Guyana Times Daily

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Issue No. 2852

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Fire guts Gafoors Houston Shopping Complex Page 13

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

2 killed during separate drinking sprees See stories on pages 12&17

Kitty fire leaves 30 homeless

P7

– arson suspected

Rohee again P7 assures of no power struggle within the PPP

Deadly prison riot CoI P9 concludes – activist says inquiry was a waste of taxpayers’ money

… billions in estimated losses, 500 employees on breadline

Ex-Policeman shot dead while escaping from custody Page 8

“Self–interest, greed & jealousy rule the day” – Correia blasts Gouveia at Ogle Airport rebranding Page 16

Cummings Lodge man shot, robbed of $1.8M P9 Former VP of CGX named in Panama P3 Papers scandal

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BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Tuesday, May 10 – 05:00h-06:30h and Wednesday, May 11 – 08:30h-10:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Tuesday, May 10 – 06:25h-07:55h and Wednesday, May 11 – 07:15h-8:45h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Heavy rain showers sometimes accompanied by thunder can be expected throughout the day.

Thundery showers can further be expected in the evening. Temperatures are expected to range between 25 degrees Celsius and 28 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Easterly to East North-easterly between 3.12 metres per second and 4.47 metres per second.

High Tide: 06:48h and 19:21h reaching maximum heights of 2.71 metres and 2.51 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 12:52h reaching a minimum height of 0.52 metre.

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Former VP of CGX in Panama Papers scandal

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he International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Monday released a database containing information on almost 320,000 offshore entities that are part of the Panama Papers scandal and the offshore leaks investigations.

“The data covers nearly 40 years – from 1977 through 2015 – and links to people and companies in more than 200 countries and territories.”

A quick search of the database using Guyana in the country category has so far produced three names: Edris K Dookie, Yucatan Coutinho Reis and Chetwynd RF Bowling.

Dookie, according to the database, is a shareholder in Oyster Oil and Gas Limited, an active company located in the British Virgin Islands that was incorporated in 2010. The database shows that his local address in Guyana is Lot A16-17 Shamrock Gardens, Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

Located at this address is Mid Atlantic Oil & Gas Inc, a company of which Dookie is the co-founder.

Dookie is no stranger to Guyana since he is also the co-founder and President of ON Energy and Executive Vice President of CGX Resources Inc, a Canadian oil company that was granted three exploration licences by the Government of Guyana.

Dookie was allegedly unceremoniously booted by the Board of the company in light of the poor performance by CGX in 2013 in finding hydrocarbon deposits on the shores of Guyana.

Several wells were drilled which came up empty, thus drying up the company’s cash flow and putting it in a desperate position of needing to raise additional funds to stay afloat. Under new management, however, and in partnership with ExxonMobil, CGX was able to acquire the

Edris K Dookie

funding necessary to continue and has since found significant hydrocarbon deposits off Guyana’s shores.

Yucatan Reis, another person named in the Panama Papers database who is linked to Guyana, is a Brazilian that is a beneficiary of Equatorial Project Management and Engineering Enterprises Ltd, according to the database. Further checks of the database showed that the company was incorporated in 2013 and became inactive in 2015, with it being labelled “Bad debt account”. The address of the company is in Switzerland with offshore connections in the British Virgin Islands. The database also shows that Reis has a local address – Lot 40 Bel Air, Georgetown, Guyana.

Reis is the co-owner of Muri Brazil Ventures Inc and also the owner of Excel Minerals, a gold mining/ money transfer/ financing company located at Sixth and Light Streets, Alberttown.

Muri Brazil Ventures Inc, in 2013, was granted by the then Government of Guyana a permit for mineral surveying in the “ecologically fragile” New River Triangle. A controversy had erupted over the granting of this permit, since it was unearthed that the then Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud,

with the Permission for Geological and Geographical Survey (PGGS), granted the company the right to occupy 2.2 million acres of land to conduct geological and geophysical surveys for rare earth elements, bauxite, limestone, nephelene, syenite, gold, diamonds and granite stones in South East Berbice for a period of 36 months.

Further exacerbating the controversy was a clause of the PGGS which provided that anytime during the duration of the permission, Muri Brasil Ventures Inc shall have the right to apply to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for, and shall be granted on a priority basis a maximum of 18 prospecting licences once it satisfies attendant requirements.

After the heavy media backlash over the issue that put Persaud in the hot seat for allegedly lying to the Natural Resources Committee of Parliament over the conditionalities of the permit given to Muri, the company pulled out and scraped its local investment venture, citing that even though the process was legal and transparent, “misinformation, prejudice and hostility” towards the company were the impetus for backing out.

The third person named in the database, Chetwynd RF Bowling’s local address is Lot 20 Main and St John Street, New Amsterdam, Berbice, Guyana. The database shows that Bowling is a shareholder and Director of Alinga Consulting Group

LTD, an active company that was incorporated in 2008.

It is located in New York and has possible offshore ties with the British Virgin Islands.

Two companies were also listed in the database: the Guyana Trading Company Limited and the Guyana Company Limited respectively.

According to the ICIJ, it is publishing the information in the interest of the public. The ICIJ on its website highlighted that “while many of the activities carried out through offshore entities are perfectly legal, extensive reporting by ICIJ and its media partners for more than four years has shown that the anonymity granted by the offshore economy facilitates money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and other crimes. Even when it’s legal, transparency advocates argue that the use of an alternative, parallel economy undermines democracy because it benefits a few at the expense of the majority.”

ICIJ obtained the data through two massive leaks.

“The majority of the names in this database come from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, whose inner workings were exposed in the Panama Papers investigation published in April 2016 in conjunction with Süddetsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners…The real value of the database is that it strips away the secrecy that cloaks companies and trusts incorporated in tax havens and exposes the people behind them,” said the ICIJ.

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Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotliine: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707

Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Constitutional development and change

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he APNU/AFC coalition promised “constitutional change” in their Manifesto for the last elections: “The APNU/ AFC Coalition will immediately appoint a Constitutional Reform Commission consisting of representatives of all major Stakeholders – trades unions, the private sector, religious and faith-based organisations, women, youths, professional organisations and the University. Its mandate will be to undertake the urgent task of fashioning comprehensive reforms, for early implementation, designed to guarantee a democratic society free from the abuse of citizens by those in high office fuelled by the exercise of arbitrary powers and behaviour by the Executive which is inconsistent with the spirit and provisions of the Constitution.”

Not exactly “immediately”, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who was given responsibility for this pressing matter, launched not a “Constitutional Reform Commission” (CRC) but rather a “Constitutional Reform Steering Committee (CRSC)” three months after taking office. The CRSC was mandated to “draft a work programme and make recommendations for constitutional reforms”. Headed by AFC’s Chairman Nigel Hughes, the CRSC submitted its final recommendations to PM Nagamootoo at the end of April 2016. The PM promised to submit the recommendations to Cabinet after which the actual CRC is to be constituted.

This would hopefully include all the stakeholders, especially the Opposition, and a new Constitution will be crafted and eventually submitted to a referendum by the Guyanese people.

While Constitutions are not to be changed capriciously, change they must; to address the new challenges and conditions facing the society by appropriately empowering the institutions of the State to confront with those changes. At independence, we were granted a Constitution by the British but it was taken with a grain of salt by the early leaders. They were aware that historically, Constitutions had been changed (1928, 1953) and then even suspended (1953) to ensure the continuation of the paramountcy of imperial interests.

By their very nature, a document that seeks to authoritatively allocate power in State organs and to delineate the rights of citizens in whom sovereignty ultimately resides must be imbued with an overarching world view (if not ideology) so that there is coherence in the various articles.

In 1980, for instance, when the then PNC Government completely replaced the “independence” Constitution the new document stated clearly: “Guyana is a secular, democratic sovereign state in the course of transition from capitalism to socialism.”

A socialist state is based on a completely different set of premises than the “capitalist” one that Guyana supposedly inherited at independence. Thus when there were complaints that the powers of the new Executive President were “too extensive”, there were legitimate questions asked as to what was the conception of “power” deployed in the criticism. In a “socialist democracy”, for instance, many of the rights that were taken as the sine qua non of Western democracy were dismissed by socialists, such as Fidel Castro in our hemisphere as “bourgeoise rights”. Economic and social rights such as equal pay, medical benefits and education were considered more important.

The extensive constitutional changes enacted in 2000 were unfortunately not woven together by a comparable ideological framework, but merely accommodated concerns of the Opposition. It is not surprising, therefore, that contradictions have been identified and further changes now demanded. The danger, however, is that just as in the changes of 2000, which followed extensive hearings and submissions from a wide cross-section of the Guyanese public, the changes that may issue from the ongoing initiative will also be ad hoc and riddled with contradictions.

The political parties have done the nation a disservice in not presenting very clearly their conception of how the power of the State ought to be configured. To simply say the powers of the President must be “reduced” and “checked” is not enough. We should, for instance, take a step behind the powers of the President and ask whether the mechanism to form the Government itself is appropriate to the nature of our plural society.

Risky Ride: Guyana Times journalist Avenash Ramzan captures a house in Enmore, East Coast Demerara perched on top of a trailer being towed to a new location on Monday

Govt has become indifferent to the needs of the people

Dear Editor, In a news article of May 3, it was reported that prolonged flooding of a large section of eastern Queenstown, Georgetown, due to heavy rainfall on April 30/May 1 was avoided as a result of intervention by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) and City Hall to clear blocked culverts in Queenstown one of which was under Peter Rose Street discharging into a drainage channel immediately west of Vlissengen Road.

An accompanying photo showed the channel completely blocked with weed and debris with a worker supervised by three Inspectors clearing the outlet of one of the clogged culverts. The Georgetown drainage network is an integrated system and therefore it is inconceivable that given the poor state of the Peter Rose Street drainage channel which the photo clearly showed, that flood water from the Demerara Cricket ground and parts of eastern Queenstown could have receded speedily as claimed since the clogged channel with silt and overgrown weeds could not have discharged its load quickly into the Lamaha Street Canal

and thence to the Kingston Sluice.

A few weeks ago, MPI and the city Engineer assured City Residents that Georgetown’s drainage system was prepared to respond quickly to any flooding from heavy rainfall. However, the evidence suggests otherwise as much work remains to be done to the channels and sluices’ outfalls to release/accommodate the heavy rainfalls which usually cause flooding of large areas of the City.

The comprehensive executable drainage plan under preparation by the National Task Force Commission was initiated by MPI last year for the rehabilitation of the drainage of Georgetown but it is still awaiting completion, review and execution.

A Dutch Risk Reduction Team (DRRT) which visited Guyana at the invitation of MPI last year made recommendations to improve Georgetown’s drainage system but few if any of them have been implemented.

In doing little or nothing, MPI claims to be waiting for a follow-up visit by DRRT to map Georgetown’s drainage system to identify the bottlenecks responsible for the City’s yearly flood-

ing. It expects this mapping to become the blueprint for future interventions to solve the City’s drainage problems which unfortunately, would not be ready for this rainy season nor the next.

MPI claims that the existing drainage network for the City can only accommodate 2.4 inches of rainfall during a 24-hour period before flooding starts. The ministry has no data to support this fallacious claim and unless measured correlations are made between rainfalls and discharges into the river over 24-hour periods with simultaneous observations of water levels within the City’s boundaries, the claim thus made is just a guesstimate.

However, assuming this claim could be supported, what has MPI/City Engineer done to get rid of excess rainfall during the 24-hour period to prevent flooding of the City?

Are channels being widened and deepened to store rainfall before overtopping starts and/or pumps being installed to assist the sluices get rid of the excess water when their doors are closed, or the City could expect much of the same?

Finally, after a year in office the APNU+AFC Government

has become indifferent to the needs of the people, created confusion, and is groping in the dark to resolve the drainage problems of Georgetown and low-lying coastal areas as no comprehensive development plan has been prepared while a plethora of agencies (NDIA, MPI, M&CC, Prime Minister’s Office, Conservancies’ Boards, Sea Defence Board, NDCs) some with and without statutory responsibilities have been dabbling with drainage problems as the necessity arise.

President Granger should be aware that many of these agencies do not have the expertise, technical know-how and financial resources to deal with complex drainage problems and unless he brings order to deal with the flooding of coastal lowlands, including Georgetown, in a comprehensive and knowledgeable way, rainy seasons will continue to wreak havoc to farmlands and homesteads as poor families suffer from flood losses of the little they have as the government inconsiderately seeks their patience, understanding and cooperation.

Yours truly, Charles Sohan

Govt should be fair in executing duties

Dear Editor, Abel Seetram, Chairman of MARDS and executive member of AFC was very loud in his call against corruption during the PPP/C Administration.

He was in every community in Region Five, he was on every TV programme in Berbice. Abel’s voice seems not to be coming out on corruption, now.

I wish to point out

Editor, that millions of dollars of the Mahaicony Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS) are being spent on projects in Region 5. A contract was given to a contractor to build a Cenotaph at the RDC compound Region Five recently.

Also a few other contracts were given to a specific contractor to build roads within the Burma Housing area from funds of MARDS.

I have a few questions for the Minister of Agriculture and the Government.

Where are the public notices of public advertisement for these projects?

Where are the transparency and accountability promised during the election campaign?

As a contractor, I am concerned over the way works are been handed to other contractors in the region. I

am a small contractor and it is very hard for me to afford a boat or a bus to pledge to the government before projects can be handed to me.

I want to urge the government to be fair and just in executing their duties, which the people of this great country entrusted upon them.

Sincerely, Concerned contractor

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City Hall seems unaware street vendors are integral to urban economies Dear Editor, Witnessing the condescending manner in which Georgetown’s Town Clerk Royston King spoke to vendors at a meeting he held recently under a tent in the forecourt of City Hall, speaks volumes of the contempt and disregard the administration of the city has for these small-businesspersons.

It wasn’t just King’s s tone of voice, but what he said and how he said it.

The language he used, the way he constructed sentences, the sound of his words and personality, the way he gesticulated, suggested that he thought the vendors were not as clever or important as he was.

King spoke as though he was some imperial overlord addressing his subjects, all of whom had no choice but to accept his tough talk, his twisted logic, and his new-found vision for Georgetown, even though he worked at the municipality for over30 years.

Even though he was using a microphone, under a tent in a relatively cramped area, King shouted at his audience until he was hoarse. It was

not a dialogue but rather a belligerent monologue, in which King was lecturing and scolding these persons, like they were some wayward children.

Listening to him, one got the impression that the municipality was faultless and blameless in the vending situation. He paid no heed to vending as a socio-economic phenomenon.

He seemed unaware that street vendors are an integral part of urban economies around the world, offering easy access to a wide range of goods and services in public spaces.

He was only preoccupied with rounding up over 300 vendors and squeezing them into a space that could hardly accommodate 100 persons.

King in his presentation sought to cast blame on the previous central government for the vending situation which is both dishonest and disingenuous.

It is no secret that many businessmen encouraged the vendors for reasons best known to themselves. But more importantly and King is old enough to know, it was Hamilton Green the for-

mer Mayor who encouraged street vendors to encroach on the pavements of store owners. This was done since n the 1980s.

In fact he went further than that, encouraging people to squat on lands that did not belong to them such as the case aback of the Botanic Gardens, a site owned by continental agencies, designated for the construction of a hotel.

Does King realise that most street vendors provide the main source of income for their households, bringing food to their families and paying school fees for their children?

These informal workers have strong linkages to the formal economy. Most of them source the goods they sell from formal enterprises in Georgetown?

Street vendors create jobs, not only for themselves but for porters, transport operators, storage providers, and others.

Street vending has added vibrancy to urban life in our capital and can be considered a cornerstone of our historical and cultural heritage.

Sincerely, Deodarie Putulall

Is Lincoln Lewis racist?

Dear Editor, I was extremely concerned and upset with the article in the Sunday Chronicle of May 8 captioned , “Independence Musings” (By Lincoln Lewis) which has inadvertently (I hope) omitted the names of successful Indo Guyanese in the Realm of Arts and Sports which was the focus of your columnist.

I know Lewis is a tireless champion of and for workers’ rights but I am not sure about the extent of his knowledge and research in the realm of the subject area he dwells on.

In a country that has experienced significant internecine problems between the two major groups I would have hoped that the editor would have applied the editorial brush to this piece.

Has Linclon Lewis ever heard of Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharran, Joe Solomon, Shivnarine Chandrapaul (cricket) Sammy Baksh, Neisha Benjamin, (music) and Moses Dwarka (track and field) et al? I personally do not believe that Lewis is a racist but surely he ought to be much more

sensitive and thoughtful when writing particularly on the eve of the 50th anniversary of our Independence when the achievements of all of the peoples of our society should be highlighted.

I respectfully ask that Lewis issue an apology

to his Indobrothers and sisters in particular who have irrefutably made monumental contributions to the progress of the society in every sphere of activity.

Yours truly, Chris Persaud

Reviewing our National Motto

Dear Editor, Each time we observe national religious holidays, messages to commemorate the events, issued by a variety of entities including political parties, trade unions, corporations, etc, almost invariably refer to and ask the rest of us to rejoice in Guyana as a land of diversity: religious, cultural, and ethnic. All of our Heads of State, including the present one, have never failed to emphasise this aspect of our national character.

Our National Anthem glorifies “our diverse strains,” and exalts in this “one land of six peoples, united and free”, and, far more important than any person or office, the preamble of the Constitution of Guyana, solemnly affirms, among other things, the following: “We, the Guyanese People, celebrate our cultural and racial diversity and strengthen our unity by eliminating any and every form of discrimination.”

With this universal acknowledgement and acceptance of the importance of our diversity in mind and with the current celebration of the golden jubilee of our independence, we are provided with an ideal opportunity to reflect on one of the country’s most important national symbols, its National Motto: “One People, One Nation, One Destiny”.

Independent Guyana had its genesis in a horrific ethnic conflict, unparalleled anywhere else in the Caribbean, with hundreds of Guyanese, of both of the dominant ethnicities, losing their lives and with untold damage to property.

Knowing what we know now of the collusion of the Americans and the British with their local agents to remove the PPP from office by any means, some have suggested that we had a genesis in deception and betrayal.

It is possible that the fear of fragmentation and implosion was so pervasive that those in whose hands power was entrusted, being driven by the perceived need for standardisation and uniformity, dared not entertain the idea of diversity clearly evident in our society and so, produced a “One People, One Nation, One Destiny” Motto that envisaged a monolithic, homogeneous state. Instead of creating a

motto based on the strength of our diversity, they fabricated one essentially against diversity.

From the very inception, then, our Motto succeeded in contravening the very spirit and vision of both the National Anthem and the Constitution.

It is a mystery that the contradiction between the homogeneity of the Motto and the themes of diversity in the Anthem and Constitution has gone, as far as I am aware, unnoticed for fifty years. Our Motto sacrifices diversity for uniformity, probably with the expectation that diversity will dissolve into a uniformity and plurality disappear for the benefit of standardisation.

The heterogeneous nature of our society is a fundamental reality. Diversity for us signals an irreducible plurality rather than inner contradiction or polar otherness. It is, as many have proclaimed, our inherent strength which, if compassionately and wisely managed, can yield great benefits to the nation.

But it must be agreed that no nation can express its essence solely in terms of its internal diversities and differences. This could lead the way to anarchy and fragmentation. So, however real and rich our diversity is and whatever blessings it confers on us, the quest for a unity at the national level, the vision of the ideal, must never be abandoned.

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that unity is not mere homogeneity, not conformity, not uniformity. It is the recognition of the validity and autonomy of parts that function together in a dynamic and cooperative relationship for the benefit and welfare of the whole, in much the same way as our fingers, though different in many ways, function harmoniously together so that the purpose of the hand can be fulfilled.

Another beautiful and meaningful metaphor that shows the dynamic relationship and interdependence between parts and whole, diver-

sity and unity, in a society, is the human body. We are made up of different parts and essential organs each of which has its own intrinsic and irreplaceable function without which the body, as a unitary and organic whole, collapses.

At one level of perception nature as a whole abounds with diversity yet we know that all its parts are interdependent and inter-related to form an entire system.

All things, great and small, have their inalienable place in the system of nature. To perceive the parts without seeing the whole is the same folly as seeing the whole without recognising the parts. Unity in diversity is the language and grammar of nature. So, in addition to hands and bodies, ecology itself can serve as a useful model for our society where our diversity is our reality and unity our aspiration.

Our Motto, “One People.

One Nation, One Destiny”, however, well-meaning, has failed to inspire. It suggests that with political independence we have arrived and oneness have been achieved.

Fifty years of independence have shown us otherwise. We have failed to build bridges across our great ethnically inspired political divide which is becoming more exacerbated and deepened by the day, and we are no more one people now than we were fifty years ago.

A motto is not a magical wand that will transform us overnight, but one that recognises our social reality has a chance of serving us better.

“Unity in Diversity”, or some version or other of this construct in which both unity and diversity remain equally valid can be such a motto. It is time to bring our Motto in concord with the spirit of our Anthem and Constitution, keeping in mind that diversity is not fragmentation and unity is not uniformity.

Sincerely, Swami Aksharananda

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Could children 1 day sue parents for posting baby pics on Facebook?

– pictures once kept hidden in family photo albums are now being shared with the world, and children may not appreciate it in the future

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hat photo of your toddler running around in a nappy or having a temper tantrum? Think before you post it on Facebook.

That’s the advice from French authorities, which have warned parents in France they could face fines of up to €45,000 (£35,000) and a year in prison for publishing intimate photos of their children on social media without permission, as part of the country’s strict privacy laws.

It’s a development that could give pause for thought for many parents used to sharing details of their children’s lives across social media. A 2015 study by internet company Nominet found parents in the UK post nearly 200 photos of their under fives online every year, meaning a child will feature in around 1000 online photos before their fifth birthday.

“Your favourite picture of your child sitting on the potty for the first time may not be their favourite picture of themselves when they’re 13,” says author and child psychologist Catherine Steiner-Adair.

Given the relative youth of social media, it’s hard to say exactly how growing up online could affect children, but there are concerns around infringing privacy, safety and security (for example providing information that could be used by somebody to steal your child’s identity), and leaving children open to bullying.

Professor Nicola Whitton of Manchester Metropolitan University is among those predicting trouble. “I think

we’re going to get a backlash in years to come from young people coming to realise that they’ve had their whole lives, from the day they were born, available to social media. A recent University of Michigan study found that children aged 10 to 17 “were re- ally concerned” about t h e

them,” Whitton says.

This doesn’t have to mean a serious conversation every time you capture a charming moment on camera and want to share it, says Professor Sonia Livingston at the London School of Economics.

“If [parents] can be open with their children about what they wish to share,

with

ways parents shared their children’s lives online “Parents have to work out what’s right for them, but be aware that this is another person, another human being, who may not thank them for it in 15 years to come.

“It may seem hard, but my line would be don’t put pictures online until they’re of an age where it’s appropriate to discuss it with

whom a n d why, t h i s n e e d not result in a draconian crackdown on all sharing,” she says.

She suggests parents think about exactly who they are sharing with, because 5 0 friends is one thing and 500 random people quite another. The recent Nominet study found 17 per cent of parents had never checked their Facebook privacy settings.

“Everyone needs to consider the needs of themselves and others in an open way, bearing in mind that the digital world is changing, that images are perma-

nently posted, and that the conditions of sharing and norms are all shifting in unpredictable ways,” says Livingston.

Social sharing isn’t inherently bad for children; sharing pictures can benefit children, for example, by helping to maintain connections with family members such as far away grandparents and cousins abroad.

If a child doesn’t like a photo posted by their parent, they could ask them to take it down. If that’s not possible, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have reporting functions to request photos be removed.

On Facebook, if a third-party has posted the image and refuses to take it down, parents themselves can request removal of a photo of a child under 13, while those 14 and over are expected to make the report themselves.

However, parents sharing photos of their children online isn’t just about future embarrassment. One of the complaints Steiner-Adair hears from children is that parents are “obsessed” with snapping photos, particularly when they excel at their hobbies and activities – making them feel pressured to perform to help mum and dad get the right snap to share.

Children notice when parents come to their pageant or sports match and focus on photography instead of them, says Steiner-Adair.

“They look out into the audience looking for their parents and all they see is a sea of smartphones … [when] what the children really want is to see you smiling at them.”

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Positive Parenting:

Rules to help you deal with negative child behaviour more positively A helpful exercise: If your tendency is to see the glass half empty, what would it take for you to see the glass half full? Here’s my advice: Every time you find yourself focused on your child’s negative traits, write down three positives about that trait or behaviour. Train yourself to see things from a different perspective. If your child is overly sensitive, note the positive: her empathetic nature. If she is argumentative, note the positive: assertion of self.

The key is to note the positives within the negatives of your child’s behaviour, and then help her channel it properly: by setting limits around her behaviour, giving consequences for poor behaviour (and not her emotions) and then having problem-solving conversations about how to manage things appropriately next time, for example.

Rule #3: Visualise yourself in your child’s place

Look at every behaviour that drives you crazy, and ask yourself what you need to understand about it. To do this, you will need to take a look into your child’s developing brain as well as step into his or her shoes for a moment. With this new understanding, you’ll be able to see the behaviour with less anxiety.

Let’s say your son wants to buy the sneakers that everyone in school is wearing, and throws a fit when you say no.

Now you throw your own fit, yelling, “Just because everyone has them doesn’t mean you have to have them!” You think to yourself, “What happened to the values we taught him?

What’s the matter with him?

How did he get so selfish, demanding and rude?”

Now stop for a moment and really visualise yourself stepping into his shoes. What can you now see and understand that you couldn’t see when you were in your own shoes? Perhaps you can understand with more clarity that the issue is less about the sneakers and more about his need to fit in (or not stand out). Developmentally he’s at a place where he feels the urgent need to look and act like his peers.

Have you ever tried not to worry about what others thought about you? How did you do? Now try to be a teenager or pre-teen and do it. Nearly impossible, right? Don’t get me wrong, understanding the behaviour doesn’t mean you should give in and go buy him the sneakers; it just means that you can empathise with your child, and see his angry outbursts and need to conform as understandable, rather than behaviours to worry or be angry about.

Don’t take it personally.

In addition to helping you em-

pathise and calm down before discussing limits around their behaviour, this will also aid you in understanding that some of your child’s negative behaviours are normal and developmentally on target. This can also help you depersonalise what they’re doing and see the big picture a little more clearly. Bottom line: You may not like the behaviour, but at least you’ll be able to see it for what it is, and not take it personally.

Rule #4: Ask yourself, “Is it negative behaviour, or a reaction to something else?”

Sometimes we overlook the actual function of our child’s behaviour and label it as negative. But once we understand its purpose, it no longer looks so bad. For example, let’s say a child’s parents are angry at each other a good deal of the time. The child senses their tension and acts out. If she becomes the emotional sponge in the family, she learns that when she acts out, her parents calm down. Why does this happen? They get to focus on her negative behaviour rather than on their own problems with each other – and they feel calmer not having to deal with their own struggles. The child grows up and knows one way to keep her parents more harmonious is to have problems herself. This happens mostly without much conscious awareness.

Step back and try and see if the behaviour is an expression of “family fusion”. Is your child’s behaviour expressing what others in the family won’t voice to one another? Or does the behaviour help others avoid focusing on themselves, their own struggles or negative behaviours? This is called “fusion”. Children “watch us for a living,” as James Lehman says, and will intuit what the family needs to keep it stable and functioning. This means they’ll act out and become the lightning rod if necessary. Once you see what function certain behaviours serve, you can see the behaviour in a different light.

Rule #5: Different is okay

It’s natural to feel more positive about others when they are “like” us. Differences might make us uncomfortable, but keep in mind that different is not synonymous with negative.

If your child acts, behaves, or thinks differently than you, instead of viewing this negatively, acknowledge the difference and move on.

It’s so easy to see others, particularly our children, from a place of worry — and our imaginations can really run wild when we’re stressed. Try to see your children for who they are rather than who you fear they might become. When you can see them in a positive, reasonable and realistic light, it will help them shine, blossom and thrive. (Excerpt from empoweringparents.com)

news

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tuesDAY, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Kitty fire leaves 30 homeless – arson suspected

Rohee again assures of no power struggle within the PPP

By Devina Samaroo

P

eople’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee erupted in anger at his Monday morning press conference as he once again rejected rumours of an immense power struggle within his party, following the publication of a contemptuous article exposing an apparent “major clash” among the party leadership over the next presidential candidate.

Former President and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

A

A crowd watches in dismay as firemen battle to douse the blaze

n early morning fire on Monday has completely destroyed an apartment complex and severely damaged the neighbouring houses in Shell Road, Kitty, Georgetown.

Thirty persons are now homeless.

The fire reportedly started about 09:45h in the top flat of the apartment complex located at Lot 44B Shell Road.

At the time of the blaze, tenants were occupying the premises along with the wife of the owner of the complex. When Guyana Times visited the scene, the tenants were distraught.

One tenant recalled that she saw huge flames emanating from the top flat of the building. “When I came outside I smelt smoke, I could only grab my [cell] phone and passport. I had a fully furnished house.”

PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee

The smoking ruins of the building

She noted that within minutes the entire building was engulfed in flames.

The now homeless woman added that neighbours assisted the firefighters who arrived promptly, but were unsuccessful in containing the blaze as the fire quickly spread

Persaud, who owns the building next door, stated that the fire had spread to her property causing extensive damage to the tune of some $10 million.

However, firemen were able to save her building, which is insured.

An investigation into the matter has commenced.

RDC 10 Councillors mount calls for increased stipend

C

ouncillors within the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara/ Berbice) have refused to abort calls for an increase in their stipend, and continue to do so at the statutory level.

During a recent meeting of the Council, Councillor Gordon Callender reiterated to Regional Chairman Renis Morian that by law, the Council may each year, with the approval of the Minister appropriate out of the funds, a sum to be utilised for the remuneration of councillors, other than travelling and subsistence expenses.

He stated, “...and may with such an approval determine what sum shall be paid unto each councillor.”

According to Callender, the stipend of the Georgetown City Council is much greater than that of Region 10. Presently, Region

10 councillors receive a monthly stipend of $10,000, but have argued that the level of their roles and responsibilities encompasses much more than what the amount allows.

In presenting his argument, Callender said councillors are “not junkies” and deserve to be treated better. More so, he continued to urge Morian to make the necessary representation on behalf of the council.

Callender said council-

lors went as far as preparing a “document” so their voices could be heard regarding the issue.

Just recently, some councillors had compared their duties with those of members of parliament who have received a 50 per cent increase. In some instances they had indicated that councillors are tasked with a heftier workload.

The councillors had even threatened to down tools over the issue.

Rohee contended that robust debates are encouraged on a variety of issues and therefore such internal deliberations should not be considered “infighting”, as was reported by Stabroek News on Monday under the headline “PPP executives jockeying for top position.”

The General Secretary said he is disgusted with the “misleading” story which is riddled with pure conjecture: “If this is what the Stabroek News interprets as ‘infighting’ then, they can’t be helped since they chose to stay

in their own echo chamber believing they have latched onto something when in fact it is sheer gossip, conjecture and rumour,” he stated.

The article stated that there was a rift among senior executives over who should be the presidential candidate for the next General and Regional Elections, with the information credited to a “source”; with some members rooting for former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali while others are backing former Culture Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony.

The article also pointed out that former President and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has his mind set on serving a third term as president after former Chief Justice Ian Chang (AG) ruled that the two-term presidential term-limit is unconstitutional.

It is also rumoured that Rohee has presidential aspirations; however when prompted on this during the press conference, the General

Former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali

Secretary refused to comment.

According to the Party’s Constitution, a General Congress is to be held this year during which party members will be afforded the opportunity to discuss a number of issues as well as nominate and elect new leaders.

However there has been no word yet on a date for the congress and reports suggest that the gathering will be postponed owing to the alleged internal conflicts.

Nonetheless, Rohee maintained that the PPP has always been and will always be a strong and united political force.

He argued that rumours of this nature are certainly not new and the peddling of such misinformation is being done for mischievous reasons.

In this regard, the General Secretary declared that the media “behaves like a stray dog going by the smell of things, and rummaging the Freedom House neighbourhood for new (or old) juicy inaccuracies and speculations.”

8 news

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Ex-Policeman shot dead while Eyew tness escaping from custody A

n ex-Police Officer, who was accused of robbery on Monday morning made attempts to escape from custody, but was shot by former colleagues while driving away.

After he was shot, he continued to drive and crashed his motor car into a trench at Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Dead is Ryan Vaux, 36, of Norton Street, Lodge. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

According to information received, at 01:10h, ranks of a mobile Police patrol along Broad Street, Montrose, East Coast Demerara recognised a man running behind a motor vehicle with registration number PSS 6835.

He was reportedly shouting that he had been robbed of a sum of money by persons in the vehicle.

The Police subsequently intercepted the motor vehicle with one man at the steering wheel and a male passenger. A search was conducted on the men and $21,000 in cash was found.

The male passenger and the robbery victim, Deryck Persaud, 46, of Cummings Lodge, ECD, were placed in the Police vehicle and the motor vehicle driven by Vaux was escorted to the

The mangled car in the trench after the accident surrounded by Police

Sparendaam Police Station.

While on their way there, Persaud informed the Police that he had been robbed by the two men who were armed with a handgun and a knife.

Upon arrival at the Police Station, the ranks approached Vaux, but he brandished a firearm and drove off in the vehicle in an attempt to escape during which the Police discharged

a round hitting him to the body.

Still bent on escaping, Vaux continued driving for a short while before crashing in the vicinity of Vryheid’s Lust Access Road, ECD. Police have since retrieved a pellet gun from the mangled car. The other suspect is in Police custody assisting with the investigations.

When Guyana Times visited the dead man’s home at Lot 80 Norton Street, Georgetown, his relatives were reluctant to offer a comment. One group of young ladies explained that they were not related to the ex-Police rank and directed media operatives to another house.

While this publication was there, a woman was on her mobile phone relating the incident to the person on the other end of the line, but she refused to give a comment.

She, too, directed media operatives to another house claiming that the dead man’s wife would be there, but it turned out not to be so.

Meanwhile, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Guyana Times that the matter was being investigated by members of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

Artist on $175,000 bail for gun, ammo charge

A

self-employed artist was on Monday granted bail in the sum of $175,000 when he made his second court appearance before Magistrate Allan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged with illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

Dexter Bharrat of Lot 32 James Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, was remanded to prison on March 22 of this year after pleading not guilty to the two charges.

It is alleged that on March 18 at Hadfield Street, Werk-en-Rust he had in his possession six .45 live rounds of ammunition without being the holder of a firearm license.

He also denied the charge which read that on the same day at the same location he also had in his possession one FS pistol.

Prosecutor Sergeant Singh again objected to bail, stating that the offence was serious and is prevalent in society.

Bharrat was nonetheless granted $100,000 for the firearm charge and 75,000 for the ammunition charge.

The case will continue on June 15.

Starting over...

I

...in rice

rfaan Ali’s one of the rising profiles in the PPP and showed his creativity by introducing a motion calling on the Government to re-open negotiations with Venezuela on the Petro-Caribe “oil for rice” deal. Some might say, why must there even be a motion? As the lawyers say, “res ipsa loquitur” – the thing speaks for itself.

When we were exporting rice and paddy to Venezuela – 200,000+ tonnes annually – we were smiling all the way to the bank. Coming and going. Here it was, we were getting oil on a long-term repayment plan – once the price was over US$50/barrel. But the sweetness didn’t stop there. We then shipped rice to them at US$780/ tonne – almost twice the world market price for the oil. Our farmers also grinned all the way to the bank.

But the good times didn’t stop there. We could then pay our farmers in Guyana dollars – which we can print at will – and not worry whether our money is plunging or anything. Can’t beat that, can you? Well, the APNU/ AFC must’ve thought they could. Why else would they not even make an attempt to save that market for 30% of our exports of rice? Surely, it wasn’t because most rice farmers didn’t vote for them, was it? Naaaah!

They probably thought they could bag replacement markets with a snap of their fingers. Not long after, Moses Nagamootoo, in charge of Information, jetted out to Mexico to attend the “Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit”. Pushing “transparency”, “no State control of Government media” and other such things Nagamootoo’s expert on. When he returned and announced he’d clinched mega contracts for our paddy in Mexico, farmers were ecstatic. It was like Nagamootoo put in his thumb and pulled out a plum!!

Well, farmers are presumably still waiting for the deal to be sealed – after all, since then, rice prices have continued to wallow in the doldrums. Those in the know (meaning those who know the “Bluff Master”) weren’t holding their breath. So Ali’s intervention comes like a breath of fresh air. Surely we can match Suriname’s prices – and then our shipping costs ought to be less, nuh?

The lone sticking point might be the Venezuelans raising the temperature on their border controversy in the wake of EXXON’s discovery of oil off Essequibo. But the old hands in the PNC would know Maduro has to play to the gallery so as not to be outflanked on that issue by his Opposition.

What’d we have to lose? If the Americans can resume trading with Cuba, without compensation for nationalisations why can’t we ship rice and save our farmers?

...in security

It’s clear the Government doesn’t realise how much damage has been inflicted by its insistence on fighting crime through statistics. They can massage the numbers all they want, but the experience of citizens up to now has been “there’s lies, damned lies...and statistics!”

The bottom line is, it’s true there was crime in the country. But it’s also true that one of the major reasons the coalition pipped the PPP at the elections was they convinced folks they’d do better than what prevailed.

Ramjattan went on and on and on about what a maven he was on security. So for him, who went out of his way to hound Rohee about “crime rates” – even moving a “no confidence motion” against him – to now harp and carp about “statistics” to excuse his ineptitude is just too much.

If Prezzie won’t listen to the PPP, can’t he at least take notice of his squaddie Col Gomes’ plea to dump Ramjattan?

...with vendors

With 500 vendors to shoehorn into 136 “spots” at the new, temporary location, why don’t the mandarins at City Hall take a stroll through Stabroek Market?

There’re at least 50 empty stalls that can be rented to those who had to vacate their pavement spots.

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

news

Deadly prison riot CoI concludes – activist says inquiry was a waste of taxpayers’ money

By Shemuel Fanfair

A

fter nearly two months of testimonies by witnesses and heated cross examination by attorneys, the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the deadly Camp Street Prison riot has concluded. Commission Counsel Excellence Dazzle on Monday stated that witness’ testimonies along with many of the materials that the Commission has in its possession will be used to compile the report, which will be submitted to President David Granger by May 31.

The Commission was able to secure the testimonies of inmates, an exinmate, Fire officials, Police officials, Prison officials, a former Prison official, a Pathologist, the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Probation Officer, Chairman of the Parole Board and Chancellor of the Judiciary.

“The Commission has before it several reports and other materials which it will be utilising in conjunction with the previously mentioned testimonies, to formulate its report,” Dazzle explained.

While hearings of the CoI has concluded, social activist and former resident of Camp Street Prison, Mark Benschop voiced disdain for the process by staging a protest. During the one-man protest, Benschop who submitted his statement nearly two weeks ago, reiterated on Monday that the CoI is a “farce” and a “waste of taxpayers’ money”.

Speaking with the media outside the Ministry of Presidency’s Department of Public Service office on Waterloo Street, where the CoI hearings were held, Benschop related that he was astonished that his testimony on Friday last was to be heard “in-camera”.

“I wanted to talk from a prisoner’s perspective as to what transpired behind those walls [and] about the 2006 riot that we had there and what transpired at that time to ensure that it remained calm,” the activist pointed out.

He also explained that he had wanted to disclose how prisoners were treated as well, how prison officers are “overburdened” and “grossly understaffed”.

Members of the Commission: Dale Erskine, Chairman Retired Justice James Patterson and Merle Mendonca

The one-man CoI protest on Monday

“What I have observed from the inception is that this Commission of Inquiry, there is obviously conflict of interest. For the five years that I’ve spent in prison there, most of the prisoners then, and I presume now, have had problems with the judicial system,” he told the media.

He said the conflict on interest rests in the fact that current acting Director of Prisons Carl Graham worked under another Commissioner, Dale Erskine, for several years. It was also noted that Deputy Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, presently on leave, served as Cadet Officer under the tenure of Commissioner Erskine.

On Wednesday last, without much explanation, the media were advised that the proceedings of May 6 would be held away from the public. As it turned out, Benschop was called to give his testimony.

On a previous occasion, the media were also barred when two key witnesses of the Prison Service testified. One of the witnesses was Prison Officer Lyken, who was reportedly ordered by his superiors to take video footage of the prison riots.

After two days of rioting, 17 inmates died as a result of fire on March 3 after prison officers were unable to open the door to Capital A block. President Granger who serves as Chairman of the National Security Committee ordered the inquiry into the fire after inmates met with Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Public Security Minister Kemraj Ramjattan - a move criticised by some sections of society.

Outlined in the terms of reference for the CoI, which covered the period March 2 to 4, the CoI aimed to enquire into all the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the prisoners of Camp Street penitentiary on the morning of March 3, 2016; to report the findings and conclusions to the Minister of Public Security; and to make recommendations on any action that should be taken to avoid a recurrence.

On April 20, the Guyana Bar Association withdrew its attandence, citing time constraints in cross-examination of witnesses.

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tuesday, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Vryheids Lust man wanted for double murder

R

ickford La Fleur known, as Rickford Orlando, 41, of Vryheids Lust, East Coast Demerara, and Smithfield, New Amsterdam, Berbice, is wanted by the Police for questioning in relation to a double murder.

The wanted man is accused of murdering Sabastian Clayto, 21, on April 27, 2011 by beating him to death while at the New Amsterdam Prison. He is also wanted for the murder of Cleveland Hetymer.

Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of La Fleur is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 229-2557, 229-2701, 333-

Wanted, Rickford La Fleur known as Rickford Orlando

2191, 333-2151, 225-2227, 225-6411, 911 or at the nearest police station.

All information will be treated with strict confidence.

Cummings Lodge man shot, robbed of $1.8M

A

Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara man was on Monday shot by a lone gunman, who relieved him of $1.8 million at Alexander Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

Sean Harper, 46, was shot to his right foot and abdomen. According to reports, the man was about to exit his vehicle when he was attacked by the armed man.

The gunman reportedly smashed the window of the vehicle and grabbed the bag containing the money before discharging several rounds at Harper. The bandit then escaped in a car driven by an accomplice.

Harper was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was admitted.

Police have since launched a probe into the robbery.

Only recently, a businessman and his wife were relieved of a bag containing $2.9 million in the vicinity of Ruimveldt Police Station.

The businessman had withdrew the money earlier in the day, but made a stop for his wife to purchase some items when two men pounced on him as he sat in the car.

The men, who were armed with a firearm, relieved the couple of the bag and escaped in a white Toyota car.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Police nabbed three men who were suspected to have been trailing a businessman from a commercial bank in the city.

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guyanatimesgy.com

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016

News

GTT activates 4G service – over US$5M spent on upgrade from 2G

W

ith the recent announcement by Ministry of Telecommunications giving the ‘go ahead’ for mobile providers to upgrade the internet service to 4G, GTT made no hesitation in implementing this.

On Monday, during the launching ceremony at the Fogarty’s branch store, GTT officially introduced 4G internet service which will replace the previous 2G coverage.

Speaking at the launching, chief commercial officer of GTT Gert Post related that the company has been, over the past months, anticipating the implementation of the upgraded service since it will improve Guyana’s communications with the rest of the world, even as telecommunications is advancing throughout the length and breadth of the globe.

He said the company is elated at improving internet service for its customers, which is in keeping with its mandate to “do more.”

With the introduction of the upgrade, Post explained

that internet speeds will be 30 times faster than before, so subscribers with an active data plan can definitely surf, stream and download from the internet at a faster pace.

Access to the 4G service has a span of 85 per cent coverage of Guyana, according to Post, who disclosed that the company is working to have this extended so that every Guyanese who is a GTT subscriber can be able to take advantage of faster internet speed. Over the next two weeks, GTT will be looking to have full coverage.

Apart from the increased speed which is the primary objective of the upgrade,

I

several minibuses relocated to permanent parking lots.

This is according to Public Relations Officer (PRO) of

One year later: The 100 days manifesto rag needs a bath, please

W Launching of the GTT 4G service in Guyana

Post added that the company will be giving to its customers three times more data at the same rates which were applied under the 2G service. In addition, unused data will be rolled over to the next activated plan.

Post further went on to state that with the Golden Jubilee anniversary quickly approaching, and with the number of events that have been rolled out, the company will be making provision for 4G internet services at the various venues.

In this way persons will be able to share images and videos of the events which will put Guyana on the international stage.

Meanwhile Chief Executive Officer of GTT Justin Nedd added that the company has invested over US$5 million to upgrade to 4G and an additional 30 to 40 million dollars to lay its fibre optic cable.

He related that the company has a vision of where it wants to see Guyana in terms of the improvement of telecommunications, noting that this prompted GTT’s decision to initiate the upgrade.

The company is urging its subscribers to opt in for one of the various plans, and experience the faster internet speed as they “do more.”

Plans afoot to ease minibus congestion in Georgetown – M&CC n an effort to ease congestion in the city, plans are afoot by Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to have

M&CC, Debra Lewis, who elaborated on the plans to provide minibuses of routes 41, 45 and 46 with perma-

nent parking lots.

Lewis indicated on Monday that a plan to facilitate the minibuses on a long-term basis is currently being formed with the intention of making it ‘’convenient and accessible’’.

The PRO disclosed that it is more than likely parking facilities will be provided for these minibuses at three locations: “We have identified three areas in which the buses can be relocated that is convenient and accessible. The three locations would be Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, one will be in North Cummingsburg and one in Kingston.’’

Lewis highlighted however, that only a few of the minibuses from each route will be provided for as the intention for this relocation is to ‘’free up the congestion in the city.’’

She explained that the minibuses that do not get transferred to the future parking facilities will continue to operate at their current station within the city.

“It’s not everybody we’re going to relocate, in terms of the buses, just a few of them. It’s just to free up the congestion in the city.

The ones that don’t get relocated will stay at their current parking area.’’

Commenting on when this change will take effect, Lewis said a decision will be made on Thursday where the entire administration will come to a resolution. continued on page 11

ithout a doubt, the worse piece of propaganda dished out to the Guyanese people occurred in 1966, when Guyana was given independence. The Guyanese people were told repeatedly that independence would give Guyanese the opportunity to rule Guyana by Guyanese in the interest of Guyanese.

Look at what has happened fifty years later, not only a continuation of the above figment of imagination but also a palpitation of propaganda.

Any doubts I had about what was said in 1966 were erased when I spoke to the late black Guyanese scholar Oscar Dathorne in 2007. For the unfamiliar, Dathorne was a Dr Lomarsh Roopnarine Professor of English at various universities in Africa and the United States who wrote extensively on the black experience in the developing world. Our conversations had always taken twists and turns but I was taken aback when he asked me where was I in 1966. I said I was too little in 1966 to understand anything.

Dathorne told me he was invited by Forbes Burnham to celebrate Guyana’s independence in 1966 in much the same way what is going right now, that is, to make a positive impression and every expense would be on the state. During the celebration, Dathorne told Burnham to consider the poor people when spending so much money on future celebrations.

That was that between Burnham and Dathorne. No more invitations The point here is that Burnham is the man who started these wild celebrations in Guyana soon after Independence which continued during his reign until God took him out, not the self-proclaimed resistance revolutionaries of 1970s and 1980s .

The celebrations were, of course, to hide the dirty side of the dictatorship and divineness of his defunct socialism policies and to feed the Guyanese people, especially the African loyalists, with his propaganda medicine. The result was more love for Fatboy, his aka in some quarters in Georgetown.

Fast forward to 2015 and I believe the 100 days manifesto from the current regime is the wickedest propaganda dished out to Guyanese in the history of Guyana. No other government in Guyana and the English-speaking Caribbean has ever lied so blatantly to the people in the first year in power than the current coalition regime.

The hard copy of the 100 days manifesto was handed to me by a fellow who attended my presentation at Caribbean Studies Association (May 2015) in New Orleans, Louisiana. I thanked him and said this. If the coalition can meet 15 per cent of what is written in the manifesto in 1000, not 100 days, it would floor Guyana.

I am still waiting for things to happen and the politicians need to rinse themselves from this national lie, come clean, and deliver.

There is a growing consensus even to the most distant outsider that the current regime is incompetent, self-centred, unskilled and intellectually lazy. Whatever this regime and its supporters are trying to convey, its actions, on close scrutiny, reveal that it continues to lie to the Guyanese people.

It is not difficult to understand why this position is taken.

A majority of the current leaders were moulded under one of the most notorious dictatorships in Caribbean. Their so-called larger than life political personality, according to some, was nourished and nurtured during the darkest period of Guyana’s political history. The defectors in coalition are still mad while the junior leaders are simply decorative. William Shakespeare, I think, once said show me your company/friends and I will tell who you are. I say show your political company and training and I will tell you who you are.

Arguably, the current crop of politicians are guided not by the duties of leadership but by the rights of leadership. Political office is used for personal gains.

What is troubling is that the Guyanese people lose and the politicians win, and if this is the regime we look forward to growth and development for the next four years, then expect a march towards decadence and despair. But there has to be some options for the deprived to express themselves now rather than to wait for four years at the polls.

From a philosophical point of view, there is something called Remedial Rights. When a group or territory of people has enough evidence to prove violation of human rights and persistent violation of agreements and promises, then holding the government accountable is seen as a moral justification.

Before we move to this point, let us give the current regime an opportunity to give the 100 days manifesto rag a bath (lomarsh.roopnarine@jsums.edu).

TUESDAY, may 10, 2016

guyana-times.com

11

News

Closure of Wales Estate

GuySuCo says it still to receive injunction documents – claims GAWU, NAACIE were consulted

T

he Guyana Sugar C o r p o r a t i o n (GuySuCo) on Monday said it is still to receive the necessary legal documents regarding an interim injunction that was granted

by Justices William Ramlall and Diana Insanally in the Full Court of the High Court, blocking the severance or redeployment of workers attached to the Wales Estate The High Court last Friday issued an interim injunction, barring GuySuCo from dismissing or redeploying hundreds of sugar workers attached to the Wales Sugar Estate, without first consulting with their unions, Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE).

However, according to GuySuCo, it is still awaiting its copy of the legal documents filed in the courts.

“As of to date, May 9, 2016, the corporation has not been served with any legal documents that was before the Court or the Order that was granted by the Judges,” GuySuCo said in a statement.

Meanwhile, contrary to claims the unions made in their motion to the High Courts, GuySuCo is claiming that it held consultations with the unions regarding the severance packages

for the workers attached to Wales Estate.

“The Corporation further wishes to state that meetings were held with the unions and based on their request, specific information relevant to the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA) was sent to the unions in various correspondences,” the statement said.

It said too that the unions were told that the information regarding the new venture at Wales Estate will be provided by October, 2016.

GuySuCo said that its planned payout of severance packages by this week is affected by the legal barrier.

“The Corporation would like to state that this new development, could possibly affect its commitment to pay the workers from Wales Estate severance, by the end of this week,” it stated.

GAWU and NAACIE had moved to the courts to seek an order to prevent GuySuCo from moving ahead with the decision to dismiss or redeploy workers at Wales Estate, Wales, West Bank Demerara, ahead of a planned year-end closure of the estate.

The judges granted the injection which said GuySuCo must halt its plan “unless and until they hold consultation with the Applicants/Plaintiffs (unions and GuySuCo) in accordance with the letter and spirit of section 12 of the Termination of the Employment and Severance Pay Act Cap. 99:08, until the hearing and determination of a Summons returnable in Chambers.”

In the court documents seen by this publication, the two unions argue that the sugar corporation began dis-

cussions with individual employees of the Wales Estate to negotiate severance packages, without informing or involving the unions.

The date was January 20, 2016, at a meeting between GuySuCo and the unions, where the corporation revealed its intentions to close the operations at Wales Estate.

The unions, in the court documents, accused GuySuCo of not keeping its promises regarding the future of workers of Wales Estate.

It was stated that the unions were promised that in due course, they will be informed of the new venture that will be established at Wales Estate, and the names of workers who will be re-deployed to Uitvlugt Estate, West Coast Demerara; and those who will become redundant.

It stated that while GAWU was informed on March 22, 2016, of the employees who have opted for redundancy, NAACIE is still to be so advised.

They noted that unless restrained by the Court, the corporation will continue to treat with the workers without any consultation whatsoever with their trade unions. “…when the trade unions are excluded from this process, the workers are not receiving the best available op-

tion, terms and conditions,” the unions argue, adding that “we verily believe that the Respondent is deliberately excluding us from negotiations so that they can exploit and manipulate the workers,” the unions pointed out.

GAWU and NAACIE are also seeking damages in excess of $1 million for breach of statutory duty owing under the Termination of Employment and Severance

Pay Act, Cap 99:08, Laws of Guyana.

The unions are represented by attorneys Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Euclin Gomes, Sase Gunraj, Manoj Narayan and Sasha Mahadeo.

The closure of the estate by yearend will affect some 1700 workers directly and thousands of persons in the Wales and surrounding communities indirectly.

Plans afoot to...

Exorbitant fares

Meanwhile, in an invited comment on plans M&CC have to address raised by commuters about the exorbitant fares charged by minibuses during the evening hours when there is a buildup of passengers waiting to head home, Lewis said on Monday that the unwelcomed hike of fares of minibuses plying routes 44, 31 and 32 will be discussed in the near future as this poses a major problem to the public.

Passengers of route 44 buses had complained to Guyana Times that evenings conclude with them being bullied to pay an increased fare to be taken to their destinations.

It was explained that the fare from Georgetown to Ann’s Grove is $200; however minibus operators demand $300 and indicate this

from page 10

from the inception of the journey. It is reported that anyone who refuses to pay this arbitrary hike is denied entry.

The commuters of route 31 complained that the operators demand an additional $80 to the normal fare, regardless of distance. This publication was told this occurrence normally takes place when passengers pay with a $500 or $1000 bills.

There have also been numerous complaints from passengers of route 32 buses where it is found that a fare of $160 would be increased to $300 and reach highs of $500 at nights, depending on whether the bus is heading to that specific location.

Commuters across the various communities have stated they feel helpless since they have no choice because they ‘want to go home.’

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tuesDay, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

CSEC test scripts arrival Unidentified man found dead at Kitty Seawall delayed at Santa Rosa Secondary School

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tudents at the Santa Rosa Secondary School on Monday were not able to sit a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exam as per the timetable owing to a delay in the school receiving the exam papers.

This is according to parents of the students who contacted Guyana Times to report the delay. The timetable has Agriculture Science listed as the lone subject for Monday, to be written during the morning hours.

However, when students arrived to write the subject, they were reportedly sent back home after being told by the Headmistress of the School that the test scripts had not arrived. The subject was written at approximately 12:45h in the afternoon.

One angry parent told this publication that her child returned home after leaving for the examination,

and told her that the examination would be conducted in the afternoon since the test papers had not arrived. She relayed that this annoyed her because CSEC is considered a major examination within the Caribbean and such a delay should not have occurred had there been proper preparations made.

Another parent highlighted that she was inconvenienced owing to the change of time for the examination, “I live far from the school, so my child had to spend money to go, then come home then go back again. My money was wasted.”

The parents all believe the situation was unfair and say that they have reason to wonder if there was some sort of discrimination aimed at the residents of Region One (Barima-Waini). ‘’It’s unfair to us. Maybe

it’s because they have something against us since we’re in the interior ‘cause all the other schools around started writing exams this morning. Is only the Santa Rosa School had to write it this afternoon.’’

When this publication spoke to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Education Ministry on this matter, she confirmed that there had been a delay in providing examination scripts to the Santa Rosa Secondary School. She added that the matter had been dealt with and the students were able to write their examinations later in the afternoon. “I can confirm that yes, there was a delay in getting the papers to the students, but as usual, the Ministry had mechanisms put in place and they (students) were able to write the exams and given extra time to finish.”

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Undertakers removing the corpse on Monday

he body of a man who is yet to be identified was on Monday morning found at the Kitty Seawall, Georgetown. The man had sported dreadlocks.

From reports received, the body was spotted about

08:30h by persons who were jogging in the area after they noticed a heavy stench. Upon investigating, they saw the man’s body among the rocks.

The Police were summoned and it was confirmed that the man’s body was al-

Police issue wanted bulletin for 2013 murder suspect

Timehri man stabbed to death during drinking spree

A

drinking spree involving two friends at Timehri, East Bank Demerara turned deadly on Sunday evening after one stabbed the other following an argument.

Dead is Kawall Persaud, 54, of Lot 17 Timehri.

According to reports, the two men were consuming alcohol at a popular shop in the area, but as it got late the proprietor closed for business. However, the two men remained seated on a

bench where they continued the drinking spree.

After some time, the men were heard arguing and as neighbours looked out, they saw the suspect, Lakeram Shankar, 21, a security guard, stabbing the now dead man. Persaud reportedly received a stab wound to his abdomen resulting in him collapsing to the ground.

Persons who witnessed the stabbing ran to his rescue, but the suspect man-

aged to escape.

The injured man was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, but was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning. The body is at the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary awaiting a postmortem examination.

Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed that the suspect was still on the run.

ready decomposing.

Owing to the state of the corpse, investigators could not say if foul play is suspected. The body was taken to the Lyken Funeral Home to await identification and a post-mortem.

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Wanted: Leon De Younge

he Guyana Police Force on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Leon De Younge for questioning in relation to the shooting to death of Titus Sutton, called “Franky” or “Preso”, a 53-year-old re-mi-

grant farmer of Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara.

Sutton was shot dead on November 8, 2013 at Barakara, Canje Creek, Berbice, during an argument at the suspect’s home.

The incident also left the dead man’s friend, Sherwin Mc Almont, 34, nursing a gunshot injury to his leg.

De Younge is of African descent and is of medium build.

It was reported that on the fateful day, a dispute broke out between the suspect and other farmers in Ekura, Canje River.

The argument was prolonged and the men went to the suspect’s home at Barakara where Sutton was shot to his face at close range with a shotgun. He reportedly fell onto the steps and died almost immediately.

De Younge fled the scene and has not been seen since.

Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of De Younge is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 3332485, 333-2191, 333-2151, 225-6411, 2252227, 911 or at the nearest police station.

news

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tuesDay, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Fire guts Gafoors Houston Shopping Complex …billions in estimated losses, 500 employees on breadline

The Gafoors Shopping Complex

By Romario Samaroo

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he popular Gafoors Shopping Complex located at Houston, East Bank Demerara went up in flames on Monday as workers were about to leave for the day.

Reports are that the fire started about 15:00h in Bond Number Three, which contained fishing equipment.

Despite attempts by firefighters from the Guyana Fire Service to contain the blaze, the fire quickly engulfed the building as the glass shutters shattered.

Employees broke down in tears as firefighters’ efforts were overpowered by the flames. The Complex, which included 15 bonds, sold a wide variety of household building materials and locally manufactured products, was completely destroyed as firefighters with the aid of six fire trucks were unable to control the massive fire as it ripped through the entire building.

Firefighters trying desperately to extinguish the blaze

An employee in tears told this newspaper that she heard a colleague shouting “Fire!

Fire!” and everyone in the complex, including shoppers, began to evacuate the premises.

Another employee noted that the Fire Service was contacted and they arrived about

20 minutes later and took another 10 minutes to set up equipment and source water.

Hours after the fire started, firefighters were still struggling to contain the blaze. speaking Meanwhile, with this newspaper, Sattaur Gafoor, the owner of the Gafoors Shopping Complex,

Mr and Mrs Gafoors watching their business goes up in flames

Employees removing gas cylinders

Fire raging the Gafoors Complex, Houston

Firemen battling flames

indicated that his losses were estimated to be in the vicinity of billions. He added that the Complex was insured and it has been providing employment for over 500 individuals.

Gafoor noted that it would be a long time before the Complex could be fully functional again as he needed to assess the damage and figure out a way forward.

Workers at the scene highlighted that there were a number of flammable materials and chemicals that attributed to the fast development of the fire.

Up to press time, there was no looting reported, but every effort was made by passersby to help salvage what remained of the popular shopping complex.

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guyana-times.com

tuesDay, may 10, 2016

Regional

Speaker annuls impeachment of Brazil's President

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he acting Speaker of the Lower House of Brazil's Congress says the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff should be annulled while calling for a new vote in the chamber.

Waldir Maranhao, who took over as Acting Speaker last week, said on Monday that there were procedural flaws in the April 17 vote in the chamber that accepted impeachment charges against Rousseff.

After last month's Lower House vote, the impeachment process was passed to the Senate, where a Senate committee recommended on Friday that Rousseff be put on trial by the full chamber for breaking budget laws.

In a news release, Maranhao said the impeachment process should be returned by the Senate so that the Lower House can vote again.

It remained unclear whether his decision would be overruled by the Supreme Court, the Senate or a majority in the House.

The full Senate had been expected to vote to put Rousseff on trial on Wednesday, which would immediately suspend her for the duration of a trial that could last six months.

During that period, Vice President Michel Temer was due to replace her as acting President.

A delighted-looking Rousseff interrupted a

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The leftwing Rousseff has been fighting for her political survival for several months now [EPA]

speech on Monday to supporters to say that she had just got unconfirmed news of the annulment order.

"I don't know the consequences. Please be cautious," she said, calling on her back-

ers to "defend democracy".

Early signs were that the Senate would ignore Maranhao's order, possibly prompting a decisive battle in the Supreme Court. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Panama Papers affair widens as database goes online T

he Panama Papers affair has widened, with a huge database of documents relating to more than 200,000 offshore accounts posted online.

The database became accessible from 18:00 GMT at offshoreleaks.icij.org.

The Panama Papers have shown how some wealthy people use offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions.

The papers belonged to Panama-based law firm

Mossack Fonseca and were leaked by a source simply known as "John Doe". The company denies any wrongdoing.

Last week it issued a "cease and desist " order to prevent the database being made public, but the organisation that has the documents, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), appears to be going ahead.

The documents have revealed the hidden assets of

hundreds of politicians, officials, current and former national leaders, celebrities and sports stars.

They list more than 200,000 shell companies, foundations and trusts set up in more than 20 tax havens around the world.

Among those whose affairs have come under scrutiny are UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Mauricio Macri

of Argentina, along with Argentinian football star Lionel Messi, Hong Kong film legend Jackie Chan and Spanish movie director Pedro Almodovar.

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned after the matter came to light.

Mossack Fonseca says it has never been accused or charged with criminal wrongdoing. It says it is the victim of a hack. (Excerpt from BBC

ative advantages.

Government Ministers, investment promotion agencies, and potential investors will come together in Miami on May 12 and 13 to discuss a range of policy and programme options to enable Caribbean countries to attract FDI and to maximise its impact on economic development and job creation in the context of the current economic downturn.

The event will include the Regional Policy Dialogue,

where those attending will be able to analyse good international practices, hear opinions from the Private Sector, and single out a series of actions to implement at the national and regional levels.

The meeting will also provide a space for public-private dialogue of the highest level, the Americas Business Dialogue, in order to work with the business community on a shared development agenda for the Caribbean.

Some 150 investors are expected to take part, who will be seeking opportunities in the tourism, renewable energies, logistics, and service subcontracting sectors.

The summit will also include the award ceremony for the Regional Investor of the Year prize, in recognition of success stories in the Caribbean. The event is co-organised and financed by the IDB as part of the Regional Public Goods Initiative. (Excerpt from Caribbean360)

News)

Caribbean looks to special summit to attract foreign investment and boost exports

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he Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) are organising the Caribbean Investment Summit 2016 to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by helping investors locate to the Caribbean to boost their exports to different markets and make the most of the Region’s compar-

Panama begins more flights of Cuban migrants to Mexico anama has agreed to transfer 3800 Cubans hoping to reach the United States to a town in northern Mexico.

The Cubans have been stranded in Panama for months, hoping to reach the US under a decades-old law which gives them privileged entry and a fast-track to residency.

Officials in Panama said daily flights to Ciudad Juarez would begin on Monday.

Panama had organised some flights in March, but had insisted the operation would not be repeated.

The migrants have been told they have to pay for the flights themselves.

Panamanian newspaper reports said long queues had formed at banks and money transfer shops near

the north of Panama, closed their borders to Cubans trying to head north overland.

The move created a new bottleneck in Panama for the migrants who fly to South American countries, and then walk or take buses through Central America north towards the US. Between January and March, Costa Rica provided flights for thousands of Cubans to El Salvador and Mexico to clear a backlog of migrants who had become stuck by Nicaragua's border closure.

Panama followed suit by organising flights in March to Ciudad Juarez for 1300 Cubans. Officials at the time insisted the operation would not be repeated.

But since then thousands more have arrived in

Panama organised a first round of flights in March to Ciudad Juarez for Cubans migrants stranded on their way to the US

Government migrant shelters in Chiriqui province as Cubans waited to withdraw cash sent by relatives in the United States to buy their tickets.

Last year Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which lie to

Panama.

The exodus was prompted by President Barack Obama's announcement in December 2014 that the US and Cuba would move towards restoring diplomatic ties. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Haiti rains: 4 dead, thousands flooded

Shanique Myrie found not guilty of beating husband in US H

A statement from Haiti's Interior Ministry on Monday says the dead include two men swept away by floodwaters

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hanique Myrie has again come out of the winning side of a court battle.

The Jamaican, who successfully sued the Barbados Government five years ago, has been acquitted in the United States of an assault charge. The charge had stemmed from allegations made by Myrie’s estranged husband, Troy Pusey, that she had chased him with a knife, and kicked and

punched him.

The matter concluded in a Harford, Maryland court last Thursday with a not guilty verdict.

“He went on the stand and told a bag of lies, contradicting himself, and the Judge saw him for the liar that he is,” Myrie told the Jamaica Star newspaper.

Myrie and Pusey, who was born in Jamaica but has US citizenship, got married three years ago af-

ter meeting on Facebook.

Pusey has accused Myrie of using him to get a green card and becoming abusive after she attained it, but Myrie has insisted that her husband is emotionally unstable and is on a mission to ruin her reputation.

The Jamaican woman first came to public attention in 2011 when she claimed that on March 14 of that year, when she arrived at the Grantley Adams

International Airport in Barbados, she was finger raped by a female Immigration officer, badly treated, and then denied entry to the island.

She took the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice which ruled in her favour and she received BDS$75,000 (US$37,500) in non-pecuniary damages and BDS$2240 (US$1120) in pecuniary damages. (Excerpt

from Caribbean360)

aitian officials say at least four people died over the weekend from sporadic rains that have drenched the Caribbean country and flooded homes.

A statement from Haiti's Interior Ministry on Monday says the dead include two men swept away by floodwaters. A couple were killed when a wall collapsed on them.

The Ministry puts the number of flooded houses at roughly 2680. They say those homes are mostly in

Nippes department, along Haiti's vulnerable southwestern peninsula.

Severe deforestation and dismal drainage mean even moderate rains routinely claim lives in Haiti.

Denuded hillsides and ramshackle housing make the poor Caribbean nation especially sensitive to flooding and mudslides.

Meteorologists say a cold front has produced rains and thunderstorms over Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and other nations in the Region. (Jamaica Observer)

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016

guyana-times.com

15

Around the world

Aleppo fighting rages as US and Mercury makes rare transit Russia try to revive Syria truce between Earth and the Sun

A general view shows a damaged street with sandbags used as barriers in Aleppo’s Saif al-Dawla district, Syria on March 6

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yrian Government forces and their allies fought insurgents near Aleppo on Monday and jets carried out raids around a nearby town seized by Islamist rebels, a monitoring group said, despite international efforts to reduce the violence.

The United States and Russia, who support rival sides in the civil war, said they would work to revive a

February “cessation of hostilities” agreement which reduced fighting in parts of the country for several weeks.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said all parties had to press the sides they back to turn “words on a piece of paper” into actions to reinstate the truce.

Warplanes struck the town of Khan Touman, southwest of Aleppo, the Britishbased Syrian Observatory for

Human Rights said. Rebels also fought Government forces east of Damascus, and jets hit the rebel-held towns of Maarat al-Numan and Idlib.

A recent surge in bloodshed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war, wrecked the 10-week-old, partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow which had allowed UNbrokered peace talks to convene in Geneva.

The talks, attended by delegates from President Bashar al-Assad’s Government and the Opposition including representatives from rebel groups, broke up last month with both sides accusing the other of killing the truce.

Russia and the United States said in a joint statement they would step up efforts to persuade the warring parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement. (Excerpt

from Reuters)

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he planet Mercury is passing directly across the face of the Sun for the first time in 10 years, as it casts a shadow across South America, Africa, Western Europe and the east of North America.

Mercury, which is slightly larger than the Earth’s moon, is too small to see without binoculars or a telescope, and experts warn that looking directly at the Sun during Monday’s event could damage eyes.

“On no account should anyone try to look directly at the Sun to see Mercury, as this is incredibly dangerous,” Robert Massey of the UK-based Royal Astronomical Society told Al Jazeera.

Many astronomical observatories around the world have opened their doors to view the event, while NASA and the European Space Agency are

Mercury will next pass directly across the face of the Sun in 2019, and then not until 2032 [NASA]

livestreaming images of the event.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest and fastest-moving one in the solar system.

It will take six and a half hours to transit.

Although the event is of limited scientific value, it does provide an opportunity to learn about the solar system.

“Seeing the silhouette of

a planet in motion in front of the Sun is a clear demonstration of the solar system in action,” said astronomer Francisco Diego of University College London.

The transit is also an example of how scientists detect planets in other solar systems, where they are mostly hard to see because they are lost in the glare of the star they circle. (Excerpt

from Al Jazeera)

Philippines election: Vietnam Police break up Austria Chancellor Maverick Mayor protest over fish deaths Werner Faymann tipped to win steps down

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olls have closed in the Philippines presidential election with an unofficial, partial tally of votes suggesting a strong lead for populist mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Andy Bautista, head of the polling commission, said voter turnout in Monday’s election was estimated at 80 per cent, which he said was a record in the country.

While authorities described the overall conduct of the elections as peaceful, Police said at least 10 people died across the country in Election Day violence as gunmen attacked polling stations, ambushed vehicles and stole vote-counting machines.

Based on 80 per cent of votes counted, Duterte, whose controversial campaign focused on a pledge to kill criminals, had 13.7 million votes, GMA, a national news website, said, citing fig-

ures from the election commission. He was followed by Grace Poe at 7.6 million and Manuel Roxas on eight million. “I ain’t there until I am there,” Duterte told CNN Philippines after receiving the early results. “If it is my destiny to be there then I accept it.”

A teary-eyed Senator Poe conceded defeat to Duterte and said his lead reflected the will of the people. “I respect the result of the election,” she said. “We fought hard.”

Another presidential candidate Jejomar Binay, the current Vice President, said: “We should all move towards healing and unity for our divided land.”

In the vice presidential race, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son, Ferdinand “Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, took an early lead, according to the unofficial results. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

V

ietnamese Police have detained dozens of protesters in the capital, where demonstrators gathered for the second time in a week to denounce a Taiwanese company they accuse of causing fish deaths in central coastal provinces.

A group of protesters sat on the bank of a big lake in Hanoi on Sunday before Police shepherded them on to a waiting bus, witnesses told the Reuters news agency. Demonstrators were also put on buses at a square in front of the nearby Hanoi Opera House.

The fish mass deaths emerged a month ago in the central province of Ha Tinh, where the Taiwanese Formosa company runs a steel plant. Fish were also washed ashore in three other provinces along a 200 kilometre stretch of coastline.

An initial official inves-

tigation did not blame the fish deaths on Formosa’s US$10.6 billion coastal steel plant and Formosa denies any wrongdoing.

As the scandal unfolded in April, a Formosa communications official was sacked after he said Vietnam needed “to choose whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a state-of-the-art steel mill.

“You cannot have both,” the official said. The company later apologised for the comments and has launched its own inquiry, but public anger is growing.

“Never has the Vietnamese sea been this badly polluted,” army veteran Nguyen Manh Trung, 68, told the AFP news agency.

Last week, hundreds took to the streets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s second-largest city, to vent their anger.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Austria Chancellor Werner Faymann had been under pressure from trade unionists and the youth wing of his party [Reuters]

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ustrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has stepped down after

Scientists make ‘second skin’ to hide wrinkles

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cientists claim to have developed an invisible elastic film that can be applied to the skin to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and eye bags.

Once applied, the formula dries to form a film that “mimics the properties of youthful skin”, Nature Materials reports after a series of small trials.

At the moment it is being explored as a commercial cosmetic product. But the US scientists say their “second skin” might eventually be used to deliver medicines and sun protection.

The team from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tested their prototype product on a handful of volunteers, applying the formula to their under-eye bags, forearms and legs.

The eye on the left of the photo had the skin polymer applied, whereas the right eye did not

The polysiloxane polymer was made in the lab using molecules of silicone and oxygen as the building

blocks.

Although it’s synthetic, it’s designed to mimic real skin and pro-

vide a breathable, protective layer.

According to the researchers, the temporary film locks in moisture and helps boost skin elasticity.

They performed several tests, including a recoil test where the skin was pinched and then released to see how long it takes to ping back into position.

As skin ages, it becomes less firm and less elastic and so performs less well in this sort of test.

Skin that had been coated with the polymer was more elastic than skin without the film. And, to the naked eye, it appeared smoother, firmer and less wrinkly.

More studies are needed. The polymer would also need safety approval from regulators. (Excerpt from

BBC News)

his party suffered a defeat in presidential polls last month that eroded support for him.

He resigned as leader of the centrist coalition Government and as head of his Social Democratic Party (SPO), a spokeswoman said on Monday, after serving for almost eight years.

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said the announcement of the resignation is important as Austria plays a key role in European politics regarding the refugee crisis.

“The announcement of the Austrian Chancellor’s resignation may have come as a surprise to some but given the pressure Faymann was under, it was perhaps not surprising inside his own party,” Kane said.

“He’d been criticised after his party performed poorly in the first round of presidential elections, and on Monday he said Austria needed a new start politically and economically and that he wasn’t the man to deliver it.”

Faymann had been under pressure from trade unionists and the youth wing of his party for his tough stance on asylum laws and for the party’s poor performance in the presidential election.

“To have a majority [in the party] is not enough,” the spokeswoman for Faymann quoted him as saying at a news conference.

She said she did not know what would happen to the coalition Government.

“He has resigned from all functions,” she told the AFP news agency. (Excerpt from

Al Jazeera)

16 news

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

“Self-interest, greed & jealousy rule the day” – Correia blasts Gouveia at Ogle Airport rebranding …says he never was a major player in OAI development

BY DEVINA SAMAROO

C

hairman of the newly rebranded Eugene F. Correia Airport Michael Correia on Monday delivered a feral blast at Director of the Roraima Group of Companies Captain Gerald Gouveia over his stern and persistent objections against the renaming of the Ogle International Airport, in recognition of Guyana’s first Public Transport Minister, whose surname coincides with that of those individuals who own majority of shares in the company.

The proceedings commenced with a fiery speech by the Airport’s Chairman, who used the opportunity to set the record straight by lashing out at Gouveia and all the other operators who opposed the renaming.

Correia made it pellucid that no member of his family had in any way suggested to President David Granger that the Airport be renamed “Correia”; nonetheless, he expressed gratitude that the administration went ahead with the initiative despite the protests mounted by the National Aircraft Transport Association (NATA), an organisation consisting of nine of the ten aircraft operators working out of the now Correia Airport.

The Airport Chairman argued that Roraima Airways and all the other operators who are contesting the renaming have contributed little or nothing to its development but are yet cashing in on the investment he and his family have made.

“Roraima Airways, to

The newly rebranded Eugene F Correia Airport

use as an example, has recently expanded its building and its fleet of aircraft with a reported investment of US$2.5 million. But what has Roraima Airways contributed to the investment in the Airport? The total private investment of Roraima Airways in this Airport is US$83,000 by comparison, or 2.2 per cent of the total equity in the Airport,” he disclosed in portraying that Gouveia and the others have no right to make an objection.

He went on to highlight that Gouveia, in his cries, is simply ridiculing a decision taken by two of the most accomplished aviators: former Director of Civil Aviation Anthony Mekdeci and former Chief Pilot of Guyana Airways Corporation Malcolm Chan–a–Sue, both of whom are senior managers of the Airport.

“Why is Gouveia trying to tear down the good name, and damage the reputation of these national icons, who have helped to make him in his career, and who have made Ogle International

Airport the envy of the Caribbean,” Correia stated.

Subtly taking a swing at those operators who objected to the name change, he contended that “self-interest”, “greed” and “jealousy” appear to rule the day.

No dictatorship

President David Granger in his address, also made it clear that he was not lobbied for the Airport to be renamed but rather, it was a genuine decision he took to recognise the contributions of great Guyanese to the development of the country.

“I was not coerced, I was not lobbied. It was simply to recognise the character of the man,” he said.

Granger also made it clear that his administration’s decision to ignore the calls for a reversal of the decision is not a show of dictatorship since the Airport’s Board already granted permission for the undertaking.

Further justifying his decision, the President chronicled extensively the sterling contributions and achievements made by Correia.

Moreover, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson described

Correia as a son of the soil whose record every Guyanese should be proud of.

Addressing concerns over the name change, Patterson once again assured that the Airport’s functions and operations will remain the same.

“This airport will still provide a means for those in hinterland communities to bolster economic activity; this airport will still provide a link for access to key services; this airport will still impact lives in big ways,” he stated.

The operators who opposed the renaming of the Airport complained that this act will give an unfair advantage to the Correias.

In November last, the operators vented frustration over the anti-competitive nature at the facility being practised by the company that runs the airport.

“The Correia Group controls the Airport and has increased the cost of fuel; monopolised ground handling and other services and arbitrarily terminated tenancy contracts with the apparent aim of forcing us out,” the operators had expressed.

Against this backdrop, the operators are now fearful that the renaming of the Airport to “Correia” will only add to the long list of problems they endure on a daily basis.

Deadly prison riot

Prisoners responsible for own deaths – Attorney Pieters

By Shemuel Fanfair

O

n the final day of hearings at the Commission of Inquiry into the deadly Camp Street prison riot, the Attorney representing the Joint Services, Selwyn Pieters posited that those who perished during the unrest were responsible for their own deaths.

These views were expressed in his closing arguments to the Commission and he also maintained that prison officers and Guyana Fire Service members acted within the Standard Operating Procedures and were no negligent at any point in time.

Pieters pointed to the testimony of one of the Assistant Superintendents of Prisons who was “pained” in giving his testimony to the CoI as he “could not make sense of it”.

“Why people with any sort of rational thought of thinking would block a door to their rescue and continue to light fires … the inmates are the ones that lit that fire and continued to poke the officers [and] assault the officers in their efforts to get them out of there and to extract them from that unit. They significantly played a role in their death,” Pieters stated.

He also noted that if the Prison Service had the resources and adequate fire prevention equipment, perhaps the lives of the prisoners could have been saved.

“If they had the equipment, the resources and the manpower to dominate that living unit, perhaps they could have gone in; it would have been a hand-to-hand battle with inmates…but with what they had, they did the best that they could under those circumstances,” the Attorney observed.

Pieters also told the Commission that Government should invest in the construction of a new prison, since many sections of the present structure were “historic relics”.

“Those wooden buildings had their place… [and]

Attorney representing the Guyana Prison Service and Guyana Fire Service, Selwyn Pieters presenting his case on Monday

are not places to house prisoners. Governments do not want to hear that they need to pump money into prisons … but it is appropriate that Government pump money into the prison,” the Joint Services Attorney further observed.

Earlier, Pieters pointed to several challenges that exist within the prison system. He observed that inadequate facilities, rising gangs and organised crime, overcrowding and slothfulness in prison sentencing were all contributory factors to the events that caused the rioting.

He postulated that it was the extraction of prisoner Collis Collinson that led to much of the violence surrounding the fatal fire. He pointed out to the Commission that Collinson’s testimony should be discredited as he failed to admit that he did possess a mobile phone despite confirming that he regularly updated an active social media account.

The Attorney also petitioned Commissioners to observe the fact that while inmate Desmond James confessed that prisoners did light the mattresses, he also noted that he did not see lighters, cigarettes or matches. Pieters reasoned that this was sufficient basis for the credibility of this witness to be damaged.

While referencing that Deputy Director of Prisons

Gladwin Samuels noted contraband was a “multimillion-dollar business” at the prison, the Attorney said special attention should be paid to Officer-in-Charge of the Georgetown Prison, Superintendent Kevin Pilgrim who testified that the old structure “allows for items to be hidden”. Pilgrim was the officer who had noted that “intimidation” was the order of the day as prisoners became more aggressive and continued to threaten wardens after the riots had concluded.

Pieters also pointed out that on the day of the fire, prison officers did observe the stipulations in the Fire Prevention Act, but that officers needed breathing apparatus and other fire-fighting equipment. He also noted that the hole inmates created at Capital B was a “fatal funnel” since it would have been a “suicide mission” for prison officers to enter.

Before thanking the Commission for allowing him to participate, Pieters told Commissioners that it was necessary for prison officers to be paid better salaries and allowances. The hearing ended without presentations from the Attorneys who represented the interest of the inmates as they were all absent. The Commission has until the end of this month to submit the report on its findings.

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news

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016 | guyana-times.com

2:00 am curfew to be selectively Duo who escaped from NA relaxed for jubilee celebrations Penitentiary still at large

By Devina Samaroo

T

he unpopular 2:00am curfew will be selectively relaxed for the upcoming 50th Independence anniversary celebrations.

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who proclaimed the curfew in an effort to bring down the crime rate, told the media Monday that the curfew will be waivered for certain events during the period of festivities.

He noted that those in the entertainment industry desirous of having the waiver for their events will have to apply.

At the time, he could not name every occasion in which the remission will be effective; however he noted that the respective justifications must be solid before the 2:00am curfew is lifted.

He said he will have to utilise his discretion in making the selection.

In fact the minister disclosed he has already received numerous requests

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan

for the curfew to be relaxed; however he cautioned that he is taking the strictest approach in dealing with the matter.

“They have some of them trying to capitalise in an unjustified way… because they brought in some Jamaican Deejays. We ain’t got Deejays in Guyana?

Because the Deejay coming from Jamaica, they said they want go till 5 in the morning… and, well, I am not going to allow that,”

Ramjattan stated.

Nonetheless, Minister Ramjattan is certain the curfew will be completely removed on Independence Eve as well as all national events.

“The night before Independence Day, the whole country can go on for as late as they want, it will be fully relaxed… PreIndependence night will be definitely relaxed because that’s good for celebrations… All the national events will definitely be extended,” he stated.

Asked whether this approach is discriminatory, Ramjattan responded: “Absolutely, absolutely, I agree with that but don’t you think that it is violating the law. That’s the trouble, it’s a slippery slope and an unruly horse when you start now doing these kinds of things, and that is why I want to do this with the strictest approach.”

Government had also relaxed the 2:00am curfew during the Christmas season.

Berbice man killed during row over music

A

Corentyne man is now dead after he and his step-son got into in an argument over music at Bloom Field Village, Corentyne.

Dead is Nipaul Seenauth, 42, of Lot 380 Bloom Field.

He was allegedly chopped twice by his 33-year-old step-son, who was arrested and taken into custody moments after the painter died.

Reports are that around 02:00h Monday several family members were in the kitchen of their Bloom Field home imbibing, when the misunderstanding over music occurred.

Divisional Commander Assistant Commissioner Ian Amsterdam told this publication that Police received reports that an argument broke out between Seenauth

Dead: Nipaul Seenauth

and his step son after which the step-son ran into the kitchen, grabbed a cutlass, and chopped Seenauth twice to the head.

The injured man was rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital where he later died.

Police were able to retrieve the murder weapon.

“Last night dem boys bin ah drink hey an they had some argument over some music an we hear the argument and we come down.

When I come I see me boy holding up Nipaul,” Fareean Bacchus, wife of the arrested man told this publication.

Bacchus said the injured man was bleeding when she arrived. Both men are said to have been intoxicated when the incident occurred.

Mahaica man dies after Soesdyke/ Linden Highway accident

A

Mahaica man is the latest road fatality following an accident on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway on Sunday afternoon.

The dead man has been identified as Deoram Persaud, 39, of Belmont, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara.

According to reports, the man was riding his motorcycle along the Highway at a fast rate at about 14:30h and while in the vicinity of Kairuni, he lost control and toppled before crashing to a stop.

At the time of the accident, he was not wearing a helmet. He was taken to the Linden Hospital Complex

where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

An investigation has been launched into the accident.

Chandroutie Persaud, the man’s sister when contacted, told Guyana Times she spoke to her brother, who was a father of four, moments before receiving a call about the accident. The woman related that earlier that day, Persaud left his home to visit his work place on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway where he rears poultry.

“I was told that he was about to turn but he couldn’t halt the brakes and the bike fling up. The people who see said that when the bike give away, he and the motorcycle

started flicking on the road multiple times.” the sister related.

She added that a number of persons who witnessed the accident, rushed to his aid but he had had lost consciousness by then. They assisted in taking him to hospital but he died on the way.

She said her brother’s body was being kept at the hospital’s mortuary, despite their request to take it to a parlour of the family’s choice but this can happen, she said, only after the post mortem examination, expected to be performed Wednesday.

Persaud leaves to mourn his four children, ages 20, 18, 17 and 14 and a grandchild.

L

ennox Patterson, 27, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, and Ravindra Samaroo, 25, of Timmer Dam, Angoy’s Avenue who escaped from the New Amsterdam Prison are still at large.

The Police stated that the duo escaped from lawful custody on August 12, 2015 and, as such, a wanted bulletin has been issued for their arrest.

The two broke out of the Prison by removing boards from the external walls of the Prison in adjoining cells.

At the time, both cells had four prisoners, but only the two left. They got out of the building by using a bed sheet to lower themselves into the prison yard and from there, made their way to the high prison fence over which they climbed.

The escape was caught on camera; however, the other prisoners in both cells provided no information to investigators. They all claimed to have been asleep and did not see or hear anything.

As a result of the jail

Prison escapees Lennox Patterson and Ravindra Samaroo

break, members of the Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) Unit in Berbice were forced into action on the night of the escape.

Road blocks were set up at several strategic points, but to no avail. Both men are known to have been in possession of firearms. Patterson was placed before the courts after allegedly being found with a firearm and ammunition in New Amsterdam hours after armed men had robbed M Ali and Son Supermarket in New Amsterdam. At the time of his escape, he was on remand.

Samaroo, who is a member of the notorious “Scare Dem Gang”, has been before the court on several occasions on robbery-related charges. At the time of his breakout, he was on remand for his alleged involvement in a robbery perpetrated on Triple S Taxi Service in New Amsterdam.

Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Lennox Patterson and Ravindra Samaroo is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 333-2191, 333-2151, 225-6411, 911 or at the nearest police station.

Guyana, European Union commits to strengthened relations

P

resident David Granger and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and for the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories, Ambassador Jernej Videti?, on Monday evening committed to strengthened relations between Guyana and the European Union (EU), even as Guyana came in for praise for restoring democracy, through the recently held Local Government Elections (LGEs) .

The commitment was given at a celebratory reception, which was held to observe ‘Europe Day’, at the National Cultural Centre.

President David Granger in his remarks, noted that the EU and Guyana forged a spe-

cial bond four decades ago, beginning with the historic ‘Georgetown Agreement’ of 1975. “The European Union is one of Guyana’s main trading partners. Guyana exported goods valued at €192 million, or about 15 per cent of Guyana’s exports, to the EU in 2013 alone. Guyana’s imports from the EU were valued at €122 million. Guyana has been a beneficiary of cooperation with the European Union and EU member states in agriculture, education, food security, governance, health, hinterland development, aviation and infrastructure and sea defence and coastal zone management,” he said.

President Granger said the celebration of Europe Day 2016 is a beacon to all nations, noting that it shows that the

path to peace and sustained security begins with deepening the integration process and with the increase of emphasis on international cooperation.

European integration, he noted, also has been an instrument for deepening and widening cooperation with countries and other regions of the world and it is to this end that the European Union remains a valued development partner in the Caribbean.

In the meantime, Ambassador Videti? stated that the whole process of integration and enlargement of the European Union has affected people on many levels.

He noted that Guyana shares cooperation in a number of areas and it is his belief that these can be further strengthened.

18

guyana-timesgy.com

tuesday, may 10, 2016

ARCHIE

Emotional issues pertaining to your home and fam(March 21- ily will escalate if you bring April 19) about changes without getting approval first. A money matter is best handled delicately.

ARIES

Solutions will be found TAURUS if you discuss your concerns (April 20- openly. Persuasive tactics will May 20) help you get your way. You will be offered the chance to travel or reunite with someone special.

dilbert

Go over details carefully GEMINI (May 21- before moving forward with a June 20) project that someone is shoving on you. Your talent and skill will be in demand, so pick and choose carefully.

Your emotions will surface CANCER easily. Don’t make impulsive (June 21- moves. If you plan your acJuly 22) tions, you will stay on top and win the favours required to excel. A romantic gesture will impress a loved one.

Peanuts

You’ll be tempted to medLEO dle. Don’t let anyone drag (July 23you into a no-win situation.

Aug. 22) Keep your distance and focus on making personal changes.

Your job will be affected if you take sides.

Calvin and Hobbes

Show some confidence and VIRGO lay out your plans. You will (Aug. 23impress the people you enSept. 22) counter if you get involved in educational pursuits or functions related to your work.

Look for a way to bring LIBRA (Sept. 23- about change without upsetOct. 23) ting too many people. You’ll be ripe for pursuits that require travel, discipline and learning. Do what’s best for you.

SUDOKU TODAY’S WORD – MNEMONICS

You won’t get a unanimous SAGITTARIUS vote of approval, no matter (Nov. 23- what you do. Be wary of the Dec. 21) person too eager to help or offering something that sounds too good to be true.

(MNEMONICS: nih-MON-iks: A system to improve the memory.)

Average mark 25 words Time limit 40 minutes Can you find 39 or more words in MNEMONICS? The list will be published tomorrow.

YESTERDAY’S WORD – VESTMENTS vent vest even event seem seen sense sent sestet

seven stem stent stet teem teen tenet tense tent

test tsetse meet menses mess mete ness nest neve

The level of your accomSCORPIO plishment will depend on how (Oct. 24willing you are to follow your Nov. 22) dreams. Don’t be afraid to do things differently. It’s your unique ideas that will take you furthest.

solution for Last Published Puzzle

You’ve got everything you CAPRICORN need at your fingertips, so (Dec. 22- don’t hesitate to make your Jan. 19) move. Take the initiative to bring about domestic and financial changes.

You’ll face opposition if AQUARIUS you are too vocal regard(Jan. 20ing your plans. Bring about Feb. 19) change quietly and do your due diligence when it comes to money matters and professional gains.

You’ll gain support if you PISCES (Feb. 20- rely on people you’ve worked March 20) with in the past. If you stick to information that has been tested or proven to work, you’ll avoid criticism.

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016

Guyana Olympic Association hosts successful Sports Journalism seminar

Shabazz announces Guyana’s squad for Canada clash.

I

Trayon Bobb

Sitting from: left Bert Wilkinson, Carolyn Walcott and Noel Adonis with participating Sports Journalists standing behind

A

One-day sports J o u r n a l i s m Seminar organized by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) was held on Saturday May 7, 2016 at the Guyana Olympic Association office, High Street, Kingston.

The seminar which was intended for sports reporters and journalists to sharpen their skills in sports journalism saw a strong participation from the local media fraternity.

The facilitators for the day’s event were Bert Wilkinson, Carolyn Walcott, Noel Adonis, Donald Duff and Leon Horatio.

The programme was divided into two sessions and various issues were raised including the basic requirements for sports reporting, problems facing reporters

and why is sports coverage important to national development.

The first session was facilitated by long standing Sports Editors Duff and Horatio and covered issues such as “What is sports journalism and why is sports coverage important for national development.”

During this interactive session, sport reporters and journalists highlighting the fact that they are the key to putting the spotlight on our local athletes while educating the public about their various accomplishments and challenges. The local journalists expressed their frustration with the miniature efforts being put into the sport broadcasts and print since sports reporting indirectly contributes to the development of our athletes.

Many local journalists believe that there is room for improvement and that more investments are needed by media houses in assisting them to carry out their tasks effectively and efficiently.

The second session involved a productive discussion about the ethical principles in reporting and sports reporting; originality of stories and online reporting. This session was conducted by Carolyn Wallcott and Bert Wilkinson.

The day was very interactive and all participants were fully involved.

The GOA promised a follow-up session in the not too distant future.

The seminar concluded with participating journalists being presented with certificates.

Deonarine scores unbeaten century in top Trinidad league W est Indies cricketer Narsingh Deonarine has scored an unbeaten century on the opening day of a premier division league match in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Guyanese all-rounder was 126 not out playing for Merry Boys against Clarke Road in round five action of the Premier One Division three day competition on Saturday.

His commanding innings propelled Merry Boys to 289 all out and in response Clarke Road closed the opening day on 27 without loss.

Deonarine, who has been in and out of the West Indies team since his test debut against South Africa in 2005, was supported by Kastri Singh (34), Philton Williams (28) and Javed Ramdhanie (26).

Deonarine last represented the West Indies in January last year, in a One Day International Narsingh Deonarine against South Africa. (CMC)

19

n a press release head coach of Guyana Men’s Team (The Golden Jaguars), Jamaal Shabazz has announced a provisional list of the Guyanese squad to face the Canada Olympic Team on May 15, 2016 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

The squad consists of 25 players including six over-seas based namely; Pernell Schultz (Trinidad and Tobago), Mustafa Haqq (Barbados), Anthony Whyte and Daniel Whyte (Canada) and Charles Ishankie and Marvel Barrington (England).

Sunday’s main event will be preceded by a preliminary showdown between the

Digicel’s Inter-Secondary School Football Competition Champion Christiansburg/ Wismar Secondary take on the Milo Secondary School Under-20 champion, Chase Academy at 16:00hrs. The feature game will see the Golden Jaguars battle Canada’s Olympic team in a much anticipated game set to kick off at 19:00hrs.

Encampment for the Golden Jaguars team will be from today (May 10) to May 14, 2016. Today’s session will be held at the Guyana Defence Force Ground, Camp Ayangana.

The Canadian coach has also revealed his 18-man squad for the game. The Canadian team is scheduled to arrive on Friday May 13, 2016.

The Golden Jaguars Squad reads; Alex Andrew Murray, King Solomon Austin, Joshua Tafari Browne, Colin Nelson, Kester Jacobs, Eon Lennox Alleyne, Gregory Fitzpatrick Richardson, Devon Leylando Millington, Daniel Jeran Wilson, Dwight Peters, Quincy Linford Adams, Trayon Denzil Bobb, Pernell Schultz, Dellon Lanferman, Ishankie Charles, Anthony Whyte, Marcel Barrington,

Gregory Richardson

Clive Nobrega, Tichard Joseph, Hubert Pedro, Les Charles Chritchlow, Jahall Greaves, Cortez Kellman and Haqq Mustafa.

The Canadian squad reads; Marco Carducci, Chris Serban, Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, Jordan Murrell, Luca Gasparotto, Louis Béland-Goyette, Chris Mannella, Ben McKendry, Jordan Hamilton, Caleb Clarke, Ben Fisk, Richmond Laryea, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Raheem Edwards, Skylar Thomas, Manuel Aparicio, Brandon John and Maxime Crépeau.

Admission for the game is $1,000 and $5,000. for V.I.P.

West Indies women to host England in 5-match ODI series in October

E

NGLAND/ANTIGUA - The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that England women will travel to the West Indies in October 2016 to play a five-match One-Day International (ODI) series.

All five matches will be played in Jamaica during a two-week window, starting on Saturday, October 8 and Monday, October 10 with the first two ODIs at the Trelawny Stadium, less than an hour from the resort town of Montego Bay. The remaining three ODIs will form England’s sixth round of matches in the ICC Women’s Championship, and will be played at Sabina Park, Kingston on October 14, 16 and 19 (Friday, Sunday and Wednesday).

Although both teams are seven points apart, the series is expected to be an exciting encounter as both teams are looking for points in the ICC Women’s Championship.

The Windies women are in second place with 20 points, while England is in sixth place with 13 points. Both will look for points for the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup in England.

England Women’s Head Coach, Mark Robinson, said: “The five match ODI series against the West Indies in Jamaica will be a great test for us. We all saw during the ICC Women’s World T20 what a talented side they are, and they will be especially dangerous in home conditions. It should be a really exciting tour and a challenge that we will relish.”

WICB’s Project Officer, Women’s Cricket, Josina Luke said: “Winning the World T20 continues to be great for women’s cricket in the Caribbean. We are taking nothing for granted and we look forward to an exciting series with England.”

England women will play their final three rounds of the ICC Women’s Championship

in 2016 with a home series against Pakistan followed by tours to the West Indies and Sri Lanka before Christmas.

The West Indies final round will be played in India following the England Home Series.

ICC Women’s Championship

The ICC Women’s Championship involves the top eight ranked women’s teams in the world and over a two-year period from 2014-2016 all teams will play each other in a threematch ODI series either at home or away to create an ICC WC league table. The top four teams will qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup in England in 2017.

Countries finishing in the bottom four will take part in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in early 2017 against teams from the ICC’s regional structures to determine the final four participants for the event. (Windies Cricket)

20

guyana-times.com

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016

Djokovic beats Murray De Villiers, Watson seal Royal in Madrid Open final Challengers' 1-run win Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Mohali…

A

B de Villiers plundered 64 runs in a 35ball display of masterful batting, after Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped to 67 for 3 against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.

He used powerful drives and improvised sweeps to lift Royal Challengers to 175 - their ninth successive 170-plus total - which they defended by one run in a thriller.

XI's grasp. But Stoinis could only muster a brace of twos off the second half of the over.

Kings XI's chase began in sprightly fashion with the openers, Vijay and Hashim Amla, finding the boundary in every over of the Powerplay except the first. Amla holed out to midwicket in the sixth over, off a back-of-a-length ball from Watson. With the ask-

AB de Villiers was in marauding form, as he added 88 for the fourth wicket with Sachin Baby

M Vijay made an accomplished 57-ball 89 to keep Kings XI in the hunt for much of the chase. Royal Challengers' bowling attack, though, found a way to respond to severe criticism with a good display of end-overs bowling, making use of Mohali's long square boundaries. Kings XI required 24 off the last two overs but Shane Watson varied his pace and lengths to concede just seven in the penultimate over. Chris

ing rate climbing, Vijay ensured Kings XI stayed in touch with frequent boundaries, particularly with pulls through square leg as the bowlers peppered a short length.

However, Yuzvendra Chahal dented the chase in the 11th over. He first beat Wriddhiman Saha's heave with a ripping legbreak. Rahul failed to catch the ball cleanly behind the stumps, and it bounced off his pad onto his helmet -

SCOREBOARD Royal Challengers Bangalore innings (20 overs maximum) V Kohli*c Vijay b Cariappa 20 KL Rahul† b Cariappa 42 AB de Villiers c Cariappa b Sandeep Sharma 64 SR Watson b Patel 1 Sachin Baby run out (Miller/†Saha) 33 TM Head c Vijay b Sandeep Sharma 11 STR Binny not out 0 Extras: (w 4) 4 Total:(6 wickets; 20 overs) 175 Did not bat: CJ Jordan, Iqbal Abdulla, VR Aaron, YS Chahal Fall of wickets: 1-63 (Rahul, 7.3 ov), 2-64 (Kohli, 7.5 ov), 3-67 (Watson, 8.4 ov), 4-155 (de Villiers, 17.5 ov), 5-174 (Head, 19.5 ov), 6-175 (Sachin Baby, 19.6 ov) Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4 -0-49 -2 (1w), Anureet Singh 3 -0 -15 -0, MM Sharma 3 -0 -33 -0 (3w), MP Stoinis 3 -0-35-0, AR Patel 4 -0 -27 -1, KC Cariappa 3-0 -16 -2

Jordan, playing his second IPL game, was driven through cover for four

by Marcus Stoinis off the second ball of the final over, and missed his yorker again off the third ball, which Stoinis muscled over the long-off boundary to bring the contest into Kings

Kings XI Punjab innings (target: 176 runs from 20 overs) HM Amla c Binny b Watson 21 M Vijay*c Chahal b Watson 89 WP Saha† run out (†Rahul)16 DA Miller st †Rahul b Chahal 0 MP Stoinis not out 34 F Behardien not out9 Extras: (lb 3, w 2)5 Total: (4 wickets; 20 overs) 174 Did not bat: AR Patel, MM Sharma, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, KC Cariappa Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Amla, 5.3 ov), 2-88 (Saha, 10.5 ov), 3-88 (Miller, 10.6 ov), 4-139 (Vijay, 16.6 ov) Bowling: STR Binny 2-0-16 -0 (1w), YS Chahal 4 -0 -30 -1, CJ Jordan 4-0 -52 -0 (1w), SR Watson 4-0-22-2, VR Aaron 3 -0 -25 -0, Iqbal Abdulla 3 -0 -26 -0

which ruled out the stumping - but picked it up off the ground and completed the run out with the batsman still a couple of inches short of his crease. Off his next ball, Chahal drew David Miller forward and sneaked a slider past his drive. It was Miller's first duck in

his IPL career.

Kings XI required 40 off four overs, and Kohli turned to Watson with Vijay in control of the chase. Vijay holed out to square leg as Watson delivered a rising short ball that forced the batsman to pull towards the longer boundary.

Watson returned figures of 2 for 22 in a highscoring game and had done just done enough for Royal Challengers. "It's trying to pre-empt what the batsman is trying to do," Watson said at the post-match presentation. "It helps that I'm also a batsman, and then bowl a ball that is slightly out of the hitting zone."

After being inserted, Royal Challengers were provided a quickfire start courtesy KL Rahul's crisp strokeplay. Virat Kohli, by comparison, struggled for timing. Kohli wafted at two length deliveries from Mohit Sharma in the third over - and sliced both uppishly, squarer than intended; the first lobbed over point and the second went straight to Stoinis at backward point. He let the ball burst through his hands.

Stoinis was introduced in the next over and Rahul capitalised on loose offerings on both sides of the wicket. Four successive boundaries, including a superlatively timed cover drive for six, meant Royal Challengers were coasting.

Just when it looked like Kohli was setting himself for another innings of substance, legspinner KC Cariappa struck. First Rahul, looking to sweep, was bowled after missing Cariappa's seam-up quicker delivery. Two balls later, Kohli reached out for another wide delivery with leaden feet, and drove to Vijay at cover. Royal Challengers were rattled.

They were soon reeling when Shane Watson failed to connect with an attempted pull off a straight ball from Axar Patel. Royal Challengers had slipped from 63 for 0 to 67 for 3.

AB de Villiers and Sachin Baby were forced to milk the bowling through the middle overs. Between the ninth and the 15th overs, the pair accumulated 46 runs with two fours.

Thereafter, de Villiers cut loose. Aware of the Kings XI seamers' ability to bowl accurate yorkers, he got low and peppered the backward square leg area with deft scoops and sweeps. When the ball was wider outside off, he accrued boundaries with slapped drives through the cover region. He found two boundaries an over after the 15th and brought up his fourth fifty of the season before finding short third man with a sliced drive.

Baby and Travis Head added 20 off the last two overs to lift Royal Challengers to 175. (Cricinfo)

W

Murray (right) has lost 23 of his 32 meetings with Djokovic

orld number one Novak Djokovic beat defending champion Andy Murray 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the Madrid Open final.

The defeat means the 28-year-old Briton will lose his world number two ranking to Roger Federer on Monday.

The Scot was blown away in the opening set, but fought back to level, only to fall to the Serb's power and accuracy in the decider.

Djokovic now moves ahead of Spain's Rafael Nadal with a record 29 ATP Masters 1000 titles.

The Serb underlined his current dominance as he claimed his fifth title in the past six Masters tournaments but he was pushed hard by Murray, exemplified by a 14-minute final game as Djokovic survived six deuces and seven break points to hold for the match.

"The first couple of break points I remember making two mistakes," said Murray.

"It was kind of back and forth from there and unfortunately I couldn't quite break, which was a shame because

both of us on the break points until that last game were pretty clinical."

Djokovic broke Murray's serve in the opening game and the 2011 winner gave a masterclass combining powerful ground shots with brutal accuracy as he found the lines with uncanny regularity.

Murray found his second serve coming under huge pressure and Djokovic duly earned a double break before racing to the first set in just 31 minutes.

In the second, however, the Scot's serve began to click into gear and, having won just 17% of points on his second serve in the first set, he increased it to an impressive 60% in the second.

Djokovic made crucial forehand and backhand errors in the third game before serving a double-fault to be broken for only the second time in the tournament.

The Madrid crowd who were muted as Murray beat local favourite Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-4 in Saturday's semifinals were now encouraging the Briton, who responded with some of his best tennis

of the week as he won the set with a cheeky drop shot from the back of the court.

It was Djokovic's turn to regroup and after a comfortable hold needed just one of two break points to take the early initiative in the decider.

But this was a different Murray from the opening set and the Scot immediately broke back with Djokovic again serving a double fault at the crucial moment.

Again, however, the world number one raised the bar and this time it proved crucial with a decisive break in the sixth game.

"When you play against the best players, you are probably not going to win every single time," said Murray.

"But you want to make the matches extremely difficult for them: physically and mentally, so it's not comfortable. So I think at least today I did that, but unfortunately didn't get the win.

"It's been a positive week for me this week overalla few years ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be winning against Rafa and then pushing Novak this close on a clay court."

WICB coaches complete workshop

A

s part of its continued efforts to enhance coaches’ education, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) hosted another key initiative with a two-day workshop to deal directly with the bowling actions of players across the region.

Richard Done, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) High Performance Manager, conducted the programme “Identifying and Rehabilitating Suspect Bowling Actions” — the aim to assist coaches with another aspect in their roles of developing players.

The sessions were held at the West Indies High Performance Centre at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. The participants were the 25 re-

gional coaches also involved in the Level III coaching course, hosted by the WICB in collaboration with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

In explaining the reason for the workshop, WICB’s Director of Cricket, Richard Pybus, said: “the aim is to help our coaches firstly identify players with suspect bowling actions and then the remedial work required afterwards. It has been excellent, very stimulating, very thought-provoking and very necessary for the region. We have to make sure that as our players grow, we are able to support them. We would like to build on this as we look to nurture our players assist with our coaches’ education programme.”

Done noted: “We looked at principles of bowling and

how you can assist any bowlers who have suspect bowling action. The programme was all about coaches’ education and how we can get better at doing the job of coaching and assisting the players under our watch.”

The two-day workshop ended on Sunday.

FULL LIST OF COACHES: Samantha Lynch, Colin Stuart, Rayon Griffith, Esuan Crandon, Julian Moore, Glen Dwarika, John Pollard, Tony Gray, Rydell Ramsarran, Robert Samuels, Cleon Smith, Junior Bennett, Gibbs Williams, Irvin Warrican, Fernix Thomas, Clifford Thomas, Steve Liburd, Pernel Watley, Courtney Walsh, Winston Benjamin, Philip Service, Dexter Toppin, Ezra Moseley, Rohan Nurse, Henderson Bryan. (WICB)

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Jeffrey, Ming cop podium finishes at Barbados Speed Festival D

espite a rough outing during the qualifying rounds, the Guyanese duo of Kristian Jeffrey and Calvin Ming Jnr still managed to achieve podium finishes at the end of the Suzuki challenge series SR3 radical cup on Sunday at the Barbados Festival of Speed.

Jeffrey, a two-time Caribbean Motor Racing Champion (CMRC), used all his experience to churn out a second place finish in his debut in series while young Ming rebounded from mechanical failures to place third.

Speaking to Guyana Times Sport, a team member of Top Power Racing, a team of which Jeffrey is attached, explained that “on Saturday, the qualifying did not go well, as the radiator broke and leaked out all the water in qualifying and he only got one lap in qualifying and ended up at 7th on

to pass him on the outside of corner two and Abbot pushed him wide and into the gravel trap.

In giving further details of the Jeffrey’s performance,

Calvin Ming in his SR3 radical on his track (Calvin Ming Photo)

the team member explained that “Kristian rejoined the race in last position and the race ended with him in last but Race two was a reverse of the grid and he started in position two on the grid”.

It is understood that the

Kristian Jeffrey (centre) along with his father Kevin Jeffrey (left) and a member of Top Power Racing (Top Power Racing Photo)

the grid for Sunday’s race”.

During his first race Jeffery started in seventh but quickly fought his way into fifth position as he quickly caught the Radical test driver of Jeff Abbot but Kristian made a move

times.

Maloney eventually took second from Jeffery, as the Guyanese was fighting an faulty car which was set for dry conditions and the track

tack was damp in places and the race started with Abbot in the lead, Jeffery in second and Mark Maloney in third positions. The pair of Jeffery and Maloney were in a heated battle, with both drivers swapping positions a few

was damp in certain parts.

Maloney eventually ran-off the track which allowed Jeffery to regain second place while Ming for the most part was not in the top three, finished in third.

Ming, who is also a F1 and F4 series driver, revealed to this publication that it was a “tough weekend at the festival of speed in Barbados. Following up from car problems in qualifying as well as in race 1 we made the switch back to the 2012 model radical. Starting from the back of the grid due to the car change we were able to put our heads down to make some amazing passes to secure the final spot on the podium”.

The main attraction on Sunday surely was the trill three-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton gave the fans at Bushy Park in an exhibition drive, in his very own Mercedes Benz (18,000 RPM). (akeemg@ guyanatimesgy.com)

Community Development Fund Project closer to reality

T

he much anticipated Community Development Fund Project (CDFP) orchestrated by the National Sports Commission (NSC) seems to closer to taking effect, as Director of Sport Christopher Jones explained that submissions for the works on the grounds have been received and it is now at the stage of approval.

Jones said “we would have received the submission for the grounds that would have been identified in all the regions; that is what we currently have and that is what is before the tender board and once the tender board has approved, those respective contractors will commence works.”

The concept behind the project is to revamp the aspect of sports at the grassroots level in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and Village Councils.

Christopher Jones

The project is set to be some $300M annually and the Sports Director was previously reported saying that “$10M is about the minimum that we can spend if we want to achieve the truly multipurpose space which caters for several different disciplines and of course priority is on lights at every one of the locations”.

In his recent interview with Guyana Times Sport

he explained because of the hefty sum to be allocated for the developmental work, it would require various procedural requirements.

“The Ministry [Education] would have advised us that because of the sum; previously it was a million dollars and we up to 10 million, so because of the value of the sum, we now have to get three submissions from three contractors and so forth and based on those submissions, the one with the best bid will win the contractual commencement award,” the Director explained.

Only recently at the NSC annual awards, Jones vented that “no longer must athletes who work from 8am to 4:30 pm have to run home to put in work at community centre grounds that lacks the basic facility of lights”; and the initiation of this project will provide athletes now with that opportunity.

22

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

tuesDAY, may 10, 2016

Guyana ready for round Fraser’s magic one of Tri-Nation Series GFF/Stag Elite League Finale

I

n less than four weeks, the Providence Stadium in Guyana will be the venue for the first round of the upcoming 2016 One Day International Tri-Nation series with Australia, South Africa and home team, West Indies, Three matches have been scheduled for Guyana, before the series moves to St. Kitts and then the final in Barbados. “This has come at a great time for Guyana as we have not hosted any international matches in two years; and we are celebrating 50 years of independence,” said Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB’s) Secretary, Anand Sanasie Sanasie, who is also a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Director, said “tremendous work has been put in to host an entire month of celebrations in May. The wicket at Providence is in great shape with excellent grass growth as many of our regional teams would have observed during the just concluded regional four-day.

Accommodation is ready and the other requirements are falling into place.”

He added that “the GCB has the capacity to host and we take pride in our execution. We have already established the necessary

committees and the point persons have experience with hosting international cricket events. There is collaboration between all enti-

Anand Sanasie

ties to ensure that we are all on the same page.”

The Director is reporting that the GCB has the full support of the Sports and Tourism ministries, and because of the Independence celebrations, “we expect great crowd support.”

On winning the awards from the National Sports Commission, Sanasie thinks the development programme instituted three years is reaping benefits. Credit has

been given to the new franchise setup of the WICB “which I think has enhanced our work with the Academy and will provide a secure pathway for youngsters serious about taking up cricket as a career. Despite the many challenges we were able to forge ahead and, given the current environment, I am hoping that things will get better.”

Sanasie is sure Guyana will continue to dominate the region in all categories and formats as there is a comprehensive plan of action in place. He also stated that in three years he is hoping for the franchise system to be at a level where all teams are fully sponsored and local franchise players can earn a decent living.

He also wants more nationals in the WI elite squad. “In three years we should be in a much better position than we are now,” he ended.

The matches slated for Guyana will be played on June 3rd, 5th and 7th, after which matches move to St. Kitts and Nevis and then Barbados for the finals.

When the GCB was contacted, and official revealed that a new ticketing process will be implemented and sales are expected to begin next week.

Trophy Stall annual badminton tourney serves off Wednesday

T

he Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) has once again teamed up with the benevolent sport agency, Trophy Stall, to stage the annual age group badminton tournament.

Set to serve off on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the competition will attract rivalry in the Under-11, 13 and 17 categories, as well as the Open Single.

Games will be played from 17:00h to 20:00h on

Wednesday and from 09:30h to 12:30h on Saturday when the category finals will be held.

The GBA, in a press statement, said it is extremely pleased that Trophy Stall's Managing Director Ramesh Sunich came on board in supporting the sport again this year.

Trophies will be given to the top three finishers in each division.

“The tournament, which will run for one week, al-

ready has 40 entries in the different ages and it is expected to be a very competitive and exciting tournament. Players are asked to be on time and dressed in sportswear. All rules will be in effect,” president of the Guyana Badminton Association, Gokarn Ramdhani, stated.

Among the top players to grace the floor is Narayan Ramdhani, the 2015 national junior sportsman of the year.

Hinds wins last stage of Grand Prix in Suriname

G

uyanese Cyclist Orville Hinds won the last stage from Albina to Paramaribo, as part of the second Grand Prix de la Regional in Suriname on Sunday. The Grand Prix de la Regional is a distance of over 600 km in four stages between Iracoubo, French Guiana and Paramaribo.

However, it was Martinique rider Hervé Arcade, who on the event in which from the outset, proved to be the best and fastest cyclist of the fourday tournament.

Ninety cyclists from 16 affiliated clubs competed in the tournament in which Arcade was the winner of the yellow jer- Orville Hinds

sey as he was the leader in the overall standings.

The green jersey was awarded to the French Guianese Patrice Ringuet while another French Guianese Christian Lavenette copped the pink jersey, as the leader in the U-23 category.

The Grand Prix was dominated by the French with Suriname and Guyana have each participated as a team. Orville Hinds of Guyana won the last stage with a brilliant late attack. Shaquille Royer has been named the best cyclists in the junior class. Team Suriname consisted of: Orsen Awanna, Shaquille Royer, Ruben Vismale, Jaleel Macrooy and Kenrick Sahadeo.

powers GDF to victory over Monedderlust - Pedro’s double gives Fruta Conquerors win over GFC

D

Delroy Fraser

elroy Fraser’s magical performance propelled the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to a resounding 4-2 win over Monedderlust in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Elite League Finale on Sunday at the Track and Field Facility, Leonora.

Fraser, who plays in the attacking midfield position, put his team in the lead with a goal in the 16th minute, followed by another in the 26th, as the soldiers were in total control until the opposition’s Keron McDonald hit a double in the space of two minutes (36th and 38th) to level the scores at half time.

After the break, both sides continued to force for another goal but nothing

materialised until Fraser used his magic once more to find the back of the net in the 75th and break the deadlock.

Fraser’s fourth goal in the 86th pummelled the Monedderlust to their ninth loss in thirteen matches as the Berbice side sit in the penultimate position on the table of the eight teams.

The match certainly had more in it for GDF as their fifth win means they are locked on points with Pele FC for the fourth place position but a superior goal difference give Pele the edge.

In the other match of the double header, Fruta Conquerors rebounded from their horrific performance against Slingerz FC, which they lost 8-1, to win against a spirited Georgetown Football Club (GFC) .

A double by Hubert Pedro, gave their side 2-0 victory and also their tenth win of the Finale which should see them finishing in the second place.

Pedro’s first goal came five minutes into the game, from a classical free-kick that found the back of the net. The men from Bourda did not seem too phased by the early set back as they

Hubert Pedro

rallied effortlessly to find an equaliser but to no avail.

The first half eventually ended in the favour of the men in orange.

Pedro struck once more in the 80th minute to seal the win for his team, which meant GFC horrific season continued as they were now on the receiver’s end of an eleventh loss in thirteen matches to occupy the cellar position on the table.

The League continues on Monday May 16 at the Tucville ground where another double header is set to unfold when GDF play GFC from 18:30 hrs and then the home side Fruta Conquerors play Pele FC from 20:30 hrs.

RHTY&SC cricket teams and DTV8 honour outstanding mothers

T

hree outstanding mothers were honoured on Saturday last as Mothers of the Year 2016 when the cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) M.S and Dave Television station hosted their annual Tribute to Region Six Mothers Programme.

The three mothers honoured were Kavita Ramnarain of Courtland Village, Dhanwatie Utan of Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice, and Malinda Forde of Essex Street, New Amsterdam.

They were chosen by a panel of judges after children from across Region Six had submitted essays on the topic “Why my mother is the best role model to me.”

Each of the awardees received a trophy, Medal of Excellence and a collection of special gifts.

Secretary/CEO of the RHTYSC, M.S, Hilbert Foster congratulated the three mothers on being a good parent and role model to their children.

The long-standing Secretary/CEO urged the awardees to uphold their high standard of parenting and also share their vast experience to other parents in Berbice.

Foster noted that a good parent needs to have the virtues of discipline, patience, understanding and faith in god and noted that the RHTY&SC, M.S, is successful because of the role, parents play in the lives of its membership.

Nothing that Guyana

is facing a major breakdown of moral behaviour and a rise of crime, drug abuse and suicide, the experienced youth administration urged parents to be the best role models to their children and to teach them the correct way of life where honest y is the Keyword.

CEO of DTV-8, Anita Rambarran, hailed the outstanding relationship, the RHTY&SC, M.S, and her company has and noted that the Tribute to Mothers Programme started in 2008.

She congratulated the mothers and stated that the programme would be expanded for its 10th edition in 2017. The three mothers extended gratitude to the cricket teams of the club and DTV-8 for honouring them and making Mother’s Day 2016 a memorable one.

SS Jaguars, G Square Cavaliers book final spots

S

ans Souci Jaguars and G Square Cavaliers have secured their places in the final of the Kelly Andrews T20 tournament after recording victories in the respective semi finals matches played recently in Wakenaam.

Sans Souci Jaguars defeated Good Success by four wickets at the Wakenaam

Community Centre ground.

Batting first, Good Success were bowled out for 80 with Gurnauth Khemraj scoring 20; Nokta Moses claimed 2-10 and Siddiq Mohamed 2-15. The Jaguars responded with 81-6 in 14.3 overs.

Moses scored 24; Vickram Ramnarine snared 3-18.

G Square Cavaliers overcame Sans Souci by two wick-

ets at the said venue. Sans Souci took first knock and managed 117 all out in 18.2 overs.

Wayne Osbourne struck 24 and Devon Rambarran 23; Somnauth Prashad captured 2-17.

G Square Cavaliers scored 118-8 in 19.2 overs in reply.

Bali Scott got 35 and Kamal Khan 25; Osbourne took 2-21.

guyana-times.com

tuesDAY, may 10 2016

The National School Basketball Festival…

23

‘A’ Division Jubilee Futsal set for May 14

BHS blow out Saints, T Marian Academy, Plaisance and GTI among winners T

he National School Basketball Festival, Georgetown and East Coast Regionals’ continued on Saturday May 7, 2016 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. In first game of the Girl’s segment Marian Academy dismantled St Stanislaus College 16-2 with Jada Mohan leading the way for Marian Academy with 8 points and 2 steals while Georginna Vyphuis added 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Natesha Seymour scored St Stanislaus lone 2 points and

performance scoring 29 points with 3 steals. Akeem Crandon had a double-double for President’s College with 13 points and 13 rebounds but it wasn’t enough for his side to salvage a victory.

In the final match-ups of the day, the U-19 category would see GTI, St Stanislaus College and Marian Academy all coming out victorious. GTI topped President’s College 49-33.

GTI’s Nathan Saul led all scorers with 17 points while

The female category of the National School Basketball Festival is proving to be very competitive

grabbed 2 rebounds.

The second match-up saw St Roses High defeating President’s College 16- 4.

Jada Amerally and Jamaica Blair paved the way for the victors with 6 points each.

Destinie Mc Donald and Annalisa Barclay were the only scorers for President’s College with 2 points each.

In the Male U-16 games The Bishops’ High School (BHS) and Plaisance Secondary both picked up victories. BHS blew-out St Stanislaus College 36-11 with Webster Macre putting up 9 points and grabbing 6 rebounds while Stefan Hamilton scored 7 points.

Brandon Friday scored for 6 points for the losing side.

Meanwhile, in an exciting affair Plaisance Secondary edged President’s College 33-30 to come away with an overtime victory. The Plaisance side who trailed for most of the game stormed back to defeat President’s college in overtime behind Andrew Johnson’s clutch

Kerwin Griffith and Keon Marks both picked up 10 points. Kadeem Peterkin was President’s college top scorer with 8 points, Anton Fileen added 6 points and had 4 steals.

St Stanislaus would defeat Queen’s College (QC) 39-22 behind Travis Belgrave solid game with 15 points and 9 rebounds, Kadeem Bowen’s also contributed with 11 points while Anfernee Headecker’s scored 10 points. Omari Joseph scored 11 points for QC and Damani Thomas had 7 points and 6 rebounds.

Finally, Marian Academy defeated The Bishops’ High 32-27 with Jonathan Mangra leading all scorers with 11 points for Marian Academy. Timothy Thompson and Makhail Broomes both scored 7 points for Bishops’.

The Tournament is sponsored by Digicel, Edward B. Beharry and Company Ltd under the Champion Brand and Banks DIH LTD under the Powerade banner.

hirteen Guyana Police Force Youth groups will battle for the Commander Hicken’s trophy at the annual ‘A’ Division 10 a-side Jubilee futsal competition on Saturday May 14 at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.

The under – 14 knockout competition which caters for both boys and girls will kick off at 9 am is usually full of action and this year is set to be no different.

The youth-group teams that are set to compete are Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke, Diamond, Grove, Mocca, Agricola, Riverview, Albouystown, Central Georgetown, Tiger Bay, Sophia, Alberttown, and East Ruimveldt.

Other than the Commander Hicken’s championship trophy there are other trophies to be won for both male and female categories.

The Superintendent Anthony Vanderhyden trophy will go to the second placed teams while the superintendent Desiree Fowler Trophies will be for the most disci-

‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hickens poses with one of the trophies

plined players. The Assistant Superintendent Althea Scipio trophy will go to the tournaments’ most valuable players (MVP’s) and the Sergeant Paula Lewis trophy is for the players who scores the most goals in the fe,ale category with the Chief Inspector Lennox Barrington trophy for the male with the most goals.

Speaking to Guyana Times Spor, the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) President Commander Clifton Hickens said that the annual tournament brought forward this year to coincide with Guyana’s 50th Golden Jubilee celebrations is part of the police ‘A’ Division programme of promoting posi-

tive activities for the youths in the communities.

Sponsors of the tournament are Hits & Jams Entertainment, Star Party Rentals, Sandy’s Funeral Home and the Trophy Stall.

Tiger Bay Youth Group are the defending champions for both male and female categories.

tuesDAY, May 10, 2016

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

Guyana ready for round one of Tri-Nation Series

GFF/Stag Elite League Finale

Fraser’s magic powers GDF to victory over Monedderlust - Pedro’s double gives Fruta Conquerors win over GFC

Pg 22

Pg 22

Fruta Conquerors Jahaal Greaves (orange shirt) on the ball against GFC

International cricket is set to return to the National Stadium after some two years

The National School Basketball Festival…

Trophy Stall annual BHS blow out Saints, Marian badminton tourney Academy, Plaisance and serves off Wednesday GTI among winners Pg 23

Pg 22 Devi Sunich of Trophy Stall, Junior Sportsman of the year Narayan Ramdhani, GBA representative Marlon Chung and some junior players display a few of the trophies that are up for grabs

Bishop’s Timothy Thompson (green) attempting to block Marian Academy’s Jordan Alphonso (white) during the U-19 clash.

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