Guyana Times Daily

2

DAYS

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyana-times.com

Issue No. 2865

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Govt backpedals on VAT reduction promise Page 3

Babita Sarjou's remains

Relatives identify clothing found in shallow grave Page 8

Police investigating fisherman's death Page 7

PRICE

$80 vat included

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Rohee praises Blanhum for crime solving …credits Police/civilian collaboration for success

P7

$1, $5 coins to be pulled from circulation P2

-“it has run its course” – BoG Governor

Govt still P17 mulling strategies to address unemployment InselAir P2 opens up Caribbean, US markets via Boa Vista

The Education Ministry on Monday held a flag-raising ceremony in honour of Guyana’s Golden Jubilee of Independence. The event was held at the Georgetown Department of Education, 68 Brickdam under the theme “Together we celebrate our 50th Anniversary: The Golden Jubilee”. Following the event, 50 golden balloons were released into the sky

GMC audit fingers frm GM now GRDB head

Page 12

– Director Rahman demands dismissal

Sugar not as sweet anymore – Finance Minister

Page 11

17-year-old US-based P13 Guyanese scholar meets President

Independence float parade to move off P10 from Stabroek Square

2 news

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

InselAir opens up Caribbean, US markets via Boa Vista

I

nternational carrier InselAir will start operating flights from Boa Vista to Georgetown, beginning July 4, 2016.

InselAir’s friendly and multilingual staff in combination with a comfortable ‘Regional 70’ jet will take you quickly and conveniently from Boa Vista to Georgetown in 65 minutes.

On board, passengers have the possibility to win back their ticket in Insel StarMiles during the famous and unique Onboard Raffle.

Passengers enjoy luggage allowance of one free checked bag and ample legroom. Comfort Class passengers enjoy, among others, pre-boarding, access to business lounges, extra legroom and extra luggage allowance.

Tickets can be purchased at any InselAir ticket office Eduardo Gomes– Manaus International Airport, via local and online travel agents and via www. fly-inselair.com.

Passengers from Boa

Destination

– BoG Governor

T

Guyana’s $1 and $5 coins

and St Maarten are now easily accessible through InselAir’s hub in Curacao.

Furthermore, InselAir offers its passengers one free stopover, making it easy and attractive for passengers to combine two destinations.

Since 2006 InselAir has grown to be one of the best airlines in providing international flexible connec-

Days

Aruba, in combination with its extensive network destinations, InselAir provides passengers great connectivity.

InselAir’s interline partnerships (which include, amongst others, Air Berlin, KLM/Air France, Winair, Avianca and GOL) and code shares (KLM/Air France) add further value to this connectivity, allow-

Departure

Arrival

Boa Vista - Georgetown

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

8:00

9:05

Georgetown - Curaçao

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

10:00

12:05

Vista can conveniently and seamlessly connect to InselAir’s extensive network of 26 destinations in the PanAmerican region. In just 120 minutes from Georgetown destinations such as Miami, Santo Domingo

$1, $5 coins to be pulled from circulation … “it has run its course”

tivity to North and South America as well as the Caribbean region.

Due to frequent flights and very short flight time between InselAir’s homebase Curaçao and its hub in

ing its passengers to connect throughout the world.

InselAir is the largest Caribbean-based airline and expects to carry 1.4 million passengers this year, employs around 750 people, of-

fers approximately 70 daily flights to 26 destinations and plans to grow to 30 destinations in 2016.

InselAir’s fleet consist of 18 aircraft (7 x McDonnell Douglas, 3 x Fokker 70, 6 x Fokker 50 and 2 x Embraer Bandeirante) and is adding more aircraft to its fleet in 2016.

Destinations in South America include: Manaus, Boa Vista, Georgetown, Paramaribo, Caracas, Barquisimeto, Las Piedras, Maracaibo, Valencia, Barranquilla, Medellin, Quito and destinations in the Caribbean include Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Havana, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara, Camaguey, St Maarten, Port-of-Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Portau-Prince, Kingston and Miami in the USA.

he $1 and $5 coins will soon be out of circulation, Bank of Guyana Governor, Dr Gobind Ganga announced during a press conference shared with Finance Minister Winston Jordan on Monday.

According to Ganga, the $1 and $5 coins have run their course, having been in circulation for a number of years. He highlighted that there is a high possibility of the $1 coin being eliminated altogether since “there is no more need for it”. With regard to the $5 coin being eliminated, Ganga said that this will have to be a carefully analysed decision since the public was yet to become fully knowledgeable about the decimal system.

However, there was no

date specified for the discontinuation of these coins.

“We are currently looking at the feasibility of eliminating the $1 which obviously has lived its life already. There is no more need for that. We are looking at the $5, but we have to be very careful because we do have the decimal system that people have to be educated about. In terms of when you try to go to the nearest dollar. The structure of the coins is being looked at,” the Governor of Bank of Guyana said.

Due to high inflation in 1996, the $1, $5, and $10 coins were introduced. The $1 and $5 coins are struck in copper-plated steel, whilst the $10 is struck in nickel-plated steel and has an equilateral-curved heptagonal shape.

news

3

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Tuesday, May 24 – 05:00h-06:30h and Wednesday, May 25 – 05:00h-06:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Tuesday, May 24 – 05:35h-07:05h and Wednesday, May 25 – 06:05h-07:35h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

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

Thundery showers can again be expected in the evening. Temperatures are expected to range between 25 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-easterly between 3.12 metres per second and 6.25 metres per second.

High Tide: 05:44h and 18:12h reaching maximum heights of 2.68 metres and 2.54 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 11:45h and 23:58h reaching minimum heights of 0.53 metre and 0.71 metre respectively.

Govt backpedals on VAT reduction promise

G

overnment appears to be dragging its heels on its long-delayed manifesto promise to significantly reduce the rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on consumer items – within 100 days of taking office.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan, during a press conference on Monday, posited that the Administration had practically done all that was possible in relation to alleviating the burden of VAT and any more changes would require extensive consultations and possible repercussions.

Jordan pointed out that Government has already implemented an extension to the zero-rated VAT items in both Budget 2015 and Budget 2016.

“There is virtually nothing more left to reduce on,” the Minister declared.

Further justifying the Government’s decision to not keep its campaign promise, Jordan also insisted that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) advised against VAT reduction during the budget consultations.

The Finance Minister conceded, however, that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition did indeed promise a significant reduction in the VAT rate, but indicated that there was a slim likelihood of this occurring without any consequences.

“This is a commitment that we intend to uphold, but it’s a commitment that we want to be sure when we do it, we won’t have to hastily pull it back … We cannot reduce VAT on existing base, we have to broaden the base to recoup revenues that will be lost…We want to do it in a careful manner so that when we do it, we won’t have to go back and increase it or something,” he explained, though this was never disclosed on the campaign trail.

Jordan highlighted that there were various options for reducing VAT, one being a charge on consumer items like electricity and water as a trade-off for an across-theboard reduction.

“What we would want to

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

do is have the widest possible consultations ,because some of the options that you have is putting the VAT on some things that could cause trouble and then you will hear, you know, I said it the last time that you have to bring into the mix, things like water that doesn’t attract VAT at the moment, electricity that doesn’t attract VAT at the moment…If you remember in Trinidad and Tobago, when they reduced the rate, they broadened the base …

They removed all the exemptions, so even baby food attracted VAT…We have to be prepared for what is doable and what may not be doable,” he stated.

Nonetheless, he assured that Cabinet was discussing the matter and any changes to the VAT system were likely to come on stream in 2017.

Providing assistance to Guyana in this regard is the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the Finance Minister, a mission will be dispatched to Guyana to conduct an assessment of the VAT structure in the country and make recommendations on how to proceed to implement changes.

The Tax Reform Committee was established

by Government to conduct a similar assessment, but, according to Jordan, the members probably did not perform an adequate task.

Nonetheless, he lauded the work done by the Committee and noted that the other recommendations made were before Cabinet for discussions.

Audit cases hindered by fearful witnesses – Ramjattan – contradicts president’s statement on insufficient evidence

P

Saturday, May 21, 2016

LOTTERY NUMBERS E 02 05 06 08 12 14 16 Bonus Ball

FREE TICKET

MONDAY, MAY 23, 2016 Daily Millions

02 10 16 22 23 LUCKY 3 7

1

9

Draw De Line 01 02 07 13 17

19 20

DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902

ublic Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said Monday that moves to prosecute persons who were said to be culpable of financial transgressions discovered by audits is being slowed by fearful witnesses, a statement which starkly contradicts previous utterances of President David Granger, who had declared that the audits provided insufficient evidence to support prosecution, according to the Government information Agency (GINA).

Ramjattan, made the comment on Monday at the Golden Jubilee, National Symposia Series, underway at the Arthur Chung International Convention Centre (ACICC), after he was asked about the apparent lack of prosecutions and sloth in prosecuting errant public officials named in the audits.

However, he assured that government was profound on bringing those responsible for impropriety to justice: “Minister (Jennifer) Westford has been charged and that’s pending. The trial is going on as I understand.

There is somebody with her who has been charged. The fellow from GPL, Aeshwar Deonarine has been charged

President David Granger

and Mr Carvil Duncan has been charged, prosecution is going on there. We have asked the Canadian Royal Mounted Police to find Mr Aeshwar Deonarine (former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Administration), they are going to find him soon and he is going to be sent back here,” the GINA quoted Ramjattan as saying.

Ramjattan stated that a number of the audits made recommendations that there should be police investigations, however the absence of a witness protection programme locally is confounding the prosecution’s efforts.

“A lot of the witnesses that gave their evidence to the auditors are scared like hell to give their evidence to

the police now, knowing that those fellows that they might bring to court, know that they can suffer at their hands,” he stated.

Ramjattan said while government will not force persons to testify in court, he made clear government’s position on the audits: “This administration will never allow stolen monies to remain with those who have stolen those monies.

We are going to get them back, and that is why we have set up this SARU (State Assets Recovery Unit).”

Contradiction

However, the vice president’s comments conflict President Granger’s previous pronouncements that there is insufficient evidence for prosecution.

President Granger, during his weekly telecast, “The Public Interest” on Friday said that despite several of the audits point to corrupt practices, prosecution will be difficult since the evidence may be lacking or the persons culpable may have already left the jurisdiction or are citizens of other countries, making the process an arduous one.

The President said the

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan

main function of some of these reports is to prevent recurrence or the continuation of any improper or corrupt practice: “Where the evidence is available, we will do prosecutions in the court, but we don’t want to use those audits as a sort of tool for witchhunting.”

The government spent a whopping $113 million on these audits and was confident it will unearth evidence of mass corruption and siphoning of state funds by the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration. However, the PPP/C has always maintained there is no evidence to suggest that persons were engaging in corruption.

4

guyana-times.com

TuesdAY, may 24, 2016

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 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

Good citizens I

n the past few months as the buildup to the Independence Jubilee celebrations intensified, there have been several interventions from older Guyanese bemoaning what they consider a fall in civic standards.

At the most mundane level, but perhaps as a symptom of deeper systemic contradictions, is the fall in the etymologically related value of “civility”.

As man moved from the “state of nature” where life was “nasty, brutish and short” to one in which “right” did not necessarily emanate from “might” but rather from acting in accordance with rules of behaviour commonly agreed to in forming the “state”, it was expected that some of the “brutish” behaviours would have been jettisoned.

What then has caused this apparent reversion towards the “state of nature”?

We can examine our starting point: the colonial society in which the informal mores and norms were followed more rigorously and the laws of the colonial state that solidified the moral rules by applying sanctions if they were transgressed, were also followed more strictly. How is it that we have not been able to replicate that state of affairs after independence?

Perhaps it is because of how independence was delivered to us: it was clear to all citizens there was a tremendous gap between what was supposed to be the morality of governance and what was actually done.

In most of the analyses about “independence”, officials have generally elided the fact that we were clearly pawns in a new “great game” between the new “big powers” the USA and USSR. The terms of the “independence” that was handed to us, were not necessarily in line with the preached morality and to that extent denied legitimacy to the successors of the colonial state and their mores, values and laws.

The people of Guyana had lived together in a generally peaceful manner even though there were some strains between the descendants of the several groups that had been brought into the colony to provide labour for the sugar plantations.

It was the US and its CIA that precipitated riots to oust the PPP from office because the latter had sympathies and connections with communist USSR and their ideology.

The subsequent changing of the electoral rules from “First Past the Post” to “Proportional Representation” to achieve the ouster, while sanctimoniously claiming it furthered “democracy”, made a whole generation very cynical about the laws that undergirded the very foundation of their state.

Subsequent manipulation of the electoral laws and even the constitution of the country did not do anything to recapture the loss of faith in the laws of the land. But the “civic culture” that creates good citizens are not only formed from the external negative imperatives of the laws that are enforced by the coercive arms of the state.

Even more fundamentally, they are formed by the internal controls instilled by the family, schools and communities in which the citizens are socialised into practicing the values of the society as “common sense”.

But as families suffered discrimination and persecution for their political beliefs, as they suffered privations also from loss of jobs due to the implosion of the economy, parents themselves were pushed into dysfunctional behaviours that spoke louder to their children than their words. Schools perform optimally when they can assure their charges that education can deliver status and improvement in their standards of living. This they failed to do for decades and it should surprise no one that the students - especially boys - became very sceptical of “education”.

Finally, communities, in which groups volunteer to be part of religious and social organisations that also powerfully transmitted civic values of cooperation and harmony, also faced strains that challenged their functionality.

Today, if Guyana is to recapture that “old time” civil spirit, change must start from the top. The government in charge of the state must act in such a manner than all citizens would be convinced the laws are just.

Students of St Stanislaus College dressed in cultural wear representing Guyana's six peoples as the school observes culture day to mark the country’s 50th Jubilee of Independence

Duplicity in the date chosen for Guyana’s independence Dear Editor, The independence anniversary of any country is a major landmark, not to speak of its golden jubilee, and currently there are widespread signs of celebration and enthusiasm, clearly evident in, at least, one section of our population.

We now know of the duplicity and machinations of the American and British governments along with the connivance of the PNC to overthrow the PPP and to deny Cheddi Jagan opportunity to lead the nation into independence. This is now commonly accepted history.

In many parts of the then colonial world independence came after long, bitter and often bloody struggles, but in our case the bloodshed, in the 1960s, that heralded our independence was that of the two principal ethnic groups since by that time our politics had already become irremediably split along ethnic lines. I know that much energy has gone into establish-

ing who started the killings and who merely retaliated as if this, in and of itself, would absolve any group of its complicity and involvement.

The fact of the matter is that by the time independence finally came we had experienced one of the bloodiest periods in the country’s history occasioned by ancient ethnic insecurities and fears and fuelled by the dominant international powers that had a control of the hemisphere and their indigenous collaborators. The wounds were still fresh in 1966.

Given the ethnic political polarization of the country, the jubilation and triumphalism in one section of the population contrasted with the sense of loss, foreboding and humiliation in the other, May 26, 1966 was seen not only as initiating freedom from Britain, but also as one ethnic group triumphing over the other.

In most countries political parties that lose elections quickly get reconciled with

their loss and continue with their business. In the case of Guyana, however, there was a prolonged struggle to “oppose, expose and depose” the PPP after the general elections of 1961. Racial tensions prevalent during the elections campaign worsened in the years immediately after engulfing the entire nation.

One of the places in Guyana that became the deadliest theatre for the conflict was Wismar, later to become Linden. A staggering number of more than 1600 Indians were forced to flee the town in the biggest refugee movement, with the usual atrocities, ever seen anywhere in the Caribbean. The climax and culmination of this dreadful episode was 26 May 1964.

It was to commemorate this day of victory that 26 May was chosen as Guyana’s Independence Day. The brutality and humiliation that was inflicted on the Indian population on those few fateful days in Wismar in May

Conflict of interest

Dear Editor, On the matter of conflict of interest in government ministries, another ministry I am urging the anticorruption watchdog group Transparency Institute of Guyana (TIGI) to investigate is the ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs.

A principal regional offi-

cer is the owner of an indigenous restaurant situated on Waterloo Street.

This officer is using his position at the ministry to devour all of the ministry’s catering contracts for Amerindian dishes with the endorsement of senior officials there and has excluded other Amerindians who

depended on catering contracts who are now no longer asked to provide catering services for Amerindian heritage month celebrations and other functions.

Is vice-president and minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock not aware of what is taking place right in the ministry

1964 was our first successful attempt at ethnic cleansing.

But far more dreadful things have happened in other parts of the world, and broken and dehumanised people have been able to pull themselves together and move on, and even triumph in the end.

Given the more than fifty years that have intervened since our hour of shame, we too could have transcended those dark days. But by selecting 26 May as the date for our independence, when alternative dates were suggested, the powers that be wanted to ensure that Indians never forget their collective humiliation and their tenuous place in this society.

Commemorating independence on 26 May is also celebrating the 26 May Wismar atrocities against Indians. After all, wasn’t this what was intended, a perennial reminder of what can happen again?

Swami Aksharananda

he heads?

In the meanwhile TIGI needs to launch an investigation into the conflict of interest situation of a senior public servant at the ministry of Indigenous Peopless Affairs.

Yours faithfully, Edward Bristoll

guyana-times.com

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016

5

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Williams mistaken on death penalty and FATF

Dear Editor, The Attorney General Basil Williams is absolutely mistaken about the death penalty being a requirement for FATF compliance. During the PPP time in Government, with the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill in the Parliament, the then APNU and AFC Opposition made many demands that they claimed would address deficits in the Bill, and the death penalty was not one of them. They knew then, as they know now that the death penalty was not a FATF requirement.

When the amendment bill for the Anti-Money Laundering Bill was passed last year, the former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, objected to the death penalty being one of the penalties for offences and Basil Williams never pointed out that the death penalty was included because it was a FATF requirement. Incidentally, all of Europe is FATF compliant and they all have abolished the death penalty. Suriname last year abolished the death penalty. Is Mr Williams saying that Suriname will never be FATF compliant? In insisting that FATF requires Guyana to

include the death penalty for offences, is Mr Williams telling us that FATF has a double standard, having requirements for nations like those in Europe different from the requirements Guyana must meet?

The onus is now on the Attorney General to prove to citizens by pointing out the FATF instrument where the death penalty is a requirement for compliance. I am certain he and APNU/AFC must have good arguments why they favour the death penalty for offences under the Anti-Money Laundering legislation. But using FATF as an excuse and a shield demonstrate that the AG does not feel confident that he could justify inclusion of the death penalty. But even a poor justification for inclusion of the death penalty would be better than lying.

It is absolutely a scurrilous effort to smear FATF. FATF is a global organisation that nations under the UN established to stem the growing tide of money laundering and terrorism. These same countries that agree to establishing FATF also, under the United Nations Human Rights

Commission (UNHRC), insist that countries abolish the death penalty. Guyana is one country that has not yet complied with the UNHRC's mandate and Guyana is, in fact, one of the countries under review for flouting this significant global human rights mandate.

The 10th Parliament had established a special select committee to ensure Guyana comply with the global requirement to abolish the death penalty. I was a member of that committee. So were the present Prime Minister and the present and past Attorney Generals. The 11th Parliament has so far turned its back on moving Guyana towards compliance and now the AG is trying to justify, through a complete misrepresentation, why Guyana is not making any meaningful effort to reach compliance on the global agreement to abolish the death penalty.

Truth is APNU/AFC seems to be on a pathway of maximum administrative delays to defy the UN's instruction to abolish the death penalty.

The 11th Parliament and the APNU/AFC Government ap-

pear disinterested in addressing the non-compliance issue with the global movement to abolish the death penalty.

When the Attorney General ingeniously informs us that Cabinet has not discussed the death penalty and taken a position, how truthful could this be? Did Cabinet not approve the amendment bill for the Anti-Money Laundering Act that the AG and his colleagues railroaded through Parliament in 2015? That amendment bill, included the death penalty for several offences, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Surely, they had to have discussed the death penalty and had to discuss reconciling this action vs meeting the UNHRC mandate!

After being placed on the UNHRC's list of countries under review for human rights deficits, specifically to eliminate laws permitting the death penalty, corporal punishment of children in schools and laws discriminating against LGBT, Guyana established a special select committee of the 10th Parliament to ensure recommendations for Guyana to be in conformity with the UN human rights platform.

Extensive hearings were held to discuss the way forward in dealing with the death penalty.

A year into the 11th Parliament, Guyana has compounded the problem by further adding to the penalties that require the mandatory death sentence. Guyana, in fact, worsened its non-compliance with the UNHRC mandate when it included the death penalty in the AntiMoney Laundering Act for an additional eight offences, the most anywhere in the world.

But there is really no reason for Guyana to continue to have a law that allows the death penalty, particularly since it is rarely ever used anymore and for those on death row, the death penalty has been honoured in the breach.

Guyana's last judicial execution occurred in 1997, almost two decades ago.

As of May 2016, 102 countries have abolished the death penalty all together, including Suriname, which abolished the death penalty in 2015, and Haiti, which abolished it in 1987. Six other countries have abolished it, but retained the death penalty for exceptional

or special circumstances, such as wartime crimes.

Guyana must not wait to be one of the few "hard ears" countries. The writing is on the wall, the time has come for Guyana to do the right thing and abolish the death penalty. The 11th Parliament must act in haste to bring Guyana in conformity with international laws.

It places the judiciary between a rock and a hard place: the laws of Guyana call for the death penalty, but the Constitution demands that judges take into consideration Guyana's obligations under global treaties, conventions and agreements. As a member of the UN and under the mandate of the UNHRC, our judiciary must give cognisance to these international conventions.

Procrastination in addressing the abolition of the death penalty has no advantage to Guyana. Lying about why we continue to legislate the continuation of the death penalty in Guyana demeans us and make us a rogue nation.

Sincerely, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

Investigation needed into awarding of Region 6 contracts

Dear Editor, There is undoubtedly massive corruption in Region Six when it comes to awarding contracts, the standard of work done under these contracts and the getting of value for money under the procurement of goods and services contracts.

This growing trend will ensure the residents of this Region are grossly shortchanged and economic development negatively affected.

Moreover, there seems to be no political will to arrest this cancerous epidemic which is likely to worsen with this new administration - finances just keep dissipating in a very rapid manner with actually nothing substantial being achieved.

I have seen a few persons, however, who have shown an undying effort to vent their frustration publicly at this growing trend.

I will present a few examples to support this factual claim: There is an endless stream

of ‘emergency’ situations in the health sector which are wilfully created in order to override the tendering process resulting in the enrichment of a few of the boys. This has transpired with amazing alacrity and frequency in the past year.

The recurring ‘emergency’ is the procurement of drugs for the various medical facilities in the Region. It will be foolish to think this ‘emergency’ is not deliberate.

I could recall quite vividly when the previous administration was soundly lambasted for very little infractions. I could recall as well that this Coalition Government claimed to be having the panacea for the problems in the health sector. The question is: why this ’emergency’ situation one year after? This barefaced overriding of the tender rules is to enrich their friends and families and themselves!

I once again reiterate my call for a commission of inquiry into the health sector and to

remove all the ‘square pegs’!

Another example is the awarding of a $2.1 million contract to empty nine septic tanks at the New Amsterdam Hospital. However, a little enquiry will suffice to provide evidence that the emptying of one such tank will cost about $40,000. The total amount should have been about $480,000. Even if this is inflated to $100,000 each then it will still be around $900,000.

To add insult to injury this contract was never tendered.

Again it was single sourced!

It is a fact that we may be in an ‘emergency’ situation when going to the toilet but this emergency to dispose as well is overly imaginative.

Why was this contract not tendered? The answer to this question is obvious.

Then there is the massive spending in the name of the 50thJubilee Independence celebration. This is the most obscene spending spree at a time when the economy is in shambles.

Now, there is an ‘emergency’ cleaning of the roadsides from New Amsterdam to Moleson Creek. Again this is a cleaning programme that should have been in the agenda since the 2016 Budget, hence there should have been more than enough time to tender this work to get a competitive bid and to afford transparency.

However, this work became an ‘emergency’ and the contracts were given to selected persons. The three contracts amounted to $57 million.

Again, if one is to look at

the roadsides it will defy a microscopic investigation to see where this $57 million went!

The roadsides appear as normal - bushy, dirty and the drains clogged and teeming with garbage. Only an infinitesimal amount of work was done in and around New Amsterdam, the approach to the Berbice Bridge, and some hopscotched areas.

Lastly, the El Niño rains have also justified lots of emergency works to the extent that Region 6 may very well be in a situation where is has already expended more monies than was budgeted, but I guess

an ‘emergency supplementary budget’ is already in the making.

If the boys in the previous administration took 23 years to get rich then I will assume that those in the Coalition Government are already there or not too far away!

Fifty years of independence have only made our politicians more greedy than ever for both power and money while the masses have been entrapped in a vicious circle of poverty.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf Councillor, Region Six

6

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

Page

5

guyana-times.com

Foundation

tips for raising money– it’s never too early to encourage smart children caring for others

— children’s money habits are formed by age 7, so it’s important to teach them financial fundamentals early and often

By Angela Harrell

A

recent study from the US National Foundation for Credit Counselling found that 40 per cent of adults gave themselves a grade of C, D, or F on their knowledge of personal finance, and 78 per cent agree that they could benefit from additional advice and answers to everyday financial questions. Given that financial literacy is the basis of successful retirement planning and long-term security, these statistics paint a bleak

age seven. Adults have a great opportunity to shift the paradigm by introducing children early to financial basics. Here are several ways to teach children financial fundamentals that will put them on a path for future success:

Lead by example

You have a great deal of influence on your children, and they tend to mimic your actions. Instil good money habits by limiting the amount of shopping trips as leisure activities, using coupons at the

spending and one for donating. Any time your child earns money by doing chores or receives a cash gift, encourage him to divide the cash equally among the jars. He’ll learn how to manage his money as well as the value of giving back.

Take it to the bank

Many banks allow you to open a savings account with low minimum deposits. A study by the University of Kansas found that children who have early access to savings accounts accumulate more assets

preparing for retirement. Your child can select two or three stocks and track their performance, without you even having to put money on the line. Or, if your child wants to put some skin in the game, help her select and purchase stock in a company she likes or admires.

Tracking stock performance will give your child a sense of the ups and downs of the market. While she may not make a fortune, the experience of gaining and losing money is just as important. (It’s also important to remember that investments are not guaranteed and are subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of principal. The investment return and principal value of the security will fluctuate so that when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original investment. Generally, the greater an investment’s possible reward over time, the greater its level of price volatility, or risk.)

Let them make mistakes

picture.

One of the key ways to reverse the trend with adults is to arm young people with the tools to make smart financial decisions. Research shows that lack of knowledge on personal financial matters can plague youth well into the future.

While teaching financial literacy in our schools is a great step toward preparing future generations to take control of their finances, it’s never too early for parents and caregivers to teach children about money and set them up for financial success. A report issued by the University of Cambridge revealed that children’ money habits are formed by

grocery store and comparing similar products to demonstrate how cost factors into your decision process.

Show your child that, because you saved, you can purchase something special that you would not have been able to purchase otherwise, or save it for an ever bigger purchase in the future.

–an average of US$2000 compared to US$100 for those who did not have a savings account as a child – and are four times more likely to invest in stocks as adults. Opening a savings account for your child also will teach her that money can earn interest, and those earnings, in turn, generate more interest.

Teach saving, giving and spending wisely

Test the stock market waters

Children should learn at an early age that all money should not go into one big spending pot. Use three labelled mason jars to separate money – one for saving, one for

Don’t start off by trying to explain complicated Wall Street concepts, but let your child know that investing is about attempting to make money grow to meet longterm financial goals, like buying a car or house, paying for college or

Do you give your children an allowance or allow them to earn money for extra chores around the house? Giving them small amounts of money provides them with a great opportunity to manage it.

If they make the wrong choice, they’ll experience the negative consequences of their mistake and will learn to make smarter financial decisions in the future.

Talking with your children now and implementing these techniques at a young age will set them up for a brighter financial future. At the same time, as you share these lessons, you might find yourself becoming better educated on these topics and then able to give yourself an A or B on your knowledge of personal finance. (parenting.com)

Continued

By Gail F Melson, PhD

S

o, at a very early age, children begin to acquire a store of knowledge about nurturing babies. But, action doesn’t always reflect what they know. Psychologists call this the “competence-performance” distinction, which often shows itself most dramatically when behaviour doesn’t fit societal expectations or self-identity. We found this when we videotaped two- to five-year olds in an unstructured session with a six-eight-month-old baby and his or her mother.

In the play room, we asked the mothers to quietly read a magazine in the corner, while we watched to see how the young child would interact with the baby.

The babies were fascinated by the older children and did their best to engage them. An interesting pattern emerged when we looked at how the older boys and girls behaved. Girls were much more engaged than boys with the baby, looking, talking, staying in face-toface contact and asking the mother about the baby, especially if the baby was female. Other research confirms that while boys and girls are equally knowledgeable and confident about caring for a baby, when it comes to behaviour, girls are more interested and involved.

We interpret these findings in terms of developing gender roles. It may seem surprising that before age five, children already asso-

ciate nurturing babies with the feminine gender role, but they do.

In our interview study, even preschoolers described an adult female as someone who “cares for” and “loves” a baby more than an adult male. This suggests that nurturance may become associated with gender roles from an early age. The effect may be to encourage girls and discourage boys from developing their caring side.

If such an effect persists, this is discouraging news, since engaged nurturing is needed from both men and women in our society.

The results made us continue to look for ways that boys as well as girls could be involved with nurturance of others throughout childhood.

That search took us to pets and other animals under human care. Pets share many of the same characteristics as human babies. (In fact, many pet owners view their pets as their special “babies.”) These animals are inherently dependent upon the human family in which they find themselves for physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Their human caretakers have a special bond that motivates caregiving. Pet owners have the challenge of putting themselves into the ‘paws’ of anther being very different from themselves.

Our examination of nurturance of pets by children revealed that here, unlike with human babies, no gender differences emerged in behaviour.

Boys as well as girls were equally engaged and motivated to care. Significantly, over time, as children grew from preschoolers to fifth graders, parents reported increased involvement in caregiving toward pets, but decreasing involvement in caregiving toward younger siblings. (All the children had both pets and young sibs.)

In this way, we think that having a pet provides a valuable training ground in developing one’s nurturing skills, a practice area equally available to boys and girls.

Of course, pets can’t do all the ‘heavy lifting’ in nurturing children’s nurturing side. Parents and teachers can give children opportunities to care for others. Planting a garden, taking care of a plant, raising a classroom pet, volunteering at a food pantry, visiting a rehabilitation centre, even just recycling — all these activities, especially when reinforced with nurturing ‘lessons’— can help children flex their nurturing muscles. When they’re grownups, they — and we — will need them. (Excerpt from psycholo-

gytoday.com)

news

Police investigating fisherman's death

A

The reputed wife, Fay Torres and children of the now dead man

mother of two is now left with more questions than answers after the body of her 26-year-old reputed husband was brought back from sea on Saturday last.

The dead man was identified as Sherwin Wilson of Lot 8 Riverview, Ruimveldt, Georgetown. From information gathered, the father of two left his home two Sundays ago with four other men on a fishing boat with the aim of raising money to properly take care of his family.

However, the boat returned to Georgetown on Saturday last with Wilson’s body wrapped in a sheet without any proper explanation given to the family about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Reports reaching Guyana Times suggested that the young fisherman might have fallen overboard but this is yet to be confirmed.

Nevertheless, at the house of the dead man, his reputed wife, Fay Torres explained that he left two Sundays ago in good spirits and told her that when he re-

turned, he would get money to look after their children and to fix the kitchen area.

She noted that while he was in Georgetown, he hardly worked on “anything” substantial to properly finance the family; hence, the decision to go into fishing. That was the second time he went to sea.

The boat on which Wilson left to work

The woman further stated that on Saturday, she received news that the boat in which her husband left had returned. “I deh cooking so I say ‘oh God, I got to

hurry up, because he must be hungry… so as I continue to cook, a neighbour call out to me and ask me if I hear the boat come out… she ask me if I hear anything else and is then, she tell me that my husband dead.”

She noted she responded with a disbelieving giggle, but was convinced to check at the Ruimveldt wharf. She said when she arrived at the wharf, she was told by the guards that everyone who went on the trip had returned.

According to Torres, as she and another relative were about to leave, she saw the owner of the boat and questioned him about the rumour – which turned out to be reality.

“He tell me that he hear someone dead and that is why he come to check… is when I see a friend who went on the boat with Sherwin, he start cry and tell me that Sherwin dead,” the woman stated.

By this time, a hearse had arrived and her reputed husband’s body was taken away. She noted that she had the opportunity to see the body, and confirmed that it bore no marks of violence.

Agnes Johnson, the mother of the dead man, told Guyana Times that the post-mortem performed on her son’s body proved that he died as a result of drowning. She, however, noted that the captain of the boat explained that her son “catch cramp” and fell overboard. That is all he tell me… he nah tell me who saved meh son nothing, but meh son skin full ah mud,” the woman added.

She too is of the opinion that something “fishy” went on while her son was at sea. Guyana Times understands that the crew was arrested and questioned by the Police in connection with the man’s death.

7

tuesday, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Rohee praises Blanhum for crime solving …credits Police/civilian collaboration for success

G

eneral Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee believes the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is finally paying heed to the public’s advice in the fight against crime and that may very well be responsible for the recent success the force has been enjoying when it comes to solving a number of cases in recent months.

Rohee, a former Minister of Home Affairs, told the weekly news conference on Monday that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) seems to be finally listening to civilians and not believing that they know it all.

He said there was a time when civilians were ignored and disregarded to the detriment of successful investigation and prosecution.

“Making effective use of human intelligence and civilian common sense is the way to go,” Rohee said, adding that, “dispersing CID sleuths to areas where useful information can be obtained is proving to be productive and effective.”

He said making judicious and selective use of informants with well-established networks and connections’ importance in crime fighting.

The former security minister, who up to recently, criticized the force for not being able to tackle the country’s spiralling crime situation, said also closer collaboration between Special Branch and CID has always been on the agenda and expressed satisfaction that this has finally been accomplished.

“Special Branch is the main intelligence-gathering unit of the Guyana Police Force. Their work must be fused with criminal intelligence if continued success is to be assured,” Rohee asserted. He however warned that police investigators must uphold the ethics and rules of good professional policing.

Rohee in commending Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum for his success urged that the Senior Superintendent of Police be promoted to Assistant Commissioner immediately, a rank commensurate with that of the posi-

Clement Rohee addressing Monday’s news conference

tion of Crime Chief.

“However, Blanhum must at all times refuse instructions and directives of a non-professional and political nature,” Rohee warned.

Over the past few months, the department has been praised by the public for its efforts in solving a number of crimes, including cold cases.

Among some of the major successes are a breakthrough in the February 2008 murder of 76-year-old businessman Habiboodean for which the man’s 50-year-old daughter Bibi Habiboodean and the hit-man have been charged.

The most recent success was on Sunday when investigators made a quantum leap in solving the 2010 disappearance of former BK International employee Babita Sarjou, as they dug up her skeletal remains in the Seaforth Street, Campbellville, residence of the woman’s estranged husband.

Sarjou, who at the time of disapperance lived at Timehri Public Road, East Bank Demerara, left her desk and computer unattended at work in November 2010 but never returned.

Her family and police have since been seeking her whereabouts. The police have also managed to solve a number of recent crimes, including robberies and murders. Only recently the force boasted of a 19 per cent reduction in serious crimes thus far for 2016.

8 news

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Babita Sarjou’s remains

Relatives identify clothing found in shallow grave

H

ours after the skeletal remains suspected to be those of missing Timehri, East Bank Demerara woman Babita Sarjou were found in a shallow grave behind her ex-husband’s house, her relatives on Monday positively identified the pieces of clothing also found as belonging to the mother of one.

Champa Seonarine, the mother of the dead woman, visited the Lyken Funeral Home where she confirmed that her daughter indeed left home wearing the pair of shoes found in the three-foot shallow grave. The grieving mother also identified a piece of clothing belonging to her daughter.

Meanwhile, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Guyana Times that the Police have successfully applied for an extension to further detain the two suspects – the woman’s former husband, Shardanand Narine and his accomplice, Darel Pronton.

Blanhum added that the case file would be completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack today for

Babita Sarjou

legal advice. He noted that once the DPP advised in favour of the Police, the men would be passed through the court system as soon as possible.

He further noted that they have already made a case against the two men based on their confession with respect to their involvement in the disappearance and ultimately murder of the young woman.

The two men told investigators that on the night of November 4, 2010, they ‘collected’ the young woman in the vicinity of the National Cultural Centre.

Pronton, who was paid

$50,000 and promised a trip to Trinidad and Tobago for his aid, strangled the woman to death while she sat in the front seat of the vehicle.

The body was then taken to Narine’s home where they waited after midnight before burying it in the grave which was reportedly dug two days prior. The motive for the murder was clear – Sarjou had made a court case against Narine, who had circulated nude photographs of her after he accused her of being unfaithful.

After the woman’s disappearance, the murder suspect held out that he was in no way involved in the murder.

The case that was made out against him was also thrown out of the High Court mere days before the gruesome discovery.

On Sunday, both men confessed to the murder and gave a detailed account of the killing; more so, they led investigators to the area where they buried the woman.

After digging for some five hours, detectives located the rib-cage of the woman. As they continued digging, they found a skull, several bones,

a pair of high-heeled shoes, a brassiere, and bits of clothing.

Sarjou’s ex-husband, who showed no remorse along with his accomplice, was escorted out of the yard and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters where they were further grilled.

At the scene, the mother of Sarjou gave a sound warning to the man’s wife urging her to be careful: “Once a killer is always a killer,” she shouted.

“If he can kill he first wife, he can kill the others…I telling you to be careful.”

Caribbean American Domestic Violence Awareness (CADVA) Director Dianne Madray, who was a key player in efforts to find Sarjou, was extremely upset as she recounted telling senior Police ranks to conduct a thorough search of the premises when she disappeared.

“If they hadn’t taken my words for granted, we didn’t have to wait till six years later,” she added, while noting her concerns for the 10-yearold child of the now dead woman who had to endure the sight of his mother’s remains being dug up.

Fatal Sandy Babb Street accident

Trial continues at Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts

T

he man on trial for causing death by dangerous driv-

ing during his testimony told the court he could not recall driving vehicle

HC4276 at the time of the accident.

The Charlestown res-

ident, Ceon Green, was represented by Attorney Peter Hugh when he appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

During his testimony Green told the court he currently works as a driver at a government ministry, however in May 2015, at the time of the accident he was a taxi driver.

The fatal accident took place in the vicinity of Sandy Babb Street on the night of May 31, 2015.

He told the court it was a rainy night when he was driving his vehicle proceeding west along Sandy Babb Street when the accident occurred.

Green said he felt something hit his vehicle, which prompted him to pull over and on checking he saw a guy lying on the roadway.

At that point he rushed to pick up the man but a crowd had gathered and were hurling negative remarks at him. This is when he replaced the man on the ground and asked if anyone in the crowd had a number for the Kitty Police Station or the Georgetown Public Hospital, to which he got no response.

Green claimed that a man with an Indian national accent came to his aid in putting the injured man into his vehicle and carrying him to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The trial will continue on May 25.

Eyew tness Spillover...

T

...from Venezuela

o the maxim, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”, the famous American wit WC Field added tersely, “...then quit. There’s no point being a damn fool about it!” But obviously when it comes to effecting regime change in Venezuela, the present crop of American leaders don’t think that much about Fields.

Starting from their first coup attempt against Chavez in 2002 they’ve stuck to their guns (pun intended!) and shown they’ll leave no stone unturned to control the largest oil reserves in the world.

Now don’t get your Eyewitness wrong. The folks in Africa say whether the elephants are making love or fighting, the grass still gets it in the end. In more ways than one. And when it comes to Venezuela and the US we are GRASS! The bottom line is, there’s absolutely nothing Guyana can do about what’s playing out on our western border. Last time we tried, Jagan was Premier, Castro was busy exporting revolution to Venezuela after the 1961 Bay of Pigs humiliation of the US, and look where it got him. Or more importantly, where it got us!

The irony is, in the last go around we became strategically more important than the speck on the globe we are, just because of our proximity to Venezuela, which was firmly in the US camp. Supplying oil and iron ore and such like. The Venezuelan government was only too willing to raise the border controversy gambit in case the British lost their nerve to finagle out Jagan electorally. The Americans always thought the British had a soft spot for Jagan.

Today, the shoe’s on the other foot. We’ve gotten strategic notice because the US’ old friends were ousted

by Chavez and company and maybe, just maybe, we can be of some use in case the economic crisis and the Opposition’s capture of Parliament doesn’t result in Maduro’s fall and get them back in office. Incidentally, if the Chavistas were rigging all the elections they won before, did they rig the Opposition to win?

But while there isn’t much we can do, we ought to know what might be in store for us with regime change.

First there will be some 40,000 Guyanese-Venezuelan refugees heading back to Essequibo. Secondly, the right-wingers who’ll take over will push that border controversy to the top of their agenda - to bring the disaffected Chavistas into their nationalist line.

Either way, things aren’t looking so rosy for us when we look westwards. And with the left in trouble in Brazil and the rest of South America, we might as well cozy up to the Americans.

...from confused overseas Guyanese

This Eyewitness has a soft spot for his brothers and sisters in the Diaspora. Hey... without their remittances imagine what’ll happen to us! Especially since Minister of Finance Winston Jordan warned us of the economy collapsing now that drug smugglers are on the run. We’d be reduced to eating rice flour from all the rice we can’t sell.

In fact there’s this “Overseas Guyanese” Mike (hereinafter OG Mike) who did advise us to start eating rice flour when we first lost that Venezuelan rice market.

The fella’s always thinking of his homeland (he’s from Leguan, he informed us). But we’d really like him to pay closer attention to the news from back home.

In OG Mike’s latest letter to the press, he worried about pensioners because of NIS money invested in the Berbice Bridge. Blamed all the “owners” of the bridge for getting “guaranteed” returns.

He should know that NIS has “preferred shares” - that gets “dividends” BEFORE the common stock shareholders!

Who haven’t received a dime since the bridge opened!

....from solving cold case

The best news this Eyewitness has received since all the hoopla about Jubilee Independence is cracking the Babita Sarjou case. Let’s give a big shout out to that determined Mom, the social worker.

And, yes, the police!

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

news

9

tuesday, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

DDL tax settlement

Breached Mahaicony Dam

Govt to vigorously Rehabilitation work commences oppose similar A settlements – Finance Minister fter a month of inundation, farmers and residents in the backlands of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara can breathe easier as the Mahaica Mahaicony AbaryAgricultural Developmental Authority (MMA-ADA) has commenced rehabilitating two major breaches along the Perth Canal.

During this month, Guyana Times had been highlighting that the unrepaired breach flooded hundreds of acres of farmlands during high tides as well as several residences along Company Dam, New Providence.

This newspaper was told Monday that the MMA had deployed a hymac to the area on Friday to commence cor-

rective works but some setbacks delayed the rehabilitation.

When Guyana Times contacted farmers who were adversely affected, they related that they are overjoyed that works have finally begun.

One female farmer noted however, that while she is appreciative of the works, small amounts of flooding still occurs at high tide. She is of the view that if the situation wasn’t highlighted in the media, nothing would have been done.

General Manager of MMA Aubrey Charles when contacted last Tuesday confirmed that works would have begun. Based on an assessment, he noted that some months after the dam was

MMA General Manager Aubrey Charles

constructed, it settled and thus its height was reduced.

“After the settlement, the height of the dam was below the designed level,” Charles had told Guyana Times.

The manager also said

that the spring tide overflow caused soil erosions which facilitated the widening of the breaches, occasioning heavy flooding.

The dam at Perth Canal which was rehabilitated around six months ago when dry weather was prevailing, collapsed shortly after. The farmers had earlier appealed to the MMA-ADA to repair the broken sections but their repeated calls were unheaded.

They expressed frustration over the fact that the recent El Niño period was the ideal time to have done the repairs but nothing was done to assist them. Now that the rainy season has started, they lamented that they have to suffer losses.

Social Protection Ministry to launch handbook for TIP victims

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

n light of concerns in relation to the controversial tax write-off granted

by Government to beverage giant Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Finance Minister Winston Jordan declared that any attempts to seek a similar settlement would be strongly contested by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had contended that the whopping $3.8 billion Consumption Tax write-off from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) opened the door for other companies to seek refunds on taxes paid on the same basis as was used in the DDL case.

However, Jordan insisted that Government would not let such a situation occur.

“Any attempts by other business persons to make claims and so on will also be vigorously opposed based on principles that underline the settlement with DDL,” he stated during a news conference on Monday.

Jordan explained that Government could not stop other companies from wanting to make similar claims however, as with the Rudisa case where other corporations are piggybacking on the outcome of that settlement, but there would have to be reasonable grounds.

The Finance Minister asserted that the GRA engaged in tax settlements all the time and the DDL matter was nothing new.

“The judgement is sound, based on what is told to me,” he stated, noting that there really was not an issue with the matter.

The Opposition Leader had contended that the DDL settlement, as well as the possibility of other companies seeking refunds, would cost the State billions in revenue dollars – billions that could have been used in areas that the coalition Government told the nation it could not afford to fund.

He explained that the potential cost of this single settlement and its possible consequences amounted to more money than the State received in loans and grants in a single year.

Jagdeo had also demanded that Government release critical information in relation to this tax deal, including whether or not an assessment of DDL’s liabilities in respect of Excise Tax for the period 2006 to 2016 was done and what was the sum of that liability; who negotiated the settlement; if the settlement was approved by Cabinet or the Board of the GRA; on what principles was the sum $1.5 billion arrived at; and whether other deals were concluded or are currently being negotiated.

I

T

he Social Protection Ministry in collaboration with the Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Ministerial Task Force will be launching the first victims’ rights handbook, in observance of World Human Trafficking Day on July 30, 2016.

The handbook is intended to guide TIP victims to realise, understand, accept and demand their rights.

Some of the most common violations of human rights are; the right to personal autonomy, the right not to be held in slavery or servitude, the right to liberty and security, the right to be free from cruel or inhumane treatment , the right to safe, healthy working conditions and the right to freedom of movement.

Tanisha WilliamsCorbin, Coordinator (Ag) Counter Trafficking In Persons (C-TIP) Unit, said

that, the Ministry will also be launching a campaign titled “Look Out, Speak Out and Take Down” which will be taken to various hotspots.

She explained that the Ministry will be aggressively pushing its awareness campaign to educate citizens about TIP with the aim of preventing, reducing and eliminating the scourge.

Some of the activities planned are roadside gaffs, school awareness sessions for community, structured awareness sessions for community leaders, distribution of educational materials and novelties, and sessions with social minority groups inclusive of Sex Workers’ Coalition and Society Against Sexual Orientation

Discrimination SASOD. The Ministry will also be providing counselling services for TIP victims, public assistance and necessary psychosocial support in keeping with the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2005, and provision of technical training and grants and loans for at risk families.

10

guyana-times.com

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

News

CSEC, CAPE examinations alternative centres for May 26

A

s plans evolve for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence, the Ministry of Education seeks to advise candidates sitting Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) on May 26, that they will be accommodated at different educational facilities so as to not have any disturbances.

Please note the names of the schools that will be accommodated at each examination centre.

Centre Name

School

Queen’s College

St Joseph’s High

Tutorial High

Queen’s College

Tutorial High

Subject

Time

No. of Candidates

Queen’s College The Bishops’ High St John’s College St Rose’s High St Stanislaus College Adult Edu Assoc Guy Private 090117 Guy Private 090125 Guy Private 090146

Geography Geography Geography Geography Geography Geography Geography Geography Geography

9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00

66 45 16 38 71 02 01 01 01 TOTAL- 241

St Joseph’sHigh Central High

Geography Geography

9:00 9:00

49 50 TOTAL- 99

Tutorial High Christ Church Secondary BrickdamSecondary

Geography Geography Geography

9:00 9:00 9:00

Queen’s College The Bishop’s High St John’s College St Rose’s High St Stanislaus College

P.E & Sports P.E & Sports P.E & Sports P.E & Sports P.E & Sports

1:00 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:00

21 23 18 56 09 TOTAL- 127

Tutorial High Josel Education Institute

P.E & Sports P.E & Sports

9:00 9:00

18 11 TOTAL-29

21 12 17 TOTAL- 50

Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) Centre Name

School

Queen’s College

Queen’s College The Bishop’s High St Rose’s High St Stanislaus College

Subject Management of Business Unit 2 Management of Business Unit 2 Management of Business Unit 2 Management of Business Unit 2

Time

No. of Candidates

1:00 1:00 1:00 1:00

03 23 01 04 TOTAL-31

Independence float parade to move off from Stabroek Square

T

he Jubilee Float Parade set for Independence Day has seen a modification to its route as the National Commemoration Commission has announced that floats taking part in the event will now assemble at the Stabroek Market Square as opposed to Church Street.

The Commission had sent out the advisory notifying those who are set to have their costume bands feature at the float parade that they will now be required to gather at the Stabroek Market Square after which the floats will move off East along Brickdam into the D’Urban Park.

This is opposed to the recently adjusted route where costumes bands were assembling at the usual junction of Church and Camp Streets, after which they would’ve proceeded west along Church Street to Avenue of the Republic, south into Brickdam and then east along Brickdam, into D’Urban Park.

Nonetheless, the provisions remain the same as it relates to students from schools along the route being relocated to other centres to sit their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) on Independence Day. This float parade is anticipated to be the largest ever as it marks Guyana’s 50th anniversary as an independent nation.

As a result of placing emphasis on this celebration, the usual Republic Day Float Parade had been postponed.

Thus far, it has been reported that a number of ministries and private and public organisations, have gotten on board in having their floats be part of the grand celebration. With just two days to go, final touches are being made to the floats to have them ready for the road.

Overseas support has been flowing as a number of persons from the Diaspora as well as tourists are flying into Guyana to be part of the monumental event. A number of activities to observe the celebration have occurred, but most persons are anticipating the Jubilee Float Parade set for Thursday.

50 years later: oh well, read on if you wish…

I

received a rather interesting email message recently from someone in Toronto I think deserves mention at least to jump-start this piece. The email stated that the single biggest obstacle to progress in Guyana has been the PNC now APNU. The PNC party has never won a fair election on its own.

For those of us who lived under the PNC, the aforesaid comment is nothing new but a sad reminder of a not too distant past. But those who were born just before 1992 and are currently the majority population, this history needs to be told to them at least on the eve of 50 years of colonial emancipation dubbed fancily as independence. Guyana seems to be stuck in-depends.

For about 28 years, the PNC stayed in power through rigged elections, intimidation, suppression and brutalization.

Now, the full repercussions of the illegal PNC regime have yet to be fully assessed, particularly by those who supported it, particularly by those who have Dr Lomarsh Roopnarine returned to power under a different guise, particularly by those who are willing to forget the past.

One thing is absolutely sure about PNC rule in Guyana.

It moved the country backwards for at least fifty years with regard to human development with the most obvious being in education and health care as well as the suppression of various forms of freedom. This is when Guyanese, especially Indians, began to distrust government. This is when racial tensions in Guyana escalated. This is when mass migration in Guyana spiraled out of control. This is when the good reputation of Guyana took a nosedive. Tell me, how can a country recover from this experience?

One does not have to hold a PhD in political science or ethics to be convinced if the Jagans had ruled Guyana half of the time the PNC did, Guyana would have been a better place today. The Jagans were young and full of energy. They were decent and honest. They had always put Guyana first. They had the support of most of the people. They had their faults. They knew their limitations. Cheddi Jagan never mastered the urban Euro-Creole language, Guyana’s national language, because he identified more with his rural support base.

The Jagans never had in their blood to suppress the Guyanese people as much as the PNC did for the sake of power.

Arguably, the Jagans would not have rigged elections. Over time, they would have been more open to power sharing with the opposition. Walter Rodney would have been alive.

Before May 2015, any writing on the PNC was a futile exercise, a waste of time. But since the old guards of PNC are back in power, so do the analyses of grave concerns that have reached worrying heights.

Rhyaan Shah observed impressively that the President and his gang have turned Burnham party paramountcy into personality paramountcy. Her perception is spot on. She is bright.

The gang of ageing men in the coalition regime, and more so from the AFC entourage, are encapsulated in the drunken chalice of power. This gang is guided, guarded and governed by not the duties of leadership but rights of leadership. This gang is intellectually lazy.

When your name is David Granger, Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Joe Harmon, Raphael Trotman, among others, then certain things come easy: a good salary, a safe and secured place to live, a good health plan, a good vacation package, and a ticket to fly out of Guyana any time.

But when you still have the above names certain questions are difficult to answer: How come the nation is at standstill?

How come the economy has slumped since last year? What are you going to do about the crime situation? When are you going to deliver?

By far, the single saddest event in post-independence Guyana is the denial of Cheddi Jagan’s right to govern Guyana for nearly three decades. Jagan was probably a dictator of the Indian proletarian, awkward, infatuated with communism, and the like but he should have never been denied the right to govern by a clique of political animals.

Can you imagine if things were reversed? This is where Jagan is unmatchable. He was never wicked, never violent-oriented, but was considerate and careful about the Other in the pursuit of power. Jagan remains a victim of political apartheid in the Caribbean.

I do hope during the fifty years of wining, dining and sporting, Jagan can hear these words in his grave from the Almighty. Come home my native son, you have laboured amongst the beasts of beasts. You are tired. Come and nestle into my arms so that you will feel the flow of my blood in yours.

They are warm. You are safe. Your people are safe. Your children of all race and ethnicity in Guyana will someday taste the milk and honey that was denied to you for about 30 of the 50 years independence (lomarsh.roopnarine@jsums.edu).

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016

guyana-times.com

11

News

celebrates Sugar not as sweet as before CPCE 50th Independence ...will weigh heavily on the nation’s budget – Finance Minister

I

n light of recent calls for another bailout to the cash-strapped sugar industry, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said recent challenges have made sugar “not as sweet”.

At a press briefing Monday Jordan explained that to sustain what he deemed an “expensive industry” the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) would have to undergo “severe structural transformation” for it to be sustained.

“Sugar is not what is used to be and it is probably not as sweet and sugar has to go under severe structural transformation to survive as an industry,” Jordan pointed out.

In reference to the recent announcement that the Wales Sugar Estate would convert to new enterprises including dairy production, the Finance Minister revealed that government is currently petitioning the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) for a loan to aid in agricultural development.

“We are talking to IDB to get an agri development loan that will look at agricultural diversification… this loan is going to target dairy and livestock development,” Jordan explained.

He however cautioned that the loan is still in its formulation stages. Notably, when the media questioned him as to whether considerations are being made for

Wales to be covered by this loan, Jordan declined to confirm this.

“I’m not saying that [the loan] would include Wales,” he said.

“Diversification of sugar was attempted in the 1970s but we have to do more than attempt, we have to be realistic,” he pointed out.

The minister said sugar production is not able to compete in international markets. In this light, he explained that government has an obligation to support the ailing industry but warned the industry will weigh heavily on the nation’s budget.

“We have an obligation to try to carry [the industry], given its contribution to the economy; it is clear that this cannot continue forever but in the short-term the industry will weigh heavily on our budget,” Jordan pointed out.

The country’s finance manager also noted that most of government allocations to the industry has already been expended.

“This year, we put in $9B… today, almost 75 per cent of that has already been

transferred… El Niño reduced the first crop by 30,000 tonnes. This obviously means that the sugar industry will be coming to government again for more money… this is the reality, this is not something that government can change overnight,” he posited.

He further noted that government had “stepped in” and allocated $12 billion for last year as “a matter of urgency” and was also of the view that too much was expended in the past to Skeldon Estate and the Enmore packaging plant. The minister likened the two initiatives to coloured elephants.

“The last government spent tremendous amounts of money including the money spent on the Skeldon and the money spent on the Enmore packaging plant and both of these are either white, black or brown elephants at the moment to which we are expected to carry,” he observed.

It was only last week that Chairman of GuySuCo Dr Clive Thomas related that the corporation would need another bailout as most of

the funds were already used up. President Granger in response noted that his government might be inclined to award another bailout to the declining industry.

It was on Wednesday last that Agriculture Minister Noel Holder announced that Wales Sugar Estate would be converted to into a dairy product, fruit juices processing facility.

“We can see the land being used for dairy production, and we can see some land being made available to people in the area so that they could farm and provide milk, provide fruit juices, provide things of that nature, and we would want to see that replicated in other estates,” Holder is quoted by the Government Information Agency as saying.

Holder explained that since the lands will no longer be used for sugar cane cultivation, it will be allocated for cattle rearing, and cultivation of myriad of crops to sustain the operations of the juice plant. “[This decision presents] an opportunity to convert the estate into a model for other areas within the sugar industry’s diversification,” he noted.

However it is yet to be made clear as to how these measures will be implemented.

In January, it was announced that Wales would cease sugar operations by yearend.

anniversary

A section of the CPCE parade

T

he Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) showcased talent and patriotism as its officials and students joined in celebrating Guyana’s Golden Jubilee of Independence with a flag-raising ceremony and street parade.

The parade, from the school’s compound on Friday into the Cummings Lodge/ North Sophia area, saw the attendance of the Principal, Viola Rowe; Vice Principal (Administration) Noella Joseph; Vice Principal (Development) Deowattie Arjun, students, as well as a number of residents of nearby communities.

The flag-raising cere-

mony was held prior to the parade and saw the Golden Arrowhead being hoisted by one of the second-year students. This was followed by recital of the National Anthem and a march past by uniformed students.

Tokens were presented by the campus king and queen and the dorm president on behalf of the entire student body to the CPCE top officials.

The CPCE Principal led the singing of the national song “Let Us Cooperate”, which the students enthusiastically belted out while clapping and marching along the parade route.

12 NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016 | GUYANA-TIMES.COM

GMC audit fingers fmr GM now GRDB head ... Director Rahman demands dismissal

T

he Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Director Jinnah Rahman is calling for the dismissal of former Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) General Manager (GM), now GM of the GRDB Nizam Hassan and the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Agriculture Ministry George Jarvis.

His comments come in the wake of revelations of financial mismanagement of the GMC’s fertilizer account, which was unearthed from a Forensic Audit into the operations of the entity.

According to the audit report, “during the period

GRDB Director Jinnah Rahman

2008 through 2014, it appears that GMC entered into a series of questionable and apparently fraudulent financial transactions in regards to the management of the fertilizer account.”

The report unearthed number of transactions that were concluded “without proper support or authority.” These included payments to the Rice Producers Association of $35M; excess repayment to GNCB (Guyana National Cooperative Bank) of $120M; a $450M loan to GuySuCo, in addition to a letter of credit arrangement in the sum of $273M; and payments to the tune of $111M to the Ministry of Agriculture for Vertical Pumps which the report says was requested by the PS of Agriculture

Ministry.

With respect to GuySuCo, the report highlighted that $450M loan was interest free and came with a clause which stated that $87M was the only amount that needed to be repaid to the GMC. When fielded with questions on this transaction, Hassan refused to answer.

As it pertains to the excess payments, the report stated that the GNCB loaned monies to the GMC to purchase fertilizer. When the body found out that the GMC did not however, purchase any fertilizer, it requested a refund of its loan.

Instead of returning $553M to GNCB, GMC overpaid $673M to the bank, resulting in an overpayment of $120M. In its defence, the reports highlighted that the management of GMC stated that no overpayment of $120M was made to GNCB. It stated that a debit memo dated November 5, 2008 was sent to the General Manager of Scotia Bank requesting a transfer of $120 million from the fertilizer account to GuySuCo: “This was reflected in the debit note that was received from Scotia Bank and was dated November 6, 2008.”

Management also stated that the decision to expend money on axial pumps was a Cabinet decision tak-

Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary George Jarvis

en on October 07, 2014: “In addition, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture received a correspondence dated November 6, 2014 from the Secretary to the Cabinet regarding the procurement of the four vertical axial flow drainage pumps. Importantly, the accounts to which the money should be sourced were also stated in the correspondence.”

However, the audit report also noted that then GMC GM, Hassan, refused to provide the auditor with certain information and crucial documents, thus preventing them from properly auditing the fertilizer programme’s transactions.

According to the forensic audit report “It appeared that the entire fertilizer

program was conceptualized to circumvent financial accountability laws and to provide funding to GuySuCo and others using sinister methods.”

Rahman in calling on Agriculture Minister Noel Holder to fire Hassan and Jarvis. He said in a release that the revelation of the forensic report into the GMC, which was headed by Hassan, and now GM of the GRDB, “is extremely frightening. Mr Hassan’s actions at the GMC is a pattern of behaviour which has now caused the rice industry to be on the verge of collapsing following the secret contracts that were signed with brokers for sale of rice to Jamaica.”

He said further that Hassan, “who should have been appointed by GRDB, was handpicked by George Jarvis, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder.

These two officials have blatantly violated the regulations of the Rice Board, which clearly states that the General Manager must be appointed by the Board of Directors… The records show that Mr Nizam Hassan could not sell Cassava at Guyana Marketing Corporation and has no experience in the marketing of Rice or paddy.”

This is not the first

Former GMC GM now GM of the GRDB, Nizam Hassan

time that calls have been made for Hassan to be sacked as GM of the GRDB. In April of this year Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Stockfeeds Inc (GSI) and the Pegasus Hotel Robert Badal made similar calls.

Badal had said Hassan’s refusal to release GSI’s customs shipping bill in order for it to ship two containers of parboiled rice to two Jamaican customers are frustrating rice exports and the implementation of reforms which are necessary for the industry. He had called for Hassan to be replaced by someone more capable.

Attempts to contact Hassan for a comment or response to the audit findings and calls for his dismissal were unsuccessful.

news

13

tuesDay, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Cove and John Ashram reaches out to struggling single mother Headmistress of the Hindu College Rajkumarie Singh spoke to the children encouraging them to take education seriously. She also promised to provide text books to the children to continue their studies.

The mother of 11 was left to shoulder responsibilities for her children in January 2016

Swami Shivashankarnanadaji Maharaj along with members of the ashram posing with the mother of 11

By Indrawattie Natram

S

harmila Singh, 41, of Lot 17 Dundee Mahaicony, West Coast Berbice, was the latest beneficiary of the Cove and John Ashram outreach programme. The mother of 11, who hails from Mahaicony Village, resides in a swampy area in the Dundee community.

The team from the ashram visited Singh's home on Sunday and presented her with

items that would make her life much more comfortable.

According to spiritual leader and administrator of the Ashram Swami Maharaj, he heard about Singh's case and immediately ventured to her home, assessing the situation for the ashram to be of help.

The Swami explained that devotees along with students from the Hindu College, put together hampers, two benches and two tables for the family. He disclosed the Ashram

also partnered with Food For the Poor in providing three mattresses and sheets to the family, who previously slept on the ground. Reading materials and other useful schooling amenities were also provided for the children.

The devotees of the Ashram during their visit offered words of encouragement to the mother and assured her the Ashram will continue to assist her to provide for her children.

17-year-old US-based Guyanese scholar meets President

K

elly Hyles, the 1 7 - y e a r - o l d Guyanese girl who was accepted into 21 colleges across the United States of America, including eight Ivy League universities, on Thursday met with President David Granger at his Georgetown office.

A Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) statement said that President Granger congratulated the young scholar, referring to her as a product of Guyanese society and a citizen of whom the nation is proud.

“Everything I do, everything the Cabinet and the Government does is so that our young people can have a bright future… This country can only be developed [with] intelligent and educated persons like you. We are happy and encouraged by your achievements,”

President David Granger in conversation with Kelly Hyles

President Granger said.

The teenager was accompanied by her mother, Anetta Earl; her aunt, Shaundelle Inniss-Munroe; her uncle, Kenneth Earl and social activist Mark Benschop, while the President was accompanied

by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.

Hyles and her mother arrived in Guyana on Sunday evening to be part of the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations on May 26, the same day she

would be celebrating her 18th birthday.

Hyles was accepted into some of the most distinguished tertiary institutions in the US, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and has decided on Harvard, where she will be pursuing studies in either bio-chemistry or neuroscience.

Hyles migrated to the USA to live with her mother in 2009 at the age of 11.

after her husband committed suicide. The mother explained that she provides for her family with whatever meagre domestic work she is afforded.

Living on a plot of land provided by her husband's parents, Singh lives with her children in a shack that can only accommodate four persons, but the family has to

make the best of a bad situation, she lamented.

Apart from helping the family, the Ashram last weekend also assisted families in Unity, Cove and John, Beehive, East Coast Demerara, with bed sets and food hampers. This coincided with the Ashram’s 60th Anniversary.

14

guyana-times.com

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

Regional

Zika outbreak fuelled by mosquito control failure, says WHO boss

T

he spread of Zika is the price being paid for a massive policy failure on mosquito control, says World Health Organisation leader, Dr Margaret Chan.

Speaking at the agency's annual World Health Assembly, Dr Chan said experts had "dropped the ball" in the 1970s with regard to getting a handle on diseasecarrying insects.

More than 60 countries and territories now have continuing Zika transmission.

Most recently, the infection, spread by mosquito bites, reached Africa.

Experts predict the same strain could reach Europe in the summer.

The Virus is thought to cause serious birth defects during pregnancy and has been declared a global public health emergency.

According to Dr Chan,

outbreaks that become emergencies always reveal specific weaknesses in affected countries and illuminate the fault lines in our collective preparedness.

"Zika reveals an extreme consequence of the failure to provide universal access to sexual and family planning services," she said.

Dr Chan added that Latin America and the Caribbean, which have been hit hard by Zika, have the highest proportion of unintended pregnancies in the world.

Above all, she said the spread of Zika was "the price being paid for a massive policy failure that dropped the ball on mosquito control in the 1970s".

Eradication campaigns were successful in the Americas with 18 countries getting rid of the insect by 1962.

But insecticide resistance

WHO boss, Dr Margaret Chan

plus a lack of political will led to the Aedes aegypti mosquito rebounding.

"With no vaccines and no reliable and widely available diagnostic tests, to protect women of childbearing age, all we can offer is advice.

"Avoid mosquito bites.

Delay pregnancy. Do not travel to areas with ongoing transmission," said Dr Chan. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Maduro: Venezuela committed to PetroCaribe agreement

D

espite facing economic challenges, the Venezuelan Government has reiterated its commitment to maintaining its arrangements with Jamaica under the PetroCaribe Agreement.

President Nicolás Maduro made the promise during a working visit to Jamaica Sunday, as he sought to allay uncertainty about his country’s commitment to the agreement, noting that both Governments discussed the need to strengthen the scheme.

He said that was impor-

tant, as the PetroCaribe Agreement has been successful in bolstering the economic and energy exchanges of the member countries.

“We are fully convinced that in the last 10 years, PetroCaribe has clearly demonstrated that it’s only together that we can reach development and (achieve) happiness for our peoples,” President Maduro said through an interpreter.

He noted that the meeting with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, and Jamaican Government Ministers, was marked by

dialogue on cooperation and a strong will to continue efforts to further unite both countries.

President Maduro added that improvements to trade relations, particularly through the PetroCaribe Agreement, will serve to further strengthen the stability and economic development of Latin America and the Caribbean.

He said both governments will hold high-level meetings in three months to finalise agreements made on economic trade policies.

(Excerpt from Caribbean360)

Leave cancelled for Police in St Kitts following hike in crime

Use of medical marijuana reignites debate in Barbados

D

ebate has reignited over the highly emotive issue of Barbados’ stance on marijuana use, including for medical purposes.

It comes as an Attorneyat-Law awaits word from the Minister of Health on an application for his sick wife to use the drug based on a prescription obtained from a doctor in Canada.

At a panel discussion staged by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, that lawyer Douglas Trotman said the laws of Barbados permit marijuana to be used on a permit granted by the Minister.

“From 1993 research

could have been carried out in Barbados,” he said.

“It [marijuana] can be used for veterinary purposes, there’s permission for it to be used in hospital administered by nurses. So the issue of possession is a problem, but not so if the Minister sanctions it.”

That proposal – using the drug for medical purposes – was at the centre of the panel discussion hosted last week.

At that event, consultant psychiatrist Dr Ermine Belle said while she cannot ignore the associated negatives, it was also time for the country to embrace new methods of medical treatment.

“We must still continue treatment of those who succumb to the ravages of substance abuse, and specific to this discussion, the fight against marijuana abuse.

But we now have to look at the good that can be realised by the use of medical marijuana. I will not err on the side of promoting indiscriminate use of marijuana,” Dr Belle said.

The Cave Hill campus is now moving to stage a twoday symposium on marijuana in September to discuss issues of religious rituals as well as the economic, social, environmental impact of recreational use. (Excerpt from

Caribbean360)

Labour Minister says decent, safe work a priority

L

abour and Social Security Minister Shahine Robinson said workplace safety and wellness contributed significantly to productivity and efficiency, and were key factors in reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development.

She noted that the Government was placing priority on securing and maintaining decent and safe work for all Jamaicans through the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill which is expected to be passed during the current fiscal year.

Robinson was addressing a Workers’ Week panel discussion, which was held recently under the theme: ‘Rethinking Work for Human Development’, at

Deputy Commissioner Hilroy Brandy announced that, effective immediately, all rest days, vacation, and leave had been suspended for officers

P

olice Officers have been recalled to their stations in response to a hike in violent criminal activities.

The high command of the Royal St Christopher and Nevis Police Force took the decision at an emergency strategy meeting on Saturday, a day after two men were killed and several others injured while they were hanging out at a popular liming spot.

The deadly shooting reportedly brought to 14, the

number of homicides committed in the federation for the year.

Deputy Commissioner Hilroy Brandy announced that, effective immediately, all rest days, vacation, and leave had been suspended for officers, and lawmen had been recalled to their stations and units.

Furthermore, training at the Police Training Centre has been suspended in an effort to ensure greater presence on the streets in Basseterre, Charlestown

and in communities.

He added that there will be “stop and searches of persons of interest, vehicular check points, increased patrols, both foot and mobile”.

Deputy Brandy echoed the continuing call for the community to become engaged in the fight against crime and criminal activity in communities.

“We ask for the continuing support of our citizens and residents as we work towards ensuring citizen safety,” he appealed.(Caribbean360)

T&T to supply Venezuela with goods T

Labour and Social Security Minister Shahine Robinson

the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.

Among areas addressed were the importance of equal work for equal pay, gender equity, the underrepresentation of women in

certain spheres, and opportunities presented by flexible working arrangements to balance work and domestic lives, as well as the link between occupational and public health. (Jamaica Observer)

rinidad and Tobago and Venezuela held talks on Monday, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would allow their operating companies to proceed on cross-border initiatives.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who arrived there on Sunday night from Jamaica, paid a courtesy call on President Anthony and later held talks with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Rowley said that Port of Spain would be providing “relief” to Venezuela in the form of manufactured goods, but gave no indica-

tion as to whether it is as a result of the socio-economic and political unrest in the Spanish-speaking country.

Maduro was greeted by pro and anti-demonstrators as his motorcade made its way to the Office of President and the Diplomatic Centre where he met Rowley.

Speaking at a joint news conference where neither man took questions from the media, Rowley described the talks as “very productive and very useful…that would be beneficial to both the people of the South American country and the Caribbean

Community (Caricom) neighbour. He said the two sides had signed an MoU in order to further boost their trade and economic relations.

“I want to thank President Maduro and his team for coming,” said Rowley, whose administration was hosting the firstever Head of State since it came to power in the September 7 general elections last year.

Rowley said that arising from the two-hour deliberations, efforts had been made to move the relationships between the two countries forward. (Excerpt from CMC)

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

guyana-times.com

15

Around the world

Indian space shuttle Syria conflict: Deadly blasts rock makes first test flight Assad strongholds I

Near-simultaneous car and suicide bombings hit the main bus station in Tartous

A

series of car and suicide bombings has hit two Government strongholds on Syria's Mediterranean coast.

State media said at least 78 people were killed, while a monitoring group put the death toll at more than 145.

Four bombings targeted bus stations in the port city of Tartous and in Jableh, a town to the north, which have until now escaped the worst of the civil war.

A news agency linked to so-called Islamic State (IS) said the jihadist group was behind the attacks.

Amaq cited an IS source as saying militants had targeted "gatherings of Alawites", a reference to the heterodox Shia sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Russia – a key backer of Assad – has a naval base in Tartous and an airbase near Jableh, from where it has

conducted air strikes on IS targets across Syria.

The state news agency, Sana, cited a Police source as saying that 45 people were killed and many others, most of them women and children, were injured in Jableh.

It reported that two bombs exploded at the main entrance of the town's bus station.

A suicide bomber also blew himself up at the entrance of the emergency department at Jableh National Hospital, it added.

A doctor at the hospital said it was bombed less than a minute after the bus station.

"Everything went into emergency mode, wounded people began arriving," Younes Hassan told the Reuters news agency.

The fourth blast reportedly occurred near the offices of Jableh's electricity directorate, on the outskirts of the Amara residential district.

Pope Francis meets top Sunni cleric (Excerpt from BBC News)

P

ope Francis has met the grand imam of Cairo's al-Azhar mosque after a five-year pause in dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the mosque, the highest authority of Sunni Islam.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb visited the Vatican en route to a Paris conference involving Muslims and Catholics.

Al-Azhar froze meetings in 2011 after taking offence at some comments made by the previous Pope.

It said Pope Benedict made "repetitive and negative statements" about Muslims.

At the start of the halfhour meeting on Monday, the Pope said that the fact it was taking place at all was significant.

"The meeting is the message," he said.

Relations between Al-

Relations between Roman Catholicism and Sunni Islam have improved since Pope Francis took office in 2013

Azhar and the Vatican soured in 2006 after Pope Benedict quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor in remarks taken by some Muslims to imply that Islam was a violent religion.

Pope Benedict repeatedly said the words did not reflect his personal views, but he stopped short of issuing a clear apology to Muslims.

On Monday, a Vatican spokesperson told AFP news agency that the meeting between Sheikh Tayeb and Pope Francis had been "very cordial".

The leaders exchanged gifts, embraces and discussed conflicts and tensions between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.

(BBC News)

South Africa Prosecutor to challenge Jacob Zuma corruption ruling

S

outh Africa's prosecution says it will appeal against a court ruling that it should reconsider corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.

Originally, the 783 charges were dropped weeks before the 2009 election which led to him becoming President.

But last month, a High Court Judge described that decision as "irrational".

Zuma has always denied the allegations which are linked to a 1999 arms deal worth billions of dollars.

And in April, a Judge-led Commission of Inquiry found no evidence of corruption or

fraud by any Government officials at the time the deal was made.

After a case brought by the Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), Judge Aubrey Ledwaba said last month that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should consider re-opening the case.

But National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams said that prosecutors should be able to exercise discretion over whether an investigation should continue.

Briefing journalists, Abrahams said that this

was an issue that affected the separation of powers and that the ruling "has farreaching ramifications".

He said he would be seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court ruling.

Quoting legislation that defines the role of the NPA, Abrahams said that he did his job "without fear, favour or prejudice", adding that noone influenced his decisions.

The DA described the Prosecutor's decision as a "blatant delaying tactic to shield [Mr] Zuma from his day in court". (Excerpt from BBC News)

ndia’s space agency ISRO has launched a rocket from its facility north of Chennai carrying an experimental spacecraft it hopes will mark an important step towards the country’s first re-usable space shuttle.

"We have successfully accomplished the RLV mission as a technology demonstrator," ISRO spokesman Devi Prasad Karnik told reporters.

The US$14 million Reusable Launch Vehicle, or RLV-TD, which is around the size of a minibus, was lifted to an altitude of 70 kilometres before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, exposing it to temperatures of up to 2000 degrees Celsius.

"Whether the thermal coating on the space plane can withstand that kind of heat pressure is one thing that needs be vetted at this

Monday's launch of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLVTD) took place at a site at Sriharikota, India

particular stage," Rajeswari P Rajagopalan, the head of the independent think-tank Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation, told

Al Jazeera.

One-sixth the size of the planned shuttle, this test flight was also designed to see if the shuttle could glide and navigate at speeds of up to 6000kmph, before attempting a landing on the sea in the Bay of Bengal.

"The wings are very small, so it’s still going to be a very huge challenge to land it on a runway and therefore we are landing it straight back on the ocean," says Rajagopalan.

The test mission was an important step towards developing a full-scale, reusable shuttle to send up satellites.

The shuttle is not expected to come into service for at least 15 years, but ISRO hopes the technology will reduce costs and make access to space more affordable.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

US lifts arms ban on old foe Vietnam as China tensions simmer

T

he United States announced a complete end to its arms embargo on Vietnam on Monday, a historic step that draws a line under the two countries' old enmity and underscores their shared concerns about China's growing military clout.

The move came during President Barack Obama's first visit to Hanoi, which his hosts described as the arrival of a warm spring and a new chapter in relations between two countries that were at war four decades ago.

Obama, the third US President to visit Vietnam

since diplomatic relations were restored in 1995, has made a strategic 'rebalance' toward Asia a centrepiece of his foreign policy.

Vietnam, a neighbour of China, is a key part of that strategy amid worries about Beijing's assertiveness and sovereignty claims to 80 per cent of the South China Sea. The decision to lift the arms trade ban suggested such concerns outweighed arguments that Vietnam had not done enough to improve its human rights record and Washington would lose leverage for reforms.

Obama told a joint news conference with Vietnamese

President Tran Dai Quang that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully and not by whoever "throws their weight around". But he insisted the arms embargo shift was not linked to China.

"The decision to lift the ban was not based on China or any other considerations.

It was based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalisation with Vietnam," he said. Obama later added his visit to a former foe showed "hearts can change and peace is possible". (Excerpt from Reuters)

US court acquits Police Officer in Freddie Gray case

A

Police Officer in the US city of Baltimore was cleared of assault and other charges relating to the death of an African American man after he was taken into Police custody last year.

Officer Edward Nero is one of six officers facing charges in the Freddie Gray case and was found not guilty of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called for calm following the verdict and said Nero would face an administrative review by the Police Department.

"This is our American system of justice and Police Officers must be afforded the same justice system as every other citizen in this city, state and country," she said in a statement.

The trial of another of the officers ended in a mistrial last year when the jury

Gray's death was one of several recent killings of African American men by Police Officers that touched off demonstrations in the United States

could not reach a conclusion, and Nero had opted instead to have a judge hear his case.

Gray suffered a severe neck injury after his arrest on April 12 last year, apparently while being transported in the back of a Police van.

He complained about breathing difficulties, fell into a coma and died one week later. The 25-year-old had been taken into custody for carrying an illegal switchblade.

Gray's death was one of several recent killings of African American men by Police Officers that touched off demonstrations in the United States.

Nero's acquittal raises questions whether prosecutors will proceed with the trial of four other officers, whose charges are still pending, Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman, reporting from Washington DC, said. (Excerpt

from Al Jazeera)

16 news

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Centennial bauxite Donations aiding Guillain-Barré syndrome observances launched in Linden patient’s “slow” recovery

T

his year is a significant one for the community of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice), as it is celebrating a hundred years of bauxite mining.

To mark the auspicious centennial observance, leaders in the bauxite industry and Regional officials hosted an official launch of the year-long activities at the

Centennial Committee Horace James

head

former Rail Road Station at Mackenzie.

The Centennial Committee headed by Horace James was recently formed to spearhead activities, took the opportunity to unveil the 100th year anniversary plans, which include erecting a Centennial park and museum, a magazine publication and presentation of an oral history series, among other things.

The launching ceremony was marked by reflections on the history of bauxite mining, which began in Linden by George Bain Mackenzie in 1916, to the companies associated with its mining over the years, as well as the privatization process.

It also saw the launch of the novel ‘Children of Watooka’, written by Guyana-born Canadian Steve Connolly. Speaking on

the significance of the 100th year celebration, James said the launch is simply a prelude to the original observance of the celebrations slated for October this year.

He noted that during the year of commemoration, there is a clear objective, which is to know and appreciate the role and future of bauxite and ensuring youths, particularly students, are inspired to use its resources for the purpose of future development.

He added it is important that they also understand the role bauxite played in the development of Linden, Guyana and World Wars 1 and 2 when the commodity was used in the construction of warplanes.

James also alluded to the fact that bauxite has played a major role in assisting the community in its development, which saw it eventually growing into a township.

Bosai Minerals Group Guyana Incorporated (BMGGI) General Manager (AG) Eric Yu, in his remarks congratulated the community on the achievement, while indicating that over the years, bauxite has made significant contributions to the development of the nation.

He said the commodity, which has attracted countless skilled artisans, has become an integral part of Guyana’s economy, and that BMGGI was honoured to be part of the historic moment.

To commemorate the significant milestone, he said the company will construct an arch outside the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC).

Former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, while delivering remarks on the privatization of the bauxite sector sought to explain the move made years ago.

“Looking back, one might put the beginning of the

Y

oung cane cutter Pooran Ramcharitar, who was recently diagnosed with GuillainBarré syndrome and is in urgent need of financial aid to facilitate his treatment, on Monday moved one step closer to recovery when the David and Leila Persaud

cal conditions was passed on to their offspring, who have since been maintaining the family’s record.

This was attested to by their contribution to the young man, who is in dire need of medical attention since being diagnosed with the syndrome, which is sus-

Former PM Hinds speaking at the launch

road to re-privatization of bauxite as far back as 1976.

Five years after nationalization when to the astonishment of many nationalized bauxite industry could no longer hold out the possibility of steadily growing prosperity and contribution to the National Treasury Consolidated Fund. Indeed the operation soon split into a period of about 15 years of losses, with receiving subsidies from the Treasurery,” he noted. Heading in to the future, Hinds challenged leaders to look at diversification.

Tasked with a presentation on the history of bauxite, from Demba to Linmine, former Linden InterimManagement Committee Chairman and historian Orrin Gordon spoke of the social, cultural and economic aspects of the earlier days of bauxite mining.

Also delivering remarks were Regional Chairman Renis Morian, Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland, BMGGI Chief Engineer Orin Barnwell and Chair of Linden Fund USA Paula Walcott-Quintin.

Several copies of ‘Children of Watooka’ were also distributed to secondary school students of Linden.

Director of the David and Leila Persaud Foundation, Christopher Persaud hands over the cheque to the young man’s father

Foundation made a generous donation of $100,000 to his cause.

The funds were handed over after calls by the man’s family were made for financial assistance in order to have him treated for the rare condition.

The Foundation has its origin in two charitable individuals – David Persaud, former Managing Director of Toolsie Persaud and former Chairman of David Persaud Investments Limited, along with his wife, Leila Persaud – who passed in 2011, but left their fortune to establish a foundation to fund the needs of persons with serious medical conditions.

The couple are remembered for their humanitarian work in supporting those who were in need medically.

Subsequent to their passing in 2011, the mandate of reaching out to these less fortunate people with medi-

pected to have been brought on by the mosquito-borne Zika Virus.

The 22-year-old, currently a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital, was diagnosed with the condition over three weeks ago and has since been on a ventilator at the institution.

His father, Surendra Ramcharitar, on Monday said Pooran was recovering “slowly but surely”. He said although doctors have not been detailed in their reports on the young man’s condition, the family has gotten confirmation that he had improved.

Ramcharitar related that his son was unable to do anything for himself, and communicates with the family by nodding.

Doctors had indicated to the family that the young man was in need of 25 bottles of vaccine to improve

his condition, with each bottle costing $110,000, totalling just over $2.7 million.

Ramcharitar informed that the support from the public has been overwhelming as more individuals and organisations are generous with their finances. He disclosed that thus far, they have been able to raise a total of $2.4 million, and more funds are coming in.

When the diagnosis was made, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud had posited that the Syndrome might be closely associated with the Zika Virus. This has not been yet confirmed, however.

The Guillain-Barré syndrome is a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The first symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs.

In many instances the symmetrical weakness and abnormal sensations spread to the arms and upper body.

These symptoms can increase in intensity until certain muscles cannot be used at all and, when severe, the person is almost totally paralysed. Guillain-Barré syndrome can affect anybody.

It can strike at any age and both sexes are equally prone to the disorder. The syndrome is rare, however, afflicting only about one person in 100,000. Usually Guillain-Barré occurs a few days or weeks after the patient has had symptoms of a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection.

Occasionally surgery will trigger the syndrome. In rare instances vaccinations may increase the risk.

Most individuals have good recovery from even the most severe cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome.

17

NEWS

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016 | GUYANA-TIMES.COM

Govt still mulling strategies Viraat Sabhaa holds graduation to address unemployment ceremony for spirituality training

G

overnment is currently in the process of formulating a definite plan to create job opportunities to address the unemployment situation in Guyana, according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan.

During a news conference on Monday, Jordan indicated that he was aware of the high rate of unemployment in the nation and would be working to have this addressed in the near future.

Jordan disclosed that the Government had requested the support of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) in facilitating an official survey on unemployment.

He said there were no exact figures on state of the labour force in Guyana.

However, Jordan confirmed that it was the aim of the Government to have the survey completed so that a strategy could be crafted, which would efficiently address the state of the labour force.

“Not for many years have we had an official unemployment rate, all along we have been dealing with proxies.

The last Government wasn’t interested in letting anybody know what the official rate was, there have always been proxies about it.

But an official internationally accepted calculation, this is what we will be going for as soon as the IDB finish-

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

es with its technical assistance,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Head of the Statistics Bureau, Lennox Benjamin admitted that the rate of unemployment from the last census had been recorded at between 10.7 and 11 per cent.

In order to strategise on what can be done by the Government to reduce the rate of unemployment, Benjamin said a labour force survey was essential, but this has not been carried out for almost a decade.

He related that in 2008, they had done rigorous work with the US Bureau of Census to derive exact figures on unemployment, but at the time of implementation, permission was not granted to go ahead with the process.

As a result, the two entities were unable to have the national survey commence without the aid of the government or funding agency.

“Let me just qualify this

by saying that when a national survey is put in the field, the first thing that has to happen is that the approval of Cabinet has to be given. When the approval of Cabinet is given, the funding has to be secured either

by Government or by funding agencies, or a combination of both. So, we have not had a full-blown labour force survey for several years, possibly touching on a decade and in the interim what is used is what we call proxies,” he explained.

Benjamin disclosed that they have just completed intensive work with the IDB consultant team and they were looking to have a labour force survey completed.

According to him, the survey is set to begin in January of next year. This will be conducted, along with a living conditions survey that is expected to commence in August of next year.

Over the past month, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) along with other unions, has been calling on the Government to reintroduce job creation programmes, which had been eliminated.

The Union had indicated that letters had been sent to the President, the Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the National Assembly to have their appeals heard for more emphasis to be placed on creating jobs for Guyanese.

Barabina gets new road — residents calling for dam, bridges to be fixed

R

esidents of Barabina, Region One (Barima/Waini), are now benefitting from a rehabilitated road in their community.

According to information reaching Guyana Times the road was in a deplorable condition for a long time and was rebuilt by the Public Infrastructure Ministry.

In keeping with government’s policy to facilitate greater connectivity between coastland and hinterland regions, the infrastructure ministry rebuilt the road.

Currently, government has embarked on habilitating hinterland roads.

Currently villages, not only Barabina but also other surrounding areas are being flooded because of sinking dams in the region.

Approximately $3 million was spent on dam repairs in the region but as soon as the high tide came, those dams were overtopped and the place flooded.

According to information from the region’s Vice Chairman Sarah Browne, the $3 million allotted was not sufficient for the job that had to be done: “That was a waste of money; they have to now carry out work on the entire revetments that sunk.”

According to Browne, since the Public Infrastructure Ministry has refused to acknowledge the many letters sent to them and other ministries, the Regional Democratic Council is exploring other means at a regional level by which the dams can be rebuilt.

“In Barabina we are exploring to cut a new road through Khan’s Hill (nearby area in Barabina). It would be cheaper and the soil type can hold more, so we are looking to work something out that way” she disclosed.

According to the vice chairman, the RDC is at its wits end as there are not sufficient resources available in the budget for the works to be carried out.

“We do not have money in the RDC budget so we cannot really do anything. The Public

The collapsed bridge in Port Kaituma:

Infrastructure Ministry is not responding to the many articles that are being published regarding our plight so I am now thinking that it is useless to write them. We have also sent dozens of letters to various ministries but nothing was ever acknowledged or replied to” she remarked.

She relayed that the dams were budgeted by the region but the money was not granted.

In the meanwhile, in Port Kaituma money was granted for roads to be rebuilt but was not granted for bridges to be redone.

Recently a bridge in the region collapsed and has not been fixed since.

According to Browne, the RDC is collaborating with the NDC for the bridge to be repaired, and calling on government “is useless”, she said.

A picture of the collapsed bridge surfaced on Facebook and frustrated residents were seen venting their frustration.

According to some of the comments, the residents are in fear that an intervention will only come after something horrible happens.

This publication made numerous attempts to get a response from the Public Infrastructure Ministry but was unsuccessful.

The Viraat Sabhaa team poses for a picture with Swamiji in the centre

I

n an effort to sustain and enhance spirituality and the Hindu culture, the Viraat Sabhaa (Guyana) has initiated programmes to educate Hindus and nonHindus.

“The Viraat Sabhaa has placed spirituality at the pinnacle of its agenda.” This is according to Pandit Ravi Persaud, the President of the organisation, who is convinced that for there to be self-transformation, the process must include higher spiritual education wherein foundational principles are based on truth.

As such, the Sabhaa is encouraging Guyanese from different backgrounds to pursue educational and capacity building initiatives.

It is against this backdrop that the Sabhaa awarded certificates to persons who took part in its four training courses.

The Sabhaa distributed certificates of participation to the persons on Sunday

at the Hall of the Valmiki Vidyalaya High School in Queenstown.

Pandit Persaud outlined that there were four courses held over the past six months. Those started last November and concluded this month (May). Courses were conducted by Swami Kaivalyaananda Saraswati of the Kaivalya Ashram, India. Swamiji is a senior disciple of world renowned Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Dayananda Saraswati. He is also the spiritual head of the Viraat Sabhaa.

One course was for inservice Pandits. In this Module-One programme, over 20 Pandits participated. The course was conducted at the Guyana Pandits’ Council headquarters.

An introductory course on the theoretical study of the Puja System for aspiring Pandits was also offered, attracting 26 participants.

The Viraat Sabhaa

also indicated that for the “Introduction of Vedanta course”, the organisation saw 40 students pursuing the six-month training programme in various aspects of Hinduism, inclusive of Sanskrit, Bhagavad Gita and philosophy.

Also notable was the establishment of the youth training programme.

Swamiji conducted a twomonth training course, “Introduction to Hinduism”.

That programme was attended by 21 young persons, many of whom are full-time professionals in the Public and Private Sectors.

Executive member of the Viraat Sabhaa, Bhaiji Siri Persaud called on the graduates to use the knowledge imparted by Swamiji for the upliftment of themselves and their respective communities. He also applauded the participants who overlooked organisational affiliations to benefit from the courses offered by the Sabhaa.

18

guyana-times.com

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

ARCHIE

ARIES

Keep your emotions out

(March 21- of the equation when dealing April 19) with friends, relatives and

neighbours. Take a moment to assess your situation and gain insight into your options.

You’ll crave excitement TAURUS and adventure. Sign up for (April 20- something that will motiMay 20) vate you to interact with others and share ideas. Keeping your plans a secret won’t help you make headway.

DILBERT

A financial move will help GEMINI (May 21- get rid of overdue bills. Using June 20) common sense and doing your own fact-finding will ensure the best results. Follow safety precautions if you take on a physical challenge.

Team up with someone CANCER who offers interesting options.

(June 21- Using alternative means and July 22) methods to get ahead will impress people looking for something unusual. Put quality and common sense above quantity and impulsive behaviour.

PEANUTS

You will crave something LEO new.

Join a group or get in(July 23Aug. 22) volved in an activity that promotes meeting new people or presenting what you have to offer. Romance is featured.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Look for activities you can VIRGO do with a friend or children.

(Aug. 23Taking an interest in someSept. 22) thing you used to enjoy doing will encourage you to reunite with someone from your past.

Put your energy into events LIBRA (Sept. 23- and activities that promote Oct. 23) personal progress and development. Pooling your resources with an important someone will help you build a better future.

SUDOKU TODAY’S WORD – PROFOUND

Don’t let the actions of othSAGITTARIUS ers cause you to be confused.

(Nov. 23- Separate from the crowd and Dec. 21) focus on self-awareness and physical well-being. Romance is best kept out of the workplace.

(PROFOUND: pruh-FOUND: Deep; great or intense.)

Average mark 22 words Time limit 35 minutes Can you find 30 or more words in PROFOUND? The list will be published tomorrow.

YESTERDAY’S WORD – ABALONE

able aeon aloe alone anoa anole bale banal

bane bean beano bola bole bone lane lean

leno loan lobe lone noble ebon elan

Don’t feel you have to do SCORPIO everything yourself. Be open (Oct. 24to suggestions, as it will help Nov. 22) you expand an innovative idea that you’ve been contemplating. Don’t be afraid to do things differently.

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

Use your imagination CAPRICORN (Dec. 22- when it comes to financial Jan. 19) matters, personal assets and home improvements. By doing things differently, you will find a way to cut costs and build a secure future.

Trust in your abilities.

AQUARIUS You have the passion, stami(Jan. 20na and wherewithal to bring Feb. 19) about positive changes that will improve your personal and professional lives.

Romance is encouraged.

Your power of persuasion PISCES (Feb. 20- will be stellar, but make sure March 20) that you have an ironclad plan in place before you entice others to follow your lead.

A mistake will lead to discord.

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

19

Gujarat Lions, RCB eye straight passage to the VIVO IPL Final

F

our teams are left standing in the VIVO IPL 2016. Two of them – Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore – who ended among the top two teams in the table, will come up against each other in Qualifier 1 – the first of the Playoff matches.

Both teams have had contrasting runs to the Playoffs.

The Gujarat Lions started off with a bang, winning six of their first seven matches, before doing just enough to hold on to their place in the top four. Royal Challengers Bangalore meanwhile had a poor first half – winning just two of their first half of their seven matches. Since then, they’ve won six of their last seven matches – and have played each of their last four matches like a knockout match.

In their most recent outing, the Gujarat Lions got the better of the Mumbai Indians to ensure their passage to the Playoffs. They restricted the defending champions to 172-8 and then chased down the runs in under 18 overs, winning by 6 wickets.

RCB are red hot; their victory margins in the last four matches read 6 wick-

Virat Kohli, captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Suresh Raina, captain of Gujarat Lions will be looking for a victory and a straight passage to the final of VIVO IPL 2016

ets, 82 runs, 9 wickets and 144 runs. From the time the IPL began, RCB have been perennial favourites and have always threatened to win the title. A victory in this match will set up a title clash in their own backyard.

Can they do it?

The Protagonists

Figure this: Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Shane Watson all play-

ing in one match. How does one single out from those names, each of who can lay claim to be among the most devastating in business and are capable of winning matches single-handedly?

Simply put, Virat Kohli has been sensational; four centuries, six half-centuries and a record season aggregate of 919 runs best describes his performance this season. AB de Villiers, with an aggregate of 603 runs scored at a strike-rate

of 170.33, has been prolific too. The Gujarat Lions will expect a blazing start from their openers – McCullum and Finch – and hope Suresh Raina can take charge, like he did in the team’s last two matches.

Head to Head

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions crossed swords twice this season, and both teams shared honours, winning their respective home

matches. The RCB captain Virat Kohli scored a century in both matches; his maiden T20 hundred went in vain in Rajkot as the Gujarat Lions chased down 181 to win by 6 wickets. In their backyard, RCB returned the favour in Bangalore, beating the Lions by 144 runs – the biggest margin by which a team has won in the IPL. The current record for most runs scored in T20 cricket in a calendar year is held by Chris Gayle, who scored 1665 runs in 2015.

Virat Kohli is not too far behind; he has amassed 1544 runs in 26 T20 innings this year.

No one has appeared in more IPL knockout/Playoff matches than Suresh Raina; he has been part of 17 such matches. The only other player to compete in 17 knockout/Playoff matches is his previous captain MS Dhoni.

Players who are part of the Gujarat Lions and RCB squads have a total of 17 centuries – out of a total of 42 centuries that have been scored in the IPL. Chris Gayle has 5 IPL centuries, Virat Kohli has 4, AB de Villiers has 3, Brendon McCullum and Shane

Watson have scored two centuries each, and Suresh Raina has scored one century.

In the last five seasons, the team which has finished the league season at second place in the standings has gone on to win the title.

RCB’s record in Playoff matches, including the Final (since the introduction of the Playoff format in 2011): Won – 2, Lost – 3.

Every occasion that Brendon McCullum or Dwayne Smith have made scores of 30 or more, the Gujarat Lions have been victorious; McCullum has made five scores of 30 or more, while Smith has made 4 such scores.

RCB’s Sreenath Arvind has taken a total of 38 wickets in the IPL; he has reaped 20 of those wickets in the 12 matches he has played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The winner of this contest will progress straight to the Final (May 29) of VIVO IPL 2016, while the loser will have a second opportunity at making the final; they need to compete in Qualifier 2 (May 27), where they will be pitted against winner of the Eliminator.

India in West Indies 2016…

Shardul Thakur earns call-up for WI Tests — Tests slated for Antigua, St Lucia, Jamaica and Trinidad

U

ncapped Mumbai quick Shardul Thakur has been picked in the 17-member squad for the four-Test tour of the West Indies in July-August. The squad also includes fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has not played international cricket since March 2015 due to injuries. Virat Kohli will captain the team, while Ajinkya Rahane has been named vice-captain.

Apart from batsman KL Rahul, none of the other players in the squad are part of the limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe immediately after the IPL in June.

The series in West Indies is India’s first Test assignment since the home Tests against South Africa in October and November. India’s selectors made only two changes to that squad - fast bowler Varun Aaron and all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann were left out.

Thakur had two strong showings in successive Ranji Trophy seasons. In 2014-15,

Mohammed Shami

he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker, alongside R Vinay Kumar, with 48 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 20.81. He followed that with 41 wickets in the 2015-16 season, the highest for Mumbai, to help the side clinch its 41st Ranji Trophy title. Overall, Thakur has 133 wickets in 37 first-class matches at an average of 27.53. He was also part of the India A squad that played four-day matches at home against South Africa A and Australia A last year.

Shami has not played international cricket since the

2015 World Cup semi-final against Australia and he later revealed he had bowled through the tournament while battling pain from his knee injury. Despite that, he picked up 17 wickets in seven matches in the tournament. Following a surgery, Shami made a return to competitive cricket, playing two matches each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Shami was picked for the ODI and T20I tour of Australia in January but was ruled out after suffering a Grade-2 hamstring injury. The injury also forced him to miss the Asia Cup T20. Shami retained his place in the World T20 squad but bowled only in the two warm-up matches, against West Indies and South Africa.

India have plenty of pace-bowling options for the tour of West Indies, with Ishant Sharma, Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Thakur in the squad, along with allrounder Stuart Binny. Their

spin bowling line-up comprises R Ashwin, legspinner Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja.

According to information coming from the Caribbean, the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua will be the venue for the first Test with Darren Sammy National Stadium hosting the second Test. This was previously called the Beausejour Stadium, which is situated near Gros Islet, St Lucia.

The third Test will be played at Queen’s Park Oval, the oldest and the largest stadium in the West Indies. The ground in Port of Spain, incidentally is one of the luckiest grounds for India in the islands.

The fourth and final Test will be at Sabina Park in Jamaica, the home ground of Chirs Gayle, although there is no guarantee if the hard-hitting opener will play at all.

The venues were finalised during a meeting between a BCCI recce team

and WICB officials yesterday. The two-member recce team led by BCCI general manager MV Sridhar has been camping in the West Indies, inspecting the venues and hotels. The dates have not yet been finalised but the first Test in Antigua should start around July 2021.

Sridhar could not be reached for a comment but a WICB official confirmed to this paper about the venues.

A couple of tour games are being planned but the WICB official said there is no information if there will be one in between the Tests.

It will be the first tour to the Caribbean for Virat Kohli as skipper but he has played Tests in the West Indies. Kohli, who has played 41 Tests so far, in fact, debuted in Kingston, Jamaica, in June 2011.

As has been reported, the Test series will clash with Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the West Indies’ own version of IPL, and the pitches are unlikely to be as

Virat Kohli

bouncy as they used to be in the past.

Team for the Test tour to West Indies

Virat Kohli (Captain), M Vijay, Shikhar Dhwan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Stuart Binny

20

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016

Rohan Kanhai

C

a natural genius for batting

ricket has played a pivotal role in the development of Guyana as a nation long before Independence in May 1966. There are a many outstanding Guyanese cricketers whose contribution to the glorious game will never be forgotten. Today Guyana Times Sport looks at Rohan Kanhai Rohan Kanhai had a natural genius for batting.

A small, neat right-hander with every cricket stroke and a few he invented himself, (notably a full-blooded sweep to leg-side - half-volleys which swung him off his feet and the ball out of the ground), he possessed a wonderful gift of timing and scored runs consistently all over the world.

A steely determination and huge appetite for runs made him one of the most

consistent of batsmen to come from the Caribbean and he did much, personally, to dispel the general impression that West Indies batsmen would waste their natural brilliance from time to time and either throw their wickets away or fold up quickly in a crisis.

Though he was not a particularly successful captain when that honour came his way - his occasionally stormy temperament being wrong for the job - Rohan Kanhai was in this sense highly significant in the development of West Indian cricket at international level.

Born on a sugar plantation at Port Mourant, British Guinana, to which colony his grandparents emigrated from India, Kanhai is slightly built and stands only 5 ft. 7 ins. Like most male West Indians he took to cricket as a matter of course at an early age and when eight was in the team at the local Roman

Rohan Kanhai Full name: Rohan Bholalall Kanhai Born: 26 Dec 1935, Port Mourant, Berbice, Guyana Batting: Right-hand batsman Fielding: Right-arm medium, wicket-keeper Relations: Nephew: MV Nagamootoo; Nephew: V Nagamootoo; Nephew: R Etwaroo; Nephew: R Etwaroo; Nephew: TR Etwaroo Teams: Berbice (FC: 1960); Guyana (FC: 1955-1974); Guyana (ListA: 1973); West Indies (Test: 1957-1974); West Indies (ODI: 1973-1975); Western Australia (FC: 1961/62); Trinidad & Tobago (FC: 1965); Warwickshire (FC, ListA: 1968-1977); Tasmania (FC: 1970); Transvaal (SACB) (FC: 1974/75); All teams Clubs: Port Mourant (Berbice); Everest (Georgetown); Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year: 1958/59 Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1964 Warwickshire cap: 1968 Warwickshire benefit season: 1977 (raised 11,500 pounds)

Catholic school as wicketkeeper-batsman.

In common with most Guyanese schoolboys in those days, he played without gloves or pads -- a reason, he considers, why West Indies batsmen are less addicted to pad-play than players of other coun-

tries.

During four years he made many runs for the school, which he captained in his last season, without putting together a century.

Though receiving no coaching, he advanced steadily he hit his first three-figure innings for Port Mourant CC when sixteen - through studying the methods of leading players, and in 1954 he graduated to inter-county matches, so attracting the attention of the Colonial cricket authorities.

He appeared for the East Indian Cricket Club (now Everest Cricket Club) in the Case Cup Competition and gained a place in the British Guiana team in 1955 when nineteen, scoring 51 and 27 in the match with the Australian touring side.

Thenceforward he did not look back.

Kanhai recalls with

amusement, however, how he got his first trial for British Guiana. Four players were available to fill the last two places and it was decided to settle the problem by drawing two names from a hat. Kanhai was unsuccessful; but the following morning he was called upon to play, for one of the lucky players had wrenched an ankle.

In 1956 he distinguished himself by hitting 129 from the Jamaica bowling and 195 against Barbados in the Quadrangular Tournament, following with innings of 62 and 90 in the first of two trials staged to help in the selection of the party to tour

England. In his first three Tests he kept wicket before Franz Alexander took over behind the stumps. Kanhai deputised as keeper on several other occasions.

For Warwickshire Kanhai scored 1,000 runs in a season on ten occasions, his most prolific year being 1970 when he hit 1,894 at an average of 57.39. He also hit 1,000 runs in a season once in Australia and once while touring India and Pakistan. His highest score for Warwickshire was 253 against Nottinghamshire in 1968 at Trent Bridge, when he added 402 with Billy Ibadulla, a record for Warwickshire’s fourth wicket.

Kanhai and Jameson created a first-class world record with an unbroken stand of 465 for the second wicket for Warwickshire against Gloucestershire

at Edgbaston in 1974; Jameson made 240 and Kanhai 213.

But it was his batting which West Indies came to rely on for more than 16 years. His sequence of 61 Tests were broken only because he had to return to England for a cartilage operation. He didn’t score a century until his 13th Test but it was worth waiting for; he smashed 256 runs off the Indian attack at Calcutta. There were centuries too for Sobers and Basil Butcher as West Indies crushed their hosts by an innings and 336 runs.

Kanhai followed this with 99 in the next Test as West Indies went on to win the series 3-0. Another double century followed on the same overseas tour, this time in Lahore as West Indies beat Pakistan by an innings. In all he hit 15 Test centuries, averaging 47.53 in Test matches.

Shortly before the end of the 1963 West Indies tour of England he surprised his team-mates by secretly marrying a Lancashire girl.

Kanhai was appointed captain of the West Indies for the home series against Australia in 1972-73. West Indies lost the five-Test series 2-0 but he retained the captaincy for the tour to England the following summer. This time he enjoyed success, winning the three-Test series 2-0, although the following winter he only managed to draw the five-Test home series against England 1-1. Unhappy with his own form, he retired from Test cricket after that series.

One-day cricket was in its infancy as Kanhai’s career drew to a close, and he only played in seven ODIs. However, he went out on a high, appearing in the first World Cup Final at Lord’s in 1975 against Australia.

He scored 55 in putting on a vital 149 with Clive Lloyd for the fourth wicket after West Indies had been struggling at 50 for 3. The West Indies went on to win by 17 runs.

Kanhai also played cricket in several English (and Scottish) leagues.

Missigher defeats Forde in Independence 10K F

irst Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger, on Sunday morning, opened the 5 and 10 kilometers Independence Golden Jubilee Road Race hosted by the Athletics Association of Guyana in collaboration with the Ex-Athletes group, which is based in the United States of America.

The five kilometers race featured runners under 16 years of age and the 10 kilometers featured those between the ages of 16 and 20 years.

Mrs. Granger, who was warmly received by the participants, sponsors and organisers, fired off the starting shot for the senior runners at the junction of Carifesta Avenue and Camp Street and for the junior runners near the entrance of the National Park on Carifesta Avenue. Both races ended at the entrance to the Guyana National Service Sports Ground, also on Carifesta Avenue.

Mr. David Thomas, one of the overseas-based sponsors said the group members were pleased “to give back” and are considering a number of other ways to provide further assistance to the youth.

He also noted that providing the opportunity for the athletes to showcase their talent internationally

may result in them being offered scholarships, further helping them to become productive citizens.

Meanwhile, member of the Ex-Athletes group and the brain child of the event, Ms. Burgette WilliamsForde said the group was particularly proud to have been able to host the event free of cost to participants.

She recalled that she first entered the GNS Ground as a 15-year-old and was later named Sportswoman of the Year and Athlete of the Year in 1984.

Winston Missigher ran a brilliant race to defeat Guyana’s best distance runner Cleveland Forde in a time of 32 minutes and 46 seconds. Ford, returning from injury did just enough to hold off namesake Cleveland Thomas by just a second finishing in a time of 32:24. Nathaniel Giddings and Odwin Tudor finished 4th and 5th respectively.

Euleen Josaih-Tanner won the female 10K in 39 minutes and 27 seconds followed by Ashanti Scott and Tiffany Bishop.

Colin Mercurious won the male masters in 35:35 ahead of Guiltermo Odenhout and Gary Hartog while the female masters was won by Cyrline Phillips in 49:12 followed by Carla Benjamin and Donna Tai.

Oklahoma City blitzes Golden State in commanding Game 3 win

T

he Oklahoma City Thunder continue to bounce back. After getting blown out in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, they returned the favor in Game 3, running the Golden State Warriors out of the gym in a 133-105 win to take a 2-1 series lead.

Kevin Durant had 33 points and Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Thunder, but they got huge help from the role players, too. Dion Waiters had 13 points and Andre Roberson made himself a key player on offense by attacking the rim rather than hanging out around the three-point line on his way to 13 points.

Stephen Curry had 24 points and Klay Thompson had 18 in the ugly loss.

Oklahoma City surprised everyone by going small in the first quarter against the Warriors -- and it worked.

Their lead grew to as many as 13 thanks to a lineup that featured Roberson at pow-

er forward instead of Enes Kanter. The Warriors answered, however, and pulled closer, ending the quarter down 34-28. The reserves kept the Warriors in it, and they even tied the game at 40, but the Thunder had another run in them -- a big one.

With Westbrook pushing the ball, and Durant taking over, they ended the half on a 32-7 run as the Warriors went 2-of-23 from the field to end the quarter. The Thunder took a 72-47 lead into the half.

That run extended to 55-19 midway through the third quarter. The Thunder scored 45 in the quarter to take a 37-point lead through three, and all that was left in this one was watching the clock tick down to zero. The lead grew to as many as 41 and the Thunder went on to win by 28.

The Thunder will have a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in Game 4 on Tuesday in Oklahoma City. (sbnation.com)

21

SPORTS

YELLOW PAGES

Global Health Care Supplies makes contribution to RHTYSC

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016 | WWW.GUYANA-TIMES.COM

CAR RENTALS Need a car to rent? Then call 6111018 for the best cars at great prices.

Progressive Auto Rental: Cars from $4000 and up. Tel: 219-3900, 6435122

IMMIGRATION SERVICES PROFESSIONALLY PREPARED BY IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT. PASSPORT AND VISA APPLICATIONS (PERMANENT/VISITOR) FOR USA, CANADA, UK, CHINA, INDIA, ETC. SABITA’S IMMIGRATION SERVICES. TEL: 225-6496/662-6045

DENTISTRY

KEY CUTTING

Dentures provided in 72 hours from as low as $4500. Contact Dr B Stuart, 209B Charlotte St, Lacytown. Tel: 225-5034

Professional Key Shop, 125 Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Phone: 225-3923, mobile: 621-3249. We cut any type of key, service and repair all types of locks.

Get your extra key today.

DRIVING SCHOOL Shalom Enterprise Driving School 2 Croal Street, Stabroek.

You can obtain an International Drivers Permit Covering 131 Countries. Tel: 227-3869, 6447052, 659-3381

EDUCATION REGISTER - learn to play drums, guitar, keyboard and train your voice NOW OR in the Summer. Call 225-1151/ 657-8404.

Special Computer Package for 2016 CXC Students. 9 Courses in Computers $20,000 OFF. Computerized Accounting 4 Courses. Quickbooks, Peachtree, POS, Excel 2016. MicroGraphics Technology, Vreed-En-Hoop/ Parika. Tel: 264-3057 Study in CANADA/USA $1,000US Processing Fee. Limited Offer.

MicroGraphics Technology, VreedEn-Hoop/Parika. Tel: 264-3057.

Cybertron BeReady Driving School.

Daily and Weekend Classes.

Limited Offer. MicroGraphics Technology, Vreed-En-Hoop/ Parika. Tel: 264-3057

FOR SALE FOR SALE 3 HEIFERS. TEL: 658-0115 Powerline Battery Water/wholesale.

1 litre and 0.5 litre sizes. Tel: 680-3863 One Toyota Spacio, One Toyota Forklift, One Motorcycle 110cc, One Cement Mixer (Ransom), Vick’s Hardware. Tel: 264-2682/649-0707

OPTICIAN Da Silva’s Optical. For Your Eyes Only, Look Better See Better. Phillip A Da Silva OD, Shannon L Da Silva OD, Natalie Da Silva OD. 248 South Road, Bourda. Phone: 227-3529, Linden: 444-6376, Corriverton: 3393536, Meten-Meer-Zorg: 275-0322, Grand Cayman Islands: (345) 9431515 for the perfect trendy touch.

HEALTH

Healthworld Clinic – Providing professional psychological therapy for all mental and behavioral health problems. Call (592)-690-1824 Mondays-Saturdays 9am-3pm.

Email; healthworldhc@gmail.com

LAND FOR SALE Land at La Grange Public Road to Sea Dam, Size 4 Acres, could be used for commercial or Housing Scheme. Tel 625-1514 1.5 Acre Land in W.B.D. Call #:658-0115 Land at La Grange Public Road, Size 4 Acre, could be used for commercial or housing scheme. Tel#: 625-1514 Formerly Globe Cinema, Corner lot, Church and Waterloo Street Size 125 ft x 133 ft Tel: 610-2234 One land 100/50 at Good Hope Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara for sale.

Priced six million dollars. For more information, kindly call 623-0156 or 6953150 (serious inquires only)

Clean Garden Earth. Also excavating, grading and leveling done. Call 627-9977

PROPERTY FOR SALE

Road to Belwasa and A Dip at the Sangam, Indentureship Novels at Austin’s Book Store and at Lachmansingh Drug Store.

Tel: 226-5053.

House Lot, Diamond New Scheme between 2nd & 3rd Avenue. Contact: 638-1529

For sale by lot: Lot (1): 2 bath tubs, bathroom fittings and fixtures & toilet set; shower fittings - $150,000 and Lot (2): 1 Dell desktop computer & HP scanner - $25,000. Call 225-2676 or 601-5285.

One 6 inch dredge, one 4-cylinder MWM, one 3-cylinder MWM engine in working condition with all other complete equipment in good working condition. 679-3655 2 STOREY CONCRETE HOUSE 35 X 45 ENCLOSED DOWNSTAIRS, SIZE OF LAND 65 X 120, SECTION A DIAMOND HOUSING SCHEME, EAST BANK DEMERARA, CONTACT # 6645052/617-0583

FLOWERS Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (opposite St George’s Cathedral).

Tel: 227-3553/225-3315

IMMIGRATION Immigration & Visa Services We handle all Canadian, USA and UK immigration and visa matters. Self sponsorships, holiday/visitor’s visas, work permits, students visas, family, class, immigration forms, embassy enquiries, appeals for refused cases, US green card lottery, business class waivers, pardons, etc. Get your visa approved. High success rate. Balwant Persaud & Associates. Certified Immigration Consultants, 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings & Lights Sts) Tel: 225-1540, 622-8308, 655-3105.

Email: balwantpersaud@yahoo.ca

Repairs and Spares, Air Conditioning, Car AC, Washers, Stoves. Call Nick: 683-1312, 627-3206

GR Taxi, 24 hours. Phone: 225-7878, 219-5000 or 227-2100

TO LET FOR RENT 1,000 TO 10,000 SQUARE FT. WAREHOUSE SPACE, OFFICE SPACE & SHOP FRONT. CALL: 592600-2040/600-5758

SPIRITUALITY Surinamese spiritualist. Resolving all problems. Money, love, blockage etc.

Call 223-6834/600-7719.

Suriname’s Astrology, Palmist and Hindustani Spiritual Healer, solve all purpose problems, 100% confidential guaranteed. Phone: 602-8997 HEPHZIBAH MINISTRIES 24 hrs Prayer Line 322-5081, 322-5738, 322-5788, 337-4510, 337-4259, 3373070, 337-5103. For healing, deliverance, financial difficulties, marriage issues call now. Jesus Cares.

Ifa Temple – Are you having serious problems and urgently need spiritual help? Call 621-0552 now. Email: anew-life@live.com

SALESGIRLS WITH EXPERIENCE PLEASE BRING WRITTEN APPLICATION AND CV TO TRISTAR ELECTRICAL BRASSONIC Bldg.

(MAIN ENTRANCE 42 WATER ST. G/Town. 231-7101 Vacancy exists for one fulltime Pharmacist to work on the West Coast of Demerara in Metenmeerzorg. Telephone: 2750733

VEHICLES FOR SALE

NOT RECEIVING

Toyota WILL VS-low mileage. 2010 Kawasaki Ninja 250R – imported from the USA, low mileage. Tel: 6749002 NISSAN –X Trail 2013 Model Fully Loaded, 2500cc CVT 31,000KM, 8.9 Mil – Negotiable. Serious Enquires Only. Call: 685-3069/644-9141 One RZ Minibus BLL series in working condition. $400,000.00 One Toyota Raum (New Model) in excellent condition. $1.5M. Contact – 624-5002

YOUR

DAILY & SUNDAY COPIES OF

One Toyota Picnic (8 Seater) in excellent condition.Mags Rims, DVD Player etc. $1.7M neg. Contact – 6245002 One Pitbull Minibus for sale. Excellent Condition. Call:624-5141 or email queries to mckriodax@gmail.com One AE110 XE Limited Sprinter. Very Good Condition; female driver. Tel: 223-0654 1 TOYOTA IPSUM (7-SEATER) IN EXCELLENT WORKING CONDITION WITH MUSIC (5800 W): CONTACT 653-1003

VACANCIES

House plans & estimates, weeding of grass and spraying done within 48hrs.

Call: 216-0671; 622-0267; 692-8464

Wanted, One Joiner to work in Crown Dam, ECD. Call: 627-3405 or 222-4576.

Leonora New Housing Scheme, W.C.D. Garage, Kitchen & Shower.

Tel: 675-5998/268-2277.

NO CHILDREN. Working Persons Only

SERVICES

GOOD HOPE AND OGLE. CONTACT: 673-5546, 222-3066, 682-7257, 6790987

pressed gratitude to Global Health Care Supplies Inc and its Chief Executive Officer Mr. Deonarine Etwaroo for coming on board with the RHTYSC, MS and stated it was quite amazing the amount of activities that the Club undertakes every year with the support of donors.

TAXI SERVICES

Bargain! One 3-bedroom wooden building in Georgetown. Solid greenheart beams, columns & boards. $1.3M Negotiable. Call 227-4285

Transported property in Regent Street between Wellington & Camp Streets. Tel 625-1514

he outstanding work of Guyana’s leading youth and sports organisation, the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, MS continues to attract support from corporate Guyana.

The Club in 2016 has committed itself to promoting sports, culture and education as an

SERVICES

JUST ARRIVED: TOP QUALITY RECONDITIONED VEHICLES; TOYOTA NOAH; TOYOTA VOXY; TOYOTA IST (NEW SHAPE); SUZUKI SWIFT; DAIHATSU MOVE (660CC); MERCEDES BENZ C200 KOMPRESSOR; COROLLA AE100 WAGON; TOYOTA HIACE MINIBUS RZ; PITBULL-STYLE FREEZER VAN; LAND CRUISER (FULLY LOADED); MAZDA PROCEED 4WD EXTRA-CAB PICK-UP; TOYOTA HILUX 4WD EXTRA CAB PICKUPS - 3RZ, 5L, 3L SOLID DEFFERNTIAL; MITSUBISHI CANTER TRUCKS 4 TONS FREEZER; 3 TONS OPEN TRAY; 2 TONS 4WD; NISSAN ATLAS 2 TONS OPEN TRAY TRUCK. PRE-ORDER YOUR UNITS EARLY AND GET THE BEST PRICES. FULL AFTER SALES SERVICES AND FINANCING AVAILABLE. DEO MARAJ AUTO SALES, 2 CHIMNEY ROAD, CHATEAU MARGOT, ECD. 624-0762, 220-5177. A NAME AND SERVICE YOU CAN TRUST

Eccles: $27M Neg. Enterprise Sec C: $20M Neg. MonRepos: $30M Neg. South Ruimveldt Park:$20M Neg. Broad Street: $80M Neg. Charlotte Street between Camp and Alexander: $55M Neg. Providence(land): $6.5M Neg. Parfaite Harmony(land): $4.5M Neg. Contact: 691-1521

T

Dutch spiritual healing in removing evil spirit, bad luck, evil sickness, spells, reuniting lovers and prosperity to business. Call: 612-6417, 6875653, 220-0708

Cashier for Supermarket. Tel: 624-0033 One (1) Cook. Tel: 624-0033 One (1) Maid. Tel: 624-0033 Driver for Water Truck. Tel: 680-3863 Security – In store; Day Duty. Tel: 680-3863

WANTED Fast growing food distribution company is looking for a driver, salesperson and canter driver with experience and Police clearance.

231-8344/231-8529 One live-in female housekeeper, over 35 years old and from outside of Georgetown. Tel:223-0654 Fast growing food distribution company is looking for a driver and salesperson with a car, experience and police clearance. Call: 231-8344 or 231-8529

Phone: 223-7230 EXT: 35

RHTYSC, MS Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster (left) receives a cheque for trophies from Global CEO Deonarine Etwaroo

alternative to a life of crime, violence and drugs for youths.

The Club on Wednesday last received a donation of a carton of trophies from Global Health Care Supplies Inc of Third Street, Alberttown, Georgetown.

Secretary/CEO of the Club Hilbert Foster stated that with a projected 300 programmes planned for the year, the Club would need a large quantity of trophies. The donated trophies would be used by the cricket team of the RHTYSC, MS to host several educational and sporting projects. These includes an Outstanding teachers Programme at the New Amsterdam Secondary School, an inter primary school football competition and a inter secondary school basketball tournament. All of the programmes would be held under the Club’s Say No to Drugs, Suicide, Crime and Say Yes to Education, Life and Sports Programme which targets 60,000 youths in Berbice.

The 2010 National Sports Personality Awardee ex-

Stating that a donor recently praised the RHTYSC, MS ability to make every activity a success, Foster said that the Club would continue to uphold its high tradition.

CEO of Global Health Care Supplies INC, Deonarine Etwaroo expressed delight at joining force with the dynamic youth and sports organisation. He stated that the recently established company was committed to fulfilling its corporate responsibilities and was determined to contribute to a healthy Guyanese.

Etwaru spoke of the importance of an educational background and involvement in sports for youths as they try to avoid the social ills affecting the Guyanese Society.

He expressed confidence that all the programmes would be successful and would fulfil all of their objectives. All of the programmes would be organised with assistance of the Community Relations Department of the Guyana Police Force ‘B’ Division and the Region 6 Department of the Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Health Soft Shoe Football starts today

T

Classified Ads $5+VAT per word Call: 226-9921

he Petra Organisation has organized the second annual Soft Shoe Football Competition sponsored by the Ministry of Health under the ‘Stop Gender-based Violence’ theme will commence this evening, at the Ministry of Health ground on Brickdam & Vlissingen Road.

Petra Organization CoDirector, Troy Mendonca stated that due to circumstances beyond their control, the tournament which was scheduled to commence yesterday had to be pushed back to this evening.

Six matches are carded for the night with defending champion Sparta Boss set to take on California Square in the final encounter of the evening.

The full fixtures are as follow; 19:00 hrs Old School Ballers vs Cross Street of Werk-en-Rust 19:45 hrs Queen Street of

Tiger Bay tackles Broad Street 20:30 hrs Sophia go up against Hope Street of Tiger Bay 21:00 hrs Channel 9 battles Globe Yard 21:45 hrs Bent Street engages Stevedore Housing Scheme 22:30 hrs Sparta Boss squares off against California Square Meanwhile, the next round of matches will be played on May 30, at the Western Tigers ground in West Ruimveldt.

The fixtures for May 30th are as follows: 19:00 hrs North East La Penitence vs Albouystown 19:45 hrs North Riumveldt vs Alexander Village 20:30 hrs Back Circle vs Charlestown 21:00 hrs West Front Road vs Ministry of Health 21:45 hrs East Front Road vs Leopold Street 22:30 hrs Campbellville vs West Back Road

22

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

tuesDAY, may 24, 2016

Providence to host 4 Guyana Christianburg Wismar Amazon Warriors matches

6th Annual Digicel’s National School Championship...

Dr Bobby Ramroop says Warriors will be aiming to “go a step further” and lift CPL title

T

he Guyana Amazon Warriors have announced their fixtures for the forthcoming 2016 HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign and will open the home series of matches with an evening clash against Jamaica Tallawahs on Thursday, 7 July.

On the weekend of July 9 and 10 the Warriors will then host St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Trinbago Knight Riders before completing the block of matches with a final home game against St. Lucia Zouks on Tuesday, July 12.

The Warriors will be led this year by New Zealand star batsman Martin Guptill and includes a host of local and international talent in their ranks including West Indies stars Dwayne Smith, Christopher Barnwell and Veerasammy Permaul.

The Guyana-based squad will also include Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir as well as the likes of Australian duo Chris Lynn and leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who has produced a string of impressive performances in the IPL of late.

The Guyana based side will be coached by Roger Harper who will be assisted by Esuan Crandon, while Omar Khan will continue as Team Manager.

Welcoming the return of CPL to Guyana, Dr. Ranjisinghi “Bobby” Ramroop, franchise owner of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, said: “We are de-

Dr Ranjisinghi “Bobby” Ramroop

lighted to announce our schedule of home matches for the coming season and believe that we have a strong squad that is capable of making a big impact in this year’s competition.

“This year we will be led on the field by Martin Guptill and we are also delighted to welcome back local favourite Roger Harper for his second spell as coach. Having come so close to lifting the title on two previous occasions, back in 2013 and 2014, we believe that we have the squad to go a step further this year.

“We are excited about welcoming four top quality teams to Guyana and there will be huge interest in these games. So the message to our loyal and passionate supporters is clear; tickets for our matches in Providence Stadium will be keenly sought after, so book your tickets early to avoid disappointment.”

The remaining fixtures will be confirmed over the next week and tickets for all confirmed fixtures in the Caribbean and Fort Lauderdale are on sale now from www.cplt20.com.

Guyana Amazon Warriors Home Fixtures (all times local):

7 July – Jamaica Tallawahs (7pm), 9 July – St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots (12 Midday), 10 July – Trinbago Knight Riders (7pm), 12 July – St. Lucia Zouks (7pm).

Guyana Amazon Warriors Squad:

Sohail Tanvir, Martin Guptill, Dwayne Smith, Chris Lynn, Rayad Emrit, Adam Zampa, Jason Mohammed, Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul, Orlando Peters, Assad Fudadin, Anthony Bramble, Paul Wintz, Steven Jacobs, Steven Katwaroo, Ali Khan, Shimron Hetmyer

Ronaldo Renee credits hard work for success at Under-19 tourney “I worked hard, I learnt from my mistakes from last year”

By Akeem Greene

T

alented Demerara Under-19 opening batsmen Ronaldo Renee has set his sights on having productive regional under-19 tournament once selected by Guyana after being the leading runscorer in the recently concluded Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Hand-In-Hand Under-19 Inter-county three-day tournament.

The elegant right-handed batsman would attribute that success to the work he had put in before the tournament and learning from the mistakes of the past.

In an interview with Guyana Times Sport he stated, “I work hard, I learnt from my mistakes from last year, this is the third year I’m playing for Demerara, so I really worked hard and it was a lot of patience, especially in the three-day, you got to have a lot of patience.”

Renee, who played for Guyana at the Under-17 level, amassed 331 runs from three matches in the 3-day format, with a top score of 165 not out, in which he shared whooping 293 for the

Ronaldo Renee

first wicket with Raymond Perez.

More of conscious of his game now, Renee believes he needs to work on better strike rotation, stating, “I am looking to get singles, put the bad balls away and not soak up to many dot balls, basically better strike rotation.”

Though, 57 runs from three matches in the 50over leg, does not speak to his immense ability, the

young batsman believes he can adapt to the shorter format.

“Once you could play three-day, you should be able to play the shorter version; remember three-day is the hardest format to play in terms of ability so you have to be able to adapt,” he explained.

The Everest Cricket Club player revealed that his father is one of the main persons instrumental in his improvement over the years.

“My father, and also I am in a contract with Mr. Charles and the coach at Everest who have been working with me to improve my skills,” he said.

A developing skill of Renee is certainly his wicket keeping ability, and the critics sighted it is an area for improvement.

His main goal, once selected for the national team once more is make sure that the under-19 team wins the competition for three consecutive years.

“Well for us we looking to go and win the championship for Guyana, which is the main goal, but personally I want to go and get a lot of runs.” Renee said.

Secondary ready to defend title

By Akeem Greene

C

hristianburg Wismar Secondary School are ready to defend their title in the Digicel’s National Schools Football Championships when the tournament kicks-off on June 10.

Coach of the team Delon Peters in an interview with Guyana Times Sport explained that preparations are currently ongoing but the inclement weather has had an effect on training but they have found ways of making sure they get the work done.

“The inclement weather has had an effect, in crippling us in terms of training but we had a tournament recently and we used that as stepping stone and basically for practice,” the coach said.

He added, “However or whenever we can, we do some training in the school’s auditorium and even sometimes in the rain because these are conditions you play under.”

There has some speculation that some teams that are based in the interior locations find it difficult to play under lights but the Coach dispelled that notion, stating his team is quite comfortable.

“I don’t see it as a difficulty, we have grown accustomed to playing under lights for some time now, we have a lighted facility at the MSC [Mackenzie Sports Club] ground in Linden plus we have had several other opportunities playing under

Delon Peters

lights” Peters told this publication.

The Linden side are set to face a tough challenge from the Georgetown based Chase Academy who recently defeated them 2-1 in match at the National Stadium but the Peters is looking at the defeat as more of a lesson than a setback.

“In any defeat, I don’t see it as a setback, I don’t see it as a negative because it gives you a chance to see where you went wrong; we only deal in the positives,” Peters said.

Peters was quizzed on how he as a coach is able to create a balance training schedule and at the same time, allow the students to fully attend classes.

He responded saying, “we know education is important, that is why we give

them the time-off to; we usually do our training in the afternoons, so if you have an exam we give that leeway, we don’t put them under any pressure; it’s just football but education is way beyond football.”

The tournament which is catered for numerous young talents throughout the country is seen as vital for development in Guyana and Coach Peters is in total agreement.

“This kind of football has given exposure to whole lot of hidden talent; who knew about Waramadong before Digicel, who knew about Annai, it has given selectors for junior football teams headache as well as senior teams because in a couple of years these are the guys that will honour us in the National team,” Peters posited.

The school from Linden has won the championship four of the five times thus far and are looking to make it five when the sixth edition gets underway.

The finals for the this year is slated for July 31 at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence and the championship school will collect $1 million to fund a project of its choice.

The second to fourth place finishers will receive $700,000., $400,000. and $350,000. respectively, which will also go to a project of their choice.

The regional champions are guaranteed $100,000 each. (akeemg@guyanatimesgy.com)

DC Jammers rout Colts 93-78

G

lenn Stokes and Winston Robinson dominated the game as the DC Jammers dropped the National Club Champions Colts 9378 on Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, to secure their second consecutive win following a 74-69 victory against Ravens on Saturday.

Glenn Stokes had a game high 21 points while Winston Robinson chipped in 18 points for the Jammers.

For Colts, Shelroy Thomas recorded 14 points while sibling Sheldon Thomas posted 11 points.

Seventeen year-old Stanton Rose had his first taste of ‘Jammers’ and had a decent nine points.

It was a highly competitive up-tempo first half as both teams tested the waters with the Colts holding their own against a vastly superior opponent with a 2321 lead after the first.

However, the Jammers would demonstrate their dominance as they opened a seven point lead at the end of the second period, outscoring the Colts 23-13 to lead 43-36 at the half.

Winston Robinson’s third quarter highlight reel of ‘alley-hoops’ and an impressive chase down block

Winston Robinson's two- handed dunk over Kurt English

(Photo

by Treiston Joseph)

on Colts’ Kurt English propelled the Jammers to a 14 point lead (58-44) with 3:47 remaining in the period. The high flyer was also dominant on the defensive end producing a number of stops for the Jammers as they looked to extend their lead.

The Colts’ however, showed some life as they came fighting back, cutting the lead to single digits to give themselves a chance heading into the fourth trailing 62-53.

Nevertheless, the Jammers’ would scored a formidable 31 points in the

final period demolishing all hopes the Colts had of a comeback as they secured a 93-78 resounding victory over Guyana’s National Club Champs; Colts.

Meanwhile in the exhibition fixture, Plaisance Secondary blew-out Tutorial High 88-35.

DC Jammers will now turn their attention to former National club champions, Pacesetters this evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall as they look to make it 3-0 in their 2016 four game Goodwill Tour.

guyana-times.com

tuesdAY, may 24, 2016

23

CPL heading to Reggae-town T

he Jamaica Tallawahs have confirmed their home fixtures for the forthcoming HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign and will begin their block of four home matches in Sabina Park against Guyana Amazon Warriors in a night game on Friday, 15 July.

The Tallawahs, who will this year boast once more local favourites Chris Gayle, Andre Russell as well as international stars of the calibre of Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara in their ranks, will also play back-to-back fixtures against the Zouks in the Central Broward Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, with the home game set to complete the USA leg of CPL before the start of the play-offs.

Looking ahead to the CPL season, Manish Patel, Co-owner and Managing Director Jamaica Tallawahs,

said: “Reflecting on last year’s electric atmosphere at home, we’re very much looking forward to once again defending Sabina Park and excite our passionate public with some strong performances. Our fans will enjoy watching the world-class established players, as well as the emerging local talent which includes the raw talent of Rovman Powell, who is the wildcard in our 2016 squad. In addition, O’shane Thomas will no doubt excite those who have not seen him perform on the field.

“We’re also extremely excited to bring the unique entertainment value, that is Caribbean Premier League, to Central Broward Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, and we know that we can count on some outstanding support by the wider Jamaican public both at home and on the road this summer.”

Meanwhile, Paul Nixon has been confirmed as the Tallawahs Head Coach and the Englishman will be as-

Rising Star hosted fruitful Independence Fitness Walk and Run

I

n observance of Guyana Golden Jubilee of Independence, the Rising Star Track Club in collaboration with the Ministry Presidency hosted a successful fitness walk, 5K and 10K run. The Event which saw over 200 participants commenced at 16:30 at Mandela Avenue and concluded at the National

The Male 5K was won

by Oudwin Theodore with Shenika Tyrell securing the female version.

Murphy Mash was victorious in the 13-15 category followed by Shirman Bobb and Brandon Johnson while Shaka Tyrell won the female title in the said division ahead of Serena Williams and Sheanna

Participants were very excited to celebrate with their medal

Sports Commission on Homestretch Avenue.

Winston Missigher was once again the star man winning his second 10K race of the day after earlier defeating Guyana’s best distance Runner Cleveland Forde, who returned to competition having fully recovered from injury.

The impressive Missigher won the race by outsprinting his training partner Cleveland Thomas to the finish line while Euleen Josiah Tanner was not to be outdone in also winning her second female 10K of the day ahead of Ashanti Scott.

Tyrell respectively.

Participant received Independence Jubilee medals, T-Shirts and wrist bands while eighteen bicycles were awarded to winners.

The event was sponsored by E-Networks, Ansa McAl Trading, Toucan Industries Inc, Trans Guyana Airways, BK Inc, Ming’s Product & Services, Metro, Car Care Enterprise, Star Party Rentals, Wartsila, Cornona Beer, S & L Electrical, Real Value Supermarket, Payless, Kevin Jeffery and the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs.

Sabina Park will host the Jamaica Tallawahs four home matches in this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League

sisted by Mark O’Donnell.

“We are proud to formally announce Paul Nixon as our Head Coach”, said Mohammad Khan, General Manager of Jamaica Tallawahs. “Paul was one of many outstanding candidates interviewed by the Tallawahs but, in the end, we believe that Paul alongside our Captain Chris Gayle is best suited to take

the franchise forward into the 2016 CPL season”.

Nixon added: “It’s great to be on board again I’m very excited about the journey ahead. The squad that has been gathered ticks every box and now it’s time to create some spirit and get an emotional buy-in from everyone. When we get our thinking right and keep calm in the big moments

then we can make some magical memories for us all that will stay forever.”

Jamaica Tallawahs Fixtures (all times local):

15 July – Guyana Am azon Warriors (8pm), 16 July – St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (6pm), 18 July – Trinbago Knight Riders (8pm), 20 July – Barbados Tridents (8pm).

JAMAICA TALLAWAHS:

Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Imad Wasim, Dale Steyn, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Andre McCarthy, Jonathan Foo, Alex Ross, Kesrick Williams, Nkrumah Bonner, Garey Mathurin, Timroy Allen, O’shane Thomas

tuesdAY, May 24, 2016

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

Providence to host 4 Guyana Amazon Warriors matches

Pg 22 Fans of the Guyana Amazon Warriors will be treated to spectacular cricket at Providence over four days in July

DC Jammers rout Colts 93-78

Rising Star hosted fruitful Independence Fitness Walk and Run

Pg 22 Winston Robinson dunk over Kurt English (Photo by Treiston Joseph)

Pg 23 Winston Missigher crosses the line first after an excellent day’s performance

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyana-times.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, News Hotliine: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 SALES AND MARKETING - lezas@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.