministry was better so far than that of his Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan. Many commented that Ramjattan is presiding over the shell of a Ministry and seems to have limited powers to effect significant change to make people feel safe.

Supporters of the opposition PPP and most in the business community say the National Security Minister’s job is being undermined by Advisors to the President, and perhaps not coincidentally they feel the Minister has not been pro-active enough in crime fighting measures. They are supportive of his “curfew” on bars, but they want drastic actions against criminals.

Findings of other queries of the survey will be released in a subsequent report.

Sincerely, Vishnu Bisram

Ramayya’s grand finale Dear Editor, The grand finale of Ramayya’s greed for power and money using the Alliance for Change as the tool can now be written. But it will be puerile and immature to conclude that this insatiable quest will subside or even go away. His immediate overtures with the PPP bear testimony to this fact.

The AFC made a terrible blunder after the Inquiry into allegations of corruption, mismanagement of finances and cronyism brought against him by myself and AFC Councillor Donna Mathoo in early 2012.

This Inquiry which was conducted by the then General Secretary, Mr Sixtus Edwards and Dr Punalall, found him guilty but the findings were swept under the rug and the Leader of the AFC, Mr

Khemraj Ramjattan declared at a Press Conference that it was all about “misunderstanding and miscommunication”.

The AFC lost a golden opportunity to rein in Ramayya and establish itself as a Party which doesn’t condone such practices. I fought tirelessly to correct this flaw but I was unceremoniously expelled from the AFC following accusations of me being a “PPP mole” and that I was in the payroll of the PPP. To date no one in the PPP has ever given me a cent as a bribe or as an incentive to do what I did. It was after being expelled from the AFC in 2014 that I joined the PPP. Today, the true Ramayya has manifested himself publicly. Once again it is about power and money and once

again he is claiming that the AFC owes him money and should pay him. This man is never tired of singing the same tune. From sources within the AFC, Ramayya was side-lined by the coalition because of the same allegations levelled against him by myself and Donna Mathoo in 2012. The’tiger’ cannot change its stripes.

Now, after branding Indians in Berbice as racial and that they do not want a “Blackman” to rule them; after branding Indian women as “prostitutes”; after claiming that he was not interested in “power and money” but only in the removal of the PPP from Government; after lying and deceiving some Berbicians, he is now trying to take the moral high ground that he

wants Berbicians to live better. But his statements to the media have already convicted him. His hypocrisy cannot be shrouded any longer and is revealed because of a meagre salary of $180,000 without perks.

What would have been his position if he was given a ministerial position and all the perks to go with it? But it’s not only his words which have caused his downfall in the AFC but also his apparent insatiable greed for power and money.

In conclusion, if the PPP wants to play politics with him, it is their choice but the feedback from the Berbice populace is that Ramayya is “dead meat” and should be left to the carrions.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

guyanatimesgy.com

saturday, august 15, 2015

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Are accusations of discrimination The time is now for a local law school by the HWLS valid?

Dear Editor, Every institution has its strengths, challenges, weaknesses and areas for improvement, none is immune to this reality.

The HWLS is one of the three law schools governed under the Council of Legal Education established under The Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education 1972 (“the Treaty”). The Council of Legal Education (“the Council”) consists of the Head of the Judiciary and the Attorney General of each participating territory. The participating territories are the CARICOM member States, including Guyana. These participating territories, along with the University of Guyana, are all signatories to the Treaty.

Under the Treaty, persons with University of the West Indies (UWI) LL.B are eligible for automatic admission to the Law School; all other with Council recognised LL.B degrees are eligible for admission, subject to the availability of places and to such conditions as the Council may require.

By the Agreement dated July 2, 1996 between the University of Guyana (U.G.) and U.W.I., a framework for collaboration was laid out, which provided that in any academic year:2.2. no admission of more than 35 Guyanese nationals to the U.G. Law programme;.

2.3 only 25 of the 35 are eligible for entry into HWLS; 2.4 no more than 25 Guyanese for admission to the Council of Legal Education

Law Schools.

The Council derives revenue from Government contributions, grants and donations, and fees payable by persons admitted to the Law Schools.

The student fee is calculated on the basis of the per capita economic cost, which is reduced where the government contributes the economic cost as agreed in the Treaty. The economic cost is based on the per capita cost of maintaining each law school for the budget year and is subject to increase as the Council sees fit.

Each student is required to pay all fees in full at the beginning of the academic year. However, under special circumstances which must be proven by documentary evidence, the Registrar or Principal may either permit fees to be paid in two instalments or extend the time for payment of fees (Reg. 13 (4), (5) of the 2012 Regulations).

These contingencies fall outside the general regulations and are totally at the discretion of the Registrar and Principal (Reg. 13 (2)).

As of July 31, 1997, Guyana was in arrears in its contribution to the economic in the amount of US$252,706 (pg. 118 of the Barnett Report); and our Government has since ceased to contribute to the Council. Consequently, Guyanese students are required to pay the economic cost along with the normal fees.

The 2012 Regulations also speak to other issues such as Student Grievance Procedure

and Review of Assessments and Examinations.

Students who are dissatisfied or have concerns about the operations or with the faculty or staff may express such concerns through the Student Association namely, the Student Representative Council. The student may register such concerns to the SRC in person or through his/her Group and/or Year Representative. The SRC then interfaces with the Administration of the School to make representation on the student’s behalf.

Further, students’ assessment and evaluation of the tutors and/or course directors are conducted at the end of each term in respect of the course content, manner of delivery, adequacy of materials, and course effectiveness, among others.

Course Directors/Tutors are also available to meet with students, on appointment, to discuss and clarify areas of uncertainty or to carry out reviews on assessments and examinations. Students may also apply for an official review of grades awarded.

In light of all that is said above, the question must be asked “if the School’s administration is abiding by the Regulations as set out by the Council and applicable to all the Law Schools in the Caribbean, can they rightly be accused of discrimination on these grounds?”

Yours faithfully, Telisha Williams

Guyana needs a truth and reconciliation commission Dear Editor, Hardly a day passes without an embarrassing soap opera episode in Guyana,but at the end of the day regardless of who gets the blame, those who end up suffering are our hard working Guyanese men and women, not to mentioned our young people caught in this blame game.

The Guyanese people yearn to live and work in a politically, socially and economically healthy society. Editor, as Guyana approaches her 50th year of Independence, the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

can be a perfect gift for my fellow Guyanese especially if we were to utilise the services of Sir Shridhat Ramphal, Madame Desiree Bernard and an expert on race relations from the ABC countries.

Such a team was used in South Africa during its postapartheid era and today the results are staggering. South America is well on its way where all races are living side by side regardless of political and social affiliations.

President Barack Obama in his 2008 DNC acceptance speech said: “This is not a black America, white or lati-

no America, this is the United States of America”. This speech made every American reclaim their dream of belonging to their great land. Editor, this is not a Black, Indian or Amerindian Guyana. This is the Co-operative Republic of Guyana of six races; land of the free with a motto of “One people, one nation, one destiny”. Let us reconcile our differences and let harmony and dialogue become the pathway to national development and by extension Nation Building.

Yours truly, Rollin Tappin

The identity complex of our new leaders Dear Editor, During the last elections, I got to know the wives of the present President and Prime Minister via the media. They were very visible on the campaign trail and even had events where they were the principal speakers. I learnt that the wife of the Granger candidate was “Sandra” and the wife of Nagamootoo was “Sita”. In a host of interviews, their husbands referred to them by those names.

Suddenly, to my surprise, I see Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo is pushing his

wife’s name now as “Sita Mary Nagamootoo” on Facebook. I wonder what is going on.

Is this insistence on his “Christianity” and parading his Christian credentials to help PM Moses further distance himself from being “Indian”, as he’d announced just before the elections in New York? Or, alternatively, is this a requirement of the Granger Government which the said gentlemen declared “the Lord ordained” and and such Hindus and Muslims and their identity markers such as names - are once more

beyond the pale and must be relegated to being pagans and heathens as in colonial times?

I personally believe that PM Moses is praying to the Lord to have Him intercede with the ordained President Granger so that he will be given all those powers that he was promised.

And where does this leave our Hindoo Prakash, poor chap? Is this why he continues to drink - but not beyond 2 am?

Sincerely, Shanie Jagessar

Dear Editor, The Guyana Times’ Editorial “For a Guyana Law School” (13.08.15) supports a position that I have advocated in these pages. Yet, the content of the Editorial is misleading in many regards. One of the tenets of journalism is to pursue the truth wherever it leads, and the Times’ Editorial embraces the kind of revisionist journalism that mars a most noble profession.

The Editorial characterizes the idea of a local law school as the “Jagdeo proposal” which emerged somewhere around 2002. What the Editorial does not say is that it is the same Jagdeo regime which held the reins of power since that time to May last, and besides putting a Committee in place to flesh out the idea, no serious headway has been made.

What the Editorial also omits is that the then government represented in the Office of the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall was later vehemently opposed to the idea of a local law school, not only on the basis that it would be a costly undertaking but also on the basis that it would lead to a saturation of the local market, a very linear approach to solving the issue.

When the perennial is-

sue of Guyanese admittance to the Hugh Wooding Law School was raised last year, we were told that a committee was again looking at the issue and the viability of a local law school. What has become of that initiative?

Against the silhouette of International Youth Day, we keep telling our youths that they can be anything they choose to be, but in Guyana is not exactly true especially as it regards the vocation of Law and being trained as a lawyer. What we have been seeing year after year is youths with a greater appetite for learning the law but the constraints of space in our own undergraduate law programme limits their admission, even though in recent years the Department of Law has been pushing the proverbial envelope.

Likewise, the Top 25 Automatic Placement arrangement also restricts the number of those persons who wish to pursue the post graduate Certificate of Legal Education, a prerequisite to practice before the local bar and regionally. This is an untenable situation that must be remedied posthaste if our people are to truly be all that they can be.

Trinidad’s position has always been clear, that the Council for Legal Education’s “solution to the

problem was not planning to create additional places but instead to restrict the numbers of persons to be admitted to practice as lawyers, thereby denying law students their right to further their professional careers.”

Additionally, they have said, “The failure of the institutions to anticipate and meet the demand for legal education has seriously prejudiced the legal systems of the Caribbean and has seriously disadvantaged the current generation of young aspiring lawyers.”

If the Guyana Times must agree with anyone, let it agree with the Legal Affairs Committee, a body of Caricom, that “these institutions are unable to meet the demands for legal education”.

The time is now for our local law school.

Sherod Avery Duncan

Editor’s note Dr Bharrat Jagdeo was President of Guyana when the proposal for the Local Law School was approved

by Cabinet in 2002, so we believe that the term “Jagdeo Proposal” is fair. Now that the present administration has acceded to this decision, we await their speedier execution of the project.

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saturday, august 15, 2015

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BY BETH GREENFIELD

W

hen your child winds up with a problematic classroom placement, it’s important to help him or her be a self-advocate – and for you to take it to the next level through appropriate channels if necessary.

As summer winds down and parental focus shifts from sunscreen to school notebooks, there’s a vague angst that lingers until a very specific moment: the arrival of those class-placement letters.

“The reason they come out the last day of August is to prevent all the agitation of, ‘Oh my God, I want my child switched!’” Lori Day, an Educational Psychologist and Consultant, tells Yahoo Parenting. “It happens every year.”

And as any parent who has even halfheartedly tried to get their child transferred from one class to another knows, the administration is loath to do it – not only because it sets a potentially disastrous precedent, but because, as Day explains, “it undoes all their hard work” of striving to create classes that are balanced in a range of ways, from gender to academic ability. “Parents never understand the amount of time and effort that goes into it,” she says, so what

guyanatimesgy.com

Foundation

a dissatisfied parent will most often be told by those in charge is this: “Give it a chance.”

But how does a caring parent do that if, for example, their child comes home upset every afternoon? Or, worse yet, starts the morning by crying about not wanting to go to

and don’t become resentful.

Because, as Educational Consultant Lisa Dabbs tells Yahoo Parenting, “None of us want to be ‘that parent.’”

Listen to your chid.

“Just accept the feelings of your child – let her talk to you about her frustration, irritation, or disappointment,” Joanna Faber,

school in the first place because he or she doesn’t like the teacher? Keeping some key points in mind, experts say, and following a certain set of protocols will help your child adjust, as well as help ensure that those at the school remain receptive, calm, and helpful –

a parent and former educator and contributor to “How to Talk So Kids Can Learn — at Home and in School,” tells Yahoo Parenting. And don’t worry about taking sides, either. “All you have to do is listen with sympathy – that’s the most important thing – because your

child is going to have a lot of frustration in the world, and that’s how we learn,” she says. Then, while listening, adds Day, be cognisant of how you react. “However a parent responds to their child, the child will learn something from that,” she says. “And if he or she steps in right away, it’s not giving the child conflict-resolution skills. Let them know that sometimes you don’t have the perfect teacher, and you have to work through the problems.”

Help your child negotiate the situation. If more action is warranted by the teacher’s behaviour – yelling, for example, or not allowing any bathroom breaks – then the first step, says Lori, is “trying to empower your child to deal on his or her own.” So before going to the teacher yourself, help foster independence in your child by helping him go without you, either in person or through writing a letter of explanation or apology. “You just want to make it better, of course,” notes Faber, “but a big part of fixing it is realising the power of being a sympathetic listener, being an advocate for your kid, and helping your child be an advocate for herself.”

Step in. It certainly may come to this, Day notes, “but there is a way to do it and a way not to

do it.” It’s important to follow a school’s chain of command, and to start by directly approaching the teacher, not the principal.

Day suggests doing that in person, or at least over the phone. “One of the biggest mistakes parents make in these situations is misusing email,” she says. “It’s a great tool for something like ‘we’ll be late tomorrow’ or for setting up a time to talk. But you want to avoid tone issues or escalation of a problem, and you also have to respect the teacher’s time.” (Meaning: Save those lengthy, emotional, late-night emails for your friends.) When you do get face-time with the teacher, be sure to avoid overly aggressive questions or accusations that will “set them back on their heels,” Day says. Instead, stick with “reciprocal, open-ended questions,” understand that children very often behave differently at school than they do at home, and make your default approach one of “How can we support you?” over “Why did you do that to my child?” Dabbs, a mother as well as a former teacher and administrator, says it’s important for parents to know that, “90 per cent of the time” when there’s friction with a teacher, “it is because of a misinterpretation on the part of

t h e child – the teacher or child has had a bad day; the child didn’t do an assignment,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. And if that’s the case, then direct communication can be a simple fix.

Take it to the next level. If the teacher interaction is not helping, then it’s appropriate to go to the next level, whether that’s the vice principal, the principal, or the School Psychologist. “If you don’t have an adversarial relationship, asking the teacher who should be next is a good strategy,” Day suggests. Then, when you have that person’s ear, try to start from a place that is compassionate and positive. “A great approach is, ‘I really want my child to love learning,’ because that’s the shared mission of everyone involved.” The worst thing to do, Dabbs warns, is to “call the district office, or a friend who is a board member. All that does is create a situation where the school does not trust you when an issue comes up.” Still, she says, “Parents need to feel confident that we can ask questions and seek information,” which can help avoid conflict to begin with.

So to that end, she suggests classrooms use tools such as the Remind app, which fosters classroom transparency through real-time parent updates.

Finally, plan ahead for next year. “Preemptive strike,” advises Faber.

Throughout the year, listen what the other parents say about the teachers in the next grade – which one is strict, which one creative, which relies on lots of desk work. “While most schools don’t appreciate anyone asking for a specific teacher, you can write a humble and deferential letter in which you talk about your child and what you believe would make a good fit,” she says.

“For me, it has helped enormously over the years.” Still, Day warns, “Be careful what you wish for,” as requests can sometimes “create unbalanced classes that in other ways aren’t good for your child.”

(What if all the parents put their very active child with a particularly energetic teacher?) Just keep in mind that everyone is generally aiming for the same goal – teachers, too. “They have every reason to want it to work,” she says. (Yahoo!

News)

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saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

PM says “sugar will not sink” under new Govt – promises to turn ailing industry around at Cane Farmers Conference

By Vahnu Manikchand

A

s Guyana continues to grapple with the ailing sugar industry, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has assured that it will not let sugar fail.

This promise was uttered by Prime Minister and First Vice President Moses Nagamootoo on Friday while he was addressing a gathering of stakeholders at the Agriculture Ministry’s first National Cane Farmers

Many shortfalls

According to the Prime Minister, there are many shortfalls that are affecting the efficient operation of the Sugar Corporation, so Government intended to have these addressed urgently.

Some of the areas to be addressed this year include the shortage of skilled personnel, labour turnout, GuySuCo’s Capital Expenditure Programme, and the cost of production and marketing of sugar.

Further, he stated that

challenges to ensure the sugar industry was viable ,since it was a big foreign currency earner and still a big source of job creation. According to the first Vice President, these answers are also important to cane farmers since their livelihood is directly linked to the success of the sugar industry.

He outlined that the industry and workers were important to Government hence it was working to ensure a modern industry. “The focus is to make sugar work.

We have too many workers

Commission of Inquiry into the sugar industry we are attempting to ensure that we create a flexible, integrated and environmentally sensitive sugar sub-sector to satisfy the demands of domestic, regional and international competitive markets,” he declared.

Moving forward, the Prime Minister remarked that in addition to mechanisms, they needed to also focus on new and improved varieties of sugar cane to increase productivity at the field level along with appro-

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

A section of the gathering at the National Cane Farmers Conference

Conference where issues affecting the sugar industry were discussed and recommendations made.

The one-day conference was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, during which Prime Minister Nagamootoo delivered the feature address on the importance of sugar to Guyanese and the country’s economy. He noted that while in Opposition, the APNU/AFC coalition had said that sugar was too big to fail, and this position was still maintained.

Nagamootoo stated that the sugar industry contributed significantly to the country’s economy and as such, Government needed to ensure it did not fail. He pointed out that since its assumption to office in May, Government has given the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) a $4 billion bailout to pay wages, adding that the industry needed an additional $12 billion. This, he stated, is despite another $17 billion that was approved in Parliament over the past two years to be injected into the sector.

“This new Government will not allow the sugar industry to sink. However, you will well understand we needed to cast out the political deadweights, whose mismanagement had brought us to the point where we were forced to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the operations of GuySuCo,” he stated.

his Government will be looking to complement cost-effective production with enhanced processing and marketing as well as establishing programmes for technical and financial support.

Nagamootoo went on to say that Government was prepared to work on these

who stand to lose with the collapse of the industry, so it is no question that we have to make it work… In fact, it is stated clearly in our manifesto that there remains an urgent need to reorganise the management of the entire agriculture sector – be it sugar, rice, aquaculture, livestock or other crops.

With the establishment of a

priate investments.

Nevertheless, the first Vice President noted that with the current difficult times especially with plummeting market prices and

rising operating costs as well as climate change, farmers must embrace these changes.

Moreover, Nagamootoo assured the farmers that they would not be left unemployed. He noted unlike Jamaica which scaled back its sugar, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago which went out of sugar, and St Kitts which went out of production, Guyana’s sugar industry would not see the same fate.

On this note, he went on to highlight that despite the challenges in the sector such as the high cost of production, Guyana’s sugar production has been on par.

He disclosed that in 2014, GuySuCo recorded a production of 216,147 tonnes with the first crop having surpassed the 75,000 tonne

target, bringing in about 80,000 tonnes. He stated that GuySuCo is targeting a 2015 production of some 240,000 tonnes.

While in Opposition, the combined APNU and AFC parliamentary parties had severely criticised attempts by the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government to deliver aid and assistance to the sugar industry to keep it afloat.

APNU Executive Carl Greenidge had accused the PPP/C of throwing money down a “black hole” hinting that it was wasting taxpayers monies to save thousands of jobs in the industry which were threatened every time GuySuCo encountered mechanical or financial difficulties.

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saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

Car on Vlissengen Road riddled with bullets from GDF shooting range

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motor car belonging to a Kitty, Georgetown resident was riddled with bullets on Friday afternoon that were fired from the indoor shooting facility at Camp Ayanganna.

The owner who asked to remain anonymous told media operatives that he was at his Stanley Place, Kitty home when he realised one of the windows on his motor car had shattered and two bullet holes were evident in the vehicle.

Initially, he thought that his car was targeted in a drive-by shooting, but upon closer inspection he realised that that could not be so.

As he considered the possible directions that the bullets could have come from, he recognised the holes on the wall of the unpainted concrete building in the compound of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

Guyana Times understands that the resident visited the GDF

B

The bullet-ridden car parked on Vlissengen Road with the GDF shooting range in the background (Newssourcegy.com photo)

Headquarters where he related the incident, and it was only then ranks became aware that the bullets had passed through the walls. Several senior ranks reportedly visited the man at his house and inspected the bullet-ridden vehicle.

The ranks reportedly pledged to replace the window and get rid of the holes in the car. The resi-

dent is thankful that no one was in the area at the time since he/she would have been struck by the bullets. It is believed the ranks were practising with heavy-duty guns and at no time, did they realise that the bullets were piercing the concrete walls.

The shooting range, Guyana Times understands, has been in exis-

tence for some time, but was down until recently when a few senior ranks decided to use it for training purposes.

The facility was shut down until further notice. A senior rank is quite elated that fortunately no one was passing at the time of the shooting practice session, noting that it could have been deadly.

Tucville murder duo appears in court

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wo men were on Friday remanded for the murder of Tucville resident Ryan Clementson who died after being injured in a shootout.

Edward Skeete, 28, of 309 Independence Boulevard, Georgetown and Niaburgi Gobin, 32, of 1249 Aubrey Parker Road, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown were not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder which was read

Eyew tness Contracts...

Murder Accused, Edward Skeete

to them by Magistrate Ann McLennan in Court Two of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The charge states that between July 14 and July 24, in Georgetown the defendants murdered Clementson.

Further details were not offered by the court as the Police are still unsure what led to the shootout that caused the death of Clementson.

Clementson and another bystander were injured during the shooting incident near Arapaima and Jackson Streets, Tucville, Greater Georgetown. They were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where Clementson succumbed.

The defendants will return to court on September 17 when they will appear before Magistrate Fabayo Azore in Court Five.

...expectations and horses

ack in the day, a fella named Henry Sumner Maine proposed that for societies to progress they must evolve from relations defined by "status" (an ascribed position) to relations defined by contract (a voluntary stipulation). This is so obvious to the developed world nowadays, that it's not even commented on. And not surprisingly, it's the refusal to move from status to contract that's responsible for countries to be called "Third World".

You really can't expect that because you're (say) a "Minister" you can just walk into a hotel and grab all the working girls and bring them to Georgetown, can you? After all as a Minister you have a "job description" (a "contract") spelling out what you can or can't do. While everyone can make "citizens' arrests", if there are policemen around (whose "contract" it is to do that) you can't have them standing around while you play "big and bad"!

If every "big one" does as she pleases, then we're back to the days of "status" when the "lord of the manor" could just walk into your house and have his way with your wife.

Seigniorial rights! Can't have that, can we?

Now the notion of individuals signing contracts that define what can, should or can't be done went further especially into the world of business. Allowed folks to move past the face-to-face bartering.

You signed contracts and fellas from hundreds of miles away - and eventually from different countries - had the confidence that things would unfold just the way described in the contracts. So in the modern world, if folks don't have confidence in your contracts ...you'll never get their business. And so you remain Third World - starving as you sit on your "potential".

And this brings us to a developing situation in Guyana on this "contract" business. The Berbice Bridge was built on a "Public Private Partnership" contract. The Government and private investors agreed on the conditions under which the structure would be "built, owned, operated and transferred" to the government after twenty years.

The private investors put up their money, collect tolls to amortize their investment and everything is copacetic, right?

Wrong. After correctly deciding to repay the BCCI - after discussion - for tolls they want to reduce for commuters the Government just arbitrarily declared that some horses can cross for free!!

Now it's not really about some horses, is it? It's the principle of the sanctity of contracts. You start with a few horses, and before you know it, the people who put up the money to build the bridge, are left holding the bag.

And we revert back to the Stone Age.

...and raising children

As part of the movement from status to contract, we now send our kids to schools run either privately or by the state and expect them to be "educated". While your Eyewitness is no Marxist, he has to admit that the "education" is pretty much to help you be a cog in the big wheel. But if no one’s complaining, what's the problem?

Anyhow in Guyana, we're going through that annual rite where we go ga-ga over the forty or so "top performers" at the CSEC. This Eyewitness has to always ask, "Are the school's performing their part of the contract when more than half of the 12,000 kids who wrote the exam, can't pass English and Maths? So what happens to the bottom half?

The tragedy is it's not that better performances can't be produced - and it doesn't have to be the "status" schools like Queens. Look at the Hindu School SVN that takes kids with the lowest score at NGSA - and makes them shine.

Make the Swami Minister of Education!!

...and hits

Another kind of "contract" in the news is the one to carry out "hits". After all the Godfather movies, your Eyewitness thought these fellas took an oath of silence.

OmertĂ ?

You couldn't tell from listening to Sean Hinds!

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

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saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

Serious crime erupts by 10% – as govt still "fine-tuning" anti crime strategy

A

s the Government of Guyana “fine-tunes” its public security plan - which is more of a strategic macro perspective - aimed at addressing the crime situation in Guyana, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Friday disclosed that there has been an increase of 10 per cent in serious crimes at the end of July 2015, compared to the same period last year.

Among the "serious crimes" listed by the Force are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, robbery with aggravation, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape, and kidnapping.

The Force stated that a total of 94 murders were recorded at the end of July 2015 in comparison to 80 at the end of July 2014, which saw an increase of 18 per cent. Four more murders were recorded up to August 13 taking the toll to 98 for the year thus far.

Of these, 35 murders were committed in A Division (Georgetown/East Bank Demerara) followed

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

by 17 in C Division (East Coast Demerara) and 16 in B Division (Berbice). In addition, 12 were committed in F Division (Interior locations) and four each in D (West Bank Demerara/East Bank Essequibo) and E (Linden/ Kwakwani) while six were recorded in G Division (Essequibo Coast/Islands).

The Police further disclosed that 37 of the 94 murders committed were disorderly, 15 were committed during robberies and six

were execution-style killings; 11 were as a result of domestic disputes, 23 were from unknown causes and two by other means.

In addition, the Police recorded a two per cent decrease in robbery under arms as well as a four per cent decrease in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearm. However, a three per cent increase was recorded in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used.

Further, there has been an increase of 68 per cent in the number of reports of rape, with 243 cases being reported at the end of July compared to 145 for the same period last year. Break and enter and larceny and burglary have shown an overall increase of nine per cent.

The Police also seized a total of 74 illegal firearms –one sub-machine gun, 43 pistols, 18 revolvers, five shotguns, six rifles and one pen-gun.

A whopping 28 more illegal firearms were seized when compared to the same period last year.

“Pressing and most depressing”

During his maiden budget presentation on Monday, Finance Minister Winston Jordan admitted that the crime situation was the most “pressing and most depressing” problem Guyana was facing, highlighting the need to address it.

“The Government is finetuning a comprehensive public security plan, in which emphasis is to be placed on combating crime; regaining trust of the Police Force; improving Police investigative capabilities, by rebuilding an efficient and effective criminal intelligence system and the Criminal Investigations Department; improving recruitment standards and training by revitalising the Cadetship Scheme; counteracting human, drugs and arms trafficking; and acquiring vehicles and equipment for modern policing to fight banditry, piracy, terrorism and other violent crimes,” the Minister remarked.

As such, the Government allocated $21 billion to strengthen and im-

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan

prove the country’s various national security services in the National Budget presented to the National Assembly on Monday.

The Finance Minister noted some $11.9 billion will be plugged into supporting the operations of the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Prison Service, Guyana Fire Service, and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit. Meanwhile, he added that the remaining $9.1 billion will be directed towards

the operations of the Guyana Defence Force.

According to Jordan, these allocations will be injected into improving the physical infrastructure, upgrade of the security fleet, and acquisition of tools and equipment within these security services. The money will also be used to upgrade the security features of the machine readable passports, while another $9.7 million was budgeted for the acquisition of specialised equipment for the production of machine readable passports.

However numerous reports in the press stress that citizens have grown tired of promised to "fix"'the crime situation even as the Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan appears stunned into silence by the upsurge in crimes. Ramjattan had been one of the most vociferous critic of his predecessor Clement Rohee but has been unable to come up with a viable response even after he was summoned to meet the President and his phalanx of Security Advisors at 4:am in the morning.

2 Guyanese nabbed at JFK with cocaine T

wo Guyanese nationals were arrested upon their arrival at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York as they attempted to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

Hilary Shepard was reportedly busted on August 10, while Alisa Peters was arrested on August 6.

According to information received, Customs and Border Protection found over three kilograms (seven pounds) of cocaine in Shepard’s suitcase moments after he disembarked a Caribbean Airlines flight from Trinidad and Tobago.

It was noted that the cocaine was in two large plastic bottles which were wrapped in plastic packages. According to the report, Shepard admitted that he transported the drug and being offered a pay-

ment of US$10,000 to do so.

On the other hand, 22-year-old Peters was caught with over three kilograms of cocaine as well, that was sealed in wooden planks inside her suitcase.

She reportedly admitted that she was offered US$8000 to transport the illegal drug into the United States.

In June, Guyanese footballer Manasseh “Ziggy” Primo was busted at the JFK Airport, after it was discovered he had ingested a quantity of cocaine pellets.

According to reports, the 25-year-old travelled to the US and while being interrogated by law enforcement officials, it was discovered that he had swallowed the illicit substance.

Primo reportedly told immigration officials at the JFK that he was there to partici-

pate in a football tournament as well as visit relatives.

However, the agents did not believe the sportsman and further questioned him.

It was during this time that the young man admitted to ingesting a quantity of cocaine pellets. He was taken into custody and excreted approximately 51 pellets, which amounted to some 740 grams of the illegal narcotic.

Prior to that incident, Guyanese National Power Lifting Champion Colin Aubrey Chesney, of Linden, was arrested at the said airport after he admitted to swallowing cocaine pellets.

The national athlete was busted on May 24, moments after disembarking a Caribbean Airlines flight from Guyana during a routine search by Customs officials. Chesney was seen act-

ing in a nervous manner which drew the attention of a few Customs Officers.

He was subsequently escorted to a private room where he was questioned,

during which he started to sweat profusely. The athlete admitted to Customs officials that he had swallowed “foreign bodies”, thus he was taken for an X-ray and the

objects were detected. He was taken to a medical facility where he excreted 33 pellets containing cocaine. The actual weight has not been released.

Eccles resident on bail for embezzlement A

n Eccles, East Bank Demerara man was on Friday placed before Magistrate Ann McLennan in Court Two of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged with embezzlement.

Kevin Waaldijk, of 73 Old Road, Eccles, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

It is alleged that between Monday, May 25 and Friday, August 7 at Georgetown, in the Georgetown Magisterial District, County of Demerara, while being employed as a clerk of Sueria Manufacturing Incorporated, which is located at 70 Industrial Site, Greater Georgetown,

he embezzled the sum of $474,949 property of the said Sueria Manufacturing Incorporated.

Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones made no objections to bail, which was granted in the sum of $150,000. The defendant is scheduled to return to court on August 17.

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News Govt yanks fibre optic cable rehab from DAX T

he Government of Guyana on Friday flexed its muscles, yanking the contract from local firm Dax Contracting Services, which was tasked with rehabilitating and maintaining the controversial Fibre-Optic Cable that is expected to be used to transmit data for the State’s E-Governance System.

The previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration had come under heavy criticism for handing the company the contract earlier this year.

However, during a meeting on Friday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, met with the owner of the company, Faizal Mohammed, called “Dax”, and terminated the contract.

This was done in the presence of E-Government Adviser Floyd Levi. Despite being one of the previous Government’s critics of the E-Governance Project while in Opposition, the A Partnership for National Unit/ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition has decided to move ahead with

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and owner of Dax Contracting Services Faizal Mohammed along with E-Government Adviser Floyd Levi in the meeting on Friday

the project.

In the statement from Minister Harmon’s office, it was outlined that Mohammed was informed during the meeting that a team of telecommunications experts were commissioned to review the FibreOptic Cable laying project that was overseen by former Project Manager Alexei Ramotar, the son of former President Donald Ramotar.

“Minister Harmon informed that all works by Dax was to be halted while the team does its work.

Upon completion of the review, the team will report on the project execution, the amount of money expended, the performance of contractors and consultants; they are also expected to advise Government on the possible utilisation of the cable and on the way forward,” the statement further detailed.

It went on to say that the Minister of State assured Mohammed that he would be fairly treated for whatever “measured works” he would have accomplished in fixing parts of the cable. The

previous Administration was heavily criticised for the “sweetheart deal” it had given to Dax Contracting

Services during its last days in office.

In exchange for repairing the cable, Dax was given 40 years of exclusive use of portions of the cable along with duty-free concessions for SUVs and four-door pickups as well as tax holidays.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat under the previous Government, Dr Roger Luncheon had defended Government’s decision on the contract, stating that it was more cost-effective as oppose to borrowing between US$20 to US$30 million to have it repaired.

Dr Luncheon told media operatives that there was no need to invite bids to con-

tract a company since his Government wanted to find an entity to do the rehabilitation works without spending money.

As part of the deal also, Dax Contracting Services was given several of the 12 pairs of cable; however, the company was not allowed to provide telecommunication services. The contract had a lifeline of 25 years, but the company had the option of extending it for a further 15 years.

The PPP/C Administration has expended some US$4.5 million on laying the cable from Lethem through the interior to Georgetown.

Courts adopts Main Street Avenue

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ourts Guyana Inc has decided to adopt the Main Street Avenue which runs outside its main office in Georgetown, taking up responsibility of maintaining the walkway.

This was revealed during a meeting between the company’s top executives and officials from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).

Town Clerk Royston King met with a team from the mega department store that was headed by Country Manager Clyde De Haas.

Courts pledged its commitment to work with the

Mayor and City Council on a number of projects. As part of the agreement, Courts would take up responsibility for cleaning and maintaining the walkway, providing refuse receptacles and enhancing the general aesthetics of the area.

“Courts has also agreed to be a part of a refuse receptacle drive that would be undertaken by the Municipality, which would encourage households to be equipped with the requisite refuse receptacles,” a release from the M&CC detailed.

In addition, the organ-

isation has signalled its intention to participate in initiatives to address drainage in the city.

The furniture giant has also committed to assist in the area of sports and culture –an area now being resuscitated by the City’s Administration.

The Georgetown Municipality encourages all Private Sector organisations, Non- Governmental Organisations and religious groups to join the Municipality on the Clean, Green Georgetown initiative, which aims to restore the beauty of Georgetown.

Guyana/Venezuela border controversy

Venezuela engages Suriname for support on spurious claims

V

enezuelan Executive Vice President Jorge Arreaza and Foreign Affairs Minister Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday continued their tour of the Caribbean, to hold discussions with leaders on its claims to the Essequibo.

The duo held a bilateral meeting with re-elected President of Suriname, Desi Bouterse, who they briefed on the diplomatic efforts undertaken by the Venezuelan Government to claim Guyana’s territory of the Essequibo.

The meeting was held in the Suriname’s Capital, Paramaribo, after the swearing-in ceremony of Bouterse, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed.

Vice President Arreaza termed as positive his tour of the Caribbean last week, along with Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, to present Venezuela’s stance on the Essequibo border

claim. They visited Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Cuba.

Their visit to Barbados, however, saw that country’s Prime Minister, the current Caricom Chairman, Freundel Stuart emphasising the need to maintain peace and stability as the basis for enhancing regional cooperation and the development of both Guyana and Venezuela.

Prime Minister Stuart also reiterated the position adopted by Caricom at the 36th regular meeting of the Heads of Government, held in Barbados from July 2 to 4, 2015. In this regard, he restated Barbados’ and Caricom’s total support for the integrity of Guyana’s territory and maritime space, as well as that of all Caricom states. He said that Barbados stood by Guyana as it sought the best means

to address this issue.

Meanwhile, President David Granger has maintained that he would not have any conversation with Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro on the ongoing border controversy unless he completely withdrew the controversial decree he issued.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, in a statement clarified Guyana’s position after several misleading and inaccurate articles were published in regional media claiming that Granger has had a change of heart and was now willing to have dialogue with Maduro.

“This is not the case,” Greenidge said, explaining that President Granger made no mention of any “change of mind”, but merely said that he was willing to speak to President Maduro on a variety of issues of common interest, separate and apart from the border issue.

saturday, august 15 , 2015

guyanatimesgy.com

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News

76 road deaths for 2015 thus far, speeding main cause of fatal accidents

T

he Guyana Police Force on Friday disclosed that there were 71 road fatalities up to July 31, 2015 compared to 67 deaths from 61 accidents at the end of July last year – an increase of six per cent.

Of these, 22 fatalities were recorded in A Division (Georgetown/East Bank Demerara) followed by 21 in C Division (East Coast Demerara); 16 in B Division (Berbice); seven in D Division (West Bank Demerara/ East Bank Essequibo), four in G Division (Essequibo Coast/Islands) and one in F Division (Interior loca-

tions). There were no fatalities recorded in E Division (Linden/Kwakwani) for the period ending July 31, 2015.

There have been five road fatalities recorded for August 2015 up to the 13th compared to a whopping 14 for the same period last year, bringing the total so far to 76.

Speeding has been the major contributory factor to fatal accidents, having been the cause of 29 of the 58 fatal accidents unto July 2015.

Inattentiveness claimed the lives of 18, driving under the influence 10 and failing to confirm to signs caused the

Guyanese extradited from TT to US to face murder charge

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Balkumar Singh with law enforcement authorities

uyanese national 37-year-old Balkumar Singh was reportedly extradited to the United States of America from Trinidad and Tobago on Friday morning to face charges for murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment and related offences.

A statement from the Attorney General’s Office in Trinidad and Tobago noted that Sergeant Herman Narace of the local Interpol office spearheaded a party of Police Officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in the prisoner’s removal exercise and handed over Singh to US Marshals at the Piarco International Airport.

Singh was arrested in Trinidad on March 27, 2015 for violating immigration laws, under the name Shauwn Maharaj. He was wanted for the 1999 murder

of Abzal Khan and assault of Puran Mohammed outside the Masonic Temple in Hicksville, New York.

On May 1, 2015, Narace, along with PC James Dailey and PC Sham Sinanan, took custody of Singh from the Immigration Detention Centre and conveyed him to the Port of Spain Criminal Investigations Department (CID) where the warrant was served. Singh later appeared before a Port of Spain Magistrate, and was remanded into custody until May 28. Bail was refused.

Appearing for the requesting state was Head of the Central Authority Unit, Netram Kowlessar. Singh, who has 14 convictions in Canada, including assault and weapons charges, is also known by the following aliases: Tevin Persaud, Terry Persaud, Kumar Doodnath, Terry Singh and Sean Maharaj.

death of one person.

The Police reported that pedestrians have been the main category of road users affected so far, with 25 having lost their lives at the end of July 2015.

In addition, six pedal cyclists, 18 minibus occupants, 10 motorcyclists, nine drivers, two pillion riders and one person who was being towed on a bicycle also lost their lives.

Traffic enforcement by the Police has resulted in a total of 31,201 cases for this year being made against errant motorists at the end of July 2015; of this total, 13,129 cases were for speeding, 942 for driving under the influence of alcohol, 362 for using a cell phone while driving and 873 for failing to wear a seat belt.

The Police also stated that 1463 persons were

charged for the breach of conditions of the Road Service Licence and loud music; 578 for breaching traffic lights; 407 for tinted motor vehicles; 359 for unlicensed driving; 323 for driving in a dangerous manner; 362 for careless driving and 210 for failing to wear safety helmets.

Approximately 1577 cases were brought against drivers and conductors for

overloaded minibuses, while 451 were charged for obstruction and 397 for crossing the double yellow line.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force is once again urging motorists to reduce their speed when using the roadways and to take cognisance of the five Cs of defensive driving. These are care, common sense, courtesy, caution and consideration.

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saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

PPP/C Councillor wants focus on India celebrates diversifying Region 2’s economy 68th Independence P Anniversary today

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi

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oday, India celebrates its 68th Independence Anniversary with great pomp, commemorating the nation’s independence from the British Empire on August 15, 1947.

The holiday will be observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events.

Indians celebrate the day by displaying the national flag on their attire, accessories and homes; by listening to patriotic songs, watching patriotic movies; and bonding with family and friends.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hoisting the Indian flag on the ramparts of the historical Red Fort in Delhi. A 21-gun salute will be fired in honour of the solemn occasion. In his speech, the Prime Minister is expected to highlight the country’s achievements and its development within the past year, and raise important issues. He will be paying tribute to the leaders of the Indian Independence Movement. The Indian national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana” will be sung followed by a march past of divisions of the Indian Armed Forces and paramilitary forces.

Parades and pageants showcasing scenes from the independence struggle and India’s diverse cultural traditions will be held during the day. Similar events take place in State Capitals where the Chief Ministers of individual states unfurl the national flag, followed by parades and pageants.

India attained Independence following an independence movement noted for largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress (INC). Independence coincided with the partition of India, in which the British Indian Empire was divided along religious lines into the dominions of India and Pakistan; the partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, and the displacement of nearly

15 million people due to sectarian violence. On August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian National Flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. During his speech on that day, Nehru said, “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment, we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

major economies, as well as a developing economy with an average growth rate of approximately seven per cent for the last two decades.

India’s economy became the world’s fastest growing major economy from the last quarter of 2014, replacing China’s.

The long-term growth prospective of the Indian economy is moderately positive due to its young population, corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and increasing integration into the global economy, The Indian economy has the potential to become the world’s third-largest economy by the next decade, and one of the largest economies by mid-century.

eople’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillor and representative of Pomeroon farmers, Vilma Da Silva has underscored the importance of diversifying Region Two’s economy as she called on rice farmers to look at other industries that can in the long run be more beneficial.

Da Silva was at the time speaking at the recent Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) statutory meeting for the month of August at Anna Regina. She made the comment on diversification of crops after her colleagues complained that the rice industry was facing a crisis.

Da Silva, who is the owner of a water coconut bottling plant in the Pomeroon River, said that at the moment coconut was a huge hit on the international market, “why weep over rice when you can get into coconut and get the money; when rice is in crisis, coconut is there”.

Da Silva said that coconut water was in high demand internationally and called on farmers to start planting. She further explained that Region Two was a blessed region and the Pomeroon was the largest coconut producing area in the entire Caribbean.

“The price for water and dried coconuts are attractive at this time, while rice, sugar and gold are on a downward trend in prices,” she noted.

The Councillor and farmers’ representative said that she has markets for four large containers of coconut water for the Caribbean every month. She told Councillors that the late President of Guyana, Dr Cheddi Jagan always advised never to put all your eggs in one basket.

Da Silva called on farmers to diversify and not to depend solely on the cultivation of rice since the industry was letting them down.

Recaptured NA prisoner remanded on escape charge

Economic powerhouse

During colonialism by Great Britain, there was great focus on taxation and agricultural policies, which tended to promote commercialisation of agriculture with a focus on trade, which resulted in decreased production of food crops, mass impoverishment and destitution of farmers, and in the short term, led to numerous famines. Shortly after Independence, the then Prime Minister Nehru formulated and oversaw the economic policy during the initial years of the country’s independence. The leading minds expected favourable outcomes from their strategy, involving the rapid development of heavy industry by both Public and Private Sectors, and based on direct and indirect State intervention. Today, The economy of India is the seventh-largest in the world by nominal Gross Domestic Product and the third-largest by purchasing power parity. The country has been classified as a newly-industrialised country and one of the G-20

PPP/C Councillor and representative of Pomeroon farmers, Vilma Da Silva

Ravindra Samaroo being taken to prison on Friday

A

fter spending just over 24 hours on the run, escaped prisoner Ravindra Samaroo was recaptured Thursday evening by prison officials who were desperate to make amends for their perceived lapse on Wednesday evening which resulted in two prisoners escaping from the New Amsterdam Prison.

Shortly after 20:00h on Thursday, the 24-year-old Samaroo was recaptured at a location about 700 metres from the prison.

Reports are that he was found at a facility which is used by Rastafarians and referred to as a sacred place – Nyabinghi House. The House located at the back of Tuber Park is sometimes a deserted area and at other times is a hive of activity for many sporting dreadlocks.

Police had issued wanted bulletins for Samaroo and Lennox Patterson on Thursday. The two fled their way to freedom about 20:15h on Wednesday after removing a board from the back of cells 38 and 39, and using a bed sheet to lower themselves to the ground before making their way over the 12-foot zinc fence.

Meanwhile on Thursday afternoon, Samaroo appeared before Magistrate Mauricia Mittelholzer on a charge of escaping from lawful custody. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge. Samaroo was remanded until the matter comes up again on August 31, for a report.

Samaroo, who is a member of the notorious “Scare Dem Crew” Gang, has been before the court on several occasions on robbery related charges.

At the time of his break-out, he was on remand for his alleged involvement in a robbery perpetrated on Triple S Taxi Service in New Amsterdam.

According to one prison source, Samaroo, who was taken from the court to the prison in shackles on Friday, has been placed in solitary confinement.

Meanwhile, Patterson remains on the lam.

This publication was told that during the recapture of Samaroo, Patterson was also seen in the same area. According to a senior Police official, the Force was not contacted on Thursday to assist in the recapture of Patterson.

Patterson was recently placed before the courts after allegedly being found with a firearm and ammunition in New Amsterdam hours after armed men had robbed M Ali and Son Supermarket in New Amsterdam. He was also charged for that robbery during which a fire arm was used. At the time of his escape, he was remanded on those charges.

When the two men broke out of prison, they left behind two men in each of the cells. On Thursday, one of them was able to post bail and immediately on his release spoke to this publication.

According to Shafeek Yorick, who is on an attempted murder charge, at the time of the jail break-out he was asleep.

He said Samaroo had been sleeping in a hammock and he and another inmate were lying on mattresses on the floor.

“When they come and ask how much of us in the cell, I wake up and tell them three. So they open the door and tell

Cellmate Shafeek Yorick displaying the injuries to his hand

we to come out and is then I know that Samaroo not in the cell.”

Yorick also told this publication that the prison was a dangerous place with many inmates moving around with concealed weapons. “Even if you see something you can’t talk because a man could just come up to you and push something in you.”

According to Yorick, he was hit with a baton and prevented from receiving medical attention and was then placed in solitary confinement after the breakout. “I don’t see why the OC had to hit me that night,” he said.

He said that he was never thinking of breaking out since he was expecting to be released on bail on Thursday.

The hunt continues for Patterson; Police gave his date of birth as January 1, 1989. He is of African descent and his last known address was given as 369 Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice.

In the wanted bulletin which was issued on Wednesday, anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Patterson is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 2258196, 225-6411, 333-2191, 333-2151, 911 or at the nearest police station.

It said all information will be treated with strict confidence.

news

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Saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

SVN tops high flyers at CSEC – uses discipline and love to achieve success

opment of their children has produced better results and better people.

Methodology

SVN students

By Jillicia Pinder

S

said in 2002 he realized that when it comes to learning, there is still more to learn.

He added that he sees the learning process to include three different levels of intelligence, including cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence and then there’s cultural intelligence, and when these three things are combined in a learning process, we produce a more wholesome system and a more wholesome individual.

are to bring back cultural intelligence in the education sector, plus the emotional intelligence, we would be serving our country a great deal. We would be preparing people that are much more wholesome, people who just do not seek to pencil push all day and just seeking to occupy offices and so on.

This is the reason we started a school like this; because we felt that it was something that was quite lacking in society”.

Aksharananda further stated

till reeling from the excitement of producing Guyana’s two top students at the 2015 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations, the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) Hindu Secondary School believes that it still has a far way to go before accomplishing its overall goals and objectives.

As the 2015 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination results were revealed on Thursday, 17-year-old female student Victoria Najab from the SVN School at Cornelia Ida on the West Coast of Demerara, was named the country’s top CSEC performer.

The school currently boasts an overall pass rate (grades 1-3) of 93%, but more importantly a matriculation rate of 82%. 53 out of 64 students secured passes in 11 subjects and more including English and Mathematics.

The school’s English pass is 86%, while they achieved a 93% pass in Mathematics. Founder of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan Hindu Secondary School, These are almost double the Swami Aksharananda national pass rates in these two subjects.

The Swami stated that that to restore that culture is Speaking to Guyana in Guyana, the emphasis is going to be a great challenge times, the founder of the SVN, mainly just on cognitive in- for the future of Guyana.

Swami Aksharananda, men- telligence, which is basically He shared that one of the tioned that though his initia- learning the subjects and re- biggest challenges is the cotive to start a secondary school ceiving high grades, which operation of the parents. He has had some incredible chal- then leaves cultural and emo- added sometimes the school lenges, it has paid off tremen- tional intelligence neglected. and teachers would be on one dously.

He added that even then, one page while the parents would The Hindu Secondary can say that if we look at the be on another. The Swami (or School was founded in 2002 history of our country, we do Hindu Monk) continued to say

by Swami Aksharananda have a certain culture in edu- that many parents believe that of Guyana; however, the cation. He added that back in once the child is “deposited at school did not participate in the 1950’s there was a culture the school”, that the school is the CSEC examination until of learning which has now responsible for making their 2005 as their first batch went vanished. children into what they would through their system and “When we were in school, like them to be, which he addwhere they achieved a pass we had great role models to ed, should not be the case. The rate of 68%. look up to, such as Forbes founder shared that in all of In an interview with Burnham and Cheddi Jagan the school’s success that they the Guyana Times, Swami who were brilliant spokesmen have achieved so far, they have Aksharananda, who has a and would mesmerize every- noticed that the parents who PhD from a U.S. University, one with their speech. If we play a greater role in the devel-

The Saraswati Vidya Niketan Hindu Secondary School

The Swami shared that prayer plays an important role in the school. He added that meditation, chanting and singing of sacred hymns is also important and that he believes these things add to the mental makeup of the individual. He stated that at the beginning of each class session the students engage in breathing exercises which he explains has an “awesome effect” on the child.

Additionally, teachers are continuously urged to become more actively involved in classrooms sessions, hence, the Swami explain that teaching while sitting is very much frowned upon.

There is also a rule of “minimum note giving”. The spiritual leader explained that once children are continuously “spoon fed” with notes all they are left to do is “cram”. He added that what person, especially teachers need to understand, is that that “teaching goes on but learning doesn’t

Top CSEC student Victoria Najab

always happen.”

Discipline

Swami Aksharananda shared that hitting the children is not allowed at school, and when it comes to the matter of discipline, the parents are requested to become involved so that the matter can be dealt with maturely.

He also shared that when a parent decides that they would like their child to attend SVN, they recommend that the child feels the same way, as if the child does not wish to be apart the school,

it will show in their behavior when they will be inclined to be rebellious.

Swami Aksharananda stated that they have refrained from asking students to stand outside of the classroom. He explained that the ultimate power that the teachers and himself possess is the ability to expel the student. “If we find that after several attempts that the student is still stuck in his or her rebellious ways, then we realize that the child is not benefitting from the school and that the school doesn’t not have any effect on that child so why should he/she stay?”

He added that chances are considered but the school tries to only take the students that actually want to attend the institution as this minimizes the challenges that the school may face.

The Swami advised that parents continue to get and stay involved in the development of their child. He urged teens to remember that there is no better time for learning than now and let everything else come after, and then they will know of the things in life that really matters.

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guyanatimesgy.com

saturday, august 15, 2015

Regional

US flag raised at embassy in Cuba after 54 years

I

n a historic moment in US-Cuba relations, the Stars and Stripes flag has been raised over the restored American Embassy in Havana.

Secretary of State, John Kerry had travelled to Havana to lead the ceremony, along with three retired members of the US Marine Corps, who had originally lowered the flag at the Embassy in Cuba in 1961.

Hundreds of Cubans gathered on the Embassy grounds, clapping and cheering as the flag went up.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from the ceremony, said the atmosphere was festive and emotional, with many having tears in their eyes as a brass band played Cuban and American songs.

Addressing the crowds, partly in Spanish, Kerry spoke of future opportunities of exchanges between the Cuban and American people, as well as business prospects.

G

unmen have killed at least 19 people on the outskirts of Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, in a series of overnight attacks.

Witnesses in several locations said masked gunmen pulled up in a car before opening fire.

In many cases they checked the victims’ names before shooting, or asked if they had criminal records.

US and Cuban officials attended the ceremony, watched by hundreds of members of the public [Reuters]

He also urged Cuba to pursue true democracy, warning that Washington would not stop pressing for change on the island.

“The people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders,” he said.

Nearly 1 million people face food emergency in droughthit Guatemala – UN

N

early one million people in Guatemala are struggling to feed themselves as poor rainfall has led to drought and shrunken harvests, worsening hunger among the poor, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

Linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon, this year’s drought has hit subsistence farmers living in Central America’s “dry corridor” that runs through parts of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, hard.

“In Guatemala, 170,000 families, approximately 900,000 people, have no food reserves left. This is the third consecutive year they have been hit by drought,” Diego Recalde, head of FAO in Guatemala, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“This is a slow emergency that’s not visible, but we can already notice chronic child malnutrition is increasing,” he said in a telephone interview from the capital Guatemala City.

Families in mostly poor, indigenous communities in rural areas are now eating only one or two meals a day, Recalde said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned the extended dry spell, which is expected to last until March 2016, will

Brazil: Overnight shooting spree kills 19 in Sao Paulo

lead to a drastically reduced harvest as drought destroys bean and maize crops, the country’s staple foods.

“Some families could lose between 50 to 100 per cent of their next maize harvest due later this month,” Mario Touchette, WFP’s Guatemala Country Director, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.

One of the poorest countries in Central America, Guatemala already struggles to feed its population.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

In a joint news conference with Kerry, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez later defended Cuba’s human rights record, saying he also was concerned about the state of human rights in the United States – and in the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Landing in Havana on Friday, Kerry became the first head of US diplomacy to visit Cuba in 70 years.

He was scheduled to meet with Cuba’s Foreign Minister, the country’s Roman Catholic Archbishop and, separately, a handpicked group of dissidents.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

The authorities in Sao Paulo are investigating the possibility that they were targeted killings.

Such attacks carried out either by criminal gangs or rogue Police Officers are not uncommon in Sao Paulo, says the BBC’s Wyre Davies.

But Police say the number of victims is much higher than in previous incidents.

“I’ve never seen so many people killed overnight in Sao Paulo,” a forensic expert told Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

Nearly 20 million people live in the city’s metropolitan region, known as Greater Sao Paul. The attacks happened in the municipal areas of Osasco, Barueri and Itapevi.

At least seven other people were injured in the shootings.

“This is very serious and merits a special investigation,” said Sao Paulo State Security Secretary Alexandre de Moraes. “We don’t rule out any possibility.”

A task force of 50 Police Officers has been set up to investigate the attacks.

In May, a Policeman and a former Policeman were arrested in connection with the murder of eight men at a football fan club in Sao Paulo.

The former Policeman was accused of ordering the attack against supporters of the Corinthians football club. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Strike brings Ecuador’s capital to a standstill

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general strike by a broad coalition in Ecuador upset with President Rafael Correa has virtually paralysed the capital, Quito, provincial cities and stretches of the Pan-American Highway.

Thousands of indigenous activists, unionists, environmentalists and members of the political Opposition blocked roads on Thursday with tree trunks, rocks and burning tyres.

Public transport was scarce in Quito and major thoroughfares were blocked in Guayaquil, Cuenca and other provincial capitals.

There were no reports of serious violence. Police fired tear gas at one point in a vain attempt to dislodge indigenous protesters on

President Rafael Correa’s popularity derives from generous Government spending on social welfare and infrastructure [EPA]

the Pan-American Highway near the Cotopaxi volcano.

Protesters criticised proposed constitutional changes that would let Correa run for office again, without

calling for a public referendum on the matter.

Milton Gualala, a legislator from Zamora-Chinchipe Province, told Al Jazeera:

“We demand the National Assembly to eliminate the constitutional amendments.

“What they are up to is reforming the Constitution to guarantee Correa’s indefinite re-election.

“If he wants to do that, he has call for a referendum.”

Facing the first national strike against him in eight years in office, Correa blamed the far right, his usual nemesis.

In remarks to a youth group, he called on supporters to clear the streets.

“These things must be rejected, not by the security forces but by the citizenry,” Correa said of the barricades.

“A small group is trying to impose its policies on us.”

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Caribbean boasts of having one of world’s highest immunisation rates

T

he Caribbean can boast of having one of the highest immunisation rates in the world, according to Assistant Secretary General in charge of Human and Social Development at the Caricom Secretariat, Dr Douglas Slater.

And he says the Region’s high immunisation coverage, which was better than even the United States, was due largely to the work of Caribbean nurses who had also made a valuable contribution to other areas such as maternal health and child health.

Slater made the comments as he addressed

The Region’s immunisation coverage is higher than even developed nations like the United States

the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Regional Nursing Body at the

Caricom Secretariat earlier this week.

The senior Caricom of-

ficial added that the work of the Region’s nurses had made a significant impact on communicable and NonCommunicable Diseases and their involvement in enhancing healthy lifestyle promotion was also commendable.

Minister in the Local Health Ministry, Dr Karen Cummings, also acknowledged the value that nurses brought to the public health-care system across the Caribbean.

“We understand the critical importance of investing in human capital necessary to enable our nurses to thrive prosperously in a dynamic healthcare environment,” she said.

However, Cummings added, more work needed to be done with respect to tackling emerging trends and diseases.

The four-day meeting, which ended Friday, will review the current status of preparations for the October 2015 Regional Examination for Nurse Registration (RENR) and give guidance on any outstanding issues related to the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)-managed RENR over its first year.

Participants will also approve the way forward for a new Strategic Plan for Nursing in Caricom. (Excerpt from

Caribbean360)

saturday, august 15, 2015

guyanatimesgy.com

15

Around the world

China sends chemical experts Japanese PM’s “profound grief” for WWII aggression to Tianjin blast site

C

hina has sent chemical experts into Tianjin to test for toxic gases after a series of deadly explosions.

The team of nuclear and chemical experts is on the ground on Friday in the northern port city of Tianjin, the scene of two massive explosions that have left at least 55 people dead.

Meanwhile, locals have expressed fears for their safety after reports there could be hundreds of tonnes of dangerous chemicals at the site.

Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown, reporting from Tianjin, said there is “deep unease” among residents near the site of the explosion about their safety.

“They say they are worried, but they believe their Government,” our correspondent said, adding that at least one person was rescued from the site on Friday morning.

The chemical experts were testing the area for toxic gases, the official news agency Xinhua said, add-

J

The chemical experts were testing the area for toxic gases, the official news agency Xinhua said, adding that the death toll had climbed to 55, with 701 admitted to hospital

ing that the death toll had climbed to 55, with 701 admitted to hospital.

The team of 217 nuclear and biochemical materials specialists from the Chinese military began work at the site on Thursday.

The first explosion occurred around 23:30h on Wednesday at a warehouse in Tianjin’s Binhai New Area. Only seconds later, a

second blast occurred.

Rescue teams are wearing protective clothing because of fears the site is contaminated with poisonous chemicals.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, 36 clinical and psychological specialists from 10 civil and military hospitals in Beijing have been despatched. (Excerpt from Al

Jazeera)

India man saves shopkeeper from sword attack

V

ideo footage has emerged of an Indian man fighting a swordwielding attacker to save the life of a shopkeeper.

The incident happened on Tuesday night, when the attacker charged at Rajnish Thakur in his shop in Mumbai’s Chembur neighbourhood.

Naseeruddin Mansuri, who was a customer in the shop, has been hailed a hero for rushing to defend Thakur.

But Mansuri told BBC

Hindi that he now fears for his life.

He has asked journalists not to take photos of him.

“I have a wife and children. If some criminal recognises me from photo and comes after me, who will protect me? Please don’t create any trouble for me,” he pleaded.

Speaking about the incident, Mansuri told the BBC: “For a moment, I couldn’t understand what was happening. But then I managed to stop the attacker and also

started shouting so more people gathered.”

Mansuri said he did not feel any fear. “At that time I had to just save this man...

How could I watch someone being beaten up?”

After the video was shown on Indian television channels and posted online, Mansuri was hailed as a hero on social media.

But, he says he has received threats and is worried about his family and has not left home since after the incident. (BBC News)

Russia steps up demand for US to drop European missile shield

R

ussia urged the United States on Friday to scrap plans to station parts of a missile shield system in Europe now that Iran has reached an agreement with world powers to limit its nuclear programme.

Moscow has long opposed the plan, which it sees as a threat to its nuclear deterrence, and vowed to retaliate if it goes ahead.

Washington has previously assured Moscow the shield was meant as protection from “rogue” states like Iran, and not directed against Russia.

Since the July agreement under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of United Nations, US and European

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov looks on at the start of two days of closed-door nuclear talks at the United Nations offices in Geneva October 15, 2013

Union sanctions, Moscow has stepped up its rhetoric against the missile shield.

“We don’t see any reason to continue with the programme, let alone at such an accelerated pace and with a clear aim at the Russian nuclear potential,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters.

The latest spat threatens to further worsen a deep chill in ties between Moscow and Washington, now at their lowest point since the Cold War because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said President Barack Obama “was not telling the truth” in comments he made in 2009 linking the need for a missile shield to what the President called the “real threat” from Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile activity. (Excerpt from Reuters)

apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed “profound grief” for his country’s aggression during World War II, and vowed to “never again repeat the devastation of war”.

“I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad. I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences,” Abe said in an address on Friday, on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war and Japan’s surrender.

Abe also acknowledged that Japan “has brought lots of suffering to innocent peo-

ple” including to thousands of women sexually abused by the Japanese military across the Asia-Pacific region. But he stopped short of calling them comfort women, as has been repeatedly demanded by countries like China and South Korea.

“No matter what kind of efforts we may make, the sorrows of those who lost their family members and the painful memories of those who underwent immense sufferings by the destruction of war will never be healed.”

The words that Abe chose to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World

War II, carried symbolic importance and could set future relations with countries that suffered from its brutal march across Asia.

Unlike previous Prime Ministers; however, Abe did not offer his personal apologies for Japan’s previous war atrocities, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Tokyo, said.

In his speech, Abe also made reference to the dropping of atomic bombs by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, vowing that Japan supports nuclear nonproliferation, and the ultimate abolition of nuclear weapons. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Bangladesh widens operation to catch killers of blogger

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angladesh has widened its Police operation in pursuit of more people suspected of being involved in the killing of a Dhaka-based blogger, a day after the arrest of two individuals allegedly linked to the case.

Saiful Islam, Police Deputy Commissioner, said on Friday that there were ongoing operations to go after several men, who are currently out on bail, and may be also linked to the hacking to death of Niloy Chatterjee.

“We have already found the trade of some of them.

They will be arrested soon,” he told Al Jazeera.

Detectives are now searching for Redwanul Azad Rana, Operations Chief of Ansarullah Bangla, a Muslim group which has been blamed for previous attacks on bloggers, and “cell leaders” Nabir Hossain Nabin and Abdul Kabir alias Zaber.

Saad al-Nahin and Masud Rana were arrested by the detective branch on Thursday [Mahmud Hossain Opu]

Bounties have been issued for their arrest.

Rana has been accused of being the alleged mastermind in the killing of bloggers Ahmed Rajeeb Haider in 2013, and Avijit Roy, Washinqur Rahman Babu, and Ananta Bijoy Das this year.

Police said they would also investigate three other Ansarullah members.

On Thursday, two suspected members of the

group, including one who was out on bail on a charge of attempted murder, were arrested in the killing of Chatterjee, the fourth such deadly attack this year.

Saad al-Nahin and Masud Rana were arrested by the detective branch, which has been handling the case rather than regular Police, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Muntasirul Islam.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Cairo airport website hacked as Egyptians mark massacre

T

he website of Cairo’s airport has been hacked as Egyptians marked the second anniversary of the mass killing of demonstrators in the capital.

The incident, where security forces shot dead almost 700 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi as they dispersed a protest camp in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, has remained a rallying point for the country’s Muslim Brotherhood Opposition.

As Police prepared on Friday for possible protests to mark the two-year anniversary of the incident in Cairo, visitors to the Cairoairport.com website were

directed to a page that read: “In revenge for the blood of the martyrs killed by the military gang and [President Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi following the coup, you will drown in the blood of the protesters you killed.

“The revolution continues, and the earth does not drink blood,” said the page, which bore the sign used by the protesters in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

By Friday afternoon, the homepage of the airport website was blocked entirely.

The apparent hacking came as Police bolstered their presence in the capital in anticipation of protests after Friday’s Muslim

prayers.

Two years on from the incident, no Police Officers have faced trial over the killings in Cairo’s Rabaa alAdawiya Square, but leaders and members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood have.

About 10 Police were killed during the dispersal, after coming under fire from several gunmen in the sprawling camp on a crossroads in eastern Cairo when they moved to break it up.

But rights groups have said that security forces used disproportionate force, killing many unarmed protesters in what Human Rights Watch said “probably amounted to crimes against humanity.”

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

16 NEWS

saturday, august 15, 2015| guyanatimesGY.com

VOX POPULI

Youth Voice

I SAY...

What is your opinion of Budget 2015?

Are you satisfied with the proposals?

Wayne Forde “The Budget appears to be well thought-out and appears to aim to improve the lives of all Guyanese. Also, with a bulk of the budget going towards health and education, I can’t really complain about anything. I want them to hurry up with the tax reform though. VAT is too high and the vehicle import tax is nothing short of extortion.”

Verbert Adams “In regards to the Budget, I think it is a good position to my mind and interpretation given the short time they had to prepare it and given the discrepancies coming out in terms of finance.

If you look carefully where emphasis was placed, you’ll see it gives the ordinary people opportunities in the short term. At least I hope next year is better.”

Marlyn Malcolm “I felt good about the Budget especially the increase in salaries. I’m satisfied, it’s reasonable for now; I’m most happy and thankful about the new zero-rated items.”

Dave Lall “My opinion on Budget 2015 is that it’s way out of proportion… for just a few months $221 billion is a whole lot. This wouldn’t be a full fiscal year so why a full fiscal budget? Other items of interest include the millions given to GINA and NCN. Why was NCN and GINA given $1 and all of sudden they are now entitled to millions?

Why is $1.7 billion dedicated for laptops when laptops in the entirety cannot bring in income, wouldn’t it have been twice as effective to use that $1.7 billion and give the teachers an increase in salary, give them duty-free concession on a laptop and teaching aids and let that trickle back into the economy? A teacher makes $55,000 a month; do you know how many teachers will sell these ‘free’ laptops when they are in a bind? If they purchased it themselves with their increase in salary, then we would have less worry about this. Why was no subvention given to GPL, but millions still given to subsidise the district of Linden? We all pay our taxes, what makes Linden better than the entire country? We all are facing the same struggles – no jobs, no money, business bad and an economy that is in recession. I was made to understand there will be no more subsidies towards Old Age Pensioners in terms of GWI and GPL owing to the increase in pension. Isn’t this 10 steps forward and 20 steps back? Everything else is workable considering the circumstances. I guess we shall have to wait and see whether the Budget 2015 makes a positive or negative impact. After all, it’s the first budget away from the PPP/C after 23 years.”

Deborah Payne “I feel that it is a good thing that the Budget came out. I think it’s very good that they reduced the VAT for some items, because for a poor country like Guyana for some parents and senior citizens, they cannot afford the VAT prices.

The increase in salaries is going to help parents send their children to school.”

Clyde Edwards “All that I can say about the Budget is that I haven’t seen anything much for the Amerindian.

As an Amerindian, I believe that we in the interior do not usually benefit from the monies allocated.

I hope that the Government puts everything in place so that we can have hinterland development.”

Gary Baljeet “Under the circumstances we have to run with this Budget. We have to take into consideration it’s a new Government and the prevailing economic realities locally. Perhaps a little more could’ve been done in the VAT area. However, I think things will pick up and perhaps by next budget we may see more tangible improvements.

These are my thoughts.”

Kobe Smith “I don’t have any political bias, but I believe this budget was, and historically has been one of the largest budgets in our history.

That aside, the Budget seems like a budget for the people. It’s acceptable quite frankly. However, since I’m a part of the youth population, I was disappointed with the $2000 uniform voucher.

School items are pretty expensive.

So $5000 could’ve been better....”

Coen Jackson “On the face of it, it seems good enough given our fiscal challenges. I’m not sure what else could have been done to make a significant impact on the economy. Having said this, I haven’t analysed this budget in great detail.”

Vijay Singh “I’m not totally satisfied with it, given that there was no subsidy for GPL, which could mean increased rates, while Linden getting a fat subsidy.

There was no significant increase in the school voucher and no stimulus for the economy. One positive aspect is the removal of VAT from a few food items.”

Special int’l debt relief programme needed for developing countries

E

choing the sentiments expressed by Caricom Reparations Commission (CRC) Chairman, Sir Hilary Beckles, Barbados on Wednesday renewed the call for an international debt relief programme for developing countries like those in the Caribbean, saying it was not enough to speak almost disparagingly about the debt situation.

Barbados Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler, addressing the 11th annual meeting of the group of Latin America and Caribbean debt management specialists (LAC Debt Group), said the time had come for there to be a rethinking of the debt situation by the various stakeholders.

He said there was need for a better approach to deal with the debt situation in the Caribbean, saying it was necessary, given the fact that debt was part of the reality for several regional countries as they embarked upon developmental programmes.

According to him, there have been capacity building initiatives such as in the preparation of medium- term debt management strategies and “work remains ongoing for example on the improve-

Barbados Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler,

ment of our debt management databases and certainly having our representatives participate in a forum such as this is also geared at continuing those efforts to ensure that the Caribbean is current with new debt developments”.

“We are, therefore, very cognisant of the fact that a sound and robust debt management system is one of the important pillars that must work in tandem with our ongoing fiscal consolidating measures,” he added.

LAC Debt Group

The LAC Debt Group

as established in 2005 and works to strengthen the capacity of Governments to manage debt and to foster better management practices through continuous sharing of experiences across countries and technical discussions.

The three-day meeting in Barbados, the third to be held in the Caribbean, is by invitation and provides a forum for discussion among debt management specialists, who are mainly Central Bank directors and directors of public debt in member states to exchange experiences and knowledge on public debt management practices in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Inherited debt

The Caricom Reparations Commission Chairman had said that Caribbean nations were still fighting to keep their heads above water given the effects of inherited debt from colonialism.

Beckles said that Caribbean nations when they entered the nationbuilding process after colonialism, had also inherited the debt.

“Many of these nations started the journey into nation-building with an inher-

Caricom Reparations Commission Chairman, Sir Hilary Beckles

ited colonial debt and a propensity to carry that debt,” Beckles said, continuing that Caribbean Governments have, over the past 50 years, been “cleaning up the colonial mess”.

“Let’s assume that we have been cleaning up this mess, many of our Governments have spent enormous amounts of money on health, education and infrastructure, just to turn these colonies into living spaces,” Beckles commented.

He said when the colonies were inherited after independence, they were not suitable for living a “civil democratic

life”.

Beckles noted that the Caricom Reparations Commission, in its 10-point plan, was seeking the elimination of external debt.

He noted that Caribbean Governments that emerged from slavery and colonialism inherited the massive crisis of community poverty and institutional unpreparedness for development.

The pressure of development has driven these Governments to carry the burden of public employment and social policies designed to confront colonial legacies.

This process has resulted in states accumulating unsustainable levels of public debt that now constitute their fiscal entrapment.

This debt cycle properly belongs to the imperial Governments who have made no sustained attempt to deal with debilitating colonial legacies. Support for the payment of domestic debt and cancellation of international debt are necessary reparatory actions.

“And that is one of the issues that we have framed in there as a process of reparatory justice,” he said.

According to Beckles, globalisation has become a “doubleedged sword”.

“On one hand, it speaks about openness and oneness and level playing field, but the fact is when you look at the politics and economics of globalisation, they are going in different directions. It is about rich nations versus poor nations, about powerful nations and weak nations.”

He said the Reparations Commission was fighting to bring realistic validity to the meaning and politics of equality, noting that “this is something that we have to win”.

“This is why we have this conflict between the political rhetoric of globalisation and the economic realities of it which is a transfer of resources from the weak nations into the economically sustainable nations and the debt is also part of that process.”

He said developed countries speak all the time about the importance of equity and equality, but the fact of the matter was that the powerful nations did not believe in such.

“We need to look at those external shots and the internal improvisions to ascertain what are the forces that are holding the potentials of the Caribbean Region on the inside,” Beckles had said.

17

news

saturday, august 15, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com

Business Ministry to release Five-Year Plan shortly – taxation, non-compliance issues to be major focus

By Kristen Macklingam

T

he formulation of the five-year strategic plan for the Business Ministry is presently ongoing and will be released within a few weeks highlighting the subject ministry’s objectives for Guyana’s business sector.

This is according to Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, who in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times on Friday stated that this plan will be publicised so as to allow the general public the opportunity of “judging for themselves” if his Ministry is successfully achieving the goals it has set out.

“I believe it is much more useful to spend some time working on a carefully thought-out plan ensuring that the required budgetary appropriations are available for execution of the strategies to meet the objectives of the plan. So that is the approach we are taking.

We are hoping to conclude this exercise within the next few weeks before the end of this month,” the Business Minister stated.

He explained that officially his Ministry will “come into existence” from September 1, at least from a budgetary point of view.

This is because the estimates presented by the Finance

Minister in the National Assembly in 2014 catered for the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce being budgeted from January 1, 2015 to August 31, 2015.

As of September 1 to December 31, 2015, there are budgetary allocations for the Ministries of Business and Tourism separately.

“So a lot of what we actually want to do can only really kick start after September and that just gives us four months to the end of this year. A lot of that time will be spent more on capacity building rather than starting any new projects because bear in mind this budget has already been presented, but the work on the budget would have taken place almost immediately after getting into office. So a lot more emphasis is being placed on Budget 2016 and what is happening in 2015 is that we are ensuring that we are prepared or preparing ourselves for 2016.

Guyana Times was told that this is necessary so as to ensure that when the five-year-plan is being executed, certain vacancies are filled, trained staff is in place and agencies such as the Small Business Bureau, the Bureau of Standards and GO-Invest are properly equipped to carry out their programmes.

According to Minister

Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin

Gaskin, one major issue in Guyana is the situation of non-compliance with businesses and this will definitely be addressed in his Ministry’s strategic plan.

He maintained that while tackling this issue, it was not the aim of his Ministry or the Government to shut down businesses.

“The issue of non-compliance is very widespread and I don’t think it is our intention to put anyone out of business. We are not looking to stop business from op-

erating, what we are looking to do is encourage rate of compliance but this doesn’t mean that we aren’t serious about compliance,” he said.

It was further stated that while it is the Business Ministry’s aim to ensure that businesses pay their taxes and comply with the various regulations, it will also have to provide some good reason why businesses are suddenly going to be asked to comply.

“There are businesses in existence for nearly two decades that have never received a formal notice that they comply with any particular regulation…and have gone about…some of them in complete ignorance of the regulations. Some have deliberately flaunted the laws also, but we are looking by and large to bring everyone into lawful and best practices and to keep businesses going. So that requires a lot of careful thought and it is going to be part of our strategic plan as how we get businesses more compliant; taxation is a big issue, there are a lot of businesses that are completely out of the tax system that don’t pay taxes at all.”

He also explained that there are other businesses who don’t pay the right amount of taxes and solutions for the above mentioned problems need to be

found.

Minister Gaskin noted that the Guyana Revenue Authority has already begun moving “more aggressively” to implement their laws and collect more taxes because this is an integral part in the continued development of Guyana.

“Government programmes need to be funded.

Businesses, business persons, self employed persons all need to contribute to the Government revenues.”

Challenges faced by businesses

With regards to the many challenges that businesses may be/ are facing presently in the country it was highlighted that one of the main challenges is the delay in processing of their imports.

To date, the Business Ministry has received a number of complaints where this is concerned and it is currently trying to assist in this matter.

“Because we are not in authority so we can’t direct any of the state agencies to do anything. But what we do is when we receive complaints if someone comes here and says they have had a container sitting on the wharf for three months, we do try to find out from GRA or if it is application that comes through Go-Invest, we ask for someone to advise

us on the status of that particular application. And we found that the agencies have been helpful once we make enquiries,” the Minister posited.

However, he lamented that in many cases this is as a result of how “things were done in the past.”

This publication was told that a lot of transactions in earlier days, before the establishment of a Ministry of Business, were done on a “case by case” basis by directions of officials and senior government officials.

He said that there was political interference in the way things were handled.

“There are many business persons who will tell you that they believe that their shipments were deliberately held back to allow their competitors, who may have been better connected than they were, or more favored than they were to gain an advantage over them by I guess having their products on the market while the competitor didn’t have. There were all sorts of irregularities with how business transactions were handled by the Government. Our commitment was that we would not engage in that sort of victimisation and discrimination when it comes to business,” Minister Gaskin added.

urged to meet 19 to compete in Miss Pharmacists health care challenges head on GDF beauty pageant C

The 19 delegates posed with Chief-of-Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips

N

ineteen young ladies vying for the title of Miss Guyana Defence Force 2015 were on Wednesday last sashed at the Auditorium, Base Camp Ayanganna by their respective commanders.

The beauties competing in the pageant are representing various units, sub-units and departments within the Guyana Defence Force.

At the ceremony attended by Chief-of-Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips and other senior ranks, the delegates took the opportunity to introduce themselves and gave a brief description of the unit/departments they are representing.

The delegates will be rig-

orously competing for the title.

Commanding Officer of the Women Army Corps (WAC), Lieutenant Colonel Natasha Standford explained that the pageant would not only be a beauty pageant but rather an organised showcase of the physical fitness, marksmanship skills, talent, poise and eloquence of a military woman.

The sashing ceremony commenced the first of five events that the delegates will be judged on. On September 10, the delegates will participate in the talent competition followed by the Run and Shoot Competition which will test the delegates’ physical fitness and

marksmanship abilities.

This would be followed by the Swim Suit Competition on October 7, followed by the grand coronation on October 23 at the National Cultural Centre.

On pageant night, the delegates will compete in the evening gown and intelligence segments.

The Miss Guyana Defence Force Pageant is among several activities organised to celebrate the Force’s 50th Anniversary.

The sashing ceremony also featured live music from the Guyana Defence Force Frontline Band, a dance performance by the Classique Dance Group and a special song by civilian Jennifer Jones.

hief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Health Ministry, Dr Shamdeo Persaud said that Pharmacists have a vital role to play in the delivery of health services.

The CMO was making a presentation at the 35th Annual Convention of the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists (CAP) at the Marriott Georgetown, Wednesday evening.

Persaud spoke of the mounting challenges health professionals face in delivering quality health care services to the peoples of the Caribbean.

He admitted that the task was great, but said that it was conferences like the one hosted by the Guyana Pharmacists Association which provide health professionals with the resources they need to deliver.

“You are a pivotal part of the process. And with good planning of conferences like these, and taking the information back to the respective locations, we hope to see a better life for everyone,” Persaud said.

He related that the Caribbean has been making tremendous strides in the delivery of health care. He spoke of the Caribbean, being able to achieve the 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and how each Caribbean Health

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud

Professional has contributed tremendously to its status.

The Chief Medical Officer said the year 2015 extended beyond just achieving goals, adding that professionals were now in an environment where enormous pressure was on the development of health care. As a matter of fact, they are all required to provide higher standards of health care and it was a good thing that the conference was being focused on the delivery of quality health care to clients and building capacity among young professionals to join the fight to overcome the modern challenges among them.

“We are faced also with the challenges of emerging and reemerging modern diseases. Just recently, the UK has begun spearheading a global effort of addressing health issues like the

new diseases that recently came out – the trolls of Ebola and Chikungunya in the Caribbean and other infectious diseases,” the CMO said.

He said all of these combined with the lifestyle challenges and the chronic NonCommunicable Diseases will continue to challenge health care providers. These along with accidents, violence and mental health will continue to put pressure on the largest global industry – the pharmaceutical industry – to deliver.

Persaud told the conference, which included pharmacists from across the 15-member Caribbean Community, that Guyana was seeking to raise the standards of pharmaceutical practices and will be looking into the involvement of the day-to-day care of clients and urged them to do the same.

Under the theme, “The Pharmacist – A vital link in providing quality health care”, the health professionals converged at the Marriott Hotel, for the 35th Annual CAP Convention, a collaborative effort with the Guyana Pharmacists Association (GPA).

It was the third time Guyana was selected to host the event. The first was some 20 years ago.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

saturday, August 15, 2015

ARCHIE

Stop doubting your ability and show some confidence.

(March 21April 19) If you have a yearning to try something new, go for it.

Your insight regarding future trends will come in handy.

ARIES

Show a little affection TAURUS while encouraging romance.

(April 20- Leave practical matters for May 20) the time being and let your imagination lead the way.

dilbert

Don’t be too quick to share GEMINI (May 21- your thoughts. Your ideas June 20) will not be as well-received as you’d hoped. If you work on your own, you will iron out any problems.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Peanuts

Stay in touch with current events. Enrol in courses, broaden your horizons and make new and diverse acquaintances.

Philosophic and spiritual discussions will stimulate and educate you.

Keep abreast of new techLEO nology. Your growing commu(July 23nication skills will increase your Aug. 22) opportunities to learn more and confidently apply what you discover to everyday life. Strive to be and do your best.

Calvin and Hobbes

Lady Luck is smiling on VIRGO you, giving you the chance (Aug. 23to turn something negative Sept. 22) into a positive. This is a great time to start a new project and increase your earning potential.

Let your insight show you LIBRA (Sept. 23- what needs to be done. Then Oct. 23) let your practical side loose to help you complete every task you are given in a timely fashion.

SUDOKU

A change will turn out betSCORPIO ter than you anticipated. In (Oct. 24Nov. 22) order to know exactly what you are dealing with, you should conduct your own research rather than relying on information from others.

Trying to do too much at SAGITTARIUS once will lead to a costly over(Nov. 23sight. Do your work in an Dec. 21) area free of distractions, and be meticulous where financial and legal contracts are concerned.

solution for Last Published Puzzle

If there is a project you CAPRICORN find interesting, find out (Dec. 22more about it. Attend lecJan. 19) tures, classes or do some research to expand your knowledge.

AQUARIUS

Do whatever is necessary (Jan. 20- to increase your financial seFeb. 19) curity. Putting in overtime at work, running a side business at home or taking on an additional job will help ease your mind.

Your body will let you know PISCES (Feb. 20- if you have been overdoing it.

March 20) Headaches, gastric problems and trouble sleeping are common indications of a stressful, unhealthy lifestyle. Proper diet and exercise will help.

saturday, august 15, 2015

IAAF defends antidoping efforts A

thletics spends more on anti-doping than cycling, the sport’s governing body has claimed after Chris Froome called for it to follow cycling’s lead.

Britain’s double Tour de France winner told BBC Sport the International Association of Athletics Federations should invest more in anti-doping.

But the IAAF said a World Anti-Doping Agency report showed athletics carried out more tests than cycling in 2014.

“Logic suggests athletics spends more than cycling,” concluded the IAAF. Froome told BBC sports editor Dan Roan that the International Cycling Union (UCI) spent about four times what the IAAF spent on testing.

However, the IAAF statement said: “The IAAF spent $2.3m (£1.47m) in 2014 on our anti-doping programme but we should really include the cost of administrative support - 10 full-time members of staff and litigation costs, which

Chris Froome

brings the expenditure up to $3m (£1.92m).

“This is, without doubt, the highest proportion of annual budget of any equivalent sporting federation or organisation. “[The UCI] spends approximately $800,000 (£511,000) in total on antidoping via what is known as the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation. A further sum is paid by the pro-tour cycling teams, the event or-

ganisers and the riders themselves.”

The IAAF also claimed that while its anti-doping budget was spent covering all aspects of the sport, including track and field, cross-country, road running, walking and mountain running - and both men and women - the vast majority of the budget in cycling was spent on male riders from professional tour teams. (BBC Sport)

US PGA: Jordan Spieth on the charge

Jordan Spieth

W

orld number two Jordan Spieth stormed up the leaderboard with a 67 as he threatens to win his third major of 2015 at the US PGA Championship.

The American, 22, made six birdies in his second round at Whistling Straits to move to six under and within a shot of leader David

Lingmerth.

World number one Rory McIlroy, in his first event back after injury, is five shots back on two under after a 71.

Japan’s Hiroshi Iwata set a new course record with a round of 63.

He became the 27th man to shoot that score at a major championship, after narrowly missing with a chip when

trying to become the first man ever to shoot 62 at one of golf’s four majors.

Iwata made a bogey on the ninth but played the back nine in just 29 strokes.

Overnight leader Dustin Johnson is among the later starters on six under par, along with England’s Justin Rose on three under and four-time champion Tiger Woods, who faces a battle to avoid missing the cut on three under.

Spieth could overtake McIlroy at the top of the rankings at the end of this week, and the US Open and Masters champion is well placed to become only the third man to win three majors in the same year.

McIlroy is back in action for the first time since June, having been forced to withdraw from last month’s Open Championship at St Andrews with a ruptured ankle ligament. (BBC Sport)

19

Platini gets major FIFA boost with Sheikh Salman backing

F

IFA presidential candidate Michel Platini has won the key backing of the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

Sheikh Salman said in a statement backing the UEFA president on Friday that the world governing body would “need a leadership with experience, wisdom and ability to bring back stability to FIFA. “Mr. Platini boasts such characteristics and has an ambitious vision to renew belief in the organisation,” he said.

The news will be particular welcome for the early frontrunner Platini given his closest challenger to emerge so far is an Asian candidate -- South Korean former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon.

FIFA will hold an elective congress on Feb. 26 to decide on the replacement for outgoing president Sepp Blatter, who is standing down following the organisation’s corruption scandals.

While Sheikh Salman’s endorsement is a personal one at this stage he made it clear he wanted his region to be united in the vote “for the good of Asian football.”

Other candidates who

UEFA President Michel Platini

have declared there intention to run are former Brazil great Zico, Liberian FA chairman Musa Bility and ex-Trinidad and Tobago midfielder David Nakhid.

Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, who was defeated by Blatter in May’s election, could be another Asian candidate while South African businessman and former political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale is weighing up his own bid.

A Platini team spokesman said: “Michel Platini is pleased with the official show of support from Sheikh Salman. This clearly illustrates that the UEFA president is a global candidate who has been able to garner support from

outside Europe as well as within it.”

FIFA was thrown into turmoil in May when U.S. prosecutors announced the indictment of nine current and former soccer officials, many of whom had FIFA positions, and five sports marketing executives.

All candidates must gain the nomination of five national federations and submit their candidature to FIFA by Oct. 26 when they will also be subject to an integrity check.

The 60-year-old Platini is a former France international who also played for Italian giants Juventus. He later coached the French national team before moving into football administration. (Reuters)

BCCI meeting likely to discuss IPL report

T

he five-member working group formed by the BCCI to propose remedial action for ensuring smooth conduct of the IPL will submit its report during the BCCI’s working committee meeting, to be held in Kolkata on August 28.

The notice of the meeting was emailed to all the working committee member units on Friday. Though the agenda of the first working committee meeting in four months has not yet been announced, a BCCI official said the meeting could discuss the working group report.

When the group was formed in July, it had been

Anurag Thakur

asked to report its recommendations to the governing council before being forwarded to the working committee. However, according to a working group member, the report may di-

rectly be submitted to the working committee.

A BCCI official admitted that it was not yet decided whether the governing council will meet before August 28. Irrespective of the meeting, the working committee is set to chalk the pathway for the induction of the two suspended IPL franchises - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla has stressed on the participation of “at least eight teams” in the IPL, and earlier this week, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had said the report would be ready well before the August 29 deadline. (Cricinfo)

20

guyanatimesGY.com

saturday, august 15, 2015

Chandimal 162* leaves India tricky chase

Chelsea boss says match with Man City not decisive

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hat began as a lowpercentage humpty from Dinesh Chandimal ended as a highquality counterattack of 162 not out off 169 balls to set India a tricky target of 176, nearly double the highest successful chase in Galle. He came in with Sri Lanka still 100 runs behind with only six wickets in hand, which soon became a deficit of 97 with five in hand. He scored 162 of the 275 runs that came while he was at the wicket. He did enjoy some good fortune, surviving early on through an umpiring mistake and then through inferior technology available

Jose Mourinho

C

SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka 1st innings 183 India 1st innings 375 Sri Lanka 2nd innings 367 India 2nd innings (target: 176 runs) KL Rahul lbw b Herath 5 Dhawan not out 13 I Sharma not out 5 Extras: 0 Total:(1 wicket; 8 overs) 23 To bat: RG Sharma, V Kohli*, AM Rahane, WP Saha†, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, A Mishra, VR Aaron Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Rahul, 4.3 ov) Bowling: KTGD Prasad 2-12-0, HMRKB Herath 3-013-1, PHT Kaushal 3-1-80.

for third-umpire decisions, but the second half of his innings, shepherding the tail, was special. He was helped along by 40s from Lahiru Thirimanne and Jehan Mubarak. India ended the day by losing KL Rahul, lbw playing back to a full ball from Rangana Herath.

India were rattled by him, and for large parts you couldn’t tell how they were

Dinesh Chandimal exults after getting to his fourth Test ton

planning to get a wicket.

R Ashwin, though, kept at it, and ended up with four wickets, his first 10-wicket haul outside India. Ajinkya Rahane at slip and gully helped him along, taking five in the innings to reach world-record eight catches in the match.

India will, or should, be forced to rethink their absolute stance against DRS. The two decisions that went against them with Chandimal and Thirimanne, both in single figures, did not involve any technology that the BCCI is suspicious of. They were clear edges missed by the umpires - who have been ordinary in this match - and would likely have been easily overturned without looking at any projections of the ball path.

This was minutes before lunch, just after Ashwin and Amit Mishra - the latter took three wickets - had broken

a brisk and assured 87-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews. Chandimal came out playing his shots, and his first one was a top edge onto his helmet and through to backward short leg. Not given. If Ashwin was the aggrieved party here, Mishra was to be denied soon. A legbreak took the inside edge of Thirimanne onto his pad, and then into the hands of short leg only for Nigel Llong to join Bruce Oxenford in making mistakes in those frenetic minutes before lunch.

Soon Chandimal drove Mishra into the boot of silly point. The ball lobbed up for a catch that India claimed. Replays suggested there was no touch with the ground but not conclusively so. Even though there was no puff of dust, the third umpire couldn’t have been sure given the frame rate of the

visuals provided to him.

Everything went right for Chandimal. It looked like an innings impossible to sustain. When he connected, he connected well, when he mis-hit, the ball somehow failed to find a fielder; when he was clearly out, the umpire didn’t see the edge, and when he was out in all likelihood, lack of proper replays rescued him. He played a bit like Ravindra Jadeja at Lord’s last year, a low-percentage innings during which all risks came off.

Jadeja’s half-century back then gave India a winning lead. Chandimal certainly gave Sri Lanka a chance.

After lunch, Chandimal and Thirimanne made full use of the reprieves.

Chandimal might have had all the luck with him, but he should get the credit for attacking India off their rhythm. (Cricinfo)

helsea manager Jose Mourinho says Sunday’s game with Manchester City is not crucial at this early stage of the Premier League season.

The reigning champions head to last season’s runners-up on the back of a 2-2 home draw with Swansea City in their opening game.

“I cannot say it’s crucial, it’s decisive, or it’s very, very important,” said Mourinho.

“But it is two title contenders, and three points.”

Manchester City won the title in 2013-14 before finishing eight points behind the Blues last season.

But Mourinho has played down the significance of this weekend’s encounter, with the season just one game old.

“The season is very long.

Thirty-eight matches is an eternity, a marathon which started last week and ends in around 10 months,” he added.

“If you can get three points and your opponent zero it is important.

“But for sure I am not going to say the game decides anything for the winner or anything for the loser.”

While Chelsea were held on the opening weekend, City comfortably beat West Bromwich Albion away 3-0.

The City and Chelsea bosses have a rivalry that dates back to when the Portuguese succeeded Pellegrini as Real Madrid boss in 2010 and made unflattering comments about his Chilean predecessor.

They did not shake hands after their first meeting in England in October 2013.

But Pellegrini said on Friday: “I said the first day I arrived here I have my differences with him but I always shake hands with him.”

As for the significance of the game, the Chilean added: “We are not thinking about the title in the second game.

“But we are thinking about trying to win our points at home, especially as we are playing against the champions and one of the teams that has a lot of chances to win the title.

“It is the same as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham - all the big teams.” (BBC Sport)

Women’s Ashes: Australia beat England in Test match

E

ngland need to win all three remaining games of the series to retain the Women’s Ashes after Australia clinched the Test by 161 runs.

Starting the day on 90-4, Australia reached 156-6 before declaring for the second time in the match.

England were quickly reduced to 29-5, with Sarah Taylor out for a second consecutive duck.

Lydia Greenway and Georgia Elwiss stemmed the tide before England lost their last five wickets in 39 balls.

Australia seamer Ellyse Perry took career-best figures of six wickets for 32 runs, including removing Greenway and Laura Marsh with consecutive balls, as England collapsed from 80-6 to 101 all out.

It means Australia are now up 8-2 on points in the seven-match series, with three Twenty20 matches remaining that are each worth two points to the winner.

Ashes holders England can no

Charlotte Edwards has averaged 22 across her last four Test matches

longer win the series, but they could secure an unlikely draw by winning all three T20s.

England’s batting falls short With the 263 runs required for victory an unlikely target, England’s main task was to survive 89 overs.

In a repeat of the first innings, Sarah Coyte trapped Heather Knight lbw to bring Taylor, arguably England’s best batter, to the crease.

Taylor, looking for vital runs after struggling with the bat during the series, survived only five balls as she played a delivery from Perry on to her stumps for a second duck in the Test.

Scraping through to lunch on 16-2, Charlotte Edwards was caught behind off the first ball after the break from Perry to start a collapse to 29-5.

Megan Schutt dismissed Lauren Winfield and Natalie

Sciver cheaply before Greenway and Elwiss dropped anchor.

Greenway defended stoutly, with 128 dot balls from the 137 deliveries she faced, before a devastating spell from Perry sent England tumbling to defeat.

Perry blows away England batting Australia’s Jess Jonassen was the only player to pass 50 in the match, her effort seeming even more impressive given England’s struggles on the same pitch.

Edwards’ side were incapable of coping with the brilliance of Perry, who took Greenway’s wicket in bizarre fashion as the English player attempted to duck out of the way of a short ball only for it to stay low and clip her leg stump.

The wicket was part of a majestic spell that saw all-rounder Perry take four wickets in 20 balls for just eight runs.

‘England need some guts’ England’s meek demise against arch rivals Australia left

much to be desired - as they lost their second consecutive Test since becoming a fully professional side.

And ex-England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent believes the hosts lacked the resilience in their batting to ever have had a realistic chance of drawing the match.

“The manner in which England rolled over today, in particular with the batting, hasn’t shown enough fight,” she said.

“They are going to feel the pain of this because the way they have approached the match just hasn’t been good enough.

“Australia adapted to the match situation much quicker and their captaincy was much more dynamic, aggressive and inventive - whereas England looked like it was a pre-planned process.

“I think the players need to find some guts and fight for the country and to turn themselves around in a week mentally is going to be a tough challenge.” (BBC Sport)

sports

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Ramdin cautions against underrating a rebuilding Sri Lanka W

est Indies test Captain Denesh Ramdin has cautioned his side against underrating their next opponents, Sri Lanka, even if they are a team in transition.

The West Indies next tour will be in October against Sri Lanka where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and two T20 matches.

Ramdin says while the Sri Lankans are rebuilding by drafting a number of young players into the squad, they still should not be taken for granted.

“The Sri Lankans are in a rebuilding phase and they have included a number of young players, so it is a good time to play them,” said Ramdin.

“However, we are not going to under-estimate them, as they are in their own backyards and a number of their players still possess experience and quality, like the captain Angelo Mathews and their wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal. We have to go there with great fighting qualities and play good cricket to be successful.”

West Indies are seeking to rebound from a 0-2 defeat to Australia in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Denesh Ramdin

Before that series, however, Ramdin’s men earned a credible one all draw against England in the Caribbean.

“I would like to see the batsmen not settling for one good score in a Test series.

We need to be more consistent and score more centuries in order to give our bowlers something to work with,” the test captain said.

“As far as the bowling is concerned we need to be more consistent. They need to do the basics right on a more regular basis.”

Ramdin’s comments followed his meeting with the West Indies team Management in Barbados on Wednesday.

Also attending were WICB president Dave Cameron, coach Phil Simmons, cricket operations manager Richard Pybus, chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd, manager Richie Richardson and limited overs captain Jason Holder.

“Basically we reviewed the last two tours at home.

The guys all made their contributions and it was good to be included because I was able to make an input in the plans going forward,” he said.

“As West Indies captain when you are invited to a meeting like this, it shows respect and I appreciated being there and making my contribution.” (CMC)

Indian court ruling should trigger regional change says Wilkins

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21

Phone: 227-0704,

A

ruling by the Supreme Court in India aimed at shaking-up the administration of cricket there should give fresh momentum to moves for radical changes to the operations of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Charles Wilkins, former chairman of the governance committee for West Indies Cricket has said.

The Supreme Court has suspended two franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for two years over a corruption scandal and had recommended changes to make the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) more transparent.

In an article circulated across the Caribbean, Wilkins has accused WICB administrators of deliberately refusing to introduce the changes needed in the region for personal reasons.

“The same changes are badly needed in this region.

The WICB has itself recognized that, but does not like the consequences for its clique of administrators hence has backed away,” said Wilkins in his article.

“The verdict of the supreme Court of India should give fresh impetus to the move for change here”.

In April, the WICB and

Charles Wilkins

Caricom Prime Ministers said they had agreed to set up a panel comprising eminent Caribbean persons to examine the problemplagued governance structure of the WICB with the view of “reversing the current negative trends in the sport”.

The move represented the latest attempt to arrest a worrying trend of crises in the regional administration of the game.

“The Caricom government should take note of the verdict. In their usual manner they have been slow to react and have done little of real impact,” writes Wilkins.

“They should get serious and revive their efforts to force the badly needed changes. Public agitating

to that end should continue”.

The Indian Supreme Court has forbidden anyone who has commercial interests in individual IPL teams to also contest BCCI elections, because that could create an obvious conflict of interest.

The court has also appointed a committee that will punish certain team officials who violated IPL rules.

Meantime Wilkins has accused the top three cricket playing nations- India, Australia and Englandof attempting to “isolate” West Indies and reduce their revenue from cricket.

Wilkins referenced the movie “death of a gentleman” which highlights the hijacking of the game

by India, England and Australia as posing a threat to West Indies cricket.

“The West Indies is being isolated despite lip service paid by the big three to our importance to the game,” he argued.

“For co-operating with the hijack, WICB were awarded the hosting in this year of the ICC annual meeting. What a grand prize. But India, Australia, and England grabbed for themselves all six international tournaments between 2015 and 2023”. (CMC)

22

guyanatimesGY.com

saturday, august 15, 2015

Sandiford laid to rest G

ordon Sandiford, a member of the Guyana Blind cricket team, was laid to rest Friday afternoon following a moving ceremony at a filledto-capacity St Paul’s Church in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.

The 28-year-old Sandiford died on his way to the hospital in St Lucia

after a trip with his teammates to the beach following Guyana’s washed-out match against the Windward Islands in the West Indies Blind Cricket Council’s Regional Blind 40-overs and T20 Cricket tournament.

Hundreds from all walks of life flocked the St Paul’s Church to bid their last farewell to the late nation-

al blind cricketer, who was buried at the Plaisance Burial Ground after the funeral service.

There was more than an hour of tributes at the Church from many distinguished persons, including President of the West Indies Cricket Council for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Anthony Arvil.

Massy Group of Companies launches 10k run and fitness walk

M

assy Group of Companies launched its annual 10k run on Friday at its Ruimveldt, Georgetown head office.

The event is set for September 6 and is expected to attract Guyana’s top athletes.

In the open category, the first male and female will receive $75,000 each. The winning male and female junior

athletes (ages 16-19) will receive a $50,000 training grant voucher. The Master’s athletes are expected to be rewarded with hampers.

At the simple handingover ceremony, Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) President Aubrey Hutson thanked the Massy Group of Companies for its continued support and pledged a competitive and safe race.

Barcelona thrashed 4-0 by Bilbao

Mikel San Jose scored eight goals last season despite playing a defensive midfielder

A

thletic Bilbao destroyed Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup as Aritz Aduriz netted a hat-trick in an extraordinary game.

Mikel San Jose opened the scoring after 13 minutes with a magnificent strike from the centre circle after an error from Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Barcelona’s inexperienced line-up then shipped three goals in a torrid second 45 minutes, leaving them with a huge task of overturning the deficit in the second leg on Monday at the Nou Camp.

It is the second time in two matches that Barcelona have conceded four goals, after their 5-4 victory over Sevilla in the Uefa Super Cup. And the nature of this humiliating defeat will concern coach Luis Enrique as his side prepare to mount a defence of last season’s Treble - with their opening La Liga fixture coming against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames.

San Jose scores a screamer

Barcelona’s evening be-

gan to unravel when midfielder San Jose capitalised on an error from goalkeeper Ter Stegen to give Athletic Bilbao the lead in spectacular fashion.

Ter Stegen raced out of his area to head the ball clear, but the ball landed in the centre circle at the feet of San Jose, who hit an unstoppable dipping half-volley over the stranded Barcelona keeper. The Spain international spent three years at Liverpool but never made a senior appearance for the Reds.

Enrique’s inexperienced line-up

Luis Enrique had opted for an inexperienced line-up, handing starts to fringe players Sergi Roberto and Marc Bartra, although Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez played the whole game.

With the likes of Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique on the bench, Bartra was partnered at centre-back by former Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen, making only his second appearance for Barcelona after an injury-hit campaign last season.

(BBC Sport)

Chairman of the company, Deo Persaud was pleased to be on board with the AAG again, stressing that the partnership with the AAG was benefiting the communities as well.

The race is expected to start at 06:00h from Vreeden-Hoop while concluding at the head office. All athletes are asked to assemble at the head office one hour prior to the start of the event.

“Teach Them Young” riders to be tested today

Y

oung riders of the annual “Teach Them Young” cycling programme will have a chance to measure their progress today when the National Sports Commission (NSC) stages its yearly evaluation 11-race programme at the inner circuit of the National Park.

The “Teach Them Young” programme, which has been facilitated by long-serving national coach Hassan Mohamed with exclusive sponsorship from the NSC for the past 39 years, is the training ground for young, aspiring cyclists. It is the longest running nursery in the Caribbean.

The 2015 programme started on July 7 and will conclude on August 29.

During the eight-week activity, young boys and girls are being tutored on the fundamentals of the sport.

Earlier this week, Mohamed said today’s event will give him a fair idea of the progress made by the

Hassan Mohamed

riders over the past weeks, some of whom came to the course without prior experience of riding a bicycle.

The cyclists will be tested in the various BMX races for the different age groups, namely 6-9, 9-12, 12-14 and Open. When the little ones are done, the senior riders will take centre stage in the different categories of races.

In 2014, Michael Anthony overcame a heated midday sun to capture top honours

in the feature 35-lap School Boys and Invitational race.

The Lindener won the gruelling race in a time of one hour, 19 minutes, 17 seconds, and also pocketed two of the eight sprint prizes on offer. Hamzah Eastman and Robin Persaud occupied second and third place respectively, while Paul DeNobrega, Marlon Williams and Alanzo Greaves rounded off the top six in that order.

Other winners of the day included Sherwin Sampson (BMX Boys 6-9 and 9-12); Rashidi Ceres (BMX Boys 12-14); Shamar Dass (BMX Open); Rakeem Blair (BMX Boys and Girls 12-14); Junior Niles (Veterans U-50); Linden Blackman (Veterans O-50); Maurice Fagundes (Veterans O-60); Michael Anthony (Juveniles) and Adrian Sharma (Mountain Bikes).

Representatives of the NSC are expected to witness the races and later assist in the presentation of prizes.

Phangiso, top order set up SA’s six-wicket win A

B de Villiers did not do what he was supposed to - keep wicket and open the batting - because Faf du Plessis’ knee injury meant he had to captain instead. In that role, he did exactly what he was supposed to when he put New Zealand in to bat, managed his bowlers well to haul them in and then set up a successful chase.

South Africa slowed New Zealand’s speedy start, which saw them race to 63 without loss after seven overs, to ensure they only added another 88 runs in the remaining 13 overs. Even on an early season surface that did not seem to have the same pace, bounce and carry as a South African strip normally does, that was not enough. South Africa were barely troubled as de Villiers shared a second-wicket stand of 50 with Hashim Amla, who top-scored with 48 as South Africa claimed a comfortable win.

The home side seized the advantage thanks to Aaron Phangiso, who started the squeeze with an opening over that included the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand threatened to make it a one-man show before he was beaten by flight and stumped for a 21-ball 42.

Phangiso’s breakthrough came after South Africa’s seamers were off to a wayward start and allowed Martin Guptill and Williamson to settle. Kyle Abbott hoped to make use of early season conditions with the short ball but offered too much width, Kagiso Rabada veered down the leg side too often and Morne Morkel went

Aaron Phangiso slowed the New Zealand innings down with his 2 for 29

too full. Williamson’s driving and flicking was authoritative and New Zealand’s foundation was laid.

But Phangiso rocked it when, after fluffing the opportunity to run out Williamson when Guptill sent him back earlier in the over, he drew the New Zealand captain forward and found him short of his ground.

Guptill had been accumulating steadily while Williamson attacked and tried to continue the aggressive approach with George Worker. David Wiese assisted by providing more room for Guptill and Worker struck the first six - in the 10th over - when he sent Phangiso over square leg and into the stands. With Morkel still struggling for rhythm, New Zealand could rebuild but then Guptill got a little too casual.

He was late in sliding his bat in at the striker’s end after attempting a single off Wiese and Morne van Wyk reacted quickly to get the bails off. Colin Munro was caught by a diving AB

de Villiers at mid-on off the next ball and South Africa had successfully clawed their way back. They could have seized the advantage when Worker pulled Phangiso

to long leg in the next over but the ball went through Morkel’s hands.

Phangiso only had to wait another over to have the last laugh. He trapped Worker lbw with a flat ball darted in on middle that struck the back pad as the batsman missed the slog sweep.

By then New Zealand were well into their collapse after Grant Elliott had holed out the over before.

South Africa’s see-saw evening in the field continued when Wiese dropped Tom Latham and then ranout Luke Ronchi with a direct hit. New Zealand lost seven for 40 which included two wickets for Rabada in the final over to set South Africa a target they were happy to chase. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD New Zealand innings (20 overs maximum) MJ Guptill run out (Behardien/†van Wyk) 42 KS Williamson* st †van Wyk b Phangiso 42 GH Worker lbw b Phangiso 28 C Munro c de Villiers b Wiese 0 GD Elliott c Rossouw b Wiese 5 L Ronchi† run out (Wiese) 5 TWM Latham c Morkel b Rabada 12 NL McCullum c de Villiers b Rabada 2 7 DAJ Bracewell not out AF Milne not out 2 Extras: (b 3, lb 2, w 1) 6 Total:(8 wickets; 20 overs) 151 Did not bat: MJ McClenaghan Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-102, 3-102, 4-118, 5-125, 6-138, 7-142, 8-142 Bowling: KJ Abbott 4-0-27-0, K Rabada 4-0-29-2, M Morkel 4-0-37-0, D Wiese 4-0-24-2, AM

Phangiso 4-0-29-2.

South Africa innings (target: 152 runs from 20 overs) MN van Wyk† c Worker b Bracewell 19 HM Amla c Latham b Milne 48 AB de Villiers* c McCullum b Worker 33 RR Rossouw c †Ronchi b McClenaghan 38 DA Miller not out 2 F Behardien not out 4 Extras: (lb 5, w 2, nb 1) 8 Total:(4 wickets; 17.5 overs) 152 Did not bat: D Wiese, AM Phangiso, KJ Abbott, K Rabada, M Morkel Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-85, 3-144, 4-147 Bowling: DAJ Bracewell 3-0-17-1, AF Milne 3.5-023-1, MJ McClenaghan 3-0-33-1, GH Worker 2-019-1, NL McCullum 4-034-0, GD Elliott 1-0-12-0, KS Williamson 1-0-9-0.

saturday, august 15, 2015

guyanatimesGY.com

23

Corporate Guyana on Boyce/Jefford Classic set to have board for opening of a flying start today C3 Recreational Park

By Treiston Joseph

G

C3 Recreational Park Secretary Vickram Singh receiving the sponsorship cheque from Republic Bank representatives

W

ith the grand opening of the C3 Recreational Park, billed for this weekend, the organising committee earlier this week received support from corporate Guyana.

ANSA McAL, Republic Bank Limited, and Ram and Mc Rae have thrown their support behind the family-oriented park and cricket ground.

In brief comments, representatives of the entities expressed their satisfaction and pleasure to have such a facility on the West Coast of Berbice.

The respective organisations believe it will take youths off the streets and keep them engaged in sports, which will help to alleviate crime in society.

C3 Recreational Park Secretary Vickram Singh thanked them for their support, adding that all arrangements were in place for the grand opening.

A new committee was established earlier this year to oversee the resuscitation of the venue, which is located just off the public road in Cotton Tree, West Berbice.

The C3 Recreational Park will be used to host cricket matches and other functions and will be developed into a friendly familyoriented venue with benabs, platforms, a clubhouse, paved walkways, a wi-fi centre and a mini water park.

On August 22, an exposition and West Berbice family night event will be hosted by the committee. Patrons can expect to view and indulge in vending booths, international bars, food court dining, games and inflated rides for children, while cartoon characters Barney, Dora, Diego, Sponge Bob and Mickey will be in the house to entertain the children.

A live domestic band will also be in attendance, fea-

turing Bunty Singh, Aaron and Sandella, King Murphy Invasion One-Man Band among other performing artistes, alongside 71 Sounds System. Special entertainment packages are in store for children from “Tons of Fun” party service.

On the following day, the atmosphere will be transformed into a village party for a grand cricket extravaganza featuring the mighty Albion Cricket Club, Young Warriors, West Berbice and East Coast Demerara.

There will also be a feature game between Trophy Stall Girls and Karibee Rice female team.

The games are set to commence at 09:00h.

The event has been significantly supported by ANSA McAL Trading and fans can expect a big treat from the company as there will be giveaways and a special party stand set up to ensure that the atmosphere is electric.

George to lead two-member World Championships squad at Beijing – Hutson clarifies Foster selection

By Treiston Joseph

O

lympian Winston George will head Guyana’s squad to the World Championships in Beijing, China which is set to start from August 22.

George, who qualified for the event earlier this year, has been in tremendous form, clocking under 46s on a few occasions, while breaking the national record earlier this year which now stands at 45.31s.

Carifta bronze medallist Andrea Foster will also be on the team, a selection that was questionable.

However, President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson noted that Guyana

Andrea Foster

was given universality space for a female.

Hutson also noted that because of the limited pool of females and the perfor-

mances of those females, the AAG council sought to give a young prospect the opportunity.

When Guyana Times Sport questioned Hutson about overseas-based Alita Moore who has been running really well as a possible prospect, Hutson noted, “the onus is upon the athletes to keep the AAG informed of their performances, when they run out there they run for their school and we need to be informed”.

Meanwhile, with both George and Foster expected to compete at the Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic starting today, both athletes are expected to wing out on Monday.

uyana’s top track and field meet, the Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic will get off to a flying start today at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground in Linden from 13:00h.

The event will bring some of Guyana’s top athletes against each other while pitting them against some top regional competition.

The two-day meet will see five finals being contested on day one (today), namely – the 3000 metres women, the 5000 metres men, the long jump women, the medley relays as well as the 4x100 metres final.

However, a number of prelims will also be contested today in the men‘s and women’s 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres.

While the sprint prelims will be action packed when the likes of Rupert Perry and Winston George don their spikes against two Jamaicans in the men’s international 200m, the women’s long jump final should be interesting when Natreena Hooper, Cindy Fraser and Shantoba Bright take their mark atop the long jump pit.

The distance finals are also expected to be nail-biters with the likes of Cleveland Forde, Tyshon Bentick and Jamaal Chisholm expected to participate.

Nevertheless, the second day (Sunday) will be the day to watch, when Guyana’s best matches up against their regional counterparts in the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres in mouth-watering clashes.

The Classic has definitely added some spice with the inclusion of the Jamaican athletes and will really show where Guyana’s top athletes are against their regional rivals.

However, the most interesting race will be the women’s 100 metres when the Jamaican Seidetha Palmer and the Bahamian Petra McDonald, both with personal bests of 11.6s meet.

Which Guyanese will step up to match the regional women will be a sight to see.

On the other hand, Winston George going up against the Jamaicans in the men’s 400 metres will be another eye-catching race on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Police Sports Club will be under pressure to defend their overall title against a much improved Guyana Defence Force (GDF) side as well as a unified Linden front.

Do they have the arsenal and fire power to fend off their challengers? That will be the biggest storyline coming out of the meet.

The Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic for the first time will bring four Jamaican athletes to the

shores of Guyana.

The four Jamaicans are DeAndrea Whithorne (100m); Palmer (100, 200m); Nicholas Maitland (400m) and Keno Burell (400m).

In addition to Jamaica, the meet will have athletes coming from Trinidad, Grenada, Suriname and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Trinidad will feature Mark London and Tonya Nero, while the athlete from Grenada will be Kenisha Pascal.

Coming from St Vincent and the Grenadines will be George Hamilton, while the one Surinamese athlete will be Daniella Clarke.

The first-place prize will be $600,000, as some clubs have indicated that they will be merging while the second-place prize will be $400,000; third, $250,000 and fourth, $100,000.

The international events for men will be the 200m, 800m and the long jump, while for the females it will be the 200m, 1500m and the triple jump.

The champion athletes for males and females will receive $50,000, while two outstanding performances will be rewarded with a gold chain each.

Gate prizes are worth up to $30,000 in cash and gold chains will also be up for grabs when the event gets underway on the final day.

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

saturday, august 15, 2015

George to lead twomember World Championship squad at Beijing

UG b/ball off to Panama

Pg 23

– Hutson clarifies Foster selection

The University of Guyana squad poses before departure

By Treiston Joseph

T Winston George

Aubrey Hutson

he University of Guyana (UG) winged out on Friday for Panama to take part in a University Basketball Championship.

The 12-man squad will suit up to take on some of the best Universities from

Pan America as well as the Caribbean.

Sports Coordinator of UG, Lavern Fraser noted that the championship was about development for the UG team.

“In Guyana, we have a tendency to measure success by wins but for me we are going there in order to develop and sustain a programme that

can last for years, but I believe the boys can do well,” Fraser stated.

Team Captain Akeem Kanhai noted that the team have been gelling well as they intend on grabbing some wins at the tournament. Kanhai also pointed out that because of their undersized nature, they will

aim to play up-tempo basketball. Coach of the squad, Ruddy Sampson was confident in the side, highlighting that they have all the systems in place to deal with what they will face in Panama.

The UG team are expected to return during the latter part of next week.

Boyce/Jefford Classic set to have a flying start today Pg 22

Flashback: Police, the winners of last year’s Boyce/Jefford Classic, aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back titles

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