Guyana Times Daily - January 7, 2015

Man

Annandale

Ombudsman

CGX, ExxonMobil unmoved by falling oil prices

With the dramatic decline in oil prices on the international market, many oil exploration companies, large and small, have already begun revising their strategies and making decisions to cushion the shortfall as they continue their pursuit of the lucrative resource.

According to an article in the New York Times digital edition on January 5, the drop in prices has led to a rising tide of oil company announcements in recent days of investment cuts for the coming months.

Ensign Energy Services, a Canadian drilling contractor, reported that it would be laying off 700 workers, or roughly 10 per cent of its work force, in California fields. Several Texas-based companies that have borrowed heavily in recent years to produce in new Texas and North Dakota shale fields are expected to announce steep investment and job cuts in the coming days.

With companies like CGX Energy Inc and Exxon Mobil exploring Guyana’s land mass and offshore basin in search for oil, many are left to wonder the fate of their jobs and the country’s economy if these companies too decide to revise their strategies. According to Co-Chairman of CGX Energy, Dr Suresh Narine, if prices continue to fall, all oil exploration companies, including CGX, will be revisiting their strategies; however, this did not

mean folding or discontinuing exploration.

When asked about employment, he further assured that thus far the company has not laid off any employees nor does it have any plans to do so. Speaking to media operatives over the weekend, Narine noted that all oil companies are very concerned about the price of oil, but clarified that CGX was not particularly worried at this moment and would continue to monitor the falling prices. CGX Energy Inc is scheduled to drill another well sometime this year and the current prices of oil on the global market would not discourage exploration as the company has huge confidence in Guyana’s basins. “We still feel comfortable that the Guyana basin offers enough awards to take the risk.”

When prompted to reveal at which point searching for oil would no longer be feasible, Narine stated that such would be difficult to predict. “I can’t tell you at [US]$40 a barrel, it would or wouldn’t happen

NIS achieved major success in 2014

… 47,000 pensioners to receive increases in 2015

By royDen JameS

… it would be wonderful to have the foresight to know what will happen with prices and what impact this shall have on, for example, the rates for drilling rigs and cost of drilling versus factors such as investor confidence in the returns from exploration.”

Long-term investments

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, the US’s biggest oil company whose subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) officially opened its Venture Office in Guyana last November as it began its search for oil in Guyana’s offshore waters, declined to comment on the company’s position in the country as it relates to the falling oil prices.

However, according to an article on CNBC dated December 3, 2014, ExxonMobil Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Rex Tillerson noted that the oil giant can weather the downturn in oil prices even if prices sink to US$40 per barrel. It was noted that the company’s massive projects in areas such as liquefied natural gas and deepwater drilling are decade-long investments that have been tested to perform across a broad range of prices, from US$40 to US$120 per barrel.

From all indications, it appears that ExxonMobil’s EEPGL should not be threatened by the drop in oil prices on the global market.

With the collapse of oil prices, consumers from all around the world, except Guyana, continue to benefit from the cheap cost of fuel. It was reported that the average national US price for regular gasoline had fallen to US$2.20 a gallon, eight cents lower than a week ago, 51 cents lower than a month ago and US$1.11 below a year ago. International energy experts said American families were likely to have as much as US$115 billion more in disposable income in 2015 than last year because of lower gasoline prices alone. Adding further pressure to prices is the weakening demand for oil and petroleum products in Europe and developing nations. That weakness is compounded as increasingly efficient vehicles come onto the market and China seeks to reduce the oil dependence of its economy.

The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has achieved major success in 2014 and as a result, increased all Old Age Pensions by five per cent with effect from January 1.

Speaking to Guyana Times on Tuesday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Scheme Dianne Backster Lewis noted that NIS has been making a profit over the past few years, hence the decision taken to increase the Old Aged Pensions in 2015 –a move that the Scheme has not made in quite some time.

Lewis was at the time responding to the question of how the recent increase would impact the Scheme. In her response, Lewis said if the Scheme was running out of finances then it would not have issued the increase.

On Friday last, The NIS announced that all pensions that were payable as at December 31, 2014 would be increased by five per cent from January 1, 2015.

The minimum rate for Old Age and Invalidity Pensions will be increased from $19,770 to $21,532 per month

The insurable earnings which are the upper limit on earnings that attract NIS contributions will be increased from $158,159 to $170,812 per month or from $36,498 to $39,418 per week.

The minimum insurable ceiling for self employed persons contributing to the Scheme will be increased

from $49,384 to $53,334 per month.

In addition, the NIS will be extending Social Insurance Coverage on a compulsory basis, to all persons between the ages of 16 years and 60 years who are engaged in insurable employment.

According to reports, coverage will also be extended on a voluntary basis, to persons who cease such employment before reaching age 60, until the attainment thereof.

Employed persons outside this age range who are in insurable employment are also covered, but for Industrial Benefits only. However, selfemployed contributors are not covered for Industrial Benefits. It was reported that both the employer and employee pay contributions into the Scheme based on the payroll system. The total contribution for employed contributors is 14 per cent of the actual wage/salary paid to the employee. This is derived from a 5.6 per cent deduction from the employee’s pay, and the remaining 8.4 per cent paid by the employer on behalf of the employee. The actual wage and salary is, at present, subjected to a ceiling of $158,159 per month or $36,498 per week for national insurance purposes.

Self-employed persons contribute 12.5 per cent of their declared income as contributions, while voluntary contributors pay 9.3 per cent of their insurable earnings as determined from the last two years of their employment.

Old Year’s Night murder suspect caught, remanded

Tyrel James, 31, was remanded to prison after being arraigned for the capital offence of murder.

The man appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Tuesday.

The charge read that on December 31, 2014, at Aracuru Village, North West District, he murdered Augustine Samuels called “Jack”.

He was informed by the City Magistrate that the offence was a capital one and he was not required to plea.

Samuel who was a logger met his demise after he attempted to bring peace during an altercation between two men at a popular drinking spot in the village, on Old Year’s night. The 52-year-old man was reportedly attacked from behind and was stabbed at least 14 times by the suspect.

Reports reaching Guyana Times revealed that the victim and the suspect were imbibing at the shop when an argument ensued between the suspect and the shop owner. Within minutes, the argument escalated into a scuffle between the two men and in an attempt to bring peace between them, Samuels intervened. However, this lead to an argument between Samuels and the murder suspect.

As Samuels turned away to avoid further confrontation, the murder suspect pulled out a knife from his waist and dealt Samuels several stabs to his back. Samuels fell to the ground and is believed to have died almost immediately.

The dead man leaves to mourn his wife and eight daughters while the defendant was remanded to prison. The next hearing of this matter will be on February 16, at the Mabaruma Magistrate’s Court.

B y D evina S amaroo

CGX Energy Inc Co-Chairman, Dr Suresh Narine

Tyrel James

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: TWednesday, January 7 – 05:00h-06:30h and Thursday, January 8 – 05:00h-06:30h

The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Wednesday, January 7 – 05:50h-07:20h and Thursday, January 8 – 06:15h-07:45h

FERRY SCHEDULE

The Management of the Transport and Harbour Department wishes to notify the general public that vessels operating the Parika/Supenaam services will no longer be operating according to tidal conditions. The new daily schedules are as follows: Parika departure – 06:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h Supenaam

$165.7B in cocaine seized

... on Cypriot vessel in Demerara

Acargo ship which left Suriname destined for Europe was intercepted by local authorities early Monday morning in the Demerara River with approximately 192.42 kilograms of cocaine stashed away.

The drug was found concealed under the wooden flooring of a flat rack that is used as a bed for containers. The cocaine, with an estimated street value of $165.7 billion (US$800 million), was in several rectangular shaped packages that were wrapped with black plastic.

According to reports, the Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) was called in by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which received a tip-off from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) about possible contraband goods on board the vessel.

The Cyprus-registered vessel MV Delta Dies was docked at a wharf in Linden where it uplifted a consignment of bauxite destined for Europe.

Local authorities swarmed the cargo ship after the consignment was loaded and found the narcotics.

The vessel, along with the flat rack, was subsequently transported to Georgetown and placed at the John Fernandes terminal at Mandela Avenue, Greater Georgetown, on Tuesday morning. Further examinations were done by GRA’s Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) and Drug Examination Unit (DEU), along with CANU.

Head of CANU, James Singh, explained that his agency, along with members of the Guyana Police Force and GRA’s DEU, collaborated under the Container Control Programme to make the bust.

“Acting on information, they (GRA) would have received from their counterparts, CANU provided assistance to them alongside members of the Customs Drug Enforcement Unit. This container was found on board a vessel that had come from Suriname.”

Singh added, “A check of the vessel showed that the container had contraband inside and as such, we offloaded the container and brought it to Georgetown, where the examination was done.”

The CANU head disclosed that at the time they had confirmed an estimated 120 kilograms in cocaine, but advised that this was not a final total. He further stated that the vessel’s next destinations

River

would have been Spain, Holland and Belgium.

At John Fernandes Terminal on Tuesday morning, ranks removed the packages from the flat rack which was labelled ALLU 57018 9-42P3. The 11 crew members who were on board the vessel were taken into custody to assist with the investigations.

Surveillance programme

Meanwhile, in a statement released by the GRA, the revenue agency pointed out that this joint surveillance programme has proven to be successful.

“Today’s discovery of narcotics on board the oceangoing vessel has once again proven the success of the GRA’s joint efforts in tackling the illicit drug trade. The GRA has long recognised the importance of forging regional and international linkages in the ongoing efforts at addressing challenges of a global magnitude such as drug

trafficking and the smuggling of goods. The partnership has been successful on several fronts,” the release stated.

Back in 2012, Guyana and Suriname were the first two Caribbean countries to join the UNfunded Container Control Programme to improve port security and stop the use of containers for transnational criminal activities, including the trafficking of narcotics via the sea.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UNODC paved the way for the establishment of joint port control units in Guyana and Suriname at the John Fernandes and Nieuwe Haven wharfs respectively. It allowed both countries to strengthen the control of inbound and outgoing containers, improve real-time exchange and analysis of information among other advantages.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee also laud-

ed the collaborative efforts among international agencies. “This is another good example of international cooperation in tracking down the movement of cocaine in ships,” he said. Last week at the Ministry’s year-in-review briefing, Rohee stated that CANU has continuously fulfilled its mandate in terms of narcotics seizures and interceptions, specifically recognising its collaborative efforts with both local and international agencies. The Minister referred to the self-propelling semi-submersible vessel that was found September last in Region One (Barima-Waini) Rohee had disclosed that throughout 2014, CANU had seized some 92.279 kilograms of cocaine and 1223.140 kilograms of cannabis. This represents a significant increase when compared to the quantity of narcotics seized back in 2013.

The low-bed flat rack in which over 192kg of cocaine was concealed

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Editor: Nigel Williams

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

Community policing

If there is ever one Government service or function that perennially comes under intense scrutiny, criticism and often investigation any where in the world, it is law enforcement in general, and in developing countries like Guyana, it is the Police in particular.

Such passionate examination and evaluation by members of civil society, and especially those considered victims of Police excesses, have arguably become one of the reasons that Police outfits globally have consciously moved in the direction of getting greater community involvement and support for their law enforcement activities.

In the US Department of Justice, a Bureau of Justice Assistance report on “Understanding Community Policing: A Framework for Action” defines community policing as “a collaboration between the Police and the community that identifies and solves community problems”. Of note, is the fact that no where in that terse definition are the words “crime” and “law and order” used.

The intent, however, is made clear in the very next sentence and the rationale behind such thinking, according to the report, is that the Police are “no longer the sole guardians of law and order, (as) all members of the community become active allies in the effort to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods”.

The report states that “community policing has far-reaching implications (and) the expanded outlook on crime control and prevention, the new emphasis on making community members active participants in the process of problem solving, and the patrol officers’ pivotal role in community policing require profound changes” within Police organizations.

In other words, “the neighbourhood patrol officer, backed by the Police organization, helps community members mobilize support and resources to solve problems and enhance their quality of life”. It also notes that when community members voice their concerns and contribute to having those concerns addressed, constructive partnerships are formed to ensure a better quality of life in neighbourhoods.

It is something which the Guyana Police Force appears to have come to recognise and implement over the past few months, as time and again, there have been reports of Police officers visiting communities and conducting various forms of outreaches, including offering medical assistance.

The conclusion of the report is instructive: “Police agencies should not allow political leaders and the public to develop unrealistic expectations for community policing in terms of crime deterrence or speed of implementation.

“Local political leadership may be eager for fast results, but Police leadership must make it clear to … officials that implementing community policing is an incremental and longterm process. Political and community leaders must be regularly informed of the progress of community policing efforts to keep them interested and involved.

“The Police organization … must stress that the success of community policing depends on sustained joint efforts of the Police, Local Government, public and private agencies, and members of the community. This cooperation is indispensable to deterring crime and revitalizing neighborhoods.”

In Guyana, the Government through the Ministry of Home Affairs provides money for the purchase of vehicles, equipment and uniforms, among other things. Subject Minister Clement Rohee has been quoted as saying that community policing groups (CPGs) are encouraged to hold fund-raising activities so as to contribute to the maintenance of vehicles, purchasing of fuel and other day-to-day operations.

Community policing remains a voluntary organisation and it has been always that way. The Government has assured that it remains committed to the contribution community policing is making to fighting crime in the various communities, thereby making life better in neighbourhoods.

In April last year, the Guyana Police Force launched the “Impact Albouystown” initiative, saying that its law enforcement and social intervention drive was in partnership with other stakeholders to work toward the development of the community into a "safe neighbourhood".

The Police need and deserve all the support they can get to not only make this project a success, but to also be able to have it replicated throughout the country.

A city of ice

The secret pact

Dear Editor,

The AFC leaders’ actions have once again endorse the conclusion I have drawn in one of my previous letters that they are masters of lies and deception.

Their recent press statement delivered by the General Secretary in which the AFC has called on APNU to sign a nondisclosure agreement before any discussions between the AFC and APNU has revealed the cunningness and deceitfulness of these so-called leaders of the AFC.

Why the secrecy about a draft memorandum of understanding? Why is it that the discussions between APNU and AFC should be a secret? Why is that the members and supporters should be kept in the dark?

I have said this repeatedly that the AFC only speaks about democracy and transparency. They are grossly deficient in practicing what they preach.

If the train of events is analyzed carefully a definite pattern can be seen, which clearly and unambiguously indicated that the AFC will go into a coalition with APNU if their thirst for power and money is quenched.

The reason why the AFC leaders want secrecy is because if their demands are not met, their Indian support base will be none the wiser. The AFC support base must never know that their leaders were willing to sell out to the PNC for political power.

On the other hand, if their demands are met they can always justify their coalition as a pro-democracy alliance and not as a coalition, hoping that the Indians will never be able to differentiate between an alliance and a coalition.

This is what the AFC leaders are always doing in Berbice - capitalizing on the ignorance of some people. So they will tell the Indian supporters that we have formed an alliance

and not a coalition - isn’t that the name of the AFC? Alliance For Change?

But the question is why the Indian leaders of the AFC did not speak at the APNU rally at the Square of the Revolution if they have an alliance with APNU? They did not because they want to mislead and portray to their Indian supporters that they want nothing to do with APNU.

What they would have said there would not have been a secret. This is deceit!

Ramjattan has already played a preview of this at the 2014 AFC Conference when he shamelessly stated that “hard decisions would have to be made and indeed the AFC is ready to enter into negotiations and lead a pro-democracy alliance” which would even include the APNU.

This has also been backed by Nagamootoo who has already called the impending coalition an alliance. Having done this at the Conference, the stage is now set for the fi -

nal showdown which is shrouded in secrecy to ensure that the AFC does not become dead meat at the 2015 elections.

At this point, I would like to reflect on what the major financier of the AFC, Dr Rohan Somar, said some time back to Inews Guyana.

He said that “the AFC must be independent from the PPP/C and PNC/ APNU…if that founding principle is not upheld or observed, then and only then will you see the demise of the New York-New Jersey AFC Chapter and the AFC nationally. What is your position now, Dr Somar?

I have said this before and I will reiterate it here, the AFC is the most treacherous and corrupt political party this country has ever seen and that is proven yet again. These people cannot be trusted they can sell their own mothers for political gains.

Haseef Yusuf, AFC Councillor

Road safety tips for pedestrians

Dear Editor, The Guyana Police Force is publicising the following road safety tips for the safe use of the roads by pedestrians. When walking on the road use the sidewalk, avenue and pavement when provided. Always walk on the right hand side of the road where there are no

pavements, avenues or foot paths. When crossing the road, always remember to do the kerb drill - look right, look left, look right again, and if clear walk briskly across. Never cross the road in an angle. It takes longer to get across. Do not play on or by the side of the road. Find a safe place such as a yard,

compound or play field. During enforcement operations aimed at road safety over the period December 28, 2014 to January 3, 2015, the Police Traffic Department made a number of cases against motorists for breaching the traffic laws.

These include speeding (249), driving under the in-

prohibition of the use of handheld mobile phone (5).

Ivelaw Whittaker Public Relations and Press Officer

The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is taking place in China’s north-eastern province of Heilongjiang and is expected to draw about 800,000 people to see the sculptures. The festival is known for its colourful light shows that create a magical world of ice (BBC News)

fluence (31), breach of condition of Road Service Licence (29), careless driving (5), dangerous driving (12), failure to wear safety helmet (10), failure to wear seat belt (7),

Ethnic proportionality in security forces still not achieved ... despite clear recommendations in DFC report

By Vahnu Manikchand

Years after adopting the landmark Disciplined Forces Commission Report, law enforcement agencies here have acknowledged that it has been difficult to achieve ethic balance in the forces despite the clear recommendation for this to be done.

The issue of the ethnic imbalance in the security forces had come to the fore during the Constitutional Change hearings during 1999. One of the changes that were approved unanimously in 2000 Constitution was a clause that mandate the President establish a Commission to investigate and recommend resolving the ethnic imbalance in the Disciplined Forces. Following the 2002 Prison escapee-led crime spree, when there were complaints about the performance of both the Police and the Army, the Opposition PNC called upon the PPP government to establish

the Disciplined Forces Commission.

Increased strength

Only last week it was announced that Cabinet has given the go ahead for the Police Force to increase its authorised strength by 1500 and also that of the Guyana Fire Service by 84 bringing the total number on strength to 511. Home Affairs Minister Clement

Rohee told the media that in 2014 Cabinet gave approval for an increase in the establishment of the Guyana Police Force from 3,410 to 4,956. This upward revision has made commensurate the demands of Guyana’s significantly changed security environment in the preservation of law, order and peace which stems from an increase in population size and the accompanying development of new communi-

ties. He said an increase and frequent occurrences of social-economic activities, significant increases in the number of motor vehicles and the accompanying expansion of the road network and significant opening up of Guyana’s interior regions. Regarding the Fire Service, Rohee said the increase will provide the Service with the requisite strength to man-

age the new Fire Stations that were constructed at Bartica, Diamond and Onverwagt. Cabinet also approved an increase by three hundred and twenty-two (322) the number of ranks of the Special Constabulary bringing the total number of ranks belonging to the Special Constabulary to nine hundred and sixtyeight (968).

The Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC), which

was sworn in on June 30th, 2003, comprised Justice Ian Chang, attorney Anil Nandlall, former GDF Brigadier David Granger, current Attorney General Charles Ramson and Irish human rights activist Maggie Bierne. Bierne resigned subsequently and was replaced by Dr Harold Lutchman.

Pork-knocker/magician at CJIA

Dear Editor,

I had a total of G$11,000 in the bag, in addition to some other notes.

The security officer took my shoulder bag, turned

My experience at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on December 24 is cause for great concern. On that day, at approximately 04:00h, I was in a wheelchair being wheeled by a wheelchair helper. After checking in at the Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) counter, immigration officials, paying my exit fee and checked by a security officer, I was asked for my carry-on baggage to be checked.

it around so that the pockets were facing her and the back of the bag facing me. Because I was sitting in the wheelchair, my range of vision was limited with what the security officer was doing.

However, the unusually long time she took rummaging my bag made me sus-

Disappointed that Freddie not on Sri Lanka’s election observer team

Dear Editor, I note my friend Freddie Kissoon has not been given serious consideration to make the trip to Sri Lanka to observe that country’s Presidential election.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo has been selected to lead the Commonwealth observer election team for Thursday’s Presidential election. The President is amply qualified to head the mission. But Freddie could also have been on the mission. I have been lobbying very hard for Freddie but without success. Naturally, I am disappointed in Freddie’s exclusion from the Lanka team.

The man is amply qualified. Freddie is a master statistician and information manufacturer. He can produce any numbers or information the Commonwealth wants about Sri Lanka’s election (nah so Fred?). He was highly recommended for the trip. It is not fair for others to get to travel to so many countries on sight seeing, vacation, and work and don’t get deported. There are others who go overseas to conduct polls, observe elections, study on scholarships, get paid sabbaticals from teaching, and are recipients of so many other goodies, while Freddie can’t get anything from the international community.

In Guyana, he has his methods of getting free pizzas, pork burgers, handouts to pay workers to build a house and free hardware, etc, but why should that be enough? The man is entitled to some freebies overseas –like observing elections.

Freddie needs to be on an election team so he can acquire experience on how to identify electoral fraud. He can then use this skill (hopefully) to discourage colleagues who, he knows, have been thinking about how to return to power through their policy of election rigging.

Vishnu Bisram

picious and so I raised my head to try and take a peek at the goings-on. She then uttered a strange question that made me more suspicious. She quipped, “Like you get some keys in here”. (I had no keys nor anything of the sort in the bag).

The way she was rummaging in the bag you’d think she was digging for gold – literally. This security officer was remarkable, as not only was she behaving like a pork-knocker, but also you’d think she was a magician with her deft slight-ofhand dexterity.

(She was wearing a longsleeved coat on top of her uniform. Rather strange dress, since it was not raining at the CJIA, nor was it cold in the building. But there was a method to her madness….)

The security officer fastidiously pulled her long sleeve over her left hand to cover the entire hand, including her fingers, as she passed an object from the right had to the left inside the bag. After she finished her foraging, she handed the bag to me.

I opened it and saw my money at the very opening of the bag. I examined the contents of the bag and there were at least $2,000 missing. (I had paid $4,000 for the exit fee, so there should have been $7,000 left – but

only $5,000 remained).

After questioning her about the money, she plunked her cell phone, a pen and $4,000 on my lap, and quipped, “Dis is all I have, and dis is wha’ ah de bring to wuk”.

My wheeler and I discussed the incident and she confirmed everything I observed. I informed the CAL representative near the exit gate of the incident as I returned to the Security Department to make a report.

The more senior officer took my details (name, address, flight number, email address, etc) and promised, “We gon look into it and get back to you”. I insisted on giving a written account of what transpired, but she was not interested as she repeated, “We gon look into it”.

The CAL representatives, in the meanwhile, found me with the senior security officer and recorded the essential details, but so far, have not communicated with me. They assured me that there is a camera in the area and it would have recorded what transpired.

I am writing this letter not so much because I lost $2,000, but to point out the tremendous lapse that occurs in the security departments at CJIA. Drugs and

other illegal products could have been placed easily in my bag. And jewellery and other precious items could have been easily stolen.

The sequel to that experience about two hours later in Trinidad was remarkably different. The security officer at the Piarco airport called my attention by saying, “Sir, please look here as I examine your bag”!

Unfortunately, such theft is not unique to Guyana. I’ve experienced similar loss in India, and other travellers also have in other parts of the world.

Travellers should examine the contents of their bags before and after they are screened and examined, and should keep an eye constantly on their baggage. I also suggest that precious items such as jewellery, cash and credit cards should be put in a small bag or case, which should be securely closed.

If the officer wishes to have a look, they would need to do so in front of the traveller.

I am still waiting to hear from the security department of CJIA, and the CAL reps – and would like to know if that pork-knocker/ magician is still waving her magic wand with other outgoing travellers!

Devanand Bhagwan

Acting Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud

Attorney General Anil NandlallFormer Attorney General Charles Ramson

Justice Ian Chang

Former GDF Brigadier David Granger

Page Foundation

BY HYKA FINN

Beautiful. That was the word my eightyear-old daughter Chloe used to describe herself. “I am beautiful,” she wrote, meticulously underlining the word and then smiling up at me, proud that she’d completed her secondgrade spelling-word sentences. In disbelief, I read it again. It was number-twopencil proof that a daughter of mine not only had good handwriting but a positive self-image. I glanced over at her twin sister’s paper. Without pausing to ponder whether her teacher might think she was conceited or seeking my opinion first, Willow had written, “I am a beautiful girl.” I was elated: Low selfesteem wasn’t hereditary. But was it inevitable?

I sadly wondered, realistically, how long their confidence would last. Even if my daughters managed to retain a strong sense of self in the face of future recess rejection, tween tumult, and size-zero celebrities, a major obstacle remained: me, their supposed role model. Feeling good about myself was a daily challenge. When my girls were born, I vowed not to infect them with the guilty-about-everybite madness I’d been struggling to shake since my teen years as a ballet dancer. I knew it was my maternal obligation to keep the negativity in my head and out

of my mouth, so it couldn’t creep into their heads and out of their mouths. Even if true internal change wasn’t possible yet for me, self-criticism, at least in my daughters’ presence, wasn’t an option.

I kept my promise. If I had a bad-scale day, I kept the disappointment to myself. When I was overwhelmed by pizza-gorging guilt, mum was the word. I proudly told friends I never used the word fat with my girls, as if that were a noteworthy feat. But to me, reining in the inner ramblings that unconsciously but continuously haunted me was an

verbal communication counted. When we dined out, did my daughters notice that I ordered what I thought I should have — never what I wanted — and then enviously eyed their father’s more appealing (and less healthy) meal? During all those trips to the re-

stroom, did they watch me lift my shirt, look in the mirror, and examine the relative flatness of my mid-meal stomach? Did they see my palm press against my abdomen when I was finished eating? I clearly remembered seeing my own mom smooth her hands along her hips and sigh.

accomplishment. I was the picture of restraint.

Unless, of course, non-

My daughters begged me to wear no makeup (“We like your true self better”), but I felt naked without it. When we went shopping, they brought colourful, clingy dresses and skirts to the dressing room for me and I said, “Maybe next time” while trying on yet another pair of black pants. At the pool, they yelled, “Swim with us, Mommy!” But I remained safely clothed on a chaise lounge, preferring the company of a good book to the discomfort of exposing my body in a swimsuit. What was I really revealing?

I have a picture of myself at age five that I’ve always loved. I’m in the backyard wearing only a pajama top and under -

wear, my long blond hair tousled from the night’s sleep, my cheeks the colour of the pink rose cupped in my hands, my eyes bright and happy. Even as a teenager, I yearned to be that little girl in the photo again, fresh from joyfully running and playing in the yard, unburdened by concern that my thighs looked chubby in the natural light.

I wanted my daughters to be the carefree girl I once was: to smile, twirl, and admire themselves. And so, I complimented their mismatched outfits even when they bore little resemblance to the coordinated ones I carefully chose in the store. I embraced their pudgy bellies protruding from too-tiny but cherished bikinis. I dropped them at school with kisses and tried hard to ignore

their unkempt “but Mommy, I like it” hair. I encouraged their hard work, generosity, and empathy, and reminded them to always love themselves first and forever. Was it enough? And could I keep it up as my daughters grew and their smooth skin and baby teeth transformed into blemishes and braces? I cringed to think that I might see my own awkward past self reflected back at me. I worried they’d sense disapproval in my eyes or in my words, even if I did my gushing best to conceal my doubts.

I asked my one truly together friend, Nancy, how she’d become so well-adjusted. She told me that her mother was neither overcomplimentary nor critical of her and her three sisters. Instead, she demonstrated what she — and by extension, they — were capable of achieving: Her mom climbed trees and played baseball. She definitely jumped into the pool.

“I am awesome. I am awesome,” one of my daughters repeated not long after that homework incident. First she said she was beautiful; now she was awesome too. “Did someone at school say that to you today?” I asked her. “No,” she said. “It’s just how I feel inside.” Then, it hit me. Despite my best intentions, I hadn’t been the perfect role model, but so far my girls were doing just fine. Maybe I could abandon the goal of acting like a super confident mom — she’d be too hard for my daughters to live up to anyway. Would I start whining about my weight and hurling too-small skinny jeans across the room? Nah. Instead I’d take a page from Nancy’s mother’s playbook, and show my daughters the things I do well.

Not tree-climbing, but listening, empathising, and sharing my stories of survival (think eye patch and thick glasses at summer camp). And yes, I could even drop my towel, say a silent “I’m awesome,” and dive into the pool.

(Yahoo! News)

CDB approves US$7.5M loan for GuySuCo

Using lessons learnt over the past few years the Guyana government will apply a loan of US$7.5 million from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to enhance the capacity of the Guyana Sugar Corporation Incorporated (GuySuCo) to produce and harvest sugar cane on selected estates.

The loan was approved by CDB’s Board of Directors on December 11, 2014.

The goal of the project is to: reduce operational costs, improve mechanisation, improve maintenance of the extensive drainage system; secure irrigation and flood protection; and to provide for the development of critically needed non-sugar ag-

US$7.5 million from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will be used to enhance the capacity of the Guyana Sugar Corporation Incorporated

ricultural production such as rice. Rice production has been on a positive growth trajectory over the past five years.

The sugar industry, once the mainstay of the Guyanese economy, has generally been in decline but it still contributes around

Ethnic proportionality...

After holding hearings in various parts of the country and taking hundreds of submissions, the commission’s final report was presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly on May 6, 2004. The report, comprising of some 164 recommendations, 71 of which were directed at the Guyana Police Force, was then laid before the National Assembly on May 17 and was accepted unanimously. A select committee was then established on November 4, 2004, with a mandate to report to the National Assembly in four months. But it was not until almost six years later that the report was finally unanimously passed by the National Assembly on June 10th 2010. On the matter of ethnic representativeness, the DFC declared: “The Commission…is of the view that the allaying of ethnic security fears which stem from the predominance of AfroGuyanese presence in the GPF must be addressed… but to ensure, in so doing, that no similar insecurity fears are caused in the AfroGuyanese community.” More specifically, it recommended: “It should be an aim (of the GPF) to achieve a Force representative of the ethnic diversity of the nation without employing a quota system.” The report also suggested that a study be conducted on how to address the ethnic make-up imperative.

Elusive

However, when contacted by the Guyana Times, a senior officer in the Guyana Police Force acknowledged that it has been “a struggle” to achieve the ethnic balance as recommended. Noting that the Police Force has been deliberate in its recruitment policy to employ persons of all ethnicities, the officer said joining the security sector is not an easy decision for anyone to make. “You have to have a preference for this kind of work. Its rigorous, you have to live away from your communities and

there are a host of other considerations,” the officer noted. These challenges had all been noted in the DFR and specific recommendations were made to resolve them.

The Officer said that over the years a number of IndoGuyanese have joined the Force and have risen to high office in the organisation. The officer pointed out that currently three of the top administrative officers at Eve Leary including the Acting Commissioner of Police are of Indian descent. “So we have seen a gradual and a progressive step in the right direction, but what I can say is achieving this balance is not easy...”

The officer told Guyana Times too that the Force also conduct recruitment across the country, pointing out that it has training bases in Berbice- a predominantly Indian-based area as well as Essequibo. “We have training schools in these places and we have seen a lot of persons of East Indian descent joining. They are part of the training and they are willing to become members of the Force,” the officer noted. He believes that historically there were fears about Indians joining the security forces, but those fears have been quelled. “We are seeing a shift, a gradual but steady shift in the right direction,” the officer said. The DFR had emphasised that these efforts at rectifying the historical imbalance due to discriminatory hiring practices be rectified.

Another officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police Balram Persaud told the Guyana Times that the Force has been trying to adhere to this recommendation when recruiting officers however there are some factors that do not make this practicable. Persaud explained that the Police Force does not discriminate against a particular race when employing new ranks. “As long as you are fit, you have the necessary qualification, you are interested in the job and as long

five per cent of GDP, and in 2013 it provided direct employment for approximately 16,000. The industry supports more than 300 services providers, and is the third largest contributor of foreign exchange. It also plays a critical socio-economic and environmental role in the predominantly low-income coastal communities where cultivation and processing are concentrated.

This loan marks CDB’s third intervention in the sugar industry in Guyana and this project will address several considerations that should result in improved productivity of sugar cane cultivation and sugar production.

from page 5

as you pass the test then we will take you in…We can’t discriminate, we just have to look at who is there” he stressed.

Another point the ACP highlighted is the fact that the Police Force is still trying to meet its full capacity as such it cannot wait around for applicants from one particular group to match that of another before it starts recruiting. “How long must we wait for this? We need to start recruiting immediately so that we can meet the new capacity,” the senior officer added.

Responding to views that the Police Force is dominated mostly by AfroGuyanese, Persaud outlined that two additional Police Training Schools were built in Adventure, Berbice, and Suddie, Essequibo in order to give a chance to other ethnicities, particularly Indo-Guyanese who predominantly encompasses the population in these regions. He said as a result of these two schools, the Force has seen a balance of the two main ethnicities in accordance with the recommendation made. Nevertheless the ACP maintained that along with the recommendation for ethnic balance, the Force has been working diligently to ensure that all of the recommendations made are implemented.

Disinclination

The DFC report had pointed out that the ethnic imbalance between the Indoand Afro-Guyanese members of the GPF points in the direction of a marked general disinclination on the part of the Indo-Guyanese to join the GPF. He did not emphasise that this “disinclination” had been the result of initial discriminatory practices. Such a general disinclination in the present on the part of one of the larger component of the Guyana population has contributed in no small measure to the numerical deficiency of the GPF to the extent that the GPF has been, and is being, deprived of the

Man busted with cocaine in skin cream at CJIA

AUnited States citizen has been taken into police custody after he was intercepted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) with a quantity of cocaine concealed in skin lotion. The bust was made sometime around 23:00h on Monday.

The young man, whose name was withheld, was on an outgoing flight destined for New York. According to information reaching the Guyana Times, ranks of the Guyana Police Force’s Narcotics Branch were conducting routine checks on the luggage when they made the discovery.

The ranks observed a

availability of a substantially larger pool of human resources from which to select its recruits.

“It seems reasonable to suspect or even believe that the administration of the GPF has felt impelled to make the difficult choice between quantity and quality in the recruitment policy of the GPF largely because Indo-Guyanese, who comprise approximately 48% of the national population, have been generally disinclined to offer their services to the GPF. It is unfortunate that Indo-Guyanese who have contributed so sig-

nificantly to national development have not felt able to contribute in proportionate numbers to the GPF when the very security of the State depends so heavily on an effective, efficient and professional GPF,” the DFC report had stated.

The Commission had also pointed out that, despite the fact that Indo-Guyanese have invariably been disproportionately under-represented in the GPF, there has been and is a significant number of Indo-Guyanese who have achieved commendation, distinction and high office in the GPF.

strange object in during the scan and in the presence of the suspect, they opened the suitcase. Closer checks made on a skin cream bottle, revealed several small plastics containing quantities of a white powdery substance, believed to be cocaine. Meanwhile, Public Relations Officer of the Police Force, Ivelaw Whittaker has confirmed the bust. He disclosed that the narcotics totaled to 1 kilogram 266 grams. The suspect was subsequently taken into custody and is assisting with the investigations. It is unclear whether the young man has any ties in Guyana.

Regarding the Guyana Defence Force, the commission had recommended that this organisation should adopt recruitment procedures which must take into consideration cultural, sociological and psychological imperatives, designed to attract Indo-Guyanese in particular to the membership of the GDF. It said that recruitment procedures should have a particular focus on the Indo-Guyanese community because of its general disinclination to join the GDF; these should not be to the neglect or exclusion of other ethnic groups.

wednesdAY, JAnUARY 7, 2015 | gUYAnAtimesgY.com

Annandale youth on 5 counts of robbery under arms

A22-year-old miner was remanded to prison on five counts of robbery under arms on Tuesday morning when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

The first charge read that on December 12, 2014 at West La Penitence, Georgetown being armed with a gun, Andrew Ridley robbed Sherwin Gilgious of one gold chain valued $85,000; a gold and diamond ring worth $64,000; a Samsung Galaxy cellphone valued $77,000; and $100,000 in cash.

The second and third charges stated that on December 22, 2014 at West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, while being armed with a

Man

gun, he robbed Kevin Craig of a sum of money and Curtis John of a Samsung Galaxy cellphone valued $35,000, a wallet worth $1500 and $43,000 in cash.

The fourth charge read that he robbed Collin Nelson of a cellphone valued $60,000 and $50,000 in cash, while being armed with a gun at West Ruimveldt on December 27, 2014.

The final charge read that at the same location on the same date, being armed with a gun, he robbed Tessa Waterman of one Nokia cell-

phone valued $32,000 and $4000 in cash.

The unrepresented defendant, of Lot 468 Annandale, East Coast Demerara, pleaded not guilty to all of the charges read to him. Police Prosecutor, Inspector Michael Grant objected to bail, citing the nature and gravity of the offence, the penalty it attracts and the possibility that the defendant may be a flight risk.

The prosecution’s objections were upheld and Ridley was remanded to prison. The matter will be recalled on January 26 for statements.

arrested on Ave of the Republic for unlicensed

anks of the Guyana Police Force have arrested a man after he was found with an unlicensed firearm in his possession on Tuesday.

According to a Police release, around 02:45h, Police ranks were on mobile patrol when they stopped and searched a man on Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown. During the search, an unlicensed .32 revolver, along with three rounds of ammunition, was discovered on his person.

The thus-far unidentified man was arrested and taken into Police custody to assist with the investigations.

firearm

The weapon and ammunition found

Police release names of another 4 charged for drunk driving

The Police have released the names and pictures of another four men nabbed in their name and shame campaign in December:

Balamiki Shamidhar, of Number 47 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, was stopped and tested with a breathalyser on December 14 while driving motor car PNN 9716 on the Providence Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD). He was found to be above the legal limit in terms of consumption of alcohol and charged. He appeared at the Providence

Magistrate’s Court on December 19 and pleaded not guilty. The matter is continuing before the court.

Temeshwar Jainane, of Lot 300 Tuschen Housing, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), was stopped and tested with a breathalyser on December 14

while driving motor vehicle BHH 6063 on the Providence Public Road, EBD. He was found to be above the legal limit in terms of consumption of alcohol. He was charged and appeared at the

Providence Magistrate’s Court on December 19 and pleaded not guilty. The matter is continuing before the court.

Oneil Belle, of Lot 17 Station Street, Kitty, was stopped and tested with a breathalyser on December 14 while driving motor vehicle BPP 4956 on the Providence Public Road, EBD. He was found to be above the legal limit in terms of consumption of alcohol. He was charged and appeared at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on December 19 and pleaded not guilty. The matter

Eyew tness Rabid jealousy...

...or ressentiment at SN??

The Stabber News is getting rather boring with its attacks on the PPP/C, while protesting about its “impartiality” and having “no axes to grind”. If it waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck and can’t help but stick its bill into the muck – then it’s a goddamn duck!!

And if every day of the week, the Stabber goes gratuitously out of its way to be nasty to the PPP/C while praising the Opposition, picks columnists that are virulently hostile to the PPP/C, and refuses to even mention their achievements, then the paper is goddamn well anti-PPP/C!!

But as is usual with the type, the Stabber wants to have its cake and eat it too. Yesterday, it lashed out at Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee for daring to suggest there was “a political conspiracy” behind the Stabber and Muckraker’s unrelenting attacks on the PPP/C. It spent almost an entire page on the Editorial expatriating on Rohee’s “paranoia”. But as with most hypocrites, the Stabber didn’t bother to look in the mirror.

Only the day before, it spent another long-winded Editorial attacking former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Why?? Well, he had the temerity to be selected by the Commonwealth to HEAD its team of observers for the elections in Sri Lanka, due later this week!!

And this is just another obscene burst of ressentiment that Nietzsche described so well. Remember?? When individuals like the Mandarins at the Stabber – and their class – find themselves in a junior social position to those they arbitrarily defined as “below them”, they just can’t deal with it!!

They believe they’re the ones who should be on top –based on some old, obsolete criteria. Burnham ruined the economy, society, nation, civil service, Police – you name it and he ruined it. But to the Stabber he’s to be admired because he could do a cheap imitation of an Oxbridge accent and ride a horse!!

is continuing before the court.

Mahesh Ramsoondar, of Lot 60 Covent Garden, EBD, was stopped and tested with a breathalyser on December 14 while driving motor vehicle GFF 313 on the Providence Public Road, EBD. He was found to be above the legal lim-

it in terms of consumption of alcohol. He was charged and appeared at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on December 19 and pleaded not guilty. The matter is continuing before the court.

But the wankers at the Stabber don’t stop there. They den2igrate the qualities of the superior individual or group as being “evil” – here Jagdeo and the PPP/C – and promote their own qualities (which caused them to be in the inferior position in the first place!!) as being “good” and worthy of emulation.

So what we have here is a group of individuals who’re consumed by their envy of Jagdeo, because they feel he’s enjoying a status only THEY deserve. And what makes the ressentiment even more intense is that it’s not just Jagdeo the individual who sticks in their craw; it’s the people he represents!

After 22 years, it’s beginning to dawn on them that the old ways are gone forever! Dis time na lang time!!

...in PANTY

It appears that the green-eyed monster of jealousy (if it’s “rampant jealousy”, is it the “jade-eyed” monster??) has already hit the “Partnership Alliance for National Trust – Yes!” (PANTY). The Muckraker, whose owner Glenn Lall funds both potential coalition partners in PANTY – PNC/APNU and AFC – not surprisingly got the inside scoop and reported that the WPA’s screaming they want more time in bed with APNU.

Dr Clive Thomas of WPA complained that the once-amonth encounter with APNU doesn’t satisfy either him or the other four surviving WPA members. (Isn’t he like... ummmm...80???) He demands more time. We’d predicted that, like with all coalitions, this would be a problem. Coalitions are like harems – the challenge is for the leader (Sultan Granger??) to share himself equally.

But really, we think the real problem’s really the new, young partner that Granger’s courting to get into PANTY. Who’ll have time with the wizened WPA?? ...and lacunae

Ruel Johnson’s begging for wuk at the Caribbean Press –again. Nothing wrong with that – but we wish he wouldn’t be so jealous of more successful folks like Vibert Cambridge. And he wouldn’t write about “a lacunae” – when that’s the plural form of the word. Ouch!!!

Balamiki Shamidhar

Oneil Belle

Mahesh Ramsoondar

Temeshwar Jainane

Andrew Ridley

Ombudsman never pronounced on Freddie Kissoon’s termination

... merely forwarded lawyers’s advice to UG

By Devina Samaroo

Amid reports from sections of the media that the Ombudsman, retired Justice Winston Moore ruled that former lecturer of the University of Guyana, Freddie Kissoon was wrongfully dismissed by the Council of the University, and was owed compensation, Moore made it clear that he did not make any such ruling.

Moore further denied probing the matter related to Kissoon’s dismissal from the University in 2012. In an immediate release after the misleading information on the issue was reported, Moore explained that he received a complaint from Kissoon alleging wrongful dismissal against the Council; therefore, in keeping with the practice of his Office, he forwarded a copy of the complaint to the Registrar of the University.

Reports from other media outlets indicated that it was the Ombudsman himself who made a ruling of wrongful dismissal and that Kissoon was owed compensation from the University. However, Moore clarified that he obtained legal advice on the issue and the Office of the Ombudsman was advised of legal counsel’s opinion on Kissoon’s letter of complaint.

Legal advice

The legal advice obtained points to Kissoon’s dismissal being in breach of Statute 25 of the University of Guyana Statutes, which provide for notice and a hearing, as pre-conditions for dismissal. As such, the letter to the Registrar stated that Kissoon was entitled to compensation from the University.

Deputy Registrar of the University, Dr Theo Velloza told this publication that they did indeed receive the letter from the Office of the Ombudsman and it was under consideration by

the administration of the University.

Section 25 of the University Statutes that deal with disciplinary action reads: “If it appears to the Council that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Principal and Vice Chancellor, the Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor, or any other member of the UG Staff may be guilty of grave misconduct, or is unable to perform the functions of his office as might warrant the termination of his employment, the Council shall: (a) give him notice, in writing, of the reason for the action contemplated; (b) if he or the Council so request within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the notice, make arrangements: (i) for a Special Committee, comprising two members of the Academic Board (not being members of the Council appointed by the Academic Board), and three other persons appointed by the Council none of whom shall be members of the Council, to investigate the charges; (ii) for the person to whom the investigation relates to be afforded the opportunity of being heard on his own behalf and to be allowed legal representation at the hearing by the Committee with respect to the charges; and if the Council, after consider-

ing the report of the Special Committee, is satisfied that the person to whom the investigation relates ought to be removed from office may terminate his appointment.”

Terminated

Kissoon’s contract was terminated on January 23, 2012 with immediate effect. The 61-year-old was informed of the termination of his contract through a letter that informed him that the decision was taken at a meeting of the University Council. In a subsequent statement, members of the University Council – Indra Chandarpal, Bibi Shaddick, Nirmal Rekha and Gail Teixeira— had clarified that the Government had nothing to do with Kissoon’s dismissal.

“As Council members with other members representing civil society bodies, parliamentary Opposition and the governing party, as well as members of the staff at the University, we make decisions in accordance with the University of Guyana Act and the Statutes of the said institution as a collective and by consensus, rarely by vote.

“The issue of contracts of academic staff who have reached 60 years of age has been addressed by the University with policies going back many years. Nothing has changed. In fact, the only thing that changed is that these are being implemented,” the PPP/C members said.

They added that despite the fact that the Vice Chancellor renewed the contracts of 12 retired academic staff members who were over the age of 60 without recourse to the Appointments Committee and the Council as required by the Act, the Council in October 2011 ably supported by the legal opinion of a outstanding legal luminary in the Law faculty, decided that it urgently needed to correct this breach of the statutes. The

Miner on robbery and fraud charges refused bail

A23-year-old miner of Lot 120 Brutus Street, Agricola, Greater Georgetown, was refused bail after the prosecution’s objections were upheld.

Romel Bollers appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Ann McLennan to face two charges – obtaining money by false pretence and robbery with violence.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the first allegation which read that

on October 13, 2014, at McDoom Public Road, Greater Georgetown, he robbed Permanand Jaggernauth of one CG motorcycle valued $420,000, and during the course of the robbery Bollers made use of personal violence to Jaggernauth.

The other charge read that on November 21, 2014, at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he obtained $500,000 from Carol Bollers by falsely pretending that Omar Murray sent him to collect the money, knowing

same to be false. The defendant denied the allegation against him.

Police Prosecutor Denero Jones objected to bail citing the nature, gravity and prevalence of the offence, the penalty that both of the offences attract and that the defendant has more matters pending in the Providence Magistrate’s Court; two being robbery and discharging a loaded firearm.

The defendant was then remanded to prison. The matter is set to be heard again on January 19.

Council, therefore, sought to have these contracts that were improperly executed go through the correct process. Regrettably, Council’s attempts to do so took until January 18, 2012 to be concluded.

“That Council meeting of January 18, 2012 addressed that outstanding issue and endorsed the recommenda-

tions of the Appointments Committee. The Council considered the appointments of 37 academic staff, which included eight of the 12 of those whose contracts were improperly renewed. The Council accepted the recommendation that those who were at the level of Professor or Senior Lecturer be retained. Of the remaining four retirees who were referred by the Appointments Committee to the Council, the Council agreed to retain three of them on a part-time basis.

“Mr Kissoon reached 60 on December 30, 2010 and as is usual was allowed to continue to conclude the academic year until August 2011. The Council recognised that Mr Kissoon, a retiree and a Lecturer 2, failed to meet the University policy with regard to retention of academic staff:-(1) have a healthy academic record, to wit research and publications reviewed by academic peers are a requirement;

(2) have to face a competitive process with other applicants.

“The Council was unimpressed and not one single member of the 14 Council members present at that meeting, including the UGSS [University of Guyana Student Society] and fellow colleagues of the academic staff, not a single member supported his retention. The Council rescinded his contract.

“The Council also agreed that with four new members of staff and existing staff, the students would not be disadvantaged by his absence.

“These are the incontrovertible facts. The barrage of lies, downright misinformation and political opportunism can somewhat be related to the lack of this information in the public domain, and we, the concerned Council members, expect that these facts disclosed in this release have set the record straight.”

Freddie Kissoon

Ombudsman, retired Justice Winston Moore

Aishalton Village Council wants controversial teacher out of community

After a meeting the Aishalton Village Council on Tuesday decided that it has had it up to its neck with controversial school teacher John Adams and now wants him out of the community.

During a presidential visit to the Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo) community early in December, it was reported that the teacher was allegedly assaulted by two members of the Presidential Guard.

According to reports, Adams was accosted by the Presidential Guards and told to stop heckling President Donald Ramotar while he was speaking. When Adams refused, he was re-

portedly slapped by the guards.

Aishalton Village Toshao Bernard Conrad on Tuesday told the Guyana Times that during one of the Village Council’s recent meetings, a recommendation was made to have the school teacher transferred from the district. Conrad explained that in keeping with this recommendation a letter was drafted and would be sent to the Teaching Service Commission.

The Toshao told the Guyana Times via telephone that in the past the villagers had had several concerns with respect to the conduct of the school teacher, but were reluctant to come forward.

However, according to Conrad, the recent incident involving President

Ramotar had infuriated the villagers hence their coming forward with their revelations.

Conrad pointed to several infractions by the teacher which included fondling female students and drinking alcohol while teaching. He explained that Adams, who was originally from an Amerindian Village in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), had “disrespected” the Aishalton community.

Persons in some quarters have said that Adams’ behaviour in December last was politically motivated. It has been said that Adams was given alcohol by a member of the Opposition in the region in order to motivate him to upset the proceedings of the President.

CGX, ASL analysing data gathered from aerial search

BY ERICA WILLIAMS

Co-Chairman of CGX Oil Company, Dr Suresh Narine said that the firm has already handed over some data gathered from its aerial search for the missing Air Services Limited plane and is hoping that very soon the crew and the aircraft could be located.

A CGX contracted plane that was in Guyana on oil exploration operations joined the search on Saturday. The aircraft is equipped with a magnetic reader, which will greatly aid in the search. It has been close to two weeks since the aircraft disappeared in the Mahdia, Region Eight (PotaroSiparuni) area. Narine said the company’s focus is on ensuring that the missing aircraft with two persons on board is found.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Tuesday, Narine said he is unable to give specifics as it relates to the duration for the company’s involvement in the search of the missing plane. At present, the aircraft is assisting the team of investigators and search parties with gathering information that may lead to the rescue of the Pilot Nicky Persaud and loader David Bisnauth. He further disclosed that data gathered from the search is being analysed by the aviation authorities. Following the analysis of data, it is the hope that there will be clues that will lead to the rescue of the two persons. “We are in the process of accessing data to see if there is anything, if there is something we can pick up on,” Narine said. The CoChairman added that his company takes pleasure in being part of such an effort, “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in such rough terrain.”

At the moment, the search team involves the Canadian aircraft attached to CGX, three teams from Timehri (who were flown in on Saturday last

to join the search party), members of the Guyana Forestry Commission and the Guyana Defence Force, and eight line cutters from St Cuthbert’s Mission.

Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Zulficar Mohammed said that the search is being continued on the ground and aerially and reiterated that the use of information gathered determines the next move. It was previously reported that the Canadian aircraft being used in the search is contracted to CGX for oil exploration activities, nevertheless, Narine declined to disclose the amount of monies invested in the search by CGX thus far. GCAA had said that the aircraft is a much needed resource in the search, since it is equipped with a magnetic reader. In addition to this aircraft, the aerial examination consists of two helicopters which are supported by two fix wing aircraft. The search is being carried out in the area of high interest, as well as along the pre-determined grids which were prepared by the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), Timehri Control Tower.

On Sunday, December 28, 2014, the Timehri Control Tower lost communication with the Britten Norman Islander that was

flying between Mahdia and Karisparu, Region Eight. Based on records, the aircraft took off from Mahdia about 11:42h on a routine local cargo flight and the last known position was marked by “Spot Tracker” at 11:44h. At 16:20h, Timehri Air Traffic Control Tower made contact with the aircraft operator to establish whether the aircraft had landed before implementing a search and rescue operation. After no information was received, Air Traffic Control commenced an ‘Alert Phase’ and RCC at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was activated.

Moments after the aircraft was reported missing, two ASL Cessna 208 Caravans flying within the area were vectored to commence a search operation and were later joined by three Belle helicopters.

After the first few days with no success, the RCC contacted Surinamese aviation experts, as well as those from the United States Mission Coordination Centre.

As the search intensified, Suriname provided an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) to zero in on or enhance any signal from the wreckage site. The RCC had plotted a grid with the most probable flight path of the aircraft and where it was most likely to have flown and determined the overall area of interest for possible crash sites.

This grid is being flown systematically to ensure coverage of the entire area. To date, systematic flyovers have been carried out, but, all have proven futile. The family members of Persaud and Bisnauth have joined the search party in the hope of finding their loved ones.

PANTY! politics

Satiricus was agog with excitement. "What a stroke of genius!!" thought Satiricus. "It had to be Rum Jhaat!! Who else would've come up with such an inspired name for the coalition he was working on with GrainJaPartnership Alliance for National Trust - Yes!" Not only did it contain a word from all the names of the main folks at the table, look at the fantastic acronym it made - PANTY!!

Unlike most acronyms - it had a vowel which made pronunciation so easy!! It just rolled off your tongue.... PAAAAANTY! And that exclamation point at the end was just beyond belief...how else can you say PANTY without an exclamation?? Satiricus didn't just exclaim when he said, "PANTY", he squeaked and salivated!!

Imagine how many voters would be attracted when instead of mumbling that they were an "APANU man"they could now shout from the rooftops, "I am a PANTY! man!!!" Satiricus thought.

But what bothered Satiricus was that Rum Jhaat was such a modest fella he didn't like to big up himself. So when the reporters asked him whether he was going to enter into PANTY with GrainJa now that they were being supported by the Mook and FUCOP, he always blushed and simpered, "No comment!"

"How's PANTY going to get off the ground, if Rum Jhaat doesn't get more aggressive!" Satiricus complained to the gang at the back street bar. "He got to sell PANTY!"

"What Rum Jhaat doing has nothing to do with modesty," said Hari firmly. "He just telling people in Berbice one thing and people in town another thing and he scared he gon get ketch!"

"Budday!!!" said Cappo, slapping Satiricus on the back. "De prablem is FUCOP...you know?...de group de Mook mek fuh pass money to Rum Jhaat and GrainJa."

"Is wha wrang wid FUCOP??" glared his cane-cutting partner Bungi. "De paper seh it jus mean "Funding a United Committee for Opposition Presidency"! "

"Bungi me friend," said Cappo slowly, "How it gon sound when people seh FUCOP pushing money into PANTY?"

"Especially when the Mook pushing FUCOP!" laughed Suresh.

Haslington/Nabaclis NDC Chairman wants more control over villages

Walter Frank, Chairman of the Haslington/ Nabaclis Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), has expressed frustration with a number of Ministries that implement a number of refurbishing or maintenance plans for the villages under his jurisdiction without any sort of communication with his office.

Frank, who manages a total of 19 villages under his post as NDC Chairman, told Guyana Times that the Ministries of Agriculture, Local Government and Public Works send a number of contracted firms to either fix roads or attend to the digging of drains.

The Chairman stated that this is not the issue but the fact that he is rarely aware of these contractors working within his jurisdiction and thus unable to give answers to his

constituents about “poor work”.

If the work provided by the contractors are of a poor quality, then the villagers blame him, the Chairman said.

Also, in some cases when he is informed of such works to be implemented in one of his villages, it does not occur due to one reason or the other.

Frank remarks that this is very unacceptable to the villagers that look to him for such works to be done.

Frank was particularly peeved at the presence of a particular contracting company that has been executing projects – attend to potholes or dig the drains – in a number of the villages. He said the NDC is unable to offer any explanation for their presence.

The Chairman that at present, the Golden Grove Burial ground is being

overrun by Africanised bees and villagers are wondering why the NDC has not tended to the issue.

The Chairman informed Guyana Times that Government contracted workers were supposedly being sent to clear the burial ground but the presence of the bees proves the works have yet to be executed.

He shared that residents are complaining about the state of the trenches the roads, among other issues relating to infrastructure that are affecting them within the 19 villages.

Frank is of the opinion that the communities are suffering because of the lack of communication between the NDC and Government over who needs to execute the works.

The Chairman stated that he tried to contact the Regional Democratic

Council (RDC) Chairman, Clement Corlette, to discuss these pressing issues but he his efforts were all futile, adding that “every time you ask for him, he never in”.

However, Corlette had voiced to this publication that a number of Ministries look into a host of issues that would’ve been the responsibility of RDCs or NDCs years ago. He remarked on the confusion this usually creates for his office.

The Haslington/ Nabaclis NDC Chairman said he will be meeting with his Councilmen next Tuesday to determine a way forward. He stated that they’ve already decided that they would like to have the full authority over the relevant villages under the jurisdiction of the NDC to properly manage the upkeep of the villages.

Director of the GCAA, Zulficar Mohammed

Aishalton incident might have been a set-up – Rohee

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)

General Secretary Clement Rohee said the recent Aishalton incident involving a resident and Presidential Guards might have very well been a plot by the political Opposition to turn residents against Government.

At the Party’s weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Rohee said while the PPP/C was not upset by the move purportedly made by the Opposition to prolong the issue, it had a responsibility to protect the name and reputation of President Donald Ramotar , who is also an executive member of the PPP/C.

Late last month, it was alleged that a 29-year-old male teacher, John Adams, was assaulted by two members of the Presidential Guard after he disregarded a warning to desist from heckling while the Head of State was speaking in the South Rupununi village in early December.

Rohee said that despite a pronouncement by President Ramotar about the issue, the Opposition and certain sections of the media continue to use the incident as a political football.

“It comes as no surprise that the political Opposition and Opposition media have played up and overplayed their anti-Ramotar, anti-

PPP/C sentiments. Clearly, the objective is to divide and rule over our Amerindian brothers and sisters, an old and horrible but destructive colonial past”.

Ramotar, in response, had earlier explained that the young teacher was under the influence of alcohol during the incident.

He said residents of the area were outraged at Adams’ behaviour and had asked for him to be removed from the school where he served. “He was drunk and the entire community was very upset at his behaviour,” Ramotar had said in a public announcement.

Persons in some quarters had said that Adams’ behaviour was politically motivated. It was said too that the teacher was given alcohol by a member of the Opposition in the region prompting him to upset the proceedings.

No good

The PPP/C General Secretary said the alleged attempt by the Opposition to continue along this path will not be successful since the Party has already established its presence in that and other Amerindian Communities. In that regard, the Party has expressed concern over a statement emanating from the main political opposition about “a statement allegedly made by Ramotar, as one

bent on sowing discord, division, and mischief among our Amerindian brothers and sisters”.

Rohee said the successes of the Amerindian People were a stark contrast to what was experienced under the People’s National Congress (PNC) Government.

He cited the parliamentary impasse evidenced by the combined Opposition cutting significant funding toward developmental projects in these Communities.

“Under the PPP/C Government, Amerindian development has advanced by leaps and bounds,” Rohee said, continuing that in every area, Guyanese can bear witness to the actions and

results of Government’s developmental programmes for Amerindians.

“In education, health, village development, inclusion in policy development and implementation – the record of the PPP/C Administration is exemplary, Rohee said.

The PPP/C, he said, will continue to ensure that it stands out in this regard, affording Guyana’s first people more opportunities for growth and development.

Days after the incident last year, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had called for an immediate investigation into the alleged assault of the schoolteacher.

According to the coalition, information was received that the 29-year-old secondary school teacher was assaulted by two members of the Presidential Guard.

It was alleged that Adams was accosted by the Presidential Guards and told to stop heckling the President while he was speaking. When Adams refused, he was slapped repeatedly by the guards and chased, reports say.

Adams reportedly sought refuge in the home of another Aishalton resident.

The coalition had called on the Commissioner of the Guyana Police Force to launch an investigation into the incident.

Govt studying how to advance ECD, EBD bypass road project

In an effort to reduce traffic congestion for commuters on the East Bank of Demerara, Government is looking at constructing an ‘East Coast to East Bank’ bypass road, and in fact, the feasibility study for this link has been completed and discussion is ongoing, as it relates to the advancement of the project.

President Donald Ramotar, during his New Year’s message to the nation, said that this will catalyse US$65 million in investment, building 20 kilometres of roads and supporting infrastructure.

Moreover, the Head of State said that in the first half of 2015, “we will be constructing an alternative link between Diamond and Eccles, which will greatly relieve traffic congestion for commuters on the East Bank of Demerara.”

This new road, designed as a modern highway with international standards, will provide access for more than 480 acres of unutilised land, and will allow for the creation of new communities, targeting almost 1500 households, and further adding to the development of the East Bank corridor.

Over the past years, Government

has been spending billions of dollars towards improving the country’s road infrastructure. The East Bank road is being extended into four lanes from Providence to Diamond with US$20M loan from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). This project is expected to be completed during the course of this year.

Government had already built

10,480 pensioners benefited from electricity subsidy in 2014

Government continues to seek ways in which it can ease senior citizens’ financial constraints by providing them with assistance that will enable them to live better lives.

The electricity subsidy was introduced in 2013 as another initiative to help this vulnerable group. In 2014, a total of 10,480 seniors in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 benefitted from $30,000 waiver on their electricity bill. For the first half in 2014, 7,925 pensioners benefited from this programme, 106 in Region Two; 184 in Region Three, 3,374 in Region Four, 694 in Region Five, 1,647 in Region Six, and 120 in

Region Seven. In the second half of 2014, a total of 2,555 people benefited; 215 of whom are from Region Two, 374 from Region Three, 1,182 from Region Four, 227 in Region Five, 540 in Region Six, and 17 in Region Seven. In 2013, senior citizens who are customers of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) received an annual electricity contribution of $20,000. In 2014, Government announced a 50 percent hike in electricity tariff during the 2014 budget, for which $300 million was allocated. Meanwhile, 23,810 pensioners benefitted from water subsidy amounting to $227, 361, 552 in 2014.

Consumers frustrated over local shipping company’s services

Consumers who would have opted to have their cargo shipped with Champion Xpress Shipping are now counting their loss and embracing regret after the company has had their consignment on delay for over five months.

The company which came into operation some nine years ago has it main office located on Liberty Avenue, in New York, USA and also has a local office within the Guyana Post Office (GPO) Building in Georgetown.

When Guyana Times made contact with the local office of the company, a local representative (who wished not to be named) said she is not responsible for the current impasse and would like customers to understand that as soon as she is in possession of their cargo, they will receive it. The woman went on to say that there is a misconception that the cargo is already in Guyana.

stop running with this idea,” the representative said. She also stated that some of the cargo did not arrived in Guyana because some customers had incorrectly labeled some of the barrels and boxes, using the nicknames of recipients, instead of their correct names. This the woman said, makes the process more difficult for the company, since they are unsure who the recipient is and where to ship it.

a four -lane road from Ruimveldt to Providence in light of the traffic congestion caused by several new housing schemes opening on the East Bank corridor, and the fact that there are about 10,000 vehicles added to the country’s roadways every year. Work is also being undertaken to expand the East Coast road into four lanes from Better Hope to Annandale.

“Only this morning I learn about a major delay in Miami with cargoes, persons keep coming to the office as though I have their cargoes and don’t want to give it to them. The problem does not lie with the Georgetown office, they should make contact with New York first and then come to us. But I don’t think they have much to worry about, because as soon as their belongings arrive in Guyana, we will get it distributed to them, is not a case whereby we have these things and don’t want to give them, persons should

“The problem does not only lie within the company, some of the persons who are shipping with us are labelling their cargoes with the call name of the recipients, now how can we identify those, so if persons label cargoes with the call name of a person it is highly possible that the cargo will be sent back to where it came from, or if the branch in New York realised that the name given might not be the person name then it is also highly possible that those cargoes would not be shipped so before persons come to this office and complain all of these should be confirmed, ” the representative stressed. Several customers have threatened to take legal action against the shipping company if their cargo is not delivered to them by the end of January.

It was reported that the shipping company would usually take three weeks to deliver cargo to persons but in this instance, it has been more than five months and persons are yet to receive their consignments.

PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee

Traffic on the East Bank corridor

wednesdAY, JAnUARY 7, 2015 | gUYAnAtimesgY.com

GGMC workers back on strike for pay hike … Natural Resources Ministry condemns action

By Royden James

Less than two months after their salary increases were promised, workers attached to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) on Tuesday once again downed tools in protest over what they described as broken promises.

Senior Industrial Officer of the Commission, Dennis English noted that the action they have taken is as a result of GGMC’s management being in violation of the terms of resumption that were signed and agreed upon at the Labour Ministry.

“We entered into that agreement based on commitment given by the relevant authority which we accepted in good faith, and we hear that those agreements were not honoured. There was a timeframe set out and stipulating the terms of resumption with the view that the issues will be resolved. Today, the issues have not been resolved and there is no clear indications where the document that we have submitted to the Minister for payment is,” he said.

In addition, English pointed out that they have indicated to the management that payments should be done without prejudice to the ongoing discussions they

were having, but, to date, no payments were made. As such, he noted the workers met and collectively decided that they will resume industrial actions.

The senior officer noted that in November they had broken off industrial action and returned the situation to normalcy after a proposal was put forward to the management and they had agreed to pay their increases.

“... we accept it in good faith: we trusted and we believed it. They have betrayed that trust and that is bad for industrial relations, it does not contribute to good industrial relations climate and a cordial Union- management relationship,” English said.

Terms of resumption

Moreover, English explained that the Union had given management one month to resolve the issues; he said both the board and management had agreed to this timeline, which ended on December 31, 2014. He pointed out that prior to the closing date, there were several meetings as well as a number of letters of reminder issued to the board and management, but to no avail. English contended that something needed to be done urgently about the situation, since the workers were upset over the matter.

“Give the workers what is due to them,” English said.

He said they would not be starting a new series of negotiations but rather continuing the previous one.

“The negotiations would continue, we don’t have time to start negotiations all over again. The new board will not interfere with our ongoing matter. We are saying that we set out a time frame; there were other areas of flexibility that the Union exercise and we accept and we had expected that good sense would have prevailed from those in authority to ensure that this matter is treated in a manner that shows respect for workers,” English pointed out.

However, in a statement, the Natural Resources Ministry said it noted the

Mining consultancy firm opens in Guyana

Members of the local and international mining fraternity are to benefit from the provision of a wide range of technical expertise as renowned GuyaneseCanadian Mining Engineer, Dr Andrew Ramcharan formally commissions AAR Mining Consulting Firm here in Guyana.

AAR Mine Consulting Inc is a consulting company which offers a wide range of services to both open-pit and underground mining projects. Its services cater to clients in banking; Government; major mining companies; exploration and development firms; law firms; individual investors; international organisations (CIDA, and the United Nations etc); and private equity ventures.

According to a release from AAR, it will be part of an international group, which provides valuable advice and solutions to companies from exploration to mine closure.

Aiming to always ensure that health and safety come

first for all; preserve and protect the environment; and encourage and foster sustainable development, AAR will be a welcome addition to Guyana’s mining industry.

Its Canadian, Panamanian and Portuguese branches will be officially launched in early 2015 to service the global market.

With a group of highly technical professionals who have provided advice to the mining industry and worked

on over 100 mining projects worldwide, AAR said it was highly respected and regarded as the specialty firm of choice for mining resource and reserve work.

Ramcharan founded the company with a vision for its involvement in both national and international projects. He said AAR was fully committed to dealing with the environment, health and safety, social responsibility with its activities, in a very safe and responsible manner.

industrial action by staff even while the negotiations with the management of the Commission were ongoing.

According to the Ministry, the GGMC has honoured the terms and conditions of the signed terms of resumption and has worked assiduously and tirelessly to achieve an amicable resolution to the issues. In this regard, the Commission has reiterated the need to abide by the standing agreement between the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Commission for the Recognition and Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes, which clearly identifies the steps to be taken to resolve the current issues. Deviations from these enshrined protocols can be construed as acts of bad faith, more so given that discus-

sions and engagements were ongoing between the Union and the Commission. The Commission wishes to assure the public that all necessary measures and mechanisms will be instituted to ensure that the work of the Commission is not unduly disrupted by what it considered an illegal industrial action.

Meanwhile, GPSU Industrial Relations Officer Jermaine Hermanstyne is calling for management to honour the proposal of its workers. “Well, what this action is saying is that what is on the table, honour it, it is not just for 2014, but also there is a proposal for 2013 by which management recognise that the deadline was approaching, they had not put anything substantial on the desk and, there-

fore, what they did is try to bluff the workers by giving a proposal for 2013, which is a one-month pay-off,” he said. He noted that the way management was operating was not in keeping with what was set out in the terms of resumption, which specifically said that all negotiations would have been concluded by the end of the life of the Board – the end of 2014.

Meanwhile, in a phone interview, GGMC Board Chairman Clinton Williams noted that he had no clue of what was happening and was in no position to comment further on the issue.

In November of last year, the GGMC workers had downed tools and protested for a salary increase, which was promised to them since 2013.

Family at odds over hospital’s role in baby’s death – mother wants no compensation

Cheryl Wright, the paternal grandmother of little Dwayne Wright who died on New Year’s Day at the Georgetown Public Hospital, told the Guyana Times that she did not blame the hospital for what happened to her grandson as his birth had complications.

Wright shared with this publication that the doctor had informed her son, Dwayne Wright; her daughter-in-law, Telesha Carter; and herself that little Dwayne was born with a lung infection which could have contributed to his untimely death.

Little Dwayne was born on December 18, at the West Demerara Regional Hospital. There were some complications during delivery; however, they were subsequently sent home after doctors gave both mother and baby a clean bill of health. Two weeks later on New Year’s Day, little Dwayne died after taking ill the same day.

The distraught grandmother stressed that she held no ill will towards the hospital, though she conced-

ed that there were a number of young nurses who were always on their phones whenever she visited and the forgotten injection reported in a prior article in this publication was a silly mistake to make.

However, Phyllis Carter, little Dwayne’s maternal grandmother, has already made claims that the

Georgetown Public Hospital caused her grandson’s death and is asking for $50 million in compensation.

Carter informed this publication Monday that she had planned to meet with a senior Police rank at Eve Leary, Police Headquarters to start proceedings. Wright upon hearing of this was quite upset; she said Carter has never looked after the affairs of her daughter since “throwing her out” when she got pregnant for her (Wright’s) son. She remarked that Carter did not play any role in little Dwayne’s two weeks of life either, as she simply went to the hospital when he was born and when he died – not staying for any significant amount of time.

Little Dwayne’s mother also indicated that she was upset by the actions taken by her mother. She stated that she had no wish of following the case up, because she needed no kind of compensation from the hospital for her son’s death, as this cannot bring him back and she simply did not wish to make a spectacle over her son’s demise.

Guyanese-Canadian Mining Engineer, Dr Andrew Ramcharan

Two-week-old Dwayne Wright

GGMC workers down tools again for salary increases

President Ramotar to receive Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award

Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, the convention venue in Gujarat’s capital, is all decked out to welcome the Indian Diaspora, who are arriving in hundreds from countries across the world, for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the annual jamboree hosted by India for its natives abroad.

The PBD is being held in Gandhinagar on January 7-9 to mark the centenary of the return to the country of India’s “Sarva Sreshtha Pravasi Bharatiya” or foremost Indian diaspora member, Mahatma Gandhi, from South Africa.

The chief guest of the 13th PBD would be President Donald Ramotar, who is also to be presented with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians and people of Indian origin.

South African Foreign Minister Maite NkoanaMashabane is also attending the PBD as part of the commemoratory events to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s return from South Africa 100 years ago.

PBD is the world’s larg-

President Donald Ramotar

est annual gathering of people of Indian origin aimed at enhancing networking and reinforcing commercial linkages. There are an estimated 25 million people of Indian origin residing outside India.

India is also the single largest recipient of remittances from abroad at US$70 billion, The bridges across Sabarmati River and riverfront in Ahmedabad and Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar have been festooned with decorative elec-

trical lighting and the twin cities spruced up to welcome the delegates. Around 3000 Indian Diaspora delegates are expected to attend, officials said.

With the PBD to be followed by the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2015 on January 11-13, each being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several world political and business leaders, a tight security net has been thrown across Gandhinagar as well as Ahmedabad, 27 kilometres away, where some of the events are to be held.

The event kicks off today with the Youth PBD, which is to be inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is also Minister for Overseas Indian affairs. American astronaut Sunita Williams, who is of Gujarati origin, is expected to attend the Youth PBD. Modi will inaugurate the official part of the two-day session on January 8. Vice President Hamid Ansari would be present at the closing ceremony on January 9 and present the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards.

Rohee disregards talk about presidential candidacy

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary (GS) Clement Rohee on Tuesday disregarded talks that he and Junior Finance Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill are listed to become the party’s Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates respectively.

Talks by analysts indicate that the party might be following the trend where its General Secretaries become the Presidential candidates.

In their analysis, they cited former President, the late Janet Jagan and current Head of State President Donald Romotar who had both served in that capacity before taking up the leadership post of President.

But Rohee, at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, disregarded such talks, reiterating that the Executive Committee is still in consultation on the issue. He again related that the Committee will have to give confirmation on the two posts after which an announcement will be made.

“So there’s no need to rush to a Prime Ministerial candidacy when you have not yet confirmed the Presidential candidacy of the party. When we reach that bridge, we will cross

it”, Rohee told Guyana Times When pressed by the publication to reveal what his interest is, if any, in the Presidential candidacy, Rohee responded, “I will wait and see, I am a member of the Executive Committee of the party and all those issues would come up for discussion at the appropriate time. We settle on the total package so that when we make an announcement on one, we don’t have to wait on the other… you will hear the total package in due course, the GS said.

The issue of deciding on a Prime Ministerial and Presidential candidate does not reside only in the PPP/ C’s chamber. He reminded of the internal ramblings within the APNU, which still has to work out its alliance talks with the AFC on the possible Presidential candidate.

Only last week, the GS had told reporters that the revelation of the name of the Prime Ministerial candidate for the party was not a constitutional mandate and is not even a top priority at this time.

GT&T lays off five staffers from Marketing Dept

Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Radha Krishna Sharma confirmed on Tuesday that five staffers of its Marketing Department have been laid off as a result of the company’s restructuring programme.

“There was a restructuring of the Sales and Marketing Departments and as a result of that, the five staffers became redundant,” Sharma said.

It was stated that the

laid-off full-time workers will be given their full benefits while those who were on contract will be paid up until the end of their contracts.

Sharma explained that the company was now striving to keep up to pace with the ever-changing world of telecommunications and marketing. “Changes are being made to ensure the company becomes more customer-focused and driven with special emphasis on a more vigorous marketing and sales plan,” he said.

While there is no specific plans to lay off additional employees, Sharma said the company would examine ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness to respond to the market.

“We would like to see this company much more customer-friendly, more responsive to the modifications and dynamics so we have got to be much more energetic in certain areas that we may not have been active as before,” the CEO said.

Police urging pedestrians to adhere to road safety rules

In light of the alarmingly high rate of road accidents and fatalities involving pedestrians, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is urging persons to be cognisant of, and adhere to, the relevant road safety regulations that are in place.

The Police have recommended some key points that pedestrians should bear in mind when using the roadways. These include: making use of sidewalks, pavements and avenues where provided; always walk on the right side of the road (to face oncoming traffic) where there are no pavements, avenues or footpaths; and never cross the road at an angle, since it actually

takes longer.

Additionally, the Police Force recommended that when crossing the road, pedestrians should always remember to do the kerb drill, that is, “Look right, Look left, Look right again, and if clear, walk briskly across”. Persons, particularly children, are also advised not to play on the roadways or at the side of the road. Instead, they should find someplace safer and away from traffic, such as a yard, compound or play field.

Meanwhile, during enforcement operations aimed at road safety over the period December 28, 2014, to January 3, the Police Traffic Department made a num-

ber of cases against motorists for breaching the traffic laws.

A staggering 249 cases were made out against motorists for speeding while 31 drivers were charged for driving under the influence (DUI). For the offence of breach of condition of Road Service Licence, some 29 cases were filed against offenders.

Five cases were made out against persons for careless driving, 12 for dangerous driving, 10 cases for failure to wear a safety helmet, failure to wear a seat belt, and an additional five persons were charged for the offence of prohibition of the use of hand held mobile phones.

In fact, having a running mate for the President for the upcoming General and Regional Elections is nowhere in the party’s constitution.

When questioned on the name of the possible Prime Ministerial candidate, it was hinted at that Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghil would take up the post, after serving Prime Minister Samuel Hinds indicated that he will not be seeking another term in office.

Prime Minister Hinds holds the record as the longest serving Prime Minister within the Caribbean. Rohee had indicated previously that the party’s long established principle is that the Prime Ministerial candidate would be of African descent.

The GS had told reporters that having a Prime Ministerial Candidate was not something that must be had. “I have said this before that when the time comes, I will announce. It is not constitutional to have a Prime Ministerial Candidate or a running mate for the President; those things are not in our Constitution. It is not something that you have to do in fulfillment of your elections obligations. It is just a culture that has been developed for some people. Some may look forward for the naming of this person, but this will happen when the time comes,” Rohee reiterated.

Mexico charges Mayor’s wife over missing case

The wife of the exmayor of Iguala, the Mexican city where 43 college students went missing in September and are feared dead, has been jailed indefinitely on suspicions of masterminding the abductions that rocked the country, prosecutors have said.

Maria de los Angeles Pineda, who had been held under provisional arrest, has been transferred to a high security prison in the western state of Nayarit from the capital Mexico City.

On Monday, a judge issued a warrant for her pretrial detention “for her likely role in committing organised crime ... and operations with

funds of illicit origin,” said Tomas Zeron, who leads the criminal investigation unit of the prosecutor’s office.

Pineda and her husband Jose Luis Abarca, Iguala’s former Mayor, have been named by prosecutors as the “probable masterminds” of the kidnappings allegedly carried out to prevent opposition demonstrations.

The students went missing September 26, in an apparent massacre by a Policebacked gang that sparked nationwide protests and caused a crisis for President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Confessions made during the investigation have indicated that Abarca ordered

Police to crack down on the students to stop them from protesting at a public event his wife was to lead.

Authorities say the aspiring teachers vanished after gang-linked Police attacked their buses in the city of Iguala, allegedly under orders from the Mayor and his wife in a night of terror that left six other people dead.

The Police then delivered the young men to members of the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, who told investigators they took them in two trucks to a landfill, killed them, burned their bodies and dumped them in a river.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

TT Police on high alert following 11 murders in just 4 days

The National Security Ministry has escalated the alerted state of all law enforcement agencies after Trinidad and Tobago recorded 11 murders within the first four days of 2015.

A statement from the National Security Ministry warned citizens that among the measures to be used during the heightened alert state include increased visibility of joint Police and army patrols; increased air patrols and surveillance; increased roadblocks and stopand-search activities as well as increased intelligence

and surveillance exercises, specifically in all crime hotspots and among persons of interest.

“The general public is kindly asked to comply with all instructions of law enforcement personnel, especially when stopped and questioned during this time,” the release said, noting, however, that the current alert state of readiness, which is led by the Police Service and the National Operations Centre (NOC), is not intended to curtail civil liberties, but has become necessary to ensure the safety and security of citizens.

Over the last four days, Police confirmed that 11 murders were recorded including those of Sean Carrabayo, 18; Krisendath Mahabir, 54; Roger Frederick, 38; and Levi Snaggs, 33.

Police said that the murders of Carrabayo and Snaggs were gang-related, while no motive was given for the other killings.

Police said Carrabayo had just left a card game and walked across the road to answer a call when a car drove up and the occupants opened fire. He was shot about the upper body and died at the scene. (Excerpt from CMC)

Jersey men jailed over Caribbean cocaine seizure

Two men caught trying to sail a yacht loaded with 250 kilograms of cocaine to the United Kingdom have been jailed in the Caribbean.

The yacht of David Romano, 57, and Michael Ashford, 42, both from Jersey, was boarded by the French authorities off Martinique in November.

The SY Hygeia of Halsa was found to contain a quarter of a tonne of cocaine with a street value of some £40

Venezuela’s offer of prisoner swap for Lopez rejected by US

The United States has ruled out a prisoner swap to secure the release of jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader Leopoldo Lopez.

Lopez has been in prison since last February on charges of inciting violence during mass anti-Government protests held at the beginning of 2014.

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he would free Lopez in

exchange for the release of a Puerto Rican nationalist held in the US.

A US official said on Monday that the two cases could not be compared.

During a televised speech on Sunday, President Maduro said that “the only way I would use my presidential powers [to release Mr Lopez] would be to put him on a plane to the United States, to leave him there, and that they hand over

Oscar Lopez Rivera – man for man”.

Lopez Rivera, 72, was convicted in 1981 of seditious conspiracy for seeking to secure Puerto Rican independence from the US.

In 1999, he rejected a conditional offer of clemency which then US President Bill Clinton offered him and a dozen fellow members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) group.

According to US officials, the FALN was involved in more than 100 bombings in New York, Chicago, and other US cities.

Lopez Rivera was sentenced to 55 years. Another 15 years were later added to his sentence for attempting to escape from prison.

US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the case of Lopez and Lopez Rivera could not be compared. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Barbados’ economy up from previous year

The current performance of the Barbados economy is better than a year ago.

According to Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr Delisle Worrell, the island’s foreign exchange reserves have stabilised and there is no longer a threat to the value of the Barbados dollar.

“Tourist arrivals have held up in 2014, and tourist expenditures are estimated to have increased modestly,” he said in his January 2015

Economic Letter.

The official said that airlift has increased for the current winter tourist season and the tourism outlook has improved.

“We are witnessing the beginnings of a turnaround in hotel and villa construction, upgrades and refurbishment of tourism facilities, and other construction. The growth of tourism and construction and spinoffs to retail and business services should yield growth of about 1.8 per cent in 2015,” he as-

sured.

The top economist maintained that Government has demonstrated commitment and fortitude in addressing the fiscal deficit.

He said the adjustment was “front-loaded, with the shedding of 10 per cent of the public sector workforce, the introduction of university fees, along with tax and expenditure measures. Progress has been monitored and adjustments have been made throughout the year.

“In his most recent state-

ment on December 16, the Minister of Finance made public the budgetary limits set for state-owned enterprises, to achieve a fiscal target of no more than 7.2 per cent, a saving of 5.3 per cent, on the deficit for the last fiscal year. Fiscal consolidation, improved public sector productivity and the achievement of a low and sustainable fiscal deficit remain the objectives of Government’s medium term fiscal adjustment pro

gramme.”

million, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Romano received a 10year jail sentence while Ashford got seven years.

The NCA said the men appeared before a judge at a court in Fort de France, Martinique, on Friday.

The SY Hygeia of Halsa , which had been about to embark on a transatlantic crossing, was intercepted as part of an operation involving the NCA, the Metropolitan

Police and the French authorities.

The action was prompted by an NCA and Met Police investigation into a Londonbased organised crime group believed to be involved in the large-scale importation of drugs.

Hank Cole, the NCA’s head of international operations, said: “Had we not intervened, these drugs would have ended up being sold on the streets of London.”(BBC News)

TT revises budget due to lower oil prices

Finance Minister Larry Howai says the Government of Trinidad has “revisited the budget in light of the continuing fall” in global oil prices, but he is leaving the details to be announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is due to deliver a statement to the nation on the matter on Thursday.

TV6 News Monday night reported Howai’s comments on the matter which he made in an e-mailed response to questions sent to him Monday.

The questions were based on international me-

dia reports such as those posted on CNBC’s website that the US crude’s prices for February fell to US$49.95, down five per cent from Friday’s close, before recovering to US$50.20 per barrel just before noon on Monday, while the Brent Crude for February also hit a fresh 5-½-year low, falling as low as US$52.66 per barrel before rebounding back above US$53.

These rebound prices are still well below the US$80 per barrel West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or US crude oil price on which the national budget for fiscal 2015 is partly based.

Trinidad and Tobago continues to earn the majority of its revenue from oil and natural gas.

Howai was asked, among other questions, whether the continuing downward trend in both the Brent Crude and WTI prices will cause the Government to revisit the US$80 per barrel oil price on which the budget is partly based.

“The PM is making a statement on the matter on Thursday. It would not be proper for me to pre-empt her statement...,” Howai said.

(Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Maria de los Angeles Pineda was transferred to a federal prison in western Mexico

TT Finance Minister Larry Howai (Trinidad Guardian Photo)

Around

Turkey bombing: Female suicide attacker hits Istanbul Police Station

Afemale suicide bomber blew herself up in the Turkish city of Istanbul, injuring two Police Officers, the City Governor said.

She hit a Police station in the tourist hub of Sultanahmet. Reports say one of the officers has died of his injuries.

Governor Vasip Sahin told Turkish TV that the woman spoke English with “a thick accent”, but her nationality and identity remained unknown.

No group has yet said it was behind the attack, the second on Police in a week.

Police arrested a man who threw grenades and fired a weapon at officers near the Prime Minister’s Office last Thursday, but no-one was injured in the attack.

The bomber in the latest incident was reported to have died in the attack.

Police have sealed off an area in the historic district, where the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia muse-

um are located. Sahin said the woman entered the station and told Police she had lost her wallet before detonating the bomb.

“Right now one Police Officer is in hospital in a critical condition and an-

other is lightly injured... The female bomber lost her life.”

The banned Marxist DHKP-C group said it was behind the earlier attack in the city on January 1, which took place outside Dolmabahce Palace. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Palestinian sentenced over settler killings

An Israeli military court has handed three life sentences to a Palestinian convicted of organising the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.

Hussam Hassan Kawasme was also ordered on Tuesday to pay US$63,000 in compensation to each of the three families.

Kawasme was arrested in connec-

tion with organising and financing the June 12 kidnapping of the three teenagers that triggered a series of events which helped lead to Israel’s deadly 50day offensive against Gaza.

The bodies of the three Israelis were found three weeks later.

“The accused was convicted of the most serious crimes ... the cold-blooded and terrible murder of three young

Pakistan adopts military trials for terror cases

Pakistan has voted in favour of military trials for terrorism suspects, following December’s attack by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on a militaryrun school that killed 148 people, mostly children.

The bill secured the vote of 242 politicians from the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday, 14 more than the two-thirds majority it required. However, several politicians from religious parties and Imran Khan’s Opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf party abstained.

The bill is now expected to be passed by the Upper House and signed into law by the President this week.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, an-

nounced 25 new counter-terrorism policies last month, in the wake of the TTP attack on a military-run school in Peshawar that killed 134 children and 16 adults.

Sharif also ended a sixyear moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases.

Critics have argued that quick-fix measures such as military courts or reinstating the death penalty do little to improve the legal process.

The leading Englishlanguage newspaper Dawn called it a “sad day” in an editorial. It accused political leaders of being unable to defend the country’s constitutional and democratic roots or resist the “generals’ demands”. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

people who were going home to their families,” court documents said.

“As a result of his actions, the accused is sentenced to three life terms. He will be removed from society and spend the rest of his life in prison.

“In addition, he will pay compensation of 250,000 shekels to each of the families of the youths.”

Amer Abu Eisha, 32, and Marwan Kawasme, 29, who carried out the attack, were both shot dead during an exchange of fire with the Israeli army in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in late September.

Israel blamed the deaths on Hamas, but although the group hailed the attack, it said the three were operating independently.

The abduction of the Jewish seminary students – Eyal Yifrach, 19, and 16-year-olds Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel –from a hitch-hiking stop near Hebron sparked a massive manhunt in which hundreds of Palestinians were arrested and at least five killed.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Republicans take control of US Congress after 8 years

Republicans are set to take control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in eight years.

New and re-elected senators and all representatives began the swearing-in process at midday Tuesday.

At the top of the Republican agenda is approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a challenge to Barack Obama’s healthcare law and a trade deal.

Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner is facing a leadership challenge from several more conservative members.

Among those challenging Boehner is Texas Representative Louis Gohmert, who earlier said it was time for a change after “years of broken promises”.

Germany Pegida protests: “Islamicisation” rallies denounced

Politicians and celebrities in Germany have joined a media campaign against Pegida, a group protesting against what it sees as the “Islamisation” of Europe.

Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and retired footballer Oliver Bierhoff are among 80 figures to back a petition in German newspaper Bild.

It comes after rival rallies took place across the country.

Some 18,000 people attended one anti-immigration rally in Dresden on Monday.

There have been weekly protests by the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) since October.

But counter demonstrations have sprung up, with thousands marching in Berlin, Cologne, Dresden and Stuttgart.

Figures joining the Bild appeal said “’no’ to xenophobia and ‘yes’ to diversity and tolerance,” according to the

newspaper. Pegida “appeals to hollow prejudices, xenophobia and intolerance”, wrote former Social Democrat Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

“A look at our past and economic sense tells us Germany should not spurn refugees and asylum-seekers,” he added.

Another former Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, also voiced concerns, along with actress Karoline Herfurth, who appeared in The Reader, and TV presenter Thomas Gottschalk.

Police said some 5000 counter-demonstrators blocked hundreds of Pegida supporters from marching along their planned route in Berlin on Monday.

A total of 22,000 antiPegida demonstrators rallied in Stuttgart, Muenster and Hamburg, according to the DPS news agency.

In Cologne, the authorities switched off the lights of the city’s cathedral as a way of warning Pegida supporters they were supporting “extremists”. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Euro plummets as global oil prices collapse

TBut Boehner has already won a vote of Republican representatives and would need to lose dozens of additional votes from his party to be ousted as speaker.

Some Republicans have decried the leadership fight as a distraction from the party’s newly won ability to pass legislation.

The party won a majority in the Senate during November’s mid-term election.

But they have been angered by recent solo actions by Obama including an executive action on immigration policy and a major shift in US policy towards Cuba.

Congress convened at noon (17:00 GMT) Tuesday, as required by the US Constitution. (Excerpt from BBC News)

he euro has plunged to a nine-year low against the dollar on worries that a victory in Greece by the far-left Syriza party in the January 25 election will result in the country’s departure from the European Union.

The EU currency’s value, which dived on Monday to US$1.1864, a level last reached back in 2006, was also dented by growing expectations of quantitative easing, or economic stimulus, from the European Central Bank.

“Greek problems may spell trouble for the eurozone (and) may impact energy demand out of Western Europe – especially with press suggesting German politicians are talking about Grexit,” said analyst Anthony Cheung.

“The dollar keeps strengthening and weighing on oil prices, with the Federal Reserve still on track to lift rates, while non-farm data on Friday should be another decent jobs statistic,” added Cheung.

A long rally in the greenback, which gained 11 per cent last year against a basket of major rival currencies, has weighed on the dollarpriced oil market by making crude more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies.

Oil has dropped about 50 per cent since June on worries about weak demand and a decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) not to cut output in response to lower prices. (Al Jazeera)

The attack took place in the historic district of Sultanahmet

Eyal Yifrach, 19, and 16-year-olds Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel were abducted and killed in June (Agencies)

Global oil prices have collapsed under US$50 for the first time in more than five years (AP)

Fire Service Strategic Plan launched for 2014-2019

– enhancement of officers’ skills a priority for 2015

The Home Affairs Ministry has finally laid out the 20142019 Strategic Plan for the Guyana Fire Service (GFS). Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee announced the completion of the strategic plan last Wednesday while he was at a conference at the Guyana Police Training Centre, Eve Leary, Georgetown.

The Minister said the GFS has grown tremendously, with the improvement of equipment and the number of fire stations that have been established across the country.

The Strategic Plan, which gained Cabinet’s approval, is expected to improve the services of the GFS drastically. Emphasis is not only being placed on infrastructure, but also on the training of field and administrative officers, so that the entity can be managed more effectively and with proper legislation.

The 2014-2019 GFS Strategic Plan has outlined seven goals that the GFS will be working towards for the next five years, each with their deadlines fixed within the next five years.

The first target to be met is “… the end of 2015. The GFS will have an organisation structure, which is flexible, clearly defines roles and responsibilities, delineates technical staff from administrative support staff and is responsive to the demands of the GFS’ mission and vision statements.”

Basically this would involve a decentralisation of authority and responsibilities, while making the services of the GFS more accessible, as seen with the addition of 16 new fire stations and five auxiliary units in Port Kaituma and Mabaruma, North West District; Kwakani, Region 10; Mahdia, Region Eight and Lethem, Region Nine. The establishment of the Leonora Fire Station will

also facilitate organisation and the delineation of duties.

Minister Rohee had informed that “for the first time in its history, the Guyana Fire Service now has a purpose built training facility to cater for the training needs of its members.”

He explained that the facility can seat 75 persons and facilitates both technical and administrative training. This training facility will be commissioned later this month.

For the second goal, the behaviour of the GFS staff is given priority.

The strategic plan details the core principles of the fire service, so as to motivate officers to embrace and embody them in their work ethos.The new vision of the GFS is expected to be fully embraced.

In an effort to facilitate this, an ‘A-Team Building Strategy’ will be implemented to train the officers in this mindset and incentives are already on the agenda to inculcate dedication and improved performance levels on the job.

Nevertheless, performance will be targeted specifically in the third goal of the Strategic Plan. All staff

members under the fire service are encouraged to be a part of regular consultation exercises, which are expected to be fully implemented by 2019. This will keep officers informed on new firefighting technologies, thus facilitating and boosting performance as well.

Performance levels will be graded annually and steps taken to improve the performance levels of the following years.

The importance of collaborations and alliances are highlighted in the fourth goal, where agreements with entities will be fostered so as to facilitate the efficient running of the fire service in its duties. One such entity is the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) which enables better access to waterways or water sources in areas that may prove difficult.

Within this bracket, by 2017 a standard stakeholders consultation to keep interested parties abreast of what’s being done within the fire service as well as the status of the five-year plan will be initiated.

For the fifth goal on the GFS 2014-2019 Strategic

Plan, the Home Affairs Ministry will have improved on the infrastructure of the fire services’ work environment by 2019. The plan details that it will be making the work space of the officers a lot more conducive for the technical job that they do, using the many advancements in technology to facilitate the process while enhancing the infrastructural landscape of the fire service.

Technology also plays a role in the sixth goal on the strategic plan. Recognising that technology has improved the way things are done, the GFS aims to implement a fully operational networking system for all fire stations and also the streamlining of the institution’s records to ensure faster access to information about any outbound fire station by the end of the 2019.

The last goal on the GFS Strategic Plan is the modernisationa and harmonisation of Guyana’s legislation, which will produce laws to suit the contemporary functioning of the GFS. By 2018, various levels of such legislation are expected to be implemented.

Opposition help needed to address power woes

The challenges faced by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) in providing energy to the more than 140,000 consumers across the country could be alleviated, should the Opposition support the Amaila Hydropower Project.

This was the message of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee on Tuesday at the Party’s weekly press conference.

The multibillion-dollar Project seeks to generate reliable, affordable and clean energy for Guyanese and is said to be a fundamental component of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which will significantly lower the country’s long-term energy costs and exposure to imported oil price volatility.

It involves the construction of a hydropower plant in west-central Guyana, where the Amaila and Kuribrong Rivers meet. The electricity produced at the plant will be delivered to Georgetown, and Linden, by an electric transmission line.

Rohee said he hoped that the Opposition, if it really had the interest of the country at heart, would lend its support to the developmental project.

“Given the circumstances surrounding the electricity sector, our Party wishes to remind that the long-term solution lies in the materialisation of the Hydroproject.

Guyana’s rapid development demands this visionary and transformative initiative as part of the efforts to build a brighter future for all.

According to the GS, the realisation of this project will provide the related services and relief to citizens and local and foreign inves-

tors. “It remains a vital necessity for the developmental trajectory,” Rohee noted He added that he hoped this year the Opposition would shed its “proclivity” to partisan politics and come to the realisation of the importance of project. Such a realisation will result in the Opposition ceasing to deny Guyanese the benefits of the endeavour.

“We believe that if the Opposition is concerned about the welfare of Guyanese and the building of a better Guyana, 2015 presents this opportunity for them to do so.”

The combined Opposition had disapproved a $22 billion allocation to the project. Among the reasons given for the objection was that money was being requested when there has not been an effective feasibility study by the Inter-American Development Bank. Other concerns surrounded the financing package and the contract.

Since then, the Opposition, particularly A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) remained steadfast in its position of non support.

“Given these challenges, GPL’s mandate to supply a reliable supply of electricity to across the country remains difficult. It has resulted in periodic inconvenience to some citizens,” Rohee said. He urged GPL to remain steadfast in its expansion programme and implement projects that would mitigate the challenges currently faced.

The Party commended the efforts of the local power company, which was working through its current expansion programme to realise a reliable supply of electricity to all Guyanese.

PAHO lauds Americas for being free of Food and Mouth Disease

January 2015 marks the third year in a row in which the Region of the Americas has had no outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious animal disease that can have a devastating impact on livestock.

In marking the achievement, the Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA), a specialized technical center of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), noted the importance of the investments and hard work of the two organizations’ member countries. Footand-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects cloven-hooved livestock and wildlife.

Outbreaks can severely disrupt livestock production and trade, causing major economic losses and threatening food security.

FMD is not related to hand, foot and mouth disease, a condition seen only in humans, and is not considered a public health problem, as human cases are extremely rare.

North America has been free of FMD since 1954, and the countries of Central America and the Caribbean have never had the disease. South American countries have steadily expanded the amount of territory that is free of foot-and-mouth disease. Currently 83% of South America’s territory is free of the disease, 64% with vaccination and

19% without vaccination, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). More than 90% of South America’s cattle are located in these FMD-free areas.

The continuing absence of foot-and-mouth disease is the result of country efforts in such key areas as implementation of surveillance systems, risk-based serological studies, systematic vaccination using verified-quality vaccines, improvements in information systems, monitoring of animal movements, and innovative border strategies.

These efforts also reflect a steady increase in investments in FMD control in South American countries over time. Currently the

countries spend more than $1.3 billion dollars (both public and private) each year on such efforts. More than 7,500 veterinarians are currently involved in FMD control programmes. These investments have been critical not only to controlling FMD but also to making the Region of the Americas self-sufficient in animal protein as well as the world’s leading exporter of animal protein.

The efforts have also helped increase family income among small, medium, and large livestock producers and have generated new sources of employment throughout the chain of production, in both rural and urban areas, thus contributing to socioeco-

nomic development for the Region’s countries.

PANAFTOSA has coordinated the Hemispheric Program for Eradication of Foot-and-mouth Disease (PHEFA) since its creation in 1952, providing technical cooperation for national programs to control and eradicate foot-and-mouth disease.

PANAFTOSA’s contributions have included the establishment of the Continental Epidemiological Surveillance System (SivCont), the development of a methodology for epidemiological characterization of different regions, support for vaccine production and quality control, supply of diagnostic rea-

gents, and quality assurance for national laboratories.

PANAFTOSA has also provided political and strategic coordination among countries and between the public and private sectors (COSALFA, COHEFA, GIEFA and RIMSA).

Key PANAFTOSA partners in this work include national health authorities, organizations of livestock producers, agents of the food production chain, the pharmaceutical industry, academic and research institutions, and other technical and financial cooperation agencies.

PANAFTOSA congratulates its member countries and all those who have made these achievements possible.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee (sixth from left); Fire Chief Marlon Gentle (10th from left), and other staff of the GFS

1 dead, several injured in Little Diamond smash-up

By Jomo Paul

Asecurity guard at-

tached to the National Hardware Store lost her life on Tuesday afternoon after the minibus she was in slammed into a utility pole at Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara and toppled several times.

Several other persons, including passengers and the driver of the minibus, sustained various injuries as a result of the accident on the East Bank corridor.

Dead is Desiree Joseph,

David of Agricola, Greater Georgetown, who was the driver of the minibus and 58-year-old Joylyn Barker.

When the Guyana Times visited the East Demerara Regional Hospital, commonly called the Diamond Diagnostic Centre , Joseph had been pronounced dead. According to eyewitnesses’ accounts, the woman died on the spot.

Relatives and curious onlookers were gathered at the hospital. As the news spread, other persons quickly converged; some to make sure that their relative was

a call from his daughter informing him that his wife was involved in an accident and had been taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre. He said when he arrived, he quickly proceeded to check on his wife and she looked like she would recover from the accident.

“She looked quite stable, I didn’t see any suggestion or indication that she had any broken limbs.”

He indicated that while he did not speak to his wife, she was conscious and aware of her surroundings.

David’s father, who

who according to reports was pinned under the minibus when it came to a halt after the accident. The other persons who sustained injuries were identified as 28-year-old Travis

doing fine and others fearful of what news they might hear upon entering the facility.

The Guyana Times spoke to Barker’s husband, Brian, who said he received

Moraikobai residents benefitting from new generator set

Over 1,400 residents of Moraikobai Village, Mahaicony River, are now benefitting from a new electricity supply having received a 344 KVA Perkins generator. The generator was supplied and installed at a total cost of over $15M to the community which is the only Amerindian Settlement in Region Five.

Earlier in 2014 the request was made by residents of the community to the Regional Democratic Council, which further

channelled it through the Ministry of Local Government which sought the intervention of President Donald Ramotar. As a result, on Christmas Day 309 homes were electrified, as well as the hospital and the schools in the area.

Regional Chairman Bindrabhan Bisnauth and other officials from the Engineering Department visited the Community on December 24, 2014, to witness the installation process.

spoke to the Guyana Times briefly, said he was not going in to see his son just yet. He said he would wait outside, but, from what he understood, his son had only fractured a broken leg.

According to one of the men who transported the injured to the hospital, there were close to seven persons involved in the accident and the conductor of the minibus escaped unhurt. This was confirmed by the owner of the minibus who said that from what she knew, seven were injured with one dead.

In the hospital, the husband of Joseph was distraught and overcame with grief as he struggled to come to grips with his wife’s death. Several times the man had to be stopped as he banged his head against the walls of the hospital.

The Guyana Times understands that the minibus was heading down to town on the East Bank corridor

when the driver of the vehicle ahead of it lost control and began to veer in one direction, then another across the road. It was during David’s attempt to avoid hitting the other vehicle

that the minibus ended up hitting the pole on the road. One witness told this publication that the bus flipped a few times and some of the passengers “flew” from the bus onto the road.

Boehner survives House rebellion in US Congress

John Boehner has won another term as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, as Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in eight years.

Mr Boehner survived a challenge from the party’s more conservative wing, with 25 Republicans voting against him. At the top of the Republican agenda is approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which was the first bill introduced.

The party won a majority in the Senate during November’s mid-term election. Republicans already controlled the House of Representatives. They have been angered by recent unilateral actions by Mr Obama including an executive action on immigration policy and a major shift in US policy on Cuba.

Both chambers convened at midday, as required by the US constitution, after an early morning storm that

left the capital city covered in snow. The US Capitol was buzzing with the excitement of the “first day of school.” Inside the Senate chamber, there was an air of camaraderie - a rare feeling in polarised, partisan Washington. “Enjoy the ceremonies,” Mitch McConnell said in his first speech as Senate Majority leader. “Tomorrow we get to work.”

At the mock swearing-in and photo-op with the vice-

president and senators’ families in the old chamberthe original home of upper house legislation and debate until the late 1800s - VicePresident Joe Biden was his usual joking self. When it was the turn of Lindsey Graham, a staunch Obama critic, Mr Biden quipped: “I’m not doing the next one.”

During prepared remarks on Tuesday, Mr Boehner said he wanted Mr Obama to work with

Republicans on bills that have stalled in recent years. But he also criticised unnamed fellow representatives for “shadow boxing and show business”.

The first bill to be introduced was the approval for Keystone XL, a controversial oil pipeline extension on hold for years.

It may have enough support to pass a procedural hurdle in the Senate but on Tuesday, the White House has said Mr Obama would veto the legislation if it came to his desk. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the legislation undermined a “well-established” review process and did not take into account a lawsuit still pending in the state of Nebraska over the pipeline’s route.

The US president has used his power of veto twice in his six years as president, but has said he expects to use it more now that both chambers are controlled by Republicans. (Reuters)

The $15M generator

The pole which the minibus struck

The body of Desiree Joseph being removed from the hospital

Brian Barker

John Boehner wields the gavel after surviving the vote

SUDOKU

ARIES (March 21April 19)

TAURUS (April 20May 20)

(May 21June 20)

You will gain experience if you try something different. Social activities will result in an educational or travel opportunity. Consider home improvements or a change of location.

Rethink your strategy and search for important facts. False or misleading information will lead to mishaps. Keep your emotions under control and you will come out on top.

Your fiery nature will help to set the stage for fun and excitement. Time spent with someone you love will bring you closer together. Socialize, network and enjoy interacting with others.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Self-discipline is required in order to succeed. Help will be given if you ask for it. A colleague will be interested in one of your ideas or skills. Share your plans and intentions.

A partnership will turn out better than you anticipated. Your compassionate nature and experience and insight will help someone who faces a troublesome time. Romance is in the stars.

Business negotiations will not turn in your favor if you divulge secret information. Ensure that parity is paramount in joint ventures, or you will end up doing the majority of the work.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Minor changes will make you more marketable personally and professionally. Your unique outlook will impress all the right people, leading to an appealing offer. Romance is looking good.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

You will have problems convincing others to join your quest. Don’t waste time arguing. Collaborating with people who understand and appreciate your motives will bring higher returns.

CAPRICORN (June 21July 22)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23Dec. 21)

Temptation will be your downfall. Stick to a budget. Overspending will cause additional stress. It is your personality and wit that will make the best impression, not your cash.

(Jan. 20Feb. 19) (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

Don’t upset friends or family by neglecting to nurture important relationships. Take time out of your busy schedule to listen to and make plans with the people who mean the most to you.

AQUARIUS

PISCES

(Feb. 20March 20)

A professional partnership will bring financial rewards. If you spend time with people who share your interests, it will spark your imagination and motivate you to pursue your goals.

Keep your eyes and ears alert for new opportunities. Being well informed will give you an advantage when faced with competition. Update your resume and strive to advance.

CANCER

GEMINI

Peanuts

Calvin and Hobbes

dilbert arCHie

FA Cup: Steven Gerrard double sends Liverpool through to 4th round

Steven Gerrard scored twice to send Liverpool through to the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-1 win over a spirited AFC Wimbledon.

Days after announcing he was leaving in the summer after a 17-year professional career at the club, Liverpool captain Gerrard put the Reds ahead after 12 minutes with a fine header.

But Adebayo Akinfenwa equalised nine minutes before half-time after the ball dropped to the feet of the giant striker three yards from goal.

League Two Wimbledon had a flurry of chances either side of half-time, but it was Gerrard again who gave Liverpool the lead, firing home a trademark free-kick from the edge of the box.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers fielded a fairly

strong side, starting the likes of Gerrard, Simon Mignolet, Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho, and both sides knew they would be meeting Bolton Wanderers in a home tie in the fourth round before kick-off.

The game lived up to the pre-match hype having evoked memories of Wimbledon’s 1-0 FA Cup final win over Liverpool in 1988.

And Liverpool’s one clear-cut chance in the first half resulted in a goal, and it was the skipper who netted.

Javi Manquillo’s rightwing cross was headed home by Gerrard from 12 yards out after a move involving Lambert, but the hosts reduced the Premier League side’s chances for the rest of the opening 45 minutes.

Wimbledon went close

to an equaliser midway through the first half after a melee in the area resulted in Sean Rigg’s volleyed effort being tipped over the bar by Mignolet.

Minutes later the ball fell to top scorer Matt Tubbs inside the area after Manquillo let the ball drop, but the striker knocked the ball just wide with just Mignolet to beat from a slight angle.

The League Two side levelled on 36 minutes through Akinfenwa, sliding home from three yards after Barry Fuller had hit the bar from a George Francomb corner.

Question marks were asked again of Belgian goalkeeper Mignolet, who failed in his attempt to clear the original ball into the box under pressure from Wimbledon players.

Cameroon’s Song retires from internationals

Cameroon midfielder

Alex Song has retired from international football after being left out of their 23-man squad for this month’s African Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea, he announced on Tuesday.

Song is not in the plans of Cameroon coach Volker Finke, who has ignored the 27-year-old since last year’s World Cup in Brazil where he was sent off for elbowing Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic in a 4-0 group stage defeat.

Song got a three-match ban from competitive internationals from FIFA and, despite talk of a late callup to the national squad, the player, who is on loan at West Ham United from Barcelona, has decided to concentrate on club football.

“Since the World Cup in the summer and my subsequent exclusion from the Cameroon squad for the African Cup of Nations I have taken the decision to retire from international football,” Song, who has 47 caps, posted on photo-shar-

ing site Instagram.

“It is true that there were some discussions of late to include me in the squad for this tournament but I feel after a lot of careful thought and numerous discussions with my family this is the right decision.

“My love for my country will never change but I want to take time to focus purely on domestic football and start to rebuild my career at West Ham United. I wish Cameroon all the best and the team will always be in my heart.” (Reuters)

Rafael Nadal suffers shock defeat by Michael Berrer in Doha

Adam Barrett saw a header cleared off the line by Gerrard in the second half, before Coutinho shot wide from an angle when passing to his captain looked the better option.

But when Coutinho was brought down on the edge of the area by Fuller, Gerrard stepped up for his ninth goal of the season, curling a perfect free-kick past James Shea.

A minute after the goal, the hosts went down the other end through Dannie Bulman, but his header went just over Mignolet’s goal.

The second half saw a flurry of chances fall to Liverpool; first Lambert’s side-footed effort was saved by the leg of Shea, before Coutinho brought another save from the Wimbledon stopper when he should have scored.

With six minutes remaining, Adebayo Azeez saw a powerful effort blocked well by defender Martin Skrtel in the Liverpool box, before Liverpool broke from the resulting corner, only for Lazar Markovic to see his effort saved fantastically by Shea again.

Azeez again looked to get on the end of a knock down in stoppage time from six yards out, only for Mignolet to save with his feet, before Gerrard’s effort at the far post went through Shea’s legs but couldn’t beat Jake Goodman on the line. (Sky Sports)

orld number three

WRafael Nadal made the worst possible start to the new season as he lost to Germany’s Michael Berrer in round one of the Qatar Open.

The Spaniard could not build on a strong start and Berrer, ranked 127th, powered through to win 1-6 6-3 6-4.

Nadal, 28, played only seven matches between Wimbledon and the end of last season as he struggled first with a wrist injury and then appendicitis.

Top seed Novak Djokovic earlier beat fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-2 6-1.

Berrer, 34, had to come through three rounds of qualifying in Doha and had only two wins over top-10 opponents to his name before Tuesday.

Nadal, the defending champion, fought until the end and earned two chances

to break back when Berrer served for the match, but the German held his nerve superbly to come through after just under two hours.

“These things happen after a long time without being on the road, being on rhythm, being in competition,” said Nadal. “I was playing with more nerves because after a long time away I wanted to win.

“My motivation and my hunger to keep doing things well is still the same.”

Berrer, who is set to retire from the game at the end of 2015, said: “It’s really unbelievable. It’s my last season so I’m just going for it. Why not?”

Djokovic pulled out of the Abu Dhabi exhibition final last week with flu, but said he was pleased with his performance “under the circumstances that I was in for the last couple of days”. (BBC Sports)

Steven Gerrard celebrates the opening goal

Rafael Nadal

Alex Song (R) is fouled by Jake Livermore during their English Premier League soccer match at the KC Stadium in Hull, northern England September 15, 201

Williamson-Watling record stand pummels Sri Lanka

Kane Williamson and BJ Watling used the slow grind to drive away the thoughts Sri Lanka had at the start of day four of winning the Wellington Test and levelling the series. In the process, they first broke the 27-year-old record of New Zealand's highest sixthwicket partnership against Sri Lanka, and then smashed the all-time record for the sixth-wicket stand set up last year by Watling and Brendon McCullum at the same ground, making redundant the bronze plaque ground authorities had set in concrete only three days ago.

During the course of their unbeaten 365-run partnership, Williamson reached his maiden Test double-century, while Watling grafted his way to his fourth Test hundred. The two batsmen stretched Sri Lanka's wait for a wicket to almost eight hours, before McCullum provided the visiting fielders some relief by declaring an hour before the close of play. The 390run target was well past the highest total successfully chased at the ground.

Even though the pitch was flat, Sri Lanka were left with the tricky task of surviving 17 overs on the fourth evening. Trent Boult and Tim Southee did not manage any extravagant swing but still beat the Sri Lankan openers regularly. Mark Craig struck in his first over, getting Dimuth Karunaratne caught at midoff. It was the only wicket to fall on the day.

Williamson's fighting innings did his growing reputation as one of the world's best batsmen no harm. He has been in terrific form in all forms of the game and his previous two Test centuries had both been in excess of 150. He was dismissed a couple of hits short of a double-century just over a month ago, in Sharjah, but there was the same inevitability about him getting to the landmark in Wellington, as there was with Kumar Sangakkara, once he had manoeuvred the New Zealand innings safely till lunch.

Plenty of singles were collected square of the pitch on both sides. His drives were controlled shots, yielding twos or three. The first boundary came in the 13th over of the morning - also,

the first for 30 overs - as Williamson stepped out to drive Herath to wide longon, moving to 99 with that shot. An over later, he clipped one to the leg side to complete his ninth century - and his third in the second innings. His second boundary of the day, one with more flourish, came late in the first session as he punched Nuwan Pradeep through covers.

After lunch, however, Williamson's intent signalled New Zealand had a target in mind for Sri Lanka. The boundaries were not easy to get with the field scattered, but he kept pushing the ball in the gaps with efficient, but hardly noticeable, shots. He stepped out against Rangana Herath, who had been ineffective in this Test, and chipped over midwicket to reach the 200 landmark, the shot also bringing the 300 of the partnership between Williamson and Watling. Two overs later, he played the perfect cover drive off the second new ball to become the fastest New Zealand batsman to 3000 runs, beating Martin Crowe's record by three innings.

Sri Lanka did not help their chances by letting slip another opportunity to dismiss Williamson early in the day. The batsman had been dropped on 29 and 60 on the third day, and soon after he reached his hundred Herath extracted the outside edge with a delivery that reared sharply off an otherwise benign pitch, but the wicketkeeper Prasanna

Jayawardene could not hold on to the deflection.

It was a tough chance, and the only one the bowlers were able to generate all morning. By the time a second came - a missed stumping with Williamson on 233 - Sri Lanka were far behind in the game. There was hardly any swing, seam or spin from the pitch. Sri Lanka's bowlers tried different lines, bowled from either sides of the stumps, the captain set up leg-side traps, and managed to keep the boundary count to three in the first session, but Williamson and Watling kept turning the strike over.

With the batsmen hardly facing any trouble and plenty of time remaining in the match, the match drifted into the zone in which the probability of a Sri Lanka win rapidly diminished towards zero. Slips were removed and men placed in the deep to keep a tab on the scoring. But that in turn opened up gaps for Williamson and Watling to pick more singles and twos.

Watling's batting heavily depends on dabs behind point and clips through square leg. It's his comfort zone and he had no intentions of coming out of it. It meant that while Williamson was immovable at the other end, Watling also was testing the bowlers' mental resolve, blocking everything out. It was fitting that Watling's century came off a soft push to cover point, off the 270th delivery he had faced.

For most of the day, he had just one boundary to his name. Even after crossing his century, his primary mode of making runs was ... running. Only towards the end of the innings did he played forceful shots in front of square, including a lofted shot off Herath that landed over the boundary at wide long-on that took the partnership to 350. The record may have been updated, but one half of it remained with Watling. He finished unbeaten on 142, his career-best score. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand 2nd innings

TWM Latham c †Jayawardene b Pradeep 35

HD Rutherford c Chandimal b Pradeep 40

KS Williamson not out 242

LRPL Taylor b Herath 0 BB McCullum* lbw b Prasad 22

JDS Neesham lbw b Pradeep 19

BJ Watling† not out 142

Extras: (b 7, lb 7, w 4, nb 6) 24

Total: (5 wickets dec; 172 overs) 524

Did not bat: MD

Craig, DAJ Bracewell, TG Southee, TA Boult Fall of wickets 1-75 (Rutherford, 26.4 ov), 2-78 (Latham, 28.5 ov), 3-79 (Taylor, 31.3 ov), 4-122 (McCullum, 46.3 ov), 5-159 (Neesham, 60.3 ov)

Bowling: RAS Lakmal 32-489-0, N Pradeep 37-4-117-3,

Petersen quits international cricket

Alviro Petersen has announced his retirement from international cricket following the series against West Indies and will take up a Kolpak deal in English county cricket.

After the third Test had finished, with South Africa holding onto their No. 1 ranking with a 2-0 series victory, Petersen read out a statement as he was surrounded by his applauding team-mates and showed considerable emotion.

"I feel that at 34 it is time for me to retire from international cricket and to move on with my career," he said. "I intend playing county and franchise cricket for the next three years and also concentrating on my Foundation and my cricket school.

"It has been an honour to represent my country and to be part of a South African Test team that is ranked number one in the world. I want to thank Cricket South Africa, my team mates, sponsors and cricket fans for all the support and memories over the years. I will miss the Proteas amazing team culture that we have built, International cricket, and especially, my team mates but it is time to move on."

There was doubt over Petersen's place in the Test side following a lean run and he made just 86 runs in the three matches against West Indies, his final Test innings ending cheaply against Sulieman Benn on the fourth evening in Cape Town.

He finishes having played 36 Tests, scoring 2093 runs at 34.88 with five hundreds, including one on debut against India in Kolkata, and Haroon Lorgat, the Cricket South Africa chief executive, also

picked out his career-best century against England at Headingley in 2012.

"Alviro's contributions to the Proteas success cannot be measured only in statistics. As a senior member of the team he played a key role in establishing a successful team culture and introducing younger players to it.

"His confident starts and solid opening stands have been vital to our growth as a successful team. Together with Graeme Smith he shared in major partnerships totalling more than 2000 runs at an average of more than 42. This is excellent for an opening batting partnership which is arguably the most difficult job in the game, particularly under South African conditions.

"We well remember his century on debut against India at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2010 while his career best innings of 182 at Headingley in 2012 was pivotal to the

Proteas beating England 2-0 and starting our standing as one of the best teams in the world.

"To have succeeded against the odds we know Alviro had to face during his formative years makes him a true role model for every youngster aspiring to play for the Proteas.

"The foundation he has set up to improve the lives of disadvantaged communities says a great deal about Alviro the man.

"On behalf of all at CSA, I wish to sincerely thank Alviro for his part in making the Proteas one of the most formidable teams in the world. He can look back with great pride and satisfaction on having contributed to the most successful Test era in South African cricket history."

The strong suggestion at the moment is that Lancashire are the favourites to sign Petersen, whose last stint in county cricket was with Somerset in 2014. (Cricinfo)

Liverpool want shaqiri

HMRKB Herath 56-8-154-1, KTGD Prasad 28-1-102-1, AD Mathews 11-3-29-0, HDRL

Thirimanne 8-1-19-0

Sri Lanka 2nd innings (target: 390 runs)

FDM Karunaratne c Rutherford b Craig 17

JK Silva not out 20

KTGD Prasad not out 1

Extras: (lb 6, w 1) 7

Total: (1 wicket; 17 overs) 45

To bat: KC Sangakkara, HDRL

Thirimanne, AD Mathews*, LD Chandimal, HAPW Jayawardene†, HMRKB Herath, N Pradeep, RAS Lakmal Fall of wickets: 1-42

(Karunaratne, 13.2 ov)

Bowling: TA Boult 7-0-210, TG Southee 4-3-4-0, DAJ

Bracewell 2-0-11-0, MD Craig 2-2-0-1, HD Rutherford 1-0-2-0, KS Williamson 1-0-1-0

Liverpool are interested in signing Bayern Munich forward Xherdan Shaqiri, according to Sky sources.

The Reds are believed to want a deal for the 23-yearold to move to Anfield in the summer and are happy for him to join Inter Milan, who are also interested, on loan until the end of the season.

Shaqiri, 23, has strug -

gled to establish himself in Bayern’s first team since a transfer from Basel in 2012, making just 26 league starts in over two years.

Ray Parlour feels Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri would be a good signing for Liverpool

The Switzerland international, who has 41 caps, impressed at the World Cup last summer but has start -

ed in just three Bundesliga matches this season.

Shaqiri can play on either wing, similar to current Liverpool star Adam Lallana, and would offer Inter a strong short-term solution to their struggles in 11th place in Serie A.

Sky Sports football expert Ray Parlour, speaking on the Morning View, said: “It’s a move that he would be very interested in because he is not playing on a regular basis.

“He is only 5’6” and Liverpool have a lot small players already, but he has potential and at 23 he is already very experienced for his age. He would be a good signing.

“He has played with some top quality players. He always wants the ball, can go past players. Tracking back is probably not his game, but he can create chances.

“With his calibre at being at Bayern, Liverpool have to have a serious look at him.” (Sky Sports)

Kane Williamson and BJ Watling set a new record for the sixth wicket in Tests © Getty Images

Alviro Petersen has brought an end to his international career © AFP

Xherdan Shaqiri has struggled to establish himself in Bayern Munich's first-team

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Steven gerrard: liverpool captain set for l A galaxy move

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is on the brink of finalising an 18-month deal to join Los Angeles Galaxy.

The 34-year-old will sign a contract worth about £6m across the full term of the deal, making him one of the highest earners in Major League Soccer.

An announcement is expected this week following Friday's shock news that Gerrard will quit Liverpool at the end of the season.

He will be available to join the Galaxy once his Reds contract expires in June.

David Beckham famously spent five years at the LA club until 2012, while Gerrard's ex-Liverpool

team-mate Robbie Keane currently plays for the Galaxy.

While MLS has a salary cap structure, each club has three designated player places, which they can use to sign star players.

The retirement of 32-year-old Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, MLS's alltime top scorer, has paved the way for Gerrard to join the league as one of its top earners.

Gerrard's deal is worth around £4m a year - or about £76,000 per week.

The 2015 MLS season runs from March through to October. The full fixtures list will be announced on Wednesday.

Gerrard joins former

midfield partner Frank Lampard in swapping the Premier League for the US. Lampard, 36, will join New York City in the summer after his short-term deal at Manchester City was extended until the end of the season. Gerrard has scored seven times in all competitions this season, including both of his side's goals in Monday night's FA Cup third-round win at AFC Wimbledon. Gerrard's club has come in for some criticism since news of his impending departure broke, with former team-mate Jamie Carragher among those who believe Liverpool should have done more to keep him.

Young drivers face tougher criteria to gain seat

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Drivers who wish to race in Formula 1 must be at least 18 years old and satisfy a new points system, under new rules to be introduced in 2016.

To gain a super licence from governing body the FIA, drivers must earn a fixed number of points from racing in junior series in a three-year period.

They must cover at least 300km in an F1 car and hold a valid driving licence.

Max Verstappen, 17, makes his F1 debut this year but would be ineligible to race if the rules were enforced now.

From next year, new

drivers must also answer questions on the sporting regulations and have completed at least 80% of two full seasons in qualifying championships.

The 300km they complete in a representative F1 car must be done at racing speeds and over a two-day period.

Drivers score points from competing in junior categories, with 40 required in a three-year period before a super licence is granted.

A future FIA F2 championship, the GP2 series, European F3, the World Endurance Championship and the United States'

IndyCar single-seater series offer 40 points or more to the winner.

The GP3 series and Formula Renault 3.5 world series only offer 30 points to the winner.

Max Verstappen was third in last year's F3 championship, which means he would have failed to have scored enough points and was also below the required age limit.

The Dutchman was 16 when he was signed by Toro Rosso and will become the sport's youngest ever driver when the lights go out at the season opener in Australia on 15 March. (BBC Sport)

England

(BBC Sport)

Steven Gerrard

Max Verstappen

Barbados Pride name squad for NAGICO Super50

Title holders Barbados Pride have named their 14-man squad for the 2015 WICB Nagico Super50 Championship in Trinidad & Tobago, January 15-26.

Squad: Kevin Stoute (captain), Tino Best, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, Kyle Corbin, Shane Dowrich, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Shai Hope, Ashley Nurse, Javon Scantlebury-Searles, Jomel Warrican, Kenroy Williams.

Management and technical staff: Henderson Springer (Coach), Dexter Toppin (Assistant Coach), Hartley Reid (Manager), Jacqueline King (Physiotherapist), Rodney Ashby (Video Analyst), Henderson Wallace (Selector).

Barbados Pride will oppose Combined Campuses & Colleges in two practice

Kevin Stoute

matches at the 3Ws Oval on Tuesday, January 6 and Thursday, January 8.

Tuesday's match starts at 9 a.m. while the Thursday game is a Day/Night beginning at 2 p.m. (bcacricket.org.)

Binny makes India's World Cup squad

Allrounders Stuart Binny and Akshar Patel have been included in India's squad for the 2015 World Cup. There were no major surprises among the 15 players in terms of either inclusions or exclusions after the selectors met in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon to pick the team.

The squad has five batsmen, two wicketkeeperbatsmen, three allrounders - two left-arm spinners, one medium-pacer - four seamers and one specialist spinner. In addition to the 15 selected for the World Cup, seamers Mohit Sharma and Dhawal Kulkarni were chosen to travel to Australia for the one-day tri-series that follows the Tests.

Ravindra Jadeja has been included despite leaving the tour of Australia with a shoulder injury, and Ishant Sharma, also selected, has a problem with his knee.

"Jadeja is at present going under a rehabilitation programme. He is doing wonderfully well," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. "We had a detailed discussion today with the BCCI physio [Nitin Patel] and we

Prince Ali to challenge Sepp Blatter for FIFA presidency

FIFA vice-president

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein will challenge incumbent Sepp Blatter for the leadership of world football's governing body.

The Jordanian Prince, 39, will stand as a candidate at FIFA's presidential election on 29 May, where Blatter, 78, will seek a fifth term of office.

Prince Ali said: "It is time to shift the focus away from administrative controversy and back to sport.

"The headlines should be about football, not about FIFA."

Prince Ali, president of Jordanian football since 1999, said he had been encouraged to stand by colleagues.

"The message I heard, over and over, was that it is time for a change," the Asian Football Confederation's vice-president said.

"The world game deserves a world-class governing body - an international federation that is a service organisation and a model of ethics, transparency and good governance."

Uefa president Michel Platini is said to be "pleased" that Prince Ali has decided to enter the race and will attempt to get the Jordanian as many votes as possible in Europe.

In a statement, Platini said: "I know Prince Ali well. He has all the credibility required to hold high office. We now await his proposals and his programme for the future of football."

stand.

"I think Prince Ali is probably his own man and maybe he feels it's something he wants to do and gives people an alternative for the presidential election."

FIFA has suffered a number of damaging corruption allegations during Blatter's 17-year reign.

2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar.

FIFA cleared both bidding teams of corruption following a series of allegations and said the tournaments would be staged in the countries chosen.

are quite hopeful he will be match-fit within the next ten days.

"Ishant has a temporary injury with which he is doing well. But he has been advised by our present [team] physio not to play the current Test [in Sydney]. He will be fit for the tri-series."

When asked if Yuvraj Singh - who was not among the 30 probables for the World Cup - had been discussed at the meeting, Patel said: "Not only Yuvraj Singh, a lot of other players were also discussed apart

from the 30, and after a lot of deliberation [the team was finalised] in the presence of all the five selectors as well as captain MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher, who were there on conference call."

Squad MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny. (Cricinfo)

Prince Ali, also head of the West Asian Football Federation, was one of a number of officials who called for the publication of ethics investigator Michael Garcia's report into allegations of corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

"I know Prince Ali well. He has all the credibility required to hold high office. We now await his proposals and his programme for the future of football."

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce added: "I got a big surprise when I heard that Prince Ali had decided to

Last month, former England captain Gary Lineker described the way FIFA was running world football as "a farce" after the governing body became embroiled in more allegations of World Cup bidding corruption.

Garcia resigned last month in protest over the handling of his report into bidding for the 2018 and

Meanwhile, BBC Sport revealed that secret talks between FIFA officials and Blatter, who has been president since 1998, took place over his future as leader of football's governing body.

Former diplomat Jerome Champagne, 56, who joined FIFA in 1999, is the only other challenger to have confirmed his intention to run for the presidency.

Candidates must declare their interest before 29 January. (BBC Sport)

Eugenie Bouchard thrashes Serena Williams at Hopman Cup

Canada's Eugenie Bouchard dropped just three games in a stunning win over world number one Serena Williams at the Hopman Cup in Perth.

Bouchard, the world number six, won 6-2 6-1 in 50 minutes to give Canada an early lead over the United States in the mixed team event.

Having required an oncourt espresso to get her going in her opening match on Monday, Williams again looked sluggish.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm so tired," said the 33-year-old.

"It's weird. I can't get my body to move. I feel like I've got no energy. It's a little frustrating because I know I can play two thousand times

better.

"I've been trying to rest up. I did a little gym work, but I just felt depleted. I don't know why. I don't know how to describe it.

"I've just got to get my feet moving. I have to figure it out. Hopefully I can do

better in the next match."

The American will play

Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in her next singles match on Thursday.

Bouchard enjoyed her first-ever win against Williams, and joked afterwards: "Maybe she needed

another coffee.

"I know she didn't play her best. I'm happy I just stayed with it and held my nerve. It's a good way to start the year - it gives me some confidence."

Vasek Pospisil later beat John Isner 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to give Canada an unassailable 2-0 lead over the US.

World number two

Maria Sharapova began her 2015 campaign with a crushing 6-0 6-1 win over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova in Brisbane.

"It certainly felt good to start, after not playing a match for a couple of months," said the 27-yearold Russian.

"Despite all the training, it's such a different feeling to go out on the court and play in front of a crowd." (BBC Sport)

Stuart Binny

Akshar Patel

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein will challenge incumbent Sepp Blatter for the leadership of world football's governing body

Eugenie Bouchard

Maria Sharapova and the Brisbane crowd enjoyed her opening match of the 2015 season

Jamaica working on Super50 combinations

Head coach of the Jamaica Franchise, Junior Bennett, has expressed content at the performance of bowlers during the first of two practice matches to select the team for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)/NAGICO Insurance Super50 Tournament at Sabina Park at the weekend.

Led by a four-wicket haul from David Bernard Jr, bowlers primarily stood out in Tamar Lambert XI's total of 185 for five off 50 overs.

Bernard Jr claimed four for 27 and was best supported by Nikita Miller, one for 12.

In-form opener John Campbell, 38, and makeshift Nkrumah Bonner, 28, along with Lambert, 29, were the leading scorers.

In reply, Nikita Miller XI cruised to 185 for three off 33.4 overs.

Super50 reserve batsman, teenager Brandon King with 59 not out, allrounder Gavin Wallace, 42, and wicketkeeper Horace

Miller, 30, led the way for the victors.

Impressed With Discipline

This was against the part-time leg spin of Bonner, one for 21, and, fast bowler Keno Wallace, one for 23.

"I was impressed with the level of discipline from the bowlers," Bennett said.

"This included Bernard, Miller, Marquino Mindley, Gavan Brown and Derval Green.

"I also liked the opening stand between Campbell and Bonner, which produced 60-odd runs.

"We are trying to work on combinations at the top of the innings and I thought they equipped themselves well," he added.

Bennett, whose charges are slated to undergo training this week ahead of their second practice game on Sunday, is also hopeful that not only the performances of bowlers, but also the batsmen will be improved.

"We plan to employ a lot of game sense training this week to get the batsmen and the bowlers performing at the levels we want them to," he said.

"We will then head into the final warm-up hoping we will see the various executions."

The Super50 will be held in Trinidad and Tobago, starting next Wednesday.

Jamaica are slated to play Leeward Islands Hurricanes in their first Group B game next week Thursday.

The group also includes Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and guest team West Indies Under-19s. (Jamaica

Gleaner)

Berahino can leave for £20m

n-demand West Brom

Istriker Saido Berahino will be sold in the January transfer window if the Premier League strugglers receive a bid in excess of £20million, Sky sources understand.

Talks regarding a new contract at the Hawthorns for the 21-year-old were temporarily put on hold before Christmas, and Baggies technical director Terry Burton says that the final decision on Berahino’s future will now

rest in the hands of new head coach Tony Pulis.

However, it is believed that West Brom have not as yet had any offers for the England Under-21 international, whose contract runs until the summer of 2017.

Both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have been heavily linked in recent weeks with Berahino, who has scored eight goals in 20 Premier League games this season.

At the same time,

though, the Merseysiders and the north Londoners have each distanced themselves from the forward of late. And with Berahino having scored four times in West Brom’s 7-0 thrashing of Gateshead in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, there is a feeling that Pulis now wants the player to stay at the club and aid their fight against relegation between now and the end of the campaign.

australia's top four hammer india

Another year, another David Warner hundred, another Steven Smith fifty. Australia's two leading scorers of 2014 began 2015 in similarly productive fashion, although on a flat SCG pitch against a listless India attack, they were not the only ones who enjoyed the first day. Chris Rogers narrowly missed a century and Shane Watson had a fifty of his own by stumps.

The series started at Adelaide Oval with Australia reaching 6 for 354 on an emotional first day's play, Warner having scored a century and Smith on his way to one. The similarities were obvious on the first day in Sydney, where Australia finished in an even stronger position at 2 for 348, with Smith on 82 and Watson on 61 and India seemingly waiting to see what would happen next.

In Adelaide, the grief after Phillip Hughes' death was still raw, and Warner looked to the sky when he reached his hundred, remembering his fallen friend. In Sydney he did so again, but the more poignant moment came when he tickled a single to move to 63, removed his helmet and gloves and knelt down to kiss the grass by the side of the pitch where Hughes had collapsed.

Hughes would be forever 63 not out, and Warner went to lunch at 63 not out as well. Perhaps it was coincidence, or maybe he orchestrated it that way. India's lacklustre bowling certainly gave him the opportunity. The match started in overcast conditions but there was no swing

available, and little spin, and the bowlers were unable to give Virat Kohli the control he desired.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in for his first Test of the series having missed the first three with an ankle injury, was down on pace. Umesh Yadav leaked six an over. R Ashwin was the only man who looked like he might

ly off Ashwin on 62. And on the penultimate ball of the day, Watson's thick edge off Umesh flew to first slip, where Ashwin failed to cling on.

Chances were few and far between in good batting conditions. Warner and Rogers put on 200 for the opening wicket before both fell in consecutive overs, and

century, the best such stretch by an Australian since Simon Katich went nine Tests with such scores in 2009-10. By stumps, he appeared to be on track for a fourth consecutive first-innings hundred.

Watson was slower initially and waited for bad balls to put away, using his muscle to force through gaps when he could. He struck

trouble the Australians on a semi-regular basis, but on a first-day pitch that only occasionally offered notable spin, his work was cut out for him.

India's fielding did not help. KL Rahul, retained after an atrocious debut at the MCG, dropped a regulation chance at slip off Mohammed Shami when Rogers was on 19, and then did not move quickly enough at point when Warner cut uppish-

the Watson-Smith stand by stumps was worth 144.

Smith used his feet in characteristic style, getting off the mark with a lofted drive for four off Ashwin and picking up five boundaries off spin and five off pace. His half-century came from 67 deliveries and it continued his remarkably fluent summer - it is the seventh consecutive Test in which Smith has made a fifty or a

six boundaries and on what is effectively the tenth anniversary of his Test debut against Pakistan at the SCG in January 2005, he now has the chance to turn his fifty into the fifth century of his Test career.

Smith and Watson had come together after Warner and Rogers fell either side of the drinks break in the second session. On 95, Rogers played on to Shami, the frus-

tration evident on Rogers' face as he walked off having missed another chance for a hundred. His past five Test innings have all brought halfcenturies but his most recent ton came in Port Elizabeth in February, and the conditions in Sydney appeared perfect for another.

In the previous over, on 101, Warner had tried to turn Ashwin to leg and instead popped a catch up to M Vijay at slip. Australia's total at the time was 200 and it was the first doublecentury opening stand by an Australian pair in a Test since Warner and Ed Cowan put on 214 at the WACA against India three years ago.

Warner's 12th Test hundred had arrived from 108 deliveries with a pull through square leg for four off Shami, and his now traditional leaping celebration followed, as well as a look up to the sky. He had reached his half-century from just 45 deliveries but generally was in control, going after anything loose from the Indians, and there were plenty of opportunities.

His century featured 16 boundaries, including a well-struck reverse sweep off Ashwin. He also had moments of luck, notably an inside edge past leg stump early in his innings off Yadav. Rogers also had fortune early, following his life on 19 with a slashed cut for four through point.

Rogers played confidently and was especially impressive when driving on the front foot, both through cover and straight down the ground. The century stand

was the sixth between Rogers and Warner from only 31 innings together at the top of the order. They were operating against an inexperienced India line-up - for the first time since September 2001 India were playing a Test with no members of their side having more than 50 Test caps to his name. Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma were all left out, along with the retired MS Dhoni, and Bhuvneshwar, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Wriddhiman Saha came in. At the end of the day, the names might have changed, but the outcome looked much the same - India were conceding another hefty first-innings total. (Cricinfo)

Junior Bennett

David Warner and Chris Rogers put on 200 for the first wicket in quick time © Getty Images

(Sky Sports)

Saido Berahino: West Brom striker has a deal at The Hawthorns until 2017

Victory keeps South Africa as No. 1

South Africa duly completed an eightwicket victory against West Indies on the fifth day, but initially at least it was not quite the stroll in the park that the scorecard suggests. West Indies stuck to their task with spirit and it required an exacting half-century from Dean Elgar to shepherd them to the win that brought a 2-0 win in the series.

South Africa, who had lost Alviro Petersen in the three overs on the fourth evening in what was later confirmed as the last innings of his international career, needed another 115. If they had been chasing 200, and West Indies - especially the left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn - had enjoyed a break or two, it could have been much closer. As it was, the last 30 or 40 runs came quickly and the series result left South Africa's status as No. 1 Test side in the world undiminished.

The winning runs came 10 minutes before lunch when Marlon Samuels dropped short and Hashim Amla, the serenest of captains, hammered him through the covers. Elgar remained unbeaten on 60 to follow up his century in the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

There will be no let-up for West Indies in Tests following the World Cup. They will complete series

against the top three in the world when they face England and Australia later in the year. They have competed well at times only to fall away under pressure with both bat and ball and with such a formidable task awaiting them it will be a challenge to hold body and soul together. The World Cup might be a welcome interlude.

Much of their challenge on the fifth morning rested with the long-suffering Benn. He has laboured on West Indies' behalf throughout the series, but six wickets at 62 is not much of a reward. He has looked like one of life's deserving. If he had been born in Cuba they would have built a statue of him to represent the value of strife. There was turn and bounce, especially against Elgar from the footholes. What there were not were wickets.

Benn did account for Faf du Plessis with the score 51, rearing one out of the rough to force a simple catch in the off side, with Jermaine Blackwood clinging on despite a gentle collision with Kraigg Braithwaite coming in from backward point. It was to be their only breakthrough.

Elgar was wary on the drive on this final-day surface, but the pull shot sustained him. It almost brought about his downfall, too, on 45, when he

pulled Shannon Gabriel over midwicket where Brathwaite just failed to hold a running, one-handed chance. If South Africa were intent on issuing an early message of intent, du Plessis pulled off a neat psychological ploy. When the sightscreen failed to turn around correctly, he just got on with the game. It was if he was saying "This won't be a problem". Soon afterwards, Elgar had the same opportunity, but his advert was red. You don't try psychological ploys with a red ball against a red sightscreen - not even with only 115 needed.

West Indies mixed pace

and spin: the serious intent of Jerome Taylor and the accompaniment of Benn, a towering figure of toil. They were right on the money. The mood was grave. Forty-five balls passed without a run until Taylor fired one in short and Elgar responded with an assertive front foot pull.

With Benn occasionally finding substantial turn and bounce, West Indies still clung to hopes of victory. Du Plessis needed 28 balls to get off the marka tight single, too. Taylor found Elgar's edge but it fell in front of second slip. Twice, Jason Holder jagged one back at De Plessis only to concede four off the inside edge.

Guyanese trio in Windies U-19 squad for Super50 tourney

By Rajiv Bisnauth

Reports reaching Guyana Times Sport on Tuesday indicated that Firstclass openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer, along with the talented all-rounder Kemo Paul will form part of the West Indies Under-19 squad for the 2015 NAGICO Super50 Tournament in Trinidad and Tobago.

The three Guyanese will join eleven other youngsters from around the region for the tournament, which bowls off on January 15.

The inclusion of the Under-19 team is part of their long-term build-up for the next International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup in 2016.

There is a turning point in such run chases when an innings awash with tension becomes an inevitable victory. Elgar's longon six against Benn, out of the footmarks, was a little early to be that moment; perhaps it was when Amla drove Gabriel through the covers and West Indies, their hopes fading, misfielded for the first time. West Indies failed with a review against Amla, beaten on the pull by Gabriel, but even then they knew in their hearts that it was just a matter of time. (Cricinfo)

The Combined Campuses & Colleges will also compete as part of the eight-team tournament.

The Under-19s have been drawn in Group B next to the Jamaica Franchise, Leeward Islands

Hurricanes and hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, while the composite university side has been

drawn in Group A along with reigning champions Barbados Pride, Guyana Jaguars and Windward Islands Volcanoes.

The preliminary competition will be played in a non-elimination format with each side playing the others in their group once.

Two matches will be contested each day at either the Queen’s Park Oval, the T&T Cricket Board’s National Cricket Centre (NCC) in the central Trinidadian community of Couva or Shaw Park in Scarborough, the capital of Tobago.

The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals at the Oval, where the group winners play the runners-up from the opposite group in a oneoff match for a place in the Grand Final on Sunday, January 25 at the same venue.

Dean Elgar punches the air as the winning runs are struck © Associated Press

Tagenarine Chanderpaul Shimron Hetmyer

Kemo Paul